For those of you who read chapter 25 before 8PM on Tuesday June 3 you may want to reread the first half of the chapter before the mature content. Upon request of my beta, Judybear236 I added some content to enhance the story. It does not alter the plot in any way but does add some insight into the characters thoughts.

Chapter 26.

Christine and Erik returned to the manor where they found the family waiting there for them. Erik looked at Livy and smiled at her look of concern, but his words belied his look.

"I told you to leave me alone and not follow me here, yet neither one of you chose to obey me." Erik rebuked.

Livy stuttered uncharacteristically, "I did it for your own good Father. I want to see you happy, even if it is with her?"

Erik looked at her "Her is not her name, it is Christine. You had best remember that. I do not appreciate you interfering in my life, no matter how well intentioned that it might be. In the future you will obey my wishes no matter how strongly that you convince yourself that you are acting in my best interests. Is that understood?"

"Yes Father." she replied sheepishly. He looked over to Bertie "You too."

Bertie nodded, "I understand Father, but we did not try to interfere. I am here to show Annette our home. If she is to be my bride shouldn't she see where she is to live someday?"

Erik looked at him sternly, "Am I dead yet? I may look like a corpse but I am afraid that I am in no hurry to die. Is that what you were hoping for?"

"No, of course not. You cannot possibly believe that I want you to be dead" Bertie replied. "I am content to wait until I am an old man before I inherit this place. But Annette and I will undoubtedly be staying here on our frequent visits to Shropshire."

"Then what was your hurry?" Erik asked enjoying his attempt to torture his son. "I know that you wish only the best for me. With that in mind, do you truly expect me to believe your not so subtle attempts to play cupid with me? Your motivations clearly resemble those of your sister. You would have me remarry even if it is to a woman whose motives have remained unclear to you."

Christine gave him a sharp look wondering if he had changed his mind about her once again. He subtly squeezed her hand as if to reassure her.

Bertie cleared his throat and replied defensively, "Livy and I had your best interests in mind. We only wanted to see you be happy. Is that so terrible Father; that we wish for such a thing for you?"

Erik replied softly "No of course not son, but that is not the point. I strictly advised you that I wished to remain undisturbed. Yet you deliberately defied my wishes and enabled the Comtesse to find me."

"Yet neither of you seem unhappy Father; in fact I see you holding the Comtesse's hand. I too am not blind. Have you reached an accommodation?" Bertie asked pointedly, turning the argument around.

Erik sighed, "We have. But still it is not your role to play matchmaker for me." He looked at Livy who was smirking, "Neither of you. Is that clear?"

Livy replied, "We understand Father. But it is obvious that you wanted to see Christine."

Erik smiled but attempted to regain the upper hand, "Well... Good! That settles it. Since you miscreants have seen fit to interrupt Livy's season to come out here, we might as well make the best of it." He added cheerfully. "It is very unusual that we are all here in Shropshire at the same time. Perhaps we should invite some of the neighbors and we can put together a small celebration, announcing your and Annette's engagement, son. I am sure that some of the local gentry will be eager to meet your future bride, not to mention your various cousins that you have, scattered across the county."

Bertie looked at Erik in surprise, his father did not often suggest entertaining anyone. Yet the local gentry, who did not generally go to London, would likely be curious about Annette. The Montgomery family had been prominent in this part of Shropshire for centuries. Unfortunately there would be more than one or two girls present who might not take his engagement very well. Half of the girls in the county had set their caps for him. He had been a bit of a Don Juan in his younger years. He had broken more than one heart.

"That would be most gracious of you, Father. I don't think that you have formally entertained since Mother died." Bertie observed.

Erik cleared his throat "Well since you both have brought the ladies here from London, it would seem that we would be doing both of them a disservice not to do so. Annette most certainly should meet her future neighbors, and I would guess that the Comtesse might spend some time here as well. Also since Livy has decided that she must find a husband who lives close to here perhaps she can pick one of the local boys who live around here."

