An 8th Sheffield???

Fran wants another child, but what will happen when Max goes away.

By: Courtney

It was a regular day in the Sheffield household. Fran Sheffield sat on the couch reading People magazine while her twins, Jonah and Eve Sheffield, sat on the floor playing with their toys. Fran couldn't believe how big Jonah and Eve were getting. It seemed like they were just born and now they were at the age of four.

Fran missed holding and cradling a baby in her arms and of course feeding it a bottle. She thought what life would be like with another kid and a smile grew on her face. But she knew Max would disapprove and her smile faded away. She turned her head back down to the magazine.

All of a sudden Jonah looked up at his mother's sad face and said "What wrong mommy?"

"Oh nothing Jonah" Fran responded and tried her hardest to smile. Jonah smiled back happily to his mother.

All of a sudden Maxwell came in yelling at C.C. "C.C I am not going to another country for that long!" Max yelled. "But Maxwell you have to or we will lose a fantastic million dollar deal!" C.C yelled back. "I am not leaving my family here without seeing them for 8 months" Max yelled back.

Fran looked at Maxwell with her big brown eyes and thought to herself "he put his family in front of business for once" He had sure changed since he had married Fran.

"Honey what is wrong?" Fran asked him

"The backers for this million dollar sitcom want me to go to London for 8 whole months to see if the show will work out. I cannot stand leaving my family for that long!" Max said

"You should think about it and maybe they could cut the time and we could all go" Fran said in a sweet reply. She hadn't been to London in 6 years and that is when her and Max really hit it off!

"You know that is a great idea" Max said beaming at his wife. He came over and kissed her passionately on the lips and then kissed both the twins on the cheek. "I am going to see if I can make those arrangements right now" he said.

That night…..Max made it that they would stay 3months and he is defiantly going….but is the rest of the family?

Fran walked out of the bathroom in their bedroom to see Max sitting on the bed reading his book.

"Honey can I talk to you about something?" Fran asked innocently

"Sure darling, what is it?" he asked looking straight into her eyes

"Have you ever thought of adding to our family?" Fran asked

"Why….?" Max asked with a confused look on his face.

"Honey, I no I have been through the whole thing before but I want to cradle a baby in my arms and believe it or not I want to have a baby growing inside me again….even though I'll be huge!" Fran laughs as she thinks of her last statement.

"Darling we have five children already and we are a little bit old to be having a baby around the house." Max answered

All of a sudden Fran started crying. "Max, I knew that was what ya were gonna say! I miss it I really do!"

Max looked at her and felt terrible at what he had just said, but he had his reasons. "But darling won't it be to hectic taking care of a baby and twin 4 year olds."

"Max I took care of three of your children for 5 years I am sure I can handle it. I can handle anything I put my mind to."

"Darling how about we think about it" Right after Max said that Fran knew having a baby was out of the question. She wiped away her tears and knew she had to keep trying.

"Honey how about we practice in the mean time?" Max asked Fran with pleasure in his eyes.

"No I am not in the mood" Fran answered and ran out of the room.

Max didn't no what to do. All of a sudden Niles walked by his room saying "Sir, I am going home for the night." Max immediately grabbed Niles' arm and told him what had just happened.

"Oh, sir not your thing against pregnancy again!" Niles shouted "You should have another baby it will be good for your health" he said laughing.

Max sat down on his bed and thought about another baby. Since Jonah and Eve were born Fran had taken care of them most of the time. This time he could really make up for the 5 babies he didn't really take care of.

He got right up and went to look for Fran. He looked all around and couldn't find her. "Oh my god! Where could she have gone?" he said aloud. Finally he went in Gracie's room where she was busily chatting on the computer.

"Gracie honey have you seen Fran?" Max asked his daughter.

"No sorry daddy, but maybe you should try the twins' room"

That was right, that was the one place that he hadn't checked for Fran. He went to the door of the room that was Jonah and Eve's and heard a familiar voice from behind the closed door. It was Fran's and he opened the door slightly so he could see the image of his wife and his children.

Fran was sitting in the rocking chair rocking back and forth with little Eve in her arms just like she had done when Eve was a baby. Eve was all cuddled up in her mother's arms and holding her fluffy bear tightly. Her eyes were closed and Fran was talking to her about when she and her brother were babies.

Max walked in and Fran immediately stopped talking and Eve's eyes shot open.

"Hi daddy!" Eve said not moving from her position on Fran's lap.

Fran just turned her head and took Eve and put her back in her bed. Then she kissed Eve on the head lightly and left the room.

"Is something wrong with mommy?" Eve asked with a worried look on her face.

"No sweetheart there is nothing wrong with mommy, she is just tired" Max said trying to comfort his daughter. He went over to Eve and said good-night and then left the room to go get Fran.

He found Fran in the kitchen crying her eyes out while on the phone. She was on the phone with Sylvia and Max knew she had been hurt deeply. He walked over to Fran and he hated seeing her like this.

"Darling I am so sorry and I am acting foolish. I promise we can start trying to make a baby right now" he said being positive about his choice.

Fran hung up the phone and said "You are just doing this out of guilt to make me feel better. If you don't want to have a baby I can understand since you have already been through it 5…well 4 times counting the twins."

"No darling I thought about and I am going to put business second and help you out with this child"

Fran was so pleased with her husband's decision that she gave him a helleva kiss that they hadn't done in quite some time.