Daphne smiled; she wore a t-shirt and her favorite jeans and she felt absolutely gorgeous. She knew that Niles loved her any way she looked, and that he never admitted it to her, but he had a secret penchant for her casual look. She didn't dress down too often; Frasier had frowned upon informality but now that she was Mrs. Niles Crane she had a little more leeway, not that she would ever take advantage. Besides, it was her day off, and even though she was technically dressing down, that didn't mean that she wasn't putting any care into her looks.

As she looked into the mirror she fussed around with her appearance. She brushed her hair down, then pulled it up, then brushed it back down again. If she wore it up he would have easy access to the back of her ears and the nape of her neck, she reasoned with a smile, so she grabbed her clip and went with her decision. Daphne tossed a few stray hairs down, then expertly applied her makeup-not too much, just enough to catch the eye of the man she loved. And then she sprayed on a dash of her perfume- Forbidden, Niles' favorite, then went downstairs to wait for her favorite time of day.

Finally she heard the familiar and welcome sound of the key turning and his voice calling out her name. She loved it when he said her name. He must have said it a hundred times a day- Niles had claimed Shakespeare could not have invented a more perfect word. But the best time of the day that he said her name was at night time, after everything was said and done, when he whispered right before drifting off to sleep- "I love you Daphne." Every night Niles said it without fail. Sometimes, not often, they'd had their little tiffs, but even then, she could count on his favorite phrase, and she would sigh, knowing that everything would be okay, even if she was too stubborn to apologize before going to sleep. He loved her, and that made everything in the world okay.

"Hello my love- wow, you look fantastic!" Niles did a double take as he made sure that he was seeing what was before his eyes. He loved when Daphne dressed down for some reason. Neither Maris nor Mel would have ever been caught dead in a pair of jeans, and he had to admit that before Daphne he had found them- well, common. But after seeing Daphne in a pair he had definitely become a convert. The woman had legs that were made for the article of clothing. And what they did for her…

"Hello darling. I hope you don't mind but I decided to put this old outfit on today," Daphne teased, knowing by the looks Niles gave her that she had gotten the desired reaction that she had intended on getting from him.

"Are you kidding? Why, you are simply the most beautiful and breathtaking woman that has ever walked the face of the earth. Venus herself would envy the very goddess that I am fortunate enough to call my wife. Why, every man in Seattle will challenge me over you. I simply cannot allow you to leave the house looking so, so, so…"

Daphne loved more than anything when Niles, a master of the English word, became flustered. He was so cute like that, and to know that she was the cause of his condition, why, what woman wouldn't consider themself the luckiest woman in the world to be the object of his affections? "I love you, too Niles."

Niles took a deep breath, then grabbed on to his wife's hand. "I simply adore you. You don't know how much I cherish the life that we've built together. You've made me happier than I could ever imagine I could be. I never imagined that one's wildest dreams could come true, but you taught me to dream, and to believe, and to hope- and that even the craziest of wishes can come true even to the simplest of men."

Daphne smiled, and she rewarded him with a kiss. "Darling you've made all of my wildest dreams come true. Even as a little girl I believed in Prince Charming and all of his promises and the fantasies that came with being his bride and you have given me all of that-and then some."

"It is my intention to give you all of your heart's desires, every day, every year, for the rest of our lives. I can never repay you for what you have given me- you have given me my life back, and for that, there is no price."

Daphne smiled knowingly, and as the two of them sat together on the couch, they both thought back to the time when Niles declared his love. It might have taken a long time, but it was definitely worth the wait. When it came to Niles and Daphne, true love definitely did not fail.

The end