Summary: This is a sequel to the story "Just a Stare." The sequel will make no sense, even to a detective, without reading "Just a Stare" first, therefore it is highly recommended. This story begins right where the last one left off.

Notes: A big thanks to my slave driver for making me stay up late to write, and rewrite, and rewrite again…

Warning: Parts of this story take place in England. I have never had the opportunity to visit this country myself and I offer my sincerest apologies if anything I have written are incorrect. Please try to enjoy the story regardless.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to the brilliant minds of Paramount and Grub St. This story is merely for the enjoyment of those who read it and nothing more. Enjoy!



Moon Swings
Part I

           By Laura Brown

**Niles**

I was married to Daphne, I couldn't believe it. I spent half of our wedding party looking down at my hand to see my wedding band to remind me that this was, in fact, my wedding. My brother caught me doing that at one point.

"For god sakes Niles! It's real!" he exclaimed, I laughed at him.

"I know that Frasier, just making sure my wife's name isn't Maris," we both chuckled a bit. Daphne and I had chosen a wedding band far different from my old one. It was three intertwining bands: gold, white gold, and copper platinum. Daphne joked with me that it was me, her, and Bryce. He was the copper of course.

"I'm so proud of you," my brother told me.

"I'm quite proud myself." I replied.

"Just don't pilfer her all to yourself, the rest of your family enjoys her company too." I nodded in agreement but I knew I wouldn't follow that. Daphne was mine now and I was hers, Dad and Frasier be damned.

My new brother-in-laws were, interesting to say the least. I soon realized that Daphne was right; an open bar was a bit of a ghastly idea. When all eight of them pulled down their pants I hid my head on my bride's shoulder. She just sighed. I caught her a few times explaining to people that Moon was no longer her last name. I beamed to myself after each time I heard those words.

Bryce made his way over to me at one point.

"Wonderful wedding, Niles, you must be very proud."

"Indeed, how are you?" In response Bryce gave me a love torn smile. I chuckled at him.

"Found a little love yourself?" He snapped back to reality.

"You know, you're quicker then your wife is. I never thought that would happen."

"Neither did I." Truth be told, Daphne sometimes had to pry the phone away from my hands to talk to Bryce.

"I just wanted to thank you," Bryce said.

"For what?"

"For stealing Daphne away from me so that I could meet Ashley," ahh, the mystery woman has a name. I then felt Daphne's arms wrap around me.

"Well, your father called a few of his buddies down at the station to find Simon and Peter and Mum just got Michael to put his shoes back on and not start showing the guests his four toed foot." I sighed, I was quite thankful the Moons lived in England.

"What about Billy?" Bryce asked.

"Bloody hell, what's he up to?"

"Flirting shamelessly with the bartender." Daphne and I turned around. Sure enough, Billy was flirting with the bartender. The bartender didn't seem to mind.

"Billy probably thinks it's a closed bar and he's being flirted with," Daphne said.

"Honey, look, he is being flirted with," I said to Daphne. I was afraid my wedding was turning into a circus.

"Did you see Audrey earlier?" Bryce asked.

"What did they do to my flower girl?" Daphne asked, now moving beside me.

"Nothing, it was what she was doing to them. She was shaking her finger at Stephen, exclaiming that that wasn't a good idea and that Mommy was going to yell at him for it." Daphne let out a laugh.

"Typical Moon female," I shot a glance at my wife.

"Then how do you explain your mom?" Both Bryce and Daphne looked at me.

"The crazy streak flows her way, not Dad's," was all that Daphne had to say. Then her ears perked up to the song that had started. "Wanna dance?" she asked me. I gave her a smile.

"Of course," and then to Bryce, "excuse us." Daphne and I subsequently made our way onto the dance floor. Having my love back in my arms I was barely aware of any of the other commotions her family caused. I didn't care. I had her and that was all that mattered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven months ago I was engaged, I'm now married, however to a different man. These last few months have been one big thing directly after another. Why did I rush into marriage after a previous engagement? Why not? Niles Crane was the right man for me, I'm glad we didn't wait.

I'm here now, on our Honeymoon in Bermuda. He's still asleep next to me; we just arrived here yesterday having flown out after our wedding. I watched my new husband sleep as I thought about the previous day's events.

The wedding had been beautiful, just like we had planned it. My brothers even behaved, well, throughout the ceremony, at least. As soon as there was an open bar, which I begged Niles not to do but he would have no word of it, they were gone. The typical wedding occurrence happened with my brothers, if I can call them that, living up to their last name. Whenever someone would comment on that I simply reminded them that my last name no longer coincided with theirs and walked away.

One of the highlights was my little chat with Bryce. He had fallen for this new girlfriend of his, Ashley, and I could tell. I had been worried about him and now I knew I didn't have to be anymore. Of course Bryce was also right that I'd feel a little twinge of envy towards her, but that couldn't damper on my wonderful day. Niles soon joined us and Bryce asked him if he wouldn't mind the two of us dancing for a bit. My love, of course, did not mind and I got to share the dance floor with my old friend. That lasted for about two minutes before my brothers started cutting in. Niles had to pry me back into his arms, three songs later.

