Oh, hey, I'm on tumblr now if you feel like you want to check it out: darling-pretty . tumblr .com. Just take out the spaces :)
Sorry this one isn't so great and I missed a couple days. I am kind of exhausted, but here I am!
I own nothing.
beginning. accusation. restless. snowflake. haze. flame. formal. companion. move. silver. prepared. knowledge. denial. wind. order. thanks. look. summer. transformation. tremble. sunset. mad. thousand. outside. winter. diamond. letters. promise. simple. future.
Outside
The Great Exception. How she hates that name sometimes. Once she had taken great pride in her status as an exception. She had loved it.
But now it just reminds her. Reminds her of just how outside of everything she is, how lonely she is. She is always in the middle of families, yet not actually a part of them. She can't have her own.
She sits on the roof of her most recent family's house. They're on an outing and she knows she has to leave. Her carpetbag sits next to her, as does her umbrella. The wind has shifted. But she's not ready to go.
For some reason, this family has made her question everything she knows about herself. It's put cracks in her practical perfection. She's never wanted anything she couldn't have before; she's always been perfectly content with everything in her life. But now she's thinking. Perhaps it was the addition of a new baby while she was in the house, or seeing just how in love the mother and father were with him. Perhaps it was just seeing the protective way the mother held her new son to her chest. Whatever it was, Mary suddenly wants it. She wants a family, to be a mother. And she knows who she wants all of that with.
But it doesn't matter, because Mary Poppins isn't normal. She is quite outside the normal human experience. Inextricably woven into the human experience, but not actually within it.
She doesn't cry because Mary Poppins doesn't cry, but her throat closes slightly.
"Mary?"
She looks up and sees Bert leaning against his brooms. He frowns. "Mary, are you crying?"
She shakes her head, choking on a small sob. But still no tears. Quickly he sits down next to her and pulls her into his arms. "What's wrong? Are you alright? Did someone 'urt you?"
She shakes her head again and lays her head on his shoulder. "No, nothing of that nature. I just… I'm happy to see you, that's all."
He frowns but doesn't push it. He's just thankful to have her in his arms.
"Bert?" she says quietly after awhile.
"Mmhmm?"
"Thank you for being here."
He brushes his lips gently against her temple. "Of course, Mary. Nowhere else I'd rather be. We're family, you an' me."
She looks up, a look of surprise on her face. "What?" he asks when he sees her face.
She kisses him on the cheek. "You just have this uncanny ability to say exactly the right thing."
He turns bright red but pretends he doesn't. "It's a gift," he says, trying to sound flippant.
She laughs and lets him keep his arms around her. Even if only for a little while, with him next to her, she feels like she might not be so outside of everything after all.