Just One Look
By Valma
Part 21: Some Enchanted Evening
Daphne's Diary:
Dear Diary,
Heaven - that's what tonight was.
I was in absolute heaven --- with my angel --- my Niles.
His kisses lingering on my lips. The presence of his cologne on my clothes. His eyes gazing at me from across the table. His soft words falling on my ears. The tingle I felt on my back when his loving hands drew me up close to him, as we danced the night away under the stars.
Funny - it started out to be one of the worst days I have ever had.
He came over in the mid-morning and while he proceeded to tell me about his "Average Night in Hell" of a wedding reception, all of a sudden I just snapped. I think what did it was when he told me that Mel had decided that he wouldn't be allowed to go out with me in public because of her little farcical marital arrangement.
I was still on a pretty wonky emotional footing after he cancelled our dinner date the day before and when I heard that proclamation and - well, that just tore it! The next thing I knew I was marching off cursing the day we met, flinging insults around like grenades and wondering if this whole mess was worth all the trouble.
By the time I calmed down and came out of my room Niles had left, but I did manage to stumble out an "I'm sorry" to Frasier for biting his head off. He graciously offered to take me out for dinner - a rubber bone to a starving dog really, but still a nice gesture, which I fully appreciated, especially after Simon came along shortly after and, in his own unique way, informed me that he would be parking his arse on the couch all evening and was expecting me to make him dinner.
I figured if I went out with Frasier at least my day of beauty at La Belle Jour that I had booked in eager anticipation of tonight's promised events wouldn't go completely to waste. And spending an evening with Frasier was definitely preferable to hanging around the apartment with my lout of a brother.
When I got back from the spa, I checked my phone for messages, hoping to find something from Niles - a "Please call" or even the dreaded "Can we talk?".
Nothing.
I wondered if I had I gone to far with my earlier tantrum?
The next few hours were spent pacing back and forth in my room riding an emotional roller coaster of flashes of anger mixed with fretful tears. I must have stood in front of my dresser mirror and demanded a dozen times to an invisible Niles that he stand up to Mel and tell her to stuff her face- saving pact up her bum, only to end this well-rehearsed rant with a weepy apology for saying such dreadful things to him this morning.
About 7:00, Frasier quietly knocked on my bedroom door and asked if he could speak to me.
"Please don't say that you are going to have to cancel our dinner together," I cautioned, as I let him in. "If you do, you just might have to talk me off the window ledge as well."
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Daphne," Frasier quickly reassured me. "In fact, ummm, the change in plans that I had in mind might actually ease your anxiety quite a bit."
I sat down on the bed and folded my hands in my lap. Frasier sat down beside me and took one of my hands in his.
"There's nothing in this entire world he wouldn't do for you, you know."
I nodded my head silently. I knew if I had tried to speak I would have burst like a leaky faucet.
"But it's not easy for him. Most of the women in Niles' life have been - " Frasier paused a moment as he searched for the right term. "Well, I guess you could say they have been emotionally distant, in varying degrees. It's a bit daunting I suppose, for him to have someone love him back unconditionally."
"I just want a chance to --- to get to know him," I blurted out. "I --- I mean really know him."
Frasier smiled. He looked down at his shoes.
I blushed and bumbled on, "I --- I mean I do know him, but --- but this is different. And --- and it isn't just about --- you know --- s-s-ex - it's more than that. This thing with Mel is just crowding in on any opportunity for us to be together. It's just so frustrating!"
"Well, I think I have a solution," Frasier interrupted. "Instead of us going out to dinner, what would you say to a bit of catering and subterfuge?"
I looked at him with puzzlement.
He proceeded to explain that Martin had devised a plan to bring Niles over to the apartment, while he had arranged for the caterers at Au Pied du Cochon to set up a gourmet meal for two on the roof of the Elliot Bay Towers.
"What if he won't go for it?" I asked nervously. "I might have hurt him pretty badly with that crack about marrying Donny."
"Daphne, I know my brother," Frasier said with a caring chuckle. "He has obsessed about you since the day he met you - he isn't going to let one little comment sway his passion for you."
I felt a flush of color overtake my cheeks again.
"Since the day we met, you say?"
"Right from the beginning," he assured me. "It took him a long time to define those feelings to anyone, including himself, but I distinctly remember him telling me about a year after you came to work for us, that you stirred a fervor in him that he had never known before. He called you a goddess, for goodness sakes."
