Chameleon

by

Aimee
(aimeed@earthlink.net)

CC swept in at her usual hour of eight a.m., a chill blast of air travelling in her wake. Niles hurriedly shut the door.

"It's horrible out there!" she exclaimed. "There's a real storm blowing up!"

"Must've been your breath." He helped her out of her ankle-length tan wool duster and accepted the gloves and matching wool beret she handed him.

"Gee," she said innocently. "I hope the weather doesn't interfere with my date tonight." She preened in her fitted black suit. It was cut quite short for her, which meant that the hemline actually hit above the knee.

Niles raised an eyebrow. "You have a date? I thought all the paying customers left when you tested positive for rabies."

CC snarled playfully at him and replied smugly. "Say anything you like, Niles, you can't get to me today."

"Who'd want to?"

CC smirked and hugged herself. "The most adorable man. His name is Mike, and he'll be here at six to pick me up, so either be on your best behavior or I'll wring your neck."

"Where did you meet this man?"

"Oh," said CC cagily, "when I was out shopping." It was the truth as far as it went, but Niles would have a field day if he knew they literally met on a street corner!

At first when they bumped into each other, he'd snapped rudely at her. With typical Babcock cool, she'd been winding up to give the handsome man in the bomber jacket a blistering piece of her mind until he touched her arm and asked if he could buy her a latte by way of apology.

"Shopping? Why, your supply of snips and snails and puppy dog tails running low?" Niles inquired, bringing her back to the present. He didn't like that smug look on her face one bit.

"Oh, no, Niles," she replied cheerfully. "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails are what little boys like you are made of, but from the look of him, Mike is quite the man." She turned around to bounce into the office, but to her shock she felt Niles' hand lift her blazer. "Niles, you creep, what are you doing?"

"Just looking for the puppy dog tail," he replied. "I tremble to think where the snips and snails might be."

CC glanced at the clock with an anxious look. Maybe she'd done a little too much bragging about her date, because he was fifteen minutes late, and if he didn't show, she was going to hear about it for weeks.

"CC, where did you say you met this man?" Max asked. He had a little frown on his face. Fran fondly brushed a lock of his hair off of his forehead.

"Out shopping," CC replied, sticking to her story. "He bumped into me and then asked to buy a latte to make it up to me. Well, that's the last of that, Maxwell. I'm done for the day unless there's anything else you need me to do."

"Oh, no, that's all right, CC. But I was thinking, if the storm has delayed this gentleman of yours, would you like to eat dinner with us? Niles is making pesto."

CC waved a hand. "Thank you, Maxwell, but that won't be necessary. He'll be here." She wished she felt as confident as she sounded.

Just then, Niles entered. "A Mr. Michael Pallister to see Miss Babcock," he announced formally.

CC smiled. Niles at his most pompous.

"Hey, thanks," said the man who brushed past him casually.

Four heads all turned and gave him the once over. "Mike," CC said in delight, rising and extending her hand. Mike grabbed and pulled, and CC fell against him in a tight embrace.

Fran, Max, and Niles used the opportunity to give him the once-over. He had thick black hair, blue eyes that crinkled merrily, and wore a top-quality but studiously casual brown bomber jacket, cream cableknit sweater, and snug blue jeans.

"My god, would ya look at those shoulders?" Fran muttered to the guys. "Niles could use then for ironing boards."

Mike was murmuring to a beaming CC in a fake English accent. "A Mistah Michael Pallistah to see Miss Babcock," he imitated in a droll tone. CC giggled and slapped his arm.

Introductions were performed all around. "So tell me, Mike," said Maxwell. "What do you do?"

"I'm a reporter for the NYT. I also do some freelancing." Mike was smiling at CC and barely looking at Maxwell.

"Good, good. CC and I have a new show coming up, perhaps you might like to know more about it." Maxwell could be a lot sneakier than he looked. Great reviews and free publicity were inevitable when the junior partner was dating a reporter.

Mike shrugged. "No, thanks. I'm not big on theater. I'm more into movies. You can show more, see better special effects, and it costs less."

