Chapter Text
Mary Poppins was a lady who normally had full control over what happens in her life. She had a rule that she had to follow to save herself and everyone else from getting hurt. When the family is happy and is safe for the for see able future, the there is no need for her. She had followed this rule for all the family's she had visited and once the Bank's had walked into the Spring Fair, she knew that she would never see then again. However, this was not the case.
The strong wind had blown past Mary but she found with great surprise that it was not her time to leave.
Feeling confused, Mary tried to figure out why and only came to one conclusion.
Something is wrong with the Banks family
Without much thought, she began her way back to the Banks household and when she got onto Cherry tree Lane, she could see Michael and Jane Banks standing outside, looking up towards the sky. She made her way to them and when they turned to her, she was amused to see the shock on both their faces.
"I thought.." Jane had trailed off in her surprise as Michael looked at her "we'd thought you had left"
Mary let out a soft scoff "obviously not. Now are you going to stand around like flamingos or are you going to go indoors?"
She watched as the siblings looked at one another before making their way indoors, Mary following behind silently.
When they had gotten in, Mary made her way to the living room where the children were and when they looked up, Georgie immediately said " we'd thought you'd left" as he walked up to her.
Mary looked around the house with a small amount of distaste as she spotted a pile of books all messed up and out of order on the floor in the corner " there seems to be an echo" she said quietly to herself but the siblings still heard and they shared a smile.
It was Annabel who has gained Mary's attention by walking over to her with a slightly tilted head "does that mean your staying?"
Mary looked down at the child before turning and sitting down on one of the living room chairs.
Georgie looked at her before asking "where is your balloon? Didn't you get one?" he had pointed to his own balloon in reference and Mary looked at him with an uninterested face "mine blew away"
The Banks had stayed in the living room for a while, making plans and playing games when Michael noticed how dark it was getting.
"it going to ran soon, you staying here tonight?"
Michael looked at his sister who was on the floor next to Annabel, and Jane looked up and then at the time " I suppose so-" she was interrupted by a low rumble and Georgie let out a giggle
"Thunder!"
The children were quickly amazed when suddenly the clouds broke open and buckets of rained poured over London. "my goodness" Mary muttered as Michael turned to Jane "guess your stuck here"
Jane couldn't help the giggle that escaped her and she also couldn't help but look at Mary as she did it, knowing the woman would roll her eyes and mutter about being giggly.
Their was the sound of muttering and Mary looked over to see Ellen make her way in, a tray full of tea cups in her hand. Ellen had passed the cups to the adults before looking outside the window "looks as bad as that kitchen when he pipes burst, you know"
Michael looked at her with a grin "it could be worse" Ellen tutted at him before making her way back to the kitchen to plan dinner.
It was after dinner and the family and Mary were in the living room, playing games such as scrabble when Georgie had looked up out the window, it had started raining heavier with more thunder and lightning, before turning to his father "when will it stop raining?"
Michael looked down at Georgie from where he sat and replied "I don't know. It may continue to tomorrow"
Michael was going to say something else when Georgie suddenly become alarmed making Michael immediately worried
"What about Jack and the other leeries?"
Michael had to take a breath to calm his heart as him and Jane looked at one another, noticing the other children had also stopped what they were doing to hear the response
"They'll be ok. They've done this job long enough to know what's safe and what's not"
Jane had sounded confident in her response but the others could see that se didn't feel confident as she said it and Georgie clearly had something to say about it " but they still have to do their jobs right? even in this weather?"
Michael felt his heart grow warm as she saw how much they genuinely cared about other people so he decided to say "how about this, when Jack comes by, we'll invite him in for a nice cuppa, yeah?"
The children cheered at that and Michael heard Mary let out a light scoff "indoor voice"
John was about to say something but he was stopped by Annabel, who had noticed something outside.
The Lamp outside their house was lighting up
"Jack's here!"
Annabel had barely said it before Georgie was up and running towards the door, Michael following.
Mary had disapproved of the running but her relief that Jack was here overwhelmed her "well, just in time" she muttered as she took a sip from her tea.
Georgie had quickly opened the door and just in time as she saw that Jack was about to take off.
Michael was standing behind Georgie and what he saw made his heart clench, Jack was soaked and he looked very uncomfortable.
"JACK!!"
Jack had moved forward a bit but once he heard is name being called, he had quickly paused and looked behind his right shoulder but when he didn't see anyone, he looked to his left to see both Michael and George Banks watching him.
Jack gave them a small smile but didn't move so Georgie continued to shout to him "COME IN FOR TEA!"
Jack had immediately shook his head "MY ROUTES NOT DONE AND SOME OF THE LAMPS ARE BROKEN, I NEED TO FIX THEM!"
Jack had shouted but he also couldn't help but see how Georgie's face fell and Michael get extremely worried, quickly Jack shouted "I'LL COME BACK THOUGH! I PROMISE!"
Georgie had immediately brightened up and the father and son watched as Jack peddled away before the closed the door.
Georgie looked up at Michael with a wide smile before walking away into the living room where the twins looked up at Georgie "where is he?" Annabel asked and Georgie plopped himself down next to her as he replied "he went to finish lighting the lamps"
Michael sat on the sofa as he locked eyes with his sister, who was on the floor with the children, and said "his continuing to do his job in this weather?"
Jane and nodded sadly and the children looked appalled
"that should be illegal" John said and Jane looked at them before saying "Jack, and the other leeries, have the best job in the world, They give the world it light and magic. However.."
she trailed off as she caught Michael's eyes but he nodded at her and she took a deep breath before continuing.
"From what I've learnt, if a lamp is broken and it's on a leeries route, then they have the responsibility of fixing it and the pay would come out of their own pockets"
The children had gasped and Georgie looked at Mary with a pleading look "that's not fair!"
Mary had looked down at the children from where she sat as she said in the most confident tone "they climbed Big Ben with no trouble so you think a lamp is going to get in their way?"
She saw the children relax slightly at what he had said but even Mary knew that some lamps just wont be fixed.
She was worried for Jack and she couldn't help but wonder, maybe it wasn't the Banks who needed her, but Jack.
Michael looked outside and noticed that the rain had let up slightly but before he could say anything about it, he heard John say "can we stay up for him, to see if he really is alright?"
This caused Michael to look at the time an to his surprise, he discovered it was past the children's bedtime but he knew that if he denied it, it would probably be the biggest mistake he had made since he took out that loan so he when he looked at the hopeful looks on the children's face he couldn't help but say "yes but when i say it's bed time, I mean it"
The children agreed before they turned back to the game of scrabble.
Nearly an hour had gone by and Michael had considered telling the children that its bed time when he heard it.
Knocking.
Standing up, he was aware of the others watching him but he only focused on one thing, answer the door.
As soon as he opened the door, he couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him. Standing there, drenched like he went swimming in the Thames was Jack and he looked very apologetic "sorry"