Sugababe's 'Too Lost In You'

You look into my eyes
I go out of my mind
I can't see anything
Cos this love's got me blind
I can't help myself
I can't break the spell
I can't even try

I'm in over my head
You got under my skin
I got no strength at all
In the state that I'm in

And my knees are weak
And my mouth can't speak
Fell too far this time

Baby, I'm too lost in you
Caught in you
Lost in everything about you
So deep, I can't sleep
I can't think
I just think about the things that you do (you do)
I'm too lost in you
(Too lost in you)

ooh
Well you whispered to me
And I shiver inside
You undo me and move me
In ways undefined
And you're all I see
And you're all I need
Help me baby (help me baby)
Help me baby (help me now)

Christine had been trying very hard to hold onto all of her conscious thought when standing before Erik, but she had one rational thought in her head. It seemed to form from the exact point that Erik's mask touched her forehead. The only thing that separated their eager lips was the mask. They were so close, so imaginably close, and it was Nadir's unimpressed voice ringing out in Erik's apartment that made Erik look towards the open door. Christine pulled a face while Erik wasn't looking. As much as she enjoyed Nadir's company, he really did have the worst timing. She looked out of the open door. But speaking of time, it surely wasn't the afternoon just yet? Christine asked Erik, but he just ended up repeating her own thoughts about Nadir. Christine encouraged him to go say hello, and Christine watched as Erik swept from the room as though he was a leaf on the wind. She smiled, and brushed a hand through her hair as she glanced around. He had told her that she could do what she liked when in his home, but Christine was perfectly happy looking around the music room. She admired the other instruments, browsed through his music collection, and lovingly stroked some of the keys of the grand piano. She was sitting before it soon enough, and noticed that this room was the same as his kitchen and his bedroom, with chrome and grey everywhere. It was beginning to make Christine rather dizzy.

What he needs is more colour. Why have it all kept in the living room? She thought as she approached the open door.

She peeked through, and saw Nadir bending over the coffee table to reach for something. He had seen her purse and her phone, and looked confused. Despite being a detective, it seemed he could figure out the mystery, as he was trying to ask something. Christine smiled together, creeping in behind Erik as he stood before the Koi pond, his hands hidden in his pockets. A wicked thought of tickling Erik had dashed across her mind, but she ignored it, instead trying to see if she could sneak up on Erik as she joined his side. She stood slightly behind him, composed herself, and said hello to Nadir, who jumped at the sight of her, while Erik calmly turned around as though he had already known she was there. That frustrated her, she had been so quiet, even Nadir hadn't seen her, so she continued to address Nadir calmly without looking at Erik, and tried to see if she could embarrass Erik, as she was tried to hide her smile. Nadir began to interrogate her on her sleeping habits, in disbelief apparently, before Christine thanked Erik for allowing her to sleep there. She looked at him demurely, teasing him, wanting to see how he would act. She hoped he would suddenly take her in his arms again and hold her. She remembered the half focused dream about Erik, and she grinned at him. Erik said nothing, but the mask jumped, as though something just pressed suddenly against the inside of it. Erik looked between Christine and Nadir, embarrassed as he began to adjust his mask in an odd way. It had certainly deflated the moment, she had to admit. Christine was puzzled as to what he was trying to do, but she didn't want to keep watching him, it would only add to his embarrassment. It was only made worse when Erik's bare fingers slid across the mask, making high pitched squeals, and Christine now was trying to not laugh in front of Erik, in case it would hurt his feelings.

She had tried to distract herself by being the gracious hostess and offered Nadir some of the brownies. Nadir just seemed flustered, ready to have a stiff drink, and Erik had tormented Nadir into eating their brownies when he had stopped adjusting his mask, making Christine smirk. If anyone else had done it, she would have scolded them, but Erik just made it seem funny. She had playfully teased Erik, joining Nadir's side as her hand tingled with the sensation of hitting Erik on the arm. She had been about to sit with Nadir, there was something in his eyes that told her that something was not right, but Erik had interrupted her thought process as he strode past Christine, grabbed Nadir's sleeve, and dumped him in a chair opposite them. Erik settled himself in the corner of the couch, far away from Nadir, and held his right arm out along the back of the couch, his mask turned towards Nadir. Erik said nothing, but she knew that he wanted her to curl up against him again. He had enjoyed it previously, and so had she, so she was happy enough to give in to his mute request. She had gotten herself comfy, facing Nadir, when she could feel Erik's hand slowly making its way around her waist. His finger brushed over her spine, and she shivered, forgetting herself entirely. She reprimanded him, hoping he would pick up on the jest, as she had been joking that he would start tickling her again. She was scared that she would not be able to stop him if he had started. His hands would have brought her such happiness and euphoria, and Erik had surely learned now that it was safe it continue tickling her even if she said stop. Erik must have had the same thoughts, as he had laughed, returning his attention to Nadir.