CC's eyes met Max's imploringly. In deference to her silent plea, Max swallowed a rather snide remark about the relative brain functions of moviegoers versus theatergoers.

Niles wasn't nearly so restrained. "Yes, god forbid one should forego the violence and adult content."

Mike grinned good-naturedly at him. "Besides, I write news, not that artsy stuff."

Even CC couldn't swallow that one. "Our shows are always news," she replied haughtily. "We are on the cutting edge of theater production."

"Meow," her date remarked. "Are you hungry? I am. I was thinking TGI Friday's. I just love their Jack Daniels wings."

"And Miss Babcock will love the Jack Daniels," Niles contributed while CC cringed..

Mike turned to him with a nasty glare. "Look, Niles, I don't know what your problem is, but CC is a beautiful woman and I don't want you talking about her that way."

Dead silence met his comment. Then CC gave a high-pitched, nervous laugh. "Oh, that's all right. Niles and I talk like that to each other all the time. It's just a game." Then, as everyone relaxed, CC leaned over to Niles with a smug grin and whispered in a sing-song voice, "Butler Boy's gonna get his ass kicked! Butler Boy's gonna get his ass kicked!"

Niles sullenly bit back a comment about CC's behind and followed the couple out to the front door, Max and Fran right behind him.

Mike helped CC into her coat. He then stepped back and surveyed her businesslike attire. "Good lord, CC, what is this, Wall Street?"

CC glared at him, then murmured, "'S'cuse me just a sec."

She hurried over to Max, Fran, and Niles, and whispered, "Help me! Help me so very much!"

Max put his hands on her arms. "Give him a chance, CC. I realize you're a little out of his league, but all that bravado may be covering up a heart of gold."

"Or a gold-digger," muttered Niles.

"Heart of gold I don't know about, but buns of steel he's got," Fran remarked avidly.

"Fran!"

"Sorry, honey. Just trying to help."

CC turned away and surveyed her date again. He was gorgeous. And as premature as it was, it had felt surprisingly good when he tried to defend her against Niles. Mike wasn't to know it wasn't necessary.

Over the next few days, Mike breezed in and out at all times of the day, occasionally just dropping off some small gift, sometimes trying to coax CC into abandoning work to come out with him. He was charming, and evidently made a good living even if he didn't belong to the Rainbow Room crowd, because he was never short of money for a present or a dinner out. That eased their fears that CC had fallen victim to a gold-digger, but an even greater fear soon presented itself.

"God, possessive much?" muttered Fran, stalking into the kitchen where Niles and Max were kibitzing over coffee.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, what did I do?" Max inquired.

"Not you, darling," crooned Fran, hugging him tight before she dropped into a chair at the kitchen table with them. "Miss Babcock's new boyfriend Mike."

"Why, what'd he do?" Niles asked, getting up to get Fran a cup.

"I invited her shopping with me so I could pick up a few things for the babies, and he said he'd take her shopping if she wanted to go, because she has him to think about and doesn't need to worry about other peoples' babies." Fran rubbed her slowly burgeoning stomach with one hand.

Max whistled, avid for details. "What did CC do?" He could just imagine the explosion!

"She just giggled. That's all she does lately. She giggles. Then they left." Fran shook her head

Max and Niles shared a solemn look. "Well, sweetheart, when you and I were first married, we couldn't stand to spend a moment apart for weeks," Max pointed out. "Not that I don't still love to spend time with you, but that first possessiveness wears off."

"I think he's a freak," Niles announced.

Max and Fran looked at him sympathetically. "We all know there's a man who could be far better for her than Mike," Fran said kindly, laying her hand over his.

Max continued. "But if that man doesn't say something soon, his chance will be lost, and neither he nor Miss Babcock will ever know how wonderful it might have been. On the other hand, if you don't say anything, we'll be able to taunt you with it for the rest of your life." Max grinned at the thought.

Niles scowled, knowing they were right. He'd already gone through this with Colin. Before him it was Chandler. Until recently, it was Mr. Sheffield. How much more could a red-blooded male be expected to take?

