I'm Still Standing

Maxwell and Fran had taken the kids to the park for the day. Leaving Niles with the whole house to himself. He debated on what he should do. Should he finish his cleaning, smoke some of 's cigars, or use the jacuzzi? He looked around the living room and the area around the front door. It was a mess. Fran had a family emergency, leaving Maxwell in charge of the children. Niles sighed. He should probably do his job today. Niles went up to his room and grabbed his portable radio. He put it on the small table by the front door and turned it on. He was cleaning up the fort made out of blankets and pillows when an old favorite song of his came on.

You could never know what it's like

Your blood like winter freezes just like ice

And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you

You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use

Suddenly, he realized why he had liked the song so much. It reminded him of the ice queen herself, C.C. Babcock. Then, the doorbell rang and he ran to the door. Speak of the devil, the devil will come. Niles opened the door to let her in. She examined the mess as she handed him her jacket.

"Trying to recapture your youth, Old Man?" C.C. said, imitating Maxwell's voice as she used the nickname his boss called the butler.

And did you think this fool could never win

Well look at me I'm coming back again

I got a taste of love in a simple way

Niles didn't respond and went back to cleaning. He was enjoying the song and she couldn't ruin it. C.C. walked over to him. She noticed he was humming along as he cleaned up the fake fort. C.C. couldn't help herself in the next few minutes as she also enjoyed the song.

She sang,

"Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid

I'm still standing after all this time

Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind"

At this point, Niles stopped cleaning and just stared at C.C. . He could not believe that she would start singing in front of him. Actually, he could not believe that she could sing! He just stared at her in awe as she continued,

"I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah"

'To hell with it,' he thought as he jumped in during the next verse,

"Once I could never hope to win

You starting down the road leaving me again

The threats you made were meant to cut me down

And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now"

Now it was C.C's turn to stare. She knew he could sing showtunes, but she didn't think he had the voice for regular pop songs. Boy was she wrong. They didn't know what got into them when they were staring into each other's eyes and singing the chorus together,

"You know I'm still standing, better than I ever did

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid"

C.C. jumped on the couch and started dancing. He couldn't help but smiling at her. They were truly just in the moment. He jumped on the couch with her and then silence. His radio must've died.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted," C.C. said.

"Yeah," Niles replied.

They were breathing heavily. Neither of them were used to this amount of exercise. They were still standing on the couch. Their foreheads were pressed together. Niles knew that the family would be out for a couple more hours.

"I was hoping to get some work done." She said, not moving from their position.

"Me too. Oh well." He told her. C.C. wrapped her arms around his neck. Niles' breath hitched. He'd been imagining a moment like this for years now. He could remember that kiss in the living room months ago like it was yesterday. They hadn't talked about it since then. He was happy it happened, he wasn't sure about her though. He hoped she was happy it happened too.

C.C. started leaning in closer to him. He closed his eyes and felt her lips on his. It was a soft at first. He kissed her back, deepening the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist. C.C. pulled away and Niles was sad that she ended it. Niles pulled her in for another kiss. This kiss seemed to last longer than the first one. It was filled with more passion. They didn't know what suddenly got into them. Maybe it was just the setting. Everyone was out and they were singing together. They weren't insulting each other. They were just being nice to each other. Neither of them realized it had turned into a make out session until they ran out of breath. Niles was the first one to pull away.

They got off of the couch. Niles went to the kitchen to get some more batteries. C.C. followed him in there.

"I don't want to pretend this never happened," She said. He stopped rummaging in the drawer for the batteries. He turned around.

"Neither do I," He admitted. She walked up to him and embraced him in a hug. He hugged her back. She released him and he turned back around. He held up the batteries as if he accomplished a great task. He ran back into the living room to change the batteries. The radio turned back on, but Niles turned it off.

"Why turn it off?" C.C. asked him.

"To save the battery life," Niles joked. C.C. laughed at him. She watched as he disappeared up the stairs for a minute or two. He came back down and sat down on the couch with her.

"Want me to put on a movie?" He asked. She nodded and he went to the cabinet underneath the TV. He saw that they owned that put a smirk on his face. He grabbed the VHS tape and put it in.

"Mrs. Doubtfire? Of course you own that," C.C. commented. He chuckled and they cuddled for the rest of the time they had together.