"My goodness Frasier, it's already 11:30!" Roz exclaimed as they all finished supper.
"So what, we don't have to be at work till noon." Frasier was sitting back in his chair enjoying the aftertaste of the rich chocolate mousse they had eaten for dessert.
"Don't you remember, we have that meeting first thing in the morning." Roz nudged him under the table, met with an obviously blank expression from Frasier in response.
Though not sure of what exactly, Martin felt like something was going on and abruptly excused himself. "Well it's getting awfully late for these old bones, goodnight kids." Martin stood and stretched as he began to leave.
"Goodnight Dad." Frasier called after him.
"What meeting, I talked with Kenny just today and he didn't say anything about a meeting." He said as soon as Martin's door had closed.
"Duh Frasier, for being so smart you can be awfully forgetful sometimes." Roz teased him affectionately.
"You think I'm smart?" Frasier's head perked up as he almost visibly started puffing up.
"Geez, every compliment goes straight to your head doesn't it?" Roz couldn't help but laugh.
"Well I'm sorry, I'm just not used to you saying such nice things to me." Frasier snapped back defensively. "So what's this meeting I'm forgetting?" His tone had gotten slightly sour.
"Oh lighten up Fras, I swear you are so sensitive sometimes." Roz gave him a pat on the shoulder as she stood up and began collecting dishes. "The meeting with Laura, at 8 am. And considering she's on the other side of town we'll need to leave here by 7 am at the latest.
"You're right, I had completely forgotten." Frasier acknowledged as he picked up the rest of the dishes and followed her into the kitchen.
"Let's not bother with the dishes tonight, since we have to be up so early." Frasier said as they began piling the dishes in the sink and Roz turned on the water.
"I know we do, but if they aren't done tonight then they'll be sitting around till tomorrow night, and then we'll have twice as many to do. "Here I'll wash, and you can dry." Roz said as she tossed him a dishtowel.
"You know it's at times like this that I really miss Daphne." Frasier sighed.
"I'm sure she'd love to hear that sentiment." Roz laughed. "It's at times like this I miss a working dishwasher. Any idea when the repairman is going to come."
"I haven't the faintest idea, I'll call him again tomorrow." Frasier promised as they continued washing dishes.
They had just finished and were heading into the living room when Roz remembered something. "We never figured out any alternative sleeping arrangements did we?"
"Oh shoot, I forgot." Frasier stopped and thought. One could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "I don't know, umm.... you take the bed and I'll....." he was once again stumped.
"Look, your bed is huge, let's just share again and we can figure it out tomorrow, it's already midnight." Roz sighed, too tired to try to figure anything else out. "That is if you think you can restrain yourself." She teased.
""I think I should be the one afraid of that, you were the one curled up to me this morning as I recall." Frasier's tone was smug.
"Ok ok, I promise not to invade your side of the bed." Roz shot back playfully as they went into his room.
NEXT MORNING 5:30 a.m. BEEP BEEP BEEP
Frasier groaned as he reached over and hit the snooze button, snickering as he realized in the morning twilight that the still sleeping Roz was curled up to him. Not able to resist the opportunity to tease her for moving over he decided to wait the two minutes till the alarm would come back on. He couldn't wait for her to realize what she had done so he could tease her about it all day. He wished it would hurry up though, his arm was asleep. He took a moment to assess their position, surprised at how nice it felt to have her so close. Not that he would tell her that of course. Her head was once again on his shoulder, and her arm was casually slung across his stomach, His left arm was almost completely numb beneath her, she had obviously been laying on it for quite some time. "Kind of like waking up in a hug," he mused right before the alarm went off again.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
The alarm sounded again, though this time he didn't shut it off until he could tell by Roz's breathing and a slight groan that she was waking up.
He playfully nudged her shoulder as he whispered. "Hey Roz, remember what you said about not crossing over to my side of the bed." He snickered.
Roz was still for a moment as she took stock of the situation and then sat up to look around, causing him to grunt as she pushed herself up by using the hand on his stomach. Then after a moment she grinned slightly as she laid back down, resuming her former position. "I really don't care Frasier, but it's funny that you did this after the lecture you gave me." Roz mumbled as she curled up trying to go back to sleep.
"I don't know what you mean," Frasier started laughing. "After what we said last night and now you're all snuggled up to me, obviously you were the one....." His voice broke off as he suddenly realized that Roz was right and she was still on her side of the bed. Turning slightly pink he disentangled himself from Roz and leapt from the bed. "Time to start getting ready." He shook her shoulder gently to make sure she wouldn't go back to sleep. She finally sat up groggily and he raced for the bathroom to take his shower, since they were now running behind schedule.
LATER
"Whew 7:59, we just made it." Frasier wheezed as they entered Laura's waiting room.
"Frasier I know you like to be punctual but did we really have to run all the way from the parking lot?" Roz was trying to catch her breath.
"Pardon me for not wanting to be late." Frasier said just as the receptionist motioned for them to enter.
"Well hello again you two, and congratulations." Laura was grinning when they entered the office. Though I'm going to have to add a dry cleaning charge to your bill. I was in my car sipping coffee when I heard the little impromptu wedding announcement on your show and spilled it all over myself while laughing."
"I really don't see why I should have to pay for your lack of ability to control yourself while you were drinking, but..." Frasier was getting defensive.
"Frasier, she's only kidding" Roz reached over to grab his arm and stop him, laughing along with Laura at how seriously he was taking it.
Frasier visibly relaxed when he realized it was a joke. "I'm sorry Laura, I'm just not much of an early bird I guess."
"Yeah, he kinda got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Roz snickered, causing Frasier to blush.
"But anyway..." Frasier said, obviously trying to change the topic. "Has there been any feedback from Rick's camp since the wedding announcement?"
