Georg was surprised when Elsa entered the dining room not only in time for breakfast, but before any of the children had arrived.

Any of the seven children.

"You're up early," he remarked absently.

"Oh I slept wonderfully," Elsa announced brightly. "So I thought I'd get up early for once."

Georg just nodded and returned his gaze to the newspaper, though he wasn't taking in anything. All the words turned into the words of Maria's note. It was tucked inside his jacket pocket, but he'd already memorised it:

Dear Captain,

I'm sorry about this but I feel it's necessary for me to return to the Abbey. I've taken Bastian with me, but we'll both see you next week at court.

Please say goodbye to the children for me, and please look after them.

I will miss you,

Maria

He couldn't fault her for leaving with her cousin, and she seemed to have her reasons for leaving, so he couldn't really even fault that. He just wished he understood what it was.

He was glad that they were still on for the court. He hadn't thought Maria would disregard it, but at the same time, the fact that she hadn't only left him more confused. Either he had nothing to do with why she left, or he did and she was pushing it aside for the sake of her cousin.

Georg wasn't sure which option he preferred.

"Georg," Elsa's voice dragged him back to the room.

"Mmm-hmm?"

"I thought we should talk about the children," she continued.

Georg felt pleasantly surprised at her words. Whatever the reason behind Maria's departure, with her gone, it was time to start looking forward; focusing on the future he had planned since the year before. He considered himself lucky that Elsa wanted to talk about the children.

"And what will happen after we're married."

Georg paused. "What do you mean 'what will happen'?" he asked cautiously. He knew it had been too good to be true, but he didn't want to get Elsa upset at the breakfast table.

"Well, I think boarding school is a good idea."

"No."

"No?" Elsa blinked. "But Georg, Sacré Couer is perfect for the girls, and there's a lovely Jesuit College in Kalksburg that will be just right for Friedrich and Kurt."

Elsa felt proud of herself for remembering the boys' names. She wished she could remember the girls – they would be the ones she'd be helping along into society eventually – but there were five of them! With only two of them, Georg's sons were far easier to keep track of.

"I do not intend to part with the children, Elsa," Georg's tone was final.

"Part with them? I didn't mean-"

"I want to have them nearby," he continued firmly. If he had been open to boarding school, he'd have sent them all off years ago. It certainly would've been easier than the long line of governesses he'd employed. "If they come to me, asking to go to boarding school, that is a different matter. But I do not intend to send them there on my own."

"But Georg, they're so wild," she was nearly whining now. "We need to do something about them. They're hardly acting as befits the children of a Baron."

She exhaled before continuing: "Well, if you're not going to agree to boarding school, we will at least have to get a governess."

"Elsa," Georg replied evenly. Did it not occur to her that once they were married, it would be her job to do all this? "Did you realise that by marrying me, you're becoming their mother?"

"Stepmother," Elsa clarified. She never wanted anyone to call her 'Mother' in her life. "They'll call me Tante Elsa, and of course I'll help them. Liesl will have her debut in a year or so. I just didn't think they'd be acting like this. When you talked about them in Vienna, they sounded so well behaved."

Georg was spared from having to answer by seven pairs of feet making their way into the room. Elsa let out a groan.

It was almost like they'd stepped back in time, to the days before Maria had arrived. With slow, composed movements, they weren't miserable, but even without being told directly, they all knew something had happened with their Fraulein, and couldn't hide it.

A chorus of 'Good morning Father's and 'Good morning Baroness's rang out as the children took their places at the table.

"Father?" Marta asked softly once everyone had been seated and 'grace' had been said. "Frau Schmidt had to wake me up this morning. Where's Fraulein Maria?"

Georg inhaled slowly. Now it was time to face the music.

"Fraulein Maria went back to the Abbey last night," he announced shortly; the words met immediately with seven different cries spoken almost in unison as everyone abandoned their untouched meals.

"Why?"

"How do you know?"

"Did you go after her?"

"Are you going to go after her?"

"She didn't even say goodbye."

"Is she coming back?"

"She took Bastian with her, didn't she?"

Liesl hadn't phrased it as a question.

"Yes," Georg nodded at his eldest daughter. "And no, darling; I don't think so," he added, addressing Gretl's query. He felt bad that he would be able to see her next week, while the children wouldn't.

"Thank goodness," Elsa exhaled loudly. "That boy needed to keep his mouth shut."

"What do you mean, Baroness?" asked Brigitta.

"I was talking with Maria last night and he barged in, and would not stop talking."

"You were doing what last night?" Georg asked at the same time as Kurt inquired: "So you left?"

"So I slapped him."

"ELSA, WHAT THE-" Georg barely managed to stop himself from cursing in front of his children. All their faces looked shocked too. Even the little ones seemed to realise what had happened.

"I need to speak with you," Georg looked straight at Elsa. His voice was cold as he rose from his chair. "NOW."

