A/N: This is my first Nanny fic, and I'm actually quite excited about it. It was really fun to write, especially since I'm not the biggest Maggie fan, even though I adore Brighton and Gracie. I feel that in writing this, I actually kind of like Maggie better. Besides that, I always think it's hysterical watching Niles interact with the kids, even though we don't get to see it much in the show. Mostly it's just Niles yelling at Fran and Maxwell to get together. Which is pretty awesome in itself, but anyway. This takes place sometime in season four, probably after Niles found out what went down with The Thing, so probably right after the episode with Maxwell's grandmother where Fran quit.
Pairings: None, really.
A Very Productive Meeting
"Maggie, if you need help with what shoes to wear on your date tonight, just kill me now," Brighton begged.
"God, why do you all think I'm so superficial?" Maggie replied, rolling her eyes as she shut her closet door. Hitting the button on her intercom, she said, "Niles, you and Gracie can come up now."
Within seconds, Gracie Sheffield and Niles were entering Maggie's room.
Maggie shut the door behind them, and everyone sat in the floor in a circle, the way they did at every meeting of the Sheffield Children and Niles Society they'd ever had.
"Okay," she began, "let's get right down to business: I think there's something going on between Daddy and Fran."
Niles appeared as though he was about to explode. "Well, duh!" he exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him with shock. "Niles! One of the primary rules of the Alliance is that when we're in the Circle, everyone must be polite and courteous to one another," Grace reminded him.
"If you do anything like that again, we'll have to ask you to leave the Circle," Maggie concluded gravely.
Niles rolled his eyes.
"That is a flagrant violation of code!" Gracie exclaimed. "I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to leave this meeting."
He got up and left the room, muttering something under his breath about Sylvia and fountain pens.
"Now." Maggie finally continued. "What's our official opinion on this development?"
Brighton shrugged. "I don't see why it matters. Fran lives with us, anyway. If they got married or whatever, it'd still be pretty much the same, except they'd be kissing and stuff."
"You mean, more than they do now?" Niles said over the intercom.
"Niles! Go away!" all the children exclaimed at once.
"Fine. But I'll be watching you," he said, right before they heard the intercom click off.
They waited a moment before Brighton continued. "I mean, it might even be better for us. Safer. What if Fran married somebody else and she didn't live here anymore? Or, God forbid, what if something happened to Dad? I don't want to go live with Grandma. We could at least stay with Fran."
Naturally, Gracie had a counter. "But what if they were dating and they broke up? She might move out, or else stuff here would get weird."
Brighton turned to Maggie again. "So, Mags, you're the swing vote. What're we gonna do?"
"Well," she said slowly, "I have to say, I agree with Brighton. Sorry, Gracie. But we need a solution that we can all agree on. Therefore, our course of action will be to do... absolutely nothing. We will acknowledge by asking pleasantries about their dates, should they go on any, but we will neither discourage nor encourage their relationship. If they get married, we will be maid of honor, flower girl, best man, et cetera, and we will then be enthusiastic. When they get engaged, we will have another meeting to discuss our attitude then. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" Gracie and Brighton chorused.
"So you two ready to be completely neutral?"
