Thank you, once again, to my reviewers. They motivate me so much! I don't know what I would do without you guys :). By the way, if you're looking for a good POTO story, make sure to check out this story called Little Demon by Heywhatup. It is really good!

Chapter 9

Christine sat by the window staring out to the streets of Paris. Her face rested on her left hand as the view ahead of her stretched out far into the distance. It was twilight and people were starting to turn on the lights one house after another. Fathers were returning home to their wives and children. She looked down her own street and one of her neighbors, Edgard, walked towards his home. He had three children and a wife, Estelle. She looked at him come home every night. His family always waited outside at around to the time he came home to receive him. Estelle always kissed him sweetly on the cheek and his children, two girls and a little boy hugged him.

The scene broke her heart every time. This family shared so much love and harmony. She wished she were one of the little girls and have a mother and a father. She didn't remember hers and her father, her best friend, had died when she was just a little girl. She wished she was Estelle with a husband she loved to come home to her everyday and give her child a last name.

She had never had a normal family and worst of all, neither would her soon to be born baby.

She looked down at her ever growing belly. It was round and huge. Every day she thought it would be the day. Surely, it couldn't grow any larger! But it did. By her calculations, it had to come sometime that week but it was already Friday. It would be here anytime now.

She knew what she would name him or her. If it was a boy, she would name him Gustave, like her father, and if it was a girl, she would name her Erika, which meant ever-powerful and it was a variation of Erik, at the same time. Yes, her child would have to be ever-powerful. She was sad to bring a creature into this world in the conditions that she had but she had no options. Even then, she didn't regret anything. If she could not have Erik, at least she would always have a part of him. A little one that was half her, half him. A prove that he had loved her and she had loved him. A little light of hope and something to look forward to in the future. To see her child grow into a grown person. To see in it the traces of Erik. Oh, how she hoped the baby looked a lot like him! She didn't care whether it had any of her characteristics. She just wanted to look at it and see Erik every time. She didn't want the baby to deformed, not for any reason other than the hate it would receive from the world. But even if it did, she knew she would love him or her and never leave it.

"Oh, how can it be that I haven't even met you yet I love you so much!" she spoke into her belly. She caressed it and let her hand rest on it. She closed her eyes and tried to picture what it would be like to have it in her arms, but...

She gasped! It was coming! A sudden fright invaded her whole body and she felt waves of heat and cold travel up and down her body. Her breathing became faster and the hysteria set in.

Where was Madame Giry? Oh no! It was Friday so they would be home later today than usual! NO! She couldn't do it alone!

She tried to take deep breaths to clear her mind and her thoughts.

She tried to go back to bed and lay down.

She felt a contraction rip through her.

"Argh!" she tried to compress her scream.

How was this possible? She had heard many women talk about childbirth and it took several hours. Sometimes even an entire 24 hour day! But then again, it could also be very quick, she remembered. This comforted her a little bit. If it would be quick for her then at least she would suffer less.

She tried to remain calm through it but she was becoming desperate.

Oh, how she wished there was someone here with her! How she wished her dear Erik were beside her to hold her hand.

She could feel the first contraction slowly going away. The relief she felt was incredible. But she felt so scared!

Without any help she would surely die and so would her baby! Oh, Madame Giry, please hurry! She held onto the sheets as she just had to hold something.

The next few minutes weren't so bad as she lay there and waited. Then the next contraction was there.

Once again Christine tried to compress the scream but it was too painful.

She cried loudly as she felt as if she had cramps only 10 times worse. Desperate tears rolled down her cheeks and she wept. She looked around at her dark room for some sort of distraction, something that could drive her thoughts away from the pain but there was nothing. Nothing could put her mind at ease.

She wished and wished it were a dream. She wished she could be put out of the misery any way possible. She wanted to die or faint, anything. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore she felt the contraction going away again.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Her tears were drying in her face and she could feel her pulse slowing down.

Madame Giry! Meg! Please hurry!

The worst part was she knew the y wouldn't be home for another two hours at least.

She hoped her baby could wait that long.

She worried and worried and the same thoughts on her mind would come back again and again.

She couldn't stop thinking of how much she wished Erik to be there to welcome his child into the world or to have Madame Giry or Meg with her to soothe her and help her or just so she wouldn't be alone.

She felt the now familiar pain come back with full force once again.

But how? It was too soon! The other two had come with around ten minutes apart each and it hadn't been more than eight since her last one. Then she remembered. Of course, they were coming sooner and sooner.

