"Go on, just do it," Georg whispered coaxingly, teasingly, trying to entice Agathe into succumbing by mesmerizing her. "You know how much you want to. I can tell you want this very very badly."

"Please stop tormenting me like this darling," Agathe pleaded, her voice aching with longing. "You're terribly wicked to beguile me like this when you know I can never resist," she protested helplessly.

Agathe closed her eyes against the temptation, but the tantalizing aroma of the sweet Rosinenzopf bread that her husband was waving in front her still assailed her senses even if she couldn't see it. Georg had brought her a breakfast tray in bed laden with delicious treats that he knew she loved.

"I'm trying not to put on so much weight this time, it's so hard to lose it again once the baby is born. How will I ever get back to being the slender girl you married twelve years ago?" To Georg's consternation Agathe had become increasingly shy about her voluptuous figure in the midst of her seventh pregnancy, despite his reassurances.

"I don't want you to be that girl, lovely as you were. You're a woman now - my woman, the mother of my children and my utterly ravishing wife, with the sort of ripe luscious curves that have driven men wild throughout the ages. Don't you remember how when we went to the opera the last time all the men kept staring at your décolletage? I'm still seething about it six weeks later. Count von Hemsdorff is lucky I didn't throw him off the damn balcony," he said fuming.

Agathe stroked the hair back from his forehead soothingly. "Perhaps they were just surprised at how modern you are that you do not expect your wife to stay at home during her confinement."

"Yes, I'm a very twentieth century man," he agreed dryly. "But really darling you are even more lovely now than you were when we first met though I never would have believed that could be possible. Besides you lost far too much weight with the morning sickness. So just take a bite. I know how much you love it - I'm sure you can almost taste it already."

Agathe sighed, yielding. "Once the baby is born I'll go for lots of walks and take swims in the lake in the summer," she promised herself.

Georg smiled seductively, "I can think of some rather more hectic activities that we can do together as well."

Agathe laughed and took a bite of the freshly baked bread, sighing at the sheer hedonistic bliss of it. She ate every morsel that Georg fed her, even playfully licking off the crumbs from his fingers. She watched as his eyes darkened with desire and hunger as she kissed his fingers and drew them provocatively into her mouth.

"Dear God, now who is doing the tempting?" he growled as he put the breakfast tray away determinedly, with a clatter of teacups, then pulled off his robe to join her on the bed.

oooOOOooo

Much later as they lay together languidly caressing each other Agathe asked him something that had started troubling her again with her newly developed insecurities about her figure. "I never asked you this before, because, well, I was a little afraid of the answer. But when you were in the Navy after we married, did you ever….?"

"Did I ever what?" Georg asked puzzled, holding her close by his side as he stroked her arm.

"Well there must have been times when you felt very lonely and… in need of a woman."

"Ahhh. No, never, not even tempted. I know you took a huge gamble when we married – I am the first to admit that I wasn't husband material before you came into my life. But once I met you I knew there could never be anyone else for me.

"Whenever we came ashore at a port, the crew would go carousing and letting off steam, most of the officers too, but all I wanted to do was to have a hot shower and a shave, a quiet drink, and a good meal. Part of my responsibilities as captain was to lecture the crew on good behavior and frighten the hell out of them with pictures that the Navy medical office gave to all commanders - of what unsuspecting sailors could catch. That was the extent of my job and they made their own decisions. Some of the married ones were idiots – adultery was a court martial offence for officers in the Navy but they were willing to take the risk.

"But for me - from the moment I set eyes on you that was it. Don't you know you are the love of my life, no-one else could compare? I was definitely in need of a woman, but not just any woman – only you. You probably remember my ferocious need whenever I came home on shore leave."

He tactfully didn't mention the times when women would pursue him and he would have to politely rebuff them. A few persistent and predatory women were untroubled by his happily married status and saw it as a challenge to be overcome, in much the same way as mountaineers look at the Austrian Alps, determined to conquer them. But he had perfected an icy, unpleasant demeanor that had been highly effective in shaking them off.

Agathe kissed him, relieved. "Actually I haven't noticed much change in your need at all," she teased him. "I did wonder because as Papa always said – sailors have a girl in every port."

