Vick says. We will be waiting for your coments, if you have any...
The Story with No Name
Chapter Three
The Next Morning
The chilly morning finally came. When the sun finally emerged it made the woman on the balcony sigh. The woman, who had spent more than two hours waiting for the first rays of light, had endured the brisk wind clad only in her bathrobe. She didn't mind the hour or the weather, she was there, simply, to see the day born. To wait for the warm rays of the early May sun.
And it was here now, rising to make the kingdom of the Moon and the Stars go away.
Her brown eyes came to life when the light of the sun illuminated her face. She didn't move but just continued standing there, looking toward the rising sun. In her mind a whirlwind of emotions was battling. It was why she was awake so early. This mix of discovery and surprise, surprise and uncertainty.
And all because of her.
The dream had made her bolt from her bed a few hours earlier. It was the terrifing dream which woke her, and to what? That was the cause of her new uncertainty. She thought she had her life in perfect order the night before, but now, just a few hours later, here she was. Looking at the rising sun with a whole new horizon in front of her. Her destiny had been so clear before. Not long ago every door, every event, her whole world seemed to be posted with signs which read `THIS WAY'.
But it only took a girl in a dream to change everything.
Well, that and a load of wet laundry.
"Hester."
Martin was the first of the Crane men to wake up, as always. It was an old habit, 6 a.m. no matter what. He wouldn't have seen her if it not for Eddie. The little dog barked at his master and scratched the glass door, diverting his mind from thoughts of coffee on this unusually cold morning. When he saw her out there he opened the door.
"Daphne?"
She startled when she heard her name. She seemed to have expected someone else to be there, from her expression when she looked at him.
"Oh, Mr. Crane," she mumbled, and now the breeze made her shiver.
"What are you doing out there?" he asked. "You're gonna catch a cold!" He motioned her inside. She obeyed, walking slowly and rubbing her hands together. On her face was a strange and vacant expression which didn't go unnoticed by the old policeman. "Has something happened?"
She shook her head on her way to the kitchen. Martin followed, concerned, although the coffee idea was very much alive.
Martin placed a hand on her shoulder to see how cold she was. She had obviously been on the balcony for a while.
"Geez, you're cold as ice," he said, lighting the stove under the kettle. Daphne stood next to it, watching the fascinating flame. "What the hell were you doing outside?" he groaned.
She remained in a world of her own, watching the flame dance in the stove. Martin studied her face; he knew her well and was sure something was going on. It must be something important to cause her to wake up in the middle of the night and go out to the balcony. He thought it might be something related to her wedding, something with Donny perhaps. He didn't know.
But come to think of it, Daphne had been acting strangely ever since Frasier's birthday. She was often in a trance-like state, hovering from here to there. She oftened talked to herself and she seemed to be eating a lot of junk food. Frasier said it was nothing but `jitters' but... there had had been this `thing' he had noticed at Frasier's Christmas party. Something that happened during the carolling. He'd caught her looking at Mel and Niles and she had looked dejected, almost sad. What was up with that?
In the days that followed everything seemed normal enough. But Martin was getting a sense of something not being quite right. Daphne seemed to be fighting something in her mind and it bugged him. He was fond of her and hated to see her troubled.
"I had a dream," she said quietly, seemingly to the flame in the stove.
Martin frowned and hobbled to her side.
"Gee, Daph...it must have been a bad one. Want to talk about it?" he offered.
"Mr. Crane, can I ask you something?" she said.
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure.".
She paused a bit, framing her thoughts. Then she looked at him directly for the first time since he had found her on the balcony, half frozen, looking at the sun.
"What do I mean to you?"
This caught Martin off guard. He had a hard time with emotion. It reminded him of that Valentine's day dinner a few years back. Just like that time, it was obvious that she wanted a direct answer.
He scratched his head for a second, not really knowing what to say..
"Well...I..." he began. "You...well, er...you are a good friend, Daph. I feel close to you," he continued, not looking at her. "You're a kind, warm person I've learned to care about." This time he attempted a peek at her, and she was looking at him fondly, relieved. "Why do you ask that now?"
"Do you think of me as a daughter?" she asked.
