My heart was racin' as I quickly made an excuse to Dr. Crane and
hurried out of his condo, feigning excitement about checkin' on the laundry.
But laundry definitely wasn't on me mind that night.
As I pulled the clean clothes out of the dryer and tossed the wet ones in, the
events of the last half hour ran through my head over and over.
I still can't believe what I've done. I didn't mean for anything to happen; really
I didn't.
But it happened.
There we were in the kitchen, makin' dinner, wearin' matchin' aprons, even! As
I handed Dr. Crane the cooking utensils, it became a game-and it was quite a
fun one! The two of us, pretending that the dinner we were preparin' was a
patient who needed expert care.
Oh, we were havin' a good time! It was almost like we were two best friends
and I suppose at that moment, we were.
It was the most fun I'd had in the kitchen since his older brother got his tie
caught in the pasta machine!
Donny surely wouldn't make a game out of making dinner. That wasn't his
style. In fact, I doubted he would make dinner at all.
But this wasn't Donny... It was Niles.
And ever since his brother blurted out that Niles had been in love with me for
six years... Well, let's just say that I'd felt a shyness around him that I'd never
known before.
When our "patient" was finally in "recovery" (also known as the oven), Niles
and I shared a toast with a glass of his favorite wine; not to mention a
moment of silliness when after removing his oven mitts, I hit him upside the
head with one. Playfully of course!
Niles mentioned something about cleaning up and then to me horror cried out
in pain when he'd burned his hand on the skillet handle.
Immediately me nurturin' side took over and I rushed to find him some aloe for
his burn while he ran his hand under cold water.
Dutifully he held out his hand, which I couldn't help noticin' was incredibly soft;
not rough at all like his father's. His older brother had nice skin as well, but
nothing like this. Niles' hand was silky; satiny smooth.
Oh... just thinkin' about it makes me weak in the knees!
So there I was, rubbin' aloe onto his palm... gently, of course, so that I wasn't
hurtin' him. But when I looked into his warm, caring eyes, my heart began to
flutter. Gradually I realized that I'd gone from simply rubbin' his palm to
caressin' it.
And I couldn't stop.
After a few seconds, he began to fidget, as though he were getting restless or
uncomfortable. God knows, the last thing I wanted to do was make him
uneasy. Then he looked away, probably wonderin' when I was going to stop.
But I didn't want to stop. In fact, I wanted more.
A feeling burned inside of me; a wonderful feelin' and one I hadn't experienced
in a very long time-maybe in my entire life.
"I-I think my hand is okay now. Thank you, Daphne." Niles said.
"Oh..." was all I could say. "You're welcome, Dr. Crane." I added, reluctantly
letting go of his hand.
Before I realized what I was doing, I moved closer, never taking my eyes off of
his.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, reaching out to caress his cheek.
I saw him swallow hard. "Yes, Daphne. And I can't thank you enough for your
kindness."
His sweet words only encouraged me to move closer and suddenly we were
kissing.
It wasn't the first time we'd kissed. Our first kiss was at the Snow Ball.
Niles was so handsome and we danced the night away. I could tell he was
making a great effort to impress those awful friend's of Maris', so when he
kissed me, I played along. Although kissing him was wonderful, I knew deep
down that he didn't feel anything.
But this kiss was different.
I felt my insides swirling as I caressed his lips with mine, amazed at how soft
and smooth his mouth was. I felt his arm go around me back and I gasped
lightly at his touch; runnin' me hand through his hair, which was so incredibly
soft.
Like I said, I hadn't meant for it to happen at all...
But it was pure Heaven.
But then Martin walked in, causing me to nearly jump out of me skin. Quickly I
pulled away from Niles, barely hearing Martin ask "What's up?"
I started babbling somethin' and stupidly grabbed the kitchen timer, making
some ridiculous comment about the time before I rushed out of the room.
It was all completely innocent, but I'd never felt so embarrassed in me life.
So minutes later, I found meself sittin' in the laundry room in the basement of
the Elliot Bay Towers. The clothes had long since stopped washin' and were
ready to put into the dryer. But all I could do was stare into space.
"Daphne?"
At the familiar voice, I jumped and then slowly turned around, finding myself
face to face with Niles.
God, he was handsome...
But I was engaged. I shouldn't be thinkin' such things.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment and I found it hard to look at him.
"Dr. Crane..." I said hoarsely.
"Listen... about what happened back there... in the kitchen. I-I think we
should talk and-."
"It was my fault, Dr. Crane." I said, a little too quickly. "I don't even know what
came over me. I-I'm so sorry, embarrassin' you like that in front of your father.
I can't even imagine what he must think of me now. And I shudder to think
what will happen when your brother finds out. Why, he's liable to-."
"Daphne-."
I'd been rambling and I knew it. But I couldn't help meself. I stopped talking
and looked at him; my heart racin'. "Yes, Dr. Crane?"
"I-I wasn't thinking about Dad and Frasier."
"Oh... Well, I'm so sorry that I was so foreword. I didn't mean to, and I-."
To my surprise, he reached out and touched my mouth with his fingertips; a
gesture that made my lips burn.
"Actually Daphne, I was thinking about us."
I stared at him in disbelief. "Us?"
"Yes. If there is an 'us' that is. I felt something in that kiss and I think you felt
something too." He said.
I could feel my face reddening with each passing second.
"Well, I-."
"Daphne, if I ask you something will you please answer honestly?"
I swallowed hard, my chest tightening, because I knew what he was going to
ask.
"Of course, Dr. Crane. You can ask me anything." I answered, trying to sound
reassuring.
Then he laughed nervously. "Well, that's certainly a relief."
I couldn't help but notice how quickly his shyness set in.
"What is it, Dr. Crane?"
He took my hands in his and stared into my eyes. "Daphne... Do you have...
feelings for me? Because... well... I'm in love with you."
And there it was... out in the open.
I took a deep breath. I promised to tell him the truth and that's what he was
going to get from me... the truth.
He stared at me, patiently waiting for an answer. But how do you answer
something truthfully when you don't know what the truth is? I could see from
the look on his face that waiting for an answer to that simple question had to
be unbearable. I know I'd have been a basket case if I'd been the one doing
the askin'.
Our eyes locked and he smiled-that oh-so-handsome smile that never failed to
make me feel beautiful.
When he brushed a lock of hair from me forehead, the tender gesture brought
tears to my eyes.
And then I knew how to answer him.
"Yes, Dr. Crane. I do have feelings for you. In fact... I think I love you, too."
His face lit up like a little boy's on Christmas morning.
"Really? Oh, Daphne you don't know how happy I am to hear that!" He cried
as he took me in his arms and kissed me.
When he let go, we looked into each other's eyes; the unspoken words
between us, not needing to be said.
Gentleman that he is, Niles carried the clean clothes into the elevator for me,
setting the basket on the floor while he kissed my hand and caressed it
against his soft cheek.
And when the doors opened, we found that we just couldn't stop starin' at
each other... or let go of each other's hand.
We walked into his brother's apartment and I sat the laundry on the table to
fold it later. Niles followed me into the kitchen where thankfully the cookware
had cooled off, allowing us to continue cleaning up the kitchen.
Within minutes the kitchen had been returned to its usual state of immaculate
cleanliness.
And we found ourselves in the same exact spot that we were in earlier when
we were making dinner.
Only this time we were in each other's arms, kissing... unaware of Frasier
watching from the living room in stunned amazement; and Martin who was
watching from the kitchen table... smiling.
THE END