This fanfic is in answer to Debbie’s 12 Challenges.
Thanks Debbie, it was a lot of fun!
1) Niles falling in a pool.
2) Fran and CC horse riding.
3) Max getting a black eye.
4) A mention of Julie Andrews.
5) Brighton and a blow-up doll.
6) Grace getting a boy friend.
7) Fran losing a shoe.
8) CC speaking Yiddish.
9) A monetary wager.
10) The whole family catching Niles and CC in a compromising
situation.
11) A toy, stuffed crocodile.
12) Lots of Fran/Max and Niles/CC kisses.
by
IvanaBgood
(IvanaBgood@aol.com)
"Why is it that we’re doing this again?" CC asked as she tried to wipe the baby food that dribbled dangerously close to her exposed toes. She knew her new designer pumps were shot to hell.
"To celebrate Christmas and spend time with our family," Niles answered gently as he adjusted his hand on the left handle of an old heavy dark brown antique trunk that held many of Niles’ childhood mementos.
"Yeah, get in the swing of things. You have to be around family during the holidays. Who else will tell you that you’re gaining too much weight as they hand you a fruitcake?" Fran remarked as she pushed the empty stroller over the parquet flooring. "You know I just love this thing. Not only does it have a place to hold their juice boxes so that Jonah and Eve can reach them, but it also has a compartment where I can put all my make-up. Good thing this baby has big wheels and shock absorbers.
"Niles, slow down," Max grumped as his hand slipped on the right handle of the trunk. "What did your mum put in here anyway?! It feels like she packed up and shipped everything in your old bedroom, but your bed!"
"Someone has been skipping his work-outs," Niles tutted teasingly.
"You would too if you were kept up at all hours of the night trying to put babies to sleep."
"Wasn’t that me crooning Jonah to beddy-bye last night while you were sleeping on the rocker holding a still very awake Eve?
"That wasn’t my fault," Max glowered. "I read her two bedtime stories and they didn’t work."
"That’s because you have to end it with Maybelline," Fran informed him as she sorted through the diaper bag to make sure she had everything needed.
"You put mascara on Eve?" her husband looked at her incredulously.
"No, of course not!" Fran glared at him. "What kind of mother do you think I am anyway?!"
He rushed over and touched her lips softly with his, "A very good one."
His wife shook off the after effects that always happened upon her when her handsome husband kisses her. "And don’t you forget that, Maxwell Sheffield." She smiled teasingly at him and then went back to looking at the list in her hand. "Eve likes it when I sing the backs of my make-up to her. You know, the directions and the contents. But ya have to sing it to the tune of "My Favorite Things" a là Julie Andrews. Puts her out like a light with a smile on her face."
Max rolled his eyes. "As long as you’re not putting cosmetics on her, darling. She is still too young for that."
"Of course she is, sweetie."
They smiled at each other, happy to be in complete agreement over this.
Fran then added off-handedly, "After all, I didn’t get my first lipstick until I was three."
Niles grinned at the look on Maxwell’s face. He knew all those years ago when he opened the door and saw Fran that she was just what his old friend needed.
"Come on, Emily honey, one more bite," CC softly crooned to their baby.
Niles looked on proudly at his little family. Emily’s eyes were all scrunched up and then widened in surprise as her mother’s voice became really low and booming.
"Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum, what’s inside Emily’s tum?"
Their baby’s mouth opened into a smile, just wide enough for the small spoon laden with mushed peas to slip inside.
"Good girl!" CC noticed everyone looking at her. Her face reddened. "It’s what Nanny Bobo use to say to me."
"Only then your Nanny Bobo fed you the curious villagers who tried to steal your golden egg," he winked at his wife.
~*~*~
Brighton and Grace showed their sister around the newly redesigned third floor of their home.
"I can’t believe all this," Maggie commented as she trailed her fingers along the top of the crib rail.
"Try living here for the past six months. At least in California we had a break from them," Brighton retorted.
"I think it’s sweet the way they act with one another," Gracie said as she picked up a fallen teddy bear from the floor.
Brighton made a gagging noise.
"Grow up," Gracie rolled her eyes.
"You’re not the least bit wigged out by any of it?" Maggie asked her little sister as she glanced at the family portrait of Niles, CC and Emily Rose.
"Of course not. I saw it coming when I was eight."
"Eight! No way! Those two hated each other with a passion since we’ve known them," her brother insisted.
"See, you saw it, even though you didn’t realize it," Gracie commented with satisfaction.
"What are you talking about?! I just told you that they hated each other."
"With a passion. Passion being the key word."
Maggie twirled the musical mobile around with her finger and watched as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and the other animals circled. "I hate to say it Gracie, but I’m with the twerp on this one. Niles and CC getting together, getting married and having a baby is something straight out of the X-Files. Now take Dad and Fran for example. Those two were destined from the very start to get together."
"I saw that happening when I was six," Gracie stated smugly.
"Who would have thought it would take them five years to finally work it all out," Brighton said as he settled into the wooden rocker and paged through a parenting book.
"But I still think Niles and CC are perfect for one another, too," Gracie stubbornly added as she sat on the oak ottoman glider at his feet.
"It’s certainly been educational. Niles has some moves that Dad and even I picked up on," Brighton cracked. "I wish Juliet lived in New York, she would have appreciated all the things I learned."
Maggie gave him a look of disgust. "I could have done without that mental picture."
"You just can’t accept the fact that women find me handsome… sexy… ma--cho," Brighton grinned in self-satisfaction as he folded his hands behind his head.
Maggie swiftly tugged the rocking chair back, making her brother scream in fright.
The two sisters shared a high-five with one another as they laughed at their brother, who scowled at them. All three started when they noticed CC at the doorway holding her baby.
"Uh… Hi… we were just…" Maggie was at a loss.
"Admiring Emily’s room!" Brighton filled in quickly.
"She is so beautiful Miss Babcock. All her looks must come from your side of the family." Grace added.
CC grinned at the brunette and noticed how not so little she was anymore. In fact, she had blossomed into a beautiful teenager. "That is the perfect way to get out of a problem kid, fertilize a person with sincere sounding compliments. Now here, hold Emily while I take a group photo of all of you. I need to finish up this roll of film."
The children smiled into the camera, handed Emily back after some quick hugs, and left the room. CC looked at the baby monitor that sat on Emily’s dresser and it’s partner that she had clipped to her waist. "Oy, I must remember to be careful what I say around these things since I schlep it around with me everywhere. That little girl is a smart one. She figured it out about Niles and I before Niles and I did. Now where did I put that new pacifier? Emily will plotz when she sees it!"
Fran and Niles chuckled outside the door as they listened in to CC.
~~~~~
"So will Michael be joining us soon?" Fran looked up from her lunch of tender roasted chicken breast that she was cutting into.
"No, not for another week. His modeling assignment is taking him to Jamaica afterwards," Maggie answered forlornly.
"Jamaica! What are you doing here?!" her mother gave her a quizzical look.
"I’m tired of jetting off to this island and that island for all his different photo shoots. All I’ve been doing for weeks is lying down in some tropical paradise, with the waves lapping near my feet, as half-naked waiters tend to my every need."
"Yeah, I see your dilemma," Fran rolled her eyes. "It must be hard having some gorgeous guy wait on you hand and foot. Now if I had that opportunity…," her voiced trailed off as their new butler stepped inside the dining room, "Oh George, could I have the round little ice cubes in my water instead? I like the way they roll in my mouth."
"Certainly, Mrs. Sheffield," his hazel eyes smiled at Fran while his dimpled chin dazzled her. He took her glass and exited into the kitchen.
Maxwell’s eyebrows arched at the exchange. He watched the door swing shut. "It looks like I’ll have to make another call to the employment agency. This George chap isn’t working out at all."
"What do you mean?!" Fran and C.C. chorused together.
"He’s a terrible butler," Niles added in support of his old friend. "Why this chicken of mine is so tough, it could have been CC’s twin."
