Thx again for those reviews. In this chapter I used a song: Henry the eighth, even though I don't think it existed back then.

Chapter 6: Sweet sweet memories

The others had gone already by the time Maria and Chris had finished their breakfast. Then they moved to the kitchen and filled their picnic basket with crisp apple strudels, just like they always used to do so many years ago. Finally they were on their way to the hills, to return to the places that were theirs in their childhood. First they reached the brook and just sat near it, throwing rocks in the stream and now and then splashing some water at each other.

"God, this brings out so many memories," Maria sighed deeply, gazing out over the landscape before she lay down on the damp grass, both she and Chris relieved to be back out there. "I remember how we were playing tag in the brook in those warm summer days," she continued contentedly, thinking back of those times without any worries.

"Yeah, and you always tried to trip me so I'd fall in the water!" Chris stated in a feigned angry yet amused tone.

"Well, so did you!" Maria retorted, not being able to hold back a smile, especially when she heard Chris say "That's called revenge, duckie."

Then both turned quiet, nevertheless it was a comfortable silence with the sounds of their surroundings in the background, both thinking of those marvellous years they had spent together. Yet the silence didn't last very long, as Maria started humming an all too familiar tune.

"Do you still know this one?" Maria asked, sitting up while directing her look at Chris, waiting for him to reply.

"Ah yes, we drove everybody crazy by singing it like all the time."

"I can't quite remember the lyrics," Maria continued trying hard to recall what it was about, "something about Henry the eighth…"

Chris remembered and suddenly he sprung up, singing the song loudly. And even though they were the only two persons around, he'd sing it again in a crowd with Maria by his side any day. That was enough for Maria to remember, she too jumped up and was able to catch up and sing the rest with Chris.

I love pickled onions
I like piccalilli
Pickled cabbage is all right
With a bit of cold beef on a Sunday night
I can go tomatoes
But what I do prefer
Is a little bit of ucum icum ucom
A little bit of cucumber

I'm Henry the eighth I am
Henry the eighth I am I am
I got married to the widow next door
She's been married seven times before
And every one was an Henry
She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam
I'm her eighth old man named Henry
Henry the eighth I am
Oh blimey
Henry the eighth I am

Chris, the clown he always had been, couldn't manage to control himself and as Maria was used to it, but unfortunately had forgotten as the years had passed by, he started pulling faces as he sung along. That was it for Maria, she couldn't hold herself any longer and burst out into laughter by seeing her friend act like the greatest nut who had ever walked the planet. Chris, however, could not be thrown off and kept singing, all the while secretly enjoying the sound of Maria's laughter.

Any old iron
Any old iron
Any any any old iron
You look treat
Talk about a
You look dapper
From your napper
To your feet
Dressed in style
With a brand new tile
And your father's old green tie on
But I wouldn't give you tuppence
For your old watch chain
Old iron
Old iron

Finally Maria had calmed down, although her smile never left her face. She couldn't believe this was really happening, that she and Chris were really here together having fun after so many years. Again she was lying on the grass, this time staring up at Chris. What a beautiful day it was, just warm enough, a light breeze, and little white clouds floating by in a sky that seemed bluer than usual. Birds were chirping cheerfully and the soft sound of the stream flowing away from them was ever so relaxing.

"I'm reliving all those years," Maria broke the silence and sighed, "the only thing missing is us being the little scamps of the town." It almost sounded as if she regretted that that chapter was behind them, which in a way she did…

"I don't think it would be much trouble to become that way again," Chris replied after a long pause, "Speaking of that, you're a governess now. Didn't the children do any pranks on you?"

"Oh yes, on the first day… I was standing there more nervous than I liked and had just met the captain and the children. Then when Frau Schmidt and I were heading towards my room, I felt something moving in the pocket of my dress. Well, it turned out to be a toad."

Chris couldn't hide his amused look. "You always had a terrible dislike of bugs, spiders and slimy animals."

"Later on that day," Maria continued ignoring Chris, "I was late for dinner"

"Not a good start if you ask me!" Chris interrupted jokingly.

"I didn't ask you!" Maria retorted in the same mocking tone. "Anyhow, I sat down right on a pinecone. I immediately sprung back up."

Chris was staring up into the air, trying to imagine this scene in front of him. "Hmm, amusing sight, I must say!"

"At least it weren't such ones like we used to do. Besides, Frau Schmidt said that with another governess, they used a snake instead of a toad. And a few weeks ago, when the children and I went out, they told me they had put glue on a Fraulein's toothbrush."

"Do they hate governesses that much?"

"No, it's just a way to get their father's attention," Maria answered, glad that that period was over.

Chris beamed, "Still, it's different from us, we did it just for fun…"

On their way to the city, the group had discussed as to how they would spend their day together. The captain had expected Elsa to choose something like shopping, though he wasn't sure the children would agree to it, yet to his surprise they were as excited as Elsa herself. It wasn't every day they went out with their father, and especially not to shop in the beautiful boutiques in the city, where Elsa had been spending much time talking about since she had arrived at the villa. And although finally spending time with his children, Georg's mind frequently wandered off to Maria. 'I wonder what she's doing now…'

In the meantime, the two friends had gotten hungry and by now the basket was practically empty.

