[A/N: We have arrived at the penultimate chapter. The reviews have left me speechless. You guys rock.]
7.
Niles's internal clock awoke him at 5:45am the next morning. At some point, CC had rolled over to lay on her stomach while Niles had slept on his side, his hand warming her back. He experienced a happiness so powerful that it nearly overcame him; the only thing holding him back was what CC would say if she awoke to find him weeping in her bed. He wished to gather her in his arms and inhale her scent. He wanted to spend the rest of Christmas in her bed.
But as CC would surely remind him, he was a butler. And the Sheffield family would awake on Christmas morning expecting a salver of breakfast foods awaiting them.
He sat up and leaned over CC, pausing when he heard a low growl. Niles grinned and extended his hand to Chester, assuring him he meant no harm. Chester licked Niles's fingers once, placated, and went back to sleep.
"Babcock," Niles said, kissing behind CC's ear. "I have to go."
"Hmm," CC mumbled.
"I have to leave," Niles said again, running his hand from her shoulder and resting in the hollow of her waist.
CC rolled over, transferring his hand from her waist to her stomach, and stretched like a cat. "Wha?"
"I have to leave."
"Hmm?" In the pre-dawn light sneaking through her curtains, Niles saw her open one eye and look around, confused. "What? What time is it?"
"5:45."
"I will kill you," she said, reaching to pull the covers over her head.
"I know. But I really have to leave."
She threw the covers back and stared at him sleepily. "Why?"
"I have to make breakfast for the Sheffield's," he explained, reaching over to cup her waist again.
"Stay here. I'll pay you," she offered, sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him back to lay down again.
Niles laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks, love, but that's your line of work, not mine." He pressed another kiss to the top of her head and slid from her embrace, but her arms tightened again. With a sad sigh, Niles settled his head on the pillow again and said softly, "I know."
"You know what?"
"That when I leave, things go back to normal," he told her.
This awoke CC a little more fully and she opened her mouth to respond. Niles covered it with a deep kiss, holding onto her anxiously. He broke away from the kiss, leaving her out of breath.
"We'll talk later," Niles promised. "But I truly have to go." CC moved to push back the covers but Niles stopped her. "No, no. I'll lock up behind me. Go back to sleep."
She spared a grateful smile to him even as her eyelids drifted shut again.
The sun had fully risen and even CC's thick curtains couldn't hide the light any longer. She blinked her eyes in rapid succession and stretched, accidentally bumping into Chester. He made an annoyed sound but refused to move. CC rubbed her face tiredly, pulling her covers up over her shoulders fully and reveling in the warmth. It took her a few moments to identify what she was feeling.
She was happy. It was an emotion with which she was not entirely familiar, but she knew how to place it.
With this came the realization of what she had to do next. How could there be any possible alternative for her? There was no choice between a family who showed a passing interest in her and a man whose idea of paradise was seeing her happy.
Losing her inheritance was not ideal, but she could survive on a couple of dozen millions. Maybe Noel would even help her out.
As with most major decisions, once CC had made up her mind, it seemed utterly ridiculous that it had taken her this long. She toyed with who to tell first but she couldn't resist: she had to tell Niles. Besides, she wanted to see him again.
In her excitement, she knocked the phone and lamp over; in her irritation over doing so, she threw her alarm clock across the room, too. It took her two attempts to dial the private line that only rang in the kitchen. Unfortunately, Niles didn't answer and she had no time to deliberate whether she wanted to leave a message or not.
"Niles, hi. It's Miss—CC—Miss Babcock," she stammered. She swore under her breath; which button did she press to re-record her message? She thought it was 3 but then again—"Oh, crap, the message is still recording. Look. I…you know, I've been thinking and…I could do it. I want to do it. I can be poor. I mean—I don't want to be poor, of course, but I meant…what I want to do is…Christ, I'm coming over." She hung up the phone and threw it back on the ground.
