The more than Unpleasant Visit Part 1

Elizabeth Sheffield arrives just as soon as everything is going good for the Sheffield family and she tries to teach Fran the right way of raising children.

Previously on The Nanny: Fran was pregnant again with a little girl. She had gone through a bed rest because of Eve who knocked her down. She finally had her daughter and when they were home enjoying themselves there was a knock on the door!

"Who on Earth could that be?" Max asked.

"Maybe its Ma" Fran said looking a little disappointed. Sylvia was always over and eating all of the food in the house.

Max went and opened the door to see Mrs. Elizabeth Sheffield standing there.

"Mother?"

"Mrs. Sheffield?"

"What are you doing here?" Max asked being very surprised.

"Well I heard there is a new child arriving…again!"

"What are you talking about arriving? Fran and I already had the baby."

"Oh did you? Jocelyn said you were expecting another."

"Well she is a little late to be telling you this now. We had the baby two months ago."

Fran was just standing there quietly not saying anything and watching Max and his mother bicker back and forth.

"Oh but she said that your...uh wife I guess, was -"

"Okay…mother? Come right in" Fran said suddenly cutting Mrs. Sheffield off, still leaving Max puzzled.

"So where is the one you just had?" Elizabeth asked looking around.

"Well she is upstairs with Gracie." Fran answered.

"Who is Gracie?"

"Uh…your granddaughter from Maxwell's first wife, Sara."

"How many came out of your womb?" Elizabeth asked Fran rather rudely.

Fran could tell, like the last time Elizabeth came to visit, that this wasn't going well.

"Well I had little Julia not too long ago, she is just a baby, and I had Jonah and Eve four years ago. They are twins," Fran said trying to answer in a nice way without yelling.

"Wow I am surprised how you are still married to this women Maxwell. I expected better of my eldest child."

Now Max was getting annoyed too! "I'm sorry mother but my taste has nothing to do with you!"

Elizabeth just looked at Maxwell with fury on her face and asked to be shown to her room by the butler. But it just got worse when Max and Fran told her that they no longer had a butler at night, only during the day because Niles had gotten married and had a child.

That night…

"Darling today when my mother said expecting, what did she mean?" Max asked Fran.

"Uh…I have not a clue. Jocelyn probably thought I was still pregnant with Julia." Fran answered trying to make something up. Elizabeth Sheffield, Jocelyn, and all her friends and family knew something Max didn't.

All of a sudden Jonah came crying into their room.

"Mommy, grandmother says I'm too old for Ted."

This coming from a woman who left her child out in the garden when he cried? Fran thought to herself.

"Jonah whether you want Ted or not is up to you!" Fran answered him sweetly.

"But no boys in kindergarten have teddies."

"How do you know? I'm sure all of them have one. Ask Gracie she probably knows. Plus I always thought a man with a teddy was really cute!"

"Does daddy have a teddy?"

"I'm afraid not, daddy isn't that cute, but I do know that Brighten does!" Fran said laughing.

"Excuse me?" Max asked smiling.

"Well honey if you want me to think you're cute maybe you should take a trip to Toys 'R Us!" Fran said giggling again.

With Jonah watching his parents giggling around, he finally left with a huge smile on his face.

Then Max said "Darling have I ever told you how great you are with children?"

"I haven't heard that one in a while! You can tell the Nanny that again! But honey, can you believe her telling Jonah something like that?"

"Well not many boys his age have teddy bears."

"Oh so you agree with your mother for telling him that?"

"Well…yes."

"So you never slept with a stuffed bear?"

"I did once but the fur got all in my mouth. Besides I was a lot younger then him!"

"Who cares? It is just that, next thing you know she is going to be running this house!"

"Well you aren't exactly the perfect mother…"

"And she is? I mean come on, she didn't even come to your own wedding!"

"That is because she hates you."

"She could have at least come to support you!" Fran was now annoyed at Max for agreeing with his mother.

"Yes I guess you have a point, but mother is English and that is the way she acts. There is nothing we can do about it."

All of a sudden there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Sorry to intrude, but you do know your children are all awake at 9:30 and your baby is crying?" Elizabeth said rudely.

Max who knew a fight was forming scurried off to calm Julia and put the twins to bed.

"Well I am sorry Mrs. Sheffield but you cannot and will not tell me how to raise my children!" Fran shouted.

"I think that the environment they are in is bad enough as it is and you are not a suitable mother for those children."

"Like it or not, I happen to be their birth mother and the other three grew up in this environment, why is it so bad now?"

"Maybe it is because they are living under your rule and you are not the one for Maxwell!"

"How do you know what he wants? What is the big deal? Just because I didn't grow up in a mansion and didn't have servants wait on me all day doesn't mean I can't be a good wife!"

"Well classes do not mix as I said before and you better walk out of this family before I throw you out!"

"And how do you have the right to do that?" Fran asked almost crying.

"Believe me, I will!"

With that Elizabeth Sheffield walked out of the room and slammed the door shut!

