Thank you to everyone for your reviews. You are so kind and I love to hear your thoughts. Also, I don't say this enough but special thanks to my beta reader lks358, she is amazing and she is the only reason these chapters are as good as they are. I am so sorry for the long wait, I actually have a solid plan for the rest of the book now so hopefully, in the future, it will be shorter between updates.

Christine drifted through the first half of her shift the next day, her mind focused on what she had agreed to with Erik. After further deliberation, she couldn't settle on whether it was a good idea or not. On one hand, it sounded amazing; but on the other hand, it felt impossible. She couldn't do this. She wanted to call Erik and back out, but she knew he would never let her. He believed in her, for some reason, and he wouldn't let her give up. It was one of the things she loved the most about him.

Not finding any immediate answers, Christine forced herself to leave the world of her confused thoughts. Her patients deserved her full attention.

The next chorus practice felt unreal to Christine. The last time she had been in here had not been that long ago and so much had changed since then. Well, really only one thing, but it felt like a lot. Christine couldn't stop smiling when she looked out at the empty theater and remembered what it looked like on the night of the concert. Erik sitting in the crowd, hidden but always there. And everything that followed that. Cecilia and Judie noticed her daydreaming and called her out on it, and in the minutes leading up to rehearsal, Christine filled them in, much to their excitement. When the director cut them off they all scurried off to their positions to listen, promising to catch up more afterward.

"Okay everyone, quit your chit-chat and gather around." The director marched in with a messy stack of new sheet music. "First of all, good job on the concert. You all did very well. Since this themed concert did so well, we are going to be focusing our songs on a theme again for this upcoming concert. The theme will be Night and Day. Christine, you will be taking one of the lead positions. Congratulations. You've earned it. We will discuss more after practice, but now it is time for group rehearsal. Everyone take your part and pass them around…"

Christine didn't get a chance to react before the new music was passed to her and practice was starting, but she was ecstatic. No matter how many times Erik told her it would, she never thought this day would come. But there was no time to revel in her joy right now; there was music to learn.

After group rehearsal ended, Cecilia and Judie squeezed her in a hug as congratulations.

"We are so proud of you, Christine," Judie told her.

"Yeah, you're amazing. And you definitely deserve this, you have the best voice," Cecilia added.

"Thank you guys, I'm really happy," Christine said with a smile. "I wish we could talk more, but I guess I have more practicing to do now. Do you want to grab some coffee in like an hour?"

They both agreed before heading off.

The rest of her rehearsal was tense. This was the first time Christine had held such a high position, and the other soloists weren't exactly welcoming. She could feel their eyes on her, sizing her up. She tried to not let it affect her, and for the most part, she succeeded. At least externally; but on the inside, it was killing her. She hated it when she didn't get along with people, and it was clear that that was how it was going to be with most of these girls that just a few weeks ago had treated her like a friend. Now she was competition. By the time practice was over, Christine was more than ready to see the friendly faces of Cecilia and Judie again.

"How was the rest of practice?" Judie asked her. She and Cecilia had saved a table at the coffee shop across the street, and they met Christine with sympathetic looks as she took the empty seat with a tired huff.

Christine sighed. "Not so good. None of the other girls like me anymore now that I got the lead part. It's stupid to be upset about, I know. But it bothers me."

"It's not stupid," Cecilia assured her. "It makes sense. You've just got to keep your head up. And don't worry, you'll always have us as friends."

Judie nodded. "Definitely."

Christine allowed herself a small smile. "Thanks, guys."

"Okay, so now that we have the time you have to tell us more about this guy. He better be better than that jerk that cheated on you!" Judie exclaimed.

Christine laughed. "Okay, okay. I will tell you some stuff. But Erik is pretty private so I am not going to give you all the details. But don't worry, he's a much better guy than Raoul."

Later that day Christine arrived at Erik's house and greeted him with a kiss.