I chuckled at the memory and woke my sleeping husband who turned towards me.

"What are you laughing about?" he said sleepily.

"Oh, just thinking about our wedding," I replied while giving him a kiss.

"Our wedding was funny?" he doesn't think well first thing in the morning.

"Mainly my brothers," he began to wake up.

"Oh," he rolled towards me, "yes, they were quite amusing."

"Think they'll have dominated our wedding video?" he began to chuckle.

"No, I specifically asked for minimal Moon showing." I started laughing out loud.

"Did you explain this was my family and not simply rear end revealing?"

"Either way it cut down on their appearance on that tape. I want to see primarily you and I," he then leaned in and gave me one of his killer kisses. I did no more thinking that morning, well, at least about my wedding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Frasier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dad was very excited that Niles and Daphne were returning home from their honeymoon today. Oh, who am I kidding, I was pretty darn excited myself. With both Niles and Daphne gone Dad and I were going a little crazy, apparently we needed more people to interact with.

Their wedding had been beautiful, with the exception of Daphne's brothers' behinds. I never knew a wedding could be so comical and emotional at the same time. At one point I even saw Daphne and Bryce dancing together. I don't know how he did it but he has sincerely gotten over her. I felt like I was seeing two friends and nothing supplementary even when I knew there was something extra there at one point. They both were happy, well; including Niles all three were happy. It was a blessing that Niles and Daphne ended up together, I have never seen my brother so blissful in all my days.

Still in my thoughts I walked into the living room.

"Hey Fras, what time are they due in?" my father asked from his chair.

"Not until tonight Dad, you know, I really don't think we'll see them at all today."

"Oh, they'll stop by," my father appears to be disillusioned.

"That's right Dad, the honeymooners are going to arrive home and come straight over to see family before even unpacking." My father glared at me as my doorbell rang. I glared back and then went to answer it. I was utterly shocked to find Niles and Daphne on the other side.

"Hello!" Daphne exclaimed, wearing a smile that was almost as big as her husbands.

"Hi Frasier, Hey Dad," Niles said as the two entered the apartment.

"I told you," my father growled at me.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked the lovebirds.

"Oh, we managed to land seats on an earlier flight out so we took it," Daphne said.

"How was your honeymoon?" Dad asked, my brother and sister-in-law gave each other goofy grins.

"Wonderful," was all Niles could manage.

"Did you bring me back anything?" Dad, again.

"As a matter of fact, we did," Daphne said as she rummaged through her carry on bag. She emerged with two boxes and handed one to Dad, the other to me. Dad instantly began opening his.

"Aw geez, you two didn't have to." Dad soon emerged with a T-shirt that read 'My kids went to Bermuda and all I got was this lousy T-shirt' He laughed in delight.

"Thanks Daph!" He said while giving her a hug.

"Niles does deserve some credit too," she replied.

"You picked this out?" Dad asked.

"No, but I actually went into the store." Dad laughed again and gave Niles a hug.

"Thanks, son."

"Frasier, are you going to open your gift?" Niles asked me. I did as I was told and emerged with the most exquisite tie.

"Oh Niles, this is wonderful, thank you. Thank you Daphne." I gave both of them a hug.

"That time I accompanied Niles into the store." It amazed me how two people so different could work together so well.

"Oh, how was the rest of the wedding?" Niles asked me, since he and Daphne did leave before most of the guests.

"Well, once Daphne's brother's collapsed from the alcohol it wasn't bad," I said.

"Oh dear," Daphne responded.

"I thought it was boring after that," Dad said.

"Were they able to make it home hung over?" Niles asked, it seemed to me he was worried that there was one or two extra Moons still hanging around.

"Of course, Bryce and I made sure that every single hung over Moon was accounted for and believe me, they were all hung over." I could still distinctly hear all the grumbling and growling that Daphne's family gave me.

"Oh, Bryce must have loved that," Daphne said. I had to think about that.

"You know what, I think he did," I said.

"Well of course, whenever Bryce would sleep over my brothers were constantly waking us up, every hour on the hour, he's just starting to get his revenge."

"Daphne, how did you survive living with them?" Niles asked in amazement.

"I lived here for five years, didn't I?" he nodded his head in agreement as both Dad and I shouted out a "hey". "Oh, I'm just kidding. You learn to live with what you've got." Niles still did not seem convinced.

"Well, we just wanted to stop by and say hello but we should really be going," Niles turned towards the door.

"Yes, we don't want any of your suits to get a wrinkle in them." Daphne responded on her way out.

"I'm just not sure if the way you folded them worked," Niles replied halfway out the door.

"Don't trust your wife do you?" Daphne had then gone to the elevator while Niles turned around with a dumbstruck face and then left. Dad let out a chuckle.

"It's good to have them back."

