Chapter 46: Daphne


Daphne sat with Niles under the piano for a little while. They spoke about the situation briefly at first, before lapsing into silence as Niles calmed down and his panic attack subsided, just enjoying the calm and safety the piano offered both of them from the problems of reality.

Eventually, they went to Daphne's room together and talked more about what they were going to say tomorrow. As they talked it almost felt like they were taking turns in reassuring each other. They both had concerns on how tomorrow will go, and they seemed focused on how this would impact the other most. As far as trying to plan a strategy, Niles told Daphne to do what she felt was best, regardless of what that was. Daphne didn't want to do anything that would jeopardise Niles' divorce, and had already decided she might have to lie.

Soon they had to leave; going their separate ways.

Niles had thought it might be best if they didn't see each other that night after she saw Donny, and Daphne agreed. Whatever was going to happen tomorrow, it might be easier to do if they didn't see each other until it was done. As they said goodbye, Niles kissed her, tenderly, and tried to reassure her again that everything would be fine, no matter what she said, or what happened. Daphne knew Niles was trying to reassure himself as much as her with his words.

Daphne arrived at Donny's office building just before 5:30pm. Maria, his receptionist, showed her through to Donny's office to wait, as he was still on his conference call. Daphne sat there, going over everything in her head again. She lost track of time, and jumped when Donny finally entered.

"Sorry, that took a little longer than I expected. Thanks for coming in, Daphne."
"No problem, I was happy to."
"Are you hungry? I can order some takeout before we begin."

Daphne looked at her watch – it was almost 6pm. She was too nervous to be hungry, but nodded in response. Donny grabbed the phone.

"Great. Is Chinese okay with you?"

Food ordered, they sat down. Donny gave her a list of the questions he suspected they were going to ask her tomorrow. Daphne looked over them, and her heart dropped. A lot the questions she could have answered 'no' to without having to lie two months ago, and had plausible deniability for the rest, but now...

Daphne looked at Donny, nervous.

"This is all in context of Mrs Crane and Ni-Dr Crane's marriage? I mean, they were separated at the time of the ball they're referencing."

Donny shrugged.

"We just need to shake them. Show that there is nothing there – before or after their separation."
"It doesn't seem fair. The main reason we did what we did at the ball was-" Daphne paused.

She knew why Niles did what he did. And she now knew why she did it too. Daphne rephrased what she was saying.

"Mrs Crane was going to multiple events with different men. Dr Crane's social circle was making a big show of how she had moved on, and Dr Crane hadn't. So that night was us showing them that he wasn't the lonely and jilted husband they were gossiping about. Nothing more."

Daphne looked at Donny, trying to gauge his face. He nodded.

"Okay. But, unfortunately, this is what Maris' lawyers are pushing, because infidelity is a big clause in the pre-nup. And if it can be proven, Niles won't have a leg to stand on."

Daphne felt helpless. She figured them just finding out that Niles has loved her for the last four or so years would be enough to count at infidelity – never mind the relationship they had for the last couple of months.

I'll have to lie. Or at least not let on what I know.

"So, where do we start?"
"How about an easy one – How well do you know Niles and Maris Crane?"


They went like that for nearly two hours. They stopped to eat at one point when their food arrived. Daphne found she quite liked Donny, he was easy going and very personable. Over dinner they spoke about things that had nothing to do with Niles and the divorce, and Daphne felt herself relaxing, and genuinely enjoying his company. She thought Donny might even be flirting a little, but she brushed it off, not wanting to think about that.

Instead, she tried to focus on answering the questions Donny wanted her to prepare for.

Daphne felt like she had answered most of the questions well, and found it relatively easy be ambiguous or lie when needed. However, the issues arose when Donny asked Daphne how she felt about Niles. It almost felt like a sore topic, she had spent so much time recently trying to answer that question herself. They had circled back to that question again now, Donny not quite satisfied with her answers the first time round.

"What is your relationship with Niles Crane?"
"I see Dr Crane as a... friend. Nothing more."

Donny frowned at her response.

"Can you sound a little more convincing about that, Daphne?"
"Sorry, I'm just nervous." She cleared her throat. "Dr Crane is a friend. My boss's brother. Nothing more."
"That's better. But, just for the record, is he really your friend?"
"Sorry?"

