Apologies for the delay in updating! I was stuck with this chapter for a while but I hope you like it.

For the purposes of this chapter, we're in January (the real Maria's birthday) and I've rewound a little from my last chapter, so this is Maria's first birthday with the family after her and Georg were married. I've also moved the building geography around, which I think I suggested in chapter 1, but the children's rooms and the governess's room are on one side of the house whereas the marital suite is on the opposite side of the house. This makes more sense to me and I think is more consistent with aristocratic houses as the adults are in one wing and the nursery wing tends to be elsewhere? Either way, this is how I'm doing it in these one-shots.

I also had great fun researching German terms of endearment for this chapter as I fancied something new. Lots of them are animal based which I love. Please excuse any language inaccuracies and feel free to correct me. Here are some of the ones I've used;

Mäuschen (little mouse), Bärchen (little bear), Schatzi (little treasure), Liebling (darling)

Come Back to Sleep Chapter 4 - Maria

Georg's sleep was disturbed by a muffled 'ouch' from across the room. He rolled over to see his wife rubbing her hip where she had evidently bumped into the dresser.

'I didn't mean to wake you, liebling.' She whispered to him, 'I'm still not used to the layout in the dark.'

'Hmm, I don't know,' Georg mused. 'You seem to know your way around our bedroom perfectly well to me.'

Maria tutted in response and rolled her eyes with a small grin.

'Come back here, schatzi, and let me kiss you better.'

She giggled but continued moving towards the door.

'I think I heard the little ones. I'm going to check on them.'

Georg swung his legs out of bed with a sigh and made to join his wife at the door. As much as he adored her and how she adored the children, he did find himself wishing her caring nature didn't disturb his own sleep quite so much. He knew there was something else going on as she was often restless at night, but he equally knew he would have to wait until she was ready to tell him. They were still learning these things about each other and although Georg's night terrors had already reared their head, he was yet to witness what was distressing his beautiful wife. All he knew was that he was ready to help Maria shoulder her demons the way she helped with his.

They entwined their fingers together and Maria led him down the corridor towards the children's rooms on the other side of the house. Georg marvelled in these small gestures that showed just how comfortable Maria had become with him. He was always slightly frightened of pushing her too far, but they had simply slotted together like two puzzle pieces and were naturally growing together as a couple.

As they reached the children's wing they noticed the light visible under Brigitta and Louisa's door, which meant Brigitta was no doubt reading. It also quickly became clear that the youngest two girls were awake and very much not in bed. The door was ajar, and they could clearly hear the two voices drifting out into the hall.

'Noooo,' Gretl whined at her sister in exasperation. 'You have to do the roses and I am drawing the kittens.'

'Can't we both draw the kittens?' came the reply. 'Roses are very difficult.'

'We have to draw all of mama's favourite things. Liesl said I am in charge of the card, so you have to do what I say.'

Georg raised an amused eyebrow at Maria.

'This one's on you, mein Bärchen,' she whispered with a wink, stepping towards Louisa and Brigitta's door. 'After all, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise they are working on.' She squeezed Georg's hand before dropping it with a smile and a wink, disappearing to deal with the middle girls.

Georg readjusted his dressing gown and pushed open Marta and Gretl's door fully. The girls' heads snapped up with an audible gasp. They were both pyjama-clad and snuggled in a nest of their duvets and blankets on the rug in the middle of the room. Pieces of paper covered in doodled ideas were littered around them. Gretl's crayons were strewn everywhere, with one even tangled in the ends of her hair where tonight's plait was beginning to undo itself. Marta, on the other hand, had a very neat box of coloured pencils on her lap. She usually only took one colour at a time and carefully replaced it to the correct space before selecting the next. How she had managed to maintain her system around Gretl's chaos was a miracle.

'I think it is just a little way past your bedtime, don't you?' Georg entered and pushed the door towards the frame again behind him.

Neither child moved, except for their eyes darting towards each other and back to their father.

'What are you two up to?' he questioned, crouching down beside the mess of paper.

'Please don't tell mama,' Marta began.

