[A/N: Yes, this story is finished now, and no, it wasn't finished after chapter 11, and yes, it probably should have been because I'm not happy with this ending at all. But nrfan is back so I'll dedicate this final chapter to her (in the hopes that she enjoys it) and leave you all with this short, final chapter so I can move on to my other ideas.]
Chapter 12
Now I'm just a basket case…
Years would pass, decades and centuries and eons, and Niles doubted anyone in the world would achieve more happiness than he currently felt, holding hands on a park bench with CC Babcock. Balanced against years of hints, despair, hopelessness, and fights…well, it was no contest. This moment was worth it.
Of course, had he asked himself just one hour prior how history would record his life, he would have guessed that he would go down in it as the most pathetic old man. Six months ago, he had been bemoaning his unrequited feelings for a blonde heiress. Today, he'd been doing the exact same thing. But today had been a little different, as CC had shed light on some rather important details he'd been selectively muting: he'd never actually tried. Not in any explicit way, not in any way he knew she needed.
And so he had sat on the bench in Central Park, wondering how he could have wasted such a spectacular amount of time wanting CC and never managing to do a damn thing about it. At that point, it had seemed like he'd even lost her for good—without ever truly trying! It would have been one of the more outstanding failures in history, surely.
But then a small dog had scratched at his trouser and his owner appeared (like Aphrodite plucked from the clouds) with her hair in a gorgeous soft wave he'd never seen before and her shoulders bared to the sun and Niles had thought he'd died because surely, surely, this was some form of purgatory.
After realizing that he still lived, he discovered something even more wonderful: that he was just as much of a constant to CC as she was to him. What else could explain her lack of anger? Or why she didn't simply pick up her seven-pound dog and carry him off? No, it seemed that the pattern of their interactions held no matter what: hot anger and irritation followed by near-immediate forgiveness. They never stayed mad for too long.
Niles's misery became a memory barely identifiable in the distance as CC sat down next to him and they began talking. Her bare legs peeking out from the hem of her blue dress nearly unraveled him, but her eyes, a far more beautiful blue, kept him grounded. At some point in the conversation, he realized that he was an idiot for ever thinking that all hope was lost.
As she narrated her spare time to him (most of which he could have guessed, really), he felt a profound desire to be with her as she completed all of those things: read a book next to her, watch a movie with her, read the notes she left on scripts, watch as she interacted with her friends, walk through a museum with her. Eat breakfast with her. Cook her dinner.
Then she allowed him to hold her hand, he felt her skin against his, and he wanted to do 80 different things with her, all of which would get him arrested if he tried any right now in the middle of Central Park.
He asked her which museums she preferred. As she answered, her thumb absentmindedly traced little circles against the back of his hand and he wondered how long he'd been in love with her.
"What about you? What do you do on your days off?" CC asked him.
"I sit on park benches and wait for you to walk by," he answered. She laughed, the same laugh from when she'd been in the hospital—light and delighted. He squeezed her hand slightly.
"Apparently. Well, Chester's going to overheat in the sun pretty soon—"
"To say nothing of yourself," he pointed out quickly.
"—and I was going to invite you to walk me back and then we could grab lunch but in light of that…" CC trailed off, slipping her hand from his and standing up. Chester raised his head curiously from his paws but remained still.
Niles stood up as well. He'd just decided he wanted to kiss her—with the sun in her hair and the smile on her face, she proved too irresistible—but before he could, CC took a step towards him and nestled her lips around his. It was a light but steady touch, lingering long enough to set Niles's heart rate to "cardio."
"Ah…I…" Niles trailed off, lost and delirious, after CC pulled away but remained standing close to him.
CC grinned and lightly touched his face with her fingertips. "Finally, I know how to make you speechless."
She reached over and scooped Chester into her arms, sidestepping Niles with a smug face. He snapped to attention a few moments later, hurrying after her and sliding his arm around her waist.
"I'll leave Chester upstairs and then we can go to lunch," CC told him as they entered her building. She squeezed his hand gently before hers slid from his grasp. Niles's fingertips hastily memorized the terrain of her disappearing hand and he worked to remind himself that this time, she wasn't actually disappearing.
From behind the front desk, Niles spied John raising his eyebrows and smirking slightly. Niles smiled at him and spared little thought to what the man thought of him.
