Niles awoke that morning almost expecting Anna to be there, and it took him all of two seconds to remember why she wasn't. With a sigh, he got out of bed and got dressed, then combed his hair like he always did. This day, he knew, would be like almost every other since his wife had died, slow and lonely.
He opened his bedroom door and began to walk down his upstairs hallway, giving two firm knocks on the door that belonged to his daughters and going right in to his son's room.
Standing firmly over the sleeping boy, Niles placed his hands on his shoulders and began to shake him awake. "Michael," he said, repeating his name several times until finally the eight-year-old stirred and rose from bed.
As he went back to the girl's room, the door opened and his eldest, Juliana, opened the door and announced, "Sophie will be ready soon, Papa," then she shut the door again. Niles was glad that ten-year-old Juliana could tend to Sophie, his daughter of only six.
He went down the wooden steps and began to chop fruit for his children to eat, and then thought again about how just one year ago his wife would have been doing the same.
There was just as much love in him for his children as there was for his late wife, but so far he had found it very difficult to take care of them all by himself. Each of them being two years apart did not make it easier, because as Anna had said they would always be going through a different stage in life.
All of them did their part to help their papa, but as kids there wasn't much they could do. Inside Niles knew that what would be best for all of them was if he would find another wife. However, with all of heart he did not want to.
He suddenly he heard the tapping sound of shoes against the wooden steps and just a minute later Sophie was in the kitchen, wearing a blue dress that came just passed her knees, white stockings, and black shoes. Everything made her look even more adorable than she already was, and the colors accentuated the blonde hair and blue eyes she had inherited from Niles.
"Good morning, my dear," he said.
"Good morning, Papa," she said back as she went into the dining room and climbed up onto one of the wooden chairs.
"Uncle Frasier and I are going to the opera tonight," he yelled to her from the kitchen. "You're going to stay at Grandfather's."
"Yes, Papa," was her only answer.
Michael and Juliana came down shortly after that, Juliana being dressed similarly to her sister with a mauve dress, her long dark hair hanging loose, and Michael his private school uniform plus a cap of his own, his light hair sticking out from under the hat.
All three waited silently until Niles told them their breakfast was ready, and they came and got their food. As they ate, Michael talked about his running team. Niles was glad that he had an interest for sports, much unlike himself.
"Papa, I swear it," he told Niles, "we're going to take first at the championships this year."
"Is that so?" he responded.
"I swear by it."
"You mustn't be such a braggart, Michael," Juliana told him.
"It's not bragging, it's the truth."
Niles smiled. "Are you and Sophie ready for the Christmas performance next week?" he asked Juliana.
"Yes, I believe so. Papa, you should see our Sophie. She plays the sweetest little angel you ever did see in your life."
"I should imagine so."
When they were done eating, the three lined up by the door. Niles kissed his daughters on the head and shook his son's hand. He handed them their coats, but Michael rejected his. "I'm going to run all the way there." He made him take it anyways.
He watched through the windows as his children went their separate ways. Michael went to a boy's private school, while Juliana and Sophie went to a regular school because there was no better place for them to go to.
Once they were gone, Niles Crane left the house and began to set up the carriage for he himself to go to work.