Christine had been about to do the same, when her attention was drawn to Erik's other hand. She had completely forgotten about it. It was pinching her dress, high up on her thigh, and a sudden flush of heat hit her, and she had no clue why. Her eyes wavered over to Nadir, and answered his questions as she tried to calmly have a normal conversation. It wasn't helping that Erik then started playing with her hair, while Nadir was talking to the both of them. Nadir had commented about last night, and Christine had replied that a lot had happened that very morning too. Christine's emotions were like a bag of angry cats, all struggling to be let out and felt, and she felt as though she was losing control over everything. Just being in Erik's presence seemed to bring out the stormy waters that brewed in her.

It doesn't matter. My feelings for Erik are true, and he feels the same way. We have the rest of our lives to know each other better. There will always be storms, but I won't be alone. We'll have each other.

Christine hadn't really been listening to Erik and Nadir's conversation, they were talking of Carlotta, and Christine was jolted out of her thinking by the mention of the woman's name, and groaned under her breath. One hour. One hour without anyone else in the world, with Erik all to herself, and Christine would have thrown a parade. She changed the conversation as she brought up Nadir's reason for coming round so early. Which had led to them watching the TV in shock as a beautiful news anchor began listing off events on their 'timeline', from the moment they met, up until the night before, where it was revealed that a few of the celebrities that had been there had sneakily taken photos of the both of them and published them on social networking websites without their permission. Christine's first instinct that kicked in had been anger. They had all been so charming and friendly, without any accusations, and she simply couldn't understand why they would invade their privacy like that. They had all complained of the reporters and paparazzi doing the same thing to them! Christine couldn't figure it out, and her anger turned to sadness. This would only upset Erik, and who knew how he would react. He would never let her go out in New York now if he thought that other people might try the same thing. Christine turned to face Erik, soothing him before he could get too riled up, though she could tell he was beyond unhappy, as his hands were clenched into fists, shaking, and he had become lost in his own world again. She managed to cool his head, so to speak, by kissing him on the mask's cheek as she tried to remake her point from the night before. They needed to get the media on their side, to sympathize with them. It was the only way. Erik saw sense and gave in to her wishes, and Christine had beamed at him, pleased by his words.

Nadir had piped up then, offering a suggestion as to how to keep the media happy, but that first, Christine would need to go back to the hotel to get changed. Erik had reluctantly agreed to Nadir's suggestion to explore New York, though Nadir had not explained what they would be doing, and Erik had watched her as she entered his bedroom to retrieve her shoes. When she came out, she found Erik waiting outside the door, holding onto her purse, and Nadir gone, to call the elevator. Christine had walked, hand in hand with Erik towards the elevator, but from the way that Erik was clasping her hand, she judged him to be very nervous. Christine and Nadir stood silently in the elevator as Erik finally gave into his aggravation, and began cursing the other celebrities, demanding that Nadir find out who posted the pictures and make them pay. Nadir stayed silent, but Christine nodded along with Erik, rubbing his arm as she held onto it.

"You'd have thought that they would have understood the concept of privacy." Erik vented, his hand over Christine's as it rested on his arm, holding her tightly, which made her wince. "Did they not think I would not find out?"

"Erik, we can't overreact to this, okay?" Christine said solemnly, aware that Nadir was watching her intently, as was Erik. She wondered if they picked up on her meaning. "It's all very well saying that what they did was wrong, but in the end, it's not a bad thing. It was photos of us on our very first public date. I know you're not happy, but I am now that I have more photos of us together to put on my phone."

Erik stared down at her, and rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. "It truly pleases you, doesn't it?"

Christine blinked. "...The photo?"

"Yes. You enjoy having proof of us being together." Erik said, staring ahead at the closed elevator doors.

Christine shook her head. "It's not proof. It's more like ... having a physical memory. Something I can hold onto that won't fade and disappear. I'll always have it. That's what I enjoy."

Erik looked down at her again. "Physical memory?"

"Yeah." Christine said simply, shrugging as they arrived in the underground parking garage. "I can use those photos to remember the good times between us. So, I'm not too upset by the photos themselves, I'm just annoyed that they didn't ask us if they could share them."

"I see." Erik said, as together they surrounded the limo on one side, piling in after Erik had opened for the door for her, and they proceeded to go to the Winchester.

Christine had asked Erik to wait in the limo when they arrived at her hotel, much to his annoyance, she was sure, but she was confident that bringing him up was a bad idea. They'd never get anything done if they continued following each other about, and Christine wanted to spend as much time with Erik out in New York. She was excited, she was hoping that Nadir would offer to show them an art gallery (it was amongst the list of things she wanted to do, and she could cross it off along with riding in a taxi, which she had done the day before with Meg and Sorrelli), and she had skipped through the lobby, racing over to the elevators as she wondered what to wear. Her heart was racing, there had been no reporters at the front of the hotel, but that didn't mean no-one would find out that she was doing what could have been misinterpreted as the walk of shame. Though it could hardly be called shame when Christine had the biggest smile plastered on her face. Meg soon joined her, her high heels clacked along the floor as she skipped over also, patting her hair back into place and smoothing out her uniform, grinning at Christine widely.

