: OK firstly a lot of big thank yous to all of you for the supporting words from before, they meant a real lot. I wont give up, as doing this has helped me out a lot, and i'm very grateful for all the help I have received. yes I will continue, especially after how many of you convinced me to do so. my beta is still helping me along, (she is a star) with Editing my chapters, so please be patient, as she does have a busy life, busy then mine anyway, lol. :):)

anyways thank you again, and hope you enjoy. :):) do let me know what you think :):)

The trip back to Linz would be just a couple hours of travel by train. The captain had managed to book the first class compartment, to be able to travel in comfort, which was good considering it was short notice booking. And considering they left the house a dawn to they could return back later that night, it was also nice for them both to have the comfort.

After Maria and Georg strolled the night before, Maria had returned back to her room for an early night, but before she did she made one last check of her sister's box to make sure she hadn't missed anything important, which she didn't. She went through the letters her sister had written to Maria, but never sent, some photographs her sister kept in there of them growing up together, even a couple of heirlooms that belonged to their mother and father. Maria had decided to give them to the twins and Oscar, when they become old enough to take care of them.

The ride to Linz was over in no time for Maria as she had slept over an hour anyway, and the rest of the time passed by in conversations between the two; mostly about the children back at home, and what they would be up to for the day without the pair there to keep them in line.

Once at the station, Georg was greeted by a man who handed him the keys over for the hired car, explaining to him to leave it here later on that day and leave the key with the station master on their return to the station. After nods and goods days where passed, Maria and Georg put the food back they'd brought along for this afternoon – for lunch – in the boot and then jumped into the car and made their way straight up to the farm.

The drive was a peaceful one, still keeping their small talk going along the way. Georg could see Maria was a little anxious to get to the farm, and just hoped it wouldn't end in disappointment for the two.

Once pulled up outside the farm Georg cut the engine, but noticed Maria didn't move, she might have wanted to get up quickly to find Maggie's will, but now she seemed a little nervous to go in.

"Maria?" Georg spoke, Maria snapping her head in his direction, staring a little at him, confused. "Are you ready? Or do you want to sit here for a moment?" he questioned wondering what had brought her to a stop.

"Oh… no, I'm sorry. I just hope this hasn't been a wasted journey, that's all."

"Well we won't know till we get in there and have look now, will we?" he said teasingly, trying to cheer her up a little.

With a quick laugh between the two, they both exited the car and made their way up to the house door, Maria grabbing the spare key from its hiding place, and letting themselves both in. Once inside Maria stood for a moment wondering what was going to happen to her family home, the thought of not being able to come back to it, if she ever wanted, shocked her a little, bringing sadness as it may never be a part of her life again. She did have some good memories here, but also some sad too. But she also felt safe to know that she had a place to always come back to if needed.

"Well shall we make a start?" the captain said still standing behind her, watching her expression. "Where do you want me to…" looking around the room at the units.

"Well er… if we start down here first, go through the drawers and what not, maybe will be able to find it, or maybe an idea to what we really need I guess," Maria said as she walked into the living room area. Placing her new cardie over the back of the chair; then making her way for one of the units over the far side of the room to start the search.

Georg walked towards the other unit opposite the room, opening a drawer, noticing a pile of papers he sighed 'this is going to be like looking for a needle in a hay stack' he thought to himself. Bringing them out and carrying them over to the kitchen table, he then walked over to the kettle, deciding that this was going to be very thirsty work for the two. He walked back over to the table making a start waiting for the kettle to boil; sitting down ready for what he felt was going be a long day a head.

A few hours had passed by, with a couple of refills of tea and nibbles on some biscuits that were brought along also for the trip. Maria and Georg were still sitting in the same places as before when started. They'd nearly covered both units, as there had been a lot of paper work that had been kept over the years. Maria also came over the children's birth certificates, and feeling they are important she put them to one side, for when they were heading back home. Georg had come across the deeds to the house, all above board he told Maria, when he stopped for a moment showing her and explaining that Maggie still had ownership and not Hans, after his behaviour. That reassured Maria a little knowing that at least the farm couldn't be taken away from the children because of him paying off debts for Maggie.

When it was time for lunch the captain decided it was time for a break, against Maria protests that she wasn't hungry, and she was happy to carry on, he ignored her. Partially steering her to the table to sit, and drink her fresh cup of tea he made, he placed one of the baguettes in front of her too. He had made them up for them earlier that morning to take for dinner.

