Author's Note: Hi everyone! For those reading and have it favorited, I apologize that chapter 10 has been posted so late! I did, however, post a brand new Niles/CC one shot, so if anyone is interested in reading that, please feel free to do so! As always, please read, review, message, all that fun stuff. I would love to make new friends on this platform! Don't be shy to reach out and chat with me!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Nanny and its contents of the show, but I do own my original character, Sabrina Babcock (yes, Taylor is just her stage name). I also don't own the song Sabrina covers.
The next morning came quite quickly despite all of the emotions that CC had the previous night talking to Niles. She still couldn't believe her secret was out to someone other than her daughter. Although, she would've preferred talking to Maxwell, she was still grateful that the butler kept his word in letting her familial ties with the young pop star stay hidden. She did wish that she would've waited for him to talk to, but the burdens she was carrying were weighing heavy on her shoulders. Her burdens were still there, but those had gotten lighter ever since the previous night. She was also grateful for Sabrina coming in to comfort her throughout the night. CC found herself unstable after the conversation and didn't think she'd be able to sleep throughout the night by herself. Normally when she'd have these breakdowns, she'd spend the entire night drinking until she blacked herself out. For a moment the previous night, she was considering on drinking after her daughter had fallen asleep, but she couldn't bring herself to do that. Her love for her baby was much stronger than that of alcohol, and that was something CC would've never thought years ago. All of her worries were gone the moment her daughter wrapped her arms around her, and she was able to fall asleep. It was truly a miracle having her back in her life.
The sun shone through the bedroom window letting the light beam across the mother and daughter, with Sabrina's arms still wrapped around CC. The entire environment of the room was quiet and content for a while up until the alarm clock went off. It was 8am, which meant that CC and Sabrina needed to get ready for the day. They had a final meeting with Maxwell at 10am to discuss arrangements for marketing and interviews since opening night for West Side Story was happening in one week. Sabrina needed to prepare herself to meet with talk show hosts, radio show hosts, and magazine/newspaper journalists, and Maxwell was able to schedule times for those interviews as long as she were to approve them. CC woke up first knowing that her alarm was going off. She lazily reached her hand over to snooze the alarm and then lowered it back onto her bed. Her eyes fluttered open looking up at the ceiling and then over at her daughter, who was still sleeping. Her free hand reached over to move some hair away from Sabrina's face, so she could take a glance at her better. She kissed her daughter's forehead before she leaned over to attempt to get out of bed. However, Sabrina's arms wrapped tighter around CC, which made it impossible for her to move.
"Sabrina.." she whispered to the sleeping girl beside her. "We have to wake up, baby." With those words, Sabrina held her mother closer so she wouldn't budge. She still felt like CC needed the attention, so she wanted to make sure that her mother was doing better from the previous night. CC chuckled lightly and then said softly, "I'm serious, honey. We have to get ready for the day. We need to be at the house by 10 for our meeting."
Sabrina groaned in protest and continued to snuggle against CC, which made her sigh heavily. "Ten more minutes.." the girl sleepily replied still not letting CC go. This is going to be impossible, she thought as she tried to think of a way to make her daughter move the opposite direction. She then thought of the reason why her daughter was with her in the first place. "You know.. I'm feeling much better from last night," she said to her hoping that would make Sabrina move away. CC decided to stay put and wait to see if Sabrina would move, which she eventually did after a few minutes. This gave CC her chance to get out of bed and start her day. "Come on, baby. Your turn," she called out to her daughter loudly. She eyed her daughter still laying in the same position as before, only this time, Sabrina was conscious. She just felt like pulling a little prank on her mother and kept her eyes closed pretending like she was asleep.
"Sabrina, I'm not kidding you. Wake up," CC said again poking her daughter's shoulders. Sabrina then quickly took the blankets and covered her entire body in them so she was no longer visible to CC's eyes. The Broadway producer immediately huffed and rolled her eyes. "Cut this shit out, right now," she stated sternly. What came next were muffled giggles that came from under the covers. CC then realized that her daughter was messing around with her, but she didn't have the time for that. She was already stressed about the meeting, and she didn't want her daughter delaying anything. "Sabrina Catherine Babcock, this is the last time I am telling you to get out of bed! Stop being so damn stubborn!" Sabrina's muffled giggles from earlier only turned into louder giggles. She was clearly entertained by this and wanted to know what was going to happen next.
