Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with this! We're almost done!


Chapter 8:

Miraculously, they somehow managed to arrive at the baseball game early. Niles bought everyone water bottles at the snack bar, and they all wished Brighton luck before he ran off to warm up with his team.

"Brighton, remember what I told you!" CC called to him.

He turned around and gave her a knowing thumbs-up before hurrying off to meet up with his team.

"You realize you're going to have to attend every baseball game of his from now on, don't you?" Niles asked as they headed toward the bleachers.

"Nanny Fine will just love that," CC said sarcastically. "Huh, maybe I won't mind going to all Brighton's baseball games after all!"

Niles shook his head in amusement, and they climbed the bleachers until they found a free spot. Grace sat down between the two adults and pulled out a book to read. CC noticed how thick the book was – not typical for a 6-year-old's tastes – and she looked at the title: Charlotte's Web.

"Grace, you're reading chapter books already?" she asked.

"Yes," the girl nodded. "I find picture books too juvenile."

She went back to reading, totally engrossed in her book, and CC looked up at Niles, her eyes wide with surprise. "I'm impressed."

"Miss Grace has always been wise beyond her years," Niles said fondly.

"I just hope she doesn't get to the end of that book while we're watching her. I think I cried myself to sleep the first time I read it," CC said.

"It is a sad one. I hope she saves the ending for Mr. Sheffield and Miss Fine to deal with," Niles agreed. He then looked at CC curiously.

"What?" she asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear self-consciously.

"I'm getting all sorts of insight into what you were like as a child today. You didn't enjoy the crusts on your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You've always been able to negotiate things to get your way – starting with convincing your nanny to give you an extra dessert with lunch when you were little. And now you cried over the ending of Charlotte's Web," he ticked off the facts one by one.

"I'm shattering your image of me, aren't I?" CC grinned sheepishly. "Next, you'll be doing a tell-all interview with Melanie Parker. I can see it now: CC Babcock: Not Really the Bitch of Broadway."

"Your secret is safe with me," Niles grinned.

She returned the smile and took a swig of her water, watching as Brighton and his teammates took practice swings.

"Miss Babcock?" Niles said suddenly. She turned to look at him, surprised that he looked almost shy. "What were you and the children talking about in the auditorium this afternoon? I couldn't help but notice…you looked upset."

CC froze for a moment. Normally she would've shut down at the thought of sharing anything personal with the butler, saying something sarcastic or cruel instead, but they had been getting along so well all day. And he was there when Sara died; he knew what they all went through.

"Oh, um," she said, exhaling slowly and picking at a thread on the hem of her dress. "They were asking about Sara."

"And you talked to them about her?" Niles asked.

"Well, not really about Sara, more so about what happened after she died. Actually, we were talking about how much you've influenced Brighton over the years," she looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" Niles asked, feigning innocence.

"Oh, don't even," CC said. "You know damn well how much that boy takes after you! The sarcasm, the pranks, the insults! That's all you, Amelia Bedelia!"

"Yes, I can't imagine who else he could have possibly learned how to insult from," Niles said sarcastically, pretending to seriously think it over as he stroked his chin.

CC laughed. "Hey, I didn't spend nearly as much time around the kids as you did."

Niles nodded in agreement. "You were busy keeping the business afloat in the absence of Mr. Sheffield."

She was unprepared for the sudden serious turn the conversation took. "Um, yeah, I guess so."

"It's because of you that Sheffield Productions even exists today. You know that, right?"

She did, but no one ever acknowledged it. "It's nice to hear," she admitted with a small nod. "Brighton actually even remembers me helping out with him and his sisters sometimes. I didn't think anyone remembered that."

"I remember. You were good with them," he paused as if debating with himself over whether or not to continue. He sighed, giving in. "And truth be told, I don't think I could have done it by myself."

She didn't know how to respond to that, so she simply smiled. He smiled back, and they turned their attention back to the teams warming up.

"You said I looked upset at the auditorium," CC said abruptly as the thought occurred to her. "I wasn't. The kids asked if one of these days we could sit down and I could tell them about Sara, since we were, you know, sort of friends and went to college together, and all that—"

"She meant a lot to you," Niles cut in, knowing she was trying to downplay her feelings.

"Yeah," CC said, her voice barely above a whisper. "She did. So I told them we could talk about her one of these days."

"That's very kind of you, Miss Babcock," Niles said with a warm smile. "I think it will mean a lot to them."

CC nodded, unsure of what to say, and looked away, finding the advertisements on the fence on the field suddenly absolutely fascinating.

