Chapter Nineteen:  Return to Rouen

The next day passed uneventfully, and once again, they stopped right around dusk, Erik leaving Nadir once more the check them in to an inn.  And once again, they left shortly after daybreak.  By mid-day the third day, they were arriving on the outskirts of Rouen.

"Oh wow!"  Meg gasped as they came upon the Romanesque city.

They arrived at Degardeau Cottage, and Erik pulled the carriage around to the back.  The stable hand set to unhitching the horses as Erik and Nadir took the bags from the back of the carriage and went around to the front of the house.  A knock and a short wait, and Marie appeared at the door.

"Erik!  Christine!  Do come in, we'd been wondering when you would finally arrive!"  Marie stepped back from the door, and the foursome made their way inside the foyer.  After a flurry of activity discarding cloaks and hats, and a maid who came and took the bags from the men, the party made their way into the sitting room where Gerard was waiting for them.

"Ahh, our happy couple returns!"  Gerard exclaimed as he stood to greet his guests.

Erik bowed as he'd been taught all those years ago, but it was short lived as Gerard walked up to the younger man and embraced him warmly.  Erik stiffened at first, as this was the first time the two had initiated any contact outside of a handshake.  Then he relaxed, and it was then that Gerard released his grip and turned to Christine.  He took her hands in his, and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek.  "You are looking marvelous.  Both of you."

Christine smiled up at the man before her, then stepped back.  "Gerard, Marie, we have some friends we'd like you to meet.  This is Meg Giry, my closest and dearest friend."

Marie smiled as Meg did a little curtsy.

"And Nadir Kahn,"  Erik indicated to his friend.  "Nadir and I have shared many adventures in the past."

"A pleasure to meet you both,"  Nadir cut in with his heavily accented French.  "Erik has told me much about you both."

"Only good things, I hope?"  Gerard kidded.

"Of course, Monsieur,"  Nadir answered.

"Christine, before I forget, the dresses arrived yesterday afternoon."

"Oh!  What perfect timing,"  Christine smiled.

"If you'd like to show your friend?"

Christine turned to Meg, and Meg nodded her head in approval.  Then she turned to the men, and with a softly placed hand on Erik's arm, said,  "If you gentlemen would be so kind as to excuse us?"

Erik smiled behind the mask, and took the fore,  "Of course, go and show Meg the dress."

The three women made their way back through the foyer and disappeared up the staircase, while Gerard gestured the men into the chairs in the sitting room.

"They will likely be up there for quite some time,"  he commented.  "Nadir, do you mind if I call you Nadir?"

"Of course not, Monsieur Degardeau,"  Nadir replied.

"Gerard, please,"  Gerard corrected.

"Of course, Gerard."

"I'm known for being rather impertinent, asking questions of everyone and such,"  Gerard continued on as Erik mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.  "Tell me, how did you meet my nephew?"

Nadir's eyes widened at the man's brazenness, and he looked to Erik for a moment as if asking his permission to recount the tale.  Erik nodded imperceptibly.

"Well, it is a rather long story, Gerard."

"Ah, the longer the better,"  Gerard smiled.  "I do love a good intrigue."

"This story is full of them, then.  As you can likely tell, I am not a native of your land.  Indeed, I was born in Persia, and was a member of the Persian court at the time I met Erik.  The Khanum, mother of the Shah-in-Shah, had heard a story from a fur trader of a marvelous magician with a voice of gold.  At first, I believed that the tales had to be elaborated, but it was not my place to say.  The Shah ordered me to find the man the trader spoke of, and bring him to Persia as entertainment to the Khanum.  So I searched, and came across him at Nijni-Novgorod.  Convincing him to return to Persia with me was quite a challenge, I assure you, but for some reason, he came.  And he stayed for more than three years, in which time, I came to know him."

Erik smiled behind the mask,  "You do tell the story so simply, Daroga.  You forget, however, that I returned with you to Persia because you seemed an intriguing fellow, although I have yet to figure out what made me think that at the time."

"And here I always believed it was the offer of power that drew you."

"Yes, quite.  That as well, of course."

Gerard raised an eyebrow at the verbal sparring session which was taking place before his eyes.

"Erik, you are incorrigible.  We are showing reprehensible manners in front of your uncle."

"Isn't he the one who just told us his own manners were deplorable?"

"I believe the term I used, Erik was impertinent,"  Gerard smiled.  "I don't know what it is about the men of my family, but we have this strange love of a good argument, or a good challenge.  And I fear, I like to be a bit of a voyeur on a good debate."

The three men chucked in camaraderie.

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"Oh Christine!"  Meg exclaimed as Marie brought the dress out.  Her hand lightly fingered the delicate fabric.  "It's exquisite, it really, truly is!"

"Thank you,"  Christine smiled at her friend.

"Just think, in five days, you'll be walking down the aisle, wearing this dress.  Are you nervous yet?"

"No, not nervous, excited though.  Marie, were you nervous when you married Gerard?"

"Yes, a bit,"  Marie answered candidly.  "Nervous, excited, anxious.  Of course, Gerard and I met late in life, and he had been married before, whereas I had been an old maid, still living with my brother at the time.  He did not care much for Gerard I fear, and yet . . . there was something about Gerard.  I knew the moment I met him."

