Can We Keep Him?
This is a one-shot story.
Summary:
Christine and Erik are married and live under the Opera Populaire, which is now rebuilt. They have a daughter who is not deformed, has her father's musical talent at only seven and mothers singing voice. And that's basically it. Erik finds that he actually enjoys the role of parenthood…
Disclaimer:
I do not own Erik or Christine or the lair or the Opera Populaire. Goddamn life! No Erik. Oh except my ErikMuse, which is mine for all eternity and cuddles me when I am sad…
Everything was peaceful. The sound of the lake splashing against the shore was refreshing and the gentle light of the candles soothing, to two hectic and full minds.
Christine lay peacefully against her husband on a long couch beside the organ. Christine had finally talked Erik out of wearing his mask around the house- well the lair I suppose and he no longer did. Their young daughter- Eve- thought nothing of her father's face and had never asked. There was never any reason to because Christine had explained it all before.
Eve found the stories of how her mother and father met fascinating and always insisted on one of her parents telling her one of the stories before she went to sleep. Her favourite was the one about The Angel of Music and the young girl who he taught to sing. She always insisted that they sing the songs that they sang at the time and they obliged.
Her favourite song, like her mother's was Music of the Night, and Erik found that he could barely get through one week without her asking him to sing it to her. Sometimes she sang along and sometimes she just listened.
She had long dark hair like her mother and soft features. She had her father's eyes and quick thinking. And of course the best of both, her mother's high soprano voice and her fathers musical talent and love for composing. She had begged her father to teach her how to read and write music. She could now play the Point of No Return right through perfectly on the organ.
Her mother took her to school and collected her, and her father took her out riding at the weekends in a remote part of the nearby woods. Erik had been designing a house for the last few years for them to live in because they could not keep a young girl like that underground, they had both decided one night.
And now they were sitting, just enjoying the silence and each other's company. But the silence was eventually broken by a small voice.
"I can't seem to get to sleep," both parents looked over to see their daughter standing at the door of her bedroom with a fluffy and worn teddy bear clutched in her hand.
"Also there is a spider in my room. It's looking at me," she said her voice going high pitched.
"That's your field of expertise Erik, you know what I'm like with spiders," Christine said leaning forward to let him up.
"Yes dear," said with a smile. He walked over to Eve and she immediately grabbed his leg. She wouldn't let go either.
"Eve if you want me to get the spider you need to let go of my leg so I can walk," he said looking down at her. She let go and grabbed his hand instead.
Christine found this amusing and watched the two people that she loved most in all the world disappear into the bedroom.
Erik emerged a few minutes later with his hand closed over something gently. He started walking towards Christine with it.
"Erik, don't you dare," she said with a smile jumping up. He laughed and then turned towards the door. He returned after a while and went back into Eve's bedroom to try to get her to go to sleep.
She heard the sound of Erik's voice coming through the walls. She smiled and knew that Eve would have no problems sleeping after Music of the Night.
After a few minutes Erik re-emerged and sat down at Christine's feet. She was lying back long ways.
She lifted her legs up with ease after all those years of ballet and Erik slid under them, so that her knees were resting on his lap.
"She okay now?" asked Christine. Erik nodded and let his head roll back and rest on the back of the couch.
Christine took her legs of his lap and shimmied up beside him. She kissed the front of his very exposed neck gently. She felt his hand rub the back of her neck.
The next day Christine and Eve went shopping and arrived home with more than food and clothes.
"Can we keep him please?" Eve begged stroking the black cat that sat purring contentedly on her lap.
Erik looked down into a mirror image of his eyes and couldn't resist saying; "Okay if your mother approves," Eve looked hopefully at her mother.
Unfortunately, the black cat, Carlotta, had taken a shine to Erik.
Christine was in Eve's room sorting out her clothes, when she heard; "GODDAMN CAT GET OFF THE PIANO! ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH" She laughed and walked briskly to the door to see Erik chasing Carlotta around the room with a candlestick.
"ERIK?" She shouted over the clang as the low flying candlestick missed Carlotta's tail by millimetres.
"WHAT!" He shouted. She raised both eyebrows at him and he said: "Sorry".
"If Eve saw you she'd kill you," Christine told him with a smirk.
He sat back down at the piano with a muttered 'I know 'and as soon as he sat down, the cat jumped up onto the keys.
He turned round and looked at Christine pointing at the cat. He began to turn purple so she walked over and grabbed the cat and carried her away. "Thank you!"
Later that day Christine was about to leave to collect Eve from school when she appeared out of no where.
There was something in her hand. It was a lead and a dog walked slowly from behind her back.
"Mummy, can we keep him?"
Please review. Come on, ErikMuse will give you a hug (after he's killed the cat and drowned the dog).