Livy snickered "Hardly Father, I already know almost everyone, and they are so dull compared to the boys that I have met in London. Most of the local boys have never even left Shropshire or Powys."

Erik ignored her comments and turned to Christine "Did Livy and Bertie arrange for your accommodations as of yet; or did their plans consist mainly of surprising me without much forethought as to how to entertain you?"

Livy smirked "More the former than the latter, Father."

"Well what would your plans have been should I have suggested that our guests should return to London?" Erik asked.

"We had not planned for that eventuality Father." Livy replied truthfully.

"How could you have been so sure?" Erik asked.

"Because your reasons for leaving London to begin with, were more than a little suspect. You had promised me that you would remain in London for the extent of my Season, to provide me some moral support and yet you left abruptly, using the excuse that you were busy with your work. I know for a fact that you have put off handling any new commissions until after my Season is over." Livy concluded.

Erik laughed, "My darling you are too intelligent for your own good. Surely you will need to marry a chap who is more intelligent than that Darnleigh fop that you have set your cap for. That boy looks to have nothing between his shoulders but a pretty face and a giant ego. He reminds me of the Comte de Chagny full of promise on the outside but dead, boring and passionless on the inside."

Livy replied defensively, "You do not even know him. Don't you think that you are being a trifle unfair? How can you, of all people, make a judgment based on looks, against anyone?"

Erik's eyes grew stormy and the Phantom came out, "I of all people? How dare you address me in such an insolent manner? Daughter or not that goes beyond the pale. Do you mean to insinuate that because of my despicable looks that I must be not be permitted to make any sort of judgment? As if being hideous somehow disqualifies me?"

Christine placed a hand on Erik's arm and spoke to him in a soothing voice, "Ange, I think what Livy was trying to say was quite the opposite of what you understood her comment to mean. Livy meant that she would have thought that, given all that you have been through, you would not take looks into account when reaching a judgment about a person."

Erik stormed at Christine "Are you and Livy now the best of friends that you would be given leave to speak for her?"

Christine smiled calmly "On the contrary I am on your side Erik, I don't want to see you put yourself into a position that is indefensible. Your daughter should have every right to base her decision on who she wishes to bestow her heart on based on her own observations, and not unduly influenced by others who would have her believe as they do. I wish to God that someone had given me the same courtesy when I was her age. If I did then perhaps I might have decided to draw my own conclusions about you based upon what my heart told me and not my treacherous mind."

Erik's anger lost much of its energy; he realized the point that Christine was trying to make. He had been too sensitive, and jumped to a rash conclusion. He looked over to his daughter and told her, more mildly "Christine has made a valid point, one that I certainly do not have standing to argue with. I will instead advise you to not make any rash judgments about a man who you have barely said three words to, simply because he is both handsome and geographically desirable. I would rather have you throw away your heart on a man on the other side of the world than to see you miserable. I know what it is like to be miserable, and I never want to see you in that position."

Livy smiled more mildly and gave her father a daughterly peck on the unmasked side of his face "I am your daughter Father, and Mother's as well. You taught me too well about the consequences of acting irrationally when it comes to love. I will be most careful with my heart Father, you have my promise."

Erik was mollified and patted her on the head "I know that you will make a fine decision when the time should come. In the meantime perhaps I should feel sorry for poor Darnleigh, perhaps it is he that I should warn about you." He teased warmly.

Just then Jeeves came into the room to make an announcement, he looked at Erik quizzically "There is some strange looking foreign man who requests an appointment with you. He claims that he has come all the way from France but his clothing denotes that he is from somewhere in the East, at least originally."

Erik looked at him sharply "Did this man give you a name?"

The servant handed him a card, which read, 'Nadir Khan.' 29 Rue de Tivoli Paris, France. Erik was shocked to see that his old friend had reappeared in his life. He would have assumed that the Persian had left Paris long ago, and returned to Persia. The late Shah, who had been their mutual enemy, had been assassinated in 1896. In fact, he was surprised that Nadir still lived at all, since he was some twenty years older than Erik, placing him in his early seventies.

