Feedback: Please! ;) mamc031282@hotmail.com

Notes: This is the sequel to ‘The Long and Winding Road’ so if you’ve not read that, this story might seem rather random. I know it’s been a while since the first story was posted, so I do strongly recommend a re-read.

Disclaimers: I still don’t own them, and I still have nothing to give you if you sue me, so … Just try to enjoy the fic?

Dedication: There are several of you who have been asking me about this story, even though it’s taken me two years to finally get it finished. Thank you everyone who helped me brainstorm, edit, and motivate. I’ve really been tortured by this story, and it’s a pleasure to finally be done with it – two years is a long time.

Warning: some coarse language, just because I have a potty-mouth, and in my world, so does CC. ;)

Finding the Way

by

Melissa
(mamc031282@hotmail.com)

That morning in the park had been a turning point for Niles and CC. After two weeks of what could only loosely be called ‘dating’, they had finally wrestled with enough of their demons to give a relationship an honest try. For once, it seemed, they stood a chance. Instead of being shrouded in doubt and insecurities, CC and Niles had made a point of approaching their relationship differently.

In the month since that morning, which they deemed their official ‘beginning’, the dynamic between them shifted and melded into something else. Instead of being all about who they were, or even who they weren’t, they had promised themselves that they would focus more on their bond and where they wanted to be down the road. They strived to find the delicate balance that neither of them had been particularly good at, but they knew was important all the same.

The days at work were mostly the same as they were before, with only a few small changes. Niles spent more time in the office, fiddling with this or that and he often would bring her a fresh cup of coffee, sometimes with a dollop of Bailey’s if she was having a bad day. CC never needed to ask Niles to do anything; he was always one step ahead of her and that was a treat that CC cherished. Never before in her life had she been so spoiled, and to have the man she loved be so doting and caring had really begun to change her perspective on love; little things were suddenly more fulfilling and little accomplishments meant more. Words and actions were equally important, professions of love and little gestures all the evidence she needed that he truly loved her.

For her part, CC did her best to be attentive, which for her was no small task. It wasn’t that she was ever disinterested as much as she sometimes forgot that there was another person to consider, and sometimes it had resulted in spats between them. Still, she would make up for her faults in little ways, be it by remembering to compliment him on a meal well prepared, or telling him how dashing he looked in a new suit. She could only offer him small things, but with every passing day her capacity for love and adoration grew, making her all the more ready for another step forward in their relationship.

It was as perfect a balance as two people deeply in love could concoct in secret, their relationship still unannounced to the world at large. After having seen the look of abject horror on Lois’ face when she realized that Niles and CC were indeed involved, CC wasn’t sure if she could stand to see that expression again, let alone on the face of someone who actually mattered to her, and Niles for his part was fully enjoying the sexy near-tango that sneaking around was providing them.

To maintain the guise of being adversaries, the day to day life had remained relatively unscathed, their insults still flew, though sometimes they lacked the particular ‘zing’ that used to be present, and when their verbal war became too heated neither could look at the other for fear of breaking down and grabbing the other.

There were only two real differences that might have been obvious to everyone else, if only the Sheffield family wasn’t so wrapped up in their own lives. For once, the single-mindedness of the household worked to their advantage, allowing CC and Niles what little time they could fritter away.

In the morning, CC entered through the kitchen instead of the living room, letting herself in, and Niles would steal a kiss before sending her into the dining room for breakfast. She had joined the family every morning since she and Niles had officially started dating, and he wouldn’t hear of her missing a meal; it was his way of taking care of her even though he couldn’t let on that they were seeing each other and in some small way, it was his way of always having her nearer to him.

In the evening, they had to work harder to keep their relationship low key. The grogginess of the morning had worn off and suddenly they were faced with people everywhere, all of whom were more than happy to occupy their time in one capacity or another.

Niles would work until everyone had more or less settled into his or her own routines, and then he’d excuse himself for a walk. Sometimes he’d have to fight off Fran or Max, who would spontaneously insist on walking with him, and other times they would win and he’d trudge around the block with them a couple of times until they got bored and returned home. On those evenings, he virtually sprinted to CC’s, so he could spend at least a few minutes with her before she retired for the evening.

CC would leave the house as soon as everything wrapped up for the day and she’d hurry home to feed Chester. A few times she had lurked in the living room, hoping to catch a few more minutes with Niles, but every time someone had managed to interrupt them, announcing that there was a movie on TV, or worst yet, intentions to play a board game. No, CC had learned that the best way to secure the opportunity to spend time with Niles was to leave the house as soon as possible; he’d follow when he could.

The greater treats, though, were Niles’ days off, when he would tell the family how he was spending his day while he was serving breakfast. CC would listen attentively to hear where he’d be, and if she could sneak away, she would. More than once they had ended up having lunch in Soho or wandering around the Met for hours, holding hands and laughing at the ridiculousness of hiding out like love-struck teenagers.

~~~

Niles couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he cleaned. Ever since he and CC decided to try out a relationship, he had been grinning like an idiot, and even the family had started to ask questions.

Fran had even cornered him one day while he was dusting the Monet, and with hands on her hips, she slipped into her typical interrogatory stance. "Spill," she demanded.

"Pardon?" He likely wouldn’t have been caught so off guard if it weren’t for his thoughts drifting to an incredible blonde who was wearing an enticing, form-fitting suit.

"What has got you walkin’ around with that ‘cat that ate the canary’ grin?"

Niles laughed and brushed off her comment. "Miss Fine, it’s the summer time and it’s beautiful out, not to mention the fact that you talked Mr. Sheffield into taking the kids camping for the long weekend."

"So it’s the taste of freedom, is it?" Glaring at him, Fran couldn’t decide whether or not to believe him.

"And the thought of Mr. Sheffield trying to get a night’s rest while roughing it, yes."

The inquiry passed and he couldn’t help but think he had passed with flying colors. From that point on, Niles strived to stay more even-footed with his outward emotions.

Fluffing the pillows on the sofa, he had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t heard her sneak up on him.

"Day dreaming of all the things you could do if you were a real boy?" CC asked, glancing around the room. She couldn’t see anyone, but Maxwell’s damn children had near-stealth capabilities and at any moment she half expected the little one to appear.

"Ha ha."

Steeling another glance around the room, she tried to act as casual as possible. "Where is everyone, anyway? When did this house become such a ghost town?"

Niles moved nearer to her, an ‘I have a secret’ grin on his face.

CC’s eyes darted to the doorway, pleased that there was no sign of an impending interruption. "Maxwell just went for a walk to shake off the little green monster which is currently firmly attached to his back," she shared.

"Let me guess…Andrew Lloyd Webber?" She nodded. "I swear that man has God’s ear," Niles teased.

"And the rug rats?"

"No, I think if it came down to a fight between good and evil, they’d be on their father’s side; you know, trust funds and all…"

"I meant, are they here, you stooge. Explain to me again why I love you?"

An evil twinkle became quickly evident in his eyes. "They’re not here – Miss Fine has taken them to a double feature," he began and walking nearer to her, he tenderly glided his index finger from a spot high on her jawbone to the tip of her chin, and then further south, stopping at the point where her clothing met the soft valley between her breasts. "I don’t know why you love me, but I’m thankful you do."

A shiver began at the small of her back and the urge to lean in for a kiss quickly became the desire to leap into his arms and insist he make love to her right there. "You’re evil," she whimpered. "All this withholding of sex is making me wonder about you and your…dust mop. I’m not going to suddenly find out that you’re a eunuch or otherwise horribly disfigured, am I? I don’t think I could take that…not after all of this waiting," CC admitted. It hadn’t been her intention to wait this long before making love, but he had stressed that it was important for them and she was trying to appease him.

Both hands came to rest on her hips as he pulled her against him for a heated kiss, his affection for her evident in more ways than one.

When they separated, CC smiled, his case well made with irrefutable evidence that had piqued her curiosity. "So you’re not a eunuch, by any means. I’ll hedge my bets on horridly disfigured."

Niles laughed at the mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "I think that if I can manage to wait, you can too. It won’t be that much longer," he assured her, though at the moment he was having a hard time containing himself.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to make love to her; there was nothing further from the truth. The problem was, all too often they were fighting over something or another, and the last thing he wanted was to complicate their relationship with sex when they were still learning how to deal with the everyday stuff. Niles justified it as learning to walk before learning to run, though at the moment he wondered if he wouldn’t settle for a gentle cantor.

"I suppose in comparison to how old you are, waiting 20 years isn’t all that much," CC joked. "Now for me…"

"It’s comparable to a decent hang-over, right?"

"Very funny – it was almost original." Pressing her forehead against his, she enjoyed the feel of his arms around her. CC knew it couldn’t last; the risk of someone walking through the door at any moment really stifled the passion. "I should be getting work done," she admitted. "I’d rather stay here though."

Niles sighed. "I should probably press Mr. Sheffield’s suit, and get the chores done before everyone comes home and makes a mess again," he grumbled. "May I make you dinner tonight?"

CC thought it was perhaps his most endearing trait; he always wanted to let her feel in control. He might not have always listened to her, as it was with the little matter of the consummation of their relationship, but he did at least hear her out and that was something to which she was very unaccustomed. "That’d be nice. Chester and I were going to watch a movie and maybe make popcorn."

Shaking his head, he groaned. "That’s not a very CC Babcock thing to do, now is it? Where’s the booze? Where are the cheap men and the glamour?"

"Ah, Niles, your jokes are nearly as old as you are – and the cheap man I want to come around would probably only water my plants. There are other things which require more intimate attention," she reminded him one last time before she wriggled out of his embrace and headed back towards the office.

"Dear God in heaven," Niles mumbled. "She’s trying to kill me…She’s trying to give me a heart attack right here and now!"

~~~

Searching the living room one last time, CC peeked through the partially open kitchen door to steal a glance at her boyfriend. The thought that she was now reduced to stealing glances at him whenever she could, as soon as it crossed her mind made her giggle, which in turn made her laugh. Niles had reduced her to a giggling love-struck fool, and oh, how she loved it. "Niles, do you know where I put my glass of wine?" She vaguely remembered setting it down to let Chester out on the terrace, but by the time she had chased the pooch out, she couldn’t remember where she had set it. That man in her kitchen, she realized, was distracting her to the point where she was lucky she remembered her own name.

"It’s in here," he replied, chopping vegetables for the roast he was preparing. "You left it on the counter."

When CC walked through the kitchen door, his eyes lit up and immediately his attention turned from the food to her. "Every time you walk into a room, you stun me," he said romantically, the adoration obvious in his eyes.

CC laughed at the smitten look on his face. "You can’t afford to be stunned – I’m amazed you’re still able to form comprehensive sentences at the best of times."

"So am I," he said appreciatively, looking her over. A well fitting casual grey dress complimented her every curve, and the pearls she wore accentuated her elegant neck. God he loved her. They may have been eating in, but she still dressed for dinner – it was merely one more thing about CC Babcock that he had grown to adore.

Pilfering a carrot from the pile of cut orange pieces on the board in front of him, CC popped it in her mouth. "I can’t get enough of your cooking," she complimented, impressed at how well he handled the knife. Some day, she thought, it might be nice if he could teach her how to prepare a few things so that one day she might return the favor to him, and serve him an elegant meal. So far, all she had succeeded to do was to have food dropped at her door, complete with paper bags.

"Apparently," he said, watching as she chewed. "And that’s not even cooked."

"What?" she whined. CC had grown quite fond of watching him cook; the way he looked in her kitchen was as romantic as when he showed up with flowers for her, or the time he sent her chocolates to the office and signed them ‘your secret admirer’. That event, she recalled, had required a good deal of fancy footwork to get Nanny Fine off of her case but it had all been worth it to finally be able to admit there was someone in her life, even if she hadn’t given them all the details.

"You know, CaCa, we’ve not eaten out since that ill-fated brunch," Niles pointed out, trying to read her expression. Up until this point he had let it slide, but suddenly the urge to confront her won-over his better angels.

"Oh really?" CC feigned surprise, though she knew all too well that it had been intentional that they were always eating in. Forcing herself to look as if she was considering the fact, she waited a moment and pretended to think it over. "I think you’re right," she finally said, hoping they wouldn’t continue the stream of conversation. A part of her wanted to spend time alone with him, while the other part realized just how scared she was that they might run into Barbie-Lois again. "It’s your culinary skills—if you weren’t so damn good in the kitchen, we’d end up at every five star restaurant in the city," she assured him in a rather weak attempt to move the conversation from a perilously serious topic to something more complimentary.

Niles rolled his eyes. "Are you sure that’s all it is?"

Shrugging, CC tried to act as blasé as possible, again stealing a bite of carrot. "Well, what else could it be?"

"Could it be that the Lois-incident still has you a little on-edge?" Putting the knife down, he moved nearer to her, before putting a piece of carrot in his mouth, and chewing dramatically. His hands moved to her hips and held her against him, anchoring her to him. Be damned if she stood a chance of moving away now.

Her first reaction was to deny it. Denial, she thought, might buy her time to come up with a better excuse as to why she had trapped him in her kitchen with such gusto as of late. "I think you’re sexy in an apron," she said seductively, closing the small gap between them and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Uh huh. You’re a lousy liar, Babcock."

She’d probably have taken offense to that under any other circumstance, but he was right. The idea of running into Lois again had been worrying her, and the only way she could be guaranteed to keep Niles all to herself was to stay in each evening. "I might be a little nervous still," she confessed. "But only because she’s beautiful, and brilliant, and much nicer than I am. It may sound silly to you, but you can’t fault me for worrying that you might realize what you walked away from, and if she keeps popping up, it can only increase the odds. Out of sight, out of mind."

"She’s not that much nicer," he said, earning him a playful slap against the chest. "And you’ll have to excuse me if I find you sexier and more brilliant than she is," he added, pretending that it was an afterthought.

"I said beautiful," CC mentioned, although she liked where his mind was. Never before in her life had she felt so desirable to a man without feeling like he only wanted her for sex. Quite the contrary, with Niles; he was forever telling her how he wanted to wait for the right moment to make love to her, and although she expected more than a little bit of performance anxiety, she also appreciated his desire to make everything perfect. Never before had a boyfriend shown such care and concern for the memories they made together.

"You’re that too, but you’re also sexier." Niles winked at her, and he felt CC melt into his arms. "As for that thing about being out of sight, out of mind, even when we aren’t together, you’re still on my mind."

CC blushed at his statement, feeling suddenly very petty for being so insecure. "I do love your cooking," she declared, hoping he realized how much she appreciated him. "And you do make an apron look sexy."

It was Niles’ turn to blush. "Woman, if you’re not careful, we won’t get to eat dinner – twenty years of waiting for you is making it hard to be chivalrous."

CC shrugged. "I’m not the one who insisted on waiting until the absolutely most perfect minute to make love – you only have yourself to blame for that decision Mr. I’m just making you stand by it; it’s cute to watch you get all flustered."

"Flustered doesn’t even begin to describe it," he admitted. It had been his idiotic idea to wait for the right moment, and he kicked himself for it every minute. He just hoped that when they finally did make love, it would be as explosive as they had hoped and that she’d appreciate their patience.

"You’re a big ol’ softie, you know that right?" CC smiled at the pensive expression on his face. It was obvious to her that he was trying to think of something, anything, else.

"Hmmm… Let’s change topics. Otherwise the rump that will be getting my attention won’t be the roast in the pan, and you’ll go hungry to bed," he stated drolly, his fingers caressing the small of her back.

"Promises, promises. Meanwhile, I have a phone call to return to my sister. Do I have time for ten minutes of inconceivably boring conversation?"

"You make it sound so exciting."

"Wait until you meet DD – you’ll understand." CC slid from his grasp and wondered if there wasn’t a way for him to prepare dinner and hold her all at the same time as she was on the phone with DD.

Niles dreaded the idea of meeting DD but for all the years they had known each other, he could only count a handful of times that she had even come to the city, let alone stayed for any duration of time. "When you get back we’ll find something to watch on TV, and wait for the roast to finish."

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, disappearing to the living room. If she could hasten the call at all, she might be back before he was finished cutting the veggies, and perhaps she could catch him singing to the ladle again. CC never knew that domesticity could be such bliss.

~~~

The morning started badly for CC, waking up later than she intended.

Forgetting to set her alarm the night before was mostly Niles’ fault, she rationalized, because he had called her to wish her sweet dreams, and then he insisted on telling her a dreadfully long story about some great adventure he wanted to have on his vacation.

It had actually all been quite endearing, the tone of his voice reminiscent of a little schoolboy excited about a field trip. But, she wound up in bed an hour later than she had expected, and instead of following her usual evening routine, she had haphazardly fallen into bed and even forgot to remove her make-up.

At ten past 8, she woke up looking like a clown, her eyeliner and mascara smudged around her eyes and her lipstick probably permanently marring her favorite ivory-colored pillowcase. Propelling herself into the shower, she managed to get ready in record time and catch a cab to work just before 9, making her not only late for breakfast but also for work.

When she hurled herself through the kitchen door, Niles was nowhere to be seen and all of the preparatory dishes from breakfast were already put away.

Silently, she made her way to the office, convinced that the day couldn’t go any worse than it was already. "Good morning, Maxwell. Sorry I’m running late – I forgot to set my alarm last night."

"No worries CC. It looks like a relatively slow day anyway and I’ve got to go out with Miss Fine just after lunch to pick up the kids and take them to … somewhere. Some relative of hers, I think." He busied himself with the mass of paperwork in front of him, barely looking up to acknowledge her. The CC of old would have been angry with him for this, but somehow now she just shrugged it off. After all, he was in is own little world most of the time, and fortunate for him only Miss Fine seemed to be able to visit.

CC groaned. "So it’s going to be a tiring, pointless day on top of everything else," she asked.

"That’s optimistic," Fran said, bounding through the door. "With an outlook like that, I’m surprised you even got out of bed."

Rolling her eyes, CC pretended not to hear her. "Niles has made himself scarce today. To what do we owe that pleasant surprise?" She hoped that it was a fleeting enough inquiry that nobody would put two and two together, but she desperately wanted to see him. A morning without a kiss from him was as yet unheard of in recent memory, and the thought of going about her day without at least seeing him seemed bleak.

Maxwell looked up from the papers on his desk. "I think he decided that today was as good a day as any to go sort out the plans for our vacation at the end of the month, and he wanted to choose the cottage himself this year; he mumbled something about them choosing poorly last year."

Fran laughed. "You never know who to trust when you rent a cottage sight-unseen from a stranger," she teased. "I know we had that problem all the time back in Flushing."

Her comment earned her a sideways glance from Maxwell before he realized that she was joking. Of course she was joking, but sometimes she’d say something quickly enough that the lines between seriousness and teasing were blurred.

"Ah, well, then…" CC didn’t know what to say, other than the fact that now her day was completely destroyed. "It should be nice and quiet around here. I should be able to get a lot done."

But even when everyone had left to take the kids to some distant relative of Nanny Fine’s, CC hadn’t managed to get more than a few bits and pieces of work done, instead wondering where Niles was and what he was up to.

This relationship had become much too addictive, she decided. CC wasn’t used to needing to know where someone was when they weren’t around, and she certainly wasn’t accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night thinking about someone else.

"Lunacy," she mumbled, wondering if there was a way to distract herself. The urge to sneak into his room to at least be around his things was overwhelming. No one needed to know the difference, right? Except she would know how obsessive she’d become, and that was just as unhealthy.

Examining her note pad, she realized just how little she had gotten done since she had started her latest task… A half page of scribbled notes was littered with only partially useful thoughts, most of what she had written random notes pertaining to other tasks.

"Pull it together, CC! If you’re going to be such an idiot just because you’re in love, something will have to change!" Closing her notebook, she jammed it into her briefcase. Obviously Niles wasn’t going to make it back any time soon and she wasn’t getting anything done. Maybe a nice bubble bath and a glass of wine would clear her mind enough to get through the rest of the day.

~~~

By 9:45, CC had just about given up on Niles calling her. It was the first day since they had started dating that they hadn’t at least seen each other, let alone talked and it seemed very unfair. Did he not need her as much as she needed him?

Falling into bed with a novel she had been putting off reading forever, CC had tried to read the pages, but all the lines were blurring together. The sheer distraction of the day had left her in a state of anxiousness as things seemed to fly under her radar. She just didn’t have the energy to put into anything if it wasn’t a thought about Niles.

Chester crawled up the bed, his furry head burrowing into her side. "You’re awfully affectionate tonight," CC said, stroking the mound of fur.

With another nuzzle, he worked his way further up her side, and big brown eyes stared at her.

"Ok, I shouldn’t have stopped petting you, huh?" Placing her book on the nightstand, she turned her attention back to Chester, who had suddenly appeared on her lap. "For someone who isn’t supposed to be in the bed, you’ve made yourself very comfortable."

If CC didn’t know better, she would have sworn that he was actually feigning indignity as a tiny honey-colored paw came up and over his nose.