They sat in silence for a while, Maria half way through her baguette as she'd be picking at it. Georg had finished his and made them another fresh pot of tea. He'd seen her picking at it, and deep in thought, and Georg let her do it, feeling it was just what Maria needed. They remained this way until Maria spoke.

"Do you think this will help?" Maria asked motioning to the pile of papers to one side of the table they both felt were important, it was the deeds to the farm which still had Maggie's name on. Lucky Hans's hadn't taken over completely.

"Well I hope so, at least it will for the children's benefit," Georg answered a little unsure where Maria was going with this.

"Um," Maria sighed, deep in thought, her shoulders relaxing as she leant back in her chair.

"What is it?" Georg asked.

"I don't know. I just feel so… helpless, I don't know what to do anymore, my life's never been this complicated before, and I really don't want to disappoint the children."

"You're not going to disappoint them, because you're not giving up, and you're not helpless Maria, it's just that there are things that come complicated to us all in our lives, especially when it comes to family." Georg sighed, seeing that he was defeated.

Maria's expression hadn't changed and knew that this was going to be a conversation he really didn't want to get into, after the other night of snapping at her about the children being taken away and not letting her to continue, he knew now they had to talk about the what if.

"It will all work out just fine, you'll see," Georg said in a not so reassuring voice.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I have to hope, something someone's learnt of late…" he said looking toward Maria, that he means her. "And is now showing her weakness," he finished a little teasingly.

"Well I guess I can't let that happen," she said humorously with a slight smile, then tried to continue "But if it does…"

But was cut off.

"Then we will repeal until the children are exactly where they belong."

"And what if the court believe Edwin is where they belong?" Maria stressed.

"Then as I said we will repeal…and I don't care how many times we have to," Georg said, showing he wasn't going to give up.

"You care for them," Maria's words were more a fact then a question, and Georg never hesitated to answer.

"Yes."

"Good. Cause I believe they care for you too," Maria said, which was true after seeing the girls and Oscar had come so close and fond of him in the matter of two weeks Maria knew she had to keep up her spirits and not give up, and she knew that wasn't going to happen with the captain's support backing her all the way.

After a moment Maria stood. "Well… I think I will go and check Maggie's room now, all the rest of the units down here have been checked."

Georg answered with a nod of his head, then suggested he'd tidy up a little – their dinner things, and also to tidy some of the papers they had been looking through. He then suggested about packing up some of the children's belongings – the ones they had asked for before they had left the villa that morning.

Oscar wanted his train set, that was his father's and his mother had given it to him, something for the boy to have so he felt close to his father as he had never met him. Alexandra wanted her baseball bat and ball, and had to beg and promised she'd try not to break any more windows. And Katharina wanted some more of her hair clips, especially a special one her mother had given to her for fancy occasions. 'Just in case' Katharina had said at the time after Maria asked if there was anything special they wanted to be brought back. Katharina felt being in a big fancy house and listening to what the Von Trapp children had told her about the ball they had a couple of weeks before, it would come in handy if there was ever another special event.

Maria agreed and left the captain to the task, as she made her way up to her sister's bedroom. She stood still at the door at first, praying that she would find the will, or at least something that would help with the case for children to stay with her for ever.

Georg had tidied up downstairs within ten minutes, going at a slow pace, feeling Maria needed a bit of time for her to go through her sister's possessions. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, he remembered when he too went through Agathe's things shortly after she passed away, and everything he touched held memories – good or bad. He couldn't even remember how he got through packing her things away, but somehow he managed. He remembered telling Franz to pack the things away in the attic, as he'd told himself one day his daughters or even his sons would want something to remember her by.

Georg retrieved the small case from the car and then made his way upstairs to the children's bedrooms. The first door he came to was the bathroom which he already knew, as he had visited there a couple of times while visiting the farm.

The second was Maggie's as he saw Maria sitting on the edge of the side of the bed with her back to the door, oblivious to his presence. She was looking through more papers, he couldn't tell what, but assumed that if they were important she would have come to him and said.