After weeks of terrible, dragging misery, CC felt light. She felt free. She scratched Chester's stomach a dozen or so times and peppered him with kisses until he growled in frustration. After hopping out of bed, she hurried into her closet and slid on a pair of jeans and a red sweater. She slipped on a pair of black flats and nearly skipped into her bathroom to pull her hair back into a quick bun.
"Come on, Chester, you can come with me today," CC said. At that, Chester perked up and jumped off the bed, following so close to CC's heels that his claws scraped her a few times before they even reached the front door. "Calm down," she admonished as she pulled open the coat closet, pulling down her white wool coat and putting her black leather bag over shoulder.
A brief moment of uncertainty occurred when she slid into her car, deposited Chester on the passenger's seat momentarily, and started her car. By the time she reached the Sheffield's, it would only be around 8am. Surely the family would still be eating breakfast, if they'd even started.
Shaking her head, CC kept up a stream of silent encouragement. Niles had been through enough these past few weeks; come to think of it, so had she. They both needed this.
"Chester," CC said to the pup now perched happily on her lap, "that's the first time I've ever thought of someone first. I'm growing, Chester."
Yes, sideways, her inner voice—always sounding suspiciously British—teased. She parallel parked a few houses down from the Sheffield townhouse and turned her car off. Only then did she hear a persistent vibration coming from her bag.
She plucked her cell phone free just as the call ended. Scrolling through her missed calls, she saw that she'd missed 7 calls from her father. This filled her with unease.
"CC, hello, where have you been?" Stuart asked after a half-ring.
"Sleeping?" CC said. "Daddy, if this is bad news, can it please wait until after Christmas because—"
"No, no, kitten, it's not," Stuart interrupted hastily. "Where are you? I just pulled up to your penthouse."
"I'm driving to the Sheffield's. I mean, I've already parked my car here."
"Stay there. I'll be there in 5 minutes."
CC pulled her phone away from her ear and looked down at Chester, who'd already started whimpering in his eagerness to leave the car. She retrieved his leash from her bag and clipped it to his collar, tossing her keys into her purse and exiting the car. As Chester trotted around, sniffing and peeing alternately, CC kept a keen eye out for any cars.
Surprisingly true to his word, Stuart arrived in a chauffeured Lincoln no more than 5 minutes after they'd hung up. He instructed the driver to wait and hopped out of the vehicle, meeting his daughter on the sidewalk. He looked at her and sighed.
"Niles," Fran called out. When she received no response, she flexed her adenoids and hurled out, "NIII-YULLLLES!"
"Mrs. Sheffield, I heard you the first time," Niles said, tapping his ear to test whether it still worked.
"Oh. Sorry," Fran said sheepishly. "I just thought you'd want to see this." She gestured for Niles to enter the vestibule, where Fran put her face up against the wrought iron again.
"I don't care if Roger Clinton's wife tossed him out again," Niles said with a sigh. "The pancakes are almost done."
"Pancakes? There are pancakes?" she asked. She shook her head. "No, this isn't about Roger—but remind me to tell you later what I heard them arguing about yesterday."
Niles acquiesced and walked over to stand next to her. "It's Miss Babcock."
"She got here 5 minutes ago. Her father just walked up. I wonder what he's doing here."
"Probably something new he needs to tell her about the whole arrangement," Niles guessed, biting the inside of his cheek with worry. He scolded himself to not be so selfish: there was nothing to worry about, not for him personally. He knew how the story ended. If anything, he should be worried about CC and what this news could possibly be.
Fran smacked his chest hard. "Also remind me to thank you for not telling me anything about Miss Babcock's marriage when you've known the whole story for a while now."
Niles scowled and rubbed his chest. The two watched as Stuart continued to explain something to his daughter, whose face was inscrutable. Niles wondered if, perhaps, this news wasn't so bad; CC was so quick to anger that she often jumped there before there was anything to be angry about. But she didn't appear angry now.
