Thank you to everyone, who has read and an extra special thanks to everyone, who has reviewed. :-) It means so very much. Hope you'll enjoy the chapter. :-)

NOTE: I know that on the show, the wedding episode aired in May. But I don't think that an exact date was mentioned for when the wedding took place. If there was, I've forgotten. But if there was a specific date mentioned, forget that date because in this story, the wedding takes place in early June. :-) Ah the joys of this being fiction. :-D

Chapter 4

After Fran had thrown her bouquet, which Val nearly didn't catch even though it was thrown directly at her, she and Maxwell walked around saying goodbye to their family and friends.

When Maxwell had said goodbye to Jocelyn, he walked over to where CC was standing.

"CC, I just realized, I forgot to mention that we're taking part in a benefit."

"What kind of benefit?" He thought it over.

"Uh, well it's….it's….something for cancer, I believe." He started to think, looking out into the air. "Or did it have something to do with Parkinson's decease?" He looked at her again. "You know what, I can't remember. I've been a bit preoccupied with the wedding." She nodded and smiled.

"That's understandable."

"Anyway, the organization asked some of the Broadway production companies if they'd all contribute to the benefit, and we made the list. Naturally, I said we'd do it."

"Of course." She might not have been too keen on doing benefits in the past, but that had changed too. "What are we doing in regards to the benefit?"

"I don't know to be honest. The woman I talked to did explain it, as far as I remember, but I wasn't really paying attention. But I do know the organization has written up a list of what each production company is supposed to take care of, and then each company has basically free reins on how to go about their part of the benefit." He shrugged. "Or something to that effect."

"So you don't even know if we're doing a lot of work or a small amount?" He shook his head.

"No, not really. But I can't imagine it'll be that much work. A day's work at the most I'd assume, seeing as so many companies are taking part in the benefit."

She wanted to roll her eyes at his lack of knowledge. No benefit, big or small, ever only took a day's work. But at least she was glad that she wasn't going to do it alone.

"When is the benefit going to take place?"

"Uh..um…you know I don't remember that either. But I do remember that the organization wants our contribution done well before the actual day. They want to see what each company will be doing, so that they can make plans for who goes on when and so on."

"Then when will we need to have it done?"

"I have no idea. But I do believe it's before I come home from my honeymoon." She stared at him.

"You mean, I'm taking care of this all by myself?" He frowned.

"Yes, of course you are. I thought that was obvious."

"How would that be obvious when you didn't mention it?" He thought about what she'd said, but then shrugged.

"Well, I suppose it wasn't obvious. But I can't very well cut my honeymoon short, so that only leaves you to take care of it."

She sighed and hoped the part of the benefit would be easy and not time consuming. She then nodded.

"No, of course not, Maxwell. I just wish I knew more about it."

"Everything will be explained in the letter the organization will be sending. It's being sent to the house, so you can pick it up there."

"Okay."

"Splendid. I'm glad I can go on my honeymoon well knowing that this is in your capable hands." She gave him a single not.

"Of course you can." He nodded and smiled.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, CC, I'm just going to find the children. See you in a month."

"Yes, see you then. Have a nice trip."

"Thank you."

When he'd left she sighed loudly and shook her head. It wasn't like she'd planned on doing no work at all. On the contrary. But the thought of taking care of their part of the benefit by herself wasn't something, she was looking forward to. Sighing once more she willingly walked over to where Val and the Fines were standing.

Maxwell walked up behind his children as Fran was hugging them goodbye.

"Oh Angels, I'm going to miss you so much."

"We're going to miss you and Dad too."

"So much."

Brighton nodded agreeing with his sisters but then smirked.

"I'll miss you both too, but I'm also going to enjoy being the man of the house." He then looked at Niles. "Now Niles."

Knowing Maxwell was behind Brighton, Niles did his best to humor Brighton and hide his grin in the process.

"Yes, Master Brighton."

"As the man of the house, I'm in charge, so you'll be following my orders. Understood?"

"He most certainly will not!"

Brighton jumped a little in shock of hearing his father's voice right behind him. He then turned around and smiled a little weakly and nervously.

"Dad, I didn't know you were standing right behind me."

