TEN

"So is that when you got famous?" Susanna asked. "When you and daddy quit?"

"Well, not right away," CC said, too tired of watching Niles' heart trail across the screen opposite her to bother modestly correcting her daughter.

*

CC paced around the living area of their hotel suite as she watched Niles patiently read and turn pages. It was driving her insane, but she tried to calm herself by alternating between rubbing her small belly and her lower back. Halfway through her pregnancy and her back was already twinging under the strain. Her doctor just reminded her she was forty and she rolled her eyes. At least she had Niles on hand to give her massages, and he did such a fabulous job it only encouraged her not to try to hide it and deal with it on her own.

"Come on Niles!" she groaned. "How long does it take?"

He was reading the third act. She had almost completely scrapped the first, incorporated the good bits into what had been the second, kept the original third with some minor changes, and then rewritten what would be a new third act. It had taken her a month, and Niles had helped; he was aware of the changes, but it was the first time he was seeing it all in one piece.

She held her breath and clasped her hands together as she watched him turn to the final page. She could hold her breath for one page. He looked up when he was done, and let the back cover drift slowly shut.

"Well?" she asked.

"I think it's far better than anything I ever could have come up with," he said, putting the play aside and walking to her. "I think it's got hit written all over it. I really do. I'm not just saying that because I wrote half of it. Those changes, CC, I never knew you had any writing talent whatsoever."

"Me either," she admitted with a mischievous grin. "Ready to bank roll?"

"Where do I sign?" he asked, sliding his arms around her waist and pressing his lips to hers in a delicious kiss, made better by his fingers digging into just the right spots along her lower back. "Are you sure you want to produce this now?" he asked, pulling away and cautiously touching their child. "You'll be rushing."

"I can do it," she assured him. "I don't suppose you want to be in it, with your voice?"

"No thank you," he said, smirking. "But you'll find someone. I'll help you." CC nodded. She would need help to get it together so fast, and it was not as though Niles had gotten around to sorting out his new working life. He had been quite happy taking a holiday, and CC was not about to start nagging. It would only degenerate into their usual sparring. He could not sit still for much longer, she knew that. At least this way she could give him something to do, get him started, and if this was a success then Niles getting work would be no trouble at all.

*

Once she secured the theatre it did not take long for word to get to Maxwell. CC and Niles were preparing to move into their new home, amidst casting calls and meetings with potential backers who were so starved of decent theatre they were just happy to see a familiar face that wasn't Andrew Lloyd Webber. The man could only put on so many shows.

If the investors were nervous about the content of her show, it helped when then met with CC and realised that any rumours they'd heard were true; she really was married and with child. She really had married Maxwell Sheffield's butler. And she was back, this time solo. The insinuations she let into conversations about some sort of falling out with Maxwell only piqued their interest, and they threw money at her. She had been prepared to put some of her own money into the show, but she no longer thought she would need to.

The phone rang one night just as Niles was showing CC the beautiful lamb-skin rug he had bought for the baby out of his own meagre savings. She had to get him to stop doing that. They would have to sit down and work out some sort of financial system that left him feeling somewhat comfortable with using her money. She didn't mind. It was going to waste otherwise. And after all, she was the one who had been managing his pension plan for all those years. She had insisted on it; she had never trusted Maxwell to take the right sort of care with Niles' financial future. Jeremy's extra money had finally been put to good use. She just was not sure how Niles would react when she told him.

Her heart was melting as her fingers skimmed the rug, and she paid absolutely no attention to the ringing phone until she realised Niles had answered it and was holding it out to her, mouthing something she probably should have understood.

"CC Babcock," she said, brushing the tears from her eyes and polishing up her voice, assuming it was something to do with the show.

"CC, Maxwell," he said. CC's eyes went straight to Niles and he lifted his eyebrows and shrugged.

"Hello Maxwell," she said, as Niles sat slowly down beside her. She took the phone away from her ear and pressed the speaker button, holding the phone between them. Far be it from her to deprive Niles of a chance to eavesdrop. "How are you?" she asked.

"I've been better. I just got a call from Webber. He says you stole his theatre."

"I bargained for it. He's a terrible softie you know, and a terrible arm wrestler."

"What's this about you producing a show?"

"I'm producing a show," she said, though it seemed obvious he already knew. "It's scheduled to open in about three months as long as nothing goes wrong."

