The phone rang, startling Daphne out of a sound sleep. She lifted her head from her pillow and looked around her bedroom, at a complete loss as to when she'd fallen asleep in the first place. One moment she was reading her romance novel (intrigued by the story of the young woman who had escaped the confines of her country home in search of a man she'd seen only in her dreams. It was a risk to be sure, following a man who might not even exist in real life, but wasn't that what love was? A risk? And although Daphne had never experienced true love, she had no doubt that it was wonderful) and the next she was waking up to the sound of the ringing phone.

Now she sighed deeply, trying not to think about how lonely she'd been. And that was when she realized that the ringing had stopped. Good. Whoever it was must have come to their senses and gone to bed. After all, it was well past 1am. But then the ringing started again.

"Bloody hell..." Daphne muttered, padding into the living room knowing full well that neither Mr. Crane nor Frasier would bother answering it. The elder Crane men could sleep through anything.

As she reached for the receiver, a strange feeling came over her. Before she even picked up the phone she could sense that something was wrong. And her heart raced as she lifted the receiver and put it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Dap… help! Please!" Came the faint voice. And then the line went dead. But there was no mistaking whose voice it was.

"Dr. Crane! Dr. Crane can you hear me?" She shouted into the phone. But it was only a matter of seconds until she realized that she was talking to the dial tone.

Something was terribly wrong.

Without hesitation she hung up the phone and ran to her room, slipping on a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt. She tied her unruly hair into a ponytail with a rubber band and her feet slipped into a scruffy pair of sneakers. This was no time to worry about her appearance; her friend needed her.

In no time at all she was in her car, driving toward the Montana. She tried not to think about what she would find when she arrived. She just prayed that she would make it in time.

As if by fate, the Montana came into view and she was grateful that she'd found a parking place so quickly. Outside it was quiet but her heart was pounding so loudly that she could hear it in her head.

"Please God, please let him be okay." She prayed silently.

She said a polite hello to the doorman and then made her way to Niles' floor. The moment she reached his door, she rang the doorbell repeatedly but to her dismay there was no answer. She tried knocking but received the same silence. Finally in desperation she turned the doorknob. To her surprise (and worry) the door opened easily; much too easily.

"Dr. Crane?" she called quietly as she stepped inside. When she reached the center of the room she gasped at the sight of him. He was standing by his precious wine collection, his hand covered in blood. A broken, no, shattered wine bottle lay on the floor, the liquid trailing on the floor.

He looked so scared and her heart went out to him. And she wasn't entirely convinced that he hadn't been crying.

She went to him at once, looking at him with concern. "Dr. Crane, what happened?"

Without giving him a chance to answer, she took his arm and quickly led him into the kitchen. "Come here." She said gently, guiding him to the sink. He winced in pain as she turned on the cool water, watching the blood trickle down the sink and made its way down the drain.

The poor man… He had a terrible fear of his own blood and she wondered how he'd managed to keep from fainting and how he'd picked up the phone to call her. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was tended to. This was not the time or place to ask questions. He needed medical attention ad he needed it badly.

"You're being very brave, Dr. Crane." She said quietly, checking his hand for shards of glass. Fortunately she saw none, which meant that it wouldn't require a trip to the emergency room. "I know it bothers you so don't look at your hand while I tend to it. Hopefully you can find something else to focus on."

"There is." He said, speaking for the first time since she'd arrived.

"I don't see any glass in your hand and I don't' think you need stitches so we'll just get this bandaged up, okay?"

He nodded, wincing at the pain.

She carefully applied some anti-septic and her heart ached when he winced at her touch. "IK know it hurts and I'm so sorry, Dr. Crane. Let me just find a towel and we'll wrap this up and get you all bandaged. Good think this isn't the hand that you write with or you might have trouble at work. Psychiatrists write a lot, don't they?"

He stared at her and she immediately regretted her attempt at humor. "I'm sorry Dr. Crane. Let me find the first aid cream and the bandages so that we can-."

His soft crying caused her to look at him and he heart broke at the sight. He was like a scared little boy and she wondered if he was like this with Maris. But then she realized that he probably didn't bother telling her. She could only imagine what Maris' reaction would have been. The wretched woman.

She sat the first aid kit on the table and took his uninjured hand in hers. "Dr. Crane, don't cry. It's going to be all right."

"I-I'm not.."

The words were a blatant lie but she knew that he was trying so hard to be brave. She smiled, unable to resist touching his soft hair. "It's all right, Dr. Crane. I'm almost finished."

As gently as possible she applied more antiseptic, proud of him when he didn't flinch at the sting. And then she applied the first aid cream and wrapped gauze and a bandage around his hand. "I'm so proud of you, Dr. Crane! You're so brave!"