"Simply delicious," Maria smiled as she wiped off the crumbs on her dress.

"Yes, I couldn't agree more."

"You know, I just thought of something…"

"And what is that, duckie?"

Maria looked at Chris with a rather amused spark in her eyes. "How I used to beat you in our running contests!" She saw his face twitch and knew where this was leading to.

"You never beat me! I let you win." She heard the same Chris van long ago say, the one that never liked to admit his defeats and rather be childish about it.

"Come on, you were always out of breath when you arrived," Maria chuckled as their same old conversation as always took place.

"No I was not!" Chris tried to defend himself, sounding far more childish than he wanted to.

Maria stood up and challenged him, "Wanna bet?"

"Sure."

She knew that that never failed to work. Then she turned her head to the other side of the hill. "From here to the tree house."

"Are you kidding me?" Chris exclaimed, letting his lazy side take over, "That's like a half mile!"

Maria turned her look back at Chris and smiled triumphantly. "You said yourself I never beat you, so now is your turn to show it. At least if you dare to do so…"

Chris knew that this was Maria's way to get him to do whatever she wanted, and to his dismay, it worked every time. "All right."

Chris stood up annoyed and he and Maria went to stand into the right direction, but saw the basket lying there and realised they couldn't run with it.

"Well, I guess we can't run now," Chris smiled, trying to look nonchalant but failing miserably.

"We'll leave it and pick it up later," Maria replied. This wasn't going to stop her from beating him… again, "No one will come here."

"I don't know."

"Aw chicken! You know you're going to lose!" She added teasingly, knowing this would be the way to get him to go.

"Brace yourself, duckie."

The captain decided it was time for a break, and the children couldn't agree any more. The only one who didn't like the idea was Elsa of course. Still, she knew she couldn't compete against eight persons all getting tired of shopping, boutiques, or anything even slightly related to it. Especially now when most of them sat whenever they got the chance for it. So now when the children and Georg were sitting on a bench as Elsa had gone into another boutique, for a quick look, Louisa saw a restaurant not far from the place they were. The most of them were hungry, including the captain. So as soon as Elsa had joined them again, they moved towards the restaurant, glad to finally sit down without hearing Elsa every five minutes to go in that shop, or to take a look over there.

As they walked in, the little ones were very enthusiastic about the paintings on the walls, warm colours and beautiful sights that gave the place an Italian glow. The whole restaurant was decorated with these images and veils elegantly covered the corners of the ceilings. They found a table large enough for all of them and took place. First they ordered some drinks, tea for the baroness and the captain, lemonade for the others. The children were quieter than before, mostly because of that exhausting day of Elsa's world and were glad when their drinks had arrived. Also Elsa and Georg were silent, the captain was too busy with letting his mind wander off to other things, or better said, other persons, and the baroness tried to make conversation with the children, but they wouldn't cooperate very much. So the baroness excused herself and went to powder her nose. The children had been waiting all day for a moment like this. Friedrich, Liesl and Marta diverted their father, while Louisa secretively took the pepper and poured some into Elsa's tea. Brigitta first made sure if her father was still busy with her siblings, then she whispered: "Are you sure you put enough in it?"

"Three spoonfuls. I think that'll do it." Louisa smiled mischievously while she passed the pepper to Kurt who put it on the other side of the table.

Not much later, Elsa returned. There was still no sign of a waiter and frankly, it got on Elsa's nerves, she too was hungry and hated waiting. Annoyed she drank her tea and it wasn't until she gulped some that she tasted the ever so disgusting taste. Immediately she spitted the awful liquid out over the table, got up as if she had been attacked by a wild animal and quite accidentally bumped into the waiter who was just passing their table, holding a plate with spaghetti and drinks. The waiter lost his balance and tripped, causing the drinks to fall over Elsa and the plate with food flew through the restaurant with every customer simply sitting there like spectators in a circus, in fact, that was actually exactly what it was… A couple on the other side of the restaurant, celebrating their wedding anniversary, were the lucky ones the plate landed on. They were covered with spaghetti, some meatballs and tomato sauce was dripping all over the two.

The children had much trouble with hiding their laughter, even the captain was chuckling, especially when he saw Elsa all wet, her perfect hairdo all ruined and her make-up ran out over her face. Probably not the good thing to do, because when Elsa saw him laughing, she simply got furious, even worse than the poor couple who had an sudden stop to their romantic anniversary date.

"Am I nothing than a good laugh to you?" She called out through the whole restaurant, now being the centre of attention.

