What a wonderful follow-up story! So romantic and sexy, but then also moving and sad too that Georg and Maria are only just getting to grieve their son together.

That was exactly the part that was missing in the original story. Loved it!

This is the second time I've read this. In between, I watched random Harvest 3 or 4 times (wonderful film). This time your story affected me even more than the first time - I think it's exceptional. I came undone many times when reading it, especially where Georg realises that he wrote the piece of music that he was playing, and Max revealed that he had had it all that time. I think I need to read the book now.

Hi there.

I've read my fair share of M - rated stories but I don't usually review them.

Part of it is that if I review them, then I have to admit I've read them. :)
But also because a lot of M - rated stories are repetitive and are sometimes quite cheap.

But I thought this one was very original (of course, your storyline was very original, anyway) and meaningful. Plus, reviewing this one gave me an excuse to read "Lost in You" again. (I CANNOT get enough of that story. :) )

So anyway, here's your review.

At the end of the scene in "Lost in You" when they're reunited at their cottage, there is an impression that they are both finally on the same page in their relationship. Yet, when they arrive home, all the insecurities come back. I love that idea. Despite the fact that they are finally reunited, blending their "old" life and their "new" life with the memoires can't be easy.
I can understand why Georg wouldn't want anyone to know about the "changes," too. Like he said, he doesn't like to talk about the accident. He never did. I also think if he tried to explain what happened, it would very easily turn into a situation he couldn't control.
But Maria assumes this all means he's ashamed of their previous relationship. And easy assumption for someone to make, especially for someone like her who is used to being rejected. I will say I admire Maria for asking the hard questions, though. Most characters that I read that are faced with hard questions simply assume the worst and it creates more misunderstandings...

Liked the fact that Georg mentioned he was falling in love with her before, too. Something you could see near the end in "Lost in You" even though Maria was obviously afraid to believe it.

I do think you did well with the physical part. Like the idea that Maria felt a little "greedy" about the touching, since it had been denied so long.
I've told you before, I do think people who write fanfiction often over - do the importance of sexual intimacy and other physical affection. (I think some people do that in RL too, actually.) But I can appreciate Maria being...eager in this story. There IS a difference between expecting to make love all the time, and knowing you'll never be able to. (Which is what Maria had in the arrangement of their marriage in "Lost in You" before.)

But that being said, I really appreciate the way Maria talks about the fact that she missed taking care of Georg before. At the end of the day, I think that was the biggest problem with their marriage. Their lack of emotional intimacy. When they were married before, Georg leaned on Maria because he had no memories, and she leaned on him because he was the first person who didn't reject her. Yes she took care of his physical needs, but it was more than that.
In the Villa, he had servants to take care of most of his physical needs, but he also didn't TALK to her about what mattered. (About his worries about the Archuduss, about his lost memories, etc.) And she didn't go in his bedroom to take care of him at all.

I also really appreciate the way you had them fall asleep soon after that conversation. A lot of people who write scenes like this will imply they stayed up all night. It's unrealistic. First of all, they both had a big day and they WOULD be tired. Second of all...well like we've said before you have sex over and over as much as people would like to believe.

Loved the fact that they talked about their baby in the morning. There IS the emotional intimacy that their relationship has been missing before. (More important than lovemaking in some ways.) He helps her with her grief, and she helps him understand her better and helps with his grief that he never saw the boy.

Love the fact that they decided to tell Liesl at the end and it turns out she already knew, too. I absolutely LOVE LOVE, LOVE stories that discuss the parents' romantic relationship with each other and its effect on the children. And Liesl would be effected by Maria's love for her father. I like the fact that when she comes in the room, she automatically realizes that their relationship has changed, too. Georg said the children probably wouldn't notice their relationship change. And maybe they wouldn't because a lot of aristocratic couples did have their own rooms, and this wasn't an age where people talked about sex as much as they do today.
But Liesl would know the change. She has SIX siblings, so she probably knows where babies come from. She also probably noticed how Agathe spent a far amount of time in her father's room (assuming Agathe even HAD a separate room) where as Maria never did...Until the day she walked in on them with Maria wearing her father's robe!

