Wildflowers

Two months passed in a blur. The cold air of winter turned into the mild temperatures of spring. The first signs of life sprung up in the cold, sterile environment that was Bremerhaven. Maria tried to be thankful and appreciative of these little signs of nature around her. After a lifetime among mountains, flowers, trees, and birds, the rocky cliffs of the sea were quite different. Somehow even the white-covered snow capped mountains of Austria seemed more colorful than the gray that surrounded Maria: gray uniforms, gray buildings, gray skies.

So as February turned to March and March turned to April, Maria found comfort in the spurts of green around her, particularly the wildflowers that grew all around. Wildflowers…that was all that grew in the naval base. In a way, Maria related to wildflowers. While other flowers needed a garden to be cultivated and cared for, wildflowers grew anywhere and could survive anywhere. Maria thought that she was resilient like that; after all, she had grown up alone and never found her place in life. If anything, restrictions and rules stifled her free spirit. She was different than others, she'd realized that early in her life and made peace with it. Others searched for the right man to give them a home and give them security; Maria did not. She was different, a wildflower who thought her place was with God, but even that did not work out. For a very short while she thought her place would be with Georg: he loved her and she loved him, was that not enough to tame her free spirit? With him, would she find her garden and a home? But even that could not be. At the end of the week, he would be gone and his survival questionable at best.

Maria looked out the window towards the grassy quad. She could make out Georg's face among the men out there. Almost everyday he was out there with his men preparing them for their mission, training them with shooting exercises and hand to hand combat.

"Maria," a female voice called her. "Maria!" She heard some one calling her again.

"Whah?"

"Maria, where is your mind today? You seem far away."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Maria asked, hastily turning away from the windows as her cheeks started to redden. But Anna was not fooled. As she walked closer to Maria and closer to the windows facing the quad.

"Johannes said that he's working them like a mad man," Anna said, eyeing Maria carefully. "But I suppose you knew that already."

Maria silently took her time to reply. Though Anna was the closest thing she could call a friend on the naval base, she was hesitant to share too much about her feelings for Georg.

"Oh, Maria, you love him!" she exclaimed.

This time Maria did not try to hide her blush nor her bewilderment. "How do you know?" she managed to splutter.

"It's obvious," Anna replied. "The look in your eyes when you watch him, the smile on your face when you disappear to meet him all scream that you are madly in love with him." Anna noticed Maria's face change from a look of surprise to one of hurt. She inched closer to her and wrapped both arms around Maria's pettite frame.

"Oh dear, silly girl, didn't you know not to fall in love with navy men?" Anna asked rubbing Maria's back. "You have fun with them and enjoy their company, but know more and you especially don't fall in love with them. Navy men break hearts; they always do, and always will."

"He was the first man I felt myself falling for," Maria admitted.

"Trust me, I can see all the reasons to fall for him," Anna said, turning to the windows with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she watched Georg commanding the men below. "But you're young and beautiful and will find someone closer to your age to build a life with once this war is over."

Maria didn't argue with her friend nor did she try to explain that she would never love again nor would she ever let her heart be vulnerable again. Anna wouldn't understand, that like a discarded flower Maria will be swept up by the wind and never find a garden to land.

"Does the captain love you?" Anna asked.

"He says he does."

"Good, then maybe he will come back to you," Anna said patting her once more on the shoulder. "Come, they'll wonder what were doing here so long."

Maria nodded, but stayed a few more seconds and watched him from the distance and safety of the hospital windows. From afar she committed each part of him to her memory. Each day she watched him for a few minutes, each day as the day he would depart came closer she felt him slipping away from her. Georg was attentive to her as ever and tried to find every free moment to spend with her, but she felt something inside her harden. While she enjoyed every minute with him, she steeled herself for the heartbreak that was bound to occur. At the end of the week he would be gone and she will survive, just like she always did. She will be resilient and she will live-even without him.

Wildflowers don't care where they grow.