Erik turned to everyone and commented "It would appear that aside from Christine and the Comte de Chagny, that yet another old acquaintance has decided to make an appearance in my life. I am not yet sure whether he is here as friend or foe. The last time that I saw him, I just released him. He had been my prisoner. It is he who brought the Vicomte to my lair that night. He used to believe himself to be my 'conscience' believing that I had none of my own. I am surprised that he would have traveled so far to see me as we did not exactly part on the friendliest of terms that night. Nadir has a long memory, and rarely forgives an enemy."

Bertie turned to Erik, "Shall we leave you alone with your old friend?"

Erik shook his head "On the contrary, you all had best remain where you are. If you do not someone might not make it out of this alive, most likely my 'old friend'. I bear him no malice, now for what he did but I will defend myself if I must, " he added, with his hand clearly gripping the end of his Punjab.

Christine looked at him "You still carry that thing even here?"

Erik looked at her wryly, "I had not been doing so, but lately, with you back in my life, you never know when I might be jumped by cowardly fops, and now angry Persians. Although it is a good sign that he has come before me openly."

At that moment Jeeves returned to the drawing room with an older man following closely behind him. He looked to be a little stooped with age but his jade eyes remained alert, and hawk-like in their raw intelligence and intensity. Upon seeing Erik, he immediately abandoned all pretense of indifference and came up to him and hugged him, tears were flowing freely from his eyes. He spoke to Erik in Persian causing the others to look at one another in wonderment. It was clear that the old man was more than pleased to see Erik, but Erik himself remained quite stoic and suspicious. Erik was not ready to drop his guard against his old 'friend' just yet.

"Doostam, Why did you let me believe that you were dead? How could you have done such a thing? Don't you know that I have missed you for every day of my life that you have been gone?" Nadir asked.

Erik replied coolly "I doubt that Daroga. Perhaps you have gone senile with age. The last time that we met I clearly remember hearing you rue the day that we met. Given the fact that you had completely washed your hands of me, and declared me to be unsalvageable, I took that as a sign that you felt that you would be better off without me in your life. So why now do you choose plague me with your presence?"

"I do not feel that way at all. I have mourned your so-called 'death' for many years and felt myself to be partially responsible for it. At the time I did not realize that you were helping the Surete until Clousseau came to see Antoinette after your 'death' and explained everything. Before that, from my point of view, you had had lost all control of your sanity. Bodies were being discovered with the mark of your Punjab, you were kidnapping young sopranos and threatening everyone at the Paris Opera house with your unreasonable demands. I had to act to curb your actions." Nadir replied defensively. "I never would have betrayed you otherwise."

Erik looked at him angrily "Yet I begged you to have faith in me. To let me explain my actions at a later time, but you did not give me your faith or your trust, 'Doostam'. So I ask you again why are you here? What did you hope to accomplish after all of these years?'"

"Allah forgive me for betraying you. I thought that I was doing the right thing, even for you. I had hoped that I could persuade you to get help." Nadir explained.

"The only 'help' that you wanted for me was to put my neck in a guillotine and watch my hideous head fly into a basket. By showing the Vicomte the way to my lair, you also unleashed a mob that was intent on killing me. You wrote me off as an unrepentant monster." Erik accused. "Yet if I had been such a monster, you helped to create me."

Nadir shook his head sadly "A fact that I have regretted every day of my life, Doostam. I never should have brought you to Persia to begin with. You are right, the misery that followed was all my doing."

Erik snorted, "That is the one failing that I do not blame you for, it was your head or mine. Your master the Shah never would have let you return alive without me. As for as the rest of your failings, the only time that you disappointed me was when you led the Vicomte to my lair. If you had an issue with me, it would have been best resolved by coming to me, not leading him down to my lair. Your folly has had many repercussions over the years."