"Obviously not. Now you listen here, Brighton." He looked at Maggie and Gracie. "You too." They nodded. "While Fran and I are away, Niles is in charge. You'll do what he tells you to do. No questions asked." He saw Niles smirking and looked at him with a slight stern look. "Within reason." Niles stopped smirking, but smiled and nodded. Maxwell looked back at his children. "I expect you to be on your best behavior while we're gone. Do I make myself clear?"

Gracie smiled and nodded.

"Of course, Daddy."

Maggie smiled and nodded too.

"You know we will."

Brighton gave a dramatic sigh and shook his head.

"If I must." Maxwell raised his eyebrow in warning, which was also evident in his voice.

"Brighton." Brighton rolled his eyes and then smiled.

"Dad, I'll behave. I promise."

"Good." Maxwell then turned to Niles. "Now Niles."

"Yes, Sir."

"I expect you to behave as well and do your job. Fran and I might be gone for a month, but that does not mean that you can slack off and do as you please. It's business for you as usual."

Niles gaped slightly feeling a bit offended. However, the truth was, he had planned on doing less work than usual. When the children were off to school or out of the house during their vacation, no one would be around to stop him from relaxing, and he knew that the children wouldn't know whether he'd cleaned or not. Though, he knew that Gracie might be able to tell, but didn't think she'd bother checking the house thoroughly seeing as she'd be busy with homework, and friends. But it wasn't like he'd planned on not working at all. After all, he couldn't avoid cleaning the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the children's bedrooms. And if he didn't vacuum and dust, it would show as well. But that didn't mean he had to be as thorough as he usually was regarding the rest of the house.

"Honestly, Sir, I have no intention of not doing my job. And quite frankly I find it insulting that you believe I wouldn't be doing my job, while you and Mrs. Sheffield are away."

Maxwell raised his eyebrow at Niles not believing for a second anything he'd said.

"Oh get real, Niles. We both know that's a big fat lie. The minute we're gone, you're going to put your feet up on the coffee table and do absolutely nothing. You're going to sleep in and laze around the house all day."

"And just exactly how am I going to get away with that seeing as the children, are home?" Niles could see that Maxwell started to think about that, so he continued. "I'll be cooking all their meals when they're home, which includes breakfast, so I won't have the opportunity to sleep in. And it's not as if I'll be able to avoid cleaning. It'll show if I don't, which means the children will be able to tell if I did my job or not. If I decided not to do my job, then that would either mean that they'd rat me out when you get back, or make me do something against my will to prevent them from telling you. Neither of those options sound good, to me, so I assure you that I'll do my job."

Thinking that he'd been slightly wrong although not completely convinced, Maxwell nodded but still intended to show Niles, who was boss.

"Yes alright, Old Man, I see your point. But I still don't completely believe that you won't do less work around the house, while we're gone. And don't think I don't know that you drink my best liquor, when I'm not home. Or that you've known to give conducted tours of the house saying it belonged to some famous person. You and I both know that I know about all that."

Niles nodded remembering all too well the time that he'd quit and Maxwell revealing all that then.

"Yes, I know, but I haven't done that since."

Fran walked over to Maxwell and put an arm around his waist.

"Sweetie, you know that Niles will take good care of the house and the children, while we're gone. Everything will be in perfect order when we get back. If Niles really was to do nothing for the entire time, we're away then he'd have to clean the entire house the day before we get back. He'd be exhausted and it would show. So unless he's exhausted when we get back, we'll know that he's cleaned the house regularly."

The children also jumped to Niles' defense.

"Yeah, Dad, Fran's right. Niles is not going to slack off."

"You can trust Niles just as much as you can trust us."

"And you do trust us, don't you, Daddy?"

Maxwell looked at Gracie and couldn't help but give in at seeing the innocence in her eyes. He smiled at her.

"Of course, I trust you. And I trust Niles too." He looked at Niles. "I do trust you, Old Man."

Niles smiled and gave Maxwell a nod. However, on the inside he was smirking. He couldn't believe that Maxwell had been so gullible to believe what the children had told him. But it had been perfect, and perfect that it was Gracie, who had smiled so sweetly at him and looked so innocently at him as well. As innocent as she could be, she could also be quite sneaky. However, he was glad that they'd defended him, though he knew that they'd name their price for helping him later, when they were alone.

