A/N: Thanks for your comments. :) Here's day 1 of the vacation. I hope you'll enjoy it. R&R please! :)
Day 1:
When Sara had burst into the office the previous Friday to announce that she had indeed managed to book a lovely last-minute trip and that Brighton would be fit enough to travel, C.C. had actually felt something like excitement for the first time in a while. But now, stranded in the den of the mansion, she was already beginning to re-think her decision. The small space between the sofa and the front door was filled with towers of suitcases, vital travel documents haphazardly propped on top. The two oldest children were chasing each other around, bumping into her repeatedly while the baby, lying in her chair, was doing her best to surpass their screams with her own.
"Settle down, settle down!" Sara yelled, rushing down the stairs and at hearing another voice added to the mix, C.C. closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the first signs of a headache coming on.
"What's wrong, Babcock?" Niles asked suddenly, very close to her ear "Those maternal feelings overwhelming you again?"
But before she had even got as far as opening her mouth, Sara yelled again: "Maxwell Sheffield, if you don't come out of that office in a second I swear to God I am going to lock you in and we'll leave without you."
Although the sound bothered C.C., this time the comment itself also made her chuckle. Niles, who was also wearing a grin, had scooped up the baby in the meantime and was effortlessly entertaining her. "I'll take her out to the limousine already, Mrs Sheffield. Why don't you bring the other two and make yourself comfortable? The aircon is already running."
"But what about the luggage?" Sara sighed.
"I'm sure Miss Babcock will be happy to help," Niles tossed out over his shoulder while heading out of the front door.
"Me?" she scoffed and called after him "You're the goddamn servant."
"C.C., language," Sara scolded and quickly grabbed her other two children before they could run off again.
"Yes, C.C., language." Brighton repeated, grinning cheekily.
Glaring at him C.C. silently refused to lose her temper completely and marched herself to the office instead. When her knuckles rapped against the wood of the door she could've sworn to have heard a whimper from the man hiding inside.
"I'm coming, darling!" Maxwell then called and C.C. opened the door and quickly entered.
Her employer practically whirled around, his hand stuck halfway down a little briefcase, the edges of several documents still visibly sticking out. Spotting the title of their previous show on the top, a broad Cheshire Cat grin appeared on C.C.'s face.
"Everyone's waiting in the car," she said, deciding to let his actions go without comment.
Trying to regain some kind of composure Maxwell nervously cleared his throat.
"Yes, I'm coming." He nodded and after zipping up the briefcase and stuffing it into a travel bag, he followed her back out into the den.
There, Niles was just grabbing the last suitcase. "Mrs Sheffield and the children are waiting for you in the car, Sir." He explained formally but after eyeing his employer's bulky travel bag suspiciously a knowing grin appeared on his face politely allowed him to pass and then shifted closer to C.C. "You won't get away with this, Babcock."
She arched an eyebrow at him and frowned confused, innocent as she was for the first time. Once outside she then waited for Maxwell to join his family in the limousine only to notice that she'd only fit in there too if she'd squeeze herself between the boy and the baby. Since she had no desire to do so she closed the limo door again and moved to the front of the vehicle. This would've been her preferred spot in anyway, had it not been in such close proximity to Niles.
The drive to the airport was as noisy as a ride in a rollercoaster, kids screaming nonstop and their parents bellowing over them. And at the airport things didn't turn any calmer. Checking in a family of five plus two additional people and their luggage seemed to take forever and at times C.C. grew concerned that they'd miss their flight. But they made it just before the gate closed, all six of them running and panting, only baby Grace was peacefully asleep despite the jolting of her carrier.
This certainly wasn't C.C.'s idea of starting a relaxing vacation. Flights were strenuous enough for her and could only be coped with when the right amount of liquor had been consumed at the beginning but now she was sweaty, out of breath and in no way mentally prepared for the impending take-off. So when the plane sped up and tilted upwards she sank her nails into the armrest of the seat and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing to strangle the Sheffield kids who were squealing and whooping in excitement. Silently plotting their demise her eyes snapped open when she felt a hand on top of hers. Niles was smiling back at her reassuringly and for a split-second she lowered her guard and returned his smile. But then she began doubting his intentions and quickly withdrew her hands again.
"Don't get too touchy, butler boy." She muttered and turned her head to look out of the window.
It was in the evening when they finally landed in Missoula, Montana. The baby had fallen asleep but the other two children were whining and bickering because they were both tired and hungry. While Maxwell and Sara were doing their best to keep them happy, C.C. kept a distance all the way to the baggage reclaim. She, too, was feeling hungry and tired and figured that it would be better for her mental health to give herself a break. Niles, on the other hand, didn't have the freedom to make such decisions. He dutifully lifted suitcase after suitcase off the conveyor belt and guided the family out of the airport.
"Why don't you stay here? I'll go and get our car." He then suggested and fishing out the relevant documents proceeded further down the airport to the AVIS rental car shop.
Half an hour later he pulled up in a red Ford in front of the waiting family.
"Finally," C.C. sighed and without hesitation she abandoned her suitcase on the curb and slipped into the front of the vehicle.
The rest of the family had at least the decency to thank him before they also made themselves comfortable in the 7-seater.
"You're welcome," Niles muttered dryly and with a sigh started piling all their suitcases into the trunk.
The 2 ½ hour journey that followed took them through the Bitterroot Forest to the Alta Ranch. While the kids had been singing and playing games at first they soon grew bored of the never-ending highway and when Sara couldn't even bring them to be interested in the mountains that protruded on either side of them, they eventually fell asleep.
