[A/N: This is an alternate ending to my previous story, 7:00 to Chicago. A portion of the final chapter of that story has been recopied here for your convenience.]

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

7:00 to New York

Prologue

"Do you want me to leave?"

"You shouldn't leave."

They both froze, looking at each other, and said at the same time, "What?"

"What did you say?" CC asked.

"What did you say?" Niles returned.

Rephrasing slightly, CC asked, "Do you think I should leave?"

Niles watched her staring at him carefully, wondering how to answer the question he'd asked himself for the past two weeks. No, he didn't want to her to leave. Of course he didn't. But he knew how badly she wanted to prove herself to Maxwell.

Weighing his words carefully, Niles responded, "I think it could be beneficial for your career to produce shows outside of Mr. Sheffield's shadow…"

CC knew him well enough to know that there was more he wanted to say, and yet she wasn't sure if she wanted to press it.

They stood in silence several moments longer, their eye contact eventually breaking. Finally CC slid off of the counter and put her heels back on, taking extra care with her left foot.

"You know," she began robustly, "when I think about moving, I feel like I'm missing something, almost as though I've forgotten something. But then I think about what I'm leaving behind here and it's…nothing, I guess." She finished lamely, gesturing pointlessly in midair. Her arm fell limply against her side as she made to move past Niles and rejoin the dwindling party.

In an instant, Niles grabbed her arm, spun her around, and pushed her against the kitchen wall next to the swinging door. He kissed her feverishly, plundering her mouth as his own, pouring his overwhelming feelings that he could never manage to put into words into the kiss.

The kiss' intensity was such that it was a while before CC regained herself and moved against him, pulling him closer to her and wordlessly begging him to give her something she didn't yet realize she needed.

Then it was over, he'd released her, backed off, and stared at her, his chest heaving slightly.

"If you left," he began, his voice faintly hoarse, "you'd be leaving something behind."

CC brought her fingertips to her buzzing lips, not looking away from Niles yet not quite looking at him, either. "But…what would I be leaving behind, exactly?"

This time it was Niles who gestured pointlessly in the air. "I don't know. It's been how many years, and I still don't know."

"Shouldn't we know by now?" CC asked quietly, and Niles wondered if she was presenting the question to him or to herself.

"If you leave, we never will."

He stepped closer to her once more, made brazen by the thought that this might be his one chance to convince the entirely un-convince-able Babcock. He brought his hand up to her face, gently pushing the hair that had fallen out of the pin behind her ear. Leaning forward slightly, he pressed a light kiss to her cheek. The kindness and sweetness of this gesture quaked her remaining resolve and tears began to flood her eyes.

When Niles noticed this, he pulled her gently forward and enveloped her in his arms. He held her as he had never been able to before, amazed by how delicate she could feel. Slowly her arms snaked around his middle and he held her tighter, inhaling the scent of her hair. The singular rightness of their embrace proved to him, as nothing else ever had before, how much he felt for the woman in his arms.

"But, Niles," CC said into his shoulder, ending the hug and sliding her arms away from him. "I don't know if I can put my life on hold just because there's a possibility that something might happen here. I…I don't know if that's fair to me."

Niles looked at her, bewildered. He wanted to kiss her again, to prove the spark between them; he wanted to shake her and yell that there was more than a possibility, it was an actuality; he wanted to tell her that not seeing what could happen between them would be more than just unfair to both of them, it would be a gross miscarriage of justice that could surely warrant some sort of lawsuit; he wanted to remind her that life was bleak and meaningless unless they experienced it together. As the seconds ticked past, Niles wanted just to say something, anything at all, and yet speech seemed to be failing him.

The wry part of his brain told him that naturally, in the moment when he truly needed to convince her, he would stand there like some sort of mute while she slipped away. And yet another part of his brain, the part that understood CC Babcock as well as she could be understood, told him that any words he could think of would be utterly futile because CC needed to convince herself.

And so he let her leave the kitchen without a fight.

One and a half years later…

Fran slunk down next to Niles on the couch, her hands wrapped around a mug of steaming cocoa. "What's on next?"

"Miracle on 34th Street," Niles answered, tossing a kernel of popcorn into his mouth.

"Ooh, one of my favorites!" Fran exclaimed. She nonchalantly glanced over her shoulder at the front door and, catching Niles' glance, played it off as though she were stretching her neck.

"Mrs. Sheffield, I really should prepare for tomorrow's feast," Niles said. "Mr. Sheffield puts a lot of emphasis on Christmas Eve dinner."

"Oy, don't worry about my husband. I'll distract him," Fran said with a private grin. Niles responded with a slight grimace of his own and shifted his focus back on the television. He could prepare everything in the morning.

Fran's hands clenched her mug as time wore on. It became increasingly dark outside and the children came in one by one to say goodnight. Fran tried to focus her attention on the man desperately trying to prove he was Santa Claus but found she couldn't.

Finally, she heard a car door shut outside and couldn't hide the grin that exploded on her face. Niles thought nothing of it and continued watching the movie. As coolly as possible, Fran set her mug down and stood, walking over to the front door and peering through the metal latticework.

Niles, assuming she'd gone to the restroom, didn't even look around until the door opened and Fran greeted whoever was on the other side. Curiously, Niles stood, one hand clutching a blanket and the other nestling the bowl of popcorn at his side.

His heart jammed against his ribcage once, twice, and then slowed to a dangerously languorous beat.

With snowflakes twinkling in her hair and a scarf draped artfully around her neck, CC Babcock had never looked more radiant. The mile-wide smile on CC's face mirrored the one on Fran's, and they embraced warmly. CC's gloved hand was wrapped around the handle of her suitcase and she stepped further into the home. Her eyes met Niles' and her smile faltered while Niles' still widened. Fran's grin had already disappeared.

For behind CC was a tall, sculpted man with thick brown hair and a strong jaw made more enticing by the five o'clock shadow that dared to grace it. Fran and Niles harbored a secret desire for this man to be someone, anyone than who they already knew it was. Their dreams were dashed when the man slid his hand around CC's waist and smiled, remarking on how lovely the home was.