"A --- goddess? Me?" I said in true disbelief. "That's a pretty high pedestal to be placed on. A goddess --- I know you said he had a crush on me, but - a goddess? He really is amazing. He was always a perfect gentleman. He hid it well. Or was I just really that stupid? So much wasted time --- if I had only known --- "
I trailed off with a sigh.
Frasier wrapped his solid arms around me and gave me a squeeze.
"Things have a way of working out anyway, if they are meant to be in the first place, Daphne."
"That almost sounds like you believe in fate, Dr. Crane," I chirped with a hint of smugness. "I thought learned men like you didn't put any value in such notions like destiny and the foretelling of things that have already been decided."
"Some things are just a sure bet."
He leaned over and gave me a kiss on my forehead.
"Ready to go? Your "Prince Charming" will be here soon."
I stood up and smoothed my dress.
"How do I look?"
Frasier locked elbows with me and laughed.
"Like --- Venus herself," he replied.
We made our way up to the roof. The air was warm and a slight breeze added just the right touch of freshness to the night.
Frasier had outdone himself. The setting was completely elegant - crisp linens, sparkling crystal, fine china, and a bottle of bubbly chilling in a bucket on the side. To top things off the whole scene was bathed in a wash of candles and flowers. Frasier pulled out a chair on the far side of the table.
"Your seat is here, so that the first thing he sees as he comes around the corner is you."
I gave him a glance of anxious anticipation.
"When do you think he'll be here?" I questioned.
"Pretty soon. Don't worry - everything will be all right."
"I do love him, you know. With --- with all my heart - but it's all so new to me."
"I know, I know. And what's more important - so does Niles."
Sometimes --- sometimes it was easy to see that they were brothers.
Suddenly Martin's familiar voice could be heard as the heavy access door opened with a momentous click.
"Come on, come on up here," the old man gently prodded.
I could hear Niles, protesting mildly, as he slowly made his way up to the top of the stairs, until he was standing just beyond my line of vision behind the door.
My heart was pounding so hard it seemed like someone was thumping me on my chest. What if he felt pressured by this, albeit well intentioned, but interfering ploy and decided to bolt? What if he wasn't ready to speak to me after what had passed between us earlier?
"Dad, I don't think I handled things very well today," Niles said, his voice cracking with emotion. "Do you think Daphne will ever forgive me?"
I almost cried out "Of course I will - you silly sausage!" but a cautionary touch on my shoulder by Frasier stopped me in my tracks.
"Why don't you ask her for yourself?" Martin said with a dramatic flourish, as he stepped back to make room for Niles to advance.
I felt a kindling blush spread over my entire body as the first sight of his blond hair came into view. The moroseness in his eyes vanished immediately as he stared out on the starry scene before him. A look of absolute wonderment lit up his face.
I held my breath and slowly --- very slowly, a relieved smile edged its way out of my heart. Niles took a tentative step forward.
A soft, lilting tune started to play somewhere in the background. It was Frasier who finally broke the aura of astonishment.
"Your table is ready, sir."
Niles gradually made his way across the rooftop, his eyes riveted on me the whole time.
"You --- look --- stunning," he gasped.
With those words he slew the dragon of all my fears - my very own dashing Prince Charming indeed.
Before long Frasier and Martin had graciously departed, leaving us alone beneath a canopy of stars.
Just the two of us.
Finally.
"Daphne, about today --- "
I could feel the burden of self-reproach in his voice.
Did he think that he had to take on the entire fault for what had happened between us previously?
Unconditional love - that's what he needed. Frasier was right. I had to make it clear to him that he didn't have to jump through any hoops to regain my favor. We both had contributed to this morning's blow-up. We both were equally to blame.
"Let's just forget about that," I said reassuringly. "Why don't we start from here?"
A sigh of relief escaped from his lips.
I could see how my words buoyed his spirits.
"I would love that. To us!"
Niles lifted his champagne flute.
A toast to our new beginning - I was tingling with excitement.
"To us," I repeated as we chimed the edges of the glasses together and sipped a mouthful of fizz.
As if on cue, we both rose up and smoothly came to together, our lips meeting with only the lightest of pressure as we kissed. It was like a brush of an angel's wing against my mouth.
I suddenly could see myself, years in the future, looking back on this occasion - remembering the intensity of the love that I feel for him and wondering if my heart would be able to take it all in without bursting.
All my doubts were gone.
Mel certainly didn't matter. Simon, the lawsuits, all the fussing and hassles - they all seemed so small and insignificant. Whatever I did or didn't do in the past didn't count now.
Now --- tonight, there was just Niles and me --- and we were in love.
