AN: Here is the second chapter. Thanks for all the great reviews. xxJillian-Elizabethxx thanks for your suggestion, i hope it is better now.
He didn't expect anyone else to be here. He always came here to be alone, never had he seen another person in this place, his secret place. But now she sat there, a beautiful young girl with long brown hair and a white and red dress. A beautiful girl sitting on the grass surrounded by flowers and hidden by widow trees. Some rays of sunlight made their way through the ranks and a warm wind blew through the soft fabrics of her dress. One of the sunrays fell directly on her and she faced towards the light and the sky. He just stood there, holding the carpet of widow ranks back and listened to her soft humming.
He didn't notice the deer coming in his direction from behind him. But as it jumped past him it knocked him over and he fell down screaming. He tried to cover his mouth but it was already too late, the girl had already noticed him. He sat up and saw her walking or nearly floating towards him.
He felt frozen and didn't move until she held her hand out to him. He hesitantly took her hand and stood up with his head facing down. He noticed how soft her skin was. As he slowly looked up he saw her blue eyes and wide smile for the first time and he nearly forgot to breath. "Hello, I'm Mary. Nice to meet you", the girl now said, her voice clear and soft.
"I…I …um I'm Herbert. N…nice t…to meet you t…too", he stuttered and felt his face getting warm. The girls started to giggle, holding one fist to her mouth. He gulped and let out a few shy chuckles.
The girls giggling turned into a cute laughter after that and he got so infected with it that he started to laugh as well. After a few moments they both calmed down again.
Herbert took now a deep breath and got all his courage together to talk to her, "So…um I've never seen you around here before. Are you new here?"
Mary shook her head, "No. I'm actually not living here. I..uh I came here to visit some relatives."
Herbert frowned when he realised that for a moment the girl seemed nervous. Suddenly they heard someone calling Mary from afar. "Oh! Sorry, I have to go now. But we can meet here again tomorrow. If you come here an hour earlier as today, we will have more time to talk and play" she said and Herbert just nodded in response.
Then she immediately ran off and left him standing there. But as she was nearly about to disappear behind a hill she turned around and waved to him. He waved back smiling. When she finally disappeared behind the hill.
He kneeled down to get his hat, that was still laying on the floor. When he got back up again and looked to the sky he could swear that he saw her flying there.
…
Mary Poppins woke up to the chirping of the birds. Normally she would just get up right away, but this time some part in her made her wish she could sleep just a little bit longer. She wanted to get into that wonderful dream again. Well, it was more like a memory about her childhood together with Bert.
After a few moments of just lying there and thinking about her dream, she finally stood up. She got ready for the day ahead and went to the beds of Jane and Michael, who were still fast asleep. Gently she shook on their shoulders. Slowly they began to stir and open their eyes.
"Good morning you two sleeping hats. It's time to get up for a fresh start into the day", their nanny said. "Do we really have to get up already", Michael asked her making Mary smile. Some things would never change.
"Well, don't you want to greet your father before he has to go to work today?"
"He will just be grumpy like most mornings", Jane replied only half awake.
"Are you sure about that? I think your father will act differently than before. I'm sure he will be glad to see you two before he goes to bed."
Now the two children finally got up, as they remembered what had happened to their father the other day. They got dressed and went downstairs to greed their parents and get some breakfast with them while Mary ate breakfast together with Ellen and Mrs. Brill. *
When they were all finished, Mary Poppins met the Banks family in the living room. The children came running up to and asked "Mary Poppins what are we going to do today?"
Mary Poppins thought for a moment before she answered, "Well, I think today would be a perfect day to finally get some gingerbread, since we had no time for that anymore the last time." She hoped some gingerbread would help her sort out her thoughts a bit, since she was still confused about everything that was going on at the moment. Gingerbread always made her feel better, she would never admit it, but she loved it so much.
Suddenly they heard someone screaming through the window, "Mary Poppins! I know you are there! Come to the window please!" The voice was easily recognized as Bert's, Mary Poppins best friends, voice by everyone in the room.
