Happy holidays from your resident crazy fangirl! I really hope you enjoy this chapter :)

DISCLAIMER: Sound of Music isn't mine!

The past few weeks had been a blur for Maria, sometimes seemingly forming one extremely excruciatingly long day that she couldn't wait to finally see through. Nights bled into days, and days into nights, and nights into days again, and it had been getting on her nerves. But now, she had finished catching up on her work as quickly as she could (though the Captain, which she now officially called him because—just because—assured her that she could go at her own pace), and it was time for her to calm down a little bit and breathe.

Today had been a good day so far, though, she thought. She had woken up on the right side of the bed this morning, and motivation allowed her to get up quickly and start her day earlier than usual. Laughing lightly at the incident at the coffee shop that morning (which, spoiler, involved the Hamilton soundtrack), Maria bit her lip and shook her head.

She pushed the door to the café with a small, contented sigh. So far, the entire week was going in her favor, and the thought of not a single mishap that morning made her smile. She patiently waited in line, thinking what she should order, or if she should actually order anything to eat for the day. The cinnamon rolls looked absolutely gorgeous today, but so did the cherry danishes.

"Trouble picking?" The barista asked, and Maria snapped her head up, only to see that she was next in line.

"Oh, not really. I don't think I'll get any food today," she grinned widely. "I'll just get a large caramel macchiato, please."

"Your name, ma'am?"

"Maria," she smiled.

"Ah, that's when Miss Maria Reynolds walked into my life," the barista murmured, and then laughed as her eyes lit up in recognition.

"I know you are a man of honor, I'm so sorry to bother you at home but I don't know where to go and I came here all alone," she burst into song as the barista punched in her order. She grabbed her wallet and handed over the exact amount.

She got a few glares from some of the newspaper-reading patrons, a few groans and a "it's too early for this," but Maria's heart skipped a beat when a few people started clapping. She smiled at the lovely patrons, and then looked back at the barista and the computer in front of him.

"You've got a nice voice," the barista smiled as he handed her the receipt.

"Thank you," she smiled.

Maria toyed with the pendant around her neck as she moved to the side to patiently wait for her drink. Sitting down on one of the overstuffed armchairs, Maria just let herself sink a little as she continued to toy with the pendant. Well, the more that she fidgeted with it, the wider the smile spread on her face upon remembering how much things have changed over the past few weeks. From that terrible day, then the almost-perfect day with them at the picnic, them singing in perfect harmony, then swimming by the lake, and then being with them, taking their pictures and teasing them in Mirabell. Then there were daily video calls when she was sick, and… and now—she was so grateful that they were happier now that their father is making the effort to be with them more. She was proud of him, to say the least, for trying his best to reach out to them—for trying his best to get to know them. He—

"For Maria," the barista called out, and she snapped back to the present.

She walked over to the pick-up counter and presented her receipt, which the barista stamped with a purple-coloured teddy bear (which, she remembered, was the old logo of the coffee shop).

"Thanks," she smiled before slipping the cup into a sleeve and holding it protectively in her hand.

She pulled the door open just as someone pushed it, and she was slightly taken aback, but at the same time, grateful that she didn't spill her coffee everywhere. The person on the other side graciously opened the door for her, and she expressed her gratitude to that person by giving them a cheerful "thank you" accompanied with a gigantic smile. The moment she locked eyes with the person, though—

"Oh Captain, it's you!"

"Are you always this hyper before you drink your coffee?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Not really, just today," she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him (and the dimples that began to appear on his face. Ugh, annoying!), but then laughed heartily.

"Ah, I see why," his gaze dropped to the side of the cup she wasn't looking at. She gently rotated the cup, and there, written in black marker:

Not throwing away my shot. Meet me on Saturday at 8PM?

Then, below that was his number.

Maria blushed, and covered it up with the sleeve.

"Were you heading to the house?" He cleared his throat.

"I was about to, yes."

"This early?"

"Mhm, I was thinking of helping Mrs. Schmidt wake the children up, if that were possible," she took a sip of her coffee. Slightly too sweet, she grimaced slightly, glancing at the cup.

"That's a first," he murmured.

"Ha! I'm always on the dot. Never early, never late," she lifted her chin. "Besides, the last time I was this early…" a sly grin spread across her face. "... You seemed quite occupied," she cocked her head to the side and gave him a fairly innocent grin (which she knew he cursed). She deemed herself triumphant after he gave her a one-shouldered shrug and changed the subject instead.

