Hello all. :-) It's Tuesday again, which means it's time for another chapter. Luckily my computer is working great right now - woohoo. :-D I've noticed that this is the longest chapter so far according to the word count - I hope that's okay. :-D Just to warn you right now, next week's chapter is even longer :-D - it's also my favorite chapter so far - hope you'll like it too. :-) But enough about next week's chapter, since this week's chapter awaits you. Of course, you could be skipping this little note of mine in which case I'm rabbling on unnecessarily. :-D Oh well. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and thank you for reading and for all your lovely reviews. :-)

To amyb: You're welcome and it's me who's grateful to you for reviewing. I also send out replies to the ones, who review, but since I couldn't reply to your review, I could only reply at the start of the chapter. :-) I'm so thrilled to hear you love my story - thank you so very much and it means so much. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter. :-)

Chapter 11

For Niles the weekend seemed to drag on. On top of being worried that CC was exhausting herself, his whole body was also tense from not knowing if she'd been on a date. He couldn't wait for Monday to come around to see, if she'd let it slip what had been going on. But at the same time he dreaded her telling him, she'd had date.

Compared to the previous weekend, he'd been able to keep himself quite busy as Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie had all had friends over during the weekend, but never at the same time. Maggie and Brighton had also been out of the house Saturday evening, and he'd been glad that he'd had Gracie to keep him company.

Monday morning Niles got up a bit earlier than usual not being able to stay in bed any longer. He went for a walk thinking it would do him good, and he did feel a bit more refreshed and relaxed, when he returned.

Knowing that the children would sleep in but that CC would be at the mansion at the usual time, he started preparing breakfast for the two of them.

As predicted, CC walked into the kitchen with Chester in tow right on time.

When he noticed how tired she looked, he felt a strong urge to pull her into a hug. However, he decided that it would probably be best to give her a cup of coffee and throw a zinger her way.

"Good morning, Sir. I see you didn't have time to shave this morning. Are you trying to see how you'll look with a beard, or was it simply just a rough weekend of gambling, boozing, and trying to pick up a woman at the nearest street corner?" At seeing her glare at him, he knew that he'd been successful in bringing out the fire in her and making her feel more awake. He smirked at her at first but then chuckled softly and then smiled. "Where do you want me to serve you breakfast?"

She sighed being too tired to come up with a comeback to his insult.

"Office." He nodded and sighed without her noticing, feeling she had yet another long workday ahead of her.

"Any luck with finding a scene for the benefit?" She shook her head.

"No. But I also only had the time to read through a handful of the scripts."

Niles knew that her lack of time to read through the scripts had to do with her plans. Not wanting to seem too eager to know about her plans, he responded while he poured her a cup of coffee keeping his eyes on the task at hand.

"Oh?"

"I had some contracts I had to go through Saturday, and yesterday I spent nearly the entire day with DD. I probably should've cancelled my plans with her, but I couldn't get myself to do it. Or rather I wouldn't."

At hearing her words he let go of the breath, he didn't realize he was holding.

"Well, it probably did you more good than you realize. Hopefully with the break during the weekend, you're able to find a good scene today." She merely shrugged.

"Yeah, we'll see." She looked at the door to the dining room. "Where are the children? Shouldn't they be up by now?"

"They started their vacation, remember?" She nodded remembering now.

"Oh yeah that's right."

"They'll be up eventually. I just don't know when that'll be. They did talk about going to the mall, so I know they won't be sleeping the day away. But you can rest assured that they'll be quiet when they're here. You won't be bothered."

"They're allowed to be as noisy as they want. It's their home after all. I know they're not small children anymore, but still they should be able to roam around the house freely as much as they want. I guess, I could really also go through the scripts at home." Fear gripped him for a moment dreading that she'd stop coming to the house. "But, the scripts are here, so no point in bringing them to my place only to have to bring them back again. And there are a lot more things available here for the work process with the play. I just think it's easier to stay here."

"Of course, it is, and the children know that." He handed her the cup of coffee. "Here." She nodded and smiled.

"Well, I should get to work."

"I'll bring your breakfast right in."

"Thanks." He merely gave her a smile and a nod.

When she'd left Niles squatted down in front of Chester and padded the dog on its head.

"What are we going to do about her, hmm? We better hope she finds a scene fast, because she's working too hard." When Chester let out a small bark, Niles chuckled. "Glad you agree." He gave him another pad. "Well, better give the Ice Queen her food, and then I'll get yours." Chester let out another bark, and Niles went back to work.

