Hello, Hello. Happy to announce that chapter 2 for this is ready. :) Maybe some of you have noticed that I made a slight alteration to the first chapter. Because...as Again and Again had poems signifying the theme of each chapter, this story will have a piece of classical music for each theme. I do advise you to have a listen!;) Either way, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and review. :)
Disclaimer: Yup, Sam is still mine!:)
Chapter 2: Waldstein Sonate 1st Movement - Beethoven
After their vow renewal ceremony they had merely a few days of peace left, before the summer vacation was over and the hectic every day routine caught up with them again. Niles and C.C. who had both taken time off their respective jobs to be with Samantha, weren't particularly thrilled to spend more time apart again. The night that signaled the end of their vacation all three of them were curled up on C.C.'s double bed, Sam in the middle, staring up at the ceiling and Niles and C.C. curled around her like two halves, their hands linked above their daughter's head.
"It's crazy, isn't it?" C.C. interrupted the moment of silence.
"What is?" Sam instantly asked.
"Yes, woman, you have to be more precise. We're talking about you here, so anything could be crazy." Niles grinned and instantly earned a slap from his wife.
"I was just thinking how old we've become," C.C. continued, seemingly undeterred "though that obviously applies more to you than me. But…a few years ago it would've seemed impossible to me not to work. I would've felt restless and trapped if I had nothing else to do…"
Niles nodded and smiled, already used to his wife's somewhat clumsy emotional confessions at times.
"So you mean you would've been bored stuck with me?" Sam asked and there was a vulnerability in her eyes that made C.C. instantly regret her words.
"No, baby, no…" she firmly said and pulled her daughter closer against her body "don't be silly."
"What she meant is quite the contrary, Samantha, she meant that you changed her. Work was all she had earlier…but then you arrived and her priorities changed. You became her focus, her pride and suddenly all the other things that had once been important, faded into the background."
It was in moments like these that C.C. envied her husband for his open and caring nature and the ability to express what he was feeling.
"But she also had you, Niles, you made her happy too." Sam pointed out, smiling.
"Yes, but-" he tried to argue, but C.C. interrupted him firmly.
"Listen to her!" and she squeezed his hand to let him know that she simply wanted him to stop doubting.
There was another moment of silence before Niles said: "Alright you two, I think it's about time you went to bed. We have an early start in the morning."
"That's right," C.C. nodded "I'll take you to school and Niles will pick you up on his way to the restaurant."
Sam nodded and crawled out of bed.
"Will you tell me a story, Niles?" she asked before disappearing into the corridor.
"Of course," he called after her but used the moment of her absence to scoot closer to his wife.
"I can't believe she still wants you to do that." C.C. chuckled.
"Well, what can I say? I just happen to be an excellent storyteller."
And he grinned cheekily and captured her lips.
"No doubts about that, but it's always the same story."
He silenced her with another kiss but secretly thought that she was right. After all, Sam always requested to hear the story of how he traveled the world with Emanuel Schikaneder and met and fell in love with The Queen of the Night. As a matter of fact he had told the story so often that even C.C. knew it by heart now and could take his place when he was otherwise detained. It didn't take a genius to figure out why the little girl requested this particular story over and over again. After all, it did not only symbolize the relationship between her parents and their difficult journey together, but it was also the very first thing her and Niles had talked about that long-ago night at the opera.
"She'll tell her own children one day," Niles grinned proudly and finally released her.
"If she's as silly as you are." C.C. teased softly.
It had become a habit for them now to attribute the various aspects of Sam's personality to either of them, even though it was technically impossible. Niles, though Sam's father at heart wasn't biologically hers, and yet it sometimes seemed to C.C. that her daughter had inherited several of his treats. Of course this could have been due to the fact that they spent so much time around each other that she learned to model her behavior a bit on him, but simply saying "She got this from you." pleased C.C. more than any other complicated explanation. Freeing herself from his embrace she went to kiss her daughter goodnight and then went into the bathroom and left Niles to tuck her in. She had just settled down again in bed, her reading glasses positioned firmly on the bridge of her nose, when Niles entered the room.
"Is she asleep already?" C.C. asked and frowned.
"No, but pretty close." he replied, unbuttoning his shirt "The last few days were exhausting for us all, she's a little worn out, but in the good way." And he winked.
She nodded and opened her book, but try as she might she couldn't bring herself to focus, for her eyes continuously kept wandering to her husband's movements. He always folded his shirts, even before putting them in the washing machine and as much as it amused her sometimes to see him pick out his outfits on the night before, she loved to watch him walk around in nothing but his boxers.
"I feel your eyes on me, Babs." he grinned, deep-blue eyes sparkling.
"Then you're even more senile than I thought," she lazily tossed back "my eyes are on the book and nothing else."
He chuckled warmly and then disappeared in the bathroom as well to brush his teeth and put on a t-shirt. C.C. used that opportunity to at least read a couple of pages, for she knew that the minute he'd be by her side again, all attempts to concentrate would be futile. She had just finished a chapter when he reappeared, turned off the main light and easily slid into bed next to her.
"Look, love, tiring yourself out by postponing to go to sleep won't make tomorrow any less pleasant." he softly said and gently removed her glasses and put them on the nightstand.
