A/N Wow, I am back with a new chapter! Can you believe it. Okay, I am going to beg. If you read this chapter, please review. I really like to know when people like that I am writing and when you tell me if I make mistakes or what you would prefer, it helps and makes me feel appreciated. Please review. Enjoy and REVIEW!

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Ch. 14

Christine stared at Erik's hand for a second before placing hers within his. Erik didn't know what he would say to her, but he knew he had to say something. Something to make her see nonsense she was feeling was just that, nonsense. He whisked her to his study, a place that would be safe for both of them to talk freely.

Erik, in his rush, did not realize that he was practically dragging Christine along with him. Once they reached the study Erik pushed her away as he turned towards the doors.

"Erik!" She squealed. "What is wrong?"

Erik shut the doors and turned around to face her, his eyes were lit with fire.

"You cannot love me Christine. You know this." Erik said. "You can't do this."

"Why? Give me one solitary reason as to why I cannot tell you exactly how I feel?" Christine replied. "I am not breaking any rules, I was never married. What is stopping us from being together? I love you Erik and I am so, so sorry it took me so long to see that I did, but I do love you."

Erik could feel his chest rising and falling at a ferocious pace. "Why now? After everything I did for you and after everything you did to me. Why are you telling me how you feel or what you want now?" Erik hissed at her.

"Erik-"

"NO. I am not done speaking." He told her. "Whats stopping us? Well lets think about that shall we. Bella is stopping us. Christine we are in a God damned relationship."

"I am sorry that my timing is so off, but if you don't know how I feel now then I will regret it forever. I already have so many regrets and empty dreams. I do not need anymore." Christine told him, her eyes now showing the anger she too was feeling. "Erik, you know that you don't love her. You wouldn't be hurting her if you left her."

Erik turned away for the vixen in front of him. He didn't know what to do. He began to pace back and forth as he began to think. He looked back at Christine and felt a fresh new wave of anger. How could she be so selfish? Her glare was now turning into helplessness, but Christine was anything but helpless.

"Erik, please talk to me." Christine asked. "I guess I shouldn't have said anything. I'll just go."

Erik turned back to face her. "DO you realize that I fell out of love with you? I was living a life without you and I was thriving in it. I had a career, real friends, and I was actually happy. Now all I can see is you. You came back into my mind and I can't make you leave. You are here telling me you love me and want to be with me and I can't figure out for the life of me and the rest of the world what to do." Erik shouted exasperated.

"Erik, I understand."

"No, you don't understand. I have found a woman who wants to be with me. She wants to love me and be with me. She was never afraid to show me that she likes me, but you wouldn't even give me a single ounce of help when I needed you the most." Erik told her.

Christine could feel the tears fall down her cheeks. The look on Erik's face was one of pure disgust. She couldn't blame him for looking at her like that.

"You are so unbelievable if you think Bella wouldn't be hurt by any of this, Christine."

"Stop Screaming at me." Christine shrieked.

Erik took a step back in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Do you want to know why I was in that whore house?" Christine started. "Do you wish to know what drove me to such a state? Or do you not care enough to know?"

Erik stared at her in complete silence. She was dead serious. Christine was going to finally tell him what he so longed to know.

"Tell me, Christine."

She looked at him and couldn't help but cry more. "About three months after you left, I realized that I didn't love Raoul. The pain of losing you hadn't subsided and I didn't know what to do. It broke my heart because I knew then and there that I had chosen the wrong man, but I figured if I could make everything right then it would all be okay."

"I went back to the opera house; I found my way into the secret passages and ran around screaming my head off. Calling for you to come find me. Eventually I made it back down to the lair. I got in through the Tourcher Chamber, but you were gone. I could tell by all the dust and the mess that was left. At first I was afraid you were dead, but I knew that Nadir would have informed me of that. My angel was really gone." She said.

"I found Madam Giry and asked her if she knew where you might have gone. She didn't know, but she guessed that you would have probably gone somewhere new. So I packed my bags and boarded a boat, along with Meg and Madam Giry, in hopes of finding you here. The trip was fine, but one night I took a stroll out on the deck and some man grabbed me from behind and dragged me to his room."

"He raped me over and over. After he was done, he kicked me out of his room and I stumbled back to my room. Meg was the one who found me lying, passed out, on the floor. I told them what happened, but I didn't turn the man in. No one would have believed me anyways. We finally arrived and we all found housekeeping jobs. A couple of weeks after arriving, I began to feel very sick."

"That was how Chole Ange was conceived." Erik said, his face showed the grief he was now feeling.

"I found out I was pregnant and almost killed myself. I didn't know what to do. I mailed Raoul and told him what happened. He came as soon as he got the message and told me he would take care of the baby and raise it like his own. I was so happy that Raoul still cared enough to help me that I accepted his offer."