"Fine! You leave me no choice." CC had walked out of her room for a moment, which caused Sabrina to pull back the blankets that were covering her head. She slowly rose and sat up still not leaving CC's bed. She then watched as CC stormed back in the room with her arms full of pillows from Sabrina's room and the couch in the living room. This time, she was ready to battle her daughter in getting her ready for the day. "Get your ass out of bed!" she shouted as she started to throw the pillows at Sabrina. Sabrina started to laugh and reached out to try and catch them. "Mom, stop it!" she shouted and laughed as a couple pillows hit her on the head and her face. This time, it was her turn to start throwing. She threw one at her mother, but missed since she moved out of the way.
"Ha!" CC shouted as she moved towards her vanity. Sabrina noticed she moved over and tried to aim her next pillow towards the vanity. CC then saw where Sabrina was aiming and pointed at her daughter, wide-eyed hoping she wouldn't move a muscle. "Don't you dare throw that at my vanity!" she said to her. "If you throw that towards the vanity, you're dead." Sabrina laughed loudly and then threw the pillow at her mother, who caught it with both of her hands. She noticed this time, her mother wasn't messing around anymore, so she covered her mouth with one of the pillows trying to show that she wasn't laughing. CC crossed her arms and then said, "I thought I told you not to throw that."
"Well, you started it! What else was I supposed to do?" Sabrina shouted throwing her hands up in the air holding the pillows. After a moment, Sabrina sighed and finally rose to her feet to get out of bed. "Fine. I know we have a meeting that starts in less than two hours.." the younger girl grumbled and started to pick up the pillows that were left on the floor. CC sighed in relief and then said, "Thank you. Now, help me pick out an outfit. I want to look as classy as possible." The older woman went to open her closet door, which consisted of blazers, skirts, blouses, and shoes that were almost all identical. Ever since CC had gained extra weight, her choices in style became limited.
All Sabrina could do was stare at the closet before her. There was never a day where Sabrina thought her mother wasn't beautiful, because she was. However, all of her outfits were pretty much the same day after day, and it was starting to get quite old. She watched as CC went through her clothes and tried to find an outfit that would be suitable for the meeting. After a while, CC pulled out an outfit and showed it to her daughter. "What do you think of this?" she asked her hoping to get an honest response.
Sabrina tried so hard to hold in her laughter at this point. She hated the outfits that her mother wore to work lately, and she figured that since she was still in the mood for messing around with CC, she decided to be honest about it. "Mom, your wardrobe is shit," she blurted out loud and snickered. She tried so hard not to laugh out loud seeing CC's reaction. CC knew it was true that her clothes were not the most stylish around, but she wished Sabrina hadn't been blatantly honest. In response to her daughter's silent laughter, she picked up one of the pillows, eyeing her as a target. This caused Sabrina to scream and run out of the room still laughing.
CC opened the door and rushed out of her room finding Sabrina trying to get the front door to open. She saw this as an opportunity to throw the pillow at her daughter when she wasn't looking, and sure enough, she hit her target. The girl stopped trying to free herself from the penthouse and just turned around and held her stomach nearly crying from laughter. "You really thought you could get away from me?" CC asked as she moved towards the teenager placing her hands on her hips. "You should've known I was going to catch up to you the minute you ran out."
In that moment, Sabrina's eyes widened as she grinned. She had another zinger to throw at her mother, but held it in hoping that CC wouldn't budge another muscle. However, she knew deep down, CC was having just as much fun as Sabrina was, despite the fact that neither of them were ready for their morning meeting. Just to cap off the moment, Sabrina finally blurted out her zinger. "Anything to get your fat ass moving!"
"YOU ARE SUCH A LITTLE -" CC shouted as she reached over to grab Sabrina and pull her into a tight embrace where Sabrina tried to pry her way out of her mother's arms. She was laughing uncontrollably at this point even though she couldn't move anywhere to hide. "You want to take that back?" CC asked with a smirk on her face knowing she finally won. Sabrina was still giggling in her arms. "You're taking that back whether you like it or not!" CC didn't appreciate anyone calling her fat, but she knew that her daughter didn't mean anything by it, so that wasn't taken seriously. If it were anybody else, she would've immediately lost it.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Sabrina cried out in laughter. "I surrender!" CC finally let go of her daughter and allowed the girl to let her giggles fade away. CC was not going to lie, her daughter's laughter was contagious, and she needed to hear that this morning, especially since she knew she was going to have a stressful day today. She kept her arms wrapped around Sabrina and kissed her cheek softly. Sabrina then looked up at her mother and said, "I'm sorry. I know about the meeting soon. I just... wanted to spend some more time with you before we stop being family for the day."