"Sure, act cute – I can’t resist big eyes. Do you think that’s my problem? Niles has huge blue eyes, have you ever noticed?" CC laughed. "I’m talking to a damn dog. Then again, at least I’m talking to something, and not to myself, right?"

When he didn’t reply, she said a silent thank you – she might have gone crazy, but at least the dog wasn’t replying.

"I didn’t see Niles at all today. I never thought that would actually matter to me, you know, and suddenly it does." Scratching behind Chester’s ear, she watched as the little fluff ball closed his eyes. "I shouldn’t be encouraging you getting up on the bed…but I’m glad you did tonight. I really do feel kind of lonely."

How had things changed so much? How did she go from fiercely independent CC Babcock, to this woman who wanted, so desperately, to have the comfort of his arms? She had grown to rely on him being accessible, and she had come to expect that it would always be that way. Love sure was an all-consuming emotion, she realized. It wasn’t just the base need for companionship, which she had so frequently assumed it was, but the desire to have him with her because she missed him when he wasn’t there. She wasn’t interested in having just *anyone* there, but Niles.

This love thing really had her world spinning off its axis, and as exhilarating as it was, it was also terrifying.

The phone ringing startled her, and poor Chester just about leapt out of his skin. He had been enjoying the dedicated attention she had been lavishing upon him, and suddenly it was over.

Reaching for the phone, CC gave his chin a scratch. "Don’t worry – I don’t imagine this will take long. Then it’s back to you and me. We’ll have a good chat. Maybe you can help me sort out some of this mess."

Hitting the ‘talk’ button, she sighed before raising the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"I’d pretend to be an obscene caller, but you’d enjoy that too much." The familiar British accent nearly whispered, making her wonder from where he was calling.

"It’d be the thrill of my day," she said, unusually morose.

"Bad day?"

"Well, the guy I’m seeing just disappeared into thin air," CC reminded him, wishing she could just be happy he called at all. Why did she just not have it in her? She should be used to disappointment by now, she thought, and why couldn’t she just accept that he was at least making an effort now?

Niles groaned. He knew he should have called her when she was late for breakfast, or at the very least he should have left her a note It was just so difficult with the way they were tiptoeing around behind everyone’s backs. "I’m sorry. I just…do you remember the horrendous mess that was the Sheffield family vacation last year?"

"I don’t – must be because I didn’t go on it," CC snapped. Ok, so she wasn’t handling this very well, but it wasn’t for lack of want; she just couldn’t muster the energy to act as if everything was perfectly fine.

"Well, last year the real estate agent chose a terrible location, with a frightful house and a tiny kitchen. Instead of subjecting myself to two weeks of that again this year, I decided to do the leg work myself," he said quietly. "I should have told you last night, but I thought I’d see you this morning."

"You’re going away for two weeks?" Of everything he had said, that had been the part she heard, and CC could have kicked herself for sounding so pathetic. He really had reduced her to a dependant mass of girlfriend-ness.

"We always do," he said, quickly realizing that she might get the wrong idea. "Would you consider joining us this year? Remember how I told you I had big intentions for this year’s vacation? I’d really love it if you’d come with me." He hoped this wouldn’t somehow backfire on him. Usually when the family took their vacation, CC would take off on a cruise or to a tropical resort somewhere but he hoped that this year she would break tradition and opt to join them.

"With the family?" She nearly choked on the words. Was he implying that they’d finally tell Maxwell and the children, not to mention Nanny Fine? Would they actually be able to stop hiding their relationship and enjoy it openly?

"If you hate the idea, don’t feel obligated, by any means. I just thought it would be nice for us to have a little mini-vacation too. Of course, I’d still have to work, but everyone does their own thing through the day, so there aren’t as many obligations between breakfast and dinner." Niles wanted to kick himself for being so presumptuous; he had thought that she would like the idea, maybe even enough that they would tell the family about their relationship before the trip. Suddenly, he wondered if he had misread the situation.

"It’s not that…I mean, it would be nice to spend more time with you," CC managed, still wrapping her mind around the idea. "I guess it just surprised me."

"So that’s not a no? You don’t have to say yes, not right away, if you don’t want to." If he backpedaled any faster, he feared he’d back himself right into a wall.

"It’s not a no by any means, it’s just not entirely a yes yet." Realizing that she was making it unnecessarily difficult on Niles, CC considered what kind of day he must have had, and how little she was doing to make it any better. "My day got started on the wrong foot, I guess, because I didn’t see you and then everything else was exhaustingly frustrating," she confessed. "I don’t want to be upset with you."

Niles smiled at her admission. At least they were talking about the problem instead of trying to hide behind it; that was a sign of growth for them, was it not? "Could I make it up to you?"

"What’s to make up?" CC asked quickly. "It’s not like you were intentionally avoiding me, were you?"

"I’ve never been able to avoid you, intentionally or otherwise, I assure you. But I was thinking: I’ve kissed you good morning every day for the last month, except for today… I could always come by for a goodnight kiss…" Crossing his fingers, he hoped she would say yes. He just needed to see her.

"Just a kiss?" Her tone had been helplessly needy, and she hoped this wouldn’t become a permanent fixture; CC Babcock was not supposed to rely on anyone, and suddenly that seemed to be all she could do.

"Just a kiss," Niles said softly. "We’re saving the fun stuff for a nice, romantic evening. Considering how ten minutes ago you sounded as if you wanted to tar and feather me, I’d think tonight wouldn’t qualify."

CC laughed. "I’m that transparent, huh?"

"Trust me when I say that you still keep me guessing," he assured her. "Now, as for that kiss? I can get ready and be at your place in under a half hour…"

"Prove it," she said, suddenly rejuvenated by the prospect of seeing him again.

"I’ll see you soon," he promised, before hanging up.

Turning back to her sleeping dog, CC grinned. "I’m sorry Chester, but I got a better offer. That talk of ours will have to wait."

~~~

After breakfast she snuck into the kitchen for a little morning conversation with Niles. Maxwell had seemed indifferent to her disappearance, his attention instead distracted by the short skirt that Fran was wearing, and the length of leg she was showing. "I got the strangest call this morning," CC said, sipping her coffee and settling at the table. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder; she knew exactly where Niles was.

"The mayor called to say they’d be willing to negotiate if only you’d climb down off of the Empire State Building and unhand Fay Wray?" Smirking, he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table beside her. Niles sighed; she looked stunning this morning – not that she didn’t usually look amazing, but today she was as alluring as he’d ever seen her, and that was saying a lot.

"Ha ha…that’s funny Niles – did you come up with that all by yourself or did Nanny Fine help you?" Leaning closer, she used her shoulder to nudge him before returning her attention back to her coffee. The friendly banter they had enjoyed for years was still a critical part of their relationship, even if now they had more fun with it.

"Every so often I think on my own…now, back to this strange phone call? Was it perverse? Because, I have to tell you, if it was perverse, I need to tap your phone lines – never know what some sicko might be telling my baby," he said sweetly, a grin on his face. "And knowing my baby as I do, she’d like it."

CC laughed at the way he said it, and thought that it was so much nicer now that he used his adoring tones on her. "My brother is coming to town," she said, placing her coffee cup on the table in front of her. "And he wants to stay with me."

"Well, there is something strange about that. A man is actually asking if he can stay in your apartment. Obviously there’s something wrong," he jested.

"My family *never* stays with me when they come to town. The first thing they do is book into a hotel. Why is he staying at my place?" she asked. Ever since she had hung up the phone with Noel, she had been wracking her brain about this unusual turn of events.

"Maybe he just decided he wants to spend more time with you. It seems every time he comes to town you two only see each other for a few hours at best."

CC shook her head. "That’s the best part of our relationship; three hours together a year and we feel like everything is perfectly on course," she explained. "He didn’t sound sick, and he didn’t sound like anyone had died – and even if they had, I don’t think he’d fly all the way here to tell me that."

Niles laughed. "No wonder it took us so long to get our act together; if three hours constitutes a sufficient relationship in the Babcock family, every time we insulted each other must have been like an anniversary," he teased. "You must have been confused by all the time we were spending together."

"Very funny – it’s different with you. Three hours apart feels like an eternity," she admitted. "My family, they’re not exactly emotional beings, and the fact he’s flying in from Chicago to stay at my apartment worries me."

Reaching under the table and squeezing her knee, Niles hoped that she realized how much he loved her. There was so little warmth in her family, he couldn’t fault her for all the misunderstandings they’d had through the years, and if anything it made him angrier with himself. He knew the Babcocks were not even close to being the Cleavers, so why had he always pushed back when she pushed him away?

"You realize that this means four days of not getting to spend as much time together," she said sadly. "With Noel around, I hardly want to subject you to him and whatever he has going on. It must be something big."

Frowning, Niles tried to hide his disappointment. "We’ll still have some time together, won’t we?"

Nodding, CC wondered if they actually would have some time or if every waking moment would be consumed by work and spending time with Noel. "Yeah, some time."

"Then? We’ll make the most of what we have," he promised her. "Now, the real question is, once he’s gone, how are we going to make up for all this lost time?"

CC laughed. "I like the way you think, old man. Maybe you’re smarter than you look." Glancing around the room and deciding it was safe, she leaned closer to him and pressed her lips against his, the gentle teasing of her tongue eliciting a soft moan from him.

When she separated her lips from his, she saw the darkness of his eyes and the very evident desire. "You’re trying to kill me," he said, his breathing ragged.

"No, not at all. I’m just trying to stock pile as much as I can before Noel arrives tonight."

~~~

"Noel," CC said, smiling, as her brother appeared in her doorway. As much as his mysterious visit piqued her curiosity, she had to admit it was a pleasant treat to see him.

"CC – little sister, you look wonderful," he complimented, extending his hand.

Accepting his hand, CC shook it happily. "Thank you – and you look well."

Waving him in, she was impressed that he had carried his own luggage up instead of bribing the cabbie to do it for him. Something about her brother really had changed.

"Your apartment is lovely, as always. Have you remodeled?" Noel looked around at the room, surprised by its warmth. He had never spent much time at her apartment before, and now he was staying there? No matter, he thought, it was only for a few days.

CC smiled but didn’t say anything. The apartment was the same as always, except now there was a good deal more happiness in it. She doubted that was what he noticed, but it still made her happy just to think about the changes in the last little while. Then again, she had never had flowers in her apartment before either, so maybe that was what he noticed.

Chester dashed out of the hallway and to the door to greet the company. "Who’s this little fluff ball?"

"That’s Chester," she said, picking him and introducing him to her brother. "He’s my little ball of fluffy fury, isn’t he?" she asked the dog, scratching under his chin.

Noel watched as his sister spoke to the dog. There was something genuinely wrong with her, obviously, if she was talking to a dog, and it was his job to find out what it was and if there was anything to be done to fix it. "Your ‘little ball of fluffy fury?’"

"Well, it’s the nicer of the nicknames I have for him," she explained. "Leave a fine-leather shoe somewhere within his grasp and see what you call him."

Laughing, Noel petted the furry creature in his sister’s arms. She was never one for pets growing up, short of her horses, but then again, the CC he knew as a child was vastly different from the one he had come to know as an adult. The determination and dedication was still there, but the sense of excitement seemed to have gone out of most things. Probably, he reflected, a result of all the disappointments their mother had subjected them to throughout the years.

Placing Chester on the floor, CC led her brother to the sofa. "So, what brings you here?" It wasn’t exactly tactful, but it was at least a question she’d like answered.

"Aw, CC, you know how to make me feel loved and welcome," he said, feigning hurt. Truth be told, *he* barely knew why he was there.

Feeling a rush of guilt for her rudeness, CC backtracked quickly. "NO, no, that’s not what I meant… I just meant… I…" Coherent words were lost on her at that moment. She couldn’t very well say ‘you’re interfering in my love life’; it wasn’t like he even knew that the aforementioned aspect of her life existed. "I’m just surprised, that’s all."

Nodding, he tried to remember the story he had come up with on the plane ride over. It had nothing to do with their family or allaying their concerns. "I have some business to look into here in town, and while I’m here, I thought I could spend some time with my sister."

Looking him over, CC didn’t believe him. Her brother was a lot of things, but considerate and sociable with the family didn’t even rate on the top 100. "Business? The University is farming you out?"

Noel could kick himself for not securing an iron-clad alibi for this trip. CC was a brilliant mind in her own right and would ask all the questions she wanted until she got the answers she hoped for. "Well, there’s a young man who just started teaching at NYU, and rumor has it he might be looking for a change already. Our anthropology department could use a little young blood – the staff lounge is starting to look like a dig site, what with all those fossils around."

CC laughed at her brother’s description. "You slay me," she said honestly. "Now, while you’re here, I do have a few things I couldn’t rearrange, but if you don’t mind entertaining yourself for a night or two, we’ll make the most of the rest of the time."

"Don’t worry so much, CC… I can keep myself entertained. But, I do have to ask: what are your plans for your birthday?"

Shrugging, she tried not to shrink into herself. She hated thinking about birthdays and being another year older, and another year behind on her ‘life plan’, not that she actually thought she could complete any of the goals on it. Not now, she thought, not at this point. "No plans, really."

"Ah, well, then, that’s the one thing we’ll change right now. We’ll do dinner. Somewhere fabulous. And if you’d like, you could invite some of your friends? Maybe Maxwell would want to come along?"

An exasperated laugh almost passed her lips, but at the last moment she was able to contain it. For all the years she had been pretending to have a thing with Maxwell, the thought now seemed absurd in the worst way. As for having friends, really that too was quite a humorous thought. The only person she would want to invite would be Niles, but how she’d get that past Noel was beyond her. No, it was safer to avoid that. "Dinner for the two of us then?"

Noel laughed. "Same ol’ CC," he said, a wicked grin on his face. "Now, where’s the guest room in this shack? I should unpack before you tell me all the gossip from that Sheffield family."

Leading her brother down the hall, CC realized that this would feel like the longest visit of her life.

~~~

When CC entered the kitchen on the morning of her birthday, she was more than a little disappointed to see Nanny Fine sitting at the table.

"Good morning," CC managed, looking longingly at Niles – she couldn’t bring herself to announce herself with her typical ‘hello hello’. "Morning," Fran said, sniffing pathetically.

"I see you’re breaking tradition and coming out after sunrise," Niles teased, preparing her coffee precisely the way she liked it. He would have rather grabbed her and kissed her senseless, but Fran’s presence was a definite hindrance.

"Don’t you have a filthy toilet somewhere to scrub?" The expression on her face and in her eyes said something totally different, instead relaying her disappointment in not being able to hold him and her love for him.

Walking nearer, he gently passed her the cup of coffee, his fingers lingering against her tender skin for seconds longer than they should have. Under the circumstances, it was as close to a caress as he could manage. "Open up and say ‘ahh’. I’m fairly certain I gave you a good scouring just yesterday."

CC nearly choked, surprised by the bluntness of his statement. Prepared to reply with what had become a critical form of communication in their relationship, CC nearly stomped her feet in frustration when Nanny Fine cleared her throat so loudly.

"Are you feeling under the weather?" CC asked, though she could have cared less. All of this energy spent taking an interest in Nanny Fine was really energy she would have rather focused on Niles.

Fran nodded. "I think I got Brighton’s flu." Blowing her nose dramatically, Fran stood up. "Thanks for the honey-lemon tea," she said, smiling at Niles before she made her way up the stairs, alternately sneezing and coughing.

When the coast seemed clear, Niles walked nearer to CC who was looking at him over her mug. "Do you need a good scouring?" A wicked smile graced his lips.

"You, Mr., are a troublemaker! Saying something like that without warning me, you buffoon."

He drew her into his arms and pulled her firmly against him. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, Niles smiled at her. "I wanted to beat Fran for delaying our morning ritual."

"I wanted to pull out her big hair; I guess it’s not a good day for the nanny," she laughed. Leaning into him, CC initiated a warming kiss, her mouth over his and their tongues immediately springing into action. CC’s hands grasped at his neck while his hands wandered over her back and then the length of her sides.

Slowly breaking the kiss, Niles enjoyed the sight of her, flushed and with heavily lidded eyes. "We really need to do that more often. Much like brushing, it’s something best done at least three times a day."

CC laughed before raising her hands to straighten his tie. "If kissing you is this good, I can’t wait ‘til we get to the fun stuff…"

"Hmmm…" Niles managed, still partially paralyzed by the kiss. "Speaking of fun stuff, someone’s birthday is today…happy birthday…" Releasing her from his grip, he quickly pecked her cheek before continuing with the breakfast preparations.

"What a nightmare – another year older, and nothing to show for it! Where do the years go?" CC cringed, thinking of all the years they had wasted getting to this point.

"You’re young yet, and incredible," he comforted. "And to prove just how incredible I think you are, I’ll pick you up this evening at 6:30?"

Smiling, CC sighed. "That would be wonderful…too bad Noel has already made plans for tonight."

Niles did a double take. "You already have plans?" This wasn’t something he had counted on. He had spent the last week and a half making plans for their evening together, but he never once accounted for the fact that she would have other plans. It was, at least to him, a given that he’d want to spend her birthday with him, and he hoped she felt the same way too. Now, not only did he have *very* expensive plans for a date, but he’d be alone.

"Well, he asked me what I had planned and when I said ‘nothing’, he announced that he’d take me out." CC watched as Niles attention seemed to focus strictly on the egg he was mixing.

"You never thought that I would want to celebrate with you?" He couldn’t bring himself to look up at her for fear that she’d see how badly she hurt him.

"Honestly," she said, her voice low, "the thought never crossed my mind. It was just…it’s just a birthday. Birthdays don’t really mean much to me – it’s just the way we are in my family. It’s just another day. Going to dinner with Noel is about as much as I ever do for these things."

Putting down the bowl of eggs, Niles stopped and leaned against the counter. "*I* celebrate birthdays, CC – it’s a chance to celebrate you and your accomplishments, and even if I didn’t celebrate them normally, this is different. This is the first birthday we’d celebrate as a couple, and forgive me but it’s also a milestone birthday. I’m sorry, but I wanted to spend it with you." His eyes betrayed him, and showed her just how much he had been counting on them being together.

CC could tell that he was hurting, and she could kick herself. "You could always join us for dinner," she offered. "He told me to invite friends…"

"Hmpf," Niles grunted, "that’s just what I always wanted; to ring in my girlfriend’s birthday with a romantic dinner for three and under the pretence that we’re just friends." He knew he wasn’t being as understanding as he should be, and a part of him was kicking himself for his behavior, but the problem was the incredible amount of hurt he was feeling. The intention of the evening seemed completely bogged down by the fact that he assumed they’d be together, instead of asking her.

She knew that she had royally screwed up by not inviting him to dinner in the first place. It was obvious enough when he returned his attention to the eggs, never mind the fact that he could barely stand to look at her. "I really didn’t think anything of the fact that it’s my birthday," she said again, hoping he’d realize that it was the truth. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend her birthday with him, it was just that she didn’t *celebrate* her birthday.

"I’m running late with breakfast preparations," he said coolly. Rational or not, he felt so betrayed. "If you could just let Mr. Sheffield know that it should only be another 10 minutes or so, I’d really appreciate it."

"Niles," she began, her voice pleading with him.

"I really must finish this, if you don’t mind." His attention didn’t waiver from the grill, his heart torn between hating to be angry with her and sadness about the situation.

CC looked at him and wondered if there was a way to salvage this. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, couldn’t he see that? "Sure, I’ll let him know you’re running late," she said quietly, making her way through the swinging door. And people wondered why she didn’t want to celebrate her birthday?

~~~

When CC stomped her way through her apartment door, she really just wanted to fall into bed with a bottle of wine and a box of Godiva chocolates.

The sight of Noel and Chester watching TV together was the last thing she wanted to be greeted by.

"Ceec, you’ve got to join us – your little Chester is quite the comedian," he remarked.

Removing her suit jacket and placing her briefcase in the corner, CC sighed before resigning herself to civility. "That dog is a show-off," she admitted, thinking of all the evenings she had spent talking to the ball of fluff.

Noel tapped the spot on the sofa beside him. "What’s got you so down?"

"Nothing," she grumbled, staring at the TV.

Noel flicked off the power. "I don’t believe you." Petting Chester, he turned his attention to his sister. "Now spill before I call DD and tell her to beat it out of you."

Groaning at the mention of the last phone call with her sister – the one where she had spent the entire conversation missing Niles – CC decided to try her hand at partial truths. "There’s a man I’ve been seeing," she explained, "and he’s angry because I said I was spending my birthday with you."

Noel wanted to hit his sister for being so ridiculous. "You’re seeing someone?" he asked incredulously.

CC nodded, wondering if she should be using the past tense. Niles was so angry with her about her birthday and she constantly felt like their relationship was on perilous ground; yet another blow might prove fatal.

"Then why am I here?" Noel looked at CC indignantly. "DD told me you were depressed and she wanted to come, but Mummy is dragging her around Japan."

