A/N: It's been such a long time since I've been active in this fandom. Lots of real-life stuff getting in the way etc., but several months ago, I started re-reading a lot of the old stories, some of my favourites and I remembered exactly why I loved why I loved reading and writing TSOM fan fiction. Searching through my computer, I found many incomplete stories/chapters, some even stopped mid-sentence and suddenly I got a burst of inspiration to finish some of these stories. This one was started about 3 years ago. However, since it's been so long since I've published anything, I feel incredibly nervous about coming back, so much so that I've putting it off for weeks. So reviews would be greatly appreciated.
Chance Is A Fine Thing
Georg von Trapp turned up the collar of his coat and shivered. It had been an unusually cold winter in London that year. He brushed a couple of stray snowflakes off his shoulder and began to make his way down the street to the place one of his colleagues had recommended that afternoon for dinner.
He spied it on the corner and hurried along, wanting to get out of the cold as fast as possible. As Georg approached the restaurant, the doors opened and large group of people came out. He stepped back to allow them to pass and waited, not really paying them too much attention as his thoughts were more focused on going inside and getting warm after the long day he'd had.
But just as the last few people walked past him, something caught his eye and he spun his head around to take a closer look. There was a woman at the back of the group with short blond hair that, for some reason, reminded him of… well, no, it couldn't be.. Georg thought to himself, yet there was something very familiar about the way she walked and the scent of her perfume that caused him to impulsively call out.
"Fraulein Maria?"
The woman stopped suddenly in her tracks and slowly turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw him. He took off his hat and she blinked several times as she stared at the man in front of her. He looked different - he had grown a moustache and a goatee beard and looked older with a few more lines around his eyes. His hair was thinner and more peppered with grey, however, there was no doubt it was him. "C-captain von Trapp?" she stammered back in surprise.
"Fraulein, I can't believe it's you!" Georg exclaimed instinctively in German. "How are you? What are you doing here?"
As he spoke, the woman next to Maria gasped loudly. She placed her hand on Maria's arm and turned to her with a questioning look. Maria hesitantly looked from her friend to Georg then back again before leaning forward and whispering something into her friend's ear.
"Are you sure?" the friend asked her. Maria nodded as the friend squeezed her hand and left with the rest of the group.
"What was all that about?" Georg asked, still speaking in German, as the group moved out of sight and down the street.
"I'm sorry Captain," Maria replied in fluent English. "But you were speaking German."
Georg winced. He could have kicked himself. It was only 3 years since the war and animosity towards Germans, and by association, German-speaking people, was still very high.
"Yes, of course. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry," Georg apologised switching effortlessly into English. "I suppose I was taken quite by surprise suddenly seeing you here Fraulein. Or should I call you Maria now? Fraulein seems rather formal these days."
"Of course, Captain. We're no longer in Austria and you're no longer my employer."
"That's right, although if I am going to call you Maria, you must call me Georg." He saw the uncertainty in her eyes so he added. "Please, I insist."
"If you wish… Georg." There was something about the way she said his name, the softness of her voice that stirred something inside him. For so many years, Georg had wondered what had happened to her and now here she was in front of him. It was surreal. He paused and took a moment to look at Maria properly. She was elegantly dressed and while her hair was still cut short to the nape of her neck, it was now more styled than it had been while she'd been a governess to his children. And even though it had been nearly 10 years since she had disappeared from his home the night of the party, she'd barely aged a day and was just as attractive, or possibly more so, as last time he'd seen her. His lips curled upwards in a faint smile.
Maria knew Georg was staring intently at her and she wondered what he was thinking. It was strange. For years, occasionally Maria had thought about whether they would ever meet again by chance. She had played out the scenario over and over again in her mind: what it would be like to see the Captain, err… Georg… again; what she would say to him; what he would say to her… Yet now it had finally happened, Maria had to admit, in all her wildest dreams, she never thought it was going to feel so awkward. But then again, she supposed that the circumstances surrounding her hasty departure from the villa the night of the party didn't help matters either.
Maria forced a big smile, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that was hanging in the air. "I can't believe you're here. In London!" she exclaimed brightly. "Do you live here?"
"No, I live in America, actually," he answered. "But I'm back here for some business, you see. My late wife's parents, the Whiteheads, died several months ago and there was no one here to handle their affairs so I've been back in England the past month or so dealing with the estate and that sort of thing."
"Oh I see," said Maria.
