Author's Note: Hello all. I've only recently watched The Nanny for the first time since they aired, and had forgotten how much I adore Niles and CC. They've been rattling about my head for awhile now - this is just a little piece I scribbled whilst watching.
Niles: Oh my God, you insane woman, you've kidnapped someone's child! There is no Sidney, I made him up, you lunatic! Oh, my God, we're going to prison.
C.C.: I stole someone's child! I thought you were trying to help me!
Niles: Oh, you baboon, why would I help you? No, no, this is all my fault, I've got to call that theatre...
After seeing the child off C.C. found Niles in Maxwell's office frantically sifting through papers with one hand and clutching the phone with the other. His eyes briefly flicked up to her standing in the middle of the room, hands clasped loosely in front of her smiling steadily. Niles thought it terribly unfair that she should look so bloody lovely at a time like this, but failed to stop the images of kidnapping charges flashing through his mind long enough to wonder why she was so calm.
"We'll go to prison!" he repeated in a yelp, knowing it was an exaggeration but wanting her to feel some of his guilt and fear. This thought made him feel somewhat cowardly, it never occurring to the solitary butler that it was actually the comfort of a shared experience he was seeking.
C.C. had to bite her lip to stop from laughing. If only the kid had remembered the insulin line. She rarely managed to push Niles so far from composure and, as ever, she wanted to push further, to see more.
"Where did that bloody man put his damn address book. What's the number of the theatre? Where's the kid? We need to find out his real name..."
Niles had looked up at her when asking about the boy, and finally absorbing her stillness, his words slowed.
"Oh." He said, slamming a drawer and shoving the phone onto the desk. C.C. chuckled happily and, as Niles was trying to stop his scowl slipping into a grin, he realised that of all their strange interactions, moments like these were perhaps his favourite. The times he thought he had her only for her to suddenly, seemingly effortlessly, turn everything upside-down. That rush of adrenalin as he realised what had happened, that damn delighted grin on her face. Sometimes it was just a particularly clever line she slipped into the conversation, after which she would hold his gaze with that infuriating, infectious smile, even as Mr. Sheffield or Miss Fine continued talking, oblivious, beside her. Once she had blown him a little kiss and it had taken all his reserve not to burst out laughing and hug her.
He leaned against the front of the desk, still trying to look exasperated. If only she wouldn't look at him like that.
If only she would always look at him like that.
He sighed. "I swear to God, Babcock, you will be the death of me."
Her smile faded a little at the still fresh memory of his heart attack, but she managed to push the image of his pale, blank face slipping away from her behind the petulant pout before her now.
"You chose this game, Lurch. You'll just have to stop underestimating me. Or..." She rearranged her features into an expression of mock shock, and hand lightly on her chest, said, "But don't tell me you don't want to play anymore."
Despite himself a smile flickered across Niles' mouth. "Perish the thought."
C.C. laughed as she briefly pressed her hand to his chest and walked out. Niles straightened his suit, cleared his throat, and wondered how it was possible to know someone so intimately yet be so constantly surprised by them.