Summary: A ONE SHOT! This is a just a fun one-shot story that I couldn't get out of my head. It came into my idea after listening to the song Drop in The Ocean by Ron Pope, Please check it out if you haven't. Maria is getting ready to leave the villa to become a teacher. Will she profess her real feelings? Will the Captain return them?
Disclaimer: I do not own TSOM or any of the characters.
"I Was Praying That You & Me Might End up Together"
The frost was just beginning to settle upon the crisp autumn leaves as Maria clutched her arms for warmth. The early September morning bringing a distant chill in the air from the north. She sat; quite still, lost in the thoughts of the summer. A summer now fleeting as the seasons changed. There was so much more that she wanted to do, so much more that she needed to say. The last few months, felt like days, and in retrospect she hated the thought that it had all ended so fast.
The sound of the children's sobs brought a shiver down her spine and she shook her head trying to block out the memory. As she sat upon the bench, outside of the abbey, waiting for the bus to take her to the train station, she knew something felt unsettled. But her job was done, wasn't it? She had said goodbye to the children. As the eyes of those seven children, her seven children started back at her pleading, she couldn't explain to them why she couldn't stay; especially not with him there.
Surely, it was all she could do not to look him in the eyes again. Georg. She had done everything she could and she knew it. So why did she feel as if leaving was some big mistake? The Reverend Mother told her to follow her dreams, to seek the life she was born to live. And she had, or rather had attempted, to fight for the life she thought she wanted.
The red creeping in her cheeks was proof enough of the embarrassment she endured. How could she have read the situation so wrong? She thought that he was in love with her; she thought that she was in love with him. But as she confessed, her deepest feelings, confronting that which scared her the most, she realized she was so very wrong. Closing her eyes against the wind she allowed her mind to drift back, one last time to the memory. Once she was in Vienna, once she began teaching, she swore herself she'd never look back.
The children were more anxious than usual that night. The summer was coming to an end, and with things going better than ever with their father, Maria knew the anxiety would grow as her departure came closer. She wanted to speak to Georg, she wanted to tell him how she felt, and she wanted to hear him tell her how he felt. She could see it in his eyes as they sat in the drawing room near the fire and she read to him. She could hear it in his tone when she had fallen out of the tree and cut up her arm that day.
He broke off his relationship with Elsa days after the rowboat incident, she knew when something changed between him and the children, and it too changed between them. She wasn't drawing conclusions out of no-where as she initially thought. Even the Reverend mother agreed. She had asked to meet with Maria a week before her conclusion with the Von Trapp's to see what she had learned and she couldn't have been happier.
It seemed Maria the unorthodox orphan and Captain Von Trapp the grieving widow found in one another what they were lacking. Her, the order and family she desired; him the livelihood and love he craved. It was never something the Reverend mother had considered would happy, but it seemed God had his plan, just as she always trusted.
So a week to the day before her departure she was sitting in the ballroom next to him at the Piano. The glorious Pachelbel's canon in D strumming effortless from his fingers, and she knew for sure, in that moment, she would follow him anywhere. As the song concluded, he left the bench, walking over to the gramophone to replay the song without his accompaniment, and reached for her hand.
As he glided her along the ballroom, their feet skated across the floor like silk, and as her hair swayed behind her; she could swear they were floating. The ivory silk of her long dress swaying delicately, as the end of August warmth drifted through the open doors. But as the song concluded, she leaned in gently, searching his eyes for permission. The warmth blue emanating into hers, piercing her heart and while she saw no indication he would pull away, she sensed a fear she had never seen before.
But she felt it too, the fear, and leaned in, to kiss him softly on the lips. His arms, secured her in a tight embrace, and when he pulled back, she blurted out, quite abruptly, the two words she never thought she'd utter in her lifetime.
"Marry me."
She wasn't sure what her say it. Surely she could have started with something far less committal, such as professing her love, but something inside her couldn't help it. The way he looked, the way his lips felt on hers, the stillness of the moment. She knew; deep down in her heart that there was no questions as to what she wanted. She didn't need him to be the one to say it; she just needed to know he would.
But she felt, ever so slowly, his fingers unclench from her waist, as he stepped back in silence, dumbfounded. His mouth opened slightly, but he did not speak. It seemed like hours, and part of her was screaming to take it back, but she couldn't. It was evident what her heart wanted, and she knew that if this was what God had intended, than this moment, this blurting admission was what was supposed to happen.
"Maria, I…" he began, looking her up and down, hoping that she'd open her mouth to say something, some sort of explanation to change her mind. But when she didn't, he continued. The look in her eye was like a dagger in his chest, and he knew he couldn't make her wait any longer.
"I'm truly sorry, but I won't, … I, I. can't." he said, turning and leaving her standing there.
The next week was spent with them having minimal conversations, there was nothing more than pleasantries of "good evening," and "good morning" spoken. If it had been for needing to enjoy every last moment with the children, she would have left that night. How could she have been so stupid to believe that someone like him would love someone like her?
Hearing a motor roaring it's way towards her, she opened her eyes looking towards the vehicle. But her shoulders slumped when she realized it was one she didn't recognize, and not the bus she'd been waiting for.
It stopped in front of her, but on the opposite side of the road.
"My dear, what in the world do you think you're doing?" Max said, walking over to greet her.
