24.

That night…

"Miss Fine, how is Grace doing?" inquired Maxwell, as he entered the dim living room after a long day at the theatre. He was in quite an exhausted state and it took him at least five minutes of struggling before he was able to remove his jacket and hang it up in the coat closet.

Fran sat up on the couch pillow she was laying against and grabbed the VCR remote at her side, pausing the James Bond movie she was watching so that she could hear him better.

"What about Gracie?" asked Fran, giving him her full attention.

"How is she?" he asked once again, moving closer to her.

"I think she's okay, I gave her some cold medicine an hour or so ago and got her to go to sleep."

"I do hope she gets better…"

"I could go and check on her again if you want," offered Fran, in a voice that sounded like she was genuinely concerned.

She cared about little Grace just as much as Mr. Sheffield did, and thus felt just as bad for her for having an illness that was paining her so. However, Fran had to admit that she desperately wanted to get out of the room and be as far from Mr. Sheffield as possible.

"No, no, that's all right Miss Fine. I think it's best that we just let her rest," replied Maxwell, taking a seat next to her on the sofa.

Why, oh why, can't he just leave me alone?

"So how did the mocha latte date with Deborah go?"

"Fine, just fine. She had to rush off to meet with her agent halfway through though. Gotta love those movie stars…"

He expressed amusement at her response.

Fran then reached out to the coffee table to the grab up the large, clear, Tupperware bowl of popcorn with movie theatre butter. She placed it on her lap and gathered up a few, plopping them into her mouth.

"What are you watching?" inquired Maxwell, reaching his hand into the popcorn bowl around the same time as Fran.

Their fingers bumped each others, and after the awkward moment, they both scooped up the desired amount of popcorn they wanted. Fran had calmed down by now, and decided she'd speak to him, but only if he spoke to her first. She wasn't exactly in the mood to be extremely chatty.

"James Bond: Diamonds Are Forever. Only one of my favorites of course! Mainly because I just love the theme song! Shirley Bassey's voice is amazing… Oh, and ya made me stop it during the best part too!"

"Who's in this one?"

"Hottie Sean Connery of course. Duh!" responded Fran, giddily.

"Care if I join you?" requested Maxwell, with his arm on the sofa and his head resting on his hand.

He turned toward her and had a twinkle in his eyes. He seemed to be legitimately interested in watching the classic film with her—much to her surprise.

"I—oh, I don't mind… you might as well, since you've already taken a seat and all."

Fran smiled and he smiled back at her. His was a nice smile—a simple, relaxed one that she hadn't seen planted on his face in quite some time. He also had his eyelids drooping wearily low, for he probably had another hectic day and a troubling actor to deal with at his job. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too tired to stay awake during the rest of the runtime of the movie. That would really be a shame.

She was secretly pleased just to know that he wanted to accompany her on her movie night though, even if she was still a tad bit flustered and upset following that occurrence in her bedroom with him. She'd figured that he'd be too embarrassed to even be in the same room with her ever since. However, he proved her wrong and was not as predictable as she had once labeled him to be. Something had to have gotten into him, but whatever it was, she was prepared to get used to it—in a good way.

"However," began Fran in a firm voice, "I refuse to start it over even if it is already towards the middle!"

"Agreed. Agreed. Just press 'play' already Miss Fine!"

"Well, well, well aren't you one anxious little school boy?" questioned Fran in a teasing tone, thrusting out her arm for the remote.

He halted her hand though, before she was able to get to it, by grabbing her arm. Without delay, they both turned towards each other and their eyes locked. As in, his stunning, mysterious, vivid greens matched up perfectly with her entrancing, compassionate, warm browns...

"I must admit, I'm always anxious to be near to you Miss Fine," confessed Maxwell in a low, tender voice.

He gently caressed the skin beneath her jaw with his hand, and affectionately tucked a loose, silky strand of hair he noticed earlier behind her ear. Subsequently, his hand slowly dropped down to his lap, and he never did break his gaze since he first started touching her.

Fran turned away from his stare and nervously laughed, reaching once again for the remote.

"Wait!" exclaimed Maxwell, "No, not yet… I need to get myself situated first."

Fran had a questioning look in her eyes, while he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his black and silver striped, collared shirt. Then, he ran a hand through his hair, boldly snuggled up against her, and draped his arm over her shoulders. She gaped at Mr. Sheffield, open-mouthed.

"Now you can start it."