Disclaimer: Don't own POTO….

OMGosh! You guys! (blushes) You are spoiling me…but please, don't stop. I just got home from work and found my mailbox stuffed with TEN reviews! You guys are awesome! Thank you sooooo much! BTW, retail sucks and plastic hangers are from hell. (sics Erik on evil managers). But all of your reviews just made my night!

Songwind: Will you be my friend? "Wandering Child" is my absolute favorite and I listen to it on repeat all the time! Isn't it heart-wrenching? Especially when he sings Have you forgotten your angel? (goes all shaky and faints). I've decided to tell you a mini-story in which I realized that I have become an official PhanGirl, it won't make a lot of sense but what does? So my ex-boyfriend calls up to talk to my dad (yes, to my dad) and since we're still friends I tell him about me accidentally bumping into his new girlfriend a few nights ago. I said, "Yeah, I thought it would be really awkward to walk up to her and say 'Hey, I'm Erik's ex-girlfriend!'" I was like…Whoa…considering the guy on the other end of the phone is not named Erik. (Not that I'd want to be Erik's ex-girlfriend). Anywho.

Nixie: (grins) It's a possibility…let's just say that yeah Anna has a definite crush on Erik.

Megan H: (bows respectfully) "Oh, so he's yours. I didn't know you were interested." No, that is not me relinquishing Gerry but anyone who can tell me what fifty-year-old movie that quote is from will get massive kudos.

Countess Vladislaus Dragu: (try saying that with a mouth full of saltine crackers) I know the feeling and I am honored to have the privilege of cheering you up.

Brittany: I know…how could we resist? (drools) yeah for Scots!

Hugs to Sarita, Phantress, and SimplyElymas! I love seeing familiar names continue to pop up!

atheshar: You know my favorite line is the one describing Ford as looking up at the sky like a "rabbit trying to get run over by a car." And I love it when that stupid ship commits suicide b/c Marvin talks to it. Classic. (wipes tears away)

An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin: Dude, I'm so sorry but I have no idea what foamy is. But I love your pen name…it's freaking awesome. Reminds me of Wallace & Gromit.

Lady Viridis: Sign me up for the Butler Phan Club.

Woohoo to all Gerry Phans! Sorry…I'm feeling very anti-Crawford and very Gerry-protective right now. It's not that I think Crawford can't sing (he can and very well) but ever since I heard him sing "Baby Mine" from Dumbo on this loser Disney collection…(shudders) it was uber-creepy…like pedophile-hiding-outside-the-window creepy…no wonder he played the phantom. But speaking of Phans…here by popular demand is an episode in which Erik discovers his own legendary status…and Gerry.

ERIK AND THE INTERNET

Erik was bored. It was still several hours till lessons with Christine and the girls were off haunting the upper floors. He got to pondering the future of opera. He wondered what lay in store for his favorite music style. Perhaps that Internet thing would know something. Anna and Brooke were constantly plaguing it for information. He strolled into the gaudy purple corner where Anna had left the computer sleeping, plugged into a makeshift outlet.

Erik wished the girls were here to see his mad web-surfing skills. He felt quite proud of himself as he guided the little black arrow around the screen. Hmm, now to find opera.

He stared blankly at the screen for a moment then decided to click on Anna's favorites list and that's when he discovered the hidden vault of The Phantom of the Opera. Erik hissed in disbelief. His mind reeled. He had no idea he was so famous. There was a book…several books…a musical (he liked that idea), and a…movie even? (But no opera) A few clicks and he had accessed the official website for the recently released film version of the musical.

"That's the Phantom of the Opera?" he cried incredulously. Half…no three-fourths of the man's face was in plain view and in perfect condition. The imposter even had a nose! Erik was going mad with curiosity. He had to know what this was all about. Bounding across the cushions (which is really hard to do, especially when they're so fluffy), he snatched up the Bag.

"Give me The Phantom of the Opera! On DVD! Now!" he roared into its gaping black maw.

No! I promised them I'd never let you know! You're not supposed to know!

