Hello! In honor of seeing the Sound of Music in theaters today for the thousandth time, I decided to publish my first story, which I've been working on for a while. I have most of the chapters written already, but they still need a lot of editing. The first couple of chapters are a bit slow, but I promise that there is more to come. I hope that you enjoy it, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: As much as I love the Sound of Music, I do not own anything. I'm just having some fun playing around with these amazing characters.

- Manda Grace

Georg couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked quickly but the vision of her standing there, practically glowing in the sunlight and surrounded by his smiling children, remained. He noticed that she was wearing a new turquoise dress and wondered where she had gotten it. He stood there watching, immersed in his own thoughts and dare he say… relief because his Fraulein Maria was back.

Finally, his eldest son snapped him back to reality, "Father, look! Fraulein Maria's back!"

"Good evening, Captain," came her voice, the voice that had haunted his dreams ever since their argument on the patio, and his nightmares ever since her sudden departure from his home.

Georg tried to keep his expression unreadable, but the hint of a smile was pulling at his lips.

"Good evening."

He suddenly realized that there were far too many prying eyes and ears for the conversation he needed to have with Maria, so he called his hungry, berry-less children in for dinner.

For a moment he thought he could be subtle and work up to the burning question that had tormented him for the past week, but then he heard the words slip past his lips of their own accord, "You left without saying goodbye, even to the children."

He hadn't meant it as an accusation, even if it had sounded like one. It was true that ever since he had informed the children about Maria's departure they had been unbearably gloomy, and he had felt that they had all taken about ten steps backward. But none of that mattered now; he just had to satiate his burning need to know why.

"It was wrong of me. Forgive me."

He knew as he looked into those bright blue eyes that he would forgive her anything.

"Why did you?" he asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

After he held her in his arms while they danced the Laendler, he thought he had felt something shift between them; a spark had ignited in him that he hadn't felt burning since he was with Agathe, and he secretly hoped she had felt it too.

"Please don't ask me. Anyway, the reason no longer exists."

The Captain wasn't quite sure what she meant by that. He couldn't inquire further, however, because his fiancée was suddenly next to him, clutching his palm and stepping between him and Maria.

"Fräulein Maria, you've returned," Elsa breezed in that unaffected way of hers, "Isn't it wonderful, Georg?"

Georg could only manage a small nod, suddenly feeling a large lump in his throat.

"I wish you every happiness, Baroness, and you too, Captain. The children tell me you're to be married."

Georg noticed that Maria spoke in an uncharacteristically timid manner and immediately felt guilty for the change in her demeanor.

He had suspected that she had left because he had scared her with the intensity of his gaze when they had danced together. He had hoped, rather naively, that she might not have seen what he was feeling reflected in his eyes, but he knew now that he was wrong. Maria may have been a postulant, but she was still a woman. She had certainly noticed the thinly veiled look of passion he had directed at her, a woman half his age and a postulant no less, and it had scared her so much that she had felt the need to leave and seek the safety of the abbey.

She must have felt so confused, so vulnerable, and then he had treated her so badly. She had presented his children, the ones she had transformed with her love and motherly affection, to his delighted guests, and had he thanked her for all she had done for them? No. Instead, his last words to her before she had left had been ones of cold indifference, a defense mechanism that had backfired magnificently. Oh, how he had made a mess of things.

Georg was disgusted with himself. And yet, despite all of this, he had still hoped that Maria had felt even a shadow of the intense longing he had felt for her out on the terrace. But she had run back to the safety of the abbey, run away from him. The overwhelming feeling of rejection was more than he could bear.

"Thank you, my dear," Elsa replied pleasantly for the both of them, and Georg tried to think of something to say.

Suddenly Maria was practically running up the stairs past them, not even looking in his direction, and Georg felt as though she was slipping like sand through his fingers once again.

"You are back to, uh… stay?" he blurted out suddenly, letting go of Elsa's hand and turning fully toward Maria, not daring to look at Elsa's reaction. After all he had just told the children that they would no longer have a governess, but a new mother.

Maria shook her head, "Only until arrangements can be made for a new governess."

While Maria protested that she was much too tired from her journey to attend dinner that evening, the children simply would not allow their beloved governess to retire when they had so much to tell her about what had happened while she was away.

The meal may have seemed perfectly normal to an outsider, but certain abnormalities became clear upon closer inspection.

The Baroness, who was seated at the Captain's right hand, was making lively, if shallow conversation with Herr Detweiler across the table, and the children were each taking turns telling Maria their stories. The only two people who were unusually quiet were the Captain, who was determinedly trying to keep his gaze from wandering towards Maria on the other side of the table, and Maria, who only raised her gaze from the peas she was rolling around on her plate to acknowledge each of the children as they spoke to her.

Suddenly, after Maria had complied with Gretl's request to kiss her sore finger, the little girl said, much too loudly with excitement, "Fraulein Maria, I'm so happy you're back! We missed you so terribly, and the mean lady in the black dress wouldn't even let us see you this afternoon!"

Liesl coughed on her drink uncomfortably and then amended, "Sister Margaretta said that Fraulein Maria was in seclusion, Gretl. It means she wasn't speaking to anyone."

Georg looked sharply at his eldest; he had thought his children might take it upon themselves to go see Maria at the abbey, even if he had strictly forbidden them to do so.

"We just wanted to talk to you, Fraulein Maria. We never got to say goodbye and we missed you," Brigitta interjected.

There was a chorus of agreement from the children.

"Father missed you too, Fraulein Maria!" Gretl said happily, "I heard him call the abbey and ask to speak to you!"

That made Maria's head snap up and she looked questioningly at the Captain, but his penetrating gaze made her blush and look away.

The Captain was so focused on Maria's reaction that he didn't see Elsa's face flicker with shock and then anger before returning to its usually composed mask.

"Alright, that's enough," the Captain said in his authoritative naval voice, the one that could not be questioned, "Everyone in the sitting room for a quick song, and then up to bed. Your governess is most definitely tired from her journey and we must let her rest."