A/N: a little shorter this time as it stretches out over one scene, but I hope you enjoy it!
Having escaped to the sanctuary of her old bedroom, Maria willed herself to sit on the edge of the bed and catch her breath, lest her legs should buckle beneath her. She was utterly humiliated. Not because of his contempt, not because of his nonchalance - but because of the pity she'd seen in his eyes. She would've happily faced his disdain, his anger, his wrath, ten times over if it meant she never had to see him looking at her like that again. As if she was a confused child. As if she was a naive fool.
Angrily, she bit back her tears with deep gasps, clutching at her chest in her despair. No! The headstrong voice within her declared, no - you will not shed one more tear for that bitter, twisted man!
He was beyond repair, beyond help - he delighted in pushing those who cared about him away until he had nothing but his own isolation for comfort. When she'd believed her feelings to be sinful she'd accepted the Captain's cruelty on the basis that she'd thought it was God's punishment - she had held herself solely accountable. But as it turned out, God hadn't been punishing her and so she could no longer excuse Georg's appalling behaviour. Since his injuries, he'd become even more disagreeable, even more arrogant, even more despondent than when she'd first met him - he seemed to revel in it! And she found that her anger, her blame, now shifted away from herself and in the direction of the impossible man she'd come to love.
He was insufferable! Conceited, aloof, incorrigible, tyrannical, pig-headed, narrow-minded.. The list went on and on in her head until her sense of defeat had faded and was replaced by a dangerous mixture of outrage and resentment. It bubbled in the pit of her stomach like a caged beast, lurking under the surface just as it had done before both of the lakeside confrontations. Who did he think he was, dictating the lives of those around him as though they were mere puppets and he the mighty puppeteer? She fancied telling the intolerable fool that he'd be a natural performing the Lonely Goatherd, what with all the manipulating of lowly figures on strings. But he wouldn't have the faintest idea what her denigrating remarks were about. He couldn't even remember the puppet show.
She snorted with derision and rolled her eyes from the irony. No - no longer would she mope and fall into despair because of this complex, difficult, stirring human being. God wanted to challenge her? Well, challenge accepted. She would give the captain a final piece of her mind before her departure and she would take the greatest pleasure in it! To wipe that infuriating smirk from his smug face one last time would be her greatest triumph.
Gathering her resolve and feeding her fury with a fierce determination she began to pace the room, hellbent on giving him a taste of his own medicine. First, she would tell him that, contrary to his arrogant opinion, he had absolutely no control over her - he thrived on the illusion of control and she knew it would knock him down a peg or two. Second, she would berate him for his inability to behave like a gentleman of his standing - if he thought he exuded the charm of an aristocrat, he was sadly deluded. Third, she would fight one last time for his children and chastise him for his unacceptable indifference towards them. Fourth, she would tell him that his deep blue eyes absolutely did NOT still her beating heart... The arguments gathered in her mind like ammunition, each one having been spoken aloud at some point in the past, only to have been forgotten in the wake of the Captain's amnesia. But no matter - she was darn well ready to let him have it all over again.
"Pompous.. Formidable.. Insufferable.." She muttered to herself incoherently as her pacing quickened. He was absolutely impossible, he was obstinate, he was condescending, he was unforgiving, he was... He was standing right there in the doorway!
Her heart stilled with unrelenting dread as she spotted him, and she felt the blood drain from her face. How long had he been standing there?! What had he heard?!
To her bewilderment his chest was heaving and his breath was ragged, his eyes burning into her with such a fierce intensity that she forgot where she was or why she was there. Had he come in search of battle? To denigrate her for daring to return? He looked agitated and she braced herself for the tirade of anger that was likely to erupt between them. Gathering what little resolve she could muster she stuck her chin out resolutely and willed herself to have the first word.
"You don't control me.." She murmured pathetically. She had meant it to come out boldly, defiantly, a heated delivery that would pull the world out from underneath him.. but the argument fell flat on her lips, the look in his eyes making it entirely impossible to think straight. Did he always have to look so wickedly handsome? It stole the air from her lungs and made it all the more difficult to remember her previously well structured arguments.
