AN: - Written for the Proboards June writing prompt. Thank you again for all the reviews, I really do appreciate them. I'm sorry that I left the last chapter at a real cliff-hanger moment, hopefully this will go some way to make up for it.

Disclaimer: - Written for pleasure not profit… I own nothing!

Rating: - T

Chapter 5

"Maria, please, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have got so angry but the thought of losing you to the hands of that… that… I can't bear it anymore, Maria… I love you."

xXx

Innumerable emotions threatened to engulf Maria and consume every last ounce of composure that she had left. In his own inimitable way, Georg had managed to insult a lifelong friend, intimidate a loyal employee and alienate the one thing that he cared most about in the world, apart from his children.

Max glanced across at Frau Schmidt who looked as shocked as Maria and he shrugged his shoulders in exasperation.

"Dear God, Georg. Have you only just told the poor girl?" he quipped, trying to make light of the situation in the only way he knew how... sarcasm.

"Shut up, Max," Georg snapped, as he tried to weigh up Maria's reaction to his less than romantic declaration of love.

"Well… I know when I'm not wanted," Max turned and rolled his eyes towards Frau Schmidt who was holding her breath, in the hope that they would finally be honest with one another.

It wasn't exactly how Frau Schmidt imagined that the Captain might tell Maria of his undying love for her but at least he had finally found the courage to say it. All those days that she had watched as the guilt and remorse had slowly eaten away at his very core had finally come to an end. All he had needed to do was to say perhaps the three most difficult words he had ever uttered.

The Impresario reached out to the Housekeeper and they beat a hasty retreat as Maria remained motionless in the chair, still processing the unexpected and unbelievable turn of events.

"I want to go back inside," Maria finally uttered, still shocked by the Captain's erratic behaviour.

"No…no, no, no," he waggled his finger at her in panic, "we've tip toed around each other for long enough. We need to talk, somewhere where we won't get disturbed and I know the perfect place," Georg spun her round in the chair before Maria could object and began pushing her away from the house.

"How dare you take advantage of the fact that I can't escape you," Maria's strained voice almost cracked as she desperately tried to sound as firm as possible.

"That's exactly it," Georg continued to push Maria purposefully towards the copse of trees at the far side of the garden., "I allowed you to escape once without hearing what I have to say and I nearly lost you, I won't make the same mistake again."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are as incorrigible as your youngest son?"

"Nobody has ever dared to until you came along," Georg smirked, feeling that he had finally gained the upper hand.

Resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to be able to change his stubborn, pig-headed mind, Maria slumped back in the chair and folded her arms across her chest in complete disgust.

xXx

Reaching their destination, Maria held her breath as Georg wheeled her into the middle of the beautiful glass Gazebo that she had come to many times in the past. When she wanted some peace to reflect on her day or to ask God whether she was fulfilling the task that he had set for her, she would always make her way here.

Georg leaned down to lift her from the chair once again but this time she flinched and he felt the dread stab at his heart as he realised that he had hurt her far more than he could ever have believed.

His eyes fell upon hers and in silent acknowledgment she finally allowed him to gently place her down on the wrought iron benches that ran around the inside of the Gazebo.

Sitting close to her, Georg took a deep breath before allowing himself to let his heart speak for once. He wouldn't get another opportunity and he wasn't about to let the only good and genuine thing that had entered his life, slip away, because he wasn't man enough to convince her to stay.

"Maria… for longer than you probably know, I have loved you so deeply that when you had your accident, I thought that my heart was withering away every single day that you lay unconscious."

Maria sat in silence, lost for words…

"I love every little thing about you. From your exquisite blue eyes and beautiful smile to your tenacious spirit and bravery. But most of all, I am in awe of the unfaltering love that you have for my children. Never for one minute did I ever think that I would find anybody that I could love as much as I loved my dear Agathe. But when you walked into my life and you questioned the way that I was bringing up my children, I'll admit that you angered me greatly but you also intrigued me and I realise now that I was attracted to you even then. I loved you… from the beginning."

The anger that had been bubbling inside Maria was replaced by something that she couldn't truly explain. Sitting next to her was the man that she had been running away from because she feared her own attraction to him. He was baring his soul to her completely and utterly and she found his vulnerability incredibly humbling. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and absorb all of the sadness that still seemed to seep from every pore in his body.

"The night of the party, when all the guests had gone I told myself that I would speak to you the following day. When we danced, it took me all my time not to just wrap you in my arms and kiss you, right there in front of the children. I knew then that I had fallen head over heels in love with you. But then you left… and what happened was all my fault."

