Erik savoured the sensation of being able to, once again, lay beside the goddess which was Christine. Though his goddess had fallen from her pedestal she was still his beautiful Christine. Time would eventually heal and she would return to her former glory. But for now he was satisfied with what he had. Like she had once said to him, another child wouldn't fill the void where Gustave had been but it would help. Just as their passion would once again return and they could lead a life similar to the one before.

"Do you remember the vows you spoke to me?" Christine asked softly, pressing her cheek against his arm.

"Of course." Erik gave her a downwards glance, noticing that her eyes were closed. "Why?"

"I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, mon ange."

"I am not a feline, otherwise I would have landed on my feet." Christine's feet stirred beside his. "I only asked because I want us to always remember that night."

Erik took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers and holding it up for her to see. "Two strands of music at last entwined."

"Once upon another time." Christine sighed heavily, "Have I been insufferable to live with?"

"No!" Erik snorted, the air whistling out of his disfigured nostril. "The true question is whether or not I was the monster to live with. I can only picture that an outward observer would see me as a brutish ogre stealing away the innocence and virtue of a petite flower."

"When in truth the flower stole the ogre?" Christine's soft giggles filled the room.

Erik couldn't help but smile at her. She was once again the Christine that he knew and loved so well. The air around her seemed to dissipate and her vibrancy had returned. "I am glad to see you happy again." He wondered at times if the complexity of their relationship ever troubled her. Not even the most brilliant psychoanalyst would be able to understand them. And he claimed to be a student of humanity, well trained in the behaviors and motives of humans. Purely from observation, of course, but he had learned so much!

Yet Christine and he were an enigma. They had no beginning and no end just as their bodies, lying entwined there, had no obvious beginning and end.

"Thank you for making me happy again." Christine returned, looking up at him with wide doe-eyes. In the dying candles she could see his face tinted with an orange hue with the help of the fading flames on dripping wax candles.

Somewhere in the church a door could be heard slamming shut. Erik sat up erect in the bed and looked around. "Dress." He hissed in a quiet, urgent, voice. He wasted no time to pull on his trousers, clean white shirt, cravat, and return his mask to its proper place. Whoever it was, would pay. And in blood if necessary.

Christine pulled on her chemise, donning a housecoat to protect her partially dressed form from the eyes of the visitor. "Who is it?"

"Shh." Erik pressed a long finger to his lips, standing guard around the corner from the front door. They both stood dead still, waiting for the door to swing up. Erik peered around the corner, there was a cloaked figure standing in the door. "Who is there?"

The figure took down the hood of the cloak, revealing a young woman. And an infant.

"Gustave!" Christine shouted, rushing past Erik and towards the woman. "My baby." She didn't hesitate from snatching the baby out of the stranger's arms. "Oh Gustave!" Christine hugged the child to her bosom, stepping away from the woman in fear. "Who are you?"

"Jane." She replied, watching the mother with the child. "Meg sends a message."

"That damn woman!" Erik hissed, stepping towards Jane. "And what does she have the audacity to say?"

"She sends her apologies." Jane looked down at her hands. "Christine, you don't know what Raoul has been like to us."

"And I don't care." Christine snapped, turning to Erik. She gave him a soft smile as he wrapped a protective arm around her waist.

Jane stared at Christine and the masked man. Did the woman comprehend what had happened to her because of breaking off her engagement with Raoul? Did she even care to know? "Meg didn't mean to take Gustave. She swears it."

"I'd like to hear that from her own mouth."

"She's afraid to come here. Afraid of what he," Her eyes flickered towards the "Phantom". "might do to her." Jane shook her head, "We both risked everything to bring Gustave back to you. When Raoul finds out where we are…"

"Why does Raoul care so much for either of you?"

"I gave birth to his bastard daughter and Meg… she might be giving birth to yet another bastard de Chagny." Jane stepped back towards the door. "But I really should go. I don't want to be seen leaving from here. Dawn will be upon the city soon."

Christine watched Jane go, "How I have missed you little one." She whispered, pressing kisses to the crown of the baby's head. "Our prayers have been answered."

Erik hesitantly stepped closer to Christine, placing a gentle hand on Gustave's back. "Our son." Raising a child had been distant from his mind, an old forgotten thought. He didn't know how to raise a child. He had hardly been able to care for Christine. He was appreciative that Gustave had been miraculously returned, but at the same time hesitant. Was he capable of raising a child?

He had had nine months to prepare for their son before. And in nine months he had not been able to come to terms that he was going to have to raise a little baby. When he had been taken, it had been a morbid sigh of relief. He had escaped that trial. And with their new tense relationship the thought of a second child was a distant thought.

"Gustave." He whispered, wrapping his arms around Christine's body. How was he going to provide for Christine and Gustave? Living in the dark crypt of a church was no place for a little child and his mother, two people who were full of life and light.

A/N: *cringes* Was that terribly OOC:?

As for a lovely anonymous reviewer Marina Bluethrone *note the sarcasm* My dear Erik has a Punjab lasso with your name on it. I would like to point out that your own review was riddled with incorrect punctuation and grammar.

Bite me.

P.S. I'm thinking of changing my username. Any recommendations ya'll? I'm thinking a Miz/Phantom name.