Throughout the day Niles kept himself busy with cleaning and doing the laundry as well as bringing CC what she needed to eat and drink.

In the late afternoon he was in the kitchen preparing dinner when Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie came home from the mall.

"Hey, Niles." He looked at them and smiled.

"Hello."

Maggie and Gracie went to the fridge to get themselves a bottle of water, while Brighton closed the door and then looked at Niles.

"What's for dinner?"

Niles looked at him chuckling and shook his head at his question, but smiled.

"Roast beef, baked potatoes, and grilled vegetables. How was the mall?"

"It was good. We actually ran into some friends, who invited us to Hamptons for the weekend. Well until Monday afternoon really." Niles arched an eyebrow at them with an amused look.

"I see. No doubt you'd want to go." Brighton snapped his fingers.

"Right on the money as always, Niles, and thank you for letting us go."

Maggie and Gracie rolled their eyes at Brighton while he tried to make a quick dash for the stairs. Niles shook his head and chuckled.

"Not so fast, Brighton." Brighton sighed and came back. "I need to know more about this than you just wanting to go."

"You know the Sawyers." Niles nodded at Maggie. "Well, they're going to the Hamptons for the weekend, and since they know Dad and Fran are on their honeymoon, they asked if we wanted to join them."

"But naturally, we said we'd have to talk it over with you first." He now nodded at Gracie but then shrugged.

"The Sawyers are responsible, I know that. But I'm not entirely sure seeing as it's the Hamptons, and it's without your parents' permission. Besides, you might be a bit too young, and they don't have children your age."

"They have relatives and friends staying for the weekend too, so there'll be kids there my age." Maggie nodded.

"Yeah and there'll be plenty of grownups too."

"But Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer and the rest, who are their age, will be going to a party Saturday night, so we'll be home alone with the other young ones. There'll be a get-together at the house and people will be invited, but it'll still be a quiet affair. And there'll be people there Maggie's age and a bit older, so we're not left without anyone being responsible for making sure everything will be alright."

Brighton gaped and then shook his head.

"That's just great, Gracie. Now he'll never let us go." He sighed. "And here I planned on having a girl on each arm during the entire weekend. I can just kiss that dream goodbye."

Niles, Maggie, and Gracie looked at each other and tried their best to hold back their laughter, and their insults.

"But, Brighton, it's best to be honest."

Niles cleared his throat to get rid of the laughter that was nearly bursting out of him.

"Your sister is right. But I'll tell you what." They all looked at him hopeful. "I'll talk it over with the Sawyers and then give you my decision. How does that sound?" Both Maggie and Gracie smiled at him.

"It sounds great."

"Yeah and thanks, Niles."

"I wholeheartedly agree with my sisters. And may I also add that you're looking particula…"

"Sucking up to me won't make one bit of difference." Niles smirked and Brighton nodded.

"Right. I knew that. But just one more thing." Niles rolled his eyes, but nodded for Brighton to continue. "If you let us go, you'll have the entire house to yourself. No interruptions and no one but you to cook and clean for. Just think about it."

"I'll try."

"Great."

Maggie and Gracie shook their heads at their brother.

"We'll leave you alone."

"I'll call you when dinner is ready."

After they'd left the kitchen, Niles chuckled to himself and then went back to preparing dinner.

When Niles, Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie were sitting down to eat, Niles told them that he'd talked to the Sawyers and that they could go to the Hamptons with them. However, in order to go they had to spend a day with Sylvia and Yetta before going to the Hamptons, so that they didn't stop by the mansion while they were away. They had agreed to that seeing as they really wanted to go to the Hamptons. After dinner they'd called Sylvia and made plans to spend the day together on Thursday.

While they'd enjoyed dinner and each other's company, CC had stayed in the office while eating, so that she could work at the same time. And she'd stayed there until she left just before midnight.

Tuesday went by pretty much the same way Monday did, which meant that CC stayed in the office working all day. However, the children had stayed home relaxing.

Early in the evening CC left the office to go to the bathroom. She found Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie in the living room watching TV and laughing at what they were watching.

"Sounds like you're having fun."

"We are. But are we making too much noise?"

"Yeah, we can turn the TV down if you want." She shook her head.

"No, you're not making too much noise at all. In fact, I'm not even taking notice of it, in the office. I was just headed to the bathroom and heard you as I walked inhere." She smiled at them and continued on to the bathroom.

CC came back a few minutes later and started heading back for the office again, when Gracie stopped her.

"How's the search for a scene coming? Any luck yet?"

She turned around and shook her head.

