A/N: You may notice that chapter 10 is missing. I accidentally deleted it, and I'm trying to get it back. If you haven't read that one (it's from around December of 2015), you still won't miss much from that chapter to this one. But if ANYONE out there has a copy of this story and has that chapter, PLEASE let me know! I'd love to replace it. Anyway, I get a lot of requests for the continuation of this story. It is still so near and dear to my heart, and I really am trying to finish it. We're so close!
I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here 'cause I remember it all too well...
Chapter 11
The sun sank like a golden ball dropped into the seemingly endless blanket of puffy clouds spread out beneath them. C.C. stared unseeingly out the airplane window at a distant point in the sky. She breathes deeply and slowly, trying deserately to regulate her rapid heartbeat. She felt Niles shift in the seat beside her before he covered her hand with his own.
"Are you okay?" he nearly whispered.
"C.C. squeezed her eyes shut briefly. She was rapidly growing tired of that question. She shrugged, dropping her hand from his; she missed the warmth of him instantly.
"Are you ever going to speak to me again?" Niles asked, his voice gritty with agitation.
"C.C. sighed sharply as she absentmindedly tugged at the black silk scarf at her throat.
"C.C.," he pleaded, his voice noticeably softer than before.
She shook her head and chewed on her quivering bottom lip.
"I'm leaving the only real family I've ever had," she spoke hoarsely, tightening her fingers in a white-knuckle grip on the seat armrests.
Niles opened his mouth to repeat what he had already told her, that they'd be back soon, but he quickly closed it again, thinking better of it.
"We're going to be a family," he answered at last.
C.C. turned toward him but did not yet raise her head to meet his gaze. Her cheeks were damp with tears.
"I don't know how to be a mother," she replied tensely, her eyes wide with what he was sure was fright.
He leaned into her, tucking her hair tenderly behind her ear and smoothing the back of his fingers down her flushed cheek.
"We'll figure it out together," he breathed. "That's what families do."
C.C. released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She wanted to argue that Niles had experience raising the Sheffield children but that it didn't do much to change the fact that she feared she had no motherly instincts within her at all... How could she? Instead, she wearily buried her head into the crook of his neck and allowed the familiar rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing to soothe her.
Her eyes fluttered shut as Niles spread a knitted purple blanket across the front of her body. The undeniable scent of home and the soft hum of the airplane lulled her gently to sleep.
To be continued