Thank you once again to all my reviewers, and the lovely people who are reading, following my story or have favourited it. Thank you so much.
I do not own anything by Gaston Leroux, Susan Kay or Andrew Lloyd Webber, everything else is my own work.
Fish and Ships, and Freedom
The first week of Erik being confined to the lake house and the lake went passed without much problem, he spent some of his time completing the currently commissioned designs, or playing music and composing the many requested compositions that had been requested and Christine now had two lessons a day. When he was not doing that, occasionally he took the boat across the lake and sat on it in the middle of the lake reading a book by the light on the prow, and feeding the fish. However most of the time when he was not located at his drafting table or in the music room he was getting under Christine's feet and hovering around her. He was starting to drive her crazy.
It was much to Christine's relief when Nadir turned up after the office was shut triumphant waving a newspaper and grinning,
"I have it!" he declared, "a game that Erik won't beat me at!"
"At the moment Erik is up at Madame Giry's driving her crazy, since I threw him out, so I could get the housework done," Christine informed him,
"Oh," Nadir sounded disappointed, "I was hoping to play my new game with him," Nadir told her as he took a seat in Erik's reading chair,
"I doubt you will have to wait long," Christine told him, "I have banned him from playing any pranks, so he will only stay with Madame Giry for a short while, a cup of tea whilst you wait?" she asked.
ooo
Erik turned up about twenty minutes later, a glazed look on his face, "They are talking about ballet up there I could not take any more!" he remarked as he noticed Nadir smiling at him, "What pray are you grinning like that for?" Erik asked suspiciously, "Please do not tell me Thomas has wreaked the office?"
"Good Heavens no, everything is going well, Thomas is in heaven, he has enjoyed the broth that was sent for you and I do not think the young man has ever eaten so much fresh fruit in his life!" Nadir said still grinning, "Read this!" he thrust an old newspaper at Erik, "It is a report about how a pirate ship out run the French Navy,
so?" Erik replied,
"So that is the idea for my new game!" Nadir said getting excited, I call it 'Pirate Ships', a game where two players go against each other on a grid of paper to guess the location of their opponent's ships, if you guess the entire location of you opponent's vessel which is more than one square of the grid you sink the ship, one side plays the French Navy the other side is the Pirates. The winner is the person who sinks all the other players ships."
"Humm sounds like an idea, needs more thought though," Erik said thinking to himself. Erik's thought process was interrupted by Christine coming in from the kitchen with a broom in her hands,
"I need to brush the carpet can you both go and play pirates somewhere else?" Christine asked testily.
Erik sighed, "Daroga, what do you say to a spot of lake fishing?" Erik asked as he reached behind his cloaks in the hallway and produced two fishing rods,
"I hope I have better luck than last time," Nadir grimaced, "all I caught was the back of my own jacket with the hook," he sighed as he followed Erik outside.
ooo
By the light of a single lantern, the two men sat on the side of the lake and both cast their hooks into the inky water.
"You really are bored?" Nadir asked Erik,
"I cannot leave the opera house and cannot play pranks I have completed the compositions and the designs ready for all your meetings with the clients next week, yes I am bored!" Erik stated staring at the end of his fishing line, "Once upon a time being able to remain in the sanctity of my home was all I craved, now I long to be able to get out." Erik told him.
"Well how about we work out the schematics for my new game?" Nadir suggested, each player has four ships, a Brigantine, a sloop, a frigate and a Barque. A sloop is two squares on the grid, a Frigate is five squares, a barque is four squares and the brigantine is three."
"Humm, each player would need two gridded papers one to place the guesses of the opponent's ship locations and one to mark their own locations on," Erik said still thinking.
They carried on discussing the game and were not really paying attention to their rods, when Nadir noticed that whilst trying to move his line it was heavy, with a yelp he ripped his line rapidly with all his might from the water.
His catch swung on the line over his head and returned with lightning speed, so quickly that Erik did not have time to react before Nadir's catch belted him aside his ear and catapulted him and his own fishing rod into the lake.