She sobbed and sobbed uncontrollably as if somehow the harder she cried the slighter the pain would be.

She could barely breath as all her body wanted to do was cry out. It seemed as if every time she wanted to catch some air it would only hurt more to do so.

She had to make it though. She had to, for her baby. She couldn't give up.

She spent in this frenzy another hour more.

Now the contractions were coming sooner and sooner. She felt them once every five minutes or less even.

She felt a little comfort at the thought that Madame Giry and Meg could be coming home that very instant. It was unlikely but they might have finished early.

Just then another contraction came. This time the pain was too excruciating. She let out a wail so loud she was sure by now all of Paris would know she was giving birth.

And true enough, before the contraction was over, she saw Estelle walk in her room.

She didn't know the woman personally and had no attachment to her but somehow she felt the doors of heaven had opened and an angel had been sent to her.

"Oh, child. What is this?" she asked horrified as she realized Christine was having a baby. "Oh, dear! Are you alone?"

Christine nodded as she tried to hold back the tears but this time they weren't tears of pain they were of relief.

She wasn't alone, not anymore.

"Please, help me" Christine begged in misery.

The woman finally reacted and ran to her.

"Of course, my child. Now let's see. How long since the contractions started?" she asked her.

"About an hour or so" she replied.

"And how often are they coming now?"

"Four or five minutes away from each other" Christine said.

"Oh god! So soon! Oh no! And where is your husband and family? Why are you giving birth alone?"

"I have no family but I live with friends. They're at work now and won't be back for another hour or so" Christine explained.

The woman noticed the girl had avoided saying anything about the husband.

Poor child she thought and damn the bastard who brought her into this and then took no responsibility for her and the baby!

Christine gasped.

There was another coming.

Estelle was brought back to reality.

"Wait here. I shall be back. Just get me get some clothes and some clean water in a basin. Don't worry mademoiselle, I will be back in no time. I will help you" she said caringly and ran out the room.

Christine twisted the sheets in her fingers with all her strength. She reached for the pillow and tried to cover her face with it to keep in her cry. She bit into it so hard her teeth hurt.

It was over and Christine was back to her thoughts.

Thank God for Estelle. It should all be better now that she will be here. Oh, but what must she think of me! She asked for my husband but I hadn't the heart to tell her I had none and this child was the fruit of just a great love. She had loved him so much yet he hadn't stayed. Why hadn't he? Didn't he already know how much she loved him? Didn't he love her just as much? Why wasn't he here to answer for his child?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the pain came back- sooner and stronger.

She went back to her biting, twisting routine.

When would it be over?

She wallowed in her pain as it suffocated her and left her breathless.

She felt almost as if she were becoming unconscious.

No! I can't! I have to stay! I can't let the pain overcome me! I have to be here!

Her resolution became strong as she fought to stay awake.

She wanted to slip away so the pain would go away but she knew she couldn't. She yelled and yelled to stay alert.

Just as the pain was leaving her again Estelle walked back in again out of breath.

Poor woman Christine thought she must really be an angel. Look at her how she gathered everything so fast and is staying with me even though I am a stranger and a pregnant woman who has no husband. She should have left me and had nothing to do with me yet here she is ready to help me.

"Thank you so much" Christine told her.

"Oh, never mind that! I couldn't very well leave you alone here to give birth all by yourself!" Estelle assured her.

"But you don't have to, you know. I am a young woman who has no husband yet is having a baby. You don't have to help someone like me" Christine said but hoped she wouldn't listen. She needed her here.

"Oh, don't speak like that. You don't seem like a bad girl. And the fact that you have no man to answer for you and your baby doesn't say a thing about you or makes you a bad person. It only speaks about him, who got you with child yet isn't here beside you. He must a scoundrel, he must. A man who does that can be worth nothing" the woman said with spite.

Christine looked down in shame but then shook her head.

"Erik was no scoundrel, Madame" she said.

Estelle was about to answer that but took back her words. She could see in the young girl's face that another contraction was coming.

She took her hand in hers and Christine gripped it hard. Christine's fingernails ripped at the woman's skin but she let them. She had been there before and she knew what the girl was feeling. The least she could do was stand a little hurt if it was comfort to her.

She watched her bite her lip till it bled and her eyebrows so furrowed she could only feel compassion for her.

Then she saw her breath again.

She looked at her and said again.

"Erik was no scoundrel" she repeated.