"No, unfortunately not. I have a few scenes picked out that have very, very little potential, so if nothing better comes along, I think I'll have to choose one of them." Maggie smiled at her.

"Well, fingers crossed that something better comes along then." She smiled back.

"Thank you. So how's your vacation going so far?" Brighton shrugged.

"It's okay, but it'll be better this weekend."

"Oh?"

"We're going to the Hamptons with some friends. We'll be staying until Monday afternoon."

"That sounds nice. Have a great trip."

"Thank you." Brighton and Maggie nodded in agreement with Gracie.

"And good luck with finding the right scene." CC smiled back.

"Thanks. Speaking of finding the right scene, I better get back to work." She smiled at them again and then left the living room.

When she had left the living room and Gracie was sure that CC couldn't hear them, she turned and looked at her siblings.

"See, I told you that Miss Babcock is changing." Both Maggie and Brighton nodded.

"Yes, you did. I must admit it's nice."

"Yeah, it really is."

With one more glance towards the office they went back to watching TV.

CC left the mansion around the same time as on the other nights since working on the benefit, and she arrived just as early the next morning as she'd done since then too.

The day passed in the same fashion as the other days, but knowing that they'd be spending the next day with Sylvia and Yetta, the children went to bed early.

Niles stayed up not wanting to go to bed seeing as CC was still there. He watched TV to keep himself busy, but finally turned it off when there was nothing worth watching. Having no idea what time it was, he looked at his watch and was surprised to see it was nearly 1.00. Knowing CC had left around midnight the other nights, he decided to make up the guestroom for her, not wanting her to drive home seeing as she'd probably be even more tired by the time she wanted to leave.

When he came back downstairs, he was happy to see that Chester was still on the couch. Being thrilled to know that she hadn't left while he'd been gone, he sat back down next to the dog and started to read the book he'd brought with him.

After a while Niles had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He put the book down and rubbed his eyes before looking at his watch to see what time it was. His eyes nearly went out of his head for a second as he realized it was 3.11. He shook his head and thought it was best to see how CC was doing, since it was so late.

He knocked softly on the door to the office, but when he got no answer he walked in. His breath nearly got caught in his throat when he saw her sleeping on the couch with a script in her hands. She looked so beautiful. He wanted to tug the loose strand of hair behind her ear, wanted to caress her cheek, and kiss her on the forehead. But thinking that any of those actions might cause her to wake up and yell at him, he opted for gently shaking her shoulder to wake her.

"Miss Babcock. Miss Babcock, wake up." She let out a sleepy groan. Knowing he was close to waking her, he tried again. "Come on, Miss Babcock, it's time to wake up."

Her eyes started to flutter open and she looked confusedly out into the room before her eyes landed on Niles.

"Niles?"

"Yes, it's me. Time to wake up and go to bed."

She started to rub her eyes and then sat up on the couch.

"What time is it?" He looked at his watch.

"3.14." She stared at him in shock.

"3.14?" He nodded. "Oh god, I can't believe it's that late. I don't even know when I fell aslee…..wait an minute." She looked at him and he gave her a confused look. "Why are you not in bed? You haven't even gone to bed?" She gestured to the suit he was still wearing.

Even though he was working less, he still felt it was most appropriate to wear his regular work outfit in case anyone important showed up at the door, who needed to get in touch with Maxwell. Not really knowing how to respond seeing as CC was giving him an odd look, he merely shrugged.

"Well, you were still up. I couldn't very well go to bed in case you needed something. I'm still the butler." She rolled her eyes as much as she could given how tired, she was.

"You're not my butler, Niles. And staying up this late goes well above and beyond of what's expected of a butler."

He felt a bit trapped under her quizzical stare, but decided to try his best to divert her curiosity.

"Mr. Sheffield sometimes calls my room at all hours of the night just to get me to make him a simple cup of tea, so this really isn't much different."

He quickly started to pick up the scripts that had fallen on the floor in order to keep himself busy, and to avoid her stare. Being too tired to try and make sense of him staying up, she merely shook her head.

"I guess I better head home."

"You're staying here tonight. I made up the guestroom for you over two hours ago."

He picked up the last script and looked up to see, she was giving him that stare again.

"Two hours ago?"

Standing up he turned around to place the scripts on the desk, and to buy himself some time to come up with a good answer that wouldn't lead her to ask more questions.

"Yes well, when I realized it was nearly 1.00, and that it meant you hadn't left around midnight, like you've done on the other nights, I thought it would be best if you stayed here instead of driving home." He turned around and smirked at her. "Besides, it's safer this way. Even though you're quite a scary creature, there are weirdoes out there, who'll take a whack at anyone." When she rolled her eyes at him and looked annoyed, he knew he'd been successful.

