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What I Did For Love

~~o0o~~

Niles felt a smooth, worm hand tracing circles on his cheek while a sweet voice echoed inside the endless darkness calling desperately his name and willing him to open his eyes. In the background he could hear an odd mixture of noises and voices that slowly became louder and louder as his mind began to slowly drifting toward consciousness. Somehow he managed to distinguish two voices, one male, one female, they seemed to saying something, but his brain was very tired to registering what it was clearly, something about 911 and an ambulance. Soon his mind focused again on the person to whom the soft hand belonged. Although he couldn't hear the person's voice clearly, yet, there was something familiar in the way the hand touching his cheek, something so oddly familiar that Niles could have sworn he had experienced that same tough before. With a great effort, slowly he forced his eyes open, but the person must have noticed because the movement of his or her hand suddenly stopped. His vision was blurred so he blinked a couple of times to get his eyes to adjust faster. Once his vision cleared a little he found himself staring up into the most beautiful set of ocean blue eyes he had ever seen, slightly covered by short hanging strand of blond hair that had fallen into her face.

"Miss Babcock?" He croaked out with disbelieve once he found his voice. He tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but a sharp pain shot through his chest restricted his movement. He cried out in pain and fell back onto the ground, clutching his chest in agony.

"Hush, don't try to move." C.C. whispered gently. Her eyes were filled with pain and fear mirroring his own eyes.

There was blood all over the ground, all around him. His vision was still a little blurred and he couldn't clearly see it, but he knew it was there. He could smell it. He could feel it.

C.C. looked at Nile's wound with worry. She had never seen so much blood coming out of such a small wound in her life. She knew that she had to stop the bleeding somehow and fast. She quickly looked around trying to find something to put pressure on Niles's wound with, but she found nothing, so not knowing what else to do she pressed her hands down at the wound as hard as she could, hoping it would be enough to stop the bleeding. She had seen this in the movies. It always worked in them.

"It hurts…" Niles complained clenching his teeth in order to keep himself in check.

"I know it hurts, but the paramedics will be here soon and then you'll be fine, alright?" She replied firmly, but she wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to herself.

He shook his head in agreement, but deep inside him he knew that was probably already too late then closed his eyes for a moment trying to hold back his tears, but it became harder to do as his mind flashed back to the previous events.

"He did it, didn't he?" He whispered as the realization hit him.

C.C. didn't reply, just nodded her head in silent confirmation. Her arms were shaking and she wasn't sure if it was from the pressure she was putting on his wound or from the fear that she was going to lose him, but she was sure of one thing, for the first time in her life she was scared, really scared. She swallowed hard, her throat was painfully dry."You shouldn't have done what you did. Not for me." C.C. said her voice shaking slightly.

Niles' soft blue eyes locked into C.C's dark blue ones. "I couldn't let anything happen to you!" He admitted.

"It's all my fault, my fault." She repeated over and over again as a wave of guilt washed over her.

Niles didn't even need to think before speaking. "Miss Babcock, please stop. It's not your fault. It was never in your hand or control. If anything this is my fault, my choice not yours…and I can assure you that if I had to do it all over again…I wouldn't have done anything different at all." He whispered and then stopped as a fresh wave of pain washed over him. The pain in his chest was unbearable and he felt like his lungs were on fire. He coughed several times, having trouble getting some air into his lungs.

The sight was unbearably painful, C.C. felt her own eyes moisten but she didn't cry, she refused to do that, because crying would make it all real, crying would be the same as admitting to him and herself that he was dying. She closed her blue eyes for a moment and wished with all her heart to hear him laugh and tell her that it was all another of his nasty pranks and everything was okay. Her eyes suddenly snapped open when Niles raised his hand and gently cupped her face. He slowly brought it closer to his face before he pressed a soft kiss on her lips. In the past, he wouldn't have dared to do something so bold, well at least no sober, but this time somehow it felt right. Deep down he expected her to draw back, but to his surprise she didn't, instead she kissed him back.

"C.C., I know how you feel about Maxwell and I don't expect you to say it back…but I want you to know that I…" Niles started to say, when they finally break apart, but she stopped him placing her finger against his lips. She knew what he was about to say and she couldn't let him say it. Not now, not like that.

"Later." She whispered. His eyes had a hint of disappointment, and C.C. knew that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"We don't have later C.C…it's now or never." Deep down he knew he was probably going to die and yet he wasn't so much afraid of death, everybody dies after all, as he was afraid of not saying to her about his feeling.

Suddenly his eyes started to feel heavy and he struggled to keep them open.

She put her soaked in his blood hand over his and squeezed it slightly. "Niles?"

With much effort, he opened her eyes again but only for a moment, he couldn't keep them open for long. "Hmm?"

Without really thinking, C.C. found herself asking, "You're going to stay with me, right?" Her voice was soft, yet mixed with concern and fear.

"I'll try," He whispered, weakly, but he knew that he didn't sound all that convincing. "No!" She exclaimed, practically shouting the word. "Promise me that you will stay with me." A single tear ran down her cheek and into his pale face. "Promise me, Niles."

Niles laced his fingers with hers, and with what little strength he had, squeezed her hand back. "I promise you that I will try."

**** Flashback ****

"Goodnight, Maxwell, I'll see you tomorrow," C.C. yelled, walking out of the mansion.

"Goodnight C.C., drive safely." Maxwell yelled back. He couldn't have C.C. and Niles working in the same room when they couldn't even get along for two minutes without fighting with each other. So, he had sent her home for the day.

C.C. gently wrapped her arms around herself trying to stay warm, but nothing seemed to take away the chill. Winter had started for good and the temperature was incredibly low. Shivering she pulled her coat tightly around her body and began to walk faster toward the parking lot. She'd had a particularly stressful day and now all she wanted to do was get home, have a nice hot, bubble bath and then go to bed.

Just before she reached her car she scrambled though her purse and found her car keys. She pulled out the keys and inserted the car key into the lock to unlock her door, but just before she heard the confirmatory click they fell to the ground. "Shit!" She cursed out loud as she bent to the ground to retrieve the keys she had dropped. A dark figure to her left caught her eye and her hand jerked causing her keys to fall in the ground again with a loud clink. She quickly turned around, but no one was there. She shook her head, and let out a small laugh. Oh you really get paranoid. She thought to herself. She bended down for second time and pick them up again. She had no time to react when she felt a hand grab her arm and spin her around roughly. Her blue eyes widened, she wasn't prepared for this.

A/N: Please review and let me know if I should continue this story or not. Thanks:)

To be continued?