Back to Fan FictionPart Five
by
Brit
(brit_cass@hotmail.com)
Niles grabbed Max by the lapel and hauled him to his feet. Dragging him away from the sofa, he practically carried Maxwell, tripping him over Fran's legs and bumping him against the television to pin him against the wall. Niles stood there breathing heavily, his hands clenched around Maxwell's jacket while he glared at his employer.
Anger flooded Maxwell as well. After steadying himself, he knocked Niles hands roughly away from his body and straightened to loom over Niles, his eyes taking on a dangerous glint.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he forced through a clenched jaw.
Niles didn't answer, except to squint right back, his hands curling into fists as they stared at one another. For a moment, Fran thought they were going to start a fistfight over her. While this thrilled her at one level, it distressed her too. After all, it was her mishigas that got them into this predicament, asking Niles to pretend to be her husband in order to con her aunt.
She could feel the tension growing between them as they stood willing the other to back down. She shook her head ruefully; this wasn't how it should work. Niles was her friend, and Mr. Sheffield was her, well, her friend too. Fearing for both of them, she stood up and stepped closer, wanting desperately to diffuse the situation before one of them got hurt.
"Niles, wait. I..." she began, but Niles didn't let her finish. He didn't even turn toward her, just leaned toward Max and pressed his index finger against his chest.
"Me? What the bloody hell were you doing? I came out here expecting you to express your love and what did I hear?"
He edged closer toward Mr. Sheffield slightly, pushing him against the wall for emphasis, his voice dripping with scorn. "Is 'I want you' the best you can manage?"
Maxwell didn’t respond other than to glower sullenly at Niles. He didn’t want to listen, but Niles had always known exactly how to speak to him to get his attention. Maxwell hated to be told when he was wrong, especially when he knew he was.
Seeing his words take hold of Maxwell, Niles stepped back away from him and threw an arm in Fran's direction. "My God, man, look at her. What do you see?"
Involuntarily, Max obeyed his command and both sets of eyes turned toward her, roaming over her pajama-clad body to rest on Fran's confused and frightened face. Miss Fine did deserve better than what he’d been giving. He just wasn’t ready to give her more.
She looked back at them, astonished at this turn of events. She didn't know what had gotten into Niles. She'd never seen him put his usual deference aside like this to openly and boldly confront Mr. Sheffield about anything. She shifted her focus from one man to the other, wondering how she got them into these messes. Moreover, she wondered how she would get them out.
Niles smiled at her, trying to set her at ease. He knew he was pushing his luck with his boss, but this madness had gone on long enough and her concerned expression drove him to continue.
"I see a beautiful woman. Loving, funny, sexy, supportive and intelligent. She’s my good friend, but only a friend. We’re not attracted to each other romantically, but even pretending to be her husband caused me to reevaluate."
He shook his head ruefully, turning back to regard his stubborn boss. "She's everything any sane man would want, and everything that you and your children need."
Niles regarded his longtime friend placing an encouraging hand on his arm in contrast to the frustration lacing his voice. "Why can't you just say the words without backing away?"
Maxwell's anger softened at Fran's expression, seeing her as Niles described. He knew that Niles was right, that Miss Fine was everything he needed and wanted, but the old fear still gripped his heart. Instead of taking the opportunity to express his emotions, he lashed out at Niles, shoving his hand away.
"I don't need you to tell me what I want or need, Niles. I'm a big boy."
Niles snapped back, losing his temper again. "Then stop acting like a scared child and admit that you love her!"
Maxwell crossed his arms in front of his chest to keep from reaching for his butler’s neck. He frowned at Niles, reproachful and silently fuming at being scolded. Seeing Maxwell’s stubborn refusal to answer him, he shifted his stance and focused his attention on Fran.
"And you? When he dropped his defenses and shared his feelings with you, tonight and on that plane home from Paris, did you tell him you loved him?"
Fran dropped her eyes and shifted her weight from one foot to another. Shrugging and wringing her hands nervously, she laughed nervously as she forced out a stuttered response. "Well, um, you know it all happened so fast. I, ah, I didn't really get a, um, a chance to..."
Niles threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "What is it with you two? Don't you realize how lucky you are?"
He stepped away and looked back and forth between his two best friends. Dropping onto the arm of the couch, he shook his head plaintively.
"Why, Miss Fine? What’s stopping *you* from saying it?"
She regarded him fondly. She knew he was trying to help, but she had good reasons for not sharing her feelings. How would it look for her to spout undying love when he just wanted to be friends? Right. The poor schlub Nanny, trying to snare the rich Broadway Producer, she'd look like a fool. Or worse, the gold-digging bimbo that Miss Babcock accused her of being.
She closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. "You know the reason, Niles. He’s the Boss, and I’m just the Nanny."
Niles looked over in time to see the pained expression on Maxwell’s face, before smothering it in a scowl. He quickly looked away to hide his disappointment, but Niles knew he had misunderstood Miss Fine’s response as a rejection of his affections.
Maxwell cleared his throat before speaking, his voice rough with suppressed emotion. "You can’t force anyone to feel or say things they don’t mean. Just drop it, Niles."
Niles turned to see Fran’s face drop at Maxwell’s statement, taking it as confirmation that her love would never be returned. He sighed. He didn’t know what was worse, that they constantly misjudged one another, or that he knew them better than they knew themselves.
Walking over to Fran, Niles took both of her hands between his own, bringing them to his lips to show his affection. Lowering them, he held her hands, shaking them for emphasis while he pleaded with her.
"You are the most caring and affectionate person I've ever met. It took you about half a second to tell the children you loved them, another day and a half to say it to me. You say it everyday to your family, to Val, even the guy at the corner deli, yet you withhold it from the *one* person who needs to hear it the most."
Fran's looked up at Niles in astonishment. Did he really think that Mr. Sheffield’s reluctance was due to her own reticence to share her feelings? She snuck a peek at her boss, seeing his defensive stance in a new light.
She instinctively knew Niles was right; the distance between them wasn't all Mr. Sheffield’s fault. She wasn’t afraid of putting herself out there with other men, but she avoided risking her heart where it really mattered.
"It couldn’t be that simple," she tossed out, shaking her head. Niles lifted a reproachful eyebrow, causing her to question nervously, "Could it?"
A part of her didn’t want to believe it, but his statement rang true and she couldn’t deny it any longer. She thought about all of the times she’d cried over "the thing" and realized that he must be hurting as much as she. Her face dropped again, sliding into regret at all of the missed opportunities. Her eyes filled with tears as she resolved to change, pledging to fix the misunderstanding with Max regarding her true feelings.
Niles watched her process his words. He saw that she finally understood the situation and rounded again on his sulking boss.
"What are you waiting for? Take the risk. Most of us would give everything, take *any* risk to have the kind of love you're throwing away."
A part of him wanted to give in, but Niles’ actions irritated him. He didn't like being backed into a corner. Instead, Maxwell went on the offensive.
"Who are you to talk of risks, hmm? Who never stood up to his father and told him to shove "100-years of tradition" up his prim backside. Was it I that never became a barrister, that never auditioned, never wrote those scripts?"
At Niles' reproachful glare, Maxwell stepped up to him and pushed back against Niles’ chest with an accusatory finger.
"I took my chances, Niles. I thumbed my nose at my family and risked everything when I came here to produce."
Max’s eyes watered briefly and his voice faltered to a painful whisper, "I took a chance on love too, and look where it got me." His finger turned from Niles to point at himself. "I lost."
He shook off the feelings of loneliness that gripped his chest, not wanting to think about how many times he’d lost in that particular game. Instead he focused on the present situation, shoving the sadness aside to stoke his anger at Niles’ insidious actions. Armed with his earlier flash of insight, Max pressed on.
"You want to talk about taking risks? You fell in love with CC twenty years ago. Let’s chat after you tell her, hmm?"
Shocked, Niles shook his head. How did he know? Surely Maxwell wasn't perceptive enough to see what Niles had so carefully concealed from everyone, even himself, for over two decades. Chuckling mockingly, he tried to discredit Maxwell's statement.
"Now you’re acting repressed and delusional."
Maxwell continued pressing, forcing Niles to step back as he pushed against his shoulder, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What’s the matter, Niles? Don’t you think a blue blood and a domestic could have a happily-ever-after?"
He smacked his hand against Niles's shoulder for emphasis, his ire back full-force. "The class issue is bullshit, and you know it. You're scared of rejection, of failure. Or maybe you’re just afraid of success."
At Niles' stunned expression, Maxwell nodded his head smugly. "Where's your self-righteousness now, eh? Why don’t *you* take a chance?"
Although the accusation regarding his relationship with CC confounded Niles, his words also hurt. Niles knew Sara's death had caused him great pain, but when Maxwell contemptuously listed his professional and personal failures, resentment burned in his gut. How dare he accuse him after all he’d done?
"You really want to know why? Because of you! Out of loyalty and friendship, I gave up everything to help you get started and stayed, holding things together when Sara died. I don’t take chances in life because I’ve spent my whole life taking care of you!"
Fran’s mouth dropped open as she listened to them attack one another, venting their frustrations held too long inside. The experience was totally surreal, like watching herself and her sister argue from outside her body. She knew where this was headed and tried to stop it.