Gracie giggled.
Maggie and Brighton watched as CC poked her husband’s knuckles with the tines of her fork and they gave their sister a ‘see-what-I-mean’ look.
Faking a sneeze, Gracie elbowed her siblings’ dessert forks to the floor in response and smiled as they frowned at her before bending down to pick it up.
After a couple of minutes, Fran looked over at her oldest daughter’s still bent back. "Maggie, is everything okay?"
"What?! Ouch!"
The table moved as she bumped her head into it. Maggie shook her head, but couldn’t shake the vision of Niles and CC’s hand and foot aerobics under the table. She turned to her little sister and was rewarded with an ‘I-told-you-so’ grin.
Fran caught this entire exchange and puzzled over it. Curious, she looked under the table and her chair almost tilted over in shock.
"Fran," Maxwell nudged his wife softly, "what is it? Did you drop your-"
His arm was grabbed and Max had to duck quickly before striking his forehead on the edge of the table. "Of all the nutty…" and then he saw it as well. He was speechless until he noticed his son taking notes. "Brighton!"
His tone snapped the couple from their insulting repertoire and they realized from everyone’s looks that they had been caught.
"Uh…" Niles attempted to explain.
"Please," Maxwell held his hand up. "I’m trying to wipe it from my memory at the moment."
When dinner was done, the family made their way into the livingroom.
A baby’s cry was heard and both Niles and Maxwell ran to different monitors on each side of the couch, laying their ears upon it.
"That’s yours, not mine," Niles remarked as he sat between his wife and best friend on the couch.
"And it’s Monday, which is your night to take care of the twins," Fran pointed out. "Remember I get them Tuesdays and Thursday nights."
"And Saturday nights," Maxwell turned towards her.
"Actually," Fran smiled, "I hired Gracie to baby-sit Saturday nights."
"But that means I…"
A baby’s frustrated wail interrupts.
"Sounds like Eve," Fran nodded towards the staircase.
Maxwell wistfully eyed Niles pick up a cigar before he ran upstairs.
"Niles, put that down!" CC smacked his fingers.
"I wasn’t going to smoke it! I was just going to chew on it for a bit."
"Now that there are babies in the house, no more smoking inside!" his wife was adamant.
Niles groaned, "Another pleasure I have to give up at the loss of my bachelorhood."
"Oh really? And tell me what other delights do you miss? Juggling your lonely address book in your not so lonely hand?"
Niles grimaced as his wife laughed. "There is one thing I can do without. Your freezing feet whenever you get under the sheets and want to cuddle!"
"It’s something you’ll have to get use to old boy," Maxwell’s voice filtered into the room via baby monitor.
"I thought you said that you enjoyed it when I rubbed my feet against your calves?" Fran pouted.
"I said that I abhorred it."
"But isn’t that what you said when I fed you a portion of my Fabulously Fantastic Fudge brownies?"
"More like fabulously fatalistic," Maxwell whispered to his daughter.
"What was that?" His wife’s voice was starting its path towards annoyance.
"Yes sweetheart, but the way I meant abhor then was I love it. You know, like how the kids today say bad or they say the word longer as in baaaad when they really mean good."
"Sweetie, no one says that anymore."
"Oh. Well, I haven’t had time to get down and be with it anymore. After all, I am a father of babies again. Spending my time with cribs."
"Now you’ve got it, honey. Cribs is choice. And I’m very happy to be back in our old crib. I missed it."
"Fran, what are you talking about?"
"A crib means your home, your house."
"Darling, please no more late night MTV… and possibly throw away that recipe for those brownies," Maxwell muttered to himself.
Eve pulled on her Daddy’s lip, coaxing a smile onto his face, "Did you know that Mommy’s brownies gave Daddy the trots, Evie? Yes, they did…"
"We can still hear you…"
Maxwell stared hard at the baby monitor as he tucked his daughter in. "Trots is a good thing, Fran. I loved them so much that I was giddy-upping with joy."
"He giddy-upped to the bathroom all night." Fran informed Niles and CC.
Niles chuckled as he got up. "Why don’t you two scoot closer together. I want a photo of my two favorite gals."
"Oooo, pictures! C’mon CC, slide it on over here." She patted a spot on the cushion.
"Okay, but make it quick," the blond grumped.
Fran grinned at the camera and CC joined her as Niles made his pouty face at her that he knew she adored.
They all turned as one when they heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Evie is almost asleep and Jonah is counting sheep as I speak." He turned his wrist and looked at his watch. "And Rodney’s plane will be touching down in a few hours to spend the holidays with us."
"Oh no, the Terrible Trio together again," CC quipped.
"What do you mean?"
She looked at her husband. "Remember the days at Oxford when I first met you, Maxwell and Rodney?"
Niles grinned and Maxwell chuckled.
"I haven’t thought about that time in years," Maxwell replied as he sat down in a chair.
"Well, I don’t know about any of it and I’m in the mood for a story," Fran set herself on her husband’s lap, smiling as his arms wrapped around her waist. "I thought you all met for the first time when Maxwell hired you as his secretary?"
"No, it was much earlier than that." CC laid back on the couch and placed her legs on her husband’s lap. A small groan escaped as she felt his wonderful hands massage her feet. Their eyes connected.
"None of that now," Fran said, knowing what the two blonds were thinking. "I want to hear about this fateful meeting."
"Oh, very well…"
Fran listened as Niles, Max and CC took turns telling the story.
~*~*~
"Great, a party in full swing before dusk!" CC lugged her books towards her dorm room. She trudged her weary bones down the hallway. Her blue eyes glanced up warily at the walls that seemed to jump with the beat. The people next door had been quiet to that point. Not so now. Loud music flowed from the residence adjoining hers. It looked as if her hopes for neighbors who were Amish were dashed.
Well, she simply won’t let it bother her. Can’t expect everything to be perfect, she scolded herself as she pushed her door open and then closed it with her hip. She had been extremely lucky to be able to move into a spacious room and on campus.
Without warning, uneasiness struck as a deep-chorded voice, followed by hurried knocking, blasted the fall air.
Now what? She hastily set the heavy armload of books on top of her desk and took the few steps to her door.
A big hulk of a guy stood there leering at her. "I was sent over to ask if you have any ice."
Before CC could answer, a shout tore through the air as the BOOM! of something evidently large and in flight slammed against the shared wall. Pictures and shelves rumbled. A crash and a splintering of something echoed in CC’s ears.
She turned and her hand flew to her mouth. A horse figurine had fallen from its place of honor on a shelf and was scattered in jagged crystal pieces on the floor. Her eyes glistened with tears. It wasn’t an heirloom, but something her father had given to her when she was twelve. One of the few days she had him all to herself. It had meant the world to her.
Stifling her sadness, she crossed the room and knocked hard on the wall to alert the partygoers that they were out of line. In answer, she received muffled laughter.
Anger filled her. This was the last straw! She was going to have a talk with these people. She brushed past the idiot who still stood in her doorway and used the foot of her palm to slam on her neighbor’s door three times. A medium-built, flaxen-haired student answered her knocking. His broad chest, lightly tanned and looked smooth to the touch, contrasted with the dark, drawstring pajama bottoms that rode low on his narrow hips. Leaning into an easy stance, he cocked his palm against the doorjamb while a grin played across the planes of his mustached face.
For a split second CC’s purpose for being there slipped her mind, and she responded with feminine instinct. ‘My, he was handsome.’ Then, with inwardly directed irritation, she reminded herself not to put any stock in exterior varnishing and to remember the broken pieces of her memento.
"Well, hello," he said in a smooth, rich voice.
"I’m your new neighbor, CC Babcock," she stated crisply.
"Niles is the name. Welcome to the neighborhood."
"Didn’t you hear me knocking on your wall?" She stood up straighter to show she meant business. "What is going on over here?"
"Karate match. And no, I didn’t hear you. I was reading in my bedroom."