As Erik rose from the lake spluttering, still holding his rod, Nadir caught his errant 'fish' and Erik noticed grimly that it was not a living fish from his lake Nadir clutched woefully in his hands, but the cast iron crepe pan that Christine had thrown into the lake a couple of months ago.
"Opps, Sorry Erik," Nadir said trying not to laugh as Erik took his sopping wet mask off and wrung it out. He then felt something wiggling in his clothes and pulled a tiny catfish from one of the pockets of his jacket and released it back into the lake.
Nadir by now was roaring with laughter and did not see a very soggy Erik with an evil smirk on his mask less face reaching for him. A second loud splash and Nadir found himself in the lake, still clutching his catch as Erik burst out laughing.
ooo
Christine had just finished her housework when the first splash was heard, and she rushed to the door to see Erik in the lake, and watched open mouthed as he pulled Nadir in with him.
Her jaw dropped further when the two grown men decided that since they were already both wet and bored they would stay in the lake and have a water fight, Nadir using the crepe pan to scoop large amounts of lake water in Erik's direction as Erik responded using his hands.
Christine placed her head in her hands. Men really were nothing but oversized children, and those two children were not making a mess of her clean house. Christine went and grabbed two large towels from Erik's bathroom and strode to the bank of the lake.
"When you two have quite finished!" Christine yelled at Erik and Nadir, who abruptly stopped what they were doing and stood dripping in the lake waist deep in the water, both with a sheepish grin. "Neither of you is setting foot in this house until you have stripped off your wet clothing, there is a towel for you each, leave your wet clothing on the bank, I shall collect it later, and get your sorry selves into the bathroom and get washed and cleaned up, do not make me tell either of you twice," Christine commanded as she went to turn back to the house.
Both men looked at each other, then pointed to each other, "He started it!" they declared simultaneously.
Christine turned back to them, "I am stopping it!" she bluntly informed them, "get out of those wet clothes or stay out here till they dry, boys it is your choice, you are not getting my clean house filthy. I will run a bath, you can share it and then you will warm up and wash at the same time, I am not taking arguments, do I make myself clear?" Christine demanded as she turned and strutted back to the house.
"Yes Christine," both men replied sheepishly at the same time as they climbed out of the lake.
It was quite a sight, Erik and Nadir standing on the bank of the lake illuminated by the lantern stripping off all their clothes, with their backs to each other, then when they were naked each grabbed a towel and wrapping them around their waists they ran for the front door holding their towels tightly.
Christine had run a hot bubble bath in Erik's bathroom and stifled her giggles as the men shot in and vanished into the bedroom, what uncovered skin Christine could see on both of them covered in goose bumps from the cold. Once she heard the bathroom door shut, Christine entered the bedroom and laid out two sets of clothes one for each of them, and curiosity getting the better of her, she covered her mouth with a hand to ensure she was not heard giggling, she placed her ear against the bathroom door and listened.
"Erm, Erik how are we going to do this?" Nadir asked nervously hanging on to his towel for grim death as he watched Erik tuck his towel around his waist to free his hands and remove a soggy wig then rinse it in the sink and leaving to drain, before turning to face his flustered friend.
"I think the best way is to work out where we are sitting in the bath, position ourselves at the side of the bath and shut our eyes, drop the towels and get into the water at the same time without looking," Erik told him hesitantly, grateful that he had put a large bath tub in his bathroom.
"I am not sitting at the same end as you!" Nadir pointed out,
"I should hope not!" Erik replied quickly,
"Right," Nadir said with relief, "Either end it is then," he finished as the two of them took their positions either end of the bath and shut their eyes.
"Ready," Erik said, "one, two, three," and with that, eyes still shut they dropped their towels and climbed into the bath together.
