Disclaimer: I don't own any part of 'The Nanny'…yet.
A/N: I just wanted to do a little story from CC's POV. One Shot. As always...let me know what you think. – D
Niles' Recollections
Niles had just started up the back steps when he heard Fran try to whisper to CC. "Wow, he's loves you even more than I thought." Fran joined CC at the table.
CC's head popped up. "What? Who?"
Niles stopped his ascent of the stairs and thought to himself. "What in the hell is she saying?"
"You just aren't going to admit it are ya?" Fran shook her head. "CC, why do you think none of your 'relationships' last very long?"
Niles sat on the step and 'eavesdropped', thinking, "I'd like to know that myself, CaCa."
CC frowned at her new friend. "What are you talking about? I've had long term relationships. I've known Maxwell for almost twenty years."
"Right, he was your boss, then your associate, then your business partner, now he's my husband." Fran detailed.
"Oohh, good one, Fran." Niles thought in silence.
CC looked away. "There've been others."
"Name one relationship you've had with a man that has lasted more than three months." Fran asked and waited.
"Don't even say Chandler…he doesn't count." Niles ran through his mind.
CC thought for a minute. "There was Chandler…we dated for more than three months."
"No…you dated for a month, and then he dumped you. Then you dated him for another month and he dumped you again." Fran wasn't trying to be mean, but she wanted to make a point.
CC scowled at Fran. "So what is your point, Fran?"
"How long have you known, Niles?" Fran asked innocently enough.
Niles frowned and thought. "What have I got to do with it?"
"I've known Niles as long as I've known Max, almost twenty years." CC answered plainly.
"How many business functions and stuff have you and Niles gone to together?" Fran asked her again as innocently as she could.
"Where is Fran going with this?" Niles wondered silently.
"Geez, Fran…in twenty years?" CC didn't think she could answer.
Fran rolled her eyes. "Just guess, gimme a ballpark figure."
CC sighed. "Between him escorting me to business functions and some openings, and the times I went with him to a few of his friend's weddings, or a butler banquet or something…I don't know…maybe once a month. Why?"
Niles shrugged and nodded unseen in agreement with CC's number.
"Ok, once a month, twelve months a year, twenty years, that's…" Fran started working the figures with her finger in the air.
CC rolled her head. "It's two hundred and forty, Fran." Niles smiled from his hidden place on the back stairs.
"Two hundred and forty dates…" Fran smiled at CC who still didn't seem to be catching on to Fran's point. "Now, when you were dating a guy, how many times a week would you go out?"
"Now, Fran…you know a dog needs to be walked every day." Niles smiled at his silent zinger.
"Fran…what are you trying to say?" CC was getting a little impatient and couldn't even remember how this conversation started.
Fran tilted her head at her new friend. "Just huma me."
"Ok, I don't know…maybe twice." CC finally answered.
Fran smiled at CC. "Ok, twice a week, good. So we've got two hundred and forty. Now divide that by two." Niles nearly laughed knowing that this had to be driving CC mad.
CC sighed heavily. "A hundred and twenty, Fran, but I still don't see you're point."
"I'm gettin' there, CC." Fran thought for a minute about how to proceed. Fran decided to stay as far from the word 'date' as possible. "How many weeks are there in a year again?" Fran asked actually knowing the answer to his one."
CC looked at her with genuine shock. "Fifty two! Geez Fran, what in hell are you trying to say?"
"What's a hundred and twenty divided by fifty two?" Fran was closing in for the kill.
CC frowned at Fran and shook her head. "It's a little more than two...two point three give or take."
Niles thought, "Wow, Babs, impressive figuring that in your head."
"Wow…you are really good with numba's." Fran looked a little shocked.
CC nodded. "Thanks, now what's the point?"
Fran stood and with her hands firmly planted on her hips she explained. "You said yourself ya've had two hundred and forty 'dates' with Niles."
Niles sat up at that… "Wow," He thought. "That really sounds like a lot when you clump them all together and call them 'dates'."
CC nodded. "So?"
"Well, as ya just showed, if ya break that down to an average of two dates a week it means that you and Niles have been datin' for ova two years. So, Niles is your longest relationship with a man, no matter how you look at it, two years or on and off for twenty." Fran left CC sitting with her jaw flapping at the kitchen table.
Niles frowned and suddenly he grinned…"Fran thinks CC's in love with me!"
CC leapt up from her chair startling Niles. "Oh my God, is she insane? Is Fran really trying to tell me that Niles is in love with me?"
"Me? Oh my God! She is saying that! Fran has completely lost her mind." Niles stood up.
