Title: A Handful of Truths and One Big Dare
Pairing: Frasier/Roz
Rating: K+
Genre: Het
Cat: Humor, Romance
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Frasier and Roz get into a shouting match and end up revealing things they'd been keeping secret.
Author's Note: I'm still working on my longer fics, but I saw this great "imagine your OTP" post on Tumblr last night that inspired me to write something quick for these two, so here ya go! Enjoy!

"This is Dr. Frasier Crane, wishing you a good day and good mental health." Frasier removed his headphones and set them down, turning to the door that separated his booth from Roz's, just waiting for the storm of words she was sure to unleash on him. She'd been in the most foul mood all day, and he seemed to be the cause of her problems, or at least she was taking them all out on him.

"Well?" he said when she pushed through the door without saying anything.

"Well what?" she retorted, shoving some papers at him. "Here's your messages."

"How considerate of you," Frasier said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Roz folded her arms across her chest and turned the other way, refusing to look at him. "Look, I don't know what you think I did, but if you would be so kind to regale me with whatever offense I may have committed. . ."

Roz spun to face him, holding up a hand as she went off on him. "Could you, for once in your life, speak like a normal human being? My God, Frasier, you are the most pompous, arrogant. . ."

"Well, excuse me for using the education I spent tens of thousands of dollars to receive! But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Roz's mouth dropped open, but she didn't let his insult stop her retorting. "Are you calling me stupid because I didn't go to one of your fancy East Coast schools? I'm sure all your devoted listeners would just love to hear that. Hey, Seattle, Frasier thinks you're all idiots! That would go over real well, wouldn't it?"

Frasier's eyes blazed as he bounced to his feet. "I said nothing about greater Seattle being stupid, nor did I call you stupid, but if you want to wear the label, by all means, go right ahead!"

"You'd really love that, wouldn't you? Not that I'd call myself stupid, but that I took your useless advice for once!"

"My 'useless advice' is the reason you even have a job, so I'd be thanking me if I were you!"

"I'm the best producer this station has and you know it! I could produce any show here, but for some reason, I choose to stay on your show, so you should be the one thanking me!"

"Oh, yes, I'm so incredibly thankful to have my producer come in here and berate me for daring to try to help people! What a concept!"

"Your producer?" Now Roz sounded wounded. "I kinda thought after all these years that we were, I don't know, friends, but if you want to revert to being mere acquaintances. . ."

"Oh, believe me, if I could change how I feel about you, I would do it in a heartbeat!"

"The feeling's mutual, buddy!" Roz paused for a second, breathing heavily, then continued. "God, I don't know why I even try to have a rational conversation with you! You are the most pig-headed, stubborn. . ."

"And if you had ever looked at a thesaurus, you would know those words mean the same thing!"

"I do know that, you idiot! I used both of them to emphasize how you always have to be right all the time!"

"Well, if you hate it so much, why don't you just leave! Nobody's forcing you to stay!"

"Because I love you, you moron!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I love you, too! How do you like that?!"

"What?"

"What 'what'? I just told you. . ." Frasier trailed off as he realized what he'd said and what she had said and he gave Roz a shocked look. "Did you say you love me?"

Roz's anger had dissipated, replaced with the same shock Frasier felt. "Did you say you love me?"

They just stared at each other for a minute, forgetting the reason why they'd been arguing in the first place, if there was one, then Frasier broke the silence.

"Well, it's nothing we haven't told each other before, right? Of course we care about each other! We're friends!" Roz looked as though she were going to be sick, and she turned away, her hand covering her mouth, and Frasier's expression morphed into a mixture of worry and panic as he realized she meant she love loved him – and he had meant the same thing.

"Roz, will you look at me?" he finally said, and she shook her head firmly.

"No! This is too weird, Frasier. I didn't mean to say that and . . . oh my God, I feel so stupid!"

Frasier waited a few seconds before resting his hands on her shoulders, causing her to tense slightly, but she relaxed when he started rubbing her upper arms. "You shouldn't feel stupid, Roz. I . . . was just trying to cover my own feelings when I said we're just friends. I just couldn't imagine you feeling that way toward me."

Roz did turn to face him then. "Are you serious, Frasier? How do you imagine I felt? I'm just your producer – okay, your friend; I don't have the fancy degree or upbringing you have." She looked down, but Frasier lifted her chin with a finger, smiling at her, and she couldn't help but return his smile.

"Roz, do you really think that's what matters to me? I don't care where you went to school. I only care about who you are as a person."

"Oh my God," Roz whispered. "You love me."

Frasier just continued to smile at her, then looked out the window, remembering they were still in his booth and in a fairly public area. It wasn't the most ideal place for a conversation like this, so he moved his hand down to hers, then said, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere more private."

Roz nodded and laughed. "Last thing we need is Bulldog running in here and interrupting us."

Frasier grasped her hand and led her from the booth and down the hallway, finding a quiet conference room for them to use and ushering her through the door. While he closed the door behind them, Roz walked to the table in the middle of the room and sat on the edge of it, waiting for Frasier.

"So, now that we are alone. . ." Frasier said, smiling at her. He walked toward her, stopping just in front of her, and lifted one of her hands. "What had you in such a surly mood earlier?"

Roz shook her head. "Oh, it's dumb."

"I don't care. I want to hear it. What kind of relationship do you expect us to have if we can't be honest with each other?"

Roz just looked at him for a few moments before giving in. "Okay, you win." She let out a deep breath. "Lately you've been a little whiny about not being able to find women, nobody's ever good enough, nobody wants the same thing you do. And normally I can just let it go, but this morning, when you were convinced you'd dated every decent woman in Seattle," she shrugged, "that upset me. It was like you were saying you'd never looked at me that way, or worse, that I wasn't worth pursuing because I didn't live up to your standards." She rolled her eyes. "Happy now?"

"No, I'm not happy," Frasier said, and Roz looked as though she were getting upset again, so he quickly continued. "I'm not happy because I unintentionally upset you. Obviously I wasn't referring to you when making those complaints about women, but I can understand how you didn't know that. How could you? You had no idea how I felt about you, not until a few minutes ago. I daresay I'm rather glad we had that argument."

Roz had to laugh at that. "If you would have told me when we first met that we'd be having this conversation right now, I would have thought you were insane." She sobered up then. "What are we doing, Frasier? Is this really a good idea?"

"Well, we can't control how we feel," Frasier said, his voice soft. "That's the wonder of life. The most unexpected things can sometimes be the most wonderful."

"Can we really make this work?" Roz asked, and couldn't help but stare at his lips. Even if they decided not to pursue a relationship, couldn't they at least kiss?

Frasier shrugged. "We won't know unless we try. And I know you're scared," he continued before she could say it, "but it's a risk that's worth taking. And I know you, Roz Doyle, and you're not one to back down from a challenge." He grinned at her and she smiled back, ducking her head a bit. He lifted a hand to her cheek, caressing it with the pad of his thumb. "So what do you say?"

Roz bit her lip, still grinning as she did so, and slid off the table so she was just inches away from Frasier. Their closeness was dizzying, and as she ran her hands up his chest and inhaled the intoxicating aroma of his cologne, she knew this was the right decision.

She let out a small gasp as Frasier grasped her waist and pulled her even closer to him, his lips mere centimeters from hers now, and just before their lips met in a deep kiss, Roz gave him her answer.

"Challenge accepted."

THE END!