'We're making her birthday card. I'm in charge.' Gretl said proudly, sitting up straighter and handing her father the drawing she had been working on.

'We want the card to be all of her favourite things like she sings to us to make us happy. We want mama to have a happy birthday,' Marta explained. 'I'm not very good at drawing roses though.'

Georg considered for a moment. Whilst he felt like he had gained his children back by emerging from his pit of mournful despair, he still found himself treading very carefully when trying to comfort the youngest ones. It seemed to come so easily to Maria whereas he had a tendency to put his foot in things.

'These are all wonderful! Your mother and I love all of your artworks.' he said, gathering more from the floor to create a neat pile in his hands. 'I have an idea,'

The girls were watching him carefully.

'How about you both bring these to my study tomorrow and we can think up some more ideas to make these into your card?'

'Your study?' Marta and Gretl exclaimed in a whisper.

'Is that alright with you?'

'You are allowing us in your study?' Marta asked timidly.

'Well, of course. That's where I hold all of my important, grown-up meetings.'

Gretl giggled whilst Marta launched herself at her father to hug him tight, knocking him off-balance in the process and onto his bottom with a thud.

A short while later the floor was finally clean of crayons and paper. Gretl had hidden their drawings away in the bookshelf for her to retrieve in the morning. The girls were to meet their father after breakfast for their top-secret birthday card meeting. Just as they were beginning to climb back into bed, a soft knock sounded at the door and Maria poked her head around the frame.

'Girls, it's time to get some sleep.' She made her way over to Gretl and automatically began to re-plait her tangled hair. Georg smiled at his wife and helped Marta under her own duvet.

'Mama, we're only a little bit sleepy.' Gretl said with a yawn.

'Well, your mother and I are a lot sleepy.' Georg said with Maria humming her agreement.

Maria finished Gretl's plait with a kiss to the top of her head, who squirmed under the covers and pulled a teddy bear from underneath her pillow. Maria turned off one of the bedside lights whilst Georg dimmed the other. Gradually they were lowering the night light so all of the children were able to sleep comfortably in the dark. The four of them sat in comfortable silence for a while. Maria was stroking Gretl's hair as she settled down. Marta held one of Georg's large hands between her two, breathing him in as he perched on the edge of the mattress. This felt like a huge step for Georg. He loved being able to comfort his children and he was really working on building that trust back with them. It had been less than a year since Maria had brought the light back into their lives, and it was growing brighter every day. This was yet another new development in bringing his family back together. For years, Georg was not the person who comforted the children back to sleep. It had been their birth mother and then Liesl for the past few years. The governesses never cared enough, or stayed long enough, to take on this role. Until Maria. Now, with her help, he was right there for whichever of the children needed him. He was enough for them. It was one of the many things he would never stop being thankful for. With this thought lingering he leant forward and placed a kiss on Marta's temple, who was now fast asleep.

Maria felt her husband shift and took that as the cue to leave.

'Good night my little love.' She kissed the end of Gretl's nose and smiled brightly down at her.

'I love you mama,' she murmured back.

'I love you too Mäuschen.'

Maria stroked her cheek and stood to leave. Georg grabbed her free hand and guided her towards the door which they exited and closed behind them.

Shortly afterwards, Maria and Georg were settled back into bed. The curtains to their balcony doors had been pulled back so only the netting and glass stood between them and the moon. This had become the routine when sleep evaded either of them. The moon seemed to ground them both and unite them in their thoughts. Maria was half laying on her husband. She had her head on his shoulder, tucked into his neck. Her arm was laying across his stomach as she was absently tracing circles on his chest with her index finger. Their legs were tangled together beneath the sheets and Georg had his arm around his wife, tucking her securely into his side. Moonlight gilded the couple as they lay there, breathing each other in. Savouring simply being.

