Daphne Moon… Would You Marry Me… Again by Patrick Councilor

Martin and Eddie sat at the dinner table. Martin was in one seat and Eddie in another. Covering the table were Niles and Daphne's wedding gifts. "Now Eddie, we need to dust off our detective skills. Now before you guess anything, use deductive reasoning. They're already married, so that would affect the types of gifts they got this time through." He picked up a gift and tilted it this way and that and lifted it up and down to determine the weight.

Eddie barked.

"No boy, it's too light and small to be a microwave."

Ronee came out of the bedroom. "Martin Crane, you better be arranging those gifts and not doing what I think you are doing."

Martin dropped it like it was hot. "A… yeah… that's exactly what I was doing: arranging the gifts. Eddie's my witness."

She put her hands on her hips. "Martin, that silly dog can't talk… and if he could I wouldn't trust a word he would say. You two would cover for each other all the time."

There was a knock at the door. Ronee went over to open it. It was Niles, Daphne and Frasier. Frasier had flown back out to pick them up at the airport and watch them open gifts.

Ronee hugged them. "How was the honeymoon? Or are you two too tired to talk about it? 'Wink wink'."

They laughed. "It was absolutely wonderful. Where's David?" She wasn't wasting any time.

Martin came over and hugged them both. "Ronee just put him down for his afternoon nap."

"Let's go take a peek at him Niles." She took him by the hand.

"Well, don't take too long," Martin urged. "I want to hear all about your trip."

"Alright Dad, we'll be right back." Niles said as Daphne lead him back to the bedroom.

Martin turned to Frasier. "Did you tell him yet?"

"Well Dad, I tried, but I didn't know how. I didn't want to spring this on them so quickly after they got back."

"Well you better do it and do it soon. I don't want him finding out before his family tells him."

"Right Dad. I know."

After several moments, they came back.

"Hey, there they are." Martin said with a little pep in his voice. "Come sit and tell us all about your trip." He took a seat in his favorite chair.

Niles and Daphne sat on the couch next to Ronee and Frasier took a seat at the dinner table. "It was wonderful, simply wonderful," Niles spoke up first. "The place was absolutely breathtaking."

"Gorgeous," Daphne added. She wiped a tear from her eye.

Niles noticed out of the corner of his eye. "Daphne, are you alright?"

"Just so happy. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry."

"Hey, that's okay," Martin tried to change the mood to keep her from crying. "Niles, why don't you and Daphne open a few gifts?"

"Great." Niles said. "That sounds great."

"Niles, don't get up," Frasier insisted. "I'll bring the gifts to you." He shot his father a look. It was the "What are you doing? I needed time to jump in here to tell them what they need to know" look.

Daphne asked Ronee for a pad of paper and a pen so she could make notes of who gave them what so that they could send 'thank you' cards later.

Ronee brought them to her.

The first gift was from Bulldog. Daphne asked Niles to open the gifts while she took notes. Niles open a set of coma sutra encyclopedias from Bulldog. Niles just stared at them. He couldn't believe that someone would buy this as a wedding gift. "Thanks… Bulldog." Niles said aloud in a puzzled manner.

Frasier brought another box. "This one's from Dad and Ronee."

"Oh, open that Niles," Martin said. "I think you'll like what we got ya."

Niles opened it to find two thick mink blankets. "Wow Dad and Ronee, thanks."

They opened all of the gifts. Frasier got them a sandwich press and a case of Niles' favorite wine, (he got a discount from Raphael. It was the third case that Niles hadn't ordered). Roz, Sean and Alice got them a toaster oven.

"Niles," both Frasier and Daphne called out together.

"I'm sorry Daphne, you go first," Frasier humbly suggested.

"No, Frasa, you can go."

Frasier couldn't wait any longer.

Martin re-adjusted in his chair. He knew what was coming.

"Niles, there's one more gift." Frasier pulled it from his jacket pocket and slowly handed it to Niles.

Niles took the envelope and hung his head when he recognized the hand writing. "It's from Maris," he announced.

Daphne took a deep breath and subconsciously held it for several moments. "She was at our reception… maybe even our very own wedding?" She started to get outraged.

Martin jumped in to possibly avoid bloodshed from anyone in arm's reach of Daphne. "She hand delivered it while you were on your honeymoon."

Frasier put his index finger in the air. "Now Niles, before you open that, I think you should see something." He got up and went over to the shelves by the phone. He returned to hand him Tuesday's newspaper.

Niles took one look at it and stood up. His mouth went dry and his heart skipped a few beats. He dropped the envelope of Maris'.

"Niles what is it?" Daphne stood up next to him to look at the newspaper. On the front cover, it was a picture of Maris being taken away in handcuffs.

Niles swallowed hard. "It says here that Maris Crane telephoned police and turned herself in. Mrs. Crane, previously married to local psychologist, Doctor Niles Crane, claims to have undergone plastic surgery after faking her own death to avoid charges of jumping bail several years ago to avoid being charged with murderof Argentine polo star Esteban de Rojo." He went on to add, "It says here that she is facing 6 to 10 years for jumping bail and will still need to stand trial for murder. Positive identification is pending tests to confirm that she is who she says she is."

"Oh my God, Niles." Daphne said.

Niles looked down at the envelope down at his feet. He dropped the newspaper on the coffee table and picked up the envelope to opened it. It was a simple note that read, "My intentions for you to have the money, without attachments, were honest." That's all it read. Behind the note was a check for 2.5 million dollars.

"It's a check for two and a half million." He hesitated in silence. "I can't believe this. I can't believe she turned herself in." He stood there dumbfounded.

Daphne put her arm around Niles. "Niles, are you alright?"

Niles took a moment to nod his head. "Yes. I'm fine." He turned to her. "Are you okay?"

"Niles, I think we need to talk."

He slowly took in a long slow breath. A conversation that starts like that cause red flags to go up. "I'm so sorry about this, I didn't want her to intrude on our lives any further."

"Niles, I hate to tell you like this…" Tears filled her eyes. "And I didn't want it to overshadow our honeymoon. Before we got remarried, I found out…"

"What is it Daphne?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God," he held her firmly. "I love you so much."

"And I love you."

Martin, Frasier and Ronee congratulated them.

Daphne asked Niles, "Are you ready to be a father again?"

He kissed her slowly. "That's a silly question. Yes, I am. I truly am."

~ FIN ~

Author's Note: I wish to thank you all for the wonderful reviews that helped me move this story along. Especially Kristen, crazysockmonkeys, BaronessBlixen, and leighann.

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE THANKS to Andrea (iloveromance) for her kind words and for dedicating her 300th story to me. That jump started me back into writing fanfiction.

God Bless you all. You all make my stories worth writing.