Hello,Hello!:)Well, this has taken me quite a while to write and it's also a bit shorter than my normal chapters but here we are. I hope ya enjoy this as I'm still not very happy with it...The whole deal about Fran being only there for 1 day is about when Max fires her after he catches Maggie kissing that boy etc. No idea yet when the next chapter will be up nor how long it'll be but we'll see, I had a little Nanny marathon today so I'm kinda getting a couplea more ideas!;) R&R please!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything...

Chapter 13:Dealing with the Unexpected

Not in a very long time had C.C. Babcock felt so confused as she was doing now. She hated it when things occurred unexpectedly, or without any apparent reason, she liked being in control, especially when it came to her emotions. The sudden appearance of Fran Fine in her life, however, was one of those occurrences she couldn't have expected in a million years. And she didn't like the look of her at all and that didn't simply mean her beauty… Nanny Fine was one of those people C.C. was least likely to spend time with, someone she would avoid on the street by any means possible. But all of that was behind her now, she had only been part of her life for a day, a mere passerby and luckily Maxwell had come to his senses, seeing for himself what damage such an inexperienced person could do.

"Hello, Hello!" she exclaimed, striding into the kitchen.

Niles was busy preparing some sort of salad but wore a smug little grin that instantly made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Good morning, Miss Babcock!" he greeted her.

Yes, something was definitely wrong.

"Whatever you've got up your sleeve, Bellboy, you can just forget it, nothing's going to irritate me today." she said firmly, tapping her fingers against the empty mug in front of her.

"Are you quite certain?" he challenged, his eyes shining with mischief.

"Yes." she repeated, though she knew that he had caught that she was wavering.

"Nanny Fine is back." he said with a big grin.

"How?" she nearly yelled, but before he could reply a nasal voice pierced the air.

"Nyules, the kids wanna sleep in, stop annoying Miss Babcock."

C.C. sighed, covering her ears.

"I think you just woke them up yourself with that voice." she said to the brunette who appeared on the backstairs, this was as polite as she could possibly be.

"And you're certain you're not on ya period?" Fran questioned, oblivious to the awkwardness she was creating.

"You're too kind, Miss Fine, but you do realize that Miss Babcock is ancient." Niles used the opportunity for a zinger.

Fran immediately broke into fits of loud laughter, causing C.C. to cover her ears once more.

"Isn't that sweet?" she said, when Fran had finally stopped "the butler has found himself another domestic to play with."

"Well, at least the butler came equipped with a functioning heart, unlike the Ice Queen." Niles replied sarcastically.

"I'm glad to hear it, coz clearly he's lacking other…equipment." C.C. mocked, leaving the room in a rush.

"Wow, she's a charmer, I really dunno how ya deal with her…" Fran commented, after having noticed that the sentence had had no apparent effect on Niles.

"It's been 16 years, Miss Fine, I had no other choice but to move past the basic survival training."

Fran laughed again and smacked his arm, before heading into the dining room, leaving Niles to notice with a smirk that she was wearing her dressing robe again for breakfast. He was glad that Maxwell had persuaded her to stay, a couple of months ago it would've been unthinkable for the man to care about anyone but himself, openly at least. But he had taken Niles' advice, which was a surprise in itself, and had followed Fran home. Niles had seen it, of course, the moment he had opened the door to the young, flashy woman. Somehow she was just what this family needed, a hint of colour that had gotten lost in the darkness of grief. She was different enough not to remind him of Sara, but at the same time caring and humorous and able to break through the walls of the stiff British producer. Somehow Niles simply knew that she would get to him eventually, no matter how long it would take…the most important thing was that it had already begun. The fact that C.C. was livid was only an added bonus…

Breakfast was a disgustingly cheerful affair, something C.C. gladly would've skipped, seeing as she had lost her appetite the minute Fran had stepped into the room. The worst part though was that C.C. wasn't blind, she was quite capable of noticing the effect this woman had on Maxwell, an effect she clearly seemed to lack, as well as the fact that the kids seemed to worship her, even though they had only known her for 24 hours. She was spending so much time picking around in her food, that she barely registered Maxwell excusing himself to go to the office.

"What are you looking so glum about, Babcock?" Niles asked, snapping her out of her reverie "Did someone cancel your credit cards?"

She sighed, looking up to find his dark blue eyes watching her with an interest that was only hidden behind his mockery.

"When did…" she paused, somewhat unwilling to even say the name of that dreadful person "Nanny Fine arrive here?"

He grinned at her, happy that his conclusion had been right, Babcock felt threatened by the new woman in the house.

