Hello, Hello!^^ Ok first of all: I have Internet here. YAY! lol So I should be able to update...depending a bit on my social life. lol Um...yeah, this is a new story...lol That has happened over the past 2 weeks...and um...I sorta know where I'm going with it...but "Dismantling Ourselves" is my priority, so don't expect an update on this one all too soon. I just basically posted this to get some feedback on how you like it, if you want more . So yeah...leave me reviews and let me know!;)

Disclaimer: Niles and C.C. and the rest aren't mine, Sue and Henry are!:)

The Fabric of Love

Chapter 1:

C.C. Babcock gloomily looked out of the windows as she walked along the long corridors of the airport, dragging her suitcase behind her. Unlike the Nanny and the Broadway producer in front of her she wasn't excited at all about this trip. Heathrow airport, she mused, was as hectic and unorganised as Newark or JFK. The weather outside was difficult to judge, for the sky was of a pale blue colour and the view was further obscured by wafting thin clouds. But fortunately it wasn't raining. Wordlessly she exited the airport after her business partner and his wife and then joined them in a taxi.

"So where does he live again?" the brunette asked, who was sitting squashed in the middle between her and Maxwell, while a huge suitcase rested on the front seat.

"Winchester," he offered patiently while C.C. rolled her eyes.

She couldn't count anymore how often the brunette had asked that very question.

"They all sound alike," Fran whined, giving her an angry glare "Manchester, Winchester..."

"Just that one's in the north and the other one in the south." C.C. commented dryly.

A couple of minutes later they arrived in front of the railway station and Maxwell paid the driver, adding a generous tip for the Nanny's make-up case, while C.C. lifted her own case out of the boot.

"Do we really have to take the train, Maxwell?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.

"It's the easiest way," he smiled happily "the train will stop directly at Winchester and Niles will pick us up there."

"Ugh, why couldn't Rochester have moved to a town that's actually reachable by car?"

"That's another one," the brunette pointed out triumphantly "see, all these names are very confusing!"

"Yes, if one's brain is the size of a pea, maybe." C.C. muttered under her breath and proceeded into the station where Maxwell was already purchasing tickets.

The train was full when they entered and while Fran used her favourite excuse ( "I'm pregnant with twins!") to reserve two seats for her and her husband, C.C. found herself uncomfortably close to an older gentleman who smelled of cabbage and a teenage girl who kept blowing bubbles with her gum, so close to her that C.C. could have popped it with her nose. But after a couple of minutes the steady rumbling of the train had calmed her enough to stop her inner rants and she allowed her thoughts to drift off. Four years had passed since the butler had quit his position at the Sheffield residence, four long years of silence. At first she had been thrilled, of course, her arch nemesis out of the way; it had felt like she had secured victory for good and without the nosy, mingling butler she had been certain that her chances of winning over Maxwell had increased. But nothing of the kind had happened in the end; Maxwell had married the trampy Nanny and C.C. had been left feeling more alone than ever. Maxwell had only started talking to Niles again after the wedding, finally giving in to Fran's pleas. And slowly their friendship had manifested itself again, something that seemed to have got lost over the years of boss and employee. C.C. frowned, trying to remember what had transpired to make Niles quit, but she doubted to have ever known, apart from the fact that it had ended in a fight.

After over an hour of standing in a crowded train with the edge of her suitcase painfully bumping against her thigh, not even the very fashionable Prada heels she wore could stop her feet from aching. She was tired, exhausted and short-tempered, all in all not a particularly promising mood to meet the butler again after all these years. The platform at Winchester station was slick with rain but the air was mild and smelled fresh. C.C. closed her eyes and inhaled deeply for a moment, before hurrying after the others as quickly as her heels-clad feet would allow. The small station was full of people who, like herself, had just exited the train and so large queues were forming at the gates. Tapping her fingernails impatiently against the handle of the suitcase C.C. finally noticed an opening at one of the smaller gates, that was only for regular passengers without any luggage. Stubborn and frustrated as she was, however, she chose to ignore it and shoved her ticket into the slit, marching through the gate. But of course only she herself managed to walk through it while her suitcase got stuck on the other side, when the gate closed again. C.C. cursed, rubbing her arm that had been pulled back with such force that it was still hurting. And then she heard it, his laugh, despite its mockery still warm and so familiar, as if four years hadn't passed since she last heard it.

