by
Aimee
(aimeed@earthlink.net)
"Hi, Aunt CC."
CC tucked the telephone under her ear and settled back on the sofa in her apartment. "Hi, darling. How do you like living in France?"
"I'm starting to learn French. My nanny Angelique is teaching me."
"Let me hear some."
"Je t'adore, Tante CC."
"Je t'adore, ma petite Fifi. When are you coming to visit me again?"
"I don't know. Soon, I hope. I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"How is Niles?"
CC laughed. She'd wondered when that was coming. Fifi still hesitated every time she asked about Niles, as though she were afraid CC would be angry with her. But CC never was. "He's just as nuts as ever. I think he's in love with somebody. He walks around all day with these big sad eyes, and he won't tell anybody what's wrong."
"Are you still dating that man?"
"Colin? No, sweetie, Colin and I didn't work out."
"Good. He didn't sound good enough for you. Anyway, you don't need to get married. You have me and Niles and Fran and Gracie and Max and Mama and everybody to be friends with."
CC teased, "You mean, if I get married someday, you wouldn't like to be my maid of honor and have a lovely new dress and flowers?"
"That would be fun, but maybe it wouldn't work out and you'd get divorced like Mama. Then I'd be sad."
"That's so sweet, darling. But don't you worry, I'm not planning on marrying anybody anytime soon. But I wish you could have been at Fran and Max's wedding last year, it was so pretty." CC pulled a face at her own hypocrisy.
"I go to weddings all the time. Mama and her friends are always getting married."
CC decided to get off the subject of weddings. "Hey, guess what? Fran's going to have twins."
"Really? Can I come visit this summer and see them?"
CC counted on her fingers. "Yeah, they'll be here by then and we'll be in California. But I wish you were here tonight. I'm going to a big party for Niles and Fran."
"What for?"
"They put on a play, and it's actually going to do reasonably well for a first effort. Max had to help them a little, but tonight's the opening night and there'll be a big party afterward. I'll try to phone you from there so you can say hi to Niles and Fran and tell them good luck."
"Okay. Listen, I have to go. Angelique is calling me. I love you, Aunt CC."
"I love you, too, kitten."
Fifi was forgotten that night as CC stood paralyzed with shock. "Are you insane?" she gasped. Niles stood before her looking like a sad, hopeful puppy as he twisted his hands together.
"Is that a yes?" he asked hopefully.
"No!" she snapped angrily. "I don't know what you were thinking, asking me to marry you!" CC turned and ran to the ladies' room.
CC's heart thundered in her ears, and her hands shook. She took several deep breaths.
Why, oh why, had he done this to them? Just when it seemed they might be real friends. Always, always just when things were starting to be good between them, something happened.
All those times she forgot and forgot and forgot. Well, this was one thing she wasn't going to be able to forget, not unless she did something to make him give it up, something so unbelievably cruel that he'd never bother her with these frightening feelings again.
Well, it worked. Niles would never bother her again.
CC sat in her apartment two nights later staring at a bottle of vodka she dared not drink from. Niles was right. Every time she had a problem, she ran to the bottle for comfort, and it had to stop. Knowing she was weakening by the second, she quickly poured it down the sink and returned to the sofa.
Her life was in a shambles. She'd actually started to be happy, they were actually friends in a weird way, and now it was all gone, swept away by two tiny, heartfelt words: Marry me! Damn Niles and his proposals! Now he had quit, she had quit, and she might never see any of the people she cared about again, and her whole life's work was a thing of the past.
CC jumped up and began to pace, looking for anything to distract her. She found her unopened mail sitting on a side table and flicked through it idly until she came to a small, pink envelope with a French postmark.
The card had a picture of a kitten, and on the inside, Fifi had written simply, I love you and miss you. Love, Fifi.
CC's face dropped into her hands and she struggled not to sob. I love you. Words so simple that a seven-year old child could say them in two languages, and did so with the innocence and trust of a saint. Yet when CC wanted to say them to someone who meant the world to her, she substituted harsh words and cruel rejection because she was so afraid of him rejecting her someday after she'd come to care so much. And she justified it with some cheesy excuse that, like 99% of the world's population, Niles wasn't born rich.
