Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the characters of "The Nanny", I'm just taking them out for a spin. This one-shot covers the events immediately after Niles and CC faint in the hospital in the episode "The End of the Nanny" from Season 6.
Niles came back to consciousness confused about where he was and what had happened. He kept his eyes closed for a moment as he took stock of his body. He could feel he was laying down flat on a hard surface like the floor. It felt like there was a weight sitting on the left side of his chest, and he could feel his heart racing a mile a minute. *Oh God, not another heart attack!* He began to bring his left hand up to rest on his chest, when it ran into something resting on top of his heart. He felt a shoulder and hair and realized the weight he felt was someone lying on his chest. He slowly blinked his eyes open to see a ceiling and Margaret, Brighton, and Grace dressed in hospital scrubs staring down at him with goofy smiles on their faces. In an instant, he had a flashback that explained why he was lying on the floor.
Standing at the elevator door with his ear pressed against it and hearing his beloved Babcock saying, "Niles, I would love to marry you." before he forced open the doors.
CC's upset stomach, thought to be caused by nerves, seeming to be cured by a shotgun wedding while standing over Fran trying to give birth to her twins.
Standing next to Fran's bed when the doctor came in to tell CC she was pregnant, looking over at CC with an expression of shock that he saw reflected on her face, and both of them fainting.
His mind raced with the implications. *A baby? We're going to have a baby? At our ages?* He began to gently shake CC's shoulder, "CC.... CC wake up, naptime's over." He felt her stir against his chest and gave a silent thank you that she hadn't apparently hurt herself when she fainted. He felt a little sore - she had probably landed on him.
"Niles... did he say what I think he said?" CC whispered to him softly, he could feel her breath against his neck as she turned her head to look towards him. He glanced down her way and saw two very scared eyes looking back at him. *Poor CC - getting more than you bargained for here, aren't you?* He smiled that wry little smile that he knew she liked so much, "Hi Mommy, I'm Daddy, nice to meet you." For a second he thought she was going to pass out again as her eyes closed and she grew pale. "CC?" Her eyes fluttered open again, and there were tears in them, "I'm going to be a mother?" He slowly sat up and brought CC up with him. The Sheffield Children moved over to help them up, offering congratulations on the great news and saying how excited they must be. Niles' attention was completely on CC, who looked like she was feeling sick again. "Do you need a doctor, CC? Do you want to lay down?" She shook her head, and grabbed at his hands. "Take me home, Niles, please, take me home."
Niles put an arm around her back and brought her around the bed, stopping only long enough to tell his employer, Maxwell, that he was taking CC home and was taking the town car. It wasn't until he got out to the parking lot that he realized he wasn't sure where exactly she wanted to go. "CC, do you want me to take you to the Sheffields or to your penthouse?" She looked at him blankly for a moment before saying, "The penthouse." Niles felt disappointed that she didn't want to come to his home, but understood that she probably needed the familiar setting of her place right now very badly. Her entire world had been turned on it's ear in a matter of hours; she went from being single to being married to the butler and expecting a child. *My child* The thought warmed him inside. He thought he couldn't be happier than hearing CC finally say yes to his marriage proposal, but this feeling, knowing he was going to be a father, was even more amazing, and admittedly surprising. He helped her into the front seat of the car, and then hurried over to the driver side. He glanced at CC several times on the way over to her penthouse apartment. She had her head tilted back, resting with her eyes closed, one hand lying on her still flat stomach, and the other clenched sitting on her leg. They hadn't any opportunity to talk about the details about how their lives would change as a married couple - and now they were expecting a child as well?
CC's mind had alternated between racing a mile a minute and complete blankness since she woke up lying on the floor, pillowed by Niles' chest. When the urge to throw up had disappeared once she and Niles were married, she was certain that it was just nerves. She knew her mother would have a fit when she heard she had married a domestic, but what Nanny Fine had said in that elevator made such sense to her. She would never find out if she was meant to be with Niles if she didn't take a chance. She loved Niles, and she knew that he loved her - he wouldn't have asked her to marry him five times if he didn't. But a baby - her having a baby? She remembered Nanny Fine laying on the floor of the elevator, holding her swollen belly and screaming with the pain of the contractions and pictured herself in that position less than 9 months from now, and it scared her to death. The only thing that made her feel better was knowing she would have the most wonderful man in the world by her side through it all. She turned her head towards him and opened her eyes. Niles was focused on driving, but at the next red light, turned to look at her and caught her looking at him. "Are you all right?" She smiled, "I'm just fine, Butler Boy, just been a day full of surprises for me and it's sort of knocked me for a loop." She could see Niles biting at his lip, holding back a retort. She laughed, that sulty, sexy laugh that she knew drove him crazy. She unclenched her left hand and rested it on his right thigh. "Are you all right? This has to be as shocking to you as it is to me." He gave her that wry smile before starting to drive again, "Well, it's not something we really talked about or planned on, so it's definitely a surprise. When do you think....?" He let the question trail off and CC gave his leg a squeeze before whispering, "Home Depot".