CC agreed without complaint when Max asked her to put a half-day's work on Saturday reading scripts to look for their next hit. At one in the afternoon, she came breezing in with her usual "Hello, hello!"

She had that man with her. She came in laughing, he laughing with her. They were laughing together. Niles scowled. She had no business laughing with that loser when there was work to be done. What could they possibly have to laugh about?

Mike handed CC about half a dozen shopping bags. "Here's your stuff. Aren't you going to take your coat off?"

"No, I'm a little cold. I think I'll leave it on a while." Was it Niles' imagination, or did a slight hint of color suffuse her pale cheeks? Possibly it was just the cold.

Mike clicked his tongue. "Don’t you like the outfit I bought you?"

"Of course, I love it! It's just a little cold, that's all."

"Now, CC, you're being selfish. In that outfit, everyone who gets near you will suddenly become very warm," Mike teased her.

CC grinned nervously. "Oh, what the hell!" She flung off her long black wool overcoat and tossed it to Niles. A strangled gasp escaped Niles' throat, and her coat fell right through his hands to puddle on the floor at his feet.

She was covered from head to foot in black leather. Niles' eyes started at her strappy spike heels and traveled upwards along smooth stockinged legs until he reached the hem of a black leather miniskirt that rivaled anything in Fran's closet in the "short and tight" competition, past a leather jacket open over a black lace camisole. The only detail that remained of CC's former conservative image was the pair of discreet diamond studs in her ears and the matching pendant at her throat. Niles cringed to think of where else she might be pierced if this change of image went any farther.

"I -- I'll just go tell Mr. Sheffield you're here," he mumbled. Then he turned and sprinted from the room, bellowing, "Mr. Sheffield!"

Niles was back in ten seconds flat, dragging a confused Maxwell with him. "Oh, button your fly and get out here!" the butler snapped. They appeared with Fran right behind them still pulling down her skirt. All three froze as the Sheffields caught a glimpse of "the new C.C."

Mike was tugging at her jacket. "Take this off, you'll be too warm."

"Mike! I couldn't -- "

Mike gave her coaxing look. "I want to show off my gorgeous woman."

Niles made a retching noise, which caught in his throat as Mike divested CC of her jacket, leaving her standing before them in the skirt and a thin lace camisole that was more L.A. in June than New York in February. CC folded her arms around herself, red with embarrassment.

"Doesn't she look great?" Mike asked delightedly. "Spin around, doll, and show them."

CC whirled around, a self-conscious smile touching her lips.

"That doesn't look like any doll I ever saw," muttered Niles. "What is she supposed to be, Biker Barbie?"

CC quickly moved between Mike and Niles as her boyfriend scowled at the butler. "It's just a little experiment," she said lightly. "Listen, Mike, I need to get to work, so why don't you get going, and I'll see you later."

"Okay, hon. Seven okay?"

"Just fine."

"By the way," he said casually. "I thought we'd eat in tonight." A raised eyebrow gave her a pretty good idea of what the meal would consist of, and she doubted sweet and sour pork was on the menu.

CC gasped, shocked that he would say such a thing in front of her business partner and his family. "But you promised to take me to the swing dancing club," she pointed out tactfully.

"It'll still be there another night." When CC didn't capitulate, he shrugged and said, "We'll talk about it when I get here at seven. Be ready." He kissed her quick and hard and disappeared through the door.

Max spoke first. "Ah, interesting look, CC. He picked it out, I take it?"

"Uh, yes. It's a bit of a departure from my usual style, but it makes him happy." CC wiggled carefully across the room in the spike heels and tiny skirt. As she sat down she muttered, "Damn! Now I know why Nanny Fine's in such a good mood all the time. With the way these clothes fit, who needs men?"

Niles hovered over her. Fran and Max exchanged meaningful looks and left for the office. CC sat down thoughtfully on the couch.

"Yes?" she said absently.

"What the hell are you up to? Even Mrs. Sheffield never wore anything like that."