Like Georg's decision to tall the children after all, too. Because of the baby.

P. S. I find it rather amusing that every fandom seems to have its own names for M - rated stories. You guys tend to call it sexy time, while Twilight calls them lemons, Lois and Clark calls them N - fics (for "naughty - fic"),...and we Snowing fans have our Tacos joke
But personally I prefer to call them "physical love scenes." Makes them sound a little more meaningful.

First of all, let's start with the last line. It nearly damn near killed me. Really. I am almost dead with just how wonderful it was. Given that this is following on from Lost In You, it would be a complicated piece to write. So many conflicting emotions, uncertainty, anxiety. But you just hit it out of the ball park and kept on running. Just brilliantly written.
-I love the immediate change in tempo. Their uniting at the end of LIY and then it completely changes once they have come back to the villa. It is almost like feeling the temperature drop in the room (when some idiot stuffs around with the air conditioning).
-Poor Georg, finding the realisation that he treated Maria so horribly when she first arrived at the villa, having previously been in a loving marriage. How on earth does one get around that - with the love of a good woman!
-You make Maria so selfless. Her love for Georg/Smitty is just so painful/wonderful/explainable and you can just feel the way her heart twists and turns as they ride the changes in the dynamics of the relationship.
-Maria being self-depreciating can become a little annoying sometimes, but you have written it wonderfully here.
-The lovemaking scene was just gorgeous. I adored it. Still with that edge of uncertainty.
-Lump in the throat when she began talking about their son. But I love the honesty that you give Georg, him grieving for Maria having to mourn alone rather than the death of their son.
-The scene with Liesl was very cute. Thank you so much for including it!

A terrific little off-shoot to a wonderful story. You have captured the emotions so well with such difficult material to work from. Thank you for sharing!

So the long awaited review... I have so many wonderful things to say about about this story that I think my review might end up being longer that your story! LOL (JK - but you do know how much I love it).

Firstly I want to say how great it was that you came back to LIY to write this additional 'missing' scene. It's been a while since I've read LIY in its entirety (and I still plan on re-reading it when I have time), but I do remember all the emotion of those concluding scenes where Georg remembers who he was before and remembers Maria and their life together when he was Smitty and it's just so wonderful that you had the opportunity to expand their reconciliation further.

So onto the story...
I liked the start with Maria reflecting on how "in the space of one day, a whole world can be changed" and during LIY, she went through so many of those changes. It is so glad that this time the change is for good and not bad. I could feel Maria's nervousness as they returned home since everything had changed (and then Georg's quick remark about how nothing had changed. Ouch!)
I loved the imagery of them standing outside their respective doors and Maria not wanting to go into her room alone again. So their conversation then outside their doors got me - she thinks he needs time to get used to "remembering" and that he will be trying to be Smitty when he is the Captain and she thinks he's disappointed with her but then he's feeling that she should be disappointed in him especially after how he treated her... but then Maria tells him that she just loves him and stayed with him because she loves him and she couldn't abandon him (wow! talk about emotional!)

BUT then, I loved how he admitted that he didn't know which room they should share now (while I think I might have thought it should have been hers, I think it works better that they go to his!) Then that love scene... wow-wee! Amazeballs! I loved their re-discovery of each other through their lovemaking. I know you say you struggle with writing sexy time, but it doesn't show at all... You have the perfect mix of emotion and descriptions of their lovemaking which makes this love scene one of the most beautiful that I've ever read. You are a very talented writer! (oh and I love their sexy talk during their lovemaking - words longing and desire, regrets, explanations and apologies, love and adoration, and even tears... wow! heart wrenching!). Just re-reading this love scene - I honestly think every word here is just perfection, really. So good.

