Notes: Happy reading!

"Telling your mother you're pregnant at seventeen? What's so fearsome about that?"

She had been asking herself that question ever since she received the telegram confirming what – in her heart – she had known for months. She knew her mother would be disappointed in her for being so stupid, so reckless, but she also knew once the initial shock had worn off she would be so supportive. She felt the knot in her stomach tighten as she walked through the hall to the lounge, the all too familiar nauseating feeling returning in her chest. She almost prayed the room would be vacant and she'd be able to keep her secret a little while longer, but her hopes were dashed when she saw her mother standing there.

She had her little sister in her arms as she swayed slowly with her, no doubt in an attempt to get her to sleep, and she considered turning around and returning to her room before she spotted her. She knew doing so would only be delaying the inevitable though, so she took a deep breath and laid a hand on her stomach for a moment before she knocked on the door. Her mother looked up then, their eyes meeting, and she somehow succeeded in giving her a smile. Her anxiety must have been obvious though given the way she frowned as she entered.

Shutting the door behind her to give them a little privacy, her hands began to wring and she stared at the carpet for a time while doing her best to gather her thoughts. "Mother, I…I know you're busy, but…" She forced herself to look at her. "Can I speak to you about something?"

"Of course, darling," Her mother's tone was gentle as ever as she approached the settee with Rosemary and, oddly, it made her feel worse than she already did about what she was about to confess. She followed her lead and sat down in the space next to her, bringing her hands to rest in her lap as she sighed deeply to herself. "Now," Her mother reached out and rested a hand over her own. "What is it that's bothering you?"

She had to swallow the lump in her throat in order to respond. "I…there's something I need to tell you," She admitted as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "I wanted to tell you long ago because I knew it would have been the best thing to do, but there was never a right time and I had no idea how to say it. I never meant for things to go so far, but they did a…"

"Liesl. Take a breath," Her mother interrupted. "Now, tell me – slowly – what happened."

She realized she had no choice but to just come out with it. She was no longer able to keep on going around in circles and she had little chance of getting out of it. "All right," She replied quietly. "Do you remember when I went to Tobias' on Christmas Eve? To give him his gift?"

"I do…" Her mother nodded, already sensing and dreading where this was heading.

"His parents were out. I think they were spending the afternoon with a relative in Innsbruck. I know I should have declined, but when he invited me in I agreed," She glanced up at her for just a second before registering the expression on her face and looking down at her lap again. "He made me some tea and we…we sat together on the sofa and things were fine for a time, but then…then he…" She stumbled over her words as her hands started wringing once again.

Moving closer to her, her mother took her by the chin and made her look at her. "Then he?"

She let out a shaking breath. "He kissed me. We've kissed before, many times, but that time was different. He didn't stop. I…I didn't tell him to stop. I should have, I know that now, but I didn't and we…we wound up making love. Honestly, Mother, it didn't even register in my mind until afterwards and then I felt awful about what we did. We both did. It was an…"

"Don't you dare tell me it was an accident." Her mother warned, voice trembling with anger.

"I never meant for it to happen, you must know that." She sobbed as a lone tear fell.

Her mother nodded. "I do. I know that just as well as I know you are far from stupid, Liesl, so it makes no sense to me why you would do something so incredibly foolish! You promised your father and I that you would respect our rules when we said you and Tobias could court. I thought we were fair to both of you, honestly, all we asked was for you both to respect the boundaries we put in place. Really, 'boundaries' is the wrong word to use given our only rule was that you were never to be alone together in such a manner."

She managed a mere nod in response, unable to form words.

"Allow me to be sure of one thing here," Her mother said. "He didn't force himself on you?"

She looked her in the eye again then, shaking her head almost wildly at her question. "Oh no! No, he would never do something like that. He loves me. I could have asked him to stop at any time and he would have, but I never did. I may not know much, but if there's one thing I do know then I know that what happened between us that day was anything but forced."

"One thing to give thanks for, I suppose." Her mother breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's something else." She admitted before she could go on to change the subject.

Her mother turned to her once again.

"I thought we could forget about it once it was over. I thought things would return to normal and that would be the end of it, but then I started feeling unwell. I tried so hard to convince myself it was something else – anything else – each time, but then the other symptoms came and I had to accept it for what it was. I had to go to the doctor to know for sure, I knew, but he would have contacted you or Father if I went alone without a reason, so I wrote a telegram and I…I forged Father's signature to make it seem like he was aware of the whole thing."

