Here it is... the final chapter. Hope you've enjoyed the story as much as I have!
CHAPTER 41
CC awoke to a blaring TV set. She started at the sight of the bright lights flashing on the screen. "Ugh..." She moaned and lifted her head. She realized she was draped across Niles. She rubbed her eyes and squinted at him. He was fast asleep. She dropped her head back down onto his chest and shut her eyes, snuggling her cheek against him and breathing in his scent. The TV screen flashed right through her eyelids and she couldn't fall asleep again.
If she got up to turn off the TV, he'd wake up and he'd likely expect an excuse if she were to lie back down on him.
Reluctantly, she lifted her head once more. "Niles?" She said, groggily.
He moved. "Hmm."
She raised her hand closer to his neck. "I'm going to bed."
"Mm." He moaned.
She smiled and grudgingly peeled herself off of his body and stumbled as she tried to get up. She fell into his lap.
"Ah, I'm up..." He said, startled, but kept his eyes closed. He sat up with her in his lap and they both rubbed their eyes.
"Where are my shoes?" He said squinting as he rested one wrist on her thigh.
She reached for the remote and turned off the TV. "Hell if I know. Leave 'em. You can stay here tonight. Past two." She mumbled, looking up at the watch on the wall in the kitchen.
He looked at it as if to check she wasn't misreading. "Pillow?" He requested as she got off of him and he leaned back down on the sofa.
"Come get one," she said, patting his tummy before she waddled towards her bedroom. She turned off the light in the living room as she went. She emitted a sound of mild surprise when he reached out for her waist in the dark.
She led him into her bedroom and when she bumped into the bed, she dropped down onto it, face first, and stayed put. He felt around for her pillows.
"Babcock? Which side do you sleep on?" He half whispered. "Hey..." He nudged her. "I'm taking your pillow..." He warned to get her attention.
She grunted in response and rolled onto her back. "Just get on the bed...You're annoying... so tired..." She grumbled and lifted her arms over her sealed eyes.
He crawled onto the bed and, when she felt the mattress move, she pulled herself up to rest her head properly in her pillow. He did the same on the left side of her bed. They soon fell back into a deep slumber.
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Niles roused suddenly when he heard CC's alarm begin to buzz. He reached over her to turn it off before it could get any louder. He looked down at her sleeping form. So innocent when she's asleep... You'd never guess the kind of woman she is, he thought with a smirk.
CC was lying on her side with her back to him. Her legs were bent and one of them was bare-skinned to her thigh and protruding from her lengthy, loose skirt. She had pulled her elbow up to hug her pillow. Her hair had come undone a little from the loose bun it had been in.
He didn't want to wake her. He wanted to allow this moment to linger. And he wanted to peek at her slumbering face with no intention of drawing a moustache on it (this time).
He leaned over her again to make sure he hadn't pressed the snooze button but had rather turned off the alarm. She must have felt the bed move and his arm in her presence because she lifted her arm around his and hugged it to her chest, drawing him nearer.
He smiled and shifted closer to her. He looked at the side of her face for a few moments and considered placing a light kiss on her clothed shoulder but decided against it. He wouldn't want to wake her.
When she remained still, he pulled his lower body closer to spoon behind her. She nestled back against him. He smelled her hair and couldn't resist planting a kiss on the dip between her jaw and neck before resting his head again.
She stirred but he didn't regret stealing that kiss. When would he get the chance again? She turned her upper body to lie on her back. She hadn't yet opened her eyes and she was still clutching his hand up to her chest. She slowly twisted her legs and rolled to face him. She lifted her foot to place it around his. He watched her face as she slept and found himself wishing he could wake up to her at least one more day.
He moved his hand from her grasp to sweep a strand of her hair from her face. She opened her eyes as the motion woke her.
"Good morning, I see the assassins have failed." He whispered jokingly.
She gasped quietly and pulled away from him. "What are you doing in my bed?" She was genuinely surprised. "Did we...?"
Niles shook his head. "We fell asleep last night. It was late. You told me to stay here."
CC's eyes darted from his one to his other as if to judge whether he was lying because, in her mind, she could definitely imagine the night having gone in a completely different direction. "Oh."
She sat up hastily and lifted a hand, trying to fix her hair. Then she pulled her skirt back down over her knees, embarrassed.
He smiled at her when she looked over to where he was lying.