"Reading?" she repeated incredulously, looked past her neighbor to the two kimonoed men who stood behind him and were watching her boldly.
"Yes, he’s too good for us," the darker-haired one commented. "We’re beginners."
CC dug in her heels. "Niles, if I could speak with you in private…"
The other man in a kimono began to say something, but Niles interrupted. "Please come in. Then you’ll have my-" he lifted a brow, "-undivided attention."
"Wooo," the karate enthusiasts chorused.
She shot withering looks at them.
Niles inclined his head toward his mates, "A moment please, gentleman."
"Come on, Rodney. Let’s go," the dark-haired one urged his friend, as he grabbed his date by her hand and escorted her to the bedroom.
"But I almost had you with that one, Maxwell," Rodney grumbled under his breath, smiling at CC as he also departed, pushing a giggly girl ahead of himself and into the room.
As the door slammed closed, Niles turned back towards her, beckoning her inside. "Welcome to my humble abode." He grinned, apparently pleased with her testiness.
CC moved inside, pointedly sidestepping a hideous bearskin rug, head and snarled fangs attached.
His walls were all intact, of course, she noted with disgust. None of the sporting trophies or books had fallen down during the karate match. Beyond her pique over the horse and the noise, she considered jocks boors.
Niles’ eyes, as cool and blue as the Caribbean Sea, were appraising her, missing nothing.
"How do you like it here at Oxford? We don’t have many Americans attending this esteemed institution of higher learning."
"It’s all right," She shouldn’t have answered so quickly, she realized. She didn’t want to give the impression that she was interested in him. The only thing she wanted was to have her say and get out of his dorm. At least that’s what she told herself. But it was next to impossible to ignore his half-clothed body. Though miffed at him over the party, she found herself losing her aggravation.
Her flaxen-haired neighbor’s gaze slid from the tip of her toes past her well-ironed safari shorts and oxford-cloth blouse to the top of her brown hair as he gestured toward a sofa. "Have a seat."
She lifted her chin. "No, thank you. What I have to say won’t take long."
Niles shrugged just before crossing the room to turn off the stereo system.
The sudden quiet had a calming effect on CC and she breathed easier. If he wanted to walk around half-naked without no never mind than she could pretend that she couldn’t care less. Her eyes took in his broad back, and the way muscles flexed on his biceps as he picked a lava lamp up from the couch and set it on a table. As soon as he settled into his seat and she knew she had his attention, she nodded toward the wall separating their two dorms.
"Niles, we’re going to have to set up some guidelines we can both live with."
"Sounds thought provoking," A wry tone shaded his voice. He grinned, the action crinkling slight lines that radiated from the corners of his eyes. "What sort of guidelines?
For coffee klatches? Borrowing sugar?"
"No, not guidelines for those sorts of trivial pursuits." CC crossed her arms over her chest when she realized he was teasing. "Guidelines about loud noises. And destroyed property."
Niles’ brows knitted. "Destroyed property?"
"Yes. Someone hit the wall a few minutes ago. Something of mine fell off the wall shelf and broke."
"The karate match must have gotten a little out of hand." He appeared genuinely apologetic. "I would be happy to replace it."
Her eyes flickered and she swallowed back the lump in her throat as she thought of the shattered keepsake. "It can’t be replaced."
"I’m very sorry. But it’s not like someone died or something." When she bristled, he appeared regretful. "That came out wrong. And please pardon my attire or lack of as it were. You’ve caught me on laundry day. Maxwell laid claim to my last clean shirt.""
The front door opened and that big lug that was at her door earlier fell in. "Niles, someone here to see you," he announced. "I think I’m seeing double," he belched loudly and then passed out on the floor.
Two very pretty green-eyed twins bounced their way over to Niles, their long blond hair cascaded behind them and just touched the tops of their bottoms.
"Hi Niles," they both said at the same time in the same way, giving their greeting a stereo effect. One placed her arms around his waist, while the other territorially placed hers around his neck, her fingernails drawing circles on his chest.
"Hello Mandy, Sandy – this is CC. My new neighbor."
The two girls barely nodded at her. CC managed to mumble a quick goodbye before exiting the place over Niles’ thin veiled protests. Just as she fumbled for her doorknob, Niles’ hand touched her shoulder.
"Let’s clean up the loose ends of the conversation, shall we? I’ll make restitution for whatever broke as well as try to keep the noise down to a dull roar," irritation was clearly written on his face as he noticed her angry stance and desire to get away. "And in return you might try working on your diplomacy act a little more. That is, if you intend on keeping peace with me. Remember, we do have to live next to each other."
"I’ll keep my distance, if you will."
"Agreed," he stepped back.
CC stoically turned and went inside. Once in the solitude of her home, she locked the door. As she leaned against the wooden barrier for support, her raging anger slowly turned into a smoldering fire.
She was furious with Niles and his friends for making so much noise and not thinking anything was wrong with it. She was furious to learn that her next-door neighbor was a Casanova, ready to turn on the charm for any available female.
But then, she reminded herself, he hadn’t said anything that out of line. Had she conjured up emotional danger signs? All she knew was that that man irritated her beyond belief. Maybe her heated reaction had been uncalled for. And maybe her attitude did need some work. But hell if she was going to change for the likes of him! Of one thing she was sure: she didn’t trust Niles.
She didn’t trust men, period. Her last relationship had broken her heart into a million pieces. When it had healed, CC promised herself that no man would ever hurt her like that again. Common sense and practicality erected a barrier around her heart and emotions, keeping good-looking, irresponsible men at arm’s length.
That’s why this semester away from Bryn Mawr and spending it instead studying abroad, seemed like a good idea to her.
CC picked up a small piece of crystal. The horse's tail. How appropriate. Between Niles and her father, they'd left her with nothing but a horse's hind end -- the best part to remember them by.
CC went down to the first floor. Why did she have to live on the third floor? More to the point, didn't Brits believe in elevators? No -- evidently they got their lifts from trampy twins named Mandy and Sandy. "Bitches," she muttered. She wasn't interested in Niles, but if she were, she'd die and go to hell before she let a couple of over-endowed village girls get in her way. And CC, who was quick to catch on to the social strata in any situation, had identified them as village girls by their inexpensive, casual and revealing attire. And her eagle eye had identified Niles, too, as being from another class despite his status as a student. Nobody with any manners went around in just his pants.
"Excuse me," she said to the attendant, who was just locking up for the night. "May I borrow a broom? I'm afraid I've broken something in my room."
"Sure," the girl said. "Look, I want to lock up and go home. Can you return it in the morning?"
"No problem," said CC. She was a little startled, but then an attendant wasn't exactly like a maid. She wasn't supposed to do everything for you, just keep the residence hall more or less neat and provide the students with supplies to clean their personal rooms. For a price, some would do the cleaning for you, but it was against the rules and CC had yet to find someone bendable. So she took the broom and marched back up the stairs.
Just as she passed his door, Niles came out with Sandy and Mandy right behind. "Sorry, ladies, I have class tomorrow. Don't want to start off on the wrong note. Wait until the end of term when I'm trying to think of an excuse not to study for exams." He flashed them a crooked grin, then glanced at CC. He nodded warily.
CC looked from him to the twins. "That was fast," she taunted, hitting just the right note of amused disdain. And to her utter satisfaction, the good-looking rat and his little pieces of cheese simply stared at her, open-mouthed.
CC went into her room and began to make quick, small strokes with the broom. The shards of glass disarranged themselves and then settled into a new pattern, but remained otherwise uncleaned. CC swept more. The same happened. She flung the broom down in frustration and her hands flew to her hips. "Well, you can't just stay there all semester," she scowled. "You're going to have to get up sometime."
A voice from behind her drawled, "That's what my mum said when I refused to get out of bed this morning." He had brownish hair and a slightly weaselish look to him. Not unhandsome, just a little effeminate. CC privately dubbed him "ishy" because his hair was brownish, his eyes were greenish, and his face was weaselish, resulting in him being handsomeish. She was willing to bet he was also smartish and popularish. "I'm Rodney Pembrooke, another of your neighbors. "I understand there was an accident which resulted from my being hurled against the wall."
