Christine bit her lip as she stared at closed door in front of her. She stood there for who knows how long, expecting him at any moment to change his mind and join her. But he does not. She sighs and finally returns to her room. Perhaps she should have pressed him more on the mask issue, she thinks wearily as she grabs her ring and twists it back into place on her finger.
He's always had his odd little moods and strange ideas, but she's never seen him sleep in his mask before and it had disturbed her more than she cared to admit. Had something happened? And now he wanted to sleep in that damn coffin. She must speak with him about it all tomorrow. But then she remembers how busy she is tomorrow - really she almost regrets asking for more work, especially since it's because of that that's she's missed whatever's caused her husband to sink into such a mood, but hopefully it will all be worth it at the end.
Erik must first remove Ayesha from the coffin before he can get in it, a thing that Ayesha does not appreciate in the least since she was already sleeping there. She jumps right back in, almost landing directly on Erik's face. He sighs sadly as he pets her fur, contemplating how his best years are almost certainly behind him now.
A knock on the door pulls him back to wakefulness in the early morning.
"Erik? I don't have time to stay for breakfast, but I'm having lunch with Giry in her office at noon, would you like to join us for that?"
His sleep addled mind struggles to make sense of it. Christine is leaving him, but Christine also wishes to have tea with him? He sits up and replies with some sort of words that must indicate his agreement to her, for she mentions how glad she is before saying she'll see him at noon. He pulls a piece of cat fur out of his mouth and grimaces. Ayesha had been quite insistent that the pillow in the coffin was in fact her pillow regardless of whether or not Erik had his head there already. He flops back down only to come into contact with her once more, as she had taken even the briefest of opportunities to reclaim her pillow. She yelps and swats at him before squirming out from under his head.
It's a very quiet and reserved Erik that arrives to tea at noon. He slips into the room without a sound, settling himself in the farthest chair as was his custom so long ago before he had began to join Christine on the couch when they were engaged.
Giry and Christine are already there, and Giry hands him a cup of tea. He politely declines any food, and merely takes a sip of the tea instead.
Christine exchanges a look with Giry - Erik has neglected his customary lemon entirely, despite there being a plate of slices just for him. Giry is concerned as well - Christine had mentioned that he seemed to be in a mood again, and she would believe it to look at him.
For his part, he does not know why he is here. Christine is planning on abandoning him in a matter of mere days, and Giry is encouraging her to do so. He keeps his eyes on the tea cup and avoids as much of the conversation as he possibly can. He had hoped, perhaps, to spend as much time as possible around the woman he loved before losing her forever, but he finds that doing so is only proving painful. He almost wishes that she'd hurry up and just go - this constant waiting, the never being sure of if he'll see her again, the wondering if these will be their last words to each other - it is too much.
Both women make attempts to draw him in to their chatter but he expertly deflects every time. Finally Christine must return to work and takes her leave of them. With her gone, Erik moves to set his cup down and leave as well.
"Erik, dear, whatever is the matter? You don't seem quite yourself today."
Erik flinches at the sympathy he hears in Giry's voice, which belies the fact that she herself was advocating for the very situation that was causing him to be this way. How dare she ask him that?
"You do not have to pretend any longer, Giry. I know what Christine is planning."
Giry's face falls, and that's all the confirmation Erik needs to know that it's really true. His stomach twists.
"Wha- whatever do you mean?" she stammers, trying to feign innocence.
"I overheard her speaking to you. She has her tickets to leave this place, to leave me." he smiles mirthlessly. "I guess I was correct after all, wasn't I? The long feared day has finally come."
Giry's brows knit in confusion.
He rises to leave, saying one last thing over his shoulder before he disappears.
"You can tell her that she need not wait and plan in secret any longer - if she wishes to leave me she can do so at once, I will not stop her. Erik may be a monster but his heart beats only for Christine - Erik would never hurt her or deny Christine her happiness."
She can hear that he's on the verge of tears when he gets to the end, and she jumps up from her chair.
"Erik! Erik wait - it's not like that at all!"
He stops and looks back towards her. The briefest flicker of hope passes through the anguish on his face.
"Oh? Then how is it, Giry?"
She stands and wrings her hands, unsure of what to tell him. Oh, if only Christine were here to explain it...
"That is what I thought." Erik says softly as he melts into the shadows.
She lunges for the door, shouting into the blackness-
"Erik! She loves you!"
Ah, Erik knows that. Christine loves him. Well, Christine loved Raoul too, and that didn't stop her from leaving him either. Christine loves Erik - but sometimes love is not enough. She can love him and still get on that boat and leave him - Erik knows that too. And Giry certainly hadn't denied it! He hates these tears falling down his face, he hates how they itch behind his mask, he hates how Giry heard his voice quiver, he this entire situation and he hates himself.
Giry closes the secret door and turns to follow Christine as fast as she can. She must tell her what's happened... But try as she might, she can't seem to find her. She sighs wearily and leans against a wall. Those two are going to be in for quite a surprise tonight, she thinks to herself.
