A/N: I know, this is waay too short to really seriously be a chapter. But, I was just struck by wanting to write more, and...as a rule, my nature is to write very short chapters with lots of intensity and cliffhangers. It takes me forever to figure out where to stop, because in something like this, I want to stop way earlier at the first cliffhanger I write, and yadda yadda yadda. And I know this doesn't give much information, but I promise the next one will be longer. It has to be. :P It's gonna be Erik and Christine's reunion. ;)

Disclaimer: The only things I own are:

Erik

Christine

Nadir

Charles

Erik's house

The Opera House

The Carriage

The horses that drew the carriage

The Punjab Lasso (which unfortunately isn't in this story...:()

Etc.

The only thing in this whole story that I don't own...is Raoul. I don't want him. You can have him.

Reviews: Thank you so much LadyWillow for reviewing!! You make my day haappyy!!

Thanks to BlackRoseGirl for reviewing too. I'm sorry I had to make Nadir say 'damn' a lot. And sorry Nadir has to be kind of hostile toward Christine in this one. It's all because he's concerned for his friend...doesn't that give you warm fuzzies? :P He'll get better about Christine, I promise. :)

Christine sat at the edge of the lake, cold, and miserable. She had no idea what to do now.

Shivering, she wrapped her cloak around herself and considered screaming until he came out. It wouldn't do any good.

The boat was on this side of the lake, and why would Erik swim all the way across just to rescue her? He wouldn't. He was probably wasting away while she wasted time.

Why would he have any reason to love her, anymore, anyway? He had every right to loathe her.

She suddenly heard a noise from behind, and whipped her head around.

The Persian was standing there, looking at her with...pity?

"Madame-," he started.

"Please, call me Christine," she cut him off.

"Christine...don't you think...you had better leave him alone now? You've caused him enough pain, and...I don't know if he could bear it if you came back into his life." He looked at her sadly.

"Monsieur, I – I-,"

"Please," he put a hand on her arm, "Call me Nadir,"

"Nadir," she hesitated, "Can't you see? I have to do this. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just walked away right now...I know...of all the pain he's suffered because of me, but...I have to see him, Nadir." She looked at him pleadingly.

He sighed. "Very well, Christine, but perhaps I should go first and tell him of your arrival."

"Please," she looked at him sadly. "Please." She repeated

"All right, Christine, come with me," he said finally. They both stepped gingerly into the boat, and when Christine was firmly seated, Nadir began to row the boat across the lake.

They both arrived on the other side unharmed, but Christine was feeling a twinge of terror down in her gut, and it intensified when Nadir opened the door of the house on the lake, and walked boldly into Erik's Domain.

Christine peeked into the house, afraid of what she might find. It was not different from the last time she had been here...13 years ago.

Nadir stood in the middle of the room.

"Erik?" he called, "Visitor here to see you."

A/N evil grin How's that for a cliffhanger?