A/N: Not that this has anything to do with the story, but I wrote a whole novel based on this very idea. Then one it occurred to me that Elton John's "Your Song" is actually quite perfect for N/D. So I decided to recycle this idea for a little piece of mindless fanfiction. Hope you enjoy :)

Niles nipped on his white wine spritzer. It tasted bitter; not because of the wine, but because of the bartender. The man had been laughing so hard upon hearing Niles' request he had almost spilled the beverage in the process.

"This ain't the place, dude." He'd told Niles while preparing the drink nonetheless. He had nodded knowing how right the other man was. But he was here anyway. In this strange and noisy place. A place he didn't belong to – and didn't want to belong to.

"Do you like it here, Dr. Crane?" Daphne screamed into his ear. She was the only reason he would ever step foot in such a place. Not that he would ever understand how she could like it.

"It's so loud." He yelled back. His vocal cords were already rebelling.

"It's going to be quieter once the fun starts." Daphne grinned at him. Fun meant karaoke. A few days earlier Daphne and Roz had talked about this bar and how wonderful it was. Niles had of course seen his chance; a chance to be out with Daphne. So he had asked if he could come along. Roz had laughed – much like the bartender – but Daphne had been nothing but sweet. And so it was his very own fault. He should have known that neither of the women liked the things he liked. Of course they would enjoy such a silly thing as karaoke night. For Niles and his perfect hearing this was pure torture. The opening act was an accumulation of thirty-something men that seemed to have missed their moment in life. The music was loud, it was bad and Niles wanted it to stop.

His wish wasn't granted until twenty minutes later. The crowd went crazy as the band packed up their things. He hoped they were simply happy the noise had stopped – no one could possibly liked that kind of music. Roz and Daphne returned to the table. They'd wanted to stand closer to the stage.

"That was so great!" Daphne raved. She almost fell into the chair next to Niles', which caused their shoulders to bump. She had discarded off her jacket earlier, because it was freakishly warm inside. She was only wearing a T-Shirt and her arms were sweaty. Still Niles thought she looked beautiful. She looked younger somehow. Her hair was a crazy mess and her eyes were sparkling. It was that moment when he wished he could be like that, too. Just for one night. He was sitting there with his wine spritzer and his expensive suit. People probably thought he had mistaken this for a costume party. But he wasn't like that; this just wasn't his kind of thing or place. He couldn't change it.

"Gee, Niles. They didn't have sherry?" Roz said, taking a sip from his drink. Niles gasped. He would have to order a new one. He wasn't going to share anything with Roz, especially no bodily fluids. No one knew where she and her bacteria had been recently.

"Leave him alone, Roz. Dr. Crane can drink whatever he likes." She grinned at him. Niles wondered what she'd had to drink. He would have to make sure she got home safe, because she was definitely tipsy.

"Look, Roz!" Daphne screamed and squeezed Roz' arm hard. They both looked towards the stage where a TV screen came to live. A moment later people around the stage began to cheer. This was it, he figured. The karaoke part was about to start. Both women were jumping up and down and Niles couldn't comprehend it; they were like strangers. This was a side of them he'd never seen before. As for Roz, he didn't really care. Niles didn't doubt she regularly did things he didn't understand. But this was Daphne. He'd never seen such a carefree version of her. Niles was used to one-dimensional women like Maris. With her he got what he saw. She had her patterns: she only smiled about three times a year – and all of her happiness had to do with shopping, travels to Europe and time spent without him.

People scrambled to the stage and Niles felt the need to look away. It was embarrassing. A moment later he noticed that Roz and Daphne were scribbling down their names. Grinning they returned to the table.

"We're going to sing!" Daphne yelled at Niles. Her breath tickled his ear and made the hair on his neck stand up. Her face remained close to his. He could smell the alcohol on her. The slightly sour smell made him feel woozy. Niles got drunk on the look in her eyes and so he didn't pay attention to her mouth moving.

"You can at least talk to us, you know." Roz snorted and took a huge gulp from her drink.

"Huh?"

"I want you to sing with us." Daphne repeated. Her hand was on his arm and for a moment Niles was certain she knew exactly what she was doing. She was simply playing with his feelings. Only that she wasn't at all malicious. Niles relaxed somewhat. What had she just said? Sing with them. There was no way he was going on that stage and sing in front of all these imbeciles.

"No, thank you. I'd rather just sit here and… listen." The only reason he was here was Daphne. It was nice enough of them to let him tag along and somehow he felt this desperate pull to give that woman everything she asked for. Asking him to humiliate himself in front of this crowd however was too much.

"That's too bad." She gave him her best impression of a pouty look and Niles couldn't deny that it almost did the trick. He smiled at her and let them go. Daphne stumbled when she got up from the chair and she giggled. Roz waited a moment before she followed her friend to the stage where a couple of men were belting out an unrecognizable song.

"You do know how to not take your chances, Niles." She told him with a shrug before she, too, disappeared into the small crowd. The words clung to him like a bad smell. Was she right about this? Was this some kind of chance and he was too snobby to see it? Before Niles could think more about it, the song ended and people cheered.

