Niles Crane is just so immensely damaged that it kills me.
Frasier left it late, but honestly, if he didn't give Niles that push of hope in SBSB, would Niles have ever come clean about his feelings for Daphne?
It just makes me so sad that he doubted Daphne could ever feel the same way about him. He did have chance after chance - and he failed every time.
But what stopped him from even trying?
Lack of self-confidence caused by years of emotional abuse? Fear of losing Daphne forever? Had it just gone on for so long that it became a kind of cognitive distortion where Niles couldn't even fathom the alternative?
I think over the years, as his relationship status drifts from married, separated, single, married again, etc, that his reasons for staying quiet changes along with it.
But, overall, it's his sense of ethics and decency towards Daphne that stops him.
He prioritises her feelings so much more than his own.
And it's so damn warped! 'I can't tell her because yesterday she met a guy at a bar, so I'll wait for that to play out first.' 'She said she'll never be involved with a man who's separated, so I'm not even going to tell her about my feelings just in case it causes awkwardness for her.'
The discipline this man has to keep it stuffed away for so long is insane. Especially thinking of how many close calls there were. It would have taken one half of a whisper, one moment of silence, one guilty look away. But he just couldn't.
Because he always thought of her first.
