Hi all, thank you again for your incredible support of this story. I think if it weren't for this story, my blood pressure would be off the charts! As always I appreciate your comments and reviews more than you know. A huge thanks to POTOPHAN1010 for her edits, counseling, etc. Disclaimer – Don't own Phantom. Also, I think there was an error with my blog, but for those who want to participate in some fun things and contests I'm having over there, please go to www(dot)leigherikson(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

Thanks again.

WTIE

Chapter Two

Dana Marlon stood the moment the light above one of her patient's room lit up. Someone needed her and taking her chart with her, she rushed to the room to see what she could do.

"Mrs. Sanders?"

The woman groaned and held out her hand.

Dana reached over and took her hand. "Are you in pain?"

The woman nodded.

"I can get you something for that." She gave her patient a pat. "How about some water?"

Her patient shook her head.

"Juice?" Dana raised her voice trying to make her choice sound more appealing.

"No."

"What can I get you?"

"Diet soda." The woman managed a smile. "I have to have diet soda."

"You really shouldn't have that yet." Dana told her.

"I have to have it so I can heal properly." The woman narrowed her eyes. "It is what I need, you are here to serve me."

Dana let go of her hand and pressed her lips together.

"My doctor told me this was like a spa, and I want some diet soda." The woman waved her away.

Dana wanted to say she was a nurse, not a nursemaid, she wanted to tell her the carbonation may hurt her stomach so soon after her surgery. She wanted to tell her this wasn't a spa, it was a recovery center. She wanted to take a glass of diet soda and pour on this lady's freshly stitched face.

Instead she backed away to retrieve the drink.

"Miss?" The woman called to her.

Dana stopped.

"Do you think I look better?" The woman lifted her chin. "Younger?"

Dana bit her lip. She had no clue what the woman looked like before, but right now it appeared as if someone took a board and beat her face in with it. In her two weeks at this job she noticed all the facelift patients not only looked like Mrs. Sanders, but acted like her as well.

She wanted to tell her she looked like crap. "I'm sure you'll be very happy with the results."

Dana stepped out of the room and peeked at her other patient, the man she helped pick up from the Russian reconstructive surgeon that evening. This man still slept, and she tiptoed in to check his IV. His surgery was no facelift, she had studied the man's photos and it appeared as if he would heal very well. The surgeon at that practice was quite talented.

She walked through the nurse's station, glancing at the stack of insurance forms to be filled out. When she became a nurse she dreamed of being the right hand go-to girl of some brilliant surgeon. Back in Nebraska she was at least beginning to assist in surgeries, but then Garrett told her she needed to move.

Another light caught her attention, this time from her phone.

Her stomach tightened, it had to be him. She looked all around to make sure no one was around and almost fell trying to catch the call before she missed him. "Hello?" She straightened up and tried to sound breathy, alluring.

"When are you off?" Garrett yelled into the phone over the sounds of people, banging and other ruckus going on in the background.

She breathed and turned to the clock. Maybe he had time to see her tonight. Their schedules didn't seem to coincide. "About an hour."

"We'll just miss each other." He said.

She didn't answer, trying to figure out where Garrett's whereabouts.

"Hey, you're not upset are you?"

"Where are you?" Wherever her fiancé was, it seemed like quite a commotion was happening.

"On my way out. The firm got a big computer contract."

"Oh." She squeezed her eyes shut. Computer contracts meant weeks away. When he overhauled the computer system at the hospital in Nebraska, he also overhauled her life. He was the man from the city taking the girl from the country and giving her a dream life.

"Hey, no sadness. When I get back I'll see you."

No talk of missing her, only the fact they were missing each other. No talk of the place they were supposed to find together, or the wedding they were supposed to be planning. "When will you be back?"

"You know how these things go." He laughed.

She shook her head in any attempt to clear it. "Is there anything you want me doing while you're gone?" All she needed to do next is get down her knees and beg him to throw her a bone.

"Take your time to learn the city and start making some friends."

He wasn't giving her a bone he was kicking her to the curb. She willed herself not to cry, but was betrayed when she sniffed.

"When I get back I'll plan something special, just you and me. Hang in there. Can you do that?"

She nodded into the phone, but if he wouldn't give her a bone, she needed to go digging. "Do you miss me?" In case he forgot he hadn't seen her all week either.

He laughed again before he answered. "Sure. I just need to go on this trip. I'll call you when I get there. You know I miss you, baby."

She pressed her hand to her chest.

