Little Lady [ Lansis1991 + Prender ]

[Prender]

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green. When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen," Molly sang as she waded through the ankle-deep water, eyes scanning the sand for the tell-tale glimmer of a trinket, "'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so. Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work. Some to the plow, dilly dilly, some to the fork." Something glinted in the corner of her vision and Molly turned sharply, face lighting up at the little piece of metal shimmering beneath the water. Crouching down and thoroughly soaking the hem of her dress, Molly dug the object up and held it up to the light. It appeared to be an ancient gravy dish. Grinning at the find, the girl tucked it into the bag at her hip with all the other baubles she'd found, whether at the beach or on the shelves of an antique shop. When she returned home, they'd join all of her other treasures in the box hidden in the top of her closet. Home. Molly pondered the word as she stooped to grab a pretty shell. Why was it so troubling?


Molly gasped, straightening up and dropping the shell in her bag. She was supposed to be home by now, up in her drawing room waiting to meet the new nanny. The girl hefted up her sodden skirt and hurried out of the water, keeping it held above her knees so she wouldn't trip over it and revealing her scratched up knees. (She'd tripped on the rocks earlier that day, hardly giving any thought to the scrapes the stumble left on her bony knees. She'd experienced much, much worse, after all.) Molly ran a few steps, gasped once more and turned back, running to grab her shiny little mary-janes off the beach, carrying them in one hand and holding her skirt in the other as she ran back towards her house, seated high above her on a cliff with a sudden drop off. Once she reached the end of the beach, Molly shoved her shoes in her bag and jumped up, beginning to scale the cliffside. In her haste, she almost fell, damp fingers slipping off the ledge she grabbed, but she managed to save herself, boosting herself up onto the flat ground once more.


The brunette stood, brushed herself off, and took off at a run across the expansive grounds of her family's manor. It was a big, beautiful, elegant house, but Molly hated it. It was much too big for a family of three, if you asked Molly, with too many empty rooms. Not even the numerous servants could fill it, and it was unnaturally clean, to the point where it almost seemed uninhabited. Dodging around hedges and patches of well-tended to flowers, some by Molly herself, the little girl darted up to one of the servant's entrances. All she had to do was get inside, tidy herself up a little and get into the drawing room before her father sent up the nanny, piece of cake. Molly burst in, and froze, blinking up at a man she'd never seen before. For a moment, she could only stare, before snapping out of her trance and offering a sheepish smile, clasping her hands behind her back. "...You must be the new nanny, then," she said politely, offering a nervous chuckle and trying not to react to the sudden wave of self-consciousness that washed over when she realized how she must have looked, her dress wet and stained by mud, knees bloody and red and her hair a disheveled mess.

 

[Lansis1991]

There was a slight echo as Stephen made his was down the isolated halls of the mansion. He couldn't recall a time in his twenty-six years that he had ever been in a house this large, his childhood home could probably fit entirely into the lobby and there would still be some room to spare. He felt out of place. Even his best button-down shirt and part of pants that he had worn for the interview didn't seem fancy enough and he was surprised that none of the servants had stopped to inquire how he had gotten into the house.


It was alarming, really, but what was even more alarming is that his interview was done in less than five minutes and that there was no sign that a child actually lived in the house. He knew she was ten, the awkward age where she was trapped between being a child and a teenager, but there wasn't even so much a stray shoe or indication of small handprints being run along the walls. The amount of money had had been offered to take care of the seemingly invisible child would be enough to allow him to quit both of his retail jobs, plus the job had the added bonus of getting to work with a kid rather than angry customers. Stephen liked kids. He would have went to school to be a teacher but he hadn't been able to afford it and his grades weren't solid enough for a scholarship. He had never considered being a nanny, since most families preferred to hire females over males, which made this job come as even more of a surprise. With the amount of money they had and that they were offering for this position, Stephen assumed that they would want the best for their daughter.


The girl wasn't where her father said she would be and Stephen stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before heading out to find her. There were so many rooms, so many stairways and hidden areas that he didn't even know where to begin to try and find her. The thought crossed his mind that she didn't want to be found - that this was a test, and that she was a complete devil of a child that went through nannies faster than she went through a candy bar. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to quit his other job.


Up ahead, he spotted a maid going into another room. He sped up, hoping he could get her attention and see if she would have any idea where his charge was. Before he could reach her, however, a door open. Stephen took in the sight of the girl, eyes traveling to her with her bloody knees, then to her muddy dress, then up to her face where her hair clung damply. He had been expecting a little girl wearing a neatly pressed dress who wanted to spend her day going to the library or museum.


He met her eyes. "Yes," he said quietly. "I'm Stephen. You must be Molly. It looks like you've been for a bit of an adventure. Would you like to go get yourself cleaned up? I can tend to your knees, if you would."