From their position, they couldn't see all of Stuart's face, but both saw his ears move slightly: he was smiling. CC's jaw dropped and so did Chester's leash; Stuart lunged before the pup could scamper away and held onto it while he continued explaining something to CC, his free arm touching her forearm lightly. He pulled his hand back, reached into his pocket, and handed her a piece of paper. Her vivid blue eyes scanned it quickly.
Suddenly, CC's face brightened and her entire face became rapturous with a smile. Niles and Fran couldn't hear what she was saying, though they could tell she was saying it loudly. But even the most inexperienced lip-reader would be able to distinguish what four-letter word CC uttered before she threw her arms around her father and squeezed him tightly. He staggered a bit before returning the embrace, unintentionally tugging on Chester's leash, who strained to mark a part of the tree he'd missed.
Niles grasped Fran's elbow. She turned to look at him, trying not to hope for anything…but she'd noticed that her friend hadn't slept in his room the previous night. She found herself wishing it could work out as ardently as he'd hoped she and Maxwell would.
"Oh, here she comes!" Fran said, dragging Niles away from the door. As much as Niles wanted to hear the news, he understood why Fran pulled him away. He didn't know how CC would feel knowing they'd watched a moment like that. Part of him also reverted to the grand tradition of why their relationship had progressed so slowly: he didn't know how CC was going to react to him, didn't know how much of last night was really her or just something she needed because she felt panicked and trapped.
"Right," Niles agreed, scampering off with Fran back into the dining room. The entire family sat around the table, in various states of hungry agitation. Niles suddenly remembered his pancakes and ran into the kitchen, tossing the tough black circles into the trash. He considered starting another batch but knew it would be a waste; he took the remaining food back into the dining room and announced that breakfast was ready.
Only Niles noticed that Fran hadn't begun piling her plate, unusual given that she was often the first to grab the hottest food and choicest-looking pieces. Niles's stomach jolted when he heard the front door close in the distance.
Maxwell looked up, curious. "Hmm. I suppose it's CC?"
Fran shrugged, smiling too brightly. Max noticed this, however, and looked at his wife questioningly.
Before anything else happened, the dining room door burst open and Maxwell jumped and then cringed when he saw a bit of the drywall flake off where the door hit it. As soon as she'd entered the room, her eyes found Niles and hadn't released them yet. He stood in his usual corner, uncertain, but couldn't spare a second for thought because CC crossed the room in a few strides and threw herself at him, capturing his lips.
Silverware clattered to plates in shock and Fran blew her nose nasally, but CC heard none of this as Niles, for a split second hesitant, began returning her kiss. She pulled away from the kiss much sooner than she wanted to, but she needed to relay what her father had just told her.
"Hi," she said to him, half-excitedly and half-sheepishly.
"Hi," Niles said, but he couldn't be sure if he had. Speech might have been rendered impossible by CC's proximity and the surprise kiss she'd just given him. It was highly likely he'd only returned an ungh sound.
"Let's go talk," she suggested, grabbing his hand as though she'd been doing it for years and dragging him into the kitchen. As soon as the kitchen door swung shut, though, CC worried her lip. "Actually—should we go somewhere else? I don't want everyone listening in…"
Niles thought back to a few moments ago when Fran had pulled him away from the door. "I don't think Mrs. Sheffield will let anyone listen in."
CC didn't question this assertion; the words she needed to say threatened to spill out in a garbled mess if she didn't tell him soon. "Niles, I…I don't know what to say first."
"You could start by why you're here?" he suggested, not wanting to admit that he knew she'd just been speaking to her father.
"Yes, right, of course. I was just talking to my father outside and he…oh my God, Niles, he fixed everything!"
"Everything?"
"Yes! He met with Andrew's father right after he left the party last night and they made a new business deal—it turns out the partnership isn't as beneficial for our side as it is for theirs—which doesn't surprise me in the least, you know, I've looked into their business model and seen some of their investors, so I figured it was just a—"
"CC," Niles interrupted with a smile. Hers had infected his own.
