Before we begin, in answer to some questions: I have no clue whether or not Erik's seen Hannibal, but I certainly haven't! Did I write something that was Hannibal-ish? I really wouldn't know… You think Erik would have seen Hannibal? Would it be his kind ofmovie? He probably had it on DVD ::lol::

A subpoena is pretty self-explanatory… It's basically a court order that forces someone to testify whether they want to or not… And, also, gives a good basis, if that person continues to be difficult, and the lawyers get the judge's permission to treat as the person as a hostile witness, for the lawyers to be granted more liberties in questioning the person than they'd normally be allowed. So, Christine was originally planning on not going to court at all if she could avoid it, but the prosecution served her a subpoena and now she has no choice and she has to testify for the D.A., which is the state against Erik. (Hahaha! PhanPhic CAN be an educational experience!!)

Let's see… What else… ::sniffle:: I know part 6 was all sad and had such cursed foreshadowing… In the long run and short term. What do I mean by that, you ask? Well, in the long run, you'll have to wait and see, but as far as short term goes, it's all in this chapter! Yes! So read! And review! mwah!

Much fmeek!!!!!

Twenty-Four Hours After the Visit

In the quiet afternoon, Christine Daaé sat with Raoul Chagny on one of the couches in his enormous living room. They were reading together. That is not to say, however, that they were reading the same thing at the same time. Christine had a novel and Raoul was skimming a newspaper. He folded open another page and, where he was expecting to see the continuation of a column, only found a center section of multicolored advertisements. He pulled them out of the paper and casually tossed the loose pages over on Christine, covering her book.

She looked up and sent a playful glare in his direction, then collected the papers, wadded them up into a crumpled ball, and gently tossed it back in his lap.

Slowly, he put down the newspaper, and then he picked up the ball and looked at it as if in awe before saying, with mock admiration, "It's a work of art."

Christine smiled, and played along. "I tend to make those every now and then."

"Really?" He turned it over in his hand, examining it from every angle. "Well…It could use some work. Keep up the effort, though! I'm sure, with enough practice, you'll eventually get it down." He tossed it back at her and it rolled off the end of the couch.

In retaliation, she reached over and grabbed the sports section from his paper, balled it up, and threw it back at him again, then asked teasingly, "Is that one better?"

Raoul's eyes went wide. "Hey!" He snatched her book from her hands. "You'd better watch it or I'll make one out of this."

She laughed and reached to take it back. "I made it for you though! You don't like it?"

He clasped her hand in his before she could get the book. "I would have liked it better if I'd been able to read it first!"

"You can still read it! Just unball it." She smiled up at him.

He returned her mischievous smile but did not let go of her hand or the book. "But it will be all wrinkled and ugly…"

Christine's entire demeanor suddenly became more serious as her thoughts automatically were of Erik. "Its not a bad thing to be ugly. It can still serve its purpose, can't it?"

Raoul thought about what she said…Although thoughts of Erik were the furthest things from his mind. "Well…Yes."

"Exactly." She then reached for her book with her other hand, but the attempt was unsuccessful as Raoul held it away from her behind his back. Her playful mood returned and she put her free around him in a half embrace, and though affectionate, the action was purely in attempt to retrieve what he kept from her.

He laughed and released his clasp on her hand only to pass the book from one hand to the other in order to hold it even further away.

"Raoul!" she laughed in mock exasperation and then let go of him to go after the book with both hands.

He moved back on the couch to continue to keep it from her. "Nope, you're not going to get it!"

She laughed again gaily as she pretended to give up and fell back into her seat. There was something uncomfortable about the cushions and she reached underneath herself to pull out the squashed paper ball. "See if I ever make you a work of art again!" She then took up what was left of Raoul's newspaper and started to read that instead.

He settled next to her and began to flip through the novel, a paperback copy of Gone With the Wind. "I remember reading this…"

Christine didn't look up from the newsprint. "How is the ending? I wouldn't know. Someone stole my book."