CC looked at him regally and yanked up her top. "Niles, I don't take fashion advice from men who wear their employers' clothing."

"But you'll take fashion advice from a man who wants you to dress like a cast member from the Rocky Horror Picture Show."

CC glared up at him. "What do you care? Mike thinks I'm sexy like this."

Niles' control snapped. "You stupid, stupid woman!" he roared.

Listening around the corner, Fran muttered to Max, "This is not going well."

CC flinched as Niles launched into his tirade. "What is it with you? You're a brilliant, accomplished professional woman, but the minute you get a man, you're a chameleon who fetches lattes at six thirty in the morning and dresses like a whore to please a man. Did it ever for one second occur to you that if he really cared at all he'd love who you are, not demand that you go all grunge goddess just to please him?"

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded furiously, rising to face him. "I finally have a man. He wants me. He thinks I'm sexy. That feels good, and it doesn't happen that often anymore. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I should be loved just like anyone else?" CC's shrill voice softened and she sank back to the sofa. "I work day and night so I can go home to a dog and a liquor cabinet. I don't get that much attention anymore, not like I used to. Do you know how many proposals I got my debutante year? Six. I turned them all down because of my precious career, and where has it gotten me? An empty penthouse and the thrill of watching everybody in the world pair off but me."

Niles was shocked. He'd never heard her talk like this. "So you're just going to cop out and let him turn you into the kind of tramp you've always looked down on. You know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe the great CC Babcock isn't so great after all. Maybe this really is all that you deserve. By the way, you might want to pull down your skirt. Victoria's Secret ain't much of a secret anymore. And put this on. You'll be cold."

Niles rose to his feet and shrugged off his jacket, dropping it in her lap. Then he turned to go leaving a shocked and stricken CC sitting motionless behind him, his tweed coat in her nerveless fingers. He stalked through to the kitchen, seeing gratefully that Fran and Max, attracted by the shouting, hurried to fall in step behind him in case he needed them. He did, badly.

What he didn't see was that Fran touched CC's arm and gestured for her to join them so they could talk it all out. CC rose to follow, slipping her arms into the jacket and sniffing the fabric to catch the hint of lemon bowl fresh and spicy cologne that clung to it.

When the trio followed Niles into the kitchen, they found him leaning against the island, fists clenched, his back turned to them. "Fran," he said brokenly, "how could she be so stupid? Doesn't she have the faintest idea how unhappy she'll be if she ends up with him, living a lie to please him? God, and I love her so much it's killing me. I would love her no matter what she did or said or wore, it's as natural as breathing to me." He laughed shortly. "I always thought I wasn't good enough for her, and that's why I never said anything. A Babcock and a butler, how presumptuous. But maybe if I wasn't such a coward, she wouldn't be playing slave to a man who isn't worth one single strand of her bleach-blonde hair. God, how I wish I could tell her!"

He felt someone move up behind him. "You just did," CC said hesitantly. Niles whirled, staring at her with a face full of horror. CC turned and gestured to Max and Fran to leave. Max had to forcibly drag Fran from the room.

CC shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. I don't want to hurt you or embarrass you . . . for once in my life!" Her laughter was abrupt, unmusical. "Why didn't you tell me? I had no idea how you felt! I thought I was a fat ugly cow to you!"

"Do you mean to tell me, that all these years, you thought I was serious?" he asked incredulously. "You really thought that I thought you were ugly? Didn't you ever look in a mirror?"

CC shrugged. "Sometimes I wondered. But damn it, Niles, how was I to know what to make of you? In one breath, you'd call me a trollop and a brunette, and in the next breath, you were kissing me dizzy. One day I hated you, the next I noticed you'd been working out. I never knew what you wanted or expected of me, other than open war. At least with men like Mike, they make their expectations clear. I know what I have to do. But what was I to do with you?"

"Anything you want," he said, not even half-kidding. "Whatever you are and want to be, and know that I will always love you devotedly. I know we'll always tease each other because that's how you and I play, but now you'll know that when I tell you you're ugly, I mean you're utterly lovely, and when I call you a witch, I'm talking about whatever spell you cast on me that makes me love you so."

