This chapter is dedicated to emeraldphan for their lovely review and also a bit of help with something I was looking for, and also to goldenphoenix who may or may not actually ever read this seeing as she's not a fan of musicals ( I know!).

I'm hoping that this can develop into romance for e/c without it being too creepy and dark but that can be hard to achieve. I've made the age gap as small as is reasonable so Christine is now seventeen and Erik will be in his early twenties.

Last night I watched a recording of phantom at the Royal Albert hall. I cried (a lot) and marvelled at the gorgeousness of all the phantoms and then I wanted to write, so here this is!

I don't own phantom - if I did the ending would be a little different ;)

The sunlight streaming through the window illuminated the specks of dust floating and falling mid-air. Christine scrunched up her face, then blearily blinked her eyes. She sighed, and was just closing her eyes again when they shot open and she sat up, suddenly wide awake.

That voice.

She took in her surroundings and her mouth fell open. She could feel tears coming as the realisation hit her.

No, no! It couldn't have been a dream! And yet here she was, in her bed in the little attic room. Christine felt crashing disappointment surround her as that feeling of protection slipped away. She was still alone after all. No angels had miraculously appeared, no disembodied voices had sung her to sleep. It had all been a dream.

And yet, what a dream! It had felt so real, and she still recalled every moment with incredible clarity and detail. She had been playing her father's violin - but, hadn't that actually happened? Christine knew she had gone to the practise rooms and played the old violin, she was certain that that at least had been real.

And after she had played, she had sung. And when she had started to cry, he had sung.

Confused, Chrisine played everything back in her head. Was it possible that she had actually passed out from crying and exhaustion, and someone had brought her back here? Who? As much as it pained her to think it, the angel couldn't have been there. It had been such a wonderful dream, but a dream no less. So how had she woken up here?

Christine glanced at her clock, then nearly fell out of her uncomfortable bed. She was so, so late! Grumbling and muttering, she raced around the room getting ready before speeding out and down the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later she burst into the café with an apology on her lips but it vanished as she saw the crowd of people jostling at the till. Christine fought her way through and finally reached the counter, unlocking her cash register quickly and throwing an agonised look at poor Meg who had been left to deal with the small army of impatient customers alone. Meg rolled her eyes but a quirk of her lips told Christine that she wasn't really angry, and Christine breathed out both in relief and slight panic. She turned to face the throng of people filling the café and pasted on a "patient employee" smile.

"Good morning sir, what can I get you today?"

"So your excuse for abandoning me to fight for me life against the hordes of customers is that you overslept?" Meg looked decidedly unimpressed. "Christine, you never get enough sleep and trust me, I'm glad that you're getting some rest, but don't you think it's time to invest in an alarm clock?"

"I know, I'm so, so -"

"Sorry, yes I heard you the first five times! I know." Meg sighed and Christine smiled weakly.
"Just don't do it again, okay? I barely escaped with my life!"

Christine's smile grew and she nudged her friend.

"Drama queen" she teased gently.

"And proud of it." Meg sniffed. The customers had all been served now, with only a few remaining people sitting at the lonely tables. It was mid morning and looked to be a beautiful day outside, not that Christine would get to enjoy it from inside the café. And when she finally got off work that evening, Christine knew that, as always, she would have just enough energy to do her homework before collapsing on her bed.

Another customer walked in and Meg served him quickly before remembering something and turning back to her best friend.

"Oh Christine, I forgot - I told Poligny that you were staying with your aunt in town and got stuck there overnight."

Christine stared at her, exasperated.

"Why would you do that? He knows I don't have any family; that's why I have to work here in the first place! I still think he only took me on so I could finish school. He'll have seen right though it!"

Meg threw her hands up. "What was I supposed to say? He put me on the spot and I didn't know why you weren't here, it was just the first thing that came into my head!"

Christine sighed. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault Meg, it was mine. Don't worry about it, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Mm" was Meg's uncertain reply.

As predicted, Christine barely managed to finish her homework that evening before stumbling to her bed and flopping down on it. She was absolutely exhausted, but that was nothing new. Even after her extra sleep, it had been a long, troublesome day.

One customer had threatened to complain when her chai latte wasn't hot enough, and after Christine's profuse apology and an offer to do another one free of charge, the girl had just scowled and stalked out, throwing the full cup of scalding hot liquid into the bin. Christine couldn't understand how anyone could be so rude. Of course, she'd encountered worse than moody teenagers in this job - working with the public had its drawbacks, especially when Christine was the only thing between the customer and their caffeine. She didn't mind, really - Christine was just so grateful to have the job that she didn't care that much about the negatives.

Without this job, and the generous discount she received on her school bills. Christine didn't know where she'd be. Certainly not here at the Garnier School for Girls, working towards her A levels. She did have to live in the little attic room away from the other girls' dormitories but that suited Christine quite well. She was not an unfriendly girl, but appreciated her privacy, and very much liked having somewhere quiet to retreat to at the end of the day. She still had to trek to the shared girl's bathrooms two floors down every morning and evening, though.

Having finally finished her essay, Christine rolled over on her bed to pick up her romance novel from the bedside table she had found in a charity shop. However, her gaze landed not on the book, but on something quite unexpected.

A single red rose, thorns removed and tied with a black ribbon lay innocently on the table.

Please leave me a review! I would love to have any kind of feedback at all. Thank you!