Hi all! A note on this chapter: I'm basing Mme. Giry and Meg off Leroux and not ALW. The only thing from ALW that I'm keeping is the idea that Meg and Christine are close friends. But otherwise, Mme. Giry is just the Box Keeper and not the ballet mistress or the holder of secret, mysterious knowledge or anything like in the musical. Since we have the Persian, it's just not needed and I always try to stay as true to the original as possible (except where this story needs added ideas for Erik's "crimes").And besides, people so rarely represent Giry as the superstitious, eccentric, little old lady Leroux wrote her to be, thatI thought it might be nice for a change. Though you won't see much of her in this chapter,she'll be back eventually.:)

Thanks to all and much fmeek!

Fifty-Two Hours After the Meeting

Christine wandered into her private bedroom at the Chagny estate one late afternoon, her mind and mood profoundly beset by the thoughts and feelings that had been torturing her these last few days. She needed to talk to someone...Someone who wasn't Raoul. Her emotions so strongly conflicted with his point of view on every single issue in their lives, it seemed...But she couldn't talk to him...She needed someone else. She picked up the phone, and after a moment's hesitation, dialed the familiar number of her long-time friend and confidante, Meg Giry. She had not spoken to Meg or anyone else from the Opera since that night, and the anticipation of the impending conversation was enough to make her fingers tremble as they pressed the beeping buttons.

The line rang a few times and Christine had a sinking feeling that nobody would pick up. The only benefit of the sinking feeling was that it managed to slightly suppress the fluttering of her heart. After another moment, though, she recognized Meg's mother's voice as it answered.

"Mrs. Giry, hi!" she said as the habitual telephone mock-cheerfulness rose to her voice. "It's Christine Daaé...How are you?"

"Oh! My dear, we haven't heard from you in quite a while!" Mrs. Giry's surprise was of the overjoyed and grateful sort. "We've been fine, just fine, except...This whole terrible mess, of course. It really is quite terrible, isn't it? But how have you been? We really wish you would have called before! Meg's been quite anxious about how you've been holding up, and she wants to know about the wedding!"

Christine smiled a little and sat on the edge of the bed. It was good to hear the familiar voice again even if she had to race internally to keep up with Mrs. Giry's onslaught of questions. "I'm so sorry I haven't called!" she apologized immediately. "Things have been a little strange lately, I suppose...The wedding had to be postponed, though, until after the trial..."

"Of course, of course, dear. I understand." Mrs. Giry was sorry to hear that after all the couple had been through, they still had yet more to deal with in all of this court business.

"I will be sure to let you know all the details of the date and everything once we know for certain..."

Mrs. Giry smiled. Despite her age, she still had a tender heart for young love. "It's good to hear from you...Were you calling for Meg?"

"Yes, I was. It was nice talking with you too."

"Hold on, I'll go get her."

"Thank you." Christine waited for a couple silent moments as downy memories seeped their way into her conscious mind.

Meg's as-always over-exuberant voice called Christine's focus back to the telephone.

"Christine?"

"Meg!" Christine was just as excited to hear her friend. "How are you?"

"Christine! Oh my God! When Ma said it was you, I didn't believe it! How have you been?"

Christine's smile returned. Hearing Meg's voice was already just so refreshing. "I've missed you so much, Meg! I've been well! How are you?"

"I've missed you too! Things aren't the same at all without you! I'm alright, only...I don't know if you know? Those court-appointed lawyers called me yesterday, and they want me to testify in the trial for the Opera Ghost!"

Christine was absolutely shocked! She didn't say anything for a few moments, her mouth unable to form words. Finally, she managed, "They did...?...Are you going to?"

"Of course I am!" Meg thought the question was rather silly. "You see..." She pulled away from the phone for a moment while looking out of the room to see if her mother was anywhere near, and then continued in a voice that had lowered to an excited whisper. "They wanted Ma at first, but then they were afraid she'd probably go off the handle...And since I know just as much as she does, it doesn't make any difference, and they only needed one of us...They wanted us, you know, because the Ghost had always been so kind to Ma and me...And they thought maybe we could help people see another side of him."