Niles blushed, something CC found just adorable. She never would have guessed that under that reserved British exterior was a man capable of almost animal passion that was more than a match for her own, which she had only truly discovered in his arms. When the urge struck them, they had to be together NOW, no waiting for a quiet or safer place. When Yetta (of all people, Yetta!) suggested the aluminum sheds at Home Depot, her mind had raced with the image of them together there. She had called Niles immediately, not only to let him know they weren't a secret any more, but to share the sinful image with him, knowing that it would drive him absolutely mad to be over in England and unable to act on it. When he returned, she had picked him up from the airport and they had gone directly to the nearest Home Depot they could find to act out on the fantasy. In their eagerness, they had forgotten to use any protection. It really hadn't even occurred to them. She had never had a maternal urge, given her unpleasant childhood and lack of connection with the Sheffield Three, she had never given much thought to being a mother herself. She had really thought that she was too old to be having a baby. Her hand tightened on his leg again, "Tomorrow I'll call my regular doctor for an appointment and get in as soon as possible." Niles dropped one of his hands from the steering wheel to rest on top of hers on his leg, "I'm going with you, so you let me know when it is. I'm going to be there for you every step of the way, I don't want to miss a single thing." *I'm sure this will be considered a high risk pregnancy because of her age, I've got to be ready for anything. Not that I'm a spring chicken myself. Oh my god, a baby! Wait, what if she doesn't want it?* Now Niles felt a little sick to his stomach, he had just assumed she would go to her doctor to start preparing to have the baby. What if she didn't? He hesitated to ask, but needed to know. "CC, you do want the baby, don't you?" CC looked down at her hand, resting on her stomach, and pictured a little CC or a little Niles in there and smiled before whispering, "Yes, Niles. I never wanted one before, but now that I'm having one, I want it very, very much."
The rest of the drive to CC's penthouse was made in silence, with Niles keeping his hand holding hers as much as possible. He parked the car, and came around to help her out and started to walk her up to her apartment. When they got to her door, he hesitated, uncertain what to do. *Does she want me to join her, I am her husband now, or does she want to be alone to digest all of this news?* She started to step through the door, but he held her arm, "Wait, we don't want to mess with tradition, do we?" She turned back and frowned, "What do you mean?" He smiled, "I'm supposed to carry you over the threshhold of our new home, aren't I? I'll probably need to call for a crane, but tradition is tradition." She smiled at his joke, a long standing one about her weight, and shook her head, and he began to worry. *Was she having second thoughts now? Did I mess things up by making the crane joke?* "We're only staying here the night. I'll pack a bag and go home with you tomorrow. You can carry me across the threshold of your room - if you think you're up for it." He grinned in delight, "You're coming back to the house with me?" She laughed, "Of course, lover, where else would a wife live but with her husband? Nanny Fine will need your help with the babies, it wouldn't make sense for us to live here and commute over there every day. I just thought that for our wedding night, we should have a bit of privacy, and I'll need to take some clothes and things and Chester of course. I'm sure we'll be welcome to stay there until the move to California. Now, come make love with your wife." Her voice had dropped in pitch and grown husky, just as it had when she told him to "Call me CC" after he pulled her out of the elevator. Niles followed CC through the doorway, and they prepared to start their new life together as man and wife with a night of passion never to be forgotten.
After their energy was spent, they lay in her large bed, spooned together with his chest to her back. They often slept this way after making love in a bed. Normally he rested his right arm on her hip, but this time, he brought it up higher to rest his hand on her bare stomach. He began to move it gently in slow circles. "Babcock and the Butler made a baby," he whispered into her ear, his awe at this news evident. She shivered as his hand rubbed her skin, and shifted to lay on her back so she could look him in the eyes. "What are we going to do, Butler Boy? Where are we going to live when we get out to California?" Her fears were starting to creep back, and could be heard in her voice. He continued to rub her stomach and propped himself up on an elbow to look down at his lovely wife, who looked in desperate need of reassurance, and a plan of action. "Well, are you all right with living with a mere domestic?" She swatted at him with a hand, "There is nothing mere about you." He chuckled, "The Sheffields will need me more than ever with the twins and all the changes that moving to California will bring." She tilted her head back as he began to nuzzle at her neck, "So where will we live?" He pulled back from her, a small frown on his face, "Well, there are servants quarters near the kitchen, similar to what I have here. That's where I had planned on living. Unless they add additional staff, there are a lot of rooms for just me. Perhaps..." She turned to look at him, "Perhaps what?" He took a deep breath, "Perhaps Mr. Sheffield will let us remodel those rooms into an apartment for us and the baby. I don't like the idea of you commuting back and forth like you've always done here in New York while you're pregnant." He waited while she thought this over. *Could CC ever be happy living in servant's quarters, even if they were nice?* She sighed contentedly, "What a wonderful idea, Niles! There will already be a crew out there to work on the guest house for Nanny Fine's parents, they could do our place at the same time and we could stay in a guest room in the meantime. We'll talk to Max about it tomorrow." He couldn't contain the grin at hearing her call it "our place". They settled back down and drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, both dreaming of their new home and new family.