Georg von Trapp collapsed onto the bed, his muscles trembling and weak, his heart beating wildly in his chest. His sweat slicked skin welcomed the coolness of the sheets, but his body missed the delicious, soft warmth of his lover, his wife, his heart.

"Maria," he beckoned as he turned onto his back and opened his arms to her.

She came to him immediately, her head resting gently on his shoulder as his arm came around her, his fingers running and lazy path up and down her arm as she settled in along the length of his body. He smiled as her fingers slowly played with the hair on his chest before slowly following the trail to where it disappeared beneath the sheet that rested over their hips.

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Oh my love, I fear I will never have enough you. You will grow tired of my advances and put me out of the room so you can get a solid night's sleep."

His wife turned her face to him and smiled. "Oh I don't think there will ever be any danger of that, Captain. I find myself quite constantly captivated by the thought." Her cheeks, still pink from their shared passion deepened in color as she admitted the truth to him.

Georg raised a curious eyebrow at his bride of one week. "Are you saying you would like to make love more often than we do?"

She buried her face in his chest and nodded weakly and he noticed that even her ears were bright red. He touched her cheek and pressed gently, encouraging her to look at him, which she did. "Maria," he started, gently, "if there is ever anything you want from me, all you need do is ask."

"I know you say that, but…"

She trailed off and her eyes drifted from his.

"But?" He prompted and dipped his head to the side to try to catch her gaze again.

"Well, when we are together...ohh..it's just that...I wish…" she stumbled over her own thoughts. While she had quickly become comfortable with the physical expression of their love for one another, talking about it was another matter entirely. "You do all the work and exhaust yourself bringing me pleasure. I fear that if I were to ask every time I wanted you it would be you who 'put me out' as you say."

Georg sat up in the bed, forcing her up as well. "Darling, do you really not know how wonderful you make me feel? Have I been so daft as to have left you with even the smallest bit of doubt?"

"You have told me, but…" Maria continued to struggle to find the words to talk about her feelings when it came to loving him. "It's not that I don't believe you...but...I wish there was something...some way for me to...please you."

Georg made to speak but her pleading look in her eyes stopped him. "No, Georg, don't say it again.. I know that we both find pleasure when we are together, but it's always you doing...things...to me," She managed to sputter out. "I wish I knew how to…"

"How to what?" He asked knowing what she wanted to say and desperately wanting to hear her say it.

She blushed furiously and dropped her head to his shoulder. He barely heard her whisper a she tried to gather her strength. "Oh help."

George smiled in wonder at the way his wife continually managed to surprise him. Both in her boldness and in the reactions she could inspire in his flesh. He already felt himself reacting to her despite having just moments ago reached the heights of ecstasy in her arms. He brought his mouth close to her ear and whispered, knowing she would find his words easier to acknowledge if she did not have to look into his eyes. "Darling, are you saying that you want to make love to me?"

Maria sighed and nodded her head, letting her lips find his neck as she did. "Yes."

"To be in control?"

"Yes," she whimpered.

"To touch me, in the ways that I touch you?" His voice grew hoarse with longing.

"Yes," she admitted, finally pulling back far enough to look him in the eyes which she found deep and dark. That, mixed with the rough timbre of his voice that she now knew signaled his desire for her, buoyed her confidence. She reached out and ran her fingers lightly over his chest. "I want to watch you come undone and know that it was because of me."

Hearing such words from his wife caused a low growl of want to rise up from deep in his chest. He leaned into her touch, ghosting his lips across her cheeks until he spoke against the shell of her ear. "Oh, my love. I want that too, so very much."

He felt her hand tremble against him. Here she was, his innocent-until-one-week-ago wife nervous as a filly, but clearly brave enough to express her desire to explore her own power in this part of their relationship. The thought increased his ardor and he had to fight the urge to take her again himself. Instead he took a deep breath, steeling his resolve to let her lead the way this time. With what could be described as nothing less than a herculean effort he pulled away from her and, kissing her once more ever so lightly on the cheek, lay back down, not bothering to cover himself with the sheet that had pooled on his thighs.

Maria's hand had not followed him back down but rather trailed over his body as it moved under her touch when he reclined back onto the pillows once again. It rested lightly now on his lower abdomen and with no better idea of where or how to start she began to run her hand over his body. She looked up at his face, pleased to see a smile, but flinched and looked away sharply when she found his eyes on hers.

Georg understood that his perceived scrutiny was too much for her in the moment, so he closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of her fingers running lightly over his body. He made no attempt to silence the moans and sighs that her touch inspired. If he could not encourage her with his look then he would with his voice and body.

