He stood outside the apartment that housed his father and brother, and paused a moment, wondering if it was too late to turn around and go back to Paris that very night. To see everyone again, after so long a time, after the way he'd fled like a coward, without telling anyone where he'd gone, coldly informing them that he'd made a new home for himself. So selfish, so cruel...but it'd had to be done.

Niles took a deep breath and glanced at Jasmine. She smiled at him, trying to be reassuring, and the grip on his hand tightened slightly. He nodded at her and then turned back to the door. He knocked three times and waited. Muffled voices and movement could be heard coming from the other side of the door, and the knob slowly turned.

Just before the door opened, Niles felt a jolt of adrenaline, and he tensed, as if he was readying for a fight or worse, ready to run away again. The door slowly swung inward, and Niles could only stare blankly at the face that greeted him.

"Freddy?"

His nephew smiled at him, the young, lanky picture of Frasier when he'd been in his teens. Niles should know, he could often recall their childhood flawlessly. The young man, 17 now, by Niles's memory, nodded. "Hi uncle Niles. Come on inside, they're waiting for you."

Niles stepped forward and awkwardly hugged the young man, hardly able to understand that this stranger was his brother's son. How had the boy grown so tall, how had his voice become so deep? Time changes everything, he reminded himself, and he had been gone a very long time.

Freddy pulled back and couldn't help but to look Jasmine up and down in a way that had Niles recall the odd rivalry they'd had over Daphne when he was just a boy. "Who's this?"

"Freddy, I'd like you to meet Jasmine DeMarco, a close friend from Paris." Niles told him, his eyes nervously scanning for any sign of Daphne.

"She's not here." Freddy said, breaking into his thoughts.

"Who?"

"Daphne. She's not here tonight. Dad told me what happened last year, it's only family tonight." Freddy said quietly as he lead them to the couch. "They're in the kitchen, you two should relax and I'll let them know you're in."

Freddy strode into the kitchen and Niles could hear several voices- Frasier, Roz, Martin and Alice- but he turned to see that Jasmine, rather than take a seat, had stepped over to see the view. "It's beautiful," she said. "America is so different from home, though."

Beside her, Niles nodded. "I know. That's why I left to live there."

"Niles!" He turned at the sudden calling of his name and was swept into a hug by none other than Frasier Crane, Seattle's top talk-radio shrink.

Niles returned the hug, though he couldn't shake his feelings of caution; he knew he had to watch his words, he didn't want to say or do anything to bring up the past. The last thing he wanted was to have Jasmine or even Freddy hear something that would allude to what had happened in his last days in Seattle.

"Frasier, it's good to see you again- and, congratulations." Niles said, as he saw Roz step into the room with Alice and his father falling in behind her. A warm feeling was spreading through his chest at the sight of their smiles. Roz looked wonderful as always, and Alice, much like Freddy, had grown so much since the last time he'd seen her.

"Niles, it's about time you showed up," Martin said, striding in closer and hugging his youngest son. "Great to see you, son. You look good." He said, giving the younger man an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder.

"Oh, thanks dad, you're looking well. I- oh! I brought a guest back with me, everyone, this is Jasmine." He said, gripping her hand and presenting her to his family.

There was a moment when several sets of eyes were fixated on what was obviously more than simply a friend of Niles, but the moment passed quickly, with Frasier being the first to step forward and shake her hand. Martin and Roz quickly followed.

Jasmine, for her part, had watched closely as Niles reunited first with his brother and then his father. There was an underlying tension in her lover, but his family seemed warm to her, simply happy to have the wayward son back in the fold for the wedding celebration.

"It's pleasant to meet you," she said, both to Frasier and Martin. She could feel her face heat slightly at the sound of her own accent coming through. She wished her English was better.

There was a quick look exchanged between Frasier and Niles, and a smile from Martin; Jasmine felt more relaxed to be a guest in their home. Roz, Frasier's new fiance, moved to her with an outstretched hand. "Hi, I'm Roz. I love your accent, you're from Paris?"

This older woman, lovely in a sophisticated way, seemed to take an instant shine to Jasmine. "Well, I was not born there, I only work there now."

"And what do you do there? I don't know if Niles told you, but Frasier and I work together on a radio show here in Seattle." Roz said, drawing Jasmine over to the couch, with Alice following them.

Jasmine nodded. "Yes, he said that his brother is very popular- we met in a bookstore, he was looking for his brother's title there. In a sense, Niles and I work together also."

Roz seemed puzzled for a moment. "How's that? I know he lives there now but I was never clear on what he does now. Is he still a doctor?"

"A doctor? No, he is a photography assistant. He knew me from a shoot he had been working on at the time when we met- do you mean to tell me that Niles was a doctor in America?" Jasmine asked.

Roz raised her brows. "Do you mean to tell me that you're a model?"

Almost unconsciously, the room seemed to separate with the men in one area near the piano and the women took over the couch. Frasier stared Niles down after having asked him the same question regarding Jasmine's profession. "All this time you've been with a model and didn't tell me?"

His face heated with embarassment, Niles nodded. Martin raised his brows and whistled as he glanced as Jasmine, who was sitting with Roz and Alice. "Kid, you sure can pick 'em."

Niles only shrugged, suddenly feeling that Frasier may very well try to speak to him alone about everything else he'd neglected to mention about his time in Europe.