This chapter was somewhat delayed by real life getting in the way. But I hope you all enjoy!
The soft, plaintive sounds of a piano struck Maria's ear as she hobbled in the direction of the kitchen in search of warm milk to help her sleep. her ankle throbbing at her exertion. The tune was intricate and mournful as it floated through the darkened air of the villa. Her curiosity piqued, Maria changed direction and found herself lingering at the door to the formal sitting room. She had only ever glanced in this room, the door to it was often shut and so she had only been dimly aware that the family owned a grand piano.
The Captain was seated at it and Maria shifted her full weight onto her right leg, lifting her aching left foot until just her toes rested against the cold tiles, as she leaned her head against the door frame to listen to the haunting melody. The glow from the moon streamed in through the large arching window, catching off his dark hair. His shirt sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows and he appeared so wonderfully dishevelled, if anything he suited that look even more than the one of debonair aristocrat. He almost looked like a tortured hero from one of Liesl's many gothic romances, Maria thought to herself. Her eyes fluttered shut as she swayed softly in time, until his low voice cut through the music. "Fraulein, you should be in bed, not lingering in doorways."
Maria's eyes shot open, and she blinked, her teeth worrying her bottom lip guiltily. "How did you know I was here?"
He had stopped playing now, twisting in his seat to face her, that teasing, knowing smile of his curving his lips as he watched her. "You have a habit of being precisely where you ought not to be."
"I couldn't sleep," she explained. "I had come down for a drink, and then I heard the music. I admit I almost felt as though it were calling me. It is a beautiful melody," she smiled at him.
"It is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata," he told her. He got to his feet, walking towards the door and stopping only a footstep in front of her. Steeling herself to be admonished for trespassing and sent back to her room, Maria was surprised when he held out his hand. "If you are determined to listen, you should at least be comfortable."
Surprised but delighted, Maria took the proffered hand, her fingers gliding against his cool palm and giving a soft gasp of surprise when he turned, his other arm slipping around her waist in one graceful movement. "Oh!"
"Lean on me," he instructed her quietly.
"Uh huh." It was all she could do to mumble a sound of agreement, her tongue felt thick and sluggish in her mouth all of a sudden. She felt her skin heat again, she had always thought her rather voluminous night gown to be thick enough to be impervious to most elements, but it certainly was not enough to stop her from feeling as though his fingers were branding her. His grasp was firm, steadying but oh how she wished he would move his fingers, even just slightly so she could experience the ghost of his caress. At that thought she scolded herself, he was just being kind to her, and she was indulging in entirely inappropriate thoughts.
"How on Earth did you get down the stairs?" he enquired as he smoothly maneuvered her to the wide piano stool, easing her down gently.
"I…well…I shuffled down," she admitted.
He raised an eyebrow as he echoed, "Shuffled?"
Maria gave a nod. "On my bottom. I admit that I did not consider just how difficult getting back onto my feet would be."
The Captain gave a shake of his head, although he looked mildly amused as he gently rebuked her. "You should be resting."
"I have been resting for the last two days Captain, I am incredibly tired of it. Which is particularly ironic when one considers that I simply cannot sleep."
"If you don't let your ankle heal then you will be end up being restricted for longer than just a few days."
"I know," she sighed. "I make a terrible invalid, but I have little to no patience with it and I feel so guilty for the children."
"Well, you can certainly stop that, in fact I fear that they are enjoying your slackening of the reigns almost too much, they are able to enjoy your company but also indulge in their own brands of mayhem," he teased her.
Maria put on a mock affronted expression. "I will have you know that my first rule is discipline and there is no mayhem to be found amongst my charges."
He gave a soft snort of amusement at her retort. "Ah, well then I am sure that you are aware of the cart that the boys and Louisa are attempting to build. Ostensibly to be used to haul you around on, but I have heard mutters of it being used as a racing vehicle following that."
"I admit to not being aware of the exact nature of their…project," Maria admitted sheepishly. "I will alert them to the fact that by the time they have finished, I will have no use of it."
"I am not sure that will put a stop to their plan and knowing Louisa, she will most definitely be able to get it working," he replied wryly.
"Well, as long as we keep them away from any hills, or anywhere that requires sharp braking to avoid walls, it could be an interesting challenge for them."
"I suppose there are worse things for them to learn than mechanics."
"Absolutely," Maria laughed, suddenly aware that he was now seated next to her, his thigh brushing against hers and she was surprised to find that she didn't want to jump away from him.
"And then of course there is Liesl and her escapades with that boy." His face darkened slightly, that brooding expression back and Maria wished she could reach up and smooth away those lines, wipe away all his worries with a caress.
