A/N: Final chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. Gave me incentive to actually finish it. Enjoy ^_^

~*~

"You know do I really ask for much? An all night buffet, earrings that make my waist look slim, a friend who doesn't hide from me in a woman's dressing room!"

Niles looks down at his shoes almost sheepishly. Fran has spent the past hour trying to have a serious conversation with him, but every time she so much as mentioned a female pronoun she found herself talking to a clothes rack or a leering shopper. She didn't want to give him a play by play, just work out some of the feelings she was having. Her and Val never really made up all the way, she dreaded talking about it to ma and Niles has always been there for her.

Sighing she turns away from him, wandering into another shop and dulling her hurt with a few pairs of strapless shoes and the drama surrounding her nail lady Kimi and the shampoo boy. By the time she exits the mall with only four measly bags Niles is outside, leaning against the town car, fiddling with his cuffs.

"Need a lift?"

"No." she sniffs, lifting her nose high into the air

"Oh come no, Ms. Fine, I'm sorry for acting the adolescent. I'm sure you can understand how much of a surprise this is."

"Yeah, well how do you think I feel? I go out with a gorgeous, funny successful blonde and wake up to-"

"C.C. Babcock?"

He regrets the words immediately as Fran swallows hard, letting out a deep breath, her voice eerily even when she speaks, "Forget it Niles. It's obvious your…vendetta against C.C. is more important than what I'm going through.."

"Ms. Fine-"

"No." she bites on her lower lip, her indifference breaking momentarily, "I thought we were friends, no matter what."

She walks past him, her bags swaying as she hails a cab.

~*~

C.C. has just decided on an impromptu lunch break when Fran walks in through the door, unusually droopy for having been shopping. The blonde changes her direction, not at all worried at the smile that unwillingly crosses her face upon seeing the other woman,

"Why on earth are you carrying those things? Isn't that what the help is for?"

"Really? Who knew."

"Fran are you alright?"

The Nanny nods, dropping the bags down onto the couch and moving towards the kitchen for her usual source of comfort. C.C. however follows behind her, oblivious to nothing, but the source of her bad mood. When Fran turns around she finds herself trapped between the refrigerator and her new friend, a lean cuisine pressed to her chest like a book.

"Did Niles do something? I knew that little rat looked guilty when he came in, running errands my ass, did he just leave you there?"

"Not really," Fran is finding it a little difficult to breath with them this close, the sudden fire in C.C.'s eyes bringing back memories entirely decidedly notappropriate for their conversation, "I left him."

"Why? What did he say? What did he do? I will end him."

"You know I'd really take that to heart if you didn't say this exact same thing at least once a week."

C.C. pinches her, not hard but hard enough, "Tell me."

"This isn't really how I wanted to-"

"Nanny-"

"I thought I'd wait until it was over dinner or-"

"-Fine!"

"What?!" Her shoulders tensed as she ground herself against the fridge and away from C.C.'s touch, "Me-and-you-had-sex-that-night-at-La-Russus-and-Niles-wouldn't-listen-to-my-feelings-about-it-and-insulted-you, THERE."

She closes her eyes, anticipating a slap or a scream or a…anything that would signify the other woman heard her. When she opens her eyes C.C. is gone.

"Well…nuts."

~*~

I slept with a woman. NO! I slept with a Fran. I slept with Maxwell Sheffield's nanny. Oh god I slept with someone whose from Queens!

C.C. makes herself another drink. On her way back home memories had started coming back. She focused on the scenes from the movie and realized that it wasn't a movie, finding the remains of her Levithan statue beneath her bed when she looked. Chester barking, Fran giggling as C.C. bit the sweet spot just under her jaw line, the image of dark hair at her waist….

Her forehead thuds against her bar's counter. Said dog is on the stool next to her, eating peanuts out of a small dish and growling when her hand happens to get too close. Because the worst part of it is that she doesn't even mind the fact that she slept with a woman, after all she went to an all girl's boarding school and the men she was attracted to were effeminate dancers, it was hardly a leap.