He laughed again and held it over her, just out of reach. "And now you'll never know, will you?"

She was trying not to smile and casually turned a page in the newspaper before suddenly springing forward to make a grab at the book. Raoul caught her around the waist before she could reach it, though, and pulled her back down on the couch. He held her tightly with one arm, keeping the book at arm's length with the other. "No, I'll tell you how it ends…"

Christine couldn't help laughing as she fell back against the pillows and looked up at him. "Raoul! You'll spoil it! Don't tell me!"

"No, no! I'll tell you!" He bent close over her.

She shook her head and tried to put her hands over her ears but he prevented it. "Don't tell me!"

"I will!" He moved down to lean completely over her so that his lips were right next to her ear. "You know you want to know anyway."

She smiled as she glanced the novel from the corner of her eye and saw that it was now in reach despite the obstacle of Raoul over her. "If I'm not mistaken, Raoul Chagny, I think you're using this situation to your advantage…"

He laughed and tried his best to look innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" And now she grabbed at her book, finally managing to rescue it from him!

He didn't let her up but pretended to be offended. "Well, if you want it that badly!…" Now that both of his arms were free, he took the opportunity to put them around her, and then turned his head to look at the book in her hand as he thought for a moment. "If I remember correctly…In the end…She finally realizes she can never have the man she loves, and then the man who does love her leaves her."

Christine's smile faded slowly. She just looked at the novel now, not at Raoul, and her voice came out much more softly. "That's a terribly sad ending…"

He kissed the side of her face a few tender times. "Yes, poor Scarlett…That's what she got for wanting too much."

Christine's words were to herself now and she hardly felt his kisses. "A good moral for us all…"

He pulled away slightly to turn her face to look at him, and although it moved at his touch, her eyes lingered on the book for a second more before she looked into his boyish blue eyes.

"Just be glad it's only a book."

She didn't answer him. Only a book…Such a terribly sad ending…That's what she got for wanting too much…She could never have the man she loves…The man who does love her leaves her…A good moral for us all…For Christine…

Raoul only smiled down at her as he had absolutely no clue what was going through her mind and was wonderfully oblivious to her sorrowful, disturbed thoughts of personal relation to the novel. He brushed a few stray strands of hair from her forehead while simply gazing at her for a couple more moments and then he leaned down again to kiss her.

But, before his lips had the chance to meet hers, the phone rang.

Christine was almost relieved by the sound. Not because of the sound itself, of course, but because of the fact that the sound caused Raoul to pull away for a moment as he looked up at the telephone on the table at the end of the couch above Christine's head. She was still thinking about the ending of the book. It was too real to her. She actually had to try to keep her voice steady. "You'd better get that…"

He turned to look back down at her. "They can leave a message."

"…It might be important. Maybe you should get it just in case."

He watched her eyes for a moment as the ringer continued to sound. For the first time now, he noticed just how withdrawn she was. The phone rang one more time before he reached over her head and picked up the cordless receiver. He then pulled his other arm out from under her and sat back on the couch against the opposite side.

He pressed the 'talk' button and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?…Yeah, it's me."

Only once he had moved away and she had relaxed, did Christine realize just how terribly tense she had been. She pushed herself back up to a seated position, and her attention drifted from Raoul back to the cover of the book she still held so tightly in her hand. She simply looked for a minute at picture of the lovers in each others arms framed by the brilliant scarlet background before opening it again. Earlier, she had been reading near the dead center of the novel, but now she turned to the last few pages and began to read silently as Raoul continued to listen to whatever was being said on the other end of the line.

He glanced over at her after another moment of silence as he spoke into the phone.

"Yes…"

If Christine hadn't been becoming so engrossed in the writing on the page, she would have probably wondered from Raoul's actions if the caller had asked about her. He stood then and went across to the other side of the room to look in the drawer of a table.

