Chapter Text
Passing by the office, CC overheard Maxwell on the phone, probably talking to someone about next week's backers' showcase. She went over her mental checklist, but other than some personal messages to their most valued partners, everything was ready. Maxwell was probably calling one of his contacts about the event, otherwise he would have left it to CC.
CC suddenly froze in her tracks, feeling a chill run up her spine, when she heard Maxwell say ' don’t worry, she knows. She’ll behave. Great, looking forward to seeing you next week, Charles. ' His words brought CC back to one of the most humiliating moments in her career.
~~~
Even though she’d been to many afterparties before, CC was nervous. After the recent string of flops, they really needed to keep all their remaining backers on board. This show had potential, CC was hoping for a successful run of at least a few months, and she really needed to convey that confidence to the audience. Everything was going smoothly. The food was delicious, the wine expensive, and the location stellar. All she had left to do before relaxing was deliver her speech to thank the backers personally, and then she could mingle and have a glass of wine.
Maxwell signaled to her and led her to one side of the modest podium. "Did you prepare? Do you have all the names? You have to mention everybody, we really need this to go well. We can’t afford to lose any more backers."
CC felt the warmth rising to her neck. As if she didn’t know. Of course she’d prepared. She’d made the cue cards just last night, cross-referencing the backers list with the guest list of the party. Names would never be her strong suit, but being meticulously prepared more than made up for it.
"Yes, Maxwell, I am well aware. I have my cue cards right…" CC reached into her bag and immediately realized something was wrong. Everything was sticky. She closed her eyes, praying she was imagining things, praying it was just some spilled wine, even though she already knew it was no use. She opened her eyes and pulled back her hand, which was covered in a cold, slimy substance. Her cue cards were ruined. The ink had smudged, and half of them were stuck together. She felt her heart rate increasing and her breath getting shallow. She closed her eyes, and got her breath under control.
"CC? What is this?" Maxwell interrupted her.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. "There’s… something in my bag." She stuck her hand back in, and found some solid… fragments? She took them out. Eggshell. There had been a raw egg in her purse. Maybe more than one. And she knew exactly how it got there.
Yesterday, before leaving the house she had left her bag on the kitchen counter. She had forgotten some paperwork in the office and had left her bag, unsupervised with Niles in the kitchen. She’d noticed his sly grin when she’d returned, but hadn’t thought much of it. If she got paranoid anytime he looked at her like that, she would never have any peace.
"It is… was an egg. Niles must’ve…" CC started, before Maxwell interrupted her.
"Now is not the time for unfounded accusations CC. You have to go on and give your speech."
Maxwell took a napkin off a nearby table and handed it to CC while turning her to the podium.
Looking back, CC had no idea how she managed to contain the panic. She didn’t mind giving a speech, but without her cue cards? Maxwell had already announced her, so there was no time left. So she gave the speech. She did well. Not good. Which became clear very soon after she had returned from the bathroom where she had finally been able to wash her hands.
She was immediately cornered by Charles Whitney, one of their most important backers, known for both his big contributions and his incredible ego. CC never liked him, he was always just a bit too handsy and he didn’t like the word no, but Maxwell didn’t want to lose the money he brought to the table. And as soon as she saw him coming towards her, she knew what she’d done wrong. Her heart sank. She had forgotten to thank him, and if there was one thing he loved the most about backing a Sheffield production, it was being extensively thanked and praised in public, in front of his peers. With all the stress and commotion of losing her cue cards, she had overlooked him.
Before she could say anything Whitney started in on CC, raising his voice ever louder. About how he deserved a mention, and maybe he should find a different producer. Maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber would value him more, would know how rare such a sizable investment was in unproven shows. Did CC and Maxwell realize how much money he had lost over the last few years? Was this how his loyalty was being repaid?
CC apologized any time she could get a word in, but the man refused to listen. The commotion was drawing the attention of the other guests, and soon Maxwell rushed towards them. He placed his hand on Mr. Whitney’s shoulder and brought him to a private area at the rear of the venue. CC followed.
Maxwell calmed him down, and soon they were talking about ways to 'resolve' the situation. Neither man included CC in the conversation.Maxwell offered Whitney a byline in the Playbill and any upcoming advertising, as well as at any future show in which he invested. He would also receive an additional percentage return. Hoping that was enough, he extended his hand to Whitney.
"I also want a private dinner with Miss Babcock." CC heard Whitney say. She widened her eyes. She caught Maxwell’s eye, and shook her head. Anything but that. CC’s heard enough rumors about him that she had been careful to never be alone with Charles Whitney. That didn’t mean he didn’t try, always brushing against her 'accidentally'. She was sure that at a private dinner, he wouldn’t feel the need to keep up the act.
