Oy, hey guys. This is my first story and I really don't know if it is that brilliant. I read all the Max&Fran stories and most of them were really sooo romantic and I'm sure mine is not as good as the ones I read. Well, hope ya'll like it nevertheless. Please tell me what you think about it. Ah and yeah, I don't own the Nanny. This is only a story from a fan for fans. And before I forget… this story takes place some time after "The Morning After". Have fun! :)

Anywhere But Here

by

Rebby
(nannyrebby@yahoo.de)

"Rain... peeeerfect.." said Fran to Niles while looking out the window.

The rain reflected the feeling Fran was carrying with her the whole morning. This time it was enough. First he wanted her in London, then he took it back and when they were in the hospital to visit Niles they had something going on… Fran thought now everything would change but after the thing last night she noticed nothing had changed… She couldn’t stand this anymore. After doing the kitchen he kissed her and everything seemed to calm down, but her feelings were only a game for him. Didn’t he know how much she loves him? How much he hurt her? All these years for nothing? Of course she felt attracted to him over these four years but since he said and took back The Thing, she has known how much she really feels for that British cold fish…

*****

After finishing the 4^th Chapter of "Frankenstein’s little monsters", Fran gave Gracie a kiss on the cheek and said good night to the little girl.

"And I hope you know that you’re my favorite nine-year old lil’ mouse!" Fran smiled.

"Yes… thanks Fran. I love you." Gracie said.

"Love ya more… night Sweetie!" Fran turned the lights off, closed the door and went to her room to get ready for bed.

At 4:00 am in the morning she woke up. She rubbed her eyes and smiled ‘Oy, I had that dream again.’ She loved to wake up after dreaming about Mr. Sheffield. It was always something special for her and so romantic that she wished it would come true one day. She smiled again… ‘Oy, fine, but now I can’t sleep anymore…and somehow I do not even regret it’. She sighed, smiled, stood up, thought for a minute what she would do, now she can’t sleep anymore and decided to go down the backstairs to the kitchen "Eating always helped you" she said to herself. She opened the refrigerator and took a piece of that really gorgeous cake Niles had made in the afternoon out of it.

Only two rooms further, about the same time, Maxwell noticed he had fallen asleep in his office. There he was, back-leaned in his green chair, with his legs crossed on the desk and a contract on his chest. It was a pity he woke up because since he had this thing going on with Miss Fine in the hospital he hasn’t been able to dream about something else than her. He sighed and took the photo of her and the kids from the cruise last year. "You know, I am 100% sure that I love you with all my heart and soul. I just need some more time… I have to find out where the right place is and… I need to know the right time to tell you, too." he whispered. Then he put on his glasses to see what time it was. ‘Uah… it’s 4:00 am already’ he thought and stood up, turned the lights off, closed the door and went straight to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Oh, Miss Fine? You’re still up?" Max came in and felt embarrassed, although he knew she hadn’t heard what he just said in his office.

"Oh hi’ya Mr. Sheffield. I couldn’t sleep anymore so I went down to eat something… and why are you still up?" Fran smiled and thought about her dream again. She liked seeing her boss with this tiny eyes and his hair not like it used to be. ‘Oyyy… he looks so cute’…

"Oh, well you know… I had fallen asleep in my office. I guess a little bit too much work today" he said and looked at her. He noticed she was only wearing a t-shirt and some kind of shorts. He’d never seen her like that before. ‘Oh what would I do for just one kiss’ he thought, remembering his dream again. ‘You can’t kiss her you fool. Think about what you just "told" her in your office, it would become much worse than it is already’ the one side of his said, but the other one thought ‘Oh what the hell, it’s just a kiss’ He stared at her like there was nothing else in this room. He watched her eating and didn’t notice she was talking to him.

"Mr. Sheffield? Earth to Mr. Sheffield? s’anything wrong?" he heard that familiar voice of her asking. "Oh… well, erm, no, actually not. Just wanted to get something to drink" he shyly said.

‘Suuure’ she thought and didn’t miss that he had stared at her for about 2 minutes. She wondered what he was thinking. ‘Oy, I should stop eating… one never knows what could happen within the next 5 minutes…’ So Fran took the rest of the cake to put it back into the refrigerator.