It broke CC's heart hearing that. She knew deep down she needed to break the news to Sabrina's father, even though that was the last thing she wanted to muster herself to do. However, when it came to her priorities, her daughter always came first before anything, including work, her love life, and the money she made. She bit her lip hearing Sabrina's words and said, "You have nothing to apologize for, baby. I'm glad we did.. I knew today was going to be stressful, so I needed that little boost of joy before we headed off." She smiled down at her daughter for a moment and then asked, "Do you really think my wardrobe is that horrible?"
"Well... you kind of wear the same clothes every day now. I think maybe it's time you should switch things up," Sabrina suggested hoping that CC would take her advice. "Maybe one of these days when you're not working, we can head to the mall and get you some new clothes? It's getting kind of old seeing you wearing a blazer and long skirt almost every single day."
CC sighed and rolled her eyes. She had to admit that her wardrobe wasn't the greatest ever since she had gained weight. She didn't have a lot of options to choose from unfortunately, so her only resorts were to try and sport the same thing every day so she wouldn't lose touch with herself and gain more insecurities about the way she looked. However, this little plan her daughter came up with made her slightly nervous. CC was afraid of judgment from the public already about her figure, so to change up her style made her more anxious. But she did trust Sabrina wholeheartedly and knew that everything she did was purely out of love. After a moment of thinking, she nodded her head in agreement. "That sounds like a great idea," she said before she started to walk back to her room. "Maybe we can go before opening night sometime this week?"
"Sure!" Sabrina chimed as she followed CC back. She still wasn't dressed and ready for the meeting yet, but she did promise CC she would help her pick out an outfit to wear despite her lack of variety in her clothing. While in there, Sabrina picked out one of CC's brown blazers, a red and yellow blouse, and a long black skirt that she could pull off for the meeting. Sabrina then followed suit and got dressed on her own finding a white blazer number with matching pants and she straightened her hair. It had gotten a bit longer ever since she started to stay in New York, and she definitely wasn't going to cut it anytime soon. Soon afterwards, the two headed out the door and into the outside world where they had to break their familial bond temporarily. It was the one point in the day that Sabrina hated, but she had to embrace it to make her mother happy.
In the Sheffield house, Maxwell and CC were going over any last minute additions and changes to the show's production with Sabrina. The young pop star requested her own dressing room, hair and makeup staff, and ten feet distancing away from Dominic when the curtains were closed. Most of those accommodations for her were quite difficult to meet, but she was also quite difficult to work with. Maxwell didn't understand why she was so high maintenance, but CC was able to help out her daughter with anything she requested. Sabrina continued to write some additional notes that the producers gave her to take into consideration before the next week. She couldn't believe opening night was in one week and that her entire time here would finally soon pay off. The promotional posters and billboards were already out in Times Square, and Sabrina loved the fact that her face was pretty much plastered everywhere. She thought to herself that it was kind of like her last hurrah before she was planning to announce her retirement. The quicker she would get the show done, the faster time would go by and she would be able to spend more time with her mother.
At around 1pm, Maxwell had dismissed Sabrina from the office as she was done with her portion of the meeting. She sighed in relief, but also was quite sad because she reached to shake both Maxwell and CC's hands as if she was in a professional environment. Resisting the urge to hug her mother was extremely difficult, but she had to be strong and composed herself. As she exited the room, she blinked a few tears away from her eyes hating the fact that she had to continue this charade around the rest of the Sheffield staff and family. That meeting made her feel quite starved, so she walked towards the kitchen to find something to eat. She was hoping that Niles had cooked something up already for her. As she walked in, she saw him finishing up some lunch and had the small TV turned on for background noise. "Hello hello!" she chimed noticing him finishing up a plate. "Is this for me?"
Niles looked up at the young pop star who had shown up in the kitchen. She seemed quite cheery after that meeting knowing that she had to continue keeping such a big secret. She's quite an incredible actress. Surely the poor girl's suffering.. I can't imagine what it's like for her to go through this every day with Miss Babcock, he thought to himself as she approached the counter. After CC had told him everything about Sabrina, he could finally see the similarities between the two. He returned a smile back to the young girl and handed her the plate of food. "No, but it's yours now. First come, first serve," he said to her making Sabrina happy as she took the plate.
"Thank goodness! I'm famished and exhausted," she said as she grabbed the turkey sandwich that Niles had assembled and took a bite of it. She indulged in the food as she and CC hadn't had time to eat due to the morning they had together. Since this was her first meal of the day, Sabrina was grateful that Niles had made something, even though it wasn't initially for her to begin with.
"That was supposed to be for Master Brighton, but I gave him a fifteen minute time limit to retrieve his lunch. Looks like you beat him to the cold turkey," Niles said making Sabrina laugh as she continued to eat her lunch. "How was the meeting, Miss Sabrina?"
