Evidence
Chapter 11: Decision
Niles was hearing the office's conversation through the intercom, and he kept wondering if an intervention was in order.
Mister Sheffield had called Miss Babcock to ask her about something she had just told him; it involved a choreographer that said something about an actor who had said something about a number.
(It seemed to Niles that the British producer had a point of making clear how little he had heard of what his partner had described to him earlier.)
The butler had been increasingly anxious about the route that conversation was taking: at each information Babcock had to repeat, her tone got more and more clipped, and Niles could almost see her face contorting in waves of pain at the time they were loosing.
He had an urge to go there and fix things with a probably welcomed distraction, but he was hesitant.
At one side, he could still taste the strawberries, the chocolate and Babcock in his mouth, and he knew these things were messing with his head and making him want to run to save her as if he was a knight in shining armor and she was a damsel in distress.
(The image was captivating, he had to admit. And funny, once he was thinking of them in such roles.)
CC Babcock surely was in distress, but she was not a damsel – not in the usual sense of being an useless and frightened princess. She didn't exactly need Niles to defend her in a daily basis, and he admired her for it.
(Maybe his sensation that he was needed was just his desire to create an excuse to be in the same room with her again, making her look at him and maybe, just maybe, making her realize she should have stayed with him in the kitchen.)
At the other side, even if he were not feeling his emotions chemically disturbed, he was not sure he had anything to do to help matters: Maxwell being obtuse was not exactly new; the blonde should be used to that, and her annoyance usually added fuel to her business decisions. Niles expected her to get over her frustration, improve her skills as a storyteller and retell the same thing for Maxwell's sake while subtly pointing out her opinions.
That was how things worked for her.
That was exactly what she had been doing for some time, in the office.
Niles was content to just hear while she let her style dominate the place, usually.
However, at some point that day, the conversation stopped being about what had happened and what she thought about it, and started being about what Maxwell thought it should have been and how she should have acted.
Niles could barely believe when the man started to question the way his partner had dealt with the choreographer's demands. One of the things that had made their association successful – Babcock's strength and strong voice against people who didn't have any idea of how schedules and contracts worked – was being put under doubt, and the reason seemed to be Maxwell's difficulty in seeing that, sometimes, decisions had to be made in the spur of the moment, and it didn't mean they were necessarily wrong.
Niles was surprised at how much the situation seemed to favor himself: Babcock was facing how Maxwell Sheffield had difficulties understanding her strategies as a businesswoman; at the same time, he made clear he saw any spontaneity as a dangerous thing and not worth even a careful evaluation.
It occurred to Niles that it seemed when he asked her to come to him, it meant fun; when Maxwell did it, it meant work and, sometimes, unfair questioning.
The butler thought he should be feeling hopeful at the possible positive outcomes.
However, he was not happy with the situation.
He couldn't be happy at CC being treated as if she was any less than competent and... well, perfect.
She was usually right, at work: she had been able to attract a lot of people and keep just the stronger ones among them working in their productions – the ones she knew could bear with her demands and add something of value to the things the partners intended.
(He liked to think she just let the strongest and better ones close to her – it made him think it was a privilege to be among them.)
She didn't let names and connections impress her when business was at stake. She had difficulties while seeing it in her personal life, but while making business she had it very clear who did good to her and who did not.
(And that was what gave him hope she would notice the parallel and see who had been the man for her all the time…)
Niles followed closely, while her annoyance turned into shock and into incredulity and, finally, into a kind of impatient agreement.
He could hear in her voice how much she just wanted to end that conversation.
Well, her wish was an order – that was enough to dissipate any hesitation he had been having.
Niles turned off the intercom and went to the office, as quickly as he could without running.
(One of the bad parts of being spontaneous is you start doing things and then you realize you don't really have a plan.)
He met Fran halfway and took her by the arm, never stopping his march, 'Take Mister Sheffield out of the office'.
