When he was comfortably seated in his wheelchair, she guided him to the balcony door. "It's right outside and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever-."
She gasped, realizing that the so-called regulation sized wheelchair was a bit too wide to fit through the door without causing him further injury. After all of the adjustments that Frasier had made to the condo to make sure that Niles would be comfortable, his being confined to a wheelchair was something that none of them had prepared for.
The realization of what was happening finally sank in and she glanced at him through tear-filled eyes. "Oh Niles… I'm so sorry."
His eyes met hers; displaying every emotion she was feeling inside. And when he lowered his gaze, she did her best to quiet her sob as he spoke so quietly she could barely hear him. "I'm sorry, Daphne. And it's all right. I can see it some other time."
She moved past him, resting her hand on the back of his neck and hurried to her room. Seconds later she returned with a blanket which she carried outside. And then as though he was a fragile work of art, she helped him out of the wheelchair and guided him through the doorway to the balcony.
As expected, he shivered and she wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. "It's a bit chilly tonight." She said quietly. "We won't stay out here long. I just wanted to show you something."
"It's fine, Daphne. We can stay here as long as you like." He replied, kissing her cheek. "What did you want to show me?"
"Look out there." She said pointing to the heavens. "The stars, the moon, the Space Needle. Isn't that the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?"
He stared at her for a moment, brushing the windblown locks of hair from her forehead. "One of them."
She took his hands bringing them to her lips for a kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too, Daphne. I wish…"
"What do you wish, Darling. Anything you wish for and I'll do my best to make it happen."
He kissed her softly and sighed. "I want to make love to you, Daphne. I want to hold you in my arms on a star-filled night like this, and show you how much I love you. I don't… I don't have enough words to let you know how I truly feel about you."
Tears rose in her throat and at that moment she loved him so much that she felt as though her heart would burst.
"What's wrong?" he was asking now.
"I love you too." She said quietly. "But…"
"But what?"
"I'm just… surprised by all of this."
"I know it's sudden and I should have told you sooner."
"Why didn't you?"
He sighed deeply. "Well, I wanted to tell you so many times before. But since you really didn't know how I felt about you, I didn't think it was appropriate to… be so foreword. And then there's Maris…"
At that moment Daphne's world came crashing down around her, the fairytale moment gone. Why did reality hurt so much? She moved away from him and stared at the skyline, her chest aching.
But it was the sobs within her that hurt most of all.