Back to Fan FictionThis story takes place the night that One False Mole and your Dead takes place, after Mr. Sheffield has proposed to Fran out of guilt, and Fran laughs it off.
A lot of you always claim to not own The Nanny, so I suppose I should remark that I do not own any of these characters.
Enjoy.
by
Cassandra
(blancheleigh@live.com)
Fran Fine sat in her room rubbing cold cream into her cheeks. It had been a long, emotional past few days, and she could see the dark circles under her eyes. I look like I’ve been beaten up, she thought to herself, attempting to smile into the mirror. Oy, even my smile looks exhausted.
The truth was, she had been emotionally beat up, and by none other than Mr. Sheffield. Just the sound of his name in her head made her shudder. He had thrown her on quite an emotional rollercoaster the past few days, the last few years if she was completely honest with herself, but nothing could have prepared her for what just played out in the kitchen.
A tear began to slowly slide down her cheek as she recalled the way her heart caught on fire when Mr. Sheffield proposed to her in the foyer. Another tear rolled down her cheek faster this time for the 30 seconds she spent happily engaged to Mr. Sheffield, bouncing to the kitchen to tell Niles the news. One tear after another fell as she still felt the sinking sensation that took over her entire body as she realized he proposed to her out of guilt. She let her hands cradle her face as she now was heaving sobs over the fact that she turned down a proposal to the man she loved.
Who am I to turn down a marriage proposal, especially from him? But the sad truth was that even she couldn’t pull herself into a relationship with the man knowing he didn’t exactly feel the same way. She shuffled her way over to her bed as she shuddered again thinking about how truly painful it was laughing off the proposal like it was nothing to his face, and walking away. Upset and exhausted, Fran didn’t even notice she hadn’t turned the sheets down as she crushed a pillow to her face and let it catch her tears.
**
A few rooms away, Maxwell Sheffield stood pacing back and forth in his room. What kind of a bloody idiot proposes to the woman you care deeply about and then let’s her get away? He paced faster as he thought about the look of unadulterated happiness that took over her face after he so selfishly proposed to her in the foyer. She kissed him and then she was gone to the kitchen to tell Niles, leaving him holding the tray of soup he had made for her wondering what had just happened. He had placed the tray down on the end table and paced back and forth through the living room for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that this was the right thing to do. I mean, it was the direction I was intending our relationship to go eventually. We had been on a few dates and spent countless hours flirting. There is no doubt that she is the one for me. I suppose rushing things as a way of begging for forgiveness was not the smartest way to go. He sat down hard on the bed and began furiously untying his shoelace. I just thought she was so smitten with me that she wouldn’t care.
He quickly undressed himself and put on his pajama bottoms. Lying down on top of the bed, all he could do was stare at the ceiling. I just don’t understand why she would reject my proposal or think I was kidding about it. Am I really that awful of a person to do such a thing? He continued to stare at the ceiling for quite some time.
**
After Fran cried until there was nothing left, she sat up in bed. I still can’t believe you turned down a marriage proposal from Mr. Sheffield. After all that you’ve been through, isn’t this where you thought you were heading anyway? Fran sank back into the pillows behind her, thinking long and hard about her expectations for her and Mr. Sheffield. I mean, I really love him, I just want him to love me back. Maybe he does? Oy, I should never have to question the intentions of the man I want to marry. But it’s Mr. Sheffield, and he’s quite different about his emotions.
Confused as ever, she knew that she needed to speak with Niles, and wasn’t sure if she would be able to sleep unless he helped her come to some resolve about her and Mr. Sheffield tonight. Slipping her feet into her fluffy slippers, she quietly took the back stairs down to the kitchen, briefly pausing outside of Mr. Sheffield’s door. She couldn’t hear anything, which relieved her and upset her at the same time. If he loved me he would have come after me after I rejected him.
**
Staring at the ceiling to no avail became aggravating to Maxwell. He couldn’t stop replaying the onset of the sinking feeling in his chest as he watched Miss Fine laugh off his proposal and walk away from him. It was in that moment that he realized just how much he loved her, and how sorry he was that he gave her the impression that he was only proposing out of guilt.
He sat up in bed at his realization. Good God, man, you’re sitting here hurting because of her, you really do want to marry her. He got up off the bed then sat right back down again. And she turned down your proposal.
Maxwell knew that Niles knew why Fran rejected him, and needed to speak with him about it. Wait till tomorrow, man. He tried imagining himself spending the entire night in this apprehensive state, then quickly slipped on his robe and headed down the backstairs to the kitchen.
**
The kitchen was dark when Fran descended the stairs, but she didn’t want anyone to see the light on. She felt her way over to the cabinet to get herself a glass of water before waking up Niles.
“Is that you, old man?” She heard an all-too-familiar voice by the stairs ask the darkness. She was so shocked she dropped the glass and shuddered as she heard the glass shatter at her feet. Maxwell wasted no time in flipping on the light, and was shocked to see a red-eyed terrified Fran standing there looking into his eyes.
“Miss Fine,” he said, rushing over to wear she stood. “What are—OUCH!”
“Mr. Sheffield, oh no—is it in your foot?” She carefully scooted the shards of glass aside and made a path for him to hobble over to the table.
“Yes, ouch,” he replied, embarrassingly hobbling over to the chair she had pulled out for him. He bent his leg so that he could try to see the bottom of his foot, but he couldn’t see anything except blood.
“Let me take a look,” she said, gently holding his ankle and taking a seat next to him to get a better look. Her hands were trembling as she reached for his ankle.
“Do you see anything?”
“Yeah, let me go get my tweezers,” she was gone from the kitchen and in her room before he even noticed. The pain was sharp and he felt like a bloody idiot for walking barefoot on glass.
When she reappeared at the base of the stairs she had a strange look on her face. He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but the pain in his foot made him quickly forget he saw anything.
“Okay, I see a big…oy, make that two big bloody pieces in your foot,” she said. She looked up and saw that he was staring at her with big eyes. “I know it hurts, but you look surprised, you okay Mr. Sheffield?”