"Did you have a long engagement, Madame Degardeau?"  Meg asked.

"Call me Marie, please.  And no, it wasn't that long.  As I said, we weren't exactly young when we met.  We knew each other for a time before he started courting me, but once he did, he proposed two weeks after that.  He said, 'Marie, I'm no spring chicken.  You are, but I'm definitely not!  Let's get married.'  I thought he was kidding at the time.  Ah, that man sure knows how to make a girl laugh.  Later, though, he took me out for a candlelight dinner, and he got down on one knee and gave me the ring.  It was a most exquisite evening, and a month later, we married in the church I where I grew up."

"Was it a large wedding, Marie?"  Meg asked.

"No, it was rather small.  A few acquaintances, mostly people from the village.  But it was beautiful nonetheless.  When I saw Gerard waiting for me at the alter, my breath caught in my throat, and the butterflies started playing in my stomach.  But it was still marvelous!"

"Oh, it sounds it!"  Christine marveled.

"Some days it seems like it was only yesterday, and others it seems like I've known Gerard forever.  Even after ten years of marriage, there are still things I'm learning about him.  And now, I'm more grateful than ever that I found him.  If we hadn't met, he may never have learned he does still have family."

A tear formed at the corner of Christine's eye.  "I can agree there.  If we hadn't been looking for you, Erik would never have known he had an uncle."

Marie smiled.  "It was funny, when Gerard first told me about his brother years ago, I never put it together.  I had no reason to.  And it wasn't until after he told me that Erik was his brother's son that we realized that we had met all those years ago.  Of course, Gerard was married at the time, to his first wife, rest her soul.  But it has taught us just how small our world really is; if we care to look close enough to know."

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"I haven't laughed this hard in ages, Darling,"  Marie commented to Gerard later that night.

"I am glad to see they are making you happy, mon amour,"  Gerard answered.  "At first I had some worries, given some of the stories you told me of Erik's childhood, and some of your reactions to the boy."

"Gerard, I was little more than a scared child myself then.  And I did try so hard not to show him any fear.  I could not help my natural reaction to his face, although I admit, it's a bit easier not seeing it, I still feel bad that he will not give up the mask."

"Perhaps he's just not ready, Marie.  From what you've told me, his whole life when ever anyone sees his face, they tend to turn in fear."

"Yes, usually upon first sight.  Oh Gerard, I realize you don't quite understand, never having seen.  And I know that you'd love him anyway, simply because of who he is.  Not for what he looks like."

Gerard closed his eyes in concentration for a moment.  "I only wish that could have been so years ago.  If I had seen him when he was born, I fear I would have had a similar reaction to everyone else.  I was selfish back them.  Still am, in my own way, but nothing like I was once.  You've made me better, my love."

Marie smiled at her husband, and took his hand in hers.  "I'd say the same about you, mon amour."

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Christine stood by the window of her room, the darkness enshrouding her whole being save her face, which was bathed by the moonlight.

'Only four more days,' she thought,  'until Erik and I are husband and wife.  The thought is still terrifying and yet exciting.  I can hardly wait, and yet . . . I'm almost afraid that the spell that is between us now will be broken.'

'No,'  Christine shouted in her mind.  'Nothing could change what I feel for Erik.  And nothing is going to part us except Death.  Oh God!'  A tear found its way unbidden down her cheek at the thought.  She wrapped her arms around herself as if it would protect her that way, but her heart still remembered the thought.

She didn't hear him come up behind her, but she felt him, as she always did, before he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You should be sleeping, mon petit,"  he whispered.

A small smile formed on Christine's face at the sound of his voice behind her.  "Should I dare to ask just how often you come to check on me?"  she kidded.

"Enough to know you haven't been sleeping well the past few nights,"  Erik answered.

Christine sighed.  "Don't worry, I'm fine."

"You're troubled."

"Perhaps."

"Tell me."

Silence came over the room.  Christine wasn't sure how to phrase her thoughts.  She didn't want to worry him, and she knew that if she told him, he would worry.

"Are you having second thoughts, Christine?"  Erik finally asked, the fear dripping from his voice.

Christine turned to face him, a look of horror on her countenance.  "How could you think that?"

Erik ducked his head.  Her reaction told him what he needed to know, and although his heart soared with joy that she wasn't, he felt chastised by the hurt expression on her face.  "It's my worst fear, that one day, you'll see me for what I really am, and you'll . . ."

Christine's features softened.  "But Erik, I do see you how you are.  I thought perhaps by now, you would realize that.  I don't fool myself anymore about your past.  And your face holds no more horror for me.  You know that."

She watched as Erik closed his eyes in consternation behind the mask.  "Yes, I know.  I'm sorry for my doubting ways."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Erik.  Everyone has fears."

Silence reigned once more, before Erik closed the last steps between them and took his small hands in his larger ones.  "I have just told you mine.  Perhaps it may help if you were to tell me yours."

Christine lowered her head and stared down at their intertwined hands.  "I don't know how."