"Miss Fine?" he softly said. She turned around, their eyes locked. "Yeah? Mr. Sheffield?" she slowly said. ‘Oh my god, I should think about these things more often’ "Would you mind… giving me the orange juice?" he questioned. "Ohh, suure" she said in an unhappy voice and handed him the orange juice. "Miss Fine?" he said again. "What?" she answered kinda sick of this. "May I kiss you?" he smiled. ‘Did I think loud?’ she wondered…"Well.." she began "… I guess it’s.." but there he was, already starting to kiss her arms, her shoulder, her neck and her cheek. "Mr. Sheffield?..." Fran was really surprised about his reaction. "Yes? Miss Fine?" he murmured. Then he looked her straight in the eyes. Max counted "three… two… one" leaned over, stroke her cheek and gave her the most passionate kiss since… well, she has never been kissed like that before! His arms went down from her cheek and her shoulder to her waist and up again. It seemed as both of them would really enjoy it. Max just couldn’t resist. She looked so adorable. But after some time he remembered the sentence he just had "said" to her in the office and realized that this would certainly neither be the right place nor the right time to DO it. So he tried to explain…

"Miss Fine… I..I am deeply sorry for… well, you know… this. I really regret what I was going to do here… no, I mean, I don’t regret it… it’s just …with you… and… the time and the place… just...wrong" he almost whispered the word "wrong"!

Fran looked at him in an angry and disappointed way. "Oy fine, you’re playing ping-pong with my feelings again, don’t you? And what do you think is the right place or the right time, huh? I’m sick of you’re game. Lemme know when you need me for another one and by the way… thank you very much!" She almost shouted at him and went upstairs to her room.

Max felt really sorry. ‘You’re such a bloody idiot!’ he thought. Why couldn’t she understand that he’s afraid of doing something wrong again? And now? He has done something wrong again. It was just, she looked so pretty and natural and the stronger side of him won. But like the weak side said  it made everything worse than it was before. He just wished he could talk to her in the morning...

*****

"Niles, can you do me a favor?" Fran asked her best friend.

"Sure, Miss Fine… what is it?" he asked a little bit confused.

"I’ll tell ya something and ya have to swear ya won’t tell anybody, well except of the children, and after that you have to help me with my luggage. I know you had a heartattack but I can’t ask Mr. Sheffield…"

"But Miss Fine why your lugga..," she interrupted him. "You’ll know why in about two minutes just listen…," she told him what had happened the last night and that she just couldn’t stand it anymore. She asked him to help her with carrying her luggage out the house to the cab which would bring her to her mother’s to Flushing.

"You’re such a doll, Niles. Thank you sooo much!" she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Niles looked really unhappy. "Oh, come on… don’t be saaad, I just need some time off… and you can come to visit me anytime you want to… it’s just you know… right now, I wanna be anywhere but here and maybe he realizes how much he needs and feels for me when I’m gone… and you know what they say ‘Time is a great healer’…," there she was again: thinking about him, she said nothing for quite a while; then she sighed and smiled, "Ah and please tell the kids they can call me at my mother’s house…"

Niles also gave her a kiss and a big hug, "Yes, Miss Fine. I’ll miss you. The children will miss you… and he’d miss you if he, well…" he smiled. "Are you really sure I should not tell him?"

"Yeah… if he really cares about me, he’ll notice it... let’s give him a week." she winked at him and smiled. "See ya, bye Niles."

*****

When Fran arrived in Flushing she went into the house but didn’t ring the door bell. Instead of that she sat down on the floor in front of the apartment... just to think about some things.... It was the first time since a really long time she wouldn’t see Maxwell and the kids all day. She would really miss them… yeah, and she would miss him! But going on like this forever wasn’t really what Fran wanted to do so it was the right decision to take some time off. Maybe he would also think about his feelings for her and finally say the three most important words.

"Fraaan, I guess this means I’ll have to wait much longer than I’ve planed to see a wedding ring on ya finger, right?" Sylvia said. Somehow she knew her daughter was sitting in front of their apartment and opened the door.

