CC sat restlessly at the conference table on a diagonal from Niles. She adjusted and readjusted her tan coat, and then pulled her purse perfectly on her shoulder before Niles caught her eye.
"We may be waiting for a bit," he said in a soft husky tone.
CC blew her air out in frustration and deposited her purse on the table as she stood. She took off her coat and folded it over the back of the chair, just as Niles had done with his when they first entered the private conference room.
After she sat again and stopped moving, she was able to feel an oncoming sting in her eyes before she quickly squeezed them shut.
Niles placed his hand on top of hers. She opened her eyes to see a glimpse of heaviness in his eyes before he looked down at her hands. "Jesus, Babcock! Your hands are ice cold, even for you!"
She allowed him to put her hands between his as he tried to warm them. "You mean like my heart?" It automatically came out sarcastic and he gave her a slight smile.
CC shrugged. "I meant, if you wanted to know why I'm not crying…" She looked down at his hands rubbing hers. "I'm numb."
He stopped rubbing her hands and held one hand in his as their eyes met again and he whispered, "I know."
The door opened suddenly, and both of their heads turned, and they stood abruptly. Without thinking, CC squeezed Niles' hard in anticipation.
"Ow, Babcock!" Niles yelped and took back his hand as CC rushed toward the business-like woman who entered holding their crying and very miserable godchild.
"Sophie!" CC ran her hand from the crying infant's head then down her back examining her. "She's Ok." She looked over her shoulder at Niles.
The wailing baby spotted Niles and reached out for him with both arms. The woman handed her over to Niles. Sophie's cries became whimpers as she put her head on his chest and he swayed side to side murmuring to her in his deep voice. "Come now, it's ok."
Stewart entered the room followed by his attorney and he motioned for them all to sit.
CC complied while Niles remained standing and rocking the infant who began to close her eyes, her sounds quieter.
"The child has been thoroughly checked out and she's fine—as healthy as a horse." Stewart turned to his lawyer at the table. "Now, Westman is going to give you a few details."
"According to DD and Andrew's will, you'll both be responsible for her upbringing." The lawyer glanced between CC and Niles.
CC shook her head. "Oh no, we don't agree on most things. There is no way that we can determine how she'll be brought up."
Niles shifted Sophie while looking at CC. "Try again."
CC looked at her father. "I don't understand."
"DD and Andrew named you and Niles as her guardians. They wanted the two of you to raise her together."
"Can they do that without asking us?" Niles looked incredulous.
"Raise her?!" CC looked up at Niles and back at her father.
"No permission is required to designate guardians." Westman shut the file on his desk and slid it over to CC
CC shook her head. "N-n-no-no. This can't be. We can't agree on anything together. Can we Niles?"
Westman nodded. "You can find her another guardian or guardians if you choose."
Stewart motioned to the woman who was holding a diaper bag on one shoulder, and she set the diaper bag in front of CC. "Well, She's your baby now, kitten. -Yours and Niles'."
CC mouthed it in disbelief. "Our-baby." She looked wearily at Niles who stood next to her.
"Our baby." He said more forcefully with Sophie on his shoulder.
CC crossed her arms as she stood in the darkened doorway of Sophie's nursery, and watched Niles gently lay a sleeping Sophie down in her crib, then lay a pink blanket on her.
Her phone began to ring, and she quickly backed into the hallway to answer it. "Oh, Shi-" It was Chandler. She began to make her way down the hall and down the stairs as she answered. "Chandler?"
"CC, I just heard. I'm so sorry."
She felt a twinge. He was on a business trip, and she'd had no time to call him. "Actually, I meant to call you earlier, but as you can imagine-"
"I'll catch a plane and head back."
"That's not necessary tonight. I've already brought Sophie back to DD's and she's been put to bed. I'll see you tomorrow. Ok, Chandler?"
"If you insist."
"I do." She looked up to see Niles headed down the stairs. "I'll talk to you in the morning—good night." She hit the end button quickly before Niles could be overheard saying anything.
He headed to the bar cart in the living room and chuckled to himself as he made them both a drink. "You brought her back and put her to bed?"
She shut her eyes and crossed her arms. "I said she's been put to bed. I didn't say who put her there."
He smirked as he finished the drinks.
She sat on the edge of the couch feeling as if she was trespassing in DD's house. She and Niles had decided to spend the night so Sophie would have familiar surroundings while they decided what to do next, but the house felt cold without DD and Andrew there.
Niles handed her a drink and flipped a switch on the fireplace. "Here this will warm you up. I need you back on your toes, Babcock."
CC made her voice flat. "I don't see the point. Aren't I taller than you already?"
"And there she is." He smiled and his eyes lightened. "Well, you have informed me that we are to stay here taking care of Sophie tonight and I'm not sure what she has in store for us." He deepened his voice. "And, no—you are not taller than me, although you may be much wider."
"Only on our sides." CC laughed into her drink then composed herself. "Why are you so concerned anyway? She's already asleep."
'Oh, you poor naive woman."
CC leaned back on the couch as his phone rang. He went to the kitchen to answer it and she did her best to listen in as he made his way to the other room.