She glanced over the length of his body. "Were you just watching me sleep?" She asked with a nervous frown.
"You make it sound creepy."
"What else could it be?" She smirked.
He smiled again and shook his head, sitting up to reach her eye level.
"Breakfast?" He asked.
"Yes, but you didn't answer the question."
"And I won't." He said proudly as he jumped off the bed and left the room.
She got up and went into her bathroom to check her appearance. There wasn't anything scribbled across her face. She didn't look half bad. They'd had more milkshake than alcohol the previous night and whiskey never left her with hangovers. It's why she loved it.
She adjusted her high-waisted skirt, which had somehow twisted until it was almost back to front.
She walked to the kitchen where he was standing with his notebook. "I forgot. We need to get groceries."
She nodded and then snorted at the sight of his unruly hair. She walked up to him and ran a hand through it. When he looked at her she felt she should explain her actions. "Your hair's a mess," she shrugged.
He looked back down at his notebook, wishing he could just tell her how he felt.
CC knew what he must have been thinking. He was quiet and he had this look on his face. It was a look she'd never got from a man before but one she'd made so many times. She was breaking his heart. A few years ago, she would have enjoyed this. Now, it felt almost too cruel. The game was only fun if they were both playing it.
Back to breakfast. "I still have a few fresh eggs left," she said.
"I thought you were past your prime," he grinned as he opened to a new page in his notebook.
She raised an eyebrow. "You're about to exceed the limits of my medication."
When he laughed at her, she snatched his notebook, lightly slapped him on the nose with it, and then tossed it back onto the table.
"Ouch!"
"If you're going to act like a dog, I'll treat you like one," she warned him and then smiled after he did.
"We can just have the eggs. You can get the groceries before lunch."
"You're going to the theatre today aren't you? I'd have to take your lunch there."
She'd forgotten about that. It had originally been an excuse not to see him at the mansion. "Right… Okay. Well, we can just shower and you can get the groceries now then."
He made an amused face.
"Shower separately, you cad!" She smirked and he pushed his lips into a playful pout. She giggled wishing she had the guts to invite him in with her. Since she'd had a taste of him, she couldn't stop wondering if she'd get the chance again.
"I'll hop in quickly while you make your list and then you can shower after me. You can use my bathroom."
CC showered hurriedly and donned a pair of simple black trousers and a white, button-up, V-neck top. She went to open her bedroom door and was about to call Niles's name when the phone in her room rang.
She pressed the answer button and put it on speakerphone so that she could try and fix her hair into something less offensive.
"CC Babcock."
"Why, hello there, Miss Babcock..." Damon's voice was like noise pollution filling her room. She set down her hairbrush and closed an eye, grunting to herself.
"Damon," she said in the pleasant voice she usually reserved for schmoozing particularly difficult backers. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh, CC, you coy little fox…" He laughed. "Surely you know why I'm calling, babe? You did receive my previous message, didn't you?"
She breathed out through her nose, hoping he would continue talking and not wait for an answer to that one.
"So, shall we be meeting again? You know, to discuss the spark between us?"
CC wasn't aware that Niles had approached her slightly open door and was listening outside with a thundering heart.
"Ugh. Damon, look... The thing is... I really don't see why you're so intent on pursuing this. Don't you think it would be better for you to find someone to whom you are better suited?"
"Who better than you, sweets? You said yourself that I have a great package." She could hear his grin. She didn't find his joke funny.
Niles clenched his jaw.
"I said you are a great package. We both know I wouldn't really know if you had one."
Niles was confused by her comment. She hadn't slept with him? What was the 'fun on the couch' about?
"Well, you could have known if you'd let yourself have a little fun. I didn't think you were like all of the common society women. I thought you knew how to let loose - judging from the gorgeous outfits you wore for me on our first few 'meetings'..." His voice reflected both hope and disappointment. He was trying to make her pity him. He was trying to make her feel like it was her actions that had built his expectations.
"Demon-"
Fuck! Her eyes bulged at her slip up.
"Damon!" She said quickly.
"Yes, darling?"
Ah, thank God he didn't hear. Niles needs to get out of my head!
Meanwhile, outside, Niles was finding it very hard to hold in the sound of his laughter. He clapped silently outside her door, grinning from ear to ear.
"Um, those outfits actually belonged to Nanny Fine. Which reminds me, I promised you her number..."
