Niles was on his feet, shaking with rage. This sudden change of mood, even more evident than when he'd stormed into the kitchen, frightened Daphne. And she could see from the looks of Ronee and Martin's faces that they were alarmed by Niles' behavior as well.

"I-I'm sorry son." Martin finally said, forcing a laugh. "I-I guess I got a little carried away there."

"Try a LOT, Dad!" Niles snapped.

"All right, fine. I got a lot carried away. I was just-."

"I know what you're trying to do, Dad and you can just forget about it because it's NEVER going to happen, all right?"

Something inside told her that this was not going to end well. "Niles-."

He turned to her, his eyes flaming with anger. "Just STAY OUT OF THIS, Daphne! This is between Dad and I and it's no concern of yours!"

She couldn't have been more hurt if he'd slapped her across the face. And her lower lip began to tremble. "N-Niles, your father didn't do any harm! He was just-."

"I told you to STAY OUT OF IT, Daphne! Can't you listen for once?"

Daphne gasped and put her hand over her trembling mouth, the tears escaping as they rolled onto her hand.

"Niles, don't speak to your wife that way! And your dad doesn't deserve it either!"

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, Ronee!"

Ronee said nothing, but Daphne could feel Ronee's hands on her shoulders, moving gently. She was grateful to her mother-in law for the comfort, but at that moment Daphne was shaking so badly that she felt as though she was having an out of body experience. This couldn't be happening, not here, not now. Not after she'd worked so hard to make this day perfect for everyone.

Niles cursed under his breath, his hand running through his hair as he paced back and forth in front of the fainting couch. He'd never spoken to her in such a manner before; not while they were married and not even when she lived at Frasier's, way before she ever knew that Niles had any sort of feelings for her. It felt as though her whole world was crashing down on her, or that she was trapped in the middle of a horrible nightmare.

Ronee had stopped massaging her shoulders and when Daphne turned to look at Martin and Ronee, she could tell that they were quickly becoming restless. Her heart went out to them in ten-fold and she wished that she could take Niles' outburst back. She wished, oh how she wished, that Martin would say something… anything.

And finally he did.

"All right, Niles. What in the hell is this all about? I just wanted to do something nice for my grandson but I guess-."

"Dad, HOW COULD YOU?" Niles shouted.

"How could I what, Niles?"

"I know damn well what you're trying to do, Dad!"

"Yeah, you said that already! But I still don't know what in the hell-."

"Don't you think that I'm capable of raising my son?"

Martin walked over to Niles and stood in an authoritative position with his hands on his hips. "All right, Niles. This has gone far enough. What in the hell are you talking about?"

"You KNOW how I feel about sports, Dad! You've always known!"

"Yeah, you bet I know! I know that you don't know the first damn thing about sports and neither does your brother! But I bet he'd never act like a jackass if I bought Freddy a New England Patriots' jersey!"

"I DON'T WANT MY SON PLAYING SPORTS AND THAT'S FINAL!"

Martin held up his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, you don't David to play sports! But what does that have to do with-."

"You deliberately went behind my back, violating my beliefs and ethics to buy him some ridiculous baseball jersey!"

Amazingly Martin grinned. And Daphne could see the faintest hint of a smile on Ronee's face. But when Martin held up the jersey, the mood darkened yet again.

"Oh for God's sake, Niles, this is a football jersey! And for your information, sports aren't a religion, although some people think it is! If you paid any attention to the world around you for even one second you'd know that!"

"HOW DARE YOU!"

"Niles, I didn't mean that literally! I meant in the world of sports! If you paid any attention whatsoever, you'd know that the Seahawks are a football team! And a damn good one this year if you ask me!"

"Well, no one asked you, Dad! I don't give a damn what they are! David is going to have no part of it!"

Sobbing, Daphne rose to her feet. She tried her best to stay out of the argument, but she simply couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it, both of you! Stop it, this instant!" she shouted, bringing both men to silence. This, David's first birthday, had turned out to be the worst day of her life.