"I was depressed," CC admitted, remembering how agonizing it had been when Niles and Lois had been going out. "Things changed."

"Apparently – you got a man," Noel said, a mischievous grin on his face. "So why are you being so daft as to spend the evening with me?"

CC looked at him in complete confusion. "You said you were making plans for us."

"When I thought you had no plans – it was for your benefit more so than mine, and although I would enjoy spending an evening with you, I’m sure there is more to gain from spending the evening with him." Noel waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"Noel!"

His laughter interrupted her attempt at a scolding. "CC, you realize that men tend to like it if you spend time with them, right?" Nodding, she felt like a child being reprimanded for breaking a toy. "And you realize that relationships work much better if you spend time together? It’s funny, usually I’m complaining that one of my ex-wives would complain about this, but I’ve learned the lesson. Special occasions, whatever it may be, are mandatory relationship time. Hell, little sister, book off Presidents Day, because you’ll find he’ll probably want to spend that with you as well." Noel laughed, realizing how he made a relationship sound. Then again, three iffy marriages had left him a little wiser than he had been before. Again she nodded, this time looking down to her feet. "Then go and call him, and when you’ve apologized profusely, ask him what time he’d like you to meet him."

"I can’t just…" Realizing that she was just about to make another inane excuse, she stopped herself. "He’s terribly mad at me," she admitted.

"Then, make it up to him. Show up in something sexy, take him a box of cigars…do something, but don’t just act like nothing happened. Take it from me: three wives later, I’ve finally figured out what I was doing wrong. It’s only fair you benefit from the wisdom of my mistakes."

CC grinned at the expression on his face. Sometimes her brother drove her mad, but most times she wondered what she’d do without him. "Do you mind if…?"

"Mind? I’d mind if you stayed. Chester and I have a fun-filled evening of TV to watch, and maybe a walk to take." The serious expression he wore made her laugh.

"Just try not to talk to the dog," she asked, making her way to her room.

A few breaths later, she was staring down the receiver to her telephone, questioning how this would all turn out. It was her own fault. Dialing, she wondered what she’d say if anyone other than Niles answered the phone; she hadn’t thought that far in advance. Crossing her fingers, she hoped that he would be there.

"Sheffield residence," Grace answered.

CC breathed a sigh of relief, realizing there had been the potential for it to be much worse. "Hi, Gracie," CC said, elated that her luck was holding out.

Grace was stunned – Miss Babcock actually got her name right?

After a minute of deafening silence, CC worked past the small talk. "Is Niles there?"

Was this a sign of the apocalypse? First she got her name right, and now CC was asking to speak with Niles? "It’s his night off," Grace explained. "Fran said something about a dinner meeting…"

CC grumbled something incoherent. "What kind of dinner meeting?" The question wasn’t intended to come out quite so strangled, but it was hard for her to keep calm. When did butlers start taking ‘dinner meetings’?

"I don’t know what it is," Grace admitted, "but it must be important. Fran said that he’s hoping to get lucky." It was said with all the innocence of a child, which only made it worse.

"Do you know where this … meeting …is?" Swallowing hard, she fought the urge to rush to the bathroom to vomit. He was cheating on her all because she made alternative plans for her birthday?

"Ummm…" Grace thought very seriously for a moment. "The Waldorf=Astoria," she said quickly, proud that she remembered.

"Thank you," CC managed. Hanging up, she didn’t even give it a second thought, instead throwing her shoes on and grabbing her purse. "Noel, I have an errand to run," she called over her shoulder as she darted out the door.

Her illogical (and emotional) response was to race over to the hotel and storm the room. She fully expected to find him wrapped in Lois’ arms and as deplorable of a notion as that was, she wondered if it wouldn’t be necessary to end her feelings for him. Cringing at the thought of losing him, CC promised herself that she would be better off once she spoke to him.

~~~

The trip to the Waldorf=Astoria was filled with a mixture of anger and fear. Never before had CC expected one person to so seriously impact her life, let alone cause her such incredible confusion.

Finding his suite had been relatively easy, a fact for which she was thankful—she had been worried that the room would be in Lois’ name.

Knocking on the door had proven much more difficult, however. She hadn’t anticipated standing at the door, purse clutched in her hand, wondering why she hadn’t changed out of her work clothes before she left the apartment. That, of course, was just one of dozens of illogical thoughts that seemed to be firing through her mind at that moment.

If she were to compete with Lois, wouldn’t she need to be a little more alluring than a grey business suit would afford her? Then again, if it was a matter of competing with Lois, finding Niles in her arms would mean she already lost.

The romantic strains of a Nat King Cole song wafted through the door and her heart sunk. "Courage," she whispered to herself as she knocked. "Breathe, CC – just get this over with," she encouraged.

"Go away," a voice called through the door and instantly she recognized it as Niles’.

CC grasped the doorframe, hoping and praying for the strength to see him again. "Niles," she said, her voice less confident than normal, "it’s me, CC."

There wasn’t even a sound from inside the room, at least not that she could hear. CC assumed it was the sound of him hiding the evidence and then she berated herself for being so negative. He had never given her any reason to doubt his affections, and here she was treating him as if she had already caught him cheating.

A moment later, she was caught by surprise by the slow opening of the door, and the sight of Niles starting back at her clad in a well-fitted tux. "What are you doing here, Babcock?"

It certainly wasn’t a ‘swinging in to say hi,’ circumstance. "Uh…" CC was at a total loss of words.

"Very coherent," Niles said, torn by the elation that he was feeling just seeing her there while the other part of him was begging for a confrontation. There she was with likely no clue as to how much she hurt him.

"I just…I called the house and Grace said you were here…"

Niles shrugged. "It’s as nice a place as any to drink oneself into oblivion," he said cavalierly.

CC nodded. There was no fathomable response to that which would go well.

"So, what are you doing here," he asked curtly.

She hoped that they would be able to talk without getting into trouble. "I came because I felt really horrible about this morning – I never meant to hurt you like that," she said honestly.

At first Niles said nothing at all, but a moment later he opened the door wider and invited her in.

CC’s eyes quickly appraised the room, worried that the little progress she had made would be a total loss if she saw Lois and was unable to fend off the urge to kill her.

"What are you looking for?" Niles asked, noticing her surveying the room.

Instead of saying anything, she just walked into the suite, hoping that the guilt she was feeling wasn’t written across her face.

"Did you come here because you thought I’d be with somebody else?" he questioned, eyebrows raised.

"That’s not why I came," she defended, "but the thought had crossed my mind." It had done more than merely cross her mind, she knew, but this entire evening had sprung from a desire to see him and to make up for her behavior earlier in the day. Bringing up her usual jealousies wouldn’t get them any further.

"Do you think I’d do that again? Do you think I’d intentionally mask my affections for you and go after someone else? I’ve learned my lesson," Niles insisted.

"Then why are you here? Most people get depressed and go to a bar or sit home and wallow. Leave it to you to traipse off to a hotel and strut around in a tux." The anger she was feeling was somehow directed at him, even though she knew that really she was only angry with herself. All of the blame was to be on her shoulders, and as much as CC knew that, she just couldn’t help but be a little angry with him. Didn’t he know her better than that? Didn’t he know how childish she could be and how sometimes she just didn’t think things through as thoroughly as she should?

"Because I’d already paid for the room and I had nothing else to do," he grumbled. Walking over to a tall bottle he had on ice, he poured a glass for himself before sitting on an overstuffed ottoman in front of the fireplace.

Waiting a moment, CC watched as he took long swigs from the glass, the sexiness of the way he held the glass and the way he looked momentarily taking her breath away. "That doesn’t really explain ‘why’ you’re here," she pointed out, hoping to recover her senses.

Shaking his head, he stood up and walked to the window. "For a brilliant woman, you can be incredibly dense, you know."

CC frowned. "Just spit it out already, will ya?"

"I rented the room for you. Ditto for the booze and the tux; everything here is for you." Watching her face for a glimmer of recognition, Niles realized that no one person had ever compelled him to go to such great lengths and now that they had, the very same person was also driving him insane. Was this what love was?

"For me?"

"On the occasion of your birthday," he clarified. "This was our romantic evening. At least, it was supposed to be."

Smiling, CC was overjoyed. He had done all of this for her. "Thank you," she whispered and walked closer to him. The urge to touch him and explain how crazy the day had made her overwhelmed her.

"It didn’t work out very well," Niles pointed out.

"The day isn’t over yet. Please tell me that you can forgive me and that we can still make the most of this wonderful gesture?" Her eyes were pleading with him, and she hoped that he could forgive her for making such a terrible mess of his present to her.

"What happened to Noel?"

"He’s at home, watching Jeopardy with Chester," she said casually, stroking her fingers over his shoulder. The look of sheer confusion that suddenly crossed Niles’ face made her laugh. "I never claimed that my brother was normal," she assured him.

"What did you tell him when you left?"

Blushing, CC tried to avoid his eyes. "I didn’t say much of anything, really, but I think he has a decent idea of where I am. When he found out that I was seeing someone, he thought I was crazy for being there instead of with you, and I have to admit, he was right."

"You told him you were seeing someone?"

"I did – I think it’s the first time he’s heard those words out of my mouth. I don’t usually discuss my relationships with my family." Brushing her hand over his cheek, she leaned in closer. "So, can you forgive me?"

Swallowing hard, Niles wished that coherent thought hadn’t abandoned him. His mind was reeling at the scent of her perfume and the way she leaned closer to him, taking his breath away. "Only if you forgive me for being, quite possibly, the most unreasonable man alive. I never should have assumed you’d know that I’d want to spend the day with you. I mean, you should always assume I want to spend time with you, but I mean, this day in particular. You had no way of knowing I made plans for you."

Smiling, CC couldn’t help herself. "Already forgiven," she told him softly.

"You want to stay and make the most of this?"

CC nodded, chewing her lower lip. "If you’ll have me? I’ve been the most incredible idiot today, I know."

Looking into her soft blue eyes, Niles wondered how he could have ever doubted her love for him. Granted, sometimes she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, but she was his, and he loved her even when she drove him nuts. He wasn’t all that easy to get along with either, if he was being completely honest. "Do you want to dance," he asked, tenderly taking her hand in his.

"I’d love to," she said, accepting his hand and smiling.

He pulled her firmly against him, his arms snuggly holding her. CC melted into his embrace, and instinctively her arms wrapped around his neck. "I’m sorry," she whispered, but instead of any more words, Niles just led them in a romantic dance.

Maybe birthdays weren’t so bad after all.

Niles spun her around the room as if they were floating on a cloud, and perhaps they were. He had never expected her to show up that evening, nor had he expected all to be forgiven quite so easily, but she did, and it was. There was something about CC Babcock that had gotten him from the word ‘go’ and ever since he had stood a very small chance of walking away in one piece. After all the years of fighting it, she had broken him down, if only she knew how deeply he loved her.

"You dance very well," CC said, before adding as an afterthought, "for a butler."

Niles snickered at the backhanded compliment. "And you dance very well for a show-horse, but it’s amazing how we’ve overcome that adversity."

"This is a much better way to spend the night, than with my brother and the dog watching TV," she said, a smile on her face.

"And just wait – the evening gets better," he promised her.

"You mean a fairy-godmother will drop from the ceiling and give me a change of clothes? I can’t believe how ridiculous I feel standing here in this." Pointing out her lack of appropriate attire, she sighed. "I was so distracted by getting here I forgot that once I did, I’d have to face you wearing *this*."

Brushing a thumb over her cheek and leaning in nearer to her, he smiled before he leaned in closer to whisper a secret to her. "You could be wearing a panda suit, and I’d still think that you were the most gorgeous, sexy, remarkable woman in the world."

A chill raced down her spin at his words and the sensation of his breath against her ear, causing her to take a moment to find her breath. "A panda suit? Do we have some sick issues to work through with you?"

Laughing, he wrapped his arms around her more firmly this time, and began the swaying again. "I have many issues, but most of them revolve around the fact that I can’t stop thinking about you."

"You’re a hopeless romantic, you know that, right?" Leaning into him, CC felt intoxicated by the scent of his cologne and the strength of his arms around her. If she could never leave his arms again, she wouldn’t ever let him go.

"That’s what happens when you get used to feeling hopeless – you divert all your attention to the thing that makes you feel that way." He began to nuzzle against her jawbone, stopping only to place small kisses along the sensitive skin he found.

"Oh, you should never feel hopeless," CC assured him, entangling her fingers in his hair. "I would say that the probability of you getting whatever you want is there and just waiting to be taken," she said seductively.

"Oh, good God, woman, you really are going to be the death of me, aren’t you?" His growing discomfort made it almost impossible for him to continue holding her the way he was. "You’re doing all of this to kill me. It’s one great big prank." The teasing tone of his voice mixed with the quietness of it told her that he was barely clinging on to sanity.

"We do have this massive suite to take advantage of, and a king-sized bed just waiting for us…I vote we forget dinner and move on to the fun stuff." Her fingers quickly fell to the waist of his pants and tugged at the material, leading him towards the bedroom.

"I don’t know if that’s such a good idea," he said, his eyes drawn to where her hands now rested.

Stopping, she released her grasp on him as quickly as she had taken it. "You don’t know if that’s such a good idea? Please tell me that you’re not implying once again that it’s too soon to make love." Her voice was low, and it carried a very definite tone of anger.

"We jump from fighting to … that’s not very romantic," he began. "Please, forgive me if I don’t want the first time I make love to you to be on the heels of us fighting. I don’t want the memory of it tarnished by…"

While he was trying to explain, it was very obvious that CC was seething. "I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we fight sometimes – it’s kind of a game we play," she pointed out. "Sometimes we fight very loudly. Sometimes I just can’t stand to talk to you…"

"This is precisely why I don’t feel that making love right after a fight is the best idea. I don’t want it to become about make-up sex instead of making love." Taking her hands and guiding her to an ornate burgundy and cream-striped sofa, he hoped that there was a way of convincing her to see things his way. All of this waiting to make love was KILLING him, but he didn’t want anything to be off. When they finally did get to that point, he wanted every moment to be as perfect as it could be. Biting insults and scathing remarks didn’t seem like the best option.

"How long do you normally wait in a relationship?" The question was simple, CC thought. It was an easy-to-answer question that should have a simple enough response.

"CC," he said, his voice pleading with her.

"What? It’s a fair enough question. We’re in a relationship now, right?" At his nod, she continued. "See, for me there’s no set rule. I generally like to feel these things out," she said, a small laugh escaping her lips at the last part of her statement. "Sometimes literally, I suppose. But usually, I’d consider 20 years to be ample foreplay," she added.

"It’s not that cut-and-dry with us, and you know that." He was grasping at straws at this point.

"Ok, next question, since you don’t want to answer the last one. How long was it before you slept with *Lois*?"

His expression fell and suddenly his chest tightened. "That’s unfair."

"Really? Why?" Narrowing her eyes, she was fairly certain she had her answer. "You were engaged to her, and I can’t imagine you hadn’t consummated it," she said, the desire to wretch at the thought overwhelming her.

"It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in past relationships; it’s what we do together that matters now, and you know that just as well as I do," he said, grasping at straws.

Standing, she tugged her hand free of his. "I can’t be near you right now because … I just can’t. In my mind, all I can think about is that you were with Lois for, what, maybe two months, and you had sex with her. We’ve been together…six weeks, so we’re fast approaching that time…and you haven’t touched me in a way that could be considered more than familiar. We’ve been friends for twenty years, and you can’t bring yourself to make love to me," she cried, finally losing composure. "What does *that* say to you?"

Niles jumped to his feet and stood as near to her as he felt she would let him. "It’s not like that," he said soothingly. "It isn’t. And what we were for twenty years could hardly be called friends," he added. "This is a whole new playing field for us. We’re both working without a net."

"How long was it before you slept with her?" The cold stare she gave him was the one that had made many men openly weep and confess much lesser sins. "I think I deserve to know this." Her words were punctuated with frigid haltingness and she made herself clear; she had no intention of giving up until she had an answer.

"What does it prove?"

"Maybe how you feel about me? Maybe how you truly feel about me? Ah, hell, I don’t know what it proves, but I know it proves something," she argued. "How long?"

The tears in her eyes made her seem fragile, like he had never seen her before, and it took all of his willpower to keep himself from taking her in his arms. Right now, he was certain that he was the last thing she wanted. "Lois and I didn’t wait. But that was because… It was different, CC, and I wish you understood that."

"Didn’t wait? What does that mean? How long didn’t you wait?" Her frame went stiff, her fists clenched tightly.

"It was different because she and I *didn’t* have a history. That’s what made all the difference. You and I have a history to consider, and we have so much invested in this."

A light of realization clicked for her. "You slept with her right away didn’t you? Did you even make it through the first date before you fucked her?"

Niles recoiled at her choice of words – he had never heard that particular profanity pass her lips, nor did he ever care to hear it again. "I’ve wanted us to wait because I wanted our relationship to be free of that one complication, just long enough for there to be a relationship strong enough to survive that and everything that comes along with it," he said, imploring her to listen.

"You fucked her on the first date? Well…that says everything right there." She could feel her insides starting to quiver with that unfamiliar but recognizable horror that she was about to breakdown. At any moment, she felt as if her head might explode. "I need to leave."

As she made her way across the room, Niles saw his last opportunity to get through to her about to walk out the door. They wouldn’t recover from this, he knew, if he let her leave, and somehow he couldn’t accept that loss.

Racing across the room, he flung his body against the door. "You don’t leave until we’ve talked about this, Babcock, because I’m not willing to give up. Not now."

"Let me leave. Once I’m on the elevator, you can call Lois up and tell her how much you miss her, and how you could never have really loved an ice queen like me…I won’t stop you." An attempt to reach the door handle was foiled when he swatted at her hand.

"I don’t want Lois. I don’t think I ever really did, but I didn’t think I could ever have you. Having sex with Lois was just that; it was sex, and yes we did it the first night and we did it many more times…" In retrospect, he realized he could have left the second part of that statement out. "But it wasn’t like it is with you – my heart stills at the thought of you, my hands sweat and my head swims…"

"I make you ill," she said, spelling it out for him.

"You make me feel like I’m more alive than I’ve ever been. You’re young, and beautiful and sexy and brilliant as all get out, and you’re here with me right now. Can you not see how that might be a little intimidating for me?"

"Lois was younger," she pointed out, not that it really needed to be, she thought.

"Making love to you will be so much different – so much better… But I’m no fool, CC. I know what sex can do to a relationship, whether it’s making love or having a fling…I know that it opens up a whole new world of vulnerabilities and you and I are both so exposed right now. We’ve spent twenty years watching each other from a distance and hating each other sometimes, and now we’re trying to get to a point where we spend all of our time loving each other. It’s easy to love you, I wish you knew that, but it’s hard to open us up to that ecstasy when I’m barely certain we’ll survive the foreplay."

"Is that another one of your funny, funny jokes about me being a cannibal?"

"No jokes. I swear, CC. No jokes, not now. I couldn’t do it."

"Why is this such a big deal to you? Why is waiting for the perfect moment so critical?"

"Because you only get one first time," Niles said, standing more upright. He felt like he was gaining some ground, and as much of an uphill battle as this was proving to be, he’d take every inch of territory she’d give him.

"You’ve been watching too many after-school specials, Niles, and I hate to break it to you Niles, but neither one of us is all that pure of heart – this isn’t making out in the back of a car at a drive in!"

Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it. "Can I help it if I’m scared of what will happen once we do? I’m hopelessly addicted to you, Cruella, and once I’ve tasted paradise, I’m not going back to that horrible, somber existence we led before."

CC felt herself calming down, and as much as she felt a wave of relief, there was still incredible insecurity and bitterness that loomed. "You’re saying you won’t make love to me to preserve our relationship?"

"I’m saying I’ve tried to tell you over and over again that there are so many reasons why I’m apprehensive, and it all comes down to the fact I’m not able to imagine my life without you anymore. You’ve become such an integral part of me that I can’t imagine a minute without you beside me, and once we’ve made love, I know that I’ll only feel more strongly, if that’s even possible."

Leaning her head against his shoulder, she felt herself deflate. "I don’t know how you do it, Tidy Bowl, but you make me want to believe you."

"It’s the truth," he promised her, wrapping his arms around her. "I wouldn’t lie to you. Not about this."

CC breathed in, and then regained enough composure to be able to speak to him. "We’re always going to have fights, you know that right?"

"I count on it. I just don’t want them to mar every romantic moment we’re to share."

"And you do realize that I’m not going anywhere? Try as I might, and trust me, I’ve tried…I can’t get away from you. Even tonight, after everything, I just want to be here with you."

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he grumbled something incoherently. "You know, I’m a silly old man for not just doing what I wanted to do in the first place."

"Which was?"

"The first day you walked through the door at the Sheffield house, I wanted to take you, right there on the steps. You and your big shoulder pads and the big hair, and the enormous glasses; you were the sexiest thing I had ever seen." Smiling, he watched her expression, hoping that it would soften.

"And yet we’re still dragging our heels 20 years later? What does that tell you about missed opportunities?" When he didn’t reply, she took it on herself to explain to him. "Niles, you idiot, we’ve spent so long getting to this point that there’s a very good possibility we’ll spend a very long time in neutral waiting to get to the *next* point. That, lover, isn’t an option. So…the way I see it, we have two options…"

Swallowing hard, he knew that really what she was telling him was that there was only one right option. "And what would they be?"

"Well, I suppose it makes for three options, but two are fundamentally the same," CC explained. "You can either come with me to the bedroom and ravage me, or you can walk me down to a cab and explain to me tomorrow why I should ever give you another opportunity to weasel yourself back in my life."

"You said there were three options?"

"Well, the third one is actually a variance of the first, in which I ravage you… But really any variation on the first choice is more than welcome by me." A sparkle filled her eye while she waited for his response. It had been a ballsy move, even for her, and for the moment she was second-guessing herself.

"You realize that there’s no going back after this, right?"

When she nodded, Niles closed his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, his lips crushing down on hers as his tongue and teeth teased her lips open. "Then I chose option one. And three…"

"Oh, ambitious, aren’t we, Rochester." Smiling, her lips never left his as they maneuvered their way towards the bedroom.