Not quite able to believe what she had heard, Maria stood and created some distance between them, hushing her sleeping baby when she whimpered in her arms. "And you truly believed we would never work it out?" She lowered her voice as she turned to Liesl once more. "What were you planning to do when you started showing? When your appointments became more frequent? What were you planning to do when you gave birth? Hide the baby away from us? Give your father and I some credit, for goodness' sake, we aren't as stupid as you believe."

"Can you please not put words in my mouth? I never said you were, Mother!" Liesl snapped, her tears only coming faster. "I only kept it a secret from you both because I was terrified!"

"Good!" Maria retorted. "So you should have been, too."

It was only when her daughter shrank back and she saw the hurt in her eyes that she realized she may have been a little too harsh. She was young herself once upon a time. She made stupid mistakes too. Granted, none were quite so severe as this, but she wasn't proud of them.

She gave herself a minute to breathe and calm down, raking a hand through her hair, before she returned to the settee and sat down next to her daughter again. Bringing her hand to settle on her knee through her dirndl, she waited for her to look at her before using that same hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry," Her voice was a whisper. "You surprised me, but that gave me no right to speak to you like that. Not when I am sure it must have taken such an unbelievable amount of courage for you to come and speak to me about this."

Liesl nodded. "Tobias still has no idea."

Maria looked at her wide-eyed, shocked by her admission. "You haven't told him? Why?"

"Because I love him and I know telling him about the baby means losing him," Liesl replied. "He did what he did at Christmas without thinking about the consequences. I never even thought about them until I had to," Once again, she rested a hand on her stomach and stroked her thumb against it. "It was meant to be fun, but now there's all this responsibility and he won't want to have to deal with it all. Me, I have no choice, but he does. He has the option. If he wants to, he can just walk away from the two of us and it won't come back to haunt him."

"And you believe he would do that to you? Genuinely?" Maria ran a hand along her back.

Liesl sighed. "He loves me, I know he does, but I don't know if he loves me enough to stay."

"You know what you have to do then, darling. You have to tell him and find out."

"But…"

"No buts. If he is going to leave, you are only delaying the inevitable the longer you hold off and, believe me, it will only hurt more the closer you get to having this baby," Maria told her. "You know him better than I do, I know, but he and I have gotten to know each other rather well and – if you ask me – he's not the kind of man to shirk his responsibilities. He loves you, he really does. He had as much – if not more – of a part to play in this as you did and I think things will turn out fine. But, as I say, there is really only one way to know for sure."

Liesl leaned into her on instinct, letting her head fall against her shoulder, and she kissed her brow before she tilted her head back to look her in the eye again. "I'll give him a call after lunch and ask him over. I think doing this in person is going to be better than doing it on the telephone. I want us to be together when I talk to him."

"A very wise choice." Maria smiled.

"I do have one more thing to ask." Liesl admitted.

Maria hummed in response. "Go on."

"Would you mind keeping this to yourself for a little while? I do want Father and the others to know about the baby eventually, of course I do, but I want to be sure I have some things worked out beforehand and I want to be sure the baby is healthy and nothing is going to go wrong. I know how angry Father is going to be too which leads me to another thing. I want you there with me when I speak to him. He…he might go easier on me with you there and you are so much better at explaining things than I am. I just think it would help." Liesl said.

Maria gave her a squeeze, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Of course, I'll be there with you. I promise not to say a word about this until you feel the time is right. You're a woman now. You're going to be eighteen in a matter of months and this is your baby. You get to make all the decisions. I guarantee your father is going to be…less than pleased…with me for not informing of the situation, but once things have settled down things will be all right again."

"You think so?" There was a hint of uncertainty in Liesl's voice.

"I know so." Maria touched her forehead to her own. "It will all work itself out, I promise."

"I hope you're right," Liesl whispered. "I really, really do."

She could barely bring herself to speak to Tobias – her fear created a suffocating barrier that seemed to manipulate her throat – but, through panicked determination – she managed to invite him over. Now, as she waited – the minutes seeming like hours – she knew she needed to work out what she was going to say to him. Telling her mother was one thing, but telling him was another thing entirely. She was less anxious about speaking to her mother, knowing there was no risk of her leaving, but now – pacing back and forth on the patio – she was unable to reassure herself that Tobias would be as understanding.

Would he pull her into his arms and sooth her fears, assuring her he would be there to support her and their child? Or would he place the blame on her and tell her he was far from ready to be a father before turning his back on her and walking away?

Only time would tell.