Maria was fascinated with the way Georg's body responded. When she ran her hand firmly over his chest he sighed, when she lightened her touch to barely a whisper he shivered and moaned. She raised up so she was kneeling and could use both hands together, tracing symmetrical patterns, up his chest then down his arms and back again. She grazed her fingernails down his abdomen, across the fit muscles she found there. When her finger danced across his hip bones and down to his thighs she noticed that his erection, which had been slowly growing, surged momentarily.

Maria smiled at this startling discovery looking up at her husband, pleased with the look of pleasure on his face. His eyes were shut and his mouth was open, his brow knit slightly. She continued her ministrations, her touch on his thighs giving her similar results. She hadn't touched him directly and yet her actions were clearly having an effect. She felt a strong desire to touch him there, and while she had taken him in her hand before, it was only briefly once before he had joined their bodies together.

She tentatively slid both hands lightly back up his thighs, nervously closing in on her target. She slowed and almost stopped, until she heard Georg' voice, almost pleading. "Yes, please. Yes."

It was all the encouragement she needed to take him in her hand, gasping herself at the feeling of his hard heat wrapped in a softness like velvet. She let her fingers wander over the length of him and she noticed his hands grip fistfuls of the sheet.

Maria noticed for the first time the heavy fulness settling in her own body. Touching him like this, hearing and seeing his pleasure heightened her own. She understood now what he had meant, that pleasing her pleased him. She found she wanted him no less than if he were the one touching her.

Emboldened by the thought and even more so by his continuing reaction to her fingers caressing him she began to think of the things he had done to her that made her burn with desire and decided that she would try to do those same things to him. She left one hand on his length, loathe to give up that contact altogether and leaned forward to trail open mouthed kisses across his chest, stopping to kiss and lightly lap at his flat nipples. He groaned and she smiled against his skin.

As she worked her way over to his other nipple she was surprised to feel his hand over hers on his erection. She looked at him and found him staring at her with such desire. He placed his hand over hers, adjusting her grip and then started to move it up and down his length. She began to move on her own and he released his grip nodding slowly and letting his eyes slip shut again, his teeth holding his bottom lip as he let out a long groan.

Maria watched his face as she continued to move her hand along his length. It was a heady feeling, knowing what she was doing to him. Suddenly she thought of something that he had done for her the night before. He had been kissing her stomach and then her legs and then suddenly she felt him kiss her lightly in the most intimate place on her body. His lips and tongue on her sensitive flesh had been a revelation and she had come undone after just a few moments of that particular pleasure.

She wondered if it would be the same for him. Nervously she dipped her head and placed a trembling kiss just above where she held him in her hand. Georg's eyes shot open and the sight before him made him tremble all over.

Maria parted her lips a little and went to kiss him there again. He arched his hips up into her grasp which she took as a good sign. She kissed him again and let her tongue slip out and tentatively explore the softness she found there. He continued to move in her grasp as she continued to kiss and taste him until she opened her mouth and took him in.

"Maria!" He cried and reached out to try to pull her away..

Surprised she stopped and let go of him completely, searching his face for an explanation. "Have I done something wrong?" She asked timidly.

"No, absolutely not." Georg took her hand and guided her to sit astride him as he fought for control. "You see, no one...well it's been a long time since anyone has touched me quite like that. I'm afraid it was a bit overwhelming. I just need a moment or it will all be over."

"But that's what I want."

"I know." He slowly guided her hips back toward his." But I want us to be together when it happens. I want to feel you." Maria felt him hard, pressing against her. "Make love to me like this."

Maria shuddered at the desperation in his voice and found she could not deny him. She lowered her lips to his and kissed him thoroughly as she wiggled her hips against him trying to figure out how to manage her current task. She was about to stop and ask him exactly how this was supposed to work until she felt him reach around and line himself up with her heat. Understanding clearly, she slid back and they both moaned as they joined together this way.

She pushed up against his chest and felt him fill her more fully. "Oh," she cried and she looked at him with a surprised smile, which he returned, encouraging her as she moved on top of him. Soon they were meeting eachother thrust for thrust. Georg knowing his end was near, slid his hand between them, touching her intimately were they were joined.

Maria's eye flew open wide and she locked her gaze with his, mesmerized by the smile that graced his face as he watched her. One, two, three more strokes of his fingers against her and she cried out, collapsing on top of him. He held her tightly, shuddering inside of her for a moment more, until they both stilled panting and shaking from their combined effort.

When she could move again Maria shimmied on to her side and curled up next to her husband. . "Thank you," she said and immediately felt the low chuckle rumbling in his chest.

"I don't know why you are thanking me. I assure you it should be the other way around." He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. "You were exquisite, my dear. I may just be the luckiest man on Earth."

"Truly?" she asked, craving his reassurance.

