A/N: So I apologize for not updating sooner. I'm busy and all my time is spent working so here's a chapter. Thanks for all of those who reviewed. So please enjoy.
CC's blue eyes darted around the blank room. She wondered why being alone in the room was a little maddening. The room didn't bother her nearly as much during her group therapy sessions. Perhaps, it was the tall stack of colorful chairs in the corner of the room. Perhaps, it was Dr. Bort's stare that made her feel like an animal in a zoo. Her blue eyes landed on the blue empty chair beside her. She wondered why Niles wasn't sitting in the plastic chair beside her and released a heavy sigh. He had to be atleast fifteen minutes late although she never was certain of the time any more.
Her head jerked to the side when she heard the door open. She bit her lip and frowned when Niles walked through the doorway. He acted as if he wasn't late, and everything was perfectly normally. Quite frankly, she found his demeanor completely infuriating. "You're late," she stated briefly.
Niles scowled and glanced at Dr. Bort. There was no possible way that he was late. His bright blue eyes landed on his analog watch with a simple black band. "No, I'm not," he answered brightly. He noticed CC clench her jaw and knew she was going to retaliate. She couldn't stand being wrong especially when it came to matters of business and punctuality.
"Yes, you are," she replied feircely.
"CC, I assure you that I'm perfectly on time. You must be confused because you had to wait for my arrival," he said placing emphasis on the word "my." A sly mischevious grin crossed his face as he witnessed his rival fall into defeat.
Dr. Bort cleared her throat grabbing Niles's and CC's full attention. The therapist's beady brown eyes seemed to detect the spark in CC's blue eyes and Nile's smile almost glow. "Alright," the therapist said opening the black binder and pulled out the yellow notepad, "Today, I would like to talk to you about your relationship."
CC and Niles looked at one another in incredible disbelief. "We don't have relationship," CC said almost hesistantly. Her eyes never left the man sitting beside her. She wrapped her arms around her torso covered in a white cotton t-shirt as she mentally prepared herself for that day's therapy session.
"I'm not talking about a romantic relationship," Dr. Bort clarified writing something in her notepad. "I'm talking about how you and Niles interact with one another." Niles nodded in understanding as the therapist glanced at CC who seemed to be deep in thought. "Alright then," Dr. Bort continued, "how would you two define your relationship?"
"Complicated," Niles answered honestly. He took a deep breath as he thought of how his words affected her. He knew, in order to be any help to CC, he needed to be as open and vulnerable although she was in the room. "I mean we can go from insulting one another to dancing in the Sheffield living room or switching parts of Maxwell's books."
Dr. Bort wrote his words on the paper and looked up at CC Babcock. "And what about you?" the therapist asked the patient.
CC answered "Complicated is definately the word for it." The blonde woman closed her eyes. She knew how she felt about Niles, but she had difficulty expressing her emotions. She would have to be honest about her emotions sooner or later, and she was safe in the mental institution. " Apart from constantly bickering with one another, we have difficulty communication because we go from banter to drunkenly making out in the Sheffield living room."
Niles's blue eyes flashed with curiousity. He wondered if CC knew how she was talking to him. From the way she spoke, he was reminded of an old couple in marriage counseling. He wanted to say something or correct her, but he remained silenced. He looked at Dr. Bort who was scribbling something in black ink on the lined yellow paper of the notepad.
"CC, would you care to elaborate?" the therapist inquired.
"Fine," she said trying to remain confident. "It's just hard being honest with ourselves." She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her loose blonde hair. She glanced at Niles then her feet which were covered by a pair of white socks and black fuzzy slippers. "Or at least that's how it is for me. I think it's harder for me to hide behind banter instead of actually doing something about it."
CC knew why she had never told Niles that she deeply cared about him; however, she was a grown adult and a business woman. As a business woman, she had to take risks in order to have any success. Maybe, in order to be happy, she had to take some personal risks of her own and diverge from her mother's personal rules. Her mother would lose her mind then become a serial killer if she knew CC cared about a butler, but she was at a constant stalemate with her wants, needs. It was driving her crazy. She needed to stop living by the Babcock family rule book and start taking risks to be happy. She went to college and became a producer, and she hadn't ended up horribly. She was almost definite she was doing the right thing.
Dr. Bort asked, "Niles, do you feel as if you two have issues that need to be worked on?"
To resist the urge to make a sarcastic remark, he merely nodded. He muttered, "Obviously, that's kind of why I'm here," but neither of the women seemed to catch his remark. He wondered what caused CC to automatically open up about their relationship. Perhaps, she had learned something in group therapy, or a doctor's advice had resonated with her. Of course, if she was going to be completely open about them, he needed to do the same for her sake.
Dr. Bort asked, "So what causes you two to act in such a hateful manner?"
"As you know, I didn't start the war of the words," CC replied before taking a deep breath, "but I started fighting back when I couldn't handle his insults any longer."
"Why do you think his insults hurt you so much?" Dr. Bort, impressed by her patient's willingness to open up, asked.
CC instantly remembered the dream where her body was covered in blood and saw her mother's words carved in her body. She pulled her knees to her chest and replied softly, "Not that Niles would know about this, but his insults reminded me of my mother. I was never able to handle how she treated me, but I could deal with Niles." She looked over at Niles, who was staring at her feet.
"And what kinds of things would your mother comment on?" Dr. Bort asked. Her pen quickly danced across the lines on the yellow paper. Her beak shaped nose touched the newly found words written. Her beady brown eyes flickered from all the new information that was being presented.
"Anything apart from the standard Babcock level of perfection," CC said almost snorting with a shake of the head. One of her legs slipped back to the floor. "She'd make comments of my weight, by lack of relationship, my intelligence, and constantly remind me that I failed her as a daughter."
"Niles, how do you feel about the way your words affected her?" Dr. Bort asked glancing at the man sitting in the blue plastic chair. His pale blue eyes were locked onto his shoes, and his mouth was drawn into a tight line. CC wondered if he was in deep in thought or feeling miserable about his hurtful insults over the years spent together.
"Obviously, if I had known that, I wouldn't have made those comments," he replied looking up. He knew he never had control over what CC's mother had said and done in the past. He was sincerely sorry about how he treated CC; however, he refused to drown himself in regret and guilt. He just needed to figure out how he was going to communicate her now that he couldn't use insults on a daily basis. Maybe, he would be nice to her; however, he and CC probably knew that his affection would have a subtle barb as in her words and actions.
"Alright," Dr. Bort muttered as she wrote something in the notepad, "and what kind of issues do you think you need to work on?"
Niles and CC looked at one another. Their eyes locked as they tried to determine what the other person would say. Niles ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. They obviously had issues, but he didn't know how to vocalize them or what they were specifically. He wondered if CC felt the same.
"I guess we can't go back to what we were," CC started slowly looking at the butler for help.
"But I don't know how to talk to her without asking her why she doesn't do her business outside," Niles admitted. The therapist determined the couple had communication issues. When the session came to a close, Niles left the room with a newfound sense that CC would leave the institution, and things were going to change between them. Somehow, he knew if CC could face her past demons, they could have a semi-functional relationship.