"You found backers?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Maxwell," she said, smiling into the phone and putting the false lilt back into her voice. It was strange how foreign it sounded to her. CC hadn't even realised she had stopped using it. Had she even used it with the investors? She couldn't remember.

"I wasn't surprised, not until Andrew Lloyd Webber started talking to me about my butler and how coincidental it was that your new play is called The Butler."

"Is it?" CC asked. "I hadn't heard that!"

"CC!" Maxwell exclaimed. "What is this play?"

"You passed on it Maxwell," she said. "I picked it up. Niles and I rewrote it."

"It's Niles' play?"

"Of course."

"And you had this bright idea, when?"

"Well if I recall correctly I had it not long before we moved to California-"

"You mean not long after you started sleeping with him?"

"That's not very fair Maxwell," CC said, resting a hand on Niles' knee to stop him interjecting. "Besides, you hated the play, so what's it to you now?"

"Webber says it's good."

"Webber hasn't read it."

"Do you have a lead?"

"Yes. Webber let me borrow his Phantom after I took his theatre."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm only kidding!" CC said, laughing. "Look you don't know him. He's an Australian, green, but he's got a great voice, comes off sounding British. He's perfect."

"Why are you doing this CC?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Publicly undermining me?"

"Maxwell, you're in LA, you're working on a television series. How could you possibly think I'm undermining you? I'm getting on with a job I love, that's all. I'm working on a very exciting project, and I'm just trying to do the best possible job. I'll invite you all to opening night of course. Niles and I would just love it if you came."

"Well, we'll see. How are you?"

"I'm wonderful, the baby's wonderful, and so is Niles. Would you like to talk to him?"

"No thank you CC, I'm very busy. Just...well, goodbye."

"Bye," she said, hanging up and turning to Niles. "Well, that went well. I'm so sorry he didn't want to speak to you."

"It's all right," Niles said, staring at the telephone in CC's hand. "I wish I could have seen his face for that Phantom comment." CC smirked.

"You liked that?"

"Oh baby!" he said, teasing. She laughed, leaning into him as Niles rubbed her hip with sure fingers. She shut her eyes and moved around to give him some more room.

"You know the worst thing?" she asked.

"You can't take these magic fingers with you to the theatre?" he asked, skating them lightly across her lower back, causing her to shiver and fidget. She laughed, shaking her head.

"No, I have to get the publicity wheel churning soon, and Maxwell is not going to like it."

"Don't worry about him. You've got a show to get out. Do what you have to do."

"Oh Niles, I never pictured you as the tough, knock 'em down business type."

"I learned from the best," he said in a low, droll voice. CC chuckled, her laugh nearly as deep.

"Don't stop, I like it."

*

CC could not help but smile proudly at the spread set out across the dining table. Arts sections of the sensible papers, as well as the tabloids, bore photographs of herself and Niles. There was a woman's magazine, an arts magazine. She and Niles had been collecting them for a week, and CC had watched her ticket sales climb with a sense of pride in her work she was not sure she had ever felt. She was doing it for herself, and it made such a difference.

Sales were not outstanding, but for a brand new show they were strong and promising. A few good reviews once the show opened would mean an even longer run than CC was anticipating, and even a few bad reviews would not hurt. Rehearsals were going well, the director was happy, and Niles had sat through the most recent full rehearsal with a smile so wide CC had needed to nudge him during the more serious parts of the play to tone it down.

"Oh, cute couple," Niles said as he walked past her carrying another tin of paint for the nursery she was not allowed near because of the alleged fumes. She was only humouring him. She had seen the labelling on the paint, and it was meant to be fume free. Niles just did not want her to see whatever it was he was doing in there. She was sure it would be perfect.

"You don't think the wife's looking a bit rotund?" she asked.

"A bit?" Niles said under his breath, but loud enough so that she heard him.

"The husband's looking a bit old!" she shouted as he disappeared into the baby's room. Niles stuck his head back towards her a moment later.

"Is that the best you can come up with? Soft, Babcock, real soft." CC rolled her eyes and laughed, returning her attention to the most recent article. It was not hard to spot the progression of articles. If she lined them up it was like a flip-book of her expanding pelvis. Each article was much the same, though more weight was given to the real-life situation in the tabloids, and more weight was given to the play in the sensible journals and papers.