~~~

The first sound CC heard when she woke up the next morning was the click of the vacuum in the hall. Instinctively, she wanted to yell at Angelica to knock it off, but then she remembered where she was. She was in Niles’ hotel room, and they were in bed. Together. They had *finally* made love, and suddenly even the sound of the housekeeper making her rounds couldn’t upset her.

CC felt Niles’ hand pressed low on her abdomen, and his firm chest pressed against her back. Instantly her breath caught in her throat, and she realized that never before had she woken up quite so wonderfully or peacefully, let alone feeling so safe.

"You’re awake?" he asked quietly, his breath tickling the back of her neck.

"Barely. Civilized people shouldn’t be awake this early after spending the night doing what we did," she said, a smile playing on her face. The memory of how they spent their night would get her through many long business meetings to come, she imagined.

"Who said that we’re civilized?" Pressing a kiss against her shoulder, Niles pulled her nearer to him.

"Point taken. Meanwhile," she asked, turning to face him, "you’ve got to remind me why we were crazy enough to wait as long as we did."

Niles laughed, thoroughly taken by the way she looked at him and the innocence of her question. "We waited because we were always at each other’s throats…"

"We could have had many more years of being at much more interesting parts of anatomy, that’s all I’m saying," she teased.

"Point taken. But I’m not one for regrets," he said smoothly, his fingers stroking the supple skin at the small of her back.

"Probably a good thing considering our relationship." Closing her eyes, she leaned her forehead against his. She could spend forever in his arms, happily wrapped up in him.

"No regrets," he told her, this time hoping she’d understand that it wasn’t as much a request as a demand. "We’re not going to let a silly thing like that ruin what we’ve got now."

"You know what would make it better?" she asked playfully, her fingers caressing his chest tenderly.

"What?" Pulling her nearer to him, he grinned wickedly. "I can think of half a dozen things that would definitely make it very interesting…"

"Coffee," she said, an almost-giggle escaping her lips. It was a very un-CC thing to do, but it felt so natural. The second the word passed her lips, Niles’ expression fell and the disappointment was evident. "I’m not much of a morning person until I’ve had a cup of coffee," she said sweetly. "And maybe something to eat, you know, to build our strength. Making love with you is likely going to force me to take up endurance training."

Laughing, Niles pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. "When you say something like that, how can I deny you anything?"

With a mischievous smile, she tried not to let her good mood get away with her. "I think that was the point."

"Woman," he grumbled. "You’re going to be the death of me."

"Nope – you’re not going anywhere, Mr. I’ve waited this damn long, you’re not allowed to go anywhere for another seventy years…"

"I’ll be well over one hundred years old," he pointed out, reaching for the phone to dial for room service.

"Aren’t you the one who said that evil never dies," she asked.

"Ah, so you *are* planning on keeping me company," Niles said smartly, before putting a finger over his mouth in a hushing motion. "Hi, yes… I’d like to order some coffee, and an order of fresh fruit, French toast, Belgian waffles, and …" He thought pensively for a moment, before finishing his order, "and an order of eggs benedict, with a side order of bacon, please?" Obviously the person at the front desk had given him a spiel, because a moment later, he grinned. "Yes, that as well, thank you." Hanging up the phone, he laughed at CC’s expression of horror. "What?"

"Did you order enough food? I wanted something to tide us over until we actually got out of bed, but I didn’t expect you to order enough to feed an army…" A pensive look crossed her face before she grinned wickedly. "Just how long *are* you planning on keeping me hostage in this bed?"

"I assure you that there can never be enough good food. Besides, we want a variety, don’t we? And there’s no harm in trying a few different plates." Grinning, he pressed a kiss against her forehead. "And I’m keeping you here as long as I can – you’ve got a certain crack-like addictive quality and I don’t dare miss a fix."

Stroking his shoulders, CC laughed at his comment. "So, how much time do we have?"

"They said it will be about a half hour for the food, so would you like to get up and grab a shower before breakfast, or would you like to sleep for a bit?"

"Hmmm….A half hour, eh? I hate to work on a schedule," she joked. "A shower sounds delightful, and maybe when the food arrives we can snack in bed?"

"Sure, but when do we eat?" Watching as she stood, he couldn’t believe that she was there with him, a perfect woman with a perfect body and the most incredible voice…and her moan…he would never reach his fill of her. "Beauty. You’re beauty personified."

Blushing under the scrutiny of his gaze, CC winked at him naughtily before continuing on her way to the bathroom.

Whoever said good things came to those who waited was a master of understatement.

~~~

"So," CC said, spearing a piece of waffle, "now we have to figure out a way to do this more often. Any ideas?"

Niles laughed. "Addicted already, are we, Babs?"

"There may be a craving or two," she admitted, laughing at his cocky grin, "but I reserve the term addiction for exquisite chocolate and expensive clothing."

"We can’t combine the three?"

A lopsided grin overtook her, the trio striking her as a delectable combination. "I think we might just be able to do that."

"As for planning more outings, I was thinking we might do a romantic dinner for two, maybe somewhere nice and secluded…Somewhere you can be as indecent as you’d like without getting us into too much trouble," he teased.

"Ha ha. Very cute Broomhilda. *I’m* the indecent one? I seem to remember a certain trick of yours that would rate…"

Niles cut her off before she could finish the thought, blushing at the memory of the night before. "Well, I don’t send little children running for the hills in horror," he pointed out, an impish grin on his face.

Ignoring his last comment, CC decided to get back to the topic at hand. "Don’t you think that’s a little cliché? Romantic dinners and indecency?" Sipping her coffee, CC looked at him over her cup. How did he always manage to look so damn good?

"Dating is supposed to be cliché! *Courting* is supposed to be cliché! That’s half the fun!"

CC shrugged. "If you say so. I, personally, think that just surviving the initial few dates is the fun part." She didn’t want to admit that most of her relationships hadn’t lasted more than five or six dates, at best.

Sudden inspiration hit him, and things began to make sense. "You’ve never truly been courted, have you?"

"Niles," CC said, exasperated. "Being courted? What is this? The middle ages?"

"I’m just trying to keep things familiar," he teased. "But you’ve not been courted, I can tell…" His voice was singsong, and reminded her all too much of a child with a secret.

CC sat upright and repositioned the pillow behind her back before placing her hands on her hips in a defiant gesture. She tried to come up with a good comeback but it wasn’t working, and when it eluded her, she decided to take a different approach. "And why is courting suddenly so important?"

"Because you deserve to be properly wooed," he clarified. "I can’t woo you if you won’t let me, though, so you had better step down off your high horse and come to terms with the fact that I want to do all the silly cliché stuff."

Not that she’d admit it, but the idea of being properly ‘courted’ definitely sounded appealing. Certainly it would be a change from her typical dates, which had usually consisted of a few drinks before an inebriated tumble through the sheets, and maybe one or two awkward drinks afterwards. Not that there was anything wrong with that, she tried to convince herself, but there was a definite appeal to someone wanting to do all the mushy stuff that she had never done before. The fact that the person who wanted to do it was Niles made it all the better. "You know, using words like ‘woo’ and ‘courted’ definitely ages you."

"As I said, I’m just trying to keep it familiar – if I start using new fandangled terms, I know you’ll get totally confused…" Niles grinned, the wheels already turning in his head as to all the ways he could court CC Babcock.

"I’m dating a geek," she said, trying to feign disappointment. "You’re a geek," she said again, throwing her hands in the air elaborately.

"I may be, but I love you, so that’s a reasonable assumption to make – if you thought that you were getting something else, then your senility is worse than I thought," he replied.

"Hmmm…"

"Hmmm, what?"

"I’m just thinking that if you’re going to woo me, you’re going to need to spend quite a bit of time at the apartment…" Smiling, she felt a warm tingle race through her, the thought of them spending their time together both natural and exciting.

"You don’t think Mr. Sheffield would appreciate me entertaining you in my room?" Niles snickered at the thought, though truth be known he was feeling a whole other set of inadequacy concerns. Living with the Sheffields would inevitably prove problematic, and more than a slight hindrance to their relationship.

CC laughed at the thought of sneaking in and out of the house. "I’m much too old to shimmy up and down drainpipes," she said, giving him a no-nonsense glare.

"Besides, you’re much too loud to conceal once you’ve broken in," he teased. "So, for now it’s perhaps best if I come to your place and we’ll have to figure something more appropriate long term."

"As long as you promise to forgive me when I think you’re being silly with all this courting stuff," she asked, thrilled by the idea of this new aspect of their relationship.

"Already forgiven – I’ll just have to break down the walls you’re so fond of."

CC just smiled, not wanting to tell him that he had already stripped her of most of her defenses as it was.

~~~

"Good morning Miss Babcock," Niles said, looking over his shoulder as the kitchen door opened. "Oh, good morning Dr. Babcock," he added, the older Babcock child entering second.

"Good morning Niles. How have you been?" Noel smiled warmly and outstretched a hand to him.

"Great – busy. You know how it is around here…run, run, run, run…" Niles accepted the hand and shook it firmly before eyeing CC. She was wearing that red suit again, with the black detailing and looked good enough to eat, he thought. And with that thought, he decided it was best to remain leaning up against the island while he cut the fruit for breakfast.

"I know – I’ve barely seen CC, for all the work she’s been into," Noel complained, though good-naturedly. "Maxwell must be one hell of a slave driver."

CC laughed. "Oh, he’s not the worst culprit, you know." Tossing the comment off simply, she grabbed two coffee cups and proceeded to fill them.

"Well, at least we’ll have another two days; you’re sure you’re not going out tonight, right?"

Niles stopped cutting abruptly. "Oh, two more days," he asked, his interest piqued.

"Yes, I’ve decided to extend my stay just a couple of days. There aren’t any classes to get back to, and I think it would be much more fun to stay here and spend some time in the city before I head home."

"Ah, wonderful," Niles said, giving CC a ‘what-the-hell’ glare.

"Isn’t it just? I was farblondget when he told me…"

CC’s use of Yiddish wasn’t lost on Niles. "I can imagine. So, you two are painting the town tonight?"

"We’re going to make the most of the city that never sleeps, aren’t we, sis?" Smiling, Noel gestured towards the fresh strawberries Niles was cutting as if to ask if he could have one. When Niles nodded yes, he stole a red berry.

"Well, only so much we can do before 9 o’clock," she said, "because tomorrow I have a business meeting at 7:30. I don’t think I should push my luck and stay out too late." It was a second-rate excuse, but if it worked then it would be worth it.

"Oh," Noel said, his expression falling. "Ok, we’ll paint the town tomorrow night."

Niles nodded, mentally making a note that the plans they had made were now pushed back indefinitely. "Don’t worry – it doesn’t take long for Miss Babcock to make her rounds of the city. I feel confident she’ll give you a full tour and have hours to spare."

"Oh, I’m not quite as half-assed as you are," she retorted. "I’m more like a Lewis and Clark explorer…thorough and oh-so-meticulous." This verbal foreplay was going to culminate in them having a clandestine mid-afternoon romp in the butler’s pantry again, and it was something she looked forward to.

The double entendre was not lost on him. At this rate, Niles might never be able to serve breakfast. Could he propel the food into the dining room on a server and reel it back out with a lasso?

"Anyway, I’m going to go say hello to Maxwell, and then I’m off to the park. I fully intend to make the most of the day." Waving at Niles, Noel excused himself and once the door stopped swinging CC virtually flung herself around the counter.

"He’s like a bad venereal disease," she moaned as Niles’ hands grabbed her and pulled her towards him. "Try as I might, the man just won’t go away…"

Niles laughed throatily. "Have you considered taking him to your regular witch-doctor and having him exorcised?"

"Mmm…my thoughts have been otherwise detained, but it might be well worth consideration." Finally giving into her baser instinct, CC kissed Niles intensely, all the passion from not having been held by him overwhelming her.

"So, when you ditch him tonight, do you want to meet me at a hotel, and we’ll make up for some lost time?"

CC grinned at his suggestion. "Only if you promise to do that special trick again…"

Niles nodded. "I’ll make the reservations and after our lunch date I’ll give you the details."

"Lunch date – is that the British way of saying ‘the quickie in the pantry’?"

"Wait and see," he told her. "Just wait and see."

~~~

"Who would have known that you can get kicked out of hotel rooms?" CC asked, amused that they had actually been asked to leave. So what if they were a little loud and rambunctious? Were they actually expected to be absolutely dead-silent?

"Well, it might have had something to do with the colorful choice of words you decided to scream out in the throes of passion," he remarked, fiddling with his keys, the dimness of the porch making it difficult to find the right one. "Both times," he added.

CC blushed. "I’m still shocked that they didn’t believe we were watching a horror movie."

"If that’s how you behave when you watch a scary movie, remind me never to rent one with you. At least, not while there are children around." Shaking his head, he finally located the correct key. "Alright, now we’ve got to be quiet," he said calmly, hoping that the dull buzz they had from the bottle of champagne they drank earlier wouldn’t reveal their arrival to the rest of the house.

"Quiet? You mean, I can’t attack you on the floor of the kitchen," she asked, her voice louder than necessary, a playful grin on her face.

Niles shushed CC as they opened the kitchen door and he flicked on the switch just inside the doorway. "Are you trying to get us caught?" he asked, ushering her in.

"If I were trying to get us caught, I’d do that thing with my tongue that makes you scream my name in ecstasy," she said plainly, taking his hand as he led her into the kitchen.

"Behave, Babcock, or I’ll have to …" He couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t make the already difficult situation more so.

"Punish me? Do you promise?" Winking, she squeezed his hand. "I’ll be a perfect lady tonight, as long as you promise to hold me."

Unable to resist temptation, he quickly turned towards her, pulling her close. "You never have to worry about that," he promised, pressing his lips against hers in a passionate kiss. Their hands entwined together and their bodies instinctively moved closer, holding each other firmly.

It was the perfectly inopportune time for Fran to hurry down the stairs in search of a late night snack. "Oh, my God," was all she managed to say, the sight of the duo wrapped up in such an embrace throwing her off.

Niles and CC quickly realized that they were not alone and pulled apart, though not nearly fast enough to avoid Fran’s knowing glare.

"Nanny Fine," CC said, not removing her hand from Niles’ hip. It was about time they came out with their relationship, she figured, and this was as good a way as any.

For his part, Niles looked at his friend, absolutely stunned that they had gotten caught. He had expected it to happen eventually, but coming in at 2 in the morning didn’t strike him as the time he really had to worry.

"Whoa, you two were…" The kiss was amazing, even from the perspective of someone who had just walked in on it – they had been quite fervently exploring each other’s mouths and their hands had been just about everywhere. Even the kiss she had witnessed previously seemed positively chaste in comparison with this one.

"Kissing," CC provided, feeling a combination of exhilaration and nervousness. This would be the first person, other than Lois, to know of their relationship and she could only hope that this would go better.

Niles tried to speak but the lump in his throat stopped him from speaking. The rate at which his heart was beating was enough to make it almost impossible to breathe.

"Yeah, to say the least!" Fran looked between the two of them, surprised that neither seemed even remotely ashamed.

"Miss Fine," Niles finally managed, but it didn’t seem to matter much, because Fran was making her way to the table to sit down. "I’m sorry that we surprised you…"

"Niles, don’t apologize," CC said, watching as he searched for words. She had expected him to be his usual poetic self, and not the bumbling fool he suddenly became. This, she decided, would be something they discussed at great length once they were free of the nanny. "We were just coming in."

Niles nodded. "Oh, yes, we uh… our plans fell through, so we decided to come back here for a nightcap," he explained, though lamely. This wasn’t how he wanted it to be when he told Fran and suddenly thought about what he had planned to say. A jumble of words flooded his consciousness.

Nothing made it past his lips, for reasons escaping his understanding.

"At 2 in the morning? Together?" Fran looked between them, and realized that there was something incredibly, vastly different about them. There was a comfort between them that she had never seen before, and suddenly it dawned on her that they weren’t just coming in for a drink. "Sure," Fran said, looking between them. It wasn’t as if Niles and Miss Babcock actually had plans together often, let alone in the middle of the night, but clearly his concern wasn’t so much about feasibility as it was something to say.

The urge to jab Niles with her elbow passed once CC realized that obviously he wasn’t about to say anything coherent, and she took it upon herself to clarify the situation. She had never felt so happy or at peace in her entire life and if he wouldn’t step up and share the news of their relationship, she wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip through her fingers. Squeezing his hand, she grinned widely. "Niles and I just got kicked out of a hotel for being too rowdy, so we thought we’d come back here for what’s left of the night – my brother is staying at my apartment, so we couldn’t go there. We were going to sneak up to his room, but since you’ve now seen us, I suspect that sneaking around will no longer be necessary. It will take you all of, what, ten minutes to spread the word?"

Niles cringed. Of all the ways they could tell Fran, *this* definitely wasn’t it. He had intended to sugar-coat it, and maybe add a dessert to the menu, offering up what he hoped would be a relatively happy piece of information, but suddenly this all seemed like a covert operation.

Fran, he knew, didn’t handle being kept out of the loop very well, and even worse yet was that he knew Fran would put one and one together, to realize that CC was the woman he had told her about loving - the reason he couldn’t go through with marrying Lois.

It wasn’t about not wanting to get caught, but wanting to control the way people found out. Maybe more than a little of the secrecy was about damage control with Fran, while most of it had been a desire to see how their relationship would be without the hindrance of onlookers. "We weren’t hiding it, so much as we weren’t ready to share it," he did manage to say, the stunned expression of confusion on Fran’s face making it clear that she was shocked.

"You two are…" Waggling a finger between them, she realized how obvious it had been all along in its not-so-obvious way. All of the breakfasts that CC suddenly began to sit through, and the less frequent biting-barbs that passed between them was just the beginning; there was also that CC had been kinder to everyone, in a very out-of-character way.

"We are," CC said, her voice full of a confidence she had never known before that moment. "Are you happy for us?"

Fran nodded mutely, words not forming on her lips, instead catching in her throat. Gesturing towards the stairs, she looked once more at her friend and realized that this was the reason he couldn’t go through with marrying Lois, and suddenly she wondered if he was absolutely irreparably crazy. CC Babcock? He *loved* CC Babcock? Forcing her legs to work, Fran climbed the stairs, hoping that she had the strength to make it back to her room without collapsing in shock. Snack be damned, she realized, because there was no way she could manage to eat anything

"That went well," CC said in a huff, watching the retreating form of the nanny. "You think she’d be a little happy for you."

Niles, still trying to grasp what just happened, sighed. "She’s in shock. She’ll be happy for us as soon as she realizes that this isn’t just an ice-cream craving-induced dream."

"Meanwhile, what happened to you? Suddenly you couldn’t think of anything to say?" Feeling more than a little wounded, CC wished that there was a way to make him understand just how all the limitations he had put on their relationship made her feel. This was the best thing that had happened to her, and she wished he felt even vaguely the same.

"I was caught off guard," he explained, knowing that it was unlikely to be the answer she wanted. It was the honest truth though. "I was surprised, that’s all."

"Did you not want to tell her?" CC tried to hide the obvious hurt she was feeling, her posture stiffening at the thought that he might not want to share the news of their relationship. There was only so long they could sneak in and out, and as far as she was concerned, that time was past.

Noticing the sudden change in the tone of her voice, Niles realized that he wasn’t doing very well with either of the women in his life that evening. "CC…Come here," he said, opening his arms and gesturing for her to walk towards him. When she didn’t accept his invitation, he walked nearer to her and pulled her against him. "I’m glad she knows, really I am. Now things will be so much easier for us, and we won’t have to be running around like undercover operatives…"

CC sighed, inhaling his cologne. Damn him for having this power over her! "You didn’t say anything … and then when you did, it was that we were here for a nightcap," she whispered, leaning in closer to him.

Shaking his head, he squeezed her tighter. How did he always manage to mess things up between them? Would he ever learn to stop putting his foot in his mouth? "It was the first thing that came to mind, and I didn’t know what else to say. It was stupid of me, I know. I know that Fran is going to have a hard time accepting this, and I had hoped to be able to tell her differently. I don’t know how I hoped to do it, but I just was caught off guard."

"You’re not ashamed to be dating me, are you?" The smallness of her voice was so out of character for CC that he had a hard time believing it was really something she was asking him. It wasn’t lost on her that even though he was the butler, she wasn’t a very nice person, and through the years she had been called a bitch in more than one way. Niles the butler was definitely a better person than CC the bitch, she reasoned, and that alone would be a good enough reason to feel ashamed.

Using his finger to tilt her chin, he looked into her eyes; three months ago, he would never have thought that there was this insecure woman underneath the tough façade that she presented to the world at large. Somehow, though, she had changed or may be it wasn’t that she had changed as much as she opened up to him and suddenly he felt the need to protect her. "Ashamed?" Taking a deep breath, he wished he could find the perfect words to comfort her. "Why would I be ashamed of you?"

"Because I’m not as nice of a person as you are, and I don’t think about other people as much as I probably should?" The words came out more as whimpers, and she wished he wouldn’t insist at looking at her with those piercing blue eyes.

"CC…I can’t even begin to tell you all the things wrong with that statement…We both know you have a reputation for making grown men cry, but that’s professional, and it’s part of what’s made you as successful as you are. I assure you that you’re a very passionate, very warm, amazing woman," he said, his voice low. "And I love you for everything you are."

"Even the not-so-nice side of me?"

"Every side of you. Now, we’ve got a long day ahead of us, and I imagine Fran knowing means that by breakfast everyone else will too, so… why don’t we go to bed and worry about the rest of this in the morning, ok?"

Nodding her consent, CC squeezed his hand in hers. "Think of it: by this time tomorrow, we’ll be old news…"

Niles smiled at the thought, but he knew that wasn’t quite true. The novelty wouldn’t wear off quite so soon. Indeed, there was a long road ahead of them.