"It was alright.. kind of boring," the teenager shrugged setting her sandwich down on the plate. "I made a few requests for opening night and then for the rest of the run.. depending on how long the show goes for. Thankfully Mr. Sheffield and my Mo..." she stopped her tracks realizing she was about to say the word "mom" in front of Niles, but she dragged along the vowel until she could finally finish her sentence. "Miss Babcock... her... they were able to accommodate a good majority of them.. well.. except for keeping a ten foot distance away from Dominic when the curtains are closed."
Niles chuckled seeing Sabrina hesitate to speak her mother's name. He couldn't let her drag on the secret any longer. He looked around the room seeing that nobody else was on and that the intercoms were turned off. "You know she told me everything about you," he said to her trying to reassure the girl.
Sabrina's smile fell at his words in a bit of shock. She was wondering who CC was talking to on the phone the previous night. It seemed as if she had explained to Niles about the entire situation with her and Sabrina. "What do you mean..?" the girl asked still trying to keep a low profile.
"My dear, you don't need to be so frightened when you talk about your mother around me anymore. She's told me everything about how she had you, when she gave you away, how much she loves you.." Niles reassured her. He hated to see the younger girl so heartbroken about the ordeal.
"She told you? Everything?" Sabrina asked him curiously, which made him nod. "Oh thank god! I'm so sick of keeping this secret!" she sighed in relief as she laid her head on the counter.
"I'm sure you are.. but you might want to move your head off the counter. I didn't clean that yet," Niles mentioned. Sabrina immediately lifted her head and took a washcloth wiping the side of her face. If CC really told him everything, then he must've known something else that had been bothering her for several weeks.
"Did she happen to mention to you who my father was..?" Niles smirked and kept himself silent. He knew exactly who her father was, but he was loyal to CC about this small fact. He was a man of his word, and that word was to never tell anyone about Sabrina's father, not even Sabrina herself. The girl fumbled for her small purse and pulled out her wallet searching for some cash that she had on her. She bribed him last time she got what she wanted, so surely this would have to work again. "I'll give you $50 right now if you tell me who he is." Niles only shook his head and continued to stay silent with every attempt she made to bribe him. "$100.. $200.. $500.. $1,000.. $10,000.. $20,000.. why won't you tell me!?" Sabrina's voice got louder and more high-pitched as she shouted out more dollar amounts to him. She shouted the last part in exasperation.
"I made a promise to Miss Babcock that I would keep your father's identity a secret," Niles stated as he went to make some more lunch for the rest of the family. Sabrina huffed and threw her wallet back in her small purse.
"I don't understand.." Sabrina frowned as she pushed her plate away. She had eaten half of the sandwich, and seeing that Niles knew who her father was made her lose her appetite. "Why would she tell you who my father is, but she won't tell me anything about him?"
"I'm sure she wants to protect you from any grave danger," Niles mentioned as he started to chop up some vegetables for the salad. "She too was in a position like that in the past. Being pregnant at a young age, worrying about her child's fate of her future, and having to isolate herself from society.. it's quite a lot for a young woman to go through."
"It sounds like a lot but.." Sabrina stammered on her words. "Why would she want to keep any secrets from me? I thought she trusted me and told me that I could tell her anything in confidence.. and vice versa."
"That's the thing," Niles pointed out standing beside the girl. He wrapped an arm around her as she looked over at him. "She's afraid of losing you again. After you showed up in her life so many years later, she was quick to assume the worst would happen to you. Call it a mother's intuition. With the concern over your father, she just doesn't want you to think of her differently after finding out about his identity. She loves you.. little Miss Babcock."
Sabrina pursed her lips together and smiled slightly at what he just called her. It felt nice to finally be acknowledged by someone as CC's daughter. "I would never think of her any differently... I love her regardless.. and I already told her that." Sabrina moved to grip onto the locket she was wearing with CC's picture inside of it.
"Make sure she knows that at any opportunity you tell her.. she thinks she's failed you as your mother. Keep telling her that she means something to you," Niles mused continuing to give Sabrina some advice. "She's quite vulnerable and insecure about her parenting duties she's taken on for you. Remind her that she's your rock. She would love to hear that coming from you."
Sabrina smiled widely at his words. She did appreciate CC, but she felt like she hadn't told her enough. This was the kind of wisdom she needed to get through her day. It felt like she had another friend to interact with. Without thinking, Sabrina wrapped her arms around the butler and caught him by surprise. "Thank you, Niles," she said to him before pulling away. "You're not so bad for a cranky old man living his life scrubbing toilets every day."
