Love Letters pt 1

Niles looked at the case file in front of him and then back to the patient at the other side of the desk ,

"So Mrs Adams," He said "Tell me how you've been managing this week ?"

"It's been just awful Dr Crane" The mousy woman replied her eyes filling with tears "I miss him so much . I spoke to a friend of mine and she told me when her husband died she would write to him everyday , she'd never mail them obviously but she'd keep them in a drawer and then she felt like she was still able to tell him all the things he would have had he been alive. I tried it but it made me worse I cried even more , I'm worn done Dr Crane , what do you think I should do ?"

"Well , I have an exercise not unlike the one you've described and I'd like you to try it for a week . I want you to keep a journal , every time you think you're going to cry think of something wonderful that you and Mr Adams did while you were married and then write it down . When you've done that look at it again and try , instead of thinking how awful it is that you'll never do it again , to think how wonderful it was to have been able to do it at all. Then by the time you come next week you should have a journal filled with happy memories ." Niles looked at his watch "now I see our time is up for today , will you do as i suggested and bring the journal with you next week so we can discuss it ?"

"Ok Dr Crane I will if you think it'll help." she got up as Niles moved to open the door for her .

"Goodbye , Mrs Adams . Have a good week" . Niles looked up seeing Frasier arrive in the waiting room .

"Hi Niles . Got a minute?" he said

"Of course , I don't have another patient for an hour what's up ?"

When they were safely in the office Frasier looked at his brother with concern , "It's Daphne and Donny , they've decided to have an engagement party , a big one , and they've asked me to let them have it in the apartment."

Niles sank into his chair , "But why now ? I don't understand , they've been engaged for three months"

"Well that's the other thing , they've set a date , they want to make an announcement at the party"

Niles felt like his heart was being crushed just when he thought his life couldn't get any more unhappy something always proved him wrong. Frasier stared at him

"Are you Ok?" he asked

"I will be" , Niles replied quietly "but if you don't mind I'd like to be on my own, I have a mountain of paper work to do" He moved papers about his desk as if to prove the point and avoided Frasier's worried glances until his brother finally gave up .

"Ok Niles" He said eventually "You know where I am if you need me"

Niles never looked up from what he was doing and when Frasier had left he sat back , closing his eyes and feeling himself being overtaken by the now familiar waves of misery the thought of Daphne and Donny filled him with .

"Snap out of it !" he scolded himself reaching for the writing pad on the other side of the desk "Referral letters don't write themselves"He looked down at the blank page and thought about what Mrs Adams had been saying . Maybe he should write that sort of letter to Daphne. Maybe by putting his feelings down on paper he'd finally be able to deal with them . When he started to write it was as if every emotion he'd felt for the last 7 years flowed through the nib of his pen , he told her how much he loved her , how he'd worshipped her from afar for so long and how her engagement to Donny was crushing him. When he had finished he neatly folded it and placed it in an envelope and when he;'d addressed it he opened the drawer at the side of his desk and dropped it in absentmindedly looking at the clock . As he realised his next patient would be waiting he got up and marched to the door , in his hurry he failed to notice that the neatly written white envelope had missed the drawer completely and fell discretely under his desk .

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Daphne stormed out of the bedroom as Frasier entered the apartment. She slammed the phone on it's stand and marched into the kitchen.

"Daphne is something wrong ?" Frasier asked his concern for his new china dinner service growing by the minute

"Oh it's just men !" Daphne said appearing at the door with a large kitchen knif she'd been using to slice the roast in one hand

"I see can I take it that was Donny on the phone ?"

"Yeah , he just makes me so mad sometimes , I wanted my uncle Jackie to come up for the engagement party , you know he's the only family I have close by and I wanted him here , but he's too odd according to Donny , he wouldn't want his lawyer friends to know his future wife had a transvestite uncle. You know if he keeps this up it might make no difference because there may not be a wedding !"

Frasier stared on in amazment as she turned on her heel and returned to cutting the roast just as the phone rang.

"If that's him you can tell him I'm just considering my unusual hertiage and I'll call him sometime I'm more normal !" Daphne shouted from the kitchen as Frasier lifted it

"Crane residence" he said "No I'm afraid she doesn't want to talk to you Donny , yes I know , I know I see your point . I have no idea but you've really upset her and right now she's banging around in my kitchen with a carving knife preparing dinner so I wouldn't advise a visit this evening anyway . Ok I'll tel her , bye Donny"

Daphne appeared at the door trying to look like she didn't care what had been said "Well?" She asked "what did he say?"

"He said he loves you and call him when you're ready to be reasonable" Finishing the sentence Frasier ducked for the cover of his bedroom as daphne returned to slaming about in the kitchen muttering loudly about unreasonable boyfriends and canceled engagements.

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Niles sealed the envelope on the last of his referal letters and looked at the clock , he felt drained and with his appointments finished early he thought he'd go home and relax with a nice bottle of wine and a good book , god knows he could do with it . He lifted his brief case and his coat and walked absentmindedly into the waiting area . His secretary was still at her desk

"I'm heading off" He old her "I've left a pile of referal letters on my desk , could you be sure to mail them this evening some of them are quite important"

"I will Dr Crane" she replied "I'll do it on my way home, good night , I'll see you tomorrow"

"Goodnight" Niles said already halfway to the elevator .

Looking around her desk and then at the clock his secretary decided if he was gone and there was no work to be done she may as well head home herself , pulling on her coat she lifted her handbag and went into his office to pick up the mail . Lifting the large pile of letters she noticed the over flowing trash can on the other side of the desk

"I see the cleaning service is working to it's usual high standard" she said to herself and moving round she bent picking up the stray bits of rubish and moving the bin into clear view so they wouldn't miss it again that evening . She was about to get back again when she noticed the white envellope of Niles never to be mailed letter under the desk. "honestly , that man" she carried on her conversation with herself "Now if I hadn't noticed that rubish I'd have missed this one , and knowing my luck it would have been the most important" adding the letter to the pile and still talking quietly to herself she left the office .