A/N: Sorry it took me a little bit to post, enjoy!!! Review please!
Ch. 8: The Swim
"Maria, wake up!" It was Liesl's voice Maria heard softly echoing through the crisp air. "Come on Maria those three have to swim in the lake before it gets too warm." Maria rolled over and laughed. She had almost forgotten about there bet and the fishing the night before.
"Okay, I am awake. Wake them and we will go down there." She told her.
"Oh I will wake Friedrich and Kurt, but you are right by Father. So just hit him to wake him up." Liesl told her plainly. Maria was not sure she wanted to touch the Captain, but she knew she would give all her feelings away if she couldn't just tap him to wake him up. She reached over and tapped him. He didn't budge. She tried again and got the same reaction.
"Maria you are going to have to hit him, like I said. He can be a very deep sleeper sometimes. You have to be to be a sea Captain. So just hit him, I'm sure he won't mind." Liesl told her. Maria was very upset that she had even gotten herself into this situation. She took her hand and slapped the Captain's sleeping bag.
"Captain wake up!" She cried. Little did she know that Georg had already been awake since the first time she tapped him. When she tapped him he felt almost a jolt of electricity shoot through her hand that made him wake right up. He found it funny that Liesl forced Maria to wake him up. When he thought about it he wouldn't mind if she was the one to wake him up for the rest of his life. So he sat with his eyes closed enjoying her quick touches. Liesl saw that she was having trouble and walked over to her Father.
"Father get up it is time for you to go for a swim in the freezing lake." She stated. He turned over to face Maria and Liesl.
"Oh you are not really going to make us all go into the lake are you?" He asked pleadingly.
"Are you kidding? Of course we are; why wouldn't I make you?" Maria asked.
"Well I can see you making me go, but come on my boys? Don't make them swim too. You are almost like a Mother to them. Mother's don't make their sons go through such punishing business." The Captain told her. "Come on Maria. Agathe wouldn't make us go in there for a morning swim."
"She would have never challenged Father to a fishing match either." Liesl whispered to Maria. Maria had to laugh.
"From what I hear of Agathe she was nothing but one of the loveliest people around." Maria told them. "So I would expect that she would make her sons and her husband for that matter stick to there promises, whatever they may be. Because if people don't stick to what they promise they can turn into liars." Georg was silent for a moment, unable to come up with an argument.
"Good job Maria." Liesl whispered in her ear as Georg got up and left with the boys to go and change.
"You sure showed him." Louisa said from her sleeping bag. The other girls were awake by then and started laughing as they made their way down to the lake.
"Maria do we have to swim all the way across?" Kurt asked her trying to plead with her.
"Well Kurt that was the deal, but you can ask Brigitta…have her make the final decision." Maria told him. Kurt scowled and Brigitta smiled widely.
"Yes you have to swim all the way there and back. If you don't you will have to do it twice tomorrow morning." She stated. Kurt and the other two groaned.
"Well what happens if we drown?" The Captain asked looking up at Maria.
"Oh please it would make much more sense if I heard a concern like that from a child, instead of coming from and experienced Sea Captain." Maria told him. "They do teach you how to swim in training, right?" Maria asked him in a mocking tone.
"Why of course they do. I was the fastest swimmer in Austria at one point…" As he said those words he lost his balance and fell off the doc and into the water. As his head came to the surface Maria couldn't help looking down at him and laughing.
"Obviously they didn't teach him how to balance properly in training though." The other girls laughed. "Yeah that's right, the best swimmer in all Austria." Maria mumbled under her breath.
"Father Maria and I will go in one of the canoes just in case anything happens. Would that make you feel better?" Liesl asked.
"Yes that would be great." The Captain told his daughter. Liesl and Maria got into the canoe as the boys jumped in the lake and began to swim. The four younger girls stayed on the doc watching.
"I have never seen Father act like this, have you Louisa?" Brigitta asked.
"Well I do remember him joking around with Mother from time to time, but he always seemed to get the best of her. Maria seems to be constantly winning these little battles. So no I have never seen him act like this. He wasn't even that close to the edge of the doc. He just kindov fell off." Louisa told her.
"Yeah, hey! Maybe Father is in love with her!" Brigitta said happily.
"With who?" Gretl asked yawning.
"With Maria. I mean think about it. He was nervous so he fell off to doc. This morning he was wide awake he wasn't really sleeping, yet he just laid there so she would tap him, and just everyday the way they look at each other!" Brigitta told them.
"I don't know Brigitta…" Louisa trailed off as she saw her Father swimming back right by the canoe. "If he is he is making himself look like an idiot in front of her." She paused and they quieted down so they could hear.
