It was early evening in Seattle, but it looked as if night had fallen early. The whole day had been even more rainy and soggy than usual. Frasier, looking over the gray city from his apartment, was very put out. 'Shakespeare in the Park' was cancelled due to the rain. He had been looking forward to a night out with Niles and Daphne, and so had Niles.

"Curse this infernal weather!" Frasier suddenly shouted, glaring at the gloomy sky.

"I think Dr. Crane's losing it," said Daphne, "yelling at clouds". Frasier did not respond.

"Ah, stop pacing, Fras'," Martin called over his shoulder, sitting in his favorite chair (or, rather, the recreation of his favorite chair).

"Come over and watch this show with me," Martin said as Frasier turned around. "It's called Untold Stories of the ER. Here's a story about a guy who took a fall when hiking and landed on a cactus, right on his—,"

"Thank you, Dad. You needn't finish that sentence," Frasier said dryly. "I think I'll just get my Shakespeare anthology and read that."

"You're missing a good show," Martin replied. "Oh, look, the next segment is about a woman got a little too frisky and—,"

"Thank you, Dad," Frasier repeated, "but I think I'll pass up on that and read Shakespeare."

"I know what you need," Daphne said as Frasier turned to her for the first time. "A nice cup of hot cocoa."

She nodded to the tray she was carrying. Martin perked up at the warm smell of hot chocolate.

"There's nothing like a mug of hot cocoa on a day like this," Daphne continued. "Me mum was famous for her cocoa. I remember one winter day when I was a child. I was trying to ice skate but ended up falling on me face. I felt terrible and got a horrible lump on me head, but Mum's famous cocoa cheered me up. Well, until she said, 'Daphne, you need to cultivate more coordination if you ever want to get a young man!'"

Frasier and Martin exchanged the bemused look they always did at Daphne's family anecdotes.

"Sit down at the table and have a mug, Dr. Crane," Daphne ordered, and Frasier obeyed.

"Very nice," he complimented sincerely, but soon glanced out the window again and glowered.

"Your brother is picking me up soon," Daphne said. "We're going to have dinner at his apartment, since the Shakespeare thing is cancelled. We thought about inviting you, but we have—other things planned afterward."

Daphne giggled, making her meaning quite clear. Frasier laughed awkwardly. She certainly had gotten cheekier since she had started a serious relationship with Niles. And she wasn't shy about being affectionate toward him when Niles came to the apartment, either.

"I wouldn't dream of spoiling your plans," Frasier said dryly, shuffling off to his room.

He settled down in a comfortable chair with a well-worn, leatherbound copy of Shakespeare's plays. He turned on a light and turned the pages at random to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in…

CRACK!

Startled, Frasier nearly sent the heavy volume flying across the room. A terrific crash of thunder had jolted him out of his reading, so absorbed was he in the book. Cursing the weather for the third time, he read on,

Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires…

BOOM. More thunder. And then the lights went out.

An emergency nightlight had come on, but it wasn't enough light to read by. Digging a flashlight from the drawer of his nightstand, Frasier flicked it on and left his room, following its beam to the living room, where Daphne had already lit some candles.

"I had a psychic vision that the electricity was going to go out," she said calmly, "so I lit these candles first."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Daphne made her way through the candlelit room, flinging the door open to reveal Niles, who was holding an emergency camping light. It was an odd object for him to have, for Niles hadn't been camping since he was a teenager and Martin had dragged him and Frasier to Mount Shasta—almost literally at one point.

"This gives out a lot more light than a flashlight," he explained, and then turned to Daphne.

"Whenever you're ready to go, Daphne," Niles said cheerfully. "There's electricity at the Montana, so our plans won't be spoiled."

"Lucky you," Martin said. "The Seahawks game just started and I'll miss it if the electricity doesn't come on soon."

"Coming, Niles," said Daphne. "Goodbye, Martin. Goodbye, Dr. Crane. I'll see you when Niles and I are…well, when I'm good and ready to come home".

"I get the idea, Daphne," Martin said, catching her meaning once again. Niles snickered and gave his girlfriend a flirtatious look that was obvious even in the dim light from his lantern.

The door closed softly, and now Frasier and Martin were by themselves. Except for one emergency light, there wasn't much to brighten the room. Then Frasier remembered that there was a cordless radio in the pantry. Making his way into the kitchen, he found it with some difficulty, and then, to Martin's surprise, turned it on to the Seahawks game.

"You turned on the game? I thought you might want to listen to one of your classical music channels or an opera."

"I thought you would like this," Frasier said humbly. "I remember whenever the electricity went out when we were kids, you and Mom would get the game on the radio and act out every move. One time, you almost hit Niles, reenacting a pitch from—some Chicago Cubs player whose name I can't remember."

He laughed at himself. "Sorry, Dad, I'm sure you know by now I'm not entirely up on sports."

Martin was smiling fondly in the dim light and he snapped off the radio.

"I can catch the game any old time," he said cheerfully. "Now, what other family stories do you remember?"