Ok, y'all still with me? Hang with me; it'll be good, I promise!

Again, I don't own anything, lyrics, characters, none of it.

Don't You Want Me Baby?

One year ago:

Raoul had brought Christine to the opening of his father's hotel. She thought it was nice, but she wasn't as impressed as he wanted her to be. "Story of us" she thought to herself. Raoul de Chagny was nice enough, but she didn't feel sparks with him. Christine also didn't appreciate how his eyes roamed over her body, as if he were undressing her with every glance. They had been going out for around 6 months, but she kept him at a distance. When her friend Meg asked her why, she could never give a solid reason. But one thing that kept coming to mind was his superiority complex. Raoul was from money, and he made sure everyone knew it.

They walked into the bar, and Christine waved to Meg quickly. Meg's mom had got her a job working in the lounge, and Christine knew she was excited about it. But Christine knew she shouldn't go over to say hi to her, or Raoul would make some snide remark about 'the help'. He looked down on everybody, and Christine wondered why he even was with her. She had a small trust fund, thanks to her dad's music career, but nothing even remotely close to de Chagny money.

They sat in a corner booth with some of Raoul's friends. Christine was excited by the karaoke night the signs advertised. She loved to sing. Singing and music made up some of her favorite memories with her father. She sipped her drink, wondering why Raoul was trying to pull her so close to him.

When the "Karaoke Night" was starting, Raoul spent most of his time making fun of the performers with his friends. Christine blushed, embarrassed by his actions. Then Raoul stood up, chugged down the rest of his drink and challenged his buddies to get up and sing. A few of them did, and didn't sound too bad actually. Raoul was a little irritated that his friends "didn't suck" as he put it. Then he signaled for another round of drinks, and wrapped his arm around Christine, pulling her too close yet again. She rolled her eyes, squirming and trying to move away. He snapped at her "What is your problem? Why are you being such a frigid snot?" She blinked at him, stunned by his anger. Before she could respond, she heard over the sound system "Next we get to hear Raoul and Christine singing a duet! Come on up you two!"

They looked at each other, then at his group of friends laughing. 'They must have signed us up when they went up there.' She thought. As they walked to the stage, Raoul muttered "Please don't act like a brat up there Christine." Then a familiar beat started, and Christine saw the lyrics start, and thought 'Oh great, this song? Raoul will have a field day with this song.' He grabbed the mic, and started singing with enthusiasm more than skill:

"You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up, and turned you around
Turned you into someone new
Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don't forget it's me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too
Don't, don't you want me?
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me
Don't, don't you want me?
You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
It's much too late to find
You think you've changed your mind

You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me oh"

Christine heard the venom and condescension in his voice with every word. She realized that, in his eyes, she was no better than a cheap cocktail waitress. Her turn was coming up, and she decided to go where the music took her. And she knew the music would say all she needed to say:

"I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
That much is true
But even then I knew I'd find a much better place
Either with or without you
The five years we have had have been such good times
I still love you
But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own
I guess it's just what I must do"

She looked Raoul directly in the eye saying those last few lines, and when the song ended, she walked down, grabbed her purse and found Meg. "Meg," she said quickly "You guys needing any help here?"

Present day:

Christine wiped her eyes with her apron. 'I probably shouldn't have sung that song' she thought with regret. Only this morning she had seen the papers. It was all over the news: "de Chagny Heir Engaged to Supermodel". It wasn't that she wanted Raoul. She knew better than that. It was just… she wanted someone in her life. Someone who belonged there. Someone who wouldn't make fun of her love of music; who would curl up with her to read in front of a fire. She knew it probably made her seem like an old-fashioned hopeless romantic, but that's what she wanted. She continued crying softly in the hallway, not noticing the figure moving toward her. Then she heard a melodic voice say "Christine? Can I help?"

She looked up, wiping her eyes, to see a tall man walking up to her. She vaguely recognized his voice. Then she remembered 'He's the man from the bar!' She got her first good look at him. He had dark hair and golden/green eyes. But what she focused in on was the mask covering most of his face. Then he spoke again "Why are you crying Christine?"