A/N: Hmm…I really don't know if this one turned out all right or not. I definitely forgot everything from my health class last year because I didn't know exactly what to do for a victim…I tried though…please review!
Ch. 9: The Rescue
"Oh Georg there you are!" Elsa exclaimed happily as Georg walked out of the trees after drying off and changing. "The children told me you had fun swimming. I was getting concerned though, you weren't back for a while."
"Sorry about that Elsa. Did you sleep well?" He asked.
"Oh I could never sleep well here, but when I woke up the children had already prepared breakfast for me."
"You ate it?" Georg asked stunned.
"Well yes I wasn't about to be impolite. When Maria returned she decided to be a dear and make lunch." Elsa told him happily. Georg was confused for he didn't understand why Elsa was in such high spirits. Little did he know that Elsa was keeping track of how many days until Maria left, she would be leaving the night they retuned home; the next night. Elsa could not wait to have Georg alone all to herself again.
Lunch was eaten and all seemed to be going well. Georg decided to entertain himself by telling Maria he was sure he could go faster than her in a canoe. Of course this got Maria going and they soon had agreed to go and have a rowing competition. Liesl wanted to go with Maria so Georg begged Elsa into going with him. She didn't want to, but was happy he had begged her so she instantly said yes. Elsa took her harmonica with her in hopes that they might have a relaxing moment after the race.
The four of them got into two identical canoes and Friedrich told them to go. Right before they left Elsa began to freak out.
"Georg have I ever told you I can't swim very well?" She asked.
"Don't worry about it we won't be flipping over or anything." He told her reassuringly. As they took off Kurt threw a leach that landed right on Elsa's neck. She didn't notice it then and tried to smile as Georg paddled hard to try and beat Maria. When they were half way done they were still going at the same speed when Elsa discovered the leach on her neck.
"Oh my goodness! Georg I am bleeding to death! Look at me I am going to die! Ahh oh help me!" With her high pitched screeches she began rocking the boat heavily. Soon the she tipped over into the water. "Oh help Georg!" Elsa put her hands on the boat, but all her weight made the whole boat tip over. Georg tumbled over and hit his head hard on the oar as he tipped over. Maria saw all this and jumped out of the boat with a floating oar.
"Here Elsa grab onto this and Liesl will pull you out." Maria instructed her. Elsa nodded and Maria went over to the Captain who she discovered was unconscious. She cringed and swam over to him and started swimming as quick as she could to the bank. She got there quickly and pulled him out of the water onto the sand. Liesl brought Elsa over and she began crying.
"Oh my knee it hurts!" She cried. Maria glanced over at Elsa and saw her knee covered with blood. She sighed seeing that Elsa definitely was not up to the task of saving Georg by doing mouth to mouth.
"Hold on one moment Elsa. I will help you as soon as I find out if he is alright." Maria stated turning her attention over to the Captain.
"Captain…can you hear me?" She asked nudging him. "Are you okay?" She still got no reply. She sighed as she glanced at Liesl who was looking over with concern.
"Liesl do you know mouth to mouth?" She asked.
"What? Oh you mean…um no I don't." Maria sighed again. She could not believe she was in such position.
"Alright then I suppose I will have to do it then. Liesl can you help Elsa out so I can look at her when I'm finished?" Liesl nodded as Maria bent over him to listen to his heartbeat. She took his mouth and breathed into it hoping that he would start to breathe again. She did this a couple of times and before long she saw his chest moving and his eyes fluttered open, right as Maria was about to give another breath. He looked at her in wonder. She backed away and smiled.
"Oh thank God you are okay!" Maria told him as Liesl came over to her Father's side.
"Are you alright Father?" She asked. "You had us all worried. Maria…she saved your life." Liesl stated.
"Yes I am okay." Georg stated looking at Maria. "Thank you Maria." He told her. Maria nodded and quickly went over to Elsa, whose knee was still bleeding a lot.
"Elsa put your hand over the blood and it will stop from the pressure." Maria instructed her.
"Oh no I couldn't put my hand on all that blood." Elsa cried. Maria rolled her eyes as she took her dress and tore of some of it. She placed her torn dress on Elsa's wound, which it immediately bleed threw. Maria sighed as she took the wrapping off and put some dirt on the wound.
"Oh no don't put dirt on me!" Elsa cried in dismay.
"Elsa it is the only thing we have that will stop the bleeding." Maria told her as she tore more off her dress. She applied the first bandage and the other piece of her dress she tore off and was happy to see it didn't bleed through the second one. "There!" Maria proclaimed. "All better!"
Elsa eventually calmed down a bit and soon couldn't see the bleeding.
"Thank you Maria." She told her.
"You're welcome. It is the least I could do. We didn't have much to stop it with." Maria told her honestly. Georg and Liesl sat side by side on the sand watching amazed at what Maria did. "How are you doing Captain?" She asked. He was staring off into space, not because of his injury, but because of Maria. Once he had woken up to find Maria doing mouth-to-mouth he couldn't help, but wish for more and he wished she had continued.
"Captain, are you still with us?" Maria asked again.
"What? Oh yes I am fine." He answered her. Maria looked unconvinced.
