CHAPTER 38

Niles tried calling her from the mansion a few times. He knew she had caller ID but it was worth a try - there was a chance she could answer, thinking it was Mr. Sheffield. He wondered if she had had breakfast. He hoped she'd at least eaten the pancakes he'd left in the fridge.

Maybe I should go over?

Niles saw his employer walk by the piano.

"Mr. Sheffield, sir?"

"Mmhmm?" Maxwell replied distractedly as he read through something.

"Um, is there anything you need delivered to Miss Babcock today?"

Maxwell continued reading.

"Sir?"

"Oh, no Niles," He said with his nose still in the folder. "CC asked me to send her everything via e-mail." He looked up. "Or was it fax? Oh, I'll just call her about this thing." He waved his folder in the air.

"I see, sir. Um. I called Miss Babcock's apartment to... to uh... Shmrlgfdrtl." He mumbled, knowing Maxwell wasn't listening anyway. "And uh, she hasn't been taking any calls."

Mr. Sheffield had only heard the last end of that sentence. "Oh. Well. She also said I could IM her if I need to chat... Just after you show me how to do that."

Niles shook his head. And he makes the big bucks?

"I'll make your lunch and demonstrate IMing while you eat, sir."

"Great! I'll take lunch in the office. My laptop's in there anyway."

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Niles carried a tray of food into the office as Maxwell worked.

"My laptop is on the seat, thanks, Niles." He grabbed a fork and began eating his chicken salad.

Niles walked over to CC's spot on the green sofa, picked up the laptop and sat down. He got onto the messaging website CC used and got up, asking Maxwell to fill in his username and password.

"Oh. I don't think I have an account on this thing. Do I need one to talk to her?"

"Yes, sir. Shall I create one for you?"

"You have one, don't you, Niles? Just use yours."

Niles looked at him and then walked back to the sofa and sat down to type. He hoped she'd respond. How would he explain it to Maxwell if she didn't?

When he clicked on her name to IM her, the last of their previous messages showed on the screen. They showed plans they had made to take down Miss Fine. He had forgotten about their strange alliance of that time. They had even gone to a pottery class together... And it had been fun. Strange how things play out.

"What would you like me to type, sir?"

"Uh. Just say... Hi CC, it's Maxwell..."

Niles's fingers began tapping away in time with Maxwell's orating.

"Niles is typing for me..."

Niles's fingers paused. Should I omit that part?

"Niles, are you typing?"

"Yes, sir." He typed what his boss had asked him and then waited for the next line.

"Do you send it all at the end?" Maxwell asked.

"You could, sir, although it shows Miss Babcock to be online. Would you like me to send just that and see whether she responds?"

"Yes, add 'Are you there?' And let's send that for now."

Niles typed the question, hit 'send' and waited while Maxwell continued eating.

Niles began tapping the side of the laptop impatiently until a line popped up saying 'CC Babcock is typing a message'

He waited anxiously.

'Yes, Maxwell, I'm here.' Niles's heart jumped.

"She responded, sir."

"Good, ask her if she has the Lieberman contract."

Niles typed and hit send again.

"Oh and ask her how she's feeling."

He asked and waited.

'I don't have the contract. I saw it last on the pile of sheet music for the orchestra.'

'And I'm fine - nothing I can't handle. I'll be at the theatre tomorrow.'

'Have you eaten?' Niles asked her before he read out her previous response to Maxwell.

She took a moment to answer and then: 'Who's asking?'

'Have you?' He typed.

'Yes, Niles.'

She knew him too well.

"Oh! Found it! Tell her 'thanks'" Maxwell grinned.

'Found the file, thanks.'

'No problem.'

"Ask her if Damon is coming to the first dress rehearsal."

He typed the question and hit send. Then he quickly sent another message saying '- Maxwell'

'Don't know,' she wrote.

"She's not sure, sir."

"Okay. Tell her I'll email the seating arrangements later and she'll need to edit and approve it before tomorrow morning. That'll be all Niles."

He typed what Maxwell had asked and then wasn't sure how to end the conversation.

'Okay. I'll leave my IM online so message me when you're going to send the email because I'll hear the IM and get to it right away.' She wrote.

'Will do.'

'Anything else?'She asked.

He looked up. Maxwell was focused on the contract he'd found. He looked back down at the screen.

'That's all. For now.'

'Later.' She wrote.

Well, at least they had sort of communicated. He pulled down the screen of the laptop.

"Sir, Miss Babcock requested that you IM when you send the email so that she knows when it's come through."

"Alright, Niles. I'll call you in again when I've got everything ready to be emailed."

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CC was in her black, satin pajamas, wrapped in a blanket on her sofa in the living room. She'd set her laptop on the coffee table in preparation for Maxwell's email and (Niles's) IM.

She sat sipping a cup of coffee and watching some tv. CC had never called in sick when she wasn't. This was her first day off in longer than she could remember. Technically, she had done some work after breakfast, mostly to get her mind off of things, but otherwise, she was enjoying the freedom to relax.

She flipped through a few channels. The lack of sleep from the night before was starting to catch up with her. She felt her eyelids getting heavy.

'You've Got Mail!' Her computer beeped. She jolted out of her tired state, set down her empty mug on the table and reached for the laptop, resting it on her lap.

She clicked on the 'open' link and Niles's name popped up with a message asking if she was there.

'Yes, I'm here.'

'It's Niles.'

