Chapter 2

"Come along now, David. We want to be able to visit the park before it begins to rain, don't we," she told the small boy as she helped him into his jacket. She knew that it would rain sooner or later; hopefully they could get a good trip in before then, enough time to play a game…or maybe run into an old friend… Oh, she could just kick herself. She wanted these thoughts to stop but somehow she let them continue. It would only make things worse if they actually did run into each other. It would surely be a disastrous experience for the both of them. Although…maybe not.

He was in the back of her mind the entire time she was getting the children ready. Would he even want to see him again after what she'd done? She hoped so, if he didn't she'd probably fall to pieces and most certainly be summoned back. Something she couldn't afford to have that happen. Hopefully he would be glad to see her. She would be glad to see him; she thought so, at least.

She only hoped that whatever memories struck her at the sight of his face wouldn't make her fall apart so easily. No, she would be able to handle it with grace and ease if she just remembered her training. It wasn't the best day for an outing but something was pushing her to do it. Everything would be just fine, right?

iThe rusty swings creaked as she went back in forth, her dress swaying in the spring breeze around her. The swings were her favorite of all things on the playground. She could fly and no one could judge her on the fluffy clouds above. She was just Mary. Just Marry Poppins.

She often wished she could have clouds painted up on her walls but she would never ask such a silly thing of her Uncle. After all, he was kind enough to let her stay with him at all. He was good to her.

Even though she was extremely grateful for uncle Albert, she sometimes couldn't help wondering why her parents never came back or who she was supposed to be…why she was even here. Her insecurities didn't help either. She had no real friends to speak of and the teachers didn't pay much attention to her either as she always sat quietly in the back corner desk of the classroom. She didn't ever remember being noticed…well except that once but she was just being ridiculous, she was sure.

"Of course they do," he explained to the crowd. "Everybody in Egypt walks like that, just look at the little pictures they draw on the walls."

"Have you really been to Egypt, Burt," Pricilla asked, her eyelashes batting away.

"You betcha I have and you know what else -" he stopped in mid sentence, everyone looking at him eagerly to finish his story. Burt always told wild stories of all his "adventures" to the girls and his friends. If they would listen he would tell, true or not but today something caught his eye.

"Hold on just a second," he said stepping through them as they parted. He crossed the playground over to the swings. "Hello," he said, leaning against the poll.

She put her feet on the ground and stopped herself. Oh, goodness, it was Burt. What was he doing talking to her… again? He should be over there with his friends shouldn't he? Why'd he come back to talk to her? All kinds of questions raced through her mind as she watched the boy leaning again the poll of the swings observing her.

"Hello, Burt," she settled with in reply. He noticed her twice…She shouldn't get her hopes up but she supposed he seemed mildly interested in her.

"Burt! Come back! You never finished!" All the other kids were yelling for Burt to come back and finish his story. Why was he over there anyway?

"I'm comin," he yelled back at them still leaning on the poll but he look a little frustrated as the crowd continued to call him from across the ground. He looked back to her and smiled. "Mary…could I walk you home from school…?" /i

"Mary… what're you doin' here?" He still looked the same. Just like she remembered. It seemed as if not a day had passed since May 1st, four years ago. She instantly blocked that memory. It hid in the deepest corners of her mind and she rarely let it out for pondering upon. It was too painful to revisit. It hid in the necklace he gave her for her fifteenth birthday, in the sunsets, in that envelope she had saved, why she would never know, and mostly in the rain drops falling from the clouds…

She needed to breath, her heart was pounding too hard for her to deny herself of oxygen. He repeated the question but she vaguely registered her lack of response. She took his presence in for another moment before waking up and answering. "I'm here on assignment," she told him glancing over at David and Susan as a gesture to why. She smiled slightly, hoping it might make this a little less awkward or maybe it was hurtful, she couldn't tell just yet.

"So, you're really doing it then, the children, I mean?" He looked almost pained to see her there standing in front of him. She guessed that he too had shoved their memory aside and had never expected to see her again but there she was, plain as day. Oh, no…he'd never forgotten her but he had moved on. That was quite clear.

"Yes, yes I am." She couldn't keep her curiosity hidden. After all, she would be entitled to know what he'd been doing since then, right? "What about yourself?" She hoped that he had been taking care of himself. The last thing she wanted was to find that he hadn't doing well since she'd left. It would only depress her if she'd found that she'd caused him to fall into some sort of depression. After all, in a few years she would be able to return…if all went well.

"Well, I been takin' care." He didn't know if he should tell her but he supposed she did have some sort of right to know. Or at least he could do her the courtesy of notifying her. It's not as if it would be too big of a deal in the end anyway. They had both moved on, just because she had moved on first didn't mean that he couldn't. "You know, got a house… engaged…"

What! He was engaged! To who? It should have been her…No, no it shouldn't have! What was she saying? It shouldn't have been her, at least not yet, anyway. At his words she thought that she was going to be sick. Her stomach was twisting itself in everyway possible and she would surely pass out. She couldn't process it, everything was starting to go in and out of focus. She looked around for a moment. She couldn't be here right now. Not with him standing there, studying her reaction to his words. As if it didn't affect her.

"Ehm…Burt, I'm sorry – but I…I really must be going." As she collected the children and began to walk back, rain began to fall. She didn't dare look back.

The clouds were relentless throughout the rest of the day and Burt's emotions were doing nothing but the same. That moment kept reeling over and over again in his mind. That one moment, when he told her that he was engaged, everything changed for the both of them. She knew that she couldn't have expected him to waste his life away just because she'd left but what she didn't know was that that didn't mean he didn't still love her. And he knew within that instant that she still loved him but what he didn't know was that she never stopped. He also didn't know that just as he turned around, she had lost control over her gag reflexes, scaring the children half to death.