Disclaimer: You can't claim to own a person, that'd be a form of slavery… Erik as my slave….hmm….

A/N: Hello everybody! Thank you so much to those who reviewed! And now what you've all been waiting for! An encounter with Erik! Yay! Let's all cheer! lol

It took longer than Christine expected to reach Paris. She finally stepped out of the carriage right in front of the opera house. Now that she was actually there, she wasn't sure if she actually had the courage to go inside.

She stood there in the pouring rain staring up at the massive building. She bounced lightly to try to wake up her legs from the long ride.

"What am I doing here?" It had been such an incredibly spur of the moment thing that now she was having second thoughts about being back in Paris. She couldn't decide whether she was actually afraid or just nervous about what she might find inside.

"Well, I didn't come here for no reason," she said bravely and walked inside. She heard sounds coming from the auditorium. She looked up at the large clock in the foyer and saw that it was still early and rehearsals were probably still going on.

She didn't go inside. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone who'd ask questions at the moment.

Christine actually was starting to doubt her daring at coming all the way there alone, without even letting Raoul know! She made her way quietly through the building and to her old dressing room. She pressed her ear to the door to make sure no one was inside. When she heard nothing, she opened the door silently.

As she stepped inside she saw that the room had obviously been abandoned. Of course, she thought, who would want to stay in the room connected with the opera ghost? A thin layer of dust covered everything in the room, including the massive mirror on the wall. Christine picked up one of the dresses hanging in the small wardrobe. She rolled it up and wiped the mirror until it was free of dust and she could see herself clearly.

She lifted her fingertips to the glass just as she had done with her own mirror earlier.

Erik didn't know why he was doing this. There was no purpose and it would probably just cause him more pain, which was definitely not something he needed just then.

He rowed slowly and silently across the lake wondering all the while what had possessed him to leave his home in the first place. But, he thought with a sigh, he had already come this far.

He docked the boat and stared upwards through the passageways. He straightened himself and walked resolvedly forward. His feet easily found their way to that place behind the mirror…

As he approached he felt his knees weaken. "What am I doing?" he quietly questioned himself. "Why am I doing this to myself?"

He glared at the back of the mirror. He was angry with himself. This little field trip he had decided upon was not going to wear well with his sanity he knew.

But, he thought again, he had come this far. He walked up to the mirror and peered through it. Christine's dressing room was exactly the same as it had been the last time he'd seen it. Nothing had changed at all.

His fingers pressed up against the glass as he stared hungrily around the room. He wanted so desperately for Christine to just walk into the room, apologize for being late and begin her lesson. He felt his features tighten at the thought of her, the thought of her singing for him. His legs failed him and he fell to the floor. He felt tears begin to form. 'Why did I come here?!' he thought angrily. He had known what this little excursion would do to him and yet…he had come anyway. It was as if he was being drawn there. 'I shouldn't have come,' he thought bitterly.

But his angry thoughts didn't banish his despair as he had hoped. He let out a shaky breath and succumbed to his anguish. He didn't know how long he sat there, huddled on the ground, with his hand pressed against the mirror.

He was startled when he heard the sound of the door opening. He quickly collected himself and glared in the direction of the door. Would someone else be occupying this room? Her room? His mind raced wildly as he thought up ways he might scare someone away from here. He stared anxiously at the doorway as it opened ever so slowly. Then a face appeared, peeking nervously through the space the door had left.

And Erik's heart stopped.

His body stopped. His head spun, he couldn't breathe as Christine appeared in the dressing room. His body ever so slowly started to function again. He blinked rapidly to make sure she was real. She didn't disappear. She remained, alive, in the flesh, she was within a few feet of him. He couldn't seem to move, though he desperately wanted to just run to her, sweep her into his arms… But all he could do was stare at her numbly as she examined the room.

Her attention turned to the mirror and Erik's breath caught painfully in his chest as she came up so close to the mirror she was almost touching it. He watched as she dusted it off. Erik struggled to keep his breathing from becoming ragged for fear she would hear him.

Christine slowly lifted her fingertips to the glass. Erik watched dazedly as his own hand moved upwards and met hers. He cursed the glass that separated them. He knew that he could easily open the mirror, but this moment…he couldn't spoil it.

He gazed at her through the glass. As he stared he thought he saw tears forming in her eyes. But why would she be crying?