"I did know about that, or at least I suspected that was where she had disappeared to after Herr Detwiler's telegram arrived. It was only fifteen minutes though."
"That is fifteen minutes too long." His lips thinned and he shook his head. "I shall need to keep a closer eye on her whilst you recover, you can hardly run across the grounds after her."
Unthinkingly, Maria rested her hand on his forearm to garner his attention and his surprised blue eyes fixed onto hers as she beseeched him, "If you make him forbidden fruit, she will chase him all the more. She is a sensible girl, if you give her time, she will see for herself who he is and that his ideals simply do not match with the ones that you raised her to have." The Captain stared down at her hand and Maria saw him visibly swallow and for a moment she thought she heard his breath give a ragged catch. Unthinkingly her fingers flexed ever so slightly against his skin, feeling the roughness of the hair contrasting with the firm smoothness of his skin. She had overstepped she realised suddenly and pulled her hand back as though she had been burned.
Linking her hands in front of her on her lap, Maria bit down nervously on her bottom lip suddenly unable to look back up at the Captain. There was silence for a moment or two, where all she could hear was the quiet sound of his breath, whilst she held her own. Finally, he asked, "Have you spoken to Liesl about the boy?"
She nodded, grateful that he stayed on point. "I have."
"But you haven't told her not to meet with him?"
"No." She raised her eyes to meet his speculative gaze, unsure how he was going to react to her decision not to interfere with the relationship and rather to let it run to its own natural end. Pulling her shoulders back, her chin jutted out almost stubbornly as she steeled herself, and she told him, "I believe that it is a schoolgirl crush, that it will end soon enough."
"I would rather it ended now."
"As would I," Maria admitted wryly. "But, for all you feel that fifteen minutes was too long, in reality for her to get somewhere quiet to see him and get back in that time it suggests a rather short meeting."
The Captain gave an irate sigh. "But it is still time in which he can drip ideas into her head. Liesl is young, impressionable-"
"You misunderstand me Captain," Maria interjected. "Compare it to my first night, when she disappeared after dinner-"
"Oh ho," he interrupted, the ghost of a triumphant smile on his lips. "So now you are admitting that you covered for her."
Maria rolled her eyes at him and ignored that point. "Clearly, this meeting today has not gone well. After all they haven't seen one another for almost a month, I would expect them to want to cherish their time together, not for it to be such a brief interlude."
"I was unaware that you had experience in sneaking away to see boys." The Captain raised an eyebrow, looking at her in interest. "Tell me Fraulein, did you have a misspent youth?"
She blushed. "Well no," she admitted. "Not the way that you mean, but I was a teenage girl once." She looked indignantly at him. "I did have crushes you know."
"And yet you chose the path of chastity," he remarked quietly.
Maria swallowed against a sudden lump in her throat. "They were just harmless infatuations…in fact even that is too strong a word for them." What she felt now, towards him, was more like the burning intensity that the other girls at school had reported. In fact, at times, like now, when he stared at her and she felt like she could hardly breathe, it felt beyond anything she had ever heard described, never mind imagined feeling for herself.
"I somehow picture you to be a much more pragmatic teenager than Liesl, she has the heart of a foolish romantic."
"Liesl is much more pragmatic than you give her credit for." Unthinkingly she placed her hand over his as she implored him, "If you put your faith and your trust in her, then she will not disappoint you."
He looked down at where her hand rested atop his and Maria went to pull her hand away, blushing at her impertinence, until he turned his hand over and grasped hers lightly within his cool palm. Her eyes met his and she saw how his eyes darkened, his pupils dilating, and her breath caught, unsure if she had angered him. But when he spoke, his voice was calm, although slightly lower than normal. "Why is Fraulein that you seem to hold all the answers?"
Maria's features settled into a small frown, unsure if he was complimenting or censuring her. She gave a small shrug. "I don't, but I have faith in Liesl, in all your children." Her eyes flickered back to his and then down at where his touch felt as though it were searing into her skin, which was a surprisingly pleasant sensation. "They have your values Captain, and I believe that those shall win out over any other temptation."
"Hmmm," he let out a thoughtful mumble, his fingers squeezing briefly at hers as he sought some comfort from the rush of unpleasant thoughts that whirled around his brain. "Perhaps your faith gives you more certainty, Fraulein. As much as I love and believe in my children, I am not convinced that I can forever shield them from the hateful rhetoric of some of my countrymen. When it seeps in from every angle, how can it not corrupt young minds?"
She gave a small shake of her head. "You shall find a way to stop it."
