A/N: Thanks once again for all your lovely comments. Here's the new chapter and I'll be trying to get the next one out to you asap. In the meantime I'll be happy to hear your thoughts :)

Chapter 3:

Outside in the corridor Niles and C.C. were, of course, completely oblivious to the recent developments. They stood just far enough away from the door to ensure that Niles' parents wouldn't be able to hear the argument that was sure to break out any moment, yet still awkwardly placed next to a meal cart that a nurse kept returning to every five minutes.

Niles remained silent, waiting for C.C. to snap or yell at him but she only glared, hands on her hips, her chest puffed out in a ridiculous imitation of a cockerel that was displaying its dominance.

"Oh for God's sake, Babcock. Will you just get it over with?" he eventually muttered, running out of patience.

"Will I get it over with? I thought there might be something that you would like to say to me."

"Oh there are a number of things I'd like to say to you," he replied, matching her tone in venom "but at least I have the common decency not to do so in my father's hospital!"

"Do you really want to act all holier than that?" she challenged, her voice growing louder.

Niles opened his mouth but closed it again when the nurse returned to the cart once more to fish out another tray while shooting them a disapproving look. When she had walked out of sight, he continued quieter: "Explain to me what you're so angry about."

"You made it sound as if your father was dying!" she said, failing to match his tone in volume "You made me feel heartless if I tried to turn you down."

"Come come now, Babcock, don't sell yourself short. You are naturally heartless." He growled bitterly.

C.C. felt his remark sting but only narrowed her eyes further at him.

"If we weren't in a hospital with instant aid available, it wouldn't be beneath me to slap some sense into you right this second." She replied.

"Why don't you give it a go? I'm sure I could handle it. You've done much worse things to me in the past."

The urge to get physically active and shut him up by any means possible was almost overwhelming now. But instead she forced herself to take a deep breath and said: "You can argue all you want. You purposefully made it sound as if your father was in a worse condition than he actually is."

"You will find that you're wrong there," he denied firmly "all I said was that he wasn't doing so well anymore and that his mobility wasn't as great as it used to be; all of which are facts."

Knowing that she had lost that battle even though she was also aware that she'd had a point somehow, C.C. swiftly moved on to the next issue. "And since when are we engaged? You only mentioned the word "girlfriend", not "fiancée"."

There was a subtle change in Niles' expression, not more than a twitch of impatience that suddenly made him look harder.

"And can you blame me?" he challenged "After the way you've treated me in New York and the way you're reacting now. I know you wouldn't possibly be caught dead being engaged to a servant, not even if it's nothing more than make-believe."

"I can't believe you're still hung up on this!" C.C. snapped, having lost all patience "I am sick and tired of you flinging this thing in my face, acting like a wounded dog all the time. If you're so hurt that your little prank backfired I do suggest you seek some kind of help-"

"Me? Seeking help? That's rich coming from a woman who is so utterly useless at understanding and empathizing with other people that she's never had a meaningful relationship in all her life."

C.C. clenched her hand at her side and then replied in lowly but icy tones: "At least I have realised my shortcomings and have started to work on them. We've been together for barely two days now and yet you've managed to sulk and bring up the past most of the time. You said some terrible things to me on the stairs of the Sheffield mansion but have you heard me mentioning them even once? Have you heard me demand any kind of compensation? I pity you, Niles, you are nothing but a lonely, pathetic, miserable old man."

When she saw that he had no comeback for her words and when his broken face was threatening to crumble within seconds the walls that had taken her years to build, she turned her back to him and started to retreat down the corridor the way they had first come. And Niles remained behind, rooted to the spot by the harsh words that had affected him more deeply than any of her actions in the past.


"Do you think they've killed each other by now?" Henry asked, trying with great effort to pull himself into a sitting position.

"Will you stop being so nosy?" his wife chastised him and firmly pushed him back against the cushions but before his pout could grow any bigger, she added "I haven't heard any bells ringing or any commotion in the corridor yet so I'd say they're still arguing."

That made Henry laugh at least. There was another moment of silence in which all they could hear was the muffled conversation that the other patients in the room were having with their visitors. Then Marie asked: "So she was Maxwell's business partner, you say?"

"Yes," he nodded "started a couple of years after Maxwell had moved to New York to marry Sara. I think she might've been present at the wedding and that's when the whole idea started."

"Good God, have you memorised their whole history?" Marie asked, chuckling to herself.

"Well," he shrugged with an audible pout in his tone "there was nothing else going on at the time."

"Oh I'm sure there was. You just found snooping to be more interesting."

"It's not snooping when people are willing to share information over the telephone." He argued with a grin.

"So your investigation uncovered that they were involved once?" Marie inquired who had difficulty hiding her own curiosity now.

"I am assuming as much but I don't have any proof. I just knew that every time he spoke to me and complained about Miss Babcock's behaviour, he was in truth expressing his love for her."

"Now that's a bit far-fetched, wouldn't you say?" Marie frowned.

"No," he smiled innocently "I acted the same way when I started courting you."

But instead of being bowled over by his somewhat odd proclamation of love, Marie reached for the magazine on his nightstand again and administered another whack on the head.

"Careful woman," he grumbled "I did just have an operation, you know?"

But it was good that their conversation had been so abruptly cut off there because a second later Niles appeared, looking still somewhat pale and worn out. Marie noticed this too and exchanged a quick look with Henry, whose forehead had creased into a frown. But when his son's attention turned towards him, he hurriedly made an effort to put on a smile again.

