A/N: Hi there:)

I'm sorry that it took so long for me to update this story...

But, you see, I always write the chapters in german and then I write them in english again, so it takes time...

So in this chapter we'll have a new character joining the story...she's called Wilhelmijn (no further information at thus point;) after 'Wilhelmijn Verkaik' who plaid Elphaba Thropp in Wicked...;)

Aaaand last but not least; The poem that's in here is all mine...

Thanks a lot for the comments and follows, I'm soooo happy that you seem to like this story:)

Laranjones1986: First; I'm sorry that I answer your comment now and not in the last chapter, I simply forgot to do it/ Second; Mixed feelings are ok;) And yes, the children are growing up but you'll see there's a reason for their -especially for Annabel's and Micheal's- behaviour...

Third; I don't think you were rude.

Thanks for the comment:)

ChibiDawn23: She is, isn't she? A total disaster. Thank for the comment:)

Guests: Thank you and I will:)

catherinethereader: Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Mary Poppins or its characters.

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Chapter FOUR

Rain

"Who is that next to your brothers, Annabel?"

Annabel quickly turned around and discovered John and Georgie and Mary Poppins at the school gate.

Her face lightened up, immediately, "Oh, that's just Mary Poppins, she once was our nanny."

Eliza pulled her eyebrows together, "And what is she doing here?"

Annabel shrugged and waved at Olive, who just disappeared from the school playground on her bicycle, then she turned to Eliza.

"She is back.", she then explained and squeezed past her friend.

Then she fastened her pace and said, "'til tomorrow, okay?"

She saw how Eliza raised her eyebrows.

"Are you not coming to the park?", she asked.

Annabel shook her head.

She still walked, backwards.

"No, I-"

Just at that moment Annabel crashed against something. Someone.

It was the father of a boy from her class.

"Oh, Mr Olsen, I am so so-"

But Mr Olsen had already started to argue, "A youg lady like you should rather look where she's walking, than talking stupid nonsense across the whole school playground!"

He grabbed Annabel's arm and pulled her harshly with him.

"Who is waiting for you?"

Annabel lowered her gaze and pointed at Mary Poppins, who still stood at the school gate, with trembling fingers.

She saw how the nanny shook her head.

Wether it was a reaction to what was going on in front of her or an answer on one of Georgie's questions, Annabel couldn't be certain of.

Only when Mr Olsen let go off her in front of Mary Poppins, she looked up again.

"Is that your daughter?"

Mary Poppins turned up her nose.

"God heavens, no!", she then said and stared right into Mr Olsen's wrinkled face. Because that he had a wrinkled face could not be denied, not by himself, too.

"I am just the nanny."

Mr Olsen shoved Annabel forwards, so she almost fell onto the kerb and bruised her knees.

"Then start teaching those children some manner, it is your job, after all!", Mr Olsen lashed out.

Next to him, Georgie sucked the air in.

He knew what would come next.

Mary Poppins blinked at the man.

She breathed in sharply, "I do not think a man like you knows the slightest thing about raising children."

She stressed the 'you' in a somehow strange way, as if Mr Olsen was a peculiar kind of men. One that Mary Poppins had made her experiences with before.

Mr Olsen stared at her wide-eyed, "And why would you know about what I know and what I do not know?!"

Mary Poppins sniffed slightly and looked at Mr Olsen with a tilted head.

"Because you haven't looked around for almost two minutes. If you had, you would have seen that your son has already left the school playground with his friends.", she said.

Mr Olsen turned around, "-the hell!"

"I beg your pardon.", Mary Poppins said, "How rude."

Then she let Annabel take her arm and reached out for Georgie.

"John?", she said and -to her confusion- Mr Olsen, too, turned around.

"Yes?", he asked.

Mary Poppins was tempted to frown. She didn't do it, though.

"Not you.", she said sharply, "I don't even know you in the first place."

Then she turned to John, John Banks not John Olsen, how the man seemed to be named.

"Take my hand, if you please.", said Mary Poppins to the boy and when he gently pushed his hand into hers, she smiled at the man in front of her.

"Good day to you, Mr Olsen.", she said whilst turning around, "And do tell your wife that I wish her to get well soon."

