hello hello, it's me jafry and i finished my next story. it's no christmas story but i hope everyone will enjoy it nevertheless. there are some time-paradoxical. the clan is still in N.Y. and the kids are to old. but so works fanfiction

Happiness

by

Jafry
(Jafry D@aol.com)

It had been a very hard day for C.C. . She had spent the whole day at the theater, working on the last production of Sheffield/Babcock Productions in N.Y.. She was exhausted and her back was hurting like hell. But she couldn't go home before she would met her wonderful husband. Niles had had a fight with Maxwell yesterday and he had preferred to leave the house early on his free day. Since they were all getting ready to head to California, everyone was irritable, especially the men in the family. They were fighting very often these days. It started as she and Niles had decided to buy their own house in L. A. Fran had mentioned that maybe they panicked inside by the thought of living separated from one another. They had lived together the better part of their lifes.

C.C. couldn't imagine that and she had asked both. They had assured her that this would be no problem.

Of course they said no, Fran had said. Their were men, british men. Stubborn and unable to express their feelings but they would miss each other terribly. Doesn't matter what they had said. They were like brothers. C.C. had thought a second time about it and recognized that Fran was right. Maybe they should share a house together. "Wow, what a weird thought" she stated out loud as she entered the Sheffield mansion. She was welcomed by the two little twins of Fran and Max. They hugged her delightfully and though she felt a bit uneasy hugged back. She had lighten up a lot since Niles had made her pregnant. You little trollop, she thought with an evil smile. She will pay back - tonight.

It was then that she realized that Jonah and Eve asked her something and were very excited about it.

"Aunt C.C., aunt C.C.. Please help us. We want to know, what is HAPPINESS?"

"Why do you want to know that?" she asked with a confused look.

"Mum and uncle Niles mention that every day about you and Dad."

"They do?"

"Dad makes Mum very happy and you uncle Niles."

That flattered C.C.. She was guided into the living-room and the twins made her sit down.

"Now spill!" Jonah ordered impatiently. Eve looked at her with big eyes, ready to devour the secret.

"That's not so easy to answer. I mean, a lot of things can make you happy."

The twins were not satisfied with this. "What makes you happy?"

"Niles, of course." She smiled and rubbed her obvious belly.

"Oh, we know that. Give us another example."

"Hey you two. Stop torturing C.C." A unique voice cut in.

C.C. didn't need to turn. "Hello Fran."

"Hey sweety. Ya look exhausted. Another hard day at the theater, hm?"

"You have no idea. These stupid, conceited actors. I gave them such hell." She said in an upset tone.

"Poor boys." Fran mumbled under her breath. "Follow me in the kitchen and I'll make ya and your little girl a huge bowl of ice-cream."

"Don't let Niles here that!"

"What? 'Your little girl' or 'huge bowl of ice-cream'?"

"Both."

They chuckled but Eve interrupted them. "She can't go with you, Mum. We asked her a very important question. And we need the answer." She was begging.

"I overheard you and your brother but C.C. is tired and hungry. She needs to rest. Go and ask your father."

With this the two kids were off to bother their busy Dad.

"Do you think it's a good idea to let them disturb Max?" C.C. asked, knowing that Max was hard to handle the last few days.

"If they asked him with their puppy dog eyes they inherited from me, he won't be able to resist. Believe me, I practice this tactic every time he is too exhausted to fulfill his husband duties." She smirked. "Not that it happen often" she added seductively and cuffed C.C. in her arm.

They entered the kitchen the same moment as Niles through the back door. C.C. rushed over to him. She didn't give him time to drop the bags he carried in hands.

"Oh, I missed you so much during the day, especially this morning. I wanted to share a shower with my bell-boy." She had whispered the last sentence in Niles ear and breathed seductively at it.

Niles tried to balance with the bags and gave his wife a proper welcome at the same time. "Yeah, I can feel how much you missed me... literally. As you bumped into me the milk splashed and is now running down my pants." He said with an uncomfortable smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here let me help you." She took the bags out of his arms and placed them on the table. "I will clean it." She took a dry rot and went to approach Niles. But he noticed her devilish grin. He backed off immediately: "Give me that. You won't get near my amusement-center!"

"Last night you couldn't get enough of me near your 'amusement-center'" she hinted.

Fran cut in: "Oh, please. Will you two stop that. Carry out that conversation when no one is around to hear."

They chuckled. It was difficult to make Fran feel uneasy in her own home. They smiled at her.

"What you're doing?" Niles asked as Fran fumbled with the intercom.

"I want to hear the conversation with Max and the twins."

"You still spy on Max -- your own husband?" Niles joked.

"Of course. I was a Yenta for far too long. Old habits." She stopped and listened. They heard Max's voice.