“I’m fine, I just never knew that you were so brave when it came to medical emergencies,” he hoped that convinced her. The truth was, he was still in shock that she was down in the kitchen. Her close proximity was starting to catch up with him, as he felt her gently rub his ankle as she stared at him listening to his answer.
“Yeah, well, only for the people I care about do I put up with blood,” it was out before she could stop herself. She quickly turned her attention back to his foot. The wound was pretty deep, and there definitely was more than one piece of glass in there. As she attempted to pull the first piece out with her tweezers, she could feel his entire body tensing at the pain.
“Oh, ouch,” he cried out, embarrassed to be showing how much pain he was in from the broken glass.
“I’m sorry but this is going to hurt,” she reached up to his hand that was gripping the arm of the chair and gave it a gentle squeeze. When she tried to pull the glass out a second time, this time his foot started shaking. She put her tweezers back down on the table and headed upstairs.
“I’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder. Back in her room she slipped on a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and a pair of tennis shoes. She knew what she had to do.
Coming back down stairs she could see his surprised expression as he witness her change of outfit.
“Where’s your car keys?” she asked insistently.
“Planning on going for a midnight drive, Miss Fine?” He asked, at a loss for why on Earth she might want his keys.
“Seriously, where are they—aha!” She found them hanging on the hook by the door. “Okay, Mr. Sheffield, here’s the deal. I can’t get that glass out of your foot, and it’s a pretty deep wound. I’m going to take you to the Emergency Room and have a doctor take a look at it.”
“Miss Fine, I—“ He started to whine, but the pain in his foot was now throbbing, and that was all he could muster out.
“You’re going to the hospital, I’m going to take you, and I’m not hearing another word.” With that, she swung his arm around her shoulder and helped him hobble out the front door to the Porsche parked on the street. Once he was in the car, she ran back in the house to grab her purse, locking the front door behind her. Oy, how could this have happened?
Getting back to the car, she fired up the engine and she and Mr. Sheffield were off to New York Presbyterian Hospital.
**
The ride to the hospital was virtually silent as Fran concentrated on remembering how to drive his stick-shift sports car. Maxwell sat in the passengers seat amazed that she had actually remembered the lessons that he had given her a few years ago, back when she ran over the bunny in the road. At one point the car stalled out and Maxwell reached over to shift the gear for her, but her hand was already there. He quickly pulled back and so did she, each one feeling the electricity that lingered on their skin for a few minutes, but neither willing to admit what they felt.
“Gear 3,” he commanded without the motion, and she obeyed.
Once they arrived at the hospital, Fran was out of the car without a word, and into the emergency waiting room. She came back a few minutes later with a wheel chair, and helped him into the busy waiting room.
“The nurse up at the desk is going to have you fill out what looks like a small anthology of paperwork,” Fran told Maxwell. “I’ll be back in a few minutes once I park the car.” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm.
“Miss Fine, you don’t have to stay here with me, I’m a grown man,” he didn’t let go of her arm.
“Yeah, well I was the one who dropped the glass so it’s my fault you’re even here,” Fran said looking down at him in his wheelchair. “And besides, maybe I’ll find myself a nice Jewish Emergency Room doc.”
With that she turned back out the automatic double doors in search of a parking spot. At hearing her words, something other than his foot started to hurt.
**
Maxwell had just wheeled himself over to the crowded waiting room with his stack of paperwork when Fran returned.
“I’ll tell ya, emergency or not, some people do not know how to park,” Fran plopped down in the chair next to Max’s wheelchair. “Was I lying about that stack of paper?”
Maxwell nodded with a faint smile and began to look over the paperwork in his lap. So many questions, so much hassle for one or two pieces of glass.
“Do you need any help with the paperwork?” Fran was reading some of the questions over his shoulder. He was just done filling in his name and address, and she could see he had paused at marital status. He looked up at her, and didn’t realize how close she was leaning into him.
“I’m…I think I can manage,” he said, pretending to turn his focus back to the documents. He was relieved to feel her back away from him and get up to retrieve a copy of People magazine from underneath another seat. While her back was turned her quickly scribbled in an “S” for single and flipped the top paper over before she had a chance to see it.
The next page asked for insurance information, and he instinctually reached for his wallet in his pocket. That’s when he looked down and much to his horror realized he was still in his robe and pajamas. He felt someone elbow him gently and looked up to see Fran handing him his wallet.
“I figured you would need this so I grabbed it out of your room on our way out the door,” she smiled sweetly at him, and he couldn’t help but return a half smile of his own. Only this woman would think of that. He was still in shock that he was sitting in a wheelchair in his robe and pajama bottoms. I must look like a bloody invalid.
“Oh, don’t worry, I think that guy has you beat,” she said, pointing to the shirtless man holding an ice pack to the back of his head across the room from them.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You still look handsome in your pajamas and robe, Mr. Sheffield.”
“Well, thanks,” he said, not quite sure if he should feel good or be embarrassed.
“Trust me, it’s a good look for you,” She smiled sweetly again. Careful, Fran, don’t say it. “I wouldn’t mind seeing this side of your wardrobe more often.”
Fran knew she had made him feel uncomfortable because he immediately diverted his eyes away from her and began nervously clearing his throat. She reached over to put a supportive hand on his forearm and gave it a squeeze. He looked up at her once more.
“I’m sorry I dropped the glass,” she sad looking into his eyes and then down to his foot.
“I’m sorry I scared you and caused you to drop it,” he said. A comfortable silence passed between them as Fran continued flipping through her magazine and Max finished up the paperwork. When he was done, Fran walked it up to the nurse behind the desk.
“We will let you know when a room in the ER becomes available,” the nurse said without looking up.
“About how long do you think that will be?” Fran asked, hoping sooner than later for Max’s sake.
“Look, it’s a pretty mellow night, but it could get a lot more crowded. I’d give it a minimum of 4 hours, and 5 hours to actually see a doctor,” the nurse replied. “I would make yourself comfy.”