"He also offered to pay for me and take care of me. In truth, he wanted to marry me. In fact, he still does. But I told my self that I wasn't going to be a charity case. I would make my way, one way or another. A few months into my pregnancy the mistress of the house that I worked for began to notice I was pregnant. She was so disgusted that she told me she would not have a whore working for her."

"She kicked me out and I went and lived with Meg and Madam Giry. After Chole Ange was born I figured I would have to get some type of job. But I couldn't find anything. I was sitting on a bench one evening crying my eyes out when a woman came and sat next to me. She told me that I looked like I had had a hard life, she said that she had a job that would give me some easy money fast."

"When we arrived at the bordello, I was too desperate to say no. I couldn't tell you how many men I have slept with, there are too many to count, but I always imagined it was you. I prayed each and every time that I would see you again. That you would rescue me. Sometimes I got away without having to do anything at all."

"I would sing to some of the men and they would just leave me alone. That was the worst part to me sometimes though. I felt like I was betraying you. You gave me my voice and here I was selling it off. That was how I met Clark. He came in that day and was assigned to me. I offered to sing to him and when he heard me he told me that I should audition at the opera house. I went and I never expected to see you." Christine said. "I had in fact been saving my money. I wanted to go to Persia and search for you, but I guess fate stepped in. All of this has been for you. Every bad thing that has happened to me is because of you, but I still can't help but want you to love me. "

"You are blaming me for Chloe Ange. It is my fault that you were raped." Erik said, trying to not let his anger take over.

"I try sometimes to think about how different my life might have been had you not fallen in love with me. Maybe I wouldn't have Chloe Ange… I do blame you for all that, I wont lie to you about it, but I am so grateful that you loved me. Because I wouldn't have gone searching for you and then I wouldn't have had Chloe Ange and if I didn't have her, I don't know what I would do. I may blame you for all of my misfortunes, but I thank you for them also. Every bad thing that has ever happened to me relating to you has always ended with a good outcome." She replied. Erik could do nothing but stare at her. "Maybe I should leave"

"No, don't." Erik cried.

Christine turned to face him with so much passion in her eyes. "What Erik, what else is there to say? You know my story; you know what I had to do to survive. What else do you want from me?"

"I don't know." Erik said frustrated at himself for not knowing what the hell he wanted.

"That is not good enough." She replied feeling very defeated.

"But that is all I have." Erik countered. "Christine, for the love of God, I have nothing left."

"Me too." She whispered. "I have given you all I have, nothing more or less. One heart for another. My voice is yours, my spirit is yours, my soul is yours, and my heart is yours. You have it all."

Erik felt so much pressure. Her expectant stare didn't do much to help. He was defeated. "I am sorry, but I don't know what to tell you."

"Then I'll leave."

"Christine, please don't leave."

"Erik, just let me go. We don't want a repeat of five years ago."

"Yet we are still in the same predicament." He said.

"I can't do this again. Not if you are so unsure." She cried.

"Then don't, but are you going to leave, give up your dream for me? Again?"

"Erik, do you love me?" She suddenly asked. "Are there any feeling left?"

He knew he wouldn't lie to her. "Yes. Yes Christine, I am still in love with you. Maybe I always will be."

"Then why can't we be together?" She screamed. "Why are you pushing me away?"

"Because you killed my heart last time!" He screamed at her. "You did not just break my heart, you killed it. I had lived so long without actually feeling anything, but it didn't compare to how I felt after you left me. There just wasn't anything left. I felt more inhuman then than I ever had. I thought I was going to die. I truly did."

Christine stared at Erik for a moment before she turned and ran out of the room. Erik didn't have the strength to stop her.

Hours after she had left, Erik locked himself away in his music room, closed all the curtains, lit some candles, and began to compose. He figured if he didn't play out all his grief now, he was certain that this time, her leaving would surly be the cause of his death.

Two Months later

"Christine, the new opera has arrived!" Meg said enthusiastically.

Christine looked up at her best friend in curiosity.

"Erik just dropped the scores off." She finished.

The mention of Erik's name made Christine's heart ache. She rarely spoke to him except when they were in rehearsals or private lessons. She knew it was over, she just need time to mourn. Time to move on.

"Really Meg, what is it about?" Christine asked.

Meg glanced over the title page and her eyes bulged out. "On second thought, maybe you don't want to see it." Meg replied backing away from Christine.

"No, Meg. Show me the score. I want to see it." I said, laughing at her odd behavior.

"Are you positive?" She asked.

"Yes, give me the score Meg."

"Okay."

Meg handed the script over to Christine hesitantly. Christine glanced over the title page and felt her heart skip a beat. She looked back at the title and started to read it out loud.

"The Phantom of the Opera!"