The silence that followed Daphne's retreat was absolute. No sound, not even the sound of a neighbor passing by in the hall or the faint cooing of the pigeons that nested on the roof of the Montana apartment complex. Niles felt frozen in place on the fainting couch, unable to move or think, struggling to comprehend what had just happened. Once again, he was alone, and there was no way to fix it.

He longed to go after Daphne, but forced himself to stay put. She had made her decision, and he didn't want to stand in the way of that. At least she still loves me, Niles thought. That's something, anyway.

Then he laughed humorlessly as the walls of his vast apartment seemed to close in on him.

"Who am I kidding?" he said aloud, to break the terrible stillness. "Knowing she loves me but doesn't think we can be together is worse than her not loving me at all."

And he broke down completely.


"Daph'! You're back just in time!" Martin called out cheerfully as Daphne came into the apartment that she'd called home for years-until now. "Fras' is on a date tonight, so we've got hot pizza, and I rented the first season of Hogan's Heroes. Now we can watch it without him lecturing us on the historical inaccuracies."

Daphne smiled weakly.

"Thank you, Mr. Crane, but go ahead. I'll eat later. I want to get a head start on packing."

"Oh." Martin's cheery expression vanished instantly. "You're still leaving, then?"

"Of course I'm still leaving! It's just too awkward for me to stay on here after everything that's happened!" Daphne said aggressively.

"I guess I was just hoping that Niles would've asked you for another chance and you two made up," Martin said sadly.

"He did ask me to stay, but I know he was only doing it out of pity."

"Daph he didn't-"

"I just think it's for the best, okay?" Daphne interrupted angrily, turning on her heel and walking away.

Martin ignored this rebuff, but as she left the room, Daphne was sure she heard him mutter to himself:

"Of all people, I never thought you would break my son's heart."

Shortly after Daphne had retreated, there was an insistent knocking at the door. Martin opened the door to admit Roz.

"Hey, is Daphne here? I have two Billy Joel tickets for tonight, but my date bailed. I don't want to show up at the concert looking like a single sad sack who doesn't even have a friend."

"She's in her room, packing," Martin muttered resentfully.

Roz smiled, earning an odd look from the elder Crane.

"Ohmigod, are she and Niles are going on a trip, aren't they? They've made up and he's taking her on a vacation so they can relax after all this! I bet it's somewhere exotic. Hawaii? Tell me it's Hawaii!"

Martin attempted several times, with no success, to interrupt Roz's excited speculation.

"She's going to Portland for a new job," he said with undisguised anger. "She's left Niles."

Roz stared at Martin in shock.

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, I don't want to believe it either, but there's nothing we can do now except help Niles get through this. Anyway, why don't you stay and help yourself to some pizza?"

Roz's face clouded with frustration.

"Oh, no. I'm going to go knock some sense into Daphne. Literally, if it comes to that."

"You're wasting your time," Martin warned. "She's not budging on this."

"I don't care," Roz said. "They did not spend seven years dancing around each other for it to end like this."

And against Martin's repeated objections, she stormed down the hall, barging into Daphne's room with equal gusto.

"Bloody hell, Roz! You can't just come barging in like that!" Daphne

exclaimed as she looked up from her packing.

"Can and will!" Roz shouted. "Have you gone nuts? You're going to leave, just like that?"

"Save your breath. I've already been through this with Mr. Crane. I made my decision, and none of it concerns anyone but Niles. If he can respect my decision, why can't you two?"

"He loved you enough to let you go, you mean," Roz challenged. "Remember what you told me about the night before your wedding to Donny? How Niles looked like he wanted to say more to convince you to stay, but let you walk away? He was heartbroken, but cared more about what would make you happy. Even if it wasn't with him."

Daphne shrugged casually, but Roz wasn't fooled by the seeming nonchalance. There was a subtle increase of tension in Daphne's movements, especially when her hand trembled as she picked up a framed photograph. Roz recognized it: it showed Daphne and Niles sitting on the porch of Maris's beach house (or what had been Maris's), Niles looking at Daphne with complete adoration.

"You know I'm right," she said flatly. "You can't escape the truth about his feelings for you any more than you could years ago. You just don't see how Niles could still love you. Maybe you do think this is the right thing to do. But I think you're also running away."

The glass unicorn Daphne had started wrapping nearly slipped out of her hands as the comment hit home.

"What would you know about it, Roz Doyle?" she said cattily. "What was your longest relationship? Six months?"

"That's a cheap shot," Roz retorted. "But I can't even be angry, because it only shows you're protesting too much by being so defensive. You still want to be with Niles, don't you?"

Daphne sank into the chair at the vanity table and wilted visibly. Roz hurried over, her expression softening.

"Hey, don't take it so hard," she said gently, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "You can still call this job off."

"Even if I did, it might be too late," Daphne answered, her vision blurring as tears began to fall. "I messed things up even

more. Niles probably doesn't even want me back now!"

"After all the time it took for you two to get together? And all the trouble with Donny and Mel and the whole health spa thing? Niles isn't going to give up that easily."

"But..."

"No buts. You can either go to him and see if he still feels something for you, or uproot your entire life and wonder how things might have been if you had."

Daphne took a deep breath and stood up resolutely.

"I know what I have to do."