Breaking Storms Part 2
Usual disclaimer applies, and once again I have nothing of value, unless you value odd socks, old copies of Top Gear Magazine and many, many pictures of Jenson Button.
A/N: This picks up the story about 6 months after the last chapter, Niles and Maris are still going through divorce proceedings.
The last few months had been hell for Niles, not only were Maris' lawyers constantly applying for delays to the court date, he and Daphne had agreed to go back to being friends until the divorce came through. He was quite glad of this as a strange man had been following him for a couple of days, and a quick call to his attorney confirmed that Maris had hired a private dective, to see if he was seeing anyone else.
Maris was furious, "The only places he goes are his apartment, his office, Cafe Nervosa, and the Elliot Bay towers, I thought there may be something happening there, but he is just visiting his brother. I spoke to the doorman, and apparently he has been doing that since his brother moved in." The dective told her what he had found out. She had been so sure that his sudden change of heart must be due to the fact he had found himself a little whore.
Niles was becoming more withdrawn, the divorce and the break from Daphne had worn him down. He decided that after the divorce is finalised he would take Daphne on a long holiday, as much for her sake as his, he barely saw her outside the apartment, Frasier told him that the only time she leaves the apartment is to take Eddie for a walk or do the grocery shopping. "She must know that Maris suspects that I am seeing someone, particularly after out little show at the Snow Ball, she doesn't want to be seen anywhere I go regularly in case we are seen together by anyone." Niles mused to himself.
To take his mind off the impending court date Niles began to plan his trip with Daphne, he decided on a grand tour of Europe, but did they want to have a specific itinerary or go where the wind took them. He though long and hard about it and decided that they should go where the wind took them, but where to begin? He realised that the answer had been staring him in the face almost literally, glancing at the photo of him and Daphne on his desk he decided they should start in Manchester, they didn't need to stay long as he knew she didn't really get on with her family, but there was no point flying across the Atlantic and not popping in.
Maris' lawyers had finally given up delaying the inevitble and soon their day in court arrived. Niles looked terrible when he arrived at the courthouse, he looked tired and drawn, the stress was clearly taking its toll. Fortunatley they had an early slot, Frasier could tell that if they had a later one his brother would have collapsed from exhaustion, he just hoped he didn't have another panic attack like in college when his girlfriend dumped him before his finals and he ended up in the grocery store freezer holding on to a bag of peas and saying "Why so cold my love?". Fortunatley the hearing passed without incident, Niles was granted the divorce on the basis of unreasonable behaviour on Maris' part, Niles was given a generous settlement and even got Maris' cabin, but all he could think about was seeing Daphne and taking her in his arms.
To celebrate the fact that Niles was finally free Frasier cooked a meal for the entire family, and Roz. When they had finished eating and were sat talking, Niles produced an envelope containing two plane tickets to Manchester for the following Saturday. "Daphne I know how hard these past few months have been for you so I am taking you on a grand tour, before you ask I have cleared it with Frasier and he has organised a replacement" Niles could tell that she was wondering what she was going to do about her responsibilities because she was looking at Frasier, almost imploring him to let her have the time off. "We fly to Manchester next Saturday, I thought that you might want to see your family seeing as we would be over in Europe anyway." Niles continued, Daphne was stunned, this was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her, all she could do was just say thank you over and over again, in between bouts of kisses. "I'll just go call me mum, she'll be so excited." Daphne said making her way to her room. When she was safely out of earshot Niles confessed to Frasier and Martin that he had an ulterior motive for starting the trip in Manchester, as he intended to ask Daphne's father for her hand in marriage. "Oh Niles, that's wonderful, I'm finally going to have a daughter-in-law that I like" Martin said, only semi-joking.
The days leading up to the trip were spent packing, and more often, taking advanatge of the fact that they were now "allowed" to be a couple and going for romantic walks, going for dinner and spending hours just being with each other. Niles was growing increasingly nervous, what if her father said no? he couldn't cope, what if her father said yes, but she said no? Niles was tortured by these questions for the entire time since he decided to propose. Then there was the question of where to ask, he wanted it to be perfect but not cliche, he decided to wait, he would know when the perfect time presented itself.
When the day of the flight came round Frasier drove them to the airport, "Now have fun you two, and don't forget to bring back gifts", Frasier said, neither Niles nor Daphne was looking in his direction, but both could tell from the tone of his voice that he wasn't kidding. Fortunatley their flight wasn't delayed so once they had checked in they had just enough time to get a coffee and some reading material for the plane.
Both were greatful that the flight was uneventful, when they eventually landed in Manchester, Daphne had forgotten just how long the flight was, and was glad she went to the bookshop beforehand. They were greeted at the gate by Daphne's brother Stephen who immediatley took them to her parents house, the first thing that struck Niles was the fact that they seemed to have brought the rain with them. He told Daphne this and she just laughed, "No the weather's always like this, why do you think I feel so at home in Seattle?"
When they arrived in the cul-de-sac where the Moon family lived Niles was struck by the amount of cars there were, but upon entering the house, he was greeted by Daphne's brothers and their partners, and a few cousins and school friends, which explained how many cars there were. He spent the entire evening being asked the same questions by a seeming endless sucession of people, "Yes Daphne is my girlfriend, we've been together 8 months (he wisely decided not to mention their break or his divorce), she is my father's physical therapist". Eventually he was left alone for long enough to take Daphne's father into a side room and ask him the question he had been dreading for weeks. "Mr Moon, I have a question to ask, may I have your daughter's hand in marriage?" Harry looked him up and down "well you seem like a nice enough chap, and by the looks of that suit you're worth a bob or two, so yes you can marry my daughter."
