Hi everyone and greetings from my parents' computer and internet. :-D My dad's naping at the moment, and my mom's out, so before I'm heading out to visit my grandma I thought I'd just post the next chapter. I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for reading and for all the lovely reviews. :-)

To rx9872: Since I can't send you a PM, I thought I'd just reply to your review here. :-) Thank you for reading and reviewing - it means so much to me. :-) I'm so thrilled you like the story. Yeah, Niles and CC are second guessing themselves all the time, but they're also stubborn and afraid that the other won't feel the same way so unfortunately no one's willing to make the first move - wonder if one of them ever will. I wish I could update faster, but unfortunately I'm not that fast at writing the chapters all the time. I like to be ahead with a few chapters, so in case I don't write anything for days, I'll still have something to post. If I post all the chapters I have now, I might end up with no chapters left to post and then it could take weeks before I'm able to post again, and I don't want that to happen. Recently I had every intention of starting on chapter 14, but then I ended up not writing anything on it for 5 days. Sometimes I get hit by writer's block, other times I'm not in the mood to write, and then there are times when I don't have any time to write at all. So unfortunately I can't update faster. But I'm so honored that you read my story so many times, and that you think it's a good story. Thank you so much. :-)

Chapter 9

Niles had been feeling pretty lonely during the weekend. It wasn't that it was an unusual feeling. But since he'd been alone with CC for most of the week, it was an even lonelier feeling now compared with other weekends spent without her.

He'd tried not being too obvious about missing her. He knew that if he was, the children would be on to him. And that even meant Brighton, who'd known he'd missed CC when she went to The Place, and he'd made that cake with her face on it.

But he was glad when the children had gone to the mall on Saturday. That way, he could mope as much as he wanted to, without getting caught. And when the children had been home and he felt like he couldn't hide his feelings completely, he'd gone to the gym to get a good workout and work out his frustrations. He'd also gone to the gym in hopes that he'd see her there, but he hadn't been that lucky.

Little did he know that CC actually had been there on both days of the weekend, to work out her own frustrations of missing him and feeling miserable and alone. And what neither knew about the other was that they both couldn't wait, for Monday to start.

Monday morning CC walked into the dining room at the Sheffield's feeling thrilled to be back at work.

"Hello, hello."

Niles feigned a groan of annoyance.

"Oh damn. And here I thought that the rock on your coffin would be too heavy for you to lift."

Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie looked from Niles to CC rather confused and then looked at each other. They all shook their heads knowing now it was just their usual banter.

"Good morning, Miss Babcock. How was your weekend?"

CC kept looking at Niles but turned her glare into a smirk as she answered Gracie.

"Just wonderful seeing as it was butler free." Niles smirked back.

"Which means, you had to do your own cleaning and cooking, and no doubt that couldn't have been much fun." She rolled her eyes and instead looked around at the children.

"How was your weekend?"

"Oh it was just wonderful seeing a…."

"Can it, Butler Boy." She looked back at Niles with a slight glare. "I don't for one minute care how miserable your weekend really was. You can tell Fran all about it when she gets home." She then gave him a mocking smile. "Now be a good little butler, and fix me a plate of food and some coffee, and then give Chester something to eat." Niles rolled his eyes.

"Come along, Chester."

Chester obediently followed Niles into the kitchen. When Niles and Chester were behind the closed door, CC looked around at the children again.

"So how was your weekend?"

As always Niles and CC had thrown remarks at each other during the day, and it continued well into the evening as CC once again stayed for dinner. And once again CC left after dinner without Niles having the opportunity to invite her to stay for tea. However, had he asked her, she would've said yes instead of going to the gym as she'd started to go to in the evenings, so that she wouldn't run into Niles during the day.

Tuesday was not much different from Monday. CC came to the house for breakfast and the insulting and banter between her and Niles started. The children then left for school and she went to the office to work. That was followed with more bantering between her and Niles whenever they'd seen each other until lunchtime.

After lunch they had a break from the bantering and zingers thrown back and forth seeing as Niles went to the store, but once he was back, it all returned as well. And it continued through snack time with the children when they got home from school.

Late in the afternoon CC came out from the bathroom under the stairs as Brighton was putting on his jacket, and Niles was seeing him off.

"Well, I'm off."

"Remember you have a curfew, so don't be home too late."

"I won't." Brighton noticed CC and smiled at her. "Goodbye, Miss Babcock. It's just going to be you, Niles, and the girls tonight." CC smirked at him.

"Don't you mean just me and the girls?" She nodded her head towards Niles indicating, she'd included him as one of the girls. Brighton laughed and nodded.

"Oh yeah right." Niles sent him a glare.

"You do realize, I can make you stay home, right?" Brighton put his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, Niles. You're all man." Niles gave him a single nod and a smile.

"You can go." Brighton smiled back.

"Thank you. See ya."

When Niles closed the door and turned back around, CC was smirking at him.

