A/N:

What if the Captain, after breaking up with Elsa, waited another day or two to talk to Maria in the gazebo? Again, thank you for reviewing!

Thanks to Mellie D. for the practically perfect review work. Correction – perfect. Her suggestions gave this chapter all that I thought it was lacking.

Disclaimer: I still do not own anything.

"Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things." [Lat., Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.. Virgil, Georgics (II, 490).

Maria went outside, as soon as Liesl went up to her room. The Captain had gone straight to his study after the phone call, and she thought he had forgotten about her entirely. Usually, when he locked himself there, he would not leave again for several hours.

The garden looked particularly beautiful that evening. The storm happening inside the Trapp Villa had not reached it yet. The skies were clear, and there was a full moon. It gave the garden a bluish tint, which suited her state of mind perfectly. She wandered aimlessly through the trees. It seemed she walked for hours like that, and it was not until her feet started to hurt that she decided to sit down for a rest . Her shoes had not exactly been made for walking,.

The glass-walled gazebo had always been her favorite place, ever since she arrived at the Trapp villa. It was to where she ran to, whenever she needed some time for herself. It was closer than the mountains and her new safe haven. The mountains, although her first love and the only place where she could go to truly forget her worries, were too far with seven children under her care. And, lately, it was where she went when she would wake up to his music in the middle of the night, only to feel tempted to join him, as he had once said she could if she so wished. It gave her a sense of security, of closeness and yet she could be at one with nature thanks to the glass walls.

Enjoy it, this may be your last time here, Maria thought, sighing, as she sat on one end of a stone bench, just outside the gazebo. Placing her elbows on her knees, she leaned forward, her fingers knitted together.

She was exhausted. Her mind was tired of trying to find a solution to her problem. It was painful even to think about it, because every path she considered seemed to lead her everywhere except towards happiness.

Think Maria, think about anything else. But do not think of him!

Staring downwards, she frowned deeply, noticing the sad state of her new shoes. It was enough to distract her for a moment.

If you are planning to walk, wear sensible shoes, she censored herself. Only she never had that kind of problem before. All she had at the Abbey were sensible shoes. Two pairs of them.

"Hallo!"

His voice startled her, and she sat up straight. It was not as much as the sound of the voice, but his tone. She looked up to her right, and saw him there, a few feet away, standing by a tree, looking almost too handsome to be real, in the same dark grey suit he was wearing earlier.

Hallo??!!! He never said that to her before. When he was in a good mood, he usually greeted her with his usual formality. When he was in a bad mood, it was the usual "Fraülein!", exclamation point and all. But hallo was a word she had never heard from his lips before, one that she was sure was not part of his upper class vocabulary.

Don´t think! The rational part of her warned. But how could she not, with him standing there, looking at her like that? And just… looking like that?

"I - I thought I just might find you here." His tone was almost playful, a startling contrast with the way he spoke to her in the last couple of times they clashed. She was not sure what to think. But she was not surprised he knew where to find her. Later, when she remembered that night, she would wonder if, unconsciously, she had gone to the gazebo precisely for that reason.

"Was - was there something you wanted?" she asked, uncertain, bracing herself to face his anger again, for the third time that day. For the first time, she regretted that she had spoken so freely to him earlier, she regreted every sentence she had thrown back at him.

"Mm? No, no, no, no. Sit down, please." But she remained there, motionless, just staring at him. He insisted. "Please!" and showed the bench with a gesture.

Maria sat down, daintily, at the end of the bench. To say that he was making her nervous was an understatement.

"Uh - may I?" Was he actually asking for permission to join her?

She nodded and he sat on the opposite end, his legs to the other side from hers. She was unable to tear her gaze away from him, until he smiled at her. Quickly, she looked away, and turned her gaze, once more, at her lap, feeling more self-conscious than ever.

His smile broadened, and teased, "Careful, if you move farther away from me, you'll fall off."

Was she being so obvious?

"I'm not…"

"Oh yes, you are. Don't worry, I won't bite you."

Bite? Maria had a feeling he would do much worse.

"I seem to have run out of any skills to start any more verbal battles with you tonight. You won! I never thought it could happen, but it did, and it is quite… unsettling."

She took a deep breath, for courage. "Captain, if this is about dinner and earlier this evening, I do need to apologize. I know I behaved appallingly. I went too far."

"Yes. And so did I. Do me a favor, will you?"

"Yes…"

"Forget dinner. Forget what I said before dinner. And after dinner as well. I was not myself, I was… dealing with, or at least trying to deal, with too many things at once. I had a lot on my mind. It will all make sense to you when I explain everything. What brings me here is much more important than any of that."

"What is it?"

"I said we must have a talk, didn't I?"

"You did."

"And, as there is no one to interrupt us now… What? Why are you staring at me that way?"

"In what way, Captain?"

"Like if I was going to make you walk the plank. Or worse, keelhaul you."

"I don't know… do they still do that? What is keelhauling?"

"It means… Stop trying to change the subject. It won't work this time."

"Yes, but that makes perfect sense to me."

"Does it?"

"It does. Sister Berthe always said that one day I would find myself in real trouble, so much that I would not be able to talk my way out of it."

"What makes you think you are in trouble now?"

"I don't know. Am I?" she asked, unsure.