Seven pairs of eyes watched as Elsa followed suit and moved to stand over by the door.

"Get started on your breakfast!" Georg snapped at the children before stalking out of the room.

"Elsa, what the devil were you thinking?" he exploded the second his study door was closed.

"Oh come on Georg," she scoffed. "It's not like he's your son."

"His father – Maria's uncle – beat her. Do you have any idea what slapping him could have done?"

Now it all made sense. Why Maria would run away in the middle of the night because it was 'necessary'. Why her note would specifically ask him to look after the children.

"It's called discipline," Elsa insisted. "Something you seem to have given up on."

"When all he was doing was talking?" Georg asked. "Elsa, that is not discipline. What were you doing in Maria's room last night anyway?"

"Oh, it's Maria now?" she huffed. "Tell me Georg, do you actually see that little nun as the governess of your children? Or their mother?"

He was seeing red. While Elsa was right in a way about discipline, if her idea of reprimanding was slapping a child whenever she found them aggravating – for just being a child – then things weren't going to work. It was only a matter of time before one of his own children would be in the same situation as Bastian.

As for Maria, yes he did see her as the mother his children had never had. She had opened their lives to happiness, his mind to new possibilities and most amazingly and frighteningly of all, his heart to feelings he'd long since given up on. Feeling's he'd never felt for Elsa.

But none of that mattered. Because Elsa's actions had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with the children.

"I want you out of my house today," Georg stated.

Elsa gasped.

"I don't want that sort of behaviour anywhere near my children."

"Georg I – "

"They're not wild Elsa; they're children," he said. "And with the world the way it is right now, I want them to be children as long as they can."

"Fine," Elsa replied bitterly. Georg knew she was trying to keep herself together until she could be alone. "But don't pretend the little governess doesn't have more to do with this than you let on."

She doesn't," Georg said confidently, not missing a beat. "If you had slapped one of my children simply because they annoyed you, I would be seriously concerned about whether you should be their mother."

"So you don't love her?"

Georg paused. "It-it doesn't matter," he spat after a moment. One of the major reasons he'd planned this marriage to Elsa was to give the children a new mother. But now he'd realised he'd rather they had no mother than a mother like Elsa. He'd hired all those governesses not because he needed someone to be mother, but because he couldn't bear to be their father.

But he would be father to his children – all seven of them – until the day he died. They could survive without governesses, if he was there. And he wouldn't let anyone hurt them again if he could help it.

Maria had forgotten how painful headaches could be. She'd had many of them when she first arrived at the Abbey. Making the transition from mountains to a cloistered convent immediately did not come without consequences.

That may have been why she escaped to the mountains in the first place, and over time it had developed into something more. But now she was stuck in her room with a migraine that could rival the Baroness'.

Still, it might be a blessing in disguise. Now that she had returned to the Abbey and Bastian was safe, the headache was preventing her from thinking too hard about the other thing the Baroness had mentioned last night.

Nothing's more irresistible to a man than a woman who's in love with him. And what makes it so nice is he thinks he's in love with you.

Had it really been less than twenty-four hours ago that she had been dancing in the arms of Captain von Trapp at his grand and glorious party, like Cinderella at the ball? It seemed like another lifetime ago. She had been a different person then.

Which was saying a lot, because she had changed so much since the beginning of the summer. The girl who had left the Abbey in a second-hand dress trembling with fear no longer existed.

Nothing's more irresistible to a man than a woman who's in love with him. And what makes it so nice is he thinks he's in love with you.

How could the Baroness know how she felt about the Captain when Maria herself didn't even know? He was a wonderful man; just as the Reverend Mother had said, fine and brave. He was gentle and kind and more patriotic than anyone else she'd met.

She could wholeheartedly say that Captain Georg von Trapp was someone she considered a friend.

But Maria had never been in love before. She hadn't really even had a crush. She'd only known it in books, and it usually ended in murder and blood. Even when it came to the Captain, that ending wasn't far from the truth.

But books didn't come close to reality. She couldn't say that what she felt for the Captain – for she did feel something – was love, or even close to it using the few romantic novels as a guide.

And reality wasn't a help either. Since she was seventeen, she had planned to be a nun. And since the year before, he had planned to marry the Baroness.

And if that was going to change it wouldn't be because of the Captain. It would be because she needed to care for her cousin. After all, it wasn't like a distinguished, handsome decorated Baron could ever love a poor mountain girl like her.

"Ugghhh" she moaned as her head throbbed, before giving up trying to think, closing her eyes, and succumbing to sleep.

Georg didn't really consider what visiting the Abbey could mean until he was already there. And by then it was too late.

Elsa had arrived in the foyer an hour after breakfast, all packed and ready to leave. Georg supposed it was a testament to how bad the situation was that it only took that long. He did feel bad about the result; he knew he wasn't blameless in this. It shouldn't have taken his prospective fiancée slapping a child for him to know this was the end. But he shouldn't have led Elsa on for as long as he had; after things had started to change.