Damon's voice heightened in excitement even though his words didn't match it. "Oh, CC, you don't have to do that. I mean, unless you really want to? You're sure you don't want to try again?"
"Completely certain. Like I said before, I need that spark. Something that makes my heart pound. I just don't think it could develop between us."
"Is there someone else?" Damon asked.
Niles leaned in closer as CC stood for a few seconds in silence.
"It wouldn't matter if there were. My heart just isn't in this. Perhaps Nanny Fine would be more to your liking. She's been keenly looking to meet someone." She kept mentioning the nanny, knowing that men worked on visual cues. If she kept saying her name as incentive, he would keep picturing this 'other option' and not feel as though he were losing here.
"Well, alright, if you're sure, darling."
"I am." She rattled off Fran's private number and told him she'd make sure the show he was backing would be a success as a sort of compensation for what had happened between them. He eventually agreed and they ended the call amicably.
CC jumped when she heard a knock on her door.
"Niles!" She clutched her chest as he slowly pushed the door open.
"Finished in the bathroom?" He asked.
"Um, yes. There are towels in the closet to the left of the tub," she said to him as he entered the bathroom.
"Which you probably already knew, you little snoop." She smiled to herself after he shut the door, thinking about the last time he had accidentally admitted to looking through her things.
CC went to her study to fetch a small hand mirror she had left on her desk.
When she returned to her bedroom, she noticed his clothes on her bed and heard the shower running behind the locked bathroom door.
She walked back to her mirror and tried in vain to make her hair look presentable enough for her perfectionistic standards. When Niles came out of the bathroom, he was in a towel.
She glanced over his body in the mirror. "Ahem. No respect for the lady present!" She huffed, feigning annoyance as she looked back at herself.
"Where?" He taunted and she smiled.
"Just put some clothes on, Chip 'n Dale."
He reached for his clothing, which he had left in her room and he strolled back into the bathroom to get dressed. CC was a little uneasy with how casually he could stand before her, shirtless. She found it pleasantly confusing.
"You think I could make a good exotic, male dancer?" He called out through the closed door.
She snorted. "I wouldn't quit my day job." She heard him laugh.
"Ugh, I wish I had just washed my hair!" She huffed in annoyance as she tried a third up style.
"Use your fancy new sprayer," he suggested.
He opened the bathroom door. "I'll do it for you if you want?"
"Don't be weird!" She frowned.
He laughed. "Whaaat? I do it for the children sometimes."
"I'm not the children. You don't do things like this for me."
"I could." He said.
She eyed him skeptically and then entered the bathroom to where he was standing and holding the detachable showerhead.
"You can't wear that top." He said.
"Don't push your luck, Bell Boy!" Smiling, she grabbed a dry towel and pulled it over her shoulders.
"No, I mean... You should change. It doesn't cover your um..." He tapped a digit on the side of his own neck."
She pulled the towel off of her and looked in the mirror. The mandarin-collared shirt had covered it the day before. She hadn't even known it was there. In the V-neck she was currently wearing, the dip of her neck and shoulder was completely visible, along with this big, bright hickey.
She screeched, "Oh fu-." She looked over at him. He enlarged his eyes, attempting to appear innocent.
She knew it was from their lovemaking two nights before. Her heartbeat quickened. She licked her lips and swallowed, pulling the towel back up around her. "I'll change afterwards." She said quietly without meeting his eyes and then slowly neared him at the tub, her cheeks tinted pink.
He piled a few folded towels onto the floor in front of the tub and she sat facing away from the tub. "How are we doing this?"
"It's a good thing you're a giant. You can just lean your head back over the tub." He teased.
"It's a good thing you're not a piñata or I'd have beaten you to a pulp by now."
He laughed as he turned on the sprayer and brushed her hair back with his fingers. She closed her eyes.
"How's the water?"
"Great."
"I'm surprised you're not melting, witch."
She opened one eye and he smiled at her. She shut it again and he flipped open the lid on the shampoo bottle.
"Wait!" She said, grabbing his wrist. "Let me see that!"
He showed her the bottle.
"It's regular shampoo?" She probed.
He nodded. "Relax, when would I have had time to switch it for something like hair dye or hair removal lotion?"
"That's uncomfortably specific."
He smirked. "I promise, it's untouched - just like you." He winked.