Niles narrowed his eyes at her, and Sabrina couldn't help but giggle in response to his reaction. "That woman must be so proud of you," he grumbled as he turned to the TV. Sabrina noticed what he was watching and looked over at the time.
"Where's the remote to this?" she asked as she quickly pushed the channel buttons on the TV trying to change the channel.
"I was going to get it, but it seemed as if you're too impatient for that," Niles replied as he watched Sabrina change the channel. She stopped at the Telenovela channel, where her favorite show was playing a marathon. "Isn't this the Spanish soap opera channel?"
"Yes!" Sabrina chimed excitedly. "My favorite show's on, and it's a marathon!"
"Your favorite show is a Spanish soap opera?" Niles asked seeing a nod coming from the teenager. "Don't you understand anything they're saying on the show?" She nodded once again.
"Mhm! I'm sure you won't understand anything though, so I'll give you some assistance," Sabrina said as she moved closer to the TV and turned on the menu settings. She frowned as she went through the settings not finding what she needed. "Doesn't this TV get closed captioning?"
"Do you not recall that I only get paid $6 an hour and I can't afford a television with a closed captioning setting?" he reminded her as they started to watch the show.
"Oh.. well I guess you'll have to improvise," she shrugged letting go of the button on the TV. Sabrina's smile widened seeing the episode that they were watching. "Ooh! This is one of my favorite episodes! I remember this episode where Pedro does -"
Just as Sabrina was about to speak, the intercom turned on, and Maxwell said, "Niles, could you tell Sabrina to get back in the office? I have some more notes for her."
"Right away, sir," Niles said as he looked over at the girl who huffed and rolled her eyes. "Looks like you need to get back to the salt mines."
"I guess I do," she muttered as she started to walk away from the kitchen. She then paused and turned back around. "Once you start watching this show, you'll get sucked into it and never go back," she smirked finally making her exit and leaving Niles to watch the show by himself.
A couple of hours later, it seemed as if Sabrina proved her point right, and Niles was still in the kitchen watching the Spanish soap opera channel. He had no clue what the dialogue was talking about, but he tried his best to follow the plot of the show just by the nonverbal gestures the actors were portraying. He found himself leaving a tissue box next to him as some of the scenes were starting to get too emotional for him. He was too invested in the show that he didn't notice CC walk in the kitchen with her empty tea mug. She slowly went over to place it in the sink and walked behind him seeing what he was watching. Once she recognized the television show, she sighed heavily. '
"Oh god," she muttered as she approached him. "Did my daughter suck you into this?" Niles didn't respond as he still was invested in the scene he was watching. "I'm going with yes." CC held her gaze at the TV show they were watching. The two had watched a few more scenes, and soon enough, they were approaching near the end of the show.
After listening to some dialogue, Niles noticed the expressions on the actor's face and he started to cry along with them. "Aye! No Papa!" he took a tissue from the tissue box and covered his nose and eyes with it.
CC was questioning his motivations with this show. In the back of her mind, she thought of Sabrina with this show on, but she wanted to hear the reasoning from Niles himself. "Why the hell are you watching the Spanish soap opera?"
"SHHH!" Niles motioned to CC as he tried to listen to the show. "Something big just happened!"
"What?" CC asked curiously watching the show along with him.
Niles thought about what was going on, but there seemed to have been more dialogue than action. "I have no idea," he responded as he wiped his nose and eyes with the tissue he was holding.
All CC could do was roll her eyes and walk over to the plate of desserts that were on the other side of the counter top. "Oh, Niles, just when I think you're so pathetic, you go and top yourself," she mused as she reached over to grab three chocolate chip cookies. One of them was for Sabrina, the others were for herself.
Niles sighed and then diverted his attention away from the television to CC. "Well, I'm sorry we can't all learn Spanish the way you did chasing frightened tourists down the streets of Pamplona," he retorted back to her. CC rolled her eyes and finally walked away from the kitchen with the desserts leaving Niles to wallow in misery from the show he was watching.
The shenanigans didn't stop from there, however. Even though the day had passed them by, they were still invested in the show. CC didn't want to admit it for herself, but she got sucked into this show just as much as Niles did, if not more. Her daughter had reminded her there was a marathon on during her break, and CC didn't hesitate to rush out to the living room, holding some revised drafts of scripts in her hands. She realized that there were about 10 more minutes left of the marathon, so she went to sit on the couch and turned on the TV with the remote. It seemed as if Sabrina had been in the room before, because the TV was defaulted to the Telenovela channel when she turned it on. CC heard some dialogue and stared at the screen as the drama went on in the show. She watched wide-eyed as she heard the actor plead for his life. Some more dramatic music followed and then she heard the sound of a gunshot go off. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she placed her hand on her chest. "No! Aye, Carmencita!" she cried out as she covered her face with her free hand, not believing what she had just seen on the screen in front of her.