"So where's your lovely fiancée?" he asked and Niles shifted, visibly uncomfortable.

"She uh…she had to go." He replied hoarsely.

He was tempted to tell his parents the truth then and there but after hearing C.C.'s cutting words he couldn't bear being faced with their disappointment as well.

"Not more business?" Marie frowned, putting a hand on her hip.

"I'm afraid so," he muttered, happy for C.C. to take some of the blame at least.

"Nothing all too urgent, I hope?" Henry chimed in with the same happy look on his face "I will get released in a couple of days and it would be so nice if you two kids could help get me settled back at home, help around the house a bit. You know your mother isn't the youngest anymore."

He noticed his wife's eyes narrowing at the last remark and made sure to shift to the other side of the bed and out of her reach, should she decide to whack him again. But no such action was taken…yet.

"Dad," Niles sighed "I'm honestly not sure how long she'll be away this time and even if she is around, I don't think spending a couple of days with my parents would be her idea of fun."

"I understand," Henry replied solemnly and leaned back in his bed with an air of resignation around him "it just would've been nice to get to know her a little bit more before the wedding…to know that my son is in good hands when I'm not around to look after him anymore."

Niles wanted to roll his eyes at him and tell him to stop with the dramatic speeches but somehow that was much harder done while standing at his hospital bed. Instead he found himself saying: "I'll talk to her."

His parents seemed placated enough and picked up some lighter conversation topics, but soon Niles decided he needed to get out to clear his head.
When goodbyes and kisses had been exchanged, Marie took Henry's hand and eyed him thoughtfully.

"Are you really this occupied with your imminent death, mon coeur?"

"Oh God no, woman," he laughed amused "but I know that the easiest way to manipulate our son is by using our age to our advantage. Something unpleasant happened out in that corridor and I have a feeling that something unpleasant already happened between them in New York, that's why Niles returned so suddenly. And before I kick the bucket I need to know what I've been missing out on."


C.C. had stormed out of the hospital and down the street which had felt satisfying at first because the physical exercise allowed her to dispel some of her frustration and anger. But soon she got reminded that the heeled boots she was wearing, were really not made for any long distance and certainly not for speed walks. Slowing down she managed to avoid one of the few puddles that hadn't yet frozen over, tiptoed around it and finally noticed the Café on the other side of the road. Granted, it looked rather cheap and if she hadn't been so desperate for coffee and if she'd been wearing flats, she would've continued searching for a more suitable place but as it was, even she couldn't be picky about this.

Making her way across and into the shop, she ordered a black coffee which was served to her promptly and so she paid the people, picked up her cup and withdrew into a corner of the Café where there was at least an illusion of privacy. It turned out to be a good decision because the coffee was hot and strong so not even a Babcock could find fault with it.

A buzzing that emanated from her purse suddenly distracted her and with a fresh feeling of annoyance she started wondering if Niles was trying to reach her to persuade her to return to the hospital. But then she remembered that he didn't have her number, he only had Cathy's and so she breathed a sigh of relief. Nonetheless, she was curious to see who was trying to reach her so urgently and fished her cell out of her purse only to find 13 messages from the friend in question.

"Probably dying to find out how things have been," C.C. thought to herself and rolled her eyes while her thumb flicked from one message to the next.

She wasn't prepared to answer yet, especially not when the general assumption was that Niles and her would've ended up or would end up in some kind of romantic entanglement. If anything, C.C. was glad to be rid of him again once and for all. And that was when she realised that she wasn't, or at least not yet because with a nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach that bordered on dread she remembered that all of her things were still at the hotel room. As eager as she was to leave England, there were just some things she wasn't willing to leave behind.

So in the afternoon she found herself back at the hotel, having persuaded a cleaning lady to let her into Niles' room after all her knocks had gone unanswered. She had at first hoped that Niles was still at the hospital or otherwise spending time with his mother, but now that she was in the room she could hear the shower running. His presence would make her task far more rushed and she knew that she'd have to leave some of her toiletries behind, but they could be sacrificed if she could make an escape with everything else in her suitcase.

Wasting no time, she pulled said item out from under the bed and began haphazardly tossing things into it. When she had cleared her nightstand, she moved on to the closet, working in much the same manner until a dull clunk told her that something other than her clothes must've landed on the carpet. Turning around she picked it up and was surprised to find a picture frame. It was small and contained a photo of Niles, already older and greying and another woman unknown to C.C., their arms wrapped around each other, smiling happily into the camera. There was a familiarity and intimacy about the way they touched that made C.C.'s heart clench. Who was that woman? And why did she manage to make him smile like that?

Annoyed by her own curiosity and tangled feelings, C.C. made a move to hurriedly return the frame to the closet, when the glass cover slid aside and the photo slipped out - apparently the item had taken some damage in the fall. She sighed and bent down to pick the photo up when another one caught her attention;one that was now sitting innocently in place of the old; one that showed her and Niles. C.C. swallowed and remained unmoving, staring at the old photograph that had been taken years ago. Why did he still have it? And why had he placed a different photo over it?

A second before the bathroom door opened, she became aware that the noise of the shower had subsided. She didn't have enough time to put the frame back in order and so when Niles stepped out she had no chance of talking herself out of the situation. She was caught red-handed. His eyes first widened in surprise at seeing her there and then shifted to the item she was holding. There was a brief look of anger followed by an unmasking that left him as vulnerable as she'd never seen him before. All the questions she'd been dying to ask him disappeared.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to." She said instead and for the first time, she wasn't just thinking about the events of that day.