When he went back into the living room he couldn't see Daphne for the huge amount of people, eventually he found her. "Where did you go?" she asked "Oh I went to get us some drinks, not that you need any more evidentley" Niles said referring to the fact that she was holding a nealry empty glass of wine and that there was another on the table "But I got distracted talking to your dad, and on the way out I had your mother asking what my intentions were with you, I think she was fishing for me to propose" Daphne suddenley looked quite sympathetic, "So you had the third degree from mum, don't worry every male who came to the house got that when I lived here, I just think she really wants to buy a hat for the wedding" Soon the party was over, well not too soon for Daphne who had spent the entire night being interrogated by various friends and relatives, in the bedroom they discussed what to do for the next two days before they flew on to Paris. "Well I would love to go over to Blackpool, I haven't been since I was about 17". As Nigel had said they could borrow the car if they wanted to, Daphne popped down the hall to check that he didn't desparatley need it the next day, and to borrow some clothes for Niles, Armani suits are not the most practical thing for a day at the seaside. When she returned to the room he was fast asleep, the jet lag and the party had clearly taken it's toll, and on climbing into bed Daphne realised how tired she actally was, despite this she set the alarm for 7am, knowing that if they wanted to get breakfast and avoid the worst of the traffic they would need to be up fairly early.
When they got up to get ready, Niles laid out his shirt and trousers on the bed and went to have a shower, on returning from the bathroom, he had a nasty shock, where his clothes had been there was a soccer top, on closer inspection it was a replica of one one by Manchester United and a pair of shorts, he hoped it was just an elaborate joke that Daphne had set up for him. Unfortunatley it was not to be, when she returned to the room he asked her where his clothes had gone, she told him that they were going to the seaside, and therefore he wasn't allowed to look like a salesman, and anyway they wouldn't be comfortable when they went to the Pleasure Beach. Niles perked up at this last comment, what was this Pleasure Beach, somewhere they could enjoy in the great outdoors, being with Daphne had brought out his experimental side. He was disappionted to discover that it was an amusement park, despite his protestations that he didn't like the rides Daphne was insistent she go on the Big One, the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in Europe, Niles turned a violent shade of green at the desription so she correctly surmised she would be going on it alone. There were also other things to do, go up the tower, go on the ferris wheel on Central Pier, lose £5 worth of 2ps in the coin drop games.
The drive was uneventful enough. but when they got there Daphne had a hard time getting Niles into the spirit of being on holiday, this was made still harder as they made their way up the tower, even though they were stood in the middle of the lift he clung on to Daphne for dear life the entire way up, and refused to go anywhere near the edge, "Come on Niles, it's not as tall as the Space Needle, and you came right up to the edge when we went up that" Daphne said whilst, unsucessfully it must be said, trying to lure him closer to the edge. "Yes it may not be as tall but I was still trying to get your attention then" Niles replied, "Oh so now we're dating you're not going to try and impress me with feats of bravery"
"That's not what I meant, it's just I don't think that full English breakfast agreed with me and I just want to get down to terra firma and have a coffee, is that OK with you?" Daphne's compassionate side took over and she escorted an exteremly grateful Niles to the lift, she did wonder to herself if he can't cope with the tower what's he going to be like on the ferris wheel. Unfortunatley for her, he was even worse and refused to look at the view.
When they got to the Pleasure Beach Niles was horrified, there were no rides he would go on voluntarily if Daphne wasn't there to persuade him. Eventually she made him go on the ghost train, after assuring him many times that it wasn't remotley scary, in fact it was just funny. Even though it was just a children's ride he found the rush of adrenalin as they went down the small drop quite pleasurable, whilst he recovered from his 'experience' Daphne went on the Big One, just looking at the ride made Niles nauseous, nevermind going on it. When Daphne returned, she was soaked to the skin, as is the weather in the North-West it had started raining, but happy, she had clearly enjoyed it. The next ride she persuaded Niles to go on was the much more sedate River Caves, natrually he enjoyed picking fault with all the dioramas, and he even enjoyed the small drop into the station at the end.
Their morning of sightseeing and rides had made them both hungry, so Daphne suggested they go to the fish and chip bar they had passed earlier in the day. When he was presented with a plate of battered cod, chunky chips, and mushy peas, his reaction was as if he had been given a plate of some Martian delicacy, when he saw how much Daphne was enjoying hers he tentativley tried it, it wasn't half as bad as he expected, and natrually he would much have preferred to be at Le Cigare Volant, but he was determined to enjoy his day at the seaside for Daphne's sake as much as his.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Daphne going on as many rides as possible, and Niles, being on bag holding duty, when the park closed at six they walked hand in hand up the prom, only stopping at amusement arcades to play the penny falls and get rid of the enormous bag of 2 pence pieces they had been lugging round all day. When they finally got to the car they seemed to be leaving at the same time as everyone else, fortunatley Daphne remebered a way to avoid the M55 and the inevitible queues, unfortunatley Niles took a wrong turning at a roundabout and they ended up driving round a housing estate and a town called Kirkham for half an hour, by sheer luck, not due to any great navigation from the four people they asked for directions they found themselves on the dual carriageway, and on the way to M6.
"So how was Blackpool?" Gertrude asked Niles and Daphne as they sat in the living room later that evening. "It was just as I remebered, I had a great day, I'm not sure Niles enjoyed it as much as me though."
"I did enjoy it, but it's just not my kind of place" Niles said with a yawn. "It's been a long day I'm off to bed". Daphne joined him upstairs about half an hour later, unfortunately by coming into the room she woke him up. "Who is it?" he said hoarsley, "Don't worry, it's only me, go back to sleep". When she re-entered the room having been to the bathroom Daphne found Niles as he had been before, sleeping like a baby with his book open on his chest, she closed his book taking care to mark the page for him, gave him a peck on the forehead and climbed into bed.
Once again please R&R