Hearing her screams from the laundry room, Niles stopped what he was doing and took the laundry basket with dry clothes rushing towards the living room. He noticed CC watching the show and just had to join her. He set the laundry basket down on the coffee table and watched from afar as the scene unfolded before him. Since the two had watched the show, they started to speak Spanish from what they learned. "Carmencita shoot Papa?" Niles asked pointing at the TV as CC stood up next to him.
"Si!" she dramatically responded mourning the death of one of the main characters of the show.
"Es Papa..?" Niles didn't want to assume the worst of the character, but he had a bad feeling about Papa's fate.
It took a moment for CC to tell him of what happened to the character. However, she finally mustered up the emotion to say, "...muerte." which indicated that Papa died of the gunshot caused by Carmencita. Niles began to mourn with CC and they both embraced one another trying to give each other comfort from this dramatic show that they were watching.
As they were holding each other, Maxwell entered the room. He was wondering what was taking CC so long to take a break, so he walked out of the office to investigate for himself. When he saw Niles and CC being emotional from the show, Maxwell huffed and grabbed the remote from CC's hand. "Honestly, do the two of you have nothing better to do than watch this drivel in the middle of the afternoon?" he asked them as he turned the TV off.
Since Maxwell ruined the moment, Niles and CC both got irritated that he interrupted their mourning. Niles grabbed the laundry basket angrily and started to walk out of the room with CC following close behind. "Que es su problema?" CC asked Niles as they both left Maxwell alone.
"Largate estupido!" Niles muttered to her in response.
"Muy pesado!" CC retorted again as they finally made their exit away from the living room, leaving Maxwell in a state of confusion. He had absolutely no idea what had gotten into them, but he also knew he had better things to do in that moment.
A few more hours had passed, and Sabrina felt that she was finally done with the meeting for the day. Now, she was left alone while her mother and Maxwell were almost done wrapping up the meeting for themselves. She walked into the living room hoping that somebody was available to talk to her, but it seemed as if everyone was busy. She sighed and then noticed the piano at the top of the living room steps. Seeing that nobody was around, she felt confident enough to spontaneously play some music. Looking around once more, she was hoping that when she started to play that nobody would notice and form an audience. She usually played her best when no one was looking, despite having many concerts of her own where she was confident in her musical abilities. Seeing that there were no music sheets, she tried to think of a song that she had memorized the keys to. After a moment of pondering her thoughts, she thought of something and began to play softly.
"Come stop your crying. It will be alright.
Just take my hand. Hold it tight.
I will protect you from all around you.
I will be here, don't you cry.."
Unfortunately, Sabrina's singing and piano playing was enough to distract Maxwell, CC, and Niles to make them all walk towards the living room. They all entered one by one wanting to hear the young woman's talent being showcased in the house. CC, in particular, was always so entranced by her daughter's multiple talents that she had possessed. She leaned against the wall and beamed brightly at her baby. Sabrina noticed them walk in and blushed, but she continued to play the song.
"For one so small, you seem so strong.
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm.
This bond between us can't be broken.
I will be here, don't you cry.."
At the last couple of lines in that verse, Sabrina glanced over at CC, and smiled softly. It was a way of reminding her mother that she loved and appreciated her. She was taking Niles' advice from earlier in a different way of expressing her feelings. Just hearing that come from her made CC tear up. She was so touched by her daughter's unconditional love. She looked over at Niles silently and they both grinned at one another, both agreeing that Sabrina was insanely perfect. Even though she wasn't Niles' daughter, he was quite proud of her too.
"Cause you'll be in my heart.
Yes, you'll be in my heart.
From this day on, now and forever more.
You'll be in my heart.
No matter what they say.
You'll be in my heart... always."
Sabrina played a couple more ending keys, and before she knew it, she had a small standing ovation from the three adults watching her impromptu performance. She blushed and stood up. "Oh thank you," she said giggling in slight embarrassment. "I didn't realize I had this big of an audience." She walked down towards them.
"Bravo!" Maxwell said as he stood by Sabrina. "CC, I knew we picked the right Maria for our production. She's going to be absolutely radiant next week on opening night, don't you think so?" he asked his blonde business partner.