"I doubt I ever did Fraulein," he replied, his voice low and dangerous as he took a step inside the room, never taking his eyes from hers.
She tried again, her pulse thudding at her throat, "you.. You have behaved in a most ungentlemanly manner.."
"This coming from the most ladylike tree climber I've ever come across.." He retorted with mirth, taking another step closer. The meaningful reference and the playful gleam in his eye was entirely lost on her as she mistook his teasing for ridicule and the previously extinguished fury sparked to life in her chest.
"No!" She snapped, her fists balling, "no more of this! You may not want to hear about your failings but you'll hear them from me nonetheless! You take such pleasure in deriding everyone around you, including those wonderful children that you entirely neglect! They've done nothing to deserve your contempt! They were happy once but you seem intent on dragging them into your misery. They want nothing more than to love you," She cried, "but you just won't let them!"
Georg opened his mouth to tell her that she had his undivided attention, that of course she was right yet again, that she was entirely extraordinary and he'd do anything to earn her forgiveness... That he'd remembered - but his tempestuous little Fraulein cut him off and continued her passionate monologue with reckless abandon.
He watched, speechless, utterly transfixed. When she was singing and smiling and dancing she was truly beautiful.. But when she was angry? By God she was breathtaking. The heat in her expression, the rise and fall of her chest against the material of her dress, the passionate determination emanating from her.. It stirred the primal need deep within him once again, only this time instead of shoving it aside, he found he relished it. Weeks of repressed longing, desire, need unfurled fiercely low in his belly and his loins burned as he watched her in all her furious glory, her angry blush completely impossible to ignore as it crept towards the neckline of her dress irresistibly. He wanted to trace its path with his lips..
The wind was knocked out of him by the simple thought of what it would be like to finally touch her and remember it - but she deserved to say her piece without interruption for once. He owed her that much.
Mesmerised, he allowed her words to wash over him and the possessive compulsion he felt burning him all over was matched with a tenderness just as fierce. He knew his eyes, his body, were betraying his thoughts but for once he made no attempt to hide it and his worthy opponent was too absorbed in her speech to notice. How could he have forgotten what he'd shared with this extraordinary woman?
Attempting to ignore his overwhelming longing for her, he willed himself to pay attention to her speech.
"... answering to that damned whistle! We are not dogs or cats or any other type of animal for that matter - we are people! Despite your unfathomable inability to differentiate between the two!"
She was ranting now, having worked herself up into an adorable rage.
"And.. And you are in no way charming despite your exceedingly high opinion of yourself!" She fumed.
He smirked, "Anything else?" He responded coolly, his eyes burning a hole in her.
"Yes!" She seethed, her heart hammering, "aside from your foul temper and ridiculously uncouth outbursts, you are completely incapable of displaying any real emotion!"
"As always, we'll have to agree to disagree Fraulein.." he replied dangerously.
She scoffed at his arrogant response, "And why's that?!"
"Because I love you, my darling."
His shocking declaration rooted her to the floor and tore the air from her lungs, the room suddenly pulsing with a new and dangerous mixture of desire, fear, hurt and anguish. An intense heat threatened to buckle her knees, coursing through her body as she finally dared to look upon his face. What she saw there stilled her pounding heart - Georg, her Georg staring back at her, chest heaving and fingers twitching in that endearing way she'd come to love - and with such a burning fire in his eyes that it made her dizzy with longing. He remembered.
And before she could catch her breath, before she could fight for the oxygen she so desperately needed, before she could determine up from down, he was charging across the room fervently, wrapping his strong arms around her and capturing her lips with his own in a fierce rush of love and hunger.
She couldn't contain her sob of relief as lips and tongues crashed together frantically and her insides turned to liquid fire. Their hands gripped at one another's bodies desperately, clinging to each other as though they were afraid it wasn't real. Her mind screamed for her to stop, to push him away in her anger - but her heart.. Oh her heart.