"Clever move there, Babs," he commented, still laughing and she finally looked up to meet his twinkling blue eyes.

"Can it, Bellboy, and give me a hand." she growled.

His eyes still lingered on her face as if he was appraising any changes that had happened over the years. She tried to find malevolence in them but couldn't, for instead she encountered relief and satisfaction.

"I'm not your butler," he finally replied and she smirked.

"But you're still beneath me,"

She remembered many situations like this and they usually caused him to be bitter or angry, but nothing of the kind happened this time.

"You wish," he muttered under his breath and cheekily winked at her.

And before she even had the chance to rebuttal, let alone process what had just happened, he had already stepped into the small space between her and the gate, stood on his tiptoes and with great effort lifted up her suitcase over it.

"But don't expect me to carry it to the car," he was now saying, while she was merely capable of staring at him.

Finally she forced herself to move away from the gate and observed in a daze how he went on to hug the Nanny, before shaking Maxwell's hand and clapping his back comradely. He had changed somehow, grown more confident and overall more content with himself and she wasn't quite sure yet whether she liked it or not. Niles' car was a small one, but uncharacteristically she bit back any insults that would form in her mind. Somehow she felt incapable of ruining this new-found happiness he seemed to have achieved.

"I'm so glad that you decided to come and visit me for a couple of days." he said when they were all crammed into the car once more "You didn't have to."

"Damn right," C.C. muttered and then caught him grinning at her through the mirror.

"Of course we did, Mister." Fran corrected, giving C.C. another glare "It's been four years without my best friend, total hell."

"She's right, you know?" Maxwell chimed in "There hasn't been one day where Fran hasn't been whining about you leaving."

"That from the man who couldn't even concentrate on work the first couple of weeks, because the new butler hadn't got his tea just right." C.C. commented dryly.

"That's not true," Maxwell contradicted stammering "I-I...we managed...in the end."

"I didn't expect anything else," Niles replied softly.

"Oy...you Brits, why dontcha just say how much you've missed each other?" Fran exclaimed and silence ensued.

C.C. turned her attention to the city they were driving through. It showed a nice combination of old buildings and towers and new shops and restaurants, all in all something that she would label as "very British". They drove past a large Victorian school building and over a bridge and up a hill until they had left the city centre behind and were mainly surrounded by stretches and stretches of green fields. The ride didn't last very long and soon Niles was driving down a bumpy country lane towards a cottage that was small but didn't lack in beauty. By the time Niles had parked the car and they had scrambled outside, two people had emerged from inside the house. The woman was small and chubby with grey short hair that curved inwards towards her chin, but despite her age and the many wrinkles that lined her face, her eyes were youthful and sparkling with life. The man by her side was much taller and ganglier and although he seemed to eye them at first with a British reserve, he wrapped his arm around his wife as his features melted into an all too familiar crooked grin. C.C. had risked small glances over her shoulder at them while lifting her suitcase out of the car and she noticed with amusement how Maxwell almost hesitantly approached them.

"Max, my boy, come here!" the woman suddenly exclaimed and pulled him into a firm embrace which, judging by the helpless look he gave Niles, he hadn't been expecting.

"You're looking good, young man." Her husband then added, patting his shoulder in a fatherly gesture.

"Thank you Henry," Max nodded "and Sue. It is wonderful to see you again after such a long time. And this is my wife Fran."

The brunette, confident and not intimated, immediately stepped closer and hugged them both.

"Nice to meet you. And look, Niles has your eyes and your smile," she pointed out giggling.

"Yes, he's the perfect combination of us both." Sue announced proudly and stood on her tiptoes to place a loving kiss on her husband's lips.

C.C. almost laughed when she caught the slightly embarrassed look on the former butler's face, but mentally noted that his mother was right. Niles wasn't as tall as his father, nor as chubby as his mother and with her blue eyes and his father's smile, it really was a winning combination.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Henry asked, his eyes finding C.C.'s, who immediately looked away.