"Well, yeah," he nodded. Yeah, that described it. "You might say you're the daughter I never had."
"So..." she smiled. "You're not mad at me."
"Mad at ya? For what?"
She was slient for a moment while she poured their coffee. She handed him his cup.
She sat at the table next to him. "For the way I've been hurting Dr. Crane."
Martin almost choked on his coffee. He knew she couldn't mean Frasier, it had to be Niles she was talking about. What would make her say something like that?
"What are you talking about, Daph?" Martin needed reinforcement.He hoped Frasier would be up soon. Then again, she might not talk about this around her boss. She must have her reasons for confiding in me, Martin thought.
"Niles...it's Niles..." Daphne whispered. "I`ve hurt him badly all these years."
Martin panicked for a second....Niles had... told her?.... but when? They hadn't seen him around much in the last few weeks.
"How?" Martin asked.
"He's in love with me." Daphne said, faintly but surely.
Martin leaned toward her.
"Wow. When did he tell you?"
She smiled, weakly.
"He didn't, not directly anyway."
"I don't understand..."
"Dr. Crane told me," she admitted. Martin's jaw dropped.
"Frasier?!"
"Yes, when I was giving him that massage on his birthday. He was quite doped up at the time. And he doesn't remember a thing about it." She chuckled. She seemed to be coming back from her night of bad dreams.
Martin burst out laughing. Frasier had spent seven years trying to shut Niles' mouth only to blow it himself..gee...I will have a lot of fun with this....but, well, later.
The phone began to ring in the living room but neither of them wanted to leave the conversation. Hopefully Frasier would get it in his bedroom. Would serve him right for not getting the machine fixed. After several more rings it stopped. They were free to continue.
"Daphne..." Martin chose his words carefully. He wanted to stay as impartial as possible. He'd been honest when he'd said he considered her his daughter but, to be honest, he also loved his son. "Do you really see a future with Donny?" She looked indignant, so he placed both palms in the air. "Don't get me wrong, I like Donny, I really do," he said.
"Oh, God. Last night I had my mind made up...." she began. "I thought Dr. Crane...Niles....couldn't be in love with me, at least not any more, if it was ever true." She paused to take a deep breath. "I've had to make a monumental effort to avoid thinking about him, though. Not to imagine a life together and how much his little attentions meant to me...all of this because I was afraid of the future in front of me...I owe my honesty to Donny and I...I cannot stand the idea of being without Niles. You cannot live without the one you love..." She sighed and finally said it out loud. "And I love Niles."
"Well, that answers my next question..." Martin whispered and then smiled.
Daphne walked into the living room, Martin behind her. She sat on the couch and he settled in his chair.
"Last night...when I finally managed to get rid of all those thoughts...I had this dream." She gripped her cup with both hands. Martin listened attentively.
"It all started like...as if I was late everywhere I went. It was like when you wake up wondering where you are...no matter were I went, there was always somebody there who said `you have made him suffer enough, don't you think?', `leave him alone', things like that. And then...I met this girl." Daphne lit up when she spoke the name. "Hester..."
"Hester?"
***
Frasier almost hung up the phone when he heard Niles' voice on the line. It was too early on a chilly morning to be awakened. If the answering machine weren't broken he would just let it take the call. God, what does he want at this hour? Oh, dear. Niles' voice sounded strange.
"Frasier, I had a dream," he said intensely. Frasier sat bolt upright on his bed and listened closely. Niles talked about how he had woken up in shock, unable to fall asleep again. So he had waited for daylight on his balcony. "It was like a... a story with no name," Niles continued. "Like a story where you're the main character but you don't remember your dialogue, so, you have to play it by ear...everyone was there, Frasier, it was so vivid. And when you attacked me..."
"Wait a minute, Niles." Frasier blinked. "I attacked you?"
"Yes. You told me to fight back ...Dad too....you all said that I had to fight for the people I love."
"Ah.You are talking about Daphne," Frasier said, and the answer was a deep sigh; he needed not ask more. "Niles, look..."
"No, Frasier..." Niles was firm. "I don't want your advice." His tone was most alarming.
"I called you because I need somebody to talk to...I trust you but, this time," he paused, "this time I don't need your advice, I need your attention."
