#holomoriarty

Two weeks. Nearly three, if she really thought about it. Yeah,it was nearly three – she could just about make out the date on the digitalclock on the nightstand.

They’d been together for all of that time (practicallyliving together, too, for all the time she’d spent in her own apartmentrecently!), and he still hadn’t said anything. He was on the phone with NannyFine every couple of days, sometimes more, and he hadn’t mentioned what wasgoing on between them once!

Was he afraid to? Was he having second thoughts? He couldn’thave been; it didn’t make any sense if he was. He was the most wonderful manshe’d ever been with, and he held nothing back in showing her how special shewas to him – he was affectionate, charming, fun, and a whole host of other things! Notto mention, he was easily the best she’d ever been to bed with. Living to serveothers had certainly honed his skills in that department!

So why the secrecy? That question had woken her early thatSaturday morning (rather than the usual sound of the London traffic starting toget bad), and she rolled over in bed to put her arm over him, holding him closeand pressing her cheek against his shoulder.

Even if she didn’t have the answer to her question, justholding him as she was felt soothing. She couldn’t believe they’d wasted somuch time in pretending to hate each other! Especially not when they could havebeen doing much more pleasant things…

She felt Niles start to stretch and yawn against her, andone of his hands reached back to help her hook her leg over his hip.

He nudged his head against hers, “Hm, you’re awake early…”

“How’d you know I wasn’t sleeping?” she asked in return, fingertipsbrushing the back of his palm, which was starting to rub her thigh.

He turned his eyes up towards her, a hint of a tired smirkon his face.

“No snoring shaking me out of the bed,” he answered, takinghis hand away from her leg and turning over so he was more on his back. “It’s adead giveaway.”

C.C. pretended to be put out by that, and she folded herarms some, “Sounds like someone doesn’t want a good morning kiss…!”

Niles slid his hand onto her hip and squeezed, “Will a potof coffee make up for it?”

She pretended to think about it, and got comfy underneaththe covers again, “Make it coffee and pancakes and you might have a deal.”

Niles chuckled, and got onto his elbows and knees so that hecould lean just inches from her face.

“Alright…” he said, puckering up. “But I’d like my paymentup-front please.”

Rolling her eyes, C.C. conceded him the kiss he was askingfor. She then watched him get up, throw on his dressing gown, and head out ofthe bedroom to make his way to the kitchen.

Within the hour, they were both enjoying hot coffee andpancakes from a tray, their pillows plumped up between the bed’s headboard andtheir backs.

“What were you doing awake so early, anyway?” Niles asked,taking a sip of his coffee. “Have a bad dream?”

C.C. frowned. She was getting better at talking about herfeelings, but it was still hard sometimes. Especially if she had nothing tofound her worries on.

“Not exactly,” she stabbed at her pancake, making a slice init with her fork but not attempting to cut it away to eat. “I just keptthinking about…well…”

“About what, love?”

He looked so concerned as he asked that, C.C. softened upinside. He really cared that much, didn’t he? He just wanted to make herproblem go away, if it was possible – there was no reason not to trust him withthis.

“You haven’t told the Sheffields about us,” she explained.

Niles looked at her blankly.

“No, not yet,” he said, cocking his head to one sideslightly. “Why?”

“I could ask you the same thing!” C.C. dropped her forkagainst her plate. “You’re usually such a yenta, I’d imagined you’d tell NannyFine right away!”

It was Niles’ turn to poke at his food, “Well, no – I wantedto wait a while.”

“What for?” she asked, probably sounding a little bit moredemanding than she needed or wanted to be.

He hesitated before answering, “I just…I wanted you to becomfortable with the idea of me telling them, before I did. I didn’t want you tothink I was making any kind of big plans about our relationship withoutdiscussing it with you.”

C.C. thought that over. That did make sense, and it touchedher again to know that he’d only been thinking of her. He was better than shedeserved, a lot of the time. But she was determined to make it up to him, andbe just as good to him in return.

“Oh…well, I suppose I do have to thank you for that,” shetook and gripped his hand, resting her head on his shoulder. “Knowing that theentire borough of Queens does not know my business is something of a relief.”

“I imagined it would be,” Niles said, kissing her hair andstroking her fingers with his thumb. “So, while we’re on the subject, did youwant to let the Sheffields know?”

“Well, they are still technically our closest friends. Theydo need to know eventually…” she thought aloud, before lifting her head upagain to smile at him. “Alright, let’s do it.”

“Okay,” he pecked her lips and started to smirk. “And whenwe’re done, we’ll call the Sheffields.”

C.C. swatted his arm playfully, “Oh, stop it!”

It took a few hours for it to be late enough to call. Giventhat New York was five hours behind London, it meant a lot of waiting around.So, to pass the time, they went to the restaurant for a while – Niles picked upa shift for someone who needed to leave early, and C.C. read through somecontracts for the next play her company was putting on. All the while, she wassupplied with small treats from a dessert cart that he kept rolling past with awink.

By the afternoon, they were back at Niles’ apartment,cuddled on the sofa, with the phone pressed to Niles’ ear as it rang all theway across the ocean.

But the wait was making C.C. anxious, “Why aren’t theypicking up?”

Niles rubbed her arm comfortingly, “It’s alright, sweetheart,just give them some time – their new butler isn’t as prompt as I was.”

She scoffed, and folded her arms, “At that rate we’ll die,leaving behind children and grandchildren, before he gets to the phone!”

