Disclaimer: I don't own any part or character from The Nanny…yet.
A/N: Just a little one shot. Let me know what you think. - D
What Do You Care?
"Miss Babcock…are you in here?" Niles called into the darkness of the dressing room.
Niles emerged from the dressing room. "Did you find her, Niles?" Max asked.
"She didn't answer, Sir. Are you sure this is where she was going? You still have that theatre over on tenth…maybe she went there." Niles suggested.
"I suppose that's possible." Max pulled out his cell and dialed CC again. "She's still not answering. I'll wait here for Fran to get back. You take the town car over there and see if that's where she is and Fran and I will take a cab home."
"Very good, Sir. Good night." Niles didn't say anything to Max, but he was worried about CC. He slipped behind the wheel of the car and was off to the tenth avenue theatre.
Niles banged on the stage door of the theatre then shook his head and called CC on the cell phone…he heard the tell tale ring and looked around finding her phone lying not far from where he stood. "Oh great. She keeps forgetting there is a hole in the right pocket of that ridiculous olive coat. I just wish she'd let me mend it." Niles dialed Max. "Yes, Sir. I think she's here, but she can't hear me at the door, and I found her phone out here on the ground. Oh, no, Sir. There is a hole in her coat pocket she keeps forgetting about. I'm a butler; it's the kind of thing I notice. Yes, Sir…do you have the combination for the stage door, Sir? It's what? Yes, Sir…no need I know it. Good bye, Sir." Niles shook his head and closed his phone. "She's worked for him for nearly fifteen years and he still has to look up her birth date." Niles punched the numbers into the box and hearing the click he opened the door.
There was a single 'ghost light' on the stage. "Miss Babcock?" Niles called out hearing his voice echo in the cavernous theatre. Niles walked down stage toward the audience pulling the 'ghost light' with him. "Miss Babcock?"
Niles sat on the edge of the stage and sighed. "Dear God, woman, where are you?"
"What do you care?" Her voice came from somewhere in the darkness behind him.
Niles turned as best he could with his legs dangling over the front of the stage. "Miss Babcock?" Niles hoisted himself up and looked around the stage behind him. The set was the interior of a home. The back wall lined with book shelves. There was a sofa center stage and a chair on either end. "Where the hell are you?"
CC lifted her arm over her head and her fingers showed just over the sofa. Niles made his way to her, taking the ghost light with him as far as he could. He stood at the end of the sofa and looked at her sitting pitifully on the floor with her back resting against the sofa.
"Now, why did you run away from the banquet like that, Babs?" Niles joined her on the floor.
CC didn't look at him. "Nothin' keepin' me there. I'd done my part. Schmoozed the backers, collected the checks, dealt with the gropers and the drunks who came on to me. And for what…he didn't even look at me."
"I thought you were over that." Niles sighed. "They've been engaged for over a month…"
She cut him off. "Not Maxwell, you bone head."
Niles was confused and tried uselessly to read her face in the dim light that was cast across the back wall. "I don't understand. If you don't mean Max, then who do you mean?"
"What do you care?" She didn't wait for an answer. "It doesn't matter…he didn't even notice me. Not that he was there with me, but still." CC sighed and Niles couldn't help but hear the tell tale sound of her crying.
"Now, Babs, don't cry. No man is worth crying over." Niles slid closer to her until their shoulders touched.
CC sniffed a little and dropped her head onto his shoulder. "This man is, Niles. I've finally lost him. I didn't think that could ever happen, but it has…"
"Miss Babcock, if the man was truly worth crying over…he wouldn't make you cry. Please…don't be sad." Niles spoke softly trying to hide his heartbreak.
"What do you care?" CC barked.
Niles pulled himself up from the floor. "What do I care? I'm here aren't I? Not Max, not your family and not your rich friends, but me." Niles thought for a moment and something occurred to him. "Wait…that's the third time you've asked me that."
"What?" CC croaked quietly from her place on the floor.
Niles grabbed at her in the darkness and pulled her to her feet. "That's the third time you've asked me 'what do I care' since I walked in here less than ten minutes ago."
"So?" CC tried to break free of his hold on her. "Niles…let me go."
"No." He answered flatly.
CC fought against him. "What…why…how dare…"
"What if I were to say…I love you?" Niles pressed her back against the bookcases.
CC's eyes popped up to meet his. "What?"