Frasier was speechless. Niles never talked to him like this before. His voice was strong and confident. So Frasier dropped the brotherly role and, for the first time in years he listened, with real attention, to what his brother had to say.
"In this dream, all the elements were symbolic," Niles explained, ever the psychiatrist. "There was anger, there were attacks, people laughing. They were all related to my behavior. I am often afraid of people, I feel sometimes they just laugh at me. The anger of the people I love is a clear representation of guilt but....but, there was this...girl. Hester."
"Hester?"
"I find no explanation for her...I didn't understand it; she was always there to help me when I was sad or dejected. She kept telling me to look for her...for Daphne..."
"Hester?" Frasier repeated.
"Yes...it was a girl, a child, with Daphne's eyes, her perfume, her essence. Believe me, Frasier, there was something about her that made me think of her as a person I'd known for a long time...somebody who had always been with me."
"It could be the representantion of our mother."
"No, no, Frasier...she was somehow related to Daphne. She kept urging me not to give up. `Look for her,' she kept saying. `Fight for her!'"
Frasier had to admit this seemingly Freudian dream of his brother's fascinated him.
"So you went looking for her."
"No." murmured Niles. "I couldn't do it. Something was holding me back; it was a fixed idea in my mind: `She does not love me'. I know what this means; it is what I use to make me return to earth when I am dreaming of her..."
"It is perfectly comprehensible," Frasier said "This idea is fed by what has really happened, especially these days, with the wedding so close."
"Yes, you're right," his brother admited. "But, if you think for a moment, this `fixed idea' was not totally formed in my mind. Somebody told it to me, no matter what my feelings were, this voice always made me go back to that thought.... `she does not love me.'"
"Fascinating," Frasier said. "You planted that in your mind based on what you have seen of her..."
"I need to talk to her." Niles stated firmly.
"Oh, Niles, do you really think you should talk to Daphne about this?" Frasier asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Niles was vulnerable and it was probably not a good idea for Daphne to know all this. After all, it all was nothing but a dream...a fascinating one, but still a dream, sprung from Niles' subconcious.
"Oh, I don't know," Niles said.
"Tell me more about this dream," Frasier requested.
Niles shared some of the details.
"At the end, I realized that no one was holding me back but me...Frasier." Niles paused. "It was always me. And that's the way it must be."
"So you're saying that you can live without taking a chance with her and face the possibility of looking back in several years, to see that it was all a mistake?" Frasier was maneuvering, phone in one hand, his trousers in the other. This problem was getting deeper; it couldn't be managed by phone, so he was dressing to go to Niles' apartment. It didn't matter how early it was; he had to help his brother.
"Frasier..." Niles hesitated. "We are talking about a dream."
"Well, yes, but it seems that this `dream' made you think about a lot of things. I know you have Mel now but... I know how much Daphne means to you, how much you love her, and you cannot deny it." Frasier was trying to get into his pants with one hand.
"No, I can't. But I've lost her. And it's all of my own doing."
Frasier sighed. "Not entirely, Niles."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, yes, in the end it was you. Your ethics, that is. Deciding to wait until your divorce went through, which was when she unfortunately met Donny. But I am also to blame, always telling you to wait, holding you back. But Niles..." Frasier hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should share these thoughts.
"What, Frasier?"
Frasier began nervously. "Look, Niles, I don't put much stock in dreams, other than their use in helping to explore a person's subconcious, but....there may be a reason that ...this dream kept telling you to look for her." He was treading dangerous water here, he knew.
"Frasier, what do you mean? Is there something....you haven't told me? Something about Daphne?"
***
"Daph, look before you leap into something," Martin was now seated next to Daphne. She had finished her story with no name and was sobbing on his shoulder. "You can't change your whole life because of a dream."
"Oh, Mr. Crane! I wish you could throw me into your son's arms," Daphne cried.
"I do too, Daph, believe me." Martin caressed her back tenderly. "If you decide to pursue this I want you to be sure about it...I don't want him to get hurt anymore. Or you, either."
Daphne looked at him fondly.
"You're a good man, Mr Crane," she said.
He smiled.