"She's going to be amazing, Maxwell," CC said to him and her daughter. "I knew I taught her well throughout the past few months." She said that just so she could have an excuse to hold her baby. Sabrina quickly hugged her and CC accepted her embrace holding her close.
"You taught the girl how to indicate happy hour in other countries," Niles quipped, deserving glares from both CC and Sabrina. He walked away from the scene carrying on with the rest of his house duties for the evening, and he left the three of them alone in the living room.
Maxwell interrupted the two in their moment and gave Sabrina some attention. "Well, aren't you stoked for the next few days? You know the press attention starts tomorrow. I already talked with your agent and she said that she booked all of the interviews for you," he reminded the younger girl.
"She did?" Sabrina asked him curiously. She didn't think Maxwell would be in contact with Bernie about this, since Bernie was still in California. But it seemed as if he knew his way around helping his actors with their publicity stunts. "Well... that's... sweet of Bernie to do that for me."
"You're really lucky to have her as your agent, Sabrina. She really couldn't wait for this moment to come up for you," Maxwell told the young pop star who smiled appreciatively. "I do normally get nervous when it comes to press conferences and interviews for my actors. Sometimes they can say the most ridiculous things there like.. they only got on my show for the side job or they don't have any moral support.. oh, I would truly hate it if one of my actors said that they'd retire. Can you believe the tomfoolery I encounter with some of them?" Sabrina's smile started to fall and so did CC's. "But I'm not worried about you at all. I'm sure you have the common sense to not answer like a complete moron to those interviewers."
Sabrina looked over at CC, her eyes indicating that she was pleading for help. CC noticed her behavior change and took Sabrina's hand and said, "I - I think it's getting late for the both of us, Maxwell. Maybe I should take Sabrina home. She does have an early start for the day tomorrow."
"Well.. I suppose you're right," Maxwell agreed with CC who started to walk away with Sabrina. "Go get 'em, tomorrow, Maria!" he called out to Sabrina. She stopped her tracks and closed her eyes not wanting to make eye contact with him after what he had just said. Seeing the girl's face, CC wrapped an arm around her daughter protectively and guided her out the door so they could finally head home for the night.
The two had a quiet night when they got home, seeing as Sabrina was not happy with the comments that Maxwell made. She and CC both knew she was planning to retire after the show, and her fear of the other Broadway producer commenting about how retirement was moronic was induced in her head. It was induced so much in her head that she ended up having a dream about the interviews she was going to have.
She found herself in a large conference room, being the center of attention. So many flashing cameras and lights surrounded the girl to the point of near blindness. Her hands shakily grasped the podium with the many microphones surrounding her as she stared out into the audience of different journalists and interviewers. "I... I will take your questions now.." Sabrina said into the microphones, hearing the sounds of cameras going off and taking pictures of her. She pointed at a male journalist in the front row wearing a large trench coat and fedora. She couldn't see their faces, but she could hear their voices.
"Miss Taylor, is it true that you plan to retire from show business after the show is over?" the journalist asked her.
"Well.. yes. I believe it's time that I take a break. I've been doing this for a long time now, and it's really putting a lot of burdens on my mental stability," Sabrina answered. The entire room went into an uproar as they all started to raise their hands for more questions. Sabrina nervously pointed at another journalist, this time, a female journalist.
"Miss Taylor, how did you feel when you realized that you were shunned by your old record label recently?" the other journalist inquired.
"I knew it was time that my deal with the record label came to an end," Sabrina started to answer. Her fingers tapped against the podium nervously looking out into the crowd. "They weren't fond of the fact that I wrote my own songs and made my own choices. I'm nobody's puppet!" She made that last fact abundantly clear to all of the journalists in the crowd. More people were asking for questions and Sabrina felt herself start to sweat nervously. She looked out to another journalist, who she couldn't pinpoint the face at first. "You.." she pointed to them.
When the journalist stood up, she noticed that the journalist was Bernie. "Mía cariña, how could you do this to me!?" she shouted nearing tears. Sabrina's eyes widened and she gasped at the sight before her. "After all that we've been through! You cannot retire! I'm on your financial plan!" Bernie shouted at her pointing at her. Some of the journalists started to side with Bernie and they all protested for her starting to walk near the podium.
"Wait! Stop!" Sabrina screamed in fear as she started to back away from the podium. The journalists were nearly cornering her, but she could see two more figures stand in the light. She didn't know who they were until they started to move closer and closer to her.
One of the figures stepped out from the light, and it was Maxwell. "I knew it," he said angrily towards the girl. "I knew you would gab like a moron! I should've never hired you. What a complete waste of potential."
