First Name Basis
Summary:
What if Daphne Moon tried to prevent Niles from marrying Mel? Story contains psychic visions, a bottle of wine, and the Winnebago!
Author's notes:
I do not own the TV show Frasier. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes only. I get no compensation from it.
*****Like To Get To Know You *****
As I stood outside underneath the restaurant window in a flower bed, I surveyed that end of the building. A delicate lattice-work ran up the wall and cut off beneath the window. Ivy snaked its way through the openings. When I was a little girl I'd climbed things much more rickety than that a hundred times. The one hundred and first time didn't promise to be much different.
I made my way up the lattice quickly. I had to stand on my tip-toes to see in the window but I got a clear view of Mel's backside. It didn't look any better than the front side. She was in the middle of complaining to the waiter about the amount of whipped cream on her dessert. Dr. Crane was sitting at the side letting his eyes wander. He looked like he'd rather be any other place than where he was. Who could blame him?
Then Dr. Crane looked through the window. I raised one hand in a wave. As soon as I did my weight shifted. On a ladder it would have made no difference at all. On my present support it made all the difference in the world. A low creaking sound accompanied a shudder that went through the whole lattice. It started to give way.
Dr. Crane's mouth opened in shock.
"Daphne!"
That's all I heard. The lattice came crashing down with me to the ground. The early spring flowers and some freshly-spread mulch cushioned my fall. As soon as I hit I shrieked, just like in the vision. Despite my predicament I peered back up at the window. Dr. Crane stood there looking down at me with a mix of worry and bewilderment. Mel and the waiter soon joined him, but Dr. Crane disappeared. It seemed like hardly a second passed before I heard steps running toward me.
"Daphne! Daphne! Are you all right?"
Dr. Crane bent over me and stroked my forehead with his hand. I raised myself up. Miraculously I didn't have any broken bones, just a sore bum.
"Yes, I am, Dr. Crane. Would you help me to my feet?"
He grasped my arm and lifted me off the ground. His strength startled me. All of those games of squash with his brother had kept him in good shape. As I was getting oriented again, Mel appeared beside us.
"Daphne, are you hurt?" she asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"Let me check you over to be sure."
Even though Dr. Crane had had medical training, it made sense for Mel to be the one to examine me. After a minute of inspection, she made her judgement.
"You look OK. No concussion anyway."
"Daphne, what are you doing here?"
Both Dr. Crane and Mel crossed their arms.
"I..I..I..." Words would not form in my mouth.
"Oh, Niles, let's tell Daphne the news while she's thinking. Daphne, Niles and I are getting married!"
"I...I...I..." I still couldn't say anything but my whole body shuddered. My reaction didn't go unnoticed by Dr. Crane.
"Oh, Mel, you shouldn't have said anything. You've made Daphne upset."
Finally, after all these months, Dr. Crane noticed something about me!
"But why shouldn't I say something."
"Aren't you forgetting Daphne and Donny's wedding? I...we don't want to do anything to intrude on Daphne's, er, I mean their, big event."
Mel became contrite.
"Oh, I'd forgotten all about your wedding, Daphne. We won't say a word to anyone until later." With that, Mel made a disgustingly immature motion like she was zipping her mouth shut.
"Be that as it may, getting back to you, Daphne." Dr. Crane was not to be taken off the subject.
"I needed to talk to you."
"And you came all the way up here? Is it important?" Mel asked.
Her words made me seeth.
"Yes, important enough that I drove up in Mr. Crane's Winnebago." I pointed over to the edge of the parking lot where I'd left it.
That riveted Dr. Crane's attention on me.
"What's wrong? Has something happened to Dad?"
"No, it's not your father."
"Then is it Frasier?"
"No."
"Frederick? Roz?"
"No, no, nothing like illness or mishap, Dr. Crane."
"Well I'm at a loss, Daphne."
"Remember when I came to you for advice before Donny proposed?"
Dr. Crane slumped. It dawned on me just how much misery I'd put the poor man through. How he could still be my friend through all that I couldn't fathom. Yet here he was, the same gentle, sweet, caring man I'd met years ago. Only now his hideous bride-to-be was standing beside him.
If Dr. Crane had slumped, Mel had taken a more defiant posture. Her arms were already crossed, but she now dug her finger nails into the skin around each elbow. I sensed that she had discerned a connection between Dr. Crane and me that ran beyond mere friendship. In a flash, she moved her arm around his. Then she brought her free hand to his shoulder.
"Yes, I remember, Daphne." Dr. Crane said.
"I've had a recurrence of the problem I had back then."
Dr. Crane looked at me then Mel.
"Mel, could I have a word in private with Daphne?"
"Yes, Niles. I'll be in the lobby." Her eyes shot daggers at me as she left. Before parting, she brought her hand to Dr. Crane's cheek and guided his face around to her for a kiss. After that display she departed. His eyes followed her until she entered the building, then he turned back to me.
"You remember what I said then about how I couldn't talk to you in a professional sense, don't you?"
"But you said you would talk to me...as a friend." Dr. Crane nodded in agreement.