Erik didn't waste time arguing. He dropped the Bag and dashed into the Louis-Phillipe room. He returned with a magnificent pair of silver scissors, which he brandished and snapped open and shut before the Bag.

All right! All right! There!

Anna and Brooke came bouncing in through the front entrance. They were dressed as pirate wenches (don't ask why, just cause pirates are cool) and looking disturbingly pleased with themselves. No doubt Christine Daaé had experienced the consequences of female wrath of unusual magnitude that day.

Anna skipped into the sitting room singing softly to herself:

Happy haunts materialize

And begin to vocalize

Grim, grinning ghosts

Come out to socialize!

"Where's Erik?" she said aloud. Brooke shrugged as they made their way into the bedroom. They were just in time to see Gerard Butler smash the last mirror. Their legs were rooted to the spot as the movie faded to black and the credits began to roll. Erik didn't move.

"How did you find that?" Anna whispered in horror.

"I had a little help," he said bitterly, gesturing to the discarded Bag. Brooke grabbed it. If it had been wearing a collared shirt, it would have been choking on it.

"You promised!"

I couldn't help it! He threatened me with scissors!

Brooke growled in disgust and drop kicked the Bag across the room. Then she and Anna came to sit behind the real Phantom, watching the graceful sloping of his shoulders in uneasy silence. He sat skipping through the scene selection finally settling on "Music of the Night." Butler's sultry voice permeated the thick silence.

"You like him, don't you," Erik said quietly, his voice ominous and almost deadly. He turned to look at them for the first time and caught both girls hurriedly moping up puddles of drool.

"You're making me sick!" he snarled.

"Please, Erik, don't be angry!" Anna pleaded.

"He doesn't even look like me! What do they mean by all of this?"

"Erik, couldn't you see it as a…uh, progressive sort of thing? You know, the Phantom image changing with the times?" Brooke suggested hopefully.

"I didn't even know I had an image!" His tone was gentler. He couldn't stay angry with them for long especially when they looked him straight in the eyes with seagull feathers sticking out of their strategically messy locks.

"Maybe if you look at it this way," Anna began, "Your character, however distant from its origin, is portrayed by a tall, handsome man with a throaty, baritone rasp, piercing blue eyes, scrumdiliumptious lips, broad chest and shoulders, and an ass that looks so good in those Don Juan pants that you could just—"

"I get the point!"

"Sorry. And then—"

Brooke finished, "And then your arch nemesis Raoul is played by a pretty-boy fop with the personality of a brown-paper bag. Which just sucks now because the real Raoul is a sexy beast!"

Erik and Anna fixed her with stony glares until she buried her face in a pillow. Erik contemplated this logic for a moment. He shrugged with haughty indifference.

"He's all right then, I suppose." The girls grinned at each other.

Erik continued, "He does move very elegantly. And his voice and face have good expression. I appreciate that."

Anna and Brooke squealed in delight and hugged him. Erik quickly pried them off, trying to disguise his blushing cheeks.

"Let's introduce him to his Phans, Anna," Brooke said, moving to take control of the computer.

"I have fans?"

"It's Phans."

"Oh."

The girls escorted Erik on a tour of the wonderful world of phanphiction, carefully avoiding anything with slash or R/C in the summary. Erik didn't know whether to be pleased, horrified, or just plain bemused.

"Here read some of the reviews. That's just as good as the stories sometimes," Anna said.

Erik scanned screen after screen of pro-Erik comments. He grinned at the fainting and blushed at the downright wolfishness.

"I like this Phatress girl…and Sarita…and Simply-Elymas…and Songwind…I like them all!" Erik concluded happily. He choked back a ragged sigh, "So I'm truly loved after all."

"Yes," Anna sighed leaning her head on his right shoulder. "With all of this, who needs Christine?" Erik nudged her away. "Just kidding," she said.

Brooke was bouncing merrily on her cushion, arms extended like a conductor tuning up his orchestra.

"All together Phans!"

Deep breathe: "WE LOVE YOU, ERIK!"

From a dark, distant corner:

So does this mean I'm forgiven?