Fran couldn't believe it. Was she really that bad a mother? She was starting to think that maybe she had no choice but to leave the family and live her life alone.

Then Max came back into the room. "So darling what did my mother say?"

"Would it have killed you to stay?"

"Darling the twins were up and Julia was crying, what did you want me to do?"

"Well you should have been (here?) there!"

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Because I can't help it!" Fran yelled.

"What do you mean you can't help it?" Max blurted back.

"It is not my fault that my hormones are going crazy and you did this to me!"

"What? I didn't do a thing to you, wait did you say hormones?"

"Yes, honey we're having another baby." Fran said with a look of panic on her face.

"Another baby? You got pregnant again in the matter of a few weeks? How in the devil did you handle that?"

"I don't know. I thought that these birth control pills were suppose to work."

"Wow. How are we going to handle another baby? I mean I have given in two times already, I am not giving in again!"

"You! You're not the one who is pregnant again. You're not the one that is gonna get sick all the time and swell up. You're not the one that is sick of being pregnant! Now just sleep. I am thinking we have at least two hours before Julia wakes up again."

At about 2 a.m. Julia started screaming, waking the whole house up.

"Fran, can you get her?" Max asked half asleep.

There was no answer.

"Frannnn." He called again.

Still no answer.

Finally Max turned over to see why his wife wasn't getting up. He looked over only to find that he was in bed alone.

"Is she already up?" he thought out loud.

So Max got up and went into screaming Julia's room to see if Fran was already there. He walked in to see a dark, empty room and the baby still crying. He turned on the light, but there was no one else in the room. Where could she be?

Max took Julia in his arms and eventually her little eyes shut and she was sleeping. She was the perfect image of her mother. Thinking of Fran, he had to find her!

He searched the whole house and couldn't find Fran anywhere. So he decided to call Sylvia's house. She always went there when she had problems.

"Hello, Sylvia?"

"Yeah?"

"Hi this is Max, do you know if Fran is at your house?"

"No she is not here. Why, are you looking for her? And do you have to call so late!"

"Well sorry, apparently Fran has not been here for a while and I have a feeling she ran off due to something my mother said. I just want to find her. I mean what if something happened to her?"

"Well you want me to come ova?"

"No I think that it is alright Sylvia. We will try our best to find her. I will let you know when we have."

"Alright but you do know that Fran is probably not in California right now. That schmuck probably said something that got my little Frannie upset!"

With that Maxwell hung up the phone. Sylvia could be right, Fran could be somewhere else and not in California. He knew that to solve these problems he would have to talk to that schmuck himself!

In a matter of minutes Max was knocking on his mother's door.

"Mother?"

Soon Elizabeth Sheffield came to the door dressed in her nightgown.

"What is it Maxwell? Why are you waking me at this hour?"

"I want to know what you said to my wife!"

"Why?"

"So you did! And for your information she left!"

"Oh my dear, that is awful." Elizabeth said with a smirk on her face.

"What do you have to do with this mother?" Maxwell asked with a very stern face.

"I just told her that she wasn't a proper mother and she wasn't right for this family." Elizabeth answered.

"You what?"

"Maxwell you cannot continue to live with this woman she is a disgrace."

"I don't care what you say mother, it is my life and not yours. I happen to be happier with Fran then I ever was in my life living with you! I love her!"

Then Maxwell went in his office and shut the door. It was only 3:00 in the morning but he needed sometime to think. 'Maybe it was better that Fran left' he thought, thinking of the disappointing news she had given him just about six hours ago. How could she have another baby? They just had Julia and the twins weren't even in kindergarten. How could they manage another child?

Maxwell couldn't stop thinking about that last sentence. It should have been "How could she manage another child?" He had to admit that Fran took care of the children most of the time with only a little help from Niles. But she had raised his children beautifully and he was sure Jonah, Eve, and Julia were all going to grow up just as great. Then he fell asleep.

Little did he know just where Fran was.

"Val, and then she said that I better walk out on the family. I mean now I don't know what to do, with a baby on the way and all. I just can't really bring myself to leave Max and the kids."

"Fran you gotta do something."

"I guess you're right. I might as well just leave the family. I mean it won't make a difference if I raise the kids or not. Val, do you and Fred mind if I just stay here a few nights to think things over."

"Not at all, you stay as long as you like honey."

"Thanks." Fran answered and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Max awoke forgetting where he was. All of a sudden Niles walked in.

"Good morning sir."

"Morning Niles."

"Why are you in your office? When I left last night you were upstairs with Mrs. Sheffield."

"Oh, well my mother told Fran something awful so while I was sleeping she left and I don't know where she is. I came in here last night to think things over and I must have fallen asleep. Niles what if something happens to her?"

"Oh sir, I'm sure she will come back today."

"No Niles, she isn't at Sylvia's this time. I think she might have left the state."

"Did you try Val?"

"No you're right old man, I should have called there last night."

"Hello Val?"

"Who's this?"