"Put that smirk away." She closed her eyes. "That's not true anymore as of two nights ago... You should know."
He looked down at her smiling face and felt his heart warm; then he squeezed some shampoo into his hand to wash her hair.
Once he had finished conditioning, he shut off the water, set the sprayer down and lifted a corner of the towel to wipe her cheek that had got wet. Then she opened her eyes to see him looking at the love bite he'd given her.
"Sorry about that," he said as he tried to dab some of the water from her hair.
"I feel like a teenager. Can't remember when last I had one."
"I can't remember when last I caused one."
"Yeah, it must be even longer for you."
They grinned at each other as he helped her up from the floor with her hair in a towel. She patted the towel against her hair a few times to get rid of some of the moisture.
"I'm not as old as you think. I'm young at heart..." He said and, to prove it, lifted the sprayer, pointing it in her direction.
"You wouldn't dare! I'd claw your eyes out!" She said warningly but couldn't help smiling.
He reached for the tap, grinning an evil grin.
"Niles! I'm wearing white!" She tried to negotiate.
"You're going to change to cover that love bite anyway, sooo... It was fun last time, wasn't it?"
"Niles, remember last time how Maxwell made you clean up the whole mess? Everything was soaked! Think of how much work that was! You wouldn't want to make a mess would you?" She lifted her hands and brows, hoping for an agreement.
He looked at her white top. He remembered helping her dry her clothes in his bedroom the last time. He wondered what colour her bra was this time.
When CC saw his eyes travel down to her chest, she looked down, thinking about the same scenario. She was starting to realise that maybe he used his tricks to get closer to her. She realised that maybe he'd wanted to be near her this whole time; that maybe he saw her as a sensual and sexual woman; that maybe, just maybe, he'd had feelings for her all along.
She lifted her eyes to his. "Niles?"
He looked up at her.
"Don't spray it. Tell me."
"Hm?"
She pointed at the sprayer. "You don't have to use that thing to get my attention." She almost stuttered. "I- I'm ready to hear it, so... Say it, don't spray it." She looked at him nervously.
He lowered the sprayer. He hadn't expected this. He had thought about this moment taking a million different paths. He had pictured a dinner, candlelight, perhaps some dancing; on some occasions he'd imagine her kissing him when he told her and in all of the fantasies, he had always been the initiator of 'the talk'."
He stared at her for a moment. She pulled the towel down from her damp hair and brushed her fingers through her strands a few times to get it all flat and back against her head. Then she clasped her hands around the towel and waited, running her eyes over the features of his face. She was nervous. She wondered if she should take it back - just say 'never mind' and go and dry her hair.
He clipped the sprayer into its holder and turned to her once more, suddenly anxious. She wants to hear me say it but that doesn't mean she wants to accept it and reciprocate it.
He was worried she wanted him to say it just for a kick. He decided he'd do it anyway. It would be worth the risk. The sooner he told her and the more often he told her, the more it would worm its way into her mind and heart. So he told her.
"Miss Babcock..."
"Yes...?" She said quietly.
He stepped closer to her, wringing his hands.
"Over the past two decades, I've taunted and teased you. I've made your life a living hell..."
"And crowned me queen of it." She joked.
He chuckled. "Yes. But not because you were the devil," he smiled. "Rather because I always felt tempted by you."
She bit her lip. "Because I got you irritated and made you do hurtful things?" She wanted him to squash all the reasons she had invented in her head - all the reasons to believe it wasn't love behind it all.
"No. I did all those things because I was annoyed by society. I hate that people have stations and classes in life - boundaries that make it hard even for love to break through. They're like blinkers on a horse..."
"I'm the horse?" She asked with a brow lifted.
"Not in a bad way," he smiled and was relieved when she smiled, too.
"I tried to make you see that I was a person, not just a butler. It's why I always refused your orders. I wanted you to get angry. I wanted you to feel something towards me, other than superiority and indifference."
She looked up at him as he referred back to her comment about the opposite of love being indifference, not hate.
"I said all those hurtful things to you to try to bring you down to my level. I didn't think I could ever climb to yours. You were too good for me."
She was surprised by what he'd said. She'd always thought he didn't think very highly of her. He had, after all, pointed out and exaggerated all of the things she did wrong on a daily basis.