And with that, she and the children departed.

"How could you know that Mr Olsen's wife is ill?", Annabel asked with confusion.

Mary Poppins shuddered to a halt and looked at the girl thoughtfully, "Mr Olsen? I don't know anyone who's called Olsen."

Then she stepped along.

After some time Annabel let go of Mary Poppins' arm and fell behind a little bit, so that John, when he freed himself from Mary Poppins' grip, walked right beside her.

"Mr Olsen is Arthur's father, isn't he?", he asked and got answered with an angry look by Annabel.

"Shh.", she said and put a finger to her lips. Then she shook her head, "Mr Olsen is Peter's father, Arthur's last name is Samuels."

John raised an eyebrow, "'Annabel Samuels' doesn't sound all too well, if you ask me."

Annabel grimaced, "Oh, shut your mouth. I didn't ask you for your opinion."

Mary Poppins gave the twins a quick glance.

"Mary Poppins?", Georgie asked and the nanny gently squeezed his hand, "Are Aunt Jane and Jack coming for tea today?"

Mary Poppins nodded, "If they haven't cancelled then they'll be there. I'd be very disappointed by their lack of manners, if it would be any different."

Her heels clattered over the kerb, fast and quietly, so you could think it was a little girl that ran down the sidewalk.

But by no means; Mary Poppins was quite the opposite of a little child that ran down the street.

If anything, she hurried. That's how much time there had to be, as Mary Poppins thought, so you wouldn't be stressed even whilst walking.

Of course, you could say that, seeing how fast Mary Poppins walked, she had to be very stressed. But she should only shook her head at that.

Her steps were fast, yes, but never too fast.

The children could keep up with her pace very well.

When Mary Poppins and the Banks children passed the park and didn't turn into the palace avenue that would've led them right to Cherry Tree Lane, Annabel frowned.

"Mary Poppins?", she said and fastened her steps so she walked right next to the nanny, "Mary Poppins, we have to go that way."

Mary Poppins stopped with a jerk, so Georgie almost stumbled into her back.

"No.", the nanny explained with a glance to Annabel, "Not today."

John looked at her with confusion, "But How come that today another way leads us home than yesterday?"

Mary Poppins breathed in heavily, "The way leads where it must lead us, John. And I hope the streets of London haven't started switching while I was away."

Georgie opened his mouth to ask another question but Mary Poppins had already started to walk again and their was nothing to do for the children, than follow her.

Now you could think, Mary Poppins couldn't know her way around London, she wasn't there that often, after all, and London wasn't a small city, and yet she walked straight forward without looking around once.

Soon they reached a part of London the Banks children didn't know.

The streets became dark and small here - you couldn't call them "streets", actually- and Georgie took Mary Poppins' hand rather quickly.

When an elder man crossed their way in a small alley, the boy pressed himself almost panicky against the nanny and tried to avoid touching the man for every cost.

Mary Poppins only rolled her eyes and nodded at the man, friendly.

They had just pass him with two steps when Mary Poppins stopped and turned around to him.

"If you head towards Wilhelmijn's, Ma'am", he said in a husky voice, "Then you're wasting your time. She's ill."

Mary Poppins made a strange noise, very quietly, so only the children could hear. It sounded like a sigh.

"Then we shall hope that we won't catch her illness.", she said and smiled, "Goodbye."

"Good day, Ma'am.", And the man disappeared.

When Mary Poppins started walking again, she felt how someone pulled at her sleeve.

"Yes, Georgie?"

"What are we doing here?"

The nanny didn't give an answer, instead of that she opened the small gate at the end of the alley and pushed the children, one after the other, through it.

Strangely the alley didn't lead to another, smaller alley but right to the middle of a meadow.

And at that meadow it was pouring.

"Rain.", Mary Poppins murmured and opened her umbrella, "I could have known that."

She squeezed Georgie's hand harder and made a few steps onto the meadow.

Then she turned around to John and Annabel, "Do you want to stand there the whole evening? Tightly at my side, if you please."

With that she went straight forward and right through the meadow.

The flowers that grew here sometimes even stroked her waist, so high they had grown.

The children couldn't stop gaping.

