Virus

Disclaimer: I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great.

Erik arose to a strange new morning. His guilt had long subsided, he concentrated only on keeping Alex from knowing the truth, should she find out; he knew that his life was over, and that one thought gave him a shot of confusion.

Well anyway, when he woke up that morning, there was no smell of breakfast swiftly wafting through the home, ready to greet him. He rose from his bed, and quietly exited his room.

He went to the kitchen, and there was no one. The girls hadn't been woken up, Bryan was sleeping his day away, and Alex was no where to be found.

"Odd" Erik said to himself as he went to find Alex.

He knocked on her bedroom, and heard her tiredly groan "Come in…"

So he did, he went in and saw she was curled up in her bed, with her head under the blankets.

"Alex, are you feeling alright? You're usually up and about by now." But when he got closer, he saw she wasn't OK. She had her blankets tightly around her, and looked as if she hadn't gotten any sleep at all the night before. She was occasionally coughing, and when Erik felt her skin, it was like she was on fire. "Alex…you're sick" She slowly nodded in her pillow. "OK, I'll let you get some sleep." She quietly thanked him and once again buried her head in the pillow.

She did get to sleep, and when she woke up, she woke up just in time to see Erik coming into her room with a steaming cup of cinnamon tea. He placed it on the end table near her bed, and frankly, he was a lot nicer to her than he really was.

"I got the girls up and fed, Bryan is taking them into town to get some medicine for your cough, and he told me to stay behind and take care of you." Erik told her before she could ask him anything. She nodded tiredly and sat up long enough to take a few drinks of her tea, and then fall back down.

In her mind, Alex loved Erik taking care of her. It was a nice change from the vise versa, and when he wanted to, Erik could actually have a tender touch. If he wanted to be nice to her, he was very seductive, but when he was rude, angry, and silent; he was the opposite.

Erik wanted to admit to liking Alex being sick, he never got a chance to be close to her like he was, and the one other time he did, he'd kissed her and ruined it. But he wouldn't that time, mostly because she was sick, and he didn't think she'd want to.

But he did notice that even though she was under the weather, Alex was still pretty. Even when her face fell from lack of comfortable sleep, and her hair fell in her face, he still could see a pretty girl.

What had shocked him most was that he hadn't thought about Christine that whole day. Every day before that one, her image would creep into his mind either when he was getting up, or when he was getting ready to face another day without her.

Frankly, he liked not thinking about her. He no longer felt the longing in his heart to have her with him, to live in a normal house with her and have normal little children. Somehow, that image seemed less important since he had somehow worked his way into the hearts of Alex's daughters, and more or less the whole Tuner family. Bryan was still skeptical about him though, but not very much since Alex had explained to him that Erik didn't hurt Thomas.

Alex did like Erik, but refused to admit to herself that she was developing feelings for him. She didn't want to put herself up again to be hurt, but the longer Erik stayed at her bedside, taking care of her in her bad health, she began to yearn to let her guards down and let him in.

Truthfully Erik didn't know what he was feeling for Alex. He knew it wasn't love, because it was different than what he felt for Christine. But he did enjoy the days he got to spend with her and her daughters, and he held that day in the brook close to his heart. Because that was when he finally felt normal, where people didn't judge him by his mask, and allowed him to feel what it felt like to be a normal man with a normal family.

But it defiantly wasn't love. What he was feeling for Alex was so different than what he felt for Christine, and when he lay awake at night, trying to decide what word it was that described what he had in his heart for Alex; Love just didn't seem like a good word. It wasn't strong enough, he couldn't even find a word for what he was feeling for Alex, but he loved Christine.

"Hey Erik…" Alex broke the silence, her voice straining from her constant coughing. It was a common flu bug, and it would be gone in a few days or so. "…what was it like at the opera house?"

"Busy" He told her gently, his voice stroking each word gently as he pulled her hair back behind her ear gently, and sent a shock of ecstasy through her veins. "All the people were always doing something, weither the chorus girls were practicing, or being ogled by the stage hands. Carlotta was screaming at everyone to do as she said or she would leave, and Christine Daae even took her place once." Erik had said Christine's name, and yet, he'd said it so casually, like any other woman's name. He saw Alex's nose wrinkle.

"I don't like Christine much. I read about her marriage to the Vicomte De Changy in the papers, and she looked like an airhead. Her hair was too thick, and she looked like a shallow person. But I know not to judge people just by appearances."

"You'd be right though." Erik replied to her, accidentally sounding seductive and…happy… "She was shallow. I knew her, and she cared only about appearances."

"How did you know her?"

"I was the manager Alex" He said sweetly, putting his face close to her's, and touching her hair. As if he was trying to seduce her. Even if he wasn't, he was doing one hell of a good job at it. "I knew everyone who ever came into the Opera Populaire."

"Sounds like a glorious place to work." Alex commented. "You get to make art come alive for people." Erik shook his head, resisting every urge in his body to lean over and give her a simple kiss on her cheek. He wasn't trying to be sweet or seductive; he wasn't trying to win her heart, even though he could if he would only try.

"Not all the time, Trust me, I like working here and for you a lot more." He saw her face fall into a deep crimson shade, and somehow, he wanted to darken the shade. To make her blush deeper, and to see how red her face could get. But he knew what doing that would mean, and he just couldn't do that.

"Erik…I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure"

"I'm having a guest over in a few days, we need to tie up some loose ends and all; and I would just feel better if you were here. Would you mind…staying in the kitchen with us and keeping an eye on me?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind." Erik told her, feeling her gently brush her fingers along his knuckles. "Who's the guest?"

"…Bernard"

Yes here's my update! I'm glad everyone is enjoying this fic so much. When I started it, I wasn't sure if people would like it. I'm glad to say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Yay for my reviewers who are soooooooo awesome and sooooooooo loyal!