Georg was about to say something else about his business in England, but then it suddenly struck him as very strange that she was here in England too, rather than living as a nun in Austria. The only clue to her disappearance those 10 years earlier was a short note saying she missed her life at the abbey too much and that she had to leave them. Even afterwards when he had visited Nonnberg Abbey enquiring about her, the Reverend Mother had insisted that Maria's path was a life of solitude and obedience at the convent. So why now was Maria here in London? He was perplexed.
"How come you're here in London too? I don't understand," Georg began, "when you left that night, the night of the party, I thought… you went back to the abbey to become a nun. But now you're here. Clearly not a nun. I think you need to explain."
"Oh," Maria replied slowly, her face going bright red. She cast her eyes downwards and shifted on her feet like she'd been caught out in a big lie. "Umm, well.. you see…" Maria stopped and closed her eyes.
Somehow she had known that there was no avoiding these questions. How could she tell him that when she had fled his home the night of the party she had been running from her feelings towards him? Or how she had planned to use the abbey as an escape and to take her vows as a nun just to hide away from her feelings for him? But also, how could she tell him that the Reverend Mother had seen through her instantly and had wanted to send Maria back to find out whether Georg loved her in return, but how that plan had dissipated as soon as Maria learned that Georg was engaged to the Baroness? And Maria knew she definitely could not tell Georg how her heart had been broken by that news, so there was no way she could have returned to the villa, or even remained in Salzburg. She had fled the city soon afterwards just to get away from him, the memories and the thoughts of what might have been.
Maria could feel Georg's eyes on her, waiting for an answer. She took a deep breath, trying to choose her words carefully. "I did return to the abbey that night as I had missed the life I had there and I was intending on taking my vows as soon as I could," she began. That part wasn't a lie, at least, she thought. "But then it became very obvious to the Reverend Mother and I as we spoke that perhaps a life as a nun in the abbey was not what was meant for me." She swallowed hard. And that part was true too - she had just left out a few details in the middle.
"But the Reverend Mother said when I came to the abbey asking after you that you were about to take your vows."
"You came to the abbey?" Maria interrupted. She had never known that.
"Yes I did," Georg confirmed but then continued with his probing. "Are you saying that the Reverend Mother lied to me?"
"No, I wouldn't have thought she would have deliberately lied to you." Maria wondered what the Reverend Mother had actually told him, knowing how heartbroken Maria had been, but she was sure that whatever the Mother Abbess may have said or done was to protect Maria. "Perhaps she thought that I was going to take my vows when she spoke to you, but that was before I decided to leave the convent."
"But when you left, you didn't return to us…"
"No, but…"
"What about the children? Did you ever think of them?" Georg accused, his tone sharp. "You didn't even say goodbye."
"I know, and I'm sorry… It was just.." Maria bit her lip, trying to work out what to say without revealing too much of the truth. "I was confused. It was a difficult time for me and I-I needed a change." Well, she thought, that was true without actually saying that truth.
Georg looked hard at her, trying to work out whether there was something she has leaving out. He felt there was, but also thought that he would be hard pressed to get any more information out of her at that moment. He would just have to accept her story, for now. But he had so many questions, so many things he needed to ask her; to find out. It wasn't going to be easy. But she looked upset.
"Maria, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, it's just.. well you left so suddenly and we never really knew what had happened to you."
"I understand. It was wrong of me to leave the way I did. Forgive me?"
"Of course." Georg replied, meaning it. He then shivered with cold as a gust of wind blew up. Maria wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as she shifted from one foot to the other, trying to keep warm. Georg glanced towards the nearby restaurant.
"Maria, it's cold outside. I was heading inside to get some dinner. Would you like to join me? We could talk. It seems like we have a fair amount of catching up to do."
"Oh, I'm not sure…" Maria wasn't sure how to respond. She felt conflicted. On one hand, talking with Georg would dredge up so many memories of the past, memories she had worked so hard to put behind her and she also didn't want him to know how she had felt about him. But yet on the other hand, she had moved on with her life and so had he – he was now married to the Baroness and anything between them in the past was just that – in the past. Maria also did want to find out how the children were as she still felt bad about the way she'd left them and she still often thought of them and prayed for them.
"Please." Georg flashed her a charming smile. Maria laughed to herself. Even after all these years, there was something very persuasive about Georg's smile.
"Oh all right," she gave in. "But just so you know, I have eaten already. But I will join you for a drink and some dessert. They have a very delicious apple pie here."
Georg chuckled as he held the door open for her and stepped back to allow Maria to enter the restaurant first. But as she did, Maria hoped that joining Georg wasn't a mistake. There were memories that perhaps should remain in the past and secrets that should stay hidden.