"Visions?" he asked.
"Yes, Dr. Crane. That's part of it."
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Tell me what you've seen, Daphne."
"I saw myself lying in the flower bed here just like I was a minute ago. It came to me while I was helping your father do his exercises this afternoon." I didn't care to mention the earlier vision about Dr. Crane and Mel.
One of Dr. Crane's eyebrows raised.
"Obviously something's got you upset. Lots of people have pre-wedding jitters. I myself had..."
"There's more, Dr. Crane."
"What?"
"Lately I've been thinking I'm missing something. That I'm supposed to have another life."
"Join the club."
"You see, over the last few weeks I've come to see people in a different light. I look at friends differently. One anyway."
Dr. Crane knotted his eyebrows together. He still saw himself as an observer of, not a participant in, my current distress.
"During momentous periods in their lives, people often rethink their relationships. Circumstances can cast those relationships in a different light."
For someone who said he couldn't talk to me in a professional sense he surely seemed like he was.
"I've been thinking about one person in particular. Someone who's always been one of my closest friends."
His left eye twitched.
"What's changed?"
"First I found out some information about him. A secret as it were about our relationship. He fancied that he was in love with me."
Dr. Crane's breathing got erratic.
"A secret admirer?"
"Yes, but that's not all."
"Please continue."
"After finding out about his secret, I started thinking."
"Let me get this straight. You have a friend, and he has held back this secret about how he truly feels about you for years."
Aha! Detective Martin Crane would have been proud of my powers of observation. Tacking on the words "for years" at the end confirmed matters for me.
"Yes. Now I don't know what to do." I said.
Dr. Crane took a second to compose himself.
"Well, Daphne, all I can say is that the man was an idiot to withhold the secret from you. Good relationships are built on openness. He should have stated his feelings clearly sometime during the past few years."
"I wish he had."
"I'm sure he wishes it too. Being too cautious in life can keep you from experiencing true happiness, or closure if nothing else. You know, Frasier was lecturing me on that just this morning."
"Funny you should say that. Your brother lectured me on much the same subject today."
Now I had really worried Dr. Crane.
"Daphne, I'll bet after all these years this friend has accepted the situation and moved on with his life. Although I'm certain he would want to retain his friendship with you. Who wouldn't be honored to count you among his friends?"
"But what if I wasn't certain I wanted to be his friend?"
Oh, dear, that came out wrong. Dr. Crane looked like a two-ton truck had hit him. His voice cracked when he next spoke.
"Daphne, please believe me. I'm sure this man never wanted to hurt you. Your friendship meant, means a lot to him."
"No, no, no. You don't understand. It's the opposite."
"What do you mean, Daphne?"
"What I mean is I don't know what to think about this man now. Is he my friend or should he be something more to me? For goodness sake we've never even been on a date."
"You have feelings for this man?"
This was the point where I should have made a direct statement to Dr. Crane. Yet my emotions fouled up what I said next.
"I don't know. I might. Oh, I can't tell, and he's with someone else now."
"Daphne..."
"What I want to know is how does he feel about me now?"
Silence surrounded us. Dr. Crane didn't speak. The lack of a response made me nervous. I looked down to the ground. In a moment I heard a rustling noise. When I raised my head a pair of blue eyes met mine at close range. Dr. Crane's arms encircled me and drew my lips to his.
The kiss took my breath away. I wrapped one arm around his waist and the other around his neck. Without a doubt I knew that Dr. Niles Crane was the man I'd been searching for all my life.
Dr. Crane pulled away abruptly.
"What?" I asked. I searched his eyes for an answer but saw only conflict raging across them.
Dr. Crane shook his head no vigorously. His voice took on a plaintive tone.
"Daphne, do you remember when we were going out with Rodney and Adele?"
Oh yes I certainly did. It was only during my last few troubled days that I realized that Rodney had been a substitute for Dr. Crane. His mannerisms, his vocabulary, his interests had all mimicked those of Dr. Crane. Yet he still remained only a pale imitation of the real thing.
Oddly, Rodney had fallen in love with Dr. Crane's new girlfriend Adele. We had both gotten dumped at the same time. Despite his own woes, Dr. Crane had taken it upon himself to console me.
"I remember we brought them together. After a fashion." I said.
"Remember when I met you at the bar afterwards?"
"I do."
"We fantasized about ourselves meeting there at another point in our lives."
"Yes." Hope welled up inside me.
"That was another point in our lives. You've made a commitment, and your friend has too." Dr. Crane said.
Dr. Crane had a hard time getting the words out of his mouth. Nonetheless, the finality of his statement meant that I had lost. I dropped my head. Dr. Crane lifted it back up with his fingers.
"Daphne, I'm one friend who'll always be in love with you, no matter where your path...or my path leads."
"A friend, Niles Crane?"
"A friend who loves you. I do love you, Daphne Moon."
"And I love you too."
Dr. Crane had to steady himself but then he drew himself up.
"Goodnight, Daphne."
"Goodnight, Dr. Crane."
With that he turned and walked back to the building. I hung my head in defeat.