"Maxwell, is Fran there?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Sheffield but she just left about an hour ago."

"Where did she go?" Max asked confused.

"I am sorry I can't tell you, she told me not to in case you called." Val answered.

"Please Miss Torriello, I need to find her."

"I am sorry but she has sworn me to secrecy." and Val hung up the phone.

Max could not believe it. No one was telling him where his wife was. If Elizabeth Sheffield was not his mother he would have her thrown out of his house.

Then he thought of something. He could throw his mother out, after all it was his own house. He then walked to her room.

"Mother! Mother!" He said banging on her door.

The door slowly opened and he saw the face of little Eve who seemed to be crying.

"Darling, what are you doing in grandmother's room?" he asked.

"She was telling me how bad mommy was and how she just left us here all alone."

"No Eve, you are confused. Mommy left us because grandmother yelled at her and told her to leave you, your sisters, brothers and me."

"Why would grandma lie to me?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go and get some breakfast from Niles while I talk to grandmother. Mommy will come back soon, I promise!"

Eve left and Max walked into the room where his mother was staying.

"Mother I have been thinking hard and I think it would be best if you leave this family alone and pack up your things and go back to England now."

"I am terribly sorry Maxwell, but I can't do that. I have talked to everyone of your children and they now all hate their mother. They also don't want me to go."

"How could you do this to our family? I mean why do you have to go terribly out of your way to make us miserable?" Max asked almost screaming.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me young man! They just don't like their mother, what do you want me to say?"

"Mother I am not a young man anymore and I demand you to leave!"

"Fine Maxwell, I will, but you will regret it!" In a matter of minutes she had packed her bags and left!

Meanwhile Fran was in a taxi heading toward the airport. She had decided that she would move back to New York and planned on never seeing Maxwell again.

She sat in the back seat and looked down at her hands that for some reason were shaking. She assumed she was nervous about living on her own once again. Then she looked at her diamond ring. She had a flashback to the night that Maxwell proposed and the day he had bought her that ring. She felt terrible about leaving him and the kids but she knew it was best for them.

"Where do you wanna go?" the cab driver asked.

Fran however was lost in her thoughts and did not seem to notice that the cab driver was saying anything to her.

"Hello! Where do you wanna go?" he asked again a little annoyed this time.

Fran did not respond again. So the cab driver turned around and yelled "LADY! Where do you wanna go?"

"Oy! Do you have to be so loud? I want to go to the airport." Fran answered him rolling her eyes.

Just then Fran recognized the man that was driving that cab. She had seen him before but she was not sure where. Then it hit her like an atomic bomb! That man was no one other then Jeffrey Needleman.

"Jeffrey?" Fran asked loudly.

"What?"

"It's me, Fran Fine. I thought you were a playwright, what happened?"

"Fran, that's you? I thought you looked familiar, but I wasn't sure. You look so much different from the last time I saw you. Well anyways I stopped writing plays and went back to the cab business. No one seemed to like my style of writing."

"Oh, you think I look so much different?" Fran asked surprised. Max always told her she looked the same as when he first met her.

"Well you look a little heavier, then the last time I saw you, and you seem stressed out as well."

"Heavier? Wha? Maybe it is because I just had a baby about two months ago and I'm expecting another one! Oy!"

"So you're married?"

"Yes going on six…" All of a sudden she started to cry.

Jeffrey looked back to see Fran break out in tears. "What's wrong?" he asked sympathetically.

"Oh it's a long story."

"Oh, come on Fran tell me. We will always be friends and I'm there for you."

"Friends? Since when did we become friends?"

"Uh about ten years ago when I was out on that ledge about to die."

"Oh yeah I guess." Fran said with a puzzled expression.

"So tell me what happened with your husband?"

"Fine, I will tell you. Well you see, we were doing great and we were happy. Just had a baby a few months ago, ya know? Then his mother came, she already hated me since I was the Nanny, and she told me to walk out on the family, because I was such a bad mother. And you also know that I am pregnant AGAIN!"

"That is terrible. Why is it so bad that you're pregnant again. It's only you're second kid right?"

"No, Jeffrey it is my seventh kid! Three are from Maxwell's first wife whom I adopted and three - well four are mine and Maxwell's."

"So the lucky guy you married was Maxwell Sheffield. Too bad you aren't still single, remember our last date? By the way he hasn't produced a show in years."

"Well actually we moved to California a year after we got married, because he became a movie producer."

"Wow Fran, you do have the life!"

"Well I did. Now I am going to live in New York on my own once again."

"Fran you cannot just leave your family because of that woman."

"I am sorry Jeffrey, but that is what I want to do."

So Fran was only hours away from landing in New York where her life would change forever!

To be continued……

Sorry about how long it is guys...but this is the size that I sent it on Barb's site so this is how long the chapters will generally be!

Tell me what you thought of it. If anyone wants to continue it just e-mail me, because I am thinking of having it be like a 9 part story! Thanks Flow for giving me great feedback on my story!