It was the fact of which woman she'd slept with. If Niles was her arch nemesis than Fran was his assistant, there wasn't any real hate just animosity for being on the opposite side. The world Vs. C.C. and she'd been positive which side Fran belonged to.

But…Fran hadn't liked when Niles insulted her. And what she could remember of their night at La Russus had been and the days before had been at the very least entertaining. Their rivalry over Max was becoming more like an ongoing joke more than anything and….

"I've lost my mind." She looks at Chester, "C.C. Babcock has lost her mind."

The Pomeranian tilts his head and leans over to lick her hand briefly. She snorts and pushes him off the stool.

~*~

Maxwell comes back. It's not exactly a shock, but somehow it is. C.C. thought she'd have solved the situation with Fran by that point; she'd only succeeded in the art of avoiding five people who stayed under the same roof. She mostly accomplished it by locking the door the Maxwell's office and listening in on the intercoms for everyone's position before exiting it. On her way to and from she often passed one of the children but for the most part Niles stayed in his room unless he was called and the children suddenly found themselves the object of Fran's obsession. She took to them to movies and shopping but also to her mother's and temple which were less enjoyable experiences.

"Hello all!" Maxwell boomed, grin indicating that things with the will had worked out marvelously, "How have things been going."

"Very well, sir."

"Great," Fran chirped

"Nothing strange at all."

Maxwell's grin disappears, "Oh God what on earth happened? Did something burn down?" Niles shakes his head, "Did you scare away a star client?" Fran holds up her hands, "Is the production a complete mess?"

C.C. rolls her eyes, "Of course not, it's going on swimmingly as you know. I've been faxing you updates almost on the hour."

His eyebrow refuses to lower however as he walks past all of them, "I'm going to do a thorough inspection of this house and a check up with all my clients. Something is going on around here."

When he's left the room Niles levels a loaded glance at the two women before retreating back to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"Well…"

"Well…"

"I guess I'll be leaving."

Fran's hand shoots out, grabbing C.C. by the wrist, "Wait a minute. Now I know you think I'm just some two bit floozy-"

"Yes."

Fran glares, "but that night we shared was ya know, sort of special. You were nice and didn't act like I was just the help moving in on your territory."

C.C. sighs, "Oh please, I never said I had any claim on Maxwell."

"Exactly. But you could have one on me." She goes red, but at least C.C. knows what for this time, "I mean…if you wanted it. All I know is that I had a great time with you and really ma just wants me to get married and in some states that's legal not that we'd ever go that far I'm just judging our relationship based on the great sex and girl talk, but"

"Nanny Fine." the other woman growls

"OKAY! What I'm trying to say is for now we could just be the sort of friends who hit on men then go home and hit on each other for a bit." she frowns, "Wait."

"Fine."

"What? That came out alright didn't it?"

"No, I mean 'fine', okay."

"Okay, okay?"

"Yes."

They stare at one another for a long moment. C.C.'s arms still at her sides looking everywhere that isn't at Fran; and Fran toying with her fingers absently, a small smile threatening to turn at any moment into a full on a squeal.

"For obvious reasons I insist you stop hanging out with the Butler."

Her further demands are drowned out by the distraction of Fran's lips pressed against hers.

~*~

"Something is going on." Maxwell insists, "Where in God's bloody blazes is that nanny?"

Niles follows behind his employer dutifully, "I truly think now is not the time to be looking for Ms. Fine."

"Why the hell not?" He mutters, pushing open another door and cursing his multi-roomed home, "She's always behind of it. The woman lives to make trouble where trouble doesn't exist. She's like a bloody -" he opens the door to the cellar, "magician."

C.C. is leaning against the smooth side of a wine rack with Fran in her arms, fingers undoing the zipper of the nanny's metallic pencil skirt while her mouth is attached to her neck. Maxwell's eyes bulge as Niles leans close

"Abracadabra sir."

Fin