Hey guys! Merry Christmas for those of you who celebrate it! I'd also like for it to be known that this chapter was written on the brand new laptop Santa brought me! Enjoy!

APOV

We returned back to the Montana. Frasier opened the door for me and I walked in. Daphne was sitting on the couch with a little boy.

"Uncle Fraisier! You're back!" He exclaimed. "Where'd you go? Who's this?"

"Well, David." He said, sitting down. "I was taking a walk. This is your cousin."

"You mean like Frederick?" He asked.

"Yeah." Frasier said. "This is actually Frederick's little sister, Analeigh."

"Hi." David said. "I'm David."

"Hi." I said, more shyly than he did. "I'm Analeigh."

"Do you want to see what I got for Christmas?"

"Sure." I smiled with a shrug.

"Okay." He said excitedly. "Wait here!"

He proceeded to run up the stairs to wher I'm guessing his room was.

"He likes you." Daphne smiled, signaling for me to come sit next to her.

"It kinda seemed like that." I said awkwardly.

"It's strange." She said to Frasier. "When Lillith would come into town, I would get the worst headaches. But, with Analeigh, there's nothing. There's actually good feelings, in fact."

"I'm sure you're just imagining that, Daphne." He said, skeptically.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well," Daphne said. "I'm a bit psychic."

"We've decided to find it charming." Frasier said quickly as David came back.

"Look!" He said. He started showing me each toy. He told me the name and what it did and how it worked.

"That's really cool." I said.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"Actually, I don't celebrate Christmas." I said slowly. "I'm Jewish. So, we celebrate Hannukah."

"What's that?" He asked.

"I'll tell you later, dear." Daphne said. I was glad. I wasn't quite sure how to explain an entire religion to a five year old.

David showed me one of the video games he got for Christmas and asked me if I wanted to play. We played for a while. Daphne went to make dinner after a while, but Frasier continued to stay and watch us.

"Aw, you beat me again!" I said in defeat.

"Yay!"

"David," Daphne called from the kitchen. "I need you to pick up all of your toys and get washed up for dinner, please!"

"Yes, Mommy!" He called back.

I took the disc out of the game console and started wrapping up the cords to the controllers.

"You let him win didn't you?" Frasier asked with a smile.

"Yeah." I admitted. "I'm a boss at Mario Kart."

He laughed. There was a knock on the door.

"Frasier," Daphne called from the kitchen. " I think that that might be Martin and Ronee. Would you get that for me?

"I forgot they were coming over for dinner," He mumbled.

He got up and went toward the door while I took his seat on the couch.

"Hey, Dad! Ronee!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Hey, Fras!" The old man smiled. He took his coat and the woman's and hung them on the coat rack. Niles came down from his office.

"Dad!" He smiled. His face dropped quickly. "I see you brought Eddie."

"Of course I did!" He said. " David loves him."

He started walking toward the kitchen and then saw me. I looked at me for a few seconds before saying something.

"Who is this?" He asked Frasier.

"Well, Dad, it's kind of a long story." He said slowly.

"Bottom line it for me."

"This is Analeigh." He said. "She's my daughter."

"You're kidding!" He looked serious. "Who's her mom?"

"Lillith." Frasier winced.

"Lillith!" Martin exclaimed. "When did this happen? Did she just decide not to tell you?"

"Fifteen years ago. And, no. Lilith never told me."

"That witch decided to keep the existence of your own child from you?" He asked.

As soon as he said that I got up walked out of the apartment. I didn't even pause when Frasier called after me.

"Thank you, Dad." He said sarcastically. "That was just great."

I continued down the hallway, staring straight forward, never looking back. I didn't understand why everyone always had such mean things to say about my mother. Yeah, she can be a little intense sometimes. And I've noticed that a lot of people find her slightly intimidating. I just didn't understand how anyone could see her that way.

"Analeigh, please come back." Frasier said. He was following me down the hallway. I turned the corner.

