Disclaimer: I do not own POTO or any of it's characters. The idea behind this fic was I wanted to see how Christine and Erik would interact together if she had seen his face from the beginning and been fine with it.

I hope you enjoy reading :)

It was late evening, almost night and Erik was driving home from the store. He had been forced to go out, he did need food after all, because of Nadir's refusal to go for him. Even when Erik had offered him sufficient pay. He said Erik needed to get out more. So Erik went, curing Nadir the whole time, at night in hopes that less people would be there to stare at his mask. But now it was dark outside and Erik felt almost calm driving home. He knew no one could see through his tinted windows and he enjoyed the peace of driving. Very few cars were on the road due to the late hour and he relaxed in the relative solitude.

When Erik was about halfway home it started raining. And then it started pouring. As he approached the next intersection he saw that the light was green and continued through.

In another car, on the road perpendicular to Erik, the driver did not see his red light and continued through at a reckless speed crashing into the other car.

Erik was in the middle of the intersection when he felt it, a blunt force crashing into his car and causing it to skid across the road. His car crashed in around him and his head slammed through the windshield. His mask flew off shattered into pieces, that went flying everywhere. All he felt before he lost consciousness was pain.

Christine was in the middle of her shift at the E.R. It was already late in the evening, most people didn't like to work this shift but Christine didn't mind. She actually enjoyed it and she was happy to take the burden off of her coworkers' shoulders.

Suddenly the paramedics were wheeling a patient in. "John Doe, he was in a car crash. His head was through the windshield and his body was crushed. Bleeding from the head and bandaged ar scene. Possible broken bones." they presented.

Christine was called into the scene and she might have gasped if she hadn't seen patients similar to this before. The man had bruises all over his body. His arms had large pieces of metal stuck in them and his legs were swollen. His head had a bandage around a wound that looked like it had been bleeding profusely before. His face was covered and blood and had what Christine hoped was some sort of deformit marred it, flesh twisted in a grotesque manner. She didn't want to think of what sort of accident could cause such extensive damage to his features.

She rushed to assist the doctors working on his team. She worked around with everyone, first hanging and I.V. with pain medicine. He certainly needed it. She then helped remove the metal from his arm. She cleaned and bandaged his arm. In a flurry of activity, time ceased to exist as the team worked to keep the man alive. One he was stable the surgeons came to fix the internal bleeding.

Later that evening Christine was monitoring the car crash patient from earlier. He was in the ICU now, post successful surgery. They had not found any form of I.D. on the scene so his identity remained a mystery to her. Now when she looked at him she could still see the damage from the crash. He was battered and covered in bandages. It appeared she was correct on guessing that he had a facial deformity. The skin on half his face was twisted and looked scarred but Christine looked at it easily. She worked at a hospital and she had seen many terrible deformities and the terrible damage some burn victims had. The other half of his face was unmarred. She sat down in a chair near his bed to do charting while she monitored him.

Erik woke up slowly. His head was fuzzy and his last memories were of pain and bright lights. He realized he was not in his home, and not in his own bed. There was faint beeping all around him and he was hooked up to a monitor. He had a tube in his arm. He weakly tried to move but his body was heavy and didn't obey him. He was ready to relax into what he assumed was a hospital bed and when he noticed that something was off. He could feel the cool air of the room on his face. Suddenly his hand flew to his face and he sat upright in bed. He was wildly scanning for his mask when the woman sitting next to his bed noticed him sitting up.

"Oh, Sir you're awake. How are you feeling? You need to be careful, you were in a terrible accident"

Erik felt panic welling in his chest. She had to have seen his face. He didn't have his mask, someone must have taken it off. Anger shot through his body. "Where is my mask?" he demanded "I was wearing in when I was driving, one of you must have taken it off. I want it back! You have no right to take my property!"

Christine was taken aback by the man's violent reaction. She looked at him, confused. "Sir, you didn't come in with any sort of a mask. By the time you got to the hospital, you had no mask. And the paramedics would have brought it if the found it on the scene."

He looked taken aback for a moment but quickly regained his fiery composure. "You lie" he hissed at her and moved to stand up "I will find it for myself".

As Christine saw him attempt to rise she moved to his bed and gently pushed him down onto the bed. "Sir, please I understand that you are upset but I promise you I'm not lying to you. You need rest, you can't go walking around all over the hospital.

Erik sank into the bed weakly as she pushed him down, it's not as if he had much strength to resist. As he spoke he realized the truth in her words. He was silent for a moment before he rasping out "But my face... its horrific truly... I can't just leave it uncovered" he protested.

Christine smiled soothingly but inside he heart broke for the man. "It's okay, its really not that bad"

Erik looked at the kind women like she had three heads "I think you should get your vision checked" he said incredulously "I don't see how you can say that"

"I can say it because it is true" she insisted. "If I may ask what is your name, sir, they didn't find your I.D. at the crash"

"Erik" he replied "My name is Erik"

"Well Erik, my name is Christine, I'm going to be one of the nurses helping you recover. You have a long road ahead of you but you are lucky to be alive"

Erik lie back on the bed, reflectively. Usually, he would have scoffed at her words, how could he be lucky to be alive with his cursed face. He didn't even deserve to be alive. But for the kindness of Christine, he thought perhaps he was. For this nurse, was kind to him despite his face. Smiled at him even. And if people like her existed in the world, then maybe it was worth living. And he knew he was certainly lucky to meet her.

Please excuse any mistakes I made with describing the care of Erik after the car accident. I'm not a doctor but I did try my best to make it accurate. Please review. Also, my inbox is always open if you want to PM me.