Nadir looked around at Erik's family and friends, "And yet you seemed to have bounced back and landed on your feet very nicely. I see a group of people in this room of which only one, Mademoiselle Daae, is known to me. The young man looks to resemble you greatly and I can see a little of you in one of the women as well. Is this your family Doostam?"

Erik replied, "The two people that you are referring to are my son and daughter. I lost my wife five years ago. I am a widower."

"What is Miss Daae doing here? Certainly you did not kidnap her again?" Nadir asked. "I admit, I just observed you at a graveside, before revealing my presence, and she seemed very eager to be with you."

Erik eyes bored into the Persian's angrily, "I did not kidnap Christine and I take offense at the innuendo, Khan. What were you doing on my private property skulking around like a common criminal? Looking for a new victim? Until recently, I have had better things to do with my life than wonder what became of her, or you for that matter. Perhaps you might think otherwise but I had no knowledge of Christine's whereabouts until recently, when we were unexpectedly reunited by our children. My son is a diplomat and had his first posting in Paris, where he met and fell in love Mademoiselle de Bourges, who ironically is Christine's stepdaughter." Erik told him somewhat irritably.

Nadir smiled and pulled out the two articles from weeks past "I followed you because I wanted to make sure that it was really you before openly contacting you. Relax, Doostam, I did not come to harm you but to help you. L'Epoch picked up the first article about you, complete with your photo. Upon seeing it, and knowing how accurate it was, I immediately took the first boat to London, to intervene on your behalf. I was ecstatic to find that you were alive, yet concerned that you would be caught up in a misunderstanding. Just after your 'death', Antoinette had taken great pains to let me know how wrong that I had been about you. I desperately wanted to make amends for betraying you back then. I went to the police station in London, only to find that you had been released. There I was shown a copy of Christine's interview. I have spent the last few weeks trying to track you down, only to be forced to take a train out to the very wilds of England to seek you out."

Erik looked at his old friend in disbelief "You came all the way here to help me?"

He shook his head "Of course Doostam. You don't think that I was still angry with you for disabling me that night. Once I discovered what you had been up to, and how you saved all of those people, I was naturally proud of you. Your actions that night proved to be downright heroic and I was ashamed. I realized that I had been a poor friend to you in the end. I ask you to forgive an old fool. Please say that you do. And for Allah's sake take your hand off of that blasted Punjab lasso. I am not going to harm you and I hope that you will not harm an old friend."

Erik relaxed his grip and then gave his 'old friend' a wry look, "I suppose that I could take you down even without resorting to using my Punjab. You don't look too threatening anymore. Why didn't you return to Persia after the Shah was assassinated? Surely the new shah had better things to worry about than the fate of one old man? You were always whining about being forced to live among infidels, yet still here you are."

Nadir sighed, "I did return to Persia briefly, eight years ago after the old Shah's assassination. In the end, after so much time away from my homeland, I found nothing but a bunch of ghosts for me. In Paris I had only one such ghost, an ex-Phantom, to mourn, and perhaps in my own way I knew that you were way too stubborn to actually die. I thought that you would at least give me a good haunting."

Erik looked at his friend in amusement "If I were to have haunted you, I would have tortured you right away, Doostam, not waited all of these years. But I am out of the Phantom business. These days I am an architect, and fairly respectable, I even do occasional projects for the Royal Family."

Nadir smiled "So I have heard Doostam, and so respectable that you were knighted by the late Queen and you married into the nobility. I am impressed with how far that you have risen here. If I had not seen it for myself I never would have guessed. I would have thought that, if you were still alive, that you would have found another dungeon or cave to haunt. In the past, you did not have much desire to live among humanity."

Erik shrugged "The British are much less superficial than the French. They are more willing to overlook my less attractive qualities."

Nadir glanced over to Erik's family "Are we going to continue to rudely speak in Farsi or are you going to introduce me to your family?"

