She nearly fell to the ground from laughter, bending over and gasping for air. It had been so long since she'd laughed like that, but of course Kurt was a complete menace that day. Everything he said or did had been completely hilarious, his siblings agreeing and doubling over with laughter at various points as well. He merely grinned, thoroughly enjoying every moment of being the clown of the group.

"Kurt, I think I'm dying." Louisa giggled, her hand upon her stomach as she tried to calm herself.

"You really are quite a mess today. What's gotten into you?" Maria questioned through her labored breathing, fanning her hand toward her face to cool down. The day wasn't particularly hot, but she was sweating profusely from the constant laughter.

"Perhaps he helped himself to Uncle Max's special lemonade after lunch." Friedrich suggested, which caused them all to erupt into another fit of laughter. Maria wiped tears from her eyes, unable to breathe once again.

"My goodness, now I'm crying." She wiped her cheeks, laughing once more at the silliness of the day. The end of summer was nearing, school would begin soon enough, and they were all basking in the glow of their final days together before they would have to buckle down a routine once more. She supposed they were all simply giddy for the quality moments they were being allowed to share together.

She wondered what she would do with her time while they were at school. She knew her evenings would be filled with monitoring homework, and her weekends would be filled with as much adventure as she and the children could manage…but what was she to do with herself when they weren't around? She was very excited for the alone time with Georg, more than she could express with words, but she also knew that he would become quite annoyed if she simply followed him around chattering about nonsense all day. She wondered what exactly she was supposed to be doing with herself.

The sun blasted through the clouds for a moment, the light hitting her face in a way that made her look toward the sky. It occurred to her in that moment, perhaps God was giving her a sign, that she had never exactly had the opportunity to decide who she was. Her life had been a whirlwind of trauma, fight or flight responses, and general chaos since before she could remember. She had been able to identify as a student, a postulant, a governess,a Baroness, but suddenly she was being given the opportunity to simply be Maria…and she honestly had few ideas about who that was.

"Fraulein, are you alright?" Brigitta touched her arm, bringing her out of her head. She smiled, hoping to ease the girl's curiosity.

"Oh, yes. I think Kurt has exhausted me completely from all this laughing today." She nudged his shoulder as they all began walking toward the house for supper. Franz had been bustling about, peeking out to the garden enough times that they all could sense it was about time to eat.

While the children washed and prepared themselves for supper, Maria ventured to Georg's bedroom to help him ready himself. As the days progressed, he had been coming down for breakfast every morning, but it was taking a lot out of him. He ran short on energy very quickly, though she knew he would only get better with time and movement, even though he was rather impatient about his recovery. Not that she was surprised by his impatience in the least. She smiled to herself as she gently opened the door.

"Are you alright?" His immediate words surprised her, and she looked at him with confusion. He was seated on the edge of the bed, apparently having been able to sit up on his own, which was a great accomplishment indeed.

"Yes, are you? You've sat up on your own, that's wonderful." She moved forward and pressed a congratulatory kiss to his lips, her hand caressing his cheek.

"I was determined, I suppose. But you look like you've been crying? Your makeup is smeared." She laughed a bit, bringing her hands beneath her eyes to tidy herself as she walked toward the mirror on his dresser.

"Well, I was crying, but it was only because Kurt had us all laughing so hard we nearly fell over." She wiped beneath her eyes, brushing the remaining wetness from her eyelashes as he leaned forward and slowly stood from the bed. Her first instinct was to help him, but she knew she needed to allow him to try on his own. She had to admit she had been babying him just a bit since the accident.

"I do hope he'll continue the laughter, I plan to join everyone for supper." He walked toward his wardrobe and opened it.

"That's wonderful, darling. You are very much missed at mealtime." He pulled out a suit and laid it over the foot of the bed. "You know, given the circumstances, I don't think anyone would mind if you didn't dress for supper."

"Preposterous." She laughed at his tone, even though he was quite serious. She came to stand beside him, placing her hand upon his back in comfort.

"I never knew that people changed their clothes for supper until I met you. Regular people just eat as they are, you know."

"Regular people? My family is irregular?" She laughed once more, even though she was a bit worried to offend him.

"Not at all, just a product of your environment." He scoffed, moving to unbutton his pajama shirt with his good hand. She reached out to touch his hand, stopping his movement as he met her eyes. She leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. "Save your energy for the laughter."

"I'm in day clothes."

"Me too, and I won't change either, if that helps? I'll wear my nightgown to supper?" He laughed, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. She ran her hands over his body, pleased that he didn't flinch when she gently touched his ribs. "I'm so happy to see you up and moving around. There's an emptiness in the villa when you're not walking the halls."

"That's very kind of you, darling, but I'm sure you're all managing just fine without me." She snorted, looking up to meet his eyes with her own. She wondered if he was feeling a bit down on himself throughout his recovery. While he was generally positive enough, especially when she was around to help him, she wondered what his thoughts looked like when he was alone.

"Managing is the key word. It will be so wonderful when you are able to join us as you normally would." He sighed, kissing her once more before resting his head against her hair and holding her close.

"A broken arm and two broken ribs…it's really not that bad of an injury, and here I am exhausted from getting out of bed. It makes me feel weak, and that makes me angry." She was shocked by his admission, surprised any of the words fell from his lips at all, and she hugged him a bit tighter. She knew he was working on the ways he expressed himself since their last argument, as he always had a habit of holding in his emotions until he exploded, and he told her several times that he didn't want to be that man anymore.

"You're the strongest man I know, Georg. You also had a collapsed lung and had to spend a couple of weeks lying in the hospital. Please give yourself some grace." He sighed, and she felt him nod against her head as he held her close. "And who are you to say your injuries aren't that bad? They sound bad enough to me."

"Yes, well…" He didn't finish, smiling at the fact that she somehow always managed to make him feel happy, simply by being next to him. "I love you."

"I love you too." She returned his sentiment and looked into his eyes. While he was always affectionate, the words felt out of place. He was most definitely trapped in his own head at the moment. "Darling, are you alright? You seem…I don't know, strange."

"I'm fine, I promise." He kissed her, giving her a gentle smile as he ran his hand over her back. "Now, let's go see if Kurt is still telling jokes.

She laughed happily as they began to walk toward the door. While she hated the pain he was having to work through, she was very thankful for the progress he had made up until that point. Seeing him joining his family for supper filed her with incredible joy, and she could see him coming out of his own head more and more as the meal progressed. And rather than retire to his bedroom after supper, he joined them all in the sitting room, gingerly taking a place on the end of one of the sofas. She propped up his arm upon a pillow, fussing over him a bit too much, before she took a seat next to him.

For the first time in a very long time, they felt like a family. They felt like home.