Frasier Returns: The Boss and Her Friend

Summary:

A dejected Frasier Crane returns to Seattle five years after the episode "Goodnight, Seattle" and reunites with his best friend, Roz Doyle. His return stirs both familiar and new feelings in both of them.

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.

I've been a fan of Frasier for many years, and I enjoyed the episode "Goodnight, Seattle." The ending was great, but it didn't tie up all the loose ends. This story is a "what-if" that takes a different direction from what the last few episodes of the series implied. The setting is five years after the end of the series. Roz Doyle tell us the story.

*****Change partners *****

Once home I stretched out across the sofa to think about Frasier and me. I needed to make sense of our situation. How did I feel about him, and what did he feel about me?

As much as it scared me, I knew I had fallen for Frasier in the few days he'd been back. I'd fallen hard. Here was a man I'd worked with for over a decade but hadn't seen in five years. He had been my best friend, the person I shared my deepest secrets with. This weekend and the days leading up to it had put Frasier Crane, with all his good and bad traits, front and center in my conscious. There wasn't anything new about his personality, but there was something new about how I viewed him.

Despite our affection and Frasier's gift of the weekend getaway to me, I still wondered how he felt about me. Sure we'd shared those kisses, and they were great I might add - Frasier was always a good kisser. But was I still just a friend or worse merely a fling on his trip back home?

The phone ringing startled me. The voice on the other end surprised me.

"Charlotte's here in Seattle."

"What, Niles?"

"Charlotte's here in Seattle. She showed up at the Montana looking for Frasier. I put her off."

"Frasier won't like what you did."

"We need to talk. Meet us at Nervosa in a half hour."

As quickly as I could I slid into some jeans and hurried out the door.

Niles and Daphne were already there when I walked through the doors of Nervosa. They both had their brows furrowed and they held their coffee cups in a grasp just short of white-knuckles.

"Over here." Niles said.

"So Charlotte's back in town."

"And she's casting her web on my brother again."

Daphne gave her husband a stern look.

"I tried to throw her off the trail. Niles did too, bless his heart."

Niles nodded his head at his wife's comment.

"She left our apartment headed for her hotel. We didn't tell her about Frasier staying with Dad and Ronee."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" I got a choke in my throat when I tried to spit out the words. My companions both crossed their arms.

"What are you going to do about it, Roz?" Niles said.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You love him, I know you do." Daphne said.

It took a moment but I nodded my head in agreement.

"And my brother loves you. He always has."

Daphne and I exchanged looks. This was clearly new information to her too.

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"Let's just say I'm a good listener. And observer."

"Then you've got to stop him." I said.

"No, I can only help. It's you who'll have to stop this train wreck."

But how? I was an emotional basket case right at the time I needed to think most clearly.

"What should I do?"

"Go to him. Now. Ronee told us about how you parted company awhile ago."

"I don't know where we stand."

"Isn't it time you found out?"

Daphne was right. I put some money down on the table and headed for the suburbs again.

*****Cast your fate to the wind *****

When I got to the Crane house I saw Ronee standing by the window. Three steps before I got to the porch she swung open the door.

"Come on in. Niles told us to expect you. Frasier and Martin have been in the study almost an hour."

Ronee escorted me through the house to Martin's home within a home. It looked like what he would have done if he'd been in charge of Frasier's old apartment. In one corner was a big screen TV - bigger than the one his son had allowed when the two of them were living together. Scattered across a coffee table were several old sports magazines. The focal center of the room was unmistakable though. Martin's old chair looked like a latter-day throne, and the remote control that rested beside it on a tray reminded me of a modern version of a scepter. What threw me off for a moment was that Martin was sitting on the sofa and Frasier - Frasier! - was sitting in his father's chair.

The two men were in deep conversation. Approaching them, I couldn't hear what they were saying but I saw Frasier making some hand gestures. The gesture he held the longest was one where he extended both hands palm-up at an angle.

Just before I got to them I caught one fragment of what Martin was saying.

"...and, Son, you've got to commit."

That last comment, whatever it was, didn't register on Frasier. He'd looked up and seen me.

"Roz! I thought you'd gone home long ago."

Martin swiveled around and stared.

"I decided to come back by, Frasier."

Martin stood.

"Hey-ya, Roz. I think I'll go see if I can find me some pork rinds in the pantry. Unless my son here ate'm all."

"Oh, yes, Dad. They go so well with caviar. I can't keep my hands off them."

"Ha-ha." Martin got his cane and hobbled off in the direction I'd come from. As he passed me he gave me a wink. I played like I hadn't seen it and just smiled.

"Well, what brings you back by, Roz?"

"Something I've left unsaid. I should have said it before but didn't."

"This sounds serious."

At this point Frasier was no longer sitting. He was standing in front of me, inches away.

"I really appreciated going away this weekend."

"I enjoyed it too, Roz. More than you can imagine."

I stopped briefly to smile at his words.

"Frasier, remember how you took a chance five years ago? You cast your fate to the wind. You didn't know the outcome but you went ahead."

"What are you getting at, Roz?"

"Maybe you shouldn't be finished taking chances."