After a moment his footsteps came toward her again as he spoke quietly. "No that won't be necessary. Thank you. Good night." He ended the call and stuck the phone back in his pocket.
CC laughed. "I gather you're missed."
He nodded as he walked over and picked his drink up off the table.
She continued to tease. "And it was too terse to have been Maxwell."
He sipped his drink and sat on the edge of a nearby chair and leaned forward with his sleeves rolled up. "I'll never tell. And you weren't exactly verbose on your call either. So, I gather that Chandler doesn't know of my presence here."
"That's more than I can discuss with him tonight." She let her head fall back on the couch feeling a few stray blondes move from her eyes.
"But he will need to know at some point."
She nodded. "Only, if we decide to go through with this. Westman did say we could find someone else to take custody."
Niles stared and seemed to be evaluating her somehow. "It shouldn't be taken lightly."
"No, but it's not very realistic. Is it?" The doubt in her voice surprised her.
"The person we find would have to care about her well being as if their life depended on it." Niles said it as he set his glass back on the coffee table, which according to Stewart's attorney was now at least half his.
CC watched Niles move the drink onto a coaster. "It's not like they're coming home, Niles."
"No, they're not." Niles looked up at her speaking slowly. "But I can't help but think about what they would want."
Are you talking about Sophie or the coaster?
"Both." Sophie began to cry on the baby monitor he'd set on the table. "It may be a long night. Try to sleep and I'll let you know if I need assistance."
CC nodded and put her drink on the table. She followed his square shoulders shrouded in the white shirt up the stairs as they listened to Sophie's cries on the monitor.
When they entered Sophie's room, she was holding herself up with one hand on the side of the crib and reaching for Niles with the other.
The butler picked Sophie up and she put her head down on his shoulder.
CC gave Sophie a formal but light pat on the back. "Good night, Sophie. Good night, Niles."
He nodded at her and she glanced back to see him taking Sophie to the rocking chair in the nursery. She couldn't help but feel that Niles had made up his mind already.
CC spent a lot of the night awake, turning occasionally, and unable to get a solid sleep, but now she lay awake listening to Sophie's distant babble getting closer.
She had on a silk pajama top and pajama pants that she borrowed from DD's drawers. Pulling on a robe, she went to the door. Peeking her head out, she saw Niles sleepily pushing Sophie down the hall in a pram.
"She's still not sleeping?"
Niles shrugged "So long as we we keep moving, she's still. What about you?"
"I'm with her. I can't sleep either." She stepped up to the pram and looked at Sophie sucking on her pacifier in a fitful sleep with her blanket gripped in her hand.
"Let me try." CC took Sophie and walked the pram down the hall watching Sophie settle into sleep again. CC reached the end of the hall and turned back. "Ok Niles. Go to sleep. I have it."
"Very well." Niles trudged to the other guest room, and she heard him fall onto the bed from a standing position.
CC walked for a few minutes before she became bored and pushed the pram into her room. She sat on the bed pushing the pram back and forth for a bit before her arm got tired, and she slowly stopped pushing it all together. She carefully peeked over into the pram to see Sophie sleeping, then she slowly took her hand off and backed up onto the bed and lay in the middle. She had just shut her eyes when Sophie began to cry.
She defeatedly sat up in bed as Niles appeared in the doorway. "Babcock, I knew you'd be lying down on the job." He walked to the pram and began moving it back and forth. "You must try to remember that you no longer work for Leon."
She gave him a glare. "Ha…ha…and maybe you've forgotten that you're still Methuselah."
"Jest all you like. I'm the one with all the stamina."
"Sure, but only If were discussing drinking all of Maxwell's brandy."
They stared at each other in an amused stand off and then CC snuggled back into her pillow again on her side.
She watched him keep the pram moving for a few moments before speaking. "She knows somehow."
Niles glanced back at her from the edge of the bed nodding. "I don't think any of the three of us can sleep very well tonight."
"There's so much up in the air."
Niles nodded as he pulled the handle of the pram. "Surely we can take care of her here for the next few days."
"But what about work? I'll need to hire someone."
CC handed him a pillow and he put it against the headboard and pulled himself back against it, pulling the pram closer. He rested his foot on the bar to move it back and forth. "You know, your sister was against having help when it came to Sophie."
CC sighed. "Even if we switched off days taking care of her here, I have no idea how to take care of a baby. So, my days would turn into your days any way."
Niles' t-shirt showed through as he had the top buttons open on his dress shirt and the sleeves still rolled. He unbuttoned a few more buttons before he looked down at her on the bed and she saw a glimmer in his eye. "Well, we'll both just have to stay here temporarily while she gets used to her new circumstances."
CC's eyes closed briefly. "I think you're right." She opened them again. "Just temporarily."
Niles let his eyes rest for a moment and then he seemed to be drifting. CC smiled at him. "Stamina. Ha."
He opened an eye. "I can go all night, Brunette."
She smirked and resisted the urge to fix the fly away hair on the side of his face. She shut her eyes patting his hand. "Thank you, Niles."
She felt him pat her hand back before she fell asleep.