CC smiled through her tears. "I love you too, Rubbermaid."

CC leaned in to kiss him, but Niles held her at arm's length. "No, Cruella, you can't just be dating him one minute and start kissing me the next. I'd say you've got some serious thinking to do, don't you?"

CC tilted her head, pondering. "Okay, I've thought." She grabbed the phone and punched in a series of numbers. "His cell phone," she explained quietly. "Hello, Mike? It's CC. I won't be able to make our date tonight. I'm seeing someone else. Well, deal with it. Bye!" She hit the button to shut off the phone. Then, with a flourish, she turned to Niles and smirked. "Good enough?"

Niles began to laugh uproariously. "She's ba-ack!" he accused, laughing. "Shrew."

"If every insult has another meaning, what does 'shrew' mean?" she asked softly, moving closer and touching his cheek.

Niles leaned in to touch his lips to hers. "It means maybe this outfit isn't so bad. After all, a slut might as well advertise."

"Why bother, when I've got a desperate, pathetic old man all lined up?" she replied in a silky, seductive voice.

"Why bother with a slutty outfit?"

"I meant, why bother with clothes."

Then he was kissing her, wildly, feverishly, hotly, as he'd kissed her that evening long ago when way too much Johnny Walker Black had first driven them into each other's arms. CC kissed him back as though he were her only lifeline, and it felt, as he'd said about loving her, "as natural as breathing." Of course it was him she should be kissing. Who else had ever felt this right? CC moaned lustily and pressed her body to his, parting her lips for the invasion of his tongue.

"He was right about one thing," Niles commented when they came up for air. "Even if it isn't your style, you do look absolutely smashing in that outfit."

"Enjoy it while you can," she muttered, "'Cause I'm taking a torch to it first chance I get."

Niles quirked his eyebrow at her. "No chance I could talk you into saving it just for special occasions?"

CC was about to capitulate, then a naughty smile crossed her face. "Not a chance. If you really love me, you'll survive the loss of the 'Biker Barbie' look."

"Oh, well."

"But I'll trade you for the nude look."

"Deal," he said, pulling her close and dipping her for another deep, sensuous kiss.

Just then, Fran burst in and skidded to a halt. "Ohhhh," she sighed softly, clasping her hands. Tears rose to her eyes.

Max skidded in behind her. "Sorry, she got away from -- Oh!" His face, too, softened, as the two lovers never even looked up. Eyes closed, bodies crushed together, they remained swathed in love, wanting and needing nothing but the touch of the other. Max slid an arm around Fran and she leaned against him with a sigh.

Slowly Niles drew back, feasting his eyes on CC's beauty as she melted against him. It was then that they noticed their audience.

CC managed a suitably dagger-like glare. "Do you mind? This isn't the Spice Channel."

"Ah, we were just leaving," said Max. "Come on, Fran."

"Uh, yeah," said Fran, and didn't move a muscle.

Niles shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Why?" CC murmured against his throat.

"We're leaving anyway." Niles put one arm around her back and the other behind her knees and lifted her. CC wrapped her arms around him and let herself be carried upstairs. Overcome, she buried her face in his neck.

The last that the stunned Sheffields heard was Niles' tender whisper, "Oh, my sweet CC. My own darling."

"Hey," quipped his sweet CC. "Who told you to stop calling me Miss Babcock?"

Niles' baritone laughter joined with CC's rich contralto as the two disappeared up the back stairs together.

That night, Fran's morning sickness acted up a little, and she went downstairs to get some warm seltzer to calm her stomach. She found Niles making cocoa, resting dreamily against the island in his robe. She'd never seen such a look on his face before. Happy didn't even begin to cover it.

"So things worked out well between you and Miss Babcock, I take it?" Fran asked with a knowing smile.