"I’m happy to see ya, too, Ma!" Fran smiled and gave her a big hug. "Can I stay here some time, Ma? I need to think some things over…"

"Of course, Sweetie. But would you mind telling me later? Your father and I wanted to go to the new self-service restaurant near Benny’s…," she questioned while putting on her coat and hat.

"No, Ma… go with god but go!" she smiled and thought ‘typical’ and almost whispered the last part. "What was that?" Sylvia asked. "Nothing… nothing… I just said I’ll talk with god!" she shyly answered. "Well, anyway… bye Frannie, see ya later… MORTY… hurry up!" she cried.

 *****

Fran took her things and went to her old room. It looked like it used to for about 5 years ago when she moved from her mother’s to the Sheffields’. Her old bed, the TV, her pillows, the John Travolta poster, all the cupboards and her closet. She wasn’t used to have such a little one, her closet at the Sheffields’ was much bigger. But somehow she managed to get all of her clothes into it.

Although she knew it wouldn’t be forever she took some pics of her favorite people, the kids, Niles, also little Chester with her which she searched to place them on her cupboard … but instead of them she found one of Maxwell. It was the one she had taken when the two of them were in Paris. He smiled and it seemed as he would really enjoy smiling at her. She kissed her fingertip and put it on his mouth. She looked at him for quite a while but then went on with searching for the other ones. While searching she found a CD of K.D. Lang… she put the CD into her CD player and listened to "Anywhere but here"… the first song of her new album. She laid on her bed and while listening she remembered all the kisses the both of them had shared, the sweet moments, the sad ones and started to really miss him. She was in tears, but this time he had really kinda broke her heart. Not that much but she could feel a little crack…

Her thinking was interrupted by the ringing telephone...

"Hello?"

"Hi Fran!"

"Oh, hi Val! How did you know I am here?" Fran asked.

"Well,  I tried to call ya, but Niles told me you moved back to your mother's so I thought ok, let's talk to her she might have a problem..."

"Oh, Sweetie, that's so nice of you..."

"I've got ice cream and chocolate chips... i'll come over, k?"

"Oh thanks... I could really need to talk to someone else than myself...," Fran smiled.

"See ya in five minutes, bye Fran!" and Val hung up the receiver. As Val told Fran on the phone she was there in five minutes. They sat on Fran's bed and talked about god and the world... but mostly, about Fran's prob... Maxwell Sheffield!

"Oh Val, what would I give to be in his arms right now," Fran slowly said. "You know... this guy is so handsome, he’s rich and the perfect gentleman. My prince I’ve always dreamed of. But somehow...," she paused "He doesn’t want me to be his princess… it’s so weird. He told me that he loved me and then he took it back. We kissed hundreds of times and nothing happens? And then last night… I exploded when he took back that thing, too. He was so cute, he asked to kiss me… only a gentleman does, you know… but I think I interpreted the situation wrong again. I'm just a toy for him... and I deserve better, don't you think?"

"Oh Fran... I think he loves you, he's only too shy and most of all too afraid to admit his feelings to you. I mean, the thing in the kitchen showed us how much you are turning him on with only being in the same room like him" Val explained.

"Val...," Fran gave her a surprised look "I'm proud of ya, this was a clever answer! Maybe ya right... but I am not ready to forgive him..." Fran gave her a hug.

"That's understandable... wanna have some more chocolate chips?" Val and Fran continued to talk until Morty and Sylvia came home. Fran told the whole story once again and talked with her mother...

 *****

The Sheffield house was kinda quiet. Everybody knew already that Fran was gone except of Maxwell. Because he didn't have breakfast that morning he wasn't able to know yet. At 6:30 pm it was dinner time. He came into the dining room, realizing everyone was there, except of his favorite nanny, erm… his children’s nanny! "Niles? Didn’t you tell her dinner is ready?", he asked. He saw the sad faces of his children and somehow he could feel something was wrong!

"Well, Sir, I thought it isn’t necessary anymore…" Niles said and watched his boss curiously waiting for his reaction.

Max didn’t really get it. "Why? Niles? What is it?", Niles just shook his head. "Oh, sir, follow me…," he went through the swinging door into the kitchen, right behind him, Maxwell.