It was like I had been waiting for this moment all my life.
"I'm usually so nervous on a first date," I said quietly. "But not tonight."
There was an easiness about this evening that belied its profound importance to me.
He invited me to dance and I eagerly accepted. I felt like I was floating on air as we made our way onto the makeshift dance floor. Niles gathered me in his arms, his warm hands tenderly caressing my bare back.
A look of sheer giddiness came over him.
"So where you from?" he asked playfully.
An introduction was obviously in order.
"Manchester, England," I said noticing the glint in his eye.
"Oh, my. Big family?" he continued, as we swayed back and forth to the music.
I had never really seen this mischievous side of his nature before.
I liked the fact that I was surprised.
"Hideously."
I decided to pick up on his lighthearted mood.
"And you?"
"I'm from a small mountain village in Tibet," he said, planting his tongue firmly in his cheek.
I giggled.
He pressed his face up against mine. Every fiber of his body told me that he was enjoying this as much as I was.
"Tenzing Norgay used to carry me to school."
Only Niles Crane could say a thing like that and make me laugh out loud.
I love this man so much!
In some respects he really was like someone who I had never met before. Some things about him were so new and exciting to me - the unexplored territory of his personality that I would now be able to discover, as our relationship grew deeper.
Yet at the same time, I had this overwhelming sense of comfort when I was around him. I knew I could trust him. I knew I could come to him if ever I needed someone and he would be there for me - like he always has been --- all these years.
I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck.
"You know what I've always wondered?" he whispered.
I let out the kind of sigh that you do when you finally get home after having been away for a long time - one of contentment and feeling secure.
"I think I can guess." I said dreamily, with a certain amount of satisfaction.
"Yeah," he replied. "You would - being clairvoyant and all. That's an unfair advantage you know."
I chuckled softly.
"Just tell me, Niles Crane --- what have you always wondered?"
A strange look came over his face. I couldn't figure out exactly where this was heading.
"Well, I've always wondered if you - you think that I would look good in a red bow tie?"
I leaned back slightly. I hadn't been expecting that question.
"A red bow tie? Niles, don't be silly - you don't even own a bow tie, let alone a red one."
He winced like I had just stepped on his foot. Our waltz came to a sudden halt.
"Well, I didn't own one - until --- until you told me about your vision," he sputtered. "You know --- the vision about who you were truly meant to be with. Then - then I ran right out and bought one that very night. I wanted so much to - to be that m-m-man."
I wondered what insecurity in him had brought up that memory? Could it be that my careless words from this morning were still preying on his mind?
I tried to hold on to the joviality of the evening by smiling sweetly and giving him a saucy peck on the cheek.
"That doesn't matter," I said quickly hoping to diffuse any clouds on tonight's happy horizon. "You're still the man of my dreams."
My little diversion didn't work. His eyes grew wider as he forced the words out of his mouth.
"I had every intention of putting it on. I wanted to prove to you - convince you that I was the one - the one you should be with. But Frasier wouldn't let me wear it in front of you that --- that night."
He paused and a far away look of remembrance came over him.
"Even though I took it off, I - I - I still have it --- tucked away in a drawer. I guess you could say I just never --- never wanted to entirely give up hoping, even back then."
My heart ached just a bit - it was awe-inspiring to think of his complete devotion to the idea that we were meant to be together, in spite of such overwhelming odds against us at that time.
He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second as he fell silent and gave my hand a slight squeeze.
"I've waited so long to be with you - the thought of losing you now makes me so frightened, Daphne."
"Niles, I love you," I murmured into his ear. "I'm so sorry I made that remark this morning about marrying Donny. I didn't mean a word of it. There isn't a minute I regret about the outcome of what happened at the Wayside Inn. You're the only one I want to be with. The only one."
He hugged me tightly. I could feel the tension seep out of his body.
"I want every night to be like this one," Niles said reverently. "You deserve it. A perfect night, for a perfect woman."
"You're so sweet, but I'm far from perfect, Niles," I countered.
"You're perfection to me."
It was all very flattering, but also a bit disconcerting as well. It didn't allow room for many mistakes and Lord knows I could make some doozies.
"Maybe --- maybe we should eat, Niles," I said tactfully. "Your brother went to a lot of trouble and it would be a shame for this delicious meal to go cold."
He followed me like a lost puppy to the table.
"So, the red bow tie - what do you think it means?" he said tenaciously as he sat down and smoothed his napkin out of its folds.
