Thank you to each and every one of you for your wonderful reviews and continuous support. I am thrilled and humbled every time I see a review or a new follower. I can't say thank you enough or how much you all mean to me.

Can you believe we still aren't at Thorn Four? LOL Yikes… What's going to happen next? Speaking of which, I wanted to give you a heads up to say that I will not be able to update until April 18. I'm going away next weekend for a post birthday celebration to a spa resort. Thus, no computers allowed.

In the meantime, let me just say best wishes to those of you who celebrate the holiday and I own absolutely nothing! Maybe I should mention this to the Easter bunny? Thoughts?

Raoul saw his nemesis and started to charge right towards him, when Erik's sudden movement frightened him and he retreated back to his hiding spot, just outside the nursery. He kept the door ajar, wondering if he should alert the reporter but all thoughts disappeared when he heard Erik speak.

"My son…." Erik was still in awe and finding it impossible to believe that after a lifetime of neglect, disappointment and pain, he would be blessed by seeing a symbol of his and Christine's love, looking up at him with wonder, not fear.

"Forgive me, Gustave but I am still unaccustomed to the idea. Don't misunderstand me, it isn't that I never wanted children… I did… I do." He smiled. "It's just I never thought my face put me in the path of paternity. I never imagined a woman would love me enough to stomach me in her bed, let along allow us the possibility to even create something so glorious." He stroked the outside of the crib. "Your mother has an amazing capacity to love. You, my little one, are very lucky to have her." He sighed. "I am very lucky to have you both."

Raoul was finding the words all too suspect. The Phantom can't be tender. He is a murderer. Murderers do not have the ability to love. He obsesses, he possesses, he controls and manipulates, but he does not love.

Erik leaned in and kept his eyes on the little boy who could not seem to stop looking at him and although he knew he couldn't possibly be smiling up at him, he did see a semblance of happiness in his face. "You have my eyes, and thankfully your mother's nose." He chuckled. "Your mother will teach you so many wonderful things. She is a natural caregiver. She teaches me something new every time we are together and for the longest time, I was supposed to be her teacher."

He tilted his head to the side. "Yet if I could be so lucky, I seem to sense that you have a soul like mine. You want to go past the world you think you know. Are you enthralled to the beauty underneath? Will you find yourself beguiled by the dangerous and wild? If you do, then as much as I adore your mother, she cannot teach you those things. You will need me for that." He said it with pride. "You will need me, as it draws you in, past the place where dreams begin….." He looked into his son's eyes once more. "You do, don't you? Can you see the beauty underneath?"

He touched his mask and remembered what Christine had said. "Your mother….." He hesitated and asked himself why he was so scared. "She wanted to see us together without my mask….."

Raoul looked on in horror. "No…. Not to the boy. The child will scream without a doubt." He mumbled under his breath. He shook his head, waiting for the inevitable.

Erik brought his trembling hands to the tie in the back of his head but stopped himself. "No matter what you do Gustave, I will still love you. I know loving me comes with a terrible price." He closed his eyes. I do this for you, my angel. He then yanked the mask off his face, letting it fall to the ground and looked directly at his son and braced himself for the reaction. After a few seconds of silence, he panicked for fear that the horror of his face had caused his son to stop breathing.

"Gustave?" He opened his eyes and in concern he reached in to hold him, when he saw the boy quiet and content. He was looking upon his father's face with ease as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Once more, he saw a smile grace his son's mouth but quickly shook his head. "No, he is too young to smile. He… He….." Erik embraced him tightly in his arms and kissed his forehead with his bloated, misshaped lips. "Dear God…"He looked up to the celling, never letting go of his son. "Can it be? Acceptance?"

Erik chuckled due to nervousness. "Not even Christine could acceptance me at first glance. In time, yes but…." He let out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding. "My son. My son loves me, exactly as I am." He placed the boy back down carefully. "As usual angel, you were right… Christine! I must tell Christine!"

