A/N: Hello everyone! I know I haven't been around for a while, and unfortunately I am not here to give you a full chapter yet. I do however want you to know that I am currently working on the next installment of my story, and it should be ready to go for the weeked. This chapter is giving me a lot of problems! In any case, although I might not have a full chapter for you yet I do have this – it's an interlude, to celebrate a very special event.

For those of you who do not know,today would be Erik's 100th birthday, so I thought it fit to create this little story to incorporate as a flashback to the main storyline. I think it was the minimum I could do to celebrate such an event. Just imagine it to be a flashback, that takes place after the first year that Shadow and Erik are together.

Enjoy! And please comment, reviews are always welcome!

Oh, and as usual, a big thank you goes out to those of you who have already left me a comment on the last chapter – the story shall continue normally as soon as I apply the finishing touches to my latest chaper, which, I repeat, should happen exactly this weekend.

Without further ado, I give you this little gem!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIK!!!

Love and happiness to all,
-Kayla S.

September 24th, 1949
Paris, Somewhere below the Opéra house…

"Erik!"

Erik, or The Phantom as he was known throughout the Opéra house, snapped out of his daze. He had been comfortably sitting on the rafters above the stage, lost in his thoughts as he listened to the orchestra's evening performance. He had not expected to be interrupted so abruply, and was even more surprised when he looked up to see who had called his name.

"Shadow?"

His beloved Shadow was standing just a few feet away, crouching down like a predator and looking thoroughly alarmed. She eyed him urgently, apparently in distress. Immediately, Erik began to worry.

"Shadow, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer, but merely stood still, breathing heavily with her eyes glued on him. Feeling even more alarmed, he began to get up, and as soon as he moved she seemed to snap back to attention. With a swift movement she leapt forward, and before Erik could do or say anything she grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the direction she had come from.

"Erik! Erik!" she shouted with anguish, "Erik come with Shadow! Quick, quick! Erik must see! Follow Shadow!"

He staggered behind, profoundly confused, and frowned.

"Shadow, what is the matter?"

Once again, she didn't answer, but continued to drag him along with her. He began to panic, while his mind whirred with the possibilities of what in the world could have happened. He began to fear the worse, and wondered what could have happened that was so horrible that Shadow dared not tell him directly. The two of them made their way – or rather, Shadow led the way, while Erik stumbled hopelessly behind – down from the rafters, heading more and more under the Opéra house. Erik seriously began to panic when he realized that they seemed to actually be heading for the lair. He began to fear somebody had broken in and felt his blood freeze at the thought.

"God," he thought to himself, "If anything's happened to my opera, I swear someone will die."

"Quick! Quick, Erik!" Shadow continued to prompt him, "Erik must hurry! Quick!"

They rounded a corner, and by now Erik had no doubts: they were moving towards the lair. Immediately, flashes of angry mobs and burning sheets of music flooded his mind, yet he refused to let the panic take over him until he saw it with his very eyes. They rounded a corner and entered the lair from the land, standing right in front of the lake.

And then, out of the blue Shadow whipped around, turned Erik, and assaulted him by covering his eyes with a thick black cloth. She moved so quickly he barely had the time to understand what was happening.

"SHADOW!" he shouted, startled when he watched his vision disappear. He instantly began to tug at the cloth, but Shadow seemed to have cemented it together. "Shadow, what is going on?" he demanded, beginning to feel frustrated. Instead of answering, he felt Shadow move away from him and then gently come back to take his hand, leading him into the darkness without a word. He began to feel the anger boiling up inside him.
"Shadow," he growled, speakin in an authorative voice that admitted no refusal, "You tell me what is going on right this instant! Do you hear me?" he felt her stop and drop his hand and continued, "You have better start explaining what happening right now, or I'll-" and suddenly, his vision returned as Shadow lifted the cloth.

And what he saw make him choke on his own words and immediately brought tears to his eyes.

There, set in front of him right on his organ and amongst his music sheets, was a cake, lit up with exactly forty small candles.

Shadow walked up besides the organ, turning around and smiling sweetly at him.

"Happy Birthday, Erik." She spoke softly, folding her hands on her lap and looking down, blushing.

Erik stood gaping with his mouth open, unable to speak. Of course. With all he had been thinking of lately, he had actually forgotten that today was his birthday.

His fortieth, as a matter of fact.

Slowly, he walked up to the organ right in front of the cake, his breath shaky and his eyes brimmed with tears. Shadow frowned, fearing he hadn't taken her action well.

"Erik not…like Shadow's surprise?" she asked inquisivitely in a childish voice.

Erik looked up at her. His tears were now steaming freely down his cheeks, and his breath had turned into short gasps of commotion. Never, in his whole life, had anybody done something like this for him, least of all ever celebrated his birthday. Shadow's surprise had gotten right to his heart, and it showed. She cowered slightly when she saw him crying like that, worried that he was upset, but before she could worry much longer he covered the space between them with one long catlike stride and scooped her right off of her feet and into her arms, squeezing her to the point where she had trouble breathing.

Caught off guard, Shadow squealed in surprise, then laughed when he started to twirl her around. Then he set her back down on the organ, so that she was standing at his same height, and held her tight against him, holding onto her as if there was no tomorrow and burying his face in her hair.

"Shadow," he breathed in her ear, his voice still shaky with emotion, "Thank you, Shadow. Thank you, thank you, thank you…."

Shadow grinned triumphantly, holding onto his shoulders just as tightly as he was. She had had to go through some trouble to find the cake, but she knew Erik would love her surprise and what mattered now was that it looked like he really did. She tried to ignore her racing heart.

"Erik not need to thank Shadow," she answered, speaking in his ear as well, "Shadow want Erik to know that Shadow wishes for Erik's birthday that Erik find all the happiness he wants, every single day of his life, because Erik deserves it."

Erik bit back a sob.

Shadow then gently lifted her head from his shoulder and looked straight into his eyes, feeling her heart swell with the emotion she saw in them and smiling warmly at him: Erik was still speechless, but his expression was worth a thousand words. Instinctively, Sweetly, Shadow leaned forward and planted a peck on his lips.

"Happy Birthday, Erik."

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