Daphne paced the room; her nerves growing stronger by the minute. What in the bloody hell was taking so long? Norene's mom had picked her up over an hour ago and now it was well past the time that Niles said he would arrive.
Oh God... What if something happened?
No... She refused to think the worst.
She glanced out of the window, hoping to see his Mercedes in the parking lot. Instead all she saw was that ridiculous pickup truck.
Annoyance crept in as she pressed the intercom button;
"Brenda, has Niles arrived yet? He's supposed to be here by now."
But her question was met with silence.
She tried again. "Brenda? Donna? Are you there?"
No response.
A cold chill went through her veins and she tried to shake the terrible feeling that something was wrong.
But then the visions began...
A car crash involving a Mercedes, Niles falling down the stairs at the Montana...
She swallowed hard, determined not to cry.
There's nothing to worry about. She told herself over and over again.
Everything would be fine.
But at that moment, she needed Niles more than ever; if only to be certain that he was okay.
Within seconds she ran out the door and made her way downstairs, where she heard a surge of voices beckoning her to walk faster.
When she reached the lobby stopped short; amazed when she noticed the crowd of women gathered in front of the television...watching basketball.
On the screen, she could barely make out a figure, attempting to shoot a basket. The ball left his hands, spiraling through the air and landed in the basket, causing an eruption of applause and cheers through the lobby.
"Brenda!"
Relived that she'd finally spotted her friend, she rushed toward her in a desperate panic.
"Brenda, have you heard from-."
She froze; staring in disbelief at who she was seeing; or if in fact she'd imagined seeing him.
She shook her head, trying to clear the image from her mind. Surely she'd been missing Niles so that she'd conjured up a psychic vision of him. But in this vision he was wearing a Sonics jersey, and a leather Sonics jacket.
Slowly she began to move closer; her eyes widening as the person slowly came into focus.
When she recognized him, her hand flew to her mouth.
"Niles?"
He rose, smiling when he saw her.
It was impossible; Niles Crane wearing clothes advertising a sports team? But there was no mistaking that standing in the center of the lobby was the man that she loved.
At that moment, she was filled with such love for him that she didn't care what he was wearing.
"Niles?" She said again.
"Hey, Daph!" He said with a wave.
Her heart fell.
Daph? Where in the heck had that come from? Whatever happened to "Hello my love." Or even "Hello Daphne, my angel."?
Those were the words that always made her melt with desire for him.
Instead he'd spoken to her as though she were one of Mr. Crane's buddies from McGinty's!
But in her heart she forgave him. Right now the only thing that mattered was that she loved him, and he was coming to take her home.