C.C. rubbed her eyes, put the bookmark in place and then set the novel aside.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied innocently and switched of her nightstand lamp, before turning to face him.
"You know very well, C.C." he insisted but the next argument got stuck in his throat as he felt her hands exploring his chest.
He allowed himself to enjoy her caress for a moment, but then pulled himself together again.
"C.C.?"
She sighed and he knew that it was of reluctance more than anything else. Eventually her light-blue eyes found his in the darkness and she shrugged.
"I just don't want to lose this," she sighed.
He smiled reassuringly at her and pulled her a little closer.
"You talk like Samantha…but we won't lose anything. We'll adjust. And I know you better, C.C., this is not the issue at hand."
She nodded and rested her head on his chest. He lightly stroked her hair, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she'd begin to talk.
"Just the thought alone of facing the office again…"
Niles happily would have told her to quit the job she so hated, as his business was enough to support them all, but he knew that C.C. would be lost at the moments when neither him nor Samantha were around.
"You could start as a producer again?" he suggested softly, like so many times before.
"Niles, you know that's impossible, otherwise I never would've left the business…this town is now swarming with producers and I, as a single woman with limited working hours, simply do not stand a chance."
He nodded, acknowledging that, of course, there was a truth to her words and yet….
"But you could fight. You could find your old spirit again and show the quacks out there why C.C. Brightmore was once known as the Bitch of Broadway!"
When she didn't reply, he assumed that she was treating his suggestion with the old stubbornness, but then he perceived a light snore and realized that she had actually fallen asleep.
"And you call yourself a lady," he chuckled, kissing the crown of her head and closing his eyes himself.
Nothing of the previous tranquility was left the next morning, when several alarm clocks started to ring at once in the Brightmore household. Niles, always the first one up, was making breakfast in his robe. He heard a groan from the bedroom that was soon echoed by another groan from Samantha's room and chuckled.
"Like mother, like daughter."
He waited patiently until both of his women had showered and dressed and busied himself setting the table instead. Samantha had always shared her morning routine with her mother and refused to appear from the bathroom until C.C. declared her perfect. None of them now looked particularly happy though, although Sam still radiated more exuberance than her mother. She hugged Niles good morning and then sat down at the table instantly grabbing a bread roll.
"Good morning, love." Niles replied, before pecking C.C.'s lips.
Samantha first began to babble vivaciously about her friends and the rumours that had been going around all summer, but soon she also picked up on her mother's subdued mood and breakfast became a quiet affair all of a sudden. At 7.30 Niles ushered Sam to her room to grab her bag and to give C.C. a moment to prepare as well.
"I'll pick you up at 4, alright?" he said, crouching before Sam as they were all standing by the door "Same meeting place as always."
"Yes, Sir, duly noted." Sam grinned and pecked his cheek "If you're too bored you can build a bit on our castle."
He nodded and then watched her run to the elevator before turning his attention to his wife.
"You're going to scare her, if you don't even crack a smile, Babs." he softly scolded her and cupped her cheek.
"I just…" she sighed and he nodded.
"I know. But hey, if you're a good girl I'll call you later on and talk dirty."
He wore his boyish grin which never failed to make her smile and so she nodded.
"You have yourself a deal, Brightmore."
He grinned again and kissed her deeply, before stepping back into the apartment and closing the door.
The place did feel strange and empty without them. No laughter coming from Sam's room and no C.C. to bicker with, he busied himself cleaning the kitchen and whatever else needed cleaning. After a few years in the catering business he had made quite a name for himself and had thus been given the opportunity to open his own restaurant, while George continued the catering in his name. And because of that he also had the freedom of working in the evening and seeing his little family at breakfast every morning. Even when they were grumpy and miserable he wouldn't have changed this routine for the world.
It was worse, C.C. thought around 12 o'clock while on lunch. She had been trying to mentally prepare herself for her return to the office, but it had still been worse than imagined. Soon after Niles' return to her life she had begun to notice that it was difficult being a mother and a successful producer at the same time and since she hadn't endured sacrificing time with her daughter for long, eventually her career had started to suffer. So C.C., for the first time in her life, had quit. Of course she didn't have to work, not for money reasons, anyway, but it went against her nature to simply enjoy a good fortune she had merely inherited but not earned. And so she had returned to her roots, a simple secretary at an office. It wasn't that the job in itself was a bad one, she knew several women who enjoyed it. But for someone like her who had come from a position of influence and power only to be viewed again as some cheap blonde, who was good enough to type up letters on a computer was frustrating, to say the least. At first she hadn't thought that it would be so bad and maybe, in different offices it wasn't. But in this one, where she had landed, she was indeed viewed as the help, nothing else. Her frustration had soon reached her private life and many fights with Niles, who had been the help for most of his life and been mocked as such, had ensued. He had understood, of course, that she was doing a mundane job that didn't thrill her but it was hard to be calm and understanding when the woman who had looked down her nose at him for being a mere domestic, was going through a similar thing. But over the weeks their fights had ceased and C.C. had more and more realized what it had meant for him, an intelligent man, to be doing such work and to be greeted by nothing but disdain from the woman he loved. They were in a better place now, she smiled softly. Checking her watch again she decided to return to the office, after all, her husband had promised her a dirty phone call.