I know I'd said that chapter 22 would be the last of this story. Well … I've changed my mind. Some people wanted me to continue this one and I myself felt it would be the same if I'd make a continuation anyway, so there isn't much difference.

Thx Martina for your help! You see how much of this chapter is based on your suggestion :) … Thx again!
Also Megs, thx for your help!

These -- are the beginning and the end of a flashback and during it, both Chris and Max were out in the city if you wonder were they were, because I haven't described that.

Enjoy.

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Unaware they weren't alone, the couple walked outside towards the patio, too busy with gazing into each others' eyes while talking about the wedding. Once outside, when they finally looked in front of them to sit down, the presence of another guest came to their attention. A beautiful lady, with brown hair pinned up, about the same age as Maria. She looked very sophisticated, but still had a warm glow around her. Maria had the feeling she already knew the lady. Still she couldn't really tell how she could be familiar with this woman.

"Rosemarie?" Georg started.

"Hello Georg …" She replied while giving him a little smile. Then she turned to face Maria, the smile never leaving her face. "… Maria."

Maria was kinda surprised the lady knew her name. Then it hit her who she was.

"You look remarkably like your sister."

Georg looked startled at his fiancée. 'How can she know it's Agathe's sister?' But he answered his question soon himself.

"Yes, I get that a lot." Rosemarie answered in the same friendly tone as before.

"How long has it been?" Georg asked, remembering how cold he and his household had been the last time she had visited.

"I think about 6 months ago."

"Maria!" It sounded from inside. The cheery children's voices could be heard from afar. "Maria! Come! We've got a surprise for you!"

Maria was just about to stand up when Gretl excitedly came running through the door, but immediately stopped at the sight of the unexpected guest sitting there. Her mouth dropped open of complete disbelief as it had been so long since the last time she had seen the lady. Then she ran towards Rosemarie to end up sitting on her lap, while giving her a big hug.

"Auntie Rose!!"

"Hello darling! It's so nice to see you again! How are you?"

"Oh I'm wonderful! Maria is going to be my new mother!"

Rosemarie quickly glanced with a little smile at Maria. She was glad Maria had such a close band with the children.

By saying this last sentence, Gretl's task came back to her mind, as she was send by her siblings to get Maria. Quickly she hurried to her soon-to-be mother and grabbed her hand.

"Come Maria, the others are waiting!"

Maria stood up, then turned to Rosemarie.

"Excuse me, please."

Which she replied with an approving look.

"Gretl, darling, please don't tell the others yet I'm here. I want to surprise them." Rosemarie quickly added before Gretl had the chance to drag Maria inside.

"My lips are sealed." The 5-year-old exclaimed with the wisdom of someone older than her. Next she proceeded pulling Maria inside with her and soon both had disappeared into the house.

"So, what brings you here?" Georg curiously asked his sister in law.

"Can't I see my own family anymore?" She replied in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Yes you can, but that isn't why you're here. Usually you call."

Georg seemed to be looking right through her, and Rosemarie knew it far too well. Both knew each other rather good, as they used to come every week together with the entire family.

"Okay, you're right. Well, this time I haven't called, because I had been called."

Confused, Georg raised his eyebrow.

"Liesl had called me to say you were engaged … to your governess I might add. So naturally, I had to come and meet this woman who seemed to have change all of your lives so much. Marrying beneath you, it's not nothing Georg. But I also know that you only would marry someone you truly and dearly love. Now you must understand I want to meet the bride of my brother in law." She laid the stress on brother in law, as if she wasn't really approving this whole situation. "Therefore I just had to come. Plus it's a nice chance to see my lovely nieces and nephews again."

"So you came here to see if I'd marry well?"

"Frankly, yes. But from what I've seen just know, I might have been worrying for nothing."

"Yes, you have."

"I really am impressed. How did she know I was Agathe's sister?"

"A few days ago, when we were looking for my guitar up in the attic, I found some old photos. But I hadn't looked at them and I assumed it were only photos when the children were younger. So she asked if she could see them, because ever since she got here she has loved those children as if they were her own." Georg was trailing away a bit, once again thinking how lucky he was, but quickly turned his attention back to Rosemarie. "Of course there were some photos of Agathe and I as well."

Rosemarie looked understanding, then changed the subject again.

"How come I had to find out by the children? Aren't I invited to the wedding?"

"Of course you are! We've only been engaged since last night. No one else knows yet except the ones who are and were staying here."

"Were …?"

"Maria's best friend. He has stayed here for a while, but today he went away."

"Oh I see."

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"Please close your eyes until I say you can open them again."

Maria closed her eyes at once, trusting the little girl completely. She felt her hand in her own, while she was carefully guided to the children's nursery. She could hear the girls giggle but she couldn't hear the boys though. 'Well, they aren't exactly the giggling type, now are they.' She pointed herself out as Gretl and she stepped through the opening of the door. Immediately it became quiet, and she could feel all their eyes fixed on her. Gretl's grip on Maria's hand loosened, until she couldn't feel the little girl's hand at all anymore.