"However," he said. "If you do love him and you're sure about it..." he whispered,
"Don't let him get away."
"Oh, it's no use," Daphne said defeatedly. "He is with Mel now anyway, and I am supposed to be getting married..."
"You owe it to yourself, and to Donny." Martin was standing over her. "You can't jump into marriage if you're not sure, especially if you love another man."
"But...what about Mel?"
Martin sighed.
"Mel..." he said. "Look, Daphne, trust me when I tell you this...Niles loves you deeply and he is lying to all of us, and himself, when he says he loves that woman."
Daphne remained silent for a moment, just like Niles had on the phone. They were both thinking about what to do, and what they wanted for their lives.
"I have to talk to him!" Daphne said, leaping from the couch. "I'll go get changed."
Martin sighed in relief as she ran to her bedroom, finally smiling.
***
Frasier's mind had a brief battle with itself. The pro-tell side won.
"Niles, I've noticed...well, a change in Daphne the last few months. At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I started paying more attention. She's been moody, and that's not like her. And when anyone mentions Donny or her wedding she changes the subject. Roz even said something about that, just the other day. And...well..."
Niles waited. "Frasier," he pleaded. "If there's something more, you have to tell me."
"All right. Whenever you're around, she looks at you. Not casually, like before. But almost with...longing." Frasier smiled. "The way you've always looked at her."
Niles paused, puzzled. Then suddenly gasped.
"Oh, my God, Frasier. I just remembered something. That night on the balcony, during your Christmas party....she...she started to tell me something. Then she stopped when I asked for the gift back." He thought for a moment. "No, this is nonsense. Even the dream said she does not love me."
Frasier smiled. "That dream came from your head, Niles, not hers. And it also told you to look for her."
"You're right. It did." He took a deep breath. "All right! I'll fight for her, Frasier!" Niles cried. "I'll be there in a couple of hours. There's something I have to do first!" and hung up.
Frasier abandoned his attempt to put on the trousers and just sat on his bed. Now he had to wait and see what destiny held for Niles. And Daphne. He wouldn't have been worried, though, if he had known about the conversation in the living room.
End Part 3
The Story with No Name
Chapter Three
The Next Morning
The chilly morning finally came. When the sun finally emerged it made the woman on the balcony sigh. The woman, who had spent more than two hours waiting for the first rays of light, had endured the brisk wind clad only in her bathrobe. She didn't mind the hour or the weather, she was there, simply, to see the day born. To wait for the warm rays of the early May sun.
And it was here now, rising to make the kingdom of the Moon and the Stars go away.
Her brown eyes came to life when the light of the sun illuminated her face. She didn't move but just continued standing there, looking toward the rising sun. In her mind a whirlwind of emotions was battling. It was why she was awake so early. This mix of discovery and surprise, surprise and uncertainty.
And all because of her.
The dream had made her bolt from her bed a few hours earlier. It was the terrifing dream which woke her, and to what? That was the cause of her new uncertainty. She thought she had her life in perfect order the night before, but now, just a few hours later, here she was. Looking at the rising sun with a whole new horizon in front of her. Her destiny had been so clear before. Not long ago every door, every event, her whole world seemed to be posted with signs which read `THIS WAY'.
But it only took a girl in a dream to change everything.
Well, that and a load of wet laundry.
"Hester."
Martin was the first of the Crane men to wake up, as always. It was an old habit, 6 a.m. no matter what. He wouldn't have seen her if it not for Eddie. The little dog barked at his master and scratched the glass door, diverting his mind from thoughts of coffee on this unusually cold morning. When he saw her out there he opened the door.
"Daphne?"
She startled when she heard her name. She seemed to have expected someone else to be there, from her expression when she looked at him.
"Oh, Mr. Crane," she mumbled, and now the breeze made her shiver.
"What are you doing out there?" he asked. "You're gonna catch a cold!" He motioned her inside. She obeyed, walking slowly and rubbing her hands together. On her face was a strange and vacant expression which didn't go unnoticed by the old policeman. "Has something happened?"
She shook her head on her way to the kitchen. Martin followed, concerned, although the coffee idea was very much alive.
