2 HOURS LATER
"Poor Eddie," Daphne sighed "I'll miss the little guy" she stared at the bag looking almost tearful.
"I guess you liked Eddie almost as much as Dad didn't you?" Niles put his arm around her.
"Yes, I know the rest of you didn't care for him much, but he was a sweet dog." Daphne began sniffling as Frasier tried to look properly subdued, though he still wasn't too upset. He was concerned about his fathers reaction but as far as Eddie being gone, he wouldn't miss the staring contests or dog hair on his couches one bit.
"I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but it's starting to smell in here." Roz wrinkled her nose as the others nodded in agreement.
"I know, let's summarize what we've come up with so far." Frasier sighed.
"Well we can't get another dog to pass off as Eddie, we can't say he was abducted by aliens, or say that he ran off with the french poodle next door." Roz chimed in first.
"And we can't say we sold him to the circus, he was recruited by the FBI to sniff out drugs, or that he died of natural causes." Niles piped up.
"We also rejected the idea that he became possessed with demons and committed suicide by jumping off the balcony, or that he saved Alice's life by pushing her out of the way of a car." Daphne finished, covering the last few ideas.
"So essentially we're still at square one?" Frasier groaned.
"At square one with a smelly dead dog who your father loved like one of his own children." Roz said as she rose to leave, "Come on Daphne, let's go grab a bite to eat and let the boys handle this."
"I thought we'd make a mess of it," Frasier shot back as they walked out the door.
"Face it Frasier, they're just using typical avoidance because they know there is no solution but the truth." Niles said sadly.
"There's got to be something Niles, I cannot tell Dad we let Eddie out of the apartment building to be run over by a car less than 10 minutes after he left." Frasier refused to give up.
"We really have to do something with him" Niles replied as he held his nose.
"Well I'm definitely not putting him in the freezer, and I don't know about burying him.... I've got it, how about a taxidermist!" Frasier said excitedly as Niles' jaw dropped.
NEXT DAY
"So what's the surprise?" Roz said as she and Daphne entered Frasier's apartment after they had both been summoned to come see what they had done..
"This!" Frasier announced as he grinned broadly and quickly pulled off a cloth to reveal a stuffed Eddie sitting up on his haunches.
"Yes, it cost us plenty extra but we got a rush job at Dexter's" Niles beamed proudly.
"Oh my....." Daphne's face went white.
"That's sick Frasier, isn't this like the guy who called the station last week about stuffing his pets and keeping them around the house?" Roz continued staring at Eddie in morbid fascination.
"This is entirely different!" Frasier exclaimed, upset by their lack of enthusiasm.
"I don't get it, how does this help anything?" Daphne was curious.
"Simple, we're going to tell Dad that we hypnotized Eddie and that he wouldn't come out of it." Niles finally spoke up.
"Wait a minute, two Doctors of Psychiatry and this is all you could come up with?" Roz rolled her eyes as Daphne snickered.
"Well if you don't like it then you can just leave." Frasier's temper flared. Niles wanted to object but didn't as the girls shook their heads and turned to go. "You can just stay here with your brother tonight instead of coming home." Daphne said to Niles as she closed the door behind them.
"Can you believe that, the way they treated us." Frasier acted offended.
""Oh hush Frasier, thanks to your wounded pride I get to sleep alone tonight." Niles pouted.
"You don't have to, there's always Eddie." Frasier said sarcastically as he picked up the dog and tossed him to Niles. Poor Niles didn't want to touch it, but he couldn't let it fall either so he quickly caught it and sat it down on the floor.
"That wasn't very funny."
"I thought it was.... the look on your face...." Frasier laughed
"Dad's going to be here any minute." Niles began pacing the apartment anxiously, "I don't know, do you really think he'll buy it?"
"He's got to Niles, I don't know what else we can do." Frasier was pacing with him, both of them freezing when they heard the key in the door.
"Hey boys I'm home!" Martin yelled as he opened the front door, lugging in a suitcase.
"Dad, Hi welcome home, let us get your bags!" Frasier and Niles both said as they rushed out the door to get his bags.
"They certainly left in a rush." Martin mused as he carried his suitcase to his room.
"Have a good time, you must be tired, would you like to go to bed?" Frasier blurted out the moment they re-entered carrying his bags.
"Slow down guys, why are you acting so weird?" Martin sounded suspicious.
"Nothing Dad" They both responded nervously.
"Geez, I leave for 3 days and you guys fall apart." Martin chuckled as he opened his suitcase. "But before I go to bed I gotta see man's best friend... Eddie, here boy, Daddy's home."
.