"Now you can open them."

The first thing she saw when she opened them, were 7 gloomy faces all staring at her. Then her attention was drawn by the square thing Liesl was holding. She looked closer at it and saw the photo that had been taken a while ago of the children, Maria herself and Georg together.

--

The children were downstairs when they had found an old photo album with photos of when they were a few years younger. Excitedly they searched for Maria. They wanted her to see the pictures as well, to tell the stories behind a few of them. Maria had told them a lot about her past, this would be a great opportunity to let her know more about theirs. Finally, when they had ran up the stairs as fast as they could and therefore were exhausted, they reached her room. The door was already open, so Maria had seen them immediately and gestured them to come in as she could see they were eager to show or say her something.

"Maria, we've found our photo album! Do you wanna see it with us?"

"Of course I will."

She reached out and laid the book she was reading on the bedside table. As soon as that had happened, the children took place around her. Louisa and Kurt next to her, the little ones behind her on the bed while peeping over her shoulders and Liesl, Brigitta and Friedrich behind their youngest siblings.

They were half through the album, when Georg passed the room, only to come back at once. The group had drawn his attention, so he walked into Maria's bedroom as well, trying to find out what they were looking at. Kurt noticed him as first.

"Father, come look with us at our old photos!"

He moved over to make room for Georg. The captain hesitated at first, he was actually on his way to Max. 'He can wait.' He really felt like spending some time with the group now, while looking at their old photos, especially when he saw Maria's you-are-more-than-welcome-to-join-us-smile, thus he accepted his son's offer and took place next to Maria before he took Gretl to sit on his lap.

The next was a photo of Louisa, Friedrich and Brigitta at the table while eating blueberry pancakes. All 3 their mouths and hands were purple-blue of the berries. Louisa and Friedrich were smiling broadly because their little sister had practically fallen asleep and her head was about to land in her plate with the pancakes.

"I can't remember that picture." Brigitta confessed.

"Well how could you, you were merely 4 years old." Friedrich added.

"You were so tired that day! And those pancakes were delicious! By the way, your head did land on your plate." Louisa chuckled. "Mother had such a hard time with cleaning your face, not to forget ours as well. But yours was worse, you're whole face looked blue."

Now she couldn't hold herself any longer, she burst out of laughing, followed by her other siblings and the 2 adults. Even Brigitta herself was chuckling at the image forming in her mind.

"And your mother's and Liesl's face when they entered the dining room. It was priceless! I was just taking the plate away underneath Brigitta's face. Liesl immediately started laughing after seeing your blue tan, but your mother walked at us and started cleaning your face with a napkin at once, although it didn't really help." Georg couldn't help but participating in the story. He had forgotten it until a few minutes ago.

Then they moved to the next photo. Georg and Agathe were sitting in a couch with a 3-year old Liesl sleeping on top of them. Her head was leaning on Georg's chest and her legs were laying on Agathe's lap. Her long curls fell partly over her face, but still you could see her little eyes closed and her thumb in her mouth. She had a light orange dress on, with the same coloured ribbon in her hair. Petite orange shoes were on her feet while white socks came up to her knees. Meanwhile Georg had his right arm around Agathe, who was laying close against him. Both were looking at their daughter with little smiles on their faces.

"Aaww, look how cute!"

Gretl exclaimed with seeing her big sister laying there so many years ago. Maria smiled unconsciously after the little girl's outburst.

"We had been to a funfair that day. You were exhausted!"

Georg thought back of that day. They had had a marvellous time with their little girl. He couldn't believe that little girl had become a young lady already.

"How old was I there?"

"About 3 I think."

"Then where was Friedrich?" Liesl asked. She had been wondering that since she had laid her eyes on that photo.

"Max was staying with us that time, he had looked after him that day with Frau Schmidt and Hendrika. You saw her as your big sister. And frankly she had always thought of you all as her younger siblings."

"I've always seen her as my big sister, even now." Liesl added somewhat dreamingly. So many wonderful memories came back with Hendrika.

And so they went on with looking at the pictures. When the last page had been turned, the children left without the album, because they knew it were Maria's free hours. Georg, on the other hand, stayed a bit longer. Both gazed at the last photo for a few minutes.

"I've been wondering …" Maria started. "… I haven't seen any photos taken of them in the last few years." She tried to be subtle and yet honest. Maria thought it was a pity the only photos she had seen of Gretl and Marta were when they were babies. There weren't even many of Gretl. And it occurred to her that photos were valuable for later when Georg or one of the children wanted to see their memories again, as they had done this past hour.

"Yes, I know. Taking photos had gone away like the singing and the cheeriness."

They both kept silence for a moment, but soon Georg continued his saying.

"So it's high time to take some new ones!"