"Right…Hang on a second…" He propped the phone to his ear with his shoulder in order to sort through the contents of the drawer before finding what he was looking for. His eyes scanned a few papers, and then after a few more comments were exchanged, he wrote something down. "Okay…"

And, had Christine not now been so completely involved in Scarlett O'Hara's hopeless love triangle, she would have noticed then as Raoul suddenly turned around over there at the table and stared straight at her from across the room as he listened to what was being said on the phone. In fact, the look in his eyes at that point would have probably greatly unnerved her, but she really was far too immersed. And something about this story which she had been enjoying before now made her feel as though she would cry…But her eyes stayed dry as they scanned the meaningful words.

Raoul made a point to stay on the opposite side of the room for the remainder of the phone call and, even had Christine been listening, all of his comments then were kept too low for her to hear. By the end of the call, Raoul was obviously not in good spirits and his charming features were beset by a dark frown as the phone beeped when he turned it off.

The little noise caught Christine's attention and she forced herself look up from the book. Right away, of course, from the way he looked, she knew something was not right. "What's wrong, Raoul?"

He lifted his eyes from the phone, looking at her from across the room without saying anything for a moment before he answered. "That was the D.A.…"

Christine wasn't sure what to think of that…But a phone call from Erik's prosecutors could not mean anything good. "…Oh really…"

"Really." His comment was clipped and filled her with the feeling that she knew what would be coming next. She looked back down at her novel, moving the bookmark to her new page. Raoul watched her and, without realizing it, bent the antenna of the phone in his hand.

"So you went down to the prison yesterday?"

She didn't look at him and her answer was quiet. "Yes, I did."

"Why?"

She closed the book and let herself focus again on that picture on the cover. She responded simply and honestly in hopes not to make a big deal out of the matter. "I went to see Erik."

Raoul moved across the room again over to where she was sitting and put the phone back on the charger with a little more force than he'd meant to. The banging sound made Christine jump. He already knew she went to go see Erik. That much was given. What he wanted to know was why she went to go see Erik. So he asked again a little more crossly. "Why?"

Christine concentrated harder on the details of the book's cover. "I…wanted to talk to him. That's all. It's not important what it was about."

The words were astounding to Raoul. He stood there while looking down at her, and the distance between them couldn't have been more than two feet. He could only repeat, "Not important?…Not important?"

Christine bit her lip and went on. "It was mostly about the trial. I wanted him to know that I don't want to be against him. So I told him that…" She closed her eyes tightly and hoped her tone would calm him. "…And that was about it…"

He clenched his teeth and watched her fingers trace the title on the cover. He knew her well enough to tell when she was not telling the whole truth and the fact that she wasn't telling it now made him really rather jealously upset. "Why don't I believe you, Christine?"

She answered so softly that he could barely hear her. "You should…There wasn't much else we could do…"

Could do? Raoul hadn't even thought about the concept of them doing anything! He raised his voice to make up for her lowering hers. "Should I? You won't even look at me!"

She sighed, but took the time to set her book aside before she looked up at him. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd be upset…It…It was just something I had to do, so I did it…It's done now…"

Her attempts to keep Raoul from being distressed were obviously not working. "Upset? Of course I'm upset! Why would you have to do something like that? If you knew I'd be upset, why did you do it in the first place? And you thought lying to me about it would make it better?"

"I didn't lie…" Christine really wished she could look away again, but forced her eyes to stay on him. "I just didn't tell you…It was less than fifteen minutes, Raoul…"

"And I suppose that makes it all right!" He was shouting now. "How often do you do this, Christine? How many times have you gone to see him?"

She answered very quietly. "Just once…Please don't yell at me…"

He lowered the volume of his voice, but the tone wasn't any less angry. "How do I know if you're telling the truth?"

The fact that he had so obediently granted her request to stop yelling gave her assurance. "You can ask Erik yourself! I've been only once."

He forced a very bitter laugh. "Right, Christine. Ask him myself. I'm so sure. Because I can trust him so much more than you?"