"You sound so certain," he remarked with a wry amusement.
"I am, but on this occasion, it does not stem from my faith in God, but from my faith in the children, and in you."
He looked surprised at her proclamation. "I am not sure I have earned your faith in me."
Maria could not help but smile at him. "Oh, but you have, with your devotion to your children and your determination to fix your past mistakes, you have most certainly earned it."
"I would never have seen the error of my ways if not for the condemnation of my errant governess."
His thumb swiped gently across her knuckle as he spoke and Maria forced herself to supress a shiver of delight at his touch, her voice sounding slightly rough to her own ears as she replied, "Well, if it helps it is very much unlike me to be in the right. Normally I am the one being told off." Her head tilted thoughtfully, and her lips turned downwards slightly, "Perhaps that was why I was so effective, a combination of techniques from all of those who have tried to bring me into line."
"Well, I for one am relieved that they never quite managed their task."
"I doubt that anyone else shares your relief." She managed a slightly cheeky smile. "In fact, I am sure that your relief is a fairly new sensation."
The Captain let out a short bark of laughter. "Well, that is true," he admitted. "I was rather…appalled when I realised just who the Reverend Mother had decided to send to us. I asked for a disciplinarian who understood the need for order, someone calm and level-headed."
Maria's lips thinned. "And she sent you the black sheep of Nonnberg," she remarked regretfully.
"A fact that I am most grateful for." Unthinkingly he raised her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles, a playful, flirtatious gesture, as he forgot himself.
Maria could have sworn that even though it was quite impossible that she felt her heart stutter and briefly stop at the sensation of his soft, warm lips on her bare skin. This was a side of him that she thought of often but had never dreamed of experiencing for herself. She felt her cheeks heat with the rush of her blush, but it was as though her brain had suddenly stopped working for she could find no witty response to his attention.
His face darkened slightly, and he dropped her hand suddenly. "My apologies Fraulein, that was most inappropriate of me."
A thick, awkward silence fell over them and Maria had the sudden fear that he might now send her back upstairs. Her fingers stroked over the ivory keys of the piano, pressing down on one experimentally, feeling his intense gaze burning into her. "You are much more musical than I thought," she told him, desperate to find a reason to stay here, with him.
He cleared his throat. "Um, yes. The piano was encouraged by my parents and then at the Naval academy we had to learn an instrument and I chose the violin. The guitar I learned there also, but I picked that up for myself, with some pointers from my fellow cadets." He gave an almost apologetic smile as he added, "I had heard that the ladies preferred the guitar, and my foolish teenaged self was more than determined to try and impress."
Maria couldn't help but give a soft laugh at his confession. "And you accused me of having a misspent youth," she teased.
"Ah, but I was a sailor, a misspent youth was rather part of the requirements, it was expected of me, and you should know Fraulein, just how fastidious I can be about following the rules."
She arched an eyebrow at him, her smile widening. "Uh huh."
He chuckled, turning his attention back to the keys. "Do you play?"
Maria shook her head. "No, I would have liked to but my Uncle was not fond of music, lessons would have been expensive, and I had work to get on with at the farm." Her fingers stroked over the keys again as she continued, "The guitar was my Father's and like you I taught myself. The Reverend Mother was kind enough to put it to one side rather than donate it, although when I take my vows then that too will have to go."
"You are welcome to play this anytime you would like. I have sheet music stored away, some from when the older children first learned to play, I will happily retrieve it for you."
"Oh, I don't think I would even know where to start."
The Captain slipped his hand over hers and brought it the keys, pressing his thumb lightly down on one. "Middle C," he informed her. "Everything stems out from here, it's the easiest place to begin from, and what the majority of music sheets are centred upon. Now, you need to be able to move up and down the keys without lifting your hand constantly, that and you can't be watching your hands the whole time."
"That has always looked very complicated."
"It simply takes practice." He reassured her, playing a few notes with her fingers beneath his, before tapping her thumb and telling her, "sweep it under to the next note. Just remember 1-2-3 sweep,1-2-3-4 sweep, and repeat. When you get up here, you don't sweep, just play it out. If you practice that it will make it easier not to look at your hands."
"And is that the same for all the scales?"
"Some have slightly different fingering, but that is the best place to start." He drew his hand away. "Try it," he urged her.
Maria counted under breath, her fingers faltering slightly on some of the keys as she swung her thumb underneath her fingers. As she moved to trying it with her left hand, she had to lean across him slightly, her shoulders brushing against his chest and she could smell the faint, lingering scent of his cologne. Her thumb slipped, hitting against the wrong note, flustered from the heat of him that was burning through her skin. "Oh…I uh…I think I might need more practice," she muttered weakly.