He kissed her back briefly before pulling away. "Hello. How are you? You had chorus practice today, right?"

Christine nodded. "Yeah, I did. It was good. I got a lead part."

"That is amazing, but not surprising," Erik told her. "I always knew you would someday. Why don't you sound more excited?"

"I am excited," Christine assured him. "It's really great, but not everyone is so happy with it, that I got the position so soon… but it's fine. It'll pass. How are you?"

Erik wasn't going to let her change the subject so easily, and there was a cool edge to his voice when he spoke. "Are they treating you badly?"

"Oh, not really," Christine told him. "Nothing direct anyway, it's just how people are. It's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

"It's not fine. You earned this. They have no right—" Erik began angrily, but Christine cut him off.

"Hey, do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. I love you. But—"

She stepped closer to him and gently took his hand, urging him to meet her eyes."Then trust me when I say this will be okay, seriously. Everyone is not going to be nice all the time, and I can deal with that. You don't need to get so upset about it for me. I've got it."

The softness of her voice worked on him immediately, and the anger smothers, despite the persistent displeasure at the idea of anyone being unkind to Christine. The tension in his shoulders eased, and he gave her hand a small squeeze.

"Very well," he said calmly. "If that is what you want, then I can do that."

Christine's answering smile was worth letting the issue drop.

"Thank you," she said before placing a quick kiss on his lips.

He leaned into the embrace for just a moment before pulling away—if he wasn't careful, he would spend days kissing Christine. And their plans today were too important to be forgotten so easily.

"So, how are we going to do this? Do you have any plans?" Christine asked.

"I was thinking we could start with a normal lesson to get you in the right headspace, and then we could go over some of the compositions I am working on. So you start to understand the process more."

"That sounds great," Christine agreed. "So I guess we should get started with our lesson. Here are the copies I made of my music.,"

Erik took the pages from her and scanned them as they walked to the music room. The selections were interesting but nothing that Christine should have much trouble with. Her solo part was marked with hastily scribbled stars, and a smile formed on his lips as he looked over the notes. It would sound lovely in her voice.

The lesson felt like it went by much too fast, and soon Christine was sitting on the piano bench by Erik while he explained his composition process. As much time as Christine had spent worrying about this, all that fear left her now. It was incredible listening to Erik's music being born, and Christine loved the concentrated look of happiness he got when writing new music. He very rarely looked truly happy, but now he was.

"Here, sing this part here," Erik instructed, pointing to an unfinished line of music.

Christine obeyed, singing the notes of music. When she got to the end of what Erik had written, she continued, taking the phrase to a natural finish.

"Did you just think of that?" Erik asked her when she finished, his eyebrows knit in concentration.

"I—I guess I did. I'm sorry, I didn't think, it just felt natural," Christine said sheepishly.

"Don't apologize, that was really good. I told you you'd be a natural. Can you sing that again?"

Christine did, hoping she would get it right, and when Erik jotted down her notes and smiled at her she almost sighed in relief. Erik had been certain she would do well, but now he swelled with pride. He would have to tweak this part later, as it didn't match the style he was going for, but the way she had thought of this was exactly what he expected she would do, and her instinct was good. Music just lived in her; he'd recognized it the first time he'd heard her sing. With a little more practice, she would excel.

They worked for several more hours before stopping for dinner, and while Christine only offered a few more suggestions of this nature, her voice made the composing easy. It was only hunger that reminded them how much time had passed.

"Please, let me cook tonight. I really enjoy it, and I want to do something for you," Christine pleaded as they walked towards the kitchen.

"Fine, if you really want to," Erik agreed. "But you're not cleaning up!"

"Deal!" Christine exclaimed happily, sealing it with a kiss before bouncing off to the kitchen. Erik smiled as he watched her. It still felt unbelievable to him that he was the cause of her happiness.

End of chapter. So, what did you think? Please review, and know that my inbox is always open, for any reason. If you want to discuss the story or if you just want to chat. -K