~~~

The alarm clocked buzzed at 5:45, as it did everyday, but this time Niles had added incentive to stay in bed – for the first time since they had begun seeing each other, CC had stayed the night in his room.

Slapping at the ringing unit, he carefully slid back beside her and wrapped his arms around her. How she had slept through the alarm, he’d never know, but they had a late night and only got a couple of hours sleep at best. The least he could do would be to let her rest for a while.

Watching as she curled against him, Niles wondered what he had done to deserve such a wonderful woman in his life, let alone one who made him feel so completely fulfilled. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would meet someone so remarkable, or that they would love him half as much as he loved them.

He laid there in silence, watching as her chest rose with each breath and then fell in a quiet rhythm. The fluttering of her eyelids as she dreamed and the completely relaxed expression on her face made him smile. She was there, in his bed, and there was no sign of her wanting to leave it. Life was somehow perfect, and he didn’t even know how everything had so suddenly changed.

Niles did know one thing for sure, though, and that was that this time he wasn’t going to ruin what they had. There had been so many moments through the years when he thought they would have found each other and every step forward they had taken was followed quickly by two steps back. This time would be the exception; this time would be the one where he wouldn’t give up.

Looking back at the clock, Niles realized that he would have to get up if ever he wanted to get everything begun for the day before the children or Mr. Sheffield woke up and he sighed. He could barely think coherently when he looked down at her, his mind instead racing with thoughts of all the things he wanted to say and all the wonderful things he wanted to do for her.

"I love you," he whispered, before pressing a kiss against her forehead and maneuvering out of the bed so as to not wake her.

~~~

Surprisingly enough, breakfast had been silent, other than the typical bickering of the kids. CC ate with the family as always, and she and Niles were well prepared for whatever might come their way, but somehow there was nothing. Fran kept staring between the two with long glares and questioning looks but she didn’t say anything, and by the time everyone had plates in front of them, Niles decided she must not have said anything to Maxwell, or else there would have been some sort of indication by now.

CC, for her part, couldn’t have cared less if Fran were to say something. In fact, a part of her almost wanted it out in the open, where they’d all be able to discuss the new relationship freely. She was never as comfortable as when she was asleep in his arms, and the idea of being able to wake up every morning next to him was enough to make whatever awkward conversation worthwhile.

Still, Fran somehow held her tongue during the meal, and although Niles debated just getting it out into the open and telling everyone, he thought it might be best to speak with Fran and Mr. Sheffield without the children around first. By the end of the day, everyone would know, he realized, and the idea was freeing.

By the end of the meal, Niles had decided to have a talk with his friends as soon as he finished the clean up from the morning and then by lunchtime he could take CC out somewhere wonderful without it being a huge deal.

Of course, in the Sheffield house, things never worked out as planned.

"You’ll never believe what I walked in on last night," Fran said, hands gesturing wildly as she burst through the office door, her usual stride much longer and faster than normal. She had barely survived the silence through breakfast but she had no intention of remaining quiet much longer.

"Your mother and father eating pie in bed again?" Cringing at the thought, Max hoped that he would never need to see that sight. Only once had she told him about it, and yet every time something came up, he feared that he too would be exposed to such a great act of indecency.

"Oh, how I wish that was it," Fran pouted. "I might need serious therapy if I’m gonna ever get over seeing what I saw…" Sitting on her normal spot on the edge of his desk, she crossed her legs and closed her eyes in an effort to build the nerve to say what she had come to say.

Maxwell didn’t know it was the sight of her sitting on his desk in a state of complete concentration or that she obviously had something to share, but his patience were running thing. "Well, good God woman would you just tell me already?"

"It has everything to do with your business partner and your butler – I hope you did the Bob Barker thing and had those two spayed and neutered or else things could get ugly around here…" Fran laughed before she realized that she might have to curb her jokes about Miss Babcock. If the Ice Queen were to be dating her best friend, Fran could hardly treat her as she had been in the years since becoming the nanny.

"CC and Niles?" Furrowing his brow, he hoped the point of the story would come soon. "Please, would you just spit it out already?"

Fran nodded, more than a little discouraged by his lack of desire to play along in their little game; spewing gossip was hardly as much fun if both parties weren’t involved and eager. "I woke up through the night and wanted a snack," she began, and glared at Max when he gave her the ‘yeah, and that’s not unusual’ look. "And when I went into the kitchen, Niles and Miss Babcock were just getting in. I caught them in quite the hot kiss – I didn’t know someone with ice in their veins could muster that much heat," she said offhandedly, pretending to check her nails. When it hit him (and boy, would it!) she would be ready to disclose what she saw.

"CC and Niles," Max asked again, in a state of complete shock.

"I saw it with my own eyes," she assured him. "It was hot enough to heat this place for the next ten winters…"

Shaking his head, Max couldn’t wrap his mind around the thought of his business partner and his butler. They hated each other, didn’t they? They were always fighting, and they were forever playing pranks on one another. Surely that wasn’t their way of expressing affection, was it? "Wow." After a moment, Max gathered his thoughts. "What did you do? What did they say?"

"She told me that they got … kicked out of a hotel," Fran began. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became; how could Niles and CC be a couple? "I was stunned; I couldn’t think of anything to say! I just kind of smiled and nodded and hauled my tuchas back upstairs."

"Oh…and she went home, right?" When Fran shook her head, Max furrowed his brow. This was all too much for him to absorb.

"Have you seen her today?" Fran asked, incredulously. "Humming and … she’s being nice to everyone; you can’t tell me that you think she actually went home last night, can you?"

Swallowing hard, Max found it next to impossible to process this information. He kept remembering what he did to his laptop when he got lost in dos prompt, and all he could see was ‘… is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.’ He had no clue what any of that meant, but at the moment, it was making as much sense as the idea of Niles and CC having a relationship – other than their typical loathing and contempt, that was.

"Hello, hello," CC said, returning to the office with a cup of coffee for herself and Maxwell. "Nanny Fine, I hadn’t realized you were in here – I would have brought you a cup of coffee too." Placing Max’s cup on the desk, CC seated herself on the green leather sofa and opened up her briefcase to retrieve a few files.

She silently thanked Niles for sending for a change of clothes and her briefcase, or else today would be absolutely insufferable. For future sleepovers, she thought about leaving a change of clothes in his closet – just a few items to get her through a day. Smiling at the thought of the future evenings together, CC wondered if she could convince him to leave a few things at her place as well.

"Ah, thanks," Fran said, gesturing with her head towards the couch.

CC could feel the scrutiny of at least one set of eyes, if not two, not that it wasn’t expected. When she looked up, both Fran and Maxwell were staring at her. "Yes?"

"Nothing, nothing," Max said, in a lame attempt, as he looked away.

Nodding, CC took a sip of her coffee and then looked between Fran and Max. Yep, he knew. "So, Maxwell… I imagine that Fran has shared my good news with you?"

Max fumbled, and then stuttered something incoherent that sounded vaguely like ‘not if you didn’t want her to’. "Uh, what’s this you say about news?"

Rolling her eyes, CC looked at Fran, who couldn’t hide the truth – he already knew about her and Niles, even if he didn’t quite know the details, which she fully expected he did. "Well, I know you already know, but I might as well make it official: Niles and I are seeing each other."

Maxwell nodded. "Congratulations," he managed, though the sheer shock of hearing the words left him wondering if the world had tilted completely off its axis.

"Thank you." Watching him, she wondered what he would say next. Would he have questions or would he just let it slide, as if nothing had changed.

"Isn’t that great, Miss Fine?" Max said the only thing that came to his mind, save for the ‘holy hell’ that kept repeating over and over.

Fran was caught off guard by the statement. "Uh, yeah, great."

CC shook her head at the show before her. "This is the real thing," she assured them. "We’re the real thing."

Neither Fran nor Max knew what to say, though they were both taken by surprise by her confession.

"I almost lost him once, and I’m not taking my chances again. Now, if you don’t mind, we have some work to do, and I have someone to go out to dinner with this evening. I think it’s about time I properly introduced Niles to Noel." CC looked back down at the papers she had set on the green leather and then tried to steady her hands enough to pick them up. Her heart was racing from the exhilaration she was feeling. Everyone knew. Now, it was up to them to make it work.

~~~

"So, you just told them?" Niles looked at CC in awe.

"Yeah. Well, she knew already, and he did too, really. I just decided not to tiptoe around it anymore." CC collapsed onto his bed, her head still spinning from the earlier conversation with Maxwell. When Niles sat down beside her, she reached for his hand.

"I wish I could have been there – you know, to help." Squeezing her hand, he leaned back on the bed so that they were resting side by side.

"There wasn’t much to help with; they didn’t say anything really," CC admitted. She had prepared herself for some kind of fight, but when none came, she didn’t know whether she felt relieved or more frustrated. How could they not say *something* to her when she dropped such a big bombshell on them?

"Still, I would have liked to watch Mr. Sheffield stutter his way through that. He becomes a bumbling idiot when he’s shocked," Niles said, laughing.

"True, he did. But it wasn’t that great of a show."

Working his way onto his side, Niles hand went to rest on her stomach, and he smiled at her silently, thinking how remarkable a woman he was in love with, and how she deserved infinitely more than what he could give her. "You’re incredible. You’re the most incredible woman ever, and I can’t understand why you put up with me."

CC blushed at his words, still not fully comfortable with his intense gaze. She wasn’t used to feeling like the only person in the world, and she certainly wasn’t used to feeling so deeply loved. "It could have something to do with the great sex."

Feigning hurt, Niles tried his best to look pathetic. "The truth comes out; you’re only using me for the sex."

"And the cuddles, but shhh, that might make me sound like a softie," she teased.

Leaning nearer, he brushed her hair behind her ears and smiled softly at her. "I *will* be a better partner, I promise. We got off to a rocky start, but we’re going to make this work."

A mischievous smile crossed her face, and CC took a deep breath before speaking. "You know what would be wonderful?"

"What? Anything you want…"

"Dinner, tonight," she said simply. "Dinner tonight and then you can stay at my place."

Niles looked at her for a moment, trying to piece together what she was saying. "Dinner tonight? I thought Noel was still in town."

"He is. But I want my big brother to meet the man I love and meet him properly. Do you think you can handle a dinner with two Babcocks?" CC hoped that this wouldn’t make him turn tail and run. She kept telling herself that she was *this close* to having enough of his insecurities and rules, but in honesty she couldn’t fathom a day without him. They would have to work through all their quirks together.

"As long as I have my baby by my side, I can handle anything. And I’ve love to spend the night with you," he said sincerely.

Things were suddenly looking up. There were only a few things left to settle, and Niles had no intentions of letting them be pushed back much more.

~~~

The prospect of having her brother meet Niles had driven CC nuts ever since she had come up with the idea, and as much as she was excited by getting to spend time with Niles and Noel together, it was still nerve-wrecking. So much so, that CC left work early, hoping to get home in time to talk to her brother and order in some delivery from her favorite restaurant.

Anything to make the night go more smoothly, she thought.

Normally she would have asked Niles to drop her off on his way to pick up Gracie from her violin lessons, but instead she decided to walk home and try to think through what she was going to say to Noel. There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but how? Never before had she introduced her brother to a boyfriend, and suddenly she was planning on introducing her to the man who she considered to be the love of her life.

Telling herself that everything would probably go smoothly enough, she hoped that she could convince herself before she made it to the apartment. There were far too many variables to start with, but her nervousness was not something she wanted to have interfering in the evening’s events.

"Pull it together," she told herself as she rounded the corner towards her building. "Everything will be fine."

It was mostly false bravado, she knew, but once Niles appeared in her doorway things would be well on their way to settled. All she had to do was survive the initial shock she was sure her brother would exhibit.

~~~

Niles changed his tie three times before even considering leaving his room; there were an additional four changes not long after that which were necessary before he was remotely ready to see Noel and CC.

The nervousness he was feeling was unparalleled by anything he had ever felt before. For once in his life there was no clear set of rules to follow and no guidelines. This was a totally different experience than any he had ever had before.

Even though he had spent a considerable amount of time in Noel’s presence, Niles had never spent time *with* Noel, and suddenly he would be introducing himself as CC’s boyfriend - a phrase he hated more and more with each passing day, if only because a man in his fifties certainly was no ‘boy’ anymore. This was a whole new ballgame for him, and as exhilarating as it was to finally be open with their relationship, there was also something vaguely terrifying about being introduced to her family.

When Niles finally left the house, he had managed to gather enough courage to stop and buy a bottle of wine and flowers for CC. They had decided it would be best to have dinner ordered in. If there were to be a production of some sort, it would be less embarrassing for all involved if they were in CC’s apartment, and somehow they hoped it would foster a little bit of warmth.

Of course, in retrospect, Niles realized that he was essentially going to Noel’s territory – being in CC’s penthouse gave him the home court advantage, so to speak, but it was too little too late to change the plans.

~~~

Knocking on the door, Niles hoped that his stomach would stop doing flips in time for him to say something coherent. He knew that if he continued to worry as much as he was already that he’d some how bumble the evening and that wasn’t an option. The last thing he wanted was to make a poor first impression on Noel, as far as first impressions go after a decade of knowing someone.

CC opened the door, and her breath caught in her throat at the casual but still sexy Niles who stood before her sporting a pair of khaki pants and a lovely navy-blue button-down shirt. "You made it," she teased, saying the only thing that came to mind. She had wondered if he might chicken-out before he got to her apartment, the stress of meeting her brother weighing heavily on them both.

"I did. It took several different wardrobe changes," he admitted. "I didn’t want to wear a suit for fear of looking too much like a butler this evening."

She smiled at his careful consideration and at how he seemed so insecure. It was nice to know they were both equally nervous; at least now she didn’t have to feel quite so on edge. "You even brought me flowers," she said, pointing to the bouquet. "Unless those are for Noel, that is."

Niles laughed and then offered the Irises to her. "No, no, they’re for you," he assured her. "I also brought some wine."

"And your overnight bag?"

"It’s down in the town car," he told her, wanting to move in closer for a kiss. The only thing holding him back was the knowledge that at any moment her brother might appear out of nowhere, and what a way to tell him who her new beau was!

"You didn’t bring it up?"

"I figured if any crystal got thrown, you may not want me to stay," he admitted. "But I have everything downstairs, so I thought that after dinner we could all go for a walk and maybe get some dessert…and we’ll bring my bag upstairs then?"

"Sounds wonderful," she agreed, taking his hand and leading him in.

"Noel," she called down the hallway. They might as well get the awkward few minutes over with. "He and Chester have been playing catch in the guestroom. Mostly Chester has been watching Noel grab the ball and throw it, and then go after it in an attempt to entice him to play. It’s funny to watch, though it begs the question of who’s smarter: man or dog?"

"I stand by the fact that I’m smarter – I’m just also more willing to run around after a rubber ball," Noel announced, appearing out of the bedroom, a little furry Pomeranian close behind.

Niles refrained from making a smartass comment for fear of alienating him so early in the evening. "At least you’ve made friends with him; he can be quite the little hellion and a pain in the ass."

"Sure, you can say that – he loves you. Every time Niles comes over, Chester follows him around. Of course, it’s one of the few times he gets table scraps, but I think there’s a genuine affection there too," CC said, rubbing Niles’ shoulder with her one hand. So far so good, though they were only about a 30 seconds into the evening. "Noel, you know Niles."

"Of course, Niles, nice to see you again." Extending his hand, Noel was surprised by the butler’s appearance in his sister’s home. Was she telling him that this was her new boyfriend?

"A pleasure as always," Niles said, accepting the handshake. "I’m sorry this is the first opportunity we’ve had to spend time together this week."

Noel smiled. She *was* dating the butler, and save for the nervous smile on her face, she did seem genuinely happy when Niles was around. There was a glow about her that he hadn’t seen before, and he had to appreciate that. "Well, we have this evening. From what I understand, you’re staying the night?"

Niles smiled nervously. He wondered if Noel had an overly protective streak or if this was indicative of the pace for the night. Certainly if things stayed this amiable, he would regret all the tiptoeing around they had done before. "I don’t want to intrude on your last evening here in town, that is, if you don’t mind, yes, I’ll be staying."

"I don’t mind at all," Noel said genuinely. "Now, I hear that Ceec has ordered from somewhere that delivers the best Indian cuisine in the city. I have a hard time believing it will beat what we have back home, but she insisted."

CC laughed at her brother; he was always a food elitist. "Well, this place has Niles’ seal of approval, so it has to be good," she said. Niles had offered to cook dinner for them, but she had asked him not to, just this once. CC planned the entire evening to maximize their time together, and to make the best possible impression.

"Meanwhile, I feel like I need to be caught up on all the news. I arrived here in town thinking my sister was depressed, only to find out she’s in love, and now to find out she’s in love with a man she’s known for most her adult life… Someone want to explain?" Noel’s voice was mocking and lyrical, and relayed the good humor he felt. He could never deny that more than anything in the world he wanted his sister to be happy.

Niles laughed at the inquisitive expression Noel wore. "Well, I suppose we could give you the abridged version. Your flight leaves much too early to cover all the details," he said, smiling.

"Let’s have a seat," CC said, "and grab a glass of wine. I have one chilled in the fridge, if you’ll give me a second to go grab it."

Niles stopped her. "I’ll get it. I should put this bottle in anyway, and I know you – you’ll never be able to uncork it without breaking the cork." Turning his attention to Noel, he grinned mischievously. "You’d think for a debutante she’d at least know how to properly open a bottle of wine, though I suppose she never really had cause for it."

"Oh, you should have seen her learning to drive; my little sister has a destructive streak a mile wide, and how much do you want to bet what she did to the cork was nothing compared to what she did to my mustang?" Noel jabbed his sister with his elbow, already enjoying the easy conversation that they seemed to have.

"Are you two going to pick on me all night?" Pouting, she looked between Niles and her brother.

"Sweetheart, we promise we only do it because we love you," Niles assured her. "And because you’ve given us ample material with which to torture you."

CC tried to look stern while she spoke, glaring at him as best as she could while trying to hide a smile. "Perhaps the invitation to spend the night will be revoked."

Niles held his hands up in front of him as a gesture of defeat. "Ok, ok, you win. No more jibes about your ability to uncork wine, or drive. But can we at least pick on you and your inability to successfully make pasta?"

Noel grinned. If this were any indication of what was to come, Niles would fit in perfectly in their family. He had just the right mixture of wit, charm and sarcasm to get him through any Babcock family reunion. "I’ll say, little sister, that you’ve got your work cut out for you."

"Don’t I know it?" she said, beaming at the man she loved.

~~~

As Niles brushed his teeth, he watched CC remove her make-up. The entire evening had been perfect, and even at the end when they said goodnight, there wasn’t any sense of awkwardness.

