Niles froze, one hand still on the doorknob. He couldn't believe his ears. Had that really been the Ice Queen herself asking him to stay?
Partially afraid that he was only dreaming, he pinched himself subtly and then winced. He was definitely awake. And that meant...
Niles turned around slowly, to see CC sitting up, but still wrapped up in the fleecy blanket he'd tucked her under. She looked innocent, child-like and vulnerable and he once again quenched his desire to run over to the sofa and sweep her into his arms.
"Do you need something, Miss Babcock?" he asked cautiously, his voice polite and deferential.
" I need you to stay with me," she said simply. "I just don't think I can sleep after all that happened tonight and being alone in here won't help."
Niles raised an eyebrow. "You're not alone, surely? What about Chester?"
"He's with my sister DD for the week. She's trying to impress some Wall Street stockbroker that loves dogs."
"In that case," Niles said, trying to hide his excitement, "I'd be happy to keep you company."
"Can I get you anything?" she offered. "I've got bourbon, scotch, rum..."
Niles wanted to laugh at the irony of CC Babcock offering to get him something.
"I don't think any of those are likely to help you sleep," he said instead. "How about I make you some of my famous hot chocolate?"
CC's eyes lit up. "I haven't had hot chocolate since I was a child. Bobo used to make it for me all the time. It was my favourite."
"Bobo?" Niles questioned.
A shadow fell across CC's face. "Bobo was my nanny," she explained, leaning back against the couch and wrapping the pink blanket more tightly around her legs.
"She died seven years ago and I miss her terribly. She's the only person who's ever loved me."
Niles was greatly moved by this statement – a rare display of vulnerability from the normally stoic CC. He could tell how much CC had loved her nanny and the thought warmed him. For it showed him that CC Babcock was capable of genuinely loving a person, even though she didn't show this side of her very often.
"Was it Bobo who made you that blanket?" he asked, with a sudden flash of understanding.
CC smiled softly. "Yes. She knitted it for me when I was three. It was my security blanket. I took it everywhere."
She looked bashful. "Silly, I know, but I just can't get rid of it now."
Niles looked at her thoughtfully. "No. Not silly at all."
He returned from the kitchen a few minutes later, carrying two mugs of creamy cocoa topped with a few shavings of grated chocolate.
"I added a splash of brandy," he said with a wink, as he handed CC's mug to her. "You didn't seem to have any milk in the fridge."
CC blushed. "I know – I'm terrible, aren't I? I've got a fully stocked bar, but I keep forgetting to buy the milk."
If only you had someone around who'd remind you, Niles thought. But he kept his thoughts to himself.
"That smells amazing!" CC marvelled as she took a deep breath and inhaled the rich aroma of the steaming hot chocolate. She took a tentative sip. "And it tastes amazing too. Just like Bobo's... well, without the brandy of course."
"I'm glad you like it," Niles said with a smile, as he sat down on the couch beside her. He wondered if he was overstepping his boundaries by doing so, but CC didn't seem to be perturbed.
Being this close to her, though, was torture, plain and simple. He could smell the coconut fragrance emitting from her hair and the tantalising perfume she wore.
He swallowed hard. Be strong, Niles. Be strong.
XX
CC was starting to wonder if asking Niles to stay had been a good idea, after all. She hadn't intended to extend the invitation. But as she'd woken up and realised that he was leaving, she'd suddenly known that she couldn't let him leave.
You can't let him leave your apartment, CC? Or you can't let him leave your life?
CC briefly squeezed her eyes shut and tried to imagine a world without Niles.
No more insults, no more waxed floors for her to slip on, no more cream-laden treats while she was trying to diet...
But also, she realised, no more companionship, no more laughter, and worst of all, no-one to take care of me.
She was surprised by that thought.
No-one to take care of her? Since when did she think of Niles as someone who took care of her? From the way he treated her, wasn't it obvious that the opposite was true?
But CC knew that she was lying to herself. Niles had really shone that night. He'd not only defended her from Chandler, but he'd made sure she got home safely and had stayed behind at her request.
No-one else had ever done this for her before.
CC was desperately afraid of opening her heart to a man again. Every time she did so, she inevitably ended up disappointed. Her father had only been the first in a line of men who had sweet-talked their way into her life, but had not been willing to make her their number-one priority.
But in light of what had transpired that evening, she was starting to wonder if it might be time to open her hurting heart again. Was Niles worth the risk?
XX
Niles looked at CC closely, wondering if she had fallen asleep. Her eyes were closed, but he could still see a myriad of emotions flickering across her face – thoughtfulness, fear and what almost looked like calm acceptance.
He found it disturbing that he could read her so well. He'd never felt this kind of closeness to anyone before and it scared him to no end.
Niles didn't believe in the idea of soulmates. To him, it just didn't make practical sense that there was one perfect person in the world for you. What if you never found that person? What about people who found more than one perfect person for them?
He thought of Mr Sheffield and how much he'd loved his first wife Sarah. He remembered comforting his boss after Sarah's death and the long period of mourning he'd gone through afterwards. No-one who'd known Maxwell and Sarah as a couple would have said they were anything less than two people who were madly in love.
And yet now he had Fran. Bubbly, brunette and Jewish – she couldn't have been more different from Sarah, but in every sense of the word, she was just as perfect for Max. And once they'd gotten their act together, they were deliriously happy.
No, Niles didn't believe in the idea of soulmates at all. Yet he was starting to feel that if he did, he just might have called CC Babcock his.