"Ah, well, since you are headed for the house, Miss Rainer, would you mind waiting for me? I can give you a lift."

"I—"

"Well, by the time I get my order, that's fifteen minutes tops, it's just a five-minute drive to the house, so... a total of twenty minutes. By the time we get to the house, you'll still have, er, twenty?" He cocked his head to the side, checking if his calculations were correct. "Twenty minutes to spare," he nodded his head.

"Oh, uhm, sure," she nodded slowly. "If it's fine with you," she smiled.

"I did offer you a lift, didn't I?" He grinned. "Do you want to wait in the car, or..."

"By the car would be alright," she said.

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can," he said, and Maria nodded.

Just when he was pushing the door open, Maria called him once more.

"Oh yeah, Captain?"

"Yes, Miss Rainer?"

"They have cherry danishes inside today," she grinned widely as colour drained from his face.

"Hmm, and I'll probably tell them to heat it," he rolled his eyes and watched as her expression slightly darkened with recognition before he shook his head, a goofy grin plastered on his face, and went inside the coffee shop.

Now, that was unfair, she slightly pouted.

o0o0o0o0o0o

The ride back to the house didn't last long, well, Georg von Trapp was true to his word—five minutes but to Maria, the first few minutes felt like hours of silence. Though her relationship with her employer seemed to go from hate to friendly banter to actual friends, there were still times that she had no idea what to do or say, so she was extremely relieved when Georg von Trapp had begun talking.

"So, will you go meet the barista?" He took his eyes off the road for a split second.

"Hmm, I think I've got to say no to this one," she snickered. Kurt would be proud, she thought to herself.

"Why?"

"Plenty of reasons," she sipped on her slightly-too-sweet coffee.

"Does it include his obsession of singing Hamilton songs early in the morning?"

"Well, actually..." she blushed as she took another sip, and for a split-second, she swore that he looked horrified. "Wait, you know about Hamilton?"

"Yes!" He said a little bit too excitedly. "Kurt made me promise to listen to it last weeke—hold on. Did you start this Hamilton madness?" He narrowed his eyes at her accusingly.

"He started it! He called me Maria Reynolds and I simply couldn't resist! It was too great of an opportunity to miss," she defended herself, jutting out her chin defiantly. "So I sang Maria Reynold's first line in Say No To This," she said softly.

"He looked completely smitten, by the way," he laughed when, she assumed, he saw a blush creep up to her cheeks.

"I didn't mean to—"

"You don't have to explain yourself," he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Maria noticed that they had stopped, and that they were now in front of the gates of the property. "Besides, I can see why he got so smitten," he raised his eyebrows, then just as Maria was going to ask him what exactly he meant by that, he was already outside the car, opening the gates.

What exactly had he meant? Did he just—he just—did what?

Rolling her eyes at the absolutely absurd ideas that swirled in her head, Maria decided that she needed a distraction. Yes. In her opinion, she had too much free time in her hands today that she was able to be stuck in her own mind, Cracking her fingers with a sense of finality, she stood up from her chair to stretch a bit.

Sharing a knowing smile with herself, she got herself ready to head over to the gardens where, no doubt, the children would be playing. She didn't know what they were playing today, but knowing that it was Marta's turn to choose a game, it was probably hide and seek (and she knew that everybody else would groan at the idea, except for little Gretl).

Slipping on her heels, she began to hum a simple tune—one of her favourite songs, in fact (fun fact: it's Mister Sandman by The Chordettes). She danced her way to the door (at least she called it dancing, she thought), cringing slightly as her hip hit the corner of the table.

Muttering a soft "ow," she shook her head and continued to head towards the door. Turning the knob, she was surprised to feel a little bit of resistance. Turning it with more force, and pulling it with all her might she—

"Mister Sandman give me a drea—What the—"

She braced herself as she nearly collided chest-first with him. Again.

(They both started to wonder how many times this will happen again, and why this kept on happening. Obviously, they both blamed the other for being "careless.")

"Dream," she whispered.

"Going... somewhere, Miss Rainer?" She looked up to see his face decorated with that boyish grin she had really started to be infuriated with. Casting her eyes down and very softly murmured something about not knowing that sea captains could be nosy, Maria took a step back and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Were you considering knocking, or were you just going to barge into my office like that?" She finally looked at him in the eye. Georg opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted. "Ah-ah, 'my house, my rules' does not apply that way, Captain," she raised an eyebrow.

