Hey guys, so sorry for the long wait! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, I love reading them. For this chapter I want to give a big thank you to my beta Iks358. She helps me always, but she was extra amazing for this chapter. Here is your next chapter :).

"You owe me $750," Erik told Christine when she landed on his property on Tennessee Avenue. Christine handed him the money from her stacks with an exaggerated sigh and passed the dice to Meg.

Meg looked at the minefield of a board in front of her. "Honestly the best thing for me right now is just to go to jail." She rolled a seven.

"Pacific Avenue, that's me," Christine said with a victorious smile. "You owe me $1275."

Meg groaned and started sorting out her finances. "Okay, so here is $230 which brings me down to $1045." She picked up the remaining five houses on her properties and threw them in the box. "I can sell my house on Connecticut Avenue for $50, two houses on Saint Charles Place for $100 each, and also $100 each for my Virginia Avenue, which gives me $450. So, Christine, that brings my bill down to $595." Meg flipped over all her remaining properties. "Okay, so mortgaging all these gives me $210, and now I only owe $240." All she had left now was a get out of jail free card. "Erik, do you want to buy this for $250?" Meg asked him desperately.

Erik pursed his lips. "I am afraid not."

"Alright, so Meg's out," Christine announced cheerily.

Meg huffed angrily. "You are so mean when you win, and you cheat!"

"She hasn't won yet," Erik said and at the same time Christine protested, "I don't cheat!"

"Whatever you say. Are you guys going to play it out? Or just call it a draw?" Meg asked.

Erik and Christine locked gazes with a competitive stare. "I think we will play," Erik decided.

Two hours later, Christine landed on Erik's property and ran out of money. Meg had left for work an hour ago, and the two had stayed to finish playing alone. As glad as Christine was that they had all gotten to spend time together—the friendly competition had seemed to ease Erik's nerves quickly, and he and Meg had gotten along just fine—she couldn't deny that things were more comfortable when it was just the two of them.

Christine held out her hand to concede. "Well, it was a good game."

Erik shook her hand. "Good game," he agreed.

"I'm really glad you came and we did this. Thank you," Christine said as she cleaned up the board game. "Did you have fun?"

"Only because I was with you," Erik says, moving to help her immediately.

Christine smiled and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Erik replied with practiced ease. Christine didn't say anything right away, and Erik took this chance to do what he had been meaning to do since he met her. "Christine, would you like to join me at my house for dinner tomorrow night? For a date," he added awkwardly.

"I would love to," Christine replied with a huge smile. "I have work until six, does eight sound good?"

"Anything for you, my dear," Erik replied smoothly.

Christine was walking back to her car after work the next day when a voice called out to her. "Hey, Christine! Wait!"

She turned around to see Paul, one of the nurses she worked with.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked once he caught up to her.

"I was wondering if you could cover my shift tomorrow? Something came up and I can't work it."

Christine mentally checked her schedule. "Yeah, I can do that. Are you heading home now?"

He nodded. "What about you?"

"Yeah. I've got a date in an hour so I have to get home and change," she told him, smiling a little. It felt really good to tell someone about Erik so casually. It felt good to have a date with him tonight, like they were a normal couple who had met in a completely normal way.

"Good for you. I won't keep you then. Do you want me to walk you to your car?"

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks," Christine replied. She was never wild about walking places alone at night.

By the time they reached her car, her mind was firmly on her dinner with Erik, and she barely remembered to wave to Paul as she drove off.

When Chirstine got home she started getting ready for her date right away. She showered the day's work off of her and put her hair in a towel turban to dry while she picked out an outfit. She was between a few choices, but she ended up settling on a white sweater and a nice pair of light blue jeans. When she was satisfied with her clothes she moved back to the bathroom and blow dried the last of the water out of her hair. She put on a necklace with a golden feather pendant and examined her reflection in the mirror one more time before walking out the door. Erik was always complimentary of her appearance, but she found herself particularly wanting to impress him tonight.

Erik outdid himself preparing for their date. His house was filled with candles and there was soft music playing in the background.

"This is amazing, Erik," Christine told him upon entering.

"You deserve it," he told her. "You look amazing."

Christine blushed lightly. "Thank you."

Erik was dressed very finely, and he was wearing a mask. She raised her hand to his cheek and grasped the edge of his mask.

"Can I?" she asked. Erik nodded and she took it off. "You look very handsome," she told him before kissing him. Once on each cheek and then on his lips.

"You are truly an angel," Erik told her.

Dinner was waiting to be served, and the smell alone was incredible. Erik pulled Christine's chair out for her before hurrying to serve her food, and she grinned at him as he sat down across from her.

"I can't believe that you did all of this for me," Christine said in awe. "It's amazing."

"You deserve it all, my dear," Erik assured her. "How was your day today?"

"Oh, nothing special. I pretty much had work all day, so same old same old," she told him, cutting into the meal. "How was your day?"

"It was uneventful, and I missed you," Erik told her. "I worked on some of my compositions."

Christine finished chewing her food before responding. "Maybe you can play me something after dinner"

"I would love to," Erik told her with a smile. They continued this pleasant conversation as they finished dinner. Christine did more the talking than Erik, but he was always happy to let her. He loved the sound of her voice.

When they finished dinner—after Christine had taken a second helping and showered him with far too many compliments on the food—Erik resolutely refused her offers to clean up. Instead he set the dishes in the sink to soak and lead Christine to the music room to show her some of his compositions.

"What would you like to hear?" he asked as he took his place at the piano.

Christine sat beside him, close enough for their knees to touch. It always surprised Erik how comfortable she was being near him. "Whatever you were working on today."

"Very well." Erik's fingers ran over the keys almost without thought, the melody still fresh and vivid in his mind. He'd been thinking of Christine when it came to him, and the tune is suitably gentle.

Christine let her eyes drift closed as he played, mesmerized by the apparent ease with which Erik could conjure such beauty. She always felt music deeply, but his music tugged at her like nothing else.

When the music died out, Christine spoke before Erik could start a new song, the music having brought something she'd long been considering to the front of her mind. "You know, I always wanted to do something more like this. Something more with music. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I love my job, but it's not my passion. I don't know that I could quit, though. I couldn't leave behind my patients."

Erik turned on the bench to face Christine. "You could try to find a way to sing more," he suggested. "I know you love what you do with the choir now. Maybe you could try to build on that and still balance your work as a nurse."

"Maybe," Christine said thoughtfully. "But I don't know how I could do that more. I've thought about it a lot, and I don't think I want to go back to school. Unless I wrote my own music I don't see how I could do more with it than I do now."

"What if you did?" Erik suggested, an idea forming in his mind.

"Did what?" Christine asked.

"Write music. No one knows how to write for your voice better than I do—everything I write is solely for your voice.. And you have enough creativity to write your own. You would just need a little help accessing it. I could help you with that." Erik's words quickened as he went on, excited by the prospect of working with Christine.

Christine was stunned. "I—I don't know what to say. That sounds amazing. Do you really think we could do that? Do you really think I could do that?"

"You can do anything you set your mind to. You should know that by now," Erik told her. "So, what do you say?"

Christine answered him with a kiss. "Yes," she told him when she pulled away. "I would love that."

She wasn't sure how this would work out, if it would be successful. But either way, she got to spend more time working on music and more time with Erik. No matter what, she won. And maybe, just maybe, this would be everything Erik thought it could be. He had been right about giving her lessons, and she couldn't be happier with how that worked out.

Maybe this could be something.

End of chapter. So what did you think? Please review and let me know. Also know that you can always PM me :).