Estelle didn't want to be imprudent but she couldn't help it. Of course she wouldn't believe the man to be anything short of perfect but she had to let her see the truth.

"Then why is he not here?" she asked.

"He can't' be. Neither does he know I'm with child" Christine replied. How could she dare accuse Erik like that?

"But surely he knows there is a chance you might be with child. For god's sake, he is the father!" Estelle exclaimed in fury. She despised men like that.

"I don't know why he isn't beside me" Christine said serene. "But I have to trust there is reason, a good one. I might doubt it at times but I know he loves me. He loved me even more than I do him. It was I who rejected him when all he wanted was to give me the world. I was stupid and chose somebody else over him. I failed to see the beauty underneath and was carried away by another man's pretty words and promises. My leaving him destroyed him. But I realized my mistake. I realized it Erik who I loved and not Raoul" Christine said.

"Raoul being...?" Estelle asked.

"My betrothed. You see, he was rich and charming and I was young and confused. But as soon as I saw things for what they were I returned to my angel. I had ruined his life and broken his heart yet he took me back and loved me. But... I don't know why but..." she gasped and the air was knocked out of her.

Estelle once again grabbed her hand. The girl crippled away in pain and Estelle felt so bad. Not only was this girl giving birth but she was doing it alone without a loved one beside her. And not only that but she guessed the burden she carried was not just physical pain.

Christine opened her eyes again. She looked at Estelle.

"He left you then? After he took you?" she asked.

Christine nodded and let the tears fall to her cheeks as she bit her already bleeding lip.

"Oh, poor child" she comforted her.

"I don't understand it. I know he loved me. I know it. He gave up everything for me" Christine said in remorse and self-reproach. "He would have killed for me. He would have given his life for me" she thought to keep the detail that he had, in fact, actually killed for her, to herself. "He devoted his life for me. Why would he leave me? And never come back?" she confessed to this woman. She was a stranger but maybe that was why she felt comfortable telling her all this. She had been holding in all these feelings, all these doubts, to herself all these months, not even telling Meg. It felt so good to finally let it all out.

"Have you ever thought that maybe, since he did so much for you and you, well, didn't really... you know... that maybe, he wanted revenge? And that's why he took you and then left you? That he might have done it out of resentment and maliciousness?" Estelle hated to say these things to her but it was obvious. There was no other way around it. It was the truth.

Christine broke down.

And just then another contraction came.

Estelle flinched.

Poor, poor child.

Estelle watched the girl cry and cry as the pain overwhelmed her. And she knew the pain she must feel in her heart just ripped her apart.

She watched her relax after a minute and she knew the contraction must be gone.

Christine kept crying, though.

She had always known in her heart that that was the very truth. There was no other reason why Erik would have left her. But she hadn't wanted to admit it. She had had to believe that he loved her so, so deeply , and that there was some other reason unbeknownst to her, why he had left, why he wasn't there with her. But now that she had heard it out of someone else's lips she knew it to be the truth.

There could be no other truth. She had been so foolish as to believe otherwise. How could she have been so stupid? She believed love blinded people and realized she had been blinded by love.

She felt she had been so idiotic, so nonsensical. She had to be the most absurd, brainless person to have imagined such a fantasy in her head. How could she not have seen the truth for it what it was? It was so clear, so obvious!

She cried and, for the first time that day, it wasn't because of childbirth.

She felt, in between sobs, another contraction rip at her insides.

She saw Estelle's eyes grow wide.

They were both thinking the same thing- that one had come too soon.

"It's coming, sweetie, and fast" Estelle said.

OH MY GOD! This had to be the longest chapter I have ever written! Wow!

I do not pretend to know what childbirth feels like so I know it doesn't sound like the real thing. I did do a lot of research, though, so I tried my best. Sorry if my best wasn't good enough :(

Don't kill me, please. I know Erik isn't a jerk! Just trust me! I know you have a lot of questions. Why hasn't he found her? What happened to him? Is he dead? Don't worry all these and many more will be answered in the next chapter. Be patient, me peeps :)

I will try to update as fast as I possibly can but I doubt I will be able to before Monday. I have a busy weekend ahead of me and the only way I might be able to fit the next chapter in is if I can squeeze it in tomorrow, unlikely, though.

But then again, if I get a lot of reviews, it might make so happy that I will find the time to do it! :)

So review! And, as always, RATE!

(Sorry, I'm out of comparisons. From now on, I'll just do Like it, Love it, you know)

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