"Oh, Meg!" Christine exclaimed as what had been weighing on her mind all this time suddenly burst out of her. "They're making me testify against Erik! I don't want to!"

Meg gasped in abhorred surprise. "You're working for them?" Christine was on the other side!

"I don't want to!" Christine repeated in the helpless defensiveness she had adopted since this had come about. "That's why I called, really...The prosecution...They served me subpoena. I have to go to court! I don't want to testify against him. I don't want anything to do with it...!"

"Didn't they want you to be on his side?" Of all people, Meg had thought Christine surely would have been testing in favor of the Opera Ghost!

"Yes! That side came to me, and I was ready to testify for them...But Raoul had serious problems with that," she explained. "So I couldn't..." She didn't know how well Meg would understand the situation with Raoul, so she didn't get any more detailed than that.

"Oh...So now you're on the same side as him?" It sort of made sense to Meg...It would be difficult if Christine and Raoul were fighting against each other...

"I have to be..." Christine again felt the heaviness of the many tears she had already shed.

"Wow..." It was the only response Meg could concoct, but it fit her thoughts perfectly.

Christine sank back against the pillows of the bed and twisted the edge of one of its elegant canopied curtains agitatedly. "But, Meg, I can see it...I can imagine sitting there in the stuffy court room...And Erik's eyes on me...But looking at me differently than before. Almost...Hatefully and condemning..." She shot up again to stand and went on desperately, "I couldn't stand that, Meg!"

"God..." Meg breathed out softly, envisioning Christine's trauma. "I couldn't either...Why didn't you—Well, right...Raoul, I guess..." She couldn't see any sort of solution to her friend's problem and so she switched the topic slightly. "How are things living with him?"

Christine sighed and sat down again, slowly. "They're fine, I guess...I mean...They are absolutely fine. It's just...I hate this situation...Tell me what to do, Meg..."

It was Meg's turn to sigh...Back to the hopeless problem. "I don't know, Christine...How long have you known you have to testify for the other side?...Does he know?"

"Only a few days...And no, I don't know...I haven't seen or talked to him since that night..."

"Geez..." No wonder Christine was so troubled. She only had speculation to feed her worries. Perhaps it would be better to have things laid out in the open... "Have you thought about it? I mean...I didn't know him at all, but the two of you...You were friends, right?"

Christine paused for a couple beats. Friends... "I...guess that's what it comes down to..."

Meg was thinking risky thoughts. She couldn't quite manage to put them to Christine, but instead worked up to them. "Well you could—But I don't know...I wouldn't know what to do if I were you...Do you want to talk to him?"

Christine stood again to begin to pace, and the cordless phone crackled with static each time she turned. To talk to him again...She had thought about it...But did she want to? "I...I hadn't really...Well...Yes, I do." The conclusion was hastily reached but firmly sincere.

"Well if you do...I mean..." Meg tried to decide what she did mean. "If you really do...If you want to...Why don't you? Is there a way you could call...? Do they...? Or...Maybe you could...Write a letter? What is it you want to say to him?"

"I...don't know...I guess I'd tell him what I'm telling you now...That I'm not against him, but by court order, I have to testify against him..." She put a hand to her flushed cheek and stopped pacing. "I wonder what he'd say..."

Meg was wondering the exact same thing. "I couldn't begin to tell you...I never knew him...He only ever talked to Ma..." There was something she wanted to ask, but she hesitated a moment in wariness of the answer before she let out the question. "What was he like, Christine? In person, I mean...Was he really like they say...?" She meant the way he acted...Nothing else.

Christine sat back down and remained silent for several moments, just thinking...Just remembering... "He was a gentleman above all else, Meg...Very mysterious and very charming. Unlike anyone else..."

