"You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart." George Michael

"Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart." Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Mmhmm," he said absent-mindedly before abruptly turning to her. "We never got to finish that dance."

Maria stared at him in confusion as he went to the gramophone and picked up several disc sleeves. "Ah-ha!" He exclaimed as he selected a sleeve and took the disc out. Seconds later, it was playing, and Maria immediately recognized the notes of the Laendler.

Slowly, agonisingly slowly, he came to her, extended his hand, and gave her a smile.

"May I have this dance?"

With his blue, piercing eyes staring right into her soul, she instantly forgot everything, and she could only feel herself nodding. Just as if it were a dream, she took his hand and he led her outside, and they began the first steps of the Laendler.

He hadn't been able to help it. It had been too tempting. All too tempting.

From the moment he had seen her taking her seat in the dining room Georg had completely forgotten about anything else around him. She had donned the blue dress he liked so much; the blue dress that made her look like an angel sent by God himself to save the whole of humanity. To save him.

It hadn't gotten any better as the evening progressed. He had been completely enthralled. At dinner, he had seen her talking to his mother-in-law, and he had seen the look on her face; her dreamy smile and her innocent eyes that were wide open as she appeared to drink in every word. Georg had jealously wished she would look at him that way too as he'd watched her face glowing with interest as she listened - she was so captivating. He had hardly been able to take his eyes off her the entire time.

This night, this dress, her face - it had woken up too many memories; it had stirred something within him. And when once again he had found himself immersed in the darkness of his wide bed, which was definitely not meant for one, it had been too much to bear.

The fact that his bed was too big for him had become more and more striking the past few days. Since they had argued in his study all these weeks ago, and since he had started to play a very dangerous game with her; just like he had done the time in the kitchen or during Capture the Flag. He had been unable to stop himself from picturing her as a permanent member of his family. He wanted her to stay forever.

The other night he had had a very disturbing dream. Truth be told, it wasn't like he had never had an inappropriate dream about her before, but this one hadn't been anything like the wild, unforbidden dreams he had had before. No, this one had been extremely frustrating for him.

He had seen her in this bed. Not with him, he bitterly thought, but he had seen her peacefully sleeping in his bed, completely naked he guessed, because all he could see was her bare shoulders, arms, and legs, as she was wrapped from chest to knees in the white sheets. And this was a vision he had not been able to forget. Just like an angel who was not to be disturbed.

Now here he was again, staring blankly at his bed - his terribly empty bed - with the image of her lying in it naked stuck in his mind. God, he'd needed air.

Still fully dressed and somewhat confused, he had exited his room in a desperate need to forget this vision. A drink was very much needed he'd decided, but as he was making his way to his study, something made him change his mind. With an invisible force he couldn't define, he had been attracted like a magnet to the ballroom, and that's where he had seen her floating like some fairy creature in the moonlight, still wearing the goddamn dress. He hadn't been able to stop himself. He had to ask her. He had to feel it once more. He had to make sure he hadn't imagined it all from the beginning.

Taking her hand slowly in his, he led her slowly to the courtyard and they started the first steps of the Laendler. He risked a glance at her: her cheeks were rosy and she didn't look him in the eye as they moved. With one of her hands in his, he made her spin around and he could briefly see her lips pulling into a smile, and he immediately felt his muscles relax. They were now side to side, her left arm across his chest and her right hand in his, and she was truly smiling. She was so beautiful. So pure. So graceful.

His hands were now tightly grasping hers, and they were facing each other briefly. The blueness of her eyes was hypnotising and the look on her face was unreadable. But then he was spinning her around again, and he had to stop to clap in his hands as she was lifting her skirt and moving around him. He took advantage of the situation to notice how floaty the dress was, and how effortlessly she seemed to move. Still clapping his hands, he joined her.

That was the moment. He felt her hand reaching for his from behind and before he knew it, he was holding her close, pulling her even closer to him by the waist. She was looking at him straight in the eye, and it was the same burning, pleading look she'd given him the night of the party. In that precise moment, there was nothing else for Georg than her eyes.

God.

He loved her.

And so, after what felt like an eternity to him, he saw her closing her eyes, and he did the same, leaning gently towards her. The gesture was slow, without rushing anything, and he was close, so close he was sure he could feel her slightly shivering in his arms. But suddenly, when his mouth was barely a centimetre away from hers, she took a sharp intake of breath and the spell was broken, and he felt her hands slipping from his, and then she was gone.

He opened his eyes abruptly, like he had just woken up from a bad dream. But no, he wasn't in his bed, and not in his room either, he really was standing in the middle of the courtyard. It took him two seconds before coming back to his senses, and he saw a blue figure running to the ballroom, the echo of the music and her footsteps ringing in his ears. Oh no, he wasn't going to let her go again. Without thinking, he rushed after her and into the ballroom.

"Maria! Wait, please!" Georg called desperately.

But she didn't stop, she was still racing and he couldn't make out what she was saying, but he caught a few words, like: "Tried to take advantage of me… I'm not stupid… Thinks I wouldn't mind…"

"Maria… Please, darling, listen to me…"

He had barely whispered it, she probably didn't hear him anyway as she was still mumbling incoherent words, but his distress was becoming too much to bear, and she was about to cross the door.

"Maria! Please, stop!"

Too late, her hand was on the handle and all of a sudden Georg felt the last wave of courage and fear take hold over him. In a last attempt of despair he stopped a few feet away from her.

"Don't you feel it?" he finally said, as if he had been knocked in the stomach. "Can't you feel it?"

