Chapter Ten

The Captain began barking orders at Liesl. She was trying very hard to channel her father and be cool and calm under pressure, but she was scared to death. "Get Uncle Max! Tell him to phone the doctor immediately! Tell Frau Schmidt I need her now, go!"

The Captain lifted Maria into his arms and carried her to the settee where they had shared so many conversations. "It's all right, Maria," he whispered. "I've got you; it's going to be all right."

The Captain tenderly laid Maria on the couch and placed a silk throw pillow under her head. He grabbed the blanket on the back of the leatherbound chair across the room and draped it over Maria. "Come on, wake up for me," he urged, performing a cursory exam of her body. "No fever…her skins a little dry, but not enough too…"

"Captain, Sir," Frau Schmidt greeted upon her arrival. "What's happened?"

"I don't know," the Captain replied. "She was fine one minute, then the next pale as a ghost and on the ground. I can't get her to stir."

"Herr Detweiler's phoned for the physician," the faithful housekeeper soothed. She knew probably better than anyone how the Captain felt about Maria. "Liesl's very upset, the other children are as well perhaps…"

The Captain snapped his head around and almost glared at the older woman. "Perhaps, I should see to them," she offered, changing her sentence midstream. "You seem to have her as settled as she can be."

The click of footsteps stopped the Captain from answering. Max barreled into the study with a look of concern on his face. "Georg? Is she all right?"

"I don't know, Max," the Captain replied. "I'm not a doctor. If I were a doctor, I wouldn't have had you phone for one, would I? Did he say how long it will be until he's arrived?"

"Within the hour," Max replied. "That's really the best we can expect at this hour. Perhaps, you should, or I could take her to her bedroom, she would be more comfortable there."

The Captain was about to agree and scoop Maria into his arms when she suddenly awoke with a violent start. "No!" she cried out, exploding with her hands and her legs fighting off something that only existed in her mind. "Don't touch me! Don't you touch me!"

When the Captain didn't move to try to comfort Maria, Max reached down to try and capture one of her flailing hands. He was rewarded with a firm bite as soon as his hand was within Maria's line of sight.

Max jerked his hand back with a howl of pain, all the while watching his friend's movements, wondering why he was letting Maria suffer like that.

Slowly, the Captain rose from the kneeling position next to the settee and shifted so he was sitting on the edge of the furniture. He was assaulted with Maria's kicks and swipes for a few seconds before he was able to get both of her hands into his own. "Fraulein." His voice was firm, but gentle. He looked directly at her, finding her terrified gaze and following it with his own eyes. "Fraulein, it's the Captain. It's Georg, Maria. You're at the villa, you're safe. I'm here, Max is here, and Frau Schmidt; you are safe. You're safe."

Somewhere inside the hideous dreams and heart stopping terror, Maria heard HIS voice. Not her uncle's, not Heinrich's, not another man's but HIS. He was talking so calmly, he sounded so self-assured. He was telling her something, but the words didn't make sense inside the haze. She felt his hands on hers, but his hold wasn't painful or terrifying, it was grounding.

Maria's body took over as it had merely seconds ago when she'd bitten Max. At that moment, she had been trying to protect herself, now she was trying to ground herself. She turned her hands so that they were facing upwards and squeezed with all her minimal strength, trying to draw more from the Captain.

"Yes," the Captain coaxed when he felt the movement. "That's right, it's me. You are at the villa, it's safe here. I'm right here next to you. So is Max and Frau Schmidt, we are all here with you. Take a deep breath, look at me, look into my eyes, and take a deep breath."

The Captain took one to demonstrate and Maria followed suit. Slowly, she began to come back to reality. She wasn't outside in the brush, she wasn't at the abbey, she wasn't in that tiny room at her uncle's farm. She was at the Villa von Trapp with friends, real honest friends, right by her side.

After a couple deep breaths, it dawned on Maria that she'd bitten Max. She turned to see him still covering the bite with his other hand, but his face held no anger, only concern and worry. "Oh, Herr Detweiler. I am so sorry, I…" Maria stumbled over the words in her haste to apologize.

"It's all right, Maria," the Captain soothed. "He's got another hand anyway, no harm done."

