It was late and Maria was getting ready for bed. As she dressed in her nightgown, she thought about how quickly things had changed at the villa. On her first night there she had prayed that the von Trapps would become a happy family again and it seemed as though this was coming true. The Captain had reunited with his children and brought to visit his home the sophisticated and glamorous Baroness Schraeder. If rumour had it, they would soon announce their engagement and the children would have a mother again. In the house there was now music and singing, laughter and smiles; happiness all around.

But really, Maria thought as she got into bed, the biggest change she had seen was in the Captain himself.

The Captain. Maria sighed. She shook her head as she lay down. He was still a complete mystery to her. His initial strong, formidable, stern persona on the first day she met him intimidated her to begin with. Then later that evening when he discovered the children out of their beds and in her room, he infuriated her with not only the way he spoke to her, but his complete dismissal of the childrens' needs. So when he arrived back from Vienna, she was so angry with him for pushing his children away that she had spoken her mind without a second thought. He had been angry with her and she didn't blame him; she was far too outspoken, it was one of her worst faults. But the rate at which his anger disappeared when he heard the children singing amazed her. Then the gentleness and humility in his voice shortly after, when he apologized for his bad behaviour, touched her heart.

Maria felt the exhaustion of the day come over her and she started to drift off to sleep, the thoughts of the Captain lingering in her mind…

Maria softly closed the door to Marta and Gretl's room, glad that it was the end of the day. While she loved the children very much, keeping up with seven of them all day was certainly tiring. Just one more stop, then she could turn in for the night.

She quietly walked down the central staircase, and headed to the Captain's study. Every evening after the children were tucked in, she would provide him with a report on the children's schoolwork, and any issues she thought he should address himself.

She softly knocked on the large, heavy wooden door, which was opened the slightest bit. Hearing him softly call, "come in," she pushed it a bit further and walked inside. The handsome Captain sat behind his massive, mahogany desk as usual, but this night he'd discarded his jacket and tie.

Maria suddenly was standing before him, and he rose from his chair. Their eyes met, eyes that acted as magnets to her own - she couldn't look away, it wasn't possible; and she could hardly breathe.

He took his hand, placing it on the back of her neck. She shivered at his touch, she'd never had a man touch her bare skin except to shake her hand. The Captain's fingers crept up into her hair, caressing the nape of her neck, causing her to shiver - but she wasn't cold. Far from, actually. There was an unfamiliar heat beginning to course through her veins. Unfamiliar, yet not at all unpleasant.

With his other hand now on her waist, he pulled her closer, and softly set his lips down on hers. His kiss began softly, like the graze of a rose petal, gradually his mouth took on a delicious urgency, and Maria was lost in the things just his kiss was doing to her body.

His hand crept up from her waist to her breast and began caressing her, through her thin, cotton, summer dress...

Maria was rudely awakened by the bells of her alarm clock. After quickly silencing it, she lay back, her breathing heavy and rapid. She wasn't sure if it was from the jolt of the alarm, or the dream from which the alarm had stolen her. It wasn't the first time the Captain had appeared in one of her dreams but it was certainly the first one in which he'd kissed her. Or had she kissed him? The further into wakefulness she got, the fuzzier the memory became. The feelings of excited anticipation remained, however.

Knowing she'd best not continue to play her subconscious thoughts through her head any longer, she climbed out of bed and began getting ready for the day.

XxXxXxXxXx

Maria closed the door to the nursery and yawned. It had been another long day and she was grateful all the children were now asleep. After the excitement of performing the puppet show for the Captain, the Baroness and Herr Detweiler, the children were exhausted and she was too. She turned and started to slowly walk down the darkened corridor towards her room. Maria knew that she could have turned on a light but she didn't want to disturb the rest of the household. Besides, she now knew the way from the nursery to her room well enough that she didn't require a light on.

Maria yawned again as she entered her room and walked across to the other side, towards the open window. As she leaned out to close the window, she happened to glance down at the terrace below her and saw the Captain walking alone along the terrace below. She stood there motionless for minutes as she watched him. He walked at the pace of a slow stroll, hands clasp behind his back. His posture and his shoulders, once firm and straight, were now relaxed. Even his hair was not styled in such a stiff manner, now his dark, thick locks hung as slight waves over his brow. He fascinated her.

