AN: Thanks for the reviews! Glad I didn't piss off too many LND fans with that….As for posting pictures of the Lon Chaney statue, I would, but I have no idea how to do that on here.

CHAPTER 14

Emmy and Erik were parked outside of McDonald's after she had bought him some coffee from the drive-thru. Upon learning that he had never had coffee before, Emmy made sure to get a sugar packed, icy frappe.

"This is a dessert…not a beverage…" he said after taking a sip. "And I believe coffee is supposed to be hot."

"I didn't want you to spill it and burn your face off. That would just be depressing after you've gone through dimensions to get a normal one," said Emmy dully.

Glaring with both hands wrapped around the plastic cup, Erik continued sipping on the straw.

"I wouldn't spill it…" he muttered. Just as he said it, the cup slipped from his hands and he almost dropped it, but Emmy caught it. She handed it back to him.

"See, your reflexes are slower than mine. You're still drunk."

"Fine…I'll keep drinking this liquefied sugar," said Erik begrudgingly, sinking in his seat and sucking on the straw.

"Oh lord…I forgot. When you do get sober, you'll be so jacked up on sugar and caffeine you won't be able to sleep," Emmy groaned. Erik shifted his eyes towards her then grinned maniacally.

"I'm sure I could find something to occupy myself with…"

Emmy shoved him and he snickered. Folding her arms, she huffed and turned away.

"I can't believe I'm actually chauffeuring a drunken fictional character stuck in a Scottish actor's body."

Holding up a finger pointedly, Erik reminded her, "An attractive Scottish actor's body!"

Still looking out of the window watching people go in and out of the restaurant, Emmy admitted, "Yes, that's true."

After swallowing the last gulp of sweet, coffee flavored ice, Erik put it in the cupholder silently and shifted closer to Emmy's side of the car (as stealthily as he could in his state).

"So you COULD help occupy me?" he said as he got right next to her ear. Jerking around to face him, Emmy didn't know whether to laugh or smack him again.

"If you weren't buzzed right now…"

"Hmm? It's not the intoxication from the wine," he hummed mysteriously, inching closer again.

"Uh…I think it is, Erik. I'm a stupid American teenager from the future, remember? I just happen to look like Christine," Emmy reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. He knew who she was. Why didn't she believe him?

"But Emmyyyy…." He whined, and she couldn't help but smile, thinking the awkward part was over. And just then, he suddenly pulled her face towards him and crashed his lips on hers.

/

"Whoa."

"What?"

Gerry patted his hand over his chest for a second, breathing raggedly. "I felt something."

Christine's eyes widened a little. "I thought it was just me…"

Gerry noticed she was breathing strangely too. The feeling was fading away now, and he tried to describe it. "It was like something hit me in the gut then played basketball with my heart or something…you know, bounced it on the ground."

"Yes…same feeling."

Thinking a moment, he came up with an idea.

"Maybe something's happening with our souls—like Erik's trying to get back in his body…but Emmy has to follow him and be in yours!"

Christine gulped nervously, considering that possibility. She didn't want to swap bodies with her future doppelganger!

"Wait—maybe they figured out their side of swapping back…"

"You mean he learned his lesson but I haven't yet?" asked Gerry.

"Yes, or they…em…kissed," said Christine, surprised at herself for being uncomfortable with the idea. Gerry didn't particularly like it either.

"Well, we could give it a shot," he said casually.

"You mean kiss?"

"Sure, why not?"

Christine looked down unsurely, then sighed and moved closer to Gerry with the reluctance of a child about to get an injection from a doctor.

"Alright, just do it."

He started to lean in, but then stopped. "If it works, can I come back and visit sometime?"

"Gerry…"

"Can I?"

"Yes, if it's alright with Erik, sure. It's been lovely," said Christine softly, then Gerry, with a last smile, closed his eyes and kissed her.

When he opened them, he didn't know what to expect exactly, but he figured it would be something exciting. Instead, nothing had happened.

"Well then."