Somehow, Niles had felt completely welcomed into the Babcock family. It wasn’t that he had any delusions that every member would be as warm and welcoming, but that Noel had been so supportive that it was a good step in the right direction. At least if he had a couple of people on his side, he would be able to survive the typical Babcock drama.

Rinsing his mouth out, Niles sat on the toilet seat and watched her as she made her way through her nightly ritual. "It went well, didn’t it?"

"It did," CC admitted. "Much better than I thought, not that I thought it would go badly."

"Oh yeah, great save, Babs… You’re just impressed that we didn’t start arm wrestling, right?"

Laughing, CC just shook her head. "I suppose that wouldn’t have been the greatest way to spend the night, you know, refereeing you two, but you really impressed him tonight." CC pinned her hair back and removed her eye shadow. "In fact, you impressed me too. I can’t believe you’ve been to India."

"Because I’m a butler?" he asked. In his own defense, Niles realized, it was a knee-jerk reaction. Eventually he’d have to get over his inferiority complex, and if he could manage it, it would be sooner rather than later, but it still did play a factor for them. Niles was still just a butler, and she was still a socialite and as much as it didn’t cause any turbulence in their day-to-day lives, it did make things increasingly difficult on days when other people were added into the mix. There were only so many ways that he could tell people that he loved CC for who she was and not her money.

"No, because I don’t know many people who have taken off to India on holidays. I’ve never been," she said. "I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do just because you’re a butler, and you should know that by now."

"I do," he admitted. "And you know what else?"

"What?" she asked, rinsing her face. "And you’d better make it good. I’m going to start to think you have your own set of issues with being a butler."

"Well, that I do, but I’ll work past those. What I was going to say was this: I’ve never seen you look as beautiful as you do right before bed, when you’ve taken off all your makeup and you put on those lovely silky, smooth emerald-colored pajamas. You look…indescribable." Reaching his hand out to her, he ran his fingers down the length of her forearm. The tank-top style of the pajama top gave him a wonderful view of her cleavage while the Capri style of the bottoms made her legs seem somehow longer and even more enticing.

"You’re just saying that to get in my good graces," she said, moving into his arms. With his head resting against her stomach, she tenderly brushed her fingers through his hair. The warmth of her breath against her pajamas and her skin made her tremble for a moment, the comfort of this position was extremely erotic to her.

"Oh, I mean it. I can’t help wonder how I ended up with a woman like you to love me." He held her as tight as he could, reveling in the feeling of having her so close.

"I don’t know how I ended up with you, but I’m glad we found each other. I mean, I would have preferred it to not take quite so long, but I guess I can’t be too fussy about it; at least we’re working now, right?"

He tilted his head up and looked into her eyes. There had been so much sadness there before, but now every time he looked at her he had to wonder how they waited so long. "We’re here, and I definitely don’t intend to let go."

"Good, now come to bed and hold me," she said, taking his hand and starting out of the bathroom. He followed behind, eventually letting go of her to clamber into bed.

"Do you mind if I take this side?" he asked as he folded back the duvet.

"I don’t – I know that by tomorrow morning you’ll be on my side anyway. This is just a formality." She laughed as he shrugged and then climbed in to bed. "I don’t want to sleep alone anymore," CC admitted. "I like having you beside me."

"I like waking up next to you," Niles confessed. "Nights seem much too long when we’re not together."

"Every minute seems much too long when we’re not together." Rolling on to her side, she rested on her hand, watching him as he settled into bed. "I hate the idea of being a part at all. You’re addictive, and I don’t even think you realize it."

Niles laughed. "You’re pretty addictive yourself, so if I were you, I’d avoid the implication that it’s a bad thing."

CC snuggled deeper into the blanket and moved closer to him. "You’ll hold me tonight, right?"

"Of course I will. But I do have a question for you…" It was as good a time as any, and he could only hope that she’d give him the response he was hoping for. "Have you considered coming with us on vacation?"

Considering it for a moment, she chewed on her lower lip, torn between what she wanted and what she thought might be best. "Don’t you think it might be strange? Maxwell and Nanny Fine are still treating us like a Ripley’s exhibit," CC said, remembering earlier that afternoon when they had caught the pair with their ears pressed up against the kitchen door. It wouldn’t have been quite as funny had they not actually opened the door on the duo, the force of which sent them careening to the floor in a mass of tangled limbs.

"It might make it less of a novelty for them if they saw us together more often," he defended. "It’s all so new to them, and if we spend all of our time being professional around them then they are probably going to take even longer to get used to it. I’m not saying we should make love on the living room floor, though I like the idea of a floor show, I’d rather it be for just you and me."

CC laughed and nodded, agreeing that Niles’ theory definitely wasn’t a bad one. "Do you think that they’ll let us have a little time alone, out from under the microscope?"

Shrugging, Niles hoped his answer was good enough for her. "I don’t know, but we don’t know if we don’t try, right?"

He could see her weighing the options. She had already said that two weeks apart seemed like an eternity, and she had also mentioned that she didn’t want to join DD on another Italian holiday. Niles was secretly quite pleased with that decision, fearing that a Roman holiday would turn her head and leave him missing the love of his life, but now he had to figure out a way to entice her to spend her holiday with them. "I’ve also secured a cottage with a servant’s quarters," he said, hoping that would help make the decision. "You and I would have the smaller cottage to ourselves, and while the family is off frolicking, we could make the most of the alone time."

The idea of having unfettered access to her man thrilled CC. "You realize that alone is a good selling point, don’t you?"

"I do…And I know that you like the idea of spending a couple of weeks in New England, even if it means you have to spend it with me," Niles teased. "I’d like you to come with us, but I do understand if you’d rather do something else."

"I’d rather do something else with you, but this can come in as a close second," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Now, believe it or not, I’m exhausted, and we have an early morning tomorrow… If we don’t get to sleep now, we’ll never get Noel to the airport on time, and we’ll never make it to the office."

Niles laughed at the sleepy expression on her face, pleased that she was so comfortable around him. She looked absolutely angelic. "We’ll get to sleep. Just please consider coming with us," he asked.

"Too late butler boy, my mind’s made up. Two weeks of you cavorting on a beach? I’m not letting you go without me. You’ll meet some New England clam-digging trollop, and the next thing I know you’ll be moving. No, I’m going with you. Now shut up and hold me, will you?"

Niles smiled contentedly as he wrapped her in his arms snuggly. Two weeks in a cottage together would be their first real unfettered ‘couple’ time, and he intended to make the very most of it.

~~~

On the morning that the family left for their vacation, Niles spent more time packing and repacking the family’s bags than he ever before. This trip had to be *perfect*, and instead of spending the entire two weeks chasing after forgotten goods in unknown shopping centers, he hoped that they would be able to enjoy the time they had. Mostly, he hoped that he and CC would be able to enjoy their time together without the constant reminders of his duties to the Sheffields.

"Niles, did you pack my …" was the single most commonly heard phrase for the three days leading up to the trip, and it showed no sign of stopping before they left. All he could hope for was that they would forget whatever items they didn’t have, and make due with what was available to them.

Going through his checklist one last time, he had carefully loaded the car with all of the luggage, and maneuvered in the final two bags, hoping that CC had packed light. The trunk was full to the brim with bags and tennis rackets, baseball bats and the odd glove. There was a huge bag of hair accessories that Fran had packed along with at least a dozen videos to watch over the course of their time at the cottage. Technology, he realized, abounded, and in ever nook and cranny someone had managed to pack one more gizmo or gadget.

Corralling the family into the limo, he wondered how they’d fair on a three-hour drive to their destination, all locked in the backseat together. Mind you, there was a television and vcr back there, but getting this family to agree to anything was like negotiating between warring countries – there was a better chance of a nuclear attack than them deciding on one movie.

As Niles shut the door, there had been a few moans and groans about who would be sitting where, and finally he heard the typical groan from Max. "You kids sit down – you act like we’re all cramming ourselves in a Pony, and not a stretch limo. Have you any clue how easy you kids have it?"

Niles laughed at Maxwell’s almost-stern phrase. "Like you’ve ever been in a Pony," Niles remarked offhandedly to nobody in particular. Even the family grumblings couldn’t get him down because at the next stop they’d be picking up his baby.

~~~

When they pulled up in front of CC’s building, Niles quickly announced over the intercom that he would be back in a couple of minutes, and then darted from the car. He had told her not to wait for them in the lobby, knowing full well that there was no way Fran would be running on time. Instead, he decided he would run up and help her with both her luggage and Chester.

The trip up to the Penthouse felt like a lifetime, as he waited for the little light to indicate that they had reached her floor. It was even worse when he couldn’t find the key to the apartment and had to ring the doorbell.

"Lost your keys again?" She appeared in the doorway a moment after the bell rang, smiling and with a stack of luggage behind her.

"Left them in the limo, I think," he said, looking towards her luggage. "Do you think you packed enough?"

She shrugged as she welcomed him in. "If it were just you and me, I would have packed a couple of bathing suits and a few little…special items…but, since this is a family vacation, I had to pack a vast array of respectable clothing for the next couple of weeks."

Niles swallowed hard at the thought of what she might have left behind if it were just the two of them. "You brought some special items, didn’t you?"

Laughing, she grinned mischievously. "You’ll just have to wait and see. But you really can’t be angry with me for packing so much," she said, a small pout playing on her lips, "because I had to consider what you would want, what I would need, and what little Chester would need. There was much more involved than a usual trip to the Seine."

Niles shook his head and laughed at the way she could break down his resolve. Even if he wanted to be frustrated with her, there was something about her that just made it impossible. He couldn’t win no matter how hard he tried to maintain his will.

"The things I brought for Chester…wait until you see them! Oh, and there was this great dog-seatbelt that I found at the pet store, so I picked that up too. I’m sure he’ll hate to wear it, but it should keep him safe and sound in the car."

He shook his head, amazed by this woman. Far too many times in the past had he alluded to her being less than warm and loving, but he knew now how wrong he had been. CC was probably the single most considerate person he had ever met, even if it took a little bit of work to get it out of her sometimes. "I can’t imagine us running into any additional troubles, but fitting this all in might be tricky."

"I could leave some of it behind, I suppose. I mean, I guess there are things I could take out." Her hand stroked over his forearm and she kind of shifted nearer to him.

Yep, he was weak, he realized. Weaker than weak. "I’ll figure it out. I’d hate to think you’d have to wear the same clothes all day."

"Ha ha," she mocked. "This coming from the man who alternates his clothing on a weekly rotation?"

Niles closed the gap between them and grabbed her for a quick kiss. "You ready to go?" he asked, nearly breathless.

"Uh, yeah," she said, looking at him. What she really wanted was to pull him onto the floor and have her way with him. The night before he had to stay at the house to organize things for the trip, and they had been separated. It wasn’t until they had spent the night apart that she realized how hard it was to survive the day-to-day stuff without him. "You grab the bags, and I’ll grab Chester?"

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way, love."

~~~

The trip to the cottages had been quite the ordeal for the Sheffields who were constantly in a fight over something. Grace was carsick (twice) and Brighton had been so angry at her for throwing up on his gameboy the second time around that he wouldn’t speak to anyone, instead insisting on pouting. Never before had CC been as thankful for something as she had been for her decision to sit up front with Niles for the trip.

The front seat had been full of fun, with Niles and CC singing along to the CDs she had packed at the last minute. Chester sat between them, remarkably content in his tiny harness as long as someone was paying him some attention. Periodically someone would stop and stroke behind his ear or rub his chin, and for the little honey-colored pom that was enough to keep him happy.

For most of the drive, Niles and CC had entwined their fingers together and there was very little conversation. Instead, they focused on the songs and the entertainment value to be had by the oddities along the highway. There was no shortage of strange billboards advertising some new miracle product or local haunt that was all the rage, and for the most part both CC and Niles had a hard time believing that any one of the locations were all they claimed to be.

Cracking a smile, CC joked about one sign in particular. "’Romantic weddings held at waterfront’ probably really translates into ‘local cesspool with gazebo, and barbeque pit’."

Niles laughed at her joke and then winked. "Ah, so *that’s* where you’d want to be married – somewhere toxic? Nice Loch Ness monster kind of setting?"

She poked him in the ribs with a finger, realizing just in time that her response of where she would really rather get married might be inappropriate. Never before in her life had she considered what kind of wedding or what kind of reception she’d want, but suddenly all the answers were just a breath away; there was something about Niles that had *almost* domesticated CC Babcock.

Pulling a CD out of the book she had brought with her, CC grinned as she handed him a disc. "Let’s listen to this now."

Looking down, he realized what she was handing him. "I can’t believe you want to listen to the Cats Cast Recording; you realize that could incite a riot, don’t you think?" Niles laughed as he took the CD from her hand and carefully pushed it into the CD player. "Who am I kidding; you like to live dangerously."

CC had merely laughed, and began singing along in full voice. Niles squeezed her hand more firmly in his, enjoying her company and the sound of her voice, and realized that this was how life was meant to be. They were going away, with their family (of sorts) on a vacation where they could all be together. The only thing that could make it better was… He stopped himself from that train of thought; there was a time and a place for everything and for now was the time to sing along to a brilliant musical.

Joining her, he smiled at her tenderly. This was the beginning of a wonderful trip.

~~~

Stretching their legs, it didn’t take long for the Sheffield kids to disperse from the car, a loud chorus of ‘wows’ being shouted out.

"Nice pick old man," Maxwell said, looking up at the majestic looking cottage. It was two full floors, from the look of it, with a wrap around balcony on the ground floor. Really, it looked more like a massive house than a vacation home.

"Thank you Sir. If you all want to settle in, I’ll bring in the bags," Niles offered, before looking up and seeing a tall man in a suit appear in the doorway. "Who’s that?"

CC looked up and realized who he meant. "Oh, him. Yes. I invited him," she said, gesturing for the man to walk over to them.

"You invited someone to join us on our vacation?" He looked at her incredulously, confused by what was going on. Why would she invite someone along?

"Well, it’s not so much a matter of being invited, but perhaps more…hiring him." Smiling, she saw the man stop a few feet off, probably in respect for the conversation, and waved him over. "Robert, this is Niles. Niles, this is Robert."

"Hi," Niles managed, accepting the younger man’s hand and shaking it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Sir. Miss Babcock, it’s a pleasure to see you again." Taking her hand in his, he shook it lightly.

"Niles, I’ve hired Robert to act as the butler/cook and all around handyman for the next couple of weeks. I thought it might be nice if you got a bit of a vacation too." Smiling broadly, she looked at her boyfriend who was more stunned than anything.

"You hired a butler?"

"Just for while we’re here. I figured that you went to all the trouble of finding this place, and you’ve had to put up with driving us here and you’ll have to drive us back…The least we can do is enjoy the time we have here, completely uninterrupted other than, well, the necessary interruptions," she rationalized. In her mind, the logic was flawless: she wanted to spend time with Niles, and Niles had to work…all she had to do was find a way so Niles didn’t have to work. It did seem to be a good solution, even if it had caught him off guard.

Niles was conflicted by emotions he couldn’t explain. A part of him was overjoyed at the prospect of having two weeks of uninterrupted CC time, but there was also something that nagged at him, making him question how good of an idea this all was. "What did Mr. Sheffield say?" he asked, looking up at the family admiring the river view.

"He thought it was a great idea; I practically had to gag him to keep it quiet. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve not taken one real break. I think it’s high time you deserve a vacation," she said softly, knowing that something was ‘off’. "Robert, would you mind taking the bags into the house, and maybe Brighton would be able to help you sort out what belongs to whom?"

"Very well, madam," he said, beginning to unload the bags.

"I’ll take these," Niles said quickly, taking CC’s luggage off the top, and grabbing his as well. "These are ours," he explained, as much to himself as to CC and Robert. This was all too much to soak in.

"I can take one," CC offered, "if you’d like to show me where our little cottage is…"

Grabbing his bag, which was by far the lightest of them all, he extended the handle and made sure the wheels were firmly locked in place before handing it to her. "Just make sure to stay on the pathway, or else this will get very difficult to drag," he instructed.

"I’m a big girl, I’m sure I can sort out how to pull luggage," she replied, tilting the case behind her and letting him lead the way.

Behind the large house with the wrap-around veranda, there was a lovely one floor cottage surrounded by trees. Dwarfed by the enormous structure in front of it, this looked more like something from a fairytale, every brick imperfectly assembled to make a shelter that, though rough around the edges, was just as breathtaking.

"This is wonderful," CC said with a grin on her face as she raced up the stairs and onto the landing. "This is just so…quaint and … perfect." Beaming, she opened the door and dragged the bag in behind her. It was one large room, a queen-sized bed in the far corner in what would have been a bedroom of sorts, and then further out there was a sofa and a television sat on the opposite wall, a room divider down the center. The bathroom was off the main living area, and then a small kitchenette, though completely open-concept, was closest to the entrance.

"Do you like it?" he asked, searching her face to see if she really approved. It was certainly small but at least it was a place they could call their own.

"I do," she admitted. "It’s just so warm and wonderful." Pushing the suitcase next to the dresser, she flopped back on the bed and then patted the area beside her. "Come, sit with me."

Nodding, he made his way over and lined her suitcases along side his, watching as Chester happily scurried along side. When he finally took the spot beside her, she reached for his hand and took it in his own.

"Tell me what’s wrong," she said, not looking at him. CC was more than a little afraid that he might be angry with her for hiring Robert.

"It’s nothing," he said, though he knew he was lying. There was something wrong, but he just wasn’t certain as to what had upset him so much.

"It’s something," she told him pointedly. "And I want to know exactly what it is." Moving closer, she angled herself across the bed so that she could rest her head against his stomach and look up at him.

Shaking his head, his hand absently made its way to her hair and began to stroke it. "Look, don’t worry about it," he managed, squeezing her hand back. "It’s no big deal."

CC knew better – the look on his face told her that it was in every way a very *big* deal, but for now she’d hold her tongue. It was their first day on vacation and she had no intentions of letting it slip away from them quite so easily.

"The thing is, with us, everything seems to be a big deal," CC began, looking up at him and his now closed eyes. "We are just that kind of couple. And it’s great sometimes, believe me, but… I don’t want our vacation to start off this way," she said softly.

Niles hands stilled from their motions in her hair. "I can think of better ways to start this vacation," he agreed, his fingers beginning to unbutton her blouse.

"What happened to talking everything to death before we made love?" CC asked, only half-joking. Whatever was bothering him, she knew that eventually it would cause an explosion between them. Those explosions had been the most stressful minutes of her life, and though everything always seemed to come back to even footing eventually, she didn’t want to tempt fate.

Instead of replying, Niles swiftly pulled her body flush to his. There was no way he wanted to have this conversation right now, and more than anything, he wanted to prove to her just how much he loved her. If CC were to have any doubts, he didn’t want it to be because she didn’t feel loved enough.

Mumbling as his lips found hers, CC felt his hands work her shirt off with relative ease, and his hands were already working their way down to her belt. "Niles," she managed, her senses leaving her.