She stood up then and moved away from him. "Believe what you want then! I've only gone once."

He watched her back and was really not sure what to believe. "What was so important that you went to go see him?"

"I just told you!"

"To tell him that you aren't against him? Well I'm sorry, Christine but you are."

"I just wanted him to know that I didn't want to be…"

"You didn't want to be? Why in heaven's name wouldn't you want to be! After all that he did to us!"

"He did so much more for me than to me…" These were memories Christine was not up to reliving.

He just stared at her back. "That's it then, Christine? All those things he did for you? Makes you put him over me every time! Makes you go behind my back like this!" Raoul was yelling again.

She turned slowly to face him. She'd never thought he would say something so cruel. "I…I don't put him over you…"

Raoul only grew more irate at her stunned expression. "Oh really, Christine? How do I know what else you're running around and doing without telling me?"

She couldn't believe he was acting this way! She shook her head in exasperation, crying out, "Oh, Raoul, please!" She turned again to leave the room and grabbed her coat, stopping by the door to put it on. "I'm going for a walk. Alone."

He went after her, not about to let her get away and took her by the arm. "You're not going to walk out on this!"

"I'm not walking out on anything…!" She angrily tried to pull her arm from his grasp. "I do not need your permission to visit anyone…!"

He held on tightly, too upset to say anything for a moment. Or maybe it was that he didn't know what to say. He so rarely ever saw her like this…With her cheeks reddened in aggravation and her eyes flashing with resentment. Raoul was still angry, but now more just so hurt that she would do this to him…He let go of her arm and stepped back. "Fine. Go do whatever you want. See whomever you want. I don't care." He really did care, though, and his words were only uttered in the pain of emotional betrayal.

She watched him for another moment, not moving, and then turned, went to the door, opened it, and left. Raoul was shocked. He hadn't thought she would actually go! She just…left! Part of him wanted to run after her and beg her to come back and another part of him just wanted to shout 'Fine! Be that way!' All he did, though, was turn around and return to the other room, collapse on the couch, bury his face in a pillow, and lie there while feeling sorry for himself.

She still cared for Erik…Try as he might, Raoul couldn't look past that, and the very thought of it cut him straight to the heart. Straight to his heart…And his pride. The only thing that kept him enough at ease to keep his head was the assurance that Erik was locked up forever and there was no possible way the villain could get to Christine.

Christine, meanwhile, ran down the street until she had reached one of the main intersections. She knew where she wanted to go and felt the pockets of her coat for the hard lump of her cell phone. Finding it, she used it to call a taxi. She tried not to think about anything while she waited, but there was just so much to think about…And how…She couldn't believe that Raoul wasn't more understanding…

The taxi quickly arrived, and soon after, Christine was once again at the prison.

Inside, she went through the same procedures she had the day before in order to see Erik. However, as the woman behind the counter perused her computer screen, she frowned and popped her bubblegum loudly before looking up to Christine.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I'm afraid that prisoner is not available today."

"…Why not?"

The woman clicked the mouse and scrolled down a little as her eyes scanned the words. "He's currently being held in the medical facilities and isn't due for release for another 24 hours."

Christine gasped, instantly alarmed. "What happened? Is he alright?"

The receptionist glanced up at Christine from the screen. "Are you family?"

Christine only hesitated a moment. "…Yes."

She nodded and looked back at the computer, perusing the recent information. "He's in recovery right now, so it looks like he'll be just fine…But as far as what happened, the report says it was attempted suicide."

Christine's mouth dropped. "Attempted…Suicide? But why?"