"I did knock. Half a dozen times, in fact. I was worried something happened here. Perhaps you ran away from this job because your employer doesn't treat you right?"

"Hmm, I have considered it once or twice, but I couldn't risk getting caught climbing out the window, could I?" She grinned widely, earning herself an eye roll from him. "Anyways, what was it you wanted?"

"I—"

What was it that he wanted anyways? He didn't know either—that much was true. But staring at her, wearing a lavender dress, curls still unruly despite an obvious effort of taming them, wide blue eyes behind silver-framed glasses—

To see you, I suppose.

"Yes?"

"No, I was just going to ask if you've eaten your lunch."

"I have,"

"Good."

A comfortable silence settled between them, yet both of them seemed compelled to look away. There was a little bit of awkwardness that hung in the air as they continued to just stand there, looking in opposite directions. Maria fidgeted with the pendant around her neck and bit her lip, not knowing what to do.

Though she had no doubt of his concern (he notices everything about everyone and is concerned about everyone, anyways, she reasoned), she had been certain that he had been hiding something, She didn't know what it was, but she was more than determined to find out for herself.

She sneaked a glance at him, noticing that he was, once again, wiggling his fingers—a sign of clear agitation, his eyebrows scrunched up a little bit, and—

A loud crash startled her, almost making her jump.

"FRIEDRIIIIICH!"

The sound of Gretl's pained voice coming from the back door was enough to send Maria running (and Georg following suit).

Reaching the "site," she will admit—she really did almost laugh at the sight in front of her. Both Gretl and Friedrich were on the floor, though on top of Gretl was what seemed to be a flat tray (that Maria was certain was a baking sheet, though Georg seemed to look at it curiously). Gretl was crying, stroking her finger. Friedrich, on the other hand, had a silver bucket on his head, and seemed to look triumphant.

"Oh, my darling," Maria crouched down to Gretl's level, helping the crying girl up and cradling her in her arms. "What happened to your finger?"

It seemed to be the wrong question, Maria realized, because Gretl only wailed louder, but in between hiccups, she managed to say "it… got caught… in Friedrich's teeth."

Maria glanced at the Captain, who looked every bit as concerned as she was, but knew full well that he had no idea what to do, and motioned him to come over. Once he was crouching down, she watched as he held Gretl's small hand in his, rubbing soothing circles on it, then kissed the injured finger.

"Is that better?"

"Yes, papa," Gretl sniffed, then flung her arms around her papa's neck, not wanting to let go. She hiccupped a few times, and Maria patted her on the back softly, then gave her a handkerchief she could use to blow her nose. "All better now," she said after blowing her nose hard, beaming widely at her papa and at Maria.

Upon seeing his younger sister smiling and laughing, Friedrich slowly took the baking sheet with a makeshift handle made of aluminum foil stuck onto the sheet with duct tape, and tried to creep out of the house. But alas—

"Ah-ah-ah, young man. You're not off the hook just yet. Now, tell us, what happened."

Friedrich was successfully stopped in his tracks, and his shoulders slumped slightly, giving his tutor and his father (who was giving him a half-disapproving, half-amused look) a sheepish smile.

"Well," Friedrich started. "Gretl was stopping me, so I did what I had to!"

"By biting her finger?" Maria raised an eyebrow as Friedrich nodded his head, a wide smile on his face (probably hoping that he could get away with it by being charming).

"Well, we fell down, and her finger went into my mouth!"

"Friedrich," Maria warned, now putting a hand on her hip. "What were you playing anyway?" She asked.

"Princess and the Knight," Friedrich gave Maria a sad smile.

"Let me guess," Maria laughed at Friedrich's pained expression. "You're the knight and Marta's the princess."

"Right-o!"

"Who else do you need to capture?"

"Just Bri left, and she's holding Marta captive somewhere on the ground floor, I think," Friedrich attempted to scratch his head, only to realize that there was a bucket on it. Sighing sadly, he caught the baking tray when it started to slowly detach itself from the handle.

"I see," Maria nodded. "Go finish your quest, young knight! We'll talk about what happened later, alright?"

Friedrich nodded sadly, and sprinted to the direction of the library, where he thought Brigitta and Marta would be (and they will find out soon that Brigitta and Marta were hiding in the pantry, and that dear Cook was feeding them cookies all this time).

Georg merely stared at Maria, somehow wondering how she could reprimand someone yet—

"Papa?"

"Yes, Gretl?"