Oh then I loved the sweet gesture of Maria getting up to get Georg a glass of water - such a sweet little detail. But of course that leads into Maria telling Georg about how she missed taking care of him - and how much she wanted to be closer to him. I loved her honesty here.

But what really got me about this chapter which made me cry and cry and cry (and you already know that) was the following morning when Maria and Georg talked about their son who died (and I am just so sensitive about this issue that i can feel myself getting teary again as I type this review - I'm such a baby!) I know you said this part of the story ended up getting a bit of a life of its own and going off on a tangent but I honestly feel that this section is one of the best things about this missing scene - the opportunity for Maria and Georg to talk about their son, for Maria to tell Georg about him and for them to both mourn and grieve. Very, very emotional and wonderful writing.

So the last part - Maria dressing in Georg's robe and Liesl barging in finding the two of them together (poor Liesl - she seems destined to catch her parents in bed! LOL!) But I LOVED Liesl working out that Maria was the "she" who had looked after her father when he was lost. Nice touch! But the end when Georg tells Maria that they will tell the children about their son who died and how he wants to do things right this time (compared with after Agathe died), it brought another tear to me eye.

So that's the end. I know there are so many more things I loved about this chapter that I didn't mention, but I'm sure it doesn't matter, right? You already know how much I love this story!

Once again, I'm so glad you wrote this! Fabulous job!

Okay, so I am mostly immune to crying over stories that I read...mostly. I lost my "I never cry super cool card" when I read this. I teared up, and while I hate myself a little for it, I am really impressed with you!

This was a great excuse to go back and refresh myself with the original so I could enjoy this new little addition, best of both worlds really. This was wonderful. Excellent writing that tugged at the heart strings and rounded out the story so wonderfully. The part where they talked about their lost little boy...no words.

If you struggled with this it never showed for a minute. I loved it. Brilliant job.

Oh my! That's wonderful! Loved lost in you and this is just perfect!

Well, this is one of those reviews where I'm hard-pressed to do anything besides reproduce every word of this amazing, beautiful, moving, tender story. But I'll try to do it justice.

From the first two grafs you are off and running, the writing is so sensitive and poignant but always understated, never mawkish. It's one of your strengths.

Great moments:

1. them standing between the two rooms - not only was there racy potential here, but you added these moments of confusion and miscommunication. They're still processing and explaining what the whole experience was like for one another.
2. The depth of her love for him shines through. I think many of us struggle to write Maria to be as interesting as Georg, but you do a wonderful job from her POV. She's human and believable but also a special human being.
3. "There is every need." ;-) Oh, you.
4. The way they are clinging to each other, hungry and urgent out of a need for reassurance, not just hot pants. She is greedy for more after having been content with less - great line.
5. Their encounter is about relearning and reunion. And yes, it was explicit, but the specifics help us share in the emotional experience as they come together. It's not about cheap thrills.
6. Glass of water, so sweet.
7. "You mean that wasn't it?" Again, one of your delicious flashes of humor.
8. Love the way they talked about their little boy and the exploration of the different kind of losses.
9. I think the Liesl part worked out nicely. An interesting third party POV on everything they've been through.

Congratulations my friend! I know it wasn't easy but believe me, it was well worth the difficulties. A sensitive, touching beautiful, moving read. (like I said).

This was great. I remember your first story well from a long time ago and loved this addition to that story. Thank you for writing it.

So SO glad you decided to return to this universe, and this little piece of brillance definitely lived up to the rest of LIY.
The uncertainty when they arrived home, Georg wanting to be with her again, but not knowing how, gorgeous bedroom moments which led to the talk about their son, deciding to tell Liesl and then she walks right in and knows everything. The way that led to them deciding to tell all of them.
It was amazing.

oh simply loved this... wrapping it all up nicely and the lovemaking was wow, amazing and hot... great work

Extraordinary.