Author's Note: I wrote this entire enormous story as one long continuous narrative, but I broke it into chapters of sorts for reader accessibility. I just want everyone to know that I really really love these characters. I love them so much. After watching ALL of Cheers and Frasier, I knew I had to give my favorite characters the happy ending they deserve. I hope you like it. Please review. I love hearing reader thoughts! Enjoy :)

Happily Ever After

Or

The Inevitable Resolution of Individuals Experiencing the Physiological Manifestations of Society's Understanding of 'Love'

Frasier lie awake in bed, unable to sleep thanks to the snoring foghorn beside him. He really couldn't blame her though, even if he hadn't properly slept in weeks. She usually slept on her stomach, curled up with her head on his chest or else on her side, safely nestled in his arms. Now she was forced to sleep on her back and her sinuses were obviously not pleased. Trying not to wake her, Frasier silently got out of bed.

The light was already on in the kitchen. "Why aren't you asleep?" he asked the tall figure going through the fridge.

"Are you kidding? The walls aren't that thick, Dad. Can't you make her stop?" Freddy begged.

"No, I'm sorry, son. You'll be able to get some rest when you go back to school."

"Yeah, next week!" he complained. "What am I supposed to do until then?"

"Well," Frasier reasoned, "You can always do what I do."

"And what's that?"

"Come to my office and nap on the sofa in between patients."

Freddy laughed. "I think I'll pass, Dad. And by the way, thanks for letting me stay here during break. I know it was kinda last minute."

"Not at all, Freddy. You know you're always welcome. Part of the reason I stayed in San Francisco after the radio gig fell through is to be closer to you. If you had to pick a west coast school, Stanford was a good choice."

"What can I say? They're the leader in applied biomedical research technology."

"So you keep telling me," Frasier muttered, still not entirely sure what exactly his son was studying.

The Crane boys were interrupted by another voice. "What are you two doing?"

"Couldn't sleep," they replied in unison.

"I see," she replied skeptically, "And I suppose I was keeping you up again?"

Frasier could tell this was getting into dangerous territory. "We don't blame you, sweetness, not one bit. You need rest more than we do, after all."

"Frasier, I do wish you wouldn't patronize me."

"Darling, let's just go back to bed, alright? It's three in the morning."

"Very well. Good night, Frederick."

Freddy gave a nod, his mouth being full of Cheerios. Frasier chuckled, remembering the metabolism and ravenous hunger of being an 18 year old boy.

Back in their room, Frasier led her to the bed and sat her down, lovingly rubbing her back and shoulders.

"Oh thank you, Frasier. I've been so stiff lately."

"I know, my love. Just lie down and go back to sleep."

"And I'll try not to snore."

"Thank you, Lilith."

"It's the least I can do for the father of my children."

Frasier grinned. "Six more weeks until we're the proud parents of two perfect children."

"Have you been thinking of names like I asked you to?"

"Not really, no. I'm sorry."

"I must confess I haven't given it much thought either."

"Well why not start brainstorming now?" Frasier suggested with enthusiasm, propping himself up on his elbows to face her. "We could name her after my mother."

Lilith scrunched her nose in distaste. "Hester? I think not. I'd rather not have my daughter associated with the branded adulteress of literary fame. Besides, your mother never really liked me."

"But she did threaten to kill Diane," Frasier pointed out.

"Yes, that was one of her more redeeming moments. How about my mother's name?"

"Lilith, I love you, but you know I always hated your mother."

"Very well. Not Hester and not Betty. And not Maris or Daphne or Nanette or Rebecca or Diane or Carla or any name of someone associated with anyone you've ever dated. Which might be difficult, considering you spent eleven years dating the entire female population of Seattle."

Frasier didn't rise to the bait, instead conceding, "Fine. We've done a great job of eliminating names. Any you actually like?"

"How about Prudence?"

"You have got to be kidding me."

Lilith rolled onto her back in annoyance. "I don't see you offering suggestions!"

"Well I know you said no to Hester but what about my mother's middle name, Marie?"

Lilith was about to shut him down but she paused to consider. "Actually I quite like that. I like that very much. Marie Crane. It sounds smart and sophisticated and beautiful."

"Just like you, and just like our daughter," Frasier said, kissing her on the temple. "Have we really made our decision that easily? Marie?"

"We still need a middle name."

"Alright well...name some of your favorite authors, musicians and actresses. There has to be inspiration in there somewhere."

"Charlotte Brontë. Jane Austen. Joan Sutherland. Katharine Hepburn," Lilith listed off.

"There we go! How about Katharine? Marie Katharine Crane."

Lilith smiled and gently rubbed her hands along her swollen abdomen. "Marie Katharine Crane. I think it's perfect."

"Or rather, Marie Katharine Sternin-Crane."

She shook her head. "That's a bit too much. Freddy never uses my name, and I only use it for professional purposes now. When we were married for the first time, I was still enormously involved in my career, rather than in our marriage, and it became one of our downfalls. I'm older and wiser now, and I refuse to make the same mistakes. So I might be Dr. Sternin, but I am Mrs. Crane. And our daughter will be a Crane as well."