CC gasped. "Why were you hurled?"
"Because Max is a cheater and didn't tell me Niles had been tutoring him. Believe me, Niles assured me the damage could get worse if I didn't get over here and apologize, but you see, there was no place else to spar. It's nearly ten, and the gym closed a bit ago. I assume Max will be over to extend his apologies later on." CC listened, open-mouthed, to this running monologue. "By the bye," he added, "Who precisely were you talking to? For a moment, I thought I'd interrupted something, what with curfew starting in a few minutes. I figured you were kicking someone out."
CC gasped in outrage and drew herself up to deliver a killer set-down, but Rodney got there first. "I do apologize, I can see now that you're far too much of a lady for that sort of thing, I mean you only being in the country for a couple of days and all." Suddenly he dashed out. "Max! I say, Maxwell!"
Max entered. CC had observed before that he was taller than Niles but not quite so tall as Rodney. He had thick, wavy black hair. He had a strong, slender build. Elegant, no overgrown brute like Niles. His face, she noted with disappointment, was young. He had one of those baby faces that some women love, but which CC would need another ten or fifteen years to get used to. When he was about thirty-five or forty, she predicted, he would acquire the character and personality that would turn his pretty face into a killer degree of gorgeous. She had to grin. Living next to these three was going to provide endless entertainment, if any of her belongings survived their athletic aspirations.
"Max, this is-- " Rodney squinted at her. "I say, who are you?"
"Rodney, you ass, you've been yammering at her, haven't you? She probably hasn't gotten a word in sideways since you barged in to apologize." The dark-haired young man extended his hand with a smile. "I'm Maxwell Sheffield. This is Rodney Pembrooke, and you've already met Niles."
"I'm CC Babcock."
"From America. Somewhere in the North. You don't sound a bit like Scarlett O'Hara," Max observed.
"Oh, good lord, you did not just say that," groaned Rodney.
"I'm from New York. And Pennsylvania. I mean, I was born in New York but I go to college at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania."
"How charming," Rodney said. "At any rate, we do apologize, both of us. I assure you, next time someone crashes, it will be Max. He's lighter, and won't cause nearly the damage."
CC laughed.
"Really," Max said, "What can we do to help?"
"Well, do either of you know how to work this thing?" CC picked up the horse's tail and the broom.
"The back end of a horse? I assure you, no. We're English, not Scottish."
"The broom!" she said in frustration. "I've never used one before. It just seems to mess things up worse."
Rodney and Max looked at each other in consternation. "Niles!" they chorused.
Rodney explained. "The two of us are really quite useless, you know. Niles knows how to do everything, but we're just charming oddities. Fun to have around, though," he assured her.
Niles appeared in the doorway. CC flashed him a bold look and then turned back to Rodney. "I can just imagine," she smiled, with deliberate provocation.
Rodney coughed. "Yes. Well. Niles, work that thing, if you will."
"Work her? I just met her."
"The broom, you ass, the broom. CC appears to be having difficulty cleaning up from our endeavors. As Max and I are completely un-broom-savvy, I fear you shall have to do the honors."
"As always," groused Niles. He was just about to follow this up with a vehement refusal, when he chanced to glance at CC. Her look of rage and misery stopped him. "There, there," he said gently. "No need to be upset."
"That expression doesn't belong on such a lovely face," Rodney added chivalrously.
"We've always wanted to have our own lady in distress," Max assured her. "Niles, fix it for her."
With a resentful, bitter glance at the other two, Niles took the broom from CC. "Where's the dustpan?"
"The what?" she asked blankly.
"Dustpan. It's where you put the pieces."
"Oh!" CC brightened. "I suppose that's British for waste can." She handed Niles her chintz-covered trash can.
"No, no," he sighed, waving it away. "Max, go get a paper plate." Max and Rodney left. "You see, there's another piece to the broom. It's a sort of flat metal pan, and you sweep the dust and bits into it, then carry it over to the waste can." CC still looked at him with her brow furrowed. Niles set the broom aside. He took her hands. He turned them palms up, running his fingertips over them. She pulled back, but he murmured intently, "Wait. I'm just trying to see . . . no, you've probably never swept a floor before in your life, have you?"
"No," she admitted, feeling suddenly foolish for this defect.
"Nor washed a dish, I see."
"Petri dishes. In Chemistry class."
"Ah. And I take it the requisite riding lessons, which should have left calluses here and here -- "
CC jerked her hands way. "If there are no marks on my hands, how did you know I rode?"
"A lady does, does she not? Definitely the kind of lady who can make shorts look formal, and who decorates a dorm room in chintz." He sniffed the air. "And who wears Chanel #5."
"Would you just sweep the friggin' floor?" she snapped.
She took a horrified step backward as the look on his face seared her. "I -- I didn't
mean -- "
"I don't care what you meant. Sweep your own damn floor, I'm not your servant, Miss Babcock!" Niles flung the broom at her feet. Even as CC cringed, she wondered at that odd emphasis on the word, your.
She rushed to the door as he exited. "Niles, wait!"
Rodney and Maxwell shrunk hard against the hallway wall as Niles angrily brushed past.
They looked around the corner and watched CC warily as she threw the broom up in the air, almost hitting them. Rodney waved the paper plate inside like a white flag.
"Is it safe to come in?" Maxwell asked using Rodney as a shield.
"Yes," CC sighed, her hands on her hips. "It took two of you to get one plate?"
"We thought that you and Niles would want time together, to…talk," Rodney replied as he handed her the plate.
"I don’t think the idea of Niles and I alone in a room is a very good idea. We seem to rub one another the wrong way."
Rodney smirked, "That sounds like fun to me…Ow!" He rubbed his left shoulder where Max punched him.
"What happened, CC? What caused Niles to be so incensed?" Maxwell walked over and touched her arm charitably.
"Max, phone for-"
CC watched as Niles’ eyes drew towards Maxwell’s hand resting on her arm. She felt the hand pull away as Maxwell turned towards Niles and saw the way Niles’ blue eyes traveled back and forth between the two of them.
"What’s going on?"
"What do you mean?" Maxwell asked, clearly puzzled.
"It’s that old Sheffield charm at work again and only under three minutes," Rodney looked at his watch. "That’s a new land record, old chap," he slapped his friend jovially.
"What are you-" Maxwell looked back towards the doorway, but Niles was gone. "Rodney, what did you do?"
"Just getting back at you two for practicing Karate behind my back," Rodney answered smugly.
"And how, pray tell, did you do that?"
"By fanning the flames, Maxwell." Rodney grinned and exited the room.
Maxwell looked over at CC for clarification, only to get a shake of her head. She sighed as she walked him to the door and closed it after him quietly.
Niles lay in his bed, a grim look on his face.
~*~*~
The next morning, CC found herself a bit overwhelmed with her new campus. The grounds were extensive and the classrooms daunting. The professors seemed to emote their lessons either in a rapid-fire or indifferent manner, all the while expecting you to answer questions and take notes at the same time. Quite a change from her smaller, all-women campus.
"Damn it, you’re a slippery sucker," CC swore as a book dropped onto the grass as she made her way across the grounds.
"I’ve been called worse."
CC whirled to the sound of a deep, resonant voice. Niles walked over, picked up her text and handed it to her carefully. He watched her juggle her books together.
"May I?"
With just a touch of hesitancy, CC shook her head. She was still determined to have as little to do with the aesthetically appealing Niles as possible and so avoided eye contact.
"I don’t need your help."
He loped after her, catching her arm. "CC, we got off on the wrong foot last night. I do not want to be at odds with you. Would you entertain the idea of starting over?"
"It seems you enjoy entertaining," she answered coolly.