Fran walked back to Maxwell a little disheartened. It finally hit her, now that it wasn’t a dire emergency to get him to the hospital that waiting meant sitting next to Mr. Sheffield, the man she didn’t exactly know how to approach anymore. 4 hours? How can I possibly sit here for more than ONE hour with him? I don’t know what to say to him, what to tell him. She didn’t realize that taking him to the ER might take all night, and it wasn’t exactly a great time to be around him. I just rejected his stupid marriage proposal.
“What happened? What did she say?” An anxious Max asked from his chair. Her face looked troubled and it worried him.
“She said we’ll be waiting here at least 4 hours before we even get in to have you examined.” Another silence fell between them, as the both contemplated waiting over 4 hours near each other with nothing to do.
**
“Okay, my turn, my turn!” Fran squealed from her seat. “I spy with my little eye something…orange.” She looked at Max as he scanned the room for something orange. They had been playing this game for over 2 hours now, and the objects were getting more and more scarce.
“That man’s shirt?”
“Nope.”
“That woman’s purse?”
“Nope.”
“That little girl’s rash on her face and neck?”
“You got it!”
“Oh, Miss Fine, I’m tired of this game.”
“How’s your foot?”
“Same as it felt when you asked me 5 minutes ago.”
“Oy, I’m sorry, I just feel so bad that you stepped on the mess I made.”
“Don’t be, I scared you,” Maxwell diverted his attention back to Fran, who he noticed was staring right at him. “I mean, after all that’s happened the past few days, it was all bound to end in a crash.”
“You got that right, Mister.” Fran was studying his features, and watched as he sighed the other direction, looking at the desk as the nurse called the guy with the bloody head back into the actual E.R. In the past 2 hours they had seen some crazy injuries come in and out, and it made him feel almost embarrassed to be sitting in a wheelchair because of some lousy piece of glass. It was 11:45pm and if he wasn’t in so much pain, he imagined he’d be quite sleepy.
Max readjusted himself for the 100th time in the uncomfortable wheelchair, and repositioned the blanket that Fran had stolen him from the nurses’ linen cupboard an hour ago. He knew that it was his job to clear the air between the two of them, but he didn’t quite know how to approach her about it.
“Miss Fine, I—“
“Maxwell Sheffield?” A nurse appeared at the entrance to the Emergency Room. Fran jumped up, grabbing her bag and quickly pushing Max toward the entrance.
“That’s me,” he said weakly to the nurse as they pushed through the doors and into a private little room with a bed and chair.
“Are you able to get up and walk to the bed?” The nurse asked and Fran quickly swung his arm over her shoulder and helped him onto the bed.
“There we go,” Fran said.
“Okay, Maxwell Sheffield,” the nurse said. She was an older nurse with strawberry blonde hair and a freckled complexion. “What brings you in tonight?”
“I stepped on some broken glass and she wasn’t able to get it out of my foot with tweezers,” Maxwell replied, eyeing Fran. She had pulled the plastic chair close to his bedside and was instinctually stroking his forearm. He could feel the electricity shooting out of her soft fingertips and it made it hard for him to concentrate on what the nurse was asking him.
“I was the one who dropped the glass,” Fran replied. The nurse looked up from her paperwork.
“And you are…?”
“Fran Fine, I work for Maxwell,” Fran was quick with her reply so it didn’t sound awkward. She had been waiting for one of the nurses to ask her who she was, and she had been mentally preparing herself for the answer for the past few hours.
“I see,” The nurse scribbled something more onto her clipboard. “Well, Mr. Sheffield, I am going to check your vital signs, then check out that foot of yours.” With that the nurse wheeled in a blood pressure and thermometer. “I think you’re going to have to take off this robe, I can get you a hospital gown if you’d like.
Max tried to hide burning cheeks as he slowly disrobed himself and sat there in bed with a bare chest.
His temperature read 100.4 degrees, and caused the nurse to raise her eyebrows slightly. She then went to unwrap the wads of Kleenex that Fran had taped to Maxwell’s feet to keep the blood at a minimum.
“Oh, goodness,” was all the nurse said. “Yep, you’ve definitely got some glass in there, this looks pretty deep and might require surgery. I’m going to get a team of doctors to evaluate this.” With that, the nurse left.
Fran walked to the end of the bed and gasped at the sight of his foot.
“You’re lucky the bottom of your foot is not in within a visible distance,” she said. She walked back to look over his pained face.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Fi—Fran,” Maxwell said, reaching for her hand. “I’m sure you didn’t think a simple trip down to the kitchen for some water would end up like this.”
“Don’t even give it a thought, I just feel so bad for dropping that glass,” Fran said, sitting back down, but keeping Maxwell’s hand cupped in her two hands. Oy, just tell him why you were really coming down the stairs, Fran.
“I actually have to admit that I wasn’t going down to the kitchen for some water,” Fran admitted. “I was going to Niles’ room for advice.”
“Advice?” Max was suddenly nervous as to hear what kind of advice she would be seeking from his butler. He was also intrigued that she was on her way downstairs for the same reason that he was. “What kind of advice?”
Fran stared into his eyes for a few long seconds thinking about what she should tell him. I feel so foolish now, I shouldn’t have ever opened my big mouth and let him know that I was seeking Niles’ advice. But what can I tell this man in front of me? Should I just tell him the truth, that I was heading downstairs to get some answers, to see if he, Maxwell Sheffield actually did want to marry me? That I wanted to know if it went deeper than just feeling guilty, that somewhere, deep down he really did want to marry me? That maybe he actually loved me?
“Well, to be honest I—“
“Maxwell Sheffield,” a young looking man in blue scrubs came barging through the curtains of Maxwell’s room, cutting a very relieved Fran off. “I’m Doctor Saulson, I’ll be your surgeon this evening.”
“Hi,” Maxwell said, quickly averting his eyes over to Fran, who seemed to be checking out this young, handsome, obviously Jewish doctor.
“And you must be Maxwell’s lovely wife,” Doctor Saulson said, flashing her a smile and holding out his hand to shake it.