Fran gave Maxwell a kiss on the cheek.

"See, Honey. Everyone will behave themselves. Now how about we say our last goodbyes by the car and head for our honeymoon?" Maxwell smiled at Fran and wrapped his arms around her.

"Of course, Darling. I just have a few more guests to say goodbye to and then we can be off." He gave her a kiss.

"Okay, but hurry."

"I will." He turned and looked at Niles. "Oh, Niles, before I forget. Could you tell CC that she's welcome to stay at the house tonight?"

"Of course, Sir."

"Good." He gave Fran a quick kiss. "I'll hurry."

The children looked at Fran.

"We just have a few things to take care of."

"We'll meet you by the front door."

"Okay, Angels."

When Niles and Fran were alone, she looked at him and smiled.

"I know that you don't plan on cleaning as much as you usually do." He opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand stopping him. "Save it, Niles. You don't have to pretend with me." She grinned. "And seeing as I'm now the lady of the house, I'm giving you permission to relax as much as you want to. You deserve it."

Niles chuckled realizing that she was now indeed just as much his boss as Maxwell was. And he was happy about that. He then smirked.

"Well, if you insist." She rolled her eyes at him but then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Have a good time, Sweetie."

"You too, Mrs. Sheffield." She winked at him.

"Oh you know I'll have a great time." She laughed out loud while he grimaced and groaned.

"Please, no mental images."

"Okay, okay. Come on. Let's go wait for Max by the front door."

After waving goodbye to Maxwell and Fran, all the guests headed back inside to continue partying. When the children walked over to the bar to get themselves a soda, Niles followed them.

"So, I take it coming to my defense has its price?" They turned around and smirked at him. He rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smirk back. "Okay, out with it." Maggie shook her head.

"Don't worry, Niles. We're not asking for anything major." Brighton nodded.

"We just want you to let us do what we want, when we want." Gracie explained further.

"But within reasonable limits." Maggie nodded.

"Yeah, for instance, if we want to meet with our friends on a school night, you'll let us. Or if we want to go to a sleepover for an entire weekend, you'll let us do that too. Stuff like that." He smiled and nodded.

"Alright, I suppose that seems quite fair. But I'm still in charge. I must know who you'll be with at all times, where you're going to be, and you'll respect your curfews and my wishes without questions asked." He then smirked. "On second thought, seeing as you won't be able to know, what I do while you're at school, I could just do my job as always and then not agree to all this. That way, you'll have nothing on me." He kept smirked at them, but Brighton smirked back.

"True. But this will also benefit you. Just think of all the free nights you'll have to yourself, if the three of us are out of the way. And if we're at sleepovers, you'll have entire weekends to yourself. Not to mention that our vacation starts soon, so we could spend all of our vacation at home, meaning you'd have no time to yourself during the day. But if you agree to our terms, you'll have plenty of free time." Niles looked at him surprised.

"Just when did you become so smart?"

Maggie shook her head and grinned.

"No need to be so surprised, Niles. Brighton was bound to pick up some intelligence from watching the rest of us." Gracie nodded and grinned.

"Yeah, but he's still not so smart that it's become a regular thing." Niles laughed while Brighton gaped.

"Hey! I'm insulted." Maggie and Gracie rolled their eyes and spoke at the same time.

"Oh, shut up, Brighton!" Gracie then looked at Niles.

"But, I assume we have a deal?" He smiled and nodded.

"Of course we do." They all shook hands, and then Niles spotted CC sitting by a table. "If you'll excuse me, I promised your father that I'd tell Miss Babcock, she could stay at the house tonight."

"Okay. Talk to you later, Niles." He nodded and left.

Noticing Niles approach her from the corner of her eye, CC stopped looking out into space and instead turned to look at him. She couldn't help but smile genuinely, not caring why he was coming over but just happy that he was.

"Hi Niles. What's up?"

"Mr. Sheffield asked me to tell you that you're welcome to stay at the house tonight."

"Thank you for the offer, but I'll be going home. Noel and I are having lunch tomorrow, so I think it's best to be at my own place, so that I don't have to get up early to head home and get ready."