"Elsa, you're all wrong!" He jumped up from his seat, trying to defend himself and somewhat comfort her as well, "I was laughing with that poor couple. I know I shouldn't, but I-I…I couldn't help it!" Meanwhile Elsa was already moving towards the exit as nondescript as possible, although every eye in the restaurant was fixed on her. Georg quickly left some money on the table and followed her, and as soon as the two were out of hearing reach, the children burst out in laughter. "Really Elsa," they faintly heard their father try, "you know I wouldn't laugh with you!"

And finally the children got up and followed the couple outside, knowing that this was the end of their glorious day together, which had ended with a blast!

Exhausted Maria reached the tree house. It was quite a distance to run, but she made it. Not long after, and even more exhausted than Maria, Chris arrived as well.

"I…beat…you…again! …Just…like…old…times!

Maria let herself fall in the grass, trying to get her breathing under control. She was simply dead beat but it couldn't care her less, because she had won! She looked up at Chris, who stood there a bit ducked with his hands leaning on his knees also trying desperately to get his breathing right.

"I…just…wasn't…prepared!" He went on, trying to safe his 'manhood' even though he knew he was defeated.

"Keep telling…that…yourself…"

Next Chris let himself fall next to Maria, and both just stayed quiet for a while to rest, while gazing up into the branches of their tree and the old tree house that still looked remarkably well after so many years, the question was, if it still was that safe as back when the two of them used to come here at least once a week. Finally, when their breathing had resumed normally again, they prepared themselves to climb into the tree house, because there wasn't any latter or anything else, exactly like they had left it.

Maria went first. It wasn't really difficult for her, since for as long as she could remember she had climbed in trees, especially the one in front of them, and with Chris it was just the same. In no time they were both up and carefully they made their way into the little hut, first trying out the wooden floor before they would actually move further. Yet it seemed safe and they both sat down next to each other, taking a look around them and relived all the memories it brought with it. It seemed smaller though, which was natural since both had grown in the meantime. And then Maria saw the little brown box tied up with string in the corner across Maria.

"Oh look Chris! It's still here!" She said as she took the box and laid it in front of them before she pulled the string off of it to open it. The first thing she did, was taking a little teddy bear out of it. Underneath it was filled with photos and papers with poems and lyrics of songs on them.

"I had forgotten about it." Maria confessed less cheerful, as this brought back that moment of goodbyes. Both were looking at the teddy bear that Maria clung to in her hands.

"Why did you put that teddy in it?" Chris asked somewhat confused, "I thought you liked that present…"

"You were leaving…" Maria finally answered after a long pause, a little lump forming in her throat, "Whenever I looked at it, it reminded me of you and all the sorrows you brought along when you told me you were going to move… My best friend was leaving me behind…"

"Well, I'm here now."

Maria turned her head to face Chris, and saw that he already had been looking at her, and both just reached out to embrace one another. It felt so good having him close again. He was the person who knew her the best, where she had spent most of her life with. Then slowly they parted from their embrace and leant back against the wooden plate, their shoulders still touching.

"It was a good idea to have this box," Maria continued, "You know, I came here a lot when you left. But it was so different without you… Different and quiet. Why did you leave?"

"Duckie, you know I didn't want to. I would've stayed here if I could, but I had to go with my family."

Maria sighed as she put all the things back into the box, then stayed quiet for a minute and looked up at the wooden plate that was meant as a roof. Whenever it was good weather, night or day, they pulled it aside and gazed up at the branches of the tree with its green leaves, or the deep blue sky with its numerous clouds. Just seeing Maria look at it the way she did, Chris knew that today they'd shove it aside as well, and before they knew it they were already lying down, staring up. And since they still weren't fully recovered from that run, they quickly dozed off. A couple of hours later Chris woke up and still in a daze, he looked over at Maria, who was still soundly sleeping and it simply made him smile to see her so peacefully, so beautiful… And waking her was the last thing he wanted to do, he'd rather just gaze some more at her loveliness, but it was time to return to the house, especially now that dark clouds started to come up.

"Maria?" He whispered, softly caressing her cheek, "…Maria? It's time to wake up, duckie."

"Wha? Mhm… Do I have to?" He heard her say in a weary voice.

"Yes, I think it's time to go back."

Slowly Maria opened her eyes, not willing to wake up from that dream she was having. Lying there in his arms, near the lake, watching the sun set behind the mountains… Neither one of them said something, but his breath in her neck gave her shivers down her spine, and as she felt his lips in her neck, he gently turned her around and he was just moments away from kissing her, when all of the sudden she heard someone calling her name, that someone being Chris, trying to wake her up.

Now she was kind of disappointed it only had been a dream, and carefully she followed Chris out of the tree house until they were standing on the ground.

"We can run back to the basket, or we could take it slow this time," she heard Chris say, though she wasn't completely out of her dream world yet.

"Slow is good," she answered absentminded, yet in a beaming way.

With that they made their way back. And all the while, Maria couldn't put that image of her and Georg out of her mind. Unknowingly she felt happier then she ever had been in all of her life.