Maxwell gave her a brief, dismissive nod and shook Mr. Whitney’s hand. "Of course. I’ll have my butler arrange a lovely evening for you."
Whitney turned around and walked back to the other guests. As he passed CC, he smiled, giving CC shivers.
She tried to plead with Maxwell, anything to get out of the dinner, but he dismissed her. She had messed up the speech, she had to fix it. They should be happy that billing, increased returns and a dinner was all Charles Whitney wanted to remain an investor. She could grin and bear it for one dinner, she had endured far worse in the past. When CC brought up Niles, Maxwell scoffed. Was CC really trying to shift the blame on Niles? He wasn’t even here. Sure he might have messed with her bag, but it was up to her to make sure everything was prepared well, and she hadn’t. He’d have a word with Niles in the morning.
-
The dinner had been a week after the party. It had been profoundly uncomfortable. To Niles’ credit he had arranged a dinner at a restaurant that had private booths that lacked privacy and did not have benches, making the game of keeping her distance a bit easier. But Mr. Whitney had made many references to what he wanted from her, how he could change her reputation of being a cold, frigid woman if only she joined him, and wasn’t he much better for her than Maxwell Sheffield. The later it got, the more intoxicated he became, and the more he insisted. Finally CC made it extremely clear to him that she was not interested and she would not be taking him up on his offer. When he still didn’t back down, she signaled the waiter to bring the check and asked him to hail a cab.
Charles Whitney exploded, saying he’d never invest in anything she touched again, and he would make sure that neither would anyone else. CC would do well to never forget who Charles Whitney was. CC, meanwhile, was just happy to get out of there.
-
She arrived late at the office the next morning, and Maxwell was already on the phone, offering Whitney even more to persuade him to stay. As soon as CC came in, he gestured for her to take a seat on the couch and wait for him to finish. When he hung up the phone he started in on her, asking why she couldn’t just feign interest in the man for one evening. CC tried to explain what Whitney had expected from her, but Maxwell wouldn’t hear it. Mentioning Niles, who had gotten her into this mess in the first place, just enraged Maxwell more. Niles had apologized, both to Maxwell and CC, saying he felt so bad. It had been a harmless prank, he hadn’t known she would use the bag at the event and lose her preparations. But as soon as Maxwell had his back turned he smirked at her, pleased to get away with torturing her yet again.
She let out a resigned sigh and left the office, giving Maxwell some time and space to cool down.
~~~
Maxwell had calmed down, and Charles Whitney had kept his investment in their show. Maxwell hadn’t said anything more about it, but had handled any direct communication with backers for their next show. CC knew he didn’t trust her anymore, but she just didn’t have the energy to fight him on it. Truth be told, it was quite nice to leave the sucking up to Maxwell for once.
But she had conveniently forgotten that Whitney would be on the list of potential investors for this upcoming showcase. Of course he was, Maxwell would never exclude such a source of money, no matter how unreasonably demanding the man was.
She wasn’t even angry about that. Business was business, she understood that better than most, being raised with that idiom from a very early age. No, what enraged her was Maxwell’s language. "She knows. She’ll behave." As if CC was a child to be taught manners. As if CC was an animal to be caged. As if CC was not the almost equal, and to be fair, more than equal partner in Sheffield Productions. She could accept a man like Charles Whitney being a misogynistic asshole. But hearing this from Maxwell?
Something snapped in her. Her blood ran cold, and despite her anger, she felt calm. Dangerously calm. She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. She waited for Maxwell to hang up the phone. After blowing enough hot air up Whitney’s ass, he finally did.
“Who’s afraid of little old me?” She said, in a quiet but commanding voice that would signal danger to anyone with any instinct for self-preservation. “Well, maybe you should be.”
Maxwell seemed to miss the cue though. “Afraid? What are you talking about CC?” He questioned.
“I’ll behave?” CC fixed a steady gaze on Maxwell, who was starting to squirm.
“Well, Charles wanted to make sure there would be no repeats of last time. And there won’t be, will there?” Maxwell looked like he thought he had the upper hand.
CC looked at him, and then at Niles. Turning back to Maxwell, she replied, “I don’t know. Ask him.” She gestured with her head to Niles.
“Oh, for goodness sake CC, Niles apologized. He feels bad enough for what happened.” Niles nodded in agreement, but at least he had the decency to keep quiet, recognizing CC’s anger.