Niles heard CC laughed aloud for a second. "Wait. She's trying to say that I'm in love with Niles! She is insane!"
Niles had a sudden realization at CC's words and continued upstairs. "Oh, Babs, I know exactly what Fran's getting at." Niles stood at the top of the stairs for a moment. "Why do I seek her out for battle? I mean, she's a worthy opponent and a somewhat easy target, but she's also a lovely companion."
Niles let his mind wander and eventually made his way down the front stairs into the foyer. He stood there silently watching CC sitting on the sofa. She seemed to be deep in thought. "CC is an amazing woman." Niles considered to himself. "She's incredibly intelligent, sharp, and witty. She's responsible for putting Sheffield Production's on the map and can get money from a rock. She's beautiful, sophisticated, and dare I say…sexy. But she's still CC Babcock, the bitch of Broadway…we've known each other for…twenty years…" Niles realized he practically repeated Fran's mantra.
Niles thought back to all the times he'd been CC's escort even when Sara was still alive and the four of them would attend openings or other business functions or parties. "She was so lost after Sara died. She'd lost her best friend, she seemed lonely. Yet, she still managed to keep the business going." He'd always accompany her when Max was unavailable. It's been no different since Fran came either.
Niles remembered the time they all got trapped at the Fine's apartment in the blizzard.
"I remember that ridiculous night shirt Sylvia gave me and CC wearing Sylvia's caftan. What a sight we were." Niles smiled and then his eyebrow crept up his face as he recalls CC sliding under the covers and snuggling up to him in the pull out. "I wanted to wait and see what she'd do, but I just couldn't let her think I was Max. I don't know how she couldn't hear him and Fran in the kitchen. Unless…maybe she did hear them..."
Niles watched as CC shook her went into the office. "I need to get some work done." Niles made his way through the kitchen out to the terrace to sweep and water the plants. He suddenly found himself looking through the doors watching CC. She was sitting on the loveseat with her legs folded under her reading a script. He noticed her laugh lightly and look up at the morning tea service he hadn't yet cleared from Max's desk. He smiled at the memory it brought on.
CC was going on about Fran and that contest. "…kissing is an art. It has to be sensuous, deeply felt and most of all it has to be spontaneous."
"I remember when she kissed me how soft her lips were…" Niles sighed, "And then I opened my eyes and saw her recoiled in horror. Why?" Niles thought. "Was it because she realized it was me and not Max or because I looked so disgusted?" Niles shook his head free of the thought. "It couldn't be…" Then Niles noticed CC moving in the office. She stepped forward to lean on Max's desk and smiled at another memory of this office.
"Maxwell, darling, is that you?" Niles remembers her whispering.
His thoughts wandered. "I can see how she'd think it was Max at first, but after I said, don't turn around. I mean really, my accent is so much richer than Max's. And when I asked her to cluck like a chicken it was all I could do not to lose it.
He could almost hear her. "Braaawwk, bawk, bawk, bawk…" Niles thought to himself. "It was almost sexy watching her roll her bare shoulders like that." Niles looked up at CC again and her fingers were lightly grazing her lips. That's when he remembered what came later that night.
Niles' heart instinctively started pounding in his chest like it did then. He could see it before him like watching a movie. "It was so incredible. The feel of her hands on my face, her fingers in my hair, it was amazing. The way she felt in my arms. Her lips so warm, so wet, so perfect…" His shook the thought from his mind and whispered. "This is ridiculous…it's Miss Babcock for crying out loud, we were drunk." He watched as she left the office and he went back into the kitchen and up to his room where he'd left the flowers for the foyer. He had barely stepped out onto the balcony when he saw her standing at the banister. He sighed softly as he remembered her there once before.
It was the night of that benefit after CC had quit and Fran brought in her music teacher. CC accepted Max's offer and apologized to the fake Marvin Hamlisch. "No hard feelings, hey Marv…good luck with your new show, I smell a Tony."
Niles laughed lightly at his response. "'Well then you should have showered after he left.' Dear God, how I missed times like that when she was gone. Niles eyes grew large when he remembered his growly "Welcome back." She looked like she wanted to take a bite out of me."
CC looked over at the fireplace and Niles watched as she sat on the bottom step. "Now what is she looking at?" He wondered and smiled when he realized.
He could almost hear the music…
'…it's very clear our love is here to stay...' "I spun her out and back…" Niles heard CC laugh as she did that night. "God that laugh drives me crazy."
I remember saying, "You know, I'm really glad this little fling between you and Chandler is over… he was beneath you."
And she said, "Not anymore."
Then I tore up the check and said, "This one's on me."