“Well, actually, I—“
“Let’s have a look at your foot, then Maxwell,” the doctor was obviously in a rush and wasted no time slapping on rubber gloves and examining his foot. “Hmm, this looks painful. You really crushed that glass deep into your foot.”
“How’s the pain, Mr. Sheffield?” Fran asked. She wanted to make sure that the doctor knew that he was in pain, and wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. They had been through a lot together, and just because things weren’t working right now, Fran really did care deeply for the man and wanted the best care possible.
“I’d say an 8,” Max replied. “Fran, can you hand me a Kleenex?”
Fran wasted no time reaching to the Kleenex box, but as she leaned over to hand it to him, that’s when it hit her that he had called her Fran. He had an uncomfortable expression on his face as the Doctor picked at his foot for a little while.
“Here you go, Max,” Fran handed him the Kleenex, then reached down to squeeze his hand. He grabbed for her hand as she pulled it away and squeezed it as the doctor continued his examination.
“All right, Maxwell, here’s the deal with your foot,” Doctor Saulson said, peeling off his gloves and throwing them away. “I don’t think your foot is serious enough to put you under and operate, but I’m going to need to get in there and dig around. I’m going to give you some strong pain meds via IV that will make you feel really nice so I can try to remove the glass as pain free as possible.”
“Okay, how long will that take?” Maxwell looked at the clock with a concerned face, feeling guilty that it was already 1am and Fran was still by his side.
“I’m going to have the nurse get you all set up with your IV, take your vitals again, and make sure the pain meds have kicked in your system, so I will be back in about an hour.” With that the doctor left and went to go talk to the nurse.
“Well, what a night,” Maxwell sighed, turning over towards Fran and squeezing her hand. “I can’t thank you enough for staying with me, but really, if you want to go, you can.”
“Don’t even try it mista,” Fran said, patting the top of his hand with her free hand. “I’m not going anywhere, not even if you pushed.”
A silence fell about them again, and Fran realized that he still hadn’t told her why he was coming down the stairs into the kitchen. She was too afraid to ask, though, because she didn’t want him to realize she still hadn’t told him why she was seeking Niles’ advice. He was probably just coming downstairs to get a glass of water. But then she realized that he always kept a pitcher of water by his bed at night. As her curiosity grew, she didn’t even notice she was rubbing the top of his hand with her thumb.
In the bed next to her, Maxwell Sheffield was waging a silent battle of his own. He was still so curious about what kind of advice Fran might be seeking with his butler, and wondered if it might possibly be the same topic as his own. Of course it is, you idiot. What else could have upset her enough to wake up Niles in the middle of the night? He wanted to just bring the topic back up, but then he also feared that she might turn the tables and ask him what he was doing up. I could tell her I needed a glass of water, but she’s probably seen the pitcher Niles brings me every night. I could tell her I needed a snack, but she knows that I don’t eat after 8pm. The woman knows me too well for me to be able to lie to her. This last fact didn’t exactly bother him, but it did make him feel even more helpless. I’m already lying here in a hospital bed, waiting for pain meds, the woman is seeing me in my most vulnerable state.
What Max didn’t know was that he would soon be in an even more vulnerable state, as the nurse came in with the IV needle and vials of Morphine drip.
**
“Okay, Mr. Sheffield, you’re going to feel a slight prick in your forearm,” the nurse told Maxwell. He squeezed Fran’s hand tighter and hoped he didn’t hurt her as the large needle made its way under his skin and into his veins. “Now, this drip is going in with some Sodium Chloride drip, so it gets absorbed faster, so in about 20 minutes you’re going to start to feel pretty sleepy.”
“Okay,” Max said between gasps as the nurse flushed the IV needle. “Ooh, that doesn’t feel too pleasant.”
“I promise once I get this vein widened and the meds pumping you’ll be thanking me,” the nurse said, then she turned to Fran. “Now, the meds will really make him sleepy and kind of dazed, so if he says anything odd, don’t be alarmed, it’s just the pain meds talking.”
Great, Fran thought. If he would just go to sleep I would be able to collect my thoughts on how I feel about this man.
Damn, Max thought. What if I tell Fran something like “I love you” and then don’t remember it later on? What if I confess that I, too, was going to see Niles for advice on none other than Fran herself?
“Relax Max,” Fran said from his right hand side. He looked over and saw her smiling sweetly into his face. “The worst part is over.” God, I hope so.
When the nurse left the room, Max tried to turn towards Fran to look into her face, but the IV tube held him back.
“I wouldn’t try moving, Max—I mean, Mr. Sheffield,” Fran said getting up to see what was making him uncomfortable. “What hurts, what do you need?”
“I just want to turn to face you,” Max said. “I just wanted to apologize in advance for any idiotic things I might say to you. God knows, after this week, I’m bound to say something ridiculous.”
“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Fran laughed trying to lighten the mood. The truth was, she was nervous about what the meds might do to him too. She feared anything sentimental he might tell her, and didn’t want to think about him not being consciously aware of what he was going to say. Hopefully he’ll just fall asleep in a few minutes.
“I’m serious, Fran,” Max now held her hand tightly. “I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have this week.” He held her gaze for a long moment, and Fran couldn’t hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
“You won’t,” Fran said, trying to laugh away her very obvious tears. She sat back down next to him. He let go of her hand and reached it out to her cheek to catch a tear that was rolling down her face. She reached up and held his hand there for a second, weaving her fingers through his and closing her eyes to the sensations that his hand had created inside her body. They stayed like this for a few peaceful minutes, neither one wanting to lose this loving feeling.
“Do you think you could get me some water?” Max was the first to break the silence, when all of a sudden he realized he was really thirsty. “Perhaps one in a paper cup?”
Fran smiled and slowly peeled herself away from his loving hand. She went out to the hallway to find the nurse. A woman sitting right outside Max’s room lay on a gurney groaning and gripping her stomach. Another man down the hall was begging for alcohol, and two male nurses were holding him down and injecting him with something. Fran walked over to the nurse’s station.
“Can I help you?” A distracted nurse barely glanced up from her computer screen.