CC needed that innocence, that sweet faith. She found herself picking up the telephone and hitting speed dial.
"Aunt CC!" shrieked Fifi. "You didn't call me the other day. What happened?"
"Well, love, things didn't go so well. Niles' play closed and we had a little spat."
"I'm so sorry. Are you crying?"
CC sniffed. "No -- no. I'm just sad because Niles is going away, and I'm leaving my job."
Fifi whimpered. "Niles is going away?"
"Yes, darling. Hey, ask your mother if I can come to France and visit for a while."
"Mama isn't here. Aunt CC, won't you go make up with Niles?"
"We can't. It's bad this time. But since you like him, I'll ask Maxwell to send you his new address so you can write him a letter."
Fifi sounded surprised. "You won't be mad?"
"No, sweetie. I won't be mad."
"Mama always gets mad if I want to spend time with Daddy. She wants me to choose."
"I want you to be happy, and you like Niles."
"No, Aunt CC, I love Niles. Don't you?"
Slowly, CC answered, "Yes, Fifi. I guess I do."
"Listen, Aunt CC? There's something I have to do. Can I call you back?"
"Sure. Talk to you soon."
The phone went dead in her hands. CC had never felt more miserable in her life. Even Fifi could admit she loved Niles.
She would tell him. He deserved to know that. It didn't change the fact that they just weren't right for each other, but he deserved better than to believe that she thought him a pathetic, laughable joke of a man.
CC perched her beret on her head and slung her red jacket over her shoulders. She grabbed her car keys and ran before she had a chance to change her mind.
"Niles?"
"Yes?" he said guardedly.
"Hi, Niles, it's Fifi. Remember me?"
"Of course, Miss Fifi. It's good to hear from you again. What can I do for you?"
"You can go find Aunt CC and make her stop crying."
Niles groaned. That needy bitch would even use a seven-year-old child to get to him. "I can't believe she told you to call me."
"She didn't. She just told me you were going away, and she said she wasn't crying, but I could hear her." Fifi sounded close to tears herself. "I love you both, can't you be friends again? Please just try, just a little. For me."
"Miss Fifi, you don't understand what happened. I am very angry at Miss Babcock, and she is very angry at me."
"Why?"
"Please, Miss Fifi, don't ask me to tell you. Just know that it doesn't change that you and I are friends, and if I may, I'll write you a letter when I get where I'm going."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know."
It sounded scary to Fifi, but then Fifi was scared of everything. She'd even been scared of Niles at first. "Don't you love Aunt CC?"
Niles didn't hear the silent figure that moved quietly into the living room from the kitchen. "Yes, Miss Fifi. Despite everything, I do love her very much. But she doesn't love me."
"Yes she does, she -- "
A hand reached out and pulled the telephone away from Niles. "Fifi? I'm here with him. I'm going to try and make everything okay. Aunt CC was very, very mean to Niles because she was frightened of something, kind of like the time you hit him on the nose because he smiled scary and made fun of me. But I promise to try."
"Will you tell him you love him so you can be friends again? Right now?"
"Yes, Fifi, right now. I'll call you later and tell you what happens." CC put down the telephone.
"Are you going to slap me on the nose?" he asked sarcastically.
"No, but if you want to slap me, I more than deserve it."
"That's for damn sure, but I don't go around bitch-slapping people just because the word fits."
"Niles, please!" Desperate, CC touched his arm. "I promised Fifi I'd tell you the truth. I've been lying to you for a long time now."
"About what?"
"About not caring." Taking a deep breath, she gathered all her courage plus some she didn't know she had. "I love you, Niles."
Niles merely stared her down icily. "Well, what am I supposed to say, Babcock? That I love you too? Your brand of love could kill a man."
CC shot him a look of utter disbelief and rage. "W hat if the positions were reversed?" she cried, infuriated at having humbled herself to him for nothing. "What if I had come to you, straight out of the blue after years of fighting and told you I loved you? Would you have been any kinder to me?"
He started to deny her accusation, then fell silent.