Sabrina tried to get him away from the crowd, but she noticed another figure in the light. She watched as the figure walked near her, and it ended up being CC. Hoping that she would stick beside her, she sighed in relief. However, that didn't last long. "I am so disappointed in you," CC said crossing her arms letting a tear roll down her face. She shook her head at her daughter and that made Sabrina lose her mind. The crowd continued to corner her in her nightmare.
Until she woke up...
"NO!" she screamed as she rose from her bed in her room and looked around her. Sabrina was panting from the nightmare that she just had. She felt her entire body shake out of fear as she brought her blankets closer to her chest. She closed her eyes trying to shake the events that had just happened in her mind. She took deep and slow breaths trying to remind herself that everything was going to be okay and that it wasn't real. Every worry seemed to disappear until she heard thunder from outside of her room. She squealed and jumped out of her bed, still in that headspace of being frightened. This time, she couldn't afford to be alone.
Sabrina quickly jumped out of her bed and walked out of her room to rush to CC's room. She noticed that the door was locked when she tried to open it and she groaned in frustration. She jiggled the doorknob and knocked on the door rapidly. "Mom!" she called out to her loudly. "Mom, please wake up! Please let me in!" Tears were streaming down the girl's face desperately needing CC's attention after the ordeal she suffered.
After a few minutes, CC unlocked her bedroom door and opened it, which caused Sabrina to stop knocking on it. "Sabrina, it's two in the morning," she grumbled angrily bringing her daughter inside the room and closing the door behind them. "What the hell are you doing awake!? You know you have interviews tomorrow!"
"I don't want to do the interviews," Sabrina pleaded and shook her head as more tears streamed down her face. "Please! I'm scared! I don't want to be trampled on by those journalists! I don't want Mr. Sheffield to get mad at me for wanting to retire! I don't want to face anybody at all!" CC watched her daughter's expression of fear that she had. Maxwell had put that idiotic thought in her daughter's mind, and she wished that she could kill him right now. "He's going to think I'm a complete waste! And... and... I don't want you to be disappointed in me!"
CC frowned noticing how scared her baby was. She could see that Sabrina was shaking from the nightmare she had and she was hyperventilating. Her motherly instincts made CC wrap her arms around her daughter, letting her sob into her pajama shirt. She rocked the girl back and forth slightly as she smoothed out Sabrina's hair and brought her closer to her embrace. "Shhhh.." she comforted Sabrina in her arms as much as she could. The teenager's sobbing was starting to dissipate and her breathing was almost regulated. "Shhh.. it's going to be okay.. I'm here," she whispered to Sabrina, pulling slightly away to gaze at Sabrina's face. She had tear stains alongside her cheeks, which broke CC's heart to pieces. "Oh baby.." she whispered cradling Sabrina's face in both of her hands and started to kiss her daughter's face. She left small little kisses on her cheeks and forehead to try to get her daughter to calm down. The girl tried to regulate her breathing more and closed her eyes feeling the soft kisses and touches of comfort she was receiving. Every time a tear rolled down her cheek, CC kissed it away. She did this until Sabrina managed to calm down. The younger girl's eyes opened as she gazed at her mother smiling down at her endearingly. She placed one last kiss on her nose and managed to crack a smile on her baby.
"Do you feel better?" she asked her quietly. Sabrina nodded her head silently as she felt her mother's soft thumbs wipe away the remainder of her tear stains. "You have nothing to be afraid of, okay? I'm going to be there with you every single interview."
"You will..?" Sabrina asked her mother. Her eyes lit up hearing that knowing she'd have her on her side.
"I promise, baby." She brought Sabrina's head back to her chest so she could listen to her heartbeat. "And by the way... you won't ever disappoint me. I swear. Don't let what he said to you yesterday get to you. You're strong and you're my shining star. Best believe that."
Sabrina's arms wrapped around her mother tightly as she closed her eyes. The comforting touch nearly made her fall asleep standing up. This was what she truly needed after an entire day without the affection she craved. "I love you," Sabrina mumbled softly. "I love you, Mom."
CC's heart immediately warmed hearing that. She could seriously never get enough of that from her baby. Ever since she had Sabrina, she hoped that one day, she would hear that from her daughter, and now that she was, it felt like a dream. "I love you so much, baby," she said to her placing a couple more soft kisses on her head. "Come here.." she walked over back to her bed and laid down watching Sabrina get in her arms. She could understand why her daughter didn't want to be alone for the night. As she held her daughter in her arms, she smiled softly knowing she did something right to cheer her up. For once, CC felt like she wasn't failing Sabrina, and she wanted to make sure she continued to give her as much love as she possibly could. She was so proud of her baby, no matter what.