CC did not care what the angle was. She checked each story for factual errors, misquotes, and straight-out lies, but so far had not needed to call up any publication and demand any retractions. Nobody had made any scandalous claims perhaps because the truth was scandalous in itself, although CC did not see it. It was not as though either of them had been married when they fell in love, and men and women from different backgrounds or classes had been getting together for years. It was nothing new.

But it sounded new on paper and that was the most important thing.

It also helped that it had happened in the midst of an ever-shrinking Broadway community whose members were mostly high society theatre buffs who loved nothing more than to gossip about each other, and CC was one of them.

CC's plug for the revival of the theatre industry had also not gone unnoticed, nor had her commitment to invest in the renovation of her favourite theatre; the small, off-Broadway hole in the wall she had first started working at. It was still used, but it had the potential to be greater, and she wanted its revival to be her next project; something she could manage from afar with a young child.

A few of the articles had even picked up on Niles' new career direction, as a butler for hire, and calls had already started coming in for him to assist at various private gatherings across the Upper East Side.

CC had a very good feeling that once again, she was in the right place, at the right time.

*

The first two weeks sold out before opening night, and as CC looked at the numbers and thanked her father for forcing her into a business degree, she could not wipe the smile off her face.

"Would you put those away and just enjoy it?" Niles asked from beside her in the back of their taxi. CC glanced at him and smiled, tucking her papers into her rectangular handbag. They looked so out of place, dressed in fine, brand new evening wear in the back of a cab, but they hadn't gotten around to getting a car. It would not be anything fancy. CC just wanted something safe for the baby to travel in; something economical that wouldn't waste too much money on petrol or insurance. It could be expensive, but it would not look it.

CC glanced down at herself and not for the first time marvelled at the amount of extra black and cream material that seemed to be involved in a dress for an eight month pregnant woman, compared to what she had worn for so many years beforehand. She sighed, resting a hand on her stomach just as the baby gave a tough little kick.

"Feeling okay?" Niles asked. CC nodded, though she had been nauseous of late. A return of morning sickness was not what she needed, but her body seemed to have other ideas. She could not believe how big she was. Niles did not seem to care. It was just more skin for him to kiss, he still found her attractive, he acted sometimes as though she wasn't pregnant at all, as though he just didn't see it. She rarely felt the need to ask him if he thought she was fat because she never needed to hear the standard answer. It was an amazing process, but she really was looking forward to the day she could wear normal sized clothes again. The day Niles could get his arms all the way around her again would be a cause for celebration, and she could not wait.

"Just nervous," she assured her husband as they pulled up at the theatre. CC paid the driver as Niles got out first. Cameras went off, there was a crowd out the front, but CC watched him focus on her and take it in stride. Niles was not big on cameras, despite what he had always claimed, and she had worried he may panic, but he seemed more worried about her and that was fine if it took his mind off the fact he would be in the paper again the next day.

Most of the opening night seats had gone to investors, cast and crew families and the media. CC and Niles had reserved a few prime tickets for themselves, CC's family, and the Sheffields, and they had sent them out blindly into the world by post with a letter of invitation. Nobody had replied, but CC had been trying not to let that get her down. This was their night. They had been working for nearly six months on it, amidst everything else.

Inside the theatre it was quieter without the flashing of so many cameras, and CC held Niles' hand as they made their way to the bar for a drink.

"I miss alcohol," CC said as she accepted her paper cup of water. Niles chuckled. There was no point reminding her how much longer she had. CC had decided she wanted to breastfeed. It would be a long time before she would be back on the hard liquor, although CC wondered if, once she lost her taste for it, she would ever really go back. Maybe not.

"Niles!" They turned around at the familiar young voice, and CC was stunned to see tall, thin Grace parting from her father to come towards them. She hugged Niles tightly.

"Look at you!" Niles said, holding his hand up to the top of her head. She was almost taller than him. "You've grown inches!"

"I know it's so infuriating!" she said. "Everyone in California thinks I'm sixteen. They don't believe me when I say I'm thirteen." CC smirked.

"I know that feeling. Hang in there."

"Wow, CC," Grace said, her eyes going wide as she looked CC up and down. "You look gorgeous, and huge!" CC laughed loudly, trying to find somewhere comfortable to rest her free hand. It was hard. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We're being surprised," she said. "Is your father going to come over, or is he sulking?"