"Yes Dad, it is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bryce~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day after Niles and Daphne arrived home from their honeymoon I got a call from them.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Hey Bryce!" exclaimed a very cheery Daphne.

"Hey Daph! How was Bermuda?" She sighed dreamily on the other end.

"Bermuda was wonderful, my vacation was wonderful, my husband is wonderful…" and then she trailed off into Daphne-land. Funny thing is that Niles goes to Daphne-land a lot too. I laughed and that brought Daphne back to reality, she did not call London to daydream about her husband who was probably just in the next room. "So how was your flight home?"

"Amusing, as it always is to fly with your family. Did you know that Billy picked up the bartender?" I heard the phone fall to the floor.

"What?" she said when she had managed to reclaim the phone, her voice then got softer. "Niles! Billy picked up the bartender," I then heard something else fall followed by another 'what' this time with Niles' voice, the next thing I know he's on the phone as well.

"Billy did what?" Niles said, I laughed at him.

"Hey, he's your brother-in-law, not mine." I could hear his shocked face, though it did help that Daphne was chuckling.

"That was low Bryce, real low."

"What else did my family do?" Daphne asked.

"Let's see: Michael and Nigel had a swinging contest with Audrey, which Stephen broke up almost immediately, then Stephen starting doing the same thing with Audrey, which his wife scolded him for. Simon found his way into the parking lot with someone who we thought was crashing the party, then realized that Peter invited her, your dad-"

"Stop right there! I don't want to know anymore," Daphne interrupted me with.

"No problem, I now have stories to last me for years." I then heard Daphne's sobs.

"So tell us more about this Ashley," Niles said, obviously trying to change the mood.

"Well why don't you two come and meet her?" I suggested.

"Bryce, we just arrived home from a vacation," Daphne said.

"So?" I asked. The silence told me that my dear friends were looking at each other.

"When would you like us?" Niles finally asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day I was in Nervosa waiting for Niles to show up, something that we plan on happening most days, when Roz came in.

"Hey Daphne, how are you?" She didn't even order her coffee just sat down right across from me.

"I'm wonderful Roz, thanks for asking."

"So I take it the honeymoon went well," oh dear, she's prying.

"Yes, it did Roz and no, you're not getting anymore details then that."

"At least I tried," she finally flagged down a waiter and gave her order. "It must be nice to be home, huh?"

"I wish it would last," I sighed, Roz looked at me.

"What's going on, you're not moving are you?" I had to chuckle at that.

"No, no, Bryce wants Niles and I to come up for a visit, so if Niles can clear his schedule we're going next month."

"Daph, why aren't you thrilled, that's like getting two honeymoons!" She had a point.

"I know, and I really am excited to go. I guess I just wanted to settle down, everything has been happening so fast over the last year. Roz, a year ago I thought of Niles as 'Dr. Crane', just a friend, and now he's my husband!" I was getting awfully worked up over this; my hands were gripping the side of the table.

"I know Daph, like you said, when love hits you gotta take it." I relaxed a bit.

"I'm sorry Roz, I don't know where that came from."

"It's ok, you have been through a lot in the past, what, eight months?"

"Seven, a year if you count when Bryce first visited," I sighed, it all seemed too fast. Not that I don't love my husband, I do dearly, I wouldn't change the past seven months of my life, not one bit. I just needed some time to relax, have some tranquility in my life for a change.

"Maybe you should push this trip off, I'm sure Bryce would understand," Roz said, placing a hand on my own.

"I do miss the sod," that's when my husband entered the café and Roz moved back in her seat.

"Hello Roz. My love," I smiled as he gave me a quick kiss. "How are you ladies today?"

"I'm good," Roz said as her coffee arrived. "Now I just might be better." Niles turned towards me.

"So how is your schedule looking?" I asked. He sat down and sighed.

"I've got a few issues but I'll see what I can do." He sighed and slumped ever so slightly in his seat. I then realized how much he was looking forward to this trip. I decided that if he could clear his work schedule we'd go, if not we could just stay home and be the happy couple that we are. Roz then looked at her watch and stood up.

"Well, I better go attend to his Royal Highness, see ya later." We both said goodbye as she left the Café.

"Daphne, are you ok?" Niles asked me, he sure can see right through me, "you almost seemed relieved when I mentioned we might not be able to go." The problems with a psychiatrist for a husband.

"I'm fine, I just thought it would be nice to relax for a bit. I haven't been able to find normality since Bryce first arrived in America." Niles thought for a moment.

"I can understand that. For you there have been a lot of changes, for me, not so much. I knew I wanted this, I wanted us. I guess I just needed a person like Bryce to see your side." I chuckled, if it wasn't for Bryce Niles and I wouldn't be here right now. "So if you want to postpone our trip I'm sure Bryce will understand." I thought for a moment.

"Why don't we see what happens with your schedule. Either way I get to be with my husband, right?" Niles gave me one of his goofy grins.

"That, my dear, is correct." He then leaned in and gave me another kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Niles~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Frasier, I'm worried about Daphne." I said to my brother over diner. We were having a boy's night out and I felt bad for leaving Daphne at home.