Maria felt the change in Georg before it even happened. An imperceptible pause, followed by a wracking sob. She stilled her movements and splayed her hand on his chest. He gathered her closer in response, clinging on like he thought she would somehow disappear. He would speak when he was ready. The second he had grabbed her hand when leaving the girls' room, she knew this was coming. This often followed tender moments with the children. Georg often tortured himself with memories of his children over the last few years. More specifically, he tortured himself over the lack of memories and the sorrow shrouding the few memories that he had shared with them in recent years. Despite finding Georg abrupt and coarse when she first arrived, Maria quickly learnt from the eldest 3 that he had been a wonderful father. This incessant guilt was further proof of that fact. It pained Maria to watch him crumble in the aftermath of such intense grief. There was no telling how anyone would survive a huge hole being blown in their lives until they lived it.

Georg released a sigh and loosened his hold on his wife slightly.

'I don't deserve their forgiveness,' he uttered, barely disturbing the twilit room. 'I thank the Lord every day for it. For that, and for you.'

'Oh, mein liebling,' she whispered, tilting her head back to look up at him.

'I truly do. Without you I would be less than half that man I once was. You brought me back to them. You taught me how to love again. In fact, you made me feel in a way that makes me question if I ever really knew love before.'

Maria smiled sadly.

'Of course you have known love. It is I who is feeling this for the first time.'

'How could I have possibly known love if I treated the children so poorly after Agathe died?'

'Is that what you think? That you shut down because you didn't love them? I have known terrible father figures and you are not one of them. You would move mountains for your family, Georg. Those children worship the ground you walk on. You all experienced something terrible. An immeasurable, deeply unfair, loss. Unfortunately, the only way you knew how to protect them further was by removing yourself and your pain from them. Yes, they needed you, but that's done now. You cannot change that. Here you all are many years later and you're all okay. You're here for them now and they are here for you. It just took you all a little longer to get there. They have forgiven you. You need to forgive yourself.'

'I need them to know how sorry I am.'

'You have nothing else to apologise for. You being here, and remaining present, is apology enough. Grief is the price we pay for love. They know that in their own way. It's a beautiful thing for them to see how much you love their mother.'

'Loved,' Georg whispered. 'Past tense.' The realisation hit him like a train, layers of pain and confusion imploding inwards. Painful memories flooding through him and collapsing in on themselves. Agathe's dying breath. The children's vacant eyes staring at her coffin, eyes dry as they had no more tears to give. Brigitta's birthday, the first after their mother's passing, when he simply dropped a doll into her lap and retreated to his study leaving the children with Frau Schmitt. Silent Christmasses around the dining room table. Watching from the window whilst the children ran through drills around the grounds, marching ahead of whichever bad-tempered governess he was employing at that moment. The memories kept coming, ramming through the mental defences he had dutifully built until he was sure he would drown. Until suddenly, there was her face. Agathe. His first love. His lost wife. Her image in his mind's eye was as clear as when he last spoke to her properly. Her face was bright with a warm smile he had not known in many years.

Then she left him. Like the tide leaving the shore. All that remained of the pain of his loss had dulled to a manageable ache. Unbearable agony had been replaced by a quiet, bittersweet melancholy. Eyes unseeing, he gazed at the ceiling of his moonlit room as one final tear tracked a path down his cheek. Out of nowhere he had finally broken through the wall of grief and guilt that had prevented his healing. He knew everything was going to be okay. More than okay. It was going to be wonderful. After so many years and so much headache, with Maria's help, he had faith once more that he could be the father his children deserved. The husband Maria deserved. He knew that his family were going to be happier than he dreamed they could be.

'Georg?' Maria pushed herself up on her husband's chest to look into his eyes. She reached up to run her fingers through the hair at his temples and caress his face.

Georg drew her in for a tender kiss, their foreheads and noses remained pressed together after their lips had parted.

'I think the heavens must have been smiling on us the day we met,' Georg whispered, nuzzling her.

'You think?' she hummed.

'Without a doubt. You are the piece of my life I didn't even realise I was missing. Only divine intervention could have brought you to me.'

'You are my whole life and more. I couldn't be happier to have found you.'

'And I, you.'

With one final goodnight kiss they both settled back below the covers, still wrapped up in each other and feeling the lightest they had since their wedding day.