Hi, so here is another chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And I appreciate that everything might not be historically accurate but I hope I have done this justice. This chapter is dedicated to the memory of the victims of Darwin. May They Rest In Peace.

A Sister's Love

Chapter 12-The War Comes Home

America enters the war bringing with it a new sense of hope, Edith gets the long face from the doctor and plans a special trip and Darwin is bombed causing both Von Trapp girls to grow up a little bit more in the terrible, terrible, danger.

The day the American's declared they were entering the war there was almost a breath in the air. It was hard to pinpoint what it was but the combination of the American troops mixed in with the ones from Europe and the Soviets who were coming to the realisation that Hitler was not the friend he intended to be, that seemed to give people a bit more hope. The news was still depressingly terrible, the death toll count terribly high but there was a sense of determination in the country to not let it get to them—as if showing that life was carrying on as normal was the only way to show their defiance.

For Edith Webster it was a very different scenario.

It was really very simple you see and she did not need a doctor to tell her what she had known about for months.

She was dying.

Jon had been…off…and she had been diagnosed with cancer. One small lump in the breast and it was over. And now she was being told she wasn't going to see absolute victory.

Well…she had known that too.

The symptoms were…manageable. There was a highly effective cocktail that the doctors prescribed that made it…manageable for lack of a better word and she had thought she had done remarkably well. But now…

Now he was giving her a matter of months.

Well…thank God she had come forewarned and prepared.

Her lawyers had not batted an eyelid as she had added amendments to her will. Jon would get everything and anything which was no inconsiderable but she had found time to make sure that the two girls who had been brought to nothing through no fault of their own and who had done a remarkable job of bringing themselves back up, were included. Liesl would be named in trust of everything and should Jon, like so many of the young men before him and after him, lose his life…

Then those two would get everything.

She had set aside enough for Helena but she found that she was not holding out hope for her granddaughter. Jon and his father were so entrenched now on opposite sides and indoctrination of the young both in Germany and in the territories that they had stolen, that she did not hold out much hope that there was much left of the sweet little baby that her daughter had given her, the sweet blonde haired, blue eyed baby girl that was so unlike her dark and arrogant brother but who had loved her with everything he had nonetheless.

She found as each day moved onwards she hated her son in law with everything she had. If hate and love could keep someone alive though…well…perhaps there would have never been a war. And war was just so tragic and pointless and it stole life and laughter and love.

Christ she was getting sentimental as death came closer. Any minute now and she'd start writing poetry like one of those Parisians you saw in the movies that seemed to have far, far too much free time on their hands for what felt healthy.

But the truth of the matter was that she was dying. Edith was far from afraid of it. The truth was she was getting more and more welcome towards the idea. To be truthful even to herself the pain was getting worse with each day. She was ready to see her husband and her daughter again. Jon was in the best place he could be and who knew…perhaps one day she would see her sweet little granddaughter again and her blue eyes wouldn't be filled with hatred and disgust and fear.

She had contacted the Red Cross as well…Liesl was good Edith would give her that but Liesl was an eighteen year old girl and Edith knew when eighteen year old girls had given up. Liesl was one woman against the constant beating, never ending storm of war and terror and panic that came with being young right now and she struggled as much as the next person did. As far as she was concerned the telegram that she had gotten from the Red Cross was the end of the matter. Edith thought that was rather naïve, the Red Cross continued their searches for missing family members even during a war and certainly they would afterwards. Therefore she had written with her rather considerable influence and asked them to expand their search for Captain Georg Von Trapp. Both Brigitta and Liesl were off the opinion that their father would prefer America as opposed to anywhere else and therefore Edith had allowed for that to be considered.

It was a small price to pay really, not for what those girls had given her, she had been lonely…achingly so and they had filled that void. It was nice to have them there. They had their own lives as they should be but they had given a dying woman (not that they knew it) a significant amount of comfort and for that Edith made sure that they were looked after. Liesl would get the house as long as her marriage to Jon stayed and then her jewels for when the marriage would be annulled and she had made sure there was enough aside for Brigitta to get a decent education—heavens knew the girl had the brain for one—and then there was very little to do except but to write to Jon and ask if he was still in the capital.

His answer came back in the sharply written letter that her grandson always wrote—he was not one to beat about the bush—he was in Darwin. There was significant concern about the Japanese and though he was supposed to be focusing his attentions on German and European Intelligence it was clear that the Japanese troops taking dominance in the nearby islands were of significant concern in the government.

Darwin was where he would get some rest though he confessed he might only get a day with them. Edith wrote back to say she did not care. She wanted a day with the three of them, a day to do what had to be done and then she could slip away in her own bed and be at peace and more importantly be pain free.

Being pain free was deliriously important right now.

The girls were eating breakfast when she told them she was going to Darwin and she wanted them to come with her. Brigitta now a teenager watched her with eyes that knew too much and Edith thought that this girl had the power to be anything that she wanted. Certainly she had the brains—and with each of these wars that they fought woman's emancipation took another great leap forwards and who knew…perhaps one day woman would run the country. God knows if they did there probably wouldn't be in the mess they were in right now. In Edith's opinion woman could fight wars and still make it home in time for dinner.

"Why Darwin?" Brigitta asked pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Because…because Jon is there on some furlough and I want to see him"

That was the truth of the matter but she could tell that while Liesl believed it and made plans immediately to pack, Brigitta did not.

"Are you alright Edith?" she asked quietly.

Edith mustered up a smile. She was not alright, not at all but soon she suspected that she would be.

And if there was a God it would be really fucking soon.