"Niles, can you please tell me now what happened?" Niles flashed him an angry look.

"Sir, actually you should know!"

Maxwell thought for a second and then remembered "Oh, last night, huh? Actually I wanted to talk to her about it today... I'll go and see what I can do..." 

Max wanted to go upstairs but Niles stopped him. "Sir, Miss Fine left…" Niles saw Maxwell’s face fall down… "What? What did you say? How? I mean, where? Where is she?" He couldn’t believe she was gone. It was like hell for him. He didn’t even tell her what he feels for her, how much she means to him. But when Niles began to explain he calmed down a little.

"She couldn’t stand it anymore. So, actually I promised not to tell ya, she went to her mother’s to think some things over."

Max sighed, "Oh, Niles… what shall I do?"

Niles just said "Think about something REALLY good this time. It’s not as easy as it was in the past, Sir. You really hurt her!"

"Do I look stupid? I know I hurt her, Niles! But I am afraid of doing something wrong. But I guess with taking it back I did something wrong again…"

Niles only said, "Yap.. and not only with taking back the thing last night" and went into the dining room again.

*****

Maxwell thought about how to get her back again the whole night. He hadn’t slept much and was excited if she liked his first little surprise. He knew it wasn’t really something special but for the beginning it was good enough.
Breakfast the next morning was as quiet as dinner the day before. Everybody missed Fran, she used to do the small talk. The first surprise Max managed to organize early in the morning - some flowers for Fran! Max wasn’t able to eat much that morning so he excused himself and went to his office to plan the next surprise for her. Of course, the children didn’t miss the situation between their dad and Fran. They wanted to try everything to get the two of them finally together. After breakfast they searched in their rooms for some stuff which could be useful for their plan. About lunch time it seemed as Grace had found something really important.

"Hey, I found this video tape in my room…," she told her siblings when she entered the living room. "Wanna have a look?" she asked although she knew it was obvious they wanted to. The video tape showed an event which Brighton taped. About one year ago he used to tape everything which could be useful for his project to win the first prize on that contest…

What the video tape showed:

"Oh B, really nice of you to tape my first date with Richard…" Miss Fine, dressed as pretty as always, was really excited about her first date with that handsome lawyer she met two days ago. "How do I look?" she asked "her" family… everyone was there, Gracie, Maggie, Brighton, Niles and even Maxwell to share the big event with her. "Perfect," they all said at the same time.

It was already 7:40 pm and Richard wanted to pick up Fran at 7:30… "Oh goood… why isn’t he coming?" she said with a sad voice. Then she almost started to cry, "That’s typical… I met this gorgeous guy, who's rich and handsome and a lawyer... and now: he isn’t coming… that’s exactly my life…" She now was in tears.

"Sir, I guess this is your chance. She’s really unhappy and sad. You have to do something…," Niles whispered.

"I know Niles. That fool… how could somebody forget to take out such an adorable woman… I’ll go upstairs to get ready for taking her out tonight…," he said and jumped up the stairs.

When Maxwell was ready Niles announced him to Fran..., "Miss Fine… you’ve no longer a reason to be sad, here is your hero who…. huh? What happened?" But about the same time Max got ready upstairs to take her out, by the way he looked absolutely gorgeous in his black suit, Richard arrived to pick up Fran. His cab got into a traffic jam which was the reason for his delay. Fran laughed and happily cried "Byyyyeee…," but they all could see the hurt look in Maxwell’s face.

"Brighton, stop taping..," Maggie asked her brother. "Yeah… but I don’t find the right button..,"

"The red one…," Niles said. "Which one?" Brighton asked hysterically. "The button… the button…" was the last thing which was on the tape.

Now they remembered the thing again. They were so sorry and Max was so down to see Fran smiling and running and slamming the door. But both, Maggie and Brighton, agreed when Gracie asked, "Do you think this will help to get them together?"

"Yeah… that’s brilliant. Fran will forgive him everything when she sees what he did or actually wanted to do for her." Maggie happily said.

"Then let’s go visit her…," Brighton cried….