"You did very well for your first time," he told her.
Maria tilted her face upwards so that she could sneak a glance at him, could see the shadow of stubble across his jaw, the glint of his blue eyes and slight tousle of his hair. She had seen multiple sides to Captain von Trapp now, the stern disciplinarian, the loving father, the charming aristocrat, but how she found him tonight, teasing but encouraging, with that smile, was her favourite. "Thank you, it was very kind of you to take the time to show me."
"Well, music gives you enjoyment and you should have the chance to make the most of it before…uh….well, before you return to the Abbey." A frown flickered across his face as he spoke, his lips thinning momentarily.
"It does," she agreed softly and giving a wistful sigh, she added, "I will miss the freedom of it." Her fingers trailed across the piano keys. "I shall certainly not have the time to reach your skill. I very much enjoyed listening to you. I wish that I had had more of an opportunity to listen."
"I could play the piece again if you would like?"
Her face brightened with a smile. "I would enjoy that."
Georg knew this piece off by heart, his fingers could drift over the keys with minimal thought, which was just as well really, because as usual when in her company, his thoughts were running wild. When he had realised that she was there, a vision in billowing white, lingering in the moonlight, he knew that he should send her up to bed and yet he simply couldn't bring himself to do so.
The last two days he had avoided being alone with her, their talk regarding the children the previous night had been conducted with Max present, whose eyes had gleamed with interest whenever the conversation strayed off point. It had forced him to behave himself at least, Georg thought but it had also made him ache for the freedom to find out more about Maria. She had the ability to act like a soothing balm for his worries, the clawing uncertainty he often felt about his children, about the political uncertainty that hung in the air, eased when she was near. The folly of it, was of course that he increasingly forgot the bounds of propriety with her.
Kissing her hand had possibly been the most foolish behaviour he had displayed in a number of years – whistle not withstanding – but her eyes had been wide, her mouth downturned and he had wanted her to know just what she had done for him, for all of them. How glad he was that she had swept into his ordered world and upended all of it. Max, however, would flay him if he ever found out about his idea of how best to express his gratitude.
Georg could see her out of the corner of his eye as he continued to play, could see the way in which she tapped and waggled her fingers in time with him. He could see her head tilt slightly, her body angled towards him, and he wished that she could lay her cheek against his shoulder. He could picture it, her head resting on him, him reaching around her back to play the higher notes, sharing a smile as he did so and then encouraging her to play the left hand movement for him. That damn lump was back in his throat again and he swallowed against it, it was all too easy to picture and so difficult to dismiss.
The sonata drew to its close and his hands fell still against the keys. "Was that to your satisfaction Fraulein?" he asked.
Her smile lit up her eyes. "It most certainly was. In fact, if I had known you could play so well I might have asked you to accompany the children at the ball."
Georg gave a soft snort, he could see the playful glint in her gaze, similar to when she had blasted out the whistle to get his attention on her first day. He lifted his hand, waving a teasing finger at her "Now there I would have to have drawn a line."
"Well so long as I know where it is."
"So you can push me across it no doubt."
"Oh, no doubt," she replied airily.
"Although I do have to give you credit for how wonderfully the children were received that night, a few months ago introducing them to society would have felt like an insurmountable task."
"They just want to make you proud Captain, because they admire and love you so much." That earnest, trusting look was back and it made him want to get down on his knees and beg her to stay with them, with him. She laughed as she told him, "I heard so much about your medals that day. In fact, Friedrich and Kurt even re-enacted your sinking of the Leon Gambetta, they said it was your crowning moment."
George felt a small shiver cross his back, his jaw tensing. "Did they?" he muttered.
The edge of Maria's hand grazed his, a small comforting gesture. "I take your tone to mean that it was not such a glorious moment for you."
He gave a shake of his head. "The cruiser should have had a ship accompanying it, who would aid in the rescue of the sailors should the run into the enemy. The Leon Gambetta had left without theirs. We surfaced after the hit, saw it sink and saw there was no-one there to help the escaping sailors. Our u-boat could not hold anymore weight and so I had no choice but to dive again, to leave them to their fate. That ship carried a crew of 821 and only 137 men returned home. I had seen war before but not like that." His eyes narrowed, his heart thundering in his chest at his admission. "I left those drowning men behind me, men who had done nothing to me, who were simply fulfilling their duty to their country as I was fulfilling mine. I may have been rewarded, commended for it, but it certainly was not my crowning glory."