“Oy what is going on?” Fran came walking by and popped her head in the office. She looked around the three adults, and when she really looked at CC, she stopped for a second. Something was happening here, and CC was almost shaking in anger. Her fists were clenched and her jaw tense. Fran looked back at Maxwell, and then Niles, who briefly gestured to the hallway with his eyes. She had interrupted something explosive, and it was time to diffuse the situation.
“Honey, let’s go get some coffee before someone here,” Fran looked at Maxwell and Niles, “says something stupid. Again, I assume.”
Maxwell started to say something but Niles put his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder, and Fran looked at him intently. At least they knew that keeping quiet was a lot safer at the moment.
“You two stay here, calm down a bit.” Fran told them before turning around and leaving with CC.
-
Fran led CC to the kitchen, where she sat down at the table while Fran poured them both a fresh cup of coffee. Fran handed CC her cup before sitting down next to her.
“What was that all about?” Fran started. She tried to keep her tone light, but felt like she was approaching a cornered animal, ready to lash out at any wrong move. She didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. She’d seen CC angry many times before, CC famously hated dealing with emotions but had no trouble getting emotional. However, seeing CC as angry as she was now…that was rare. Dangerous.
CC sighed and briefly closed her eyes. She needed to get her nerves under control.
“What do you know about what happened with Charles Whitney at the thank you party for our last show?” CC asked Fran, wondering what Maxwell and Niles had told her.
Fran thought for a second.
“Uhm, that something went wrong with your speech and you forgot to thank him, and he was insulted, so you took him out to dinner?”
Fran understood CC likely felt embarrassed as a professional for making such a mistake, but a simple mistake probably didn’t lead to this level of anger.
CC just shook her head.
“Is that what they told you?” Fran nodded. “Want to know what actually happened? Because sure, that’s not wrong. There’s just a lot more to it. What went wrong with my speech is that I hadn’t noticed that Niles had put one or more eggs in my bag the day before, and I put my cue cards in there. The eggs broke and ruined my cue cards. I had to do my speech from memory, stressed about losing my work. And you know how I am with names. I forgot Charles Whitney. He was so angry, and Maxwell didn't want to lose him as an investor, so he offered him all kinds of outrageous extras for his investment. Including dinner with me.”
Fran gasped. She didn’t interact much with the backers because Mr. Sheffield didn’t trust her with them, but Charles Whitney had been hard to avoid. Always making lewd remarks about the way she looked and what that must mean for what she did with men. Always trying to touch her. Niles knew this happened and warned her to get out of the house if Whitney had an appointment, but he also showed up unannounced. She had mentioned it to Maxwell once, but he had dismissed her, that it probably was in her head, Whitney was just a friendly fellow.
A faint smile appeared on CC’s face when she heard Fran’s gasp. Fran understood.
“The dinner was as unpleasant as you can imagine. The more he drank, the fewer boundaries he had, and he didn’t have many to begin with. When I finally refused him completely and left, he got angry again. The next morning Maxwell offered him even more incentives to keep him. I tried to explain to Maxwell what had happened, but he didn’t care to listen. In his mind this is all my fault. And now he was on the phone with Whitney, promising that I’ll behave. Behave. Like I’m a fucking puppy being house-trained.”
Fran was shocked about the disrespect Maxwell was showing CC. She knew their working relationship wasn’t always very easy, but to be dismissed like that about something so serious as sexual harassment? She put her hand on CC’s and squeezed it.
“I’m so sorry Miss Babcock, I didn’t know.”
CC looked at Fran.
“It’s fine. It’s just… To think this all started because of a prank that Niles pulled to hurt me.”
Fran smiled uncomfortably. CC wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Niles didn’t know your speech would be in the bag with the eggs. I don’t think he did it to hurt you.”
CC pulled her hand back. She felt angry again. She should’ve known that Fran would side with her friend Niles. Again she was the crazy one.
“But what if he did?”
But what if he did.
Fran realized it was actually insane that she was willing to readily excuse Niles' behavior. Even if he didn’t know CC would use the bag for her speech, he still ruined her bag. Who does that to another adult?
“Oh.”
CC looked down to the cup of coffee she was trying to draw some comfort and warmth from.
“I know I’m always the butt of the joke. I know that I’m fearsome, and wretched. And wrong. Sometimes I wonder when I'll break? When it will be one more joke, so they can all just laugh. Until I cry.”
Fran put her arm around CC. She swallowed, because she knew she had been a part of this too, she had often made snarky remarks to CC and joined in Niles’ insults. When she first arrived at the house it seemed the normal thing to do, everybody, even the children, treated CC like… someone to insult. And Fran had just… participated. She had seen CC as a stereotypical WASP, a rich, privileged and out of touch bitchy woman. Had never given it much thought to be honest.