"Erik?" she whispered.

Erik nearly jumped out of his skin. Had he made a noise? Could she see him somehow? But no…as he looked at her he saw that she hadn't been questioning his presence…but calling his name. Why would she do that? Surely she didn't miss him.

He turned away from the glass, his anger beginning to flare. Why had she come here? It was torture for him to be this close to her! She had no right to come back and destroy him all over again…

He turned back. He was surprised to see tears running down her cheeks. He hated when she cried. It always hurt him so much to see her unhappy…

'Which is why I let her go!' he reminded himself angrily. Why would she come here if it would cause her sadness.

"Erik…please." Christine began talking to the mirror Erik noticed. Not really to him, but as one would talk to themselves. He remained silent and listened as she spoke. Her voice…oh how good it was to hear her voice again!

"God Erik, I'm so sorry," she turned away from the mirror now and began to pace around the room. "How could I have done something like that to him!" She paused. "Is he even here anymore?" She looked around desperately as if hoping to see him hidden in some corner. Finding nothing she returned to the mirror. "I could go through," she contemplated to herself. "I could go and see for myself…"

She bit her lip, unsure of what to do now that she had arrived. She wasn't sure what she had expected would happen. Did she think that Erik would just appear and have a solution to everything? It would be stupid to think that.

She collapsed onto the chair in front of the vanity. She put her face into her hands and her shoulders began to shake. 'What am I doing here?' she asked herself.

Erik couldn't take it anymore. His heart was splitting at the sight of her looking so sad. She shouldn't know such sadness.

"Christine…" he whispered before he could stop himself.

Her head immediately shot up.

"Erik?" she questioned carefully.

He sighed. He knew speaking to her right now probably wouldn't end well, but it was too late now. She knew he was there.

She called him again when he didn't respond. What would he say? What could he say? For the first time in his life, he was at a total loss for words. So, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Why are you here?"

She faltered. "I…can't you come out here Erik? Please?"

It seemed like forever since she had seen him last and she felt like she needed proof that she wasn't imagining him talking to her. He hesitated at her request. He didn't know if he could handle this. At least this way there was a barrier between them… But he would never deny her anything.

"As you wish." He slid open the panel and stepped into the room.

Christine struggled to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape her lips. Erik didn't look his normal majestic self at all. He was so terribly thin and he looked like he hadn't slept right…in a month.

He stepped closer to her automatically. Christine felt her legs begin to shake and then give out. Erik caught her swiftly before she could fall. She grabbed his arms to steady herself. He held her up and she though she could have resumed standing on her own, she still clung to him. Erik carefully made sure she could stand and removed himself from her grip. He retreated back a few steps and turned to face the wall. His emotions were threatening him again. He couldn't let any dams burst now, not with Christine a few feet away…

"Why are you here?" he asked again.

"I…" Christine began, but again she faltered. "I don't know…"

"You don't know?" Erik repeated cynically.

"Erik I…" she said and lightly touched his shoulder. Erik spun around with such force that he threatened to knock her over. She backed away, frightened by the look in his eyes. "Do not touch me," Erik said through clenched teeth.

Christine back away further. "I'm sorry Erik," she whispered. "I cam because…because…I've had such horrible dreams…dreams about you. You were…you were, in the dreams…"

"As you can see I'm perfectly fine," he responded coolly.

Christine's courage returned. "And what if I don't believe that you're fine?!" she cried. She wasn't fine, surely this must have been a thousand times harder on Erik.

He advanced on her slowly making her shrink back. "And what makes you think that you have the right to presume anything about me?" he growled at her.

He looked into her eyes and saw them filled with fear. His heart gave a pang of guilt. Why was he hurting her like this? Suddenly he just couldn't take it anymore. His soul couldn't handle her being there. He turned around, "Just go Christine," he said softly.

"Erik," she breathed.

"Go!" he shouted. "Just go and leave me as you did before!"

She took a last look at him, and then she ran.

Erik dropped to his knees, "Christine!" he screamed in anguish.

She heard his cry, but didn't stop. She ran through the opera house, pushing through a crowd of ballerinas who stood in the foyer and ran out into the streets of Paris with no idea where to go next.

A/N: Please Review!!!! It means a lot to me! Thanks! :)

Coming soon: More plot….lol!!