With that tacit admission of guilt, CC really let him have it. "Don't you know? I do. Remember that time you got mad at Nanny Fine for using sex to get her way, and we teamed up against her? Remember how much fun it was teasing her and planning pranks and taking that dumb pottery class together? Remember what it was like being on the same side for once? Now remember what you did to me the minute Nanny Fine was back in your good graces? You abandoned me."
"So what?" he said defensively, knowing she'd won this round.
CC folded her arms and scowled. "So, nothing! Go, see if I care. I've lived without your great passion for longer than I care to admit, Niles, and I can live the rest of my life without it. I don't need you. I just came because I thought you deserved to know I do love you, and that I'm sorry for everything. Well, okay, some stuff."
"Well, Babcock, forgive me for not being worried about your feelings. Tomorrow when I've left, you'll still be here loving Mr. Sheffield like the pathetic reject you are."
CC took the insult without flinching, and threw back her own challenge. "Go ahead, Niles, give me hell. It doesn't matter, because in a few minutes, I'll be gone. Didn't Maxwell tell you? I quit too. I decided you were right about everything, and my life with Sheffield Babcock Productions has brought me a world of grief and loneliness and I'm sick to death of it! So, you know, you don't actually need to go, because I won't be here to torture you."
"You would do that?" he asked in disbelief. "Leave so I can stay?"
"No," she answered, laughing abrasively. "I'm doing it for me, because I'm tired of making an effort to be part of a family that just wants me around because I can turn a profit. Only Max will miss me, and he'll get over that when he finds another business partner."
"Do you really want to go?" he asked, dreading her answer.
"No! Of course not. I've put my whole life into this company. I love it as if I'd started it myself. All the things I've ever done that I'm proud of are here. But I've tried and tried to fit in and be a part of things and gotten nowhere, and I'm tired of trying."
Niles moved toward her, taking her hands. "Stay," he said reluctantly. "We were both to blame, and we can make peace. We can make things the way they were between us."
CC shook her head, her blue eyes apprehensive but determined. "I'll only stay if you'll give me just one more chance. I promise I'll make the most of it if you will."
Niles tore his eyes from hers, burned by her intensity. "Another chance to do what?" It was her turn to go out on a limb; he'd taken all the chances he dared with her already.
"A chance to make the right choice. Know what I want. And take it." CC touched her lips to his, hesitantly, then drew back. She searched his face as he searched hers. Then, they threw themselves into each other's arms. He cradled her head in one hand, wrapping the other arm around her waist, kissing her deeply, not believing he was doing it. He savored every taste and touch, still half-afraid it would turn out to be a mirage or a joke, but there was nothing imaginary about her soft, eager lips fervently seeking out his reckless, headlong kiss.
CC wrapped her arms around him and responded with blind, fevered passion, taken over by a wild abandon she'd never let herself feel for anyone before. It was as if floodgates had been opened in her soul, and now that she had opened herself to a love so long denied, she could no longer hold back at all. Nothing mattered but his hands and lips and love.
When they finally separated, Niles held her gently and asked, "So what happens now?"
"You're going to think I'm absolutely nuts -- shut up -- but there is one worried, crying little girl I want to call."
Niles laughed. "Don't talk long. I haven't waited ages for you to be in my arms just so you can pull a Fran on me and phone the world in the middle of a major moment."
CC laughed and punched a series of numbers. "Hello?" hiccuped a forlorn little voice.
CC hit the speakerphone key. "Fifi, it's Aunt CC."
"And Niles."
"Oh -- oh! Is everything okay?"
CC smiled at Niles. "Everything's very okay. We just wanted you to know so you wouldn't worry."
Fifi sniffled, trying valiantly to end her tears. "Did you say you loved each other?"
"Yes, but we'll say it again. I love you, Niles."
"I love you too, Miss Babcock."
CC turned back to the telephone. "And we both love you very much, Fifi, but we need to finish talking. I'll call you in a few days."
"Au bientot."
"Au bientot, Fifi," said Niles.
"Adeiu, kitten," said CC, "and thank you." She hit the button to hang up. Then she turned back to Niles and put her arms around him again, giving him a naughty smile.