*****

Fran woke up at 10:30 am that morning and didn’t feel any better than the day before. Talking with Val and her mother was good but she had to think about Maxwell and the thing in the kitchen again and again. When she heard a knock on the door Sylvia came in with red roses…

"Morning Fran, they are for you." she handed her the red roses, "I guess they're from ya little "take it back-" guy." Sylvia grinned. She tried to cheer  Fran up with a joke.

"Oh, Maaaa... they are wonderful..." Fran smiled. "But you know, roses... it's not that special, is it?" Fran's face fell down.

"Oh Fran, come on. Why do you always expect such special things? ... I do know Mr. Sheffield really well and I could bet it's not the only thing he is "planning" to get ya back...," Sylvia told her daughter, Fran didn't know that Sylvia got a call from Max that morning to tell her one special thing he was going to plan.

"Feeling a little bit better?" Sylvia asked.

"Yeah, Ma... it's sweet... thanks!"

"Good, then come on... breakfast's ready!" Sylvia said and left the room.

*****

After having lunch Fran went back to her room and although it was really sweet of Max to send her some flowers, she wasn’t ready to forgive him yet and was sad and had tears in her eyes again. She sat cuddled and covered with a blanket in her armchair next to the window! Suddenly she heard a knock on the door and said, "Come in?". It was Sylvia who came in with a piece of cake to give it to her daughter. "Fran, your dessert… how ya doin?"

"Well, Ma, thanks for the cake but I’m not feeling any better."

Sylvia, who got a call from Max again five minutes ago asked "Music?" Fran said a little bit confused "Yes..." And Sylvia turned the radio on…

They played "With or without you" from U2. Fran looked at her mother. She swallowed and looked out the window. Then she picked up the receiver and dialed a number. Sylvia just smiled… of course, Max was listening too and he wished she would forgive him. But after some time the song was interrupted by this female voice again…

Max just hit his head against the pillow and was more in despair than before. Sylvia looked down on the floor and rolled her eyes. Then she went out of the room and Fran watched her. Again it was raining. Both, Max and Fran looked out the window and thought about the other one. Fran wouldn’t give up so easy this time. She would be really stubborn...

*****

But Max wouldn't give up so easy this time, too and was already planning his next surprise. 'This time it has to work,' he thought. First of all he had sent her the flowers, well, Fran wasn't really happy when she got them but ok, he knew it's just the beginning... after that: the radio thing, no sucess here too but then the children found the video tape and Maxwell doesn't even know...

Finally the kids arrived Fran’s parents’ apartment. They rang the door and jumped up the stairs.

"Hi Sylvia. We would like to talk to Fran…," Maggie asked Sylvia.

"It’s really sweet of you to visit her but you have to know she’s really down…," she said.

"We’ve got the perfect medicine for her…," Gracie smiled and winked at her. Sylvia couldn't resist, maybe it was a plan of Maxwell again so she just said "Ok kids, she’s in her room. The second door on the left side. Call me if you need me." and then she went back into the kitchen.

Again somebody was knocking on Fran’s door…, "Come in," she said and smiled when she saw the kids..

"Heeyyy ya… that’s a surprise. I really like it." She tried to look happy.

"Hi Fran. We’ve got something for you." Brighton handed her the tape.

"What’s this B? A video tape? Do I have to watch it?" she asked.

"YES!" little Gracie quickly answered.

"Ok, come on over here… let’s have a look…" She put the tape into the video recorder and lifted Gracie up to place her on her lap. Brighton and Maggie sat next to Fran on her bed. Of course the kids didn’t really watch the video tape, they watched Fran and were excited about her reaction.

"Oh my god, my voice is sooo annoying…," she smiled.

"One gets used to it!" Brighton joked. Fran hit his arm.

"Thaaaanks B! Luv’ ya too!" she laughed. She kinda enjoyed being with the kids again and began feeling a little bit better. She had really missed them a lot. When she saw the scene Max was coming down the stairs and when she saw his sad look it felt like somebody just hit a knife into her heart... she felt so sorry!

"Oh god… he didn't really do that, did he?" Fran felt so guilty.

