Hey everyone. Thanks so much for the reviews. No I hadn't forgotten about this fic, I've just been really really busy and when I did have time, I couldn't come up with anything. But finally, here it is, chapter 26. I hope you'll enjoy it, and if everything goes right, chapter 27 will be ready soon.

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A few days later, when the children where tired of staying at the house, they had begged Maria and Georg to go out into the nature. When Rosemarie had heard of their plans, she had insisted as well to go out into the hills. So here they were ...

Georg lay on the grass, with his weight balanced on his right elbow. Maria sat next to him, with her arms folded around her knees. Together with Rosemarie, Max and all the children - except Gretl, Marta, Louisa and Kurt – they sat in a little circle, talking about their previous picnic.

"They had deserted me!"

"We hadn't deserted you, Max. It was only a joke." Georg laughed.

"You had left me there all alone." He turned to Rosemarie. "You should've seen me. I sat there with not a single soul to see in the nearest ten miles."

"Georg, now really, how could you have left our poor Max?" With feigned disappointment and anger, she looked at Georg.

"Maria was in it too, you know." He smirked while glancing at his fiancée.

"Maria!?" Rosemarie asked teasingly with a frown on her face. "I don't believe that. Maria wouldn't leave a friend behind like that." She continued, not able to hide her smile.

"That's what I said as well." Max added.

Maria had a smile of victory on her face as she was looking at Georg, after he had gotten a shocked Me? I-don't-know-what-you're-taking-about-look of her when he had accused her of being in it as well. He opened his mouth to reply, but didn't have a chance to say anything as his four children came running to the group, shouting they had found some edelweiss. Georg sat up and Gretl ran up to him, letting herself fall in his arms. Georg immediately cuddled the little girl closer to him and accepted the little white flowers she gave him. He studied them closely.

"Did you know …" He began to the group. "… the legend about how this little flower arose?"

"No." The children exclaimed enthusiastically, eager to hear their father tell a story.

"Please tell us." Marta pleaded.

Georg looked around the children and saw the happy faces of his children. Then he glanced at Maria and saw her sitting next to him, with a delightful little smile on her lips as if she already was in a world of fairytales.

"Well … there is a legend that … once upon a time, a beautiful fairy, the Snow Queen, lived on the highest, most solitary peaks of the Alps. The mountain folk and shepherds climbed to the summits to admire her, and everyone fell head over heels in love with her.

Every man would have given anything, including his life, to marry her. Indeed, their lives are just what they did give, for Fate had decided that no mortal would every marry the Snow Queen. But in spite of that, many brave souls did their best to approach her, hoping always to persuade her."

Everyone, including Rosemarie and Max, were fascinated with his tale. Most of the children were lying on the grass, staring at their father as if it was the first time they got to hear a story. Little Gretl was sitting so comfortable in her father's arms. His chin softly touched the top of her head sometimes and she loved how he took breaths between lines.

"Each suitor was allowed to enter the great ice palace with the crystal roof, where the Queen's throne stood. But the second he declared his love and asked for her hand, thousands of goblins appeared to grasp him and push him over the rocks, down into bottomless abysses.

Without the slightest emotion, the Queen would watch the scene, her heart of ice unable to feel anything at all. The legend of the crystal palace and the beautiful heartless Queen spread as far as the most distant alpine valley, the home of a fearless chamois hunter. Fascinated by the tale, he decided to set out and try his luck. Leaving his valley, he journeyed for days on end, climbing the snow clad mountain faces, scaling icebound peaks and defying the bitterly cold wind that swept through the alpine gullies."

As he turned his head to Maria's side, he saw that Maria was now lying on her back with her eyes closed, like some of the children. If she was asleep or if she was just imagining the story better was a thing he couldn't tell. For a little second his breath stopped and so did his voice. Briefly he was spellbound with Maria. Louisa, Brigitta, Kurt, Marta and Maria, who had their eyes closed, opened them immediately and darted up, all having the same thought. Gretl turned her head so she could look at her father's face above.

"Daddy, why did you stop?" She asked.

The moment Maria darted up because of the sudden silence, Georg had gained his consciousness again. Quickly he turned back forwards and continued. 'At least she's not sleeping.' He said to himself and his eyes twinkled.

"More than once he felt all was lost, but the thought of the lovely Snow Queen gave him new strength and kept him moving onwards. At last, after many days climbing, he saw glinting in the sunshine before him, the tall transparent spires of the ice palace."

Maria and the children lay back down, enjoying the rest of the story.

"Summoning all his courage, the young man entered the Throne Room. But he was so struck by the Snow Queen's beauty that he could not utter a word. Shy and timid, he did not dare speak. So he knelt in admiration before the Queen for hours on end, without opening his mouth. The Queen looked at him silently, thinking all the while that, provided he did not ask her hand in marriage, there was no need to call the goblins.

Then, to her great surprise, she discovered that his behaviour touched her heart. She realised she was becoming quite fond of this hunter, much younger and more handsome than her other suitors. Time passed and the Snow Queen dared not admit, not even to herself, that she would actually like to marry the young man.