"Fine, I'll stay here then." He noticed her rubbing her temples and got a little concerned.

"Are you feeling alright? Is there anything, I can get you?"

"An aspirin wouldn't be so bad right now. I have a bit of a headache."

"I'll get that for you. You just go on up to the guestroom."

"Thanks."

"No problem." He quickly went to retrieve the water and aspirin from the kitchen and made it to the guestroom in no time. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She took the pill and took a good swig from the water bottle. Then she shook her head and sighed. "I just realized that I have nothing to sleep in."

Niles wanted to suggest that she could just sleep in the nude, but decided it was probably not the right suggestion after all. Not wanting to think of her naked in front of her in case it caused that oh so familiar stirring in his lower region, he quickly came up with a different suggestion.

"Well, I must admit I'm not too fond of going through Mrs. Sheffield's nightgowns and nightwear." CC chuckled.

"I don't think I would be too comfortable in anything she has, nor would I really want to sleep in a leopard looking pajamas." Niles chuckled too.

"In that case, all I think I can offer is something of mine to wear." She looked at him stunned, so he quickly covered. "Only because it wouldn't be appropriate for you to wear something of Mr. Sheffield's." She nodded.

"No, of course."

"So you're fine with borrowing something of mine?"

"Yes, absolutely." Now it was his time to look at her stunned, so she quickly covered. "I mean, it's not like I have any other choice. It's not like I can sleep in the shirt, I'm wearing." He nodded.

"My thoughts exactly. So anything particular I can offer you? I have a t-shirt, a pajamas shirt, a tank top."

"A pajamas shirt is just fine." He nodded.

"Do you want the pajamas pants as well?" She shook her head.

"No, it's warm so the shirt will be just fine."

"Okay then. I'll go and get it."

"Then I'll just go and brush my teeth then, seeing as I have a spare toothbrush here." He nodded and left.

On the way to his bedroom Niles didn't have any doubts about which pajamas shirt, he was going to give to CC. She was going to sleep in his favorite, the baby blue one with the white stripes. Not only was it his favorite, but it was his best one as well.

Moments later he found himself on his way back to the guestroom. CC came out of the bathroom from across the guestroom at the same time as Niles came back.

"Here we are." He handed the pajamas shirt to her, and she felt the soft material against her fingers. It made her smile.

"Thank you."

"What time do you want me to wake you in the morning?"

"I have a meeting at 1.00, so I guess..." She gave it some thought. "At 11.00. I'll need to go home to shower and change." He gave her his lopsided grin.

"At 11.00 it is then. Goodnight, CaCa." She gave him a tired smile in return.

"Goodnight, Hazel."

When Niles was under the covers and picked up his alarm clock, he groaned realizing he wouldn't be getting many hours of sleep. The children were heading out early to spend the day with Sylvia and Yetta, and because he'd promised to make Sylvia a cake, he knew he'd be getting up a lot sooner than usual in order to make it. He quickly set the alarm wanting to sleep as much as possible in the less than three hours that was available to him.

At 11.00 on the dot the next morning Niles stood outside the guestroom. He leaned in to see if he could hear whether or not CC was up yet. When he couldn't hear anything, he quietly opened the door. What he saw, when he opened the door fully, made his jaw fall to the floor.

CC was only half covered by the sheet, leaving her leg closets to him completely exposed. He couldn't tear his eyes of her naked, long leg that looked so perfect. However, as his eyes travelled up her leg, he noticed that his pajamas shirt was not tucked all the way down, also leaving her stomach slightly exposed giving him a nice view.

He swallowed hard and quickly closed the door again fearing how his body would start to react, if he looked at her too long. But he also feared how CC would react, if she woke up to find him ogling her.

After taking a few calming breaths and knowing he was alright again, he decided to only knock on the door. Also knowing how she felt of her own appearance, he knew that she probably wouldn't feel comfortable, if he walked into the room to wake her up, since she wasn't completely covered by the sheet.

"Miss Babcock, it's time to wake up." Not getting a response he decided to knock again and then this time, he slightly opened the door so that she could hear him better. But he made sure to keep his back turned away from her as to not make her uncomfortable. "Miss Babcock, are you awake?"

CC woke up slowly being too tired at first to know what was going on. But when her eyes caught the slightly opened door and she spotted Niles, and then felt the cool air hitting her naked leg, she quickly pulled the sheet over herself and all the up to her neck. Being embarrassed about her body she didn't want Niles to see her like this, but was relieved when she realized that his back was turned to her.