Erik hears Christine arrive that evening. Giry surely told her, Erik thinks, and now she's probably here to pack her bags once and for all. He stays where he is, sitting in a chair in the corner of the living room. He can hear Christine walking from room to room until finally her footsteps draw closer. She peeks inside and spies him in his hiding place.
"There you are!" she practically skips over to him and throws her arms around his shoulders. "Happy Birthday, love!"
He frowns. Christine knows perfectly well it is not his birthday - or, perhaps it could be, even he does not know when it actually is because his mother never told him the exact day and never marked the occasion past that one fateful party. But this is the last turn he expected this conversation to take. Besides, how can she stand there and dare to call him love to his face?
"I don't understand you, Christine." he says truthfully and a little brokenly.
She keeps her arms around him, her face resting on his shoulder.
"I know it's probably not your actual birthday, but you did say it was around this time from what you remember, and, well - everyone deserves a birthday, you know? And that means I can get you a present!"
He frowns harder, eyebrows raised. Her gift is she's leaving him?
"We're going on a cruise, darling!" she hugs him tighter.
His mind tries its best to connect all of the dots, to piece together what he thought was going on and what she says is going on. He comes up short time and time again.
"I don't understand." he says again, shaking his head a little. "I thought-"
He's too embarrassed to finish what he was going to say.
"Did Giry talk to you after tea?" he asks instead.
"No, I haven't seen her since. Why?"
Erik is silent.
"Darling? What's wrong?" her concern is growing - he hasn't moved an inch since she first saw him in this room, and it's terribly unlike him to not return her embraces.
"Christine. I think we need to have a talk."
"Of course."
She lets him go and sits on the couch, gesturing for him to join her. He gets up stiffly and and sits on the couch as far from her as he can manage.
He takes a deep breath before beginning.
"I- I heard you talking with Giry that day, when you were talking about getting a carriage to the docks. I hadn't meant to spy on you, you must believe me-" he looks at her desperately when she cuts him off.
"It's okay, Erik." she smiles. "I know you're in the walls quite often. I just wish you hadn't heard that particular conversation, though!"
"Well, I heard you talking, and it seemed like... I thought you were going to..."
She waits for him to go on but he can't seem to say the words.
"Erik," she says softly. "We must always be honest with ourselves and with each other, remember? It's alright."
She reaches out and squeezes his hand.
"Christine, it sounded like you were going to leave me."
She gasps.
"Oh, oh- it did, didn't it?" she covers her mouth with her hand. Had he been thinking she was about to leave him for days now? Poor Erik!
"I'm not going to leave you, Erik. I'm sorry that you thought so. You should have brought it up to me instead of jumping to conclusions." she tells him gently.
He pulls his hand away from hers.
"It wasn't just that, I wasn't merely jumping to the conclusion - it only made sense when all other things were considered."
He still sounds irritated and defensive, and her heart sinks.
"What other things, Erik? Tell me?"
He's hesitant to bring it all up, but she did ask...
"You took on more hours at work, like you didn't want to be around me as much. And I know it was only natural with working more, but you didn't have time to have meals with me anymore, and you didn't seem to want to work on music at all with me... And you- you took off your ring." his voice breaks. "Well what I supposed to think with all that? Especially when I hear you talking about wanting to get away from here and 'don't tell Erik' and secret carriage rides and ship tickets?"
"Oh, love..." she sighs.
"Why, Christine?" he can't hold back the tears now but he's still struggling valiantly to pretend he isn't crying.
She feels as though she's been struck through the chest with an arrow. Her plans have backfired spectacularly and the opposite of what she had been hoping for has been achieved.
"I was hoping to surprise you with a vacation, Erik. I wanted more hours so I could afford to buy the tickets." she tells him sadly.
"I have all the money you could ever want, Christine. You could have just asked me if there was something you wanted to buy." he chokes out.
"I know you do! But- it's different. I wanted to buy them with the money I earned - I'd feel so silly asking you for money to buy a gift for you."
He nods. It made sense, he supposed, but that didn't stop it from hurting.
"And it's true that I haven't been eating with you lately, and I'm sorry if I never told you how much I miss that as well. But I have been busy. I've been so busy I just don't feel as creative, or if I do I'm simply too tired to get it out onto paper. I've not given up on our opera, and I've not given up on us either. And Erik, look-"
She holds her hand up, the ring in its place on her finger.
"I took my ring off because I was replanting some potted plants that day - I didn't want to risk losing the ring you gave me, it's simply too precious, so I left it here where it would be safe."
Oh.
Oh no.
Erik falls forward into her arms.
"I only wanted to surprise you with a gift, Angel."
"Erik has made quite the fool of himself yet again, it seems." he whispers.
She gives a small laugh as she rocks him side to side in her embrace.
"It's alright, darling. It only made sense, when you put it that way, but I assure you nothing could be farther from the truth."
She kisses his forehead.