"What was that about?" Niles shook his head.

"Nothing." She continued to smirk at him as she crossed her arms.

"Oh let's see. It's Tuesday, and seeing as vacation doesn't start until Friday that means it's a school night. And if I'm not mistaken, I don't think Maxwell or Fran would be too happy to know that you're letting Brighton go out on a school night."

"I know you're eager for it to be night time, so that you can go get your feeding, but in case you haven't noticed, it's still the afternoon."

"Oh, I know. But you see I heard you tell Brighton not to be home too late and that he still has a curfew, so from that alone I can only assume that meant, he's not coming home for dinner or right after. And in case you've forgotten already, Brighton also told me that it was just going to be the two of us, Maggie, and Gracie tonight. So that clearly means, he's not coming home until much later." She could see that he had a hard time trying to lie to her. "Oh come on, Bell Hop. Fess up." He groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I made a similar deal with the children that I made with you."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that as long as I let them have a bit more freedom, within reasonable limits, they won't tell Mr. Sheffield that I've been relaxing more and working less than usual."

"Ah, I see." She gave him an evil grin. "Too bad I know now, huh?" She laughed throatily as he gaped at her. "Well now, let's see what I'll have you do in order for me to keep quiet."

"You can't make me do anything, because the children will take my side, and lie if you try to tell Mr. Sheffield the truth."

"You honestly think Maxwell won't be on to them if he presses for the truth long enough?" When he sighed and groaned, she knew she'd been right. She chuckled and shook her head. "Don't worry, Niles, I won't blab. I don't feel the need to sellout the children now that we're getting along better than ever." She started to walk towards the office but looked over her shoulder when she was near the fireplace. "But as always, I might change my mind just to get to have you as my own little puppet, I can control." She laughed throatily as she left leaving Niles to groan.

Before walking out the door to go home after dinner, CC turned and looked at Niles.

"I won't be here for breakfast. I have some financial business to take care of." He smirked at her.

"Oh is that what they call working the street corner for a buck these days? And here I thought you had enough money." She glared at him.

"Shut up, Niles." He laughed knowing that it was her best comeback.

"I'll see you for lunch then?" She shook her head letting go of some of her frustrations towards his comment.

"I don't know. I'm not quite sure how long it'll take." He nodded.

"I'll see you when I see you. Should we leave it at that?" She nodded back.

"Yeah, I think that's the best I can do for now."

"Okay. Now you better be off. Don't want to keep your clients waiting." She was about to glare at him but decided to smirk instead.

"And I'm sure you'd want me to leave too, so that your hand doesn't have to wait any longer." She smiled triumphantly when his smirk disappeared. "Night, night, Niles. Oh and have fun." She pointed to his hand and laughed throatily as she left.

Niles shook his head at her but couldn't help but smile either. She gave as good, as she got. However, soon he was reminded that he was spending yet another night alone, which made him sigh heavily as he went to clean up the kitchen.

The next day CC was sitting on her couch in her apartment going over financial paperwork, to make sure everything was handled correctly. It had arrived by delivery early in the morning and so far she'd gone through Maxwell's recent investments, her own recent investments, and her brother's recent investments.

Putting the last folder containing an investment her brother had made, she picked up the last folder in the pile, which contained a new investment of Niles'. As she started to go through it, she took a sip from her water bottle. But upon reading the third line of the page, she spit her water out in surprise of what she'd read.

She put the folder back on the table picking up a napkin and started to dry off the water around her mouth and on the table. She then dried off the water that had landed on the folder, and picked it up again when she was done, to get a closer look.

After staring wide eyed at that third line for a few minutes, she slowly started to grin wickedly.

"Oh, Butler Boy, this is going to be fun. I'm going to milk this for everything it's, worth." She smirked to herself and tore her gaze from the third line to read the rest.

When CC walked through the door to the Sheffield's two hours later with Chester on her arm, she had an evil smirk plastered on her face.

Niles turned off the TV and stood up turning around to face her.

"Hello, Chester. I see you brought a big, ugly mutt with you to play with."

She was unfazed by his remark as she put Chester down on the floor.

"Hello, Niles."

However, Niles was rather fazed by the overly sweetness in her voice, and the evil smirk on her face. He eyed her suspiciously.

"What?" She just smiled a little more evilly at him, which only got him a little more annoyed. "What? What's with the face? Could you please take off your Halloween mask? It's rather unsettling."

He thought that would do the trick, but that only made CC let out a throaty laugh, which made him pout.

"Good one, Niles. But nothing you say can destroy this wonderful mood, I'm in."

When she still smirked at him, he gave up and just rolled his eyes. If she was going to get back at him, she would eventually, and nothing he tried would make her say what was up with her any sooner.

"There's a letter for Sheffield-Babcock Productions from the Breast Cancer Organization on Mr. Sheffield's desk." She finally got the smirk off her face, only to have it replaced with a look of confusion.