Meg thought she could sense a hint of longing in Christine's words as her voice trailed off into thought, and she was not really quite sure what to make of that. "Geez, Christine..."

Christine remained lost in reflection for several more moments and then sighed softly. "Yes...I think I should go see him..."

Meg was surprised and not sure if she'd heard her correctly. "You mean...Go down to the prison?"

"I think that would be the best way..." Christine didn't sound doubtful.

"Wow...You're a lot braver than I would be...All those criminals..."

Christine shuddered a little. "I can't think about them. Only him."

Meg repeated the words nervously. "Only him...God, it's so strange..." She curled up in the easy chair by the window and tucked her legs underneath herself. "For so long, I thought he really was a ghost...A real ghost...And he did so many things that no alive person could do...And now...To talk about him like a living, breathing person..."

"He was a ghost, Meg!" Christine answered in excitement. "He could be anything he wanted to be! He was a ghost, an angel, and a man all at once!"

Meg breathed out slowly as she let the phone cord unwind from where it had twisted around her fingers. She was unsure about this...Christine seemed so wrapped up in him still...She fully remembered the time months ago when Christine had thoroughly convinced herself and Meg that the divine voice who gave her singing lessons was the Angel of Music...Christine had worshiped that voice with every breath until she had learned the truth...Meg was doubtful about her friend's emotional position as a result of all she had been through... "Christine..."

Christine could tell most of Meg's thoughts simply by the tone of that one word. "Don't worry, Meg...It's just fond memories of him...That's all..." But was that all?

"Yeah..." Meg agreed, but wasn't really able to understand. "So are you really going to go down there and see him?"

"I guess so...Yes."

"When?"

"Soon. I can't tell Raoul..."

"Oh..." Meg hadn't thought about Raoul. "He wouldn't like it, probably, huh?"

Christine smiled to herself a little. She was still the same old Meg. Her answer was gentle. "Probably not..."

"You could go when he's not home?" Meg offered.

"I will." Christine was already devising a plan of action. "He's supposed to have some kind of meeting this weekend...It might be a good time to go then."

"Wow...You have to call me back and tell me everything..." She was, after all, still the same old Meg and was still a little gossip at heart. But only a little one.

Christine couldn't help a smile. "Of course, Meg. You'll be the first one I talk to afterwards."

Meg veritably quivered at the thought of it. "Now you've made me all nervous, Christine...I'm just thinking about sitting there in court on the witness stand...And talking about him...I've always been so scared to talk about him...He's always hated it when people would talk about him...And he'll be sitting right there, watching me..."

Christine's voice was quieter. "He can be intimidating at times..."

At times! "God," Meg breathed in wonder. "I don't know how you ever could have dealt with it...I mean...I never saw him until that night...But even before that...All of us were scared to death of him..."

"He wanted it to be like that..." Christine said easily, and then went on, fondly, "He really accomplished it, didn't he?"

Meg giggled nervously. "But he wasn't always like that...?"

"No!" Christine gasped. "Not at all! He was very different from the Opera Ghost."

Meg was curious. "Like...Split personality?"

"No..." Christine wasn't quite sure how to explicate, but did her best. "The Opera Ghost was almost like a façade...A mask...To shield the man he truly was. I don't know how to explain it."

Mentally, Meg chewed on Christine's words, and physically, she chewed on the end of a piece of her dark hair. "Things are different at the Opera without him...It's like...Nothing seems to go right anymore." She sat up and went on as she brushed grey cat hair from the arm of the chair. "At first we all thought it was because we were so shaken up about the whole arrest and examination and everything...But things have settled down again mostly...And it still seems like everything is just ...Off..." She laughed uneasily as she tried to flick a piece of fur from her fingers. "I suppose I don't know how to explain it either...All the girls say the police released a curse on us when they took him away...Because he was part of the Opera, you know?"

"They would say that..." The bittersweet nostalgia was warming Christine from the outside in. "Nothing is the same without Erik..."