The woman scanned the screen. "Doesn't say…" She shrugged as she read over some of the lines and smacked her gum. "It's rarer, but not awfully uncommon with these guys…You know, like, before their trials if they're feeling hopeless about what's going to happen." She turned in the swivel chair to look back at Christine. "They'll check him out," she went on, pausing a moment to take a drink from a water bottle on the desk. "Mentally, you know, before any answer is given for certain. Usually it's built up over some time but," she screwed the cap back on the bottle and glanced back at the record, "In his case, there were none of the obvious warning signs." She scrolled down more and summed up as she read. "He seemed to be doing very stably until he was found in his cell yesterday afternoon, this says, unconscious and not breathing."

Christine pressed her hand to her mouth and her eyes grew even wider. Yesterday afternoon…But he had been fine yesterday afternoon! She had just seen him! And yet, he must have done this directly after they had spoken…Her sense of panic rose. "Please may I see him! Please! I know I'm not supposed to, but I truly believe I can help!"

The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry Ma'am, but the security in the medical facilities don't allow for visitors. If you return on Monday, you should be able to see him unless his condition gets worse and they decide to hold onto him for longer."

Christine had never before felt so afraid and concerned for Erik's well being! She nodded, repeating, "Monday…First thing…" This was almost impossible for her to believe…And to think, if she hadn't come today, she wouldn't have known. But then…Raoul had suddenly known that she had been there the day before…An alarm bell went off in Christine's mind. "Did you call m-…Did you inform the Chagny household?"

The woman shook her head again. "We wouldn't have called you or anyone personally except the lawyers involved in his case."

Christine nodded. Raoul had said it was the D.A. who'd called…So he must have been told about this and that's how he knew that she had been down here… "Yes, alright…Thank you," she said distractedly as her fingers fumbled with the straps of her jacket. "Could you at least pass a note to him for me?" She was not willing to give up.

"If you'd like to contact him via mail," the woman answered with the sort of tone that betrays just how many times she must have said these words, "You can just drop off a letter at the mail station and he'll get it with the rest of his mail."

The rest of his mail…But it was Saturday and he wouldn't get any mail until Monday…And that was when Christine was planning on coming back anyway. She would wait then… "Alright…Thank you again…"

She just couldn't imagine Erik attempting suicide…And it had been directly after she had talked with him! Christine's heart jumped as she reconsidered everything that she had said to him. Could it have been that something she'd said had triggered something in him? Try as she might while she stood there, she could not recall most of what she had said…She had just been far too shocked and concerned about him to concentrate on her own little words at the time.

Her mind was so wrapped up in fear and worry that Christine barely heard the woman as she offered directions to where she could leave a letter. And she didn't follow them, but walked back out the way she had come. She didn't call a taxi either. She didn't feel like dealing with Raoul again so soon…No, not Raoul. She just desperately needed to be by herself if she couldn't be with Erik right now. So she just walked…And continued to walk for a very long time. And she didn't realize that it had gotten dark until the streetlamps began to light. By that time, though, she had at least attempted to sort through most of her feelings…Although she still couldn't believe it that Raoul had known that Erik had tried to kill himself and yet didn't tell her. But she was starting to get cold and tired, so she called for a taxi and rode back to Raoul's house.

In her mind, she tried to replay their earlier argument, but soon her thoughts drifted to the conversation before the phone had rung. It hardly seemed possible they had been laughing and playing so easily one moment and then fighting bitterly a few minutes later…And why? Because she had visited Erik…For some reason Meg's words from the other day came back to her: 'He wouldn't like it, probably, huh?'

She hadn't told him…But he hadn't told her about Erik's attempt. But now she remembered Gone With the Wind and its terribly sad ending…But that's what Scarlett got for wanting too much.

When she came in, it was dark downstairs, so she knew Raoul must be up in his room. She shut the door quietly behind her. Most of her anger had vanished when she had been so filled with concern for Erik, but on the way home, a calmer sort of rage had formed. She walked up the stairs slowly, went down several hallways, and then stopped in front of Raoul's door and knocked lightly.

Raoul knew it was she because…Who else would it be? He had really been getting worried about her being gone so long, but now that she was back, he figured that she had come up to apologize, so he decided to remain cool. "Come in."