Rolling them over, her body pinned under his, Niles decided that she needed a distraction, and he knew just how to pull it off.

~~~

It hadn’t been CC’s idea to spend their very first afternoon in the forested paradise with Max and Fran, but somehow she had been dragged along anyway. It was mostly thanks to Niles’ pleading and groveling (and promised repayment at a later, but not too distant time) that had convinced her, and for her own sake, she knew that she had to make friends with Fran Fine.

As much as the woman had been the bane of her existence for the past few years, she was also Niles’ best friend and obviously something more than a Nanny to Maxwell. By default CC would have to get along with her.

Now, she was stuck following them, tightly grasping Niles’ hand in her own, wondering what form of torture Nanny Fine would subject them to next.

It was virtually killing her to be subjected to the saccharine sweetness of the duo ahead, who were acting like lovesick teenagers in the worst way. Max laughed as he dragged Fran down to the riverbank with her hand secured tightly in his, turning CC’s stomach. They just acted so immaturely together, she thought, and how Nanny Fine could bring that out in a man who was normally quite reserved and cautious she would never understand.

"They look awful comfy together, don’t they?" CC asked, watching as Max and Fran landed in a heap on the rocking bench seat at the waterfront, a fit of giggles overtaking them.

"Does it bother you? I mean, seeing them … starting something, maybe?" Stopping a few feet behind the laughing pair, he looked her in the eyes. "You know you can tell me, right?"

"It couldn’t bother me less," she assured him. "I just wish they’d be a little less nauseating. Fran’s voice is bad enough when she’s just talking, but when she’s squealing I could kill her."

Niles laughed, but there was still a touch of concern in his voice. "You’re sure?"

"Trust me when I say there is no one I’d rather be with than you, and she can have Maxwell if she wants him," CC said confidently.

"You’ve got to try this swing," Max interrupted, barely able to catch his breath. "But don’t let Fran do the pushing, or you’ll find yourself in the water – it’s not unlike her driving, come to think of it."

Fran elbowed him in the ribs. "Watch it," she warned, scooting nearer to make space on the four-person pergola swing for CC and Niles.

"I might lose my hearing, sitting that close to her while she squeals, you do realize that, right?" CC looked at Niles who just grinned at her evilly. "What? What is it?"

"I’m just thinking if I can handle all those things you scream in my ear every night, I think you can handle sitting next to her," he told her.

"Oh, just for that…I’ll…" She couldn’t think of an adequate punishment.

"Whatever you’ll do, I can’t wait to see how you execute it," he said, taking her hand and leading her to the bench. "What’s this I hear about Fran’s driving?"

Max smartly chose not to repeat his earlier comment. "Niles, there’s a horseshoes post right there. Want to try your hand and see if you’re any good?"

CC fought the urge to say that she had tried his hand, and every other bit of him, and he was most definitely good. Comments like that were likely best saved for more intimate moments, but she certainly did enjoy thinking about them.

"Sir, I’ll still beat you. Never having played this before, I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back," Niles teased.

A thought flashed to CC’s mind, and she realized that was one of the few things they hadn’t tried. Definitely an option, she considered, wondering if it was possible that too much of her time was preoccupied by the thoughts of Niles and making love with him.

"Niles, for the last time: you’re on holidays. Call me Maxwell! And as for beating me, good luck old man, I’ve seen how you throw…"

"This coming from the man who couldn’t strike out a blind man?" Niles stood and rolled up his sleeves to give him better mobility. "This won’t take long," he promised CC as he got off the bench. Placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, he laughed. "Do you think you stand a chance?" Niles jeered at Max.

"Oh, I know I’ll beat you," Max said, mimicking Niles and attempting to roll up his sleeves, but instead of having near-perfect rolls, there were remarkable amounts of material bunching at his elbows.

Fran watched the pair make their way nearer to the small box on the ground, filled with dirt and pegs. "These men…what a pair, hey?"

CC nodded in agreement, loving the sight of Niles laughing and joking around. He seemed so happy, and so completely relaxed, and CC could only hope she had something to do with that.

"They’ve known each other forever," Fran said absently.

"That’s what I thought when I first met them…ages ago…Imagine how I feel now that I’ve known them for forever and a day."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the haphazard game in action before them. There seemed to be several cries of ‘oh, bugger that,’ coming from the duo – mostly from Max – and a few little cheers. Every time Niles hit the goal, CC would clap, and he would take a bow.

Fran just shook her head at the scene before her. Finally, breaking the silence, she looked at CC and the expression of sheer joy on her face and sighed. "You’ve got to admit, it’s a strange thought – you having a man before me."

"Why’s it so strange?" CC asked, feeling a little taken aback by the turn in the conversation. Up to now, there had been a degree of civility between them, but things were taking a turn for the worst. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss her relationship with Fran Fine.

"Well, just… it didn’t seem like something you or Niles wanted. You know … a relationship? Well, at least until he met Lois." Fran laughed as Maxwell dropped the metal horseshoe on his foot and jumped around swearing. "That man is a clutz, but he’s adorable, isn’t he?" she asked, before realizing who she was talking to.

"Yeah, just adorable," CC agreed, though she really felt more like pummeling the crap out of Fran.

"Anyway, it’s just odd. But you seem happy," Fran managed, what she had really wanted to say was ‘you two haven’t killed each other yet’.

"We are," CC assured her. There was no word to describe just how completely and undeniably happy she was, nor how complete she felt and for the first time in her life, no less!

"Well, that’s good," Fran said, but there wasn’t exactly a sentiment of unwavering joy in her voice.

"CC – you’re quite familiar with horseshoes, what with having worn them all your life and all…do you think you could show us how this is done, or does it bring back too many painful memories?" Niles laughed, looking up at her.

"Oh, watch it old man, or I’ll throw one of those horseshoes at your head," she warned, before standing up and making her way over to him.

"Ah, love," Niles said, seemingly swooning. "Who said we couldn’t be romantic?"

Fran and Max just exchanged confused looks, as CC reached Niles and pulled him into a tight embrace, crushing her lips against his in a desperate kiss.

~~~

"I can’t believe we’ve finally escaped that leave-it-to-Beaver hell we were trapped in," CC said, as Niles led her down a wooded path. "I don’t even feel like it’s so ominous letting you lead me into the forest, probably to kill me, all because anything is a damn sight better than having to …" Catching herself, she stopped, hoping the damage wasn’t already done.

"Relax, sweetheart. Now this time is strictly for us. You want to enjoy the day, don’t you?"

CC just nodded, and squeezed his hand tighter. "I have you to keep me distracted. How much more enjoyment can a girl hope for?"

Niles just laughed. "Oh, wait until you see what I have planned for us. Just a few more steps," he promised, and sure enough there was a lovely clearing at the riverfront where trees framed the scene like a perfect postcard.

Looking at the clearing, she got distracted, her breath catching in her throat. It was wonderful and peaceful. She was so distracted that she hadn’t noticed that he let go of her hand until a moment later when he cleared his throat. Looking at him with a very distinctive ‘you must be crazy’ look, she just shook her head. "You want me to go canoeing?"

He seemed serious enough, standing there beside a canoe and oar in hand. Of course, it was awful hard to take him seriously, what with his trousers hiked up his calves in oh-so-meticulous rolls.

"Well, I want *us* to go canoeing. It’s not like we have any other pressing engagements, do we?" Smiling devilishly at her, he picked up the picnic basket he had prepared (even though he had to fight Robert for the rights to the main kitchen – something he never intended to do again!) and placed it gingerly in the center of the canoe. "So?"

"Are you planning on killing me?" Watching as he shifted the packages around the long but narrow wooden boat, she walked closer. She had never been canoeing before. In fact, she’d go as far as to say she’d never been *boating* before. There had been cruises, and yacht trips, but this seemed like an entirely different animal; there would be no body to bring her a glass of champagne and seeing as there wasn’t a captain per se, there wouldn’t be any impromptu marriages at sunset.

"Sweetheart, I wouldn’t dream of it; besides, I’m not in your will yet…am I?" Winking at her, he took her hand to help lead her into the canoe. "Now, go sit up front, and I’ll push us off."

Securing her straw, wide-brimmed hat on top of her head, CC looked at her lover and realized that if she trusted anyone, it would be him. Lifting her skirt to her knees, she questioned how good of an idea it was to wear a sundress on a canoe trip with Niles, especially one that had come from the Dolce and Gabbana summer collection. Still, he was well worth one spoiled dress, if that were the cost of making him happy. She just hoped it wouldn’t be; the light material would normally have been too cool for so late in the summer, but it was perfect on a sunny day like this, and she had every intention of enjoying the sun against her skin. "Ok, but I just want to point out that Nanny Fine and Maxwell are up on the crest of the hill wondering why you’re sticking me in a boat, and if I go missing, they’ll be inclined to report you."

Niles laughed. "Did you forget who makes their meals and picks up after them?"

"Not this week you don’t," she pointed out, "and moreover, did you forget who gets Maxwell the money to fund all of his pipedreams?"

"Touché. You win. Now, let’s go," he said, watching her settle. He wished she hadn’t brought up how completely unnecessary he was, especially when he was planning on taking them out for a romantic day trip, but she hadn’t done it on purpose. There was a comfort to be had in knowing that whatever CC said now, she never meant to hurt him.

When Niles was sure she was settled and secure at the bow of the boat, he gently pushed off the land and then clambered on board. The boat rocked from side to side under his weight and he watched as CC clung to the sides, her knuckles white. "It’s ok," he assured her. "We’re not even in five feet of water yet. And as much as you’d like to believe it, you really aren’t sugar, and you’re not about to melt."

"I’m just wondering if this can handle your weight," she said smartly, watching as his strong arms began to paddle, first on one side and then on the other. He looked like something out of a nature documentary, save for one major difference: instead of the geeky narrator, Niles was this incredible, sexy man – he was very much a force to be reckoned with.

"Oh, if it can hold you, it can hold me," he said smartly. "Now, just sit back and enjoy. From what I can tell, it will be about a half hour until we get there.

~~~

When they hit land, CC jarred from her state of blissful wonder. She had spent the entire trip staring at Niles as he paddled them to whatever their destination was, and imagining all the things he could do with such strong muscles. "Did you mean to hit that?" She tried to seem less awestruck and in love, though it was clearly all a moot point now; there was no hiding how she felt for him, no matter how hard she tried.

Niles smiled and shrugged. "I figured this was as good a place as any to dump your body," he laughed. "Now, if you don’t mind, this is where we’ll be getting off."

CC laughed mischievously. "Oh, really? You promise?’

Niles grinned but then stopped himself from commenting. Instead, he made his way into the water and pulled the canoe further back so that CC would be able to walk out on to dry land and hopefully while they were gone, it wouldn’t get swept away by the current. Giving it an extra tug a little further up the sandy-soil, he felt safe that it would be secure for a few hours at least. "Take my hand," he said chivalrously, as he waited for her to accept him.

As she took hold of his hand, she wondered if there was anything more perfect than the feel of his skin against hers, though her thoughts drifted from there to the feeling of his tongue against her skin, and the way he felt when they made love. Forcing herself to snap out of her dreamy-state, CC hiked up her skirt enough so that she wouldn’t trip in her attempt to find terra firma, and held it with her free hand, letting him pull her against him.

Stealing a kiss, Niles held her body flush to his and let their bodies trap their entwined hands together against their chests. "I think we should spend more time like this," he said quietly, their lips barely separated.

"Well, we do have two weeks to do whatever we want; I’d think that this would happen at least a bit," she told him sweetly, pressing another tender kiss to his lips. "Now, what did you have in mind for this afternoon?"

Letting go of her hand, he had to remind himself that it was only for a moment. Reaching into the canoe he pulled out the cooler and then reclaimed her hand. "Follow me. I promise, you won’t be disappointed."

CC squeezed his hand more tightly and then leaned against him. "You seem awful sure of yourself."

"Well, its a little surprise, but I think you’ll like it," he said, leading her up a slight embankment and to a grassy clearing. From the top of the embankment, there was a beautiful view of the river basin, and all of the splendor of a little forested area. CC felt her breath catch in her throat; behind them there was a perfect clearing, as well as a lovely gazebo in which there was a blanket spread on the ground and a few pillows. "You organized all of this? When?"

"Well, there was that nap you took this morning," he told her sweetly, enjoying her look of stunned amazement. After their last round of lovemaking, he had stolen away to sort out his plans, and he put together a wonderful picnic adventure for them. This was his surprise for her.

"Oh, I get it now," she teased. "You take advantage of me, wait until I fall asleep and disappear."

"I’ll never disappear," he assured her. "But I thought this would be a chance for us to have a proper lunch to ourselves. No kids fighting, and no love struck but oh-so-clueless friends around."

CC laughed. "I’d hardly call them friends," she said quickly, though she realized after the fact that it might have been the wrong thing to say.

"Do you want to come sit down, maybe stretch out and talk a bit?" The look she had shot him when he had called them friends had been enough to tell him that there was more to this than what he had first thought. Niles wasn’t a stupid man; he didn’t have any delusions about Fran and CC being best friends, but he did want them to get along, and maybe learn to tolerate each other. So far there hadn’t been any explosions, a point for which he was thankful, to say the least, but there weren’t any concessions on either of their parts – there was nothing to give him hope that there could be an upside to it all.

"I don’t want to spoil a perfectly good romantic afternoon," she said, a sigh quickly following her statement. "I would, however, like you to hold me. And feed me something delicious that I know you’ve packed for us."

Leading her to the gazebo, he tenderly caressed her arm. "Would you like to start with a glass of champagne?"

Nodding, CC absently smiled and then stretched out on the blanket. The view was magnificent, giving them an extraordinary view of the riverbank, as well as the trees and the grassy area that surrounded them. "Do you think Nanny Fine will ever understand how good we are together? I mean, the woman hates me, for crying out loud…" CC finally conceded defeat and realized there was no more avoiding the topic. She had spent so long worrying about it that suddenly she couldn’t help but ask him.

Shocked, Niles just about spilled the drinks, but instead he rallied and then looked at the love of his life relaxed and laying on the blanket, her oversized hat resting precariously to her right on top of a wooden peg. "She just doesn’t know you that well yet," he said sadly, wishing that Fran and CC could be friends. It would solve so many problems in his life and would allow the two women that meant the most to him to be in the same room without ripping each other to shreds.

"But she wishes every day that you were with Lois and not me. I can see pretty clearly how she feels, Niles, and I can’t blame her, not completely. She introduced you to Lois, and she was there when Lois proposed. If the tables were turned, I wouldn’t want you to be with me either," CC admitted.

"But I want to be with you, and yes, she is friends with Lois, and she cares a great deal for Lois, but she cares a great deal for me too, and she wants me to be happy; she’s just not totally on board yet, but she will be," he promised her.

Shaking her head, CC didn’t feel quite the same confidence. She had seen the way Fran had been looking at her when they were all sitting at the riverfront watching the men play horseshoes, and she could hear all too well the snide remarks that Fran had spit their way. They hadn’t been scathing, but there was no love lost, CC realized. "Does how she feels about me make any difference to how you feel about me?" she asked quietly, snuggling into his embrace as he offered her the flute of bubbling alcohol.

"Not in the least. CC, I never thought it was possible, but I love you more than I love anything in the world; I’ve never imagined feeling this kind of connection to anyone, but I do, and… I love you. Fran won’t change that, Mr. Sheffield won’t change that. Nothing will."

Satisfied with his answer, if only for now, she kissed his jaw and then further down his neck. "I’m done with talking," she announced, unbuttoning her way down his shirt. "Now’s the time to show me what you mean," she told him sweetly.

~~~

When CC and Niles made it to the dinner table, they were impressed by how impeccably set it was. "Looks like Robert is up to snuff," CC said, admiring the setting.

"Yeah, well, most clowns can set a table," Niles said, his tone undeniably bitter. "Let’s see if he can serve a meal."

CC shook her head. Whatever had gotten into Niles was annoying, and it was starting to frustrate her more than it was probably reasonable. "Tonight, you’re telling me about that monkey on your back," she whispered so only he could hear it.

Niles just nodded his head.

"Glad you could join us," Fran said, rolling her eyes.

"We’re on time," Niles said quickly with an unimpressed glare directed at Fran.

Maxwell watched as his butler and business partner sat themselves down beside each other, Niles directly across from Fran. The tension between the two of them was hitting a new high. "Did you enjoy your afternoon adventure?" Maxwell asked, hoping to change the topic. The last thing they needed was a confrontation over dinner.

"We did," CC replied enthusiastically. "Niles really knows how to plan a great afternoon. I didn’t even mind the canoeing all that much," she laughed.

Fran rolled her eyes and directed her attention to Robert, who was serving the first course of their meal. "That looks delicious," she said, eyeing the plates as they were placed before them. Anything she could do to avoid listening to CC go on and on about how wonderful Niles and CC were together.

"I trust you had a good afternoon, Mr Sheffield?"

"We spent most of it looking at the gardens up behind the houses. I’ve never seen such an impressive selection of flowers," he said. It wasn’t exactly stellar conversation, but he didn’t know what else to say or do.

"That sounds lovely – maybe we should take a stroll there tomorrow, Niles, if you’ve not already made plans," CC said genuinely interested. She had always had a weak spot for flowers, and combining them with her other favourite thing, Niles, would be a great way to spend a part of the day.

The children watched this strange game of verbal ping pong between the adults, and noticed how Fran and Niles seemed snippy with each other and how oddly enough CC was the one keeping her cool.

Niles began to reply to CC when Fran cut him off. "I’m sure you could find other things to do – it hardly seems like something you’d want to do."

"Excuse me?" Niles asked, the tone of his voice foreboding.

"I’m just saying that she doesn’t have to pretend to be interested in something just to make conversation," Fran replied. Ok, maybe she was being a little rude, but all she could think about was how that bitch had destroyed Niles best chance at happiness. As far as Fran was concerned, CC was faking everything just to get one more ‘up’ on Niles – they’d been playing this game for years, and she had no intention of believing the feelings were for real.

"Miss Fine," Maxwell said, scolding her. It was turning into a fight at record speeds.

"What is your problem?" Niles asked. There was no going back now. This was getting out of hand.

"No problem, Niles. I just think that you’re not … thinking with your brain," she said, trying to be subtle. There were, after all, children at the table.

Suddenly all of the adults at the table stiffened with surprise. They had never heard Fran say something like that – at least, not to Niles – and suddenly it was escalating to an all-out war.

"You’re kidding me, right Miss Fine? You didn’t just say what I thought you said…" Niles could feel his heart thudding in his chest. The mixture of outrage and shock seemed to wind him.

"As long as you think you’re happy, that’s all that matters, I guess," Fran said sarcastically, spearing a baby carrot with her fork.

Niles looked up at her, stunned by her repeated rudeness. "You guess that’s all that matters?"

"I just want you to be happy," Fran said again, this time more convincingly, but the damage may already have been done.

Looking at CC and then at the family who stared at him, Niles realized that in all of his efforts to make him and CC a more substantiated couple, he had never done anything to get through to the ‘family’. Fran had been throwing barbs ever since she found out that he was seeing CC and there was no consideration for either of their feelings.

"I know, Fran, that this is hard for you to understand because you think I belong with Lois, but I love CC, and we’re a couple. I know it’s not maybe what you would have imagined for us, but it’s what we want for ourselves. It seems only fair that you muster the slightest bit of happiness for us, or choose to have nothing to do with us; I imagine the latter will be harder, seeing as we do live under the same roof, but it is your choice."

Fran swallowed the chunk of carrot that was in her mouth. She had nearly choked on it when he called her Fran, but she regained her composure quickly. "Niles, I know you think you and Miss Babcock have something special, and for your sake, I hope you do, but you can’t think that we’re all going to look at you two and say ‘yeah! They’re the perfect couple.’ You’ve spent years torturing each other."

"For some people, torture is a sign of affection," CC defended, feeling the need to at least remind them both of her presence. She hadn’t anticipated Niles jumping into battle quite so readily, but a part of her did feel much more loved and certain about her role in his life.

"Sadists," Brighton shared, earning himself a glare from his father.

"Brighton," Maxwell scolded. "Children, perhaps it’s time for you to go and play for a while."

The kids all stared at him in blank confusion. "Dinner was just served," Maggie pointed out.

"Well, then take your plates into the living room and put on a movie. We’ll be in shortly," Maxwell said, just trying to get the kids out of the room before there was any bloodshed.

Maggie stood up first, taking her knife and fork and plate, and Gracie followed behind her, stealing a glance at the angry adults that now lined the table. Brighton was the last to move, probably because he was considering what would happen in the argument, and wanted his first row seat to the event. In any matter, he knew his father wouldn’t go for it, and the least he could do was listen at the door.

Once the room was clear of the children, Niles felt the need to reply to all of Fran’s accusations. "Where do you get off telling me who I should and should not be involved with?" Niles’ eyes narrowed, looking at Fran. He didn’t plan on doing this. In fact, he didn’t plan on doing this at all, let alone this way.

"Old man, calm down. I’m sure Miss Fine didn’t mean it that way," Maxwell defended, hoping to diffuse the situation. As it was, both Niles and Fran looked ready to participate in hand-to-hand battle.

"Oh no you don’t, Mr Sheffield. I meant it exactly how it sounded. Niles is being ridiculous thinking that CC plans for this to be anything more than just a little nookie. When did she ever express anything but contempt towards him? Lois loves you, and you decided to dump her for Miss Babcock?"

CC felt like she had been kicked in the gut. After all of their conversations, there were still doubts about her sincerity? "Nanny Fine," CC began, but Niles cut her off.

"You don’t have to reply to that CC – you show me every day how much you love me. We could be married and still have this problem. Queen Yenta over here can’t believe anything she doesn’t want to."

"Niles, have you actually considered what you gave up when you broke up with Lois?"

Niles nodded. "And I will, in a heartbeat, resign my position if this is how our relationship is to be treated." He didn’t once waiver as he spoke the words. He knew it was true. If it ever became a matter of CC or something else – anything else – he would always choose CC.

A gasp managed its way past CC’s lips. Things were so far out of control, and there had yet to be any sign of it stopping.

"Now, everybody calm down! This is getting absurd. We’re not going to let you do something you regret," Maxwell said. "Not over a silly misunderstanding."

"I fear it’s you who has misunderstood," Niles said calmly. "I cannot watch as my relationship is dissected and criticized when it is the only thing in my life that has ever made me feel complete."

Fran watched in awe as he once again professed his love for CC.

"Fran, even if CC didn’t return my love, I still could not have been with Lois. I wasn’t in love with her. I wasn’t meant to be with her. Moreover, I don’t understand how you can claim to be my friend and yet have no regard for my feelings." His voice was softer now, and he clearly was reaching the point of giving up. Try as he may, he couldn’t seem to make her come around to his way of thinking.

"I think we should let this go for now – tempers are running too hot to settle anything."