"Who?" Niles questioned, pretending to search the environment for anyone else.

"Niles, behave!" Sue scolded and he shifted uncomfortably, like a chastised dog.

"Yes, Butler Boy, listen to your mummy!" C.C. whispered, so that only he could hear it and then let out her trademark sultry laugh.

"This is C.C. Babcock, my business partner," Maxwell filled in.

"Ah!" Sue said in an all too knowing way, that made both Niles and C.C. feel rather uncomfortable.

"Well, let's not stand around here, the storm is coming back. Let's get you into the house where it's nice and warm and you can have a nice cup of tea. You must be exhausted."

They all muttered in agreement and soon they were all comfortably seated in overstuffed armchairs, sipping from their steaming mugs while listening to the cackling fire.

"Ya house is really homey, Mrs. Brightmore," Fran complimented and voiced what C.C. had been thinking.

"Well, we've been living here since the children were little...so it's not just a house to us, it is, as you said, a home. It's filled with memories of first words and steps, heartaches and laughter. And now that Henry and I are old and retired, it reminds us of the wonderful and blessed life we've had and how proud we are of our children." And she warmly smiled at Niles.

C.C. set her mug down with shaking hands and rose to her feet, feebly grasping for her purse.

"I'm just going to go outside for a smoke," she declared and left before anyone could stop her.

Outside, however, she kept walking, down the country road that they had come from. It had simply been too much to handle, as if seeing Niles again wasn't enough in itself. But now she had to watch his family as well, their love and support for each other so strong, although they didn't have many luxuries in life. It was mind-blowing to her how such simple people could be so perfectly content while her parents, who'd had everything, couldn't live with each other. And on top of it all Niles...with his warm understanding and rapier sharp wit. She had missed him, oh God, she had missed him. And with him so close and the memories flooding back, she hadn't been able to deny it any longer. Her shoes were painfully rubbing against the skin of her heels and losing patience she slipped out of them and trudged through the dirty in her stockinged feet in a very un-Babcock-like fashion. She needed to get away from that house, away from him, before she could read more into why she had felt such relief upon seeing him again. It was almost as if she had stopped living a bit when Niles had quit his job and left the continent and as if everything now was painfully brought back to life. And she hurt and ached with the beauty of it, causing tears of complete and utter exhilarating relief to sting in her eyes. By the time she found the nearest pub, her flesh-coloured tights were dirty and her hair was no longer in perfect order, but damp and matted against her face. Maybe that was why all eyes were on her when she flung the door open. She observed coolly that not one woman was present in the room, as she made her way to the bar.

"Yes, Miss, what can I get you?" the old bartender asked and she tried to smile.

"A Whisky, please, straight up."

"That's the only way we do it," he laughed and went to get the drink for her.

While he was gone another man approached and C.C. suddenly felt a little frightened.

"Are you alright, my dear?" he simply asked, honest concern in his voice.

"Yes...I just...underestimated the weather and the distance," she stammered pathetically.

"Alright," he nodded and squeezed her hand "just call your folks to give you a lift back. You shouldn't be out by yourself in this weather."

And he left her alone again, causing her to notice the drink that had been placed in front of her. She wrapped her hands around it and looked at the amber liquid.

"So I see you've found your crowd!" an amused voice behind her said but she didn't turn around. "What, Babcock, no come-back? Do we have to start your training anew again?"

And he took a seat by her side. She looked at him as if saying "If you hadn't left, we wouldn't be in this mess now." but then she merely shook her head and focused on her drink once more.

"Hello Niles, what can I do for you?" the bartender asked.

"Hi Steve, I'll have whatever she's having."

She felt his eyes on her again, burning her with his questions and the need for an explanation, but she didn't offer anything.

"You could've ruined your entire outfit," he said, carefully taking a wet strand of hair between his fingers and moving it out of her eyes "and I'm sure it cost millions."

"Stop talking to yourself, Bellboy." she finally snapped and his chuckle warmed her heart.

"Oh Babs, I've missed you." he said and clinked his glass against hers.

It couldn't possibly be so easy...