Deciding to leave her to it he headed for the next door, upon opening it he saw at once it was Oscar's room. It was the smallest room of the house but still of proper size to be a bedroom. There wasn't much, but the decorating colour was definitely for a boy – blue. All the walls were blue, with painted cars on and drawings he suspected the boy had done himself. Looking around the room, seeing other things the boy would properly want in time, he made a mental note that once everything was sorted, he'd come back with the three to see if there was anything else they wanted but for now decided to collect the things they'd asked for.

After looking under the bed, where the boy said the train was neatly put away in a box, Georg then made his way out of the room and onto the next door. The girls' bedroom was definitely theirs once again, he thought, as he entered. He laughed to himself as he took in the room, it was a reasonable size for the girls but what made him laugh was how it looked to be divided into two different rooms – on one side was girly, Katharina's side, as it was nothing but pink and purple with a couple of dolls, and a pink dressing table with a bowl on that had hair pins and different colour ribbons in.

Placing the case on the bed, he walked over to retrieve the bowl with the things in and placed it in the bag, taking another quick look around Katharina's side of the room. Then there was Alexandra's side, not one girly thing inside. Georg couldn't help but chuckle; this showed the girl's attitude to a T. Her walls were blue and green, 'totally a tom –boy' he thought. With a couple of sport posters on the wall, there were no dolls except an old ragged teddy on the bed. Something he felt meant something to the girl 'but why not ask for it if it was' he wondered. Sighing he went to pick that up, and noticed a photograph underneath it. Looking at it, he noticed how it was a photo of Alexandra and her Aunt, smiling and cuddled together as if nothing could separate them. They were both very happy together, just the two of them, without a care in the world.

Turning it over, wondering if there was a date that said when it was taken, Georg was a little shocked to see what was written on the back, and it hadn't been written on there long as it had not faded and looked just like how Alexandra's hand writing now. It said 'me with my second mother, who I miss deeply' in bold capital writing. Georg felt a tight pain in his heart for the girl, she must have felt low and upset for some reason when she written it, he decided to talk to Alexandra himself when he got the chance, or at least let her know he'd seen it; give her the chance to come to him with whatever the girl wanted, but at the moment he was happy knowing the girl was happy being at the villa.

Not wanting to give Maria more to fret about he decided to put it in his inside jacket pocket, and made another mental note not to allow anyone go into it while it was there. He picked up the teddy, along with the bat and ball that were propped up against the bottom of the bed, putting them to it to the case and also taking one of Katharina's dolls as there was still room and she too needed something more than just hair accessories.

After finishing in the girls' room Georg noticed the other door, wondering if that was Maria's, taking a quick peep to see that Maggie's bedroom door was still open, he decided it wouldn't hurt to have a little peek in, curious to know what a young Maria was like.

Upon entering, he wasn't told much as he took in the room. There was a little sewing machine, with a sewing box nearby. Remembering Maria's words the first day they met 'I can make my own clothes' yes she could he thought, much better than the ugly slack of a dress she arrived in, as it was a least two size too big for her and did nothing for her figure – which he noticed she had a very nice one after he arrived back from Vienna and caught her and his children in the lake. That memory still brings tears to his eyes, his children's and Maria's faces as they went overboard.

There was a desk in the room along with a small bookshelf full of books – well he already knew she liked to read, as ever since she asked to borrow a book from his library, he seemed to be keeping tags on not only Brigitta, but her too.

There was a small dressing table, but nothing on it other than a couple of pictures which he assumed was of Maggie and Maria when they were younger with their parents. All very happy together, but he could still see Oscar in Maria, 'he is the model of her when she was younger' he said to himself a little out loud.

Then noticing the photo on the bedside table, he began walking over to it, picking it up and sitting down on the edge of the bed, studying it. It was a picture of the girls and Oscar once again. Oscar looks to be about a couple of months old, and his sisters are holding him between themselves carefully on the sofa. Just looking at the three of them in this photo showed how happy they are together and showed the girls' protection of their baby brother.

"That was the first day I let them hold him, without me helping them," Maria said from the door, she had been standing watching him for a while, not wanting to disturb him, even though he was the one in her room.

"Where was Maggie?" he asked still studying the photo.

Maria shrugged and walked into the room slowly, looking around at her old room. Noticing nothing had been touched, other than for dusting or what the captain had now got in his hand.

Georg looked up, waiting for an answer, which she noticed and answered with "I don't know, that was taken on one of her missing days."

"Missing days?" Georg questioned, looking towards Maria, confused.