"CC?" Niles said gently. He'd never used her first name before. Her neck immediately snapped up, her eyes met his, and she was surprised by how tenderly he was looking at her. "I think it will mean a lot to you, too."

CC's eyes filled with tears and she nodded, not trusting her voice. Niles reached around Grace, still captivated by her book, and he placed a hand on her upper arm, tracing little circles. CC placed her other hand over his, and they sat quietly for a few comforting moments.

Once CC was sure she wouldn't start openly weeping, she let go of Niles' hand, wiped away a few stray tears, from her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. "Today is a weird day," she declared.

"I agree," Niles said. He gave her arm a squeeze and let go. "It's been weird, and frustrating, and chaotic, but we're having fun, right? And we're going to keep having fun. We're going to have a happy rest-of-the-day! No more tears!"

"Hear, hear!" CC mock-cheered.

As if on cue, Grace closed her book and looked up at Niles and CC. "Niles? Miss Babcock?" she sniffled. "Charlotte doesn't seem to be doing very well. I think she's gonna die."

The adults exchanged defeated looks, and CC wrapped a comforting arm around the crying girl, while Niles put the dreaded book away.


Grace eventually calmed down, and the game started. It was going well enough. The score had managed to stay tied until the top of the ninth inning, when the other team got ahead by one point.

It was the bottom of the ninth with two outs and someone on first, and it was, of course, Brighton's turn up to bat.

"This is too much pressure," Niles whispered.

"He can do it," CC said.

"You guys are hurting me," Grace said with a yelp. Niles and CC looked down and realized they were each gripping one of Grace's hands.

"Sorry," they mumbled at the same time as they each let go.

Brighton took a few practice swings and stepped up to the plate. They watched as the pitcher motioned for everyone to move in closer.

"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" Niles said, gesturing angrily to the field.

"What a punk," CC muttered.

Brighton swung and missed. Strike One.

Because she couldn't help herself, CC stood up and cheered, "C'mon, Brighton! Aim for his head!"

Niles joined her, standing and clapping. "Kick his sodding arse!"

The appalled crowd gasped and turned to look at them.

"What?" they asked at the same time, their faces scrunching up in bewilderment.

Grace yanked on their hands, pulling them back down to their seats. "You'll have to excuse my parents. It's their first baseball game," she explained.

The crowd murmured and nodded in understanding, turning their attention back to the game.

"Parents?" Niles and CC exclaimed at the same time.

"It would've taken too long to explain that you're my daddy's butler and business partner babysitting me because we got locked out of the house," Grace said.

Brighton swung and missed again. Strike Two.

"Oh, god, I don't know if I can look," CC said uneasily, covering her eyes with her hand.

"You HAVE to look! You're his good luck charm, remember?" Niles reminded her, reaching past Grace once again and pulling her hand down from her face. He didn't let go; instead he gripped it tightly, clearly nervous for Brighton.

CC didn't say anything about it, squeezing his hand back due to nerves.

"Look! The pitcher is saying something to him," Grace pointed to the field where sure enough, the older boy was clearly teasing Brighton.

"How is the umpire just letting this happen?" Niles asked in an outrage.

"Don't worry," CC said, waving it off with her unoccupied hand. "The boy's got this one."

Sure enough, they watched as Brighton said something right back to the pitcher, the smirk on his face clearly suggesting it was a taunting remark. The pitcher balked at the comment and looked around sputtering for a few moments. Brighton visibly relaxed, looking confident and ready at bat. The pitcher tried to shake off whatever it was the boy said to him, and tossed him an easy one. Brighton swung and sent the ball flying over the fence. The crowd went wild.

"HOME RUN!" Grace, Niles, and CC exclaimed at the same time, jumping up and cheering. Niles picked Grace up so she could see past the standing crowd, and before CC knew what was happening she had her arms wrapped around the two of them. Niles shifted Grace to his other side and placed an arm around CC's waist.

"He did it; he actually did it! Babcock, maybe you really are a good luck charm!"

"I guess I am," CC said with a smile.

They watched as the crowd cheered for Brighton. The team picked him up, parading him around in victory.

"You must be so proud of your son," a woman passing by said to them.

"We are," Niles and CC said at the same time, both their voices filled with unabashed pride.

They stood like that for a few more moments, wrapped in each other's arms, before they registered what they were doing. They broke apart and avoided eye contact.

Niles cleared his throat and motioned toward the field. "Uh, we should get down there and find Brighton."

"Right. Yeah," CC said.