Her heart started pounding when she eventually caught sight of him, tears pricking at her eyes as he gave her a familiar smile while walking through the garden. She was well aware that it could be the last time she saw it. The last time he gave her that look of pure adoration. A tear scrolled down her cheek as he approached her and he frowned with concern at her sudden display of despondency. "Darling?" The second he said the word she ran to him, a gentle sob tearing free from her throat, and his arms encircles her tightly as she collided with his chest and buried her face deep in his shirt. "Oh, my Liesl."

He held her for several long minutes and brought a hand to the back of her head, stroking his thumb against her hair while she clutched the back of his jacket in both hands. "I'm sorry," She whimpered as he pressed his lips to her crown. "Please don't leave. I…I need you here."

"Liesl, you're frightening me. What on earth are you going on about?" He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear, her eyes swimming with tears when she tilted her head back against his chest to look at him. "Why have you got the idea in your head that I'm going to leave?"

"I don't…" Her voice was soft as she shook her head, her heart breaking a second time when she saw the way he was looking at her with a mixture of love and concern in his eyes. She can tell he was only growing more perplexed with each passing moment. "I got a letter some weeks ago and ever since I opened it, I…I don't know…I've just been so scared that you're going to walk away when I tell you the contents. That you're going to hate me and not want anything more to do with me." Another tear fell and he sighed, tenderly thumbing it away.

"I could never hate you," He told her sincerely as a hand fell to her hip and he drew her close to him, the other remaining on her cheek before his gaze moved from hers to her lips and back again. He lowered his head then and captured her in a kiss, long and soft, and her eyes delayed opening for a time when he pulled back. Detecting the lingering worry in them, he took her hand in his and silently led her over to one of the nearby benches so they could sit together. "Liesl, I want you to speak to me properly about all this. I want to understand."

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip. "I want to."

"Listen to me," He took her face in his hands and, when she looked at him a second time, let his thumbs caress her damp cheeks. "I love you. I have loved you since the day I met you. You have no reason to be scared to speak to me because there is nothing you could say or do to change that. Neither of us are moving until you tell me anyway, so you might as well."

"Can you hold me while I do?" She asked him.

He nodded and she stood from the bench before turning to sit in his lap, his arms circling her on instinct as she slipped an arm around his neck and settled against him. She opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, her fear undoubtedly getting the better of her. "Just take your time," He comforted, his voice quiet as his hold of her tightened. "There's no rush."

"Do you remember when I came over at Christmas?" She asked after sitting there in silence for a considerable length of time, her heart already starting to pound once again. "Do you remember how you kissed me and then one thing led to another and you and I, um…and…"

"And we made love?" He finished for her, burying a kiss in her hair.

She gave him a stiff nod. "It has to do with that afternoon, but I need you to know that I have no regrets. I love you so much and I know you love me, but something's happened," She felt her chest tighten and the way he drew her closer proved he heard her breath catch. "A couple weeks on from then, I started feeling ill. I thought I caught the virus Marta had, so I tried to ignore it, but when it continued after she recovered I thought she should see the doctor. The results took a while to come back, but two months ago they did. Tobias…I'm pregnant."

The same shock and disbelief she saw in the eyes of her mother were now mirrored in his. A fresh wave of tears fell as she studied his face in the hope it would somehow reveal the way he was feeling. Even the slightest indication as to whether he was going to stay or leave, but it remained unreadable and she swallowed a sob as she stared at his chest and waited for him to push her away. He never did. Seconds later, she felt him cup her cheek and direct her gaze back to his and she melted in his embrace at the abundance of love in his eyes. "Oh, Liesl, I am so sorry." She heard him whisper softly against her crown as he buried his lips in her hair.

"I really thought you were going to leave when I told you," She admitted gently. "I thought you'd say it was my fault and you weren't ready for this. I know it was wrong of me to have such little faith in you because I know you love me, but everything was just so overwhelming and…" She whimpered when he silenced her with a softly passionate kiss, his hand burying itself in her curls as she slipped her arms around his neck. "Oh, that was such a nice way of telling me to shut up." She chuckled breathlessly when they parted and she looked up at him.

"I am never going to leave you; you understand?" His voice was so thick with emotion as he laid a shaking hand on her stomach through her dirndl. "I never imagined I would become a father so young – no more than you did – but there is nothing I can do to change that. What I can do though is be here and I promise you that I will be. You are my priority. Both of you."

