The Professor's Daughter

It was exactly how Maria had imagined it, the beautiful city with the last strands of summer floating down the alleyways, through the streets and over the Warnow bridge. The sun was warm and gave everything it touched that subtle golden glow of the end of the season.

The class, after various talks and tours, had been given the afternoon off to explore the city and Maria had brought Susie and (unfortunately as well) Curt to the Wunsch Bridge. She wanted to share this place with her friend; to show off the bewitching city that once, not long ago, belonged to her.

"We are here." She called back to her two followers who walked listlessly behind. Maria reached the center of the bridge, her hands clasping the stone railing before she turned to the pair. "It is said that you ca-"

"Err Maria," Susie interjected with an apologetic face. "Curt wants to show me this place he read about. Would you mind if we went there instead?"

Her face faltered for less than a second before Maria remembered to be courteous to Curt, after all he was one of Susie's friends and Susie had been very kind to her. "Sure. Where is it? I can take us there no problem."

Susie grimaced a little. "Well, we were going to go just us two. We figured that you'd want to maybe go visit some old friends or something like that and we wouldn't, err, want to hold you back."

Maria kept up a strong appearance. "That's fine." Her voice was much weaker, the excitement fading away. "I'll see you back at the hotel."

Susie smiled sympathetically. "I'll make it up to you. Promise."

Maria nodded and Curt led Susie away, his weasel-like face turning back to Maria before they disappeared into the crowd.

Maria sighed and rested up against the railings, her eyes flowing over the boats and river-side restaurants before her. She didn't want to be angry at Susie, she had to accept that she had other friends who were more interesting, but there was still a small part of her that was upset.

The streets were crazy busy because of the Daphne Music Festival and the people that bustled past Maria already made her feel lonely. She remembered the first DMF she'd been to with her mother when she was seven, a year before Leighton had visited. Stools were swathed in red muslin cotton, loud music came from the doors of the pubs and restaurants and performers were surrounded by people as they played in the squares and by the fountains.

Maria remembered her mother's thin cold hand gripping her own as she pulled her through the crowds, glancing down at her daughter with a wide, excited smile. She knew that Anne Ludwig would have loved to attend this years events as well but instead she was sat at home in the grey suburbs of London with her silent husband and a fuzzy radio for company.

"Penny for them." Came a voice Maria recognized with an inner smile. She turned to see him watching her, dressed far more casually then he did in the classroom.

"They're not worth your money." Maria joked, turning back to the river as Leighton joined her, the fabric of his jumper brushing against her arm.

"I thought you went off with Susie and Curt." Leighton mused.

"They thought I'd prefer it on my own."

"And do you?"

"Sometimes but not right now."

Maria felt Leighton's eyes upon her and she hesitantly met them.

"Then it is a good thing I found you." He spoke.

Maria watched as Leighton's gaze roamed her face which turned a subsequent red. The pair returned their focus back in front of them, Leighton's cheeks a tinted pink as well.

"I didn't mean to imply anything, Professor." Maria apologized.

"Please don't call me that." Leighton winced.

"Why not?"

"It makes me sound just as old as Daniels. I am only thirty-two; don't take that away from me." He said and Maria could hear the relaxed tone in his voice that had been so distant back at the university.

"Then what would you prefer?"

"Leighton? Or Thomas even." He suggested. "Screw the rule of students calling their teachers by their surnames. You can be my exception."

Maria's gaze flicked quickly to Leighton’s face which held a wide smile; his own eyes slid over to meet her but this time neither looked away.

“Come on, I want to show you something.” Maria grinned, pulling on Leighton’s wrist.

She snaked through the crowd, ducking and squeezing past others, the DMF really was a popular event and the day’s celebrations were only in preparation for the night’s. With Leighton close behind, Maria arrived at a stool that had been in the same place annually since she could remember.

“Zwei baumkuchen, bitte.” She asked the stool holder, handing over some change as she accepted the warm, sticky treats.

With only a raised eyebrow from her partner, Maria led Leighton again to a fountain crowded by tall buildings of cafés and apartments. She placed herself down on the edge and Leighton followed suit.

“Eat.” She demanded with an impish grin as she thrust the wrapped snack under his nose.

Leighton ate with a skeptical smile but he trusted Maria enough not to ask questions. The warm cake was sickly sweet but surprisingly nice and Leighton felt sufficiently full after only the small portion. The chocolate spread on his hands and he wiped it off with the paper, glancing a quick look at Maria who too had gotten the sauce topping everywhere.

But that wasn’t what had captured Leighton’s attention. Instead it was the shape of her cheeks that seemed in that permanently risen position that occurs only after smiling for too long. Instead it was the way her navy blue eyes swept over the scene in front of her taking every single detail in. Instead it was the happiness that seemed to radiate from every part, that care-free attitude of someone truly comfortable and at home.

One day he wished to have that feeling himself, if only for as briefer time as Maria’s couple days in Rostock.

“What are you looking at?” Maria joked as she finished off her food.

Embarrassed at being caught, Leighton’s mind went blank for an excuse until he saw what was right in front of him.

“You have chocolate all around your face.”

Maria looked away with a guilty grin and did her best to wipe it all away.

“All gone?”

It was the innocent wide-eyes that caused Leighton to lean forwards and wipe the final smear from the tip of her button nose.

“All gone.” He whispered.

Their eyes did not lock at that point, instead their gazes slipped into one another like a trickling stream joining the wide river and Maria had that strange feeling in her stomach once again. She was fairly certain it was something else other than the cake she’d just consumed but she buried that troublesome feeling away as Leighton looked away heavily.

There was silence between the pair as they sat and watched people stroll past and the guitar player busk a couple of strides away.

“The Second Wedding.” Maria heard Leighton pronounce next to her. “Strange name for a fountain.” He mused.

“It is a replica of The Wedding Fountain in Nuremberg.” Maria explained. “And I have heard that the original is far odder then this.”

“Oh? What does it mean?”

Maria turned to face both Leighton and the fountain, tucking her leg beneath her and trailing her hand in the tepid, clear water.

“It’s supposed to show the various stages of marriage; the beginning bliss of new love, the caring circle of family life, and the gentle rolls of old age.” Maria looked up through her lashes to Leighton with a smirk. “Though old age is depicted by the couple trying to kill each other from being so sick of marriage.”

Leighton let out another of his laughs that Maria knew, if she were to press her ear to his chest and listen carefully, rumbled from deep down. She had become rather acquainted to that laugh and the grin that came with it; the one that deepened the lines around his mouth and also the wrinkles by his eyes.

“Well what can you expect after having to put up with the person for so long.” Leighton agreed.

“Hey, you’re supposed to love that person forever.” Maria laughed flicking the water onto Leighton’s front.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Leighton warned.

“Oh no?” Maria scooped up some water and chucked it in his direction, giggling at his fake-shock expression.

“Oh no.” Leighton replied, taking a handful of the liquid himself and chucking it back at her.

Maria’s favorite smile still plastered firmly to his face.