Hello, Hello. Sorry for the late update but I had my final few days with my mother in Stockholm and only returned late last night. So here we go, chapter 5, and the drama is now officially starting. I hope you'll enjoy it. R&R, please!:)

Disclaimer: Samantha is mine, everyone else you know from the series :p

Chapter 5: Hungarian Dance - Swan Lake Ballet by Tschaikovsky

It was late at night and Samantha was lying in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling and listening to the faint voices of C.C. and Niles in the next room. They had been talking for hours now, ever since Niles had brought her home, but what had started as a row had now died down into quiet whispers. She still felt bad…regretted her impulse that had told her to run tremendously. The consequences of her actions hadn't really occurred to her, until she had stood in the elevator next to Niles, a few minutes away from facing her upset mother. C.C. wasn't known to cry a lot, Samantha knew so, that's why it was even worse for her to be confronted by her mother's tears rather than her anger. Upon seeing that she had merely whispered words of apologies and then disappeared into her room. She had left Niles to calm C.C. down, after all he had always been very good at handling her moods.

"Coward…" she muttered to herself in the darkness.

She couldn't pinpoint herself what had changed, what had disrupted their otherwise so close bond, but she just felt so mixed up and the thing with her grandmother on top…Sam closed her eyes and thought back to what Noel had told her about her mother and grandmother. When he had caught her in the guestroom he had first scolded her for using his records without asking first or waiting for him, and then he had led her to the piano.

"I don't wanna play," she had argued but he had merely given her a gentle smile.

"You always want to play, Sam, come on."

And he had been right, for the minute she had sat down on the bench and her fingers had touched the ivory keys she had been overcome by the strong urge to play. For 45 minutes nothing but Beethoven filled the house, angry, harsh and rapid, just exploding from her fingertips with all the power of her unleashed emotions.

"And now we talk," Noel had then said, resting a hand on her shoulder "why did you run away?"

At first she had shrugged and come up with a number of excuses, but seeing that her uncle hadn't bought any of it, she had finally told him what was really bothering her.

"Ah yes, our mother is a tough one…" he had chuckled and then started to talk about their childhood and C.C.'s relationship with her mother.

Samantha now finally understood why her mother had reacted the way she had. As a Babcock woman she had been expected to marry, not to work, to become the lady of the house and certainly not to fall in love with a butler. She could fathom now what it must feel like never to meet the expectations, to always be the black sheep of the family… When she closed her eyes now she could almost picture her mother vaguely the same age as her, forced into the best dresses, her hair made every day, not allowed to run or play with boys. She sighed deeply, the image much too upsetting and slipped out of bed. The apartment was covered in darkness and she tiptoed through the corridor until she reached her parents' bedroom. Nothing but silence met her ears and she carefully pushed the handle down and sneaked inside. She found Niles and C.C. in the precisely the same position they were in every night, like Ying and Yang, curled up in each other's arms. She lowered her body onto the bed, aware that her weight pressing down on the bed would make her presence known, and curled up behind her mother.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against the warmth of her body and let her eyes fall closed and like that the Brightmores fell asleep.

Sam's offering of peace had melted C.C. in an instant and she had wordlessly forgiven her. That was why she was having even more trouble in the morning to jump out of bed and get ready for her impending business trip. The boss of her firm had a big business deal to close in Canada and had chosen C.C. as his secretary to accompany her and all complaints and arguments had gone unnoticed. He held her to her promise that her child wouldn't interfere with her work and C.C., in quiet fear that he would change her regular working hours, had no choice but to accept that. But Niles could tell that her patience was hanging by a thin thread and he was quite looking forward to the day where she would explode in good, old Babcock manor and leave the place altogether. But for now that wasn't an option yet and so while their daughter still peacefully slept in their big double bed, he helped his wife pack a suitcase for the trip.

"I wanted to do all of this yesterday," C.C. quietly cursed, while she tiptoed through the room to retrieve one item or another "now I'll constantly think I have forgotten something."

"We had more important things to do yesterday, Chas," he softly said, reminding her again that it had all been worth it in the end "and you won't forget anything. You've been going on business trips since leaving University, you can do this. Just focus and tell me what I can fetch for you."

"Married life has made you soft," she chuckled, while folding a blouse and placing it into the suitcase "years ago you would've never played ball with me like this."

"Maybe I was just trying to protect my balls," he grinned and drew an honest chuckle from her throat.

"You dirty man," but she nonetheless placed a kiss on his lips.

"What?" he asked, that teasingly innocent smile appearing on his face "One hears rumours about the poor fellows you had neutered."

"But not you," she said in a deeply patronizing tone "you are a proper man, the others weren't as masculine and strong as you."

"Now Brightmore, mocking the only person willing to get up with you so early and help you might not be your smartest move."

"Ah yes, what would I do without my trusted butler?" she chuckled again.

He winked at her and proceeded to pack and hand her things. Afterwards, they shared a quiet breakfast, both not thrilled with the prospect of having to spend time apart.

"God, I'm almost 60 and have known you for most of my life and yet I hate to let you go for even a single day," he groaned, unable to hide that particular confession from her any longer.

"Well, you're not alone in this, love. I think we had to spend too much time apart already…and things like this business trip are just an unnecessary addition." she sighed and reached for his hand across the table.

