A Stitch in Time

"I got here as fast as I could. Thanks for calling me," Daphne said as she sat down by her brother-in-law in the busy and overcrowded emergency room.

She glanced back over her shoulder and to where they had called Niles in.

"How long has he been in there?" she nervously questioned and bit her lower lip.

Frasier looked at his watch. "About 20 minutes." Detecting his sister-in-law's fears, "Don't worry, he's going to be just fine." He reassuringly patted her knee.

"How did this happen?"

-------

"What happened?" I groggily question Frasier.

"Let's just say your fainting couch lived up to its name, shall we?"

I attempt to prop myself up on the couch when intense pain permeating from my left hand prevents me from doing so.

I close my eyes as my temporary amnesia lifts and what happened minutes earlier, comes rushing back to me.

"Sherry, Frasier?"

"Niles, it is only 8:30 in the morning isn't it a bit early for a drink?"

I shrug for lack of a better answer and just pour myself a glass and uncharacteristically chug it all down in one gulp and start to pour myself another.

"Do you want to talk about what happened between you and Daphne?"

"No," I refrain, letting my head and shoulders sag.

Frasier comes over and stands behind me.

"Niles," Frasier places his hands on my shoulders and gives them a slight squeeze, "you, more than anyone, should know how unwise and unhealthy it is for one to repress his emotions and keep them bottled up inside…"

"No!" I adamantly refuse again and slam down my glass, shattering it in the process.

"These aren't going to work…" Frasier unknowingly interrupts my memory.

"What's not going to work?"

"These gauze bandages…" Frasier comments in reference to his feeble attempts to bandage my hand. "They aren't going to work. You're going to need stitches."

"I don't think it's that bad…" I start to plead my defense and try to avoid looking at my damaged hand and blood so I don't pass out again.

"Niles, the cut is deep and you're losing blood faster than these bandages can absorb it."

With that, Frasier tightly wraps my hand in a hand towel in preparation to our trip to the emergency room.

"You had to use the Egyptian cotton, didn't you?" I wince in pain and from Frasier's towel selection choice.

Frasier casts me a disapproving glare as he digs his car keys from his coat pocket.

"I won't even dignify that with a reply. Now, let's go…"

-------

"Niles is repeating a terrible and an extremely unhealthy pattern. It's Maris all over again."

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever Niles had a problem or fight with Maris, he reacted exactly as he is now. Shutting himself off and not letting anyone in, repressing his emotions. But, there is one notable difference." Frasier smiled.

"And what might that be?"

"He's with you now, and I know you care about him and love him more than anything."

"I have never loved anyone the way I love your brother."

"I'm not defending Niles, but how he reacted would have been how any male would have if he was told he was infertile. And while it is a common reaction for the male to feel inferior and unworthy, with Niles it goes a bit deeper than just that."

"What do you mean?"

"Niles has had severe insecurity issues since we were kids, I don't need to tell you that. He was constantly, as I was but to a somewhat lesser degree, craving for our mother's approval and love. You don't know very much about our mother do you?"

"No, I can't say that I do. Niles doesn't like to talk much about her."

"Our mother was distant, extremely difficult to please, and very demanding, especially of Niles since he was the youngest."

"She sounds just like Maris."

"Daphne, believe it or not, its not only women who marry men who remind them of their fathers, men tend to do the same thing. Marrying women who remind them of their mothers."

"I had no idea…"

"Unfortunately, whether male or female, doesn't matter, if one marries another that reminds him or her of a parent, the insecurities that the parent initially fostered are quite often and unconsciously reinforced by the spouse."

"Well, one can easily see the emotional damage Maris inflicted on him. But I had no idea that it all started with your mother."

"Listen to me Daph. I love you both and would hate for this drift between the two of you to go any further then it has already. Keep reaching out to him, don't turn your back on him. Not now. Especially not now when he needs you the most."

To be continued…