It's Definitely Not All Mary Poppins

Some Children Lose, Some Children Learn (1)

The day Matthew Robinson met Jun Yang's parents was one he hadn't seen coming. He had been told, once upon a time, that the Yangs took their grandchildren for one week in October (which didn't happen) and June, but he assumed the house would've been in a more manageable position. The children weren't bothered by this missed visit. They went on with their lives as easily as a shrug.

The day Matthew Robinson met Jun Yang's parents was an unnaturally warm day for February. The new year's hopefulness fading and the house still achingly cold, Matthew spun at the sound of metal clashing against metal. "Dammit," Matthew hissed, shaking his pressed and reddened fingers in the lukewarm air, the black battery pack falling askew where Lloyd's gas tank had once been. On his wheels, Lloyd sagged with the weight. "Why won't you, just, fricking fit? We measured you. Why can't you just – " He kicked Lloyd's fender, not enough to dent it but enough for the car to bounce on his springs. He sighed, wiping his grease-streaked hands across his face. "Sorry, Lloyd, I'm just – "

"Let me try," Lilly said, bouncing on her feet. She pressed the sleeves of her jacket up a little, only for them to fall back towards her wrists. "I'm tough."

"Sweet child, this thing probably weighs more than you do."

"Let me try," she insisted, pressing her foot onto the rim of Lloyd's open hood. She examined the box from all sides, wiggled it, leaned forward, whispered something unintelligible, and gave it a shove. It fell with a heavy dunk, shimmying into place before stopping.

Matthew raised a brow.

The girl turned to her nanny, beaming. "You just needed to ask, Matt."

He cocked a smirk. "Lilliana Yang, you are full of surprises."

"I'd rather be a charmer, like snakes and chickens," she said, hopping off the car. "I don't like surprises."

"You can't charm chickens," Elliot called from a distance, Waka wiggling in his lap. "You can trick them, but not charm them. They're too dumb. Are you thinking of crows? Crows can be charmed. They're smart."

"Chickens are smart!"

"I'm siding with Eli on this one. Chickens are kind of dumb." Matthew sighed. He clapped his hands together (which he regretted), glancing at the long, long, long list of directions of converting Lloyd to electric. "What's next?"

"You don't know that!" Lilly insisted, stomping her feet, her face growing red. "I bet you a bajillion dollars I raise chickens that are super smart!"

Matthew offered his hand. "I'll take that bet."

The girl took it. "Get ready to lose, Matty."

"First get the chickens, and then I'll get ready."

A cardinal fluttered down from the treetops, landing a few feet away from Eli's foot before hopping onto it. "Nekhbet, it's good to see you."

Matthew wiped his hands on a rag, watching. "It stuns me, Eli, how you can get Waka and the bird so close together without them killing each other."

"Oh, Waka definitely wants to eat her. I just won't let him."

"Do lizards eat birds?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, but most are unsuccessful." Waka, on cue, shot forward towards the cardinal, through Eli's hands kept the lizard locked in his lap. He bopped Waka's scaly head. "I said no."

The cardinal took this as encouragement, and fluttered onto a nearby window ledge, watching from its perch.

A low, black car rolled up the graveled front drive, appearing from the darkness of the forest preserve and crunching the gravel and melting snow. The moment it stopped, the engine cut out, sitting in silence.

"Were we expecting anyone?" Matthew asked, wiping his hands, still tingling from being squished by the battery pack. He checked his watch, then glanced into the house through the loggia. The office door was still firmly shut, and the workmen on the scaffolding over the building took little notice of the new arrival.

"Maybe it's the government," Eli suggested.

"Why would they be here?" Lilly asked.

Her cousin shrugged, making a sound to emphasize the gesture. "We're needed for a world-saving program."

She cooed at that.

"Ooo! Maybe they need to dump radioactive waste under the house – "

"No wild speculating that can endanger us, Eli," he sighed. Matthew rolled his eyes and turned away, back to Lloyd to inspect the snug fit of the battery pack. A swelling of pride ruffled through his chest. "Well, if they're here for your dad-slash-uncle, they can ring the doorbell."

"That's not fun," Lilly said.

He sneered at her. "Sometimes it isn't."

The black car's door opened an inch at first, and then swung fully open. A man in a suit – gently disheveled from traveling – stepped out. He surveyed the house before his eyes settled on the carport. The man smiled and he called out, "Is this the kind of greeting you give your grandparents?"

"Yéyé!" Lilly shouted, taking off down the drive towards the man. Elliot followed suit, bouncing the lizard in his hands. "What're you doing here? We thought we were gonna see you next in the summer!"

"Can't a grandpa see his grandkids?" Mr. Yang Sr. kneeled down and hugged Lilly first. He would have hugged Eli next but noticed Waka. "Lizard isn't my grandson." That was Eli's cue to move Waka away, and he gave his grandfather a hug.

From the other side of the car, a woman stepped out. She was dressed to the same level as the other man, though her clothes were less wrinkled from whatever travels they encountered. She scanned the forest preserve around them, a soft smile on her lips, before she turned to the children. Mrs. Yang (Matthew assumed) rounded the front of the car and kneeled, accepting hugs from Lilly and Eli. Lilly called her "Nainai".

Matthew watched from the carport, uncertain of what to do. He was a stranger to them both, and felt awkward approaching them with little prompt. 'I'm still their nanny,' he told himself, wiping his hands again on his jeans, and approached the black car. "If we knew you were coming, we would've given you more of a welcome." He smiled, but Matthew couldn't help feeling like that was the wrong thing to say.

Mr. Yang Sr. and Mrs. Yang watched him carefully for a moment before Mrs. Yang shook her head. "Oh! You're the nanny!" She stood and offered her hand before withdrawing it, noticing the stains on Matthew's palms. "You're not at all what I was expecting. I've heard things about you from my son. I am sorry you're leaving. The children love you."

A pained look crossed the children's faces.

Matthew swallowed. "I..." He wasn't sure what to say to that.

A/N~
sorry for the late upload - was at a family event, traveling around a lot, and was away from my computer. but it's finally here, and so are yang's parents!