“I’m um, I’m with Maxwell Sheffield in Room 9, and he’s supposed to have some glass removed from his foot, but he’s really thirsty, do you think he could have a glass of water.”
“Let me check his file, the doctor might have requested that he not have any liquids,” she pulled up his file. “Hmmm, yeah he can’t have anything, especially since he’s on an IV. The doc doesn’t want him having to urinate during the procedure.”
“Oh,” Fran said. “Well, is there any way he can just have a dropper of water, just to wet his mouth? It’s so dry.”
“Room 9, you said? We have these sponges that you can wet and put in his mouth,” the nurse said. “I’ll bring some by for him.”
“Thank you very much.”
When Fran made it back to Max’s room his eyes were half closed and he was gripping the rails of the bed. When he heard Fran come back, he opened his eyes and stared at her.
“The nurse said you can’t have any water, but you can have—“
“Here you are Mrs. Sheffield,” The nurse came in carrying a bag of what looked like sponge lollipops and a plastic cup of water. “You just dip the green sponge in the water and move it around in your mouth.” The nurse handed Fran the bag and plastic cup.
“Okie dokie…” Fran set the water down and began to rip open the package of sponges. “Here’s your desert for tonight.” Fran dipped the sponge in the water and handed Max the sponge on a stick. She watched him for a few moments as he limply held the sponge to stare at it.
“What did you say this was?” He asked, laughing at the ridiculous looking lollipop. “Didn’t I ask for water?”
“Yes, but you can’t have any water, so this is what you get.”
“But I don’t want this sponge, what I want is a cup of water,” Max was getting upset that he Fran wouldn’t just bring him a cup of water. Is she doing this to get back at me for The Thing? For the proposal? This woman is never going to let it die!
“Well, this is what you’re getting, hon, so you better grin and bare or forget about any kind of water.” With that, Fran yanked the green sponge on a stick out of his hand and stuck it in his mouth.
Max tried to resist at first, but his mouth was so dry and the went sponge felt so good. He moaned at the taste of the water, it was if he had never tasted it before and he couldn’t get enough of it. Fran took the sponge out to dip it in the cup of water again, but he grabbed her arm so she wouldn’t take the sponge away from him.
“I just need to dip it in the water to get you some more,” Fran said, pulling her arm free from his grasp. She stuck the sponge back in his mouth and couldn’t help but smiling at the boyish smile on his face. Oy, those meds have definitely kicked in, she thought.
When he was done sucking on the sponge he twisted his mouth away and Fran threw the sponge away. She went around the bed to take her seat back.
“Thank you for that,” Max said dreamily. “It tasted so good.”
Fran reached up to grab his hand and he happily grabbed hers and held it up to his mouth.
“Fran Fine, you are one fine woman,” Max said, kissing her hand sloppily and hugging her arm close to his chest. With the railing of the bed and his insistent motions, Fran’s arm was being contorted into a really uncomfortable position. She tried to shake her arm free so she could try to reposition herself, but he clung tighter to her arm.
“Can I just reposition myself for a second?” she asked, but a sad face swept over his face.
“But I don’t want to let you go, Fran,” Max said holding her even tighter. “Not now, not ever again.”
“Max, seriously, let me just put the railing down on your bed,” Fran finally shimmied her arm free. She hit the lever on his bed and began to panic as the entire bed began to roll forward. “Shit!” She held the bed back with all her strength as an alarm began to go off on Maxwell’s IV. She witnessed with horror and the needle in his arm was beginning to be pulled out from the bed moving forward.
“What the hell happened in here?” A nurse came rushing in to the room to witness Fran attempting to hold the bed from rolling and hold the needle in place in Maxwell’s arm. Max sat there in a daze groaning from the pain in his arm.
“I just hit a lever to put the railing down, and I guess I hit the wrong lever,” Fran told the nurse.
“You think?” The nurse said disgustedly under her breath as she slammed the bed back in place. The abrupt jerk of the bed made Max groan louder. The nurse then tended to his arm, readjusting the needle in his arm. “Who are you, again?” The nurse asked, eyeing Fran’s bare ring finger.
“I’m Fran Fine,” Fran sighed. “I’m…I’m…”
“She’s my fiancÈ,” Maxwell said dreamily. It was barely audible, but just loud enough for the nurse to nod and exit the room.
“Please don’t mess with the bed again.”
Fran sat back in the chair heavily as Max reached his arm over in search of Fran’s hand. She distractedly reached for it and caressed it in her hand. I knew that he would say some crazy things, but I’m not so sure I can stand for this. I can handle people for mistaking us for a married couple, but for Max in his drugged state to mistake us for engaged, well this just hurts too much.
She stared at the man laying in the bed next to her as he drifted into a heavy sleep. God, I love this man.
**
“Knock, knock,” Doctor Saulson said, coming into the room with a team of two nurses. His mouth formed into an “o” as he saw that Max was out cold. “Good, I’m glad he’s asleep, this could be a bit painful.”
“Yeah, he’s been out for about 20 minutes,” Fran said, yawning readjusting in her chair. Her hand still clung to Maxwell’s.
“Good,” the Doctor said distractedly as he waved his two assistants over to Maxwell’s foot. “You see the two pieces right there? I think there might be a third wedged behind there. Unfortunately it’s thin glass—from a drinking glass right?”
“Yeah, I dropped the glass in the dark and he walked right into my mess,” Fran said.
“Well, Deb, can you go get the table?” Doctor Saulson asked, pulling the curtain closed and putting on a fresh pair of gloves. Suddenly the small ER room felt even smaller and Fran began to feel out of place.
“Am I in anyone’s way?” Fran asked, starting to get up. Max woke up in an instant.
“Fran, please don’t go,” Max whispered, opening his eyes and looking right at her. She sat back down.
“Well, at least he knows where he is and what he wants,” Doctor Saulson said, smiling over at Fran.
“Ha, you don’t know the half of it,” Fran said under her breath. Then a worried feeling came over her. “Doc, this isn’t going to hurt him too, too bad, is it?”
