Georg drove like a mad man - determined to make it to his beloved as soon as possible. He knew the short trip should take him a good two hours, but he found himself speeding and needing to be by Maria's side even faster than that. He knew everything would be fine once he arrived and was reunited with his wife, but he had a feeling that if he didn't get to Maria, something terrible - even moreso than had already happened - would happen to her.

Oh god how he wanted to take her in his arms and never let her go. He carefully reduced the speed on the car and checked his watch. He'd be there in half an hour's time.

-SOM-

Maria lightly licked her lips as she laid there, watching the three people staring down at her. She of course knew Max and Elsa, but had no idea who the third woman standing before her was. As she was stirring she thought she heard either Max or Elsa mention her name, but couldn't remember what it was. Oh well, she figured it would be mentioned soon enough.

She went to sit up and all three moved quickly toward her, causing her to freeze up momentarily.

"I think I can manage to readjust myself, thank you. The baby hasn't come out yet you know," she lightly joked.

Max let out a brief sigh of relief and Elsa clutched her chest slightly at her friend. The strange woman sat down on the opposite side of the bed so she was back-to-back with Elsa.

"You did give us quite the scare, you know that, deary?" She said with a genuine smile.

Maria looked at her curiously, thinking that she had seen this woman's face somewhere before. Then it hit her just as she was introduced.

"By the way, we haven't been properly introduced. My name is Rashel and of course I know you are Maria. It's nice to meet you, I'm glad you're all right."

That was it! Rashel! Maria wanted to drop her jaw in shock of the situation in which she found herself, but she had to remain calm. She was sitting in the home of the very woman she and Roxanne were investigating. Suddenly, she felt very uncomfortable. Was she to reveal herself and her mission to the woman who was nursing her back to health? Or was she to keep that part quiet and be thankful for being with a few familiar faces.

Elsa noticed the sudden change in Maria's demeanor.

"Are you feeling ill again, Maria? Your face has gone very pale..."

But Maria didn't even acknowledge Elsa's remarks.

"I'm sorry, did you say your name was Rashel?" Maria looked at the woman almost in fear. Her concern must have been obvious because Rashel looked back a bit uneasy herself.

"That's correct...is everything okay, darling?"

Maria looked at all three people in the room around her. She took a deep breath of air and closed her eyes, praying for strength on how to begin this insane explanation. When she reopened them, everybody was looking at her with great worry.

"All right then. I suppose I need to start talking..."

-SOM-

Herr Zeller of course hadn't strayed too far from Maria and Roxanne's hotel. He had left and went for a leisurely stroll through the town after encountering his two best female agents, having complete intent on revisiting them again in the evening. He knew they were making progress in their mission, but wasn't entirely sold on Maria's allegiance to the Reich still. She was a damn good actress, he would give her that, but she had been odd ever since his storm troopers had brought her back on that cold night on the mountains.

He circled the fountain in the main square one last time. The sun had almost set entirely and he was beginning to feel a bit chilly. He decided perhaps of ducking into a cafe for a cup or two of coffee to warm him up. After he was no longer cold, he decided he would revisit Maria and Roxanne in their hotel room to make sure they were doing as they were told.

As Herr Zeller crossed the street he gave his left breast pocket of his jacket a small pat, ensuring that his pistol was still safely there.

-SOM-

Max remained standing, arms crossed over his chest, awaiting to hear Maria's story. Elsa and Rashel kept their spots at either side of Maria on the bed. Maria sat up a bit straighter and made sure to keep her gaze fixed on them all as she began.

"Well I guess the best way to start is at the beginning." Maria held a tiny smile, a memory flooding back to her singing on a mountain top with her children, but her expression soon returned serious.

"After we had come upon Innsbruck, we made camp there for the night. In the middle of that night, the Nazis found us, captured me, shot and killed Georg and left the children parent-less -"

Max made a motion to speak and Elsa's eyes widened at Maria's words, but she held her hand up.

"No, Max. Please allow me to continue, for it's too hard if I stop in between."

"But Maria you don't understand -"

"Shh, darling, it's fine. Let Maria continue." Elsa nodded at Max, wanting to hear Maria's entire story before they dropped the fact that Georg was alive on Maria.

"Go on, Maria." Elsa gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and Maria let her hand remain on hers.