"So? So?" Meg asked, looking over her shoulder. "What happened?"

Christine blushed, and waited until they were both in the elevator. "Guess who turned up?"

"Sorrelli, right?" Meg asked, clearly privy to some information that Christine wasn't aware of.

"Sorrelli? I didn't even see her." Christine said, frowning. "I wonder why she didn't tell me she'd be there?"

Meg pursed her lips, and shrugged. "I only found out a few minutes after you got in the limo with Mr Destler. Sorrelli said she had to go get changed for the party and left."

"Oh," Christine said, and shrugged as well. "Well, no, not Sorrelli. I meant Carlotta."

Meg paled. "Carlotta? She came to the party?"

"Yeah." Christine tried to laugh it off to hide the fear she had felt when confronted face to face with the singer. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack or something. She wasn't around for long though, Miss Mayner scared her off."

Meg still looked nervous. "How did Mr. Destler react?"

"Very well, considering." Christine murmured, thinking about Erik's story about Carlotta trying to remove his mask. "The party was nice. Erik did really well behaving himself, and I'm proud."

Meg smiled. "So you ended up having fun?"

"Yeah, lots."

They stood in silence, until Meg said. "You stayed at his place." It wasn't a question or an accusation, it was just a statement.

Christine nodded, blushing. "I kind of fell asleep on his couch, and I woke up the next morning in his bed."

Meg's turned around, her eyes wide. "Wh-"

"It's not what you think. Erik slept on the couch after putting me there. He's always been a gentlemen towards me."

Meg didn't look so sure, but as they left the elevator and began to walk to her room, she soon piped up, "So what are the plans for today?"

Christine shrugged again, laughing. "Mr Kahn, his manager wants to show us New York, but it has something to do with keeping the photographers off our back."

Meg nodded as they approached her hotel door. "That's good."

"Yeah. I hope it's something that Erik will like. I'll have to hold onto him all day to make him happy." Christine giggled, getting her key card from her purse.

Meg said nothing, and watched as Christine unlocked her door.

"You wanna come in or wait out here? I'm only changing and freshening myself up." Christine asked, smiling enthusiastically as she looked over her shoulder.

"I'll come in." Meg said, her eyes on Christine's back as she followed her in.

"Good thing there were no reporters outside." Christine said, holding the door open for Meg and then closed it behind her, kicking off her high heels. They were killing her, how had she not felt it before? "I must look odd right now, I'm a right mess."

"No, you're ... you look fine." Meg said, blushing as she went to stand beside Christine's bed. "Housekeeping has been."

Christine walked around the corner of the bathroom to stand and stare at her bed. The pillows had been changed, the sheets straightened and a small mint left on the pillow.

"Oh." Christine sighed sadly.

"What?" Meg asked, looking up with confusion. "Is something the matter?"

"It's nothing." Christine said, and brought her phone out to stare at the photo of the two of them hugging. "I have something better."

"Better?" Meg echoed, a confused smile appearing now.

Christine looked up, and bit her lip. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry. It's between Erik and I."

There was no need to tell Meg, it would have been wrong, even though it was just an innocent photo. It was hers, and she didn't want to share it, truth be told.

"That's okay. You go change into cool, it's gonna be hot today. You'll probably need some sun lotion, and wear flats, you might be on your feet all day."

"Thanks." Christine said, rummaging through her luggage.

Christine hoped that Erik liked what she was gonna wear. She almost hadn't chosen it, but there was no reason not to. Each time she wore something new in front of him, it seemed to bring him great pleasure, and Christine wanted nothing more than to give him pleasure. Meg began a running commentary on her clothes, the usual 'Oh that would look good on you', 'maybe not that one' and 'I love this!'. Christine was amused though, it was nice having someone eager to listen to her. Back home, the Morning Mafia had never paid her any attention. The Morning Mafia was what Christina called the three girls that started the morning shift, though their real names were Emma, Samantha and Jo. They were perfectly nice, but they was their own little clique, where they knew each other so well and just clicked. That was fine with Christine, she usually hung out with Raoul, and that was nice as he was always making her laugh and they were always talking her videos or whatever had been in the news. Talking with Meg about clothes and jewellery, while uninteresting to Christine was very interesting to Meg, so she allowed her to continue, occasionally putting in a comment, but it was Meg who did most of the talking. Christine picked up her outfit and walked into the bathroom as Meg began to talk about the various shops around New York. This was where Christine was most interested, and she began to ask her own questions, making Meg very happy, as an idea formed in Christine's head.

Thank you so much for all of the reviews, they've been wonderful! I love reading each and every one! I'm sorry these come out at irregular times, I',m trying to post them when I can!

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