"Talking?" Niles asked, pulling her close. "How about reviewing our French?"
"Let's make a deal. I still don't want to get married, but I do want to be with you. I mean, we've been using each other for verbal punching bags for years. You can hardly expect me not to be nervous about this sudden change of heart you've had, so I want plenty of time to get used to this." "Agreed, but I want one concession from you. I'm taking a lot on faith here and so are you, so let's not sound the trumpets and make a major public announcement until we've had some time to just get to know each other all over again. Do we have a deal?" Niles softened his words by stroking her cheek as he spoke.
"A secret liaison. Not my first choice, but there are some kinky possibilities there. Butler Boy," she said, sliding her hands up his chest to twine them around his neck, "You've just made yourself a deal."
Niles wrapped his arms around her, almost crushing her, and thoroughly kissing her soft, warm mouth. She went limp in his arms, kissing him back eagerly, sadness and desperation scattering like leaves in a storm. The scent of Chanel #5 and the feel of her body pressing against his drove him wild, and he was aware of a sense of profound rightness, of having come home. He wrapped his fingers in her silky hair and held her while he took her mouth over and over again.
CC yielded body and soul to him. It felt so natural to be there in his arms, and yet so unbelievably sweet to have him hold her close. "Niles, so dominant," she murmured teasingly, drawing her nails up and down his spine.
"Babcock, so soft and submissive. Who'd have ever thought?" His words were disjointed as he pressed kisses along her jaw and throat.
CC whimpered and clung to him. Her limbs felt weak and heavy, her heart was pounding. This was something new and terrifying and irresistible. Could it really be that Niles was the man she had told Nanny Fine about wanting, the one who made her heart race, who could sweep her off her feet? And who felt like home, too?
"And the next step on the yellow brick road is?" Niles prompted, running a fingertip down her spine and making her shiver.
"Well, now that Fifi's happy again," purred CC, raking her nails lightly down his chest, "I want to make Niles happy." She kicked her heels off and wrapped her arms around him. "Take me upstairs," she invited.
He kissed her quickly, then released her. "We'd better get upstairs or we'll be found naked here in the morning," he said breathlessly, taking her hand.
They ran up the staircase together. Niles pulled at his tie as CC closed the door, shutting out the world. She leaned back against it, watching him through lowered eyelashes.
He reached for her, and she ran to him, feverishly kissing him. Running her hands across his chest, she could feel his pounding heart through his shirt. She wanted to press her lips to it and quickly began to work at the row of buttons. "These things should come in Velcro," she muttered. She pulled his shirt from his body only to discover she couldn't get it off until she'd taken off his cufflinks, and as her unsteady fingers fumbled desperately at his wrists, she gave a cry of frustration.
Niles quickly, easily flicked off the cufflinks and tossed them on the table next to her beret. "My turn," he said firmly, catching her wrists as she divested him of his shirt and began working at his belt. As he lifted her thin black shirt over her head, he whispered, "You've been the center of all my fantasies for years!"
"Except the ones involving Petula Clark, I hope," she teased mercilessly, crossing her arms over her lace-covered breasts in pretend modesty.
He looked at her through eyes gone a dark, sapphire blue and drew her down to the bed, disrobing her swiftly and touching his hot, eager mouth to every inch of her skin. CC's breath came in quick, shallow pants as she roamed his body with her lips and ran caressing hands over his back.
As he lay her on the bed and bent his dark blonde head to her coral and ivory breasts, Niles gave a ragged groan. "My god, those things are real!"
"What did you expect?"
"At your age? Never mind, baby. Sweet heaven, they're the most beautiful ever."
A few minutes later, out of the darkness came her voice. "Niles?"
"Mmm?" he moaned against her skin.
"Please tell me that's your leg."
"Well, you wouldn't be the first woman to call it that." He grinned smugly.
"Jesus, Niles!"
Some time during the night CC began to grow restless in her sleep, as though a part of her still resisted where she was and feared this new happiness. She pulled her cheek from his chest and lay back against a pillow, never waking but never quite leaving him, for one arm still reached for him even as the other curled up around her head.