Perhaps she was over-reacting, but she didn't care. She was proud of him.

"How did this happen?"

He groaned. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I can understand." She smiled and hugged him warmly. "It's all right, Dr. Crane. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Why don't I make you some tea and you can relax for a bit?"

"Oh no, Daphne you're my guest. I wouldn't dream of asking you to do that."

"You didn't ask. I offered. Now go on. I'll clean up in here and I'll get that glass cleaned up as well. You have a mop and a broom, don't you?"

"No, Daphne. I-I mean, yes I do, but-."

"Now don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of cleaning up. Just rest, Dr. Crane."

"No, Daphne, please…"

"I insist. It won't take long."

He sighed deeply, worry on his brow. "All right."

When he returned to the living room, she put away the first aid kit and started a pot of tea. Then she went into the living room with a broom and swept up the broken glass.

She could only imagine the conversation that would take place later with his brother. Their wine was everything to them and a broken bottle was a catastrophe.

When the glass was swept up she tossed it carefully into the recycle bin and then mopped the sticky floor. Then it was time to check into the tea. It was just ready so she removed the pot from the stove and carried it into the living room along with two tea cups. But once again she froze at the sight.

He was sitting on the fainting couch, his head resting against the pillows, sound asleep. She grabbed a blanket and covered hi m with it and then sat down beside him. She glanced at the spot where the broken wine bottle once lay, pleased at her work. It was hard to tell that anything had happened at all. The label still lay on the floor and although most people would simply toss it into the recycle bin, she carefully folded it and laid it on his coffee table. No doubt he'd want to try to find more bottles of it.

Perhaps she could enlist Frasier and their wine club to help her find Niles a bottle of the wine to replace the one that had broken.

It was most likely silly to most, but to Niles, his wine was as important as his family. And truth be told, he meant everything to her.

Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around, surprised to find that she was laying on Niles' fainting couch, the blanket around her shoulders. How had she gotten here?

And after a few minutes she remembered. She sat up at once worried about her friend.

"Dr. Crane?"

He emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray which he perfectly balanced in his hand and sat it on the table. And then she saw his bandaged hand, she rushed to help him.

"Dr. Crane, I'll get that for you. What is all of this?"

"It's for you, Daphne."

Her eyes widened at the sight of the golden brown omelet, toast and a bowl of fruit, along with a red-stemmed rose. Her hand flew to her chest.

"This… is for me?"

"Of course."

"But why?"

"To thank you, although I could never thank you enough."

"Dr. Crane…"

"Daphne, there's something I need to say."

"Of course."

He sat down beside her and took her hand. "Daphne I can't thank you enough for coming all the way here in the middle of the night. I'm so sorry that I disturbed you. I just…

I didn't know who else to call."

Unexplained tears filled her eyes and fell onto her cheeks as she hugged him tightly. "I was glad to do it and I'm glad you're going to be okay. You're my best friend and you know that I'd do anything for you."

"D-Daphne, do you mean that? I'm your best friend?"

"Yes. And I should have told you sooner, but now seemed like the perfect time." She took his bandaged hand and glanced at it, smiling "How's your hand?"

"It feels much better. "Thank you so much, Daphne."

"You're welcome, Dr. Crane but you don't have to keep thanking me. It was no trouble at all. I care about you."

"And I care about you too, Daphne. More than you'll ever know."

More tears slid down her cheeks. "Dr. Crane…"

He was staring at her again, the same way he'd stared at her earlier when she told him to focus on something else. And the look in his eyes was unmistakable.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, unable to believe that she was even considering the possibility of thinking of him as more than a friend. "Dr. Crane…"

"Please… Call me Niles."

She felt the tears slide down her cheeks even faster and then his fingertips brushing them away.

"I need to thank you properly.": He said.

"But you've already-."

His face moved closer and closer to hers and instinctively she closed her eyes. When their lips touched in a soft, sweet kiss, she realized that this was the moment she'd been waiting for. The kisses seemed to go on and on. With his unbandanged hand, he took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. And then he led her upstairs where he offered her part of his enormous king-sized bed.

"A-are you sure?"

"I'll sleep in the guest room. I just wanted you to be comfortable."

"No..." She said a bit too quickly. "I can't let you sleep downstairs by yourself. This is all right. Her heart racing she climbed into bed, almost melting into the plush mattress and covered herself with his soft comforter.

She was asleep almost the moment that her head hit the pillow but she felt him crawl into bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her. She was careful to be gentle with his injured hand, bringing it to her lips for a kiss.

Soon they were both asleep and she realized that life was so much better than any romance novel; especially when it involved rescuing a handsome prince.

THE END