He approached her after the show, his long, brown hair slicked back into a ponytail. His chocolate-colored eyes found their way into her soul as he smiled. "Samantha, you were marvelous tonight. But then again, you've been marvelous for the whole show."
He extended a long-stemmed red rose with a single red ribbon tied around the middle of it. She looked at it and smiled as tears sprang to her eyes. She looked deeply into his. "Thank you, Jonathan."
There was something in his eyes that night that had never been there before: a longing. "Well," he said, smiling that sad smile. "I'm off to Chicago."
A feeling of sadness flooded over her. "When are you leaving?"
"Not until next week. But this is closing night. And I probably won't ever see you again."
She started crying and he gathered her into his arms, letting his fingers run through her long, blond hair. "Don't cry, Christine."
He held her for a moment before he placed one finger under her chin and raised her teary eyes to look into his clear, yet sorrowful ones. "Hey! Keep your chin up. Phantoms fly away- no matter how much you want them to stay- it's just the way they are."
"I don't want you to go." She whispered. "You don't have to be the Phantom forever." There, she had said it. Samantha Carter admitted that she had fallen for the older, mysterious, Jonathan- Christine had fallen for the Phantom.
He tenderly kissed her lips. "I know, but what's your dad going to think? I'm twenty-eight."
She turned her clear, blue eyes upward. "He'll deal with it."
He shook his head. "I don't think so. Samantha, this is how it's gotta go down."
"Then stay tonight," she whispered.
He shook his head again. "No."
"Please!" She begged.
"I...I can't."
"You can't what? Stay here and comfort me?"
He took a deep breath. "It's easy to say that now, but...I couldn't do that to you."
She closed her eyes and drew his head closer to her own. She reached up and kissed him, slowly allowing her tongue to explore his mouth. She pulled away from him. "Stay."
"You're going to be the death of me, Samantha Carter." He said, longing for more. They spent the rest of the night dancing to the music of the night.