I was awoken in the night by a soft weeping noise, I turned to see Christine in the corner of the room by the window, crying and holding her hands high as if to be stolen by some angel. I was her angel, so I stood and seized her hands, she turned and looked at me ferociously, then her features soften and she kissed me tightly.

She released, stared at me intently, and then went to bed. After, I heard a loud cry from Charlotte's room and rushed to her. I saw her tossing and turning, then reached a gentle hand down to pick her up and hold her. I held her against my chest and she felt around for something, she was hungry.

I returned to the bedroom and shook Christine gently, she rose slowly. I stood for a while and handed her Charlotte. Christine looked down and again, Charlotte was feeling around for her bosom. Christine lifted down her nightgown and Charlotte found her breast, she suckled, and for a while, I thought back to my childhood when my mother would never allow me to suckle.

Christine kept rocking her back and forth, slowly, as she nursed. I kissed my lovely wife on top of her head and she looked up at me, happily, with my baby in her arms. I'd always only picture this, but now it was right in front of me. Christine, two children, no more solitude!

"Burp her, Erik."

She held out Charlotte to me and I took her in my arms, gently. I took the little rag and placed it above her mouth, patting her back carefully and swaying her to and fro. She let out the remains and I slowly sat down with Christine, Charlotte still my arms. Christine surrounded me in an embrace and I excepted her warming welcome.

"I love what you've been doing! Raoul never helped this much."

"This is a fair amount of help and he never helped you this much?"

"He never helped me at all. He always looked at Gustave with a great disappreciation, sort of the way he looked at you. But he treated him as his own son nevertheless."

"Hmm. Well, it's a good thing that he's not around anymore."

I'd just came home from a long day of repairs, almost everything in Phantasma was destroyed from previous incidents.

When I finally stepped into the threshold, I found my Christine, sitting at my piano, staring at the ivory keys while Gustave played. I dropped my tool pouch on the floor and approached the scene, watching Gustave play once more. His talent was glorious, getting better every day. Then I heard a cry from upstairs and Christine stood, went up the staircase, and disappeared into Charlotte's room.

I sat down on the bench beside my boy and watched as he played the opening of Habenera. He finished flat, but it would come with time. He looked up at me with an expression on his face asking, how did I do? I patted his head and kissed him on the cheek, he was magnificent.

Then Christine came downstairs, with Charlotte in her arms, crying as she rushed to me. She handed me Charlotte and looked worriedly at her, then at me.

"I don't know what's wrong, Erik? She won't eat and she's throwing up like crazy."

Just as Christine said that, Charlotte vomited in my arms.

"Get her into something warm and get me a fresh overcoat. We'll get her to the hospital, but it's rather cold, there's snow outside. Gustave, you're coming with us, you should put something warm on so you don't freeze. I don't really trust leaving you alone, or anyone, alone in my home considering past accidents."

Gustave nodded and took his overcoat off of the piano bench, warmly wrapping it over his body. Christine put Charlotte into a blanket, fluffy, and wrapped herself in a warm cloak. We stepped back outside, the flurries flying down again, and went back into the park. It was really good that my park was also a resort, we had a hospital, a market, possibly everything you needed to live.

When we finally stepped up to the hospital, I bashed my fist on the wall, God always played with my family.

"Hello Mister Y, what's the trouble today?"

"It's not me Dussen, it's my baby girl. Christine, give Charlotte to Mister Dussen."

My angel gave Charlotte to Doctor Dussen, or Doctor D as everyone else calls him. I watched as Dussen touched her throat and inspected her, nothing was visibly wrong.

"Let's go inside, she'll catch a cold along with the rest of you."

He directed us inside, making Gustave, Christine and I sit, waiting for Charlotte when who else seemed to be here but Antionette Giry.

"You know, Antionette, you always seem to show up at the wrong times. What are you doing here anyway?"

"It's my Meg! She died from... from syphilis!"

"Hmm... not surprising."

"Well, what are you doing here? Someone cut off your arm again?"

"NO! We're here for our baby girl you pompous windbag!"

"Oh! Ah ha ha ha!"

"Might I ask what in the world is so funny?!"

"You idiot! You never had her baptized! This is why! Your mother never had you baptized, and look at you, you have a criminal record, you're a kidnapper, you lived underground for ten years, and you've always been treated like trash! Hell, you are trash!"

"That is the last straw Antionette! I want you out of my park by tommorow, or else!"

"What?! Are you going to kill me?! Is that how you solve your problems with two children around you?!"

"Just go!"

"You're more trouble than you're!.."

"GO!"

I was furious, she'd really given me enough trouble to last enough a lifetime. She left and purposely cut Christine's breast with a pocket knife. She fell to the ground, her breast bleeding from the incision.

"Sacrebleu, Christine! Are you alright, darling?!"