She was surprised by his manhandling and the demand, 'To where?'
'I don't care. Just take him out. For a walk. To see the children. To go to your bedroom and see you trying a new dress. Whatever you can think of'.
'Or?'
'Babcock will murder him'.
'Oh, Sweetie, I don't think she would...'
'Shush!'
Niles opened the office's door and they almost invaded it, stopping at the middle of the room, and frozen at the positively murderous glance the blonde was throwing at an obvious Maxwell.
The butler turned to stare at the nanny as if saying Told you so!, and she acted immediately, talking loudly and pointing to the corridor with authority, 'Mister Sheffield! We have to talk to Brighton right now!'
The man frowned, 'What did he do this time?'
The brunette smiled, 'Nothing. He just has been so good that we should give him some... some…'
'...positive enforcement', Niles chimed in.
'Exactly!', she agreed.
CC, who had been tapping her feet and scowling at the scene, subtly relaxed. She had realized they were up to something, once she noticed Niles had an eye at her reactions.
'Must it be now, Miss Fine? I'm in the middle of something with CC, here...'
'Some more important than your son?', Fran whined, ignoring Niles' scoff.
'Something more important than Miss Fine's educational methods?', Niles pointed out, raising his brows.
Fran seemed to reach a decision, 'You know, Niles, you're right – it's about my methods. I should go there alone and talk to B. Maybe take him to some place he chooses as long as it has good shops around. What can go wrong? I can even see again Charlie, that cute guy from the…'
'No, no, no, it won't be necessary!', Maxwell got up and started circling hurriedly the desk, towards Fran. He stopped for a moment to look at his partner, wringing his hands nervously, 'CC, I really wish I could stay...'
The blonde waved nonchalantly, 'Don't worry, Maxwell. Just go. Maybe I will sleep here, in the leather sofa, so you can find me easily when you get back'.
'Don't you think it would be a bit uncomfortable?', he asked, confused.
Fran saw that was the perfect moment to chime in, 'Miss Babcock is very competent, Mister Sheffield! I'm sure she will manage. Can we go already?'
The two dark-heads disappeared by the office door, and the blondes stayed.
Niles kept observing while CC put a hand on her right temple, as if to assess a headache, and walked to support her backside on the desk.
'Are you all right?', he asked, sounding sincerely concerned, 'You didn't have the opportunity to bite anyone. I suppose it can make you feel weird'.
'I should have at least yelled at him. It would have been a relief', she agreed and looked through the open door while stretching her arms, trying to relax, 'Is he always like that?'
Niles tilted his head, his eyes following each movement she did and noticing how they showed her curves, 'He usually doesn't dare to question your decisions. I sincerely don't know what kind of death wish came over him today, poking a dangerous beast while being so close'.
'Isn't it?', she agreed again, putting her arms down, her hands resting on the desk at each side of her hips. Her eyes went to him and stayed, noticing he had a heated glance over her, and that she felt quickly warmed and excited again, as she had been in the kitchen, 'I could use you to vent out some frustration. Have you considered it?'
He smirked, 'What do you intend to do?'
'You said I was the kind that needed to bite'.
'And I won't take it back', he spoke while giving a step towards her, 'Maybe you didn't because that was kind of what you were doing before you came here, so you were… satiated'.
'Are you in any way insinuating I'm not insatiable?', she smiled at his closeness.
'How would I know?', he stayed in front of her, the fingers of his right hand touching lightly the desk, next to her hand and still not touching.
'You should have deduced. Do I usually behave like I have got enough of anything?', and she stretched her fingers until they brushed his.
His eyes went to their touching fingertips on the desk and came back to her face. He spoke softly, 'A bit earlier, in the kitchen, I had the impression you had had enough and was out for something new'.
'That's a serious accusation', she pretended to be offended, 'Maxwell would not like to be called something new'.
Niles chuckled and got a bit closer, whispering, 'I'm glad you admitted that it's serious'.