"Thank you, Elsa...as I was saying. After they captured me, I woke up in a tiny cell, not truly knowing where I was or what had happened to any of the others. That was when Herr Zeller came into the room and informed me that I was too good of an agent previously to simple have me killed, so in return for becoming a Nazi spy again, he would allow me to live. Having no other choice, I acquiesced to his demand and fell back into an uncomfortable rhythm of being a German spy. But Zeller must have known I would try to run, so he paired me with a fellow agent and my friend, Roxanne. I had never worked with a partner before in my entire life so I knew I wasn't trusted. So Rox and I were assigned to come back to Innsbruck and investigate a woman who was disloyal to the Third Reich."

Maria paused and took another sharp breath and faced Rashel, wanting her to know that the next words coming out of her mouth were intended for her to hear.

"We were instructed to find, and arrest a women who was responsible for sneaking people out of Europe; a woman who opposes the Nazis and someone who risks her life to help others...Rashel we were assigned to find you."

Rashel gasped. She quickly stood up from the bed and slowly backed away. Max crossed the room and went to comfort her.

"It's all right, Rashel. Nobody's found you yet."

"That's not entirely true." Everyone's attention snapped back to Maria.

"Roxanne and I discovered your location earlier this week. Unknown to me, Max and Elsa were being hidden here. And then today Max and I ran into each other. He said he and Elsa had seen Rox and I outside when we must have been working."

Now Maria had tears falling freely from her eyes.

"Rashel, after that happened Rox and I headed back to our hotel in town and Herr Zeller was there waiting for us. He demanded to know of our progress and of course we told him everything we had gathered about you, not knowing any of this."

Rashel and Elsa were crying too. Elsa's grip tightened on Maria's hand. Seeing her friend in such agony, she pulled Maria into a hug and tried to soothe her.

"There, there, Maria. It's all right, we'll leave at once. You had no idea what you were doing, you were just trying to survive. That's all Max and I were doing - surviving." Elsa managed to somehow choke out in between her sobs.

Rashel took Max's hand in hers and led them both back to the bed. Together the four of them sat and held each other. Finally, Maria broke apart and wiped her eyes. Rashel took Maria's face in her hands.

"I have been doing this a long time. My husband died years ago and I'll be damned if I'm going to be killed by those monsters," she spat. "Luckily Max and Elsa were the only ones left sent to me. I am expecting nobody else at this point. So I think that after you leave here I will end my business, as noble as I have tried to make it...but I cannot sit here, in good conscience, with you any longer. I know your intentions were only to ensure you were not killed, but you must understand and you have put me in a horrific position. I'm afraid that once you're feeling better I'm going to have to kick you out, as much as it pains me to do so."

The two women embraced and Max put a comforting arm around Elsa.

"What I was trying to tell you before, Maria, was that you had it all wrong about what happened that fateful night those men took you away from the rest of your family, from Georg, from your children."

Maria's eyes pleaded with him to explain.

"What are you talking about? As I was being dragged away screaming - literally! I heard the gun go off and I saw Georg fall in a heap to the ground. They left him there to die! They left my children there with their father motionless in the forest!"

She practically shrieked that last part and was ready to stand to fight Max.

He saw the anger resurfacing in her face and stood up, ready to steady her.

"No, Maria. You're wrong. Georg is alive. He's very much alive and all of your children are safe and well."

"He's right, Maria. I'd just gotten off the phone with Georg before Max burst in here with you in his arms."

Tears cascaded down Maria's cheeks all over again. She couldn't believe it. Georg was alive! Then they should be together!

"What? Where? Where are they? You have to take me to them!" By now she was standing up, heading for the door, but Max stopped her.

"Take it easy. He's on his way he as we speak. So you need to rest and then we can all leave here together." He looked at Rashel, "all of us will leave here together."

At that very moment they heard a car come to a screeching halt in the driveway outside the cottage. Maria's face lit up and Elsa got up from the bed, moving to stand with her and Max. But Rashel was left sitting on the bed alone, not knowing if she should be happy because Maria's husband had arrived, or frightened for her life if it were the Nazis here to arrest her.

Authors note: Hehe! What will happen! Anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter, written by the lovely 'lovesbroadway' and i hope you all had a lovely christmas! :D please please review! as always its a pleasure to hear what you think! :D