Two men have never bathed so quickly in their lives, both kept their eyes firmly shut the whole time. Christine had been kind enough to leave two clean towels within reach of the men and after groping blindly around the side of the bath Erik found them, and waved one in Nadir's general direction until finally it hit his face and he took hold of it. After they had both climbed out, dried off and placed their clean towels around their waists, Erik and Nadir opened their eyes and both of them wore blushes so red you could use them to heat the house with.
The men bashfully made their way back into the bedroom to get dressed, Christine had heard them getting out of the bath and had scuttled off silently sniggering. Erik handed Nadir his clean borrowed clothing and picking up his own fresh clothes as well as taking a clean mask out of his dressing table drawer and his spare wig off the stand, he went back into the bathroom alone to get dressed.
When they were both clothed, Erik and Nadir vowed to each other to never speak of the bath again.
ooo
They made their way back into the sitting room to find a tray of tea and biscuits laid out for them and Christine was in the kitchen washing their original clothes singing quietly to herself.
Erik walked in and kissed her cheek, "I am sorry about the extra washing angel," Erik told her,
"Did you enjoy your bath?" Christine asked innocently,
"No!" Erik told her as Christine took the men's jackets that she had washed, out of the soapy water in the sink, drained it and ran cold water to rinse the jackets out in.
"Oh well," she sighed pick up the wet jackets from the draining board, "One two three," she said sniggering as she plunged the jackets into the clean water.
"Vixen, you were listening at the bathroom door," Erik said as Christine started to laugh.
"Do not worry I will not say a word about this to anyone," Christine told him, "I just think that next time you boys want to have a water fight, wear bathing suits instead of clothes!" she sagely informed Erik as shaking his head he went back to the sitting room.
ooo
After dinner, Erik and Nadir spent the rest of the evening discussing Nadir's new game, in the end they decided that making up four gridded boards and creating eight models two of each type of ship would be more effective, Counters would be used to mark each of the guesses, red for a correct guess and blue for an incorrect guess, and Nadir decided that a screen placed between the two players would stop Erik cheating. With that the two men bickered until the game was designed out and rules decided, Erik offered to make the boards and playing pieces, and Nadir left him that night, working out the size of the models required for the playing pieces.
ooo
The final days of the two weeks confinement were spent with Erik creating Nadir's game for him as well as Christine's lessons and playing music. Christine was happier since Erik was occupied, and it gave her time to respond to the many notes that still came in hoping that Erik was getting better and would be returning to work soon. She was so busy thinking about the latest set of replies that she did not notice Erik appear from the back of the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and she shrieked when she bumped into him.
"What shocked you my angel?" Erik asked as Christine stood shaking in his arms.
"where…where did you appear from?" she asked,
"Ah, that will be my work room, which is located behind the panel of the back of the hallway," he replied smoothly.
"How many rooms are hidden down here?" Christine managed to ask, "I am finding that this once simple house is a veritable maze!" she declared.
Erik thought for a moment, "eleven rooms make up this house if you include the torture chamber," he told her not a hint of joviality on his face nor in his voice.
Christine looked shocked, "A torture chamber… you have a torture chamber in this house?" she asked looking suddenly annoyed.
Erik gulped "It...it … has never been used, Angel," he justified,
"Show me!" Christine demanded.
ooo
Once Erik had opened the control room and lit the chamber he invited Christine to enter with himself, as she looked around Erik explained that the lighting was designed to recreate the effects of sunlight and the lights had a special stain on them to achieve this.
Christine was amazed, the iron tree could do with some work and ideas rattled around her head, she could have plants and use the chamber to dry laundry like it was hung outdoors.
Saying nothing to that effect, she simply asked Erik to show her how to use the lighting and heating and how to control it. Erik was puzzled but amused, so he did not ask her why she wanted to know such things as he showed her exactly how to set the chamber up.
ooo
When they had finished, Erik then took Christine to his work room, where she saw an array of tools and wood carving implements, and on the workbench, she saw eight beautifully detailed miniature sailing ships, their sails filled with an invisible wind, beside them sat four gridded boards and a pile of blue and red wooden discs.
"Erik this is lovely, Nadir's game really inspired you," Christine declared with awe in her voice.
