AN: Hey everyone! First off, I'd like to Thank you waggers12345 for your support, and I'd just like to say…at the risk of sounding sappy…you and AngelicMinx are the life of my story. : D…Here is chapter 5!

…Still don't own POTO…

Chapter 5

It was around three o-clock in the afternoon when they reached the out skirts of town. They had followed the caravan, from the bushes, but If they went into the city now, it would be like walking into a trap.

So Erik, decided to stay hidden until night fall. Erik looked at his tag-a-long, "Well, Joanne, I have to stay here until it is safe, but you can go…if you want." Erik said with some hesitance.

Joanne caught Erik's eyes, "Erik, I'm not going to leave you." She said, smiling at him with some unreadable emotion.

Erik just watched her, and together, they waited for the blanket of night to cover Paris.

"So…what now…I…I mean now that we are here?" Joanne asked. Erik, who had been thinking along the same lines, replied, "Well, you can go to the opera house, and…I…well I will have to find a place to hide until the gypsies leave."

Joanne sighed, and with a small smile said "Maybe you could hide in the opera house…I mean its big enough." Erik thought about that for a bit before he finally answered, "That just might work." Joanne's smile grew bigger, and out of nowhere she ran up to him and hugged him.

Erik, shocked at first, soon found that he was holding her as well. "Erik, please don't leave me…your all I have now." Joanne muttered into his shirt. "I will stay with you, for as long as you want me to," Erik whispered into her hair.

They stood like that for several moments, until they moved away from each other.

The next few hours were spent talking about everything and nothing, Joanne talked about her family, the horrid man she ran away from, and of the things that impacted her life. Erik listened intently, every once in a while he would say something, usually it was a comment on something Joanne had said. All was going well, until Joanne asked him of his family. Erik snorted, but slowly he reveal his rather morbid childhood.

Silence…

…

…

…

"Erik…"

"Joanne…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"Erik…"

Erik looked at her, "Yes? Joanne,"

"I'm so sorry," and with that Erik laughed, "Really now? What ever for, you have wronged me in no way."

Joanne looked down at the ground. Thinking to herself, "How could any mother treat her child in such away?"

Erik sensing her discomfort touched her shoulder, "Its all in the past now." his words seemed to echo in his head…all in the past…

AN: Chapter 5 :D hope you liked it, and as always, R&R Thanks for reading. 3