Niles eyes narrowed. "Wouldn’t it be easier for both of us if we were on speaking terms?" When she didn’t immediately reply, he said, "Our building is not large and this semester will be quite long. The time will go much faster if we are civil with one another, wouldn’t you agree?"
"Yes," she nodded. "You’re right."
"If you’re not in a hurry, would you like to have tea with me?" He grinned cordially.
"Well…" Considering his offer, CC looked at her wristwatch. "I have a lot of studying to do."
Niles’ lips widened to display a great smile; his eyes twinkled. "Just the one cup then while I apologize." He held the appropriate number of fingers to his forehead. "Scout’s honor. I won’t make you late."
"All right, one cup." She grudgingly handed over her books at his gesture.
Stepping back, he showed her the way to the dining hall and in no time at all he had brought over two cups of delicious tea, a plate of scrumptious cookies, and he was sitting across the round table from her. A cloak of silence fell over them.
CC couldn’t help but wonder about Niles. She knew absolutely nothing about the man except that she didn’t like him – no – she didn’t trust him. He made her wary. Yet she felt compelled to look at him, really look at him. As she studied the rather tender expression on his handsome face, her tension eased a fraction.
She toyed with her teacup and forced rational thoughts. He was her neighbor, that’s all. Remembering past disillusionments, she vowed not to be influenced by his outer appeal or by the ease of the moment. But resolve or no resolve, she was powerless not to notice the thick shock of fair hair that crowned his cheeks, firm jaw and strong chin.
"I’m sorry about last night," he said. "I may have overreacted a bit."
"I acted quite wretched myself," CC heard herself say before she could stop herself. And vow or no vow, she couldn’t help wondering if that rye-colored mustache was as soft as it appeared.
"By the way, I have a peace offering for you." He opened his bookbag and pulled out a dustpan with a red bow attached to the handle. "With my heartfelt apologies," he continued with a twinkle, as he handed it to her.
CC laughed as she took it. It felt so good to laugh. And this man had a way about him that always kept her off balance. It was a nice feeling. Her sight filled with the light-colored material of his shirt and the way the top two unbuttons revealed part of his chest to her eyes.
"I say – biscuits!" Rodney sat down next to Niles and stuffed a whole cookie into his mouth.
Maxwell took the remaining chair between Niles and CC. "Mandy and Sandy came by the flat a moment ago Niles, seems you promised them a date this afternoon?"
Niles grimaced. "I didn’t promise anything, they assumed.
"Be that as it may, they’re waiting by our front door for you."
"And they looked simply smashing!" Rodney reached for another cookie. "Tell me Niles, how do you know where one ends and one begins?"
"Right. Let’s not be crude in front of CC shall we?" Niles gave her an apologetic look, but CC had turned away.
"Niles – that’s her, right there! The one in the green sweater." Maxwell pointed to a far-off table. "She’s in my lab," Maxwell sighed.
"Aren’t you in need of a partner?" At his friend’s nod, "Why don’t you seek her out and inquire if she is available then?
Maxwell rested his chin on his hand and stared lostly, "But look at her, those ruby red lips, those blue eyes…"
"Those…uh…that sweater," Rodney added. "That reminds me," he snapped his fingers, "I’ve already been assigned to do a report on the formation of mountains in the Himalayas and plateau regions. I may need your help with that Niles. Where are the Himalayas? Aren’t they near Africa?"
Niles rolled his eyes and then looked over at his friend, who was imploring him silently. He resigned himself to the mute plea "Please excuse me, CC"
Her brows knitted as she watched Niles curiously. He sauntered across the room and approached the table that sat the student that Maxwell was so enthralled with. He looked too comfortable she thought at the sight of his lazy stance, watching his lips move and noticing the way that girl and her two friends answered back. ‘He went off to flirt with other women right after he asked to talk to me!’ CC abruptly stood up. Her teacup clattered on its saucer.
At Maxwell’s and Rodney’s surprised faces, she muttered an excuse about being late for something, gathered her books and left.
"Odd girl," Rodney remarked as he ate the last cookie.
Niles came back to their table a few minutes later. "Her name is Sara and she would love to be your lab partner. Why don’t you go over there and introduce yourself?" He then looked around. "Where is CC?"
"She dashed off while you made time with those beauties over there," Rodney explained.
"I wasn’t making-" he blew out an air of exasperation. "Never mind! Which direction did she go?"
At his quick-to-point finger, Niles loped after the woman that drove him crazy and intrigued him at the same time.
Despite her best efforts, CC wasn’t able to lose him. They stopped near her door in their building.
"CC!" When Niles finally caught up, he bent over, hands on knees, and tried to catch his breath. When he finally did, "Why did you leave without saying good-bye?"
She opened her mouth with a snap, her eyes spoke volumes as she pivoted on her heel and began to walk away.
Niles ran in front of her and blocked her way. "CC, me darlin’," he cooed "you are a right bonny lass indeed. You may be a brunette, but there’s fire in those eyes that would do a red-head proud."
Niles affected Irish accent made CC frown even more. She knew he was trying to charm his way into her good graces. She raised stormy blue eyes to his amused ones and muttered, "Leave me alone. Why don’t you make someone else’s life miserable?"
The grin that greeted her remarks was annoyingly sunny. "I decided to take a rest from breaking hearts tonight," he answered in his deep attractive voice that despite CC’s dislike of him, made a shiver run down her spine. "Aggressive women can be very trying at times," he finished innocently, as he tried to sound boredly conceited that CC wanted to take him by the neck and beat him silly. Instead she stared at him disgustedly.
"I’ll have you know that my heart is quite intact, but I can show you a whole other side of an aggressive woman!" she remarked nastily, even as a slight quiver of apprehension raced over her as Niles let his eyes assess her, without troubling to hide his appreciation for what he was seeing.
He returned his gaze from its leisurely inspection of her hips, her waist and then her gently heaving breasts, to her eyes, and he grinned at her expression. "Maybe you are the one who is out to break hearts?"
CC’s mouth twisted into a pucker of disgust that Niles eyed with sensual interest. "I’m not interested in breaking hearts. I am interested in breaking necks. One in particular stands out!"
Niles chuckle infuriated her even more.
"You jocks think you’re God’s gift to women!" she spat as she unlocked and opened her door.
"I’m not a jock," he answered in surprise.
"I saw all those trophies in your place. All those unbroken trophies!"
"They’re Rodney’s. And besides, what have you got against athletes? I mean, you could be one if you took care of yourself."
Outraged by his attitude, CC snarled, "I’m not in that bad a condition. I’m not overweight. I have muscles. I can’t run a marathon, but I do just fine."
"No, you’re not overweight. The way you look in clothes, a man could be forgiven for thinking you would be delectable without them."
"Stop it!"
"Stop what?"
"Stop disguising insults as compliments!"
"Is that what I’m doing?" he asked guilelessly.
"You know damn well you-"
"Come here a minute, CC" he said in a voice so softly seductive that all of her warning instincts went off simultaneously, though her feet stubbornly carried her right up to within a few inches of Niles.
"Why?" she asked cautiously before sucking in her breath when Niles put his hands on her shoulders, then ran them down her arms.
"I want to see those muscles you claim you have," he answered with bland concentration on what he was doing. "Or feel them rather," he muttered abstractedly.
His inspection was too thorough for CC to remain long unaffected, but she held herself still, determined she wasn’t going to let Niles know that his hands were evoking sensations she had never felt before.
"You’re right," Niles finally murmured as his hands finally rested upon her hips. "You do just fine." And then he took her completely by surprise and bent his head to hers and took her mouth in a kiss that showed only too clearly that Niles’ talents might not be on an athletic field, but they sure lay elsewhere.
CC stayed frozen under the swelter of emotion that Niles’ kiss evoked in her. She stayed frozen right up until the time he lifted her limp arms to his neck, walked them inside her place, closed the door and whispered against her mouth, "Kiss me back, CC. You’re frustrating the hell out of me."