"Your father has rather entrenched views about many things. He is convinced that 'once a rake always a rake' as he has so kindly pointed out to me many times. I must say your mother is an absolute saint the way she puts up with his temperament."

"Mmm," Agathe agreed, her voice heavy with irony. "A hot tempered man and a calm wife - it's hard to imagine how a marriage like that could possibly work."

"I am nothing like your father," Georg objected indignantly. "Though he has given me lots of marvelous ideas on how to terrify the future suitors for our girls."

Agathe kissed him again and got out of bed, self-consciously wrapping herself in the sheet which had ended up on the floor. He watched in masculine appreciation as she moved about the room, amazed that she was completely unaware of how alluring she looked, with the graceful curve of her back visible down to the gentle swell of her hips.

"You look like the statue of Aphrodite that I saw in Athens once, draped in silks. Although she was the goddess of love and beauty she would have been as jealous of you as she was of Psyche." He tilted his head to look at her appraisingly as she blushed, floored by his effusive flattery and unable to think of a suitable light and teasing response.

"Or perhaps you could be the perfect fantasy woman for every sailor since the ancient Greeks – a bewitching siren like the one trying to lure poor Odysseus to his doom in the sea. Actually now that I think about it why don't we go to Greece this summer so that I can show you the wonders of the ancient world? The new baby will be a few months old by then. It can be our second honeymoon since I only had a few day's shore leave for our first one. We could go on a sailing trip - hire a yacht and sail around some of the Greek islands."

Agathe looked at him uncertainly, biting her lip. "But the children…"

He sighed heavily. "Let me guess – you don't want to go anywhere without the children. Alright fine, but we should take plenty of staff with us so that we can get some private time together too. I really do want to sail a yacht for a few days at least, just the two of us. It will be wonderful – the feeling of being on the sea again, swimming in the beautiful azure waters, lying with you in my arms on the deck, and at night I can teach you how sailors navigate by the constellations. And most importantly - we can love each other all day and night long without interruption."

"That sounds perfectly heavenly," Agathe responded delightedly, "I can't wait."

He lay back against the pillows, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't imagine what it will be like travelling with seven small children. Don't get me wrong - I love every one of them tremendously, but seven…!"

Agathe smiled, "Maybe you're right darling, perhaps this should be our last baby."

Georg raised an eyebrow, "That would sound a lot more credible if I hadn't already heard you say that six times before," he said dryly. "It's your fault really. If you weren't so irresistible we wouldn't be in this situation."

He got out of bed, going over to her to trail his fingers down her bare back, then bending his head to do the same with his mouth.

"Like now for instance," he murmured. "Don't you know that when a man sees his wife wrapped up in such a delectable way, the only thing he can think of is unwrapping her?" He made the sheet fall to the floor.

oooOOOooo

"Uurgh" six year old Kurt was watching in horrified fascination as the movements of the baby could be seen through his mother's dress. "He's trying to escape." He put his hand to Agathe's swollen bump and then snatched it away again as if he had been burned when the baby moved once more. "How did it get in there?" he asked, curiously.

Taken by surprise Agathe was speechless as she stroked Kurt's hair and cuddled him. She looked at Georg helplessly who muttered something indistinct about the stork, making Kurt look even more perplexed. "I know all about the stork," he said knowledgeably. "But how did the stork put the baby in there…?"

"That's a very good question Kurt, why don't you run off and ask Franz about it. I am sure he will know." Georg replied with a hint of devilment in his eyes.

"Really darling," Agathe scolded Georg as Kurt ran off, "Franz will resign if you torment him like that."

"I doubt that – we pay him far too much. Besides he is such a stuffed shirt - even with the children. He needs to loosen up a little. He didn't even smile when Brigitta picked some flowers for his birthday and Louisa presented him with a dead butterfly."

Kurt came back with the other children. "Franz told us a long boring story about some Greek goddess Hera being jealous and turning someone into a stork then taking her baby. Then he told us to read the Hans Christian Anderson story 'The Storks,' but that's just a fairy tale." Kurt had already lost interest in the topic as he eyed the Sachertorte that one of the housemaids had brought out.

