CHAPTER 24

"Oh my gawd!" Fran exclaimed as she entered the kitchen the next morning to find her mother licking her fingers at the kitchen table.

"Who made you pancakes this morning and why didn't I get any?" She asked.

"I found 'em in a Tupperware container in the fridge. You people really can't leave your leftovers in there for more than a day. It starts to lose its flavor, ya know... Such a waste. What did you guys have for breakfast?" She asked as she cleaned the crumbs from her plate with her tongue.

"Not pancakes!" Fran whined enviously. We haven't had any in a while actually! Niles didn't make breakfast this morning. He must still be sleeping. The poor guy wasn't feeling well yesterday."

"Oh, that's a shame. What good is a butler if he only makes enough food for one person?" Said Sylvia.

"Ma. He didn't make those for ya! You don't live here."

"Please. If he didn't make it for me then why would he have hidden it behind the yoghurts like he does with all the other good stuff I like?" She asked.

Fran lifted an eyebrow. I gotta warn Niles to find a new hiding place.

CC dragged herself into the kitchen and Fran greeted her loudly. "Nanny Fine, please!" CC grimaced. "I have a terrible headache! It's too early for that voice!"

"Oh, Miss Babcock, it's no use." Sylvia said in an equally annoying pitch. CC groaned.

"My daughter has never been good at reading people and knowing how they're feeling. She always gets into trouble with what comes outa her mouth."

"And you get into trouble for what goes into yours, Ma!" retorted Fran.

"What trouble? Indigestion is always worth having another piece of cake!"

CC rolled her eyes.

"Where's Niles?" She asked, innocently enough. Her stomach flipped even though she was just looking for him to see if he'd rounded up some breakfast or coffee or a muzzle for the Fines.

"Still in bed I think. If ya ask me, this illness is hitting him pretty hard! Last night when we got home, I heard him moaning in his bedroom and when I knocked on the door he was all hot and sweaty when he opened it. I told him he should see a doctor but he said a cold shower would do. I dont know if thats the normal thing to do for a fever. I hope it's nothing serious. One time my Uncle Frankie caught a cold and didn't get himself checked out... Ya know what happened to him? I'll tell ya what! He-"

"Nanny Fine, please!" CC hissed and then rubbed her temples before sneezing.

"Oh, Miss Baaabcock!" Fran said softly. "I think you mighta caught what Niles has!"

"What? No, that's impos- improbable." She said and then coughed. Shit, she thought. I knew my actions would come back to bite me in the ass. We didn't kiss though... He didn't cough or sneeze... I mixed the batter for us... We just... Oh. Licked the same finger, idiot.

Niles entered the kitchen holding a box of tissues. He hesitated for a moment when he saw her standing at the table but then continued walking towards the island in the middle of the kitchen.

His stomach lurched when she moved towards him. She grabbed a tissue from the box he was holding.

"Thanks, Niles. You spread your germs everywhere last night! Now I'm sick too!" Said CC with a scowl.

"Oh, Miss Babcock. Nobody forces you to hang around Niles all day." Fran jumped to defend the poor, sick butler before walking her mother out the backdoor.

Niles smirked. "She's right you know." He said.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, bell boy. Like you don't follow me around all day looking for a way to annoy me."

"I do not!"

"Oh, so you don't try to fluster me?"

"Menopause does that job for me." He teased.

"You're an idiot." She said, attempting not to smile.

"You smell nice."

"You can smell? Why does my nose have to be blocked when yours isn't?"

"That's all you got from what I said?" He asked.

She looked up from the tissue she was holding. His eyes were slightly red. She wondered if it was the cold or something else... Something more.

She shook her head and looked down again. "I can't."

"Why not?" He asked quietly.

"Because it's you... and it's me... and... I... don't know. She whispered and hunched her shoulders in uncertainty, unable to look at him.

He accepted her vague response, knowing it would take time to convince her that they could be so much more than what status and tradition confined them to.

He accepted her vague response for another reason... He, too, was unsure of things. He knew he was attracted to her and might even harbour feelings for her but he couldn't help but worry about what would happen if things didn't work out between them. Would things be awkward? Would they be able to face each other? Would one of them be hurt if the other started seeing someone else? Would one of them eventually be forced to leave Maxwell's employ?

A few beats of silence, then, "Tea?"

She nodded, staring at her feet.

He made some and handed it to her.

She sipped it without saying thank you. The silence was so loud; she thought he could hear her thoughts anyway.

"So, you're sick too." He said.

She nodded. "Guess so."

"Sorry." He said.

She furrowed her brows. "What for?"

"Making you sick."

She laughed. "Wow. That apology has been sooo long overdue!"

He laughed in turn. "You make me sick too, you know. Almost daily."

He wiped his nose with a tissue as she sneezed.

"Bless you." He said.

She scrunched her face in confusion.

