Taken Back by Patrick Councilor

Niles returned to his apartment to find Daphne at the dining table with a box of tissues. She had been crying. "My God! Daphne, what's wrong?" He ran to her side and knelt down by her lap to try to comfort her.

"I was just so worried about you."

He took her hands into his. "I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine."

She tried to conceal her true feelings about him going to see Mel. "I was just so worried that you might not be strong enough… in your condition… to make that bout across town."

"I'm fine. It's so sweet of you to worry."

"If you're well enough to get across town, you won't be needing me here much longer."

"Well you are a miracle worker. I am feeling much better, thanks to you."

"I was wondering…" She wiped the tears away with a tissue. "… if it might be alright if I stayed a bit longer. You seem to have so much room here."

"Oh course Daphne. I'd like you to stay longer. You are my guardian angel."

She smiled at that.

Standing, he kissed her on top of the head. "I am a little weary from my travels. I think I will go take a little nap."

"Of course. Would you like me to fix you something to eat or get you a drink?"

"No. Thank you, but I'm just going to go up to bed."

Niles was awoken by yelling downstairs.

"How dare you and I can't believe you're trying to take advantage of him in his condition!" The front door closed.

Niles came down stairs. "Daphne, who was that at the door?"

"At what door?" She tried to stall the inevitable, hoping that the conversation would somehow take a turn and she could avoid the question.

"At the front door."

"Oh that. That was… it was Mel."

"Mel!" He hurried to the door, but by the time he had gotten there, she had already caught the elevator. "Daphne, what is going on? Why would you turn Mel away like that?"

She looked to the floor as if ashamed that she needed to protect her husband from his own unknown past. "I feel that she is trying to take advantage of the situation. You need your time to recover."

"Daphne, believe me when I say that I so appreciate your friendship and your care for me, but I need to start piecing my life back together. To do that, I may have to make a few mistakes."

She slowly nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't be sorry. I truly appreciate everything you do for me." He smiled to her. "I'm going to call Frasier later and see about sitting in on some of my patients' sessions tomorrow. Sadly enough, I'm going to have to read over the notes I took and familiarize myself with each case again."

She nodded again. "Alright."

"Gotcha!" Niles scooped David up from the floor and sat him on the edge of the table where he held him there in front of his seat.

David was laughing the entire time.

"Hey big boy." Niles smile faded. He saw something in David's eyes that struck a chord. Something from his past. He couldn't put his finger on it. It was something deep in his memory.

"Are you alright?" Daphne asked.

"Ah, yes." He shook it off. "How about I help you make dinner?" He picked David back up and gave him a hug before carefully lowering him back to the rug.

"You're on."

Frasier had driven Niles to Café Nervosa in the morning to start the day with their favorite blends of java.

"So Niles, how are things going? Any recollections yet?"

"Not really. Something strange happened yesterday."

"Oh, do tell."

"I picked up David and I don't know what it was, but I felt some type of deep connection."

"Really? How so?"

"I can't explain it. It happened when I was looking into his eyes. He sure is a beautiful little boy."

"Yes, he is? I wonder if that means something, finding something in his eyes." Frasier was coaxing Niles, trying to help his recollection by having him ponder over the event that much longer.

"I don't know. Who ever said amnesia was easy?"

Frasier shot him a look. What a funny and odd thing to say. "Well, today you have one new patient, but the others you can sit in on as an observer if you wish."

"Yes, that would work best." He sipped his latte.

"Anything else happen? Anything at all?"

"Oh I went to go see Mel."

"You what?"

"I went to go see Mel and you know what, I think we might be getting back together."

"You what?"

Niles shot him a look. "Please stop saying that."

"Niles, I wish you hadn't done that."

"Why? Why is I that everyone seems to be trying to protect me from Mel. I realize she can be abrasive at times, but has she done me harm in any way that I don't know about?"

"Well… no."

"Then what is it?"

Frasier retrieved his phone. "Niles, I'm going to push back your schedule for the day. We're going to take a little trip. I think we need to work on speeding up your recovery."

"Oh, this ought to be interesting."

The bell hop opened the door to show Niles and Frasier the elaborately large hotel room.

Niles stepped in further. "This is a nice place, but why are we here?"

Frasier turned to the bell hop. "Could you give us a moment?"

"Certainly sir." He backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Niles, come sit over here on this bed."

He did as he was asked.

Frasier sat on the bed next to him. They were sitting in Daphne and Donny's suite and sitting on the same beds where Frasier told Niles that Daphne had feelings for him. "Does this place mean anything to you?"

Niles looked the room over. "It does have a warm feeling to it." He looked some more. "I'm not getting anything. What is this place Frasier?"

"Niles, this place has grand significance to a turning point in your life?"

"Well, what is it?"

"Niles, I love you and want you to have your memory back just as much as you do, but I can only open doors for you. I can't push you through them."