In his excitement, he left the nursery through the back door leaving his mask forsaken on the floor.

Raoul hurried inside and took a closer look at the boy.

"He never even flinched." He then looked back to where Erik had exited. "Why does a freak get to have everything and leave me with nothing? If it wasn't for him, I could be free but no…. I have to avenge Phillip. I am forced to live the life I was so close to fleeing." He heard Gustave stir.

"What? You're quiet for a mad man but my murmuring upsets you?" He shook his head. "You will not grow up to see the Devil as beautiful. I don't care what he said, he is still the same terrorizing freak from the Opera House and I will have my revenge! I just need to stop him from taking you and Christine away. I need to somehow convince him that it is me you both want. But how? He has spun his Voo-doo magic and…." His foot brushed up against the mask. Raoul bent down to pick it up and grinned. "Well, what do you know? Looks like I have some magic too." He shook the mask in front of Gustave and started laughing.

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Erik was practically sprinting across the hallway, when Nadir grabbed him.

"Thank Allah, you are alright."

"Alright?! Nadir, I am better than alright. I am walking on air. I have a wife and son and they both love me. They both accept me for who I am." He realized he didn't say the word, what when describing himself. "I am loved for myself. It only took 37 years but it was well worth the wait. Have you seen them, Nadir? Have you seen my family?"

"Erik, where is your mask?" He pulled Erik into the corner of the hallway.

"My mask… His hand quickly reached for his face. "I must have forgotten it." He shrugged. "Who cares? Christine loves me without it and so does Gustave. What does it matter?"

"What matters is that there is a reporter here."

"What?"

"Yes, Raoul brought him. If they find you without your mask you will be caught. You left your flesh mask behind, remember? We have got to get you out of here, right away."

"No! Not without my family." He pulled away forcefully from Nadir's grasp. "I won't leave them. If the Vicomte is here then…."

"Annie and I will stay here and make sure that Raoul doesn't do anything to harm either one of them but Erik, listen to me, you can't risk your identity now."

Erik looked conflicted. "I need to get a message to her, I won't have her think I just took off without telling her."

"Erik, I assure you, no one is as happy as I am to hear this news, old friend. I prayed for so long for you to look at yourself as a true man, worthy of love. Those who believe they are worthy for love, do find it. But it won't be worth a damn, unless you are out of harm's way. You won't be any good to the baby or Christine if they bring you into custody. Now go!"

"But I have to tell Christine." He was fighting Nadir off.

"I'll tell her….."

"No! She needs to hear it from me."

He was pushing Erik in the opposite direction. "Fine, write something to her quickly and I will see that she gets it. But hurry, Erik. We haven't got much time."

Erik reluctantly agreed and followed Nadir away from the maternity floor.

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Meg tried to drink her tea but as she brought the cup to her mouth, she changed her mind and placed it back down on the table, pushing it further away from where she sat. She got up and began pacing the floor.

"You are going to put a hole in the carpet. Meg, you must relax."

"How am I to do that, Darius? My best friend is fighting for her life, my mother is masquerading as some sort of midwife, I am still not sure if Uncle Erik got my note and…" She stopped herself and looked away.

"And what, Meg?"

She turned back around to face him. "And here I am, on the outside looking in. An extension of their lives but not really a part of it."

Darius shook his head. "Come my dear, what are you saying?"

"Exactly that. All these months I have felt as if I couldn't be happy because my family was suffering and yet all these plans were being made. Schemes were being hatched and I wasn't included in any of it."

"That's not true. Your mother wrote to you as soon as she was able to establish her cover. She begged you to forgive her and when she asked you to tell Nadir and Erik, what did you do?"

"Failed miserably."

"Are you dim?" He took her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. "You got on the first train and headed to Italy in search of Erik. You were relentless with that schoolmaster and then, thanks to your perseverance, you found Nadir and you know that he will see to it that Erik gets to Vienna."

"Erik and Nadir will join the family in Vienna but there was no invitation for me."