If he hadn’t accompanied his direction with a tug on her hips that brought her into even closer contact with his thighs, CC might have resisted. But the sheer heat of him ignited her own sensuality and she melted against him in a fashion her old boyfriend had always greeted with a shudder of pleasure, and Niles’ reaction was no different. And after the shudder his hands clasped her buttocks tightly and he pulled her even tighter to him while his mouth opened wider over hers.
For the next few moments each of them reacted to the other with a sort of wondering, heated, frantic need that would no doubt have carried them straight into the bedroom if Niles hadn’t pulled away to rest his forehead against hers while he tried to catch his breath.
"My God, CC, you’re lethal!" he gasped when he was able to. "I never would have believed-"
But he had said too much by then and CC drew herself stiffly out of his arms. "Still waters," she quipped raggedly, determined not to let him know that he had affected her just as strongly, though she realized he would have to be a total dunce not to suspect it, in light of the intensity of that kiss she returned.
Niles looked at her studied her, then let his arms drop. There was a light of caution in his eyes now that hadn’t been there before, and CC wondered somewhat cynically if the great Niles had finally found a woman who was too much for him to handle. She had to admit that the reverse was true as well. Niles was definitely more than she was prepared to handle herself and she suspected her own eyes showed as much caution as his did.
"Interesting," Niles muttered, absorbed in thought, before taking a final deep breath. "I want you like hell," he said then as calmly as though he was discussing the weather, "but you are definitely not the type I can enjoy and then walk away from."
Incensed by Niles apparent attitude that he was the one who would decide whether things went any farther between them, CC bristled into a budding temper tantrum. "Now look here-" she began to sputter her objections and he slanted his mouth over hers, touching in minute degrees the tiny hollow that marked the curve of her upper lip. With her hands gripping his shoulders for support, she melted against him, and returned the fire of his kiss. All too soon he drew back, unable to take the kiss any longer without acting like a cad.
"All right," she nodded slowly, "maybe a date or two between us, but that’s all. And if you’re just stringing me along Niles, I will be sweeping up your bits into a dustpan!"
He chuckled, loving every bit of her temper.
~*~*~
"So you two had the hots for each other back then?" Fran asked in surprise. "What happened?!"
At the same time, Niles and CC replied.
"She was a stubborn witch with a heart of ice!"
"He was an obstinate no account horse’s ass!"
"They ended up arguing about something," Maxwell volunteered. "Something… about a girl in your bed?"
"It wasn’t a girl!" Niles’ voice rang out. " It was one of those inflatable things that you blow up and resembles a female!"
"Niles!" Fran looked at him in shock.
"So Niles, you have one of those things too? I mean, you have one of those things?!" Brighton asked pretending disgust as he walked into the room.
"Rodney put it into my bed. I believe it was Maxwell’s."
They all looked at the millionaire whose face became beet red. "I-I didn’t know what it was at first. You know Rodney and his gag gifts."
"I understand sweetheart," Fran patted his arm gently.
Max sighed with relief.
"You probably thought it was that girl you wanted as a lab partner!"
Max dropped his head and groaned. "That was Sara!"
"Oh," Fran said, "but still… I wonder if you would have wanted to work with me and flammable things?"
"Fran, after the holiday we had in California before moving back here, you have to ask me that?!"
His wife made a pouty face.
"How was your vacation?" Niles asked. "We haven’t had time for you to tell me about any of it."
As Fran opened her mouth, CC interrupted, not noticing the annoyed glare that the former nanny threw at her.
"Never mind that. What exactly did James Cameron say about our idea for a movie, Maxwell? That was the reason for meeting him."
"Well, James had to fly to Canada so Fran, Gracie and I took that time to look around and visit other places in California that were not near malls or outlet stores while we waited for him to come back."
Fran retorted. "I think that Max came up with a couple of sure-fire hits, but that man doesn’t know good ideas if they grew hands and slapped him in the face!"
Max soothed his wife by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "But we were able to see many things and the first place we experienced was Santa Barbara, California. We decided to spend the day at the beach-"
"Gracie made a friend there." Fran winked at her daughter who walked into the room with her sister.
Max scowled at the big smile that lit young Grace’s face. "He was perfectly unacceptable!"
"Dad! Spike is very sweet!"
"Well, I don’t like him! His bleached blond looks and leather jacket. Who wears that to a beach anyway, I want to know?!"
"Ooo, ooo – Fonzie did!" Fran put in.
"All right I’ll rephrase that. Who in his right mind and doesn’t live in TV Land wears a leather jacket with zippers everywhere to a beach? And what kind of name is Spike?!"
"It’s only a nickname. He lives in New York now. We email each other regularly."
Maggie shook her head at her sister and whispered, "Never volunteer information about boyfriends."
At her dad’s concerned looks, Grace quickly changed the subject. "Fran went body surfing."
Fran squealed, "It was so much fun! I rented one of those foam boards, it’s half the size of surfboards and you don’t stand on it, you lay your tummy on it and ride a wave!"
"Only," Maxwell rubbed the back of his neck in irritation, "she forgot that being a city girl from Flushing, an ocean has things unlike neighborhood swimming pools. Like riptides!"
"What are those?" CC asked.
"Riptides are these very strong currents that crash at an angle and can catch you and pull you away from the shore. They are usually between 50 feet and 50 yards long and swimmers tend to panic because they try to swim against it when what you’re suppose to do is to swim parallel with the current until you get to shore," Gracie explained.
"That’s exactly what I did," Fran said matter-of-factly.
"You swam parallel?"
"Nope, I panicked. It reminded me a lot of the time when I was twelve, and the Del Vecchio triplets cannon balled into the pool at the same time. Same effect." Fran held her nose and made a ‘glub-glub’ drowning sound.
"It was much more serious than that, Fran. You almost died!" Maxwell looked at her sternly.
"How did you get out of it?" Niles leaned forward.
"Max saved me."
"And I received a black-eye in the bargain!" her husband humphed.
"I keep telling you that wasn’t my fault! You felt like a squid or something. All slimy! I thought you were a big sea monster coming out to get me."
"That’s because you spread so much of that water-proof sunblock on me!"
"You told me that you got that black-eye because of a big bully?" Brighton turned to his dad.
"A big haired bully." He wrapped his arms tighter around his wife before she could smack him. "After that we had enough of beaches and traveled inland to this small town called Eureka. It’s known for its excavation of gold way back in the old Goldrush days."
"We panned for gold. It was very exciting and hard work," Fran put in.
"You did it for all of three minutes," her husband looked down at her.
"Three very strenuous minutes. I almost chipped my nail polish," she nuzzled his neck and heard him give a soft, pleasant hum. "Besides it was too hot so I went for a walk."
"And almost stepped on a snake!" Maxwell retorted.
"Oh my God!" Niles exclaimed. "Was it hiding in the brush?"
"Sorta. I heard this rattle and thought there was this mariachi band nearby and of course I immediately thought, ‘Ooo, where there’s a band, there’s refreshments!’ Like those Spanish nuts, I love those! They go real well with some soda pop!"
Her husband rolled his eyes. "I managed to distract the snake with a few well aimed rocks until Fran was a safe distance away."
"I thought you stumbled over a small cactus and your screams scared it away?" Gracie asked.
"As I stumbled, pebbles from the ground were strewn about. And I did not scream."
"My hero!" Fran kissed him again.
Maxwell’s mouth curved into a smile. He lifted his hands to place them around her neck and used his thumbs to stroke the line of her jaw in delicious, feathering movements.
Fran’s eyes darkened at his caress. Max bent his head and took her mouth in a kiss that showed only too clearly how much he loved his wife. Fran melted under the heat and greeted it with a shudder of pleasure.
Niles coughed and the captivated couple blushed as they looked around at the room.
"Isn’t there some age requirement where parents are suppose to stop doing that?" Brighton mumbled to Maggie.
She nodded in agreement and then said, "Finish the story Dad. What happened after that?"