"Not a word, it's been oddly quiet. My guess would be that they're rethinking their strategy.
So the plan might have worked?" Frasier looked smug, "wonder what we should do now?"
"Don't get to confident, we don't know how they're going to react yet. But let me stress once again, as your legal representative that I am bound by the ethics of client responsibility to not divulge this plot to anyone else, but I cannot legally condone what you two have done to the system, so don't plan on asking me for advice on how to proceed with the marriage. " She tried to sound stern as she laid down the ethical boundaries, but it was hard since she was wondering to herself if they were the only two people still not aware of what a good couple they made. And she thought, though she knew she could be wrong, that she detected more than friendship dynamics at work here. Would probably take them forever to admit it to themselves though.
That's OK Laura, I understand. But is it to offensive if we brainstorm in front of you from time to time." Roz queried.
"No not at all, like I said, just recall that I cannot give any advice or be credited for any ideas you two may come up with." Laura clarified.
"We figured that the longer Rick takes to act the better, right?" Frasier said.
Definitely, the longer things take the more stable your marriage will look. But they'll probably realize that so things may speed up. You could be served with papers as early as next week."
"But it's already Thursday." Roz was alarmed.
"Calm down Roz, we just have to keep playing this to the hilt and see what happens." Frasier tried to sound objective.
"Not to change the subject, but I need to find out how things are going, how everyone is coping with this change so I will know what we might expect in court. Roz, the most important person in all this is Alice, what have you told her and how does she seem to be adjusting to all this?"
"I don't think she's told her anything." Frasier piped up, suddenly alarmed.
"Geez Frasier, what kind of mother do you think I am. You think I would uproot my daughter and change her whole little life without saying anything about it." Roz rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Before the elopement I just kind of explained to her that some things were changing and that her Uncle Frasier would be around a lot more. I told her we were getting married, but I'm not sure she understood what that was."
"I see, and how did she react." Laura pressed for further details.
"Oh she didn't seem to really be fazed, just smiled and kept playing. Then she was at the wedding of course, and oh would you like to see pictures?" Roz started digging in her purse and handed the 2 snapshots over to Laura.
"Very nice, and very convincing." Laura commented as she looked at the pictures. She could swear she detected some definite reality to them despite the deception involved. "So back to Alice, what about the living arrangements." Laura asked as she returned the photo's to Roz.
"Oh, well we moved in with Frasier, decided that it would be better, his building has a daycare facility, round the clock security, and more room also. I explained to Alice that we were moving in with him, and she would have a new room. She was excited, and seems to love her new room. Overall she seems to be adjusting rather well." Roz finished happily, "oh and this morning while taking her to daycare she asked if Frasier was her daddy now like Charles was Marita's daddy."
"Who in the world is Marita?" Frasier spoke up.
:"Oh she's a little playmate of Alice's, her parents have helped out by keeping Alice for me sometimes.
"So what did you tell her." Laura leaned forward.
"Well I wasn't real sure what to say, so I said yes, but in a different way. She seemed to accept that without asking further questions."
"I see, I would wonder though how it will affect her when this is all over when you two go your separate ways." Laura observed causing both Frasier and Roz to start as they realized they had never thought of that before.
"I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Frasier finally said as he sat back, though he knew, as did Roz that they would obviously have to figure this out more later.
"It probably sounds selfish, but right now I can't look beyond the custody battle." Roz admitted quietly.
"That's understandable," Laura's tone softened. "So Frasier, how is your family taking it?"
"Oh they're fine with it, Niles was a little thrown at first. But I think his main issue was that I would get married without consulting him."
"That and he thinks I'm the town slut." Roz added wryly.
Frasier ignored the comment, not wanting to validate Roz's statement. "But otherwise the rest of the family was excited. Daphne and Dad even said they expected it, can you believe it?" He laughed.
"Yeah, even the people at the station said they weren't really surprised" Roz added laughing along with Frasier.
"Well except for Gil who wasn't revived until someone waved a McDonald's cheeseburger under his nose." Frasier laughed at the recollection.
"I see, well last not but definitely not least I'd like to know about the two of you, I know this has had to really change your lives."
"Well aside from having my social life abruptly halted I'm fine" Roz said lightly.
"I didn't even have a social life to interrupt, so aside from having 2 new people in my apartment things are pretty much the same." Frasier shrugged.
"Well you two are definitely handling this well, of course you've only been married for a few days now, it will be interesting to see how things develop. The society column said you'd be spending your weekend on a honeymoon, is that true?"
"Oh that, we had to tell people we were going on a honeymoon so we're taking Alice and going to Disney."
Laura coughed, clearing her throat.
"You don't think that's a good idea?" Frasier immediately straightened up nervously.
"She can't say anything though, remember Frasier." Roz studied Laura, trying to get an idea of what she was thinking.
"Maybe Disney isn't romantic enough." Frasier pondered.
"Or maybe taking Alice with us is the problem, is that it?" Roz suggested.
"That could be it, I guess most newlyweds don't take a child with them on a honeymoon." Frasier tentatively agreed.
"Well what else can we plan on such short notice?"
"I know, Niles and I timeshare on a beach house down on the coast. We could leave Alice with Niles and Daphne and we could just go to their and consider it a mini-vacation." Frasier was brainstorming.
"That could be fun, a break from the station and nothing to do but soak up some sun. " Roz agreed.
"OK, so that's settled." They both grinned and looked at Laura.
"I guess now's not the time to tell them that I really just had a
tickle in my throat." Laura thought to herself as she smiled
neutrally at the couple. "Besides it could be very interesting
to see where this leads. I'm still thinking this could very well
be something bigger than they both realize."