Chapter 4

Daphne was hiding out in Holly's room, unsure what to do next. Holly didn't have the full story, but knew Daphne had called the wedding off. Daphne felt horrible for how things had gone. Still wearing the clothes from last night, Daphne was lying on the bed, teary-eyed, listening to Holly who was trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.

There was a knock at the door. This wasn't the first time someone had tried to come and speak to Daphne that morning, but Daphne wasn't ready to face anyone yet. Holly was turning everyone away, doing her best to protect her friend. Holly opened the door just a crack, and started trying to tell the person on the other side to go away.

Daphne heard Niles' voice on the other side, and sat up.

"Holly, it's okay, you can let him in."

Holly complied. Niles entered, looking nervous and worried. Daphne noticed he had a large stain on the suit he was wearing. Niles caught sight of Daphne, and their eyes met. He suddenly looked upset as he noticed Daphne had been crying.

"Niles... are you okay?" Daphne gestured to the coffee stain. He glanced down, and nodded.
"Just a small accident this morning, nothing serious. I can change later." He looked back up at Daphne, and walked over. Kneeling in front of her he pulled out his handkerchief and started to dry her damp face. "What about you?"
"I'm okay, at least I will be." Daphne glanced up at Holly, who was hovering still, unsure if she should leave Daphne alone with him. Daphne gave Holly a small nod.

"I'll go get myself something to eat while I can. I'll give you two some privacy." The door clicked shut as Holly left the room.

Now they were alone, Daphne turned back to Niles.

"I'm glad you had someone to stay with last night." Niles still hadn't taken his eyes off Daphne.
"Donny kicked me out after I told him. He... was upset." Daphne looked away, feeling guilty. "I haven't seen him this morning. He wanted to speak to me, but Holly wouldn't let him in. It's..." She swallowed, fighting back tears.
"It's okay. It'll be okay. It's hard, for everyone, but it's better now than later."

Daphne shrugged, unsure if this was better.

"I wish I could have said something earlier. Spared all this pain for Donny." She sniffed, and looked back at Niles. "How did Mel take it?"

Niles winced at the memory, looking equally guilty.

"Poorly. Not that I blame her, all things considering. I originally wanted to try get her out of here and back to Seattle before telling her, but things didn't pan out that way."
"So when did you tell her?"
"This morning, less than an hour ago. She left shortly after."

Daphne looked slightly confused.

"You didn't tell her last night?"

Niles shook his head.

"She was asleep. Didn't even know I was gone last night. I... slept in my car, and saw her again this morning. I didn't see any point in waking her up last night just to... tell her."

Daphne could understand why Niles didn't want to do that. She didn't think she could have woken Donny up just to break his heart.

I guess I was lucky he was already awake last night.

"So, now what?" Daphne felt adrift, they didn't have a plan on what to do next.
"I guess we go back to Seattle. Untangle our lives with Mel and Donny, then move forward. Together."

Niles smiled at her, and Daphne's heart leapt a little at the sight. It helped reaffirm what she was doing was right.

"You make it sound so easy." She gave a sad laugh.
"I know it won't be, but it'll be worth it to be with you. I love you, Daphne."
"I love you too, Niles."

Niles leaned forward, and kissed her. It deepened, neither one of them wanting to break it. Suddenly, the door opened, and Holly came back into the room. They broke the kiss, looking embarrassed and guilty.

"Oh. Sorry. I guess I understand what's going on a bit better though." Holly stood there awkwardly, unsure what to do. "Did... you want me to leave again?"

Daphne shook her head.

"Sorry, Holly. Stay. This is your room."
"Yes," Niles stood up, and straightened his jacket. "I'll go. I've, uh, got to pack my clothes... and get changed into something clean."

Niles looked back at Daphne, giving her an encouraging smile, before leaving. Holly glanced at Daphne.

"So... is there something you want to tell me? Isn't that Dr Crane? I mean, your boss's brother?"

Daphne sighed.

"It's kind of a long story."
"We've got time. It'll be a while before you'll want to leave anyway."

Niles returned to his room, and stared around at the chaos left from his argument with Mel earlier. The room smelt strongly of cologne, which Niles discovered was because the bottle had broken and spilt over a pile of his clothes. He sighed, and started gathering his clothes. Niles managed to find a shirt and a pair of pants that hadn't been soaked in the cologne. No jacket, unfortunately. Niles changed, and glanced at himself. He looked half-dressed in his mind without his jacket, suspenders showing. Not much he could do about that.

Glancing about, he looked for a belt as a replacement for the suspenders when there was a knock at the door. Niles stared at it, somewhat nervous, before he heard his brother's voice. Niles opened the door.

"Niles-" Frasier noticed the room. "Oh dear. Mel didn't take it too well?"

Niles shrugged, resigned.

