My fair butler!
CC Babcock sits in the office and tries to concentrate on her work. She keeps fighting the yawn. She is still tired from yesterday's party. This morning she woke up unrested and with a massive hangover. Her mood had not improved tough the fact that Maxwell had spent the entire morning raving about Miss Fine and yesterday's party. How well Miss Fine had organized everything and how she had enchanted all the women of the High society with her charm. What a beautiful day it had been especially for Maggie.
CC could hardly listen to it any longer. Wasn't it bad enough that his horrible brats were constantly following Miss Fine like well-trained puppies? Apparently Maxwell had now been bewitched by Nanny Fine as well. And Niles didn't spare with his comments either. CC was downright relieved when Maxwell finally made his way to the theater.
She rubs her sleepy eyes. During that she keeps staring at her hands. Since the party, she hasn't been able to get the encounter with the fortune teller out of her mind. CC had spoken to her several times. Always in the hope that the fortune teller would make her a prophecy that would indicate that she and Maxwell would one day be husband and wife. But no matter how much she probed, the fortune teller couldn't tell her anything about it. Instead, her statements and her true prophecies had confused CC greatly.
The fortune teller predicted that one day she would find the man who would make her heart beat faster and swipe her off her feet. And that she would start a new life with this man. When she asked more about this man, the fortune teller had explained to her that she would find true love in someone she would never have expected it. But before their two hearts will find each other, many years of mutual teasing, pranks and annoyances will await them. CC wonders who this mysterious man could be? A few come to her mind spontaneously.
She knows many male acquaintances with whom she often is at odds. After all, it is not easy for a woman to assert herself in the business world. If CC thinks about it, the fortune teller might have meant Maxwell after all. They often argue about business matters. Indeed the fortune teller did speak about a blond gentleman with bright, piercing blue eyes. But how reliable could the statements of a fortune teller who had been hired by Nanny Fine be? CC was certain that she would marry Maxwell one day.
Ever since Maxwell's wife Sara died, she had chosen him as the perfect man. After all, he is just as wealthy and educated as she and he would be able to offer her a life of prosperity and luxury. The only small obstacles were the children, but she would be able to deal with them. Besides, the three of them were no longer babies and she would find them a decent nanny.
While CC is still kept in her daydreaming, there is a knock on the door and Niles comes in. CC secretly rolls her eyes. He really shouldn't have come through the door now. Niles appears in the office with a tray.
"Here, Miss Babcock! I'm bringing you a little refreshment."
CC stares at him, surprised and suspicious at the same time.
"What? Niles what is wrong with you? Acting so polite all of a sudden? You didn't go to butler school and learn proper manners, did you? That would really shock me."
Niles' lips twist into his usual malicious grin. CC takes the cup and sniffs at it carefully. After all, she has made quite a few experiences with Niles. But she can definitely smell the aroma of coffee. She takes a sip with relish, but spits the drink out again immediately.
"Yuck, Niles! What kind of horrible concoction is this? Are you trying to poison me one day?"
"No, my dear. That would never occur to me. It's coffee with lemon in it. A well-known remedy for hangovers and other moodswings. After all, your well-being is very important to me."
CC gives him a mocking look.
"Do me a favor, Niles, and spare me your sympathy in the future. And this brew... you can drink by yourself. But you probably drink gallons of this stuff all day long already. How else could you bear the fact that a successful theater empire resides here under your very eyes, while your only job is to prepare appetizers and wipe away the crumbs? You have to resort to harsher measures. And now would you be so kind to bring me some tea, immediately."
Without a word and with a blank expression, Niles takes the cup back and prepares to leave the room.
Niles closes the door a little louder than necessary. On the way to the kitchen, his normally relaxed facial expressions slip. Even if he never lets it show, these constant comments about his position here in the house are eating at him and his self-confidence. He wonders if CC Babcock will ever see him as anything other than just a servant. After all, he had so much more to offer and so many hidden talents. After all, he had also been to college and he had always achieved much better grades and achievements than his boss Maxwell Sheffield. Niles thinks sadly about how unfair life could be sometimes. The only reason CC even has an eye on Maxwell Sheffield is the fact that he comes from a wealthy and well-off family. But he Niles was way more gifted and talented himself and, unlike his boss, a real man. Without him, everything in the house would descend into chaos.
He was also wise and extremely intelligent. He could certainly have pursued a successful career, for example as a lawyer or in court. But he felt bound to the family tradition and eventually became a butler. While he prepares the tea, he dreams of how CC Babcock would see him if he were standing before her not as a simple butler, but as a successful lawyer. She would certainly see him in a very different way.
At this moment, Niles remembers what the fortune teller had predicted to him yesterday. She had read from his palm that many more years of hard work and non-recognition would await him, but she had also awakened a small glimmer of hope in him. Niles clings to this glimmer of hope ever since. She had prophesied that one day he would start a new life. With the woman on is side, he had admired for many years and who would finally recognize him when he no longer believes in it. Niles thinks hard about who this woman could be and whether he already knows her. After all, the fortune teller had made vague hints in this direction and said that it's a woman he already knows. At the moment, however, they are still in different worlds.
But whatever, the prospect of not being a butler in the Sheffield household for the rest of his life, but one day leading a new, exciting life, makes Niles downright euphoric. He finds his good mood again and the mischievous smile appears on his face again as he makes his way to the office again.