"Right. So my father threatened to rescind the entire deal if they didn't agree to dissolve the previous agreement. And Mr. Wilcox agreed!" CC screeched.
"So that means…" Niles began, his heart pounding.
"My father's looking into divorce proceedings for me but he's having his lawyer look into the possibility of an annulment. I mean, we never even lived together, we never consummated the marriage, and Daddy's lawyer says he could draft it to look like we'd been forced into it, but there's the statute of limitations to consider. His lawyer said it's such a unique case, though, that—" CC continued, lost in the details again.
"CC."
"Yes! I don't have to be married anymore!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together once. "But my father even said that if it hadn't worked, he was still planning on something else." She produced the paper he'd seen her father give her and handed it to him.
Niles read it, but in the haze of information (and still a little cloudy from the kiss, truth be told), he could barely make sense of it. "This reads like a bloody law review."
"Because it's a contract! He's making me CFO of our family's company!" Her face glowed with utter, absolute happiness, and Niles could only stare at her, mesmerized. He'd never seen her look like this before. She continued talking for a few minutes, explaining about how the former CFO planned to retire as well and that Stuart had always intended to utilize her in the family business. "I don't even have to quit here, it's such an easy job, I could do it in my sleep. But he put it in place in case my mother tried to pull anything—so I'll always have my money, you see."
Niles smiled at her, her excitement making him a little giddy too. "I'm so happy for you."
She grinned at him, tucking the paper back into her coat pocket. "I know you are. That's why I came over here to talk to you this morning."
"But you didn't speak to your father until after you'd arrived here," Niles said, confused.
CC raised her eyebrows at him. "You are the biggest yenta in the world."
Niles waved this aside. "You mean you came here before your father even told you the news?"
She nodded, and though her excitement didn't change, he sensed a frisson of nervousness had entered her. She twisted her fingers together in front of her abdomen. "I came to talk to you. About…I decided that…well, I wanted to…" CC squeezed her fingers in frustration. This was turning out worse than her voicemail. Her eyes popped up to his face. Her voicemail! "Didn't you get the message I left?"
"Message? No," Niles said, turning towards the butler's pantry where the phone and answering machine stood. He saw a red blinking light and walked over, pressing play.
CC cringed in embarrassment as she heard her own voice come from the tiny speaker in the machine. "Niles, hi. It's Miss—CC—Miss Babcock. Shit…..Oh, crap, the message is still recording. Look. I…you know, I've been thinking and…I could do it. I want to do it. I can be poor. I mean—I don't want to be poor, of course, but I meant…what I want to do is…Christ, I'm coming over."
Niles smirked and looked over at you. "Always so well spoken." Her cheeks flushed. "May I ask what you meant by you 'want to do it'?"
CC looked at him and knew what she wanted to say. "I did some thinking this morning after you left." Niles ached to ask if it hurt, but the rest of him demanded to know what she had to say. "I don't know what my happy place is. But I know you're in it." She took a breath and felt her chest quiver slightly. "You make me happy, Niles. I mean, you make me miserable sometimes, of course, but you make me happy. You want to see me happy. You're the only person I've ever met who hasn't asked something of me, who doesn't see me as a means to an end. And you said that you want to see me happy, and since you make me happy, I want to make you happy, so when I said I want to do it, I want to make you happy by…making me happy…?" She sighed and rubbed her face. "Should I try again? The locus amoenus is—"
Throughout her speech, Niles had stepped closer to her, and now, he let out a delighted laugh and pulled her into his arms. "Are you saying you want to be with me?"
"Yes," she said in a small voice; she barely got it out before he kissed her again. He captured the 'yes' in his mouth and reveled in the taste of it. By far, the most delicious thing he'd ever had. They kissed for several moments before CC pulled away and ruffled his hair giddily. "What?" she protested at the look on his face. "Last night, you said I could feel free to do that whenever I wanted."
Niles laughed again. How wonderful it was for her, she thought, to make him laugh. It was her second favorite sound she could cause him to make. "I meant kiss me, love, but I hereby give you permission to touch me when-, how-, and wherever you want to."
