Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you like. I am going to keep this short and sweet this time and I will publish the next chapter as soon as it has been written.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And as always some potential historical inaccuracies.

A Sister's Love

Chapter 6-Idenity And Change.

A marriage takes place, something resembling a family is knocked together and Liesl and Brigitta finally pack up their stuff and leave.

"I don't know what father would make of this" Brigitta said for the third time that day.

"I told you. It doesn't matter, father is not here. Besides I think he'd quite like Jon"

"As a man perhaps, as a son in law marrying his sixteen year old daughter, not a chance in hell"

"Brigitta!"

"What, I do say that reverently you know"

Liesl said nothing. There was in fact nothing to say. And certainly there was nothing that her sister could have said that she had not said already at least not to herself. She was here getting ready in a dimly lit room for her marriage that was not a marriage at all and a wedding that was going to be a quick twenty minute ceremony that was going to be mumbled with absent minded speed by a priest she had never met and whom she wasn't even sure was the right faith.

It did not inspire much in terms of a wedding.

Before…this (after all what could one call the collapse of Europe, civilisation as they knew it, and the destruction of her entire family other than this?) she'd had plans for her wedding. Not much, but enough like every other teenage girl in the world. She had known roughly what dress she had wanted, she had known she wanted her hair up rather than down and her mother's tiara (probably melted down to make gold for the Nazi regime if she knew Herr Zeller) and she'd thought she'd have a wonderful ceremony where everyone would see her walk down the isle on her father's arm.

She had never really imagined her groom in her dreams but as she had gotten older the groom had evolved from her favourite movie start to the golden haired, blue eyed dreamboat that had been Rolfe. She had been so happy when he had come courting, so, so happy and she'd had foolish and stupid notions (looking back) that she was going to be happy. That the world was going to be perfect.

There had been things she had wanted of course, she had wanted a husband to come home to her and kiss her, she wanted a house with modern appliances and a modern kitchen and perhaps even a maid to help. She had wanted a family of her own. She still did want it but she couldn't help but feel, having seen the marriage that had been her father's and his new wife, that this was a mockery against the institution of marriage and against the values that both her mother and her stepmother had installed in her.

She was not sure how this marriage no matter how clandestine it was would factor in with those plans.

And it would be easier, so, so much easier if she hated the man she was going to marry.

But she didn't.

And that didn't help things either.

So all in all as she woke up on the day of her wedding day and got dressed in her best red suit (that she had taken out of her closet for some reason she was not sure of) and left her hair loose under the matching red hat she found that for a bride on her wedding day she was not the blushing joy she was supposed to be, but rather scared and nervous and not at all sure she was making the right decision.

She had gone through the arguments with Brigitta as well. Her sister loved a good debate and there was nothing better than debating this topic with her. Brigitta had been torn between scandalous agog at the proposal, a romantic notion about it all that came with being ten and then of course the reality of the situation which had been playing on her mind as much as it played on Liesl's.

This way she and Brigitta could leave Europe behind them and get into a country that had little chance of falling to the Germans. As Brigitta pointed out they had mentioned nothing about Australia in any of their rhetoric and though her sister had poured over every newspaper she could find and listened to all the talk she could find there seemed to be nothing that predicted as such.

There was according to Brigitta (and it was utterly galling that she was reliant on her sister for news about what was arguably becoming the biggest international crisis since the last war took place) a looming threat from the Japanese, though she knew considerably little about them. When she had asked Jon if that was something that she should be worried about he had shrugged.

"They seem to be content with ripping China apart for the time being. Besides it's Germany everyone's worried about. There seem the ones who seem to have a plan in all of this. Until I'm told to worry I'm not going to worry unnecessarily and neither should you"

Liesl had to admit he had a point.

Since the engagement (if that was what you could call it) Jon had taken to sleeping outside their room. The boarding house they were in was getting cramped and small as Helga the woman who owned the place seemed to open her doors for anyone to get a quick night's sleep. Some went the next morning and were quite happy to have a bit of floor to sleep when it came to staying out of the rain and some were content on staying on trying to find ways to move through Switzerland. While the country was taking in refugees there was a clear intent that they were to find a place to move on from sooner rather than later and if not then they could go straight back to where they came from. Considering that for many this was as terrible fate not many people tended to linger more than necessary and in the five days that they had been here, there was sense that past seven and they would be outstaying their welcome. Not to mention dipping into the cash that they had and Liesl was loath to be doing that unless she desperately had to.

So today was her wedding day. Brigitta dressed in her dark green suit and her black hair braided into twist at the top of her head that looked elegant and was copied from the pages of a magazine (and would be loose before they came back for the bags if Liesl knew her sister well—and she did) was sat there waiting on the bed. They would go straight from the boarding house to the church to the ship. Then it was months at sea and then…a new life.

With a new husband.

It was not Jon was intrusive. He was perfectly polite with Brigitta and on more than one occasion he would speak to her about the worsening situation in Europe as she was an adult and not a ten year old girl. When she had questions about Australia he answered them willingly and he told them stories of the animals that they would see over there and Brigitta had loved them.

