Author's Note: Just a short little thing. I'm not exactly delighted with it, but still, "It's better than a finger in the eye, ain't it?" My first Poppins fic, and certainly not my last.

Mary Poppins had just laid the last article of damp clothing from the afternoon over the grate in front of the fire and coaxed the children into taking the medicine. The children were sitting in bed, but instead of settling down, they chattered and laughed and yelled, still overwhelmed by their jolly holiday in the chalk drawing. Their minds spun with the impossibleness of it all. Jumping into a drawing, riding merry-go-round horses that actually go somewhere, taking part in a horse race, which their nanny won, and talking, Irish foxes seemed absolutely absurd and wonderful. It was positively "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!", as they had said earlier. Mary Poppins, of course, denied it all, as she never spoke of the adventures she went on with her charges. Especially not when they involved Bert, that was too complicated, and sometimes Mary found it easier to just ignore the existence of some things. Like whatever was between she and Bert. Neither acknowledged it, but it could not be ignored any longer, not after that afternoon.
"A respectable person like me in a horserace? How dare you suggest such a thing," the nanny scolded Michael, who fought that the horse race really did happen.
"But I saw you do it!" protested the boy.
"Now not another word, or I shall have to summon a policeman, is that clear?"
"It did happen, I saw it!" protested the boy.
"Go to sleep," she ordered.
"No, I don't want to go to sleep," declared Michael.
"Mary Poppins, we're much too excited," explained Jane.
"Very well, suit yourselves," said Mary, her gaze returning to the the yarn in her hands. She took a deep breath, summoning the magic that coursed through her veins.
"Stay awake, don't rest your head" she sang.
"Don't lie down upon your bed"

The children fixed their gazes on her, curious, as the air began to become ever-so-slightly thicker with her magic stirring around them.

"While the moon drifts in the skies
Stay awake, don't close your eyes"

The children's confusion and curiosity turned to tiredness. To their surprise, they each smelled one of their favourite things. Jane smelled the peppermint of candy canes, and Michael smelled the distinctive scent of an old book.

"Though the world is fast asleep
Though your pillow's soft and deep
You're not sleepy as you seem
Stay awake, don't nod and dream
Stay awake, don't nod...and...dream"

Mary finished, and both Jane and Michael were sound asleep. Then, she slipped downstairs to make herself a cup of tea, and to try to sort out just what had happened between she and Bert that day.
It was unsettling to her that she could still feel his arm around her waist as they danced, and even more unsettling that she still felt his lips on hers, though the kiss had only lasted a second. She absentmindedly traced her fingertips over her mouth, then darted forward to take the kettle off as it began to whistle. Oh, what a day it had been!