A tear began to trickle down Maria's cheek and she pulled her sleeve up over her thumb and wiped it away, never breaking the eye contact that she held with Georg. She could see the remorse etched all over his face and she finally understood why he hadn't visited her when she had regained consciousness.

"Please say something, before I resign myself to the fact that I will live out the rest of my life alone, because I know that I will never love again, as I love you now."

Reaching out for his hand, Maria took it and gently pulled him nearer to her on the bench.

"None of it was your fault," she tried to convince him. "You did nothing wrong."

"Ohhh, yes, yes I did..." he shook his head in dismay. "I allowed the situation to get to such a point where Elsa felt that she needed to chase you away and then when she had succeeded, I set off a chain of events by forcing Zeller from my house which led him directly into your path."

"Elsa didn't chase me away. I told you earlier that I left because of what I feared of myself. She made me realise that I was not fulfilling God's will. As for Herr Zeller, you can't possibly blame yourself for that. I admire your staunch principles and wouldn't have wanted you to have done anything different." Maria squeezed his hand gently to emphasise her words.

"You started to tell me about something Elsa had said to you before the children interrupted us," Georg reminded her, "what did she tell you… Maria?"

Absentmindedly, with her thumb, she traced circles on the back of his hand before finally meeting his gaze.

"She told me that I had fallen in love with you."

Georg's breath caught in his throat as he realised that he hadn't been wrong, he hadn't misread the signals that she had unconsciously been sending him. But he needed to hear it from her own lips.

"Do you, Maria? Do you love me?" his voice was almost a whisper and he held his breath as he waited for her reply.

"How can I love you when I have dedicated my life to God; when you are to marry the Baroness and when I am so obviously ill-suited to your social circles?"

"Social circles be damned," Georg's temper rose again. "You are worth a thousand of those pompous imbeciles. I would rather spend my life alone with you on a desert island than surround myself with those small minded, insincere bores."

Maria smiled as she could see the tell-tale signs of his irritation. The way his lips curled in distaste and the twitching of his fingers.

"As for Elsa. I already told you that she had gone and would not be returning to Salzburg. I can never forgive her for the way she treated you," he took Maria's hand between both of his and brought it to his lips kissing the back of it gently. "In any case, how can you marry someone, when you're in love with someone else?"

Summoning up all of his courage he leaned forward and placed a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. It took Maria several seconds to open her eyes after almost drowning in the warmth of his soft, supple and incredibly captivating lips.

"So… that just leaves your dedication to God. If you love me, does it have to mean that you love God less? Can you honestly tell me that you haven't once doubted that you were on the right path since you came here?"

"Yes, of course I have. That's the reason I was going back to the Abbey. I had to find out," Maria sighed, knowing that she was a fool trying to hide the love that she had for him. He had been honest with her, it was only fair that she was honest with him.

"When I woke up and you never came to see me, I thought that I had been stupid for believing that you could possibly have any feelings for me but when we danced I knew that I had seen something in your eyes. I admit, I didn't really know what it was but what I did know was that when we danced I felt so special, as if it were only you and I there and yes, I also wanted to kiss you. It shocked me, because I've never felt like that before," Maria began to blush and Georg smiled seeing how embarrassed she was but enchanted by her innocence.

"You probably won't believe me, but you can ask Frau Schmidt and she'll tell you. After your accident I spent every hour I could beside you. I nursed you as best I could. I kept your lips moist with wet cloths, I caressed your cheek and I told you every single day how much I loved you. I would have given my own life just for you to recover."

"Why weren't you there when I woke up?" Maria was confused and her head was beginning to hurt.

"I thought that you'd heard me and you'd had a fit. I assumed that you found the thought of me loving you so disgusting that it had caused your relapse," he hung his head in shame.

"I did hear you… but I thought I was dreaming, the most wonderful dream. We are both so stupid," Maria laughed and she leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I do love you, Georg, with all my heart… but I have to speak with the Reverend Mother. I have to go back to the Abbey."

Georg pulled her closer to him so that he could feel every curve of her body fitted to his own. He closed his eyes tightly trying to stem the flow of tears that were trying their hardest to spring from his eyes as flashes of his nightmares invaded his consciousness… she was going to leave him.

"Please, Georg, will you give me some time?"

xXx

I'm sorry that this is just a very short chapter, I think there will be one final chapter that will see this story completed. Please review if you can.