"Why?"

"Hasn't she seemed a little, oh, off, lately?" Frasier put his fork down to think.

"Now that you mention it she has. A little uptight as well," he was now resuming eating.

"I'm just not sure that this trip is the right thing right now," I was only playing with my food instead of eating. My brother finally noticed.

"Niles, this is really bothering you, isn't it?" Frasier had now stopped eating as well.

"No, Frasier, this is really bothering Daphne. Anything that bothers my wife bothers me as well."

"Have you been able to clear your schedule?"

"Yes, just finished this afternoon." Frasier sighed from across the table.

"Well, you could always cancel on Bryce and stay home for the three weeks." I looked up at him, that just might be what Daphne needs.

"And you and Dad and everyone else wouldn't bother us for a full three weeks."

"Well, we can try, can't we?" The two of us laughed, we knew the fallacy of that plan.

"Frasier, the thing is I know Daphne wants to go and so do I. And Bryce will never let us respite until we've met Ashley in person. I also know this trip will either be what Daphne needs or exactly what she doesn't need." Frasier put his chin in his hand and was silent for a moment.

"Maybe you should just talk to her, Niles. See what she wants. And I know you can see through her, between your deep understanding of who she is and your keen psychological knowledge I'm sure you'll be able to crack this one." Frasier really did need to work with real clients; he was losing his touch in the drive-through world of easy radio answers. But I did know Daphne quite well and I wanted to, no, needed to help her out.

"It's worth a try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks after my honeymoon, I was lying on my bed while Niles was on the phone with the travel agent. He was able to clear his schedule after all. That left me, well, in mixed emotions. Perhaps I just don't know how to have clear emotions with everything I've been through. I know it's not that but it would be nice for this to all be nothing.

I glanced around the room. After the wedding Niles and I were going to do a bit of redecorating, to truly make this our home. We hadn't the time to start yet and I guess it's just going to have to wait. I like the Montana as it is but it would be nice to buy some things of my own. Having lived with parents and clients most of my life I had rarely gotten the chance to decorate more than a bedroom myself. I sighed as Niles hung up the phone.

"Well, we're all set." He turned to face me. "Are you ok?"

"I wish I knew." And I truly did, I didn't like these states of turmoil, never have. Nile was immediately by my side holding me.

"Do you want me to cancel?" I looked over at him.

"No, no, you've already gone to all this trouble." He leaned back and thought for a moment.

"I can cancel the tickets and the hotel and we can just stay here for three weeks," he gave my neck a kiss, "in this room," and another kiss, "right here." I laughed and kissed his lips fiercely.

"Don't tempt me, Niles Crane." Again, he's in a thinking position.

"Hang on," he said while standing. He went over to the phone and began to dial. "Hello Maureen," he was calling his travel agent again, bloody hell! "Do you think we could cut the first week out the vacation? – Yes, everything is to remain the same for the second two weeks. – Wonderful! – Thank you, bye." He hung up and smiled broadly at me. "How does a week here sound?"

"Sounds like it'll take you a week to pack." I teased.

"I promise it shall not."

"What about Frasier and Dad?" I asked.

"We won't tell them we've changed our plans." He sat down next to me and took hold of my hand. "Daphne, I realize that everything you've been saying has been true. We jumped into the relationship, heck, we jumped into an engagement never mind relationship," my heart fluttered at those words. "We could use some time together, no work, no redecoration, just us. What do you say?"

"You'll have to explain to Bryce why he lost a week with us," I replied, kissing his hands.

"Bryce will understand. And I hope you'll understand if we stop this conversation now." Before I could respond he had pushed me backwards onto our bed and was kissing me, lovingly, passionately… I wondered how much time we would actually have together for our week of seclusion that didn't involve sex. Oh well, the curse of being newly married.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Martin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geez, no sooner had my son and daughter-in-law arrived home then they were planning their next getaway, this time to London. Yeah, I know, they're going to be visiting their friend Bryce. Don't get my wrong, I like the guy and I understand he wants to see these two, but they're my kids, I want to see them too. I even contemplated using my exercises as an excuse to get them to stay before my beer knocked me back to my senses. Instead I had just resorted to grumbling from my recliner.

"Morning Dad," Daphne said as she entered the apartment. I gave her a half nod. "You're not still doing this now, are you?" She had her hands on her hips; I was still watching the television. The next thing I know the screen turns black and I turn around to see Daphne, hands on hips, holding the remote.

"What'd you do that for?" I exclaimed.

"Well good morning to you too." She finally put the remote down, still out of my reach, however.

"Come on, Daph," I sighed; I really didn't want to get into this.

"Talk, old man or I get one of your psychiatrist sons to make you," the power she tortures me with. I shifted in my seat; I really didn't want to talk about this.

"I just don't want you to leave so soon, that's all," I'm not looking at her but I know she's probably all sappy and soft eyed.

