Shelter From the Past

Chapter 2

Are You Alright?

Disclaimer: I thought I might get them for my birthday last Monday, but no, I merely got the consolation prize of seeing them on stage (it was sooooo cool!).

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews! I'll try to update as often as I can. This chapter may seem a little slow, but it needs to be here! By the way, I didn't think any of the TSOM characters would use "zoned out", so I changed it to "blanked out", but it means the same thing.

Summary: Hasn't changed.

"I know where we can go, follow me."

If it weren't for the look in his wife's eyes, Georg would've jumped up and run after her like there was no tomorrow, but there was something wrong, there was a shadow in her eyes that he had never seen before. The emotion in her face was baffling to him. Her mouth was numb, like she couldn't quite face wherever she was talking about and her usually sparkling eyes bore traces of sadness, maybe regret? Did she not mean what she said?

A flash of lightning in the distance reminded them all of the danger they were in. He would find out what was troubling her when they were safe, right now she needed to get them to shelter, not cry in his arms as she spilled her secrets. The looks of hope on his children's faces turned quickly turned his worry into a timid smile as he glanced back towards Maria chuckling.

"My goodness you know how to wait until the last minute to mention things." Everyone's eyes brightened at his joking manner and he could see some of Maria's confidence returning. Another loud blast of thunder echoed through the night sky, as Maria jumped up.

"Come along now, quickly!"

Georg swiftly helped the children to their feet while Maria determined which direction they needed to go.

When given instructions to follow their mother, six of the children were more then happy to obey, eager to get out of the freezing rain. Lisel however, stayed behind; Georg wasn't the only one that that had noticed Maria's apprehension.

"Father." She whispered, tugging at his sleeve. "Are you sure mother's alright, she looked awfully frightened and… well…I … I guess I've just never seen her like that before and…" Lisel couldn't understand why she was so worried; it was natural for her family to be scared at a time like this, but her mother's fear had looked different and she didn't know why.

"Father?" She tried again looking at his vague expression.

"Yes Lisel, sorry, what did you say?" Truth be told, he had heard her, but he was at a loss for Maria's behavior as well, and he wasn't sure how to respond without worrying his daughter even more.

"Nothing, I was just wondering if mother was okay."

"Yes darling, of course. She's just a bit shaken up; we all are." Lisel raised her eyebrow, she didn't believe him, but then he didn't believe him either, so it didn't really matter. Georg sighed deeply.

"Look, I know your concerned about her, I am too, but right now is not the time to bother her. Once we get out of the storm I'll talk her, but until then, the only thing I want you to worry about is keeping yourself and your brothers and sisters safe. Alright?"

She nodded reluctantly.

"Alright."

"Thank you. Now run, we have to catch up!"

Lisel grabbed her father's hand and started running, all the while hoping that everything would turn out okay.

Their hike was so short that Georg was astounded that they hadn't seen the large farm earlier, but then again it was almost entirely secluded by trees. During the trip, Georg had been thrilled to see Maria bounce right back to her normal self, laughing and joking with the children to keep them distracted and positive. Not even their incessant questions about their destination seemed to bother her, even though she always answered them in the same way.

"Mother, you never said where we were going." Brigitta half asked, half stated. Maria simply grinned and said.

"You'll just have to wait until we get there then, now won't you." Not satisfied, the girl went on.

"But I think you should tell us, after all our entire future depends on us arriving there and none of us even knows where 'there' is." Maria simply continued to grin. "Mother, pleeeeeeeease?"

Maria squeezed her daughter's hand comfortingly.

"Someplace safe, sweetheart, someplace safe."

Now however, her worry had returned, and she was filled with doubtful questions.

"Why am I doing this?" "What if they find out?" "Will they still love me, more importantly, will Georg still love me?" "What if he won't let us stay here? No that's silly; he wouldn't leave us out here alone." "What if-''

"Maria." She felt someone rubbing her shoulder.

"Yes." Still somewhat dazed.

"The rain's coming down harder and we really need to run."

"Oh sorry darling, I guess I blanked out." Georg smiled at her at as he took her hand and she brightened at the gesture as they started running after the children.

Had Maria been the first to reach the door, they would have waited years before she found the courage to knock, but unfortunately for her, it was Louisa who got that honor, and she wasted no time in nearly breaking down the door in an effort to get the resident's full and undivided attention. Maria ran faster to try and stop her, but instead, ended up crashing into the man who had just stepped outside. She stood up quickly only to find herself being stared at as if she was a ghost. The man finally spoke in an almost awed whisper.

"Maria?"

Okay, chapter 2 is up! Let me know what you think.