"What? Americans don't say that when someone sneezes? Or are you having a stroke right now because she-devils loathe blessings." He grinned.

She narrowed her eyes at him and coughed. "I'm so stuffed up I can barely breathe!" She complained.

"I can hear so. You almost sound like Miss Fine. I know a trick for that," he said.

He walked in the direction of the staircase and she followed him up until they got to the bathroom in his room. Niles stopped and looked back at her as he realized how many times he'd brought her up there in the past week or two.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, and led her inside, shutting the bathroom door behind her.

Her eyes widened. "Um, what exactly do you think you're doing?" She asked nervously as he turned on the hot water in the shower.

"Making it steamy."

"Excuse me?" She asked, shocked at his cockiness.

"The hot water will steam up the room and breathing it in will help clear the nasal passages," He explained.

"Oh!" She laughed in relief. "I thought you were going to try your luck again!"

"Don't look so relieved. I might get offended," he deadpanned.

She smiled at him. "I generally prefer my expectorants in a bottle and labeled 'Cognac' but I'm willing to give this a try."

"Have a seat," he said, gesturing towards the toilet.

She snorted. "I thought that was your throne."

He shook his head, smiling as she sat down. He moved to sit on the edge of the bathtub next to her.

They sat for a while in silence, waiting patiently for the small room to steam up.

"How do you know to do things like this?" She wondered.

"Experience, I suppose. Raising three children helped. And having a small room and bathroom could have set the right scene for an accidental discovery." He chuckled.

"Mmhmm. I can't do this at home. My place is too open-planned." She looked around the bathroom as it slowly filled with hot steam.

"Well, this place is always free."

She smiled at his offer and then felt they needed an insult. "I thought you paid Maxwell board to be a live-in nuisance?" She teased. He laughed and then coughed.

"I can feel things loosening up." He said. When he noticed her puzzled expression, he added, "in my throat."

"Oh. Yeah, me too." She coughed and cleared her throat.

They sat for a while as steam began to cloud the bathroom and their vision. She could feel her skin begin to feel clammy from the heat and from the water droplets that had condensated on her. She removed her blazer for some relief.

He noticed through the haze and opened the cabinet next to her to reach for a towel. He handed it to her and she used it to wipe at her chest and neck. She looked up and noticed him watching her intensely through the mist. She licked her lips and swallowed, pulling at the neck of her shirt a few times to get some air flowing onto her chest.

She could see the heat was starting to get to him too. His face was shiny with moisture. She reached over and wiped his jaw with the towel. His face was serious as he looked into her eyes.

She dropped her hand back into her lap. I shouldn't have done that, She thought.

"Sylvia ate the leftover pancakes this morning." She wanted to start a conversation to feel less awkward but that was all she could think of.

"I'm not surprised." He scoffed. I hid it but, you know, she could find a grain of sugar in a desert."

She laughed in agreement.

"We-" he stopped.

She looked at him in question.

"I could make more if you want?" He asked.

"Oh, no need. I had a big breakfast, thank you, Niles." She lied.

If he was disappointed, he didn't show it. "I see. With Mr. McMann?" He speculated.

Her heart dropped. "No. I didn't see him yesterday."

Hence, no sleepover and no breakfast, he relished. He hoped she couldn't see his relief through the steam. "Not even to take some food down to his cage?"

She slapped him lightly on the arm. "You're incorrigible!"

He grinned and nudged her back. She giggled and then froze when his hand moved to her neck as he shifted her hair away from where it was sticking to her shoulder.

She looked at him and then at the floor. "I think I'm feeling a little better, thanks, Niles," she said and stood.

He wished he hadn't done that. He wished he had prolonged the moment and let her come to him.

He stood and turned off the hot water. She handed the towel back to him and wrung her hands before turning to open the bathroom door. It was jammed and she began to tug at it in panic. "It won't open!" She half-screeched.

He laughed. "Relax, it's the heat and moisture. It swells the wood. Give it a chance." He moved her out of the way and tried the door. It still wouldn't budge. He turned to face her and leaned his back against the door.

She frowned. "Wait for some of the steam to settle. The wood is swollen. It needs to cool a bit." He explained.

She folded her arms in front of her chest. He watched her as she looked down at her shoes.

"Stop it. I can feel you staring at me!" She said. "It's unnerving."

He smiled and looked down.

They stood for a minute until CC reached round his hip for the door handle. She pulled at it and he stood up to stop leaning on the door. It budged and the force of her pull on the handle caused the door to push him into her. He gazed into her eyes and she let go of the door handle.

He lifted a hand to touch her face. She grasped his wrist before he could. She slid her grip from his wrist to his hand and looked at it. He twisted his hand to hold hers. She bit her lip and moved past him through the bathroom door, releasing his hand at the last moment.

Niles watched her go and walked into his bedroom to flop down onto his bed in hopelessness.