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1.
The tux in the bin was odd to say the least. It hadn’t been cheap, and Maxwell knew his butler well enough to know that he didn’t just throw things away lightly. If he needed a new one, he should have just said. Maybe he could surprise him; a little thank you for giving him the nudge to re-hire the nanny.
He lifted the suit out of the bin and started looking for the measurements. At first, it didn’t seem too badly damaged. A little rip to the jacket shoulder, a busted zipper on the trousers, but nothing that couldn’t reasonably be mended. Or so he thought, until he pulled out the shirt. It had clearly been ripped open, literally. There wasn’t a single button left on it, and the fabric was torn in quite a few places, as though it had been grabbed and pulled in different directions.
What the hell had he been doing in this thing? He found the numbers on the inside jacket pocket and stuffed it back into the bin, as far down as he could get it.
Later, when CC stretched after reading a particular dull play, he caught sight of the massive hickey at the base of her neck under her shirt collar.
Oh.
2.
He saw them before Fran did, lying together on the pull out couch. He could tell from Niles breathing that he was just feigning sleep. Despite his best efforts to steer Fran away from them before she noticed anything, she caught sight of the blonde hair across the pillow.
“Aww look. Miss Babcock musta thought Niles was you, Mista Sheffield.” She giggled quietly. He thought about that for a moment. CC had relentlessly flirted with him for years now, flirts he’d successfully played dumb to, right up until that backers event. After that, he never felt the comments were directed at him. They were addressed to him certainly, but they weren’t for his benefit. It was actually a relief if he thought about it.
“That’s going to be an interesting conversation when they wake up.” He noted that they were very close. He couldn’t see hands. “I think we’re best sleeping with the children. I don’t think we want to be in the room for that one, Miss Fine.”
What he really meant was he didn’t want them to accidentally get front row seats to round two.
“But they’re so cute!” Fran whined as he steered her out of the room.
So are lions when they’re sleeping, he thought to himself.
3.
The tension between them was palpable. He’d thought the sexual tension alone was bad, but this was so much worse. CC hadn’t made eye contact with Niles since they’d got back, sticking to glares in his general direction over retorts to his jibes, and it was making him moody.
It was times like these that he really wished he was as ignorant to the situation as they thought he was.
But watching them as CC came down the stairs in that dress, Niles looking up at her as though she were a goddess, he had to acknowledge that in fact his butler was completely and utterly head over heels in love with his business partner. And judging by the way she blushed when she realised how he was looking at her, the feelings were not completely unrequited.
When Stewart had phoned and asked that Niles pick CC up, he’d been relieved, hoping that some time alone together would force them to have a conversation and maybe they can get all this out in the open. As Niles practically floated back into the house, he looked up from his book.
“You got CC home okay?” He asked casually.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, fine.” He said dreamily and wandered off to his room.
Okay so maybe they didn’t get everything out in the open, but at least they were on better terms if his mood was anything to go by. That had to be better.
5.
On second thought, maybe the tension hadn’t been so bad. Was the silent awkwardness really that bad in comparison to… to this? Whatever it was?
At this point, Maxwell felt like they were fully gaslighting him.
No Max, there’s no way I’d be sleeping with your butler. Not after I insult him and make fun of him and spend the entire day staring longingly at him then vanish for hours at a time with him. Absolutely not.
Sir, how dare you imply that I would even go near her! I wouldn’t get within 100 feet of the woman, except when I stand so close to her we may as well be having sex right there on the counter.
He loved them both, he truly did, but dear God they were going to kill him.
CC disappearing before their trip to the Shalit’s was the icing on the cake. He’d given them a solid hour to do whatever before he started to think that maybe she was stuck somewhere. After finding no trace of her in the rest of the house he made his way down to the wine cellar and noticed that the door was ever so slightly ajar.
“CC are you down here? We were supposed to leave ages ago.” He called out. Maybe she was just looking for a good bottle of wine.
“Down here, Maxwell.” Ah, so she was here. And responding so she must be alo-
“I’ll be up in a minute, but leave the door open!”
Huh, that was weird.
“Are you okay?”
It almost sounded like…
“Fine, fine, just stubbed my toe. Go on, I’ll be right behind you.”
Oh. Oh no. Nope. Nope. Not alone. Abort, abort; get out of there.
“Okay if you say so.” He hoped that they didn’t notice that his voice was at least a whole octave higher than usual as he loudly ran up the stairs and out of the kitchen.
7.
They’d been robbed. Actually that felt like putting it mildly. They’d been completely and utterly ransacked. Everything was gone, at least everything that wasn’t nailed down or locked away.
Niles had been tied to a chair and sat in the middle of the empty living room and he’d never been so glad to see the man in all his life. At least he was alive. He ran over to untie him just as CC came in. He’d forgotten that he’d made her the emergency contact for the alarm system; they must have phoned her when they couldn’t get hold of anyone.
“You two go report this; I’ll stay here and untie Niles.”
He could read between the lines, and grabbed Fran and left. Let her take care of him; he had no doubts that she would.
When he arrived home the next morning and found the note on the bannister from CC, he knew what it meant.
“Whatcha got there?” Fran asked, trying to peak over his shoulder while still keeping the phone to her ear.
“Oh just a note from Niles.” She didn’t need to know that it was from CC or the specifics. It would raise too many questions about things he was only speculating on. “He had a long day yesterday so we should probably leave him be until he gets up himself.”
That would keep her from peeking in on him and finding things she shouldn’t. When he was sure she was distracted, he went upstairs himself. To check for sure.
They were in bed, pyjamas on - and he thanked whoever was watching over him for that - with CC holding Niles protectively.
He gave a sad smile and quietly closed the door. He hoped for their sakes they could sort themselves out sooner rather than later.
8.
“We’ve been home for 3 hours; shouldn’t we wait?”
“For what? The police aren’t going to bring the stuff back!”
“Yeah but-”
“Are you telling me you don’t need to replace your entire wardrobe at Loehmann’s at my expense?”
“We’re leaving.”
“That’s what I thought.”
12pm. That should give them enough of a sleep in and they could sneak out after.
When they arrived back at the house, arms now full of shopping bags, he found Niles on the phone to a furniture warehouse, ordering replacements on everything. He smiled, and patted him on the shoulder.
9.
“That blonde must be some kinda Ninja. I never hear her comin’ in or out of our room.”
Yetta said it so casually that most people missed the comment entirely. Maxwell waited until everyone else was up either getting drinks or food.
“You’re sharing a room with CC?”
“The tall blonde? Yeah. I think so. But she’s been hanging round with Neil so who knows. Maybe she’s finally gettin’ some.”
Maxwell shook his head, confused. “Neil?”
“You know!” She slapped his arm with the back of her hand. “Neil. The house boy.”
“Ah. Yes. Of course.” House boy. Jesus. “She’s been hanging around with ‘Neil’ a lot?
“Yeah, at the high rollers. Never takes her hands off him. Me, I like my men without the gambling addiction.” She shrugged and went back to her drink.
For both Niles and CC’s sakes, he was glad that Yetta would not remember this in a short while.
11.
He felt like a worried father. Which he was, but that should only be for Maggie right now, not his butler, who was older than him by 4 years.
When he heard the light padding of feet on the carpeted stairs, he relaxed.
It wasn’t that he grudged them spending time together, especially when it wasn’t in his house. This was just unofficially their first date. And dammit he was worried. And curious. But mostly worried.
He heard other footsteps come up the front staircase and dive into Frans room, and smirked to himself. If New York’s biggest Yenta couldn’t get the truth out of the two of them, no-one could.