"I told you, she didn't want to know any of them after James had passed away, after Oscar was born she'd disappear for days on end. Two weeks once, that scared me, oh believe me all hell broke loose when she returned." She giggled at the memory of her and her sister crossing swords – 'it was what sister do' she remembered her mother telling them when they were younger. They never understood that until their mother finished with 'because you care for one another, and you always take it out on the ones you love the most'.

"Where had she been?" Georg asked bringing Maria out of her thoughts.

"I don't know, she never answered, told me she wouldn't do it again, but just needed some time. It ended up in an argument, but the next day she tried to spend some time with the children, begging me not to leave her side with them."

"She was scared?" he asked, a little confused.

"I believe she was scared of the memories of the girls with their father, because she couldn't bring herself to look at them. The girls have his features and Alexandra more than Katharina reminded Maggie of James a lot, with her attitude more so… especially towards being outside all the time."

"I thought she got that from you," Georg said bluntly.

"Yes well, there is that… but James too was an outdoors man, he'd taken Alex camping from a very early age, and she loved it…and then there's the sports and fishing. She thinks she's just like me, but she's not… she's just like her father."

"And Maggie resented this?"

"It hurt her, which I believe you understand that," Maria spoke.

Georg placed the photo back on the bedside table, shame washing through him for his own actions towards his own children, saying "Yes, I guess so. After all I did the same really – the difference was your sister became ill. Whereas me…"

Maria caught on quickly, and was disgusted with herself that she made him feel so low in himself. She made her way over to the bed "Hey…" Maria said, sitting on the edge next to Georg and placing her arm around his back to comfort him. She continued "I didn't mean to bring up that…"

She stopped as she felt Georg's finger on her lips to silence her. Getting eye contact that neither could turn away from "I know" was on Georg's lips as he confirmed in nothing more than a whisper. Maria noticed how Georg's eyes had flickered to her lips and then back to her eyes. Still not wanting to break that contact, she carried on staring into his eyes, pleading to be kissed.

Georg wanted to kiss her, and Maria saw that. But something held him back. "Georg…" she could only manage, as she felt his hand move from her lips, and come around the back of her neck, the other around her waist, drawing her closer to him. She held her breath as he brushed his lips against hers. Softly, tentatively at first; seeking permission. Sweet sensations washed through her, and she couldn't help the half moan, half sigh that he took as an invitation to deepen the kiss.

Maria leaned into Georg, into the kiss. Wanting more but not knowing what more she wanted.

When he broke the kiss, he didn't back away – instead, he rested his forehead against hers, closed his eyes and grew very still. Maria was grateful for the moment to collect herself. But when he continued to hold her without speaking, she started to sense something was wrong. And all she could think was he regretted it, bringing her to feel a little ashamed of herself for what had happened. Especially when she knew she wasn't the captain's type – she had told herself that over and over again the last few days, to stop thinking they could ever be anything more than just good friends.

Georg drew a deep breath, bringing Maria out of her thoughts. He opened his eyes and leant back just far enough to meet her gaze. "You were quiet for so long, I thought that…" she stopped speaking as she felt his hand caress her neck with the type of corner smile Maria adored.

"You thought I was regretting it."

Her stomach swooped she nodded to confirm his question and then asked, "Do you regret it?"

Georg brought his other hand up to the other side of her face, cupping it with both hands, and his smile grew. "No, I was praying that I hadn't offended you or scared you away. I know you're vulnerable right now, and I don't want to pressure you or take advantage of you."

His consideration touched her but didn't surprise her. Georg had already shown her many ways that he understood her needs and her emotions. His patience and thoughtfulness earned him all her respect, gratitude and love. Now hearing it was what he wanted to, she slid her arms around his neck and gave a warm smile "You didn't, and I'm grateful to you for that."

Georg gave her a quick smile, and debated to kiss her once again, but then decided to get up off the bed – not wanting to leave her with the wrong impression about his feelings.

He quickly announced they should get packed up and make sure they had everything. And quickly he made his way out of the room, still cursing himself. As Maria watched on, watching him become very uneasy around her and leave her room in a hurry, she couldn't help but wonder why. And then she realised herself where they had been previously kissing… That concluded it. Saying once again to herself as she rose from the bed 'every bit a gentlemen' she had the hugest smile across her face – a mile long – and as she closed her bedroom door behind her, she also had one very large spring in her step.

Hope it was okay.