Strangely it was always when she showed signs of weakness or softness, it gave him the strength to pull himself together again.

"Alright, Babs, we are talking about 5 days here. Sam and I will have a great time and you can call us every night and before we know it you'll be back."

C.C. nodded and smiled and went along with it, even though she knew that in truth she would be miserable at work and Samantha would miss her a lot. She could almost predict her daughter's behavior by now, how she would spend the first and maybe even the second night in bed with Niles, claiming to have had a nightmare or a stomachache. And C.C. knew that Samantha didn't even have to make these things up, they just came naturally with the whole territory of missing her mother.

"When she was younger and wanted to sleep over at a friend's, she'd always panic at night because she thought about what might have happened to me. How the house could have burned down and she could have lost me." C.C. voiced steadily and received a comforting squeeze from her husband.

Niles too knew of that particularly strong bond mother and daughter had developed, had witnessed it himself in the early years. Even though Sam always had had a connection with him, at night when they were alone she had always wanted to stay up until she was certain that her mother had returned.

"She'll be ok, love, I'll keep her busy and then at night if she gets scared we'll just call you, alright?" and he smiled warmly at her.

"Yes," she nodded and glanced at the clock and then gave an annoyed sigh "time to go."

Niles stood up and cleared their plates away, while C.C. headed one last time into the bedroom where her sleeping daughter was still lying.

"5 days," she whispered and crouched down to kiss her daughter's head "I love you."

Niles hadn't been lying when he had told C.C. that he planned on distracting Samantha by keeping her as busy as possible. So the first day she returned from school he already knew what they were going to do. First, he allowed her to ramble on about her day while munching on a light snack he had prepared and then he suggested they'd play a game.

"What game? Like a board game or…?" she scrunched her nose in confusion.

"No, I thought…well, C.C. told me that when you were younger you used to play a musical game…"

"Yeah, but…no offense, Niles, I've played that a hundred times…" she sighed.

"Yes, I know. That's why I thought we'd create our own version?"

"But how?"

"You know your mother used to be a Broadway producer, don't you? Why don't we prepare our own little show for her, as a surprise? She'd love that."

"Can I play any role I want?" Sam inquired, suddenly rather excited.

"Of course," he nodded, happy that his plan had worked "and you can choose any song too, then we'll find some costume for you to wear and when C.C. gets back you'll perform."

"But I can't perform on my own!" she suddenly exclaimed.

"Well, we could invite some of your friends, if you want?" he suggested.

"No, that's not what I meant. What about you?"

"Me?" he laughed, but then passed it up as a cough when he saw her serious face "I can't perform."

"Why not? I've heard you sing, you have a really nice voice, Niles, and I have seen you dance with mum."

"Yes, but…" he was practically squirming now.

"Or don't you think mum would like to see you perform?" she asked, eyeing him intently, but what she got in return wasn't a confession, but rather a wave of laughter that erupted from him. "What's so funny?" she frowned.

"Oh, your mother would find it hilarious to see me perform, she'd get a kick out of that."

"Then why won't you?" Sam asked again, still not following.

"To keep my dignity and the upper hand," he replied, wiping some moisture from his eyes.

"I know there's a story there somewhere, Niles, but I really don't get you right now." Sam huffed, growing impatient.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." he conceded, holding his hands up in defeat "it was about 10 years ago, your mother and I and I and uncle Max and aunty Fran and the children were in Atlantic City. Max and C.C. were trying to get some deal with Chevy Chase."

He thought for a moment, knowing that he couldn't share all the facts with the 8 year-old girl.

"Your mother was a little unhappy about herself during that period…and so at some point during the stay I came to see her."

He paused again, this time thinking about the night he had barged in on her in search for his wallet. His gambling addiction had stopped him from seeing at first how desperate the woman was and how self-conscious, but when it had finally hit him, he had returned to her room a little while later.

"So when I got to her room I heard music and I mean really loud music. I knocked on her door but got no answer, so eventually I tried the handle and stepped inside. And there she was: in her pajamas', twirling a silk scarf and singing loudly along to "Maybe this time" from Cabaret."

He chuckled to himself again when he remembered her horrified face at having been caught.

"So what did you do?" Sam grinned.

"Well, she saw me and then very coolly said: "You realize, of course, now I'm going to have to kill you.""

And he laughed loudly again. Sam, who didn't know anything about Niles' Risky Business dance and the ensuing conversation, looked puzzled and then shrugged and decided that it was just some strange thing between her parents.

After that little anecdote they focused on Samantha's song choices and costumes and rehearsed for several hours, before Niles decided that it was time for an ice cream break. On their way to Sonia's Ice Cream Parlour he kept his daughter entertained by telling her more funny stories of his life with C.C.

"And then she got me to help Fran's mother with her work-out," he concluded with a chuckle and held the door open for Sam.

But before the girl could set one foot inside the parlour, he had yanked her out again.

"Ouch…what was that for?" she cried, rubbing her arm.

"It's too full…" he muttered, but his voice was strained "let's go somewhere else today."

Samantha continued to mutter something under her breath but Niles only heard half of it. His heart was still racing and his mind was still dealing with the image of Colin McLoughly, biological father to Sam, eating a sundae in their regular ice cream place.