"Maria what would you do if I started to go under?" The Captain asked her.
"Well I would go in after you of course. What else would I do?" She replied he smiled.
"Just making sure because I am feeling rather tired. I am not as young as I used to be and oh…help I think I am going under…oh I can't breathe help!" Georg screamed. Liesl did not look convinced.
"Here Father take my hand." Liesl told him.
"It is to far…" With that Georg went under.
"Okay Captain come out of there this minute this is not funny!" Maria yelled. Liesl began looking around the lake for him to appear.
"Oh was he really telling the truth? Here hold this Maria I will…"
"Liesl, here I will go in you look after Kurt and Friedrich." Maria told her. With that she dived in the cold gloomy water. After swimming around under and on top of the water for a few minutes Maria began to really get worried.
"Oh my goodness! Captain this is not funny at all!" As she said that she noticed the Captain walking up to the doc. She glared his direction and quickly swam in land to him.
"Oh good. I was wondering how long it would take before you finally came in to save me. It is good to know I came here with such wonderful people." He told her. Maria stood up and glared at him.
"Oh Captain I am going to kill you!" She exclaimed.
"Didn't I tell you I am a very good swimmer? We also had to learn how to hold our breathe in water for a while too." He told her. He smiled her way and began to laugh. "I knew I had to find a way to get you in here to suffer the cold water with us." She rolled her eyes ignoring his last comment focusing on his previous one.
"Oh did you? So I suppose if I held your head underwater for about twenty minutes you would still be alive?" She asked.
"Well you might not want to do that because then you would have seven little children on your hands and you would probably be charged for murder." He gave a little chuckle at the thought of Maria holding his head down in water for twenty minutes. His smile was full of so much love that she eventually broke into a smile.
"That was so cruel Captain." She told him.
"I know and I am sorry. Will you forgive me?" He asked.
"I suppose I can." She told him. "So you are the best swimmer in Austria hmm?"
"Well besides from the Olympians maybe I am alright I suppose."
"I see so if I raced you, you think that you would win hands down then?" Maria asked him. The Captain had to laugh a little.
"Well I suppose so. Do you want to race or something? We can race to that rock over there." He pointed to a rock all the way across the lake.
"Okay, lets race there. First one there wins?" She asked. He nodded. Liesl rowed the boat over to the doc and began them by saying,
"Ready, set go!" Then the two of them were off. Maria had not taken off any of her long dress, but she tried not to let it bother her.
The Captain was fast, but as Maria suspected she was faster. She had always had a bit of talent for swimming and she used to get practice by jumping into lakes on the mountains on her way home from school. Maria beat the Captain to the rock by a good ten yards.
The children cheered from the doc with amazed looks in their eyes.
"She beat him with her long dress on and everything!" Louisa admiringly stated.
"I don't know if the race was the only reason he took her out there." Liesl told them.
"Then you notice it too?" Brigitta asked. Liesl nodded at her as they looked at their Father circling around the rock splashing Maria.
"Maybe he is really in love." Louisa stated. The others nodded and decided to go back to where they were camping because Gretl and Marta wanted to go back to sleep.
***
"Wait a minute. That was not fair. You never told me you were an excellent swimmer." He told her.
"Well that is because you never asked. You just automatically thought you would beat a girl."
"That is not true. You are however the only girl…only person for that matter that has seemed to beat me at everything." He said amazed. Maria looked at him coldly. She felt nothing, but his arrogance. He saw her stare and quickly rephrased his words.
"Well not that I am better than everyone at everything. I guess I just haven't met all the people that are better than me at certain things." He told her as he pulled himself onto the rock.
"Well I am happy I was able to put you back into your place Captain!" Maria told him. He looked into her eyes and they both became silent.
"You really are amazing." He told her as he began to lean forward toward her lips. She leaned to and in the middle of leaning became aware of what was about to happen. She leaned backwards to get away and fell off the rock in the process. Georg opened his eyes. He was upset that there moment had been ruined, but he glanced down at Maria and was instantly laughing.
"Well maybe we should have a balancing competition. I think we are about evenly matched at that." He told her. She laughed a little after blushing a bit.
"It would be a short competition Captain." She replied. "Now we should probably swim back. I am hungry for breakfast."
"Okay, you mean lunch though right?" She looked at him questionably. He grinned at her while glancing at the sun. "I believe it is almost noon."
"Oh my it is late. We better get back!" Maria told him. He nodded and jumped in the lake and they swam back to the shore together.