A/N: I love this quote, especially because while it's originally in reference to Erik, the one I based my Erik off, this is now in reference to someone else in the story! The next quote for the next chapter is also Fantastic.

"Nothing was colder than his heart. Nothing half so dead…"

Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera

"I want to leave François, and I know exactly how we are going to do it."

If he had not been holding the child, Erik might have fallen over at the words Rene had spoken.

"You… what?"

"I am going to leave my husband, Erik!"

"You have a child… a newborn child to care for, Rene. You shan't be doing that on your own!"

"Oh, well, of course not but what I shall and shall not be doing is irrelevant. We have a plan."

There was that coined 'we' again, and Erik truly didn't know what to make of it. He had no idea what was going on, so surely she didn't mean him? That, and there was no way she thought that after her lies and revelations that he would just… allow her back into his life again.

Just because he would, didn't mean anything either.

"What do you mean we?"

There was a knock on the door, and since Erik was still holding his partial namesake, Rene walked forward to receive the guest.

Focusing on Jules, he watched small little limbs thrash about as he came into some semblance of consciousness. His eyes were green like his mother's, having developed out of the newborn blue, and there was no hesitation when he reached blindly for Erik's nearest grabbable accessory. His cravat was loose in no time, and the whispering at the door had gone unnoticed.

So the boy was enchanting? He was also half François, but it was hard for Erik to even see the man in him which was a very horrifying prospect considering this child might one day come under his own care… and one day soon.

"Erik," his name was called to him, and though all of his attention was wrapped over the infant now hustling his gloved finger, it was not so much so that he did not recognize the fourth occupant in the room.

"Christine."

The name slipped from his lips like a foreign entity, not a fond memory in sight when all of his truly good memories were with the woman who looked slightly betrayed at his tone of voice. Christine had been his pupil, his angel, and his everything for quite a few months before Rene stumbled into his life and his heart, showing him what reciprocated love might do for him. Now she was before him, looking all the proper comtesse who had won her way into a beautiful life not bogged down by the murder on his hands or the filthy love in his heart. And it hurt him to see it.

This was not ideal.

"Erik, Christine has something to tell you."

Finally able to look away from the girl before him, he looked at Rene who had become nervous, her glances going to the infant in his arms and back to his face.

"Is she going to speak to me, or are you going to puppet it through her?"

Rene's face contorted into something akin to concern, but Christine spoke up before she could say anything else.

"Erik, I will tell you, alright? As you know, Rene's husband has not always treated her in the best way possible. Raoul was unaware, but Philippe did not quite care and he did know. Now I am painfully aware of some of the worse transgressions from François, including his attempt to take me into his bed the other evening."

Breath stolen, Erik was unsure of how to respond to such news. Rene's bastard of a husband had attempted to take Christine, and he was supposed to what? React normally to this information? Jules seemed to even notice the unrest caused by his father as his face began to sour.

"He said," Christine continued weakly, stepping forward.

Erik couldn't move or he might have retreated backwards, feeling rather uncomfortable by this woman's presence.

"He said that I was not like her in many desirable ways, that I wasn't ruined by the birth of a child… and that since Raoul had seemed unsuccessful so far, it might not be long before he could aid us in the situation."

Scoffing slightly, Erik looked to his right where Rene hovered, and said bluntly, "He could barely get his own wife pregnant, let alone someone else's"

"Give me Jules," she demanded the moment the words had left his lips.

Part of him should have felt some type of remorse, but the only thing consuming him was fury for both his previous pupil and the woman he loved, though the lines felt very blurred in that moment for which woman was which considering his limited breadth of feelings.

Erik handed the child over, though the boy did not like this and began to cry the moment his hands drifted away from him.

Odd, Erik assumed that he should have been crying far before that, like the entire time he was holding him. Death was never meant to hold a child that was not being taken.

"Erik, with this information Rene wants to file for an annulment, but we are going to need all the evidence and help we can get, which is why I think it best if we also include Raoul-"

"Oh, and what will the other crying infant be able to do to help us?" He menaced. Nothing particularly bad had happened between the two of them recently, but the stings of pain's past were catching up with Erik like he was standing still.

Both of them scolded him at the same time and he had trouble discerning which one sounded as though they might submit to tears soon.

"We had to tell him, for as veritable a man you are, the church shan't see you as so. Raoul gives us the leverage we need to set Rene free to you."

"Like her brother would so willingly let her escape to my arms."

"It does not even sound like you want me anyways," Rene snapped from her place, her voice betraying her to the one in near tears.

"I do-" he said, but was it quickly enough?