"No she didn't. Well, you saw how she was in the lobby." He sighed. "How are things downstairs? Daphne is hiding until people leave."

Frasier shook his head.

"Donny is adamant that he wants to speak to Daphne before he leaves. I was going to see if she would talk to him. And offer to be there to support her while she does." Niles started to open his mouth, but Frasier cut him off. "I know you would like to do that, to be there for Daphne, but I don't know if Donny wants to see the man his fiancée left him for on the day of his wedding."
"Yes, I suppose you're right. Why does Donny want to speak to Daphne?"
"Closure, I suppose. Or, to try and change her mind. I don't blame him, this probably blindsided him. Uh, I'll bring Daphne back here once we are done. You should stay here - try to keep yourself scarce for now."

Frasier left. Niles looked around and located his suitcase. It, like the rest of his things, had been thrown haphazardly across the room. Niles started to gather up his things and clean while he waited, to try and keep himself from worrying too much about Daphne and Donny's conversation.

"So, that's what has happened."

Daphne just finished explaining things to Holly. She felt glad to have her friend to talk to, and saying things out loud like that helped settle her nerves about the situation. Daphne still felt extremely guilty about everything though.

"Oh, Daph..." Holly didn't seem to know what to say. "I mean, if you aren't in love with Donny, then it's best that you don't marry him, but..."
"It's a mess. I know." Daphne buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe what I've done - what I was going to do. I was going to just try and go through with the wedding because I promised Donny, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it."
"Of course you couldn't. Obviously, this is the right thing to do, but... wow."

There was a knock at the door. Holly called out.

"Who is it?"
"It's Frasier. Can I come in?"

Holly checked with Daphne, who nodded. Holly got up and opened the door. Frasier came in, looking a little shy.

"Thanks, Holly. Ah, Daphne... Donny wants to speak to you. Before he leaves today."

Daphne froze. She didn't know if she could face him again today, with everyone staring at her, but she knew she should talk to him. She owed Donny at least that much. Frasier saw her face.

"I'll stay with you the entire time, give you moral support. I figured - I mean, Niles and I wanted you to have some support if you speak to him again, but that it might be best if it wasn't Niles. Otherwise..."

Daphne nodded.

"I understand. Thank you. Can... can you have Donny meet me somewhere private? I don't want to talk to him downstairs."
"The two of you can talk in my room, if you like."
"That seems like a good idea. Thank you, Dr Crane."

Daphne hugged Holly, thanking her again for everything. Holly shushed her, and wished her luck, promising to call her later.

They left. Frasier took Daphne as quickly as he could to his room. Daphne noticed a few people shooting looks at her, and she felt so small. Daphne realized that nearly everyone would only have Donny's side of the story - that she was leaving him for another man. Which wasn't wrong, but it still felt like an oversimplification of their situation.

At Frasier's room, he let Daphne in, before he went to get Donny.

Frasier found Donny downstairs, at the bar. It was barely 9am, and he was already drinking.

"Donny."

He looked over at Frasier, and noticed he was alone.

"So, she didn't have the guts to come talk to me?"
"Donny, she would rather talk to you in private. She's waiting in my room."
"Why is she hiding? Isn't this what she wanted?"
"No, you know as well as I do that this is the last thing Daphne wanted. I know you're hurt, but at least talk to her in private."

Donny stood up, unsteadily, and grabbed the bottle he had been pouring his drinks from. He followed Frasier upstairs. They reached his room, and Frasier knocked.

"Daphne? Uh, Donny and I are coming in."

He opened the door. Daphne had been sitting on one of the beds, but stood as Donny and Frasier entered. Donny looked at Frasier.

"You can go now."

Frasier glanced at Daphne, and she nodded.

"It's okay."
"I'll just be outside. Let me know if you need me." He left, leaving the two of them alone.

Donny stared at Daphne, before sitting on one of the beds, taking a swig from the bottle in his hand. Daphne frowned.

"Donny, it's not even 9am-"
"I don't think you get to tell me what I can do. You hurt me. I thought you were kidding last night. That I would wake up, you would be next to me, and things would go ahead as planned. Instead, I hear that you spent the night in someone else's room, and people were already gossiping."
"I'm sorry, Donny. I didn't mean to hurt you, or for things to turn out this way." Daphne stared down at her hands, heartbroken.
"Well, you could still just marry me."

Daphne looked back at Donny.

"I can't do that."
"Why not? Up until 12 hours ago you were going to anyway."
"Because, I don't love you in that way. I love Niles."

The sound of Niles' name made Donny flinch.

"Well, things were perfect up until that point. How do you know that these... feelings for him aren't just nerves?"
"They're not nerves. And things were far from perfect, Donny."

He stared at her.

"Huh. First time I'm hearing of any complaints."

Now it was Daphne's turn to stare.

"No, it's not. I've mentioned the things I wasn't happy about to you multiple times. I guess you just choose not to take me seriously."

