Chapter 2
Niles sat in his study as he thought back on the nights events. It had been one bizarre night. He had gone round to Frasier's to see Daphne, but tonight was different. An ex fiancé of Daphne's was coming to visit, and he had to go round and see what type of man he was. He promised himself he would not sabotage the other mans attempts to see if he had another chance with Daphne, he only wanted to observe, particularly as Daphne seemed to have no interest in another relationship with him. Yet it all went better than expected as to let Clive down easy, she panicked and had declared she was married to him. Well, pretended to be married to him and it was only for a few hours, but what a glorious few hours they had been.
After that, he had done everything he could to ensure Clive would stay, and since they were supposed to be newly-weds, and Niles had taken every opportunity to be affectionate towards Daphne to make their ruse look convincing. Well, that's what he told himself, but who was he trying to fool? Other than Clive, of course. He and Maris had been nowhere near as affectionate, as newly-weds or otherwise, but of course Maris was never one for public displays of affection. Or private ones for that matter.
Frasier, of course, nearly ruined his happiness. Trying to stop him from getting close to her as he usually did. But they were supposed to be married! Wouldn't it look odd for her brother-in-law to be preventing her husband from kissing her? But he supposed, in hindsight, that Frasier was only doing it for his benefit as Daphne had no idea how he really felt about her. It was all over too quickly for him anyway, as he'd been sitting close to her, holding her hand when Clive mentioned he now ran a business, and Daphne couldn't have dropped him quicker. Of course, Niles tried to keep the ruse going, but it all fell apart and Clive had left angry at them all for lying. Niles couldn't blame him really, but in a way it had been him who had kept Clive there, just so he could be close to Daphne. He felt he should explain himself to Clive, ensure there were no hard feelings between him and Daphne. Tomorrow, he'd attempt to find out where he was staying, and set the record straight. And with that final thought, Niles went off to bed.