And so they didn't see how they went further and further away from the gate at the end of the alley and neared a small house. "Small house" maybe even was a little too much- hut fit quite better.

Bent and crooked it stood between two grande oak trees and smoke curled out off the chimney, trying hard to fight against the raindrops that seemed to push it down.

Mary Poppins lifted a hand and knocked at the hut's door.

A crackling coughing could be heard from its inside, then the dishes fell to the ground.

"Yes?"

Mary Poppins blinked, "Wilhelmijn, do be so kind to not let your guests stand out in the rain for too long."

Suddenly the door was pulled open and a woman stuck out her head.

She had blue eyes, almost as piercing as Mary Poppins' with which she could stare how Mary Poppins surely could've stared if she hadn't been so very well mannered.

"Mary Poppins!"

Mary Poppins nodded, "Good day. As I've heard, you're ill?"

Quickly Wilhelmijn opened the door a little bit more and let Mary Poppins and the Bankses step in.

"Yes, I'm afraid.", she said and pushed the door close. She turned around to go further into the hut, when she stopped once more, "Tea?"

Mary Poppins nodded satisfied, "If you please."

Then she followed the young woman through the small hallway into the salon, where fire crackled in the fire place and soup stood onto the little table in front of the couch.

"Take a seat, take a seat.", Wilhelmijn said and pointed at the couch, "Make yourself at home."

Then she pulled out a red handkerchief and sniffed right into it.

Mary Poppins gave a ladylike cough.

"So what is the matter of your visit, Mary Poppins?", Wilhelmijn asked when she departed from the kitchen with a great teapot in her hands and placed it right in front of the nanny.

"Flowers.", was the answer.

Wilhelmijn frowned, "Flowers?"

Mary Poppins nodded, "Flowers indeed. You have got the very lot of them - If I'm not very much mistaken."

Wilhelmijn lowered her gaze, "Well..."

"The meadow is yours?!", Georgie bursted out and she pulled her eyebrows together.

"Of course, it's mine. Whom should it belong to other than me?"

Georgie crossed his arms, "Why doesn't father own a meadow, too? That's not fair."

Mary Poppins blinked slightly, "Not at all. Wilhelmijn's got her flowers and your father's got his paintings."

She turned back to Wilhelmijn, "So? What about the flowers, then?"

"Sure, sure.", Wilhelmijn said and gave all of them a lopsided smile, "Could you read through the poem whilst...?"

Mary Poppins reached out with her red-gloved hand, "My pleasure."

A small blush crept up into Wilhelmijn's cheeks, "Thank you."

She began going through the stack of papers that laid on the table and, with a satisfied smile, she pulled the right one out to hand it over to Mary Poppins.

Then she hurried to the door, "I'll hurry up."

When the door closed, the silence seemed to be terribly awkward.

Mary Poppins looked at the paper in her hand.

"What is Miss Wilhelmijn doing the whole day long?", John asked quietly.

Mary Poppins lifted her gaze, "Wilhelmijn is an author. She writes stories and poes and sometimes books.'

Annabel's eyes rounded.

"Is she Wilhelmijn de Graaf?!", she asked and when Mary Poppins nodded, the girl almost fell off her chair in excitement.

"I'm reading a book she wrote!", she said with a wide smile, "It's called The fairy tale of white and red."

Mary Poppins nodded, "A very great lecture, if I may say so. One of the best she's ever written."

With that she again looked at the sheet in her hands.

"Don't be sad, dear, for I know

Even if you miss her so

One day you'll forget your vow

to don't forget what she taught before

and then she's standing in the door.", Annabel read and frowned.

"That sounds quite familiar, that feeling.", she said with a scolding look at Mary Poppins.

But before Mary Poppins could even open her mouth to say something, the front door opened again and a soaked Wilhelmijn stumbled into the salon.

"That wretched, bloody, damm rain!", she cursed and Mary Poppins' eyes widened.

"Wilhelmijn!", the nanny said indignantly.

"Sorry."

She held a very large flower bucket right under Mary Poppins' nose, "Here you are."

The nanny nodded with satisfaction, " Thank you, dear."

She stood up, "Off we go now, children. Or do you want to miss tea with Jane and Jack?"

