(Hello! I'm fiddling with ideas on where to take this. In my imagination, Liesl deserves to find "somebody kind who touches her mind" as the song goes, and maybe a hint at a story for M&G down the road. First draft, pre clean up being posted here. Not perfect in any way. I don't own TSOM, but hope you enjoy!)

The morning was going along as it typically did on weekends. The family took a little time to relax in their family room after breakfast. Reading, games, chatter abounded. It was a pleasant time they looked forward to, aside from having an occasional squabble or two.

Breaking through the chatter came the sound of the doorbell ringing twice.

"Telegram maybe?" Georg sneered at Maria. After catching wind of the events at their garden party, Georg had made a few statements that he would gladly escort both boy and bicycle from his property, each in several pieces.

Franz made his way to the entrance, opening the door to see a young man in uniform.

"Good morning, I'm here to speak to Liesl, my name is Jonas Schrader."

Franz looked the young man up and down, seeming none too thrilled. "Wait here please." he said, and motioned for Jonas to enter the foyer.

Jonas looked around him. He was impressed by the Austrian Flag hanging proudly on the wall. He loved his homeland and could tell this was an old and cherished flag.

Franz walked to the family room where everyone was lounging about.

"There is a Jonas Schrader here for Liesl, sir" he announced.

Liesl jumped up "He's here!" She began to start towards the foyer.

"Liesl!" Her father called, "Let me speak to him first please."

"Father please I..." she protested

"Darling please what do you think? I'm going to challenge him to fight? He's calling on my daughter it's only proper I meet him."

Georg winked at her and walked into the foyer.

Liesl, looked at Maria and began to panic "Do I look ok? What if father scares him off? Oh, he said he'd come by, but I didn't think this soon! Is he going to be ok?"

"Liesl dear, one thing at a time. Your father is just saying hello. You're the apple of his eye. This time he wants to make sure his little girl is in good hands, and you are. Plus you look lovely as ever. Just be calm." Maria patted Liesl's hand.

In the foyer Jonas corrected his posture as he saw Georg approach. Clicking his heels and extending a hand he said "Captain VonTrapp, it is an honor to see you again, sir."

"Jonas, welcome back." Georg nodded, shaking the young man's hand firmly.

"If I may sir, I'd like to ask you'd permission to invite your daughter Liesl to accompany me on a walk...um...around your grounds, sir, of course if you'll allow it Captain. If you'd rather a chaperone..."

"Young man you may. I can see around the grounds quite well, though I can't promise her siblings won't unintentionally act as chaperones."

"Very well sir, thank you." Jonas let out a quick sigh of relief.

"I must say your flag is quite beautiful. Jonas told him "One of my greatest honors is serving Austria, at least for as long as I can."

Georg smiled, "You're quite like your father, a man of good character and loyalty. That Flag has been in my family for only 2 generations but it's quite dear to me. I'm glad it's still as dear to the newer generations as well. I hope you'll never let your love of our county die."

"Sir never, I'd sooner die with it." Jonas said in all sincerity.

"God willing young man it won't come to that, we shall pray." Georg told him, "But you haven't come here for politics or talk of the military, you've come to see my Liesl."

"Liesl!" Georg called out.

Like a flash, Liesl ran out the door to them. She halted herself quickly when she saw Jonas. After all, she wanted to be ladylike and mature, not eager and childlike as she'd been accused of in the past.

"Good morning, Jonas" she said in an almost dreamlike state. Giggles erupted from the family room.

Her father loudly cleared his throat, putting an end to the eavesdropping.

"Good morning Liesl, your father has given permission to, I, ah, would you like to go for a walk?" He stammered, looking at his shoes.

Liesl looked at her father, who nodded.

"I'd be delighted" Liesl told him. He opened the door, gesturing politely for her to walk first.

Georg returned to the family room and heaved a sigh.

"Perhaps if I'd been around for the last one she never would have had to go through that hurt. Damn it."

"Georg, it's in the past. Every young girl will have heartbroken by someone. It's an inevitability. You can't fault yourself." Maria said gently.

"No but I will anyway. She's becoming a woman. She herself didn't even realize she was in the company of one of them last time. I should have seen it and stopped it. You were right Maria, I hardly knew her for so long."

"But now you do, darling. You can only work with right now, and right now she's on a lovely walk with a fine young man. Relax. I can see where she gets her nerves from." Maria told him

Georg took a seat next to his bride and kissed her hand. "Young lady perhaps we can go for a walk?"

She batted her eyelashes dramatically. "Of course young man, but when they've returned. They'll be fine!" she jested back, and kissed him on the cheek .

"This is all very disgusting." Kurt announced.

"Thank you for your input." His father scowled at him. "You can all go out and play once you've cleaned up the floor of your games and books."

Outside Jonas had extended his arm to Liesl.

"If you'd like, I mean you don't..." he said

She happily placed her hand at his forearm. His smile was radiant as soon as he felt her hand. Liesl realized how she had never experienced such consideration from a young man before. Rolf was not one for asking permission, or caring what she would want. She noticed immediately how respected Jonas made her feel, and that feeling was wonderful.

Pairs of eyes pressed against the window as they passed by. She heard a loud fake kissing sound through the glass, followed by Maria's voice asking if they had nothing better to do.

"Ah, at least they take interest in you, my brother and I would only see one another on the grounds at school occasionally. We kind of survived together I guess." Jonas said.

"That's how we were for a while, Liesl answered him. "There's so many of us, we just lived hoping the days would get better, every now and again we'd get together to play tricks on the new governesses. Eleven of them to be exact."

The young man laughed. "Eleven? Oh we never even got to a governess, we were just sent away. What kind of tricks did you play that managed to send off almost a dozen?" Jonas asked while chuckling.

