Frasier knew what the talk would be about, but he said "Us? What's wrong?"

"Sit down," Lilith said and Frasier did. "It's just not working Frasier," Lilith said to her husband. "We've tried everything. Couple's therapy, romantic weekends, the lot. But nothing's worked."

"I agree," Frasier said sadly. Since Lilith had returned to him, the two had tried their hardest to repair their marriage, but things weren't working out. Frasier just couldn't forget about the affair, and he and Lilith often had screaming matches late at night. They also saw the effect this had on their 3-year-old son Frederick, who was very unhappy at times.

"I think it would be in our best interests if we separate."

Frasier knew this would be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to say. "I agree, my love. I'll move into the spare bedroom until I get my own place."

-----

Frasier decided to take a walk to clear his head. What was wrong with his life? Oh, if only he had enough fingers to count the ways.

His practise was losing business. A new shrink had started on the local radio station and people were calling him instead of visiting Frasier. Telephone shrinks, Frasier thought. What a load of crap.

Lilith was leaving him again. He knew, deep down, this was the best thing for both of them, but all the same it was very hard to let her go. They'd been together for a few years and had a wonderful son together. Sure, he and Lilith had had their ups and downs, but so did all couples. Woody and Kelly, Norm and Vera, Niles and Maris.....

Niles and Maris. Frasier remembered his younger brother and his wife back in their hometown of Seattle. A place he'd hardly visited since his mother died a few years back. Frasier sat down on a park bench and thought about his family.

His brother Niles. Whom he'd told his friends at Cheers didn't exist. Well, not accurately. He'd just never mentioned he had a brother. His father was a different matter. Frasier and Martin Crane were completely different. Frasier had been slightly embarrassed about his dad, a cop. He'd told his friends Martin had been a research scientist. And he'd also told them he was dead, after that big argument one night a few years ago. It was different now. Frasier wanted to tell his friends the truth about Martin - that he was a cop and alive, but he couldn't. He couldn't admit he'd lied to his friends.

Frasier got up and walked to Cheers. He walked in and sat down by his friends Norm and Cliff.

"Hi Fras," said Norm. "You OK?"

"Lilith and I separated today," Frasier said sadly.

"Oh," Norm replied. "Woody, give us a beer. Put it on Cliffy's tab."

"Hey!" Cliff said.

"We need to help our friend Cliff," said Norm in a matter-of-fact way. "You can do your bit that way."

Woody gave them the beers. Frasier told Norm and Cliff about his woes.

"You want my advice?" asked Norm. "Move. I went through some problems with Vera some years back. Things weren't working out, so I moved."

"You moved to Boston," said Frasier.

"Nah, I moved barstools," Norm replied. "The world seems a lot better from this one."

-----

Frasier picked up his telephone and dialled a number he hadn't called for a while, but knew off by heart: 1-206-555-6453.

A woman answered. "Hello, Crane residence."

"Hello, is Mr Crane there?"

"Just a minute." The woman went off and a few seconds later Frasier's brother Niles answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello Niles."

"Frasier! Hello brother."

"I need to talk.

"My God, what happened?" asked Niles.

"The building where my practise is was burnt down in a fire. I've lost everything. My wife, my job, everything. They suspect arson."

"Well, Frasier, you still have your son. And you can get a new job."

"No, I can't. Lilith and I have yet to come to an agreement about custody and a settlement and some new bigshot radio psychiatrist is taking people away from us regular shrinks."

"Yes, that's something Maris and I hope to never to go through, a messy divorce."

"Right," Frasier said, a bit cheered up by Niles' optimism.

"Don't worry Frasier, things will work out OK. Are you coming home to visit soon?"

"Maybe I will," Frasier answered. "How's Dad?"

"Dad? Oh, he's OK. Don't see him that often. I...oh, sorry, got to go. Maris has got herself caught in the rose bush again."

"As if it weren't thorny enough," smiled Frasier.

-----

Cheers was almost empty when Frasier entered. Cliff had won a competition to see a baseball game and he, Norm, Sam, Woody and Paul had gone to see the game. Frasier had been invited but he had declined He wasn't into baseball much anyway. Frasier sat down in Norm's barstool. He'd never sat there before - Norm was always there. Next to him was a woman.

Frasier was feeling lonely. His friends weren't there, Frederick was with his mother at a "Mommy and Me" class. Frasier looked at the woman. She looked great.

"What'll it be Frasier?" Carla LeBec, the waitress at Cheers, asked.

"Wine please," Frasier answered.

"Oh, another wine drinker!" said the woman. "I don't see many wine drinkers in here. But then I've never been here before. Florence Morris."

"Dr Frasier Crane."

"I've seen you around Dr Crane, my sister Joanne went to you for therapy a few years back."

"Really? And call me Frasier."

"Yeah, I must admit you did a great job for a real shrink. Oops, there I go again, real shrink. I'm so used to radio shrinks, what with me being the WABC station manager, that it's a bit of a shock speaking to a real one."

"Yes, I'm not one for radio shrinks."

"Really? I'd have thought you'd like them. I think you'd be good at it. Your voice sounds great, and your advice would be really helpful. It helped my sister a lot. If we didn't already have our Dr Steve, I'd snap you up at once."

"Me?" Frasier asked.

"Yep. Oh sorry, here's my husband."

Florence's husband Scott walked in. "Hi honey, sorry I'm late. Come on, we can still make our reservation."

"OK honey," Florence giggled. "Nice speaking to you Dr Crane."

Florence and Scott left. Frasier turned to Carla.

"What d'ya think Carla, could I be a radio shrink?"

"Sure, you bore us to death here, why not spread your audience," she said as she walked off.

"It is an idea. Maybe a radio shrink is what I could do....."