Immediately the three children jumped up and hurried into the hallway.

When Mary Poppins stood on the threshold, the umbrella already opened, she turned around once again.

"If you would just smile a little bit more then it would quickly stop raining, Wilhelmijn.", she explained and blinked, " And what I'm still wondering about; the poem, is it about a person I know?"

Something sparkled in Wilhelmijn's eyes.

"I'm thinking of naming it 'The woman with the umbrella."

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"We're back!", John shouted as he pushed the door open and hurriedly squeezed past Mary Poppins inside the house.

"Do you've got the flowers?", sounded Ellen, who just finished preparing the salon for tea.

"Of course.", said Mary Poppins.

In her hand she carried a huge flower bucket, so big, that only the feather of her hat peeked out over it.

"Ellen, I need a vase."

"Of course, Mary Poppins.", Ellen said and hurried to the shelves.

When Mary Poppins put the flower bucket onto the table, she breathed out slightly.

Then she stepped back and looked at the table critically.

No dishes had gone broken and at every place there was a napkin -only the flowers let their heads fall a little bit; in the end it was nonetheless acceptable.

Mary Poppins nodded in satisfaction, then she turned to the children.

"Off you go and change, Spit Spot."

And while the children disappeared upstairs and Ellen was in the kitchen, preparing the tea, Mary Poppins looked around carefully and snapped her fingers slightly.

For a moment a slight glow filled the room and slowly the flowers raised their heads.

Mary Poppins smiled with satisfaction, "Much better."

At that moment the front door was opened and Michael Banks stumbled into the hallway, the coat buttoned completely wrong and the hat crooked on her head.

"I'm not too late.", he said and shuddered to a halt next to Mary Poppins.

"Not too late.", he said and Mary Poppins rolled her eyes.

"I really thought I wouldn't get here in time.", Michael explained whilst he slipped out off his coat and put the hat onto the shelves, "Just before I left, Mr Lewis entered and wanted to talk to me about the meeting tomorrow afternoon and Mr Lewis is not a man of few words, if I may say so."

Mary Poppins took Michael's coat and put it into the wardrobe.

"Some always think about the 'what ifs" instead of staying in the here and now.", she said simply.

She gave the clock that hang at the wall a quick glance; almost four o'clock.

Jane and Jack should be here in no time.

Upstairs a door opened and one after the other the Banks-children came down the stairs.

And from one moment to the other, Annabel's features hardened and she looked at her father with a cold look.

Mary Poppins almost frowned. What was going on with the girl that she always met her father with such a cold look.

"Are they here?", Georgie asked excitedly and Michael shook his head.

"Thank God, they're not.", Ellen said and placed the teapot on the table, "I haven't changed yet."

Mary Poppins blinked, "Then it's long overdue, Ellen. It's almost four o'clock."

Ellen pouted, "And who's supposed to take the cookies out off the oven?"

The nanny rolled her eyes, "We've plenty of hands to do it, I'd say."

Hesitantly Ellen turned around and disappeared through the door under the stairs that led to her room.

Mary Poppins quickly crossed the room and entered the kitchen and looked through the dirty glass of the oven.

"Georgie, Annabel?", she called, "Come here and help me with the cookies."

Georgie opened the oven and looked into it.

"Are the cookies ready for sure?", he asked and Mary Poppins nodded without looking once.

Annabel held a grand bowl under the oven so the cookies fell right into it as Mary Poppins pushed them from the tray with nippy fingers.

Everyone else would have burned their fingers hardly but not Mary Poppins. She never burned her fingers, that was certain.

"You won't sit on the table with such dirty hands.", she said with a look on Georgie's and Annabel's hands that were covered in soot and flour.

Then she disappeared into the salon with the bowl in her hands.

Right on time, for in just that moment someone knocked at the front door.

"They're here!", Georgie shouted and ran away from the sink so the soap fell to the ground.

"Georgie!", Annabel said indignantly but her little brother was already at the door and opened it.

"Hello, Georgie.", Jane laughed at her nephew and stroked him through his hair.

"Come quick, come.", Georgie said and pulled Jane into the hallway on her sleeve.

She laughed and closed the door behind her and Jack, "What is going on?"

