Hi, so here is another chapter and with this there are only nine more chapters left! I hope as always you enjoy this chapter and this story and I will see you here for the next time.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the characters of Jon and Eugene (both of whom are mentioned here)

Please Read and Review.

And let me know what you think as always, it means the world to me.

A Sister's Love

Chapter 21-Leave A Light On.

Liesl reals from the news of her pregnancy and confides in her brother and her sister. Eugene writes a letter and Friedrich gets some news.

"Wow."

Friedrich was still reading the piece of paper as if it held the answers to ending the war.

"Wow"

"Friedrich you have said that three times now"

"Sorry Brigitta but when your oldest sister who up until two months ago you though was dead turns up alive, married and now pregnant it takes a moment for a man's brain to catch up with him. Even if it's not been fucked up by a never ending war"

Brigitta rolled her eyes.

"Wow" Friedrich said again passing the paper back. "Wow I don't know what—what are you going to do?"

"I don't know" Liesl said honestly. It was true she didn't. In the past four and half years, out of all of the twists and turns that she had been forced to come up with this had been the one where she had never even thought to be prepared. She had never even given it a second thought.

"You could get rid of it" Friedrich said passing the paper back to her.

For a second both of them stared at him. They had been raised catholic. In Austria it had been the main religion, they had grown up with mass on a Sunday, the singing of the nuns—goodness one of them had become their Governess and then their mother in quick succession. Of course that did not mean they were ignorant or unintelligent about options that were offered for woman who ended up pregnant. But the truth of the matter was that such things were not legal. Maybe one day it would be. Maybe one day a woman could make such decisions about her body and no government, no man or no woman could say otherwise. However considering this was the world and the world was not fair Liesl didn't think that was the case. Even if such freedoms were given to women she didn't think she would ever consider them absolute. She had seen one world come crashing down around her. Why not a second?

"Friedrich do you know woman who can do that?"

It brought her shockingly down to earth with a bump.

"Brigitta!"

"What? I'm not suggesting you do it am I? I was just wondering weather or not Friedrich—"

"Not personally sister but I've known enough soldiers and enough woman to know how it's done. Also I didn't go to war a virgin"

They stared at him both of them as one, the older sister and the younger sister and he grinned taking his butter knife and carving a load of the corner to add to his buttered toast. Though the nightmares were still strong and the drinking and the smoking were ever present (God knows they were never going to get that smell out of the curtains) Friedrich's eating patterns had gotten better. Instead of inhaling his food as if someone was to attack him (or moan when he ate something in a way that was quite frankly indecent should he do it in public) he was instead eating everything in sight. Or at least everything that put weight on his hips. Seeing as the Army had not yet bothered to check where half of their soldiers had scattered too and considering he had left an address with the makeshift camp they were supposed to be at he assured them that he was doing alright.

("Half of the camp's everywhere and anywhere" he said coming back from the base one morning. "I'm good here, at least they know where to find me. Half of the Battalion's gone almost bloody AWOL." )

"Thanks for that" Liesl said pulling a face. "Doesn't help me though does it"

"No" Friedrich said with a sharp gaze. "But you have a choice Liesl. If you don't want this baby then you don't have to have it. And if your husband is half the man he seems to be then he will respect that. If he isn't then you have a divorce when the war ends come back to America and marry a cowboy…or a republican. That will really put father's teeth on edge"

Brigitta snorted into her beer. With Friedrich came beer and Brigitta at fourteen (nearly fifteen) had been sipping at a small bottle. Liesl wanted to stop her but the reality was she had very little energy to do anything other than to think of her own predicament which was strong.

"I don't know" she said effectively ending the conversation. "I…I never thought of motherhood as something that I would get to experience. So much of what we have been through has been the two of us Brigitta, and now Friedrich is here and there is a clear path to home—"

"—When the war lets us" Friedrich muttered into his scotch with an eyeroll and that twisted smirk he gave whenever he spoke of the war. Liesl ignored him and carried on anyway.

"I just don't know what to do"

"Jon won't mind" Brigitta said shaking her head. It was like when she was ten again. When she shook her head the dark hair shook with her. Only this time it was not with the little plat pulling some of it off her face. It was with the dark curls down to her waist. She was no longer the little ten year old girl. She was blossoming into quite the stunning young woman. Her love for her sister had gotten her so far, Liesl was not sure what she would do now that there was a child in the mix as well.

"No I know that…"

"Do you?"

"Yes Friedrich I do!"

"Alright don't snap" he said shaking his head. "But that doesn't change the facts Liesl, he is at war, he could die at any moment and he could leave you alone, and also…have you considered that if you do return to the United States that you will have to take a child who by birth has been a registered Australian citizen?"

Friedrich had come across as harsh but Liesl knew her brother. She knew how he worked and how he spoke both before the war and after the war and she knew that it only came from a voice of love.