"I know how you feel." I wasn't expecting that. I looked over at Daphne who was now sitting on the edge of the couch.

"You do?" I asked.

"You think I've been able to settle down with only being in Seattle a month and then gone again?" She looked, well, almost worried.

"Daphne?" I asked.

"I'm fine, just miss normality. Vacations are for people who need a change not for those who need stability." I found myself supporting this trip for the first time.

"But friends are worth that, right?" She brightened up a bit.

"I guess your right. Just don't tell my family that I'm going to be in England, I'm going to try to avoid them at all costs." I chuckled.

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Now how about those exercises…" Oh geez.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was certainly one upside to a week of seclusion; the airport became a wonderful and welcome change of scenery. Niles and I managed to have everyone believe that we were still going to London for the full three weeks, minus Bryce and Ashley of course. However that meant that we couldn't leave the apartment for fear of bumping into anyone. And it was nice. About mid-week we started rearranging the apartment and deciding what type of furniture and decorations we were going to buy. This, of course, went against our original plan but it was still time spent together. I was starting to feel a lot better. A week let me know that my husband and I made a wonderful team. Not any two people can spend an entire week together with no interruptions and still love each other afterwards. For us I felt we loved each other more.

As many doubts as I had about my trip to London, the last few faded away as I stepped off the airplane in England, my homeland. I love America dearly but I was born and raised here. I stood still to breath in the air as Niles stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me in an embrace.

"So this is the land that born my love." He nuzzled into my neck and gave me a kiss. It felt good to be back. To top it all off I was a new woman. Older, wiser, and with a wonderful husband wrapped about me… holding me… blocking traffic… Blocking traffic, oh dear, we shouldn't be standing still in a busy terminal, should we?

I picked up my bags and moved forward again, glancing behind. As I suspected I got a few nasty responses. Niles followed my gaze and then two-stepped up to me.

"Are they always this vicious in England?" he asked. I chuckled.

"How would you feel if two newlyweds were blocking your path home after a long flight?" He gave me his goofy grin before processing what I was saying. After that his "oh" face appeared. I chuckled again, how I knew this man so well so quickly was beyond me.

Up ahead I saw lots of waving hands. I was looking around for Bryce, he was meeting us here and taking us to the Hotel, Niles had refused to be an imposition. Normally Bryce's hair was easy to find, today it was hard. I looked around a bit more and saw red curls, from underneath a hat. I nodded to Niles, who then saw Bryce, and we both headed in his direction.

"Hello lads, have a good flight?" Bryce asked as we put our luggage down.

"Well, if you ignore the baby that was crying all the way from coach…" Niles was grumbling, as always. I gave Bryce a kiss hello.

"It was wonderful."

"I saw you two hold up the line of people, I see married life is treating you well," Bryce smirked at us. I smirked back. Niles blushed. We were quite an amusing crowd.

Just then I saw a woman walk towards us. She had long blond hair, was slightly shorter than me, and had curves that she showed off proudly. Bryce turned around and smiled at her. Something lurched in my stomach as I recognized her face.

"Honey, this is Niles and Daphne. Lads, this is Ashley." She instantly held out her hand to shake Niles' and mine.

"Hello, hello. Bryce has told me so much about the two of you I just couldn't wait to meet you!" She was trying too hard, that personality was completely fake.


**Niles**

Ashley was the sweetest woman I've met in a long time. I could see why Bryce liked her; she has this glowing and friendly countenance.

"Well, we have heard a few things about you too," I replied to Ashley, she blushed and turned her head into Bryce's shoulder.

"Oh no, that can't be good now, can it?" was Ashley's response. Daphne gave a short chortle; she must be tired from the flight.

"Well, I'm sure not all of Bryce's stories were pleasant either," Daphne responded.

"Daph, we do have a colored past," Bryce said.

"Just a bit, right?" Daphne laughed and the rest of us joined, even Ashley, I wonder what she didn't know. Daphne then swatted Bryce's hat.

"What's up with this? Hiding your signature red curls, the way I was always able to find you in a crowd?" Bryce picked his hat up.

"Ashley bought this for me, it suits me, don't ya think?" He then placed the hat on sideways and attempted to put on a debonair stance. I was having a hard time keeping myself from laughing.

"If you think so," Daphne said while picking up her bags. "Are we going to continue blocking traffic?" she smirked.

"No, no, that's quite all right. Hey Ashley, should we see if Daphne still remembers the way?" Ashley gave Bryce a small glare, I was liking her already.

"Why don't we save the mean part of the trip until after the jetlag has worn off?" Bryce held his head low as he picked up a few bags and lead the way. Ashley turned around to smile at us and I smiled back. Daphne, well, I guess she wasn't looking at Ashley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't like her, that's all I'm saying." I was talking to Niles as we unpacked our belongings, Ashley was really bothering me.

"But honey, why on Earth would you not like her?" Niles was organizing his clothes, refolding them, and then placing them into the drawers. I had already finished and was lying on the bed.