Daphne didn't know what Donny meant.

"I mean, do you actually see Niles as a friend, or just an acquaintance? You seem to be stumbling on that question a bit – when you need to describe your relationship with Niles."
"Well, he's more than an acquaintance. I see him very regularly, he comes to visit his father and brother all the time."
"But Niles doesn't come to visit just you?"
"I... Maybe. I mean, I'm usually there as well, I live there."
"Has he ever indicated that he considers you his friend?"
"Yes. I think so. We are friendly. Yes."

Donny made a small note. Daphne felt slightly flustered, wondering if he was going to question this further. Instead, Donny moved on to another difficult topic.

"Tell me about the lead up to the Snow Ball."

That's a broad question...

"Where do I start?"

Donny chuckled at that.

"Don't give a 'Frasier' level of detail, but I do want you to talk about the events that led to the two of you being at the Snow Ball together. Why was Niles going, did he ask you to go – that kind of thing."

Daphne nodded, and began. She talked about how Niles came to visit and was upset by Maris' recent outings at events with other men. How she and his father gave him a pep talk. How Niles originally asked another woman to the dance. How he realised he couldn't dance, and instead of letting him cancel the date completely, Daphne offered to teach him. How Niles' date ended up cancelling on him, and Daphne offered to go with him instead-

Donny interrupted here.

"So, you were the one who asked Niles if you could go to the Snow Ball together?"
"Well, technically... I guess I did. I just didn't want him to feel like his dance lessons had gone to waste, and I rarely get to have an evening out like that."

Donny made a note and let her continue.

Daphne discussed how they arrived at the Snow Ball together, and how some people from Niles' old social circle were gossiping. She talked about how they danced together most of the night, and that they were having a genuinely good time together. She mentioned their decision to dance the tango. How Niles was nervous as he hadn't learnt that dance with her, but Daphne knew that-

Donny interrupted again.

"Why the tango?"
"It's one of my favourite dances."

She shrugged, unsure what Donny was getting at.

"You mentioned you didn't teach Niles that dance."
"No, we never got around to it before the ball."

Donny raised an eyebrow. Daphne worried what he might be thinking.

"Well, that was a little risky – doing a dance Niles hadn't learnt as a way to show off. It could have ended badly, and embarrassed him instead."
"I guess, but I felt he would be able to pull it off. And he did. We both did."

Donny made some more notes, and waved at Daphne to continue while he wrote.

Daphne described their dance, and how during the tango they put on an act for his friends. That during the dance they had proclaimed feelings for each other, and kissed, but it was all an act. How the two of them seemed to steal the show that night because of this, and that there apparently was a photo of the two of them in the society pages. That the act-

"Did you discuss this beforehand?"
"Discuss what?"
"The act. How you were going to pretend to be in love."

The word pretend hit Daphne hard for some reason.

Did we ever pretend?

"N-no. I don't think so- no." She shook her head. "It was more a spur-of-the-moment thing, rather than anything we planned."
"Then how did you know it was all an act?"

Daphne opened her mouth, then stopped, unsure how to answer. She floundered for a moment, trying to think of a way to answer, before deciding to be truthful.

"I don't know."

Donny finished writing and closed his notepad.

"That's okay, we can leave it there. You should be okay for the most part tomorrow. I don't think there is really too much of a case they can make with just one event."

Daphne sighed, feeling drained.

"That was hard."
"Yeah, sorry about that, but they like to try and drill you. You did good though." He smiled reassuringly.
"Well, thank you, Donny."
"No problem. Look, if you come in first thing tomorrow, we might be able to get you through first." Daphne nodded.
"Sure thing."

Daphne left, and sat in her car for a while, letting her emotions hit her.

That was a lot harder than I thought.

She checked the time. It was just after 10pm.

Where did that time go?

It felt like they spent as much time talking about the Snow Ball as they had on all the other questions combined. Daphne wasn't sure how much Donny believed. Especially when it came to Niles and the Snow Ball. She thought back to Donny's last question.

How did I know it was an act? Why did I ever think it was an act?

Because back then, the alternative was too hard to consider.

Daphne desperately wanted to see Niles tonight, but they had agreed not to. She sighed, and willed herself to start the car and drive home instead.