He nodded and kept the small polite small on his lips. However, on the inside he was sad. He'd hoped that she'd sleep at the house, because he thought that he wouldn't be seeing her during the month Maxwell and Fran were away. At least by her sleeping at the house, he'd see her one last time.

"Understandable. How about a ride home then?" Not wanting to give away his feelings once again, he quickly came up with a cover, so that she wouldn't question his offer. "I'm sure Mr. Sheffield would want me to make sure that you arrive home safely." When she nodded, he was relieved.

"I'd like that, thanks. Are you thinking of heading home now?"

"Not at all. Why, do you want to go home now?" She shook her head.

"No. I've actually been enjoying myself for the last couple of hours."

He couldn't help but smile a little wider, knowing that from watching her during the evening and hearing her talk about it, she could only be referring to the time from when they'd started dancing.

"Glad to hear it. Seeing as this is a wedding and all, everyone should be happy." She nodded and smiled. "So, Babs, what do you say to giving, the dance floor another go?"

She got up quickly from her seat and nodded vigorously.

"I'd love to." When he stared at her in surprise, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Relax, Bell Boy. Don't think you're special. I overheard Yetta tell Val that Val should ask me to dance." He chuckled and then smirked.

"Well, from the looks of it, you seemed to enjoy dancing with Yetta, so why not give Val a go too?" She smirked back.

"I can only take pity on one person at a time, and right now I'm taking pity on you." He kept smirking at her.

"It seemed more like you were desperate to dance with me rather than having to end up dancing with Val. So now who's taking pity on whom?" She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She spotted Val making her way towards them in the distance. "Let's just dance right now." He cocked an eyebrow at her and looked at her amused.

"Val is on her way over, isn't she?" She groaned knowing she couldn't lie to him about that.

"Yes."

When he chuckled again, CC thought he'd leave her hanging and that she'd get stuck dancing with Val. It seemed like something he would do. However, when he smiled and reached his hand out to her, she felt relieved.

"Then let's dance, Miss Babcock."

She gladly took his hand and a few seconds later they were once again dancing out on the floor amongst the other guests.

A couple of hours later Niles, CC, Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie were seated in the limo on their way to CC's penthouse. Seeing as everyone was exhausted and Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie being close to falling asleep, not much was said during the ride.

When the car stopped, Niles got out and left CC to say goodnight to the children. She looked around at them and couldn't help but chuckled slightly at how they were all nearly asleep.

"Goodnight."

Being too tired to respond properly, Brighton and Gracie only mustered a mumbled incoherent goodbye, but Maggie opened her eyes and responded coherently.

"Goodnight, Miss Babcock."

"I'll see you, Maggie."

"Mmhmm." Maggie closed her eyes again not having taken any notice of CC getting her name right.

When CC stepped out of the limo, Niles came back from just having spoken to the driver.

"Goodnight Niles. I ha.."

"I'm walking you up." She looked at him surprised.

"What? Why?" He smirked.

"Because in case you fall and break a leg, you can't blame it on me saying that it wouldn't have happened, if I had escorted you to your door." She rolled her eyes.

"I think I can manage. It's not like I'm going to take the stairs anyway."

"Well, better make sure you get safely to your door anyway." She rolled her eyes again, but didn't object to him escorting her.

The ride up in the elevator to her floor was spent in comfortable silence, but all too soon for Niles' liking they'd reached her floor. When he followed her out, she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. She did find it sweet that not only did he escort her up to her floor, but that he walked her to the door as well.

She got her key out of her purse, unlocked the door, stepped inside, and then turned around to look at him.

"Thanks again, Niles. And thank you for the company at the wedding. I had a good time." He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked at the same time.

"My, my, my. Did you just pay me a compliment?" She smirked back.

"Yeah, well the wedding was supposed to be a happy occasion, right? So let's just blame my compliment on that." He chuckled and gave her his lopsided grin.

"Of course."

"Goodnight, Niles. I'll see you."

"Goodnight, Miss Babcock."

He took two steps away from the door and gave her a nod before she closed the door. Once it was closed, he waited a few seconds and then quietly walked back to the door and placed the palm of his hand on it. Sighing at the thought of not seeing her for a month, he kept his hand on the door for a few seconds before leaving and heading home for bed.

TBC