Martin placed a hand on her shoulder to see how cold she was. She had obviously been on the balcony for a while.
"Geez, you're cold as ice," he said, lighting the stove under the kettle. Daphne stood next to it, watching the fascinating flame. "What the hell were you doing outside?" he groaned.
She remained in a world of her own, watching the flame dance in the stove. Martin studied her face; he knew her well and was sure something was going on. It must be something important to cause her to wake up in the middle of the night and go out to the balcony. He thought it might be something related to her wedding, something with Donny perhaps. He didn't know.
But come to think of it, Daphne had been acting strangely ever since Frasier's birthday. She was often in a trance-like state, hovering from here to there. She oftened talked to herself and she seemed to be eating a lot of junk food. Frasier said it was nothing but `jitters' but... there had had been this `thing' he had noticed at Frasier's Christmas party. Something that happened during the carolling. He'd caught her looking at Mel and Niles and she had looked dejected, almost sad. What was up with that?
In the days that followed everything seemed normal enough. But Martin was getting a sense of something not being quite right. Daphne seemed to be fighting something in her mind and it bugged him. He was fond of her and hated to see her troubled.
"I had a dream," she said quietly, seemingly to the flame in the stove.
Martin frowned and hobbled to her side.
"Gee, Daph...it must have been a bad one. Want to talk about it?" he offered.
"Mr. Crane, can I ask you something?" she said.
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure.".
She paused a bit, framing her thoughts. Then she looked at him directly for the first time since he had found her on the balcony, half frozen, looking at the sun.
"What do I mean to you?"
This caught Martin off guard. He had a hard time with emotion. It reminded him of that Valentine's day dinner a few years back. Just like that time, it was obvious that she wanted a direct answer.
He scratched his head for a second, not really knowing what to say..
"Well...I..." he began. "You...well, er...you are a good friend, Daph. I feel close to you," he continued, not looking at her. "You're a kind, warm person I've learned to care about." This time he attempted a peek at her, and she was looking at him fondly, relieved. "Why do you ask that now?"
"Do you think of me as a daughter?" she asked.
"Well, yeah," he nodded. Yeah, that described it. "You might say you're the daughter I never had."
"So..." she smiled. "You're not mad at me."
"Mad at ya? For what?"
She was slient for a moment while she poured their coffee. She handed him his cup.
She sat at the table next to him. "For the way I've been hurting Dr. Crane."
Martin almost choked on his coffee. He knew she couldn't mean Frasier, it had to be Niles she was talking about. What would make her say something like that?
"What are you talking about, Daph?" Martin needed reinforcement.He hoped Frasier would be up soon. Then again, she might not talk about this around her boss. She must have her reasons for confiding in me, Martin thought.
"Niles...it's Niles..." Daphne whispered. "I`ve hurt him badly all these years."
Martin panicked for a second....Niles had... told her?.... but when? They hadn't seen him around much in the last few weeks.
"How?" Martin asked.
"He's in love with me." Daphne said, faintly but surely.
Martin leaned toward her.
"Wow. When did he tell you?"
She smiled, weakly.
"He didn't, not directly anyway."
"I don't understand..."
"Dr. Crane told me," she admitted. Martin's jaw dropped.
"Frasier?!"
"Yes, when I was giving him that massage on his birthday. He was quite doped up at the time. And he doesn't remember a thing about it." She chuckled. She seemed to be coming back from her night of bad dreams.
Martin burst out laughing. Frasier had spent seven years trying to shut Niles' mouth only to blow it himself..gee...I will have a lot of fun with this....but, well, later.
The phone began to ring in the living room but neither of them wanted to leave the conversation. Hopefully Frasier would get it in his bedroom. Would serve him right for not getting the machine fixed. After several more rings it stopped. They were free to continue.
"Daphne..." Martin chose his words carefully. He wanted to stay as impartial as possible. He'd been honest when he'd said he considered her his daughter but, to be honest, he also loved his son. "Do you really see a future with Donny?" She looked indignant, so he placed both palms in the air. "Don't get me wrong, I like Donny, I really do," he said.