"I'm not sure what to say, for some reason it's hard to find the right words."

"We've had some fun these last few weeks. More fun than either you or I have had in a long time."

In the background I heard the screen door open and close. Then I heard raised voices.

"That we have." Frasier lifted his hand and stroked my shoulder, brushing a few strands of my hair to the side.

"But at some point you've got to think about commitment."

"Please explain, Roz." Frasier had gotten just the hint of a smile on his face.

"Every relationship has its ups and downs, the good times and the bad times. Sometimes a man and a woman fight, but then they make up."

"That sounds like advice from 'The Frasier Crane Show.'"

"It is. I heard you say that thousands of times. Now I'm asking you to look at the relationship between a certain man and a certain woman."

"Anyone I know?"

"Yes." I answered.

"You know, right before you came, Dad and I were talking about that very subject. Sometimes it's easier for the psychiatrist to give advice than to take it."

"You might have happiness right in front of you and not realize it. Sure it's bumpy, but it's worth the risk because it's the right thing. It just takes a jolt for two people to see the light, Frasier."

"She's right."

I whirled around and saw Charlotte walking up behind us. Then it struck me - all the words I'd just said to Frasier he could easily interpret as my suggestion that he get back together with Charlotte. I hung my head low.

"Charlotte?" Frasier rushed to her side. They embraced and she pushed back enough so she could kiss his lips. In a moment's time I'd gone from being part of Frasier's life again to being an afterthought.

"I've been looking all over town for you for most of the day."

"You have?" Frasier asked.

"Your brother and his wife were pretty tight-lipped. It sounds like Roz heard I was here and tried to reason with you before I found you. Thank you, Roz, I appreciate your going to bat for me."

I couldn't believe it. Everything I said had made my world come crashing down on me.

"I'd never have suspected this, Charlotte." Frasier said.

"Frasier, I know I don't have any right to be here. It doesn't make sense. But I got to thinking about what you did when you followed me to Chicago five years ago."

"I don't understand."

"I've realized I was wrong about us. You took a chance on me once. I let you down."

"Charlotte, you didn't let me down..."

"Roz was right about what's important. Now I'm taking a chance on you. Will you have me back?"

Frasier stepped back from Charlotte's embrace. Then he stood looking back and forth between Charlotte and me. I kept thinking about that non-verbal communication Frasier and I had shared for so many years, and I hoped he saw something new, something different in my eyes.

After an eternity of silence, Frasier smiled and spoke to Charlotte.

"Charlotte, I appreciate the chance you took. You're right about taking chances. I'm willing to take a chance now, but it can't be alone. I know what I want, more clearly than anything I've known before..."

*****Heat wave *****

"Hello, Seattle. This is Dr. Niles Crane, brother of Frasier Crane. I'm sitting here in this sticky hot studio this afternoon ready to take your calls. Although radio broadcasting is not my forte, I made a promise to do this and a Crane will not back out on his word..."

"...Before I begin, I just want to recognize some special people in the listening audience today - my wife Daphne, our children David and Sarah, my father Martin and step-mother Ronee..."

"Dr. Crane?"

"Yes, Noel."

"We need to get moving on with the show."

"All in good time, my good man. And finally I want to recognize someone special who has come to mean even more to my family and me."

"Dr. Crane?"

"I'm moving along, Noel...Where was I? Oh, yes. Someone special to all of us, a young lady named Alice. She's helping my beautiful wife take care of our children this week, something Alice told me she is looking forward to doing on a regular basis."

"Dr. Crane?"

"Yes, yes. I know. I see the board has already lit up with a call."

"It's my boss. She wants to talk with you."

"I didn't think they had telephones there on remote islands in the Pacific."

"They've got phones, and she's been listening to the show, Dr. Crane."

"I could think of better things to do on a honeymoon, but to each their own. Anyway, hello, Roz. Welcome to the Frasier Crane Show with Dr. Niles Crane..."

"Stow it, doily. Get on with the show."

"May I remind you that all of Seattle is listening to your edicts? And may I also remind you that I am doing this as a favor to you and my brother? It seems the least you could do would be to acknowledge the debt you two owe me."

"I hear the ratings points dropping through the floor, Brother."

"Frasier, you're on the line too?"

"No, Niles, this is an apparition, you bubble-head. Of course it's me. They have speaker phones in the hotel rooms on this remote island as you called it."

"I think doily is a better name for him than bubble-head, Frasier."

"Roz, I seem to remember that you used that epithet on me the first day I was back on the air."

"I did, didn't I."

"Well you're not getting away with it, young lady."

"So now you call me a young lady...put me down, Frasier. Oh! Oh! Ohhhhhhhh! Yes!"

"Click and they're off. I've learned a few things about the telephones in this studio and their buttons. Oh, well. Roz and Frasier said they'd be gone a week, and I'm already counting the hours and minutes until I'm free of this. Well, be that as it may. Now on with mental healing. Noel, who's our first caller?"

"It looks like everyone on the board is from Spokane this afternoon. Must be your lucky day, Dr. Crane."

"Indeed, it is. I see someone named Audrey is on line one. Audrey tell us about your fear of kumquats..."