"I'm going to Vienna Max," she stated rather bluntly.
"Well that is obvious, but what not even so much as a goodbye to your Maxy?" she teased, trying to ease the tension thick enough to cut through ice.
"Max, I'm sorry!" she began, immediately realizing she hadn't even said goodbye to the person who had become such a great friend to her over the summer. "But, it's just.. I need to go, because well, my time here is up." She offered weakly, not wanting to explain the situation.
"hmm. Well, if you'd really like to go be in Vienna, I will respect your decision, but there's something you need to see first my dear."
"But my bus is coming in an hour, and I need to catch the train tonight."
"Dear, if you come with me, I promise I will get you to Vienna personally tomorrow. But you need to come with me first, please." He offered, motioning back towards the car.
"I don't want to go back to the Villa Max," she began, but he shook his head.
"Well good, because I wasn't planning on taking you there." He said, smiling and reaching his had out.
After what seemed like hours and hours of driving in silence Maria finally turned to Max, needing to break the silence.
"So, where are we going exactly?" she asked, feeling that he probably wasn't going to give her a true answer.
"A small elite club. Brandy drinkers, musical performers, that sort of thing," he said, knowing what sort of reaction he'd get.
"What! Max!" she cut in, suddenly annoyed and more confused then ever.
"I'll keep up my end of the promise if you keep up yours!" he offered cheerfully.
She sunk into her seat reluctantly, crossing her arms like a small child, until Max spoke again, causing her to sit up immediately.
"So you told him you loved him huh?" Max asked, as plainly as if he was asking about the weather.
"What?" she questioned, mortified that he obviously had some idea what had happened.
"Well, you didn't want to leave, he didn't want you to leave, so something my dear, must have happened." He said.
"Oh, he did want me to leave, I can promise you that."
"So you did!" Max smiled, glad his assumptions were correct. " And you Promise, huh? And what makes you so sure?
"I didn't! Well.. not exactly anyway. I um, .. proposed marriage I guess?" she said, now realizing how utterly insane the entire idea was. She wasn't sure why she was choosing to relive it with Max now, but he seemed to be willing to listen at least.
"Oh that a girl!" he smirked, "I knew you were feisty but that, wow!" he laughed.
"Well it doesn't matter now, I've ruined everything," she said, more to herself than him.
"Maria, who was the first woman that Georg ever loved?" Max asked rather seriously, as they parked, and began walking into a dark cigar smelled room.
"Agathe." She answered, attempting to follow Max to the back of the room, and maneuver past the various gentlemen soaking themselves in brandy.
"And where did Agathe go? Is she here?" he asked,
Maria shook her head, not understanding the stupidity of the question.
"Well, heaven of course." She stated, rather obviously.
"So, she …"
"Left?" Maria responded, still not following his reasoning.
"Exactly. And after you professed your feeling, whether you said them or not, a proposal of marriage makes them clear, you…?"
"Left?" she responded, but quickly defended herself, "but only because he told me that he can't, .. that he won't." She said, taking her seat and removing her coat.
"Max what are we doing here?" she offered, but before he could answer, a man appeared on stage at the microphone.
"We have a regular here tonight, to preform a new piece of music he's composed and penned. Put your hands together for the lone vt"
"Who is the lone vt?" Maria whiskered, leaning into Max, but before he could answer, the shot light shone upon the piano, and a deep baritone voice she'd know anywhere, cut through the room crystal clear.
A drop in the ocean,
A Change in the weather,
I was, praying that you and me might,
End up together.
It's like wishing for rain,
As I stand in the desert,
But I'm holding you closer, than most,
Cause you are my, heaven.
I don't want to waste the weekend
If you don't love me pretend
A few more hours then it's time to go
And as your train rolls down the east coast
I wonder how you keep warm
It's too late to cry
I'm too broken to move on
And still I can't let you be
Most nights I hardly sleep
Don't take what you don't need from me
It's just a drop in the ocean
A change in the weather
I was praying that you and me might end up together
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert
But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my heaven
Misplaced trust and old friends
Never counting regrets
By the grace of God I do not rest at all
And Austria as the leaves change
The last excuse that I'll claim
I was a boy who loved a women like a little girl
And still I can't let you be
Most nights I hardly sleep
Don't take what you don't need from me
It's just a drop in the ocean
A change in the weather
I was praying that you and me might end up together
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert
But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my
Heaven doesn't seem far away anymore, no no
Heaven doesn't seem far away
Heaven doesn't seem far away anymore, no no
Heaven doesn't seem far away, oh oh
A drop in the ocean
A change in the weather
I was praying that you and me might end up together
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert
But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my heaven
You are my heaven
"Do you get it now Maria my dear?" Max whispered, as the song was concluding. "He's a fool, a scared, petrified fool, but he's a fool, who loves you."
As the sound concluded, the room erupted with applause, the men breaking only briefly from the cigars and brandy to offer congratulatory response for another breathtaking arrangement from a strange man they've come to admire. And when he stood up to bow, his eyes locked, with only one set piercing blue, so vibrant it mirrored only his own, and his heart stopped.
Note: Please Review and let me know what you think! I altered a few of the lyrics just so it fit the story, but not many. Please check out "Drop in the Ocean" By Ron Pope! It's a great song.