Maria opened her eyes, immediately realizing how dark it was. Quickly looking at the clock, she saw that it was past eight o'clock. Realizing she had already missed dinner and it was about time to put the children to bed, she jumped out of bed, straightening out her dress and hair and frowning to herself. She had only meant to rest for a moment, but the day's activities had made her especially tired.
Running out of her room and turning around to close the door, she quickly turned back to run down the hall and ran right into the Captain.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sir! I only meant to rest for a moment but I must have been more tired than I thought," Maria hurriedly apologized, seeing the look on the Captain's face, "I'm sorry I missed dinner and I hope you didn't wait too long for me. If you'll excuse me, I'll go and put the children to b..."
"Fraulien!" the Captain said, holding up his hands and smiling. "It's alright about dinner. If you go down to the kitchen, the cook is ready to prepare you a meal. About the children, I will take care of them. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if their father actually put them to bed for once," Georg remarked, sheepishly.
"Oh... no of course not... I'm sure they'd love it," Maria replied, surprised at the Captain's response. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll go eat now so the cook won't have to stay up too late."
Maria turned to leave, but heard the Captain call her.
"I'm spending the day tomorrow with my children and they decided we would go on a picnic. They said you knew a beautiful place to go?"
"Oh, yes, actually, I'm sure the children know how to get there from here."
"Oh, I'm sure they wouldn't want me to go if they knew you weren't coming," Georg said quickly, not wanting to leave the Fraulien out of their trip. "Please join us tomorrow."
Maria was taken aback but smiled, "Alright then, but I'm sure the children would have just as much fun with you without me there. Excuse me, sir, I'm rather hungry now."
Maria turned to head downstairs to eat dinner, excited about the Captain's enthusiasm to spend time with his children. 'About time...' Maria thought.
The house was bustling with excitement as seven excited children, one still-drowsy governess, and one enthusiastic captain got ready to go on their picnic. Seeing the children dressed in their playclothes made Georg wished he had playclothes, feeling rather foolish in his suit. He watched as Fraulien Maria hurried around, able to keep all seven children happy while getting herself ready at the same time, and wondered how she was able to do it all. When all were finally ready, with Maria, Georg, and Liesl carrying baskets filled with a delicious lunch, the nine skipped out of the house.
Georg chuckled to himself as he recalled Elsa's reaction to their picnic. Though not even invited, Elsa made it clear that she had better things to do. "Oh, darling, try not to miss me too much, as I'm afraid I won't be able to make the picnic tomorrow..." Else had said coyly. "I am far too exhausted to go traipsing about Austria with seven children." Georg knew it was better that way, not wanting to have to deal with her complaints or grass-stained dresses. A mountain picnic was not an Elsa-thing to do.
Maria led the children as she usually had, almost forgetting about the ninth member of the group. Looking behind her, Maria would see the Captain carrying Marta or laughing with Friedrich or catching Kurt eating food out of one of the picnic baskets. It was odd to see him acting in such a compassionate and fatherly manner. Climbing into the mountains, Maria noticed no sign of exhaustion from the Captain, aware of his physical strength and the hint that he had done this before.
When they finally arrived at the grassy field of Maria's mountain, the children were quick to run off and play in the sun. Kurt and Friedrich had already begun a game of catch, calling over to their Father to join them, who eagerly threw the ball back to his son. Liesl helped Maria spread the blankets over the short grass, before joining Brigitta and Louisa in a game of cards. Marta and Gretl begged Maria to come with them to pick flowers for their father near the edge of the trees.
By the time lunch came, all were hungry and came running when Fraulien Maria called them to the blankets spread with delicious food.
"This really is a beautiful spot, Fraulien," Maria heard the Captain speak to her, looking up from helping Marta cut her sandwich.
"Thank you, Sir. I've been coming up here for years. My father brought me up here for the first time on my birthday when I was just a child," Maria began to think back on her second birthday. "Which makes it twenty years ago next week… wow…"
"It's your birthday next week, Fraulien Maria?" Brigitta inquired.
"Yes, it is, Brigitta."
"Father, can we throw Fraulien Maria a party?" Marta asked excitedly.
"And can we get her lots of presents?" Gretl piped in.
Georg looked smiling at the young governess, chuckling at the enthusiasm from his two daughters but seeing the rest of his children nodding along with them. "Well, I suppose we could do something…"
"Oh, sir, it's really not necessary. I don't need anything. Really." Maria pressed, not wanting to burden the Captain or draw any more attention to herself.
"No, Fraulien Maria, you need a birthday party!" Gretl said, whining to her father. "She needs a birthday party, Father!"
"Well, she shall then," Georg said, seeing how much the children cared for their governess. "It'll be up to all of you to make the plans though."
The children nodded eagerly, and Liesl and Brigitta began to think of what they should get for their Fraulien for a present.
Maria blushed slightly from all of the attention, grateful when Louisa found a small snake lurking near the group's picnic, causing the little ones to jump towards her, and turn the attention, especially the Captain's, away from her. During the meal, she caught him looking at her, but also found herself staring in his direction as well. Eventually she just decided to lie down, looking up at the blue sky. Pretty soon she had closed her eyes and fallen asleep, warmed by the bright sun.
"She's asleep!" Brigitta told the group, signaling a time to talk about the plans for a party.
The children decided that they would all dress up fancy and have a family dinner on the veranda. Each of the children wanted to get their Fraulien a different present, so Georg indulged the shopping trip planned for the next day. Liesl also brought up the fact that Fraulien Maria would need a dress suitable for such an occasion and insisted that her present be whatever dress her Fraulien wanted.
Finally after much discussion, and fear of waking up their Fraulien, it was decided that they would all go to town the next day, where the Georg would take the children to pick out presents while Liesl would shop for a dress with Fraulien Maria.
A/N Please review!