So um...hey guys lol Remember me? I very timidly offer this story to you lol I've been working on it since October, because I love N/CC too much to simply stop writing about them and I simply cannot stop writing at all. So this is a kind of retrospective story...so expect a lot of introspection of the characters and thoughts about past events etc. It's the story of their break up , so yes it will probably be very sad at times. Doesn't mean the ending will be ;) Anyway, I don't want to give too much away and just hope you'll enjoy this. Please, please, please review!lol
Memories of Autumn
8th October: Huntington Road, York
It was the beginning of another grey, dull autumn day to which Niles Brightmore awoke in the early hours of the 8th October. After years of service as a butler for the Sheffield family his body had grown accustomed to getting up early, a habit, it seemed, he was unlikely to break in the near future. He sighed a little and rolled on his back to follow the cracks in the ceiling with his eyes. 8th October: 3 years, 2 months and 5 days since his failed relationship with C.C. Babcock. He closed his eyes against the image of the beautiful blonde woman who had once been his. A morning that started off with her in his head could never end well, so much he had learned.
He sighed again and climbed out of bed, his bare feet meeting the tiled floor in a harsh tapping sound as he walked to the kitchen. It was cold but he simply could not afford to pay for the heating and pride prohibited him from contacting his former employer. No, he had made that decision and he was going to live with it. A slice of stale toast and some milk later, he was in the bathroom changing into previously worn clothes. His hand almost recoiled instantly when it met the stubble on his face, as if it was appalled to be confronted by it. He needed to shave, but finding the energy was just too hard. Instead he half-heartedly ran a comb through his hair, deciding to let the beard be for now, and left his flat. A tired groan escaped his lips as he climbed up the stairs to the main street, brushing the bushes that formed the border from the house to the pavement with his hands. The motion left tiny beads of water on his fingertips. The sudden cold was chilling and he pulled his coat tighter around himself, not allowing it to seep through to his bones.
He had wanted to go into town, maybe look for a job that would tie him over for the next few months and make winter bearable, but he only got as far as the end of the street. He knew that C.C.'s image was bound to come back and haunt him and it didn't fail to have the usual effect. He felt paralysed, not only in his ability to direct his thoughts to other things, but also in the simple things like walking. He didn't even notice that the small drizzle of rain had turned into a gentle downpour, as he sat down on the bench under a willow by the river that ran along his street.
Over the years he had felt her slipping away from him, like the marks she had left on his body until her image had become faint and faded. But this morning he had seen her again and was trying now to memorise the tiniest features of her face, lest she slip away from him again. It was as if the woman was linked to his sanity and insanity at the same time. She had been the one to drive him so utterly over the edge until he had fallen into the darkness of despair and yet she was the only way for him to arise again.
Blonde hair, small nose, beautiful cheek bones. He remembered tracing them with his fingertips. He could almost feel her skin still, a sensation so painful that it jolted him back into reality with an almighty force. Moisture was mingling with the rain on his cheeks. Shortly after their break-up he had suffered another heart attack, more severe than the first. He had always known that she would be the death of him. He had tried to stay in New York to recover, but her sudden care had felt like pity and he had grown to see that his life had amounted to nothing. No career, a failed relationship with the one woman he had loved for the majority of his life and no family. The return to England had been inevitable, not so much an escape as rather a plan B that he had always kept, just in case. But even the best laid plans could go awry, that much Niles had come to learn...
