Chapter Four
CC sat in the office, slumped against the loveseat. She was supposed to be reevaluating the budget for their newest show, but she couldn't bring herself to. Usually nothing captivated her attention quite like numbers and sum figures and profit projections, yet it just wasn't cutting it for her today. It had been three weeks since she'd started dating Tom and exactly three and a half weeks since she'd said anything sarcastic.
Maybe that was it. Maybe saying goodbye to the old, bitter Babcock meant leaving her business prowess behind as well.
Just as she sighed and considered going into the kitchen for a snack, her phone started ringing. Glancing down, she saw it was Tom, which elicited another sigh. Her plan to appear disinterested in the man was so successful that she no longer needed to act; whatever initial excitement she'd had about dating a handsome attorney was currently replaced with an apathy so complete that she couldn't force herself to care about much.
Fran was so proud of her. She was rather disgusted with herself.
"CC, I think your phone is ringing," Maxwell said from behind his desk.
At one point, that might have spurned CC into replying about Maxwell's extraordinary observational skills; now, she barely felt the upsurge of excitement at being presented with an opportunity to give a caustic response. "You're right, Maxwell. Thank you."
"You're quite welcome," Max responded.
CC reached down and silenced her phone, ignoring the notification of a new voicemail.
"Here's your lunch, sir," Niles said, entering the room with a silver tray. Niles set the tray down and pulled the kettle off of it, pouring some into a mug. "Would you like some tea, Miss Babcock?"
She couldn't remember the last time he'd insulted her; she knew he found it wasn't any fun without her angry responses. He'd even stopped trying to bait her into verbal battle. It wasn't intriguing starting a war with an entirely disinterested foe. Consequently, she couldn't recall the last time they'd gone so long without fighting. It was their thing. It was her thing. She fought with people. It was how she communicated.
She finally had a boyfriend and she'd never been so lonely.
"No, thank you, Niles," CC replied. She stood up and quietly exited the office.
Niles set the mug roughly down, causing a loud clatter from the silver tray. Maxwell jumped and accidentally scattered the papers he'd been perusing.
"Bloody hell, man, be careful!" Maxwell exclaimed. He organized the papers and looked up at his butler. "Everything all right?"
"Yes," Niles replied automatically. He let out a frustrated breath and continued, "No. Doesn't it bother you?"
"Doesn't what bother me, old man?" Maxwell asked.
"Miss Babcock."
Maxwell chuckled. "No, Niles, she doesn't bother me like she bothers you. I happen to enjoy her company."
"Lately, you mean. You've enjoyed her company lately."
"Yes, for the past few weeks, she's been more pleasant to be around. I considered her my friend before Fran did her little makeover, though," Max pointed out.
"Doesn't her behavior bother you?"
"Why should it?" Maxwell asked incredulously. "She's been calm and nice. I don't have to worry about her yelling at the cast and upsetting any of the leads."
"Shouldn't friends be more concerned with their friend's happiness?" Niles asked.
"What do you mean by that? She's happy. Have you met Tom? He's an upstanding fellow. Very successful," Max said.
"Yes, I've met him," Niles snapped. He grabbed the tray from the desk and walked out of the office, fully aware that he hadn't left Maxwell his lunch. He stormed into the kitchen and slid all of the tray's contents into the sink, enjoying the satisfyingly loud crash it made.
"Niles, what's wrong?" CC asked with wide eyes, grasping a half-empty water bottle in her hand.
Niles glared at her with such quiet vehemence that she nearly felt a physical backlash from it. He turned quickly and walked up the back staircase, leaving CC alone with the echoes of his silent anger.
CC entered the mansion slowly. She didn't ring the doorbell or wait for someone to open the door for her. The old CC Babcock would have, but she had recently learned just how far from her former self she was so she figured she might as well go with it. Just as she hung up her jacket in the closet, Fran sauntered into the foyer with a large bowl of popcorn.
"Hiya, Miss Babcock!" Fran greeted happily. Her face faltered into confusion as she watched CC stand on the step at the front door, staring off into space. "Eh…Miss Babcock? You ok?"
"I was just at the theater," she said in a strangely monotonous voice.
"And I was just in the kitchen. What's your point? What's with the I-just-ran-out-of-potato-chips stare?" Fran said.
"I was at the theater," CC repeated.
Fran gave CC a strange look. "So I've heard." She was about to turn and flop onto the couch to enjoy her favorite soap when CC stepped fully into the foyer.
"There was a choreographer there," she continued.
"Shocking," Fran replied.
"He was trying to revamp the entire dance scene in act 2," CC said, still in a strangely soft voice.
Fran's eyes widened. "Oh-oh, Miss Babcock! This is perfect! It's a great opportunity to see if you've learned what I taught you! What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" Niles repeated incredulously. Both women ignored his sudden presence, except for Fran thrusting the large popcorn bowl into his hands.
"Nothing!" Fran echoed squeakily, grabbing CC's arms. "I'm so proud of you, Miss Babcock!"
"I did nothing," CC affirmed. Her eyes slid from an invisible spot in the living room to Fran's eyes. The nanny's exuberance seemed to diminish slightly when she saw how blank CC looked. "I requested that he stick to the original plan so that the actors would be able to perform better this weekend. It's hard to switch from one routine to another, you know. I very calmly asked that he stick to the first routine."
"What happened?" Fran asked, plunging her hand into the popcorn. Niles looked down in surprise as though he just realized he was holding it.