"I cannot imagine the weight that fighting in a war places on one's soul."
"No, and I had hoped that my children would never know it." His fingertips rubbed tiredly at his aching temples. "It is made worse by the fact that I fear should it come to war, Austria will be on the wrong side, morally speaking."
"We do seem determined to join with the Germans," she acknowledged.
"Hmmm," he gave a curt nod before telling her, "Should the children talk of it again then I would like you to correct them Fraulein in regards to what my proudest achievement was during my Naval career. It was that I never lost a man in my command. The burden of getting young men home weighed heavily on me, particularly after that day, as it should have done. Life is precious and dying in war is not as glorious as some would have you believe."
Her hand once again slipped into his, squeezing his fingers tightly. Georg looked at her in surprise and she blushed slightly, "I know it is not the most appropriate gesture," she told him quietly. "But I…I…" she shrugged, looking lost as she searched for the right words. "I want you to know that you are a good man, the fact that you feel regret, that you mourned the loss of men who were thought of as the enemy says as much."
"I fear you give me too much credit, Fraulein."
"I am confident that I give you just enough," she countered.
He laughed, his smile softening as he saw her stifle a yawn. "I think we have sat up for long enough." He got to his feet and helped her to hers, asking, "Do you still want a warm drink?"
Maria shook her head. "No thank you." She leaned slightly on him as she hobbled towards the door, his arm slipped around her waist as though it was the most natural thing in the world. As the reached the bottom of the stairs, she limped forward and began to awkwardly attempt to lower herself onto the bottom step.
Georg raised an eyebrow at her, stepping forward, his hands catching hers to still her movements. "Fraulein, you cannot be serious."
She looked at him with surprise. "Well, I can't get upstairs on my ankle just yet. This is how I've been doing it when the boys have been otherwise occupied."
He gave a sigh, he was absolutely going to regret this, but really what else could he do? "Put your arms around my neck," he instructed her calmly.
Maria's expression turned to one of bemusement. "Why?" she asked curiously.
"So I can carry you up to your room," he told her pointedly. "It is the easiest way, the stairs are freezing at this time of night, and I do not want you catching a chill."
Georg could see the crease of her frown wrinkling above the bridge of her nose as she perched on one foot, considering her options. "Very well," she finally agreed. "But only because I fear if we argue about it then we shall end up waking the whole house and that hardly seems wise."
"It does not," he concurred. He forced his expression to remain impassive as she linked her arms around his neck, the line of her torso leaning lightly into his and even through the thick cotton of her nightdress, he could feel the swell and curve of her breasts. He could feel the soft warmth of her breath on his cheek as he leaned forward to sweep her feet up off the ground.
She let out a small "Ooof," in surprise and her head dropped momentarily towards his chest before she lifted it, her gaze appearing to fixate on his right ear.
He could feel and hear how her breath fell into a slightly faster rhythm and Georg forced himself not to look into her blushing face – he knew he'd lose all control if he did - and instead focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
By the time they reached Maria's bedroom door, Georg was clinging to his self-control by a rather tenuous strand. He placed her down gently, her hands slide down from his shoulders to his upper arms, his voice was slightly harsh to his own ears as he told her, "Safe and sound, as promised Fraulein."
It was then that he made the mistake of looking at her, down into those blue eyes, even in the darkness of the hallway, he could see the softness of her gaze, the blue eyes clouded with what he recognised to be desire. She was assessing him, in the same way she had after the Laedler, in those moments where they had lost sight of their audience. He stepped forward, just one step, but it was enough for him to be almost pressed to her, her hands tightened ever so slightly on his biceps as if to draw him closer.
His head lowered as hers raised, as though pulled together by an invisible string he thought. She pulled her bottom lip briefly between her teeth, biting down on the pillowy flesh before freeing it and it was all he could do not to groan with need.
They stood, their breathing almost echoing in the deserted hallway, both unable to make the next move, but equally as unable to step away. One of his hands lifted, his knuckle grazing softly against the soft curve of her cheek and she sighed softly at his touch, her eyes fluttering shut for a brief second before meeting his again.
Georg wanted to tell her to run, to turn and flee, to lock her bedroom door. He expected her eyes to hold fear of his impropriety, of his boldness and yet what he saw was almost a silent challenge. He tried to gather his racing thoughts, he couldn't, he really shouldn't.
Finally, his lips pressed against her forehead, a brief caress across her silken skin, his fingers unfolded, curving against the nape of her neck, it was the most he could allow himself. "Goodnight Fraulein," he rasped. With that he stepped back, turning on his heel and fleeing before his self-control disintegrated any further.