"Next up are… Daphne and Roz!" More cheering and Niles politely clapped along. "Here's their rendition of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive'!" The song immediately started playing and Daphne and Roz grinned at each other. Niles hardly listened to their singing, because he was fascinated by these two women. The spotlight suited them – even Roz. There was a warm glow about Daphne that made Niles fall even deeper in love with her. He was mesmerized. Their joined voiced filled the bar. Nothing else seemed to matter for the duration of the song. Niles tried to catch Daphne's eye, but she and Roz were in their own world. They smiled at each other and maybe for the first time Niles was glad Daphne had found a friend in this woman. It was true that he liked to make fun of her, but he knew she had a heart of gold. She would never let anything bad happen to Daphne. In many ways she was the sister Daphne never got to have. His heart filled with love and was ready to burst when the song finally ended. He clapped louder this time, hoping it made a difference. Niles expected them to return to their table – to him – but they didn't. Minutes that felt like hours passed and he lost sight of them. Drawn by the need to see Daphne and tell her how wonderful she'd been up there, he left the table as well.

Niles hated crowds and he hated drunk crowds even more. Sweaty people touched him by accident, people laughed right into his face. This was exactly the sort of social interaction he was not comfortable with. The proximity of all these people got to him and he lost his way. Suddenly there was space and Niles let out a deep breath.

"Hey, you wanna sing something?" A woman asked him. Niles was on the side of stage, he noticed. His heart beat quicker just thinking about it. His eyes scanned the crowd and finally he found Daphne. She and Roz had apparently just been to get new drinks. He relaxed and, absent-mindedly, nodded.

"Awesome! What do you want to sing? We can help you pick something if you want!" The woman, who seemed too young to be in such a bar, smiled at him and offered him a big notebook. It was only then that Niles realized what had happened. He hadn't mean to suggest singing a song, but now the girl was looking at him expectantly and he found himself unable to just walk away. That would have been rude. So he flipped through the hand-written song collection politely without paying much attention. The girl became impatient and was obviously waiting for him to make a choice. She couldn't know that Niles hardly knew any of the songs.

"Could you please pick something?"

"I just don't know…. maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. You see I'm here because of this woman. I love her and she has no idea. This is not exactly my kind of venue." He giggled uncomfortably. The girl stared open-eyed at him and Niles realized that the wine mixed with the heat must have gotten to his head as well. Otherwise he wouldn't have spilled his heart to a stranger. Then the girl snatched the notebook away from him and grinned.

"I have the perfect song for you!"

"Our next singer is… Niles! What kind of name is that? Anyway, Niles is going to perform a classic for you tonight. Have fun." The piano player announced and before Niles knew what was happening, the soft notes started playing. The spotlight was on him and it was unusual and way too warm. His eyes scanned the crowd as he clung to the microphone. Luckily, he found Daphne quickly. Her face was priceless and it gave him just the right amount of courage to do this.

"It's a little bit funny… this feeling inside," Niles sang softly. The crowd, which had been snickering before because of his attire and his awkward behavior, was now quietly listening to his voice. Niles knew he had them in his pocket; all of them.

"I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do. My gift is my song and this one's for you," his eyes found Daphne again and he put everything he felt for her into this song. From the distance he wasn't sure if she understood this. Realized that what he was doing was really just for her. Niles had never been brave enough to put all of this into his own words. Borrowing them was so much easier he found.

"I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world," people around him swooned obviously believing him. But for Niles they didn't matter. The only person he wanted these words to hear was the woman in the back, who was just beginning to understand that this was real. Niles suddenly saw the difference in her face. Her smile disappeared and was replaced with an expression of utter amazement.

"Anyway the thing is; what I really mean… yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen." Niles finally finished. His mouth was dry, his lungs unable to catch enough air. But it was all worth it when he saw Daphne's face. As the spotlight disappeared Niles could see her so much better. All he wanted was to be close to her. He made his way down the stage and people clapped him on the back or cheered as he passed them by. Niles drowned them out. He wanted to be with Daphne. His heart beat rhythmically until he was almost close enough to touch her. She had stopped walking and seemed frozen in place. Tears were on her face and they broke Niles' heart. Have I done that? He wondered and pushed the thought aside.

"Daphne…" he said out of breath. He needed more air.

"Why…what was that?" She asked him. All the naïve happiness seemed to have vanished from her. Her eyes were clear and pleading with him. This was his big moment. His stunt on the stage had merely been a prelude to this. If he was truthful about his feelings, and he knew he was, he had to tell her. In his own words, quietly.

"I… I never knew how to tell you…" he began shyly,

"Oh my… you are serious! I didn't- I didn't imagine that?" Her voice broke as more tears fell onto her cheeks. Niles couldn't help himself and wiped some of them away.

"No, you didn't. I came here tonight to – to be with you. To show you I would do pretty much anything to make you happy. I just want to be with you all the time. Even if that means shady bars and karaoke nights with Roz. I want you to be happy and I want to be the man to make you happy."

"You sang… for me." Instead of answering her, he just nodded.

"All of this was just… for me." Again, he nodded. For a moment her face was stoic; there was no telling what she was thinking or feeling. But then she took his hand. It was warm and a little sweaty. Any other moment, with any other person, he would have minded.

"Thank you," she whispered and she leaned forward and kissed his cheek tenderly, "for coming here." She gave him a smile. It was one of these new ones he had only discovered tonight. There were still so many things he could learn about her. And Niles had always been an eager student after all.

"And thank you for going on stage," Daphne went on and this time her lips found his in a soft kiss that felt like a dream, "and for making me see." Niles closed his eyes when her lips pushed a little more firmly against his. The tip of her tongue swept over his bottom lip; a promise of more in due time.

"You're- you're very welcome." Niles stuttered.

"Roz has found her own company," Daphne told him and once again took his hand, "what do you say we go find a quiet place and… just talk?" She smiled shyly at him. This time Niles felt brave and confident. He kissed the tip of her nose and then her lips. She giggled joyfully and it was the only kind of music Niles wanted to hear at that moment.

"I think that's a wonderful idea."

THE END