All reason left her head as a firm hand caressed her jaw, her neck, and the other gripped her lower back, anchoring her to him and leaving her ragged with need. Every excruciating inch of his powerful body, all skin and muscle and man, was pressed against her, possessing her in a way that left her feeling utterly fulfilled and yet somehow bereft. It wasn't enough.. It would never be enough.
"Georg.." She broke for air, incapable of coherency.
"Forgive me my love, please forgive me," he gasped desperately against her swollen lips again and again, peppering her face and neck with frantic kisses, each one followed by whispered words of adoration before he met her lips again.
Their bodies drifted towards the armoire behind her until her back made contact with it surface, enveloped in Georg's protective warmth as he tasted the delectable skin of her neck, revelling in the pulse he found thundering there.
How she must've suffered at his hand, how he wanted to sink to his knees and beg her for mercy - but she tasted too good, her sighs were too distracting, her body too responsive to his own, and it made the blood rush rapidly south, making it impossible to think. She made him feel alive where only hours ago he'd felt utterly lost.
Biting back a moan as her nimble hands ran up his chest, he willed himself to stop, to give her air - to let her contemplate what was happening between them. But he simply couldn't stop. He could hardly believe he was allowed to touch her and he acted selfishly, giving in to his impulse and the overwhelming need to have her close. He owed her an explanation, a more profound apology.. He owed her his heart. But the repressed longing, the intense emotion he hadn't felt in weeks - it was too much for him to bear. Just a few kisses more, he reasoned with himself, a few caresses more...
The stubborn woman within her wanted to tell him off, to push him away - but she couldn't help herself, there was an ache deep within her and he was the only remedy. His sharp intakes of breath made her heart flutter and his hands drew dangerously close to her breasts, making the skin around them tighten with a need she'd never felt before. Quiet, incoherent whispers were spoken against skin and silent promises were shared in the way their heated eyes met between feverish kisses.
She chastised herself as her body seemed to do the exact opposite of what her mind willed it do, her hands fisting into knots in his hair, allowing his words of adoration to engulf her. Later.. She would give him a piece of her mind later.
It wasn't until the distant and familiar sound of the children's voices were heard coming up the stairs that they were finally brought to their senses. He broke their kiss reluctantly but their bodies remained entwined, as they shared a ragged breath in the aftermath of their passion. His eyes burned into her own, conveying everything that words couldn't, until the risk of being caught became too great and he slipped slowly from her grasp.
Silently they shared a stare that made the heat unfurl in her stomach as they held their breath, waiting and praying for the children's voices to subside and the danger to pass. Eventually their little voices were heard retreating towards the nursery and her heart jumped to her throat in anticipation as she preempted the moment he'd pin her against the armoire again and resume their frenzied reunion.
He stepped towards her then, ready to devour her swollen lips over and over, until a voice stopped him dead in his tracks, making his blood run cold.
"Georg darling, here you are!" Elsa trilled in the open doorway, "what on earth are you doing in he... Oh.."
Georg watched, dread unfolding in his chest as Elsa's eyes fell on Maria, her shock evident.
"Fraulein Maria.. You've returned.." Her voice was icy... dangerous, and Georg looked to Maria, desperately willing her to understand that despite appearances, he was hers and hers alone.
In his desperation to get to her in time, he'd completely forgotten about the potential consequences of his actions as his need had escalated out of control. And he felt his heart break as Maria's eyes met his, her face contorted in anguish - an unspoken understanding hanging palpably between them that a betrayal had taken place. Here she stood before him, accepting that her path in life had changed, accepting that they'd fallen in love, wearing her heart on her sleeve for him - and yet he'd treated her abhorrently while promising his heart to another.
Mustering what little self respect she had left, Maria turned to the baroness and forced herself to appear unperturbed, "yes baroness," she murmured quietly, praying that her body didn't betray her inner turmoil, "though only until arrangements can be made for another governess.."
And with that, she fixed Georg with one last heartbreaking look that made him want to fall to the floor, before leaving him alone with the fiancé he did not love.