A/N: Hi people! I am twitching in anticipation at the thought of sharing this chapter with you. It is longer than my normal chapter length, but totally worth reading. Anyways, this isn't the end of the story of course. Shout outs to Lucky Starz, EspoirDio, bogiedevil and slm38 for reviewing Chapter 1.

Chapter 2-Jealousy Boils Over

Fran was sitting in the kitchen finishing off the rest of Maggie's chocolate box that was given to her by her boyfriend. It was around 6 pm and Fran planned on heading back to her apartment within the next few minutes. She was just putting it off for as long as possible, because honestly, her home life wasn't all peaches and cream.

As she was finishing off the last of the chocolates, Maxwell came into the kitchen. Although Maxwell was terrible at handling emotional issues, he knew something was wrong and felt a strong urge to comfort her.

"Hello Ms. Fine uh I mean, Mrs. Imperiali, what seems to be troubling you? I see you here eating your mother's weight in chocolates."

"Oh, Mr. Sheffield, it's my life. Have you ever just felt, you know, in a rut, like everyday you get up in the morning and have nothing to look forward to? I mean I am a newly wed; I should be doting with happiness everyday. But instead I am sitting here talking to you because I dread going home to my husband."

He wanted to tell her how he felt. He knew she deserved better than that rotten pig of an individual and truthfully he had felt something for her the first day he saw her with that Shades of the Orient cosmetic bag in her arms. But Maxwell Sheffield wasn't the type that would interfere in the relationships of others and knowing that Fran was married, he would not be the "other man". So he simply said:

"Mrs. Imperiali" God I hate saying that! "I am sure it will get better. If it makes you feel any better, I felt the same way after Sara died. You just have to continue getting up in the morning and believe that something good will happen."

"But Mr. Sheffield, your wife died, I just got married, surely our situations are not comparable."

He knew she was right of course and he hated seeing her this way, but he honestly didn't know how to deal with the situation. So he did the only thing in his mind he could think of.

He extended his arms and drew her into a warm hug. They lingered there for a while, just enjoying being in each other's arms before finally separating.

"Oh Mr. Sheffield, thank you for listening. Well I better head home."

"Goodbye Mrs. Imperiali."

And with that Fran walked out the door and took the subway back to her apartment.

When she arrived there, she noticed something strange. The door was cracked open and the apartment had a strange air about it. She couldn't quite put her foot on it, but she knew something was wrong.

She walked in and looked around. She noticed immediately, sitting on the coffee table a jacket that did not belong to her, but was clearly a woman's article of clothing, for it was short and was made of fake leather. It was a dark shade of red and although Fran was partial to this specific piece of clothing, she knew it did not belong to her.

She continued to look around the house for any more signs of suspicious activity. Suddenly she heard giggling and she knew immediately what was going on. She dashed to the bedroom and pushed open the door.

Her intuition had been right, for there Danny was stark naked in bed with another woman who Fran had never met before, although she did bear a striking resemblance to that of Heather Biblow.

Fran spoke in a voice louder than usual:

"Well I thought the tawdry affairs were supposed to end after the wedding, but clearly I was mistaken. How could I have been so stupid to think that you had changed? You are such a no good rotten pig, Danny Imperiali."

"Franny, come on now, lets talk about this."

"What's there to talk about? You're a completely dense buffoon and I was too much of a fool to realize it!"

The blonde with him opened her mouth to speak:

"You told me you were single. Now I am the other woman, how dare you!" And with that said, she slapped him across the face.

She immediately grabbed her clothes threw them on and the 2 women simultaneously walked out of the room. The blonde grabbed her coat and headed out the door.

Fran ran to the phone and rapidly punched in the numbers.

C.C. Babcock picked up on the other line.

"Hey C.C.! Listen, do you mind if I stay at your place tonight?"

"Oh no, Fran, what happened?"

"I just caught Danny in bed with another woman and frankly I just have had it with him anyways. Catching him cheating is the deal breaker."

"Oh Franny, I am sorry. "

"C.C. it's fine. I guess I have been looking for a way out for a while now. In a way, I am relieved. Meanwhile, get yourself dressed up because we are going out tonight."

"Oh Fran, I shouldn't, I have so much work to do…."

"Chas, I don't want to hear it. We are going out, now get dressed, I'll be over in an hour."

"I'll forgive you, just this once for mentioning an inkling of my real name. All right, if you insist. Truthfully, I haven't done anything fun in a while."