"Are you alright, Miss Babcock?" he asked tentatively, not wanting to disturb her if she'd fallen asleep.
Her eyes immediately snapped open and she looked embarrassed.
"Sorry, I must have drifted off," she said quickly. She didn't want to lie, but didn't see how she could tell Niles the truth, either – that she had been thinking about him and her feelings.
"See, I told you that hot chocolate would do the trick," Niles said with a grin, as he stood up, collected the mugs and headed to the sink.
"I think it was the brandy myself," she said teasingly. "Or maybe I just had very dull company."
"Well, you asked for it," Niles said with a laugh, as he finished washing the mugs and placed them at the edge of the sink to dry.
"Anyway, since I've been boring you so much, perhaps I should head home."
"No!" CC blurted quickly. Niles looked surprised at her vehemence.
"What I mean to say is," she said, forcing herself to sound calm, "that I thought you and I could have a chat."
Niles eyed her suspiciously. "What sort of chat?"
"Oh, you know," CC said airily, waving a hand in the air. "This and that... whatever people chat about."
God, she was awful at this, CC thought miserably. Why had she been taking classes in business and production, when she should have been taking classes in flirting and dating? She had no social skills whatsoever.
Niles looked amused. "And what do people chat about?" He really wasn't going to let her off the hook.
CC thought quickly. "Well, uh, what do you do in your spare time?"
Niles snorted. "Spare time? What spare time? On my last day off, Mr Sheffield asked me to cook a business lunch for 30 potential investors!"
CC cringed slightly, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. Niles noticed her flush and looked at her questioningly.
"Uh, that was me," she admitted sheepishly. "It was my bright idea to have a lunch for the investors – just an impulse thing – and Maxwell went along with it."
She looked at him earnestly. "I had no idea it was your day off, though. You have to believe me."
Niles looked at her warily, as though trying to gauge her sincerity. Finally he nodded. "I believe you," he said quietly. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Mr Sheffield should have known."
CC bit her lip, mentally noting that she would talk to Maxwell about making it up to Niles at her earliest opportunity.
"So, what do you do with your spare time when you're not cooking impulse lunches for would-be investors?" she asked finally.
"I think of ways to make your life hell," he replied promptly, but with a twinkle in his eyes.
CC found that twinkle incredibly disarming. It was very difficult to maintain a casual and professional manner when she was sitting next to a man whose eyes could twinkle like that.
"Alright, what do you do when you're not cooking impulse lunches for would-be investors or thinking of ways to make my life hell?" she persisted doggedly.
Niles sobered, as though he realised she really wanted to know.
"Well, I like visiting my parents," he said slowly. "I take dance classes and I write plays."
CC wasn't sure what stunned her the most – that Niles visited his parents, that he took dance classes or that he wrote plays! He certainly was a surprising man.
"I didn't know your parents lived here."
"Well, actually they live in California," Niles explained. "My father has bad bronchitis and living in England wasn't good for his lungs, so his doctor suggested he move to a warmer climate."
"And you take dance classes. Ballroom, I suppose?"
A slow smile spread over Niles' face. "I covered the ballroom classes during my schooling years. I do Latin dancing now – Fran got me into it."
CC felt herself start to blush again at the visual of doing a tango with a shirtless Niles.
"And you write plays? Why haven't you ever sent them to Max and myself?"
Niles looked at her in disbelief. "Oh, I have. Many, many times. They're usually buried under the rest of the scripts that you reject without even looking at."
His voice grew more animated. "Do you know what it's like to pour your heart and soul into a piece of work and have someone blatantly throw it in the rubbish without a thought?"
CC lowered her eyes. Niles' passion made her see very clearly that she had been the wrong. She'd thought of the scripts that she and Maxwell received as being meaningless scrap paper that didn't deserve a chance. In her mind, only the scripts sent directly from well-known writers warranted a read.
But now she realised that what she'd thought of as scrap paper was actually the blood, sweat and tears of aspiring writers. Their only dream had been for someone to read and understand their efforts and she hadn't even given them the opportunity.
She felt tears well up in her eyes and was surprised by herself.
She never cried.
Why did the damn tears have to come now? Oh, please don't let Niles see them, please, please...
XX
Niles was prepared to continue ranting until he noticed that CC was suspiciously quiet. He looked at her closely, wondering if she'd started drifting off again and was shocked to see the unshed tears which gleamed in her eyes.
"Oh, I am sorry," he murmured apologetically, horrified that he had made a woman cry. It wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do – especially when that woman happened to be the woman he loved.
He gently drew her hands away from her face and wiped her tears with his handkerchief.
"It's alright, Miss Babcock. I'm so sorry. Please don't cry."
XX
She stared up at him as though she'd never seen him before. Or perhaps she'd seen him before, but she was now viewing him in an entirely different light.
Either way, she liked what she saw. And realising this, she felt emboldened and ready to take a chance.
"Niles," she whispered quietly.
He put his handkerchief back into his pocket and looked into her eyes. "Yes?"
Kiss me.
It was on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't seem to say it. It was as though the words were stuck inside of her, stubbornly unwilling to be released.
And since she couldn't say it, she decided to just do it.
Choosing to open her heart again once more, CC Babcock leaned forward and kissed him.
Full on the lips.
Author's Note: Thanks and virtual slices of cheesecake to laineybev, CCandNiles4ever, slm38, the-reverie, nrfan, laurenlanelover, EspoirDio and ladybrin for reviewing the last chapter! You are all wonderful!
How was that for a fast update, my dear readers? I very much hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is not yet the end of the story. Please review to find out what happens next!
