Disclaimer: I don't own any characters on the Nanny...too bad :(
A/N: Got this one up as fast as I could. I promise, no more cliffhangers...well, unless you consider this chapter one...
"What are you doing here? Why are you in my room?" She pulled the blanket up around her. Please tell me that he doesn't know what I just doing? Please…
"I came to bring you some tea. I was just going to leave it in the kitchen when I heard some noise and I came to see if you alright." Niles spit out, all in one breath.
"Noise?" she asked in a tone of trepidation.
"Yes, noise…I came to your door and then I heard…well more noise…moans I guess…I thought…well…it doesn't matter what I thought…I should not have come in once I saw you were ok. I am truly sorry." Niles stood up and half turned. "I left the tea in the kitchen, with instructions on how to brew it. Good night Miss Babcock."
"Wait, Niles." He stopped, she sighed. "What did you … hear?"
"Excuse me?" He stayed near the door.
"I've been having these dreams lately…and I know I've been talking in my sleep, because I've woken myself up….so tell me…did you hear…what I said?"
What was he to do now?
"I didn't really…I sort of…"
"Well, that answers that question." she flopped back on the bed looking at the ceiling. "So now you know."
Niles still didn't know what to do. He had the biggest ammunition ever against her. He could make her suffer under innumerable insults and zingers with this information. He could also use it towards more personal ends, and get her to admit to an attraction to him and maybe bet more than a dream. Finally, he just decided to come back and sit on the bed.
"Ok, so I know. So you're having dreams…about me. It doesn't have to be anything more than that." He surprised himself when he said that. So he was going to let her off the hook. The little voice inside his head piped up "Wow, you must really like her."
He continued, "So look…I'll go home and you'll go back to …sleep and we can forget it alright? We'll put this in the same "never to talk about it" category as the kiss and the morning after the Sheffield wedding. Ok?"
She just looked at him. His hair was dishevelled, and he had a slight stubble that gave him a very rugged look. He was wringing his hands, like he always did when he was nervous.
"Miss Babcock?"
"You can do that?" she asked him pointedly.
"Do what?"
"You can keep not talking about it? Dr. Bort says that the reason I'm dreaming about you is BECAUSE I won't talk about it."
"Well, I thought YOU didn't want to talk about it."
"I thought YOU didn't…you never brought it up."
"You said, and I quote No one can ever know this might have happened end quote. That was supposed to inspire me to scream it from the rooftops." Niles countered.
"I…I was just reacting to the way your reacted….I…"
"What…what are you saying…that you want to talk about it?"
"I…I don't know…argh….ok…yes…yes I want to talk about it…can we?"
"Yes…God woman…I've wanted to talk about it since five minutes after it happened…" He moved up a bit on the bed and grabbed her hands in his. "Miss Babcock,…CC…that kiss, it turned my whole world upside down…"
"Could have fooled me. I remember coming back in the next morning…I still had the memory of that kiss on my lips…and the first thing you said to me…"
"Did your pimp get you in trouble for giving some of it away last night." he finished for her. "I'm so sorry for that…I really am…I was so scared…I couldn't have handled it if you had insulted me first. And given our history…I knew that if you said anything…I would not have been able to recover and you would have had been able to torture me with it for years…"
"It hurt me Niles…you hurt me…I didn't know what was going to happen, but I was not expecting that. And then, at the wedding, you were actually nice to me, and when I came down in the morning…you looked so unhappy…almost disgusted…I was just protecting myself…I still don't remember if we…do you?"
Niles looked down quickly then "No…"
"Niles, look at me." he did, she saw something in his eyes "You remember that night…"
"Sort of…I remember enough of it to know that we didn't."
"All this time…you knew…and I've wondered…how I've wondered…"
"Like I said before, your attitude was not very open to discussing it…and then with the Sheffields going missing…it didn't seem like the right time…and since then, well…I just didn't know how to bring it into the conversation….I'm sorry…I'm just a big fat "
"Chicken." she supplied, with a smirk.
"Takes one to know one, Babs." he tossed back, smirking too.
"Oh, don't I know it….however, I have been talking about it…endlessly…just not to you…" She looked shyly at him. "This topic of discussion alone has paid for Dr. Bort's new pool you know." She was full out smiling now.
"So…have you come to any conclusions in your discussions?" Niles asked hesitantly.
"I need to get laid."
Niles eyes grew wide and he was quite stunned by her response and sputtered "That's…that's the conclusion?"
"Actually, no, that's just a fact" She let out her sultry laugh and saw Niles shift on the bed. She had always thought it had an effect on him…it was nice to know she had observed that correctly. "But it is part of the conclusion. Bort told me I should talk to you about it, yes. She said that the reason my dreams were so pervasive was that I would see you every day, yet we never said anything to each other besides insults. Our constant interaction was almost like picking at a scab…the wound could not heal…so my dreams were there to vent the frustration." She took a breath and continued, "Only the dreams were so intense, that they created more frustration, if you know what I mean, and I thought I was going to go insane…Every day, I walked into the office, and there you were…we'd just spent the whole night having amazing, crazy sex, and you were so distant. I know the sex was in my head, but it was so real…that I couldn't take being near you anymore. That's why I've not been sleeping well, and also not coming into the office…it was too much you know?"
