Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews…sorry that I haven't updated in a few days. I've been trying to get my novel completed for publishing and between that and work…well you get the picture. Anyway here's the next chapter and I always appreciate good or bad feedback..lets me know how to write the following chapter…Enjoy!

Erik's POV

When I came to, my whole body felt as if it were being burned at the stake. My chest was burning and my whole body was stinging with a burning pain. My neck however was in the worst pain, it felt as if I had slept in the wrong position for thirty years. I wondered if I were in heaven because of how dark and silent everything was. I soon realized though that I wasn't in heaven because of I was still deaf. After opening my eyes, I glanced around a room that I didn't recognize and it was rather dark. I couldn't recall what had happened to me the night before and could only remember the horse colliding with my body as I bent down to pick up the last pen that had fallen out onto the road. As I tried to move neck to see what I was dressed in, I stopped because of how much pain shot into it. Instead I gently lifted up my arms to spot them covered in long white sleeves, something that obviously didn't belong to me. Beside me there were candles lit on the night stand and when I looked out the window I saw water appearing on it, making it obvious that it was raining outside.

As I lied there looking out the window, I felt a soft hand brushing my shoulder and looked over to see my sweet Christine sitting at my side. God she looked beautiful and like the angel I pictured just as my life was flashing before my eyes the night before. She must have just arrived because when I awoke she wasn't there and now she was…of course with me being deaf and all it was possible that she could have been on the other side of the room and that I just couldn't hear her. When I saw her lips slowly moving, I gently pointed towards my ears and watched as the tears began to fall down her cheeks. She then reached over and took a small contraption from off the nightstand and hooked it into the ear that she hadn't hurt. The same pain of placing the hearing aid in my ear had occurred once more and as soon as it was over I could hear the rain hitting the window. The doctor who was probably Nadir must have given me another hearing aid…wasn't I just so lucky.

"How do you feel Erik?" she asked me.

Well considering that my body was run over by a Clydesdale horse and god knows what else I think that it's safe to say that I was in complete agony. Even when I opened my mouth to speak my jaw ached me. I leaned back on my pillow, and forced the words out of my mouth.

"I'm perfectly fine."

She touched my forehead and stroked it with each of her gentle fingers.

"Oh my angel, you mustn't lie to me. I know that you're in complete pain. I thought I lost you forever."

I was waiting for my daughter to come and jump on me but as the seconds past it never occurred.

"Where's Clorinda?" I asked.

Christine continued to brush her fingers against my face, and I could have sworn she sighed.

"Madam Giry has her. You'll get to see her again tonight."

It was then that Nadir, Alex and Petri entered the room and approached my bedside. Seeing Petri had made my blood boil because I still had not forgiven him for what he did to Clorinda two years ago.

"Oh Erik, I see that you finally decided to join us." replied Nadir as he started inspecting my wounds. I always hated Nadir's sense of humor and couldn't help but just want him to shut up. My head was aching enough without having to hear his dry humor.

"Are you ready to go home?" he asked.

I replied with a "Yes" instead of a nod due to the fact that I didn't want to cause any more agony to my neck. Seconds later Nadir and Alex lifted me onto a small gurney and carried me out of their house as Christine and Petri walked beside me. Christine held onto my hand as my body continued to ache. Once we were outside, Christine held a blanket over my body to keep me from getting soaked from the rain but I was more concerned about her than myself. The last thing I needed was for her to become sick from getting wet. Once they loaded me inside of the ambulance, Christine sat down beside me and Alex motioned Petri to go back inside the house. When we started moving, my body began to fill up with more pain than I had ever felt before. Each bump that we went over caused a new ache to come out. I arched my back to try and miss the bumps but that only made things worse.

We're almost home." was all that Christine kept repeating to me but I knew that she was only trying to calm my down and get my mind on something else. When we finally arrived back at my place, both Alex and Nadir unloaded me out of the ambulance and took me inside. I saw some of my neighbors peeking out of their doors but I just ignored them all. Once we were back in my room, they lifted me out of the gurney and placed me back into my bed. Being lifted hurt, but not as bad as riding in Nadir's ambulance. At that point I watched as Nadir handed Christine some sort of medication and was talking to her but as far as what he was saying was a total mystery. He had lowered his voice, which totally aggravated me to no end because I couldn't hear what he was telling her. Once the both of them left, Christine came and sat down at my side. It made me feel a little better about my pain and having just the two of us there made me feel even better.