In the meantime, the goblins kept watch over their mistress; first they were astonished, then they became more and more upset. For they rightly feared that their Queen might be on the point of breaking the Law and bringing down on the heads of all the Mountain People the fury of Fate.

Seeing that the Queen was slow to give the order to get rid of her suitor, the goblins decided to take matters into their own hands. One night, as dusk fell, they slipped out of the cracks in the rock and clustered round the young chamois hunter. Then they hurled him into the abyss. The Snow Queen watched the whole scene from the window, but there was nothing she could do to stop them. However, her icy heart melted, and the beautiful cruel fairy suddenly became a woman.

A tear dropped from her eye, the first she had ever shed. And the Snow Queen's tear fell on to a stone where it turned into a little silvery star.

This was the first edelweiss … the flower that grows only on the highest, most inaccessible peaks in the Alps, on the edge of the abyss and precipice …"

For a minute, silence filled the air. Only the sound of birds chirping and the rippling of the brook could be heard. Then Brigitta broke the quietness.

"What a sad story …"

Kurt was twirling an edelweiss between his fingers, while gazing at the little white petals whirling around like Marta always did with her pink parasol.

"What do you suppose she did then, father?" Brigitta continued dreamingly, replaying the story over and over in her head.

Georg once again cast a glance at Maria and the little smile disappeared for a moment. Brigitta's question reminded him of his own misery when Agathe had died. He imagined that was how the Snow Queen must have felt after she had lost her love.

Max, Rosemarie, Liesl and Brigitta could see the look on their father's face. Suddenly distant and a little cold again, but also sad. Brigitta understood why, and she thought how foolish it had been to ask him that question.

"Eh who wants to play tag?" She then started, with six other "Me!!" as answers. Next thing the children jumped up and started running, with Friedrich as the tagger.

Slowly Georg's warm glow started to come back, because he thought how Maria had changed everything again. And he couldn't be more thankful. Maria, simply lying there so peaceful … It wasn't until now that he realised that Maria hadn't said or moved a bit. 'She must have fallen asleep.'

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Thick, sparkling, white flocks came falling down from dark-greyish sky. As far as Maria could see was the landscape covered with a magical white carpet. She sat in front of the window in a comfy chair, while she felt the nice warmth of the fire in the hearth on her skin. She gazed outside, all the while a little gleaming. Her left hand was resting on her big tummy, and it gave her a feeling of a real home. For once in a very long time, her mind was empty. No worries, no thoughts, just an image of the world outside. She had so gone up in the beauty of this, that she didn't even hear the silent footsteps coming her way. And yet, as if she could feel the presence, the touch of two hands on her shoulders didn't startle her. She just smiled. Maria could feel how he went to sit on his knees and how he brought his face closer to hers, all the while leaving his hands on her shoulders. The gentle kiss on her cheek felt quite soothing, and send a little jolt through her body. Then she felt movement, and quickly took his hand to lay it on her stomach.

"Quick darling, can you feel it?"

She met his eyes and saw the little glow in them. The glow he always had at moments like this. It simply filled Maria's heart with joy.

"Isn't it wonderful …' he blissfully sighed '… how this has come out of our love?"

She stared up at his blue-ish eyes, before kissing him tenderly.

"Mhm" She turned her head back forward, to continue her gazing into the bright white world at nightfall. "Chris?" She then asked while wrapping his arms around her, "Will you stay with me for a while here?"

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"Maria?" Georg silently tried to wake her as it was time to go back. Some dark clouds started to come up and Frau Schmidt and Hendrika would clearly be waiting with supper. As answer, Maria gave a little moan and moved her hand over her eyes to protect her eyes from the sudden light. She squeezed them lightly and slowly darker shapes began to form. For a little minute she wondered why Chris wasn't the one bending above her. Then everything came back and she realised it was a dream. A wonderful, warm dream. Maria got up and saw how the children were packing everything in.

"Have you slept well, darling?" Georg asked before giving her a little kiss.

"Just ok …" Once again she tried to fully gain consciousness by waking up entirely. "How long did I sleep?"

"For about an hour."

Georg could see Maria's face change into astonishment.

"For so long?" Though the feeling she had, interfered with her senses. She couldn't stop thinking of how good it felt to be pregnant, to feel the baby kick, to have the security of a real home, a real family. Yet she endeavoured to keep focused on the conversation. "Well why didn't you wake me?" She asked in a strange voice, not sounding at all like her cheery self. Georg immediately had the feeling that she was somehow different. But he put his thoughts aside because he guessed it was only because she had just woken up.

Yet on the way back home, Maria stayed quite serene while trying to find the meaning of her strange dream. In fact she was so taken with everything that happened in it, that she was somewhat dazed when Georg took her hand in his. She glanced at their entwined hands, then looked up and smiled a little, before turning back into her world again. This too wouldn't pass Georg unnoticed. It was as if she had gone to sleep as one person, but had woken up as another. What was the matter with her? What had happened?