Shelter from the Past

Chapter 4

The Beginning to a Long Night

Disclaimer: If I said I was .000001 related to Maria Von Trapp, do you think I could claim them?

Author's Note: Yes! The TSOM section hit over 230! By the way, if anyone has read the French story, could you tell me what it's about? Sorry this took so long, but term papers come up at the most inconvenient times…

Summary: Same old, same old.

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"Well then we'd better hurry; Norbert's not as fast as he used to be…" He quickly jumped back to avoid Maria's friendly slap as they raced to the door.

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Maria stood just inside for a moment and let herself take in her childhood home. Very little had changed; the front door opened into a cozy sitting area where two old, antique chairs with fluffy cushions sat on a soft, yet worn down rug in front of a fireplace. To the right was the dining room where she could see several of her children waiting for a reviving snack, and up against the far wall was Richard's "sacred" alcohol cabinet. She only looked at it for a second before averting her eyes, there was no need to think about that right now. Instead, her gaze wandered to the left side of the sitting room where a hallway framed by bookshelves and knick-knacks led the way to the bedrooms and the bathroom. She hoped there would be enough room for all of them to spend the night.

"Well, lets see." She thought. "The girls could stay in the sitting room, the rug and the chairs should be comfortable enough, uh, the boys and Georg could maybe stay in Johann's room, and then I guess Johann and I would stay in my old room. Yes, that would work; Georg will be disappointed, but I'll make it up to him somehow. Yes, this keeps everyone except Johann and me out of my room."

"Mother!" Yelled Gretl as she ran out of the dining room. Maria snapped out of her thoughts and turned her attention to her young daughter.

"Mother, Uncle Johann made chicken soup!

"Uncle, huh?"

"Yah. Brigitta said that since you married father, all of your family is now our family."

"Not Richard, I won't let you be related to him."

"So we asked Johann and he said that we could call him what we wanted. Now we have two uncles!" A loud blast of thunder echoed through the sky and Gretl screamed as she clung quickly to her mother's skirt.

"Oh, sweetheart, are you still afraid?" Gretl violently nodded her head.

"It's so loud." She looked innocently up at Maria. "Mother, could you sing to me?" Maria smiled.

"Not right now, but you know what?"

"What?"

"I hear that soup makes you feel just as good as your favorite things!"

"Really!" The five-year-old's excitement perked right back up.

"Mm hmm! Come, why don't we go join the others." Gretl giggled as Maria whisked her off the ground and spun her around as she carried her towards the kitchen whistling as she went.

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Snack, or dinner rather, turned out to be much more delightful then any of them had anticipated. After formal introductions, both adults and children were almost giddy about sitting down around a table and eating dinner, with their family. Other then a few general questions about the house and Maria and Johann's childhood, the conversation revolved mainly around Maria's time at the Von Trapp house. Maria had Johann to thank for that. After he'd heard all that happened on Maria's very first day, he'd insisted they tell story after story. Maria knew he was genuinely interested in what she'd been up too, but she wondered if his ulterior motive to keep her family off the subject of their past was just as strong as hers.

Johann listened to his nieces and nephews with glee. He was beyond happy that his sister had finally found the family she deserved; even though she worried, she was glowing. She and Georg were perfect for each other; they balanced each other yet they had so many similarities.

The children had reached the Edelweiss moment in their saga. None of them could really summarize the feelings in that room, so Liesl tried a different approach.

"That was the day we knew mother and father were in love with each other." Despite the close relationship that they had, Maria knew Johann would go all "annoying big brother" on her if her love life came up. She opened her mouth to try and move the story along to the party, but Johann saw what she was going to do before the words were out of her mouth.

"Oh? How could you tell?" Maria raised her eyebrows at the giant smirk on her brother's face. Brigitta saw where this was going and eagerly joined in in a clearly dramatized voice.

"They were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes as father serenaded her with the song he claimed he was playing for everyon-''

"Brigitta..." Maria and Georg warned at the same time. Their voices were stern, but their smiles gave away their embarrassment.

"Aww." Johann started, "You fell in love over a song." He grinned when she blushed deeper then he'd ever seen. Maria was about to respond when she saw Marta try and stifle a yawn. It was rather late, and the stress had made them even more exhausted then usual. Turning to Georg, she knew he was thinking the same thing.

"Johann, as fun as this has been, I really think my family and I could use some rest." Johann glanced over at the clock; 1:25 a.m.

"Ooh, you're right, um, I think there should be enough room for everyone."

"But mother, we don't want to go to sleep, we're not tiiiiiiiiired." Friedrich protested as his last word turned into an elongated yawn.

"You were saying?" Maria asked while smiling at his determination to stay awake. Friedrich smiled sheepishly. She turned to Johann. "I was thinking the girls could sleep in the living room, Georg and the boys could take your room, and then we could stay in my room." She smiled weakly knowing that the sleeping arrangement was far from what she and Georg would've preferred.

Johann looked between his sister and brother-in-law and smirked. "I wonder if they know how transparent they are." He decided to save his sarcastic remarks for the moment, though; he knew that the two of them needed to talk.

"That's fine." He turned to the children. "How about you all come with me to get blankets and pillows for the living room." The children nodded and started towards the hallway. Johann started to follow them, but then turned around suddenly with an evil grin on his face. He looked right at Georg and Maria for a moment before quietly teasing them.

"By the way, if either of you decide you need more space, there's plenty of room in the barn." The couple's mouths dropped open causing Johann to chuckle before turning on his heel to follow the children.

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Sorry it took so long, I promise to try and update more frequently, please stay with me. The last paragraph just came out, and rather then trying to hide it's implications, I just let it be.