One late night, Mary Poppins walked through the dark alleyways to see her Uncle Albert. It was the first time Mary Poppins had been scared for herself in years. She is immortal, she can't die. Her flesh would never rupture, bruise or bleed. She felt no pain. Mary Poppins had been like that for a long time. There was supposed to be no reason why she could fear for her life. Well, supposed to be anyway. There was one simple thing that could turn her mortal. Mary had always kept in the great vigilance to be certain it would never happen. Before she became an immortal, she was warned of the sole action that would destroy her. When first warned, Mary laughed at it. Only a chain of numerous "crazy and unnecessary" (as she deemed it) deeds would lead to this behavior. True love's tears. That was the thing that would transform her to a mortal.
Mary came to his house. She leaned against the door, and began to shake and wallow in alarm. She must put herself together quickly! How impudent it would be encounter a frail old man like this! She turned her nose upward and rang the bell. The jovial old man was quick to answer, he had been expecting her. The two sat down, Uncle Albert heated some tea. "Whats wrong Mary?" he asked. "I never explain anything," she said quite uncertainly, tapping her fingers on the table. She wanted to tell him so badly though and with his constant nagging she finally gave in. "You seem so out of character," stated her uncle. "I do believe most certainly that I've fallen in love," said Mary Poppins. "It's Bert…I feel so strange when I'm around him. It's a good feeling. I've had it for a really long time but I've always stuffed it inside of me! I knew the dangers of the so called romance thing. Cupid has an evil eye!" That was Mary Poppins belief. Uncle Albert remembered watching her one day sit at the bottom of the stairs while her mother and father were in a terrible altercation. They argued everyday. Mary told of the time when her father threw her mother down the stairs and her mother rolled right on to the young girl. Mary screamed and ran away. Uncle Albert also held Mary while she was in a room crying…because her parents were getting a divorce. He also remembered her teen years, when she fell in love with a boy named Jake. Oh how he shattered her when he ran off with another girl. So Mary made it a strict rule never to fall for that "romantic" propaganda and never be circumvented by Cupid's poisoned arrows. He could see how fearful Mary must have been, and why she was so upset. Mary was afraid Bert would leave her! But he and Mary also knew that Bert was different. He was a diamond in the ruff. There were few men with his charm and genial disposition. However, Uncle Albert always knew Mary and Bert had some kind of thing going on – and he wanted them to settle down and be happy. "Bert is a good man," he said. "Yes, he's always been good to me. He's not like that impudently strange Jake boy at all." Mary's weary face morphed into a smile instantly. It was such a bright smile you would have thought she had just won the lottery. "Yes he is a wonderful man! Last night, he promised he would never leave me. Last night was such a wonderful…" She stopped herself from explaining any further. For just a few hours ago, Bert and Mary had made love. Mary had lost her resistance and so did Bert. That's why Mary was so insecure, lovemaking was the ultimate sin. Mary's smile turned into a frown. She yearned to be with Bert, but she knew she had higher duties. She thanked Uncle Albert for the talk and went away. Mary decided she should leave and save herself while she still could. The next morning she took a stroll to see Bert. He was dirty, covered from head to toe in black and holding a huge black broom. But he handed her a bouquet of clean bright red roses. Mary Poppins blushed and thanked him sweetly. They carried on a long conversation about how England was declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. They carried on into what happened last night and then Mary announced that she had to go. Bert's eyes saddened. He quite frankly kissed her on the forehead. It seemed as if his resistance wall was still down. But hers had propped to its full height. "I must go, I hate to leave, but I must leave." Bert sighed. "Do you really have to? Right now? You can't wait another day?" "There are some sad little children in Denmark that need me." "Denmark? That's so far away, please stay with me Mary…I really feel like I need you here." Mary sighed. "I…I'll miss you Bert," she muttered truthfully. Mary opened up her umbrella. Up, up, up she went away into the clouds.
Bert was sitting on the streets about 4 weeks later. Usually he was painting away but today he just felt like sitting. Mary approached him. "Mary Poppins!" he cried a little teary eyed. So much had happened. It was like an angel coming to hold him. He wanted to tell her so badly. Mary Poppins rushed to him. She also had something important to say. "I have something to tell you," they said stimutaneously. They looked around a bit shocked. Bert sighed, he didn't want to say what happened so he let Mary go first. "What did you come back for?" She took a deep breath. "Herbert, oh my Herbert…I came back for a good reason, a wonderful reason!" Bert was very curious, but he doubted it could be wonderful enough to cheer him up. "I came back for the baby." "What?" cried the man, not believing what he had just heard. She took him by the hand. "Bert, I'm going to have a baby." Bert slid his hands quickly from hers and used them to cover his eyes. They were red, he was crying. By the second he was crying harder. "What? What's the matter? Aren't you happy for us?" Mary looked insulted. Bert regained his breath. "No, not at all. This is the happiest moment of my life, but while being so happy – I am terribly scared, and this makes it even more scarier because I fear for our child…that he won't have a father." "What do you mean?" asked Mary. "Today they picked my birthday from the draw, I was drafted." He sniffed. "I'm going to the great World War."