~*~

"She'll talk my ear off, I'll be dead by morning."

"Oh come now, not everyone is against you." Niles responded spitting on C.C.'s glass and rubbing it in with a drying towel, turning away from the cupboard with a smile, "Juice?"

She snorts, shaking her head, "No thanks."

Maxwell and the kids had left for some family reunion to appease his mother which of course meant not bringing Fran.

"Would you mind stopping by to check on her? Her and Val just had the fight and I don't want her to feel abandoned. "

And because he'd looked at her in that way and his thumb had been stroking her shoulder C.C. had of course breathed out a yes, dazed by the sudden scent of his cologne when he'd stepped close to give her an appreciative hug. When he'd let go, leaving her stationary in his office, her arms still holding the place where his back was she'd suddenly realized who she'd just offered to check in on.

And now here she is, having intended only to say a quick hello and somehow snared into spending three days at the Sheffield residence surrounded by a snarky butler and a nanny with the fashion sense of a Queens hooker. Great.

"Now now it won't be all that bad. You can stay up late telling horror stories. I've always wanted to know how your mother and father met."

~*~

And despite all instinctual urges to fight or flee C.C. survives. Without any Sheffield's to tend to or older Fines to cook for Niles had retired early to Maxwell's Jacuzzi tub, leaving her and Fran to their own devices for the moment. After having been stuck in the wine cellar together where Fran had pleaded to do her hair C.C. trusts her enough not to butcher it on repair. She sits on the floor in one of Frans' turquoise colored robes as the nanny's fingers thread through her short locks, the soap channel playing and the remnants of chocolate soufle and a bottle of white wine on the coffee table.

"Ya know, I really don't understand why Jessica won't just have Luke's baby. I mean whose she afraid of losing him to? The guy's an astronaut, what he's gonna shack up with a martian?"

"Oh please I barely even watch these things and its obvious he's still in love with her twin sister."

"Are ya kidding me, no way. Veronica is a total slut." Fran shook her head, "No decent guy would ever go for a woman dressed like-ohmygod ohmygod I have that skirt in blue!"

C.C. tilted away from the brunette's fingers, eyebrows raised at Fran's obvious glee. The other woman was obviously imbalanced, had one of those three letter word disorders that were just a nice of way of saying dumb as a rock at the bottom of the ocean. A commercial began and Fran was once again distracted, pulling C.C. back against her crossed legs and humming as she reached for a hair tie.

Thirty minutes later the television played in the background while Fran explains how she'd learned to do cornrows as C.C. focuses on un threading the tightly woven braids. Fran's own hair is laid flat on the carpet, deflated after the shower Fran had taken earlier and curling over her bare shoulder.

Wait…bare?

"You know Ms. Babcock I just don't get it." she whines, pushing the robe fully over her shoulders and placing it beneath her head.

"Get what Nanny Fine?" C.C. loosens another braid successfully

"Why I don't have any friends. Val said it's because I'm selfish. Me!"

She shrugs, "Well, you do have a tendency to whine a lot."

"Whaaaat? What do mean I whine?" she cries, lifting up abruptly.

C.C. rolls her eyes, dropping her hands from her hair momentarily. "You're kidding me right?" the nanny frowns, " 'Why don't I have a boyfriend?' 'why won't visa extend my limit' 'Maxwell I broke a heel' 'Maxwell I don't have a date to my high school reunion'. It's always me me me me me with you. I'm not surprised Max hired you, you're as self involved and oblivious to every one around you as he is."

"That's not fair!" Fran stands up, arms crossed, "I care a lot about other people."

"Oh you do not." C.C. remains seated

"I do too!"

"What's Nile's last name?"

Fran's teeth clench, anger alight in her eyes if C.C. bothered to look up "That's not fair! Nobody knows his last name!"

"Okay then besides for taking care of little Macy what exactly do you do for anyone around here?"

"I-I I give advice." C.C. crosses her arms too now, leveling a skeptical sneer up at the other woman, "I do! The kids love me. I sometimes help Mr. Sheffield with his plays and I….oh would you stop looking at me like that!" She dropped down onto the couch, "Maybe I am selfish. The only things I care about are my own needs. Any time I talk to someone it's so that I can ask them a favor. No wonder Val dropped me. I'm a horrible friend."

This should have been enough for C.C., seeing Fran like this. Goodness knows if it were Niles complaining he didn't have any friends she would have giggled herself faint and gone to some bar to buy a round of drinks to keep herself in the good mood. But Fran, she just looks so pathetic. Her face in her hands, fingers rubbing at her face and smearing her makeup. Her negligee, hardly comfortable wear, is crumpled around her stomach as she leans forward, her hair falling over her face and flat at the back from when she was lying down.

C.C. bites her lower lip and with a loud dramatic sigh sits next to the nanny, placing a hesitant hand on Fran's shoulder and patting it once.

"Oh come on Ms. Fine, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm not-I'm not crying." the other woman mumbles through choked sobs.

C.C. tries patting her shoulder again, leaving her hand there this time, "There there just calm down. Being selfish isn't such a bad thing. Look at me, I only care about looking out for number one and look where it's got me."

"Single, blond and desperate?"

C.C. glares, "No. I am one of the most well known names on the business side of the acting world. Maxwell is not the only one I handle things for, I attended one of the best law schools in the country and I did it by looking out for M-E me and no one else. C.C. Babcock uses other people, other people do not use C.C. Babcock."

"Aint that the truth." Both women jump as Niles appears at the top of the stairs, a towel wrapped around his head and one of Maxwells' robes covering his body. He starts down, removing the towel and eyeing them suspiciously, waving a hand between them, "I'm sorry was I interrupting something?"

A completely uncalled for blush begins to crawl up the blonde's neck and she pulls the robe tighter around herself, snatching her other hand away from the warm flesh, "Of course not. I was just handling the emotional basket case that is Nanny Fine until I was rescued. She's all yours, please."

"Um, Ms. Babcock?" Fran reaches for C.C.'s wrist as she moves to stand up, looking up at her with watery eyes, "Thank you."

"Yes, whatever. I'll be sleeping in the guest room."

"Are you sure, I can always dust off your favorite coffin." Niles puts in

"I bought a new one, the other was getting as old as your jokes."

They exchange smirks and Niles turns away from the staircase opening his mouth to ask what's wrong just as Fran begins to whisk the wine bottle and plates into the kitchen.