It was a little while longer before the dial tone stopped,and she heard the buzz of someone’s voice at the other end of the line, whichstarted Niles back into action.

“Hello, Lawrence. It’s Niles,” he said. “Is either Mr or MrsSheffield at home?”

There was another small buzz.

“Thank you,” Niles smiled pleasantly, and took the phoneaway from his ear to tell her what was happening. “He’s going to fetch MrSheffield now.”

C.C. nodded, and after a couple of seconds, anotherdifferent-sounding buzz came from the phone.

“Hello, sir!” Niles greeted his former employer cheerfully.“How are things?”

He listened for a few minutes, occasionally nodding orinjecting the odd “Mm-hm” or “I see”. But eventually the talk came around inthe direction they were both hoping it would lead to, and Niles shot her asmile.

“With me? Well, things have been simply perfect here,” hesaid. “And, I, um…have someone here who might surprise you, who wants to sayhello…”

He passed the phone over, and C.C. didn’t waste time in speaking.

“Hello, Maxwell.”

In hindsight, she should have expected the shout of surprisethat followed.

“C.C.?!”

Wincing at the volume, she held the phone away from her earmomentarily, before returning to the conversation.

“Yes, Maxwell, it’s me,” she said. “Back from the dead, asit were.”

“Back from the…what on Earth are you doing in London?! InNiles’ apartment?!” Maxwell was so confused, and apparently so annoyed, that hecouldn’t help yelling. “You know what? Stick him back on, I need to have a wordor two with him about- Fran. Fran! Give me back the phone! Give it bac-”

The other producer’s voice trailed off, becoming faint, andit was replaced by a more nasal one.

“Miss Babcock!” Nanny Fine cried. “Why didn’t ya tell us yawent to London and that ya met up with Niles?! Didn’t ya want us to know? DidNiles not want us to know?! Y’know what, don’t go away, but put him back on – Igot a few words I wanna say to him!”

By some small miracle, the woman was silent after that,clearly waiting for Niles to answer.

C.C. held the phone out to him, “It’s for you.”

Niles hesitated, “Which one is it?”

“Probably whichever one is more irate at this current momentin time,” she replied, and pushed the phone into his hand. It sounded like there was another struggle for the mansion’s phone going on down the other end.

Sighing, Niles took the phone.

“Hello?” he asked, before settling in for what was probably goingto be a quite in-depth talk. “Yes, Mr Sheffield…No, no, I was not trying toleave anybody out of the loop…Yes, we were planning on telling you both…I don’tknow when…Whenever we both felt comfortable with it, most likely…Yes, we talkedabout it this morning, that’s why we phoned this afternoon…Alright. Well, ifyou think it’s best…I see. Very well, then. We’ll explain everything inperson…”

In person? Were the Sheffields coming to London? She hadn’theard any rumours about Maxwell Sheffield coming to the West End, so if theywere coming, it was purely for this!

She’d have to ask Niles, when the call was done with.

“Alright, I’ll let her know,” he said. “Thank you…Yes…Yes,we’ll see you then…Alright…Alright. Okay…Goodbye, Mrs Sheffield.”

C.C. looked quizzical, watching as he reached over to thenearest end table and put the phone down, “I thought you were talking toMaxwell?”

“I was, at first,” he replied, a little tiredly. “There wasanother small battle for the phone, so I ended up talking to both.”

“Okay,” she leaned into him, resting her head on hisshoulder. “So, I take it they’re coming over to give us the third degree?”

“As soon as they can get a flight out here. I agreed thatwe’d have dinner with them and straighten everything out face-to-face,” Nilesturned to look at her. “That is alright, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” suddenly thinking, she straightened upand leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, looking around the room. “But,we have a minimum of twelve hours before they get here ‘cause I doubt NannyFine’ll take anything other than the first available flight, so we should startstraightening this place up a little bit.”

Niles made a thoughtful noise, and almost mirrored herposition. He still looked slightly more relaxed about the whole thing.

“Maybe a little, but there’s no need to go overboard,” hesaid, starting to rub her back. “We can take them to the restaurant for themeal.”

“Skimping on the housework, huh?” C.C. chuckled, smirking athim. “Typical.”

Niles’ hand slowed on her back, trailing playfully up anddown her spine, “I might be skimping, or I might just be very much aware thatwe’ll probably mess the place up again before they get here.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Every single room?”

“Well, you did say we have a minimum of twelve hours,” hegave her a suggestive look, leaning over to brush his lips against her ear. “Wantto mess the place up a little bit so that we have something to clean up for ourguests?”

C.C. felt a low rumble of a laugh in her throat, “Alwayslooking for an excuse to get a little dirty, aren’t you, Hazel?”

“You know me so well,” Niles kissed the patch of skin justbehind her ear.

He knew it drove her crazy, but C.C. knew she had to focus.They had guests coming in less than twenty-four hours, and she wanted to be prepared.And a part of being prepared was making sure they had clean surroundings, whichwas something Niles should have known about.

Not that she was going to reject him outright…

She stroked one finger down his cheek, all the way to hischest, “I’ll tell you what; if we get this place looking nice for theSheffields, you can help me clean up some other areas in the shower, later…”

Niles immediately got to his feet, “Where did we leave thepolish and the duster?”

C.C. laughed and grinned, joining him by standing, “That’smore like it…!”

They set to work, cleaning up little pieces when and wherethey could as quickly as possible. It was going to be really nice to see theSheffields again, even if there was going to be a lot of explaining to do, andthey only had a short amount of time before the New York couple potentiallycame knocking down the door.