"I love you." Niles repeated in his soft, near growling tone.
CC narrowed her eyes at him. "Now you take it back…right?" CC waited. "Right?"
"No." Niles didn't move a muscle. His hands were still resting on the book case. His eyes were still gazing directly into hers, boring into her.
"Niles…I don't think this…" CC swallowed uncomfortably. "This is… this isn't…" CC breathing was shallow and uneven and she couldn't get her thoughts focused. "Niles, this isn't funny…"
"Please, CC…please don't run away from me…not again." Niles nearly begged on a whisper.
"Again?" CC frowned. "When did I ever…"
"That time when they walked in on us. Why…why did you run away?" CC couldn't think straight he was too close, the heat coming off of him too much, his words to raw, too honest.
"Stop. Niles…this isn't funny." CC's hands went to his chest.
Niles felt his eyes filling. "No. It's not funny…I love you…I'm not taking it back and I'm not going to pretend that I don't. Now you can run away from me for the rest of your life, but it's not going to make it any less true." Niles lips crashed down onto hers and he poured years of pent up frustration and unrequited love into that one kiss. If he'd only have one chance to show her he would use it to the fullest. She may smack him into next week when he finally released her, but for now, this instant, this one kiss, she would be his.
His hands pulled her into him tightly allowing her to feel just how much he did indeed want her. CC nearly melted into his embrace. Her hands flew to his face and her fingers dove into the wavy hair she adored. His tongue beckoned for entrance to her wonderful mouth and it was granted. Their tongues danced and caressed in small circles pulling a moan from deep within them. When the need for air became too much to ignore, Niles moved his attentions to her throat nipping and kissing at the skin there. "My God, woman you could drive a man mad."
"Niles…" CC whispered. "What is all this?"
"This is fifteen years of lying to myself coming to an end." He hummed into her neck.
"Niles…wait." CC pulled him back from her, immediately missing him. "I have to know, that this isn't part of some stupid game. That it's not just some pent up hostility turned on its head that's going to end badly. That it's not just something you have to get out of your system. Please…even I'm better than just a quick f-"
Niles lips cut her off and just as quickly he pulled back. "Don't say that…don't ever even let the thought enter your mind. I love you, CC. It's no joke. Even I wouldn't joke about this. I swear it with all my heart. And while I want nothing more that to make love to you, I won't…not unless you feel the same. Once would never be enough for me. Better to walk away insane with desire than to taste once what I would inevitable spend the rest of my life craving to taste again."
"Oh Niles…" CC took his warm lips with hers in a deep and probing kiss. A kiss that was so intense, so full of love, desire and promise that neither wanted it to end. But end it did, with them heaving and gasping for breath; with their foreheads touching in an intimate gesture of affection that for so long when untold.
"How could you ever think you'd lost me?" Niles asked softly as his voice finally returned to him.
CC sighed reveling in the feel of him close to her. "I ran away…just like you said. We never even mentioned it. Then tonight, you seemed so distant, so…uninterested. I'd gotten used to you always being right where I needed you to be…right where…" CC paused for a moment. "Right where I wanted you to be, at arm's length…suddenly you weren't there and…I missed you."
"I missed you too, but I couldn't stay at arm's length any more. It was killing me. Being that close to you, but still…not close enough to you." Niles confessed.
CC smiled at him thinking how handsome he looked in the soft glow from the ghost light. "Not close enough for what?" CC tossed him her sexy smirk.
"Not close enough to have you. To take you in my arms and love you, kiss you and make you understand just how much mean to me." Niles kissed her neck so softly that it made her shiver.
CC brushed her cheek lightly over his and whispered in his ear. "And just how much do I mean to you?"
"More than the very air I breathe." Niles kissed her softly and smiled at her.
CC chewed on her bottom lip signaling Niles that she was concerned about something. "What does all this mean for us, Niles?"
"I can't answer for us. I can only answer for me." And answer Niles did. "For me…I swear by all that's good and holy that I will forever love you with every fiber of my miserable old being; and that I will live to serve only you for the rest of my days, if you'll have me."
CC was full on crying now. "I love you, Niles…I don't know why I ever doubted it or hid from it, but God help me I do." Their lips crashed together in a celebratory kiss of what was to come for them.
"Niles?" CC whispered against his warm lips.
"Yes, Love?" He answered without breaking contact.
"Take me home."