“I’m sorry.” Fran said, earnestly.
CC felt the tears gather, but she would not cry. Not here. Never here in this house. This… asylum almost, where she was stuck with the other nutjobs of the Sheffield family.
“Some days I just want to…express the anger I feel. To show how disturbed this is making me. I wonder how long any of you would last if you were treated the same, day in and day out. All the time. And then to have the image that I am the villain? You know I wasn’t always… like this. I used to be… friendly.”
“Why don’t you get angry then? I mean, with Mr. Sheffield and Niles and me? Why don’t you fight back? You’re normally not one to back down so easily.”
Fran couldn’t really understand it. CC was one of the most powerful and independent women she knew. Fran always admired how things never seemed to faze her. But maybe she’d been wrong about that, and CC just had been better at hiding her true feelings.
“What good would it do? What would it accomplish? I like what I do for a living. I am good at it. If I get angry at Maxwell, really angry, he’ll shut me out. He’ll never reprimand Niles, they go way back. And Maxwell never took it seriously anyway. And he doesn’t see everything, Niles is always so sneaky about it. It’s a futile fight. I can’t fight back and stay.”
CC just shrugged. It had been like this from almost the beginning, and nothing would ever change. She had accepted it, and when she had calmed down from this latest insult, she would accept it again.
Fran wasn’t having it . She couldn’t believe that CC would just… give up. She couldn’t stand injustice, and the fact that she’d been a part of it made her more passionate to retaliate.
“But you can at least set some boundaries. That dinner Mr. Sheffield forced you to go on was crossing a hundred lines.”
CC admired Fran’s optimism, but it just didn’t work like that.
“Don’t you think I’ve tried that? Any boundary I set is just ignored and crossed until I let go. Because the business needs it. Because I’m being unreasonable. Because I need to remember that not everything is about me.”
Fran could imagine exactly this happening. Being empathetic wasn’t one of Mr. Sheffield’s strongest suits.
“And then you fight.”
CC shrugged.
“Yeah I fight. I get angry. You just saw how well that works. Like I said. I can’t fight back and stay. They know I won’t leave anyway.”
“Why not? Why would you stay if that’s the way everybody treats you?”
Surprised, CC looked at Fran.
“Didn’t you hear me? I love my job.”
“Yeah, and you’re amazing at it. Why do you need Maxwell though? He doesn’t appreciate all you do, you could run your own company without any trouble. You basically do that here anyway.”
CC huffed. That was true, and it was nice to know Fran noticed.
“True, but I’m not good at the social stuff. I can flatter anyone if necessary, but they know I’m not sincere. When push comes to shove, I’d much rather lose a backer than compromise my integrity,” CC gave a low laugh, “That’s Maxwell’s forte.”
Fran joined the laughter. CC was right, Maxwell would do a lot if it meant keeping a backer, director or actor.
“So, I’ll be your personality hire.”
CC looked confused.
“You know, I can’t contribute much to the company in your day-to-day. But if somebody needs to be schmoozed, or coddled, or you need something kind of discreet… I know people. I get things done. A personality hire.”
Fran smiled brightly at CC. “Maybe I’ll need a new job soon. I have just realized that my current work environment is actually very toxic. Working for Mr. Sheffield suddenly lost its sheen if he’s willing to treat you like this. I don’t know if I want to support that.”
CC wondered if her eyebrows had raised so far that they had reached her hairline. She couldn’t believe what Fran was saying. She would leave the Sheffields for CC? Because of what they did to CC? And then help CC in this hypothetical new company CC would run?
“You would… you would do that for me ?”
Fran gave CC an awkward side hug.
“Of course I would. I feel terrible about not looking closer at what was happening here, for not stopping the kids when they did it too. And for not taking better care of you.”
CC was fast losing the battle against the tears. Going from being disappointed and unvalued by Maxwell yet again, almost losing her cool, to finding… a friend? In Nanny Fine of all people?
“I… I haven’t been too nice to you either.” CC started, but Fran interrupted her.
“Water under the bridge. Forget about it. Let’s just do better in the future. What do you say to a little bottomless brunch? I have a feeling it would do us both good to get out of this house for a while. Maybe safer for the men too.” Fran laughed and waggled her eyebrows.
CC laughed with her. “Yeah, let’s go. My treat.”
-
About an hour later, Maxwell and Niles deemed it safe to leave the office. They passed through the empty living room to the kitchen, but that was empty too. The only proof that the two women of the house had been there were two half-empty cups of now cold coffee with lipstick on the rim.