CC obliged and kissed him again, pressing her hands lightly to his face. She pivoted her hips against his, leaning closer, and giving every indication she wanted to continue when Niles paused.
"What about your mother, though?"
She let out another delighted laugh. "I can't believe I forgot to tell you. It's my favorite part." At Niles's pointed look, CC corrected herself, "My second favorite part. You're my favorite part." She smoothed the lapels of his suit and continued, "Apparently she was trying to sweeten the deal for herself in all of those meetings. I think she was trying to get a cut of the profits from the business arrangement. My father found out and nipped that in the bud."
"How?" Niles asked, admittedly caring less about all of this information than the happiness it brought her.
"He called her after the party and told her that if she doesn't stop trying to meddle with the business, he'll get the Board to agree to give her shares to him." Niles stared at her and CC rolled her eyes. "She'd get less money, basically."
"Is money the only thing that Babcocks care about?"
"Mostly. I'm so excited I don't have to be poor!" CC said, squeezing his cheeks together to make his mouth form a lopsided o. "But it was actually something my mother said when we were out to lunch that reminded me—she said I shouldn't eat carbs because Babcock women can't handle them and then reminded me that she isn't a Babcock woman. Her family is well off, don't get me wrong, but nothing like the Babcocks. So I'm sure she's scared enough to retreat into her cave for at least a little while."
Niles shook his head. "I'm not sure if I want to get involved with this family. Poor people aren't this complicated."
CC grabbed his arm as he pretended to turn away. "If I have to remind you of the heavenly sheets on my bed to make you stay, I will."
It made him unspeakably happy to know that even though they were playing, she still, in her own way, showed her feelings for him. He slung his arms around her, settling his hands on her hips. "I only need to be reminded of the heavenly figure between them," he said against her mouth before kissing the corner of her lips, a surprisingly sensitive spot.
They spent a few moments lost in each other, exchanging soft kisses and little laughs about nothing, when Niles remembered the family in the next room.
"We should go tell them," Niles suggested. "Not everything, of course—whatever you want to tell them—but to her credit, Mrs. Sheffield is rather worried about you."
CC nodded, reluctantly separating from his embrace, and turned to face the dining room door. She held out her palm wordlessly to him, and Niles felt almost woozy with happiness. They walked into the dining room, physically presenting themselves as a couple, and Fran paused, a bite of sausage that the family had finally convinced her to start eating hovering halfway to her mouth.
"I'm getting divorced!" CC exclaimed. Fran yelped and threw the sausage over her shoulder, ignoring the splat and grease mark it left against the silk wallpaper. Niles, laughing at CC, ignored it too. The former nanny stood and wrapped both Niles and CC in a tight group hug.
Maxwell stood, too, and offered a friendly clap on CC's shoulder. "Er…congratulations, CC, I suppose? One doesn't usually give congratulations on divorces."
"In this case, you absolutely do," CC said with a brilliant smile, and Maxwell grinned and gave CC a friendly hug. Like Niles, he'd rarely seen his business partner—no, one of his oldest friends, as Fran had reminded him—so happy, and he found it quite delightful.
The kids gathered around like sheep, not knowing enough about the situation to say much but still happy with the celebratory atmosphere all the same.
"So then what's this?" Fran couldn't resist asking, pointing to their linked hands.
Niles squeezed her hand, passing the answer off to her, and CC faltered. Why was he making her tell? He was clearly much better with words than she was. She thought back to the message she left with shame.
"We're…" CC began. "We're seeing where this goes."
Fran grinned with a wink and clapped her hands together, happy with the explanation. "Well, come on, come on, let's eat breakfast. I'm famished!"
Niles sat at the other end of the table with CC to his right, enjoying an admittedly room-temperature breakfast. The kids, mostly uninterested in the goings-on of the adults, began blabbering away about something—Christmas, CC assumed—and Fran and Maxwell dutifully listened. This gave CC the freedom to explore how far she could drift her hand up Niles's thigh before he cleared his throat uncomfortably.