“It might, but I will try to be as gentle as possible,” He said offering a sympathetic smile. “I will try to keep your husband as comfortable as possible.”
“Oh he’s not my—“
“Husband-to-be,” Max said, louder than before. His eyes were still closed. Oy, why is he insisting upon this?
“Well, congratulations future Mrs. Sheffield,” The doctor raised his medical tweezers at her as if to toast. Fran forced a smile out of her mouth, but she felt the tears starting to form behind her eyes all over again. When the doctor saw her watery eyes, he quickly became concerned. “Don’t you worry, he’s going to be just fine.”
“It’s just that—I,” tears were now rolling quickly down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I don’t mean—“ Pull it together, Francine.
“It’s okay to be worried about someone you love,” Doctor Saulson said. He peeled off one of his gloves and got up to rub her shoulder. “Seriously, he’s going to be just fine in a couple hours, don’t you worry.”
A nurse came back wheeling a whole place setting of tools and the Doctor began to pick away at Max’s foot. It made her uncomfortable feeling his entire body tense up at the contact of the doctor’s tools.
“Oh, damnit,” Max said, sitting up abruptly. “Bloody hell that hurts.”
“Maxwell, I know that this hurts, but I’m going to need to have you sit still for me, it will be over soon.”
Fran stood up to try to distract him away from the procedure.
“Fran…” He said, looking up to her and reaching his hand for her cheek. “Fran, what are they doing?”
“They’re getting the glass out of your foot Mr…Max,” she said, glancing over at the 3 working on his foot. She tried not to show how disgusted she was as the doctor removed the first shard of bloody glass from his foot.
“Why are you doing this?” Max asked. Fran didn’t know what he was referring to. She cleared her throat and continued to rub her hands up and down his arms to soothe him.
“Um, doing what?” She didn’t know what else to say. Is he wondering why I’m caressing his arm? Staying here all night? Speaking to him? Expecting things from him that he’s not capable of?
“All of it, Fran,” he had lowered his voice to a whisper and was squinting his eyes from the pain. Fran glanced at the doctor again and saw him pulling another bloody piece of glass from his foot. “All of it.”
Fran didn’t know how to answer it, because all of a sudden she began to ask herself the same question. Why do I do it? Why do I stay behind, and practically set myself up for this, this turmoil—this emotional turmoil, where he can play with my emotions and have such an incredible effect over me. That’s when she realized why she was staying behind, why she was here, right there by his side at 3 am holding his hand.
“Because no one else has such a strong effect over me,” she admitted, if only for her own personal benefit. She realized right then that even if he woke up from his morphine drip and forgot the whole thing, at least she had put it out in the universe that it was because she loved him more than anyone else.
**
“Shit,” the doctor said, breaking the silence of this emotional bubble Fran and Max found themselves in.
“Oooohhh,” Max moaned louder and louder. “Oh, damn it, what the bloody hell are you doing to me?”
“It seems that the last piece of glass in your foot was sharp enough just now to sever a tendon in your foot,” the doctor got up quickly and threw off his bloody gloves. He ran out to the hall to yell a command for surgery to one of the ER nurses in the hall. “I’m going to have to operate, damn it Maxwell, I am so sorry.”
Max was in so much pain he couldn’t even muster up a protest. All he could do was moan in reply and squeeze Fran’s hand back.
“What do you mean severed a tendon?” Fran said, raising her voice. “How can that happen? Didn’t you say it was going to be okay and simple?”
“Calm down, look I didn’t realize how sharp the glass was in there,” the doctor said getting defensive. “I’m going to bring in an anesthesiologist and get him to sleep, then get him into the OR in a few minutes.”
Fran leaned over Max to run her fingers down his cheek. His face was sweaty, probably due to the pain. He opened his eyes at the feel of her hands.
“It’s going to be okay, Max,” Fran said down to him. Just then another doctor came in.
“Maxwell Sheffield? I’m Doctor Lange, the anesthesiologist. You’re already hooked up to the IV drip, I’m going to just give you some more drugs that will make you go to sleep. We’ll have you in the OR in a few minutes.” Doctor Lange began twisting the tubes of the IV and putting new medication into the needle in his arm.
“Fran—promise me you won’t let them hurt me,” Max asked.
“Of course, I’ll do what I can.”
“Fran, I’m, I—“ Max stammered as the medication was hitting him extremely rapidly.
“Fran—I, I meant what I said earlier.” With that his eyes closed and he was out in a heavy sleep.
**
Fran held on to his hand until the very last second before they closed the doors of the Operating Room in her face. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself now. It was 3:30 am and she didn’t want to leave the hospital, but wasn’t sure where to go.
All of a sudden it dawned on her that the entire family didn’t know that they were there, and she had left the kitchen a mess with the broken glass on the floor and the kitchen lights on. She needed to call and at least wake up Niles to tell him what was going on. But when she made it back to the Emergency waiting room, she saw that it was much more crowded than it was earlier. The courtesy phone was in use by an elderly woman wrapped in a big white blanket. There’s got to be another courtesy phone in this hospital. On a quest for another phone, Fran made her way out of the Emergency waiting room down a narrow hallway and up a flight of stairs into the main entrance to the hospital. It was eerily quiet, and the lights were all dimmed.
Fran spotted a courtesy phone on the front desk by the entrance. She dialed the number and felt so bad for calling this early, but knew that she must warn her family of the news. My family, Fran laughed inside her head at her own careless remark.
“Hello?” A muffled, tired sounding Niles answered the phone on the 3rd ring.
“Niles? It’s Fran.”
“Miss Fine? Where are you? And why are you calling this early?” Fran could hear the urgency in his voice as he was quickly waking up.
“Oh, Niles. I was in my room earlier and really upset about today’s events. I was coming down the stairs to wake you up and ask you what I should do, when I decided to grab a glass of water first,” Fran said. “I had done a lot of crying last night. So I was just pouring the water when Mr. Sheffield came down the stairs in the dark and nearly scared me half to death. I ended up dropping the glass of water, and he realized that I had dropped something, so he came charging over to me—through the broken glass—and stepped on a few pieces.”