Niles' face got very serious and he thought. "She's always such a good sport when I pull off a prank and she never does anything too mean or terrible to me. Well, making me wear that ridiculous dress and give the Fine's massages after she bought me at the auction wasn't very nice. She could've had me give her a massage that would've been one hell of a way to end the day." That sly smirk ran across Niles' face and then just as suddenly changed when he heard CC speak.
"I don't believe it!" CC whispered.
Niles thoughts were on the same page. "Could she really be…?"
"Am I really…is he?" CC wondered aloud.
Niles sighed softly and thought, "No time like the present."
"Am I really in love with…" CC thought.
"Is who what?" Niles stepped down behind where she sat startling her.
"Niles!" CC leapt up from the step and nearly fell.
Niles stepped down and grabbed her keep her upright. "Isn't it a little early to be drunk?" "That was a little mean, old boy."
CC frowned for a minute. "I'm not drunk." She pulled harshly from his grasp and then softened a bit. "Niles…"
"What?" He turned to face her. "God she looks almost vulnerable."
CC looked at him. "Would you do something for me?" "He's so handsome."
Niles was wondering what she was going to do, but wanted badly to find out. "What do you want me to do?" "Cluck like a chicken?"
CC extended her hand to him. Niles looked at her for a moment but he took it. "Ok, CC let's see what you're up to." She led him to the sofa and they sat were they had the night of that amazing kiss. Niles thought. "Oh, God just look at you. Fran's right. I am in love with you."
CC turned on the sofa to face him. "Niles, do you remember that night when you played that trick on me in the office? When you asked me to…"
"I don't ever remember seeing her nervous before." Niles wanted to hug her.
CC swallowed a bit. "Cluck like a chicken."
Niles smirked. "Yes, I remember. You did rather well, actually." "I'll have to tell you someday how sexy it is when you roll your shoulders."
"Thank you. But do you remember what happened later…out here." CC had couldn't recall ever being so nervous.
"Come on, Babs, I've seen firsthand how you make grown men cry and send children running and screaming. Why so nervous with me?" Niles realized in that instant he loved her, desperately. "Yes. I remember." "How could I forget?"
CC stood up and looked down into his eyes. "Would you kiss me like that again?" They couldn't blame it on alcohol this time. Neither of them had been drinking. Not at 11:15 in the morning.
"Did she just ask me to kiss her? Oh, God, this isn't where I thought she was going." Niles needed to calm himself down. "Why?" Niles was suspicious. "What evil trick have you planned for me?"
CC was most sincere. "No trick, Niles. I promise. I'm testing something Fran said this morning."
"Dear God, is that what she's been doing all day…remembering? I'm not supposed to know…" "What did Fran say this morning?" Niles was stalling.
CC sighed. "Well, to make a Fran story short, she said technically we've been dating on and off for twenty years and it's high time we admit we're in love with each other."
"And how does this test that theory?" "I have to know where her mind is in all this." Niles considered.
CC swallowed. "I can't remember ever being kissed like that by anyone else. I need to know it wasn't a…a fluke." "Or if we have to be drunk to pull it off."
Niles stood up and faced her. "I have wanted to kiss you like that every day since that first time." "I…uh…I suppose I can try." He made no move. Not because he didn't want her, but they'd been bickering, tossing insults, there was a heat, a passion built up. Now it was just longing, want and desire, burning yes, but not like that night.
He inhaled deeply and sighed then he lifted his hand to her face. "Not like that first time, old man. It has to be better this time. Not hurried or out of an alcohol induced desire, but real love." "God, CC you're beautiful." Her eyes closed and she leaned into his touch. "Why have I waited so long?" Niles thought as he brushed his lips to hers softly at first.
"Oh God it's even better than that night." CC's mind was reeling at the sensation of him, all of him. He moved his hands around her waist and deepened the kiss.
Their tongues danced and stroked together in an all consuming kiss which poured years of pent up desire, love, frustration and need out over both of them. Her hands held his face as her fingers slipped into his hair. His hands rested on the small of her back pulling her into him. Niles wanted CC, and CC wanted Niles. Neither would deny it again. Then it happened.
The front door opened and Max and Fran came in. Fran's jaw didn't drop this time, she smiled. Max's jaw, well it still dropped and he closed the door a little more firmly than necessary, breaking Niles and CC apart, again. CC sighed and started past Niles.
"Not this time, woman." Niles swept CC into his arms and carried her past Max and Fran and up the stairs to his room.
"Fran…" Max asked. "Why does this keep happening?"
Fran smiled and elbowed him in the ribs. "You know better than anyone, Honey. Ya can't fight love."