"You were magnificent. Trust me."

"I do," she assured him as she settled once again into his embrace. "I love you."

"And I you. More than I have ever loved anyone."

Maria smiled against his warm body. More than I have ever loved anyone. The words rippled in her mind, like the diminishing waves from a pebble dropped in placid water, and as they edged further through her consciousness her brow furrowed. More than I have ever loved anyone.

His words echoed loudly one last time in her mind, followed by an image that discomfited her. She had no idea why that now of all times it had suddenly come into her mind, but still it was there, a picture that hung in the nursery. The only picture she had ever seen of the children's mother, of Agathe von Trapp.

She sat, on the grass, surrounded by all seven of her children, Gretl, who could not have been but nine months old tugged on her hair, her head turned as she laughed at her eldest son, who was sitting next to her and laughing along. Her smile was radiant, her features evident in some way or another on each of the seven angels sitting around her. His first wife, the woman whose death had nearly destroyed him. She smiled a wistful smile and rubbed her hand lightly across his chest, kissing him lightly on the shoulder before she said with great certainty. "Not anyone I'm sure, but I thank you for saying it all the same."

As quickly as he could Georg eased her off of his chest and turned to face his wife. He knew immediately to whom Maria was referring. "Why would you say that?" His tone was quite serious and Maria reprimanded herself for speaking as she had, for surely thought she had not meant to she had caused him pain.

"I'm sorry darling, it's just that I don't want you to feel like you have to say things like that. I know what she meant to you and I don't mind. I knew I would be sharing you with her."

Georg reached out and touched her cheek lightly, shaking his head lightly. "My dearest, loveliest Maria." He leaned in and kissed her chastely on the lips. "You are too good and I'm afraid I have done you a disservice."

Maria cupped his cheek, seeking his blue eyes, hoping her eyes would convey her regret. "No, Georg, it's my fault. I shouldn't have said anything. Speaking of her does me no disservice." She was surprised when he gave a small chuckle.

"I didn't speak of her, darling you did. For my part, I meant what I said. I love you more that I have ever loved anyone, even her."

Maria shook her head, "But you can't…" Georg's finger found her lips and stilled them.

"But I can." His lips briefly replaced his finger. "And I do." He kissed her cheek. "And if you will allow me to continue uninterrupted I shall attempt to explain. Alright?" he asked, nodding his head. She nodded in agreement, kissing the tip of his finger as he dropped it from her lips.

"You see, when I met Agathe, the first time I saw her, I was enraptured by her beauty. I suppose you could say I was smitten. We didn't know each other that well, but over the next weeks and months, as I grew to know her, I fell in love with her heart and her mind. She was everything a young man could want in a wife. Our courtship was longer than usual due to my deployments and by the time we were married the heady rush of youthful infatuation gave way to the deepest of affections. That connection to another person gave me a clarity and focus I had never had in my life.

"While uh…" George hesitated a moment, then gave Maria, a shy smile."...on our honeymoon we of course learned to love and appreciate each other more fully. I know you know of my past, and that I did not go into my marriage with the same innocence my wife did, but until that time I had only known the physical pleasures of love. With her I learned that beyond that there was an emotional fulfillment and joy that married love could bring to a man. She taught me that and I think it was then that I truly and completely appreciated what it meant to love my wife."

He paused for a moment and Maria, thinking he was done moved to speak, but he raised a hand to stop her. She settled back, biting her tongue. Georg reached out with the hand not supporting his head and laced his fingers through Maria's.

"And then she became pregnant with Leisel. As I watched our child grow inside her, I thought I couldn't possibly love her anymore. But I was wrong. When she laid our child in my arms, when she gave me that greatest of gifts, my child, I was in awe of her. Looking into the eyes of my first born I learned what it was to love the mother of my children."

"So you see, with Agathe, love was a road on which each new destination taught me a facet of what love could be between a man and a woman. But now, with you, because I have been on that road before, I find I am overwhelmed by my feelings for you all at once."

George leaned in and lay his wife back against the bed, He kissed her lips. "I am smitten by you, enchanted by your beauty."

He kissed her chest, feeling her heart beat beneath his lips. "I am grounded by your love."

He moved his lips to trail across her breasts. "My body aches for yours."

He looked up and winked at her and his hand swept down her side.. "I am joyful in your company," his hand came to rest lightly against her stomach, "and I am in awe of the mother you already are and of the mother you will hopefully one day become."

Tears shone in Maria's eyes as he slid back up and cupped her cheek in his hand. "And added to all of that, I am hopeful, Maria, that there will be even more to discover with you by my side. So believe me when I say, I loved Agathe with all my heart, but I have never loved anyone more than I love you."