"I'm sorry that I ruined our date together. If only I would have been there Christine it was all my fault."

Christine shook her head at me and kissed me gently on the lips.

"Erik, why did you walk in the dark? You know how much I worry about you."

I then explained to her about how my watch had stopped working and how Monsieur Murray never came to tell me about what time it was. Christine seemed mad, but I was sure that it was over Monsieur Murray and not me. If my boss would have came and told me that it was time to leave I wouldn't have worked over and I would have made it to the opera house on time.

"How could he do that to you Erik? He knows that you're deaf and that you shouldn't walk alone in the dark."

Christine's tears had returned and it just made me completely upset. I hated seeing her cry now that she was doing it only made me want to do it with her.

"Christine, please don't cry. I'm here with you now."

I gently lifted my arm and wiped the tears away from her face. She was crying over me and it only made things worse. I hated when she pitied me and she always seemed to do it when I was in these kinds of situations.

"You know why I'm so upset Erik?" she asked. I wanted to shake my head but I was worried about the pain coming back so instead I answered her with a simple "No."

"The reason why I'm so upset Erik was because I was so worried about loosing you. More than usual because last night after the opera I was going to tell you that I'm pregnant."

My whole world shattered after hearing this from my angel. She couldn't be….she just couldn't be pregnant…this would be the third time and I just couldn't handle another miscarriage or stillborn child….I was speechless and this had caused Christine to become even more upset.

"Say something Erik."

"I don't know what to say." I began. "Except that I'm certain that this child will bring us more heart ache."

"Why do you say that?" she asked.

"Because of what happened to the other two Christine. Who's saying that this one won't be born just as the rest…I can't handle another one Christine….either can you."

Christine always wanted to look on the bright side of things and just shook my idea out of her head.

"No Erik." she cried. "God wouldn't have done this to me if he didn't have some sort of good coming out of it. The other two children were my fault…I ran when I shouldn't have and I must have done something to cause the other one to be born like that."

"You did nothing Christine, it was my fault. Look at me. I'm genes are a disaster waiting to happen. Please don't be happy over this Christine."

I was pleading her to just get rid of it while our happiness lasted but I knew that she was more excited about this child than me. I just couldn't believe that I conceived one perfect child let alone another one. The one that I had delivered out in those woods two years ago looked exactly like me, and no child should ever have to live like that which is why the good lord took him away from me. The other one I had not seen, but Christine always spoke of how perfect he was….I was sure that this third time would not be a charm. Christine sat there rubbing my arms trying to calm me down but nothing was going to make me feel better when it came to this….

"Erik, I hope within the next few months you become happy about this…I really want to have another baby with you."

"I don't want another one Christine, not with the way I look."

Christine got to her feet, and walked away, leaving me to rest my eyes. I had trouble moving my leg and glanced at it to notice that it was wrapped up in a bandage. After I rested, I lied there waiting for Christine to come back to me I noticed that it was still raining outside. Seconds later Christine approached me with a plate of food and began to spoon feed me. I wasn't sure what she was feeding me, but it was hot, sweet and delicious.

"What did you cook?" I asked after a while.

I could tell that Christine still wasn't happy about what I had said, but she still responded back to me.

"Nadir said that it was best if I fed you hot, sweet foods so I baked you an apple pie. Once I get the word from Nadir I'll start making you sausage and sauerkraut again."

"It's alright, you make a delicious pie my angel."

For the first time that day, I saw Christine smile, and it make me happier than any man on the planet. I loved seeing her smile and couldn't bear when she frowned.

"You know Christine." I began. "I'm sorry that I was mean to you earlier. I too am responsible for you getting pregnant. I just wanted to apologize."

Christine smiled again, and finished feeding me the piece of pie.

"You know that I'm happiest with you Erik."

"Always my angel."

We were all alone and as the time went on I began to wonder where Clorinda was.

"Angel, where's Clorinda?"

Christine gently crawled in bed beside me and lied there beside me. It felt so nice to have her lying beside me once again.

"I talked to Madam Giry while you were asleep and she offered to keep her for one more night so you could get some peace and quiet."

