A/N: Thank you all for reading (and reviewing)! Sorry this got so long; I didn't feel like turning it into two chapters.

"Dr. Crane?" A voice as soft as a summer breeze. Niles mumbled something, unable to fully wake up. Not that he even remembered falling asleep.

"Dr. Crane?" There it was again and this time it was a little louder, a bit more demanding.

"Hm." Niles didn't even open his eyes. He was beginning to wake up; and that meant a truckload of memories. They were out of order, because the first thing he remembered was waking up sometime earlier in that hospital bed. Then there was the accident. Niles thought he could actually feel it in his bones. Feel the impact, feel metal against metal and he and Daphne somewhere in between. Daphne.

"Daphne?" He opened his eyes and turned to see her. To his surprise he was no longer in a wheelchair, but in an actual hospital bed – in Daphne's room!

"You are awake!" She smiled broadly at him. Niles thoughts somersaulted; how could she smile? At him of all people? And wasn't she in any pain? His own headache had turned into this dull throbbing, a constant reminder of what he'd done.

"How did I end up here?"

"Oh, didn't they tell you? We had an accident."

"I know that. I mean here – in this hospital bed. I was in a different room earlier, I was just here to – I came to – to see you." Daphne just stared at him. He didn't blame her, after all he was once again unable to bring across a simple message.

"You were here when I woke up." She finally told him. "How are you, Dr. Crane?" Her question brought tears to his eyes. Here she was injured herself – because of him – and she was worried about him. She was compassion personified.

"I'm fine. How are you, Daphne? Does it hurt? Your face – your leg?"

"I think the painkillers are working just fine."

"Daphne, you have no idea how sorry I am about-"

"Dr. Crane, it was an accident!"

"But it-" Daphne held up her hand to stop him. Grasping at any straw to postpone the talk that might take her away from him forever, he closed his mouth and stayed quiet. He knew he couldn't keep this from her forever.

"I had the strangest dream, Dr. Crane." She seemed genuinely excited. Her eyes sparkled with joy – or from the effects of the drugs. Whatever the reason, she was happy and it was partly because there was something she wanted to tell him. Him, Niles! For a moment he forgot they were in the hospital; for a moment it didn't seem to matter that he was married and that he had unbearable, indescribable feelings for this woman. Just for this one moment he would enjoy her childlike excitement, because eventually he had to crush it with the truth. How could he ever make her understand what had happened in that car?

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

"I would never think anything like that."

"The dream was about us," Niles gasped, interrupting her.

"Yes. You see, I dreamt that you and I – you really are going to think I'm crazy – we were married and I was pregnant. Can you imagine!" Niles could imagine it way too well; he figured it was a rhetorical question and bit his tongue. She stared straight ahead as if she were seeing her dream as a vision on that lily white hospital wall.

"The strangest thing, though. In my dream Mrs. Crane was in jail, because she had killed her boyfriend. I must have hit me head pretty hard to have dreamed something like that." Niles registered Daphne's smile as a blurry picture. His mind was trying to catch up with the words she'd just spoken, because he was clinging to the thought of her having dreamt of him. As her husband. Expecting a child. His mind couldn't put it together properly.

"The dream was about us." He repeated.

"Yes," Daphne replied slowly, "Did you hit your head too?"

"I-I heard what you said. It's just – so surprising that you dreamt about me."

"I figured it was because you were the last person I talked to. But you're the psychiatrist of course." Niles ' cheeks colored; she was right. There was a perfect psychological explanation why he had shown up in that dream of hers. And it had nothing to do with hidden feelings.

"It might have been a vision, not a dream." Daphne mused and it took Niles a moment to understand what she was really saying.

"You mean-"

"It's silly, I know. I shouldn't have told you."

"No, Daphne, I'm glad you did. I feel flattered actually. That I sneaked into your dream, I mean. I thought if you were to dream of someone… it'd be Frasier."

"Why would I dream about Dr. Crane?" Niles chuckled seeing her disgusted face. He finally had his answer too: she didn't love Frasier. Not in a romantic way anyway. Now if only he knew what she felt for him…

"Dr. Crane is like one of me brothers." Daphne interrupted his thoughts. His brain was slow in catching up, but eventually it hit him. If she thought of Frasier like a brother, then she must consider him a sibling as well. He tried to swallow the feelings of sadness. Wasn't he a happily married man? Luckily, Daphne was completely oblivious to the workings of his mind.

"Dr. Crane?" At first Niles thought she was still musing about what she'd just told him about Frasier.