Frasier gathered his wife into his arms and held her tight. "Oh thank you, Lilith. You don't know how much that means to me."

"Of course I do. That's why I said it. I love you Frasier, and I'll always love you. It is pointless to let anything come in the way of that ever again."

The Cranes got back into bed and turned out the light once more. Lilith seemed to fall back asleep quite quickly. At her age, the strain of pregnancy had been taking a lot out of her. It was a miracle that she could get pregnant at all, but she and Frasier were certainly lucky that not only had they reconciled their differences and put their troubles behind them, but they had been able to once again conceive a child. They were both certain that their daughter would be just as wonderful as Frederick, if not more so; they were a family again and they had learned from their mistakes.

Frasier watched Lilith sleep for a while, marveling at how much he loved her. They'd certainly had a rocky path to happiness, but here they were. They had gone from hating each other to falling madly in love to hating each other once again and finally back in love. Deep down they knew they belonged together. It was pure luck that they had finally realized it.

He didn't know about Lilith, but Frasier had finally known that night that he had spent with Lilith in her hotel. They talked all night and fell asleep in each other's arms. They even broke off blind dates in order to instead spend time with each other. He had denied it, of course, but waking up with Lilith in his arms again suddenly felt right; it felt like home. In all his searching, no other woman felt so familiar and yet so new all at once. Frasier had gone on with his life, dating and searching for a woman to spend his life with. He had even followed Charlotte to Chicago, and that worked for a few months until they both just realized that, while they had fun together, neither was really ready to commit to the other. It was just too much too fast. In other words, it wasn't right.

So Frasier swallowed his pride and called Bebe, the agent from hell, and took the job in San Francisco. It was much better this way, being only a short flight from his family in Seattle, and even though the radio job hadn't worked out, he had a thriving private practice as a therapist once again. It was sheer kismet when Freddy and Lilith came to stay with him during Freddy's college tours three years earlier. Maybe it was the prospect of their son going off on his own that had made them both more vulnerable than usual, or maybe it was the joyful feeling of being a proper family again, but something had just clicked.

Frasier closed his eyes and took his memory back to that magical moment. He had been in this very bed that night. It was very late, as the three of them had stayed up long past dinner talking and having quality family time. His house was large enough that he had insisted that Freddy and Lilith stay with him, Lilith in the guest room and Freddy on the pullout sofa in his study. And a soft knock came at his door. Lilith didn't wait for him to answer and instead came right in, tiny feet padding silently across the rug.

"Frasier? Are you asleep?"

"No, Lilith. Is something wrong?"

She sat beside him on the bed, pulling her silk robe around her slender body as though it could protect her from the vulnerability she was about to expose. "I...I don't quite know how to say this..."

"You've never had a problem expressing yourself in a verbal manner before, Lilith. What seems to be the problem?"

"I don't know if it's a problem per say, but I suppose it could be construed as such, depending on your response to my..."

"Sweetheart, you're rambling," Frasier interrupted with a yawn.

"What did you call me?"

"Oh sorry. Force of habit."

Frasier couldn't see, but Lilith allowed herself to smile under the cover of darkness. "I see. I suppose that answers part of my question."

"Which would be?"

"Frasier, did this evening mean anything to you?"

He frowned, confused. "I don't think I follow..."

She scooted closer to him. "Being here with you and Frederick as a family again reawakened something in me, something I believe I had been repressing for a long time, perhaps since the last time we saw one another in Seattle and spent the night on that hotel room sofa."

"Yes, I recall. Lilith, what are you saying?" He thought perhaps he knew where she was going with this, but she couldn't mean what he thought she meant, could she?

"I think I'm saying that I miss you, and I am perhaps still in love with you, and I would like to discuss the possibility of our reconciliation and attempt to recommence a romantic relationship."

"You want me back?"

"I want you back."

"Lilith, it's been 12 years. We've both moved on," Frasier replied, repeating the trope he'd told himself and anyone who asked over the years.

She disagreed, "I married and divorced a gay man 6 years ago, and you're still single after all this time. You call that moving on? Frasier, if either of us were counseling a couple in this predicament, we would open their eyes to the obvious reality that neither party has moved on at all, despite a number of well-meaning, albeit failed, attempts."

"I suppose you are right."

"Of course I am. Can I take that to mean that you too are perhaps open to the possibility of our rekindling our relationship, to start again with the wisdom we've each garnered over the intervening years?"

"Lilith, I'm not going to pretend that that night we spent together in Seattle didn't open my eyes to that possibility, but is this really the right thing to do?" He was trying to do the smart thing, be cautious and rational. It was a futile effort.

She discarded her robe and crawled across the bed to sit straddled on top of him. "If you think this is the wrong thing to do, feel free to push me off of you. I will be disappointed but I will not allow it to ruin the good co-parenting and friendly relationship we formerly possessed before this moment."

Frasier had learned something very important from his first marriage to Lilith. He had started their relationship with a lot of talk, telling her that he would kiss her. This time, he knew the value of action over words. He ran his hands up her legs and body and pulled her down to kiss her long and hard and unlike she had ever before experienced.