Erik smiled "I guess that I shall inflict you upon them, although I am not sure that to do so is the wisest course."

Erik turned to the assembled group and introduced Nadir adding "I have graciously decided not to kill him today. Christine, I know that you especially will be upset that I have not yet satisfied my penchant for murder but it would not be terribly gracious of me to cut Monsieur Khan down in front of all of you, so I must instead give him the common courtesy demanded of a host and entertain him," he teased.

Nadir looked at Christine and observed, "Mademoiselle Daae, I must admit that I am surprised to see you here given your past experiences with Erik. I was under the impression that you did not care for Erik very much, and that you even had him arrested."

Christine walked over to Erik and placed an arm on his. "I find that my previous views of Erik were grounded in hysteria and were not based on the man as he truly is. Perhaps it might surprise you, but Erik and I have revived our friendship at my urging, not his. Erik had been content to turn me away. But not long ago I realized that my feelings for Erik, were very strong and indeed that I care for him a great deal. Erik and I have repaired our relationship and it is my sincere hope that it will advance to being a romantic relationship if Erik will let it be."

Nadir looked at Erik and smiled broadly, "You have inspired not one love but two from women, and yet you once believed that you would never be blessed with any love at all. And you have two children who love you as well. Allah has been most kind to you, Doostam."

Erik nodded in agreement "Allah has been most kind to me in recent years." He pointed to his mask "Yet I remain just as hideous as ever. Perhaps he has struck my enemies with blindness, as I once hoped that he would do." Erik teased.

Nadir replied, "Perhaps he has made your friends see you for the man that you really are, old friend. I always used to believe that your heart was large enough to hold the world if you were given the chance to do so. I am glad to see that my faith in your natural goodness has been repaid. I may die and go to Paradise knowing that you are happy and fulfilled, Doostam. Your absence from my life left a hole in my heart. I believed that I had failed you back then. I never should have brought the Vicomte down to confront you that day."

Erik replied sternly, "No you shouldn't have, yet if you hadn't, my two children might never have been born, and I might never have found peace, and acceptance here in England, so I am afraid that I must forgive you."

Nadir replied softly, "Will you forgive Antoinette as well. She has felt terrible that she did not believe in you back then either."

Erik looked at his friend, "I never blamed her for any of it. I did not contact her because I thought that she deserved to have some peace by being rid of me. I gave her much of my fortune for her and her daughter to live on. In the unlikely event that I would see her, I would definitely be glad to see my oldest friend, and surrogate mother. But from what Christine has told me, she and Meg live in America now so it is unlikely that we shall meet again."

Nadir smiled, "It is true that Meg does live in America, but Antoinette and I are married. We had bonded over you. I went to New York some years ago to bring her back to France with me. We were both lonely, and we had fallen in love with one another. It took us a while to admit it but when she left France, I knew that I had to have her. I do not care that she refused to become a Muslim. Somehow I think that Allah will forgive her for her stubbornness in remaining a Christian."

Erik and Christine glanced at one another in surprise, "Where is Antoinette now? Still in Paris?"

Nadir shook his head "In Shrewsbury at an inn. I would not let her come with me until I could see whether or not it was really you, and what our reception might be. For all that I knew we might both have fallen victim to your infamous temper."

Erik smiled, "My infamous temper, has mellowed quite a bit over the years. I have not been forced kill anyone since I left Paris. These days I try to at least maintain a veneer of civility. It is not in my best interests to behave otherwise. You may fetch Antoinette and bring her back later to dine with us. Congratulations on your marriage to her. I did not expect you to find love again, and certainly not with Antoinette Giry."

"Your 'death' was instrumental in bringing us together. We both felt responsible for what happened. We comforted one another and attempted to absolve each other on your behalf, but it did not work. We both, in our hearts, believed that we could have done more to help you. When we read the article we were both ecstatic that you still lived. We planned on offering you any assistance that you might need to prove your innocence. Antoinette was even willing to perjure herself and claim that there was no way that you could be the Phantom of the Opera if necessary."

