Can we please, please, please forget how woefully neglectful I've been of you all? I am so sorry! I had so many plans to write over Winter Break but it was the first time that I got to see most of my friends in months and I was so busy that I'd just sleep whenever I was at home.
This chapter doesn't really add anything into the story we already know, it mostly just deals with how I imagine Mary feels in the scene, so sorry about that. I do have some good news though: I'm almost done with this story! I've almost gotten the final chapter completely written, so hopefully that'll be up in the next week or so!
As always, I own nothing.
"Will you put your things on at once!" Mary exclaims strictly as her umbrella tugs her up the chimney and she lands gracefully. She hands Jane and Michael their coats. She really would never forgive herself if they caught cold. "Hurry up, please. Spit spot!"
"There you are, I thought you'd left us!" Bert says as the chimney spits him out. Mary is incredibly aware of his every move and her heart speeds up as he approaches, coming to stand within inches of her.
"We didn't mean to," Jane sulks. Even Mary feels her heart thaw a little bit.
"Well, no 'arm done," Bert says. "Truth is, this is what you might call a for-tu-itious circumstance." Mary wonders what exactly he means by that and turns to look at him. "Look there," he continues, nodding so Jane and Michael turn around. "A trackless jungle just waitin' to be explored!" He pauses and gets an idea. "Why not, Mary Poppins?" he asks, turning to her.
Jane and Michael instantly turn to her and start begging. There's a moment that catches her by surprise. For the first time in her life, with the children pleading with her and Bert standing so close, Mary feels like a wife and mother. She sighs. "Ah well, if we must, we must."
She pulls out her compact and powders her nose with soot. She hopes Bert appreciates the gesture. Then she adopts a military persona. "Fall in! Look lively, look lively! Jump to it, jump to it! Get in line!" The children (two of them, but really three if you count Bert, which sometimes she does) all fall in line, standing stock still. "Attention!" she calls, drawing out the word. She leads them through a fake military drill and then off they go over the rooftops.
They get to the spot where she and Bert will usually turn around. She pauses. "Far as we go, right?" Bert asks.
She's feeling particularly daring tonight for whatever reason. "Not at all!" she practically sings and leads them onward.
They come to a gigantic gap leading up to the steeple of a church. Instead of halting, she uses her umbrella to create a staircase of smoke. They climb to the top; Michael and Jane stand before her, Bert comes to rest right beside her and once again Mary has that family feeling. She holds onto her hat and surveys the city, unable to hide her wonder.
"What did I tell ya?" Bert asks and Mary gets shivers, whether or not it's from his words or his sudden proximity she'll never know. "There's the 'ole world at your feet. An' 'oo gets to see it, but the birds, the stars, and the chimney sweeps?"
The sun sets and all of the electric lights in the city start to twinkle. There's a slight chill in the air, so Mary blames her shivers on that, never mind the coat she's wearing.
"Quite nice," she comments. "But we should all get in out of the night air. Follow me please."
Another cloud of smoke appears to cart the foursome down to a lower rooftop. It's the happiest that Mary can ever remember being. Up on that roof, she had gotten just an inkling of her future and she loved what she saw. She can't help but burst into song. She and Bert have always been very careful not to let her charges see their relationship and tonight is no real exception to that rule. They don't hold hands or anything like that, but when Bert joins in her song they do sway and their elbows seem to stay quite solidly connect though their arms aren't linked. She looks over and him and smiles, wondering how she managed to get so lucky.
The cloud sets them down on the chimney and everyone hops off as Mary and Bert finish singing and grin at each other.
"Cheroo!" comes the call after they've wrapped up their song. Mary tries to look stern when Bert nearly jumps in excitement but can only barely hide her smile.
"Step in time! Step in time!" Bert calls. Mary's a little surprised, but pleasantly so.
Mary smiles and taps her foot as the sweeps dance around them, Bert in the lead. In fact, she can't help but laugh.
She gets a little nervous when they start jumping over the gap between houses, but she knows all of the sweeps are quite adept at this sort of thing She applauds with pride when Bert and a couple of his friends do an acrobatic routine on the top of a raised part of the roof. He catches her eye and comes running towards her.
"Mary Poppins, step in time!" he calls and the sweeps echo. He pulls her into a whirling dance that would leave lesser dancers dizzy. She grins, in love with the feeling of his hands on her waist.
"Lucky ol' Bert!" one of the sweeps calls and Mary blushes.
She and Bert dance a little and she just loves how perfectly he leads her. They're well matched partners. Sadly, his friends cut in and dance with her. She doesn't mind—she knows them all and knows they'd never harm her or do anything to make her uncomfortable. In fact, she relishes the spotlight and leads them through a call and response dance. She grins when they all start praising her effusively, but the she glances over at Jane and Michael and refuses to do any more, no matter how the sweeps beg. Well, she has to keep some measure of control!
They put on a marvelous show, though she really does wish they would stop dancing on the ledges of rooftops. It's delightful but absolutely nerve-wracking.
The festivities seem to come to an end when silly, possibly senile, Admiral Boom starts firing fireworks at them, as if that's an appropriate response! The sweeps and children all drop to the ground while she surveys the attack. If she had the time, she'd be more inclined to send them flying back in his face. As it is, she barely has time to think, concerned only with getting the children out of the line of fire.
She's leading them towards their home—quite calmly, given the circumstances and the fact that she's actually quite nervous—when a stray firework makes it way towards Michael and Bert. Bert manages to bat it right back at Admiral Boom. Mary hides the look of relief on her face. As the sweeps clamber down the chimney, Mary catches Bert's eye. "Nicely hit," she smiles.
He just grins back and tilts his hat in salute. Then they step down the chimney together. He does an acrobatic tumble out of the fireplace. She steps out neatly, helped by one of the other sweeps and begins efficiently tidying up Michael as the sweeps all dance through the house. Ellen and Mrs. Banks even get swept up in their enthusiasm and Mary can't help but smile. She uses the momentum of the occasion to help start Jane and Michael up the stairs and towards the nursery, holding their hands as they willing follow and Bert dances with a large grin on his face.
"It's the master!" Ellen yells. The sweeps all turn that into another verse for their chant.
Mary sighs. "Oh bother," she grumbles under her breath.
"What's all this?" Mr. Banks keeps repeating and Mary can see just how flustered he is.
"Bert," she says sternly, nodding so he'll get the message. Bert whistles and gestures towards the door and all the chimney sweeps start to file out the door, each shaking Mr. Banks hand. Michael escapes her attention for one minute and attempts to sneak out in the crowd but Mr. Banks catches him.
"Oh, Father, every one of those sweeps shook your hand! You're going to be the luckiest person in the world!" Jane exclaims happily.
Mary knows this isn't the time or the place for such pronouncements. "Come along, children. Spit spot," she orders.
Mr. Banks turns on her as she sends the children upstairs, fury written all over his face. "Just a minute. Mary Poppins, what is the meaning of this outrage?"
She freezes and steps back downstairs. "I beg your pardon?" she frowns. No one has ever dared question her so insolently before.
"Would you be good enough to explain all this?" Mr. Banks demands, clearly trying to control his temper.
"First of all, I would like to make one thing quite clear," she snaps, narrowing her eyes, her mouth curving into a frown.
"Yes?"
She takes a deep breath and plasters a smile on her face. For the good of the children, she reminds herself. "I never explain anything!"
And then, before he can answer, she whisks away up the stairs. He stares after her then goes to answer the ringing telephone.
I do hope you enjoyed it!
-Juli-