Meg fidgeted a little as she settled back again. "You miss him...?"

Christine blinked back surprise to hear the question asked so openly. "Well...A part of me will always miss him..."

Meg wasn't so sure what to make of that...So she offered an easy answer. "He was a good teacher...?"

"Very good!" Christine was delighted. "The best on the earth, I am entirely convinced."

Meg smiled to herself as she thought about what Christine might have answered if she'd asked a different question. But he had been a good teacher. He had taught Christine to sing with a superhuman voice that, before, all had only thought angels could possess. "And it showed...We miss you at the Opera! Will you ever come back?"

"Yes!" Christine was positive on that matter. "I miss you all very much...As soon as this blows over, I'll come back."

Meg was surprised by that. She had been thinking that Christine had probably sworn off opera forever or something after her traumatizing experiences. "Really?"

"Absolutely! I miss everyone and the Opera itself far too much to stay away for long!"

It was wonderful for Meg to hear! And such a turnaround from what she'd expected! "And Raoul is fine with that?"

"I haven't really talked to him about it..." Christine had actually tried to avoid the topic of Opera completely. Raoul had done the same. "But I'm sure it will be."

Meg was thinking about that, and she didn't see why Raoul would have any problems with Christine coming back to work. "Yeah...Now that the Ghost is gone..."

Gone... "Yes..." Christine had gone far away again.

Meg sighed and twisted in her chair. "I miss you, Christine! I suppose I'll be seeing you during this whole thing in court...But we should get together some time before that..."

Christine came back. "Yes, we should, Meg! I miss you so much! We'll have lunch...Let me give you the phone number to this house."

"Yes, please!" Meg nearly fell out of the chair as she leaned over to grab a pen. She wrote the digits on her hand as Christine gave them. Then she tossed the pen back and giggled as she looked at the number written in ink on her skin. She taunted joyfully in a singsong voice, "I have Raoul Chagny's phone number!"

Christine laughed. "Is it that special?"

Meg's black eyes danced as she gazed at the number on her palm as she turned it this way and that. "I could make quite a bit of money by selling this to the other girls in the ballet, you know!"

Christine choked in surprised amusement. "Meg Giry!"

Meg answered in heightened laughter. "I'm just kidding!...Sort of..."

Christine hadn't really laughed since the incident and was enjoying this brief detour into humor at Raoul's expense. It had always been known how the girls at the Opera fawned over him and, actually, as both knew, Meg really could make some money off this number. "I can just imagine Raoul now..." Christine said between laughs. "He picks up the phone and a dozen ballet girls squeal...I love it!"

Meg couldn't contain herself at such a hilarious mental image. "I'm sure you'd just sit back with some popcorn and watch the fun, huh?"

"Yes! Of course!" Christine stifled her laughter, afraid Raoul would hear her from downstairs. "You'll have to come over and watch it with me. We can bring cameras and everything."

"Yes!" Meg nearly fell out of her chair again. "And then we'll put the pictures on the internet!"

"Naturally! And then you can sell Raoul's address! On eBay!"

Meg was suffocating on her peals of girlish giggles. "The insanity would never end! Poor Raoul!...And poor you...Everyone would be after your man!" She stopped laughing suddenly as something occurred to her. "Oh! The wedding! You are inviting me, aren't you?"

"Meg!" Christine exclaimed in surprise. "Do you really need to ask that? Of course!" She leaned against the pillows again, and her eyes drifted to the sparkling ruby of her engagement ring. "Actually...I was hoping you could be my maid of honor..."

Meg gasped and leaped from her chair. "Oh my God! Christine! I've never been anyone's maid of honor before! Yes! Yes!"

"Oh, good! You'll have to go shopping with me...You'll look so pretty in your dress!"

Meg giggled excitedly. "Yes! We'll have to work out everything together!"

The conversation continued in that way with excited discussion of the details of the wedding and reception. Neither girl said anything more of Erik...But, really, it was everything unsaid that mattered.