In his sleep, Niles felt the loss of that sweet weight against his heart. He shifted his weight to his side and wrapped one arm around her, curling the other protectively on the pillow over her head. She sighed and snuggled close, and somewhere deep inside her, she gave up resisting him.
"We've got to stop them." Maxwell couldn't, wouldn't let his family be destroyed. He'd tried to tell himself that CC and Niles would be all right but he knew they wouldn't be, nor would he be all right without them.
Fran was right ahead of him as he headed for Niles' room. She hurried to open the door, then froze, her jaw dropping.
Niles didn't appear to need their help, nor did CC. However, they were in a position and a state of undress that he'd never, ever wanted to see his business partner and his butler in.
A faint click brought CC out of her light sleep. She sat straight up and looked around in fear and confusion. Then she felt Niles sit up and slide his arms around her.
Shock, horror, realization and relief flickered rapidly across her features as she remembered where she was and why she was there. She snuggled down into his arms. "Niles, did you hear anything?" she asked.
"A raunchy brunette screaming in my ear," he teased, "but that was a couple of hours ago."
"I'm serious! Would anyone have come in here?"
"Only us." They laughed. Then he asked seriously, "Are you all right? You looked like you were about to have kittens there for a moment."
"I was still half asleep. I couldn't remember where I was or why you were holding me. Niles, I'm starving, I forgot to eat any dinner. Can we go raid the fridge?"
Niles grinned. "I'll go get us something to snack on." He got up and put his robe on.
A shell-shocked Maxwell followed his wife down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Oh, my god!" Fran babbled, wide-eyed. "This is worse than the time I walked in on my parents! At least they had the decency to be covered in crumbs!"
"I never, ever want to see that again," he said slowly. It was fate. Every damn one of his employees existed solely to drive him insane.
"What are we going to say to them when we see them?"
Maxwell took a deep breath. "'Now, darling, I think the best thing to do would be to exercise self-control and say nothing."
Fran tilted her head thoughtfully. "Okay, well what about for me?"
Just then, they heard a voice on the stairs. "I'm . . . too sexy for my apron, too sexy for my bagel cutter, too sexy for my subzero -- "
As he spotted them and started to stammer explanations, Fran and Max rolled their eyes. This was going to take some getting used to, but at least their family was safe and together, even if two of them were a little too sexy.
Three minutes later Niles was back, laughing silently. He raised one eyebrow when he noticed that she was wearing his shirt. Dumping a pile of ice cream toppings on the bed, he began to unbutton her shirt, ornamenting her with chocolate, whipped cream, and sprinkles as he progressed. "You'll never -- yum -- guess what happened downstairs. Mmmm. I ran into the Sheffields."
"You're kidding me," she said, her words muffled by the butterscotch she was licking from his fingers. "Do they know?"
"No way. I can't believe they don't have the foggiest idea why I'm in such a good mood, but I did tell them I'm staying." Niles knew he wasn't making much sense, but his mind was on the whipped cream he'd just handed her. "I didn't bring the cherries," he quipped. "I figured you with a cherry was something so far in the past I don't need to see it, ever."
To his surprise, CC lowered her eyelashes in obvious discomfort. "Well . . . umm, actually, Niles, there's something I should tell you." She cast him a bashful glance, laying her hand lightly on his arm.
Niles' jaw dropped, despite the whipped cream on his lips. "No. Impossible. You cannot tell me you were a -- dear God, CC!"
CC managed to hold her shy expression a second longer, but then she broke out into raucous laughter. "Gotcha! That's to pay you back for the chicken joke!" He looked so funny, she couldn't stop herself from kissing away his whipped-cream moustache.
Niles fell back onto the bed with a groan. "I do not believe I fell for that. You evil wench." He threw an M&M at her, bouncing it off her forehead. CC grabbed the can of whipped cream and held him at bay with it.
"I'll make you lick it up!" he threatened.
"Promise?" she laughed.
He lunged at her, grabbing the can of whipped cream and managing to spray himself in the face with it. The can went rolling off the bed and across the floor as CC struggled to get away.