Donny stood up, angered. He pointed his finger at her.

"DON'T-!" Donny paused, and lowered his voice, calming his temper before continuing. "Don't you dare turn this around as my fault. I've done nothing but love you, and give you everything you wanted."

Daphne stood up, the extra three inches that she had on him obvious as she stretched to her full height - the distance made greater due to her heels.

"Rubbish! There were many things that you completely disregarded and-"
"Name one!" Donny dared her.
"You couldn't be bothered to learn a simple waltz for our wedding! All I wanted was for you to take an afternoon with me to learn one dance, for our wedding, and you couldn't even do that!"

Donny stared at her.

"Well, it's a good thing I didn't, it would have been a complete waste of time!"
"No it wouldn't have been! It was important to me! Something that I wanted, and you couldn't even try to care."
"Tha-that's not true. I was too busy." He took a swig from the bottle in his hand. "Is that your only example? Hmm?"

Daphne took her engagement ring off, and held it out to Donny. He refused to take it, so Daphne put it on the side table next to the bed.

"The engagement ring you bought me was too big. It slipped around my finger all the time. I asked you several times to get it resized. But you didn't. Another thing you didn't do."

Donny sat back down.

"Oh, how horrible of me. The expensive diamond ring I bought didn't fit properly."

Daphne looked at Donny, and sat down, amazed he missed the point.

"The issue wasn't that it was too big, but that you didn't want to be bothered to do anything to fix it. If it wasn't important to you, you didn't bother. Just like with the chores - whenever I stayed at your place you expected me to do your laundry, your cleaning. You were messy, and expected me to pick up the slack, to take care of you."
"That's not-" Donny tried to interrupt, but Daphne continued, ignoring him.
"You wanted me to coddle you like your mother does. I told you already I won't be that person. I'd be loving, supportive, and emotionally available, but I'm my own person. I can't have my life center around looking after you. I have a job, a life, and I can't just ignore those things because you wanted someone to be a second mother. Especially when you won't do the same for me."

Donny sat there, silent. He took another long drink from the bottle, and stared at Daphne as she kept speaking.

"Donny, you look like this is all news to you, but we've had this argument countless times over the last year. I felt like I needed to go through with this marriage because I made a promise. But... it's an engagement. I'm allowed to change my mind. And I have."

She looked down at her now naked hand.

"You weren't cruel. You did love me, and cared for me. We did have some great times together. But I don't know if you respected me for me. For the life I'd made for myself. Rather, you loved me for how I could look after you. I've spent the majority of my life in relationships where I am looking after the other person. With my parents, my brothers, my job... All my other romantic relationships were like that too."

Daphne looked at Donny again.

"And with you, Donny. I was just going to repeat the same pattern. I've realized I don't want that. I want my life partner to see me as an equal. To share life's load with me, rather than expect me to shoulder it by myself. All I've ever done is shoulder other people's loads, worried about disappointing them if I don't live up to their expectations. I need someone who can take the weight from me sometimes. And you can't offer me that. I've asked you to, countless times, and you just won't do it."

Daphne started to cry, tears spilling down her face silently. She kept looking at Donny, watching his face change as he realized what she was saying.

"Now you've told me, I can change. Marry me, you don't have to start over.'

Daphne shook her head.

"No. I've told you this before. The only difference is now you know you've lost me."
"But... Niles..." Donny struggled with saying his name. "He might not be able to be that person for you either."
"You're right, Niles might be no different. But I want to give myself the chance to see that for myself. With Niles."

She smiled sadly at Donny.

"I'm sorry Donny. I didn't want to hurt you. Please believe that"

Donny nodded, sniffling, trying to hold back tears. Daphne stood up, and put her hand on his shoulder. Donny looked up.

"I really do love you, Daphne. I would do anything to fix this."
"I know. But there isn't anything left to fix now."
"How is this so easy for you? Do you really care that little?"

Daphne shook her head.

"It's not easy. I almost married you despite how I felt, because I didn't want to hurt you. But like I said, I can't sacrifice my life, my happiness, to avoid hurting others. I need someone who will support me as much as I support them."

Donny didn't say anything. Daphne knew he didn't truly get it, but she felt better for saying it.

"I'm going to go to your room to get my things. Goodbye, Donny."

She kissed his cheek, and left the room. Frasier was hovering in the hall.

"Daphne, are you okay?"

She nodded, and tears spilt out of her eyes again. Frasier swept her into a hug.

"Oh, Daphne. We're here for you, don't worry."
"Thank you, Dr Crane." She broke the hug, composing herself as best she could. "Could you keep Donny here, and make sure he's okay? I'm going to fetch my things from his room. I should only take about 10 minutes or so."
"Sure thing, Daph. Uh, where will I find you once you're done?"
"Niles' room."