Frasier and Martin arrived at the hospital in record time, neither of them uttering a word on the way. And by the time they reached the ICU unit, both men were breathless. Ever the leader, Frasier quickly approached the receptionist desk where a young woman raised her head and smiled at the sight of him.
"May I help you?"
"Yes, I'm looking for Dr. Watson. My brother-."
Suddenly he was pushed aside and found Martin standing next to him. "Where's my son?" Martin demanded. "They said he was awake so where in the hell is he? I want to see him now!"
"Dad-."
"Where is he, damn it?" Martin yelled. "I need to see Dr. Watson!"
"Dad, please!" Frasier said, trying to calm his father. But Martin was unrelenting. Even Frasier had to admit that he was becoming a bit perturbed. He glanced at the receptionist once more and smiled. "We need to see Dr. Watson right away. It's about my brother, Ni-."
The woman's eyes widened. "Oh God, you mean, Niles Crane?"
"Yes, exactly. You see, Dr. Watson called and said that Niles is out of the coma."
The woman nodded and amazingly a faint sheen of tears could be seen in her eyes. "I know. It's wonderful, isn't it? When they brought him in, I-."
Frasier cleared his throat. "Um, look…Meredith, is it?" He asked, reading her name tag. "If we could just speak to Dr. Watson."
Flustered, Meredith scrambled for the phone. "I'm so sorry, Dr. Crane. I'll page Dr. Watson right away."
Frasier and Martin glanced at one another, the silence looming between them. And Martin was the first to break that silence.
"Fras, I'm sorry."
"Dad, don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault. I'm the one who-."
But Martin held up his hand to bring his eldest son to silence. "I'm not talking about Niles' accident, although God knows I can't help but think what if-."
"Dad-."
"Now, wait a minute and let me finish! I'm sorry for being such an ass lately. You're a good kid, Fras and I'm proud of you. Damn proud. You're a successful psychiatrist with a successful radio show, one that I should listen to more often. You're damn smart; a hell of a lot smarter than I am. You got that from your mother. And I'm proud of Niles too. I'm going to spend the rest of what's left of my life making sure he knows that because when I think of the fact that I almost never got to tell him, I-." His voice broke and he turned away, shattering Frasier's heart.
Frasier opened his mouth to speak but the words wouldn't come. So instead he hugged his father tightly. And just for a moment, he was a little boy again.