'I could never say otherwise'.
They were looking at each other that way again, eyes boring into eyes and then escaping to glance at lips that were too close and too attractive to resist.
After some moments, CC whispered, 'I have a question'.
Niles just nodded. It was like they were in such an intimate moment it would be a sacrilege to communicate louder than this.
In fact, it was like they didn't need anything more than stares and whispers and light touches. They were creating something there, with subtleness and delicate things, and when you are in such synchrony, you don't need much.
'Why did you come here?'
He blinked and remained staring at her.
She took his left hand and placed it on her hip, 'Don't think. Just answer'.
Niles threw a look at his hands – they were somewhat locked with hers, at each side of her body, and he was invaded by the notion that she was positioning him on her.
She wanted that closeness as much as him, and she was showing it physically, pulling him to her, and verbally, asking his motives.
Both things were a mix of putting herself in his hands and showing what she wanted, and he found himself resistless, 'I need a moment to assess my feelings', he explained, hoping she believed him.
She nodded and leaned enough to touch her forehead to his, 'I know sometimes it's hard to put in words what we feel. In fact, I may be an specialist in the field'.
He closed his eyes and was silent for a moment. Then, he murmured, 'I think I wanted your conversation with him to stop'.
'Why?', her head moved and she touched his temple with her lips.
Niles was surprised at how comforting her touch was, because he had the sensation that, in any other occasion, he couldn't let those words pass through his throat, 'As soon as you were out of the kitchen I missed you. I turned the intercom on, so I could hear your voice and know what you were doing…'
'You creepy old man…', she murmured, smiling and placing another light kiss on his temple, enjoying his scent.
He smiled back without opening his eyes, 'That seemed to be all about business... But suddenly he was annoying you. For some reason, it disturbed me, and I started thinking if I should do something'.
'You were deciding if you should come and save me', CC said, her hands caressing his, on the desk and on her hip.
'Even if I knew it would probably infuriate you', the thumb of the hand on her hip moved to caress her side lightly.
'Because it would seem you thought of me as defenseless...', now she planted a light kiss on his cheek.
'And that would be an absurd', he said, feeling her nose grazing the side of his face.
'But the question remains: if you knew I could stand by myself, why did you come?'
He frowned slightly before answering, 'Because you were happy in the kitchen... with me. I wanted to be with you and see you relaxed and well again', he murmured, entwining the fingers of the hands on the desk.
'So…', she relaxed her body against his, as if to illustrate his point and make sure she recognized his effort to admit those things, 'You want me happy?'
'I discovered that's what I live for', Niles brought their hands from the desk slowly to her hip, holding her now like he had when they danced, 'He was destroying all the good work I had done in the kitchen. I couldn't let it happen'.
'You really think you are the one for the mission, don't you?', she rested her lips on the corner of his mouth.
'Yes…', he sighed.
'Maybe you are right...', she said, and then sighed, too, and separated from him enough to look at his face, 'But maybe we'll never know'.
He opened his eyes immediately, 'Why do you say that?'
(As soon as he talked, both realized her sadness had a counterpart on his whispered plea.
Things were sounding exactly how they felt: she sounded sad because she would be miserable if they couldn't go further; his tone was pleading because he would beg her to not give up, if needed.)
She maneuvered slowly to take her hands out of his, pausing them enough over his to make him understand she wanted his where they were.
She put hers on his chest, then.
They were comfortable because it was like their dance.
Still, she had that familiar feeling of not being sure if she should push or pull him.
She had to say out loud the realization that was troubling her since that freezing night in Sylvia's couch, 'We keep being interrupted, Niles. Every single time we get closer, something happens. It's Maxwell, it's Nanny Fine, it's the whole Sheffield and Fine families… Sometimes it seems… that we are cursed, or something like that', she shook her head, 'I feel like an idiot, saying this'.
