So I'm a terrible person who never follows through on reviewing things but my plan is to finish reviewing this and then do your newest story so just be patient, young grasshopper. Can I kidnap you and hold you hostage and just force you to write Niles/CC fic all the livelong day? You write them so well it makes my insides hurt. Like...you're the only person I know of who could make CC at a dingy dive bar work. And then the convo at the end? Come on.

"Because for once, Miss Babcock," Niles replied, "I think we have something in common." Yeah you've got something in common alright besides wanting to tear each others clothes off but we'll save that for another day, Niles. Ugh you just GET THEM. And I love you for it.

Oh, I love this! Please update soon!

Very nice. :)

I enjoyed this from start to finish! I really like your take on the Dummy Twins missing scene, and especially their discussion of why they both stayed with Maxwell over the years.

This line is one of my favorites:

["Then maybe you'll take some of mine." CC's voice cracked like a whip.]

I can just imagine her voice cracking him like a whip. Pretty sure he'd like it, too.

You write the dialogue between them in such biting, perfect terms. Love.

Yes, it turned on a surprisingly in a Dummy Twins continuation...
It was beautiful, anyway. And I was feeling strange about CC's levelheadness untill you pointed that out... Perceptive writer is perceptive!

I love this! Please continue.

This is so good. I love the backstory you've created for both CC and Niles here, but CC's is especially nice. College against her mother's will, trying to emulate her father but not sure she really wants to be like him after all... And her growing interest in Niles is well written and convincing. I also loved the bit at the bar, and CC's obvious pleasure at creating a narrative for herself-and Niles seeing her home afterwards. The image of CC rocking baby Grace to sleep and looking to Niles for comfort he wasn't able to offer was also striking. Really curious to see where you're heading with this, and I look forward to reading more.

God that was worth waiting for! I loved C.C.'s little encounter with her grandfather, not sure if that has ever been done in fanfiction...and yes just loved that exchange, but my favourite paragraph of the whole chapter is this:

CC opened her mouth and found she had little to say. She often spent her time thinking about what was needed—what needed to be done (what Maxwell hadn't done), what needed to be fixed (what Maxwell had done), what she needed (food and sleep, mostly). She never truly allowed herself to consider what it was she wanted…or perhaps she had and had been unable to figure it out.

Perfect and right on C.C. in my opinion! The rest of the chapter was very sweet too...I laughed at the Monopoly game and loved C.C. slowly realising that Niles does , in fact, take care of her.

Wow!
Beautiful! Amazing!
There's not a word to qualify this correctly, in fact...
I wish they had this kind of human interaction in the show. There is so much in theis characters!
Keep it going.

Wow. You almost made me cry reading this...
It's perfect. Explains a lot, and shows them bonding over their feelings... Amazing!

great chapter, update soon

Great Chapter. Please update soon :)

This is a good story. I like how you show how similar Niles and CC are in that they both feel trapped by who they are expected to be and want to be free and seen for their true selves.

I loved the flip book description and well, your general description of Sara's death and how the grief numbed the family. That moment between Niles and C.C. at the end was very nice.

"You've been watching me?" CC asked, her voice different.

For some reason I'm stuck with that now, keep trying to picture her and hear her say it. Anyway, eagerly awaiting your next update ;)

Nice. I like what you have so far. Keep going.