The two men parted and Niles was alone in the café. He went to the counter and ordered another drink from Taylor, the friendly barista who always seemed to have a smile on her face. And as he sat down at his favorite table, he felt warmth in his chest as his words to Frasier resounding in his head.
"In mere months, Mel Karnofksy could very well become the next Mrs. Niles Crane."
And then there came a startling revelation. There was no doubt about it. He was in love. What other reason could there be for feeling this way?
His heart skipped a beat. Could he really do this? Get married again? The idea terrified him but it also filled him with hope. Mel was difficult, there was no refuting that, but people could change. He certainly had.
He reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. His mind raced with scenarios of how he could tell her the news. She was not one for romance, but it wouldn't hurt to make it special. However, he had to do this carefully and act as casually as possible. With an unsteady hand, he poised his fingers over his phone ready to call the woman he loved. But to his surprise the phone rang.
"Niles Crane." he said into the phone. Most likely it was a colleague with another request to take on one of their patients. In the past he would have been grateful for the extra patient load, for it kept him from thinking about how lonely he was. But now that he and Mel were a couple and perhaps even on their way to becoming husband and wife, he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, even when it seemed that she had very little time for him.
"Oh, thank God you're there!"
He was so stunned that he almost dropped the phone and was suddenly aware of the faint sound of crying. But it wasn't possible… it couldn't be… He swallowed hard and forced himself to speak.
"Daphne?"