A/N: First off I must say I AM SOOOO SORRY for not updating this story sooner. I know all you reviewers were patiently waiting for a whole year (yikes!) for this and I'm sorry. I lost my inspiration for awhile and then I just didn't know how to end this fic but after receiving TONS of reviews on how good the story was and how so many of you wanted to know what was going to happen, well I owed it to all of you who enjoyed the fic thus far. Also, I hate leaving a story incomplete. There will be a chapter or two after this one so this isn't the very end and hopefully some people are still interested in reading it! We will reach an ending with this story I promise ) This chapter was to help me sort out Fran's thoughts and to get myself back in the groove.

Thanks for all the kind words reviewers, I hope you're still out there. Enjoy!

Fran hurried down the stairs of her mother's apartment building so fast that she ended up breaking the tip of her black high-heeled shoe. She crumpled as she came down hard on her right foot and the heel fell out from under her. Fran gave a little frustrated cry.

Nothing was going to get in her way right now.

She yanked the shoe off and hobbled with one high-heel on all the way to the subway. There were enough freaks in the subway; no one would notice a frazzled big-haired meshuganah missing a shoe.

She clutched the pole in the subway, her mind scattered in a million places. First things first she needed to straighten out what she had mistakenly started with in regards to Mr. Sheffield.

She couldn't continue working for him after this, there was just too much history and painful memories there. Of course she would miss the children but both her and Mr. Sheffield had come to the realization long ago that they no longer needed a nanny anyway. Two of them could drive and the other was smarter than all the adults in that house combined. Fran chuckled somewhat bitterly to herself. Funny how long they had dragged out this nanny business. She clearly hadn't been needed for some time.

She then had a rather painful thought regarding Mr. Sheffield's feelings for her.

He wouldn't have confessed to me his feelings on his own.

She had pushed and pushed him for years to say something to her but it wasn't until she told him of the scheme she had cooked up with her and Niles that he had let his guard down and said he loved her. But perhaps that was just a ruse to keep her around? He certainly had tried enough of those in the past.

But she couldn't DO this anymore!

He yanked her around like a puppet on a string and she was frankly sick of it. Mr. Sheffield liked for things to stay the same, no forward motion and certainly no changing. She was glad she realized this now that he would only come after her so far. He wanted to keep things at a certain level and he might reach out a bit to her to keep it at that level. But the bottom line was he wasn't really going to fight for her. The only way to get him to chase her was for her to keep running.

And I'm tired of running.

With Niles she knew he wanted her. He accepted her as she was. And he loved her so much that he let her go…into Mr. Sheffield's arms. What a good sport he was about it too. She had thrust his beating and broken heart back into his hands and he had the decency to still wish her all the happiness with Mr. Sheffield.

Tears came to Fran's eyes as the weight of her thoughts came down on her. Mr. Sheffield had hurt her, she had hurt Niles, and now she was stuck in this circle of endless hurting.

She sniffled and dug into her bright red leather purse for some Kleenex. Finding a crumpled one she dabbed her eyes and straightened up.

This was the time of change, the New Year was approaching, and she was going to let go of her past and embrace her future.

Breaking it off with Mr. Sheffield would be difficult at best. But hopefully Niles would still accept her.

No more running.

She finally reached the Sheffield mansion after the longest subway ride ever. The door loomed in front of her. Taking a deep breath she turned the knob.

Time to face the music.