A man who was so passionate that the grief of losing his wife almost destroyed him. Yet he presented himself with such a hard, impenetrable exterior that Maria could hardly believe that he had a tender side. However seeing him now with his children, laughing and applauding at their puppet show, giving them congratulatory hugs at the conclusion, she began to see a new and different side to him, a side that intrigued her to find out more about him.

She had been surprised when, after the puppet show, the children had suggested their father might sing for them. Maria questioned them a second time before approaching the Captain with her guitar. He had been reluctant at first to indulge her request to sing but it wasn't until she pleaded with him that he had agreed. Maria remembered her surprise at first hearing his smooth baritone voice sing while he softly played the guitar. Mesmerized, she had leant back against the wall, taking in each note sung, relishing the melody he wove. Finally as the music concluded, he had looked up at her and his eyes met hers with a tenderness that called out to her soul. For in that instant, no one else seemed to exist except him and the way he looked at her.

Maria continued to watch the Captain down on the terrace. But just at that moment, the Captain stopped walking and looked up directly to her window, almost like he knew she was there watching him. Instinctively, Maria quickly stepped back from the window holding her breath, hoping he hadn't seen her. She was glad she had decided not to turn the light on in her room. Careful to not be seen, she briefly gave one final glance down to the Captain below. He was still looking up at her window, an expression of curiosity on his face. He paused for a moment before turning and heading back into the house.

Maria let out the breath she had been holding, thankful that he hadn't seen her. She shook her head in an attempt to rid all her thoughts of the Captain. Maria quickly got ready for bed: dressing herself in her nightgown and saying her nightly prayers.

Climbing into bed, Maria started mentally preparing something special for the children to perform at the party the Captain and the Baroness were planning to throw. It wasn't long, however before she was yawning again and feeling her eyelids starting to droop with tiredness.

Maria rolled over in bed, starting to go off to sleep. Thoughts of the Captain returned to her. His eyes: the cold, hard blue of his eyes, clearly irritated to find her snooping in the ballroom; the dark, wild blue of his eyes, angry at her honest outburst of concern about the children; the ways his eyes sparkled as he sung her praises at the conclusion of the puppet show; and the soft, deep blue of his eyes as he looked over at her as he finished singing Edelweiss. Maria involuntarily gave a shudder at the memory of how he looked at her at that moment. How his deep and piercing gaze locked with hers, causing her to feel that she could no longer breathe. Then how at that moment it felt like everything and everybody around them ceased to exist.

Sleep was now overtaking her. The last thing she remembered as she lost consciousness was his eyes, his deep blue eyes…

Maria felt the coolness of the wall behind her, and was grateful it was there to hold her up. She could hardly breathe, the Captain's smooth baritone voice hypnotizing her so that the felt she was floating and falling at the same instant. His eyes, blue eyes, crystal clear pools through which she could see into his soul. He never took his eyes off her, and she sensed rather than saw him setting the guitar down, watching intently as he came toward her, arms outstretched, reaching out to take both her hands into his. He raised them both to his mouth, placing a tender, gentle kiss on each.

Somehow, the room had emptied and they were alone. The Captain pulled her closer, their bodies now in contact from shoulders to hip. His arms wrapped around her, so warm, so strong, and she melted more fully into his embrace. His lips captured hers with a hungry urgency. She was overcome at how soothing his kiss was, how all of the tension in her body was erased by the feel of his tongue brushing across her lips. She opened her mouth, and he swept inside, stroking her mouth to ecstasy.

They now were naked, skin on skin, one of his hands cupping her breast, the other with a firm grip on her backside, massaging and squeezing. There was an unfamiliar ache beginning in that most sacred place between her legs, which grew warmer and wetter when the Captain placed his mouth on soft mound of her breast, his tongue licking and teasing the pink apex until it was erect, then moving to the other to do the same. This time he took the aching peak between his teeth, playfully suckling until Maria gasped.