"Well, she arrived yesterday morning." he said, clearing away the dishes from the table.

Niles was aware that C.C. was watching him intently, expecting to hear more, but he wasn't going to give in to her that easily.

"And?" she asked, desperately trying to control her temper.

"What? You only asked me when she arrived, you didn't ask for any details." he grinned innocently.

"Do I actually have to ask?"

"Yes." he persisted, his grin broadening.

C.C. grumbled in annoyance before saying with faked sweetness: "Niles, would you please tell me why Nanny Fine was hired and please include all the details."

"I like her and Mr. Sheffield happens to agree with me." he simply said with a light shrug of his shoulders, before exiting the room.

"NILES!" she yelled, but before she could attempt to follow him, Maxwell appeared at the door.

"C.C., you really shouldn't stand around gossiping the entire day, there's work that needs to get done." he said and C.C., who couldn't really argue without giving away how curious she was, just nodded and followed him upstairs.

It didn't really strike him that the usually so witty blonde remained fairly quiet throughout their journey to the office. They had just arrived and C.C. had sat down on her usual spot, rifling through pages of documents, when the door burst open again and Fran Fine shimmied inside.

"Ah, Mr. Sheffield," she began, the nasal quality of her voice causing the throbbing at C.C.'s temples to return "I have to ask ya something."

"Yes, Miss Fine, and please get to the point, C.C. and I can't afford to lose any more time."

"Oy, Mr. Sheffield, do you always gotta be so stressed? Ya know, at your age, ya might wanna watch the old blood pressure." Fran said, hopping up on his desk.

C.C.'s eyes nearly popped out when she noticed Maxwell's glance moving from the brunette's legs up to her thighs and the short skirt that didn't leave much to the imagination. Although his first intentions had been good, Maxwell now found himself quite incapable of letting the young woman go. By now Fran was talking so fast that she produced strings of letter combinations that didn't even seem to make sense, but somehow he didn't care, as long as he could watch her.

"Nanny Fine, your point!" C.C. roughly interrupted.

"Oh yes, sorry, I need some money to take Maggie out shopping, no young girl should be forced to run around in a beige dress, unless she's like Val's friend Bertie who-"

"Miss Fine!" Maxwell finally interrupted, already getting his cheque book out.

"Alright, alright, geez, you don't have ta shout. Meanwhile, should I get ya a new pack of tampons, Miss Babcock?"

"I'm not on my period!" C.C. yelled, finally losing all control.

"Alright, Babs, not everyone needs to know that you are going through the change." Niles commented who had chosen that exact moment to enter the room.

Fran exchanged looks with Niles and gave him the thumbs up sign with a smile on her face.

"Should I get ya a new outfit as well?" she then asked Maxwell.

"No, Miss Fine, I'm quite happy with the suits I own."

"Not ta criticize ya, Mr. Sheffield, but suits are all you own, why not spruce it up a little? With a tuchus like yours…oy, I'm hot already…" Fran continued, fanning herself with her hand.

C.C. dug her nails as deeply as she could into the arm of the loveseat, praying that Maxwell would tell her off for such inappropriate behavior, but the man actually seemed to enjoy it.

"Men…always thinking with their-"

"Jealous, are we, Babs?" Niles said in a hushed voice, making sure that only she would hear him "I don't blame you, a beautiful woman is what this house has been lacking, and one as young as Miss Fine.."

"Beautiful? Please, I think "cheap" is the word you're looking for!"

"Just goes to show that money isn't everything." Niles muttered quietly.

C.C., who finally caught the bitterness in his tone, looked up at him.

"Maxwell could have me: a rich, successful business woman."

"And yet he seems to choose Miss Fine." he said with a smug grin.

"Nonsense, they only just met!" C.C. interrupted, balling her fists.

"Sometimes that's all it takes…" his voice trailed off.

She swallowed, suddenly rather uncomfortable with his candor.

"That and intelligence."

"I'm not stupid!" she growled, offended.

"And still Mr. Sheffield seems smart enough to see that sometimes class doesn't matter." he finished, moving over to set the tray down at the table.

This seemed to signal the end of Maxwell's and Fran's conversation, as she suddenly hopped back off the desk and straightened her skirt.

"I'll get ya somethin' sexy…I mean…appropriate Mr. Sheffield, Sir." she said, hurrying towards the door.

"Yes, Miss Fine, do that. And please make sure Margaret gets something…that's right for her age."

"Of course!" Fran said, mumbling under her breath "The girl's only 16 once…let her live."

No, C.C. Babcock really didn't like unexpected situations… and Fran Fine had to go, before things would run even more out of hand.