A/N: To answer a few questions: Christine has always been confused about her feelings for Erik but the hate she feels stems from being so young and confused by him back in Paris. There is more to their relationship and as I said in the authors note in the first chapter, is this predominantly a love story. I'm trying to make this story more about their character development than about the mystery (which will be solved later in the story)
It won't be an easy ride and just because it is a love story does not necessarily mean that there will be a happy ending… it doesn't mean that there won't either!
Thank you for reviews, I will (as always) try to respond to each individually as soon as I have the time.
Chapter 7
'What happened?'
Erik lay Christine on the bed as he looked around frantically for a cloth. 'I need water… hot water and clean towels,'
Michelle scurried away and Nadir asked again. 'What happened, Erik?'
'She was attacked,' he said as he reached down and brushed the hair away from Christine's rain soaked forehead. She felt cold and clammy all at the same time and he fought away the panic that he felt building up through his stomach.
'Erik…' she murmured. Erik dropped to his knees by the bed and leaned towards her.
'It's alright, Christine,' he said as softly as he could, touching her hand briefly with his.
'Am I home?' she asked weakly.
'We're with Nadir,'
She coughed and the winced, 'How bad is it?'
Michelle ran into the room with a bowl of warm water and two clean cloths. He took them from her and placed them on the floor by the side of the bed.
'I don't know yet,' he said gently. 'You've lost some blood…'
He stared down at her cream dress marbled red and pink by her own blood.
'I need to…' He swallowed hard. 'I need to tear your dress so that I can see your wound,'
She didn't respond.
'Is that alright?' he asked urgently.
She managed to nod and he quickly, but carefully, tore a strip away from the side of her dress. The wound was mercifully small but she was weakened and the blood she had lost was irreplaceable. Erik knew that they needed to stem the bleeding as quickly as they could, if she lost too much blood then she would die.
He couldn't let that happen.
How could he live knowing that she was gone?
He dipped the first cloth into the warm water and began to gently clean the blood away from the wound at her side. Nadir leant over and stared at the gash.
'Can you sew, Daroga?' Erik asked, glancing up at him. 'We need to close the wound,'
Nadir sighed. 'It's been a long time… but yes,'
'No,' Christine said. 'No,'
'Christine we need to sew your wound,' Erik turned to Michelle. 'We'll need steam to sterilise the needle… I believe I read that somewhere…Nadir get a needle and thread, whatever you need to use,'
Without question they both fled the room and he could hear them clattering around, doing as he had asked. Erik was usually so calm… even faced with his own death he could remain cool but this was different, this was Christine.
'Erik,' she whispered.
He glanced at her face, so pale…
'I won't let him…'
Erik frowned, 'What?'
'You do it,'
'Stitch your wound?'
She nodded, swallowed.
'I can't, Christine,' he said as gently as he could. His heart was pounding hard and he could barely hear her when she spoke so quietly but he knew that he needed to concentrate, to keep her calm. 'I don't know how,'
'Let him talk you through,'
'If I do it wrong…'
'You won't,' she said. 'I want you to do it Erik, I only trust you,'
He stared at her face, the colour drained from it, and sighed deeply. It was possibly the nicest thing that Christine had said to him in a very long time but the thought of getting something wrong actually frightened him.
Nadir ran back into the room closely followed by Michelle with a bowl of steaming water.
'Erik…'
'She doesn't want you to do it, Nadir,' Erik said.
'I understand.' Nadir returned and Erik wondered if that were actually true. The Persian handed Erik the needle and shrugged his shoulders. 'Your hands only, her saviour,'
Erik wasn't really sure what he meant but didn't have time to decipher it. He took the needle and thin thread, holding both over the steam and almost burning his hands in the process. He glanced at Nadir, 'What do I do?'
As Nadir talked him through the process he spoke gently to Christine. She winced and squeezed her eyes closed but not once did she yell out. When he was done, Nadir checked the wound over and nodded his head in approval. 'It looks fine,'
Erik breathed a silent sigh of relief and got to his feet. 'Do you have some juice and sweet tea that she can drink?' he asked Michelle. 'She will need to keep her energy up,'
Again Michelle left the room to carry out her task without question. Nadir was leaning against the door frame watching Erik carefully. 'She'll be alright,' he said.
Erik looked back at him but didn't say anything. Instead he turned his attention again to Christine, whose skin was worryingly pale and still clammy. 'How do you feel?' he asked.
'Stupid,' she answered, without opening her eyes.
'Are you warm enough?'
She shook her head. 'It's cold today,'
'Do you want to take your dress off and get into your night clothes?' Erik asked.
Her throat moved slightly as she struggled to swallow. 'Yes,'
'Come Nadir,' he said and turned to leave.
Christine's voice stopped him. 'I will need help,'
'I'll get Michelle,' Erik said.
'No, I only trust you,' she repeated.
He sighed and nodded at Nadir, who turned his back and clicked the door closed behind him, leaving Erik and Christine alone in the room.
'Are you sure about this?' Erik asked, standing in a sort of nowhere land in the middle of the room, halfway between the door and Christine.