Christine shifted uncomfortably away from him, biting her lip. It was unsettling to her that she had somewhat enjoyed that kiss. She told herself it was only because Gerry was a rather experienced and skilled kisser.

Yes, that's all it was. He's good at it.

"What do you want from me?" Gerry shouted suddenly at the ceiling, as if yelling at God—or whatever had put him there.

"It has to be at the same time, perhaps," Christine guessed. "Let's wait until they do it again."

"Or learn the lesson," he added.

They sat in silence, thinking and waiting for a torturously long minute.

"Yeah…" Gerry interrupted the silence finally, "We need the foreign guy."

/

Emmy felt like she was deep underwater, fighting to get to the surface while floating suspended in time. There was a strange mix of emotions, rational thought, and knee-jerk reactions all going on in her mind at the same time as Erik forced a less-than-graceful kiss on her. By the time she shoved him off and scolded him, she felt another heart pounding, breathless sensation, but she passed it off as shock.

Erik felt it too, but passed it off as excited joy.

Neither of them mentioned it.

"Erik—I know you're still not right in the head so I won't blame you for that when you sober up, but you CAN'T do that, ok? It's not right," Emmy said, throwing each word at him to make sure he understood. Erik shook his head.

"Why not?"

Emmy sighed. "Because. You'll regret it later and here, I'm considered a child and you're an adult—"

"You aren't a child!" Erik chuckled, leaning back in his seat and looking over her. "You're a beautiful grown woman….about at your marrying age…"

"Not HERE, I'm not," she insisted.

"Strange…'children' such as yourselves bare so much skin and look just like 'adults' yet expect not to be approached…"

Emmy was taken aback by this. It was sort of true…but it didn't justify such an inappropriate situation!

"I'm driving you back," she said simply, and did just that, ignoring Erik's mutterings. When they arrived at the studio parking lot, Emmy shuffled Erik through the orange glow of sodium vapor lights ("Are those candles? No? Then why are they orange like that?") to his trailer. Once inside the tiny bedroom, he started begging Emmy to stay with him. She just headed to the door.

Still a little unsteady, he pulled her back in. At the sudden yank, she fell against his chest and stumbled back.

"Pleeeaasse? I shall be very well behaved, I promise…" he said, sweetly as he could. "Erik promises he won't kiss you again."

"Oh God, now you're talking in third person.."

"Erik is doing what with a third person?"

Covering her mouth, Emmy tried her best not to laugh but ended up doing a strange little snort. Erik cocked his head, wondering what on earth was the matter with her.

"Ok, ok," she gasped, composing herself. "I can't stay. I need sleep and if I fall asleep here and people know…"

Erik flopped on the bed and lifted a finger to his lips.

"Erik is very good at keeping secrets…Erik knows how to hide Emmy in his room!"

Sighing, she crossed her arms and looked at him dully.

"And how is that?"

He smiled dreamily. "Emmy tells people she got up early to visit him!"

That could work…wait, why do I even want to stay? Why am I considering it in the first place? I mean, it's hard to say no to him anyway, but this is absurd! What…no, I'm not staying, I'm not—

"If you talk normally, I'll stay."

Erik gasped in delight and jumped to his feet on the bed. When the springs bounced, he staggered and fell back, making the bed squeak. He chuckled like an entertained kid and got up to do it again. He did this for a while and Emmy watched, laughing until he finally stopped, rolling to face her with his arms outstretched pitifully. She walked over and sat on the bed next to him. He hugged her waist.

"Would you sing for me?" he asked as he let his eyes shut, finally feeling drowsy. She smiled a little.

"What do you want me to sing?"

Erik yawned. "Anything."

After thinking a moment, Emmy started humming 'Angel of Music'. A smile spread across his face as he recognized the tune. As she began to sing softly, she changed it to 'Think of Me' and 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again'. Basically, it turned into a Phantom medley. And Erik loved it, of course. Soon, he was asleep, and Emmy went back to her own trailer quietly.