"Oh um, I don't know I think he's talking to people," she said, waving her hand behind her without looking around. CC could see very well that Maxwell was not talking to anyone, but she returned her attention to Grace, who was talking to Niles about school and the latest news from Brighton and Maggie.

*

CC loved when audiences clapped for her shows, she had always gotten a kick out of it, but this was entirely different. This was Niles' play, and by its end he had tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. The audience was filled with her peers, not everyday people off the street, but the ones who had given her their money, the ones she had sucked up to for years without ever getting very far, flop after flop. She knew where the major critics were sitting, she and Niles had scouted them out during the intermission, and she saw at least two with smiles on their faces. Only one looked bored, and he was always bored and impossible to please. Two stars from him was high praise; she would be happy with one and a half. Even Maxwell looked like he was clapping, though it was Grace who was applauding the hardest.

"Do you think we pulled this off?" Niles whispered in her ear. She barely heard him as the actors left the stage for the final time and the lights came on. She could only nod for fear of collapsing into tears. She hated pregnancy hormones, but she was glad she had something to blame the tears on. It was a useful cover.

They stopped only briefly at the opening night party, to speak to the director and the cast, to show their appreciation for all their hard work and sweat and sleepless nights. CC would have stayed longer, but she needed to go home and lie down, and murder her heels for doing what they were doing to her poor feet. It was agony she had not felt in months of wearing flats, and Niles only laughed at her.

The cab dropped them off across the street from their apartment, but Niles stopped her before she hurried across the road. He took her hands and she smiled when she saw the deep sincerity in his eyes.

"What?" she asked, her voice gentle.

"Thank you so much for doing this," he said. "It's vindication." CC nodded. "I don't care if everybody else tonight hated it. I loved it, and I love you." CC shut her eyes as the tears finally beat her, and she hugged Niles tightly.

"You're welcome," she said, weeping into his neck. "But can I please go upstairs and get out of these shoes?" Niles chuckled, pulling back far enough to look down at her feet. "Do they look swollen?" she asked. "I can't see them anymore."

"We'll wrap the ice packs around them for a bit," he suggested. CC groaned. It had to be bad if he was suggesting first aid. "Not long to go," he said. "And now the show's open you can sit back, relax, and produce from a distance while I go off and, how do you put it, open doors for people and get them water?"

"That's about the sum of it," CC said, teasing as she wrapped her arm around his. She was halfway across the street before she recognised the man sitting on the steps leading up to their apartment. "Oh my God," she said, whispering as they crossed onto the sidewalk. "Daddy?" Niles let go of her arm as she approached the older man, who had stood and was walking towards her.

"Hi kitten," he said. "I got your letter. Look at you!"

"I didn't think you got it," CC said, allowing her father to hug her as best he could around her bulge. "What are you doing here?"

"I was at the play tonight," he said. "I didn't want you to see me; I wanted to see you privately later. Your brother sends his apologies."

"You saw the play?"

"I did, and it was brilliant CC. You really outdid yourself. I read in the paper you co-wrote it?"

"Oh, well Niles wrote it," CC said, reaching back for Niles and hauling him forward. "We edited it together. Niles, you remember my father, Stuart."

"It's been some years," her father said, shaking Niles' hand.

"It's nice to see you again. So good of you to come."

"Well I wasn't sure I would be able to, to be honest, which is why it was somewhat of a surprise. CC when are you due?"

"A little under four weeks, but two would be really good at this stage." He chuckled.

"I'm going away for two weeks, but then I'm in New York for a month. I want you to call me so I can be there, okay?"

"Really?" CC asked, stunned when her father handed over a business card turned upside down, to reveal what had to be a new cell phone number. "What, you want to pace around the waiting room?"

"Damn straight," he said. "Does your mother know?"

"Yes, she told me very politely that she didn't care."

"Oh honey," he said with a sigh, reaching up to touch her cheek with his knuckles. "I promise I'll be around, and I mean it this time. I want to meet this little baby." CC felt herself nodding. Absolutely. He was going to be a grandfather. He could absolutely be there.

"Thank you daddy," she whispered.