Niles grabbed her around the waist. "Get back here or I'll beat your bottom with a licorice." Niles brandished the weapon menacingly.
"Niles, you kinky devil!" CC laughed up at him. "Face it, Butler Boy. There's nothing you can do to me that you aren't going to have to clean up later."
"Then I better get started now," he murmured, licking a bit of chocolate from the corner of her mouth, and working downward from there. "What do you know -- I found some honey."
"I didn't know we had any . . . any . . . oh, my god! Oh, my god!"
Several weeks later, CC lay in Niles' arms on her bed and twisted the diamond on her left hand. "It's just beautiful. I love it."
"You don't want to call your niece and gossip about the honeymoon night?" he asked dryly.
CC slapped his bare chest. "Well, I'm sort of dreading telling her we eloped. I promised she could be my maid of honor if I ever married. Would you strongly object to a second wedding?"
"My god, you really worship this child," he said slowly. Who could ever have imagined CC loving a child so much? It make him feel much better about having been the one responsible for "it" reproducing, something he was sure the world wouldn't thank him for. Already the entire Broadway community was trembling in fear and had no idea why.
"Well, I want a big wedding, too, it's not just for Fifi. Besides, I haven't met your family, and you've only met my dad and my brother, and that was years ago, so we should put on the big show for them."
"Very well," he said indulgently. "Whatever will please you."
CC turned to him and ran her fingernails up and down his chest. "Now that has possibilities. Emphasis on 'now.'"
"Slut. Imagine, slumming with your business partner's servant."
CC contemplated his words. "You're right. This is all so wrong."
"What?"
"Turnabout is fair play, my dear butler. Maybe it's time I served you."
They'd been married almost a day and hadn't left her bedroom once by the time CC finally placed the call to France.
"Hi, Aunt CC."
"Hi, Fifi," she said into the speakerphone. "Niles is here with me."
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Fifi!"
CC took a deep breath. "Fifi, we have a surprise for you. You're the very first person in the family to know, but we got married last night."
There was a long silence. CC held her breath, anticipating a childish cry of delight.
Instead, Fifi screamed angrily, "No! You can't! Why'd you do that? You'll ruin everything."
"Darling," protested CC. "How does that ruin everything?" Never mind about that being her first reaction, too.
"Because you'll get mad at each other and divorce and be unhappy and never talk to each other again. Nobody in our family stays married, I heard Mama say so to one of her friends."
CC sighed. "Fifi, Niles and I love each other and we're never going to split up. I promise."
"You don't know."
Niles broke in. "Miss Fifi, you're right, nobody can ever tell for sure. But I love your aunt, and I love you, and I promise to do my best to make it work."
There was a long silence. Then Fifi said softly, "Really?"
"Really," Niles and CC said together, and laughed.
"Can I come visit this summer?"
"Sure!" CC said. "I also thought you might want to come visit in about seven months."
"What happens then? A surprise?" Fifi asked.
"A wonderful surprise. Your cousin will be born."
Again Fifi took a moment to assimilate the information. "Are you going to have a baby, Aunt CC?"
CC laughed. "Yes, pet, I am, and I'm going to want you to help me teach her and love her and take care of her."
"Hey," Niles said, outraged. "How do you know it's a her?"
CC sighed. "It just is. I bet you it is."
Niles perked up. "I'll take that bet. What are the stakes?"
CC gave him a suggestive look. "We'll discuss it when we're off the telephone," she said, grabbing the lapel of his robe and drawing him close for a kiss.
Fifi broke in. "So can I call Niles, Uncle Niles now?"
He laughed. "Only if I can call you Fifi instead of Miss Fifi."
"Deal! I'm gonna run tell Mama about you getting married, okay?"
"Okay. Bye love."
"Bye, Fifi."
"Adieu!" Fifi hung up.
CC grabbed Niles' lapels. "Quick, take me to bed. We've got three minutes before DD calls."
"Three minutes?" he asked incredulously. "Who do I look like, Mr. Sheffield? No, I have an idea. She can't find us if we're in the health club downstairs."
CC laughed. "Doing what?" she asked innocently.
"Working out, my love, working out."
The End
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