It had been so long since the last time my angel and I were alone. It had also been a long time since we made love. As I lied there I began to feel Christine's hands running up along the side of my neck, which felt amazing. I had to give it to her, she really knew where and how to touch me. As she continued to stroke my neck, I couldn't help but begin to moan and that's when it happened, she began to kiss me which caused immediate pain to occur in my neck. I quickly but easily pushed her off of me and began to rub my neck.

"Is something wrong Erik?" she asked.

"Yes." I replied. "that hurt very badly."

I could tell that Christine felt bad about hurting me, and just lied there with me not doing anything for the longest time. After a while I turned towards her and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Christine, I didn't mean that you were hurting me. You were just..hurting me. Does that make sense?"

"Yes I get what you're saying. It's not that my kisses hurt it's just that your body is in pain and it's causing everything to hurt."

Christine then gently lifted up my head, and placed another pillow under my stiff neck and then placed it back down again.

"So what happened to the mask you had made for me?"

"It had gotten dirty when the carriage ran over you. I had to clean it."

I turned to her. "Christine, if I'm still deaf in a few weeks I promise to let you walk me to work."

"You promise me Erik? Promise to let me help you."

I smiled at her and replied with a simple "Yes."

"I should take some time off from the opera and care for you."

Hearing this made me cringe…..first she gets the job and now she wanted to take time off to care for me? No she couldn't. she had an opera house that depended on her and she just couldn't do that.

"No Christine, you can't take off. I'll be fine here during the night."

"I couldn't leave you to just fend for yourself Erik."

I placed my finger over her beautiful lips and shushed her.

"Christine." I purred. "You are the most talented soprano that I have ever known and for you to take off because of me is the most dumbest mistake you could ever make. You're with child now and you may only have a few months left to sing before you have to take off. I want you to promise me that you'll go sing in your operas during the evening hours. Who knows, within a few days I could be back to seeing them with you again."

She sat there quietly for a few seconds before I watched her nod. It was then that I kissed her good night and nestled down beneath the sheets to rest my eyes. Before falling into a dreamless slumber, I felt her remove my hearing aid and opened my eyes to see her placing it on the night stand. When I awoke the following morning, I sat up and rubbed my eyes before reaching over on the night stand to place the hearing aid back inside my ear. As soon as the end of it made contact with my ear drum I heard the sound of knocking at the door. It was still raining outside and I could only imagine who would have been outside. Christine how ever happened to be walking by my the corner where I was lying, and handed me my mask before walking away, probably to answer the door. I placed the mask down on the night stand and lied there listening to the muffled sounds that were happening around the corner on the other side of the room. I hadn't know how many minutes passed or how long Christine was away, but when she returned she was carrying a glass of water. She handed me the perspiring glass and I gulped it down as if I hadn't drank anything in days, which was exactly how I felt. She then handed me two orange pills and I glanced at them.

"they're for your pain Erik." she replied.

I placed them in my mouth, and gulped down another chug of the ice water.

"Who was at the door?" I asked.

"There's an older woman here that goes by the name of Madam Cherie. She said that she's been traveling for days and hasn't a place to rest. I let her in so she's drinking tea in the kitchen."

"I know that you're trying to be nice and all Christine, but she's a stranger and you know how I feel about them."

"I promise you that once the rain has stopped, she'll be gone."

I agreed and handed Christine the empty glass of water.

"Just keep and eye on her." I replied.

With that, Christine kissed me on the lips once more, and walked away to go and check on the so called "Visitor." I felt like calling her over to see what she looked like but I let it go. For I knew that if it were a little old lady like Christine said then she couldn't possibly do much harm. Christine had promised me once the rain had stopped she would be gone…so I set my glance to the window and waited, hoping that the sun would come out soon. I hated strangers in our home, especially after everything that happened with Raoul and Philippe occurred. Philippe was dead and Raoul wasn't much of a problem anymore because I was certain that he found another girl to love…my concern now was about strangers being in our home and that stranger being the little old lady that went by Madam Cherie. Christine had a wonderful heart and I knew that if she seemed like a threat then she wouldn't have even let her in to begin with…I guess little old ladies need helping once in a while too…. By the time I had thought of all this my medication had kicked in causing me to become sleepy and so I did the only thing I could think of which was to take a nap…..hoping that when I awoke the sun would be shining brightly and for it to be just the two of us again….

More to come soon! Let me know what you think! Thanks!