“Oh, God, that’s horrible.”
“Yeah, I know,” Fran said. “And we were here in the Emergency Room and the doctor was trying to remove the last piece of glass from his foot, when the piece got wedge deeper beneath his skin and ended up severing a tendon.”
“How could this have happened?”
“I know, really. So now he’s getting surgery, and Niles I’m so scared. I know it’s just a tendon, but I’m really worried about him.”
“Well, Miss Fine I would come over there but it’s—“
“Absolutely not, Niles. I just wanted to inform you that I left broken glass on the floor in the kitchen, I’m sorry for leaving such a mess.”
“How are you holding up? How was it sitting there with him for—how long have you been sitting there with him?”
“Almost 7 hours, and you know what Niles? I don’t want to be anywhere else but here. It’s just so frustrating, after all that happened today. He’s on morphine and the doctors said that it would make him goofy, but Niles, he’s telling everyone in the ER that we’re engaged,” Fran began to cry again. “It just…it just hurts so bad at the same time.”
“Oh, Miss Fine, I am so sorry. First thing in the morning when the children are awake I will be over there to—which hospital are you at?”
“NY Pres.”
“I’ll be over there once I get the children sent to school. Are you going to be okay?”
“Of course I will. Thank you Niles.”
“Miss Fine, you know that I’m here for you.”
Fran hung up the phone and sat in the silence of the hospital for a while. It felt so peaceful in here, such a nice contradiction to the way her mind was behaving. I wonder how long the surgery will take? And how he’ll be once he’s out?
She made her way to the white sofas by the window just to rest her head for a tiny while. It feels so good to just sit here, I’ll just close my eyes for a little while just to recharge. With that Fran lay down her head on the pillow and was asleep within seconds.
**
“Ma’am?” Fran awoke in an instant to an old woman in a red volunteer uniform poking her shoulder with her cane.
“Oh my God,” Fran said, sitting up abruptly and nearly knocking the old woman over.
“Are you all right ma’am?” The woman asked after catching her breath. “You seem to have fallen asleep last night on the couch.”
Fran looked around to see that it was daylight outside, still early morning. She couldn’t remember how she got there to the sofas, but she did remember that she was here at the hospital for Mr. Sheffield. Oy, I was supposed to be there when he got out of surgery.
“I’m, um, I’m so sorry,” Fran said. “I came in here last night to use the courtesy phone because the one in the emergency waiting room was busy, and I must have fallen asleep. You see, my…um, my fiancÈ stepped on broken glass last night and severed a tendon and he had to have surgery. Now I don’t know where to find him.”
“Come with me, I’ll look him up in the computer for you,” the woman linked her arm through Fran’s and wobbled over to the front desk with her. “Now, what did you say his last name is?”
“Sheffield,” Fran replied. “Maxwell.”
“And you are his…fiancÈ you said?” the woman eyed Fran with a little curiosity, but then scribbled down his room number on a piece of paper.
“Thank you so much,” Fran said and she was off to the 2nd floor post-surgical unit to find her faux-fiancÈ.
**
“Fran!” Maxwell nearly leapt out of bed as he saw Fran fly past his room. Max and Doctor Saulson had both been wondering where Fran had disappeared to since he came to around 5:30. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried she had left to go home and that Niles would be back in her place.
Fran immediately back tracked at the sound of his voice and saw Doctor Saulson sitting in the chair next to his bed and Max laying in bed with his foot elevated and wrapped in a giant cast.
“Max, there you are,” Fran said, gliding over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. She pulled away to stand up and have a look at his foot, but Max hadn’t quite let go of her yet. She laughed nervously until he let go, but before she turned to say hello to the doctor, she stopped to stare into his eyes for a few seconds. God, he looks gorgeous. He had a twinkle in his eye and a funny smile on his mouth.
“Well, hello doc,” Fran said, turning and acknowledging him. She then turned to his foot. The cast snaked all the way up to the middle of his calf. “And hello, giant cast.”
“Hi there, Fran,” the handsome doctor replied. “We were just sitting here wondering where you snuck off to.”
“Oh, you know, I fell asleep on the sofa in the entry way, and woke up to an old woman poking me with her cane,” Fran was relieved to see Maxwell smile. “Nothing too big.”
“Well,” Doctor Saulson said getting up to leave. “I’ll leave you two alone. Max, stay off the foot, use the crutches, call me if you need anything else. And remember what I told you. Fran, it was a pleasure.” He shook her hand and walked out the door. Fran bolted after him and made sure that they were out of hearing range for Maxwell.
“Doctor Saulson?” Fran said rushing up to him. “I can’t thank you enough for helping Mr…Max. It means a lot to me.”
“Hey, you’ve got a great guy in there. He was just telling me how much he loves you, I’m sure you two will live a long happy life together.”
“Thanks,” was all Fran could muster out. He’s not drugged up anymore, I thought. He seemed so clear headed just a few minutes ago, why is he still pushing this marriage thing?
“Fran,” Maxwell said seeing her coming back into his room. She slowly made her way back to his bed and stopped at his giant cast. She took a deep breath.
“Max, the reason I was down in the kitchen in the first place was actually because I had been up in my room since dinner crying my eyes out and needed Niles’ thoughts on what I should do,” the words were out before she had a chance to stop them. She plopped herself heavily down on the edge of Maxwell’s bed and turned slightly to face him. He instantly reached for her hands and began to laugh.
Confused, Fran got up from the bed and put her hands on her waist. “Just what is so funny?” She was done with this man playing with her emotions this way.
“Oh Fran, come sit back down,” Max said between his laughter. “Fran, the reason I was coming downstairs was to get advice from Niles about what to do with you. I had been up in my room since dinner pacing and ripping my heart out.”
Fran didn’t say anything for a long time, then began to laugh too.
“I—“
“Fran, when you left that kitchen, Niles congratulated me sarcastically for finding yet another way out of my commitment to you,” Max interrupted whatever Fran was about to say. He needed to get his story out now. “And seeing you walk away, seeing that sunken look on your face, when I knew you were just as confused as ever with me, my heart was literally torn out from my chest.”