He laughed, and shook his head. "If you are, then so am I! So, please, go ahead, talk us both out of this one!"

"I cannot. You see, in order for me to do that, at least one of us must know what is going on."

"What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know, everyone is behaving so strangely tonight. You, Herr Detweiler – even Liesl."

"And you are no exception."

"Well, I feel strange. If you don't know what is going on, then I –" she blinked repeatedly, "I don't know either. I don't know what to do. So please, help me. Sister Berthe was right – I cannot talk myself out of this. I have tried but – I can't. I have not won the battle – you have, Captain."

I may have won the battle, but she won the war, he thought.

"You really don't have a clue! Do you?" He sounded disconcerted. Awestruck.

That was not entirely true. Maria did have a clue. What if the Baroness was right. What if he... But the possibility was so disturbing that it terrified her, to the point that she had simply shut her mind to the possibility.

The Captain continued. "This changes everything. Now, where should I begin?"

"You can start by…"

"The very beginning?" He touched his ear, she would soon learn that it meant he was embarrassed, or at a loss for words. "That was when you first…"

"When I first what?"

"No, no, no. This won't do. The truth is that…" He was searching carefully for his next words. "You know, I was thinking and I was wondering… two things. Why did you run away to the Abbey? And what was it that made you come back?" He stressed each word of his question with a gesture, as if he were explaining some kind of military tactic.

"Oh, that!"

"Yes, that."

"Is that the… the very beginning?"

"It is the only beginning that matters now. It is only the tip of the iceberg, as I see it."

"Why is that so important to you? What does it matter now? It is all settled, isn't it? I am sure the Reverend Mother will help you find a new governess if you only talk to her. And I will leave as soon as that is all arranged, and not before, I have already given you my word on that. You don´t have to send Liesl to follow me around to keep me from leaving." He stared at her in surprise. "Yes, I do notice things sometimes, Captain. The truth is that I am not leaving before making sure the children will be taken care of, unless you send me away first. Is that why you are here? Because if it is, I can understand…"

"Just - answer the question. Please." He did not sound angry, just - amused

Maria had long decided that she would carry that particular truth to the grave. No matter what, she would never reveal it to anyone else. Confronting the truth while talking to the Reverend Mother had been too much. Her emotions had gotten the best of her that day and she would not let them sway her again. Finding the strength and courage to drag herself through all that happened ever since she had confessed her feelings had been painful enough. All she could do was manage to stay as close as possible to the whole truth, without revealing too much, and praying that she sounded just a little bit convincing.

"Well, I had an obligation to fulfill and I - I came back to fulfill it."

There – that would have to do. But he was not convinced.

"As simple as that?"

"Yes." She swallowed the truth behind her one-word answer.

"It can't be that simple. It can't be all. Mm… Is that all?"

She went for her next rehearsed phrase. "I missed the children."

"Yes. Uh, uh. Only the children?"

Her heart fluttered. "No. Yes! Isn't it right I should have missed them?" She looked at him frowning, almost daring him to contradict her, and, at the same time hoping that he had not noticed that slip of tongue. She couldn't focus on his eyes; she had to focus somewhere else. The eyes are a mirror to one's soul - she couldn't bring herself to bear her soul to this man, verbally or otherwise. She focused on his mouth – forming words, words that would soon change her life forever.

"Oh, yes, yes, of course! I was, uh, only hoping that perhaps you… perhaps you might, uh…"

"Yes?" Might I what?, she wanted to ask.

"Well, uh, nothing was the same when you were away and it'll be wrong again after you leave. And I just thought perhaps you might; uh… change your mind?"

He was asking her to stay. Again. But why? Her eyes moved from his mouth to his eyes.

"Ch... change my mind?"

His voice dropped to a quiet whisper. He searched her eyes as he spoke his litany. "Yes. Stay with me... with us. Forever. No new governess. Just you."

Maria studied his face, his eyes unbelievably blue under the moonlight. She did not know what had been worse – the Baroness parting words the night of the ball or that he had just asked of her.

"Goodbye, Maria. I'm sure you'll make a very fine nun."

Maria had never been closer to actually hating anyone other than her uncle since she heard those words. She never actually disliked the Baroness, in spite of everything – she always believed she could not be blamed for being what she was. Except in that moment.

And now, him…

He was thinking of himself, of the children, and even of the Baroness. She would have to be the greatest of fools to even consider that he had been thinking about her.

"But Captain, I cannot do that, you know I cannot stay. What about my vows? I am going to be a nun before the year is over! The longer I stay, the worse it will be for the children when I go." And for me.

He shuffled closer to her on the bench, never breaking eye contact with her. "I think that you and I know that it is not going to happen anymore."

"We do?" Her nervousness evident, even to him in the pale moonlight. She swallowed again and noted that the truth was getting harder and harder to hold back.

"Yes. Please, don´t trouble to deny it."

"But that is not true!" She rose and walked away, towards the gazebo, seeking some safety in distance. Seeking security in transparent walls. When she was in control again, she said. "You don´t have to worry too much about the children, I had a talk with them. And I'm sure the Baroness will be able to make things fine for you."

She couldn't face him again, not with her emotions so close to spilling over. She leaned on the doorway for support when she heard his whisper…

"Maria…"

This can't be happening to me she thought.