"Alright for a woman of my age" she said finally. "Go and help your sister pack, I wish to take the late train. And bring something warm…just in case the weather turns sharply"

Mercifully both girls did as they were told and Edith was left in her sunny kitchen her eyes bright with tears for the pain that was about to hit them both once again through no fault of their own.

Darwin was beautiful. It was February and Liesl who had been living in Australia now for two years could not think of a more beautiful place.

It was a navel shipyard through and through and all around them men in uniform milled around. There was the smell of oil and paint mixed in with smells of everything else and she thought that while the people of Melbourne had been worried about the Japanese advancement it was nothing to the people of Darwin.

They had not seen Jon yet. He had known that they were here as he had, had a note sent to the hotel they were staying at to tell them that he would be along to dinner. Edith was resting but she was sick, it was common knowledge to both of them. She had wanted to be left alone and so they had left her but Liesl had a terrible feeling that she was doing something wrong. Then again…she had been living with that feeling now for quite some time. It was nothing new. Not really. She just lived with it.

Brigitta and she were walking along the side of the promenade and Brigitta turned to Liesl.

"I think Edith is unwell…very unwell…like…" she left it unsaid but Liesl had always known when her little sister was sitting on a secret and she knew what she was trying to say. She had seen the changes too, the signs and she had a feeling that this trip today was not something that would give Jon the peace of mind she had a feeling her husband so desperately craved but knew he would never get.

"I know"

"She reminds me of Mother…our old mother, when she was sick"

Liesl stopped. Unbidden the thoughts of Agathe Von Trapp at the end of her short life rose to the forefront of her mind. She felt her teeth clamp shut. That was the end of her childhood. For the children it was the end of their mother but she had lost her childhood too. For while their father was away in Vienna with Baronesses and Champagne running away from his problems she had been the one to be mother.

And it had not been a role she was naturally born to play.

"I know" she said shortly. "But I did not think that you remembered her that much?"

"I was five Liesl not stupid"

She smiled. Her sister had turned from the book shy ten year old into the strong willed teenager that she was today. They had forged something together out of think and thin and the sheer will to survive and it was on Liesl's tongue, on the very tip almost to tell her that the Red Cross had found nothing and that the case was closed and that it could well be just the two of them for the rest of their lives.

"Do you know when we go back to Austria I will miss Australia. I have enjoyed it here even though I miss everyone terribly. What about you?"

"I don't think I will go back to Austria" Liesl said quietly. It was an idea that she had been toying with quite recently. They both had papers in the works to stay here and sooner or later they would be accepted she was sure of it. Then she and Jon would be divorced and she would get to start her new life. And she wanted to…she was tired of being Liesl Von Trapp. She wanted to be someone else. All of those times dreaming about dances and balls and…

It had all been the dreams of a young woman without a thought in her head. She knew what she wanted now.

She just had to find a way to grab it.

Brigitta grabbed her arm forcing her to turn and look at her.

"What do you mean? Do you think we will not win?"

"I believe we will win the war—eventually" she said though it was a lie. After all it was 1942 and the reality was right now they were not winning the war—far from it in fact.

"But I do not think Austria will be the same as we remember it."

"Do you mean Rolfe?"

"No" she said finally. "I do not think of him at all" that was a lie too, she did think of Rolfe but not in the way that Brigitta thought that she did. Her feelings for Rolfe were tied together in that complicated little package that came with her mother, her father and the Baroness, with the 1930s that really were the best years of her life though she had squandered them all away wishing to be a grown up.

Well she was a grown up now she thought wryly. And look where that had gotten her.

"I miss Mother and Father" Brigitta said finally. "I wonder if they ever think of us. I think they must think that we are dead. I think that would crush father. I know he was sometimes hard on us but he did love us. I think he loved us so much he was terrified of anything happening to us and that's why he couldn't stay."

Liesl paused. She had not thought of it like that.

"Where did you think of that?"

"I was reading a book"

Typical Brigitta.

It was so normal that Liesl laughed and slung an arm around her sister's shoulders. Come hell or high water, war or peace, death or celebration her sister would always be found with a book in her hand. Liesl thought that whichever man set his eyes on Brigitta Von Trapp would have to have a mind for books—otherwise he would clearly be coming second best.

"Do you miss them?"

"Yes" she said finally. "And there is something that I have to—"

"OH JESUS CHRIST" someone yelled and they both whirled around. The fear in the man's voice had them both terrified—the last time Liesl had heard someone shout like that it was—Austria.

She grabbed Brigitta's hand and her sister grabbed it back.

Over the horizon were several black dots and she stared.

"Planes" Brigitta said quietly. "Oh holy mother of God I don't think there Australian"

"No" came a voice to her left and she saw a teenage boy stood there about the same age as her sister.

"No missus they are defiantly Jap planes. And they are coming straight towards the ships"

There was a terrible moment of silence and then…

A long wail.

The air raid siren.

"Shit" Liesl said grabbing Brigitta. "Where is the nearest shelter?"

"Come on" one of the older men said.

The little group that had gathered on the peer followed him. Brigitta was clutching her hand but real panic had begun to set in and they were easily buffeted and bumped around by everyone and anything.

And then…there was a sound of a crash and a blaze of fire.

They were bombing Darwin.

They made it onto a residential street but people were panicking and then…

Then the unthinkable happened.

Brigitta's hand was suddenly tugged out of hers.

It took her half a second (though it felt longer, it felt like the longest time in the world) for her to realise and then the panic set in.

She had lost her sister.

She whirled around but there was no time to stop, something or rather someone knocked into her and she fell hitting her head on the side of a bench on the way down.

The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was the sound of screaming and what could only be the bombs dropping down.

And there you are, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Liesl and Brigitta separated from each other do their best to survive in very different circumstances. Jon and Edith share a moment before the inevitable happens.