Daphne smiled when she saw Niles enter the open air hotel restaurant. She'd only seen him an hour earlier when they'd awakened to a beautiful sunrise after a night of passionate lovemaking. But since they'd arrived in Belize, she found that she simply couldn't get enough of him.
It had been an entire year since they had declared their love for one another and she loved Niles more and more every day. She was so afraid that he was going to forget their anniversary but when she found the travel brochures for Belize it was like a dream come true. Niles Crane really was the most wonderful and thoughtful man she'd ever known.
"There's my natural man." She sighed as he walked toward her.
Gone was the clean-shaven sophisticated and professionally dressed handsome psychiatrist, replaced by an unshaven, incredibly sexy man wearing khaki Bermuda shorts and a red and white tropical print shirt. The sight made her heart flutter.
"Hello, my love." He said, leaning to kiss her lips.
"Join us for breakfast, Niles?"
"I'd love to. Hey Dad! Claire!"
"Niles, what's with the beard?"
"It's a goatee, Dad and I love it!" Niles replied. "Belize has completely freed me! I'm a new man!"
"And your new look makes me love you even more!" Daphne said, unable to resist kissing him. The kiss left no doubt about her intentions for later that day.
"So, Dad... What have you been up to?"
"Claire and I have been fishing all morning!" Martin said enthusiastically. "I even taught her how to hypnotize a lobster!"
"You what?" Daphne asked, unable to fathom such a ridiculous notion.
"It's all in the eyes!" Martin said. "Here, watch this!" He turned to Claire and intentionally made his eyes as wide as possible before they both burst into laughter.
"Oh, Martin... Try this omelet." Claire said, shoving a forkful of food into Martin's mouth.
"Mm! That's amazing!" Martin replied. He grabbed a fork and filled it with food handing it to Niles. "Hey, Niles! Try these pancakes! Claire had the kitchen crumble the bacon right into the batter!"
Niles shook his head vehemently. "Oh Dad, I don't really like pancakes."
"Well, that's because you're used to Daphne's." Martin said.
Hurt, Daphne's gaze moved from Martin to Niles and she swallowed hard at the way Niles was devouring the pancakes.
"Oh, those are magnificent!" He said a bit too enthusiastically for Daphne's taste.
"Damn right they are! Claire invented them! Now aren't you glad that Daphne found those brochures for this place? I mean, I know that Frasier was really ticked when he realized that we were all tagging along on his romantic trip to Belize, but when Daphne thought you planned the whole thing, well... it's not like you could just tell her the truth! Especially on your anniversary after it took you six years to get together in the first place!"
Shooting a glance of horror at his father, Niles turned to Daphne in an attempt to make amends. "And it was so worth it, wasn't it my love?"
But Daphne resisted his advances and instead rose from her chair, fighting the tears that were rising dangerously to the surface. "Would you excuse me please?"
"Sweetheart, where are you going?"
Niles' handsome face blurred by her tears, Daphne grabbed her purse and hurried out of the restaurant, painfully aware of Niles, Claire and Martin watching her in confusion.
The moment she was in the hotel lobby, the tears came quickly and she carefully avoided eye contact with the friendly staff who greeted her so warmly.
She was eternally grateful when she reached Room 7204 and she'd barely walked inside and closed the door when the flood of tears began. She cried relentlessly and she sank onto the bed sobbing into a pillow.
This was truly the worst trip she'd ever been on.
Grabbing another pillow from the bed, she clutched it in her arms and soaked it with her tears. And moments later just as she expected, she heard the door open, causing her heart to clinch in her chest.
"Daphne-."
"Go away, Niles. Just... go and eat your pancakes, all right?"
But he sat his wallet on the nightstand and went to her while she did her best to ignore him.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
When he sat down on the bed beside her, she tried to avoid eye contact but she needed him so badly that she couldn't resist him. And in what would otherwise be an incredibly romantic gesture, he brushed the tears from her cheeks, replacing them with kisses.
"Daphne..."
"How could you do this to me?" She yelled, abruptly pulling out of his arms.
"Do what?"
"It's bad enough that you hate my cooking, but then you deliberately make it sound like you planned this whole trip for our anniversary! You really didn't have anything planned at all, did you?"
"Daphne, I-."
"I thought you loved me, Niles, but instead you use some flimsy excuse to make me think that this was your idea. 'Oh, Frasier's going to Belize, so why not use that? It's convenient and Daphne's so stupid she'll believe anything!'"
"You're certainly not stupid Daphne. Never in a million years would I even dream of-."
"Well I feel stupid, Niles! Wouldn't you? Here I told all me girlfriends that my boyfriend had planned this wonderful trip just for us and then I find out that it's just an excuse! I should have known that you'd forget our anniversary!"
He sighed deeply. "Daphne, Sweetheart. Nothing could be further from the truth. I could never forget our anniversary. That glorious day one year ago when you made me happier than I ever dreamed. The thought that you would choose me over Donny; a man who promised you the stars and someone whom you promised to share your life with. No one has ever done anything like that for me before and I know that no one ever will. But even if you don't believe me, I did have something special planned. A romantic weekend at my apartment, just you and I... Oh, and champagne, a tub full of bubbles and plenty of romance. But when I saw how excited you were when you thought that the trip to Belize was for us, I just couldn't let you down. I couldn't bear to disappoint you. But... it seems that I've disappointed you anyway. I'm so sorry, Daphne. These past few days with you have been nothing but blissful and I can't imagine being apart from you for even one-."
Her fingertips went to his lips. "Don't think about that right now. Let's just think about us and how much we love each other."
"Daphne, I think about that every day. I love you so much and I'm so sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry that Dad hurt you with his cruel comment about your cooking. And most of all, I'm sorry that I ate those damned pancakes because they truly were magnificent."
Daphne laughed and kissed him tenderly. "They were good, weren't they?"
He took her hands and stared into her eyes. "I'm so sorry, my angel. I love you so much and if it weren't for you, I would never have had the courage to feel so free. Maris would never-."
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him once more. "Hush... That's in the past. You, Niles Crane are my present and my future. I'm sorry I got so upset earlier. I love you so much and I don't care who planned this trip. It's been absolutely wonderful."
They shared even more passionate kisses and Daphne wanted so much to give into her desires. It would be so easy to unbutton her blouse and-.
"We shouldn't be doing this." Niles said against her mouth, his breathing becoming more and more unsteady.
Unexpectedly hurt once more, Daphne drew back and stared at him. "Niles, what are you saying? Are you saying that you don't want to be with me?"
The tears filled her eyes yet again and slid down her cheeks.
"Daphne, Daphne my angel... "he said, placing sweet kisses on her lips. I'm not saying that at all! There's no one I'd rather be with than you and nowhere else I'd rather be than in your arms. I'm sorry for hurting you again. I just meant that we shouldn't be doing this here. We should be doing this... in our secluded cove on the beach, wearing nothing but the sand and the sea as we surrender ourselves again and again."
Daphne took his face in her hands and kissed him with even more passion than ever before.
"That sounds like a lovely idea. And then after we have a romantic dinner-fully clothed of course-we can come back here and dispense with our clothes, ending our day as we did last night. And in the morning we can have breakfast and then do it all over again."
"I don't know." Niles said in a serious tone. "Sounds like it could get pretty repetitive."
When she looked at him worriedly, he smiled and kissed her deeply. "And there's nothing else I'd rather do. Happy anniversary Daphne; My beautiful angel."
They kissed again, before shedding their clothes and climbing under the sheets as they discovered their own private paradise in each other's arms. And they knew that wherever they were, be it in Belize or Seattle, paradise would always be theirs.
THE END