And in truth she too had been wondering just what they were supposed to do if the war was over. When the war was over. It was November 1944. Surely at this point even the Germans had to realise that they were losing the war. Losing their second war.

When this was over did they go to America? And now with a child in the mix what did that mean for her and Jon?

But she knew in her heart what she wanted to do.

Deep down she had known that from the second that she had realised that she was pregnant.

She was having this child.

And it was not for lack of options or lack of anything. It was her choice.

Liesl's choice. And Liesl's body.

No one else's.

Her brother and her sister understood.

They didn't need her to tell them that.

They had known from the start what she had wanted to do.

That was why they were brothers and sisters. Because they knew. Deep down they would always know.

The next day the post arrived.

Brigitta crawled her way out of bed and down to get it. Usually one of them got it and Friedrich who was up was usually the one. However this time he had gone to bed and he had slept in and that had been the one time since he had been staying that he had managed to sleep in.

That had to be a good thing. Surely.

She searched through the post until she saw the familiar scrawl and she grinned even though she shouldn't have. Her heart was beating a little out of her chest and she took the letter into the parlour and she ripped it open with wild abandon.

'Brigitta' it read,

'I am delighted to hear your news. I have asked father and he says it would be lovely if we could visit you in Melbourne. Jack is working hard in Burma and we hold out hope for news and father hopes that the Red Cross in Melbourne might know more. Susannah assures him of this so we are coming down next month.

I did ask father if I should stay with you and he wacked me upside the head with the tea towel and said that there was no chance I would get that lucky unless I was married…

Anyway. We will be in Melbourne at the end of the next month in a hotel room but we can see each other during the day.

I hope that, that is alright with you. Let me know by next post.

Yours forever.

Eugene.

Brigitta grinned at the end of the letter unable to stop the little giggle that threatened to escape from her.

He was coming her.

Eugene was coming here.

And she had to admit, she spent a long, long time wondering just what he meant by the words, Yours Forever.

Friedrich started his day before dawn.

He knew his sister's assumed that he had a lie in but a combination of the Marines and the War had taken that out of him. To be honest he had been an early riser even in Austria and he didn't sleep much now. There were too many memories and too many nightmares and too much between the two. Instead when he woke, usually choking down his scream it was to stare at the ceiling.

Then he forced himself out of bed.

He did his usual exercises. His body coming out of the war was week and he knew at some point training would begin. The war was out there, over the horizon and he knew that it was coming again. These weeks with his sisters had been nothing short of a dream but the dream was coming to an end and it was coming to an end rapidly. So the knock on the door at just gone past seven didn't surprise him.

He grabbed his trousers and his shirt and staggered down the stairs. His arm was still stiff but he could lift it and he could fire a gun. So that was something anyway. And though he did not say it while Brigitta was sitting there, he did not want either one of his sister's answering this call.

"Yeah?" he drawled opening the door to the man in uniform.

"What company are you in?"

Christ.

"K Company, First Battalion"

"Report for training at 8.00 tomorrow"

"Training?" he asked sharply. "So not war?"

"No" the MP said as if he had been caught of guard for a second. "But I wouldn't worry son. My guess is that's coming next"

Friedrich said nothing but he felt his face twist of it's own accord.

Of course that was fucking coming next.

War was always fucking coming next.

He nodded and shut the door resting his head against both the cool glass and the cool wood and breathing in and breathing out.

"You're going back aren't you?" said a voice behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know that it was Brigitta.

"Not to war" he said sharply turning around and leaning against the door. "Where is Liesl?"

"Asleep" Brigitta said quick as a tact—clearly nothing had changed for her in the last four years—"But why does that make the difference?"

"Training leads to war, inevitably. I knew they were planning something, I should get my gear together"

"Does that mean that you are going again?"

"No" he said shaking his head though he knew that it was not the entire truth.

"No. I will be gone for a few days and then I will be back here. But make no mistake sister…the war is coming and I will have to go back. And then I suppose we are all in the hands of whatever bastard decided to play these games with us all"

He knew he was coming across as apathetic at best and she ran towards him and he folded her into his arms. Whatever happened he supposed that he had to be the big brother. It was nice to be Brigitta's big brother once again.

"I am alright sister" he said into the mass of dark hair. "I am a survivor. I am going to live through this and I am going to get you, mother and father in a room by God. Do what you want once you are there but at least I can make sure that it is an option"

Brigitta gripped him harder and Friedrich grinned though there was no humour in the motion. War was coming once again and like the first time, the Von Trapps would have to face it, when it did.

And there you go, hope you enjoy and I will see you for the next one.

Next Chapter-Liesl is decidedly pregnant, the Garvey's come to stay, Brigitta gets a special first something, Friedrich is on borrowed time (but still manages to have some fun) and a new year begins as the war takes another sharp turn.