"After that we traveled to this rodeo the next day at another town called Victorville. The townspeople dressed up in all their western finery to celebrate the special occasion."
"Oh! And honest to goodness Indians were there too, dressed in their tribal regalia. Some had these beautiful feather headdresses on and their faces were painted in interesting marks." Fran added. "I knew eventually I would find the perfect place to wear my beautiful leopard spotted vest and fringed buckskin pants with gold and silver sequins!"
Niles grinned, picturing Fran in her outlandish get-up, her hair poofed up and sprayed and walking in high heeled boots amongst a western backdrop.
"I walked up to these two Indians, one of them was a chief, to ask them if I could take a picture of them, but before I could, they asked if they could take a picture of me! They muttered something about their wives weren’t going to believe this."
"And soon after that she was almost trampled by a bucking bronco." Max said in irritation.
"If she was wearing that outfit, she should have been stampeded," CC put in and everyone glared at her. "What?"
Fran made a face at her, "Anywho, it was all a mistake. I wanted to get a picture taken of myself with this ruggedly handsome cowboy who was inside the fence on his horse and use him as a backdrop. I sat on the railing and fell over just as Gracie was advancing the film. It could have happened to anyone!"
The people in the room exchanged glances and similar thoughts.
"How did you get out of that?" Brighton asked.
"That cowboy galloped over quickly, picked me up, and pulled me out of harms way."
"Where were you, Dad?"
"He was buying a hamburger."
"I was hungry," Maxwell frowned. "Keeping an eye on you is a full-time job."
"But Maxwell, what happened with the movie deal?" CC waved away Fran who was about to say something.
"James didn’t like the idea we came up with so I pitched him a story about this accident prone woman who falls into one mishap after another and gets rescued in the nick of time, every time. He didn’t think it was very realistic."
~*~*~
"C’mon CC, tell me!" Fran asked again.
"I told you, it’s not important. Stop being a pest - your voice is giving me a headache!"
"This is how I wear Max down when I want something and it hasn’t let me down yet!" Fran looked over at their children playing nicely with one another in the newly redecorated and remodeled playroom. "Those are the perks that come with this nasal twang."
"Well, it won’t work on me!" CC scowled at the brunette before directing a smile towards Emily who was lying on her tummy, chewing on a small rubber yellow duck.
"Fine, don’t tell me then," Fran walked nonchalantly away to stop her two kids playing tug o’ war with a toy, both wanting that one even though another exact replica lay next to them by their feet. "I don’t need your help. I’m Niles’ best friend and I know exactly what he would do in that situation. He threw you over for those Barbie doll twins."
"He did not!" CC’s face flushed angrily. "And I’m Niles’ wife so I know him much better than you do!"
"Oh, really? Then you must tell him everything?"
"Of course I do!"
"So Niles knows all about that man you were flirting with at the mall last week?"
"I wasn’t flirting!" CC’s eyes flashed angrily. "He was going to purchase the very last blue sweater that I knew would look better on Niles. I was distracting him!"
"Flirting!"
"You don’t even know the first thing about flirting!" CC placed her hands on her hips. "And lucky for you that cowboy was around because you wouldn’t know how to ride a horse to save your life!"
Fran’s face was in shock and angrily poked CC on the chest with each word. "I… do… too… know… how… to… flirt!"
Brighton walked in, "Hi guys, what’s going on?"
"And as for horses, I’m sure I could beat you anyday!" Fran picked up the toy hobbyhorse that the twins became tired of fighting over. She stuck her tongue out, "I’m going to tell Niles!" She hopped on the wooden stick and grabbed the tiny leather rein, "Hi ho silver – away!"
CC quickly grabbed the other hobby horse, straddled it, held the toy horse’s mane of yarn and took after Fran.
"Aaaack!" Fran yelped as her heel got caught on a rug and pulled her shoe off.
CC grinned evilly as she passed her up.
"Brighton, stop her!" Fran yelled.
Brighton’s blue eyes widened in fright as CC galloped determinedly towards him, ready to throw an elbow. He dodged out of the way and Fran heard CC chuckle.
"Watch the kids!" Fran yelled over her shoulder as she trotted hurriedly by him and after Niles’ pain of a wife.
"What the…?!" George the butler jumped out of the way as CC practically mowed him down on the staircase. He scratched his head at the sight of a grown woman on a toy hobbyhorse when he heard Fran yell "Fore!" prior to tumbling over the railing. After that all George remembered were the pretty stars dancing around his head and then everything went black.
CC looked back and gloated, "You can’t compete with me. I won ribbon after ribbon for show jumping!"
"Oh yeah?" Fran’s fingers tightened on the reins determinedly. "Well, my name was written on the boy’s bathroom walls fourteen times! And one of them was in a limerick!"
CC ran around the couch and the chairs in the livingroom and paused to open the library door.
Looking frantically about, Fran spotted Jonah’s stuffed toy crocodile on the chair, she picked it up at half gait and threw it at CC.
"Oofff!" CC stumbled to her left as the toy bounced against the right side of her head.
Fran squeezed pass her and through the open doorway. "And Flushing Queen beats Pain in the Tuchus by a nose!"
Maxwell and Niles looked up at the commotion. They both stared in shock at their wives, their shoulders heaving, as they tried to catch their breaths.
"What are you and CC doing riding Jonah’s and Eve’s toys?" Maxwell wondered as his business partner collapsed on the couch and his wife leaned her forehead against his shoulder.
"Niles… (pant), you won’t believe… (pant), what your wife did… (grabbed Maxwell’s water bottle and took a long swig)… last week!"
"Is anyone else feeling a strong case of déjà vu?" Niles asked as he took in the sight of his wife, her face glistening with perspiration, her bosom heaving, and her soft lips parted and gasping. Then he looked at Fran whose tight holiday themed sweater had ridden up from the exertion, her bellybutton exposed. "Only you were away on a business trip," he said to Max. "Then I fell in the pool and Fran and CC were splashing next to me in these very small…"
His old friend gave him a good strong glare.
"My mistake," Niles quickly mumbled and crossed over to give his wife assistance.
"Don’t believe a word of what that woman says!" CC managed to say after she swallowed a mouthful of lemonade that her husband poured for her.
"All I want to know," Fran said as she hopped up on the edge of the desk and lightly swung her feet, "is what happened that prevented you two from getting together in Oxford?"
"Now, that is a tale to tell."
They all turn to see Grace walking ahead of the tall man who had just spoken. Still good-looking and with that same devilish twinkle in his eye.
"Rodney!" Maxwell roared and shook his friend’s hand and clapped his shoulder heartily.
Fran gave their guest a hug. "Hi Rodney!"
He stepped back after their embrace and beheld her loveliness. "Fran, I must say, you are intoxicating! Enchanting! Aren’t you tired of this old codger yet?"
Niles stood up, "Sir… a pleasure to see you again."
They shook hands.
"Drop the formalities dear boy, I hear you are living high on the hog now."
Niles looked over at his wife and smiled. "Your farm reputation proceeds you."
She frowned at him and then the corner of her lips turned up and greeted their visitor with a handshake. "Hello Rodney! It has been a long time!"
"CC! It is most delightful to see you once again. Please pardon me for not recognizing you right away during my last visit here-"
"Very understandable," Niles interrupted with a low, masculine chuckle. "It has been over a thousand Clairol bottles ago."
"Niles one more word out of you and I swear…!" CC threatened.
Rodney took a sip of his drink that Fran handed him, his eyes sparkled over the rim of his glass with appreciative mischief. When he lowered the glass, his tone was droll as he commented, "Now this I miss. The battle of the belittlements. University life. Pity that time in our lives flew by. But I did manage to pull one last fast one on you lads after all those bruises you both inflicted upon me!" He chuckled. "To this day just the aroma of my driver’s High Karate cologne gives me distasteful flashbacks."