“How do you think I felt?” Fran said, looking down at their intertwined fingers.
“I cannot even imagine how you must have felt, but what I felt was so awful I’m too afraid to find out,” Max sat up straighter in bed. “I turned to Niles in the kitchen and told him that I wasn’t so sure I wanted to get out of my commitment to you this time, but—“
“But you also weren’t, or aren’t, sure of what you want now,” Fran said sadly. She lifted her tear-filled eyes to his and the sight made her gasp. Maxwell Sheffield sat before her crying.
“But that’s just it, Fran,” Maxwell reached higher up her arms and squeezed them emphatically. “You proved to me tonight that you will stick by me for the better and the worse. You and I both felt awful sitting next to each other in the emergency room tonight. I’m sure I was last person you wanted to see, and you most certainly were the last person I wanted to see.” That made Fran smile, and he knew that she agreed. “For the past 2 hours I just rehashed our entire story—from the very beginning with you in that red dress at the top of my stairs, up until tonight—to Doctor Saulson. He told me he couldn’t understand what was keeping us apart any longer.”
Fran looked up at Maxwell, shocked by his last statement.
“He told me that any woman who stays around after 5 years of chasing me down, and even sticks around in the hospital when I’m all morphined up is one worth keeping.”
“Max, I—I love you,” Fran said. “It wasn’t until last night when you asked me why I’m still here, why I’m staying. I asked myself the same question. Nobody makes me feel the way you, Maxwell Sheffield, make me feel. And I’m afraid to find out if anyone else ever will.”
Fran inched her way all the way up the bed, and scooted in right beside Max. His arm instantly encompassed her and pulled her closer to his body, and she snuggled right in to the warmth there. She reached up to kiss him but he stopped her.
“Oh yeah, I love you too,” Max said. Max then brought his other hand up to her face, then behind her ear. Their mouths didn’t meet up right away, instead hovered delicious millimeters apart. Fran could feel Max’s hot breath scathing at her lips and it made her smile. Fran was the one who dove into Maxwell’s lips, but he met her with the same intensity. He furiously bit away at her bottom lip while Fran suckled his top lip. Maxwell then ran his tongue along Fran’s gums until she reached out her own and they both felt that electricity riot through them again.
Max’s hand slowly made its way down from Fran’s neck down her baggy sweater to her lower back. His hands were hot on her skin as he reached higher and higher up her back but felt no bra strap. A thrill went through him as he thought about the thin piece of fabric that now separated their chests. The sling that Max found his large cast elevated in made it nearly impossible for him to get comfortable with Fran. Fran tried rolling on top of him, but it caused too much discomfort for his leg. When neither could take the discomfort any longer, they both pulled away from each other, panting. Fran lay her head down on Maxwell’s hospital gown-covered chest.
“This is a nice color on you,” Fran said, breaking the sexual fog each found themselves in. “The green brings out those gorgeous eyes of yours.” Max pulled Fran closer to him.
“I’m so happy I got that damn IV out,” Max said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this.” With his once IV’d arm he traced his hand up her thigh, up to her hip, across her stomach, across her chest, up her neck, and down to her lips. His touch sent tremors up and down her body, and he knew he had turned her on once more.
Fran then took her hand and traced one finger down his cheek, down his neck, down his stomach and stopped at the top of his pajama pants. She slowly dipped her hand below the elastic, and Max could feel himself instantly aroused. Fran turned to look up at him, and continued her hands-on exploration of his pajama bottoms.
Suddenly Max realized that they were in a hospital, that a nurse could come into his room in any second, and second of all his door was wide open. This foot is also slung awkwardly in this giant sling old man, don’t forget about that. Max slowly leaned over to Fran’s ear and nibbled on it. Tell her to stop, you can’t make love in a hospital.
“Fran, mmmm….”
“Yes, Max,” her hand movements were now more demanding, and she was making it very clear of her intentions.
“Fran, I—We—can’t, we can’t, not here—“ Max stammered out the unconvincing words as he was getting closer to his point of no return.
“You think two people have never had sex in the hospital before?” Fran asked, continuing her torturous hand movements. “I’ll close the door if you’d like…” And with that Fran was off the bed and about to close the door when much to Fran’s dismay she heard an all too familiar chorus of children followed by the butler coming towards her. She turned quickly to Max to have him hide his very obvious arousal.
“The kids are here,” Fran said quickly and stood at the door as each one crashed into her waist.
“Fran! Is Daddy okay?” Gracie asked with a worried expression.
“Gracie, sweetie, go ask him.” Fran watched with pure delight as one by one his children piled around the bed to hug their dad. She saw the joy in his eyes as he reassured them everything was all right.
“And how’s my favorite couple doing?” Niles asked in a low whisper behind Fran. She turned to give him a hug and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Niles, it couldn’t be better,” Fran said with a smile and the two walked over to join the rest of the family on the hospital bed.
**
“Okay, sweetie, listen to what Niles has to say to you, and you can call us later if you’d like,” Fran said waving goodbye to the kids and Niles as they headed towards the elevator. Fran turned around to face Max and saw his eyes roaming all around her. She slowly closed the door behind her and walked slowly over to the bed.
“Fran, I don’t think here is the right place for this,” Max said nervously as Fran climbed back into the place she had been in bed with him earlier. Fran didn’t say anything, but instead reached over his chest to retrieve the remote control to the TV. She flipped it on, then lay her head down against his chest.
“I know that,” Fran said. “I just want to know what it feels like snuggling and waking up in the arms of the man that I love.”
Max reached his head down to her hair and gave her a soft kiss on the top of the head.
“And besides, I have to have something besides the rest of our lives to look forward to when you come home tomorrow.”
Max lay there with his fingers running up and down her back for a long while after her breath evened out on his chest and he knew she had fallen asleep. A solitary tear ran down his cheek as he realized it had been so long that he had had a woman in bed with him. Another one fell as he realized it hadn’t been since Sarah that he had been in the arms of someone he loved more than anyone.
The End
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