He moved his head up to face Maria, who smiled in return. For some it might not seem important, but Maria thought otherwise, because for all you could know, your loved ones could be gone one day. She loved to look at her old pictures, the ones where she and her mom were making music in front of the big piano, or the one where her dad had tilted her up his neck that day they went for a walk. And by the way the children and Georg had told her their stories with the photos, she knew it was important for them as well.

Later that day, everyone was sitting outside in the garden. It was a lovely weather. Absolutely no clouds in the sky, no wind and it was just warm enough to have a great time in the open. Maria was leaning against a tree while reading a book out loud. The children were listening at her with most interest. But not the children alone. Georg was laying on his side with his elbow placed on the ground while leaning with his head on his hand. Maria's voice sounded heavenly and the way she sat there, with that book in front of her, made Georg feel like a teenager all over again.

Suddenly he remembered about the photos. He rose off the ground and made his way back into the house, which made Maria stop with reading to see what he was up to, but quickly she returned to the book. A few minutes later he was back with an old camera in his hands. Again Maria stopped reading, and this time the children's attention was also drawn by their father.

"Please do continue." He said when he saw that all eyes were directed at him.

Therefore Maria continued as he had asked. The children turned their heads back to Maria. Meanwhile Georg had already taken a picture. Frau Schmidt walked out at that exact moment towards the group. She had seen the event from inside and thought she might be helpful, after all, there should be some photos of all of them together.

"Can I help, sir?"

Maria's head rose up once more to see Frau Schmidt standing next to Georg. She didn't have a clue he had already taken a photo. What's more, she didn't want to keep Frau Schmidt of her work and thought she might as well could take the photos of the family herself.

"If you would be so kind." He replied while giving her a kind smile.

"Oh that isn't necessary, I can ta--"

"Nonsense Fraulein. It would be an honour if you'd be in the photo as well."

Georg really wanted her in the photo next to the others.

"Well I-I …"

"Please Fraulein?" The children pleaded.

She didn't think she should be on the photos. After all, she didn't belong to the family. "Are you sure you wan--"

"Absolutely positive."

Maria and Georg exchanged a look that told her she should be in it, thus she gave in.

"Alright."

She laid the book next to her on the grass when Louisa and Kurt hurried to sit next to her. Georg followed and took place next to Louisa. Liesl sat down on the other side of her father with Brigitta following her example with Kurt. Gretl sat down on her father's lap and cuddled down into his arms. Marta went to Maria and Friedrich, he lay in front of them. Everyone was holding each other tightly and because of the great time they were having, they were all laughing genuinely.

As the picture was taken, Marta and Friedrich ran up to Frau Schmidt and Hendrika, who had joined her mother a few moments earlier. They pulled them to the rest of the group and asked them to sit down to pose for another picture. Maria was intending to stand up, but she couldn't because of the children. Georg stood up before she could and walked away to take another one. It was a disaster. Maria was still leaning against the tree with Marta on her lap, but the left side had fallen on each other when Georg had taken the photo. Kurt had lost his balance and grabbed Brigitta, who grabbed Frau Schmidt, who grabbed Hendrika. And therefore the other side was laughing by seeing that domino effect. When they had recovered themselves, another, but now decent, was taken.

After that Hendrika and Frau Schmidt excused themselves to go on with their work, so it was just the children with the 2 adults now. Maria persuaded Georg to take some photos of him and the children alone and then just the children alone.

When that had been done, Georg had left the camera on the table on the patio and the day went on. But instead of going on with that book, the children walked away far enough so that Maria and Georg couldn't hear them. Meanwhile Maria sat down again in front of that tree with Georg taking place next to her. They started talking about things and were sitting rather closely. Of course they were used to it by now. Since that day in the tree house they had had many of these moments.

As they were too busy with their conversation, they hadn't noticed the children taking the camera to take some unexpected photos of the 2. And they had succeeded without the adults knowing about it. They had laid the camera back on the table in the same unnoticed way as before and then went back to hear the rest of the book.

--

The next thing she had noticed were the yellow-painted stars of clay glued to the dark blue frame. The children saw her admiring the border at the moment.

"We know you love stars, as you said that first night you were here and Chris had told us also, so we used them for the frame. We got a call that the photos were ready today, so when you went to bring Chris to the station, Max got them for us."

"It's beautiful …"

Her gaze went back to the photo. She loved it. It was the most beautiful gift they could have given her.

"It's our very first family photo." Liesl observed.

Maria was still in awe. It was true, their first family photo. She stepped forward and embraced the children with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I love it! I truly do! And I love each and every one of you! Thank you so much!"

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Okay, so here it is. I've been busy these past weeks with my exams and it might be not as good. So please review and let me know what you think.

That blueberry pancakes photo, well my sister inspired me with that one. When she was little and she was eating those pancakes, her mouth and fingers were entirely blue, plus she had almost fallen asleep, but woke up and rose her head when the pic was taken. Afterwards, her head however, did not fall on her plate, it fell on the bare table …

(The usual 6 reviews please :) and I'll try to update as fast as I can)