"Yes, we were discussing that earlier today," Niles scowled remembering that he owed Rodney a fat lip.
Brighton and Maggie walked in holding the babies.
"I never realized the beauty of that scheme until days later."
"What happened?" Fran whined, hoping this time she would find out.
"A well placed blow-up doll under the covers and next to Niles, who had studied all night for his exams. He was out like the proverbial light!" Rodney chuckled again as he reminisced. "CC made an early morning visit to surprise him with muffins. She caught him with another ‘woman’ after thinking no doubt he would be faithful. CC dumped Niles while he was still sleepily rubbing his eyes with no idea what she was raving on about. CC ran into Maxwell, grabbed him in a fit of jealous rage and gave him a high karate tongue probe. Sara walked in right then and caught them in a clinch and broke it off with Maxwell. And there are the poor saps, both nursed broken hearts, while I had the twins Mandy and Sandy to fill my time. I recall that they both made wonderful models for my Himalayan mountain formation project. I received top marks." He chuckled, delighted at his stunt. "Ahh, memories."
"I remember," Max’s lips were tight and determined. "It took me months to get Sara to believe and forgive me." He stepped towards Rodney.
"I left Oxford soon after and transferred back to Bryn Mawr. I never believed Niles’ explanation," CC’s face radiated anger as she stepped towards Rodney.
"Twenty long years to win her back!" Niles held his hostility down to a dull roar and stepped threateningly towards Rodney.
"I can’t believe you would pull such a gag, Rodney!" Fran closed the circle around the man who just moments ago had been their welcome guest.
"Now, now…" Rodney put his glass down on the desk and placed his hands up in surrender. He tried to back up, but only ran into one upset person after another. "It was only a silly college prank. Niles… Maxwell old boy, you remember all the wagers we would make to one another in those days. It was all in fun!" He smiled nervously. "’Tis the season for good cheer and forgiving one’s fellow man."
"You’re right, it was all in fun," Niles agreed and turned to his friend and old employer. "Maxwell, how is your front-snap kick?"
Rodney’s eyes widened in apprehension.
"A bit rusty I’m afraid, Niles."
Their old college roommate sighed with relief.
"My front-heel thrust isn’t in its best form either," Niles confessed. "However…"
Rodney eyed the former butler tensely remembering how devious he was in college.
"… I’ll bet you five dollars that my front-heel thrust will hurt Rodney more than your front-snap kick?"
Maxwell grinned wickedly. "I’ll take that wager!"
Rodney turned white. "You’re not serious?!" He turned to look at the women who were enjoying the show. Then he appealed to the youngsters. "Children, talk some sense into them. You don’t want your Uncle Rodney injured, do you?" Then desperately he added, "I have presents!"
"Presents?!" Brighton repeated. His sisters folded their arms at him. He cleared his throat. "You’re on your own Unc!"
Rodney gave a very ungentlemanly scream and ran out of the room as everyone laughed and followed him out.
"Can you believe that?" Brighton said to his sisters. "He screamed. What a wuss!"
~*~*~
Later that night, everyone gathered near the 14-foot tall Douglas fir, its colorful twinkling Christmas lights fascinated the small children.
Gracie then kneeled next to Niles as he opened up the old antique trunk that arrived from England earlier that day. "That looks like it has seen better days," she remarked watching Niles carefully take an old book from within the folds of a beautifully crafted fabric.
"Just like its owner," CC couldn’t help but remark and enjoyed her husband’s soft chuckle.
"This is a book that has been passed down in my family. My father, and each father before him, would read ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ to their families every Christmas Eve and I wanted to carry on the tradition with my family here," he answered with warm affection.
"That would be lovely Niles," Fran smiled, balancing each toddler on the sides of her hip. Then noticing a flaw concerning the decorations on the tree, she peered carefully at all the ones that she made the night before. "Hey – who bit the heads off of all the gingerbread men? Brighton?!"
Her oldest son shook his head. "It wasn’t me!" He took Jonah and Eve from her.
Fran’s eyebrows knitted together until she caught her husband trying to chew very carefully. "Maxwell Beverly Sheffield, did you eat my gingerbread men?!"
He swallowed. "Your gingerbread men?" He eyed the headless cookie with frowning speculation. "Didn’t Niles make them?"
"No, I did." At his look of queasiness, "What’s wrong?"
"I’m afraid they’ll be like your brownies." At her scowl, he grinned and Fran elbowed him. Maxwell’s mouth curved into a bigger smile and Fran became fascinated with the way his lower lip pushed out slightly, making it even more erotically attractive than it was normally. "Am I forgiven for ruining your tree? I did hang wreaths inside our… crib."
Fran chuckled. "I love how the slang rolls easily out of your mouth."
"Oh really? What else do you love about me?" his features became dangerously sexy and attempted to close the mouth she was opening to speak with a kiss when they were interrupted.
"I say, don’t guests get first servings?" Rodney remarked, holding a sprig of mistletoe over his head.
Fran gave Max a quick glance, smiled, and leaned towards their friend when she felt her husband pull her away.
"You know I never cared for that tradition. Let’s do away with that one."
Fran laughed. "You old fuddy-duddy!"
"Kvetcher!" Max replied right back.
"Lager lover!"
"Meshungina!"
"Kiss me!" she pulled her husband closer.
"I’m down with that!"
Niles and CC looked over as the chemistry between their friends exploded.
"Hey, they’re stealing our shtick!" CC complained.
"Later tonight let’s give Maxwell’s desk a real show," Niles whispered flirtatiously.
CC giggled and immediately covered her mouth.
"You giggled!" His eyes twinkled in merriment.
"Oh, did not!"
Niles chuckled again and then his smile became even more warmly enveloping as he heard his wife quickly gasp when he crushed her to his chest and took her mouth in a kiss that spelled out his love, his need, and his gratitude that she was his.
The older kids, with a baby on each of their laps covered their eyes at the spectacle before them.
Rodney swung the mistletoe back and forth despondently on his finger as he watched the kissing couples. "I wonder how Mandy and Sandy are these days?"
~*~*~
The fire crackled in the background as everyone that wasn’t teething or on a Gerber diet, held out their mugs of hot apple cider and toasted each other. Jonah and Eve carefully made their way to their parents. Maxwell picked up and held his youngest son in his arms and Fran cradled her youngest daughter as they all made themselves comfortable on the couch. Maggie snuggled down next to them and grinned as her sister beat out their brother for a chair. Brighton shrugged and sat on the armrest while Rodney made himself comfortable by the bar. All eyes were on Niles and CC as they piled together on the last remaining chair with a very wide-awake Emily nestled on her mommy’s lap. She cooed and gurgled, trying to touch the book that her father held. She quickly settled down as he began to read it, instantly enamored of the sounds that came out of her daddy’s mouth.
"A Visit from St. Nicholas’ by Clement Clarke Moore. ‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…."
Fran sighed with satisfaction, happy to be surrounded by loved ones. Everyone was safe, everyone was healthy and they were all together. She sighed contentedly once again as she found herself falling under the spell of the whimsy poem, until her eyes fell upon a small present under the tree. A slim box that might have a certain watch inside that she had had her eyes on for months at Tiffany’s. And like a certain wise, gum-smacking, big-haired yenta once said, "Family is everything and health is important, but if you have expensive jewelry – that’s the best way to drive your relatives wild with jealousy."
The End & Happy Holidays!
*The beginning Oxford portion of this story was one of the few G-rated collaborative efforts between Aimee and myself. ;o) Thanks Aimee!
*The poem, ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ has been believed to be written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822. A year ago, Don Foster who wrote a book and claims that Maj. Henry Livingstone Jr. was the author disputed this claim. If you would like to learn more about it, here is the link: http://www.night.net/christmas/Twas-night01.html
The Nanny is a copyright of Sony Pictures, Tri-Star Television, High School Sweethearts, Sternin and Fraser's Ink, Inc. No infringement of rights is meant or implied. Thanks for the loan!
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