Michael appeared from the kitchen and smiled at his sister, "Jane, how wonderful."

He gently kissed her cheek and shook Jack's hand.

"Why don't we go and sit down?", he offered, "Annabel and Ellen will be here in no time."

Jane frowned at the sight of the table.

Quickly she counted the places, then she turned to her brother, "Michael? There's one place too much."

"Not at all."

Jane whirled around.

A smile laid on her lips when she saw her former nanny standing in the door.

Then she gave Jack a look, "Won."

Jack rolled his eyes.

Then he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out some coins, "Bloody unfair, if you ask me, Jane. You always know when something's strange eith your family."

Jane punched the lamplighter with a child-like grin, "Jack!"

She turned to Mary Poppins, "You're back, why?"

Mary Poppins blinked, "I've been asked that question far too much since my arrival."

Not one word escaped her lips after that.

Together Annabel and Ellen entered the salon.

"Ellen.", Jane smiled warmly when she pulled the housekeeper in an embrace, "How are you?"

Ellen made a waving gesture, "Oh, how should I be, Janie. The back hurts, the hair isn't going to be darker -it's going down with me."

Mary Poppins rolled her eyes, "Ellen."

Slowly they all went to the table and sat down.

"Those flowers are wonderful.", Jane said and unfolded her napkin, "Where did you get them from?"

Georgie quickly squeezed past Michael and sat down on the place next to Jane, "We were at Wilhelmijn's. She lives on a meadow at the edge of London."

Michael's eyes widened, "That's how far you went?! Mary Poppins, I don't know if those long walkings are the best idea."

Mary Poppins pouted, "And I don't know what Georgie's imagining again. Wilhelmijn lives not far from the grocer's."

Annabel frowned, "But-"

"No 'but', Annabel.", interrupted the nanny, "Goats butt and children who have their cups filled with afternoon tea do not."

She bent over a bit and poured herself a bit of tea.

"How are you, Jane?", Michael asked his sister.

Jane smiled, "I'm fine, really. Just yesterday we had another rally. There was an article about it in the Times, maybe you read it, have you?"

Michael shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not."

"I did.", Ellen said, "And it was such a good one."

For a moment, the room was filled with silence, an uncomfortable silence, as if something was in the air, unspoken.

Then Jack cleared his throat and looked at Jane questioningly.

Mary Poppins blinked, Jane stared at her fingers and Michael rubbed his hands together nervously.

"SPRUCE gets to be in the newspapers more often lately.", Jane forced a laughter and gave her brother a quick side look.

Then she lowered her gaze and mumbled something into her teacup, before she took a sip.

"What?"

Jane flinched.

Michael's scornful voice still hang in the air when she put down her teacup.

"I'm just wondering", Jane stared calmly, "Why I'm even telling you this. You don't care about it, anyways."

Annabel, John and Georgie sank into their chairs a bit more.

"I do not care?!", Michael bursted.

Mary Poppins raised an eyebrow.

Jane folded her napkin and placed it on her plate, "Of course not! You see, Michael, I'm quite sure if it weren't for this friday-afternoon tea, I would never hear from you, at all!"

Michael's eyes widened, "You wouldn't hear from me?! No, no, no, Jane. I wouldn't hear from you!"

Jane laughed in disbelief, "What?!"

"Well, who's stopped dropping by, by all sudden?!", Michael shouted, "Tell me, Jane, when was the last time you had breakfast with us just because you had time after a rally?! When was the last time you suddenly stood at the door just because you wanted to talk?!"

Jane sniffed with anger.

Tears were welling up in her eyes when she shouted in a husky voice, "Because you never said anything, Michael!"

Michae shook his head angrily, "You are my elder sister, Jane. It's up to you, saying things!"

Jane jumped up.

She wiped away the tears that had rolled over her cheeks.

"Good point, Michael, I'm your sister! I do have my own life! And you could just as well say something to me!"

She took Jack's hand and looked around, "Jack, I want to leave."

Jack nodded, "Goodbye."

Silence was the answer.

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And it reaches to the future and the past, to every moment ever, first or last.

~ The Moment Explodes, If/Then, Idina Menzel