"Dr. Crane?" She asked again and finally he realized she was actually talking to him. When he turned to her, he saw her in a new light. Gone was the cheerfulness; it was replaced with a shade of sorrow that accentuated the injuries on her face. Niles experienced a pain previously unknown to him. It travelled through his whole body and paralyzed him.

"Hm?" He replied with what felt like his last ounce of strength.

"Do you think… do you think your brother will fire me?"

"Of course not! What makes you think that?"

"Well, I can't bloody work, can I?" Angry tears fell from her eyes now and Niles could no longer stay in his bed. The wheelchair stood there in the corner, but he would not use it. His naked feet touched the cold ground and dizziness captured him a tight grip. Niles didn't let it stop him.

"Dr. Crane what are you doing!" Daphne's voice sounded strange; like they were both caught under water. His head couldn't process information, his legs couldn't hold him. Niles knew he wouldn't be able to make it from his bed to Daphne's. He stared straight at her without seeing her and his mouth spoke the words as if this was his last chance ever:

"Daphne, I love you and you'll always have a place in this family."

The jumble of voices in Niles' head turned out to be real. Waking up this time he felt way more focused. He opened his eyes and realized his head didn't hurt as much anymore.

"Look who decided to join us!" His father said jokingly, but relief washed over his face.

"Am I still in the hospital? Where is Daphne?"

"I'm here, Dr. Crane." She waved at him from her bed.

"You tried to get up. What on earth were you thinking?" Leave it to his brother to yell at him when he was hurt in a hospital bed.

"I – Daphne." He looked over at her and she looked away. He tried to remember the last moments before everything had gone black the last time. Niles found he couldn't. It was like looking at a written page where someone had blackened out all the important words.

"Does he think he's Daphne?" His father whispered loudly.

"No, I – Daphne was hurt and I –" Just like that he remembered. He told her loved her!

"You what?" Frasier looked at Daphne, who looked just the same.

"I-I-I."

"Yes, Niles?"

"Leave your brother alone, Frasier. Niles, while you were – well, sleeping – Maris called. She's taking a trip to deal with the shock of your accident." Niles merely nodded. He'd probably heal much faster without his wife around anyway.

"We were thinking you could come live with us for a week or two." Niles looked over at Daphne, whose face was turned towards the window. She looked like she wasn't part of any of this. Like she had said goodbye – and it was all because of him. He could have killed her simply because he couldn't take her eyes off her. He had jeopardized their friendship by telling her that he loved her. Daphne had every right to want this distance she was now creating. Except he remembered more; the conversation before the accident and her fear about losing her job. Niles couldn't undo his actions and his words, but he'd promised her something: he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her. There was no way he was letting her do this now, letting go.

"Daphne? What do you think? Do you think we'd be all right sharing a nurse?" It was the only peace offering he could give her with his brother and father around. She turned to him and the setting sun from outside the window framed her face so beautifully that he gasped. When she smiled softly, he knew everything would turn out just fine.

"We'll be all right."

"That nurse is not going to live with us!" Frasier announced destroying the moment. "You're turning my apartment into a hotel and I don't like it."

"Oh shut up, Frasier." Martin said and rendered his oldest son speechless. "I gotta go home and walk Eddie. I'm afraid you guys will have to stay here a while longer." He told Niles and Daphne.

"Of course, dad." Niles glanced at Daphne. "We're going to be just fine."

"I'll come see you tomorrow." He promised. "Come on Frasier."

"I'm so sorry, Daphne." Niles said immediately after his brother and father were gone again.

"You scared me. When you fainted and I couldn't do anything. Don't ever do anything like that again."

"That's not what I meant. I'm afraid I said something that I-" Daphne cut him off.

"It doesn't matter. Your brother said he wasn't thinking of firing me. I think your father had something to do with it actually." Niles felt hurt by her saying it didn't matter, but he nodded as cheerfully as he was able to.

"That's great. I'm glad. There's something else I need to tell you, though." Now or never, he decided.

"Dr. Crane, I know you feel responsible for this. As do I. It was simply an accident."

"I don't – I'm not sure that's true, Daphne. You see I was-"

"It was an accident." Daphne demanded and Niles couldn't help but accept it. For now anyway.

"Maybe you're right," he felt happy when he saw Daphne smile proudly, "and I'm tired. If you don't mind, I think I'll sleep some more."

"Oh of course, Dr. Crane. I'm tired meself."

"Good night, Daphne. Despite it being late afternoon."

"Good night, Dr. Crane." Niles turned away from her and let himself be lulled to sleep by the thought of her presence, the sound of her gentle breathing. Before he found himself drifting off, he could have sworn he heard Daphne gently whisper to him:

"And I love you, too, Dr. Crane."

His last thought before it all turned black and deep was that in the end, it would be all right.

THE END