It was an undignified amount of time with which he responded considering even he did not know whether or not his heart was still truly in it. But love did not fade, not the love he held for Rene. His love for Christine had dimmed and gone away, for he only lived because of the woman holding the child, which gave him a better answer than he imagined it might.

"And we want her with who will make her happy."

"You've told Raoul already then?" Erik asked them both, glancing about as guilty faces were showing. "How much does he know?"

"When I came to them," Rene said, "When I pleaded with my little brother to let you go free of your charges, he was not so keen and shed many tears, as I am sure you recall. But Christine vouched for you and changed his mind, and then… well, when they asked why I would be so willing, I could not deny them the knowledge. Two people who I love so much, my opinion on Christine changing as she spoke not against you, they abided. You were released, were you not? And so I told them why. Why I wanted you to keep living and why I wanted to go back. Of course… I didn't have the chance, François came back and nearly beat me if I hadn't expressed in quick enough manner that I was pregnant."

"He was nice to her for a while, even more so when she bore him a son," Christine added, watching him with a weary eye as he reacted with horror to all the things they were telling him then.

How exactly had life brought him here of all places? Back at de Chagny manor with the woman he loved who was coincidentally still in the de Chagny family as though fate liked to torture him more than the average. Well, Erik knew that part for a fact, but it still didn't matter much did it? It was a normal amount of terrors for him.

"And things have changed now?"

"Yes, for he has ceased to care, and the child means little more to him than a token of his family name living on. Obviously you see now where I stand," Rene finished weakly, her façade of strength gone to show him the fragility he witnessed only a few times himself.

"Is Monsieur le Comte aware that I am currently being involved in this scheme, or are you going to drop it on him like the scenery fell on la Carlotta?"

Christine snickered, but Rene looked slightly confused.

"He is aware," Christine said through her giggles, looking over to her sister-in-law and immediately composing herself.

Erik wasn't sure what had just happened, but it not being good was a certainty.

There was comradery between the women before him, but he couldn't connect any lines between them. Admiration and shared experiences bonded people together, but only one of them had loved him, only one of them had been revolted by his visage, only one of them had sung for him, only one of them had a horrible husband who could not care less about them.

So much separating them, yet only one thing bringing them together. Him… and Jules.

He could only assume that Christine and Raoul were the child's god parents, but then again he could not necessarily assume such things for they might not be true. Erik himself didn't have any, therefore the child could simply lack them.

"And who are the child's god-parents?"

"Myself and my husband, of course," Christine said.

Erik sighed. Of course.

He looked about the room, Rene holding her child and paying him almost no attention while he fussed, Christine's eyes pleading and slightly irrelevant when it came down to it.

"Are you sure you need my help?"

Rene sighed, looking down to her son finally. He really was a handsome little thing if Erik was forced to admit it. Then, she looked back at him and shook her head.

"No… your help it isn't exactly what we need. But, I need you."

They had shared so little over their time together, considering he had not loved her soon enough. Rene had been a woman he was helping to clear his conscious, and then she was someone who was going to raise him higher than even the de Chagny family as long as he had his opera house. Yet, he'd realized so late that it was her he wanted by his side while he continued to live, even as a friend he wanted her to write to him and detail her adventures as a widow… when he was still naïve enough to believe she was a childless and husbandless woman.

How simple things had been for him those days where it was only her health he was concerned over and the opera's doing well. And he didn't even need to be concerned over that because he knew the opera would do well, it didn't have a choice when being run by him.

Now there many factors and things that could go wrong trying to screw over one of the men married into the oldest families in France.

François de Renaud had no idea what was coming to him.

And really, neither did Erik.

Walking over to Rene, willing himself not to shake or trip over the air as though he were prone to such things, he reached out to her, oblivious to the fourth party in the room and took her face in his hands.

How long had it been since he'd held her like this? With her face under his palms, caressing her perfect skin like it was the finest silk of the continent. He searched her face, the answer far too many months, almost nine if he was being precise. Rene was back to him, and he could have the chance to have her back permanently if he helped them and let her need him.

Rene's eyes closed, her child the only thing between them as he leaned forward and brushed his lips onto hers.

The distinct sound of a shuffling dress was evanescent to Erik, not caring if Christine saw this or not. And it felt so wonderful.

Jules gargled his protest and Erik backed away quickly, though it was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life, letting Christine go be damned. Letting go of Rene in any capacity hurt him beyond reason.

"Is that your answer?"

As though she had not been sure before, like he was teasing her at this point, Rene glanced warily at Christine who was still turned from them both, fiddling with something neither were paying attention to.

"My answer is that I need you just as much, Rene."

She ran into him for another embrace, another kiss, and then they finally returned to the world around them to allow Christine to detail her plan. And what a plan it was, though he had marginal faith in his once-student, the world was in for a shocker.