"Well, sometimes visions are more symbolic," I explained patiently. "The red bow tie could have stood for something else. Something that had happened to you in the past - some significant event in your life. Were you ever injured in your neck or chest region?"
He shook his head no and poked at the food on his plate.
"Well, maybe it means something else - like something that will happen to you in the future."
"Something good --- or something bad?" he asked as a wrinkle spread across his forehead.
"Hard to say - sometimes the most frightful images can mean the best things. Like dragons - usually pretty scary monsters - right?" I put forward thoughtfully. "Not something you would associate with love and devotion?"
It thrilled me the way he leaned in towards me, intently focused on what I had to say. No one else had ever listened to me so carefully before. Even if he thought my ideas were complete nonsense, I appreciated his interest.
"Fafnir from Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelung' is the only one I am truly familiar with," Niles said. "And yes, he was exceedingly frightful and very treacherous."
I smiled. Where as I would have thought of Puff at the mention of dragons, leave it to Niles to think of a dragon linked with an opera to come to mind first off. I could see where we both would benefit from learning from each other.
"Well, after I had my revelation about the red bow tie, I also had a second vision, later that night, about my mystery man holding a dragon and - "
Niles dropped his fork with a clatter on the plate. His eyebrow arched upward as his mouth gapped open like he had been punched in the stomach.
"H-h-holding a d-d-draaagon?" he wheezed.
I jumped up and flew to his side.
"Niles! What's the matter? Are you choking?"
I took up my Heimlich maneuver posture behind him just, in case.
He waved my help off and explained.
"I'm all right, Daphne - really. It's - it's just --- I received a dragon as a gift that very night!"
"What?"
"It's true - Roz gave me a statue of a dragon for helping her get Alice into St. Anne's Preschool Academy. I've got the hideous thing stashed somewhere in the house. This is an absolutely remarkable coincidence!"
"Coincidence? Niles, don't you realise the implication of this? It means we were fated to come together - everything that has happened to us was supposed to! It was written in the stars."
Niles looked towards the heavens as he rose out of his chair. He came around to the other side of the table and stood beside me.
"Yes, I see that," he said with a mocking tone of gravity as he pointed upward. "Right --- there!"
My eyes followed his outstretched finger automatically.
The next thing I felt were his supple lips on my yielding mouth.
He was soooo delicious, yet ---
"You're just full of surprises tonight," I said with a knowing smile as I guided him back to his side of the table. "But you promised to take things slowly, so sit down and talk to me."
"Can't blame a chap for trying, can you?" he said with a naughty expression on his face. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Tell me --- tell me - everything."
And so for the next few hours he regaled me with stories of all sorts. Of how he felt when he first set eyes on me, or about the time he had spent thinking up increasingly silly excuses of why he should be coming over to Frasier's so much. He detailed the ways he devised to get close enough to smell my hair. He told me about how he got terribly drunk after I decided not to spend the night with him when I had my argument with Sherry.
I told him about how I found out about his feelings for me and how I had secretly kissed him the night we had made dinner together.
I think that thrilled him the most. His eyebrow nearly disappeared at that little revelation.
"That's why I had such delicious dreams for weeks after that," he said perceptively.
"Speaking of dreams," I responded. "I think we should say goodnight so that I can press this night in my memory book."
He almost looked like he was about to protest, but didn't. He just shyly folded his napkin and accepted my decision with all the abundant charm he possessed.
We made our way down to the ninteenth floor, silently holding each other's hands like two school children. All the way down in the lift he kept rubbing my fingers between his, as if to reassure himself that I was really there and that the evening had really happened.
I gave him a discreet kiss at the door of the apartment and asked him if he wanted to come in for a nightcap, but he declined.
"If Frasier or Dad are still up and we run into them --- then they would be part of the last memory I would have tonight. I'd rather have just your lovely face imprinted in my mind - my flawless Aphrodite. A better thing to fall to sleep to."
Like I said - charming. And loving. And kind. And --- just Niles.
My Niles.
Good night Diary.
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My Journey Through Life - Niles Crane
I am so purely happy tonight that I don't think any words that I could say would ever truly equal the feelings that I experienced this evening.
Maybe except to say - I love Daphne Moon!
I love my brother and my father.
I love lingonberry sauce and champagne.
I love dancing in the starlight.
I love pygmies and Sherpas.
I love bow ties and dragons.
I love Seattle and Britain.
I love the entire world tonight.
But most of all, I love Daphne!
Adieu.