There was a sudden silence as the music from the gramophone came to an end, and his last words echoed in the room. Wordlessly, her hand still hanging upon the handle, she turned to him and her eyes locked with his; her face both sad and beautiful, her eyes full of pain and hurt, but still dry, because she never cried. He had never seen her shedding a single tear, and now wasn't an exception. But he didn't need to see tears to see what a mess she was. Her lips were slightly parted, and her chest was rising and falling, and he wanted to gather her in his arms and soothe all her fears and insecurities. Taking a deep breath, he tried to think properly, but couldn't. He couldn't think of anything to tell her but the truth, and the heavy silent was unbearable, the tension in the air was electric.

"It's you," he finally said. "It's you, the person I've been waiting for four long years. Not Elsa, not Max, not Hede, not the children, but you. You are the only one who's been able to see what was in me. You are the only one who's been able to see who I really am. You are the only one who's been able to make me feel again. You're the only one, Maria. There's not a single day, a single hour, a single minute that passes by where I'm not thinking about you. I want you. I need you. And I don't know what I can do to prove you how much how care for you, but if there's only one thing I can tell you for sure, it's that I love you. Nothing would ever be able to-"

But he was sharply cut off by her small figure running to him. He didn't even have the time to blink before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him fully on the mouth. Completely surprised and shocked, it took him a second to realize what was actually happening and he urgently wrapped his arms around her, lifting her from the floor and kissing her back with equal force and passion. God, she felt marvellous. After what felt like an eternity, they pulled back for air, and looked at each other in a way they had never looked at each other before. She looked slightly concerned, but Georg's eyes lit up with pure happiness and she immediately relaxed.

"I love you." He planted another kiss on her lips. "I love you." Another kiss. "I love you, I love you, I love you…"

He continued planting kisses on her lips, then on her cheek, her jawline, then he bent his head and kissed her neck, tasting her soft, milky skin for the first time. He was surely dreaming. But her soft sights were proving that he was not.

"Oh, can this be happening to me?" she barely whispered.

Georg slowed his kisses and raised his head, looking her in the eye. He took her chin in one hand and as the other gently caressed her side.

"Oh, yes, Maria, it's happening to you." He released her chin and took her hand, kissing each finger slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "And you deserve so much more…"

"What is going to happen now?" she said, her voice slightly trembling and her eyes looking anywhere else but his eyes. "I'm no one. I'm just some mountain girl from nowhere, with no family, no friends, no money and no title." He dropped her hand and she daringly raised her head to look at him. "What would somebody like you want with someone like me?"

The words she had just said were like receiving a bullet for Georg. He gathered her in his arms and held her tightly, a silent promise that he would protect her and be there for her until the very end. How could she say something like that? How could she think so little of herself?

"Darling, don't you ever say something like that again. I don't care whether you are rich or poor, whether you are from high society or not. It doesn't mean anything to me."

"But people… they will talk and-"

"I don't give a damn about what people could possibly say!" he released her from his grip and took her hands, facing her again. "Maria, don't you see? All I want is you. All I want is you by my side, as my wife, as the mother of my children and hopefully our future children. That's all I ever wanted."

Her eyes were growing wider. "You must be out of your mind…" she breathed in complete disbelief.

"Marry me."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"But-"

"Please, Maria, marry me. If you need to be sure that I love you, if you need proof, then say yes."

She was silent for a moment, but then she looked at him, and smiled.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I will marry you, Georg."

He didn't know if it was because of her actual answer or the fact she had just said his name, but within a couple of seconds, he had her pinned against the door and was ravaging her lips with his. She was responding to him with such force and such passion that he thought he might give in completely. He licked her lips with his tongue, seeking for entrance and she opened her mouth to him. She tasted like Heaven. Still kissing her, he caressed her sides with his hands, and no matter how much he liked that dress, he wanted to rip it from her and have all of her. She was driving him crazy. And when he thought it couldn't get any better, she was clinging to him, her hips brushing against his painful arousal, and he felt a moan escaping his throat as she gasped in surprise. He quickly realized what he was doing. Had he gone mad? Where had his legendary self-control gone?

"Maria, I'm so sorry, I'm afraid I've lost control of things," he said, taking a step from her and passing a frustrated hand through his hair.

"No, it's just that I am not… used to that sort of thing," she said breathlessly and offered him an apologizing smile.

"I know. We should go back to our rooms before things really get out of hand," he said reluctantly, without wanting to leave her for a single second.

"But I don't want to…" she sighed. "I don't want us to be apart now that… now that we are engaged."

She wasn't making things easier, Georg thought as he watched his future wife giving him the most adorable look.

"Right," he finally gave in. You better control yourself, old man, he thought.

Taking her hand in his, he led her out of the ballroom, crossed the foyer and opened the door of his study. She came in first, and he couldn't help but smile to himself. From now, he was going to be fine. Whatever happens, his family was going to be safe. Maria had saved them. Had saved him.

Entering the room, he closed the door behind him and smiled to the beautiful creature that was staring at him with the same wide, innocent eyes that had studied him the first time he came across her in the ballroom.

Yes, he decided, they were going to be happy.

The End

Author's note: Hello and Merry Christmas!

A huge thank you to INeverExplainAnything for her help on this chapter, and this story!

Thank you to IDontKnowYourSignal for helping me from the very beginning, and to each and every one of the lovely reviewers.

I know, I've disappeared for two months and left you hanging, that was really mean of me, I truly apologize; but things have been a little complicated lately.

Anyway, this story ends now! I hope y'all are happy with it. I might write an epilogue, I don't know yet, let me know what you think!

And as always, please, let me a review with your thoughts!