I'm feeling very anti romance right now so what would have happened to CC and Niles if they never got together in Dummy Twins
CC walked away from the manse, the weight of unanswered questions pressing on her shoulders. She didn’t believe any of his proposals. She was certain he didn’t love her.
But as the days, months, and eventually years passed, she sometimes wondered. Surely it wasn’t all in her head? There were times that couldn’t be explained away by whiskey or pure lust. When they danced after the awards ceremony. When he visited her in The Place. When he looked at her strangely. In hindsight, she thought it wasn’t strange so much as tender, and whenever she thinks that, she needs to leave her gorgeous penthouse and purchase something lavish.
These days, she’s living a good life. She sits on the board of several philanthropic organizations devoted to the arts, she now owns the entirety of the penthouse floor in her building, and she’s still got a great set of tits.
And if she ever falters, if she ever misses a step and remembers how damn funny he sometimes was, well, there’s always something lavish in Manhattan she can buy.
-
Niles remembers all the things he didn’t say.
Please stay.
I think I’ve been in love with you for a very long time.
Sometimes I think you’re my soulmate.
He didn’t say them, and now he knows he never will because he’s back in England and he’s never asked Max for her contact information. He will never see her again and he knows it’s his fault because he never said what he needed to say.
You’re beautiful.
I only insulted you because it got your attention all those years ago and I grew addicted to your attention.
Please stay.
He tried to date when he first got back to England but it never worked out. He isn’t sure, now, if he ever wanted it to. What cruel universe would allow him to fall in love with her? Such a world doesn’t have a happy ending for him.
He hasn’t said her name in twenty years, but he’s thought it every day. He moves slowly now, years of scrubbing baths and toilets with his back bent caught up to him.
He is alone, as he suspects he deserves to be, and he understands that CC was his soulmate in every iteration of the word, and he has finally learned the most painful lesson a person can: they can be your soulmate, but that doesn’t mean it works out.
His heart squeezes in his chest, and he doesn’t know if it’s a heart attack or heartbreak, but he says it aloud anyway:
“Please stay.
Please stay.
Please stay.”