Her cursor blinked on the screen. She didn't know what to type in response. She couldn't ignore him - she'd already said she was there.

'With Maxwell?' She asked.

'Yes. He's just preparing the documents he'd like to scan into the laptop for the email.'

She didn't type a response.

'Just thought I'd make sure you weren't passed out drunk yet so that the email would get to you when he's ready to send it.'

She shook her head. 'Oh. I thought maybe you were keeping me on here to waste time so that you could get out of scrubbing toilets...'

She smirked, feeling a little better than before.

'That, too ;)'

The wink made her heart skip a beat even though it meant nothing intimate. It made her picture him doing it.

'How much longer is he going to take?' She asked.

'A couple of minutes. Why? It's not happy hour yet. Got somewhere to be? :P'

She smiled at the emoticon pulling tongue at her.

'You know, for someone who deadpans almost everything he says in reality, you sure use a lot of emoticons online.'

He didn't refer back to what she'd typed but rather said, 'Did you see what I wrote about happy hour?'

'Yes...?'

'Didn't it annoy you? Why didn't you respond to that?'

CC laughed. He wants some normalcy. The jab hadn't offended her as much as it would have a few years ago. His older jokes seemed more of a familiarity thing now. They just made her feel comfortable. Sure, some would catch her off-guard but most were expected...and nice. She couldn't tell him all that though. So she took a leaf out of his own book.

':P'

She imagined him smiling at her emoticon.

'Did Mr. McMann manage to reach you? He came to the mansion looking for you.'

CC frowned, uncomfortable by the change of topic.

'No.' She wrote.

'He said you had lunch plans. I told him you weren't here and he said he would visit you at your apartment.'

'He didn't. And we didn't. Have lunch plans.'

'He said you were going to ask me to cook for you and him. Like his message said last night...'

He brought up last night... Now what? CC decided to be honest.

'I never confirmed with him.'

'Oh. Well, I told him not to visit you at your place.'

Her heart flipped. Was Niles jealous? She wanted him to tell her so.

'Why not?' She asked.

'I would only send my worst enemy into your lair when you're not feeling well. And seeing as you're mine, what's the point? You're even more ferocious to unwelcome guests when you're faking illness to get away.'

She rolled her eyes at his annoying accuracy and then smiled at his thoughtfulness. It was true - she liked to be alone when she was sick or fake-sick. She knew that if last night hadn't happened, she would be typing an angry response about how he shouldn't interfere in her affairs and tell a man not to visit her... But last night had happened.

'We're really going to have the faking it conversation again? ;)'

She sent the message and then suddenly regretted adding the winking face. She realized it seemed flirty and he hadn't necessarily said anything flirty yet.

He didn't respond as quickly as before. She bit her lip in angst and then relaxed when the faint line popped up again saying, 'Niles is typing a message.'

She waited, her nerves on edge.

'I expected him not to listen. I expected him to look for you. I would have.'

'Who? She typed, distracted by his last sentence.

'McMann.'

'Oh. Right. Well, unlike you, he's not a glutton for punishment. He wouldn't have taken the chance of coming over. His ego was already bruised and he knows I'm capable of bruising other parts of him if I'm in a bad mood.'

'His ego was already bruised?'

Shit. She didn't think that one through before typing.

Should I tell him about the breakup? I don't want him to think I slept with him on the rebound from Damon... Or that I broke up with Damon to sleep with him.

'I dumped him.' The less he knows, the better. He won't pry. He's too proud to show his jealousy. He'll act like he doesn't care.

'When?'

Ah crap. She sighed.

'When I lost interest in him.' She smirked as she typed, proud that she had thought of that.

'Mr. Sheffield is ready to send the email now.'

'Great. Go ahead.'

She got up to put her coffee mug into the dishwasher and returned to the sofa, bundling herself and the laptop in her blanket. She refreshed her email account and checked her inbox. She spotted the email and opened it. She downloaded the attachments and checked that they would open alright; then she returned to the IM screen and typed.

'Received the email, thanx! I'll try to get through it all by the end of the day.'

'So that you still have the night free for your street-walking?'

CC huffed and shook her head. "Most annoying man I have ever-!" She stopped talking to herself to type her response.

Before she could hit send and shock him with her foul vocabulary, another IM came through.

'Mr. Sheffield typed that.'

She backspaced to edit what she had planned to send.

'Very funny, Niles :/

And I'm using that emoticon to show I'm being sarcastic!'

'And the two exclamation marks indicate how frustrated I make you?'

'Don't let it flatter you, but YES!'

For some reason, she smiled.

'Then my job here is done :)'

She shook her head. 'Finally. I've got work to do.'

'Breakfast tomorrow morning?' He wrote.

Her fingers remained poised, waiting for the right words to come to her. 'You already shirked on breakfast AND lunch. I should take it out of your pay!' Her heart pounded as she typed the rest of her response: 'Dinner, tonight?'

'08:30 p.m.? After I serve the family.'

'Fine by me.'

'See you tonight then.'

'Yeah. Bye.' She wrote.

'I'm glad you dumped him.'

Her breath caught in her throat. She didn't know how to respond. It reminded her of the time she had been dumped by Chandler... Or was it Collin? Niles had made a similar comment while they danced together in the Sheffield's living room after he'd escorted her to some or other function. She didn't think anything of it at the time. He had turned it into a joke. But now...

'Me too,' She wrote.

He responded with a smiley face and then his name went offline. She smiled and pulled down the screen to shut the laptop.