Erik smiled at his old friend, " That was most generous of both of you but as you can see I am fine. As far as 'helping me' you both did as much as you could to dissuade me from my self-destructive path. You owed me nothing. I was determined to have Christine at all costs. I cared about nothing else, not even finding the culprits who put the dynamite down in my labyrinth. My single-minded determination to win Christine, led me to my fate. I would never have accepted your 'help' no matter what you might have done to convince me otherwise. But I am pleased that I inadvertently was a matchmaker. Perhaps I should fake my death more often." Erik teased.

"I see that you have not lost your sense of humor Erik. But returning to the topic at hand I feel that we could have tried Erik, we could have shown you a better way. You were ignorant in the ways of conducting a romance, and understanding what was acceptable and what was not. Antoinette and I were both experienced in those matters, we could have explained how it worked to you better, taught you how to conduct yourself in a better manner." Nadir told him.

Christine interrupted, "It might not have mattered how Erik had conducted himself. I was bound and determined to marry Raoul. As foolish that I might have been, at the time I saw Raoul as my savior. How is Meg doing with her American husband? Do you ever go to see her?"

"We go to America once a year. She is happy with her American husband. They have moved to a city in the middle part of the country called Cleveland. He is an executive with a large oil company called Standard Oil. They make a decent income and they are building a large house in a suburb known as Cleveland Heights. His employer, Mr. Rockefeller is one of the richest men in America and he gave him a piece of land there. They have six children so they need every bit of the land that he has donated to them for their new home. Meg and Daniel occasionally come to Paris as well. Meg misses you a great deal, Christine, but she knew that you no longer moved in the same circles as her. She felt somewhat awkward in contacting you." Nadir explained to her.

"I feel the same way, Monsieur Khan. Back then she was like a sister to me, but our worlds have become very different. Despite that, I have missed her laughter and good nature a great deal." Christine mused. "I suppose I have missed everything connected with the Opera house, since it had been my home so long, and had been filled with many of the people that I truly care about." She mused, looking at Erik longingly.

Nadir saw her glance and knew beyond a doubt that she and Erik would soon marry. There was a look of adoration that could only be interpreted as love. He was happy for his old friend.

"I must go." He mused, "I have been gone for quite a while and Antoinette will be worried about me. Antoinette feared your temper, and was afraid that you might decide to harm me in some way given the words that we exchanged upon our last parting. I told her that I would be careful, but that I trusted you Erik. She will be excited to know that it is truly you, and that you have done so well for yourself."

"We will see you both later again. You may tell her that I have spared you from my murderous plans for now." Erik teased.

Nadir smiled, "I will tell her that you have become the man that we always prayed that you would be." He walked over to Erik and gave him a hug once again. This time Erik hugged his old friend as well.

"We will look forward to supper, Doostam. It will be nice to catch up more." Erik told him.

After that Nadir left, and the family continued to talk about his coming. Both children had heard many stories about Erik and Nadir's past adventures and were happy to finally get to meet their father's old friend. Christine gave Erik a longing glance once again. She clearly wanted to resume where they had left off in the cottage.

Erik caught her gaze with a smile, and vowed to complete his plans for a more romantic reunion, that night if possible. He wanted to teach her what it would be like to be loved by him. Emma used to crave his advances. Initially they had been shy and awkward. Emma had been still traumatized by her rape and was initially cold and frightened. Erik had been a virgin, and knew nothing about what it would take to please a woman. He took his time to learn the best ways to bring pleasure to Emma, and now he would use this knowledge on Christine. He hoped that he would have the same effect on her as he had on Emma. Christine had been so tempting back in the cottage, and he would make sure that he would erase all traces of her first husband from her mind. Like her, he had no desire to be second best in anything. He would show her what it was like to be loved by the Phantom of the Opera.