He held her in his arms, making her feel so safe that she never wanted to let go. But when she was finally able to draw back, she found that he was still holding onto her.

Slowly he guided her to the sofa where they sat facing one another and at that moment, she was grateful that they appeared to be alone. Martin was most likely at Duke's or McGinty's and Frasier was most likely still on his date.

"What happened?" Niles asked quietly.

And that's all it took for her tears to resurface.

She felt completely daft, crying like a frightened child in front of a man who was seemingly unafraid of anything. What must he think of her?

"I-I'm sorry." She said when she'd calmed some. But when she spoke again, the words came in a desperate rush.

"It was me own fault! I was shopping downtown for Christmas presents, and I lost track of the time! I went to catch me bus but I completely forgot about the Christmas festivities that were going on! The buses had all been rerouted, but when I went to look for it, I couldn't find it anywhere! And the taxi company was out of bloody taxis! I mean, how can that happen? I looked everywhere for me bus, even walked uphill like the driver told me to! Dr. Crane, I was so scared! The people around me were so-."

"It's all right." He said, taking her hands in his. "You're safe now."

She nodded tearfully, unable to stop thinking about her harrowing night. "I know, but it was me own fault."

"Daphne, no… this wasn't your fault. Please don't blame yourself."

"It was! Your brother begged me not to go, not to take the bloody bus and he even offered to drive me, but I refused. I mean, how could I possibly go downtown to buy his Christmas gift with him there? But I should have known something like this would happen! I-."

She was in his arms once more, comforted by his soothing hand moving up and down her back. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, Daphne. I wish I had known."

"But you couldn't have known, Dr. Crane! You were at your party and- Oh God, your party! I'm so sorry, ! I completely ruined things, didn't I? I didn't mean to-."

"It's all right." He said quietly.

"But it was so important to you! I overheard you and your brother discussing and even arguing about it for months! All of those people-."

"Daphne when you called and told me you needed help; I couldn't have cared less about my party. You were frantic and I was so terrified that something had happened to you. And something did happen to you. You were all alone, freighted and vulnerable. But you can't blame yourself. My party isn't important. You are. When you asked me to come, I told everyone to leave because I had something much more important to take care of."

She stared at him in disbelief. "You did that for me?"

"Of course, Daphne. I care about you. I've always cared about you. Since the day we met, I-."

His words were lost when her lips met his, and she kissed him tenderly again and again. She could feel the eager response of his kiss as his breath caught in his throat and the kisses became more intense. And then, suddenly aware of what she had done, she drew back and stared into his beautiful eyes of blue.

"Dr. Crane…"

She expected him to be upset (for reasons that she simply couldn't explain) but to her amazement, he smiled. And suddenly she was embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry, Dr. Crane. I didn't mean-."

"Daphne, under the circumstances, perhaps you could call me Niles."

"Niles…" she repeated, loving the way his name felt on her lips. She wanted so much to thank him, but nothing seemed like enough. Instead she simply held him in her arms, content to stay there as long as possible.
But then her eyes moved across the living room to the foyer and suddenly she had an idea. For the first time in hours, she found herself smiling.

"I'll be right back."