CC walked quietly out of the Sheffield residence, determined to never make it back. The last person on earth that she wanted to see again was the bane of her existence, Niles the butler. For so long it had been pranks and jokes and teasing and laughter, but now, after his speech to her, she'd come to see it as something different. This time, she was not laughing.

Au contraire. She was now crying, over a butler for heaven's sake! She would never let it show, never let him know that he'd gotten to her. But how he had! CC Babcock was not one to lose her cool, especially over a man, but somehow tonight it seemed as if all the rules had been broken. This was not a game; she was not Niles' plaything. This was her life, or what seemed like the end of it.

How could she go back to him? Hadn't he pushed her about as far away as a person could go? Over the years he'd made many, many cruel remarks, all at her expense, but until tonight she had just laughed them away.

But how could she ever laugh again, knowing that she'd hurt the one person who claimed to do what no other person on earth ever had- he said he loved her. Love and CC Babcock did not go hand in hand. Even her own parents had never used the L word around her or to her. CC'd laughed at Fran over the years over her simplistic views on love, but in a way, she envied her. To Fran, love was simple, it was all a fairy tale. Like it or not, Fran had met her prince, and he'd whisked her away to a new life, one that CC imagined that Fran had never even believed possible.

But she was not Fran Fine, and this was not a fairy tale. How on earth could Niles possibly love her? Didn't he know how badly the comments had hurt? The comments on her personality, she could take. Even CC knew she was a difficult person, to say the least. But then there were the comments about her weight, her looks, her mental stability. Just when she'd felt the lowest, Niles was right there, teasing her about things that she couldn't admit that she despised about herself.

At the time, she'd shrugged them off as Niles' way of just being himself. And at the time,she appreciated not being treated with kid gloves. But now that everything was all said and done, even CC had to admit to herself that his comments had hurt, and hurt her badly.

For so long she'd tried to convince everyone that she was perfect, that somehow she was above reproach. But she hadn't fooled Niles. He'd seen her for exactly who she was, and now he claimed to have loved her all along. What in the world could that fool be thinking?

To be honest, most of the time she didn't actually even love herself. In a world where every woman in New York was expected to prance around in Fran Fine-sized miniskirts, she knew she didn't have what it took to make it based on looks alone. Her weight had fluctuated over the years, and even though she pretended that it didn't bother her, in actuality it had. A lot.

Yes, she was envious of Fran Fine, That woman could eat all day long and not put on a single ounce. But for CC, every day was a battle of the bulge, one on which some days she lost the battle. But somehow, before things got too bad, too far, she'd been brought back to reality. And the reality was that Niles was more than a butler- he was her rock.

But how could he love her, that was the question she asked herself. She had so many faults, and he was always quick to point them out to her. But did he see her for who she really was? One way or the other she would find out, for once and for all.

0000

"What's the matter, did you come to take the broom as your ride home?" Niles snickered bitterly as he greeted CC, who was obviously not in a joking mood.

"Can it, Butler Boy. I'm here to talk to you, and I'll be damned if I leave without getting a chance to say my piece."

"What do you want, Babcock? If you've come to make a fool out of me once again, you'll be happy to know that I quit."

"You quit what?"

"Everything. Working for Mr. Sheffield. Pining over someone who obviously doesn't know a thing about love..."

"You're right," CC sighed.

He looked at her in astonishment. "What did you say?"

"I said I don't know the first thing about love. I don't even love myself most of the time. There, are you happy now?"

"The question should be, are you happy?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. Why must you do this to me, Niles?" she cried out.

"Do what to you? I'm afraid you're rambling and I don't quite understand what you're getting at..."

"Niles, you imbecile, the reason I can't love you is because I don't love myself. You yourself remind me all of the time what a cow I am."

"A mad cow, at that."

"One more joke and I'm out of here!" CC threatened, trying desperately not to cry.

But it was no use. The tears fell and they fell freely, shocking them both in the process.

"Oh, there, there, Miss Babcock. You can't possibly believe that I was ever serious about all of the names I've called you over the years?"

"I don't know what to think. One day I'm the wicked witch and the next you're telling me you want to marry me. What am I supposed to think?"

"I guess...I guess I never thought about it."

"That's your problem, Niles! You never think, do you? Did it ever occur to you that your name calling, your pranks, your insults might have hurt my feelings once in a while?"

"It seems to me you gave as well as you took."

"Touche. But I'm not trying to fight with you. Not now. I just want..."

"What do you want? What do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you love me. It can't be because of my svelte figure or the way I prance around in tiny little skirts all day..."

"Oh, Miss Babcock. You can't possibly be comparing yourself to Miss Fine, can you?" Niles asked, starting to see her in a new light.

"I don't have to. For years, you've done that for me."

"I was joking,,,what do I have to do to convince you that I love you, just the way you are? Damn it woman, I don't care if you're a size 2 or a size 20, your weight has never changed the way I see you. I see you as a lively, intelligent, hard working woman who knows what she wants from life and isn't afraid to go for it."

She looked up, drying her eyes in the process. "Is that the truth, Niles? Or do you just feel sorry for me?"

"I could never feel sorry for you."

"That's not what you said to me earlier tonight."

"I know, and I meant it at the time. But I didn't realize...I didn't see...oh, Miss Babcock, why can't you see what I see...I see you as beautiful. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" she asked, suspicously.

"I couldn't. You're afraid of not being perfect- well, so am I. I know what my lot in life is. I know there's no way to expect a beautiful socialite like yourself to fall in love with a measly butler..."

"Will you stop that? Do you think I see you as just a butler?" she demanded.

"Well, don't you?"

"Do you see me as a mad cow?"

"No, I see you as a chicken."

With that, they both broke into laughter, finally seeing what had been in front of them for years but had been blinded by their own feelings of pride.

"Swine," she muttered, drawing close to him, so close he could feel her breath on his face.

"Oh Miss Babcock, you don't know how long I've dreamed of holding you in my arms and telling you what I've so clumsily tried for weeks now.."

"Then what's stopping you?" And for the first time that night, she smiled. Which only served to make her even more beautiful in his eyes.

At that point, the game was off. This was more than pranking, joking, teasing. It was about love. Yes, it was love, and for the first time in her life, CC found herself saying the three little words that she'd always feared for all of her life."

"I love you, Niles."

And with that, CC realized that her fairy tale had just come true.

The end