C.C. uttered an inaudible thanks for the silence that now enveloped the car and tried steering her mind towards more pleasant things. She was far away from New York with all its heat and soon they'd be reaching their destination where she would be able to relax in her own private room, far away from the noisy family. Comforted by these thoughts she also drifted off to sleep, her head resting against the glass of the window.
But what she awoke to was nothing short of a nightmare.
"We're here! We're here!"
The yells of the kids failed to register at first. But when the car doors opened and the passengers started to spill out someone knocked with such force against her seat that she jolted awake.
"Stop drooling, Babcock, we're here." Niles explained with a grin and C.C. – knowing that his comment had been to irk her but feeling insecure nonetheless – hurriedly wiped at the corners of her mouth before joining the family outside.
"Niles? Would you mind getting our luggage ready while we get us checked-in?" Sara asked, smiling sweetly.
"Of course not, Mrs Sheffield." Niles replied, having to force a happy tone.
"A servant's work is never done." C.C. sing-songed and then leaned against the car, watching him amusedly for a moment before directing her gaze to her surroundings.
The Alta Ranch seemed to extent to a wide territory. In the distance horses were grazing in a fenced in area, a river was slicing its way through the magnificent landscape and log cabins were peeking out from between bushes or trees. C.C. sighed deeply and breathed in the clean air that stirred memories of holidays she had spent with her grandmother if also the climate had been much warmer.
When Sara returned with Maxwell and the children, C.C. instantly knew that something wasn't right. Sara wore the same guilty expression she always had when she was about to deliver bad news and a quirk of C.C.'s eyebrows sufficed for her to open up.
"Well, we're all checked in!" she first announced, her voice trembling a bit when it hit the high notes "However," she hesitated and cleared her throat "Maxwell and the children and I will be staying in the Ponderosa cabin over there…" she paused again to point "but…it appears all the other cabins are booked so um…they only have a much smaller cabin in the woods to offer."
"And where is Niles going to stay?" C.C. asked, frowning.
The butler, who had already understood the situation scoffed and rolled his eyes. "We'll be sharing a hut," he spelt it out for her.
"Absolutely not!" C.C. exclaimed "This is supposed to be a vacation for me as well and I refuse to be staying in some servant's shack with the help!"
And with these words she marched herself to the main house from which Sara and Max had just emerged.
"Excuse me!" she spoke loudly, tapping her finger on the counter to get somebody's attention "I request a refund."
Slowly, the old man who'd been sitting in his chair stood up and approached her. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"I'm with the Sheffields and we've booked 3 separate cabins and now I have to share some ridiculous little hut with someone else. Do you find that acceptable?"
"No, I suppose such an arrangement would irk me too, Miss. However, we did tell Mrs Sheffield that we only had one of our log cabins left when she called us. She said it wouldn't be a problem."
C.C., who had just opened her mouth to argue further quickly closed it again. How convenient of Sara to leave out this small detail.
"I see," she managed, turned back around on her heel and walked outside to the Sheffields who were still waiting by the car. "You knew this would happen?" she asked, stabbing Sara's chest with her finger.
"Well, to my defence I thought you and Niles would at least have your own little hut but-"
"But apparently you thought wrong." C.C. finished for her.
"Mommy…can we go now?" Maggie whined.
"Yes, I wanna see the house." Brighton chimed in and tugged on his father's pants.
"I'm sorry, Chas, I should've told you but everything had to be arranged so quickly and I really didn't think it would be such a problem. Now the children are tired and we still have to unpack."
C.C. sighed, yearning to argue further but knowing that it was too late to change anything, on this day at least. So she grabbed her suitcase, snatched the route description out of Sara's hands and without another word started walking towards the hut she'd have to share with Niles.
It turned out to be a log cabin as well, just smaller and higher on the mountain slope, nestled in a forest clearing. By the time she reached it she was red-faced and completely out of breath.
"Didn't bring the right footwear, did you?" Niles' taunting voice suddenly sounded just behind her. How he had caught up with her so quickly was beyond her.
"I didn't expect we'd be doing any hiking today, no." she replied testily "Unlock the door?"
"Yes, my lady." He replied dryly and indicated a bow.
Then he set his suitcase down again and moved past her to the front door. The hut was dark and stuffy. A small table and two chairs had been squeezed next to the window at the front. A television was mounted in the corner and to the right there was a makeshift kitchen and a small cleaning closet. The bathroom was positioned in the northeast corner of the room and to the left of it a door led to the only other living space of the hut.
Having finished her exploration, C.C. dropped her suitcase on the double bed she had located and looked around the cramped space. It was almost impossible to move around; where she'd unpack she had yet to figure out.
"Cosy," Niles commented, leaning in the doorway.
"Don't even think about joining me in here. We are not sharing a bed." She replied shortly but Niles only offered a tired smirk in return.
"It is comforting to know, Miss Babcock, that after a long trip in which I lifted everybody's suitcase and I drove us to the destination, you'd rather make me sleep on the floor than share your bed with a servant."
A flicker of guilt passed through C.C., but she kept her cool mask of indifference and let him continue.
"Fortunately, there is another bed in the main room. So if a bear steals in and mauls you, please try to keep your screams to a minimum."
And with that he ducked out of the room and closed the door behind him. C.C. pondered momentarily how she could've overlooked a second bed but decided she was too tired to investigate things now. All she wanted was to put the first day of this horrible vacation out of its misery.