"Happiness?! How shall I explain that?"

Niles interrupted their eavesdropping. "You want that 'Mr.-I-am-never-satisfied' to explain to your cildren happiness?! You're kidding ."

Fran slapped Niles on his shoulder. "Hey, he is a very happy man. In any case, since he's married me that is. And I think his former life was not the worst. I mean he's a millionaire and has been for long time now."

"Money is not everything, Fran" C.C. commented.

Niles turned in disbelief. "And this from the material girl herself." He earned another slap on his shoulder, this time from his wife.

"Next time I will hit a more touchy spot!" she assured him. She earned a meaningful look from Fran.

They all concentrated now at the conversation in the office. The twins seemed to sit on Max's lap, because like normal they were fighting for the best position on his thighs.

"Sit on your side of the leg, Jonah-the-trollop. You will come over here and push me down."

"Clever girl, Mrs. Bright." Jonah returned.

Fran sighed meaningfully: "This insults. I would like to know, where they picked them up."

"There is enough room for you both. You have to sit still." Maxwell calmed them. "O.k. then. There is an easy answer of your question." Max paused dramatically.

The twins, impatiently: "Yes?"

"You and you" he pointed to them "...and your Mum and your siblings." He proudly stated. "Now, let me get back to work."

"No way, Dad. We asked everyone in this house. Mum says you, Niles says C.C. and opposite. Maggie says Michael, B says Claire and even Grace says Phillip. That's not what we want to know. Try again."

Max asked absentmindedly: "Phillip? What Phillip? And why didn't I meet him?"

"Dad, you changed the subject." Eve admonished him.

"What makes you happy as you were young?" Jonah asked. His Dad didn't talk much about his childhood. Sometimes Niles told them some stories.

"Bad idea, boy." mentioned Niles. "His childhood was everything but happy, let alone warm and lovely."

Everyone sighed in sympathy. They knew about Max's youth. C.C. sighed the most. She had a hard childhood, too. Niles comforted her with a passionate thorough comforting kiss.

"Something happy about my childhood, hm. Maybe ... Are you sure the door is closed?" The twins nodded yes. "I will tell you something, but it has to be a secret. So don't tell anybody!" Their father said suspiciously.

"Not even Mum?" both twins asked enthusiastically.

Their father smiled. "Nope!" he whispered.

"That makes one secret for you and sixteen for Mum. You will catch up someday, Dad."

"I think, I have to have a serious conversation with Fran again." Max said to no one particular.

Fran made a face. She didn't like the way this conversation was taking. C.C. and Niles had to smile. Marriage didn't change any of them.

"Tell us, now. Tell us." Jonah and Eve encouraged their father.

There was a long pause and then the three spies in the kitchen couldn't believe their ears. Maxwell started singing.

"Oh Happiness is two kinds of ice-cream,
finding your scape-key, turning the time.
And Happiness is learning to whistle,
tying your shoes for the very first time.
Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band.
And happiness is walking hand in hand."

Fran listened to the song and remembered the day her and Max had been on their honeymoon and had been walking hand in hand down the romantic beach with the sun going down completely absorbed in the presence of each other.

"And Happiness is five different crayons,
knowing a secret and climbing a tree."

Niles listened, too and he remembered the days where he had been like Max's older brother. Where he had shown him all secrets of the world and how to climb a tree. He could see the image again as Max proudly had poised on his first tree.

"Oh Happiness is finding a nickel,
catching the fire-fly, setting it free.
And Happiness is being alone every now and then.
And Happiness is coming home again.

He hummed the melody with his two youngest kids then continued to sing:

"And happiness is singing together when the day is through.
And Happiness is thoughts who sing with you."

C.C. remembered the day as their first show on Broadway had had it's premiere and was immediately a success. After the show had finished they had delightfully danced down the street through the night till dawn.

"And Happiness is morning and evening,
daytime and nighttime, too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all.
That is love by you."

They hummed one more time and then they ended.

In the kitchen there were three sobbing friends in each other's arms.

"I don't want you two to live in an house other then ours." Fran whined. "I would miss you terribly and so Max."

"We would miss you two, as well."

In the office father and children were listening to the voices through the intercom.

"They spied on us, Dad." Eve whispered lightly shocked.

"One very important rule. If your Mum or uncle Niles or both live with you, don't trust doors or walls. Expect them everywhere!" He kissed his kids good night and sent them upstairs.

"Will you come and say good-night?" They turned around and smiled brightly.

"Of course, I will. But first Mum and I have to decide in which part of the new house aunt C.C. and uncle Niles will live."

Back to Fan Fiction

Back to The Really Unofficial Nanny Home Page