As everyone was talking at once, one distinct voice rang out in Fran's head. As she looked towards the door she thought her eyes deceived her, but no there stood the plague of her love life, her ex-fiancé Danny Imperiali. 'Oy! What the hell is HE doing here! This can't be good,' Fran thought nervously.

"Yo, Frannie, baby you were great," Danny bellowed as all heads turned towards him.

"Danny, what are you doing here?" Fran asked, trying as hard as she could to act as if she were happy to see him.

"What kind of a question is that? I came here to see you, baby," Danny said, as he stepped forward, pushing several of Fran's relatives aside.

"Oh, well, um, that was nice of you," Fran said awkwardly. 'God, a moment ago, I was so happy. Why did HE have to show up?' Fran thought frantically. She shot Maxwell a nervous glance.

Seeing that Fran was obviously uncomfortable, Max decided to step in. "Danny, would you mind giving us all a moment alone? This is a very important night for Fran, and I really think she'd like to share it with her family."

Danny looked at Maxwell. "You look familiar. Have we met before?" he asked.

"I'm Maxwell Sheffield, Fran's boss, and the producer of this play," Max said politely.

"It's a free country, and I can be anywhere I want," Danny shot back. "It's in one of those Amendments to the Constitution, or whatever it's called."

"I don't think Fran wants to have anything more to do with you," Max said. It had been almost three years since he had last seen Danny, and he'd forgotten what a jerk he could be. It was hard to believe that Fran had once been engaged to him. Max had all he could do to be polite to a man who'd broken Fran's heart.

"I didn't hear Frannie say that," Danny said. "Is that true?" he asked Fran.

"Yeah, I'm afraid it is," Fran said.

"What about what we had? You and me, we made quite a couple," Danny said, leaning down to kiss her.

At that moment, Max lost all since of politeness. Quickly, he seized Danny's hands and tried to get him off of Fran. "You leave her alone! She just said she doesn't want to be with you anymore. Can't you take a hint?"

"Hey, what was that for?" Danny asked. "All I wanted to do was give her a congratulatory kiss. That ain't a crime, is it?"

Sylvia stepped forward now. She'd had about all she could take of Danny, too. "Listen, my daughter doesn't want anything to do with you anymore. God, you're even more of a shmendrick than you were when Fran was working for you in that stupid bridal shop!" For emphasis, she hit him with her purse.

"Geeze, I just wanted to tell Frannie she did a great job out on stage tonight. I never thought I'd end up getting attacked for it." Danny looked over at Fran. "Seeing you on that stage tonight brought back a lot of memories for me. I wanted to see if there was any chance of us getting back together."

Max coughed in surprise. "Um, Niles would you mind taking the children into the lobby to wait for us?"

"Certainly, sir," Niles said. "Come along children, let's give Miss Fine some privacy." On his way out the door, he gave Danny a very cold look.

Reluctantly, the three Sheffield children followed their butler. "How come we always miss the good stuff?" whined Grace as she left.

Sylvia turned to Yetta. "Yeah, come on Ma. Let's go to the lobby. I need a snack."

"Now? But it was just starting to get interesting!" Yetta complained.

"Come ON!" Sylvia insisted, pulling her mother towards the door.

"Oh, I hope Frannie picks the handsome Italian guy over that stuffy Englishman," Yetta said to her daughter as she followed.

"Do you want me to stay?" Max asked Fran, once the three of them were alone.

"No, that's OK. I'll be fine," Fran said.

Max looked at her. "You sure?"

"Yes, would you just go? Make sure my mother doesn't go nuts on those snack machines in the lobby. She has a fit when they don't give her any change back," Fran said.

"OK," Max said with a laugh as he left.

AN: Thanks for the reviews. And TRUNHP means The Really Unofficial Nanny Home Page. It's the best 'The Nanny' website out there with episode recaps, photos, message boards, and tons of fanfiction.