"Oh, God. Last night I had my mind made up...." she began. "I thought Dr. Crane...Niles....couldn't be in love with me, at least not any more, if it was ever true." She paused to take a deep breath. "I've had to make a monumental effort to avoid thinking about him, though. Not to imagine a life together and how much his little attentions meant to me...all of this because I was afraid of the future in front of me...I owe my honesty to Donny and I...I cannot stand the idea of being without Niles. You cannot live without the one you love..." She sighed and finally said it out loud. "And I love Niles."
"Well, that answers my next question..." Martin whispered and then smiled.
Daphne walked into the living room, Martin behind her. She sat on the couch and he settled in his chair.
"Last night...when I finally managed to get rid of all those thoughts...I had this dream." She gripped her cup with both hands. Martin listened attentively.
"It all started like...as if I was late everywhere I went. It was like when you wake up wondering where you are...no matter were I went, there was always somebody there who said `you have made him suffer enough, don't you think?', `leave him alone', things like that. And then...I met this girl." Daphne lit up when she spoke the name. "Hester..."
"Hester?"
***
Frasier almost hung up the phone when he heard Niles' voice on the line. It was too early on a chilly morning to be awakened. If the answering machine weren't broken he would just let it take the call. God, what does he want at this hour? Oh, dear. Niles' voice sounded strange.
"Frasier, I had a dream," he said intensely. Frasier sat bolt upright on his bed and listened closely. Niles talked about how he had woken up in shock, unable to fall asleep again. So he had waited for daylight on his balcony. "It was like a... a story with no name," Niles continued. "Like a story where you're the main character but you don't remember your dialogue, so, you have to play it by ear...everyone was there, Frasier, it was so vivid. And when you attacked me..."
"Wait a minute, Niles." Frasier blinked. "I attacked you?"
"Yes. You told me to fight back ...Dad too....you all said that I had to fight for the people I love."
"Ah.You are talking about Daphne," Frasier said, and the answer was a deep sigh; he needed not ask more. "Niles, look..."
"No, Frasier..." Niles was firm. "I don't want your advice." His tone was most alarming.
"I called you because I need somebody to talk to...I trust you but, this time," he paused, "this time I don't need your advice, I need your attention."
Frasier was speechless. Niles never talked to him like this before. His voice was strong and confident. So Frasier dropped the brotherly role and, for the first time in years he listened, with real attention, to what his brother had to say.
"In this dream, all the elements were symbolic," Niles explained, ever the psychiatrist. "There was anger, there were attacks, people laughing. They were all related to my behavior. I am often afraid of people, I feel sometimes they just laugh at me. The anger of the people I love is a clear representation of guilt but....but, there was this...girl. Hester."
"Hester?"
"I find no explanation for her...I didn't understand it; she was always there to help me when I was sad or dejected. She kept telling me to look for her...for Daphne..."
"Hester?" Frasier repeated.
"Yes...it was a girl, a child, with Daphne's eyes, her perfume, her essence. Believe me, Frasier, there was something about her that made me think of her as a person I'd known for a long time...somebody who had always been with me."
"It could be the representantion of our mother."
"No, no, Frasier...she was somehow related to Daphne. She kept urging me not to give up. `Look for her,' she kept saying. `Fight for her!'"
Frasier had to admit this seemingly Freudian dream of his brother's fascinated him.
"So you went looking for her."
"No." murmured Niles. "I couldn't do it. Something was holding me back; it was a fixed idea in my mind: `She does not love me'. I know what this means; it is what I use to make me return to earth when I am dreaming of her..."
"It is perfectly comprehensible," Frasier said "This idea is fed by what has really happened, especially these days, with the wedding so close."
"Yes, you're right," his brother admited. "But, if you think for a moment, this `fixed idea' was not totally formed in my mind. Somebody told it to me, no matter what my feelings were, this voice always made me go back to that thought.... `she does not love me.'"
"Fascinating," Frasier said. "You planted that in your mind based on what you have seen of her..."
"I need to talk to her." Niles stated firmly.
"Oh, Niles, do you really think you should talk to Daphne about this?" Frasier asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Niles was vulnerable and it was probably not a good idea for Daphne to know all this. After all, it all was nothing but a dream...a fascinating one, but still a dream, sprung from Niles' subconcious.