"Now listen, you're probably beat and I need to pack for my early morning flight. Call me on that number any time. You can leave a message if I don't pick up, I'll check." CC nodded, hugging her father more tightly and kissing his cheek. He gave her a final squeeze, before shaking Niles' hand once more, and thanking him for taking care of his daughter. It was a comment that might have made CC angry years earlier, but all she really wanted was for Niles to have a bath with her and rub her back for her, and if that was taking care of her then she supposed it was okay in her books. She did not have to do absolutely everything by herself, and if she was really honest with herself she rarely had.

They crawled into bed an hour later both smelling of lavender, and CC hummed when Niles leant over her back and kissed her cheek. She turned her head and shoulders until their lips met, and they pecked lightly in the dark.

"I'm so proud of you Niles," she said as they parted and settled on their pillows for the night. "I'm so proud to be your wife." Niles did not answer but she knew he was still awake. She thought maybe it was too much for him to respond to after such an emotional night, but she was not sure she had ever told him that before, and pride was different to love, it negated shame and bridged class. And she was proud, and so incredibly content.

*

"And then," CC said, taking a deep breath as Susanna fiddled with her father's fingernails. "The play turned into a big hit. It wasn't massive, not like Phantom or Cats, but it made a lot of money and ran for a long time for an original on Broadway. It was one of those quirky, seasonal plays that come and go, but that people remember for a long time."

"Ahuh," Susanna said, and CC smiled. Susanna did not understand the theatre yet. That part was going right over her head.

"And then," she said, leaning over and ruffling her daughter's hair. "You came along a whole week early!"

"Were you happy about that?" she asked. CC nodded, grinning.

"More than you could possibly imagine. And daddy was there, grandpa came and visited. There was even a little photo of me and you in the paper."

"Did Max visit when I was a baby?"

"No, we didn't see them again for a long time, not until the last time we saw them, last year."

"Really?" Susanna asked. "Why?"

"Maxwell was jealous. After your daddy's play, I had a string of good shows. It was a run that he had never had. The television show in California he was working on was cancelled two years in, and he had to find another project, but has only found small things since."

"That's sad."

"He's rich darling," CC said. "They manage. He's looking at doing some documentaries actually, and is trying to get a few pay-TV networks interested in committing to buy them."

"Do you want to do TV?"

"No, I really don't," CC said, shaking her head. "You get paid more money in TV, but I don't like it as much. I don't belong in that business world."

"Are they still mad at you?"

"No angel," CC said. Susanna gave her a disbelieving look and CC smirked. "Well...not much. Niles was his butler, I started as his secretary. Our happiness and success is hard for Maxwell to handle. We grew apart, that's all. We have different lives now."

"Does he miss having a butler?"

"You know I don't know?" she said, laughing. "I'm sure they do miss Niles, but they have a new butler, and a lady who visits a few days a week to help Fran with the twins."

"Like a nanny? Everyone has a nanny!"

"You don't," CC reminded her. "And you're not getting one."

"But mommy!"

"No, absolutely not."

"Daddy would let me have one." CC laughed.

"He would not. And haven't you been listening to my story? What does that tell you?"

"You don't like nannies and you love daddy lots?"

"And you," CC said.

"And me," Susanna repeated with a wide grin, looking pleased with herself. "Is that the end?"

"Don't tell me you have more questions. I'm losing my voice." Susanna laughed at the dramatic expression on CC's face because she knew it wasn't true. CC had not done that much talking; her brain was more tired than her tongue.

"Not now," Susanna said. "I'm tired."

"Can I have a hug?" she asked. Susanna nodded and slid off her chair before climbing onto CC's and into her lap. "Don't grow up too fast one me okay?" CC told her. "Your daddy and I want to savour you for as long as we can."

"Does that mean I don't get to go to boarding school either?"

"Never," CC said. "I know it sounds exciting in books and on TV, but I'll put you on the phone with Uncle Noel and he'll change your mind forever. Besides, mommy and daddy would be so very lonely without you."

"Mommy, do you ever pretend like you're a different person? Like a character on a movie or a friend?"

"I used to," CC whispered. "But not anymore." Susanna sighed and relaxed against her.

"I decided, I don't want to quit school anymore."

"Good," CC said. "If those other children tease you for having a daddy who's a butler, you just tell them that at least your house is very, very clean. And at least your daddy picks you up from school. That will make them very jealous, I promise."

"Really?" Susanna asked. CC nodded, smiling at the memory of her father as a young man.

"Would have worked for me."