"Darling, you can't look at it in that way. I know you're tired and hurt and anxious for news but once we arrive back in France, I am sure you mother will…."

"No."

"No? What do you mean?"

She took his hand and brought him to sit down with her on the hotel's couch.

"I know we're set to take the evening train back to France but why must we go back there? Is it to stay put and hopelessly wait for news? I can't go back there to that same existence while everyone else moves on with their lives."

He held her hand closer to his heart. "Then what is it that you want, Meg?"

"Me?"

"Yes," he smiled. "What do you want to do now?"

"I want to start living and I refuse to let life pass me by. Seeing Mama and Christine make all these mistakes, pushing Nadir and Erik away, denying their feelings, running from their problems. Maybe all this tragedy can at least lead to some happiness and if not for them, then for us." She had tears in her eyes as she spoke.

"I love you, Darius and I have been so cruel to make you place your life on hold for reasons that don't make any sense to me now."

He looked at her cautiously. "Meg, what are you saying?"

"How soon could we be married?"

He opened his mouth but then closed it quickly. He then exhaled out loud. "Do you mean it?"

"You asked me what I wanted. I know, now." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want to marry you and not waste one more moment. I then want us to stay in Italy for a while."

"Italy? Why is that?"

"Actually, I don't know if we should be here or in Vienna but at least I know that Uncle Erik will be back due to his position with the school. At least, I'll have a way to reach him and he will have a way to reach me."

"What about your mother?"

"I would naturally go to Vienna but Christine and Mama couldn't possible stay there with Raoul if Erik finds them. No, Italy is the logical choice. I'll be close at hand to help but you and I can make a fresh start as well."

"What about your career at the Opera House?"

"Italy has Opera Houses too, or so I am told." She giggled. "I will audition and begin again, this time not as the Opera House's Dance Mistress but as myself, Meg Giry."

"Meg, do you have any idea how lucky they would be to have you? All of this sounds perfect except…"

"Except what?"

"Except, I would want you to be Meg Reimes." He got down on one knee and took out her ring from his pocket that he had been holding for her. "I don't ever want you to take this off again, no matter the reason."

She nodded exuberantly and gestured for him to place the ring on her finger. She then kissed him deeply. "I love you, Darius. Let's stop wasting the precious time we have together."

"Meg, you have made me so happy but…."

"But? Why would you say but right now?"

"We are so close, wouldn't you want to have your family with us?"

She sighed. "It's not that I don't want them with us to share in our day but I have a life to live too and before, when I told you that I couldn't be happy unless they were happy….. Well, I think I am the one that needs to be happy for all our sakes. I owe it to them to take my chance and not make their mistakes and waste this moment. They'll understand. They'll have to." She said firmly.

"Oh I love a woman who knows her own mind." He grinned.

"Kiss me and then marry me, Darius. You have kept me waiting long enough!"

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The Comte came down the stairs of Raoul's home and called out to one of the servants. The cook came out and greeted the Comte but was a bit confused to his appearance.

"Monsieur, hello. When did you arrive? I can prepare something for you to eat?"

He ignored her questions. "Where has my son gone to? He was here when the authorities came and took the body. Frankly, he should be staying put for the evening."

How would he know this? The Comte wasn't here, was he? "He said he was going to see his wife, Monsieur. He was very concerned about her."

The Comte rolled his eyes. I knew I shouldn't have remained hidden. God only knows what that fool will do. "That will be all."

"Would you like me to prepare something for you, Monsieur?"

"No. I'll see myself out."

The Comte stirred. I can't keep solving my son's problems. Ronzert was a nuisance and was turning soft. He should have let the whore die and rot with her bastard child. But no, he was interfering and Raoul was too distracted to see it. Do I have to think of everything? If this is what he refers to by avenging my son's death, he has a lot to learn. I never thought I would think this but it is times like these where I miss Isabella.

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Nadir was walking back to the lobby, holding on to Erik's letter and a new journal Erik had somehow purchased for Christine.