"No," Niles said. "Fran, you need to promise me that there won’t be any more of your mishugena comments, because I won’t tolerate it anymore."

Fran was stunned by the direction of the conversation. On one hand was Lois, her friend and someone she though was well-suited to Niles. On the other, she had her one-time best friend laying it on the line for CC. "I really do want you to be happy," she said quietly, looking between Niles and CC. She had to admit that CC had directed all of her attention to Niles, and not just that night, but every time they were in the same room.

"CC makes me happy," he assured her. "And I love her too much to watch our relationship be tarnished by our ‘friends’."

Maxwell fought the urge to butt-in. Life as they knew it was hanging in the balance, and he was afraid that if left up to their own devices, he might be both nanny-less and butler-less by the end of the conversation.

"I understand what you’re feeling, Fran, but just think for a minute about how long I’ve waited for this – about how long I’ve been hoping for that woman who makes me feel like CC does. This is my chance at happiness, and I want to make the most of it. As much as I love you as a friend, you need to know that I can’t tolerate that kind of negativity. Not anymore."

Fran nodded. "I’m sorry," she said, not sure who she was apologizing to. "It isn’t my place to make decisions for you."

It wasn’t the kind of apology Niles wanted, but it was probably as close as they’d get.

Maxwell felt himself release a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. The livewire in the room suddenly seemed to be the way to being diffused.

"If you’ll excuse me, I’ve lost my appetite," Niles said, standing up. "I hope you understand."

Maxwell merely nodded, and watched as CC stood up after him. She didn’t say a word, but followed him out the door. There was no way she’d let him be alone right now. Everything had been so chaotic, all day, and now for it to culminate in such anger…they needed each other’s support, now more than ever.

CC had never seen Niles lose his temper like that, in all the years she knew him, and to watch as he confronted Fran had been enough to render her speechless.

Absurdly, in some reasonably significant way, it made her feel a little more secure about their relationship, and as much as she knew it was selfish, CC knew for the first time since they had begun seeing each other that they were coming up on solid ground.

Niles walked beside her, silently, and she just wanted to reach out to him and wrap her arms around him.

"After all that excitement, would you rather go for a walk?" CC asked, hoping to get him to talk about what was going on – there were so many things on his mind, and she didn’t know where the conversation would start, but it was thoroughly necessary.

"No," he said solemnly. "Let’s just go to bed."

Glancing at her watch, CC snickered. "It’s ten past 8 – it might be a little early yet."

Shrugging, he just continued down the stone path. "I’m not really feeling like doing much more than that."

She pushed open the door and watched as he made his way over to the bed and flopped down. He kicked off his shoes and positioned the pillow under his head, closing his eyes.

"You ok?"

Niles patted the bed beside him. "I’ll be better if you come lay down with me here," he said, watching as she crossed the room towards him.

"Well, anything I can do to make you feel better, and I’ll do it," she assured him. She wasn’t sure what to do. Humour had always been their way of working through tense moments, but the tension now was different. CC knew all too well that right now what he needed more than anything was her support, and her willingness to be there for him.

Laying down on the bed, CC rested her head on his chest, and reached across him to take his left hand in hers. "Are you still upset about what happened with Fran?" She felt him stiffen under her for a moment, and fleetingly she wondered if not mentioning it again would have been wiser.

Sighing, Niles thought for a moment. He was still somewhere between shock and complete confusion. How things had gotten so out of hand, he’d never understand, but he knew, seeing Fran treat their relationship so badly, that he couldn’t stand by and watch it without saying anything. "No, not really. I think she understands now, and I hope that will be the last of our problems," he said quietly. His adrenaline was still pumping from the outburst and his mind was running on overload.

"I know it’s probably little consolation, but you were really hot in there – the way you spoke so passionately. In fact, now I know 100% why we’ve bickered all these years. At first it was frightening; I was scared how it would all turn out, but in retrospect it was pretty hot."

Niles managed a laugh, which he was *mostly* sure was the point of her comment. "Next time I’ll know that you consider angry outbursts to be foreplay," he replied, his fingers dragging over the material of her camisole.

"Hmm… you know what else turns me on?" This might be too soon, and she knew it, but be damned if she wasn’t going to try.

"What?"

"You telling me what’s going through your mind right now – what’s had you so distracted since the minute we got here. I need to know, Niles, because I fully expect that as much as Nanny Fine deserved that outburst, I’m not entirely sure she was the only reason for it."

"CC," he said, his voice low and gravely. "I don’t want to talk about it."

"I know it’s been a long day, and I know you’re frustrated still by the situation, but we need to talk," she said again, this time sitting upright and further away from him. "We can’t let this destroy our holiday."

"It wouldn’t destroy anything, if you’d just let it go," he said, his voice full of frustration. "I don’t want to talk about it."

"We’re both in this together, Niles, or at least we’re supposed to be. Why are you so stubborn?"

Niles hand slid to her waist, pulling her nearer to him forcefully. "Because there are many better things we can do rather than argue," he explained as his lips began to work their way down her neck.

CC felt the familiar warmth she always felt when she was in his arms and for a moment she felt herself melt to a quivering mess; Niles had an indescribable effect on her. "No," she said suddenly as her hands pressed against his chest. "As much as I enjoy your method of distraction, I’m more than a little tired of having this hanging over our head. It’s like there’s this sword hanging over us just waiting to crash down and I’m sick of it."

Niles looked at her, stunned by the statement and the way she pulled away from him. "What’s wrong? You don’t really want to talk about this right now, do you? I’m tired, it’s been a long day, and I’m sick of arguing over things."

"One minute we’re fighting, and the next we’re … not." She had the decency to blush slightly at the statement. She knew that their relationship was more than just sex -especially considering how long it took them to finally consummate it - but it seemed as if they were now pushing their problems aside with physical gratification; maybe Niles had been more right about the complications of sex on relationships than she had previously given him credit for. "I want to know why things bother you as much as they do – you take everything to heart and you spend most of your time assuming there’s something more wrong. Would you please…I just want to know what’s bothering you."

Niles shook his head. He knew in his heart of hearts that she was right. There had been so many things bothering him and he couldn’t even begin to rationalize where it was all coming from. Fran had taken the brunt of his frustration, and although it was deserved in many ways, he had never intended such a bitter confrontation between them. The truth was, there had been so many things bothering him that he didn’t know where one thing stopped and another problem started.

"I don’t know what to tell you," he said softly, looking at the hand that was still holding him at near-arm’s length.

She looked down and realized that he was still keeping the distance she had enforced. "I just want the truth, Niles – if there is anything I’m doing to make you feel like this, you need to tell me. I don’t want this to be the thing that destroys us." Moving her arm, she allowed him to move a little closer, his tired body now resting against the headboard.

Looking into her pleading blue eyes, he felt his heart wrench. For so very much of it, he could only blame himself. They were his stigmas, his ideas, and his obstacles to over come, and now somehow she had taken on some of that too. "I never want to lose you."

"Then we need to learn to talk – not yell, not pout, and not bury our problems under strewn sheets and sweaty bodies – we need to figure out how we can communicate. You said it yourself ages ago: sex complicates things. And now it seems to be our biggest complication because we use it as a means to not communicate…"

"It’s not that I don’t *want* to talk to you," he replied.

"Then tell me what it is, Niles, and let us fix it. I want us to enjoy this vacation – and I want us to make the most of the opportunity. I don’t want to feel like we’re avoiding some monster in our closet."

Nodding, he realized that he’d have to find a way to discuss what was bothering him. He just felt like such a baby for not being able to cope with the little things. Why sweat the small stuff, right? But it wasn’t small to him, and that was the only rationale he could approach this with. "Maybe I’m a bit surprised that you hired a butler," he said, realizing that most of the mixed emotions he had revolved around the strange man who was supposed to take over his duties for the next two weeks.

"Well, that was the point; you were supposed to be surprised. It’s my gift to you."

He sighed, and looked at her, taking his hands in his. There was nothing about what she was saying that should have made him feel quite so edgy, but he did. "But why?"

"Because I wanted to spend two weeks with you, and know that you didn’t have anywhere you *had* to be other than with me. I wanted you to get a rest, and be able to sleep in and maybe spend a day or two away without feeling guilty or that you were abandoning your duties," she explained.

He had to admit, he liked the idea of having all that time with her, and without the obligations that seemed to be synonymous with his job. "I really do appreciate the gesture," he said, realizing that he had never thanked her. "Thank you. Really. I just… was caught by surprise by it, and then… I was being a silly old man," he said quietly.

"What? Is this what was bothering you so much? It was Robert?" Looking to his eyes, she saw a glimmer of hurt. She had never intended to upset him with the gesture, and maybe she hadn’t considered all the consequences of her actions, but in her mind it was something so very simple.

"Other than how wonderful you are?" He asked, wishing he could kiss her without making it seem like he was throwing her another distraction. "Maybe I do need to say something…" He braced himself. "I love you more than anything in the world, and every day I feel as if you’ve become more lovely and wonderful. I don’t understand it all completely, but I love having you here, and having you in my life."

"And yet you make it sound ominous," she grumbled, moving further up, so they were now at perfect eye-level.

"It’s my job – this many years of playing this game of back and forth with you, and I somehow have difficulty just coming out and saying things now…" Niles looked at her, all perfect features and alabaster skin, and wished he had never been so foolish. Just trying to think of the words to tell her how he felt made him feel ridiculous. "Robert is a nice young man, and the gesture is not lost on me – I do appreciate what you did for us all…but… CC, being the butler, as much as sometimes it’s a loathsome detail that I try to avoid, is very much a part of me. My life is about taking care of those people, and taking care of you, and so much of my time is spent doing that. When Robert appeared out of nowhere, I felt like I was suddenly losing a piece of my identity. It’s not like I wanted to spend this vacation working but, somehow, I felt like suddenly I was just replaced. That the thing I consider to be so much a part of my identity, and something that I take very seriously, was something that was so easily replaced."

"Oh, Niles!" CC said, realizing just how she had contributed to it all. Moving closer, she freed her hands from his and placed them on his cheeks. "You are no where near replaceable, darling. I looked for ages to find someone that I thought would have even a hint of the talent that you do, only because I wanted us to have the next-best thing. It wasn’t a matter of me not loving you as ‘the butler’ or about not wanting you to be that guy – I just didn’t want you distracted. Selfishly, I wanted you all to myself!"

"I think I have more of a problem with being a butler dating a millionaire than you have being the millionaire dating the butler. I never thought it would be possible to be so completely complicated by status, but I do promise you that I’m not going to let that stand in our way – from this point forward, I’m just going to tell you when I’m losing my mind, and you can slap me back into sanity. I’m not going to let our history or status get in our way again."

CC frowned at his confession. "I know that it’s hard – but if you can learn to look past all those things that we’ve always hidden behind, and if you can come to terms with the fact that we don’t need to worry about things like money, then I promise I’ll do my best to be more sensitive. I’m already trying! I really am," she assured him.

Niles smiled at the expression on her face that reminded him of the Sheffield girls when they were younger, and when they had been particularly pleased with themselves. It was such an innocent expression. "I don’t know what I could ever do to deserve a woman like you – I’m not complaining, but I really don’t deserve you."

Blushing, CC felt like things were leveling out. "Nothing else is bothering you?"

"No – I think I’m just tired from all the excitement of the day. We really have been through the emotional wringer, haven’t we?"

"We have – but it’s over now, and we can pick up where we left off, and be better for it, right?"

Nodding, he smiled as she moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Make what up to me? I’m the one who’s sorry about not considering your feelings more when I hired Robert."

"You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Really, you don’t. I’m just a silly old man sometimes. So, where do I begin to make up for it?"

"Well, you could start with saying that you love me," she told him, a mischievous glimmer in her eye. This was the way things were meant to be. They’d discussed their problems like rational adults, and they’d even given a little bit more of themselves to each other. This was a relationship. In fact, the only thing that could make it better was… "And then you could finish with showing me."

Niles laughed. Whatever he had done to deserve her, he just didn’t understand, but he was nowhere near letting her go. "I love you more than words could ever say," he said gently, "and I have every intention of showing you in every way imaginable."

"Just don’t hurt yourself, you know, showing me in all those ways," she teased, appreciating the comfortable beat of the conversation. "Someone very wise told me you were an old man. I’d hate for you to break anything."

"Well, let’s start with the first way," Niles whispered. Reaching into his pocket, he wondered if he should have better considered the angle they were one before undertaking this endeavor. Then again, he had fully intended to take her down to the waterfront after dinner and do this there – the idea of a romantic stroll after dinner had been waylaid by the argument in the dining room, and up until just a few moments ago, he wasn’t entirely sure that there would be a ‘right’ moment that evening. Pulling out a small blue box, he passed it to her. "Open it," he instructed.

Doing as she was told, her breath caught in her throat as she opened the box. "Oh, my God, Niles…" Inside was a stunning platinum band, with a single princess-cut diamond, flanked by two small sapphires. It was simple, but intricately enough detailed through the band that it looked elegant and classy. "It’s beautiful," she managed, her mind barely putting the details together.

"Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" he asked, watching the expression of joy sweep over her face. "If you think you can tolerate this silly old man for the next…seventy years or so…" he teased.

"I will," she said, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Sitting up eagerly, she passed the ring box to him. "Put it on me," she instructed.

"Bossy already," he growled, though he loved every minute of it. Sliding the band onto her finger, his heart beat faster. CC Babcock was going to marry him – even after all of the stupid things he had said and done. He was going to marry the woman of his dreams.

"You’d better believe it, mister, and before you can say anything else, you had better kiss me."

"Now this is the kind of bossy I can live with," he replied, before seizing her lips with his own.

Her hands grasped his shoulders as she pushed him away for a moment. "Robert can stay, and you’ll actually take the holiday time?"

"Oh, I don’t intend to leave this room," Niles said smartly, moving in closer again. "Let the boy work. I have a task list a mile long, and not one of them includes chores. There are so many things we’ve yet to try."

"Mmm…promises, promises. Now what was that about showing me that you love me in every way imaginable?"

A wicked grin crossed his lips. "Oh, don’t worry – you’d be surprised what loving someone from a far for the better part of time can do for one’s imagination," he assured her. "First, though, I suppose we should start with reasonably traditional, and work our way to creative."

CC giggled as Niles’ lips worked their way down her neck. "Ok, butler boy, as long as you remember that you’ve promised."

"Oh, you’d never let me forget, nor would I want to," he replied against a mouthful of flesh.

"This will be a good vacation," CC moaned as his lips worked their magic along her collarbone.

"Most definitely," he promised.

~~~

Niles awoke several hours later, comfortably resting against CC’s back. She was sound asleep, and the dim light which crept through the window, dancing on against her soft porcelain-like skin. This woman, the woman he knew he was meant to spend his life with, was the most indescribable beauty he had ever met. Niles watched as she shifted back toward him in her sleep, and how peacefully she rested. Waking up next to her was probably his favourite thing in the entire world, and he loved the thought of this lasting for the rest of their lives.

The moment he proposed may not have been perfect, and maybe there had been one too many distractions for his liking, but he loved CC, and being engaged to her was just what he needed. There might not have been any huge romantic gestures, and maybe they were fighting right before he proposed, but he also knew that he couldn’t keep letting those moments pass him by.

Loving CC had changed Niles – and for the better. She had made him wiser, most definitely, and somewhere along the way she taught him a couple things about loving with incredible ferocity.

It was hard to believe that the CC Babcock she presented to the world could be the same woman he held each night, but she was, and he loved that about her.

Watching over her shoulder as she slept, he realized that there was so very little about life that was actually perfect, and all those months of torturing himself to find that ever-elusive perfection could have been much better spent more fully enjoying the great relationship he was in.

Niles wouldn’t make that mistake again; if he learned anything from courting CC, it was that every moment is too precious to worry about the little things. What was most important to him now was keeping her near to him forever, and showing her every day for the rest of their lives how deeply he loved her.

Of course, things wouldn’t be easy. He still wanted to patch up his relationship with Fran, and hopefully bring their friendship back on course, but he wouldn’t do that at the expense of his relationship with CC. Whatever adventures he embarked upon in the future had to be suitable for him *and* CC. There was no longer a consideration for anything else. If Fran couldn’t come to terms with that, then she would no longer fit in his life.

Smiling as CC shifted again, this time onto her back, he tenderly slid the comforter a little higher and tucked it against her body. This was what he wanted, and no matter what went wrong in the world, this was as perfect as he could ever ask for.

The moments crept past slowly, as he admired the curves of her body beneath the sheet, and the way her chest would rise and fall with each breath. Sleep wouldn’t quite take him, as his mind reeled with thoughts of the day.

Whatever happened next, he needed to hold on to the way he felt in that moment.

Sliding out of bed, he pulled his pants on and quickly did a few buttons on his shirt. If he couldn’t sleep, he’d perhaps take a walk down to the waterfront. At least there he would be able to think without the distraction of his beautiful fiancée, and more importantly, he wouldn’t risk waking her.

Carefully closing the door behind him, Niles made his way toward the path, and glanced back at the small cabin. How could he have ever thought that this was anything less than perfect?

As he made his way closer to the waterfront, he saw the shadow of a person sitting on the glider. It was well after two in the morning when he left his room, and he never thought he’d run into anyone else.

Approaching the chair, he could finally discern who was sitting there. "You couldn’t sleep?" he asked, watching as Fran turned toward his voice.

"Not really," she admitted, tapping the spot beside her.

"You sure you want me to join you?"

Fran merely nodded, instead looking out at the blue cascading across the water. "This place is beautiful," she said peacefully, her eyes focused intently on the glimmering water.

"It is," he agreed.

They lapsed into an awkward silence, neither sure what to say, if anything. There were too many things said earlier, and too few of the words were kind.

Finally Niles felt like he needed to say something, even if it was just to reaffirm his love for CC. "I know you have a hard time believing this, but I love her, Fran. I love her more than I ever thought I could love anyone, and I know that’ll never change."

Fran merely nodded. The words she wanted to say weren’t all that familiar to her. It wasn’t often she was the person who had to do the apologizing, or at least, not genuinely. "I’ve never wanted anything less for you – I never wanted you to think that I wanted you to settle for anything less than magic."

Sighing, Niles realized what she was trying to say, and he was torn between wanting to make it easier for her, and wanting to hear the words. "And I assure you, I am NOT settling for anything less. In fact, sometimes I have to convince myself that she’s not settling – but we’re happy, really happy, and we love each other."

"Miss Babcock really does love you – I could see that in her eyes tonight. And I know you love her. I guess I just thought that after watching you two torture each other for so long, you were just… I don’t know. Maybe I thought that this was all a part of the game. I don’t know what I was thinking. But whatever it was, I know that it’s not my place to make choices for you, and it’s not my life. I don’t want to yenta you into something you don’t want."

Niles smiled softly. "You could never convince us that this wasn’t what was right. Even you, the greatest Yenta on the eastern seaboard, could never change our minds. I just hope we can change yours."

Reaching over for his hand, Fran gave it a gentle squeeze. "You know, it’s not easy to watch your friends fall in and out of love with each other…" she began.

"I was never ‘in love’ with Lois – I was in love with the idea of being in love with her," Niles corrected.

"Would you let me finish?" When Niles nodded, Fran smiled and continued. "It’s even harder to watch your best friend walk away, and to be left behind only to realize that it’s all your fault it’s been fercocked up. That’s not what I want for you, or our friendship."

"Me either," he agreed.

"Truce?"

Niles took a moment to think it over – not because he intended to say no, but because things felt like they were all pieces of the puzzle, finally fitting together. "As long as you promise to treat CC with all the respect that she deserves as my fiancée," he said sternly.

Fran’s breath caught in her throat at his words. "You’re engaged?"

"We are – and I’ve never been happier."

Thinking about it for a moment, Fran leaned towards him. "Then I’m happy for you," she said reassuringly. "And for her. For both of you."

"Thank you," Niles replied, feeling a weight lift off of his chest. Maybe things would work out as he had hoped; finally having CC in his life wouldn’t mean the sacrifice of his friends and family as he had once thought. Not that she wasn’t worth it, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of remorse of what he might have lost.

"That’s what friends do…" Fran said quietly.

"That’s what friends do," he agreed. "Now, it’s late, and we should be resting. I’ve got a beautiful woman waiting in my bed, and I want to be there if she wakes up…but I’m glad you were out here."

"Me too," she admitted. "And Niles?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that somewhere along the way things might work out for me and Mr. Sheffield?"

Smiling widely, Niles merely nodded. Fran and Max would find each other, even if it took some time. That was the thing about love – eventually even the daftest of lovers would navigate the confusing roadmaps of life and find their way home. Eventually they would find their way back to the love they yearned for, and the world would be once again on track. All along that long road, twists and turns aside, there would be the adventure of a lifetime, one which Niles knew all too well was greater than any road traveled alone, and in the end, there wouldn’t be that need to search alone anymore.

Eventually Fran and Max would find their way together too.

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