Stepping between them she scolded, "Stop it, both of you. All this yelling and guilt is making me homesick."
Neither man smiled at her humor, both of them too far gone to listen.
"Wasted. All this time, my efforts were wasted on a spoiled, self-centered brat, unwilling to accept friendship and love from anyone. Well, I’ve had enough."
Niles turned his back on Max and started walking away.
Fran started toward him, trying desperately to head-off this unhappy ending. But she was too late to stop the words from escaping Maxwell’s mouth. Shaking with rage, Max threw an aggravated hand toward Niles in bitter acquiescence.
"You want a chance to live your own life, Niles? You’ve got it. You’re fired. Get out and don’t ever..."
Any additional words were muffled when Fran covered his mouth with one hand and laid the other on his arm. Her actions pulled his angry stare down to her tear filled eyes.
"Don’t. Please don’t do this to each other."
Niles didn't need to hear the final words to fall from Maxwell's mouth. He stalked to the closet and pulled his overcoat on roughly, pausing briefly to try one more time to correct Maxwell’s misapprehension before walking out the door.
"I look at Miss Fine and see a woman completely and hopelessly in love with you. No matter how you deny it, you love her, too. I just hope you realize it before it’s too late."
Fran looked at Maxwell, pleading with tearful eyes. "Mr. Sheffield, tell him you didn't mean it. Please don't let me come between you. It's not worth it, I'd rather tell Aunt Rose the truth."
Breathing heavily, Maxwell stared into her eyes and started to calm down, his anger dissipating slightly. He didn't think he could deny her anything when she looked at him like that, her eyes drowning him in their chocolate depths. But Niles had no right to force them together. Stubbornly he removed her hand from his mouth and affirmed his earlier statement.
"No, Miss Fine. The truth is that he’s gone too far."
Fran shook her head and placed her hand on his cheek as a tear spilled down her face. Niles was right. It was past time for her to tell him everything.
"No, Max. The truth is that Niles is right. I do love you, more than I've ever loved anyone else. I’ve been crazy in love with you for over two years and I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."
Niles paused with his hand on the door to look at his friend and boss. His focus was completely on Fran now, visibly struggling to accept her admission of love. Maxwell was the most infuriating person Niles had ever met. Why would he hesitate to accept her?
Then again, why he would dismiss forty years of friendship over this, Niles would never understand. Niles knew that Maxwell would cool down, that firing him this time wasn't much different from the hundreds of times before, but something drastic needed to happen. If his leaving would convince Maxwell to let Miss Fine in, to allow her to love and support him, then it was worth the inconvenience.
He sighed. Besides, Max was right. It was past time to take a risk and live his own life.
As Niles pulled the door open, he revealed two men dressed in dark suits standing on the other side, one of them with arm upraised, poised to knock on the door. Revealing no emotion other than to flinch slightly in surprise, the taller of the two spoke tersely from behind darkened glasses.
"Good evening. I'm Agent Brown of the FBI. We're looking for a Mr. Niles?"
The hostile mood still hung in the room from their argument and made this unexpected event all the more shocking to his system. Niles cleared his throat and stepped forward hesitantly as the agents shifted their gaze between Niles, Maxwell, and the street outside.
"I'm Niles," he admitted nervously. "What can I do for you?"
Agent Brown's stout companion removed his glasses and turned to regard Niles, flashing his badge and speaking with a thick southern accent.
"Mr. Niles, I'm Agent Rogers. I'm afraid that you are wanted for questioning involving a matter of national importance. I'm sure that if you cooperate and come with us, we will be able to work out this little misunderstanding quickly and discretely."
Niles barely heard Miss Fine's nervous gasp as a feeling of unease gripped his chest. Unwilling just to go compliantly into the unknown, he nodded his assent, but remained standing where he was. Before going anywhere, he wanted to understand what this matter of national importance involved.
"May I ask what this is about?"
Agent Brown stepped next to him and lowered his voice dramatically. "We're not allowed to divulge the exact nature of the trouble, but let's just say that it has to do with your involvement in unauthorized surveillance. The rest is classified."
Surveillance. Well, he had to admit that he did a little novice spying, but it was only to take care of the Sheffield family, or to keep abreast of the neighborhood gossip. Something about this nagged at him. There was something familiar about the taller man, Agent Brown. Niles squinted up at him, trying to see past his darkened glasses. He knew he had seen him somewhere...
Shaking his head in disgust, he turned toward his former boss and snorted derisively.
"A word of advice, Mr. Sheffield. The next time you hire someone to pretend to be an FBI agent, try to get an actor that I won’t recognize from your revival of "A Thoroughly Modern Millie."
And with that he pushed past the fake agents and stormed out into the night, slamming the door behind him.
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