Erik puffed himself up with pride, "I thought this would be more elegant than playing on pieces of paper," he told her, "Now I just have to show Nadir," Erik finished as he handed her the four boards, put the counters and the model ships in a wooden carry case that he had made to convey the playing pieces, and with the game packed safely away they carried it out of the work room and back into the main house.
ooo
Nadir arrived as had become normal at the end of the working day and was more than delighted with Erik's design and the two men spent the rest of that evening working out the game play and chatting never quite finishing a round of the game.
As the evening drew to a close, Nadir reminded Erik that his confinement was up, and he was expected back at work, and swathed in bandages in the morning, before taking his leave with his new game tucked under his arm.
ooo
The following morning, wearing full head bandages and a pair of smoked lens glasses, Erik uncomfortably made his way to the office, the bandages were already irritating him, so the day was not off to a good start. He was just making his way to the front door of the office when he was accosted by a gentleman who climbed out of his carriage just as Erik reached for the door knob.
"Finally, Jardinier, I have waited over two weeks to speak with you!" the man blustered,
Erik tipped his head and stared over the top of his glasses, "I do beg your pardon," Erik replied sarcastically, "I apologise for accidentally burning myself with acid since it has clearly impeded your plans," Erik finished caustically.
The man, took an unconscious step back, "I came here two weeks ago to get you to design me a new summer house, but your office boy informed me you had been involved in an accident."
Erik ignored the jibe about Thomas being the office boy and delved back through his memory, "You would be the Marquis de Bordeaux, Erik informed the man, I have already sketched some ideas for you and have them here with me!" Erik told the Marquis, "Please come into the office," Erik deliberately walked through the door first, since he was not going to play pomp and circumstance to a rude Marquis, even if he was one of the richest aristocrats in France.
ooo
Nadir sensed Erik's mood the moment the door opened and instructing Thomas to provide two cups of coffee one for Erik and one for their client, he walked in behind the Marquis as Erik showed him into his private office. Erik took his seat behind his desk.
"I seem to recall that you have the need for the summer house at your country Chateau which if memory serves me correct is in the neo-classical style," Erik said as he reached into the roll of drawings he brought with him, "my business partner Monsieur Khan informed me whilst I was recovering at home that you had spoken to my office manager the day of my accident, regarding a summer house so I took the liberty of creating a design whilst I was on lying on my sick bed!" Erik snidely informed the Marquis as he unrolled the drawing.
Nadir was impressed to notice the Marquis had the decency to look ashamed, he had obviously pestered Erik when he arrived and that would have accounted for Erik's foul mood this morning before he had even arrived in the office. The Marquis gasped at the drawing and immediately asked Erik what the cost would be. After Erik told him the marquis immediately agreed and pulled out a roll of bank notes from a reticule and handed them to Erik, who thanked the marquis and smiled as the Marquis left the office.
"Erik, was that price not rather inflated?" Nadir asked as he watched Erik scratch at his bandages.
"If he had been politer then it would have been a bit cheaper, but you notice, oh passive Persian that the Marquis did not even barter the price, he was so keen to have work by Angel Architecture that he paid the asking price in cash in full," Erik said with a smirk, "It pays to advertise obviously, he finished gesturing at the bandages with a laugh and then scratched his face again.
ooo
After a few more meetings with clients, Nadir and Erik took a carriage, out to the current worksite and talked with the foreman, who seemed more spooked with Erik's current appearance that he was normally, then on to the bank to deposit the large sum paid by the Marquis and finally back to the office, where Nadir insisted that they set up his new game and play it. Erik and Nadir decided that they would pit their wits against Thomas, who was not so sure about this, but Nadir and Erik insisted, and Nadir set the game up whilst explaining to Thomas how it was played.
Nadir volunteered Erik to play Thomas for the first game, the screen was placed between the two players and they then placed their ships on the numbered squares. And with Nadir watching to check the game play, the game started… and ended one hour later, to Nadir's amusement.