"Yeah…I got a good idea how intense it was a little while ago." His tone was neutral, he didn't want her to take it the wrong way. It did, however, make her blush.
"I don't remember all of it, but I can guess…been having the same kind of dream for a few weeks now. I have them during the day…worse when I'm at the office…just watching the view as you leave the room sends me reeling." She admitted it so openly, he wondered if she remembered he was actually there. In fact, it bothered him so much he had to say something.
"You know I'm here right…you're saying this to the real me, not the one in your head."
"Believe me Niles, I know you're here. I can smell your cologne, I can feel your hands holding mine, I see the looks of worry and intrigue that keep crossing your eyes. I'm totally aware that you're on my bed. Trust me." The tone in her voice made him twitch again. She was not so subtly hinting at something they had never spoken about before, and it was affecting him on every level. Desperately wanting to see where this would go, he dared ask another question.
"You said before that talking to me was only part of Bort's conclusion. What else did you discuss?"
"She also said that part of the reason I couldn't get rid of the dreams, was because my body was trying very hard to tell me something…and until I listened, I wouldn't get any peace."
"Getting laid, as you put it?"
"Well, yes. She did imply that I should get you alone somewhere and get it out of my system, if that was what I wanted. She wasn't so sure that it would be the answer though…she was pretty sure that the reason the dreams were so intense was not because I needed to get you out of my system, but to let you in….to my heart…she thinks I actually have one of those." CC chuckled, trying to lighten the whole mood.
"Oh, she's right…all creatures that roam the earth have hearts…even you" He winked, and scooted in a bit closer to her.
"Of course, when she suggested that I…have sex with…you…I laughed in her face. I told her that I was just lonely and that if it was sex I needed, I could get that without involving you. Of course, that plan backfired…because I realized that my head is so set on being with you, I can't even pretend…I went out on two dates and nothing…I couldn't even get passed a kiss…there was no emotion, no feeling, not even lust, and got knows, I was so ready." She was amazed at how easy it was to tell him all this. She remembered how she had been dying of embarrassment revealing all this to Dr. Bort, and how it had all seemed insurmountable. Now, it just felt good to get it out in the open.
"It was getting so bad, I went to one of those stores…you know? I bought something…and it did the job, more than once…but the dreams just kept going…Tonight was the first time that I actually felt like it might…well, I don't know how to explain it…it was just different."
"Uh CC, I have to tell you something…" She cocked her head to the side to listen. "When I heard you before, and came to the door, and then saw you…well…I know I shouldn't have come into the room…but you called out to me…and I didn't know, at first, that you were dreaming, so I came closer…and well, the sight of you on the bed…obviously so turned on…by me…asking me to…I lost it…and I came closer…I told you how beautiful you were…are… and I touched you…I know it was wrong…I swear…I stopped before it went too far…in fact…I was leaving just as you woke up….I couldn't go through with it…knowing that you didn't know I was really there…I want you…God how I wanted you right then…but I want you to know I'm there…I want you to want me too…" The words had all come out, but they lacked a lot of sentence structure and he was pretty sure he had broken some fundamental grammar rules.
"I do…want you Niles. God, I can't deny that…if you were in the room for half of what I remember of the dream I was just having, it's just as obvious to you that I want you. I just don't know what to do with that desire… ok, not true, I know exactly " she eyed him jungrily, licking her lower lip unconsciously, " what I want to do… but what happens after…at the mansion…" She sighed, visibly shaken at her confession. She slowly pulled her right hand from his and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers came up to complete the task for her, caressing her cheek on the way down. He held her chin up and looked into her eyes.
"You are beautiful, you know that right? Your eyes sparkle and your lips are so full." He paused, just looking at her, drinking in the sight before him, and then continued.
"CC, we have been tiptoeing around each other in that house for over two years avoiding talking about the kiss and over three months since the morning after the wedding. If we have been able to do that while being completely frustrated, imagine how good we would be able to handle it if the tension was released?" Going over what he had just said, he wanted to add "I don't want you to think I only want to sleep with you to relieve some stress, or because it could be the solution to your sleep problems, I want to sleep with you because you are an amazing, fiery, sexy, desirable, obnoxious, stubborn, beautiful woman. I'm fairly certain I'm in love you, CC Babcock, and I truly hope that doesn't get me chased out of this room."
She just looked at him. What would she reply to that? She leaned in slowly, and gently placed her lips on his for a sweet kiss. She wanted to convey to him that she did have feelings for him, that she would want to see where they would go. She wasn't prepared for the electric shock of desire that shot through her body at the moment her lips touched his. She wasn't ready for the hunger that cried from her center as he shifted slightly to press his lips more firmly against hers. A smile formed on her lips, though, as she did realize that this time, it was not a dream, but something so much better than that. She had the real thing, her Niles, right in her bed, and there was no way she was letting him go.
Ok, I know I should have gotten this out as a one-shot for all of you readers...I'm just never sure when I'll get to write and posting it is half the fun for me.
I can end it here, or I can keep the details coming (and coming...). Let me know if you want another chapter, or if we're good with this.
I truly appreciate your reviews and I'm sorry I caused so much grief with the first chapter. :)