I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine to-night.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Stay tuned for Part 22 (to be continued)
By Valma
Part 21: Some Enchanted Evening
Daphne's Diary:
Dear Diary,
Heaven - that's what tonight was.
I was in absolute heaven --- with my angel --- my Niles.
His kisses lingering on my lips. The presence of his cologne on my clothes. His eyes gazing at me from across the table. His soft words falling on my ears. The tingle I felt on my back when his loving hands drew me up close to him, as we danced the night away under the stars.
Funny - it started out to be one of the worst days I have ever had.
He came over in the mid-morning and while he proceeded to tell me about his "Average Night in Hell" of a wedding reception, all of a sudden I just snapped. I think what did it was when he told me that Mel had decided that he wouldn't be allowed to go out with me in public because of her little farcical marital arrangement.
I was still on a pretty wonky emotional footing after he cancelled our dinner date the day before and when I heard that proclamation and - well, that just tore it! The next thing I knew I was marching off cursing the day we met, flinging insults around like grenades and wondering if this whole mess was worth all the trouble.
By the time I calmed down and came out of my room Niles had left, but I did manage to stumble out an "I'm sorry" to Frasier for biting his head off. He graciously offered to take me out for dinner - a rubber bone to a starving dog really, but still a nice gesture, which I fully appreciated, especially after Simon came along shortly after and, in his own unique way, informed me that he would be parking his arse on the couch all evening and was expecting me to make him dinner.
I figured if I went out with Frasier at least my day of beauty at La Belle Jour that I had booked in eager anticipation of tonight's promised events wouldn't go completely to waste. And spending an evening with Frasier was definitely preferable to hanging around the apartment with my lout of a brother.
When I got back from the spa, I checked my phone for messages, hoping to find something from Niles - a "Please call" or even the dreaded "Can we talk?".
Nothing.
I wondered if I had I gone to far with my earlier tantrum?
The next few hours were spent pacing back and forth in my room riding an emotional roller coaster of flashes of anger mixed with fretful tears. I must have stood in front of my dresser mirror and demanded a dozen times to an invisible Niles that he stand up to Mel and tell her to stuff her face- saving pact up her bum, only to end this well-rehearsed rant with a weepy apology for saying such dreadful things to him this morning.
About 7:00, Frasier quietly knocked on my bedroom door and asked if he could speak to me.
"Please don't say that you are going to have to cancel our dinner together," I cautioned, as I let him in. "If you do, you just might have to talk me off the window ledge as well."
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Daphne," Frasier quickly reassured me. "In fact, ummm, the change in plans that I had in mind might actually ease your anxiety quite a bit."
I sat down on the bed and folded my hands in my lap. Frasier sat down beside me and took one of my hands in his.
"There's nothing in this entire world he wouldn't do for you, you know."
I nodded my head silently. I knew if I had tried to speak I would have burst like a leaky faucet.
"But it's not easy for him. Most of the women in Niles' life have been - " Frasier paused a moment as he searched for the right term. "Well, I guess you could say they have been emotionally distant, in varying degrees. It's a bit daunting I suppose, for him to have someone love him back unconditionally."
"I just want a chance to --- to get to know him," I blurted out. "I --- I mean really know him."
Frasier smiled. He looked down at his shoes.
I blushed and bumbled on, "I --- I mean I do know him, but --- but this is different. And --- and it isn't just about --- you know --- s-s-ex - it's more than that. This thing with Mel is just crowding in on any opportunity for us to be together. It's just so frustrating!"
"Well, I think I have a solution," Frasier interrupted. "Instead of us going out to dinner, what would you say to a bit of catering and subterfuge?"
I looked at him with puzzlement.
He proceeded to explain that Martin had devised a plan to bring Niles over to the apartment, while he had arranged for the caterers at Au Pied du Cochon to set up a gourmet meal for two on the roof of the Elliot Bay Towers.
"What if he won't go for it?" I asked nervously. "I might have hurt him pretty badly with that crack about marrying Donny."
"Daphne, I know my brother," Frasier said with a caring chuckle. "He has obsessed about you since the day he met you - he isn't going to let one little comment sway his passion for you."
I felt a flush of color overtake my cheeks again.
"Since the day we met, you say?"
"Right from the beginning," he assured me. "It took him a long time to define those feelings to anyone, including himself, but I distinctly remember him telling me about a year after you came to work for us, that you stirred a fervor in him that he had never known before. He called you a goddess, for goodness sakes."