She had declined his offer to drop her at the railway station and gotten Franz to do it instead. And as soon as the butler had returned, Georg had jumped in the car and drove into town himself.

And now here he was, at the front gate of Nonnberg Abbey, an elderly nun making her way towards him.

He didn't have any idea of what he would say to Maria. 'Would you please come back? Elsa's gone; I won't have her acting that way around the children. Also, I'm falling in love with you.'

He could just imagine how well that would go. Putting aside Elsa and Bastian and the children and everything else, Maria was still going to be a nun.

But he had to see her. He had to try.

"Can I help you?" the nun asked.

"Um yes," he stammered. He was suddenly grateful Maria was anything but the straight-backed no-nonsense Sister he'd expected initially. It appeared they did intimidate him. "I'm Captain von Trapp. I was wondering if I could speak to Maria."

The nun regarded him for a very long moment. Georg was just about to speak; to defend himself against any allegations that she might have when she spoke.

"Maria is in seclusion," she answered simply. "She has asked not to be disturbed."

"I really can't see her?" he pleaded, desperate. "Do you know when she'll be out? Can you give her a messa-"

"Captain?"

Georg looked up to see Bastian standing over by the corridor.

"What are you doing here?" he continued.

"He came to see Maria," the nun answered. Then noticing the way her companions were eyeing each other, she added: "Sebastian, why don't you and Captain von Trapp go and talk over there."

Bastian nodded mutely

"Are you alright?" Georg asked when they sat down in a small garden area. "I heard the Baroness slapped you."

"I'm alright," Bastian answered. "It was more shock than anything else."

"Well, she's on her way back to Vienna now," Georg was glad Bastian bore no noticeable trace of Elsa's actions. And voicing the words, he felt assured that it was real; that he'd done the right thing. "I won't tolerate such actions in my home. Maria did the right thing bringing you here."

Bastian sighed, looking off into the distance, as though Maria would appear on the other side of the garden; though they both knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Do you know why she's in seclusion?" Georg continued. He didn't see why ushering her cousin to safety would cause Maria to go into voluntary isolation.

Bastian shook his head. "She didn't say. But…." he paused, working up the courage needed to say what came next "….the Baroness did tell her that you were in love with her."

"Do you know exactly what she said?" Georg asked. The news shocked him, and at the same time it didn't. Even he knew how obvious his interactions with the governess had been. Especially last night. Elsa had admitted to visiting Maria in her room during the party.

And given her other actions, he wouldn't put it past her to say something truly horrible.

"No," Bastian responded. "I think I interrupted them. Maria just told me that's what they'd been talking about later."

It was clear that Elsa had tried to scare her. And Bastian upset her plan and she lashed out. As more things fell into place, Georg realised just how closely he'd avoided an unmitigated disaster.

"Do you?" the boy ventured, breaking his reverie.

"Love her?"

Bastian nodded.

Georg exhaled slowly. This was not something that had just happened. And yet it was. He had been dreaming about her for weeks, and nothing had been the same since the night of the puppet show; but it had been last night, as they danced the Laendler that the truth had hit him with full force. He loved her. He was in love with her. He wanted to shout it to the world; tell anyone who would listen that he was in love with Maria Rainer.

"Yes," he answered solemnly. "I do."

He couldn't lie. He didn't know how the boy would feel about this, but he loved Maria with all his heart, he loved her cousin like a son, and he couldn't lie.

Bastian threw himself into his arms. And all too soon, Georg was hugging the boy back.

Then another thought came to him. Could that be why she would miss him? Did she love him back? He didn't dare dream it. She was kind, beautiful, selfless and twenty-plus years his junior. Even if she had not been a postulant, what could he give her that every other bachelor dandy out there couldn't?

But her actions since the puppet show told him she felt something for him. Maria wasn't one to play favourites, or be insincere in any way. He'd never seen her treat anyone else differently. Was he seeing what wanted to see in her angelic, innocent kindness? Or was there actually something there?

It would explain why she was in seclusion. Why else would she distance herself from her cousin; from the very reason she had fled back to the Abbey in the first place?

"I think she needs our help too," Bastian murmured.

Georg pulled himself slightly away from the boy and nodded.

'I will do whatever I can to help,' he vowed silently. 'Both of them.'

Yes I'm back. It's so nice to write something that doesn't require a bibliography, and just to be back in this story again, so I hope you enjoyed. The schools Elsa mentions are taken from Maria's memoir and there are lines in here taken from The Trapp Family Story anime (episode 26) and Die Trapp Familie. Both are on Youtube if you feel like watching, and I thought the lines worked really well so...

Thank you all so much for your patience and continued support. There will be more of Maria in the next chapter.