How in the world did he find time to write a letter and somehow get his hands on a new journal? Even with his new found confidence, he wouldn't have risked being seen at a public store. So how did he….Nadir turned the journal around and saw initials engraved behind it that didn't seem to match anyone he knew. Allah no! He didn't! Nadir opened the journal to find a few pages ripped out. He then couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"He stole someone else's journal!" He sighed. "Well, I suppose he would argue that she needed a new one for their new life together and because of me, he couldn't secure her a proper present." He laughed again. "How sad is it that I can predict him so well?"

Thank you, Allah for finally making him see all that he is and all that he could be. He has finally found his way. Of course, I had a hand in it too. He smiled.

Next he inserted the letter inside the journal, so as not to arouse suspicion and then asked that one of the nurses give it to the Vicomtesse. He then proceeded to join Annie in the lobby, wanting to let her know that Erik was safe and as soon as it was possible they would reunite him with Christine and the baby. Yet all of a sudden, Bianca came into his head.

Erik never received the letter that Meg had left him. Why would Pablo deny him correspondence? If I hadn't run into Meg, we still might be in Italy and he wouldn't have seen Christine or the birth of his child, nor would I have seen Annie. Pablo does listen to Bianca, could she have somehow known about the letter?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Annie arguing with the reporter.

"What is going on here? I could hear yelling from all the way down the corridor."

"This man is disgusting. He plans on invading the Vicomtesse's room and badger her with questions. Can't you let the woman be in peace? She just had a baby!" Annie's voice uncharacteristically rose in volume.

"Look, I am here because her husband wants me here. Frankly, he is the one that keeps contacting us. We typically don't follow happy couples with babies but….."

Nadir chimed in. "Then what is the exception in this case?"

"Come on, the former mistress to the Phantom of the Opera, now turned Vicomtesse. It still sells papers."

"That was a lie!" Annie retorted.

"Still some of us, kind of hope the Phantom emerges from the dead. Some rumor that it is his baby."

"Slander! I will not have you print such lies about my lady." Annie was shaking until Nadir innocently place his hand on her back. To the reporter, it was seen as an innocent act of comfort but they both knew he was holding her in his way to try and calm her down.

"This is Italy. I thought those distasteful rumors were only in France." Nadir stepped in front of Annie to allow her a moment to compose herself.

"Reporters like to talk. Either way, I still get paid, regardless of what the scene portrays."

"And you'll just stay here unit you are called? Where is your benefactor?"

The reporter shrugged his shoulders and sat down. "Don't know. I'm here until he tells me to go or stops paying. It's that simple."

Nadir turned to Annie and offered her his arm. "Madame Van Pratt, would you mind taking a stroll with me? I suddenly need some fresh air."

"I'd be delighted, young man."

As they slowly walked away, Nadir whispered in her ear. "Are you alright?"

"I will be. Is Erik gone?"

"He's safe. Now all we need to do is get Christine and the baby out of here."

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"Pardon, Monsieur Vicomte but this is a present for your wife." The nurse placed the journal on the nightstand by the bed.

"How kind." Raoul sat up from his chair. "Who is it from?"

"A gentleman who seems to be close to your son's governess."

"Son's governess? Oh yes, yes." That old bag has an admirer? First Christine beds that thing and now this? What is going on here? "Can you please, leave us?" He gestured to Christine's still sleeping form.

"Of course. She had a very long delivery from what I have been told. They said the man she loved, never left her side. You and she must have an incredible bond."

Raoul nodded with a blank expression on his face. "Thank you."

When the nurse left he looked over at Christine and thought about what he was about to do. He could leave, slip away and make her escape easy. He didn't want to be a father to a child that wasn't his nor did he think keeping this charade up would bring him closer to getting Melanie back but when he thought about what the Phantom would gain, he dismissed the idea from his head.

