"Oh, look at the time. You kids need to get to bed!" Fran noticed
"But mommy" the twins whined
"No buts" Fran started looking at her children's sad faces "A little help, honey" she said to her husband
Max looked at his wife, than his kids, than back at his wife "Bedtime" He finally said
"Okay daddy" They said, hugging him, than running up the stairs. Fran followed
"I'll be down soon" she said to the room "Clean this mess up!"
The family laughed and Fran disappeared up the stairs.
C.C pulled Niles aside to talk to him in private.
"Are you ready to give them the tickets?" She asked
"Wait until Fran comes back down" Niles asked as he crumbled a sheet of wrapping paper in his hands "We want them to hear about it at the same time" He than threw the paper ball away and walked over to re-join his friend.
"So" he started "What did you think of the whole 'Talent show'?"
Max turned around and laughed "It was great, I had been killing myself all week wondering what you all were up to and just as I really believed you all were doing nothing for my birthday, I come home to this." He laughed again and threw away his ball of trash.
"How could you ever believe Fran would pass up the opportunity to throw a party?" Niles laughed
"I really don't know"
"As if you haven't known her for 12 years" Niles pointed out "That would be like me being surprised when C.C used the bathroom on the rug" he joked, C.C balled up some paper and threw it at Niles' head, he saw it coming and dodged it and the paper ball hit Maxwell in the chest instead. They laughed.
"I'm so sorry Maxwell" She said laughing "I meant to-"She was cut off by another paper ball hitting her in the face. "MAXWELL"
He and Niles laughed "You started it C.C" he smiled "Alls fair in love and war"
"But in this case the butler has to clean it all up" Niles pointed out
"Oh Niles, it's your job" Max said "And In all seriousness, you and C.C have been married for2 years now, isn't it time to lay off the insults?"
"Oh, never sir" Niles smiled.
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Upstairs Fran had finally gotten the twins to lie down and she decided to change before going back down stairs. She walked into her bedroom and sat down on the bed. She took off her heels and dropped them to the floor with a thump. It had just turned midnight at the Sheffield house, Fran let out a silent yawn. She got up from the bed and walked to the closet and changed into some sweatpants and one of Max's old t-shirts. She removed her makeup and walked back down the stairs.
"What happen down here?" she asked noticing the abundance of 'paper ammo' on the floor "You were suppose to clean up the mess not make the mess bigger!"
"Well, you see, I was chatting with Niles when he made one of his comments about C.C being a dog, so she threw a paper ball at him and missed and hit me instead, so I threw one back at her, from there all hell broke loose"
"I see, and at what time while this was happening did you think this was a good idea?" Fran asked
"I'm with you Fran" C.C said
"You're just as guilty"
As you can see motherhood has really changed Fran. She looked at the three of them for a moment before speaking "Just clean it up"
"Yes mother" they all said. Fran went to leave, but C.C nudged Niles reminding him about their present.
"Fran, before you go, C.C and I have something for the two of you" He said pulling an envelope from his jacket pocket "Here you go"
"What is this?" Max asked opening it, Fran walked up behind him to see what it was. Max pulled the tickets from the envelope and looked at Fran than at his friends.
"Tickets" Fran asked
"We figured that you two would enjoy a second honeymoon, since your first one was-"he stopped to find the right words "Less than perfect"
"Thank you two so much" Max said hugging his friends
"Yeah, this is great" Fran added
"It's really no problem" C.C said
"When is the trip?" Max asked
"The 12th through the 22nd" Niles answered
"That's tomorrow" Fran said "Who will tell the children?"
"We've already told them, the twins will stay with us while you're gone" C.C said
"Better get packing" Niles said with a smile
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"I still can't believe they did this for us" Max said to his wife from the bathroom.
"I know, it will be great"
Max finished packing his suitcase; he packed 10 outfits, a pair of pajamas and a suit in case they went somewhere nice. Fran on the other hand, pack way more than she would need, as usual.
"Wow! Its late, we should get to bed if we want to catch that flight in the morning." Max said
"You're right, goodnight"
"Goodnight"
They both got into bed and fell into a deep sleep. It was 7:00 am before either of them knew it. Max opened his eyes slowly and looked at his wife, who was still asleep, her head on his shoulder; he smiled down at her before slowly removing his shoulder from beneath her head and shutting off the alarm clock. He looked at her again, fighting a battle within himself about weather or not he should wake her or not, she just looked so beautiful, after a short moment decided that she would like the extra time to get ready and woke her up.
"Fran" Max said lightly shaking her "Fran, darling" he said again, a little louder this time, she started to move around a little bit. He thought once more should do the trick. "Fran, darling it's time to wake up" She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
She got up and Max went to take a shower. Fran went downstairs to make max and she a quick breakfast. Once it was done they both ate and it was Fran's turn to shower, while she did Max finished getting ready. Fran shut off the water and did her hair and make up. She walked out of the bathroom, into the main room to get dressed. She noticed Max was not in the room, so when she was ready she walked down to the office and saw him.
"We should wake the twins to get them fed and ready to be dropped off at Niles and C.C's"
"Okay" Max said
Fran went upstairs to wake the twins, they got up fast and she dressed them both. "Grab your bags, kids" She said. The twins grabbed the bags and ran downstairs
"Okay, let's go" Fran said to her Family
A/N: One chapter is left! What should happen next?
-RealLifeCapulet