Erik disentwined one hand, and raised it to her chin, lightly chucking underneath so that she would raise her eyes to look into his, hidden behind the mask.  "Please, my love.  You should know that you have nothing to fear from me."

A tear spilled unbidden from her eye, and his hand reached up to brush it from her cheek.  More tears followed, and without another word, he took her into his arms as she let loose the emotions flowing inside her.

"Nothing to fear but losing you,"  she whispered into his shirt.

His eyes widened unseen behind the mask, and his grip on her tightened.  "I would never leave you,"  he answered hoarsely as the emotion choked him as well.

"Not by choice, no,"  Christine managed to say between sobs.

Her meaning dawned upon him, and it tore his heart in two.  They held to each other in silence for a long time, before Erik felt Christine's knees begin to buckle.  With a swift, silent movement, he swept her up into his arms, and carried her to the bed, and gently laid her there between the sheets.  As he tried to lay her head down on the pillow, he felt her grasp on him tighten, and realized his assumption that she'd fallen asleep was incorrect.

"Please,"  she whispered.  "Just until I fall asleep."

Finally he understood why she had not been sleeping well.  She always seemed to sleep well enough the nights they'd fallen asleep in each other's arms, and it had made him wonder at first.  Yet he had discounted the thought that she was having the same trouble he was.  Yet his voice failed him, so he merely nodded his assent, and held her until her breathing slowed and her arms went slack, and then he laid her down upon the pillow and tucked the covers around her.  He could not help but place a tender kiss upon her forehead before he whispered,  "Sleep well, mon ange."

He slipped from the room as quietly as he had come, and returned to the hallway where he ran smack into Nadir.

A muttered Persian curse issued from his lips before he dragged Nadir down the hall and into his own room.

"Eavesdropping, my friend?"

"Not at all,"  Nadir assured him as his eyebrow quirked in question.  "Merely I couldn't sleep, so I came to see how you were faring, and found you gone.  I knew you would likely be awake, but somehow I never expected to find you in Christine's room."

"I assure you, nothing happened."

"Your shirt is wet, Erik."


Erik glanced down, and he could see where her tears had stained the starched white of his dress shirt.  "And why should I explain to you?"

"I never asked for an explanation, Erik.  And neither did I condemn you to your European traditions regarding making love before marriage, you forget I don't hold to them myself."

"I'll have you know, Daroga, that nothing happened, whatever you may believe."

Nadir's eyebrow quirked again.

Erik sighed,  "You couldn't sleep.  What is it with people and not sleeping?"

The eyebrow remained up.  "I couldn't say.  I've had problems for years."

"That would not surprise me in the least."

"You're being cryptic again, Erik."

"Persia would be enough to give anyone nightmares,"  Erik sighed as he turned to the window.  The moonlight glinted off the mask in the eerie stillness.  "She fears my death, Nadir."

Silence for a moment, before Nadir posed the question,  "Does she have cause to do so?"

"Perhaps,"  Erik admitted.  "I do not know."

"Are you ill then?"

"Merely I am getting old."

"That's not funny, Erik.  I am older than you are."

"Yes, perhaps."

"Why does she fear your death, Erik?  Surely there had to be something to bring that on."

Erik glanced over at his friend, yes, friend, and recounted the story of the day Christine tore the mask from his face.

Nadir, for his part, sat silently as Erik told the story, even when Erik looked away and continued to stare out the window while he spoke.  And when Erik had finished, the silence fell between them once more.

"Why did you not tell me before?"

"There is little that can be done, Nadir, of that I am sure."

"Your studies, of course, but you are not a doctor, Erik.  Perhaps you should think on seeing one."

"No!"  Erik whirled around to face Nadir.  "You know as well as I what would happen should a doctor encounter this face!"

Nadir shook his head in sadness.  "For Christine's sake, then, at least consider it,"  he whispered as he rose from the chair and made his way to the door.  He paused upon opening it, and glanced back at the stiff, unbending figure who was once more staring out the window.  Without another word, Nadir left his friend alone in the darkness which still engulfed him.

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Author's Notes:  Yes, I know I just likely threw some of you for a loop there.  It's a thought that's been plaguing me as well, since Erik in Kay's version died shortly after Christine and Raoul left the lair . . . and I'm pretty sure that I'm well past that point on the timeline, even if it never happened in my version.  And yet, Erik's illness would eventually have to be discussed, would it not?  I have not decided exactly how it will play out, though it's not going to become a major factor before the wedding, that I am certain of.  Merely their respective worries about it.  Besides, it gave me a good scene, in my opinion!

Ash:  Ah yes, Raoul and the Note.  Not going to answer that question except to tell you this:  it will play a part, and very soon, you shall see, and all shall be explained!

Angelofnight:  The muse is being nice to me today, and gave me good fodder to play with.  Would be more, but the family awaits upstairs . . . sigh, oh well, love them anyways!  And yeah, there is a difference, me and my details (who needs details, huh?  Ah well, least I explained my own incongruities!)

Everyone else:  Hope you're all still enjoying, and just who is going to give me that 100th review?  I'm looking forward to it, in fact, I'm gonna celebrate when it comes in! 

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