'You shouldn't', he said, smiling sweetly, 'Being who you are, I had to be very obtuse to not expect an explanation related to witchery coming from you', he tilted his head, 'And I'm not him'.
In an impulse at the obvious fondness she felt now for him and his wit, CC took him by the lapels of his coat and brought him even closer to her, settling Niles between her legs.
Startled by the pull, his hands took a stronger grip on her hips.
All the grabbing made both all hot.
They were invaded by the same feeling: their relationship had been so complicated, so twisted, and seemingly so impossible, for all those years, that they had locked inside a lot of strong emotions and desires. These things could not be contained anymore, even if they had to face their different tempers and principles to let them surface.
If those challenges were not enough, CC had pointed the other thing between them: they had to deal with a bunch of people that kept intruding.
It was like being in an overcrowded place – you know the person you want is somewhere close, but you can't see beyond the multitude of distractions.
Moments like this were rare, but showed they fitted so well there was no way they could spend a life not knowing what it was to be really together.
Their eyes met and Niles asked seriously, 'What do you think the interruptions mean?'
She sustained his stare, 'That we live with over-active people? That maybe we can't be… all right while we're here? I don't know. What I know is that it's bad, because we spend a lot of time, here, among them'.
'We had a lot of good moments, in this mansion, too', he said with conviction, and caressed her hips.
'Yeah, we had. Bizarre, nasty and unforgettable moments', she smiled, caressed his chest and got serious, 'But then, why we just get closer peacefully out of here? At Sylvia's, in the penthouse, at potting classes… Why is it things never last while we're here?'
'Do you want it?'
'What?'
'Do you want things to... last?'
CC blinked, surprised at the word she had chosen, and at how much it said about her own expectations on this. She could see, by the way he was looking at her, that Niles was hopeful she wouldn't take it back.
'I do', she answered, and smiled at his loving expression at her, 'But, like I said…', her voice gained a frustrated tint, '...maybe it's not possible'.
'I can do it, if you want'.
She pretended surprise, 'Oh, my God! I just had to ask you?!', she shook her hand again, dropping the sarcasm, 'We both know that's not how things work...'
'I'll make you believe', he declared and went into motion.
CC stayed there, kind of frozen, while Niles got out of her arms, moved to the glass doors, closed them, went to the office door, closed it and pulled the green sofa to block it.
When he came to stand before her again, CC was looking at him as if she didn't quite understand what he had done.
Niles looked her in the eye and explained, 'No interruptions'.
She pressed her lips against each other, trying to contain a smile: she didn't know if it was foolish or beautiful.
He was approaching slowly, 'This is our bubble; our little world, to be preserved for some moments. Whatever happens outside won't matter to what we decide to do while here'.
She noted his slow steps meant he was being careful and asking her permission to be back to where he was before. She groaned, 'For God' sake, let's resume where we stopped. I can't take the slow start all over again!'
Niles grinned and came quickly to settle between her legs, his hands on her sides.
His childish expression made her grin.
In his enthusiasm, he gave her a noisy peck on the lips, and placed the side of his face against hers, 'Ops! I think this is a step further from where we were. I hope you don't mind'.
She chuckled, her right hand going up to touch the side of his neck and advance to his nape, while her left one explored the length of his back, 'You make it difficult for me not to bite you'.
He smelled her hair, 'How many times do I have to say I'm here for what you need?'
'Even if it's so complicated it hurts?'
'I've lost the capacity of not wanting anything that comes from you'.
CC used her right hand to grab his hair and pull him a bit, just strong enough for Niles to understand she wanted to look at his face.
He easily obeyed, and their eyes met.
Her hand started caressing the spot on the back of his head where she had pulled him, and she could see how her caress affected him by the way his blue eyes softened.
At the same time, she felt his hair against her fingers and his strong back under her hand, and always having a part of him closed enough to be caressed seemed to be a very important goal in her life, now.