The entire Banks family now looked at their nanny who was trying not to blush. Usually he waited for her to come to him when he noticed that she was back but this time was different in so many ways, that is was just natural that he was taken by surprise about her early return just like everyone else.
And knowing Bert, he wasn't someone to just wait around if something made him curious. If it were a normal day, he could wait, but this wasn't a normal day and surely he wanted to know why. "Mary!", he screamed again.
"Don't you want to answer him?", Mrs. Banks asked. Mary nodded and walked up to the window.
There he stood, the jack-of-all-trades, one day screever the other chimney sweep, looking up to her like he was Romeo. "Bert, what are you doing here, screaming up to the window?", she asked just loud enough so he could hear her but not screaming.
"What I'm doing? I want to see you, of course!", he answered and his wide grin was very well visible from the window where she was standing.
Mary shook her head slightly. He was just such a fool sometimes. But he was a lovely fool. "You can just ask if you can come inside to see me, you know that Bert?", she replied.
"I just couldn't wait any longer. I already waited the whole night until I went to see you!", he explained.
Mary rolled her eyes but got a small smile on her face and stated, "Bert you act like it's been years since we last saw us when it was just yesterday!"
"I know, but when I felt the wind change and knew you would be coming back so soon my heart started to beat faster as I realised that something special was about to happen!", he said.
Mary sighted as she heard that and realised that he probably expected something different than what was actually going on. "Why don't you come up here and we can talk in peace?", she asked.
"Good, I'm coming now", he replied and with that her run to the door.
Mary held a hand to her forehead while shaking her head but with a small smile on her face. When she looked up she saw the whole Banks family staring at her expectantly. She took a big breath, looked at Mr. Banks and stated, "I hope it is okay with you, that I asked Bert to come in, but I need a moment to talk with him."
Mr. Banks nodded and said, "Of course, I anyway wanted to talk with him for a moment. He said some things to me the other day, that helped me to understand what is important in my life as well."
Mary nodded and walked to the door where Bert was already waiting.
He took his hat of, bowed and said, "My Lady, may I come in?"
Mary couldn't resist to giggle and replied "Oh Bert, you're always a gentleman. Of course you can come in." She stepped aside to let him in.
He looked around and greeted Mr. and Mrs. Bank. "Good Morning, Sir, Mam." Then he turned to the children and said, "Jane, Michael, I hope you two aren't messing around again already." After he said that he winked at them and they just shook their heads.
"Good Morning, Mr. Alfred. I'd like to thank you for what you said to me 2 days ago. You really helped me understand some important parts in my life", George Banks said smiling while shaking Bert's hand.
"It's always a pleasure to me if I can help, Governor", Bert replied.
"Bert!", Mary called him now. "Please let as talk in private for a moment", she added. Bert turned around to answer her "Of course!"
She turned to the Banks family and said "Please excuse us for a moment."
They nodded and she walked into the next room together with Bert.
Then she took a deep breath and began to talk, "Bert, I need to be honest with you. You might be right something might be about to happen, but I don't know what exactly is going to happen. All I know is, that the wind brought me back. But it's not because of the Banks family themselves. As you might have already noticed, they finally figured out how to be happy as a family. Whatever is going on, it has to do with something else", Mary explained to her best friend.
He listened closely to what she had to say, but never lost the small smile on his face. "Well, no matter what it is, I would be more than glad to find it out with you. I'm just so happy you're still here. I feel like a great adventure will begin soon, which wouldn't surprise me when you are around. Every moment I spend with you is an adventure. I'm ready for whatever is going to happen."
"Oh Bert, that's all really nice of you, but…", she couldn't finish her sentence because suddenly someone was calling her name. She turned around and saw the children standing there.
"Can Bert come with us on our Outing today?", they asked. Mary looked at them and then back to Bert who had his big signature grin on his face. "Well, I guess it will be nice", the nanny replied and the children started to cheer. Mary looked back at Bert and saw his big smile, which now made her smile herself.
* I can just assume that this is the order a british household followed in that time. I guess while the family ate together the servants (as the nanny) ate in a separate room together. Please correct me if I'm wrong.