"We should get you back and get you some food and water. You too Baroness. So are we ready to go?" The two of them nodded as Liesl helped the Baroness up and into the canoe. The Captain asked Maria nicely for help and she couldn't resist his hand. She walked him over and helped him in the canoe.
"I don't think we will be having rowing races anytime soon." Maria told Liesl.
"At least not with me!" Elsa told them.
Once they had gotten back to the shore Maria asked Liesl to help clean her Father and the Baroness up and she would go make dinner. Liesl nodded and happily went away, while Maria watched the children and cooked over the campfire.
The Baroness and the Captain gathered at the campfire for dinner with the rest of the children. Elsa was doing much better and the Captain seemed in much better spirits and was returning to his old self. After dinner they decided to sing some songs. It was going well until Elsa decided to join in with her harmonica. The second she blew a bunch of seaweed ended up in her mouth. The children looked around and innocently giggled while their Father gave them the eye.
"Children? I am going to help Elsa clean the harmonica up and then we are going to go for a little walk. Maria? Would it be to big of a favor to ask to put these children to bed in a half of an hour?" He asked. She smiled sweetly.
"No Captain that sounds fine." She replied. He smiled back, looking at her beautiful face through the fire. He noticed that all the smoke from the fire was following her. Agathe had always told him smoke always follows beauty and he noticed it was following Maria, not Elsa. He got up with Elsa and walked away with her, knowing he was about to make a very important decision.
Maria sat with the children at the camp fire laughing and talking with them for a half of and hour.
"Children I am sorry, but I am afraid your Father wants you in bed now." She told them. They reluctantly agreed to go and get ready. Liesl sat down with Maria after she had quickly gotten ready for bed.
"Maria?" She asked.
"Yes Liesl?" Maria replied.
"I just wanted to say thank you." Liesl told her with tears in her eyes. Maria moved closer to her. "I mean I just don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there today. I didn't know what to do and the Baroness was to worried about herself…I wasn't ready to loose him too." Liesl cried. Maria put her arm around Liesl in a comforting hug.
"There it's alright Liesl." Maria told her. "Everything worked out fine. I am sure if I wasn't there the Lord would have shown one of you what to do. There's no reason to cry now though. Your Father is looking perfectly fine." She told her. Liesl nodded and whipped away her tears.
"I was so scared." She told Maria.
"Yes water can be very scary sometimes, can't it?" Liesl nodded while picking her head up from Maria's shoulder. "You know what Maria? I have never seen Father act like this since Mother was alive."
"Like what?" Maria asked.
"Well he tries to show off for one thing and then he gets all nervous so he falls or trips or does something stupid." Liesl told her. "He used to always challenge Mother to different things. The only difference is that she would usually always loose. He is having a much more difficult time with you." Maria laughed a little.
"Your Mother didn't like sports much, did she?" Maria asked.
"No she hated them. She disliked camping too, but she would always be a good sport and come with us. She wasn't the toughest person around, but she was tough in her own way. She could knit and cook the most delicious things." Liesl told her smiling.
"She sounds like a wonderful person." Maria chimed.
"Oh she was!" Liesl told her excitedly and began to tell Maria more about her Mother. After a while Liesl came to a conclusion. "See Maria, if it were not for you I never could even think about Mother without being sad. Now, thanks to you I can remember her and be thankful for the time I had with her."
"Well I am happy I could help you Liesl." Maria told her.
"Yes you helped us all. You taught us all how to live again and you even saved Father's life not once but twice!" Liesl's smile grew even larger. "Maria he is so in love with you!"
"What? No Liesl he is not in love with me. He is going to marry the Baroness and be very happy." Maria told her quickly.
"No he is not going to marry her. He is probably telling her right now that he can't marry her because he is in love with you!" Liesl told her.
"Liesl I don't think you are right, lets go to bed now okay?" Maria told her as they began to walk over to the sleeping bags.
"Alright lets get some sleep, but I think he is in love with you." She said. The children all at once looked up from their sleeping bags.
"We think he is in love with you too Maria!" They chimed. Maria cringed and got into her sleeping bag next to Gretl.
"I think you have all had to much excitement for one day so lets sleep now." Maria told them. There were a few sighs. "Remember to say your prayers…Goodnight Children!" Maria said.
"Goodnight Maria!" The children chimed. Maria laid her head down and began to think of the day's events in her head. She could not believe all that had happened. She wanted to leave and go back to the Abbey the second Liesl had mentioned the Captain was in love with her. She knew as long as it was only her and her brain that thought she was in love with him it would be fine, but if he was in love with her too? That would cause a major problem. She didn't believe Liesl at first, but soon remembered that he had tried to kiss her on the rock and the way he had looked at her after she saved him. She tried to brush it away. It made her shiver even more though when she heard Gretl's little voice praying.
"Dear Father I ask you to bless Maria. She is like a Mother to me and I would love it if she really became my Mother. You see she talks about doing what is the will of God a lot so I was just praying and wishing that it might be your will for Maria to marry Father. I think she could make him very happy. Thank you God oh and please say hello to my Mother for me and tell her I love her. Thank you. Amen." Gretl curled up and shut her eyes.
Maria tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it. Gretl seemed so mature for her age, reciting such a prayer. What made her uncomfortable was that her heart was too asking God to hear little Gretl's prayer.