"A --- goddess? Me?" I said in true disbelief. "That's a pretty high pedestal to be placed on. A goddess --- I know you said he had a crush on me, but - a goddess? He really is amazing. He was always a perfect gentleman. He hid it well. Or was I just really that stupid? So much wasted time --- if I had only known --- "
I trailed off with a sigh.
Frasier wrapped his solid arms around me and gave me a squeeze.
"Things have a way of working out anyway, if they are meant to be in the first place, Daphne."
"That almost sounds like you believe in fate, Dr. Crane," I chirped with a hint of smugness. "I thought learned men like you didn't put any value in such notions like destiny and the foretelling of things that have already been decided."
"Some things are just a sure bet."
He leaned over and gave me a kiss on my forehead.
"Ready to go? Your "Prince Charming" will be here soon."
I stood up and smoothed my dress.
"How do I look?"
Frasier locked elbows with me and laughed.
"Like --- Venus herself," he replied.
We made our way up to the roof. The air was warm and a slight breeze added just the right touch of freshness to the night.
Frasier had outdone himself. The setting was completely elegant - crisp linens, sparkling crystal, fine china, and a bottle of bubbly chilling in a bucket on the side. To top things off the whole scene was bathed in a wash of candles and flowers. Frasier pulled out a chair on the far side of the table.
"Your seat is here, so that the first thing he sees as he comes around the corner is you."
I gave him a glance of anxious anticipation.
"When do you think he'll be here?" I questioned.
"Pretty soon. Don't worry - everything will be all right."
"I do love him, you know. With --- with all my heart - but it's all so new to me."
"I know, I know. And what's more important - so does Niles."
Sometimes --- sometimes it was easy to see that they were brothers.
Suddenly Martin's familiar voice could be heard as the heavy access door opened with a momentous click.
"Come on, come on up here," the old man gently prodded.
I could hear Niles, protesting mildly, as he slowly made his way up to the top of the stairs, until he was standing just beyond my line of vision behind the door.
My heart was pounding so hard it seemed like someone was thumping me on my chest. What if he felt pressured by this, albeit well intentioned, but interfering ploy and decided to bolt? What if he wasn't ready to speak to me after what had passed between us earlier?
"Dad, I don't think I handled things very well today," Niles said, his voice cracking with emotion. "Do you think Daphne will ever forgive me?"
I almost cried out "Of course I will - you silly sausage!" but a cautionary touch on my shoulder by Frasier stopped me in my tracks.
"Why don't you ask her for yourself?" Martin said with a dramatic flourish, as he stepped back to make room for Niles to advance.
I felt a kindling blush spread over my entire body as the first sight of his blond hair came into view. The moroseness in his eyes vanished immediately as he stared out on the starry scene before him. A look of absolute wonderment lit up his face.
I held my breath and slowly --- very slowly, a relieved smile edged its way out of my heart. Niles took a tentative step forward.
A soft, lilting tune started to play somewhere in the background. It was Frasier who finally broke the aura of astonishment.
"Your table is ready, sir."
Niles gradually made his way across the rooftop, his eyes riveted on me the whole time.
"You --- look --- stunning," he gasped.
With those words he slew the dragon of all my fears - my very own dashing Prince Charming indeed.
Before long Frasier and Martin had graciously departed, leaving us alone beneath a canopy of stars.
Just the two of us.
Finally.
"Daphne, about today --- "
I could feel the burden of self-reproach in his voice.
Did he think that he had to take on the entire fault for what had happened between us previously?
Unconditional love - that's what he needed. Frasier was right. I had to make it clear to him that he didn't have to jump through any hoops to regain my favor. We both had contributed to this morning's blow-up. We both were equally to blame.
"Let's just forget about that," I said reassuringly. "Why don't we start from here?"
A sigh of relief escaped from his lips.
I could see how my words buoyed his spirits.
"I would love that. To us!"
Niles lifted his champagne flute.
A toast to our new beginning - I was tingling with excitement.
"To us," I repeated as we chimed the edges of the glasses together and sipped a mouthful of fizz.
As if on cue, we both rose up and smoothly came to together, our lips meeting with only the lightest of pressure as we kissed. It was like a brush of an angel's wing against my mouth.
I suddenly could see myself, years in the future, looking back on this occasion - remembering the intensity of the love that I feel for him and wondering if my heart would be able to take it all in without bursting.
All my doubts were gone.
Mel certainly didn't matter. Simon, the lawsuits, all the fussing and hassles - they all seemed so small and insignificant. Whatever I did or didn't do in the past didn't count now.
Now --- tonight, there was just Niles and me --- and we were in love.
