Chapter 44: Daphne


Leading up to Niles' divorce hearing, his new lawyer wanted to meet with Frasier to go over questions for the deposition that was happening Thursday morning.

Niles was at Frasier's apartment with Donny Douglas, as they went over questions that might be asked. Daphne hovered, getting them snacks and coffee – listening to what was being said. They'd been going over everything all week, and they were now doing last minute prep the day before.

Frasier had been particularly difficult, and Daphne just wanted to slap him for the way he waffled on at each question. Like he was now. Donny wasn't impressed as Frasier finally finished his current answer.

"So your answer would be, 'Yes, I attended their wedding.' Once again, Frasier, could you try to keep your answers brief? We don't need to know the backstory to every answer."
"All right, all right, I'll try to do better."

Frasier seemed flustered and put out by the constant demands to keep his answers concise. Donny looked at his notes, moving to the next scenario.

"Okay, Frasier, they're going to allege that during the separation, Niles was wasteful with money. So they might ask you if you witnessed any examples of Niles throwing money around. And your answer would be...?"

Frasier paused, thinking about it.

"Yes."

At least he kept it short this time.

"No, no, no! The answer is, 'not to the best of my recollection!' Okay?"
"But I do recall, and I'll be under oath!"

Daphne exchanged a look with Martin, who was sitting at the table, as Frasier attempted to explain to Donny his stance on the ethics of telling the truth. Niles sat with his head in his hands, trying to provide his brother with some semblance of solidarity over his choice to not obfuscate the truth, despite what that could mean for his divorce.

This is going to be a disaster.

Donny, exasperated with Frasier, decided to wrap it up there for the day. He grabbed the phone, and stepped away to call his office. Frasier still seemed a little indignant, and looked over the questions again with Martin.

"Really, have you seen these questions, Dad? It seems like they're just fishing for stuff."
"That's what lawyers do." Martin had strong opinions on lawyers – not many of them good. "They're slimy; they try to get you to slip up."
"But still, so much of this seems completely irrelevant to their marriage..."

Daphne walked over to the couch, and poured Niles some more coffee. Niles was looking worried, but doing his best to hide it, knowing that a lot hinged on what his brother said. Speaking softly, Daphne used this opportunity when everyone else was preoccupied to comfort Niles.

"It'll be okay, Niles. Regardless of what Dr Crane says, I don't think Mrs Crane has much to go on by the sounds of it." She squeezed his shoulder. Niles looked at her, grateful.
"Thank you, Daphne. You're right. There isn't anything too damning here. And with any luck, Frasier might put them to sleep before he finishes his answer."

They both shared a small smile at that thought. Daphne was going to say something else, when Donny's voice interrupted them.

"You're kidding! Based on what?"

Daphne moved back towards the kitchen, glancing at Donny, worried.

"Something wrong?" Niles also looked concerned.

Donny ended the call, and looked around.

"Maris' lawyers are trying one desperate ploy after another. This is the latest one – they're claiming alienation of affection. They say during their marriage, Niles was in love with another woman."

Daphne's heart was pounding at that comment.

They can't mean me, right? Niles said the only people who knew were Frasier and Martin.

"Who?" She tried to make the question as casual as possible, not quite sure she wanted to hear the answer.
"Oh, you." Donny's response was equally as casual.

There it is.

"Me?"

How? How do they know?

Daphne knew that she and Niles had been together the last couple of months, but it's not like anyone would have been able to tell. Well, anyone associated with Maris, that is.

Right?

She glanced at Niles, who looked similarly shocked.

"Dear god!" That seemed to be all Niles could muster himself to say. At least the shock in his voice matched the mood.
"Why on earth do they think that?" Daphne needed to know.

Donny shrugged.

"Something to do with a country club ball the two of you attended last year. Apparently you caused a bit of a stir on the dance floor." Daphne remembered that night all too well.
"That was just a show for Dr Crane's snobby friends."

Except that it wasn't, not really.

"Yeah, well it must have been pretty convincing. They have some photo as well. I don't know how much weight that will hold, sounds like it was just from the gossip section of the newspaper."

Daphne knew the photo that Donny referenced. A copy of it, at that moment, sat in Niles' cufflink box at the Shangri-La. Donny turned to Daphne.

"They want to subpoena you for deposition. But we'll their bluff right away. You can come tomorrow morning with Frasier."

Daphne nodded slowly, unsure what she was agreeing to. Donny continued.

"I'll want to run through the questions with you beforehand, shouldn't take more than an hour or so. I've got a conference call later this afternoon-"
"I guess I could come down after." Daphne felt blindsided, but decided addressing it as soon as possible was the best thing to do.
"Perfect. Let's say, uh, 5:30? And Frasier, they'll want to ask you about this too, but at least this is the one time your compulsive truth telling won't get you into trouble."

With that, Donny left. Daphne looked around the room at everyone. They were all trying not to stare at her, but failing. Daphne knew what everyone was thinking.

They know. They know Niles is in love with me. They know Frasier won't lie. They know tomorrow it will all come out. They know it doesn't matter what I say. They know this will change everything.

The tension in the room was palpable. Daphne suddenly couldn't take it, the pressure felt overwhelming.

I need to get out of here.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to my room."

Daphne left, needing time alone to process what just happened.