CC brought her hands to his chest, really resuming their previous positions, and she observed how he breathed deeply and slowly, as if to calm himself.
'What is it?', she asked, curious.
(They were back to whispers.)
'I'm trying to calm down and keep the pace. This is too important to be treated with less than total care'.
'I thought we were trusting spontaneity'.
'We are; but I can't possibly do everything I want'.
'Are you sure?'
'Uhm?'
'Are you sure you can't do every thing you want with me?'
Niles felt so happy he had to gulp down and do something to distract his heart; so, he enlaced her waist with his arms, molding their bodies, 'Don't you think I have already been very daring, with you, since we've met?'
'Yes, you have… Enough to call my attention and keep it… It's a pity you always used the nastiest tricks…'
'You're being unfair. I was the one who decided to share a sofa with you in a freezing room'.
'So, this is time I pay back? It's time for me to do something nice?'
Niles didn't know how he managed to speak, 'I've been waiting for you to decide if this is what you really want'.
CC closed her eyes. It was her turn to expose herself, and she would not back away.
Her lips grazed his cheek, exploring his skin, and went closer and closer to his mouth while she spoke, 'I'm used to make rational decisions; my work demands it from me. I've tried to act rational when you were concerned, but it seems all I do based in my beliefs goes wrong when our relationship is at stake. There is something about you that breaks every single thing I believe. It shakes me to the core, and still I can't simply push it aside. It seems I need it to fulfill my days', she smiled, 'And my nights', she pressed her lips, pecking the corner of his mouth, 'And it makes no sense at all'.
'Experimentation is a valid rational method', his voice came in a shaky whisper, 'You should just try me and see what happens'.
'Yeah', she answered, in a low tone, 'I think I'll listen to your ancient knowledge this time, Butler Boy'.
And she did it.
Delicately, she let her lips advance on his, giving him again one of those kisses they had been sharing since their agreement to be nicer began.
However, as soon as she felt him relax against her and start savoring the contact of their mouths joined, she let her tongue flicker on, licked his lower lip, and demanded entrance.
When he opened his mouth, welcoming her, she thought her head would explode.
Yes, she already knew they had chemistry, but this was ridiculous.
It was a kind of connection she had never felt with anyone but this same man, while both were slightly drunk.
She always preferred to think that moment had been of alcohol induced passion: nothing like that could resist to sobriety. Something so magnificent had to be ephemeral. Such a perfect partnership didn't exist in reality.
However, here she was: sober, in the middle of a house where they were usually never in peace, being rescued from a terrible day (for the second time!) by Niles, the butler, her sworn enemy.
(In fact, there was no way she could consider him an enemy, now. His mouth and body were too delicious.
Of course, a prisoner of war, at her mercy, would be an interesting fantasy...
The idea solely made her cling to him with even more force, loosing herself in sensations she usually related to rare great sex or enormous quantities of booze.)
When they separated, they opened their eyes and spontaneously kissed again, one, two, three times, as if they were making out for lost time: each kiss was not just a peck, now, even if they were briefer than the first one – they had a hungriness about them.
It was still delicate, but without any hesitance or doubt.
At some point they realized someone was forcing the office door while talking loudly.
(It was Maxwell Sheffield, obviously. It seemed he had forgotten to tell something to his partner, and he needed to enter, and why the hell was the office door locked?!)
CC maintained her hands on Niles, caressing him and bringing him to her for more tender and slow kisses.
She barely registered Nanny Fine's voice saying something about not waiting for him, and Maxwell giving up.
It sounded very far. They were really in a bubble.
(Would it be evidence of anything?)
For a moment, CC thought of throwing a jibe about people fetching pitchforks to get them out of their bubble (what she knew would set Niles up for a witch joke), but she thought the moment was worth more than any joke or smart comment.
Their bubble was where they decided it would be, and she was glad they were inside it right now.
(Maybe it was evidence of something she couldn't ignore anymore…)