"That's the spirit, C.C.! I'll see you in an hour!"

"Alright see you later, Fran."

With that they both hung up the phone. C.C. rummaged through her closet trying to find something remotely stylish to wear. She hadn't been out in such a long time and when she did partake in a little alcohol it was normally in the comfort of her own place, usually while watching some sort of romantic comedy or prophetic musical.

Damn, this is going to be harder, than I thought. I guess it is a good thing that Fran and I are going shopping for dresses for the benefit tomorrow. I really need some new clothes.

She continued to search through her attire. Finally, she found a dress that she thought was sufficient. It was a blue dress with short sleeves, and came down to slightly above the knee. It had a belt that buckled right below the breasts, giving her figure some shape. She slipped it on, thankful that it still fit and looked at herself in the mirror. I look great, right? And although she did, her insecurities clearly got the better of her as the thought lingered in the back of her mind that she didn't look good at all and that no man would ever find her attractive.

She, nonetheless, kept the dress on and did her simple makeup, which consisted of a very thin layer of foundation, pressed powder, blush and little eye makeup. She rarely even put the stuff on. She figured, whom would she need to impress anyways? The only 2 men in her life were her boss who gave her absolutely no credit at all or the asshole attorney who made her life miserable on a daily basis.

She heard the door knock and immediately ran to answer it.

"Hey C.C., like the dress, but it needs a little more, let me look through your closet. Oooooo, here we go, this cardigan will look great over top, and it will definitely add a little extra to the look. Hmmm, now we need some shoes. I swear, C.C., do you have anything beside flats and sneakers in this closet of yours. Oooooo, here we go, not really my thing, but these boots will look great on you. Why don't you ever wear them?"

"Well, to be honest, I forgot they were in there."

"Well put them on. And let me add to your make up, we are hitting the town, not going to work, we definitely need to add a little more to the eyes to enhance them, because God knows your eyes are gorgeous!"

"Fran, you know, you really are a great person. Your husband just cheated on you and yet you are still trying to fix me up. "

"C.C. that marriage was over a long time ago, and you listen to my problems all the time. The least I could do is help you with yours."

And so she added some smokiness to the eyes of C.C. Babcock and the girls were ready to hit the town.

They went to a local, but yet very popular club that was close to C.C.'s apartment building. They walked in and immediately Fran was in her element. With the fast paced music, Fran couldn't help but sway her hips and she was asked to dance by a very handsome Jewish man. She felt bad leaving C.C., but C.C. insisted that she go and dance with him and so Fran took her advice.

C.C. just sat there for a while, not sure what to do, before deciding to get a drink. Truthfully, she wasn't used to this sort of thing and she figured maybe with a few drinks in her, she would feel a little less self conscious and shy.

She ordered a margarita and sat there sipping on it. Of course, since she was sitting alone and boredom got the better of her and she finished her margarita pretty quickly.

She was definitely feeling its effects and she felt as if she was on top of the world. She was ready to go and dance and she didn't care if she was alone or in a group as long as she was dancing it up.

Of course her high on life feeling would be instantly taken away, for just as she was about to hit the dance floor, a certain attorney sat down at her table. She tried to avoid him, but of course that wasn't happening since he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him before letting go so she could sit. She would never admit that this display of dominance from him was a serious turn on.

"Sit, Babs."

"Why should I sit with you? I happen to be in a very good mood at the moment. Of course seeing you, however, is causing it to diminish."

"Well, I saw you were alone and I figured I would come over here and give you some company, but when you put it that way…."

"You'll leave? Because the fact that you showed up in the first place is really ruining my evening."

"Oh you say it, but you don't mean it."

"Are you drunk? Because if I didn't know any better, I would think that you actually want to sit with me."

"Oh don't flatter yourself, Babbycakes. I just thought I'd be the better person you know since you were alone and all."

"Well as much as you keep putting stress on the fact that I was alone, I was rather content before you came over here. I was just about to go dance actually until I was rudely interrupted by your presence."

He wanted to ask her to dance but her could never show any sort of caring side towards this woman. For someone who was low on the totem pole in her career and financial status, she had no problem defending herself. He couldn't deny that he loved this quality about her and if sparring was the only interaction he would ever have with her, then, by all means, he would continue to do it.

A voice interrupted his thoughts as a tall, dark and exceedingly handsome man approached her.

"Hi, would you like to dance? I am John by the way."

"Sure! I'm C.C."