"Is that why you were wearing your mask that night? And why you slept in your cof- in your room?"
He nods.
She holds him a little tighter. It was so hard to tell what to do with Erik at times. When he had stood in her doorway asking if she wanted him in the room with her, she knew there must have been some underlying reason - but was he looking for validation, or was he hoping for a night to himself? She had simply told the truth - she wanted him with her if he wanted to be with her. She knew if she had insisted he would have stayed with her whether he wanted to or not, and she didn't want to override his own wishes. But when she saw he was planning to go to his coffin, she had begun to feel perhaps she had made the wrong choice in what she had told him. She didn't think it was entirely mere self-flattery to assume that he preferred sleeping next to her as opposed to sleeping in a literal coffin. One day, she thinks, one day they'll understand each other better and then they won't have such problems as often.
"Does this mean that you'll stay with me tonight?" she asks.
He nods again.
"If you do not mind."
"I never mind, Erik."
"That is for the best - Ayesha has quite commandeered my coffin, anyway."
They sit in silence for a few moments.
"When, ah- when does the cruise depart, by the way?"
She chuckles softly.
"Next week, darling."
He feels quite silly for the rest of the night - silly and hurt and relieved. It had seemed so real, how close he thought he was to losing her. He had fallen prey to his own mind yet again. Even now, with her curled against his chest as she slept, he still had to remind himself that everything was going to be okay. But they have their vacation to look forward to - there might be awkward moments on board, yes, but the ship departs from such a faraway dock that surely few if any will even be thinking of the masked man who's wanted on murder charges from years ago. Besides, Christine had explained that the room she had booked had a view of the ocean from its window, just in case it still felt a little unsafe to go out with the general public.
The next morning Erik follows Christine upstairs to Giry's office. She intends to ask for a day or two off so she can spend them with Erik. When they get there, they find that Giry already has a visitor - Nadir.
He rises when he sees Christine appear from the secret door, not noticing Erik who is hanging slightly behind.
"Ah, Miss Daae." he says mournfully. "I heard. My condolences. I know our Erik can be... A lot to deal with at times."
Christine bites her lip.
Erik appears beside her.
"What was that, Daroga?" he asks.
"Erik," Christine hisses at him. "Did you tell Nadir we were getting divorced?"
Erik puts a possessive arm around his wife's shoulders even as she's glaring daggers at him.
"Forget the whole thing, Daroga, it was a false alarm. Everything is fine, I assure you."
"Ah, I see then." Nadir adjusts his glasses. "So I believe then, that it was in fact an overreaction to a misunderstanding, in that case?"
"You try my patience, Daroga."
"For heavens sake, Erik-" Giry cuts in. "The poor girl tries to do something nice for you and assume the very worst of it and hole yourself up in that coffin of yours-"
"Christine!" Erik sputters. "Did you tell Giry about our bedroom problems?!"
Nadir looks confused. "Bedroom problems?"
Christine jabs a finger into Erik's ribs. "I'll tell Madame whatever I please, especially since you've been talking to Nadir and making me out to be a viper!"
"-Do you two know how many problems you would solve - how many less you'd even have in the first place if you would simply talk these things out with each other instead of bringing them to us?-"
Giry continues on.
"Perhaps I should offer my condolences anyway, it seems." Nadir says.
"No one asked you, old man!" Erik booms across at him.
"-You should have known he doesn't tolerate surprises, Christine, and he's clearly not capable of being left on his own while you're at work-"
"Old man? Erik, you're far closer in age to me than you are to Christine."
"Yet another fact no one asked for, Daroga!"
"I'm quite aware of that now, Madame, that's why I need a few days off to look after him." Christine rolls her eyes.
"Yes, Madame, I'm sure you'll get all the juicy details of exactly how those days are spent! Isn't that right, Christine?"
"I think it's only fair she have someone to confide in, after everything you've told me, Erik."
"-Every time something like this comes up we all get dragged in somehow, are you both incapable of sorting your problems out yourselves? Do you think we like-"
"For goodness sake, Erik - I only told her that you sleep in a coffin sometimes! It's not like I told her how you-"
"Christine!" Erik shouts, cutting her off. "Please show some decorum!" His face has gone terribly red and feels like it's on fire.
The shouting match comes to an abrupt end with a knock on the door.
"I say, is everything okay in there?" a voice on the other side asks.
All four figures in the room have frozen stock still, their eyes wide and fixed on the door. Surely one of them will have to answer.
"We're fine!" Christine calls out.
"Are you certain? That sounded quite intense."
"Yes, we're fine!"
The voice's owner still hesitates by the door.
"We were rehearsing a opera!" she shouts.
"I've never heard that opera before..."
"It's new!"
A pause.
"Please leave now!"
The rooms other occupants silently groan.
"O-okay?"
Footsteps hesitantly retreat down the hallway.
The room is cloaked in silence for long minutes as they attempt to hear if anyone is returning.
Absolutely unable to help himself, Nadir whispers,
"So is the divorce still on, then?"