"She's trying too hard. People only try too hard to make a good impression if there's something wrong with them." Niles looked up at me.

"Do you have any recollection of how I acted around you for the first two years? Well, five years?"

"Yeah, but that was different."

"How?"

"You had feelings towards me, Ashley is just trying way too hard to be friendly." Niles was now hanging up some clothes, having finished decreasing them all.

"I didn't feel that she was trying too hard, perhaps you just need to spend some more time with her, a few hours hardly counts." Niles then found a seam in one of his pants that he wasn't happy with. He was pulling the fabric in all different directions.

"I suppose you're right." I got up and walked over to him. "Can I help you with that?" I asked saucily, he didn't catch my drift.

"Well I'm not sure how, for some reason the –" I cut him off with a kiss. Thankfully he didn't protest and simply let go of the pants to hold on to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ashley~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure they like me?" I asked Bryce. I really wanted his friends to like me. All he ever talks about is Daphne this and Niles and Daphne that, I knew how much a part of him they were. It was important that I fit into this matrix as well.

"Of course they did sweetie," Bryce said, giving my hand a kiss.

"I'm not so sure about Daphne, she seemed edgy." Truth be told Daphne was really the one I was worried about. She's Bryce's oldest friend, and ex-fiancée. She was certainly someone I wanted to like me.

"Ash, she had just gotten off a plane. Plus she's very protective. Remember what happened with Sara?" Do I remember? Of course I remember! His little sister interrogated me for two days straight before smiling and giving me a hug.

"Yes, I remember."

"Well Daphne's the same way. Just think of her as a second sister." That's just a little too weird.

"So you want me to think of your ex as a second sister?" I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows at him. He squirmed; he's so cute when he squirms. Especially the way that one curl bounces in the center of his forehead.

"Well, you can either catch my drift or just be convinced that the man you love harbors incest tendencies." And he was looking at me with a deadpan face.

"Alright, fine. I do love you, incest and all." I was laughing so hard at my witty remark that I didn't even see the pillow come at me and hit me in the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daphne~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke the next morning disorientated, as I had been most mornings. The hotel room reminded me that I was in London. I stretched and saw Niles walk out of the bathroom wearing a towel.

"Good morning sleepy head," he said to me. I was tempted to grab that towel of his but I figured that if he was calling me sleepy head we didn't have the time.

"How late is it?" I asked.

"Seattle time or London time?" I sighed.

"Whichever one Bryce is going by." I finally managed to get out of bed.

"Eleven, we're meeting them downstairs at the café in an hour." I sighed. "Promise me you'll try to like Ashley this time?" I chuckled and wrapped my arms around him.

"I promise, but if she bugs me she bugs me. I'll start taking notes for Bryce." I gave him a kiss and headed towards the bathroom.

"Daphne, I'm sure Bryce didn't take notes on me." I stopped still; he had a point, a darn good one at that. I turned to face him.

"Alright, I'll try." I then got myself into the shower and let the warm water soothe my thoughts. It wasn't going to be easy to give Ashley a fair chance. I don't let just anyone date my friends and she already had gotten off on the wrong foot with me. If only I could remember exactly what it was that bothered me so. I was just going to have to try to be as open as I possibly could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bryce~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashley and I arrived at the café early and settled ourselves down at one of the tables. Ashley immediately placed the napkin on her lap and then proceeded to rearrange her silverware ten times. I finally placed my hand on top of hers to stop her.

"Ash, relax. You've got nothing to worry about." She stopped fidgeting and looked up at me.

"I just want them to like me, that's all."

"Well Niles is a psychiatrist, he might adhere quite nicely to a psychological quirk. Just be careful, he can write out prescriptions," she gave my arm a slap as I chuckled at her. That's when we noticed Niles and Daphne standing behind us.

"We either arrived two seconds too late and five minutes too soon," Niles said. They both sat down.

"Well, we thought the newlyweds would be fashionably late and miss attired, neither of which you two currently are," I smirked at the two.

"We can go back to our room and correct that if you would like," Niles responded, in a pose that told me he was half ready to follow his own suggestion.

"That's quite alright, you two probably had enough this past week," I sneered at them again. It was just so fun to pick on them.

"Oh, that's right, how was your little week together?" Ashley asked. The newlyweds gave each other puppy dog eyes, the week went well.

"It was wonderful," Daphne responded, giving Niles a kiss.

"What did you do?" Ashley asked.

"Uh, honey, I don't think you want to ask that of newlyweds," I replied, rubbing Ashley's back.

"Right, sorry, how foolish of me, I should respect your privacy," she said again.

"Oh, it's not privacy, if asked Daphne and Niles will tell, it's just a little freaky when they do." Niles and Daphne glared at me, Ashley slapped my arm.

"Good for you for slapping him, he needs it," Daphne said, I was starting to feel outnumbered.

"Would you believe that his mother and sister said the same thing?" Ashley asked, leaning forward, all thoughts of rearranging cutlery far from her mind.