"Oh, I don't know," Niles said.
"Tell me more about this dream," Frasier requested.
Niles shared some of the details.
"At the end, I realized that no one was holding me back but me...Frasier." Niles paused. "It was always me. And that's the way it must be."
"So you're saying that you can live without taking a chance with her and face the possibility of looking back in several years, to see that it was all a mistake?" Frasier was maneuvering, phone in one hand, his trousers in the other. This problem was getting deeper; it couldn't be managed by phone, so he was dressing to go to Niles' apartment. It didn't matter how early it was; he had to help his brother.
"Frasier..." Niles hesitated. "We are talking about a dream."
"Well, yes, but it seems that this `dream' made you think about a lot of things. I know you have Mel now but... I know how much Daphne means to you, how much you love her, and you cannot deny it." Frasier was trying to get into his pants with one hand.
"No, I can't. But I've lost her. And it's all of my own doing."
Frasier sighed. "Not entirely, Niles."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, yes, in the end it was you. Your ethics, that is. Deciding to wait until your divorce went through, which was when she unfortunately met Donny. But I am also to blame, always telling you to wait, holding you back. But Niles..." Frasier hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should share these thoughts.
"What, Frasier?"
Frasier began nervously. "Look, Niles, I don't put much stock in dreams, other than their use in helping to explore a person's subconcious, but....there may be a reason that ...this dream kept telling you to look for her." He was treading dangerous water here, he knew.
"Frasier, what do you mean? Is there something....you haven't told me? Something about Daphne?"
***
"Daph, look before you leap into something," Martin was now seated next to Daphne. She had finished her story with no name and was sobbing on his shoulder. "You can't change your whole life because of a dream."
"Oh, Mr. Crane! I wish you could throw me into your son's arms," Daphne cried.
"I do too, Daph, believe me." Martin caressed her back tenderly. "If you decide to pursue this I want you to be sure about it...I don't want him to get hurt anymore. Or you, either."
Daphne looked at him fondly.
"You're a good man, Mr Crane," she said.
He smiled.
"However," he said. "If you do love him and you're sure about it..." he whispered,
"Don't let him get away."
"Oh, it's no use," Daphne said defeatedly. "He is with Mel now anyway, and I am supposed to be getting married..."
"You owe it to yourself, and to Donny." Martin was standing over her. "You can't jump into marriage if you're not sure, especially if you love another man."
"But...what about Mel?"
Martin sighed.
"Mel..." he said. "Look, Daphne, trust me when I tell you this...Niles loves you deeply and he is lying to all of us, and himself, when he says he loves that woman."
Daphne remained silent for a moment, just like Niles had on the phone. They were both thinking about what to do, and what they wanted for their lives.
"I have to talk to him!" Daphne said, leaping from the couch. "I'll go get changed."
Martin sighed in relief as she ran to her bedroom, finally smiling.
***
Frasier's mind had a brief battle with itself. The pro-tell side won.
"Niles, I've noticed...well, a change in Daphne the last few months. At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I started paying more attention. She's been moody, and that's not like her. And when anyone mentions Donny or her wedding she changes the subject. Roz even said something about that, just the other day. And...well..."
Niles waited. "Frasier," he pleaded. "If there's something more, you have to tell me."
"All right. Whenever you're around, she looks at you. Not casually, like before. But almost with...longing." Frasier smiled. "The way you've always looked at her."
Niles paused, puzzled. Then suddenly gasped.
"Oh, my God, Frasier. I just remembered something. That night on the balcony, during your Christmas party....she...she started to tell me something. Then she stopped when I asked for the gift back." He thought for a moment. "No, this is nonsense. Even the dream said she does not love me."
Frasier smiled. "That dream came from your head, Niles, not hers. And it also told you to look for her."
"You're right. It did." He took a deep breath. "All right! I'll fight for her, Frasier!" Niles cried. "I'll be there in a couple of hours. There's something I have to do first!" and hung up.
Frasier abandoned his attempt to put on the trousers and just sat on his bed. Now he had to wait and see what destiny held for Niles. And Daphne. He wouldn't have been worried, though, if he had known about the conversation in the living room.
End Part 3