Agathe refused a slice of the cake, but Georg deliberately placed it in front of her again. "Honestly Georg, it's almost like you're trying to fatten me up like Hansel and Gretl" she said half crossly.

Georg said softly, only for her ears "Don't worry my love, I'll find a way for us to work this off this evening." Agathe shushed him but she was smiling as she took a bite of the cake, closing her eyes in pleasure.

"Mama, why don't we call the new baby Hansel for a boy or Gretl for a girl?" Louisa said inspired, since she loved to be terrified by the frightening Grimm Brothers' fairytale.

"The baby is going to be a boy and Hansel is a stupid name," Friedrich objected, setting all the children off bickering about names and the gender of the coming baby.

Georg and Agathe looked at each other, their fingers linked lovingly on the table, sharing a tender moment as the children argued around them. "I suppose Gretl is fine for a girl - it means pearl, but let's find a better name if it's a boy," Georg murmured. "I can't believe we have so many children we are now resorting to fairytales to name them."

Then he said to the children "Alright all of you, enough arguing. We'll decide on names for the baby when it arrives. And we will all welcome this baby joyfully whether it is a boy or girl," he looked at them warningly.

ooooOOOOoooo

The baby arrived early, a few weeks after Christmas, taking them all by surprise. Georg had been out with the children throwing snowballs and building snowmen at the far end of the property. When they came back Frau Schmidt was at the door wringing her hands, waiting anxiously with Franz. "Captain - the baby - she's here already."

He stared at her dumbfounded for a moment as Franz took his coat and gloves, then he bounded up the stairs two at a time, a trail of shrieking children behind him. They burst in to see Agathe gazing adoringly at the new arrival in her arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked Agathe in concern, "the midwife wasn't even here."

"Frau Schmidt helped me. We are both old hands at this now, and it was very quick" Agathe replied, elated but tired.

"We were only gone for a couple of hours," Georg said, astonished, as he took the baby from her, with the children crowding around excitedly wanting to hold her and touch her. Kurt started complaining that it was another girl but was stopped by a quelling look from his father.

"She's perfect," Georg said proudly, stroking her soft hair. "And yes, Louisa, we can name her Gretl," he said as his normally reserved second daughter gave whoops of delight.

He kissed Agathe adoringly and with his arms around her and her head on his shoulder, they watched the children holding the new baby with Frau Schmidt's help. Both of them were amused as the children squabbled over whose turn it was next. Only Marta stood back uncertainly, looking worried and tearful. Georg called her over and he and Agathe cuddled her, gently reassuring her that her place in the family was secure.

As the midwife finally arrived, having been delayed by snow drifts, Frau Schmidt shooed the children out so that she could attend to Agathe.

"You don't mind having another girl do you?" Agathe asked Georg.

"Of course not, I am not such a Neanderthal. Besides all our girls are as adorable as their mother, I can't get enough of them. I'd love to have a whole troop of little girls if they are like you. It just means that I will have a very difficult time when they become beautiful young ladies and I have to keep all those young Romeos at bay. But perhaps your father can help me out with that," he suggested dryly.

oooOOOOooo

Three months later

"How are the children?" Georg asked with concern as he called Agathe out of the sickroom.

She sighed, distraught, "Liesl and Friedrich definitely still have the high fever, sore throats and headaches, but Kurt and Louisa are doing better, though their tongues are still very red and swollen. We can only hope that the three little ones don't catch it too. They are feeling so miserable, the poor darlings, it's unbearable to see them like this."

Georg kissed her forehead and rubbed her back soothingly. "I know, but we have two nurses to be with them around the clock, I'm really not sure that you should be spending so much time in the sickroom with them."

"The doctor said that scarlet fever is far more dangerous for children than adults, and many adults are immune to it. Besides, you know that when a child is sick the only person they want to be with is their mother. They need me and I could not bear it if I couldn't try to comfort them as much as I could," Agathe was fighting back tears of exhaustion and distress as she spoke.