"Well, yes, Fran, he did... you should have seen him afterward... he was so down the rest of that evening…," Maggie slowly said.

"I didn't know... I hurt him so much... oy, I’ve never expected something like that." She just couldn't believe what she had seen. It was soo... soo... sweet and cute and, he acted like a gentleman, again. Fran just wanted to run "home" and hug him and kiss him and forgive him everything he did.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Sylvia opened it and saw Max standing there. "Frrraaaannnn! It's for youu!" Sylvia cried. "She'll be here in two seconds, I'll go back to the kitchen..." Fran wondered who it could be... nobody knows she's moved back to her mother's... except of Niles, Val, the kids... oh yeah and he knows, too! Fran didn't want to smile or anything like that so she tried to look sad....

"Mr. Sheffield? What are you doing here?" Fran asked with one hand leaned at the door and the other hand fixing her hair.

"Oh, Miss Fine, you know... I wondered.. since you've been not that 'friendly' with the radio show... if you did make me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?!" Fran was suprised. Dinner?! Not bad boy, not bad. And he came all the way from Manhattan to Flushing to ask her in person... he could have done that on the phone, too. Oy, boy, isn't he gorgeous?!

Fran didn't want to say no but didn't really know what to say either so she tried it with... ,"ok, what time?"

"I'll pick you up at 7pm. And I am really looking forward to it!" You should have seen his smile. He was as excited as a little school boy. So he took Fran's left hand, kissed it, winked at her and left. Fran was in a kind of trance... she shut the door and went back to her room, where the kids were already waiting for her to come back.

"Fran? Fraaaaan?" Maggie asked. "Who was it? Somebody we know?" Fran simply answered
"Your father..." and laid on her bed. "And? What did he want?" but Maggie wouldn't give up so easily. "Well, he asked me out for a date...," she said. "He asked you out for a date? Are you sure you're talking about our father?" Brighton couldn't really believe it. "Yeah..." but Fran was interrupted by Maggie again. "And? Will you go?" Fran just smiled at the young lady.

"Are ya kiddin'? 'Course I'll go, what do you think? After what he did for me that evening I owe him one dinner, don't you think?!" The three kids smiled at each other...

"Well, as much as I love to have you guys here around, could ya lemme get ready?" Fran asked carefully, she didn't want to 'throw' them out of the apartment.

"Fran..." little Gracie began, "We want to see you and daddy finally together...," she paused "Of course we'll leave you alone!" Fran hugged her for what she said.

"Oh, you three are so wonderful, I love ya sooo much!" She hugged them goodbye and went to the door with them. She leaned on the door for a second after she had shut it and thought about what she would do first. It was only 3pm and she decided to take a bath. A really warm and long bath would certainly fill an hour.

So after she finished her bath she went to her room to search for the perfect dress. She wanted to look absolutely gorgeous that evening which would explain the reason why her choice was a long, black, free shoulder dress with red roses which seemed to be the collar. Last time she wore it was at her reunion of the model agency she was working for. Max admitted that evening that he had really loved her dress. He said it's one of the most beautiful she has ever worn. Her hair she wanted to wear flat. Flat but with some curls. High hair didn't really match up with that dress. While getting ready she listened to some OLDIES like 'Sweet home Alabama' or 'Son of a Preacher man " to get into a better mood. The last three hours just flew like nothing and at 6:55pm she heard the doorbell ringing.

*****

Fran, who was already waiting in the living room, went to open the door. Max wore a black suit and believe it or not, that man looked gorgeous again! He reached for Fran's hand again and kissed it. "You look lovely...," he said with that cute British accent Fran loves so much.

"Thanks, you're not looking bad either!" For that he gave her a kiss on the cheek and asked "Ready to go?"

"Ready to go!" Fran said and closed the door behind them.

Max leaded Fran into the limo and had never let off her hand all the way back to Manhattan. Finally the limo stopped in front of the Empire State Building. The chauffeur opened the door and Max let off Fran's hand for two seconds, but quickly took it again to lead her out. As they walked into the building Fran began to wonder what they were doing there and started to ask some questions...

"Mr. Sheffield? What is this all about? What are we doing here?" she looked around. Nobody was there, it seemed as the building was closed or something like that.