She sighed and stroked his fringe away from his forehead. "People will talk, you know. I can only hide the pregnancy for so long and you know how word spreads around her – it's like wildfire. It matters little to me what they think though. Yes, we may be young and we may be incredibly stupid in their opinion too, but I want this baby so much. I did consider adoption initially, but I began to change my mind the more time passed. I realize my studies will have to take a bit of a back seat soon, but I want to do this so much. I want to do this with you."

"You and me," He leaned in to kiss her brow. "I promise."

"Thank you…" She smiled before touching her forehead to his, revelling in their closeness.

"We're going to be parents, Liesl."

"We are."

Yes, they were going to be entering into the unknown in a matter of months, but neither of them were anywhere near as anxious as they originally thought they were going to be.

Because they had each other.

And that was all they could ever hope for.

Georg groaned as he walked into his bedroom late that night, stifling a yawn and tugging his jacket off as he did so. He felt stupidly tired and silently scolded himself for letting his work wear him down so greatly. But then, his tired eyes finally adjusting to the dim light, he felt himself relax and smiled. There on the bed before him sat his wife, settled back against the headboard as she gave their daughter her last feed of the day. There wasn't a moment in the day that Maria was anything less than the epitome of beauty and elegance in his eyes, but he had to admit he always found her at her most beautiful when she was nursing their child.

"I thought you would have been long asleep by now," He whispered when she let herself tear her eyes away from Rosemary in order to look at him, a tired smile gracing her features as she watched him loosen the knot of his tie and throw it onto the armchair. "Nearly midnight."

"I was nearly asleep when she woke for her feed. Impeccable timing, eh?" Her head fell back against the headboard and she glanced at her baby, eyes glistening with the love she had for her as she watched her go on suckling. "Besides, you know I sleep best with you next to me."

He chuckled as he sat down on the bed and leaned down to remove his shoes.

As their daughter continued nursing, she felt her mind beginning to wander back to Liesl. In truth, she hadn't been able to think of much else since she confided in her about her news earlier on. While she was still deeply disappointed, she felt so much compassion for her and empathized heavily with her fear. She wanted so terribly to tell Georg; after all, they were partners in everything, but she knew it was Liesl's news to break, not her own, and she had a promise to keep. Without even noticing it, she sighed, attracting her husband's attention.

"Darling, what's the matter?" Georg inquired as he climbed into bed next to her after getting changed into his pyjama bottoms. "You've been so preoccupied since I got home earlier."

"I've just been exhausted today," She shook her head as she patted the small of Rosemary's back through her nightgown. "All I need is a night of real rest and I will be fine and well, I promise."

He nodded slowly, not truly believing her excuse but knowing it was best not to push her.

"There we go, my little love." She whispered gently when their little girl pushed back from her breast, smiling as she brought her into something of a seated position in her lap before rearranging her under-things and passing a hand over the dark curls she got from her father. She heard her husband chuckle next to her when Rosemary's dark eyes sparkled at seeing him and, after watching him reach out a hand to stroke her cheek, she eased her toward him.

He accepted her with no hesitation, bringing her into his arms with a tender kiss to the side of her head, his eyes holding nothing but love for her when her head fell against his shoulder and she buried her face in his neck. "Mein Schatzi," He mumbled into her curls while running a hand along her back, turning his head in Maria's direction and seeing how worn out she seemed. "You get comfortable and try to get some sleep while I get this little one down," He told her, his command soft. "I'll get her settled and then I'll come to bed myself, all right?"

The tired hum she gave him was confirmation enough, so he waited for her to lie down before standing from the bed and turning his focus to his little girl. He buried his nose in her curls, breathing her in as he felt her lashes against his neck. He could hardly believe it had been six months already since she came into their lives. It had been so long since the others were so little, he forgot how quickly the time went and he could barely get his head around it all truly.

It took little time for her to fall asleep on him, her curls tickling the underside of his jaw, and after standing there with her a little while longer he took her over to the cot on Maria's side of the bed. He cradled her head tenderly before moving her away from him and lowering her down into it. "There…" He swept his hand through her curls with a smile before moving away from the cot and making his way around the bed to his own side so he could climb in.

He settled beside his wife once again, easing one arm beneath her head to cushion it before winding the other around her waist and bringing her back against his chest. "Mmm…" He heard her hum as she nestled in his arms, turning her head to kiss the inside of his wrist. "G'night, Georg."

"Goodnight, my love," He whispered with a kiss to the back of her neck, smiling in the darkness as he moulded himself to her back. "Sleep well."

Notes: Thank you so much for taking the time to read! If you have the time, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought. See you all soon!