My Love

The Piano Lesson

"I can't do this, why don't we just go spend the day together instead?" Daphne Moon pouted and laid her head on the rim on the piano.

Niles Crane, the youngest of the Crane boys, shook his head, "No, my love. I refuse to let you give up. What kind of piano teacher would I be if I let you succumb to tired hands?"

"I'll show you tired hands if we can just stop and go to the bedroom," Daphne raised her eyebrows.

Niles stared at her half aghast and half turned-on. He continued staring for a while before yanking her off the piano bench and away to the back bedroom.

Before they got halfway to the room, the doorbell rang. "That would be Roz," Daphne looked a bit disappointed and Niles quickly covered himself with the piano books.

"Would you...uhm...get that?" Niles covered the part of them that was a little too aroused to show in front of company.

Daphne, not entirely oblivious, laughed and went to get the door.

"This piano stuff is really fun, Niles!" Roz Doyle smiled ear to ear and skipped over to the piano. "Look what I learned." Roz began playing the treble clef part of Hungarian Dance No. 2 by Brahms and Niles joined in with the more advanced portion. The two sounded great together and Daphne got jealous and frustrated.

"I'll never be that good," She sighed.

"It's okay," Niles encouraged, "Go practice on your practice mat," Niles continued playing with Roz.

"Hmph," Daphne snorted.

Martin Crane, the witty and humorous father of Frasier and Niles sat in the new old recliner that Frasier had made for him special after accidentally throwing off the condo balcony. "This sure is nice, Frais."

"Thank you, dad. I am glad that you are enjoying it. As my favorite litterateur once declared, 'We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment from a contrast and only very little from a state of things.' "  Frasier Crane, the eldest Crane brother quoted Sigmund Freud.

Martin rolled his eyes, "Do you ever stop speaking like a damn dictionary? Geez."

"Oh mind you, dad. I apologize if my dexterity does not do well with you," Frasier nodded and walked off.

"Oh, geez, he could've just played baseball,"

Eddie, Martin's beloved Jack Russel Terrier, jumped onto the chair by the table where Niles and Daphne sat to eat their dinner.

"I am not feeding you any of this...uh, what did you call this again, Daphne?"

"Herby toad in the hole," Daphne said and took another bite.

"You English people have got to find better names for your dishes," Niles reluctantly took another forkful.

Rolling her eyes, Daphne insisted that Niles stop acting like a baby, "Oh, pipe down. You liked it fine until you knew the name,"

"Sorry," He tried sneaking a bit to Eddie.

When Eddie barked, Daphne lightly slapped Niles' arm, "Don't give any to him; I made this for us, not the dog."

Martin hobbled in, "Eddie is not a dog, he's Eddie."

Both Niles and Daphne laughed.