"Analeigh," He groaned. "He didn't mean that."

"Yes he did." I snapped, turning on my heel to face him. "He meant every word."

"He was just caught off guard and he can a have a bit of a temper sometimes."

"And he hates my mom."

"Well, hate is a strong word-"

"That expresses how strongly he feels about my mother."

"Analeigh." He sighed. "Would you please just come back so we can try this again. I'm sure Daphne talked to him."

"Fine," I huffed.

"Thank you." He smiled.

We walked back down the hallway together. When we turned the corner, he put his arm over my shoulders. I still didn't understand how he could do that so naturally. How easily he accepted me as his daughter. I felt kinda bad that he had accepted me more as his daughter than I had him as my father.

When we got back to the apartment, Martin said his apologies and I told him ans Ronee my story. We ate dinner together. I slowly warmed up and contributed to the conversation. I still felt awkward though. I never was one for having conversations, especially with people I barely knew.

It got pretty late and my mom still hadn't arrived. Eventually, I decided to go to sleep. Everyone else was already asleep except for Frasier and myself. Martin and Ronee had left after dinner.

FPOV

Analeigh had fallen asleep on the love seat, pretty comfortably I might add. I looked at her, her red highlights in her hair becoming even more obvious in the glow of the flames from the fireplace. She had fallen asleep watching the flames and fingerspelling the names of the various objects around her. The apartment was nearly silent.

My phone buzzed telling me that Lillith was at the door. The last time she had texted she had landed in Seattle.

I opened the door.

"Lilith," I said. She didn't look like herself. She was in black slacks, a white sweater, and her hair was in a bun. It was loose with a few strands in her face.

"Is she alright?" She asked, brushing past me and into the apartment.

"Why wouldn't she be?" I was taken aback by her actions. I was expecting her to be angry and cold. Not as worried as she was now.

"Well, when we talked earlier this morning, you hung up in such as rush and you seemed concerned." She said, kneeling next to Analeigh and stroking her disheveled hair from her face. "My fist thought was that she was hurt."

"It was nothing." I shrugged. "She just had a minor panic attack."

"What?" She froze. " She had a panic attack and you say it was nothing? As a psychiatrist you should know that panic attacks are not something to sneeze at. God, I can't believe she even came all the way out here. I mean, the girl can barely decide what she wants for dinner every night. "

I had never seen Lilith so concerned. We had never really had to worry about Frederick because he tended to stay out of trouble. I wondered how many headaches Analeigh had caused her.

"Lilith, Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"It just seemed like the best option at the time." She said, getting up and sitting next to Analeigh.

"Forgive me, but I just don't understand how not telling me that I had a daughter was a good idea at all. Let alone the best one."

"Think about it Frasier." She sighed. "We had just gotten the divorce finalized. We had finally come to terms with the fact that there was no chance for us to be together again. We were finally moving on with our lives.

"I felt like if I told you, you would feel guilty and want to help me. Then you would have wanted for us to try and work things out. And it wouldn't have worked which would have made both of their lives even more dysfunctional. I figured raising Analeigh on my own would be best for everyone."

I sighed. I guess I could see how she thought it was a good idea.

"She told me she likes showtunes." I said nonchalantly. "What other kinds of things does she like?"

"All kinds of things." She chuckled. "Sign language, photography, the Addams Family, pretty much anything black, and- oh that reminds me!" She reached into her bag and puled something out. "She loves sock monkeys. I don't know why, but she does."

She took the sock monkey and placed it under Analeigh's arm.

"Well, I should probably meet Chris back at the hotel." She said, getting up. "I'll pick her up tomorrow morning."

"Actually Lillith," I said. "How about we all have dinner together tomorrow night? And she stay here until then?"

"Oh, well," She contemplated. "I guess I don't see anything wrong with that. Well, here's her medicine. One for the panic attacks and one for the depression I'm guessing she forgot to take it this morning so make sure she takes it in the morning."

"I will." I promised. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"I'll see you tomorrow."