"Oh, I would. His mother once told my mother to give Bryce a spanking if he got into trouble with the rest of me brothers." I winced at the memory.

"I'm still thanking her for that," I said dryly. Daphne saw my unease.

"My mother had nine children, she didn't take the time to figure out who was involved. If the occurrence needed more than one child all of us got spanked. Though she stopped spanking Billy at one point, he was enjoying it a little too much." Daphne and I laughed at the memory. Niles and Ashley, however, were a little weirded out.

"Daphne, you never mentioned anything about being spanked by your mother," Niles said with concern.

"Let me clear this up for you, I had two nicknames growing up: Stilts, because I was tall for my age, and Snitch. Luckily my mother was so harsh they didn't have any energy to come after me." Niles rubbed Daphne's back, obviously not realizing how harsh her mother really was.

"Daph's family makes mine look sane," I said more as an explanation to Ashley than anything else.

"My wedding is proof of how crazy the Moon's can be, but I have no knowledge of this supposedly outrageous McGee clan," Niles spoke up.

"Well my family did have seven more siblings," Daphne said.

"Honey, that still gives me no proof," Niles responded. He flailed his hands a bit when he said that which was funny, because he was holding Daphne's hand.

"Don't look at me," Ashley started, "Bryce is still trying to feed me with nice stories so I doubt I know the worst." Daphne and I shared a look.

"It is your family," Daphne replied.

"I'd like not to scare Ashley." I retorted.

"Alright I'll start small. Niles hasn't heard this one either. Tell the Halloween pumpkin funeral story." The two of us started laughing.

"Well, that's nice that it's funny but I think Niles and I would like to know why," Ashley is so cute when she's quick on her feet like that. I calmed down so that I could respond.

"Alright, this happened when we were about seven and my sister was five. Sara, Daphne and I found this gigantic pumpkin to use for Halloween, it took all three of us to carry it home."

"Don't forget we bumped into Stephen on the way," Daphne said.

"He's one of Daphne's older and nicer brothers," Niles said to Ashley, probably proud to contribute something.

"That's right, he carried it home, and Daphne and I carried Sara because she was so worn out from carrying the pumpkin. Anyways, we got it home and then took all afternoon carving this pumpkin ever so carefully. In retrospect it looked awful but we were quite proud nonetheless. So we placed it outside for Halloween, which was still a week away. All week we would go out onto the porch to talk to the pumpkin and play with the pumpkin, it became a real playmate, as odd as that sounds. The night before Halloween some teenagers were pranking around the neighborhood, egging houses and smashing pumpkins, and they smashed Mr. Pickles."

"Mr. Pickles?" Ashley asked.

"That was that pumpkins name," I responded.

"He liked to eat pickles, you'll have to ask Sara for clarification on that one," Daphne added.

"Did she actually feed the pumpkin pickles?" Niles asked with a slightly disgusted look on his face.

"I didn't think so, but the thing did begin to smell something awful," Daphne said, Niles, with such a face on that you'd think he was there, rubbed Daphne's back.

"Anyways, when Sara and I woke up in the morning we went to check on Mr. Pickles and found him completely smashed in. I instantly covered Sara's eyes and the two of us were practically crying. Then at school I told Daphne who had the same response. That night, instead of trick or treating the three of us dressed up in black and buried the pumpkin outside in the backyard."

"Then my brother's came and un-dug the pumpkin just to torture us. Parts of Mr. Pickles were all over Bryce's backyard in a path back to my house. It was a pretty gruesome sight." Daphne was getting a little chocked up so Niles placed his hand on top of hers and squeezed. I couldn't believe that Daphne was still getting all wound up over this.

"Sounds to me like Daphne's family are the true strange ones, the pumpkin story was cute," Ashley responded. Daphne and I looked at each other, then at Niles.

"I can't think of one story Daphne's told me that's as tame as that one was," Niles said. Daphne sat back and sighed.

"Just remember it's your family now," she said. After a brief pause in which we were all looking at Niles he gave her a kiss, a good answer.

"There was that time your father chased us around the house with a hatchet!" Daphne practically shouted. I shuddered.

"Yes, that was one medication mum never let him take again." Daphne and I sat pensively, Niles sat there blinking, hand loosely on top of Daphne's. Ashley's jaw was open a bit as she continued to look at Daphne before she snapped herself back to reality.

"Moving on I want to hear the full story about how Niles and Daphne got together," Ashley spoke up.

"I would have thought Bryce would have told you the full story by now," Daphne responded.

"He kept telling me to wait because there were parts that only you two could tell. Though I do know quite a bit, you can't just tell someone that their long time friend became their fiancée and then left them for another person but all three are still friends without some confusion and explanation warranted." Ashley said.

"Hey, Bryce made me leave him," Daphne said as Niles laughed.

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way!" Ashley said.

"Why don't we just tell her the full story," Niles said. We all agreed and took turns telling Ashley about our torrid past. It was fun to reminisce, though there were certain parts that made one, two, or all three of us a little on edge. It has been only a year since this whole mess started. But it was all done in good faith and with plenty of humor. I even got to hear a few details that I wasn't aware of before.