"He yelled at me, called me a controlling hag, and said we were going to do it his way," CC told her. Fran and Niles' eyes widened in disbelief.
"But…you were so nice," Fran said, confused.
"I've never thought to call you that," Niles muttered, shaking his head.
"You stood up for yourself, though, right?" Fran asked hopefully, wondering for the first time if, perhaps, she'd taught CC the wrong lessons. "You put him in his place and told him where to shove it?"
Niles tossed some popcorn in his mouth, excited to hear about the uprising of the Ice Queen. That choreographer had awoken the angry sleeping giant and he couldn't wait to hear the havoc she'd wreaked.
"I did nothing," CC said, her monotone voice unvarying.
"But…Miss Babcock…" Fran faltered.
"You did nothing?" Niles repeated disgustedly. "You bloody idiot woman!"
CC's face flashed anger and she abruptly snapped her face to his. She watched him glaring at her, so very angry after all these weeks, but she detected a glimmer of hope that she'd return just as angry as he was. "You don't know anything, Niles."
Niles' eyes widened. He threw the bowl back at Fran, who barely managed to catch it, scattering the snack over the parquet floor. "Suit yourself."
Fran watched him stalk off and then turned to CC. Silently, the two women crouched down and scooped up the errant popcorn, placing it back into the bowl.
"Miss Babcock," Fran began uncertainly, setting the bowl on the foyer table. "I think…there's something I should have made clearer."
"What's that, Nanny Fine?" CC asked, polite interest on her face. For the first time, Fran saw the entirety of what she'd done. She should have realized that CC wouldn't have been able to distinguish that acting slightly different to attract a man didn't have to transcend into the rest of her life.
"I…I know that I told you a few things about how you could get more men to notice you," Fran began, wringing her hands nervously. She shouldn't be allowed to have the power that teachers and instructors had—she realized that now. "But…but Miss Babcock, you're a highly powerful woman in a business filled with men. Men with huge egos on power trips. You…I didn't want you to think that you had to be Sally-without-a-Backbone all the time."
"But it worked, Nanny Fine," CC told her.
"I know it worked. Tom's a great guy. But you work in a business where you need to stand up for yourself and sometimes…no, most of the time, that requires you to be the scary, sarcastic woman you were. I didn't realize that before," Fran continued, a slight tinge of regret in her voice.
CC shook her head softly. "No, Nanny Fine, you don't understand. It worked. People talk to me now. Tom calls me everyday. I don't even call him. Maxwell asks for my input more than before. My old friends invite me to lunch. My mother even called the other day and called back three days later."
"That's…that's nice," Fran said. "But are you happy with everything?"
"I'm not alone anymore," CC replied.
"That doesn't answer my question," said Fran gently.
"It does for me. Excuse me," CC said, sidestepping the nanny and continuing into the office.
Fran grabbed the bowl of popcorn and walked quietly into the kitchen. How had this happened? She'd been able to bust Maggie from her shell, and Maggie had never been happier. Even Gracie didn't need therapy as much. Fran had begun to think of herself as the connoisseur of helping people come into their own; so where had she gone wrong with Miss Babcock? This setback was highly unsettling.
When she entered the kitchen, she emptied the dirty popcorn into the garbage bin and walked over to set the bowl in the sink. With a sigh, she leaned against the counter. "Niles—"
"I don't want to talk to you," Niles interrupted her.
Fran's eyes widened. "What did I do, scarecrow?"
"That disgusting display of docility in the foyer is entirely your doing," Niles replied. "I have no wish to discuss anything with you."
"Speak English, British man," Fran requested.
"You broke Miss Babcock," Niles said, crossing his arms.
"Niles, she came to me for help and I gave it to her. It isn't my fault that—"
"She came to you?" Niles asked incredulously.
Fran gave him an affronted look. "Fine," she admitted huffily. "I went to her. But she showed interest. I promised she'd find a man; she did."
"Ignoring that travesty of a relationship for a moment, did you ever stop to think that she might misinterpret your advice?" the butler asked.
"No," Fran admitted, looking troubled again. "Well, who would be stupid enough to think that the rules for snagging a guy are the same as the guidelines for living your life?"
"Miss Babcock would!" Niles retorted.
"That's not very nice, Niles. Maybe she wanted to change up her life a little bit."
"The woman has spent the majority of her life alone. It only makes sense that whatever she was doing to get a man's attention, she'd do to get other peoples' attention as well. And it's working," Niles finished with spite in his voice.
Fran felt herself becoming defensive. It wasn't her responsibility to ensure that everyone lived his or her lives properly. She was only trying to help. "So what if it's working? People like her better this way."
"I find it strange that you'd tell the girls to never live their lives for someone else, and yet you're implying Miss Babcock should do the same," Niles said, feeling strangely protective of CC. "People liking their preferred version of CC Babcock is disgusting. People should take someone as they are or not at all."
"Wait…what the heck are you talking about? You hate her! You pick on her, tease her, and insult her, and you're standing here telling me I should have told her to just be herself?" Fran said.
"Yes!" Niles exclaimed.
"You don't make any sense," Fran said, shaking her head.
"And you're rather hypocritical," Niles snapped.
Fran's jaw dropped at the uncharacteristic anger Niles was showing her. She considered trying to defend herself but for the first time, she could think of nothing to say. Instead, she merely shook her head and exited the kitchen.