"Well, it's my third and last surprise for you." he simply said and walked with her to the elevator. When they were in, Fran saw how many floors they passed and sighed when they finally reached the top of the building. The door opened and the view was amazing! Max had managed dinner at the top of the Empire State Building. It was a clear night so you could see the stars and the moon and all the bright lights of the city. There was a table for two with candles, a bottle of champagne and dinner who was already served. In the background some romantic music was playing and Fran couldn't do anything else than sigh.

"Oh....my....gooood!" was all she could say. "This is so perfect..." Fran walked over to the corner to take a view.

"So you like it?" and Max stepped closer to her.

"God, yeah! Boy, you could probably see my daddy watching TV!" she smiled and was fascinated by the many lights and the city at night. As she was standing there Max came closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Fran immediately turned around and looked into his eyes.

"Are you as hungry as I am?" Max asked.

"What a silly question Mr. Sheffield...," Fran joked and gave him a sweet smile. Max leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek again and lowered her from where she was standing.

Both of them enjoyed dinner, laughed a lot about the things the other one was telling and had a really good time. Fran didn't know when the right moment would be to tell him she saw the tape... but when she noticed how much fun she had with him she decided to wait a lil' bit longer.

"Would you like to dance?" Max took Fran's hand.

"I would love to...," Fran smiled. They shared some quiet moments dancing cheek on cheek and enjoyed being so close. Suddenly Fran started to talk again... "Mr. Sheffield...."

"Oh, please, Miss Fine, it's Max for you tonight!" he grinned.

"Oh, alright, Max, it's Fran for you and you know, there's something I wanted to do the whole evening...," she looked into his lovely olive green eyes.

"And what if I may ask, Fran?" he smiled.

"This...," she said and kissed him with passion. It overtook her from one moment to the other it was just, the whole evening was so perfect so far...

"Wow...," Max was astonished. "What was that for?"

"For being so cute. You know, Max, do you remember the time, about one year ago... when Brighton taped everything which could have been useful for winning that competition?!"

"Yeah..."

"Well, he taped my date with Richard, too... you know, the lawyer!"

"Oh, yeah, sure...." ,he recognized, "oh...," and smiled shyly.

"And today the kids visited me and... brought that tape to watch it...," she looked at him. "I feel so guilty you know, you acted so sweet I... I couldn't believe what I was seeing and that kiss... it was my 'thank you' for wanting to do that for me," she smiled.

"Well, being honest with you... it hurt. It really hurt me you know. It wasn't easy for me to see you going out with such a fool and... when Niles said he's late and... I... I didn't know what I was doing or thinking I just jumped up the stairs to be your hero! And then... when I came down I saw you happy and smiling and singing and eveything... I just thought, you were in love with me... and since then I've known I was always wrong...," he looked away.

"Please, I... yeah, I was in love with you then... but after Paris you took the whole thing back and everything we 'shared' together you took back too so I decided to go on and date again... but you know what, what I really wanna know...," Fran tried to look into his eyes again. "Were you in love with me?", she grinned.

Max loved her even more for that and gave her a quich kiss. "I was and I am in love with you...," he finally admitted. You should have seen Fran's eyes... brighter than the stars above the sky.

"Fran...," it sounded so sweet with his accent. "I love you!" Fran's heart jumped up and down 'He said it, he said it!' she thought.

"God, and... I do love you, Max!" she smiled. Max leaned over again, stroke her cheek and counted, "Three, two, one...," but was interrupted by Fran.

"Wait a minute, I know this,... you're not gonna take it back again, do you?" and when Fran saw Max nodding his head no she was happy. He stroke her cheek and said, "NEVER AGAIN!" He wanted to kiss her again but... "Max?"

"Yes, Fran?" he said.

"Was this the right time and the right place to tell me?" she smiled. He was surprised she remembered what he said about that when they were in the kitchen...

"Definetely!" he said and was finally able to kiss her. The rest of the evening they danced and smiled. Both of them were happy to be with the other and to share this night together. Finally he had said the three words Fran wanted to hear for so long... and she didn't want to be anywhere more than THERE!

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