"You sank my Pirate ship! In fact, you sank my whole damn fleet!" Erik grumbled sulkily.
Nadir roared with laughter as Thomas held his hand to his throat. "Do not worry about Erik he is a sore looser!" Nadir sniggered as Thomas considered hiding.
"I am not a sore looser!" Erik growled, "I have never lost before."
Nadir got cocky in the face of Erik's first ever defeat playing a game, "Do not worry, I shall show you how it is played;" Nadir declared as he patted Erik condescendingly on the arm before he and Thomas cleared the boards ready for another game. Erik watched like a hawk as Nadir battled their secretary for round two.
"Oh, yes now I can see how it is played!" Erik said smirking, he watched the first lost ship of the Navy team two minutes into the game. The rest of the Navy team followed one after the other, and finished with the losing side crying out one last time, "You sank my Navy ship!" 45 minutes later.
Nadir was stunned, he lost again… worse than that he lost playing the game he invented, his own game, right in front of Erik. Erik on the other hand was trying not to laugh at his sunken friend, as Thomas was now seriously considering quitting his job for reasons of safety, specifically his own.
Nadir narrowed his eyes at his secretary just as Erik roared with laughter, "I think you need to iron out a few points," Erik told Nadir trying to at least attempt to avoid destroying the few remains of Nadir's ego.
Thomas redeemed himself with some quick thinking; "Monsieur Nadir, all I had to do was concentrate on the game, you had to think about the flow of the game, and the game play and the rules." Thomas informed him "of course with all that to think about as well as the game itself no wonder you lost."
Erik recognised Thomas trying wheedle out of Nadirs wrath, "Perhaps it has been a long day, you can easily beat Thomas tomorrow." Erik informed Nadir as they packed the boards up and left the office for the night.
Just before the two men went their separate ways they stood chatting in the street.
"Of course, you do know that really, I let Thomas beat me," Nadir stated,
"As did I," replied Erik, "It would have done his confidence no end of damage if we had not let him win." Erik finished.
"Absolutely, next time however what say we both show no quarter." Nadir pointed out,
"I quite agree, next time no quarter for our secretary." Erik said as they both went their separate ways. Hoping they had both convinced the other one that neither of them had been soundly, fairly and squarely beaten by Thomas.
ooo
Arriving home, Erik all but tore the glasses and bandages from his face as Christine got up from the couch to greet him.
"Erik…" she started, your face is all red and blotchy!" Christine exclaimed, as she kissed him,
"It itches like hell as well," Erik told her as he raised his fingers to scratch again.
"Oh, not you do not!" Christine scolded him, "Go and wash your face and then put some salve on, you will damage your face scratching, she reminded him. "I will boil the bandages, and see if that makes it any more comfortable for you to wear them tomorrow," Christine said as she picked the bandages up from the floor and headed into the kitchen.
Erik scratched his face as soon as Christine turned her back, and thinking he had gotten away with it and went to walk to the bedroom as Christine came back out of the kitchen, waving a pair of washing tongs at him, "Do not think for one moment that you got away with scratching your face monsieur, I know you too well!" Christine informed him, "If you scratch anymore I will bind your hands so you cannot!" she said pointedly as Erik hung his head like a naughty child and skulked into the bedroom.
After washing his face and applying his salve Erik did notice that the itching stopped, and he felt a lot better. Dinner and a lesson with Christine followed, before they finished the evening with hot chocolate and Erik reading a story out loud to Christine as they snuggled on the couch before bed.
ooo
The following day followed a similar pattern, Erik was slowly being driven insane with the wretched bandages, eventually he had no option but to wear his normal mask under them to prevent them from inflaming his skin. Oh, the next few weeks were going to take forever. However, the more Erik was seen at the office the more his clients grew used to his bandaged visage.
ooo
The true effectiveness of the ruse to ensure that Erik was no longer associated with his former persona, came by accident the following morning, when a new client arrived at the office with a request for a sun room for his town house.