"I'll read to them for a bit." Georg embraced her tightly. "You need to get some rest darling. You look all in. Please don't argue with me, though I am not going to insist. I am still recovering from the wounds from the last time I tried to come between a mother and her sick children," he said wryly.

The previous winter all the children had come down with chicken pox, falling like dominos one after the other. After several weeks of caring for sick children, Agathe had worked herself into such a state of exhaustion that Georg had ordered her to get some rest. He had been stupefied at her response – his usually calm, adoring wife had bitten his head off, objecting to his suggestions as fiercely as a tigress defending her cubs.

But he could understand how it must have torn at Agathe's soft tender heart to see the children suffering, he also hated seeing them fretful and crying and would have gladly endured the pain and discomfort for them if he could. The feelings of helplessness over sickness never sat well with him since he was used to being in control and finding solutions to problems. Caring for children through childhood illnesses was without doubt one of the more painful aspects of parenting.

Agathe gave him a weak smile and kissed him apologetically, then in a sign of how tired she was she agreed to get some rest.

He went in to see the four sick children, reading them stories and trying to console them as they pleaded heartrendingly for their mother, knowing his comfort was a poor second compared to Agathe's. After several hours the fever finally started to break in all four of them and they fell into a restless sleep.

He checked on the three little ones in the nursery afterwards. Only three month-old Gretl was awake, kicking and gurgling in her cot, waving her arms about. He watched her tenderly for awhile until she gave that hiccupping cry that even he knew meant she was hungry and ready to start wailing. He wondered what to do, he didn't want to wake Agathe and the nursery nurse was watching the sick children.

He found a bottle of milk and settled with Gretl in the rocking chair, tentatively offering it to her. He had never fed a baby before but it was surprisingly easy and really rather enjoyable. He held the bottle for her as she clutched his hand with her own tiny ones, gulping the milk, and watching him with her big blue eyes, pausing occasionally to give him a captivating smile. He smiled back fondly, feeling rather smug at his success, and looking forward to boasting about his hidden talents to Agathe the next day.

After Gretl finished he patted her back gently, but to his horror she gave that concentrated red-faced look that meant only one thing. For the love of God, now what was he supposed to do? Usually in these situations he handed the baby straight over to one of the nannies. He took a deep breath - instantly regretting it as the overpowering odor assaulted his nostrils - and looked for clean nappies. He was sure that he was the only man in history to have ever attempted such a difficult and unpleasant task and he was only glad that none of his former crew and fellow officers could see him now.

Using an inordinate amount of cleaning cloths and feeling distinctly martyred and more than a little queasy, he soldiered on. Luckily Gretl was cooperating, cooing and babbling at him as he confided in her about what an awful job this was. Satisfied she was clean enough he overdid the talcum powder, generating a cloud that made him cough and his eyes water. Gretl sneezed several times.

The first two nappies slid down her legs as he picked her up and the third one leaked. How difficult could this be? he wondered, exasperated. Finding some yarn he wrapped it around the nappy, ignoring how trussed up Gretl looked around her hips he securely fastened the yarn with a reef knot and a bowline knot. He felt pleased that his nautical skills had come in handy. When he was sure that the nappy and the yarn wouldn't come off he kissed her and put her back down to sleep.

He went up to bed, where Agathe was sleeping peacefully. She woke up briefly and he told her about his exploits, embellishing the story so that it sounded as heroic as Hercules cleaning out the Aegean Stables. Agathe looked amused and then alarmed at the part about the yarn but he told her to relax, "Don't worry everything is under control my love."

Agathe smiled as she drifted back to sleep. "I'm so glad you can manage without me darling" she murmured, with her face nestled against his throat, kissing his neck.

"You're wrong my dearest love, I could never manage without you" Georg whispered back softly, but she was already asleep wrapped tightly in his arms. He kissed her hair and drifted off to sleep too, feeling at peace - relieved the children were on the mend.

oooOOooo

A/N

Tragically, Agathe became sick when the youngest child was a few months old after nursing one of the children with scarlet fever. I am not going to write about her actual death – since others have done that far better than I could (for example Gothicbutterfly95's heartbreaking 'The Gazebo Chronicles').

Thanks for the kind feedback so far.