Niles put Grace down and they moved down the bleachers and walked toward the benches, where Brighton was basking in glow of his win. He spotted Niles, CC, and Grace and immediately abandoned the team celebration to run over to them. He launched himself into CC's arms. CC was no longer taken aback by such an action, and she squeezed him back.

"I did it, guys! Did you see?! I won the game!"

"Did we see? Of course we saw! You were awesome!" CC said, pulling back from their hug and returning to a standing position.

Niles ruffled the boy's hair. "Well done, Brighton."

Grace gave her brother a high five. "Good job, B!"

"It's thanks to Miss Babcock's advice. I couldn't have done it without you," Brighton said sincerely, beaming up at the woman.

"Oh, it was nothing," CC said waving him off. "Did you use the line on the pitcher that I gave you?"

"What line?" Niles asked.

"That's not what your mom said last night," Brighton and CC said at the same time, CC no longer afraid the butler would scold her for corrupting the children.

"Nice," Niles said with a grin.

"I did use it," Brighton said.

"Oh that's fantastic! I'm so happy!" CC said, genuinely pleased. "What did he say to get you to say it?"

"He said I didn't have a chance in hell of scoring."

Niles and CC paused to consider the remark for a few moments.

"You know, that couldn't have worked out more perfect if I'd planned it. I'm impressed," CC said.

"Not even our insults work out that well," Niles agreed.

Again they paused to think about the ingenuity of the insult until Grace broke the silence. "We have to get to the party!"

Niles' eyes widened. "That's right; we do! But wait, do you have her gift, Miss Grace?" Grace nodded and opened her backpack revealing a wrapped birthday present. Niles sighed in relief as the children skipped ahead to the car. He turned to CC uneasily. "Miss Babcock, I hate to drag you along for this as well. Do any of your neighbors perhaps have a spare key to your apartment?"

"Niles, I couldn't even tell you who my neighbors are," CC said with an eye roll, and he laughed fondly at that. "It's fine. We've already spent this much of the day together; may as well go to a kid's birthday party together, too. How bad could it be?"

"It's at Chuck E. Cheese's," Niles said. CC looked at him blankly. "Right. I don't know why I expected you to know what that is. It's an arcade."

"That doesn't sound… completely awful," CC said with a shrug.

"There's a show with a bunch of animatronic singing animals, the lead of which is a giant mouse."

"Fantastic," CC deadpanned.

"But at least we'll get a meal out of it," Niles said, smiling as CC's mood seemed to brighten. "Granted, it'll most likely be cheaply made pizza, but at least we don't have to pay for it."

CC wrinkled her nose, but then something occurred to her and she smiled mischievously. "So this place is an arcade, huh?"

"Yes."

"Do they have air hockey?"

"I'm sure they do, why?"

"I was just thinking, after all the crap we've had to eat today, how about a game of air hockey? Loser has to buy the winner a gourmet dinner." She shot him a challenging look and turned around to follow the children to the car.

"It's a date," Niles called after her, the words tumbling out of him much too quickly before he could stop himself. CC's head whipped around, her eyes wide with shock. "I, uh, I mean… what I meant was…" he trailed off, knowing any backtracking would be a lost cause.

"It's a date," she repeated softly with a small smile, her cheeks flushing attractively. She continued to back up into the parking lot, Niles following after her, a sudden spring in his step.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, Niles, but this day hasn't been completely terrible," CC said.

"I can't believe you're admitting that either-MISS BABCOCK! WATCH OUT!" Niles yelled suddenly as a car turned a corner and headed straight for CC.

CC turned around and managed to get out of the way, but the speeding car hit a giant puddle, sending a tsunami of mud all over her and her impeccably white dress.

She stood frozen in place, and Niles hurried to her side, afraid she had been hurt. "Miss Babcock?"

She turned to look at him, wiping mud from her face. "What?"

"Are you injured?"

"Just my pride."

"Well that's certainly a shame; you had such little pride left to begin with," he teased. "Look at it this way: at least you still look better than the animatronic singing mouse!"

"Niles, you sweet talker, you," CC rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she flicked her hands. The mud landed in little plops on the ground

"Beware of the Blob! It creeps, and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor!" Niles recited dramatically.

CC pursed her lips trying to fight back laughter. "I truly hate you."

"What if I told you I have a gym bag in the trunk of my car with spare clothes in it?"

She smiled gratefully. "I don't hate you anymore."

"That's the spirit! I'd pat you on the back, but…"

"Beware the blob, I know, I know," she nodded.

They leisurely strode back to the car in silence for a few moments, when CC spoke up.

"So, I totally spoke too soon when I said I wasn't having a terrible time today, didn't I?"

"You sure did, Babs. You sure did."