"Why do you stare at Miss Maria funny?" Gretl cocked her head to the side.

"I—"

He cleared his throat, startling Maria, who then looked at him with wide eyes—the same widened eyes that met him in her office earlier. (Had that only been minutes ago? He thought.) Gretl made a face at him, but he attempted to ignore it.

"So, what is this game that the children are playing?" He asked.

"Oh, the Princess and the Knight is some game the children made up on their own. It's like hide and seek, but the knight only tries to find one person—the princess. One person is the dragon, or the person who takes care of the princess and makes sure she isn't taken, and the rest are distractions. They're meant to distract the knight with anything else—bubbles, small talk, traps, spiders, anything, really. It's actually pretty fun if you're not the knight," she explained with a giddy smile on her face.

"You've played?"

"Just thrice," she shrugged her shoulders. "I always opted to be a distraction. Somehow, my tactics always seem to work on the kids," she smiled innocently, though there was a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Distraction—he could hardly call—

"Papa, can we go outside now? It's boring here," Gretl pouted, earning a small chuckle from her papa.

"Alright, alright, let's go now."

Gretl held on to her papa's hand tightly, and then with her other hand, tapped Maria's arm, informing her that they should, indeed, get going, and gripped her favourite tutor's hand.

He snuck a glance at her over Gretl's head, watching as she patted Gretl's head and assured the little girl that Friedrich won't take forever and will find Marta soon, meaning that they could play some other game. She glanced up, and he looked away, hoping that she hadn't caught him. He felt Gretl tug on his hand, and off they went outside, where the other children were playing a ball and singing some song he didn't quite recognize—probably waiting for Friedrich to finish his "quest."

He watched as the rest of the children swarmed Maria with hugs and shouts (as if they don't see her everyday, he thought amusedly to himself). There were questions of "what did you eat today?" and "what's your favourite colour?" and "do you think if I get bitten by a radioactive spider, I'll become Spiderman? Because Friedrich tells me that I will!" He didn't know how she managed to answer the last one, but he watched her answer all the other questions with ease (and he learned that her favourite colour was pink, "but not the bright pink. That hurts my eyes. I prefer a softer type of pink—the colour of roses, yes that's the one!").

He had no idea how long he had been simply watching her be in her element with his children, because he hadn't even noticed when Friedrich, Brigitta, and Marta joined the group once more. He had just noticed that all of them were talking animatedly amongst themselves, then he was startled to hear the sound of his second-youngest daughter's voice call their attention. He really had asked himself when they had gotten there.

"I have an idea!" Marta exclaimed excitedly, grinning widely. "For the next round, Miss Maria can be the princess and daddy can be the knight!"

With murmurs of agreement filling the air, and cheers suddenly erupting, all of the children with that unmistakable gleam in their eyes, pleading them to play along, how were they to say no? Well, they didn't have time to say no, anyways. The children merely decided on it, happy that none of them needed to be the knight, that they didn't wait for the adults' responses anymore. They simply set to work immediately, huddling together to form some plan.

Stealing a glance at Maria, who was being wrapped with a bed sheet that was supposed to serve as a princess dress, he smiled. She steadied the crown that was hastily placed on her head and gave him a small lopsided smile in return. She let out a small chuckle as the silver bucket that was previously on Friedrich's head was placed on his head, and the baking tray with the makeshift handle was forced onto his hand, much to his dismay.

"Good luck to us, I suppose. Pray that you find me before snack time starts," she seemed to say before she was whisked away and he was forced to stare at the tree and count to forty.

The seconds seemed to tick on, and thirty seconds of counting felt like an hour. Her voice echoed in his mind. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Looking at the now-empty area, he was filled with a new-found sense of determination.

Don't worry, I'll find you, a smile spread on his face.

A/N

*Again, inspirations behind this are Hamilton, and Mister Sandman by The Chordettes (hehe because Georg is the dream. KIDDING [*whispers* not kidding]).

Helloooo! Sorry for being away for so long! This term was crazy, and the times I wasn't working on requirements and had time to write, my brain had been squeezed dry of ideas. But anyways, I'm here (for the time being?) and ahhhh, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I had fun writing it.

Anyways, thank you so much for all the love you've been giving me these past few months! You guys really don't know how much it means to me :) I've been saying this but never really been able to do it, but I will try to respond to your reviews and DMs as much as I can! If anyone is still reading this and you like it, please do give it a review/fave/follow (or all)! I'd love to hear what you think :)

Love lots,
-Hope-