Hello all! I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Before we get into the story, I want to say hello and thank you to Ignea servus Dominus, thatgrrl not logged in, and Anonymous-Giry. Thank you for your wonderful reviews.

Now, on with the action!

After dinner, the couple sat in front of the fire, each silently contemplating the day's events, and what the week held in store. Erik was afraid to say too much of anything, worried that his feelings were obvious in everything he did. Christine kept wondering if her thoughts were too bold. Sitting together, both felt the electricity between them. But neither quite knew what to do about it.

Suddenly, Erik made the decision that they at least needed some type of entertainment, something to fill the silence before he blurted out all his feelings for her again. "How would you feel about a movie?" he asked. "I've got a collection of movies, almost any genre you could wish to see." Christine smiled at the suggestion. "That sounds like a good idea. Are you sure you trust me to pick?" she asked with a sly smile. Erik grinned in response. "I trust you completely." He said, with a gleam in his eyes showing he meant so much more than trust in her movie choice.

Christine swallowed as she turned to the cabinet he'd indicated held the movies. She knew what he was inferring. She was really hoping to avoid too much deep emotional discussion, at least this first night together. She wanted to have some quiet time together to see where this was taking her, what it could lead to. She knew that the logical thing would have been to get the whole thing annulled immediately, and for the first few days after she left Las Vegas she kept asking herself why she had not just made that happen. But that night she and Erik had stayed up talking till dawn gave her the answer. When she hung up the phone, she knew then that the connection she had told Meg about had grown deeper and stronger, to the point that she was actively trying to figure out how to make things work between the two of them. It was to the point that she had to consciously hold back from using the word "love" when talking about Erik.

Erik watched her as she walked over to the movie cabinet. Then he quickly turned, moving toward the kitchen as he asked "Would you care for some wine while we watch?" He heard her faintly murmur in agreement and he smiled as he selected a bottle. Letting it breathe, he rubbed his forehead absently, surprising himself by the feel of his hand on his forehead. He kept forgetting that Christine had insisted he keep it off. 'I wonder if she's really ok seeing me like this' he thought shyly, hoping that she wasn't just playing with him. He watched her as she studied her choices. His eyes filled with longing as he gazed her direction.

She turned and straightened suddenly, briefly catching his gaze before he turned to pour the wine. She smiled, and pretended that she hadn't noticed his staring. She walked over to the counter, holding out the movie case as she reached for her glass of wine. "I see you like musicals, so I picked 'Guys and Dolls'. Is that alright?" He smiled and replied "Oh yes, that's always a great one to watch." He took the case, quickly setting it to start and then went to sit on the couch where Christine was waiting. Erik left a small space between them, not wanting to crowd or push her. But his heart jumped when he felt Christine scoot toward him, laying her head on his shoulder as the movie began.

After the movie, Christine stretched and smiled. "I haven't watched that in years. That was fun." Erik nodded and said teasingly "Especially you deciding we both needed to sing along the entire time." She laughed and said "Well I'm glad I finally got to hear you sing! You have a wonderful voice. Why haven't you performed before?" He blushed a bit and stammered out "I don't really like to… put myself out there like that. I enjoy working behind the scenes, I guess." She nodded, immediately realizing his self-consciousness over his face and his mask would keep him from performing publicly. She thought guiltily that his voice rolling over her when they sang with the movie was one of the most sensual moments of her life, and wondered what it would be like to sing together more often. 'I may not be able to handle that' she thought with an impish grin.

Erik cleared his throat and asked "Well, would you like to go ahead and take your things upstairs?" She nodded, and he grabbed the larger bag and led the way. They walked into what was obviously his bedroom. Christine paled briefly, trying to figure out exactly what he was planning with this. He set her bag down and walked to the closet, pulling out a few blankets as he said "You'll have the bathroom up here, and I made some space in the closet if you need to hang anything up." Then he grabbed a pillow and looked down almost bashfully as he said "I'll be down on the sofa if you need anything. Goodnight Christine."

She gasped and asked "You're sleeping on the sofa? You don't have to do that! You don't have to give up your bed!" He looked up with a confused look and said "Well I don't think it would be very hospitable for me to make you sleep on the sofa, now would it?" Then he got a slightly mischievous look as he said "Would you have us share the bed?" She blushed furiously. Of all the things they had discussed in their nightly phone calls, one of the things she had not mentioned was that she had finally remembered their tequila-drenched "wedding night". She didn't know what, if anything, he remembered from then. But she remembered the passionate, wild night, and his teasing question about sharing the bed brought it all roaring back into her mind's eye.

Erik studied her as she blushed and squirmed. He hoped she was thinking about the night they had shared together. He remembered most of that night, and he relished the memory. He started to think that perhaps he needed to be a little bolder, that perhaps it was time to show exactly where he stood, what he wanted. He stepped closer, dropping the blankets and pillows as he did. He wrapped his arms around her back, kissed her deeply, and then leaned down to whisper "I'll ask again: Would you have us share the bed?"

Gerry has made many many treats to make up for the fact that I'm leaving it at that big of a cliffhanger. I believe brownies and strawberry shortcake are among the offerings. So go ahead and leave a review telling me how awful that cliffhanger is. I can take it *theatrical sniff*