And with that the two of them dashed away onto the dance floor.

Niles just looked, completely stunned at what just occurred in from of him. A pool of emotion hit him as jealousy brewed inside of him. He never thought in a million years that seeing her with another man would have this effect on him, but it did and he hated the feeling.

So with this river of pain rapidly flowing inside of him he ordered a drink hoping to numb these feelings before the evening was over. One scotch down and still the jealously flowed through him. He ordered a several more and downed them one by one right in a row.

Needless to say, he was drunk as a skunk at this point. But still, he was jealous, and the river that was flowing in him before, was now overflowing as he sat at the bar and watched her enjoy herself with another man. Damn, why does she have this effect on me? I hate her so much! But of course he was lying to himself as he continued to down another drink.

It was getting late now and the party was winding down the final song. C.C. and the handsome man had just sat down and they exchanged numbers with one another before parting their ways for the evening.

Fran had had a great time as well. Anything that had stressed or bummed her out earlier was completely left behind.

She walked up to C.C. and approached her. She opened her mouth to speak:

"C.C. Aren't you so glad, you came out with me tonight and look you even got a phone number from a very sexy man I might add. What was his name?"

"John, and he was sexy, wasn't he? Should I call him?"

"Yes, but wait a couple of days, you don't want to seem desperate."

"Oh but I am Fran."

"Well, keep a little mystery in the relationship and wait a couple of days. Anyways, meet me downstairs in a few, I just need to go to the ladies' room."

"Ok, see you in a few."

And with that she headed down the stairs. Little did she know that an extremely drunken Niles had stumbled down the stairs after her.

She was outside in front of the building waiting, when all of the sudden he was standing right in front of her.

She smelled the stench of scotch on his breath immediately and had no problem voicing her distaste.

"What do you want, Jupiter? You smell like a distillery?"

With no control of himself whatsoever, Niles walked toward her until her back was against the building. Without saying anything, he tightly grabbed her shoulders and forcefully planted his lips on top of hers.

Conflicting thoughts were going through her mind. She hated this man and he was completely bombed out of his mind and yet something felt so right about this kiss. And so she thought with her heart instead of her brain and melted into him with her eyes closed. She responded by kissing him back a couple of times before her brain finally sprang back into action and she pushed him away.

"I can't do this….uhh….Fran is waiting for me."

With that, she ran back into the building in attempt to flee for her life from the feelings that she just experienced, for they petrified her tremendously.

Niles just stood there for a second, in awe at what had just happened before he stumbled to the nearest open cab. As drunk as he was, every detail of that kiss would not be forgotten, and he knew damn good and well that there were 2 sets of lips involved in action. He mumbled his address to the cab driver, before lying down, lost in his thoughts. As cloudy as they were, however, this kiss was a clear as a sunny day. He continued to think about what just happened as the cab took him home.

…

C.C. had managed to escape back into the building. She anxiously looked for Fran and paced around the building as thoughts about what just happened clouded her mind.

What the hell just happened? Oh my God, what just happened? Still confused as ever, she just slowly brushed her fingertips over her lips. In her mind, she tried to blame alcohol as the reason for her loss of control. But she knew that she was lying to herself. Of course, she couldn't speak for him, for clearly he had had so much to drink he smelled like the Jack Daniel's plant, itself.

Her thoughts were interrupted just then, as Fran walked up to her.

"There you are C.C., I've been looking for you. I thought you were outside."

C.C. wasn't sure if she was ready to tell anyone about what just happened, for it still felt like a dream to her.

Fran, of course, knew her well enough to know that she was on edge.

"C.C. what happened, you weren't like this 20 minutes ago. I can tell something is different about you."

C.C. could hide it no longer, for she though she would burst if she didn't tell someone soon.

"Well, let's just say, I don't kiss and tell."

"Wow, girl, you and that handsome guy I saw you dancing with earlier, kissed, wow you don't waste no time." Fran said with a wink.

"Well…not exactly."

"What do you, mean, you kissed someone else, who?"

"Uh no one you would know."

"You can't lie to me C.C. Babcock, I can see it on your face that it is someone I know, tell me, tell me!"

In a soft voice, almost like a whisper, C.C. told her

"Niles."

Fran just stood there with her mouth gaping open and her eyes widened stunned and in complete and utter shock at what she just heard.

They got into the next available cab and shared no conversation on the way home, as shock was still evident on both their faces.

This day and night had been interesting to say the least.