"Niles, what in the hell are you doing?" Frasier snapped.
Niles was dumbfounded. This definitely wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Daphne, or have you completely forgotten about her existence?"
What? Had Frasier gone completely mad? How could he even fathom-
"I could never forget about Daphne!" Niles blurted out. "In fact, I haven't stopped thinking about her since the day we met!"
"Could have fooled me!" Frasier yelled.
"I'm afraid I don't know what-."
"Oh for God's sake, Niles are you completely blind? For the past two days you've done nothing but speak harshly to Daphne! You've gone from ridiculously infatuated to just plain disrespectful! I would think that you would show a little more gratitude to someone who saved you from spending a night alone after this Mary Ann-."
"Marjorie." Niles corrected.
"All right... Marjorie canceled on you!"
"Well of course I'm grateful to Daphne!" Niles retorted. "I believe that I spent quite a bit of time telling her that on the way to the Snow Ball."
"Then what changed, Niles? Now I admit that I wasn't too happy about the fact that you and Daphne were going out on a date, but when I saw how happy Daphne was after she came home, I had a slight change of heart. She tells me that you two had a wonderful time. She was practically floating on air!"
Niles couldn't ignore the flip in his heart. The thought that Daphne genuinely had a good time was of some comfort. "We had a glorious time, Frasier. " He admitted. "I just-."
"What Niles? Please, tell me what happened to cause this drastic change in behavior, which, I should point out, is completely unlike you! I thought you worshiped Daphne, as you've mentioned hundreds of times!"
Niles hung his head low, trying to ignore the lump in his throat and the tears that threatened to fall. But he would not cry in front of his brother. He absolutely refused to.
"So what in God's name happened?" Frasier demanded.
"Niles sighed deeply, knowing that any moment the dam of sadness would break and he'd be humiliated yet again. Once was more than enough.
"Well?" Frasier prompted.
"Quit stalling and tell us!" his father yelled. But Frasier apparently wasn't finished with his lecture.
"Daphne went out of her way to be your date and this is how you repay her, by being so insensitive?"
"What about what she did to me, Frasier?" Niles yelled.
The room fell silent and the tears were already making an appearance on his cheeks. However, he made no attempt to hide them. What was the point?
"Fras, I'll leave you two to talk." His father said. "I'm gonna head on over to McGinty's for a beer with Duke and the boys. Maybe the game is still on."
Niles tried to smile but it was impossible. "Thanks Dad."
When they were alone, Frasier looked Niles sternly in the eye. "Now... do you want to tell me what Daphne did to you that was so horrible? Because I can't imagine what-"
Niles shuddered as the events of the evening came rushing back. "She broke my heart!" He yelled, feeling a strange sense of relief that the words were finally out.
But in that same moment, the world felt as though it was crashing down upon him.