She nodded weakly and finally opened her eyes so that they fixed on him. 'I need you to help me,'
He walked over, trying to look more confident than he felt, a feat in itself considering the trembling he felt in his hands. By the time he was at her side she had pushed herself up awkwardly to the edge of the bed.
So pale.
'What do…' he took a breath. 'How do you want to do this?'
'Help me stand,' she said, chocolate eyes wide with pain and fear.
He wanted to close his eyes and shut the sight of her beauty out of his mind forever. His arms reached out with very little in way of instruction from his brain. She gripped his forearms firmly and used them to pull herself to her feet. When up she wobbled slightly but managed to steady herself and turned around so that her back was to him.
'I need you to…'
He knew, gently he took each button carefully and undid them until the final button at the very bottom of her back was open. She had her hands up on her shoulders, making sure that the dress didn't fall down at the front.
'Help me slip out,' she said, her back still to him.
Uncomfortably he moved closer and ran his hands along the arms of her dress, pulling them down until they were around her hands. She pulled them off herself and let the dress fall to the floor around her feet. When she stepped out of it he turned his head away.
'My underclothes have blood on them,' she said softly, the sound of tears entering her voice.
'Can you get them off yourself?' he asked.
'I can take them off but I need you to stop me from falling,' she replied and then added. 'That means you'll need to at least look in my general direction,'
He turned around and stood behind her again as she slipped out of her underclothes. She staggered forward slightly and he reached out, hands on her hips, steadying her.
'If there is a greater being He will strike me down for this,' Erik mused.
'If there is a greater being He might just forgive all of your past sins for this,' she corrected softly as she placed her hand on the post of the bed to hold herself upright. 'Could you get me my nightgown, please, it's on the back of the chair?'
He looked around and located to the gown, handing it to her while he looked in the other direction. She giggled, in spite of her pain. 'I thought you had seen me naked before?'
'No,' he said, a little too bluntly. 'I never spied on you while you were changing, Christine, I never would,'
'It sounds so strange,' she said. 'Hearing you so… moral,'
'Thank you,' his tone laced with sarcasm.
'Don't be that way,'
He heard her wince as she struggled into the nightdress. 'You can look now,' she said. 'I'm decent,'
He tried not to smile.
'How do you feel?' he asked.
'Tired,'
'How is your side?'
'Very painful,' she replied, touching it with her fingertips. She took a step towards the bed but lost her balance and tumbled, twisting until Erik caught her in his arms and pulled her up and into him.
'Be careful,' he chastised, frustrated with her for being so foolish until he realised that she had slipped her arms around his waist and was resting her head against his chest.
'Don't tell me off, Erik,' she whimpered. 'I feel so sick, so dizzy,'
He lifted her into him arms and placed her back carefully on the bed, making sure there was no blood and finally pulling the covers over her gently.
'You need to rest,' he said.
'I'm sorry,'
He stared at her. 'What for?'
'For being such an idiot,' she shook her head and squeezed the tears from her eyes. 'Such a god damned idiot,'
He didn't respond. Instead he allowed himself to look at her, the paleness of her skin was so bad she was almost green. Her hair was wet and matted, her eyes a little duller but she was still lovely, still beautiful to him.
'Don't worry,' he said finally. 'I'll let you sleep,'
She looked down at her hands which were resting on top of the blanket.
'I'll be right outside the door if you need me,' he explained. 'We need to keep an eye on the stitching, hope that it doesn't become infected, but I think as long as you look after yourself, you'll be fine,'
He got to the door before he heard her crying.
Don't turn around…
'I'm sorry for being the way I have been,' she said through her tears.
He turned to face her, despite the voice in his head telling him otherwise. Her eyes were looking right at him, large and earnest.
'It was unfair,'
He didn't know what to say to her. An apology was the last thing he was expecting.
'I don't hate you,' she said softly, eyes sparkling with tears. 'I did… for a long time but… I don't anymore,'
'Good to know,' he said without feeling.
'I would never hand you in to the police, Erik,' she sighed. 'Never. You have saved my life too many times for me to betray you that way,'
'Its fine, Christine,' he reassured her.
'It isn't fine though, Erik, it isn't,' a sob caught in her throat. 'I miss Raoul, I miss him so much but I know you tried, even for him you tried,'
He looked at his feet.
'We were friends once,' she said softly. 'You and I, weren't we?'
He nodded but his heart was tearing. She was more than a friend to him, more than anything to him, she always had been. To her he would always be the angel who rescued her, the friend to save her when she was in trouble. She would never love him.
'Can't we be that again?' she asked. 'Can we try?'
'I am your friend, Christine,' he said. 'That's why I followed you from the house earlier,'
'I'm sorry about today,' she laughed through her tears, a bitter, harsh laugh. 'I'm sorry for bloody everything,'
'Stop it,' Erik said, looking back at her. 'We can try to be friends again, you've… you've done nothing wrong,'
She blinked.
'Nothing,'
She nodded.
'I'll be outside the door,'
'I'm scared,'
'I'm right there,' he said. 'Right outside the door,'
'Stay in here tonight,' she swallowed. 'Bring the chair in, I'll feel much safer if I can see you,'