It was like I had been waiting for this moment all my life.
"I'm usually so nervous on a first date," I said quietly. "But not tonight."
There was an easiness about this evening that belied its profound importance to me.
He invited me to dance and I eagerly accepted. I felt like I was floating on air as we made our way onto the makeshift dance floor. Niles gathered me in his arms, his warm hands tenderly caressing my bare back.
A look of sheer giddiness came over him.
"So where you from?" he asked playfully.
An introduction was obviously in order.
"Manchester, England," I said noticing the glint in his eye.
"Oh, my. Big family?" he continued, as we swayed back and forth to the music.
I had never really seen this mischievous side of his nature before.
I liked the fact that I was surprised.
"Hideously."
I decided to pick up on his lighthearted mood.
"And you?"
"I'm from a small mountain village in Tibet," he said, planting his tongue firmly in his cheek.
I giggled.
He pressed his face up against mine. Every fiber of his body told me that he was enjoying this as much as I was.
"Tenzing Norgay used to carry me to school."
Only Niles Crane could say a thing like that and make me laugh out loud.
I love this man so much!
In some respects he really was like someone who I had never met before. Some things about him were so new and exciting to me - the unexplored territory of his personality that I would now be able to discover, as our relationship grew deeper.
Yet at the same time, I had this overwhelming sense of comfort when I was around him. I knew I could trust him. I knew I could come to him if ever I needed someone and he would be there for me - like he always has been --- all these years.
I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck.
"You know what I've always wondered?" he whispered.
I let out the kind of sigh that you do when you finally get home after having been away for a long time - one of contentment and feeling secure.
"I think I can guess." I said dreamily, with a certain amount of satisfaction.
"Yeah," he replied. "You would - being clairvoyant and all. That's an unfair advantage you know."
I chuckled softly.
"Just tell me, Niles Crane --- what have you always wondered?"
A strange look came over his face. I couldn't figure out exactly where this was heading.
"Well, I've always wondered if you - you think that I would look good in a red bow tie?"
I leaned back slightly. I hadn't been expecting that question.
"A red bow tie? Niles, don't be silly - you don't even own a bow tie, let alone a red one."
He winced like I had just stepped on his foot. Our waltz came to a sudden halt.
"Well, I didn't own one - until --- until you told me about your vision," he sputtered. "You know --- the vision about who you were truly meant to be with. Then - then I ran right out and bought one that very night. I wanted so much to - to be that m-m-man."
I wondered what insecurity in him had brought up that memory? Could it be that my careless words from this morning were still preying on his mind?
I tried to hold on to the joviality of the evening by smiling sweetly and giving him a saucy peck on the cheek.
"That doesn't matter," I said quickly hoping to diffuse any clouds on tonight's happy horizon. "You're still the man of my dreams."
My little diversion didn't work. His eyes grew wider as he forced the words out of his mouth.
"I had every intention of putting it on. I wanted to prove to you - convince you that I was the one - the one you should be with. But Frasier wouldn't let me wear it in front of you that --- that night."
He paused and a far away look of remembrance came over him.
"Even though I took it off, I - I - I still have it --- tucked away in a drawer. I guess you could say I just never --- never wanted to entirely give up hoping, even back then."
My heart ached just a bit - it was awe-inspiring to think of his complete devotion to the idea that we were meant to be together, in spite of such overwhelming odds against us at that time.
He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second as he fell silent and gave my hand a slight squeeze.
"I've waited so long to be with you - the thought of losing you now makes me so frightened, Daphne."
"Niles, I love you," I murmured into his ear. "I'm so sorry I made that remark this morning about marrying Donny. I didn't mean a word of it. There isn't a minute I regret about the outcome of what happened at the Wayside Inn. You're the only one I want to be with. The only one."
He hugged me tightly. I could feel the tension seep out of his body.
"I want every night to be like this one," Niles said reverently. "You deserve it. A perfect night, for a perfect woman."
"You're so sweet, but I'm far from perfect, Niles," I countered.
"You're perfection to me."
It was all very flattering, but also a bit disconcerting as well. It didn't allow room for many mistakes and Lord knows I could make some doozies.
"Maybe --- maybe we should eat, Niles," I said tactfully. "Your brother went to a lot of trouble and it would be a shame for this delicious meal to go cold."
He followed me like a lost puppy to the table.
"So, the red bow tie - what do you think it means?" he said tenaciously as he sat down and smoothed his napkin out of its folds.