"Um yeah, I'm awake."

"Good. I've made you something to eat, so you can just come down when you're ready."

"Okay."

"I'll see you in a little while."

He closed the door and she fell back against the pillow relaxing for a few moments before getting out of bed.

CC came down to the kitchen a couple of minutes later dressed in her outfit from the day before.

Niles looked at her in amazement at how she could look so stunning after just getting out of bed, and without having showered, but merely having run a brush through her hair.

"Well, I'll just grab Chester and the scripts from the office, so that I can be off."

"Not so fast. I made you breakfast, or brunch really at this hour, and you're going to eat it." She rolled her eyes.

"I'll eat a piece of toast on my way out."

"Oh no, you won't. You're going to sit down and eat like a civilized person. I'm not having you leave crumbs allover the house. It's not like you'll be here to lick them up like a good little doggie." She glared at him but he merely smirked in return. "Now sit down and eat. You'll have plenty of time to go home and get ready in time for your meeting." She rolled her eyes knowing he wouldn't back down.

"Fine, have it your way."

She sat down to eat as he got the coffee.

"Oh and speaking of dogs, I walked Chester already."

"Thanks." He shrugged as he poured coffee into her mug.

"It was part of the deal, we made."

"Yeah, I know, but still it's ni…..do I smell cake? Have you been baking?"

He walked back with the coffee to get himself a cup.

"Yes. The children are spending the day with Sylvia and Yetta, and I'd promised Sylvia to make a cake." She turned in her seat and looked at him incredulously.

"So you made the cake this morning?" He nodded. "When did the kids leave?"

"8.30." Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"But you didn't go to bed until after 3.30. When did you get up?"

"6.30."

"That means you barely got three hours of sleep." He nodded.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you make the cake yesterday?"

"I have my standards. I'm not about to hand something off that's a day old."

"But it's Sylvia. She'll eat anything. You could've slept another hour or more." He shook his head, shrugged, and avoided her eyes.

"Even so, I strive to be the best that I can be. Besides, I have the house to myself, so I can go back to sleep when you leave." She wanted to apologize for even though she was still extremely tired, she felt like she'd hurt his feelings. However, she never got the chance. "Well, I'll leave you to finish your breakfast."

She merely nodded as he left the kitchen. When he was gone she sighed at how she was never able to do anything right, and knowing that he'd then never look her way.

Almost twenty minutes later CC walked into the living room with a stack of scripts in her arms. Chester was on the floor and already had his leash on. Niles was sitting on the couch reading the paper, and looked up when she entered.

"Well, I'm off." He stood up and gestured to the scripts.

"How's the search going?"

"I've narrowed it down to a couple of scenes, but in reality they're just as crappy as all the other scripts, I've read. But seeing as today's Thursday, and I need to be finished by Monday, I don't really have a choice but to use one of them." She sighed. "But I've been exhausted lately, and don't know if I've given them a fair shot. So I'm taking the scripts home with me to work on for the rest of the week."

"So does that mean you won't be here tomorrow?" She nodded.

"Yes. I thought I might as well stay home and work tomorrow seeing as I'll be at the meeting for a few hours. Besides, maybe a different setting will make the difference."

On the inside he felt sad, but on the outside he smiled at her.

"I hope it will."

"Well, I should be off." He picked up the leash and handed it to her before they both made their way to the front door. "See you Monday." He nodded and smiled.

"Good luck." She smiled at him.

"Thanks. Enjoy your weekend." He nodded.

"You too."

Like the previous weeks, he watched her leave, and when he closed the door he leaned against it sighing heavily. Nearly four days without her if today was counted. Deciding to spend some of that agonizing time keeping busy, so that he wouldn't think of how much he'd miss her, he walked upstairs intending to clean up the guestroom.

However, when he got there, he got a better idea.

He went back to his bedroom to get his alarm clock. He then walked back to the guestroom and stripped down to his boxers. Once he'd done that he picked up the pajamas shirt, CC had used and breathed in her scent before putting it on. He then climbed in bed and set the alarm clock for 3.00, knowing that would give him plenty of time to get up and out of the room before the children got home, since he knew for sure they wouldn't be home until 5.00. They knew that CC had stayed the night, and he knew it would only lead to them asking questions about him sleeping in her bed, if he was caught. When he put the alarm clock back on the nightstand, he got comfortable under the covers and soon drifted off to a peaceful sleep with CC on his mind.

TBC