He was perfectly courteous with her. They would share a cabin but it was three beds he assured her in steerage and that he would give them privacy whenever she needed. He would do most of the talking and that as soon as their visa's were processed he would begin annulment proceedings. The place he told her they would be going—a place called Melbourne—was a big city and not a case of everyone knowing everyone as it was in Austria and that the stigma of an annulment would not impact her. She suspected that many people would be sympathetic especially when he told her that her English was enough to pass for speaking it for years.

"Your accent's about as noticeable as mine and believe me some people can sense the German from it a mile off. With my grandmother by your side any doubts to how you got there will be gone and your reputation will remain unsullied throughout our annulment. Of course we must choose the right time to do it. You simply cannot get your visa on a Friday and get annulled on a Saturday. That would create suspicion and that must be avoided at all costs. Do you understand?"

She did.

She understood it perfectly, all of it.

Reconciling her emotions to it however was something entirely different.

And here she was. And even her ten year old sister had said that this did not feel much like a wedding, more like a business transaction.

That in itself was good. If there was no emotions involved it would be easy to look at this in a clinical way.

Liesl was sixteen. She still had hope that she was doing the right thing and that it would all work out but as Jon had said with a small sardonic smile, nobody could predict the future.

Taking their bags they said goodbye to an absent minded Helga and went down to the courthouse where the wedding was due to take place. Jon was lounging against a pillar with a cigarette in his mouth his eyes unfocused. Liesl was pleased to see that he had at least bothered somewhat with a clean shirt and trousers though it was a far cry from what she had once dreamed about her future husband wearing. He stubbed out the cigarette when he saw them and stood up straighter smiling.

"Well" Brigitta said quietly. "At least he's good looking."

Liesl hushed her. She was not going to concede a point. Today was not a day to concede any points.

"Morning" Jon said with that same smile. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked gently and it was directed at her and her alone and the tone was one of such concern that Liesl managed a small smile. She was not sure about anything anymore and perhaps he knew that because he seemed to know everything.

"Yes" she said before the doubts crept back in.

Jon stared at her for a second and then held out his arm. Liesl took it.

Brigitta was right though. Her father would not be pleased by this turn of events.

It was not what you might call a romantic ceremony but there was a sense of feeling different after it was done. She had walked into that room as Liesl Von Trapp and had walked out as Liesl Van Braun no matter what Jon said about her changing her name and about this meaning nothing. She was surprised somewhat at the depth of what it meant to her. This had been a knocked together wedding to serve a quick and easy purpose and would be over probably before she turned eighteen and still she felt as if something deep and profound had happened.

Jon took them to the docks where the ships were and went to get the tickets he had reserved leaving them on the gangplank. He had insisted he pay the way and Liesl wearing of dipping into their small but dwindling fortune had been practical enough to let him.

There was a time and a place for pride and even she knew now was not it.

"Are you alright?" Brigitta asked.

"I've just gotten married Brigitta. What do you think?"

"I think you look odd"

Yes. Odd might be a way of putting it.

"I feel odd"

Brigitta said nothing but then her hand crept into Liesl's.

"This is a good plan Liesl. I don't think we could have waited much longer for father. Doesn't seem like he waited for us"

The bitterness in her voice was enough for Liesl to stop and stare downwards in surprise but before she could say anything Brigitta was looking back at her with all the vulnerability of a ten year old and Liesl suddenly remembered that her sister was ten and even though she had been acting as she was ten years older she was still ten and she was scared of what was coming next.

And all she had was Liesl.

"This will work" she found herself promising.

"It should" Jon said reappearing at her shoulder tickets clutched in hand and a smile on his face. He was looking much happier than he had done so far, the years stripped off him as he came to the conclusion that he was going home though for some reason his eyes still remained shadowed and clouded.

"We should get on board" he said to both of them his rucksack slung over his shoulder. He picked up Brigitta's bag and then her little sister was following him up the gangplank without looking back.

Then again, that was Brigitta all over. It was a move that Liesl knew she had copied from Louisa and she smiled despite herself.

Wherever her family was she could only imagine Louisa trying to manage things. She would thrive at it.

Still Brigitta had a point though she didn't speak of it. Now was not the time to look back.

"You can't live in the past you know" said a voice and she turned to see Jon on the land again. Brigitta no doubt waiting inside.

"Just whatever the hell comes next."

Liesl nodded though she was feeling so overwhelming sad, sad that it had come to this, that she had to flee her country, lose her family, lose her home, be the adult long before she wanted to be, marry a stranger, see the world fall…all of it.

She looked away trying to overcome her emotions but had she been looking she would have realised that Johan's look told her that he too knew all of this and perhaps a grief that was even deeper than hers. But before either one of them could do anything there was a push for people to get on the boat and he grabbed her by the gloved hand and pulled her up the gangplank, away from Switzerland, away from Austria, away from her family and towards a future that promised something a hell of a lot better than what she was leaving behind.

And there you are, enjoy and I will bring you the next chapter as soon as it has been written.

Next Chapter-Liesl, Brigitta and Jon are on a boat heading to Australia and soon they realise that any secrets they want to keep hidden are bound to come out.