As they walked Liesl recounted the many jokes and horrors they would put each governess through. Both of them gave out incredible belly laughs with each story. Liesl's shyness was slowly melting away, she was a bit shocked that he was earnestly listening to her, allowing her to talk, enjoying her anecdotes without mocking her for immaturity.

With the story of the frog in Maria's pocket, they were both laughing to the point of tears.

"Poor Baroness VonTrapp!", Jonas said through a roaring laugh "and she still stayed after that!"

"She was exactly what we needed. Mother, well we call her mother because she really is a mother to us, she was more determined than we were. Instead of running from us, she ran towards us." Liesl admitted with a smile.

"That's the best kind of person. I know if you'd put a frog in my mother's pocket she would have fainted and probably been on the first train back to Vienna. Or had you on the first one to a new school! I still wonder what she was thinking by coming here. I'm sure she thought she could wish you away like she did with us. I'm very glad she didn't."

"Well we did hear her tell our Uncle Max about boarding school." Liesl mumbled

"Yes, the answer to her problems." Jonas sighed and looked down.

"I'm sorry Jonas, I didn't mean..."

"Don't apologize please, you've said nothing wrong. Honestly, being independent from her probably helped us more than anything. We learned to run towards a life of responsibility rather than escape reality, reality might be difficult right now, but it's better than the alternatives."

"What do you mean?" Liesl asked

"Well my mother will join galas and parties to escape her world. Other people these days are joining that horrible political movement. I could never. I'll serve my country, and my country is Austria, not Germany."

"I know...well I knew, someone who feels it should be Germany. He changed. Or maybe I was changing and realized that he wasn't who I thought." Liesl sighed.

"I'm glad you're speaking in the past tense about that person." Jonas said. "Sometimes people will do anything to belong. Even if it means compromising who they are. You have too much integrity for that Liesl, you'd rather lose living in truth than win living a lie."

"I wish we didn't have to win or lose. Honestly I wish this wasn't happening. I remember years ago when father went to war. It was frightening. I don't want to lose him...or you." she told him bluntly.

Her face was serious. He was taken aback by her words.

"I mean you're a good friend, someone very special to me. I don't want you to have to fight. I don't want to have to say goodbye." Liesl said, her eyes a bit teary.

Jonas was bright red, his heart practically fluttering.

"Liesl, we all have to fight sometimes. But you're one of the reasons I do. I want this land to be a safe one, a good one where we can raise...I mean where you will be free to live a happy life. When I met you, I was reminded of why I have to do this. You deserve to have the place your father tried to preserve. We all deserve that."

Jonas reached out and held her hand. "I don't want to say goodbye either. I hope I won't have to. I'll be in this area for a little while. But if I do get called elsewhere, I hope you'll wait for me? I mean you don't have to but I hope you will."

Liesl's eyes widened, quite tearful. All this young man wanted was to make life better the only way he could. He cared. He was honest. Now he was asking for her to be more than just his friend.

"If you have to go somewhere, I'll wait as long as it takes." She smiled.

Her heart swelled. This was unlike anything she'd ever felt. He wasn't just handsome, he had a sense of honor, he was mature, he thought of others. He was a good man.

Jonas took hold of her other hand, and slowly moved his face towards hers, he gave her a very delicate and chaste kiss, then quickly stood back, a bit shaken.

"I should have asked I'm sorry." He quivered.

"Don't be, you did nothing wrong!" she smiled. His kiss left her a little dazed and she gripped firmly to his hands.

From behind a large tree came a stifled laugh, and the sound of someone making a gagging noise.

While Jonas blushed, Liesl's face was red with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

"This is part of why I almost wish we had been sent to boarding school!" She growled and stomped over to the tree. Behind it were the giggling faces of Kurt, Brigitta and Friedrick.

"Can you go for a day without ruining everything? I'm so sorry Jonas!" Liesl began to tear up in her anger.

Louisa felt terrible "Liesl we didn't mean it, we were on our way to play catch and saw you. Kurt got the giggles. I'm sorry."

"Catch? I haven't played catch in years! How many people?" Jonas asked

"Six now, but 8 if you two want to come along?" Friedrick offered.

"Can we?" Jonas asked Liesl "It would be fun. I can't remember the last time I joined in something like this!"

"I mean if it's something you're up for sure!" Liesl shrugged.

"I'm always up for something fun. Especially with you." He responded.

As Kurt went to make a kissy face his brother shoved him. "Knock it off or she will aim for your head."

Jonas introduced himself to the siblings as they walked to join the rest of the group.

"I hope you can keep up, we are pretty fast" Kurt told him.

"You know what? I'm up for the challenge." Jonas said.

Kurt threw him the ball, and they began to play.

From terrace, Maria looked up and saw the group.

"I believe you've gained an 8th child!" she teased.

George dropped his newspaper in shock, "Wait, Maria, what?" He asked excitedly.

"Oh, No no! Not that! Not yet anyway. Look out there." She pointed towards the group playing.

He turned his head to see everyone in the distance, enjoying themselves.

"It feels like I'm running a summer camp! He laughed "Well, it doesn't get much better than the sound of children laughing I suppose. God knows what's on the horizon, let them have as much fun as they can." He said.

Maria was grinning ear to ear "I think this is off to a good start. A little too soon to talk about gaining a son in law though." She laughed.

"Indeed, though we can still talk about gaining an 8th child." He said playfully

"You're impossible!" she giggled "Soon I hope, darling." She kissed his cheek.

"Celebrating new beginnings, it's the best feeling really." He said, holding her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.

For the moment, they sat listening to the commotion in the distance, the sun was shining brightly upon the various hopes and dreams of everyone below it. They were content in the knowledge that no matter what was to come, they'd have one another.