The New Nanny - Desperate Housewives + original character, F

[zakandsara]

Hey, all! I just started getting into Desperate Housewives again (kinda) and I was struck by inspiration. Lemme know what you think

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I first started working with the Scavos about two months ago. After graduating college in May, I realized that my dream of being an elementary school teacher was shared with about half the country and I needed to find another way to earn money unless I wanted to move back in with my parents. However, because I wanted so badly to work in the field I had just spend four years and thousands of dollars on, I needed something more than money to motivate me: I needed experience. That’s why I decided I had to do what would be best for my financial situation and my (hopefully) very-near-future career jump. I decided to become a nanny.

In the town of Fairview, there were more than enough personal ads in the local paper to allow me to shop around for a family I felt would challenge and excite me the most. I started looking in late June and didn’t move in to Lynette and Tom’s until about the beginning of August, but it was worth the search. They were a perfect family in a wonderful neighborhood. Most of the kids were old enough that I only saw them at breakfast and dinner, but the ones that were young enough for me to hang out with were so great. Penny was about 10 but very smart and super social and the baby, Paige, was only 6 months when I started. The boys were all older and didn’t much want to hang around with a 23 year old woman, so I had very little to worry about. The house was nice and Lynette had given me my own room near the baby’s, so I didn’t have to worry about housing as long as I’d had the job. It was all fantastic, but the best part was the neighbors.

The girls would come over about once a week: Gabby, Susan, Bree and Renee, who had also recently moved to Wisteria Lane. At first, it had been a little intimidating, as they were all older than I, but once they started to warm up to me, I was able to have fun with them. Next week, I’m invited to my first poker game at Gabby’s house. I can’t wait.

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I wake up at around 7:30. Paige is still fast asleep, which is rare, so I leave her alone and slowly saunter down the stairs. I make coffee and get the cereal and bowls out of the cabinets for the family. The mornings are the only time I get to be alone when it’s quiet, so I sit at the table in my robe, waiting for the Scavo parade to shuffle through. First, Tom comes down.

“Morning,” I say, rubbing my eyes as he turns on the kitchen light.

“Good morning, Rae,” he answers, a little more cheerful than I had been. “How’d you sleep?”

“All right. The baby only got up once, so I was happy about that,” I smile.

“That’s awesome,” he gives me a thumbs up. He’s such an amazing dad, but he’s so dorky. I can see Penny going through the ‘embarrassed-by-Dad’ phase any day now. “Well, I gotta run, but keep up the good work!” he says as he gathers up his briefcase and breakfast. “Tell the kids I love ‘em,” he says as he shuts the front door.

Next come the boys, who are always running late.

“Hey, Rae,” the twins says, almost in unison.

“Hi guys. There’s new cereal here if you-”

“No time,” Preston cuts me off. “We’re already late.”

Porter chimes in: “We gotta go.”

“Thanks anyway!” Parker shouts back as they, too, slip out the door.

I sit alone for a few more minutes and have time to finish my coffee before Lynette comes down the stairs. She works from home at an interior design company her and Renee started up last year, but she’s up early anyway.

“Morning, Rae,” Lynette says as she pours herself a bowl of cereal and sits down across from me. “I only heard Paige once last night, did my ears deceive me?”

I giggle. “No, she really did last almost the whole night.”

“Wow. Looks like we hired you at the right time, you bypassed the 4 feedings a night stage. Good for you,” she chuckles, winking at me.

“Thank God, I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like,” I shake my head, honestly grateful that I’d missed that. “I had 2 sisters and I thought it was crazy, I can’t believe you have 5 kids.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re preaching to the choir, sister. I just can’t believe I haven’t managed to kill any of them,” she pauses. “Tom included.”

I laugh. “He says hi; I saw him right before he walked out the door.”

She nods. I get up to pour myself another cup of coffee. “Do you want a cup?” I ask Lynette while I’m trying not to splash mine over the sides. She doesn’t answer so I turn and catch her with her hand hovering around her nose.

“Heht’sschhh-IOOO!”

“Bless you!” I say, startled by the noise this early in the morning.

She holds a finger up, telling me to wait, and looks like she’s going to sneeze again. “Heh’tesschhh-OO!” She rubs her nose.

“Bless you,” I say again, handing her a paper towel.

“Jesus, thanks. Sorry about that,” she answers, sniffing. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says after a moment, laughing, and I shoot her a confused look. “You did a little jump over there while you were pouring.”

I laugh, too. “I wasn’t expecting it. It shocked me is all.”

“I’ll try to warn you next time,” she jokes, getting up to put her bowl in the sink. “Hey, are you coming to poker tonight? Gabby called

yesterday to remind me to bring you along. They want to get to know you a little better.”

“Yeah, of course,” I respond, trying not to sound too eager. “Around 8, right? Will Tom be home to put down the baby?”

“He should. I’ll call him later to remind hhh…him but…..’scuse me- HEH’tSCHHEWW! ‘tscchhhhiOOO!”

“Jeez, Lynette, bless you,” I respond, yet again.

“Damn it, I don’t know what’s going on with me today,” she says, half thinking out loud.

“You getting sick?” I ask her, growing curious.

She shakes her head. “I’m never sick.”

“Well you never sound like this either,” I remind her. “I mean…I’ve never heard you like this,” I correct myself.

She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m fine, sweetie, just don’t worry about it.”

I hear Penny start to walk down the stairs.

Lynette snaps her head to look up at the kitchen clock. “It’s 8 already?” She gets up, hurriedly. “I have to get to Renee’s. I told her I’d be there early today. I’ll see you later, hmm?” She looks to me for confirmation.

“Of course, can’t wait,” I smile at her. She comes around the table and hugs me like she does to her kids before she leaves and kisses Penny on the cheek just as she reaches to the bottom of the staircase.

“Hi and bye,” Lynette says to her daughter. “I’ll be back before dinner, baby. Love you,” she slips on her coat. “Bye, Rae!” she turns, just as the door slams behind her.

“Good morning, Rae,” Penny says as she sits in front of the bowl of Frosted Flakes I’d set out for her a few minutes earlier.

“Morning, Pen, how’d you sleep?”

“Alright. I didn’t even hear you get up at all last night,” she answers, in between bites of her breakfast.

“That’s good. You know I hate when I wake you up,” I reach over and give a playful tug on her pigtail. She giggles. “Hey, Penny?”

“Yeah?”

“Does your mom get sick a lot?”

She looks up. “What do you mean? Is her cancer back or something?” She asks me, visibly getting scared.

“Oh, no, no, sweetie, not that,” I assure her. “I mean like…a cold or something.”

“Hmmm…I don’t know. We never have to take care of her, so I don’t really know when she’s not feeling well.” She looks at me, still confused.

I shake my head. “Between you and me, I think she’s getting the sniffles.” I look down at her and smile. “Just don’t tell her I said that.”

Edited March 20, 2012 by zakandsara