When breakfast ended, the children ran off to wait near the tree to open their presents while Fran and Max urged Niles and CC to come open presents with them. Torn between his desire to do the dishes and Miss Babcock, Niles hesitated but knew that the holiday tradition meant a lot to the Sheffield clan. With a slightly uttered sigh, he slipped his arm around CC's waist and guided her to the living room.
CC's interest in the holiday ended quickly after she opened her gift from the Sheffield's—an intricate brooch that Maxwell clearly didn't remember he'd given her for Christmas two years ago—so she sat idly by, shifting it from hand to hand, while the rest of the family opened their presents and showed various representations of elation and surprise. Niles sat next to her, with a bigger but still small pile of presents, and CC felt her heart sink at the thought that she hadn't gotten him anything. They usually exchanged small (often gag) presents at the holidays, but with the chaos of her life, she'd forgotten and it appeared so had he.
Meanwhile, Niles found himself preoccupied with the same thoughts. Of course, any present he might have purchased even a week ago wouldn't be any good now, so that thought offered him some solace. With a smile, he thought of an alternative.
As Fran broke the sound barrier over a dress that appeared to be made of feathers, Niles leaned over to her ear. "Your present is upstairs," he said softly in her ear, purposely brushing his lips against her skin as he leaned back.
CC looked at him a little concernedly even as her skin flushed from his contact. "I didn't get you anything," she told him, biting her lip. Good showing, Babcock, she told herself silently.
Niles slid his hand into hers and smiled when she automatically linked their fingers and squeezed his hand. "Yes, you did."
Cocking an eyebrow, she quipped, "Niles, that's very sweet, but I know you. You'd be more excited if I'd bought you a pack of Cubans than if I were sitting here holding your hand."
"You don't know me that well," he said coolly, feigning offense. After a few beats, though, he added, "Though if you do want to get me a box, I wouldn't object."
CC laughed and nudged his shoulder, leaning against him when she was done. She watched Chester play with his chew toy that Fran had given him—her dog received more thoughtful presents than she did, she reflected glumly—and waited for this touching family scene to be over so she could be alone with Niles.
Finally, the last present had been opened and the family was sufficiently distracted by their own lots. Niles pat her knee before standing up and announcing he was going to do the dishes.
"I think I'll help him," CC said before realizing no one was listening. She slipped off and followed him into the kitchen. Her shoulders dropped when she saw him set a pile of pants into the sink. "Oh. You're actually doing dishes?"
"You're actually helping?" Niles replied. CC laughed and shook her head.
"I want my present," CC whined, leaning across the counter.
Niles glanced over, got a good view down her sweater, and made an executive decision. He held up a finger and pulled open the dishwasher. At warp speed, he collected all of the dishes from the dining room and piled them in, tossing the pots and pans in soon after. Dishwashing fluid was added, the washer locked, the power on. A rhythmic swishing sound filled the kitchen as Niles rounded the island and gathered CC in his arms, fusing his lips to hers.
The feel of her lips sliding against his, the taste of her tongue, the freedom to explore all of these things—Niles doubted he'd ever get over it. What utter relief it was to be with her without the cloud of doubt hovering over them: doubt if she wanted it, doubt if he wanted it, doubt if it would ever happen. And the fact that she had made the decision to be with him before she'd ever heard that her father had figured everything out made his heart sing. This woman, this irritating, frustrating, fiery, wonderful woman, had chosen him, in her first decision made strictly for herself.
Niles ended the kiss, to CC's murmured protest—at which Niles's heart began its symphony—and asked, his voice low, "Would you like your present here, or upstairs, or in the pantry, or…"
CC smiled wickedly, realizing what her Christmas present actually was. "Upstairs. I just remembered that I do, in fact, have something for you, too."
"Is it cigars? Because I'll happily take them right he—" She cut off the rest of his sentence by grabbing his arm and dragging him up the back staircase.