The dry way in which the Captain made that statement released some of the tension for everyone but Maria. Max chuckled, even Frau Schmidt smiled. Maria was still holding onto the Captain's hands for dear life though her pupils had shrunk back to a normal size and her breathing had slowed a bit.

"Can I sit up, Captain?" she asked when she finally pulled back. "I have no idea what…"

"Sit up slowly, Fraulein," Frau Schmidt instructed softly. "You fainted, the Captain put you on the settee in the study, but if you feel like you can, I'll take you to your room to wait for the doctor there."

Maria obeyed, pushing herself slowly into the sitting position. It was as natural as springtime for the Captain to reach out and guide her up a bit, he kept a bracing hand on her back as she shook off the remaining dizziness. "I don't need a doctor," she protested. "I don't need all this fuss; I just didn't eat enough or something. I feel fine now."

"The doctor isn't negotiable," the Captain replied firmly, but still with a soft tone. "Do you want to stay here or go up to rest in your room? I can help you."

Neither Max nor Frau Schmidt noticed, but when Frau Schmidt suggested that Maria go with her, her face changed subtly. The panic-stricken look was temporarily back on her still too pale features. Maria had been responding to the Captain, to his voice, to his touch, it was his presence that was soothing her only she was too frightened for him to revel in that fact just now.

"I think I'd like to go to my room then," Maria whispered. "I…"

"I'll help you," the Captain stated taking the pressure off of Maria. She wanted to ask him to stay with her, he knew she did. He also knew the boundaries of their relationship would not permit her to do that. "Put your arm around my waist and try to stand. I won't let you fall, trust me?"

Maria didn't answer, but she gingerly executed the Captain's directions and stood up.

Slowly, the Captain took Maria upstairs. He sent off a prayer of Thanksgiving for Liesl who had likely corralled her anxious siblings. When he was sure Maria was taken care of and secure in her bedroom, he would see to the children's fear. He had to allay his own first.

"Here we are," the Captain said softly. "Why don't you lie down on the bed and Frau Schmidt will help you change. The doctor is going to be here soon and if he says you're all right, you can get up and do as you wish. I think the headaches have made you unwell, and you probably need a few days of rest."

Maria shook her head, "No, I will be fine, Captain. I don't want the doctor here. There's no need for one."

"Fraulein, there is need for one," the Captain countered. "You haven't been yourself for some time now and the children will need reassurance after you collapsed. I need reassurance."

Maria fell silent then, she knew that she didn't stand a chance when the Captain was this determined. "All right," Maria agreed. "But…"

The idea of the doctor touching her body, putting his hands or instruments near her, exposing her was terrifying. She hated to be examined by doctors, hated the false intimacy a physical examination demanded.

"But?" the Captain pressed. He could see fear etched on Maria's face and he wanted nothing more than to hold her close and envelope her in a bubble of comfort and safety, but he couldn't.

"Will you stay close by? Outside the door?" she asked. She needed to feel the grounding presence the Captain brought with him to every situation.

"Of course, I will, Fraulein," the Captain assured her. "How are you feeling now? Downstairs you were very frightened of something? What was it?"

Maria took a deep breath. Truth be told, she didn't know what made her react that way. She was so frightened in that moment, her entire body felt as if it were on fire. She felt pinned down, unable to move, unable to do anything but submit. She would not submit, never again would she allow herself to feel those things. "I don't really know," Maria replied. "I felt like I was being held down, like the entire room as closing in and…I am so embarrassed by how I behaved, Captain. I'm sick over biting Herr Detweiler…"

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Maria," the Captain soothed. "Everyone in the room, everyone in this house, cares for you a great deal. You are very important to all of us. Now, let me call Frau Schmidt and when the doctor comes, I'll stay right outside the room. Okay?"

The plan in place the Captain and Frau Schmidt traded places. She went inside to help Maria, and the Captain paced outside, holding his breath, until Franz announced the doctor arrived.

A/N: I know, I keep doing this…leaving a cliff hanger, but once I finish writing this I will start to update everyday. I'm almost through with it looking to be about 25 chapters give or take in all. This is, I think, my most highly read story since I've been back to the fandom, so thank you all so much for your support. I hope as things unfold, you stick this out with me and Maria and Georg because I do always end things on a good note. Triumph through tragedy, that's my favorite genre…and I promise this will be.