"He will not beat me again. If I am to have a miserable existence, than I shall not be alone in doing so." He crossed his legs as he sat up straight. "At least the child is normal. I need an heir and it will be worth it to rub this family in that Devil's face. I dare him to come and claim them." He then allowed himself to admire Christine, sleeping so peacefully. Was it because she thought she was with her demon now?

"We had something once, even though we both know that you were using me. Well my Little Lotte, it is my turn to use you. Perhaps it won't be so bad. You're still beautiful and the boy could pass as mine. What should it matter if our happiness is a lie? Happiness is not my end goal, it is only a consolation price. Before I am through, I will see to it that your angel never knows the meaning of the word ever again."

He stomped his foot hard on the ground until he saw her wake up.

She seemed disorientated for a moment and then she smiled when she remembered what had happened. She was a mother. A mother to Erik's child. She suddenly felt something very wrong as she sat up and called out Erik's name.

"Erik? Oh! Raoul, what are you doing here?"

"Is that how you greet me? I should say, you would think your precious Erik would be the one to find you asleep in a hospital bed yet both times, it has been me. Does make you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Where are they?" Her voice was cold.

"They?"

"What have you done with Erik and my son?!"

"Ah, the boy is resting in the nursery. Fine lad. A bit too trusting of adults but I will whip him out of that in no time."

Christine's entire body froze when he used the word whip. "You lie."

"As for your demon, well that choice is entirely up to you."

"Raoul, please. It's over. Erik is too smart to fall for your lies. Let me and Gustave be. You don't love us. Why torment us all?"

"Oh, I assure you, Christine. You will be the only one who will torment this time."

"Raoul….." She stopped when she saw Raoul holding Erik's black mask in his hand. "Where did you get that?" Oh God, No! He would only have Erik's mask if he were telling the truth. Erik would never cast it aside.

"His looks are as foul as he is. I suspect, he can't like being ogled as a side show freak but that is more or less what he is and what is happening. They are calling him names, they are spitting at him, they are all begging for that murderer to be brought to justice."

"For God's sake, don't do this! Don't hurt him. Release him, he has paid for his sins. He is not the same man he once was. Raoul, I love him. Don't do this. If not for me, then for the baby. Don't take his father away from him."

He sneered. "It gave me such pleasure ripping this off his face, as the gendarmerie had him locked up and in chains. I swear, he begged for a bag to be placed over his head. For even he knows he is too hideous for the world." Look how she hangs on my every lie. This is far too easy. "Do you think your son wants to know that he was fathered by that?!"

"Let him go! Raoul, if there is one shred of that sweet boy I used to know, then I beg you to free him and end this crusade. No matter what you do, it won't change anything. It won't bring Phillip back. It won't cause your father to stop wanting you to make up for the fact that you lived and Phillip died!"

He rose to his feet. "How dare you! You harlot! You worthless whore. If you weren't lying in that bed, I would strike you down for your tongue."

"Release him!"

"Fine, on one condition."

She looked at him with contempt but did not answer.

"You, my fine actress wife, are going to put on one final show. You play your part and I'll see that your freak is released."

"I will never deny my heart to him nor deny that he is my baby's father."

"What comfort will that give him from a prison cell or worse? I feel France will try him for his crimes and demand death. Tell me, will your sweet words move him from beyond the grave?"

She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't dare give him the satisfaction. "You are lustful and greedy and the distortion is in your soul. Any thoughts I had that you might still be good, down deep inside have died. You are evil and in my eyes you are the hideous freak."

"Well then maybe that will lure you to my bed someday. After all, we all know how much you like to be repulsed. Your son's conception is proof of that." He stood up and threw the mask at her. "Keep it. Once the show is over and I am satisfied, I'll secure his release and allow him to keep that bag over his face. I am nothing, if not compassionate." He laughed. "You can use that mask for your own perverse enjoyment. See, despite your thoughts, I will not bed a freak's whore, no matter how much she begs me. Rest up, Lotte."

"I hate you!"

He walked out of the room as he spoke, "The Devil take the hindmost."