"What?" Then she remembered. "Oh, that must be the benefit, we're taken part in. Maxwell said they'd sent it here. I better get to it." Niles nodded as she started walking towards the office.

"Have you had lunch yet?" She looked over her shoulder and nodded.

"Yes, I had something before I left."

"I thought as much, since you hadn't shown up sooner. I'm on my way to the kitchen now to make a cup of tea. Can I get you anything?"

"A cup of coffee would be nice."

"I'll put it on. Should I bring it to the office?"

"Yes, I would appreciate that."

She stopped right before she left the living room to turn around and give him her evil smirk. At his still utterly confused expression, CC let out another throaty laugh before heading to the office. Once she'd left Niles just stood there being curious about her behavior and not understanding it one bit. He then shook his head and headed for the kitchen.

When Niles had put the coffee on as well as the kettle for tea, he started to clean up the kitchen. He grabbed the pan he'd used for his lunch and was just about to put it away, when he heard CC screaming out loud. With the pan in hand he rushed to the office.

As he ran into the office he had the pan raised ready to strike whatever or whoever had made CC scream.

When he couldn't see anyone or anything right in front of him that would've made her scream, he took a look around the room, still with the pan raised. When he couldn't find anything wrong he looked to her for an answer.

"What happened?"

She was holding out a piece of paper shaking it furiously and too enraged to take her eyes off of it.

"This!" Niles looked at it confused.

"What is it?"

"It's the letter from the Breast Cancer Organization explaining what we're doing for the benefit."

"What's the problem?" Her whole body tensed with rage.

"The problem? The problem? THE PROBLEM? The problem is that we….no not we…that I have to put on a…" She finally looked up at him and stopped the explanation she was making, and letting curiosity take over her anger, as she saw Niles gripping a pan tightly in his hand. "What's with the pan?"

"Hmm?" Confusion hit him for a moment before he realized that she'd been referring to the pan. He'd completely forgotten about it. "Oh, the pan?" She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Val." He rolled his eyes at the sarcasm in her voice and the new nickname, which he was less than thrilled about. "The pan you have in your hand, which is so obvious to notice. Why did you bring it in here?"

"You were screaming hysterically. It was the only thing I could think of that could sedate you, if you started to scream like that again." She fixed him a glare, and he thought he'd better move on in case she asked further questions as to why, he really brought it. "So what about that letter?" But he couldn't let go of a comeback, even if it meant risking her asking him about the pan. "That is, the letter you're so obviously holding. Just in case you've forgotten about it."

When she let out a frustrated groan, he knew she wouldn't question the reason behind bringing the pan.

She started to get angry again at the content of the letter as she started to explain it to him.

"The organization has written up a list of what each production company is supposed to take care of at the benefit. And apparently we have to put on a scene from an original play, including a song. Not only do we have to do that, but we also have to have an outline for a set design, rehearse the scene so that we know how long it's going to take, and know how many props and costumes we'll need, so that they know how much space to make room for backstage for all of it. And they want all of it done a week from Monday."

He stared a little wide eyed knowing that it was a lot of work with very little time. Seeing her so upset by it, Niles knew that what she needed was support rather than insults.

"You get original scripts sent to you all the time. Can't you use something from one of those?"

"They're all crap." He chuckled softly but kept quiet when she sent him a glare.

"I'm sorry." She sighed knowing he'd laughed at the comment and not at her.

"No, don't apologize. And you're probably right. It's not like I have any other choice but to look through all the scripts." She sighed and put the letter back on the desk. "I just wish, I didn't have to do this alone. I have plenty of work to attend to with the new play."

Niles felt his heart ache for her. He agreed with her that she shouldn't have to work on this alone. However, he also knew that she'd be better at organizing it than Maxwell given the short time span, and she definitely had the talent for finding the right script. But still with so much work ahead of her and with so much work on her plate already, he knew she'd work endlessly and hard, and no doubt exhausting herself in order to make it perfect.

"But at least you can put your current play on hold for the time being and concentrate solely on this benefit. Your play is not scheduled to open until November. I do realize that a lot of work needs to go into getting everything organized and ready before rehearsals starts, but take comfort in knowing that it's still a long time away." She looked at him and smiled a little at the warm, caring smile he was giving her. "Just let Mr. Sheffield work a little harder on your current play, when he gets back. It can be your payback for having to do this alone." He gave her his impish grin and he was glad when it made her chuckle.

"Thanks, Niles."

"My pleasure, Miss Babcock. Now I do believe the coffee is ready, so I'll get that and then leave you to your work." She sighed but nodded and kept the small smile on her lips. "I'll be back shortly."

Once he was outside the office and out of sight from CC, Niles sighed heavily. He knew she'd have a hard time eating right and getting enough rest while going through this process. Making a vow to do everything in his power to help her and take care of her throughout the process, Niles left for the kitchen with a head full of recipes of her favorite foods he decided to make for her during the next week and a half. And with a heart full of love for her.

TBC