"Well, sometimes visions are more symbolic," I explained patiently. "The red bow tie could have stood for something else. Something that had happened to you in the past - some significant event in your life. Were you ever injured in your neck or chest region?"
He shook his head no and poked at the food on his plate.
"Well, maybe it means something else - like something that will happen to you in the future."
"Something good --- or something bad?" he asked as a wrinkle spread across his forehead.
"Hard to say - sometimes the most frightful images can mean the best things. Like dragons - usually pretty scary monsters - right?" I put forward thoughtfully. "Not something you would associate with love and devotion?"
It thrilled me the way he leaned in towards me, intently focused on what I had to say. No one else had ever listened to me so carefully before. Even if he thought my ideas were complete nonsense, I appreciated his interest.
"Fafnir from Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelung' is the only one I am truly familiar with," Niles said. "And yes, he was exceedingly frightful and very treacherous."
I smiled. Where as I would have thought of Puff at the mention of dragons, leave it to Niles to think of a dragon linked with an opera to come to mind first off. I could see where we both would benefit from learning from each other.
"Well, after I had my revelation about the red bow tie, I also had a second vision, later that night, about my mystery man holding a dragon and - "
Niles dropped his fork with a clatter on the plate. His eyebrow arched upward as his mouth gapped open like he had been punched in the stomach.
"H-h-holding a d-d-draaagon?" he wheezed.
I jumped up and flew to his side.
"Niles! What's the matter? Are you choking?"
I took up my Heimlich maneuver posture behind him just, in case.
He waved my help off and explained.
"I'm all right, Daphne - really. It's - it's just --- I received a dragon as a gift that very night!"
"What?"
"It's true - Roz gave me a statue of a dragon for helping her get Alice into St. Anne's Preschool Academy. I've got the hideous thing stashed somewhere in the house. This is an absolutely remarkable coincidence!"
"Coincidence? Niles, don't you realise the implication of this? It means we were fated to come together - everything that has happened to us was supposed to! It was written in the stars."
Niles looked towards the heavens as he rose out of his chair. He came around to the other side of the table and stood beside me.
"Yes, I see that," he said with a mocking tone of gravity as he pointed upward. "Right --- there!"
My eyes followed his outstretched finger automatically.
The next thing I felt were his supple lips on my yielding mouth.
He was soooo delicious, yet ---
"You're just full of surprises tonight," I said with a knowing smile as I guided him back to his side of the table. "But you promised to take things slowly, so sit down and talk to me."
"Can't blame a chap for trying, can you?" he said with a naughty expression on his face. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Tell me --- tell me - everything."
And so for the next few hours he regaled me with stories of all sorts. Of how he felt when he first set eyes on me, or about the time he had spent thinking up increasingly silly excuses of why he should be coming over to Frasier's so much. He detailed the ways he devised to get close enough to smell my hair. He told me about how he got terribly drunk after I decided not to spend the night with him when I had my argument with Sherry.
I told him about how I found out about his feelings for me and how I had secretly kissed him the night we had made dinner together.
I think that thrilled him the most. His eyebrow nearly disappeared at that little revelation.
"That's why I had such delicious dreams for weeks after that," he said perceptively.
"Speaking of dreams," I responded. "I think we should say goodnight so that I can press this night in my memory book."
He almost looked like he was about to protest, but didn't. He just shyly folded his napkin and accepted my decision with all the abundant charm he possessed.
We made our way down to the ninteenth floor, silently holding each other's hands like two school children. All the way down in the lift he kept rubbing my fingers between his, as if to reassure himself that I was really there and that the evening had really happened.
I gave him a discreet kiss at the door of the apartment and asked him if he wanted to come in for a nightcap, but he declined.
"If Frasier or Dad are still up and we run into them --- then they would be part of the last memory I would have tonight. I'd rather have just your lovely face imprinted in my mind - my flawless Aphrodite. A better thing to fall to sleep to."
Like I said - charming. And loving. And kind. And --- just Niles.
My Niles.
Good night Diary.
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My Journey Through Life - Niles Crane
I am so purely happy tonight that I don't think any words that I could say would ever truly equal the feelings that I experienced this evening.
Maybe except to say - I love Daphne Moon!
I love my brother and my father.
I love lingonberry sauce and champagne.
I love dancing in the starlight.
I love pygmies and Sherpas.
I love bow ties and dragons.
I love Seattle and Britain.
I love the entire world tonight.
But most of all, I love Daphne!
Adieu.
I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine to-night.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Stay tuned for Part 22 (to be continued)
