Niles took his lunch hour to go to his dad's house, where he could hopefully asses the situation better than from just what Ronee had told him. To his surprise he found his father ramaging desperately through some old boxes. What he was ever looking for, Niles didn't know, but it was enough of an out of character moment that it truthfully caused Niles some alarm.
"Dad? Is everything okay?"
"No. No it's not. I'm looking for something and I can't find it!"
"Tell me what it is and I'd be glad to help you find it."
Martin looked at his youngest son with a pained look on his face. "Tell me, son. Did we ever go fishing?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Fishing. Did I ever take you and Frasier fishing?"
"Well does ice fishing count? Remember Frasier told me I looked like a skinny Elmer Fudd?" Niles chuckled at the memory. Come to think of it, he had looked a tad ridiculous, but at the time, he was warm, and that counted for something, right?
"Oh. Yeah. Yeah." Martin wiped away the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. Niles had never ever seen his father cry, not even when Hester had passed away.
"Dad," Niles crouched down, helping his father put away the pictures that were now scattered everywhere. "Is there something going on that you're not telling me?"
"It's just I can't remember taking my boys fishing. Every father needs to take his boys fishing."
"I tell you what. How about this weekend you and I and David go fishing? Would you like that Dad?"
"Yeah. Yeah I would. I just have one question."
Niles smiled warmly. "What's that Dad?"
"Who's David?"
And it was at that moment Niles realized that he had better place a call to Frasier.
0000
After informing Frasier of the situation, Niles paused to gauge a reaction from his brother. "What are you suggesting, Niles?"
"I don't know. I don't know," Niles sighed in frustration. "I just think we have a situation that seems to be growing by the day."
Before Frasier could respond they both heard a yell from the other room. "Dad! Frasier I'll call you right back."
Niles ran and saw that his father had fallen over. "Oh dear God, Dad! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine I'm fine. It's just that I tripped. I guess my hip isn't holding out as well as I hoped it would."
"Did you remember to use your cane?"
"Of course I remembered my cane! Do you think that your old man is losing it? Now when's Daphne coming to do my excercizes?"
"Dad, Daphne's five months pregnant. She hasn't been doing your excercizes for some time now. Angela is your new therapist."
Martin looked around. "Aw never mind. I just want to go to bed." He finally found his cane and headed to the bedroom.
Even after Martin had been shot, Niles hadn't felt this helpless. Something was going on with his father and he was determined more than ever to get to the bottom of things.
TBC