"That's quite a mess," was Ashley's brilliant response to our crazy story.

"Tell me about it," all three of us said at exactly the same time, which caused for all four us to burst out laughing.

"I guess you really are a close group, I hope you'll have room for one more," Ashley said just as our check finally arrived.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Niles~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both Bryce and Ashley had to work late so we only saw them for lunch. I must say that I had a wonderful time. It was nice to not be the only one who didn't know all the little stories that made Daphne and Bryce laugh. Ashley was really a sweet girl. When Bryce was talking she'd look at him with such a face that you knew she truly cared for him. Furthermore Daphne seemed to be enjoying her company. I didn't see her flex or become short with her once during lunch.

After we parted with Bryce and Ashley, Daphne took me on a tour of the city. She was absolutely thrilled to be able to show me landmarks for once. At one point we found a nice little park to sit and talk. We were not there for two minutes before Daphne said something that went against my thoughts of earlier.

"I don't like Ashley. I'm sorry, I tried, but I just don't like her." It took me quite a while to process this. I was completely fooled. She had even waited three hours to bring this back up. Eventually I turned towards her to speak.

"What?" I didn't know what else to say.

"I'm sorry Niles, but she bugs me. She is completely wrong for Bryce, he could do so much better than that spacey little thing." I swallowed and clasped my hands together before speaking.

"What exactly bothered you?" I asked.

"Her laugh, for one. She has this fake little high-pitched chuckle. The way she always has to place herself into a conversation even if she has no idea what's going on. Face it, she's an egotistical person, all wrong for Bryce." Daphne said all of this matter-of-factly and was now looking out into the park. I didn't see any of this and Daphne's responses were starting to worry me. I tried to think of something else to say but the psychiatrist in me insisted that I ask this one question.

"Daphne, why is this bothering you?" I looked at her very carefully. She looked down at her hands for a while, then finally up at me. Her expression told me nothing, it was blank.

"I don't know, could it be that I just don't like her?" I didn't like the way this was going.

"Nothing's ever that simple," I said it, and yet I knew what the consequences would be.

"Only to psychiatrists. Niles, not everything has to be analyzed finitely!" Now she's standing in front of me and I couldn't stop myself.

"This isn't something that it takes a magnifying glass to see, there are practically red flags waving here!" This was hurting. The one and only time Daphne and I had previously fought was right before we had gotten together. I knew she was getting angry and I understood why but I had to let the conversation continue.

"Niles, I would think you of all people…" Her voice trailed off. "I'm going for a walk." And then I watched her walk away.



After sitting on the bench for about a half hour, simply thinking of the events that had gone before I decided to look at my watch: it was five in the afternoon. That meant it was nine back home. Frasier should be awake. I dialed the number.

"Hello?" asked a groggy Frasier, was he sleeping? I decided to try and sound cheerful.

"Hi Frasier," I said.

"Niles, what's wrong?" Apparently my attempt failed.

"Oh, I didn't wake you, did I?" I asked.

"I had just woken up, it's fine Niles. Why are you calling?" I sighed and glanced around me. I was on vacation with my wife yet I was sitting in a park, alone.

"Well, let's just say that Daphne and I had a little spat and I wanted to make sure that my deductive reasoning was sound."

"Alright, what happened?" I could almost see Frasier sitting in his bed, putting on his thinking cap for this early morning therapy session. I proceeded to tell Frasier about how Daphne doesn't like Ashley, my impression of Ashley, and Daphne and my fight just a little while earlier. When I finished Frasier was silent for a while.

"Well, she could sincerely just not like this woman. I mean Niles, you two don't have to see eye-to-eye on everything."

"But is that what this justly sounds like, Frasier?" I was hoping this was what he truly thought. I could live with making an obtuse mistake.

"No," came his baritone voice. I took a deep breath.

"Alright older brother, out with it, what do you see?"

"Well it would appear that Daphne still has some lingering feelings towards Bryce and while this is not detrimental it is something that she needs to realize." Perhaps drive-through psychology does have it merits.

"Alright, that just confirms what I already suspected. My problem is how do I get her to realize this? Preferably without ruining my marriage." Let's see if he can give me a good solution to his diagnosis.

"You need to confront her. Talk to Daphne about it, calmly and rationally and see if she sees it as well. If not, perhaps Bryce can help, I'm sure he went through something similar at one point." My brother had a good response as well. Not one I was too keen on but one that was better than anything I had roaming around in my head.

"Alright. Thank you Frasier. If you have a slow day at work would you like me to call in?" I teased him.

"Ha ha. Good luck Niles." I could tell he was worried about me.

"Thank you Frasier."

"Oh and feel free to call me, day or night." I chuckled.

"Will do." And then I hung up the phone and continued to sit on the bench, staring out at the scenery. Wondering how I was going to be able to pull this off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End~of~Part~I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~