She never fathomed that he was pointing out her flaws to equalise the playing ground - That he was trying to show her that, even though he had his societal shortcomings, she wasn't necessarily perfect either.
"I have nothing to offer you, Miss Babcock. I have no successful career, no substantial income... I don't even have a home. Why would you ever consider me? I knew I had no chance of convincing you. I know I still don't. So I never told you... Mostly because I knew what your answer would be." He looked defeated. She frowned.
CC felt guilty. He was right. If he had said anything sooner, she most likely would have rejected him and held it over his head forever. But that didn't mean she really despised him all these years. Sure, he could push her buttons and she'd get angry but that was just one side to it – the most apparent side.
She couldn't tell him he was wrong. So she decided to tell him how she felt. "When you...um... Niles, when you kissed me in the Sheffield's living room that very first time, I- I think I stopped seeing you as just a butler. To be honest, I couldn't gather my thoughts after that kiss."
His heart jumped at her admission. They'd never talked about that night. It had affected him as well. They'd both done a good job at pretending it hadn't.
"I treated you badly because you made it difficult for me to be the person I was raised to believe I should be. I wanted to keep control and you took that away. I hate that you can do that to me! It's infuriating!"
"Sorry." He mouthed.
"No, I needed to lose control. This past week has been the most... eye-opening... experience. I think I invited you into my apartment so that you could give me that final push that I needed. I wanted you to make me lose it."
He watched her intently as she ran a hand through her hair, tossed the towel onto the edge of the tub and put her hands on her hips. "I just don't understand what you see in me, Niles! I mean, you of all people notice everything that's wrong with me." She huffed and cast her eyes to the floor.
He stepped towards her. "I notice everything that's right with you, too."
She looked up at him with a scowl.
"I'm serious, Babcock."
"Like what?!" She asked, pursing her lips.
"You're sophisticated, you're witty, you're smart, you don't take crap from anyone..."
"That's true." She arched her eyebrow, looking smug.
He chuckled. "You're unapologetic. I like that one a lot."
She tried not to smile and crossed her arms over her chest. "Me, too."
He snorted. "You're confident."
She grinned.
"And vulnerable at the same time."
She stopped grinning and bit her lip.
"You shouldn't be. You're a strong woman who has everything going for her."
"Woman?" She asked, smiling.
He nodded. "A strong, beautiful, sexy woman."
"You just want to get into my pants."
"Yes..." He grinned. She slapped him lightly on the arm.
"And your heart. Mostly your heart, Miss Babcock." He smiled his signature lopsided grin.
She looked at his lips as his grin slowly faded into a shy smile.
"What I'm trying to tell you... is that... Miss Babcock..." He looked down.
Her heart began palpitating. Spit it out for heaven's sake! She thought.
He puffed out his chest and looked her in the eye. With all of the resolve he could gather, he announced firmly, "Miss Babcock! I love yo-"
She grabbed his face and kissed him.
He was expecting a laugh or a slap, a push or at least for her to bolt from the room. A kiss... it was a pleasant surprise. He lifted his hands and placed them around her waist. She moved her hands to his chest and pulled her lips from hers.
Niles spoke first. "I was going to say I love yoghurt."
"No, you weren't." She grinned.
"No, I wasn't," He agreed, watching her lips.
"Niles?"
"Yes?" he asked with hooded orbs.
"You're taking me to the dinner on opening night of the show."
"I am?"
"How else are we going to get a nice picture together to replace the one in the frame in my study?"
His jaw slackened slightly in amusement. She'd seen it? "I love that picture." He chuckled.
"So do I. That's why I stole it from Nanny Fine. Oh, well. We've got plenty other frames around this apartment to fill and a long time to do it."
"Does that mean you're willing to make a monogamous commitment to this… thing we have going?" He asked.
"As much as I've loved you being my bitch all these years... I think you're finally trained." She winked.
He reached his hand up to touch the hickey on her neck." She sucked in her breath at his touch. He licked his lips as he cheekily said, "You'll never get me to stop biting though."
She beamed. "Like I said, you're finally trained."
They laughed and he pulled her in tightly for their first honest kiss.
THE END.
Thank you to everyone who read & reviewed over the past month and a bit and thank you for the private messages regarding the story! Your responses kept the wheel turning and kept me writing! I'm glad I finally wrote my version of Niles & CC. Keep writing yours - it inspires me to write mine :) Hope you all enjoyed it!