A/N: This is a birthday fic for xfilesfanatic! I wanted to write an x-files story, but then I got this idea and thought why not? I hope you like it :)

There could have been many ways for Daphne to react. Never had Niles expected to be greeted with a scream – and a fist. He felt a pang of fear upon entering a dark apartment. The only light came from the television. A vision of blue and black – and Daphne's silhouette somewhere mingled in between there. But he walked closer, because his need to be close to her was always stronger than any other emotions. Hearing a voice, Daphne turned and Niles hadn't noticed how close he'd already been and then it happened; Daphne startled, screamed and acted on instinct. Her fist shot out and graced his cheek. His knees buckled and a moment later he found himself on the couch.

"Dr. Crane!" Daphne exclaimed. In an instant, the lights were turned on, the television program paused and Daphne gone. She returned a moment later with ice for his face.

"I'm so, so sorry." She told him and gently touched his bruised cheek.

"It's…fine." He replied and realized that it really was. His eyes landed on her face and to his greatest shock, he saw dried tears there. His hand went out to touch them, to wipe away the last remnants of her sadness. She smiled at him warmly and Niles forgot the pain he was in.

"Why were you crying, Daphne?" He asked softly. The question felt awfully intimate. They were friends – very good friends – but there were so many things they didn't know about each other. She had sat there in the darkness and she'd cried. Niles desperately wanted to know what could have troubled her so. Only after he'd asked the question did he realize that maybe she didn't even want him to know.

"Oh, Dr. Crane," she sighed, "I was watching this TV show and-"

"You were crying because of a TV show?" He asked in disbelief.

"There are good programs, you know. It's no different than your operas and-" Daphne said defensively and Niles stopped her and smiled.

"I understand how compelling a fictional story can be, Daphne. I was just- I was worried something might have happened to you. I'm just glad it's just- you know, just a TV show."

"You're so sweet, Dr. Crane." She sighed and he wasn't sure she even noticed, but she gently stroked his cheek.

"What-what were you watching?"

"The x-files." Daphne told him with a sheepish smile.

"Isn't that a show about aliens?" For the life of him, Niles couldn't understand why Daphne would feel the need to cry about a show like that.

"Oh, it's so much more than that." Suddenly, the tears were back in her eyes and Niles wondered why the show affected her so much.

"If you don't mind… I could watch the rest of the episode with you?" Her face lit up and she jumped off the couch and switched off the lights again. She sat close to him as if they did this every night. Their sides were touching and she was so warm and it was more than Niles could have hoped for when he had come over. In that moment he realized that he had come to ask Frasier something. Although he could no longer remember what he had wanted to ask. His cheek throbbed, but he could live with that pain as long as Daphne was as close to him as she was. The TV came to life again and Niles tried to grasp what was going on. Occasionally, he asked Daphne what was happening and she answered him patiently.

"It's so sad," Daphne sobbed. Niles looked at her and then at the TV screen where the female character named Scully lay in a hospital bed, "she's got terminal cancer. It has to do with her alien abduction and the conspiracy." Niles had no idea what she was talking about, but just nodded along.

"These two only have each other. They can't trust anyone else in the whole world."

"Are they a couple?" Niles asked looking at the characters on the screen. The male character sure looked like he was – and Niles would know. After all, he was in love with the woman who was sitting next to him. Only she didn't know it.

"Oh no. They love each other of course, but no, they're not a couple. Agent Mulder, that's him," Daphne pointed to the screen, "he is at least partly to blame for what has happened to Scully. They would do anything for each other. Can you imagine a love like that?" Daphne asked, but she didn't look at him. It hurt him, because it made him realize that she would never look at him like that. He could tell her that he, too, would do anything for her. He'd gladly sacrifice everything he had just for her. But she didn't know that and the words that would explain his love for her never really came to him. So he sat there and stared at her profile. A tear rolled down her face as she watched the two star-crossed lovers on the screen. Again, his hand reached out and this time he caught the tear before it could settle on the cheek, before it could dry there. Daphne rewarded him with a smile.

"Do you think a love like that is somewhere out there?" She left out the "for me", but he had worked with people long enough to read between the lines. Unlike many of these people who he never really got to know, he did know Daphne. And he also knew that a love like that was out there for her – and him. He just wasn't ready to confess it to her.

"With aliens?" He asked to lighten the atmosphere. She gently hit his shoulder and smiled at him.

"You know what I mean, but I guess-" he put a finger on her lips, because he had never meant for his words to hurt her – or to make her doubt herself.

"It's out there. I know it is." The characters on the screen were forgotten for a moment. They stared into each other's eyes and something changed right there and then. Something significant that neither could have put a finger on. The moment ended abruptly as the room seemed to explode with lights.

"What's going on here?" Frasier asked. Where he came from, Niles didn't know.

"We're watching the x-files." Daphne told him excitedly. Frasier looked at his brother and threw his hands up in the air.

"Not you, too, Niles!"

"What can I say? It's not just about aliens." Niles told his brother, who mumbled something as he stomped off to his room. Niles and Daphne shared a secret smile. One day, Niles told himself. One day he would prove to her that powerful love truly existed.

END