Chapter 5: Panic in the morning

It was eight am and most of the children turned yet once more in their bed, still lingering in a dream world as they had another hour to sleep. Georg however had been awake for almost half an hour now, and when he had finished with his usual morning routine, he just sat around for a few minutes, and then decided to check on the children as they were still sleeping, something he hadn't done in years. First to the boys' room he thought as he quietly walked over to the other wing. When there, he opened the door ajar and took a peek inside. Kurt and Friedrich were sleeping peacefully. He let out a deep sigh, not expecting that it would give him such a contented feeling just to check on his children, as he closed the door as quiet as possible. Maria had showed him his family, and now to see how they've grown… it made him silent every time and he wished that Agathe could've been there with him to see all of it happen.

Next he moved to Liesl, Louisa and Brigitta's room. Once again his children were fast asleep. It made him smile to see Louisa lying over there, her head aside her pillow that was closely from being pushed out of the bed. He remembered all the times when he woke up in the morning when he was young, his sheaths half out of the bed, his pillow on the floor…

As last he went to Marta and Gretl's room. Again he opened the door and peeked in to see his little girls. Marta was lying there, all huddled up with her hand next to her face on the pillow. Then he looked over to see Gretl and nearly got a heart attack when he saw that her bed was empty, and started to panic. Immediately he searched in the bathroom, the nursery, then he went downstairs to check the dining room, the kitchen, the living room, even the ballroom. But she was nowhere to be found. Finally he went outside, but as he suspected, she wasn't there. 'Maria! Perhaps she knows where Gretl is.' And as fast as he could he ran the stairs up to Maria's room. When he reached her door, he knocked, but went inside without even waiting for a reply and said "Fraulein Maria, have you see-"

Maria was still asleep, and in her arms lay little Gretl. He sighed relieved and thought he should've known Maria should've been the first to go to. Now, as he had relaxed again, he just stood there for a while, gazing at the sight before him… his little girl lying there so close to Maria. It wasn't until then that he realized he was just standing in his governess bedroom. As quietly as he could he tried to walk backwards out of the room. On his way back though he bumped into the door-post which gave a loud thump, and caused Maria to wake up. She opened her eyes, her vision still a bit blurry and soon saw a shadow as her vision was getting clearer and clearer, until finally she could recognise her employer standing there. 'What's the captain doing here?' She sat up, quickly tried to shape her hair a bit and started speaking.

"Captain? Is something wrong?"

Whispering he told her the whole story "…but I couldn't find her. So I hoped you knew where she was. And you do, I see…" He moved his look to Gretl.

Maria tried to speak quietly in order not to wake the little girl lying next to her, but at the same time she had an apologizing tone in her voice, "Oh I'm so sorry, sir! But Gretl walked in last evening, she was so afraid of the thunderstorm. She asked if she could stay here this night. It won't happen again, sir. I promi-"

"Well… I hope she wasn't too big of a trouble…"

"Oh no, sir, not at all." Maria just couldn't believe what she was hearing. Surely he had to be mad because she had disobeyed the rules again, but he was so different from the last time, so much more caring.

He cast a little smile and intended to finally leave Maria's room, when he suddenly stopped and turned his look around again to face Maria, "Oh, and another thing," he said before he walked out of the door, "I'll leave with the children at 10 am. I'll see you at breakfast." And he had left the room.

Maria who still wasn't fully awake, frowned one last time but decided to let it go since her sleep was taking over again, so she lay herself back down and slept on until a quarter to 9. Then she forced herself to get up, get dressed and wake the others up, starting with Gretl who was still lying in her bed. After twenty minutes everybody was ready with their daily custom. They still had ten minutes before breakfast. The children were very excited, especially because it had been a while since they had been out alone with their father, even though Elsa was coming too.

In the dining room, Maria noticed the empty spot next to her and across her. Max and Chris were absent, probably still in their bed, but Maria had planned to leave when the others would, so she excused herself and went to Chris's room. Softly she knocked, and when no reply came, she opened the door and walked inside. Chris was indeed still sleeping, but Maria was going to do something about that. She walked to the curtains, pulled them open so the warm sun would fall on his face. Maria had suspected it wouldn't work - but she figured she could always try – and rolled her eyes when she moved over to him and pushed him carefully. Yet no movement. Thus she pushed harder, while calling his name. And when even that didn't work, she got into the bathroom, fetched a glass of water and poured it over his head. In a second he had awoken and looked up from his soaked pillow while little drops of water were gliding down his face. Of course Maria was standing there, next to him, with an empty glass and an obvious grin on her face.

"I see you haven't lost your tricks, duckie," he said, blinking his eyes and wiping off his face with his hands.

"Silly! You wouldn't wake up, so I had to do it the hard way."

"What time is it?" Chris continued, glancing at Maria from the corner of his eye.

"Almost half past nine."

His face moved into a weary frown. "It's early," he complained.

"Oh come on Chris, I want to leave when the others are leaving too."

"All right, I'll be at breakfast in a minute." He sighed as he closed his eyes and let his hand brush over his face. When he opened them again, he saw from the corner of his eye that Maria hadn't moved.

"Well?" Chris asked, not moving a single muscle.

"I know you far too well! You say you're going to come, but you'll just lie down again," Maria stated and folded her arms, showing that she could wait there forever.

"How can I? My pillow is wet!" Chris exclaimed while turning over to see Maria fully.

"That would not stop you."

"Fine."

At last he got up. He took his clothes and disappeared in the bathroom. About ten minutes later when he had finally finished, they walked together to the dining room, now both being too late.