"I'm sorry I left so fast, but we'll like the money later. We'll be together."

She exhaled. He was talking about the future. "I love you."

She waited to hear the words back, but instead there was a round of cheers in the background. "Garrett?"

"You too. I have to run."

The phone went dead and Dana pulled it back from her ear and stared at the screen as the light dimmed. "He's just busy. He has to do his job."

The light above Mrs. Sander's room went off again and Dana put the phone down to get the woman's soda.

KKKKKKKKK

Erik forgot.

He forgot what it was like to let it out, let the blood ooze down his face. He forgot what it was like to forget. For those few minutes of pain nothing else mattered, the pain took everything, all his attention.

Maybe he could forget a little more, and he repeated the action, yelling out as he made his way down his face again.

"Erik!" Anton burst into the room. "Stop! What's the matter?" He grabbed Erik's hands and pried them off his face.

Erik resisted.

"Erik!" Anton screamed.

Anton wouldn't leave until he stopped and he loosened the tension in his arms causing Anton to fall back. "Leave me alone." He headed straight to his bathroom.

Anton followed. "What's happening?"

Erik went to the sink and took a towel.

"Tell me, Erik."

He glanced over at Anton who was holding the papers to the recovery center. Her name was there and he grabbed the papers holding them out until he saw the shy beauty's signature.

He shut his eyes before he read the name. Her name would make her real, and he tore the papers to shreds throwing them up creating a strange confetti as the pieces floated down.

"What are you doing?" Anton bent down and started picking up the pieces. "What is this?" He held up a fist full of the tattered remnants.

Erik wiped his face on the towel and hit the papers out of Anton's hand. "It represents everything I will never have."

"I don't understand." Once more Anton tried to collect the papers.

"Leave them." Erik stepped on the papers.

"What won't you have?" Anton stood up.

Only able to shake his head, Erik walked back to his bedroom.

"You're a surgeon like you wanted to be." Anton said.

"I'm a rogue surgeon, no doctor. One day I will get us all thrown in jail for operating without a license. You can take credit for that as well." Erik looked out the window. His bedroom overlooked the city side of the brownstone, not the ally.

"You knew it would be like this. You said you would rather not be seen." Anton went to his side. "You can stop anytime, you have enough money to retire and do whatever you want."

"Then what am I supposed to do, sit and rot by myself?" He wondered what that woman was doing right now.

"You have helped many people. The work you do pro bono is beyond compare." Anton reminded him.

"Yes my reward for operating on the rich and deformed." Erik inhaled. He insisted that for every paying surgery he performed he also helped someone that really needed it. "They never even know it's me."

"You are not alone. You have me and Olena and Fletcher. That is more than you ever thought you would have."

"But not what I want." Erik lowered his voice, not sure why he let that much out.

"You want a woman."

Erik didn't answer. Everyone, including himself, tended to forget he was still a man, a young man, with needs and desires.

"Maybe you need to look at what you do have…." Anton put his hand on Erik's shoulder.

"Instead of what will never be." Erik moved away.

Milan pointed to the papers on the floor. "Was it the nurse?"

"I don't know." Erik walked across the room, crouched down and started picking up the scraps.

Anton stayed silent, only coming over to help.

"She was very beautiful, and unmarred." Erik stared down at the papers. "It's strange."

"What is?"

"How much you can learn about someone if you just watch them for a few minutes. I could tell she was smart but she was scared. What was she scared of?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter anyhow. I don't know who she is and if she knew me, she wouldn't want to."

"Maybe…" Anton's voice hinted at hope. Santa Clause who promised the poor boy a pony when there was no way that his parents could afford it.

"Don't go there." Hope didn't exist. She would never want him. Erik collected the rest of the scraps of paper and threw them in the garbage. "Get another copy of the release papers tomorrow. How was the patient?"

"I'll check on him tomorrow, if I need you, we will arrange that."

"When's the next surgery?"

"I have a wife whose husband decided to use her as a punching bag." Anton motioned toward the door. "Do you want to start making a plan?"

He was a dog, and the new surgery was his bone. "I feel very old." He followed Milan down to the medical offices. All he needed was a leash.

"You're too young to be old." Milan chuckled and guided him to his chair.

He sat down at his desk and began studying his next case and started making notes as he looked at the woman's picture and x-rays before him. Whoever had done this to her had really made a mess, but he wondered if this woman had known love a least a little. He shook his head and went back to trying to see how he could fix her and didn't go to bed until the sun was rising again.