Niles shook his head dreamily. "I never thought it would be possible to love her more than I loved her already, but that was before -- well, I can't go into detail, but I know I've never felt this way about anyone."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs sleeping. Have you ever seen her asleep? She looks like an angel." Niles chuckled at himself. "You'd never guess she was the Wicked Witch of the East Side."

"Hey," said a voice from the staircase. "I heard that. No criticism from the flying monkeys, please." CC appeared dressed in one of Niles' shirts. It was big enough that it covered everything that needed to be covered. In fact, it was actually longer than the skirt she'd been wearing earlier.

Niles grinned at her. "Lord, woman, cover yourself! Nobody wants to look at your naked body. Those buns are way past the sell-by date."

"You should talk. I just found out whether or not meat goes bad if it's left untouched long enough."

"And does it?"

"Oh, yes. Very bad."

"Fran? Are you all right?" Max walked in from the other door, to find his wife and two employees kibitzing in the kitchen without him.

Niles got out four mugs and poured cocoa into three, and heated up some seltzer for Fran in the fourth. Then, they all gathered around the table, silently absorbing the bizarre situation.

"I wonder why it took us so long to figure it all out," Fran said softly.

"Figure what out?" CC asked.

Max smiled at her. "That we all belong together. Each of us shares a special bond. You and I as partners, you and Niles as, well, whatever you are now."

"Lovers," she said confidently, laying her hand on his.

"Lovers," Max replied with a smile. "Fran and I as husband and wife."

"She and I as best friends, excepting of course our significant others," Niles contributed.

"You two have known each other since you were children," Fran said, smiling at each of the two best guys in her life.

"And Fran and I -- well, guess that one might take some working on," CC said, laughing.

"We've got the rest of our lives," Max assured her. "After all, the rest of it came together."

"You could hear us?" joked CC, drawing a groan from the other three.

"Who would ever have thought?" Fran murmured.

"Who indeed?" Max agreed.

Niles and CC just smiled. Her hand crept up his thigh under the table, and the butler who always had a line found himself unable to speak at all.

"So you really never made love to him?" Niles asked for the third time. They lay side by side under the covers. He was dressed only in pajama bottoms, and every once in a while CC would reach over and caress his bare chest, loving the freedom he gave her to touch him however she liked.

She wore only his shirt, and his hand slipped under it to lay lightly around her waist. Every so often, he kissed her cheek as a pretext for sneaking a look down her neckline.

"No, for the tenth friggin' time, I didn't."

"Why not?"

"What, you wanted to watch? I just didn't want him to have everything, that's all."

Niles frowned. "I don't get it. Is this a female thing?"

CC rolled her eyes. "He was so possessive. He wanted to decide everything for me. That was the last thing I had left of my own."

Niles rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "So why in the hell were you with him?"

CC curled up beside him and smiled wickedly into his eyes. "Same reason you were with Aunt Frieda or Nanny Mueller or any of your truly loathsome past liaisons. Because somebody is better than nobody, and it's better than being by yourself thinking about all the other nights you're going to spend by yourself."

"Is that what I am?" he asked.

"Is that what I am?" she challenged.

Niles smiled. "Touché. I suppose I'm just wondering, if you held out on him why you decided to let me make love to you."

CC looked down. "It isn't just a sudden thing. I've been fighting this for a while. I guess I'd had my fill of being bossed around by Mike and then you came along shouting all the things I was secretly thinking, and I decided I didn't want to fight anymore. This probably sounds incredibly stupid, but with him I would have felt like I was losing myself. With you it felt like I was finding myself."

Niles rolled to his side and touched her lips. Then, he leaned forward and teased at her lips with his, warm and coaxing and joyful.

"Want to know a secret?" she asked between nibbles.

"Mmm-hmm."

"I usually don't like being bossed around. But when you started yelling at me, well, it was kind of -- "

"Kind of what?" he growled, impatient for the talking to cease.

"A turn-on."

Niles tilted his head to the side and analyzed this information. Then, he swung his leg over her and straddled her. "Then shut up," he commanded, and took her mouth roughly.

CC shivered with excitement and obeyed. This order was right up her alley.

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