Her throbbing center now was crying out for his touch, she took his hand and placed it at the door of her womanhood. "Please," she whispered, the Captain bringing his mouth to hers once more, as he slipped a finger into her tight depths. She cried out, feeling her body turn inside out as he toyed with her most sensitive point. A second finger joined the first, and they danced inside her as she felt that strong, lovely sensation overtake her again...

Maria awoke with a start; breathless and sweating. She was shocked to find her hand between her legs, her nightgown up around her waist, her panties pulled down and soaking wet.

Immediately, Maria threw back the bedcovers and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Switching on the light, she leant up against the door, trying to calm down her racing heart. Looking straight ahead, Maria saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror: hair disheveled, cheeks flushed, lips slightly swollen and parted as she was still somewhat breathless.

Maria quickly turned on the shower, discarded her nightgown and stepped under the running water. As the hot water beat down upon her head, she closed her eyes and leant back onto the cold tiles behind her. The vision she'd seen in her dream was still etched clearly in her mind. She'd never had a dream like that before; a dream like that about him, the Captain. Oh, it had seemed so real. She could almost feel the sensation of his lips upon hers, the tender caress on her breasts, the feeling of his hand between her legs… But it wasn't real, he was not with her, she had been alone. She was baffled to why she would have had such a dream about the Captain, about the Captain doing things to her that never in her wildest dreams would she…

Oh help! What would he think of her if he knew what she had been dreaming about him? Maria wondered. He was a man who as good as being engaged to the Baroness and she was going to be a nun. How could she ever face him again knowing that she had been fantasizing about him? About being with him, that way?

Maria started to shake slightly even though the water in the shower was piping hot. Oh, what would the Sisters at the Abbey think of her if they knew she had been pleasuring herself while dreaming of the Captain? She was there to care for the children on God's errand but here she was, lusting after their father instead. He did intrigue her and there was no doubt how handsome he was, but Maria felt lost and confused. She knew that she needed guidance.

As she turned off the water and dressed in a fresh nightgown, Maria decided that tomorrow she would go to the Abbey to pray, and to seek counsel.

The following morning, Maria managed to get through breakfast by avoiding looking at the Captain directly. She would sneak a glance at him quickly, through the fringe of her bangs, or when he was speaking directly to a child, and she knew there was little chance of her eyes meeting his. She was still feeling a bit wobbly as a result of the dream she'd had. The young governess was also nervous about asking him for the afternoon off to visit the Abbey; she was sure she'd have to look at him during that conversation, and feared that he'd be able to see her nighttime thoughts on her face.

Liesl asked if the children could be excused from the morning meal, and as they filed out of the dining room, Maria stood to follow them up to the schoolroom. As she passed by her employer, she was stunned when she felt him reach out to grab her hand. She jumped and gasped in surprise.

"I'm sorry, Fraulein, I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized. "I just wanted to ask if you are feeling all right? You were uncharacteristically quiet this morning."

She scrambled to gather her thoughts before answering. "Oh, ah, yes, sir. I just have a few things on my mind." Maria paused, working up her courage. "Which brings me to ask you for the afternoon off? I'd like to seek counsel at the Abbey."

He replied with a surprisingly soft voice. "Of course, Fraulein. Is it the children? If they are giving you trouble…"

She was quick to interrupt him. "No, sir, not the children. They are delightful, and quite cooperative most times." She let her voice trail off, unsure of what to say; but certain she would not say anything of the real reason.

"Well, if I can do something to help, I'd be happy to. You can always come to me, Fraulein, for anything you need."

She looked down at their hands, which were still joined. Maria was afraid to break their physical connection, but was equally afraid not to. Slowly, she withdrew her hand from his, and immediately felt an emptiness in both her hand and her heart. Yes, she needed counsel at the Abbey. Desperately.

"Thank you, sir. I'll be on my way directly after lunch, then."

A/N: This story is a collaborative effort between utility - singer and charleybec. Check out our joint profile if you want to know more!

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