The sounds of sea gulls filled the air around them. Having returned from their winter trip down south, the seagulls chirping and squawking broke the gentle sounds of the waves hitting the cliffs below. The warm sun hit Georg's face as he relished the last hours of sunshine he would see for the next few weeks.

It had become a tradition of his over the years as a captain to work at a frenzied pace in the weeks preparing for a mission. Georg knew that preparation, like skill, luck and fate, were the all vital for survival. He did not have much say in the luck and fate areas but he did he everything he could to prepare well for missions and build his sailors skills. Georg also made sure that all was ready two days before his mission was to start and allowed his men time to rest and energize before the mission. He needed them in utmost form and very sternly reminded them that they should get drunk two nights before the mission and sober up the day before the mission. Any man slightly impaired on the day of the mission will have to face his wrath.

Georg stuck to the routine before each and every mission he went on. The afternoon before a mission, Georg would be found outside alone enjoying the last rays of sun on his face.

Only this time, he realized he wasn't alone, as he felt the weight of Maria head against his shoulder.

Georg tightened his arms around her and with closed eyes placed soft kiss on her golden hair that seemed to shine brighter in the late afternoon sun. He knew that his leaving was hard on her. The knowledge of what his departure means and what the future could hold was unspoken between them since the night of the storm and the promise that Georg forced her to make. In truth, Georg felt horrible making her promise and felt selfish for it. Guilt gnawed at him, and as loving as he tried to be and as close as he tried to get to Maria, there was this invisible wall that seemed to sprout between them.

They hugged and kissed and held each other close, but there was a certain wariness radiating from Maria. Sweet innocent Maria, who used to wear her emotions on her sleeve kept them safe and guarded from him. He loved her so, yet he once again he was the cause of her heartbreak and the source of her tears. The tears that never fell, the tears he never saw because she did not cry in front of him anymore. But they were there, held back by her sheer will and inborn stubbornness that could only match his. He desperately wanted to wipe them away and comfort her, but how could he when he was the source of her pain? When she no longer felt she could be herself before him?

He placed another kiss on her forehead, and with half open eyes he saw the sun reflecting a small tear at the edge of her eye lid.

"Maria, you can cry, my dear" he said, as he shifted over her and placed a kiss on her closed eyes that was the last barrier to her tears.

"I don't want to ruin our last day together with tears." Her voice was thick with emotion that she tried desperately to hide.

"Oh my dear, what have I done to you?" Georg whispered. "Open your eyes Maria, don't hide your feelings from me, I know that fate has been cruel to us and I've been a bloody fool, but please let me in."

Maria complied at last and when her eyes opened a river of tears spilled out and traveled down her cheeks to her hair. Georg lips met her salty cheeks as he lovingly kissed them away. There were no desperate kisses between them, just slow, gentle, and full of love.

Georg then rose and offered his hand to Maria and helped her stand upright. He wrapped his arm around her waist and with his other hand held hers above his heart. He started to sway as if dancing to a song that only he and the wind could hear.

"Georg, what are we doing?" Despite her mood, she could not stifle her giggles as her body moved in sync with his.

"Dancing, of course," he replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"There no music," she pointed out.

"Oh, how silly of me," he said, as he began to hum.

Edelweiss

Maria savored the last few moments of being in his arms. She leaned her head against his broad muscled chest and breathed in his scent, trying to commit everything about him to memory. She felt so content in that moment in his arms that for a brief moment She forgot that tomorrow he will depart.

In the cocoon of his arms She danced among the sounds of the winds, waves and the beating of his heart.

Before long, Maria joined him in tune and humming turned to singing as their voices meshed and intertwined together. They sang and danced till the last rays of sun disappeared into the horizon.

A/N: Just a little angsty fluff before the action starts. The tittle and theme for this chapter was inspired by Dolly Parton's song called "Wildflowers". Thank you to Bellarsam Chrisjulittle for betaing this chapter. I'm sorry for the long breaks between updates. I'm a ridiculously slow writer but I am dedicated to this story and I'm working on wrapping up my other one as well.