She opened the door and entered, but stayed near it and looked at him levelly without saying anything.

He met her eyes from over by the window. "Have a nice walk?"

"Yes. It was necessary." She waited a moment, thinking he might say something, but when he didn't, went on, "You don't have anything to tell me, do you?"

Raoul was confused. Wasn't she the one who needed to apologize? "No…What would I have to tell you?"

"Nothing at all, Raoul?" she pressed, giving him another chance. "Nothing you think I should know?"

Raoul didn't understand what she was getting at. Did she want him to apologize? She was the one who was going off and seeing another man! "I'm not the one who walked out on you."

She narrowed her eyes just a little. "I'm not talking about an apology."

"What are you talking about?" Raoul was just all-over lost now.

Christine's words were strong. "Something about Erik, maybe? Something having to do with attempted suicide? Something I should know?"

That! How did she know? There was only one answer and Raoul didn't like it. "Where did you go?"

"It doesn't matter where I went!" Her voice was raised now. She wasn't going to let him get away with this. "You knew, and you didn't tell me!"

Raoul didn't quite match her volume. "You went back to see him again, didn't you?"

"I didn't even have the chance! He was in the hospital for his attempt!" She moved further into the room, frustrated with the awkward distance. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Raoul mirrored her action and walked towards her as well. "Why should I have told you? I was a little more concerned with the fact that you were running down there and seeing him!"

"How could you possibly be more concerned with that! It's his life, Raoul!" Her anger was edging on hysteria and she looked as though her tears would spill out at any second.

"Do you think I give a damn about his life?" Raoul snapped. "He never gave a damn about mine!"

"He did! He let you go!" she insisted. "He could have killed you with a flick of his wrist! But he didn't!"

"But he was going to!" Raoul cut her off before she could continue. "He's a cold-hearted murderer! He doesn't care about the peoples' lives he's taken, so why should I care if he tries to take his own? And why should I tell you about it? It only gives you more reason to pity him! God knows he probably did it on purpose just to get you to feel sorry for him!"

"He would never do that!" Christine was aghast. "He never wanted pity from me! Only love!" Her excited words grew immediately soft and she looked away. She had surprised herself. She said it again but in whispered thought and not to him. "All he wanted was love…"

Raoul looked almost as though he were going to cry as well. His question was bitter. "And you do love him, don't you?"

She turned slowly and looked back over at him. All of her rage was gone suddenly as she took in the expression in his eyes. She moved closer to him to close the distance between them and did not take her eyes from his. "I love you."

She hadn't answered his question. "There shouldn't be any doubt with love, Christine."

She only stopped moving when she stood directly before him. "I said I love you…"

He watched her and his words were spoken more sadly now…Hardly accusing, they were even soft and filled with emotion. "How do I know that? If he wasn't in jail and you could be with him, how do I know that that's not where you'd rather be?"

She answered with absolutely no doubt in her voice. "Because I've had that choice, and I could be with him now…But I'm with you." And yet, she still had not answered his question.

His eyes stayed on her a moment more. How could he not believe her? He loved her. Finally, he sighed and looked down. "I didn't tell you…because they said he was all right…And that was just one more thing I didn't want you to have to worry about…"

Christine echoed his sigh and moved in to embrace him. She spoke quietly, "I understand…I should have told you that I went to see him…But I guess I didn't for the same reason you didn't tell me. There is nothing to worry about…"

Raoul put his arms around her and held her gently close. He closed his eyes and knew that there was nothing to worry about because Erik was in jail and Erik was going to die…But Raoul also knew that that was not what Christine meant…And he knew that the difference between the reasons was what mattered…But then, really, he knew it wouldn't matter…And, really, there was nothing to worry about. Because, either way, soon, Erik would be gone forever.

"I love you, Christine."

She laid her head to rest against his chest, closed her eyes, and tightened the embrace. "I love you too."

But she had still not answered his question. What would Christine get for wanting too much?