CC returned to the lobby with a handbag nestled in the crook of her elbow and a happy smile on her face. Niles returned it to her, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her jaw.
He pushed open the door to the outside, allowing her to walk in front of him, and rejoined her on the sidewalk to find her shaking her head slightly. "What?" he asked.
"You're an idiot, Niles," she replied, grabbing his hand again as they walked in unison.
"Yes, probably," Niles agreed. "I did choose you, after all."
"Yeah, yeah. But first you chose someone the exact opposite of me and thought it would work out well for you," CC pointed out.
"Would it help at all if I told you I missed you?" Niles asked. He'd also thought of CC too often—and in an array of increasingly risqué situations—but he knew enough to understand that CC didn't need to know the extent of it.
"Maybe," CC granted, "but you should keep saying things like that just to make sure."
"Don't worry, I figured I'd need to with your brain, addled as it's been by age and liquor," Niles replied, patting their linked hands in a placating manner.
"Where should we e—" CC began. Niles cut her off as he turned suddenly, turning her to face him with his free hand. He kissed her fully and excitedly, not caring when people jostled them on either side and huffed under their breath about people taking up the sidewalk.
"Would it have always been this easy?" Niles asked, his hand now resting against the curve of her neck while his other remained clasped with hers.
CC laughed, her nose pressed against his, and replied, "You thought this was easy?"
"Not all of it, but today, yes," Niles explained, continuing their walk and draping his arm around her back. His hand rested against her hip and held her close to him. It still wasn't close enough. He wondered if it ever would be.
CC shrugged, her shoulder bumping up against his armpit. "I doubt it would have always been as easy as us asking each other a few questions and then me kissing you because you're spineless."
"Spineless!"
"Spineless," CC agreed, baiting him. The sunshine danced against her eyes but couldn't compete with the brightness it encountered there.
"Need I remind you that I am the one who came to you this morning?"
"Need I remind you that I came to you last night?" CC pointed out. She slid her hand under his jacket and wrapped her fingers around his waist. Niles forgot how to speak for a while. CC chuckled and said, "Looks like you'll always be this easy, though."
Niles smiled a little bashfully at her, embarrassed by how much he adored her. Still, he had to get back on even footing with this woman, so he said, "You should be nice to me or I can return to my park bench and wait for another socialite to walk by."
"Or a brunette caterer," CC grumbled, slowing as they reached a small Italian restaurant on the corner.
Niles stopped and turned to face her, resting his hands lightly on her waist. "Babcock, you didn't tell me you're changing careers!"
CC thumped him in the stomach with the back of her hand. "Can it, Beulah. Let's eat here." She led him up to the entrance, which he opened for her, and left her name with the hostess.
Niles stood near tbe window, his smile diminishing a little as she walked back to him and leaned against the windowsill. "She was never my type, CC."
She looked at him askance and scoffed.
"She wasn't."
"I can think of another tiny brunette you ogle."
Niles shook his head, then realized she couldn't see him with her eyes staring at the floor. "I only did that to throw you off. You never seemed to notice when I was ogling you but I had to be safe."
A tiny smile graced her face, but Niles guessed that she wasn't going to let him off that easily. But in a surprising turn, CC suddenly looked at him and said, quite seriously, "Speaking of tiny brunettes, you should talk to Nanny Fine again. You're like a fourteen-year-old, ditching your friends for a girl."
Niles nodded with a sigh. "I know. She was only trying to help."
"It isn't any fun being on the receiving end of a yenta, is it?"
"Oh, I don't know, I rather hope you'll enjoy being on the receiving end of me," Niles told her, his eyes twinkling.
CC's cheeks flushed attractively but her voice was quite steady as she responded, "We'll just have to see about that. But in the meantime, if this is going to work, you'll have to be nicer to her."
Niles looked at her in shock. "Are you actually concerned about Miss Fine?"
"No, but when you ignore her, she follows me around like a sad puppy," CC replied, picking a piece of lint off the left strap of her dress.
Niles eyed her, evaluative, but didn't press it. "Fair enough. So tell me, CC, what did you mean when you said if this is going to work?"
The blush on her cheeks increased and Niles's grin widened. "You know…this," CC replied, waving her hand between him and her.
"This…lunch?" Niles guessed.
CC glared at him witheringly and Niles only smiled brighter. CC sighed, "Will you ever stop annoying me?"
"Never, love," Niles replied, moving closer to her and kissing her.
