I am glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter! Thanks for the wonderful reviews! I really enjoyed writing it.

"Monsieur, I really wish you would reconsider this. Are you sure you cannot accommodate her staying here another week?"

"Doctor, it has become obvious to me that Christine is not being properly cared for in your institution. How on earth, may I ask, did she break her ankle again? Isn't there someone nearby that can assist her when she needs to get out of bed so that this type of thing does not happen? I can assure you that I have a well-trained staff of servants who can watch over her. If need be, I will hire my own nurses, and my family is well acquainted with a physician who lives nearby." The Vicomte sat up straight in the chair and folded his arms in determination.

"But Monsieur—a week at the most. Give her more time to heal." Doctor Murrell rubbed his hand over his eyes in frustration, beginning to understand fully why the girl had run off. He could only imagine what this young man would do if he knew of Mademoiselle Daae's late night visitor. The doctor would be damned before he said anything of it, though.

"I do not believe that this is a good environment for her to be in. Tomorrow, I shall take her to the manor, and she will heal as well as she could here. When it is time for the bandaging to be removed, I shall return her."

The doctor sighed in resignation, knowing he had little control over the situation. "Very well, Monsieur. I will abide by your wishes. Christine will be ready to go home tomorrow."

"Thank you, doctor," replied Raoul briskly, standing up. He quickly shook the doctor's hand and confidently strode toward Christine's room to tell her the good news. Opening the door, he looked in to find her staring into the distance with a look of peace upon her face. She glanced up as he entered.

"Christine," he began with a smile. "I have a wonderful surprise for you! Tomorrow, you shall leave this dreary place and stay at the manor of some close friends where I will get you the care that you need. We will finally be able to get out of this city until our safety is certain." He continued to smile, awaiting her reaction.

She stared at him in wide-eyed shock, slowly taking in his words. "Raoul...but...my ankle...I do not think I am quite ready to leave," she stuttered out.

"I am fully aware that you are not completely healed, but you will get much better care where I am taking you. You will have your own maids, nurses-even a doctor if need be, and I will be there often. Surely you do not want to stay in this wretched place."

"Can you please give me more time here? Tomorrow is too soon. I would like some more time to prepare." A feeling of helplessness began to overtake her.

He gave her an odd look, not expecting this reaction. "You shall leave tomorrow," Raoul stated firmly. "I do not like you being in the city for so long with that monster still on the loose. When he is finally dead or in chains, we can begin to live normally again."

She could feel her heart began to pound in pure horror at these thoughts. In one last hopeless attempt, she made a final plea to her fiancé. "Raoul, please, I do not think he is a threat anymore."

"Christine, you are acting very oddly and perhaps you are simply tired from your recent collapse. I will let you rest now, and I am sure you will later find yourself thrilled at the thought of leaving. Now, I must go meet with an Inspector, but I will see you sometime tomorrow morning. Get some rest." He kissed her cheek quickly as she sat there and stared straight ahead.

Throughout the day, Christine lay motionless upon the bed, staring blankly at the gray walls of the room. She remembered nurses coming in several times...the doctor coming in to wish her well...and Raoul coming in once more to give her the final details of her departure. Her visitors blended together, though. All of her thoughts were focused on the approaching night, and she wondered if she had finally discovered something only to now lose it.

Doubts continued to plague her mind as the evening approached, each one making her feel all the more ill. What if someone else had placed her back upon the bed? It seemed implausible, but yet, what if it were true? Or what if Erik had returned, but he had not heard her words and didn't come back tonight? Could she live the life of a Vicomtess knowing what she knew now? She wasn't sure, but the thought of her trapped in a far off estate while Erik was murdered or imprisoned horrified her.

Outside, the noises of the city quieted down, and Christine knew that it was becoming late. A quarter moon shown into her dim room, illuminating the various pieces of furniture with an ethereal glow. At every faint noise and moving shadow, Christine turned her head in the hopes that he had come, but as the hours passed she began to believe that he was forever gone. Finally, around midnight, she let out a long sob and felt her eyes fill up with tears as a deep ache consumed her heart. All of this time, she had so many chances to grow up...to stop hiding. Now that she had finally done so, it was too late. She cried quietly for a while into the folds of the covers, feeling herself slowly becoming exhausted as the morning approached.


He bitterly cursed himself for returning. He should have left her on the bed last night and not looked back, as she would have wished him to do. Then she would finally be able to exist in peace with her boy where she would live in wealth and luxury-always having his perfect face to gaze upon each morning. Hopefully she would forget everything he had put her through, place the wretched memory of kissing a corpse from her mind. I can never love you...The truth of those words stung like knives.

After leaving her room in anguish and with the touch of her still upon his lips, he had started to walk blindly into the night, determined never to return. The only thing that had made him whirl around was the sound of his name echoing through the hospital corridors. To hear her angelic voice say his name once more was a slight soothing to his misery, and he could not help but look back. Just as he did, he heard her give a yelp of pain, and he had rushed to her collapsed form in the doorway of her room.

As if he had already not been through enough hell that night, Christine had gone and mistaken him for her accursed boy! Thinking that it was the Vicomte that hovered over her, she had told him not to leave her, and he had felt as if a shard of glass ripped through his heart. But he had placed her back upon the bed and left her for the doctor, again vowing never to come back.

Why was he standing here at her door then? To continue to haunt her and make her life miserable? The only thing that had brought him back was the fact that she had called out his name that night. But she probably wished to make for certain that he would not come back to ruin her life.

With disgust at himself, he turned to leave from the room. Then he heard her pitiful sobs coming from inside and cringed. Why did she have to torture him so? Why could he not let her alone? He hated himself for not simply leaving, and he hated her for reducing him to this pathetic state. One last time, he would look upon her.

Slowly he opened the door with a soft creak, walked a ways into the room, and saw her crying into her pillow. She whipped her head around at the sound and looked up at him in surprise. He expected to see disdain...perhaps even horror in her eyes at the thought that he had come back to take her again. Her sobbing had stopped, though, and she was staring up at him with an unrecognizable expression.

After a moment, he heard her give a soft, shaky sigh, and she sat up in the bed. He did not dare come any nearer, though. "Erik," she choked out in what almost sounded like relief. "You came back!"

"Hush," he murmured, approaching her. "Do you wish me to be arrested? Perhaps you do."

"No, Erik," she whispered. "You left so quickly that I had no time to say anything. I tried to tell you to stay before I fainted, but I guess it was not you whom I saw above me."

He looked away from her. "What did you wish to tell me Christine? Goodbye? So tell me and I shall leave you alone. Forever."

Her heart began to beat quickly as the fear rose up inside of her again. She had to say it now, though, or she would always regret it. "Erik, I did not want you to leave me."

"Why? You have done nothing but run from me for months."

"Because I think that I might…I might love you," her voice broke slightly as a tear fell from her cheek.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, shaking slightly, not believing what he was hearing. Finally, he whirled around. "How can you say that now?" he rasped. "Yesterday you tell me you could never love me, and you break into tears after you lay your lips against my hideous face. Do you take pleasure in torturing me, Christine? Because I will tell you that I can be pushed only so far!"

"No," she shook her head rapidly. "I did not mean those cruel words. But I did not want to be taken against my will. I was frightened. And I cried afterward because I finally realized how much I..." She paused, trying to gather her thoughts as he looked down at her with nothing less than shock. "Everything has been so confusing these last months. Raoul was pulling me here and there, telling me what was best for me, and you...you were always so very angry with me. But after I was able to think, I realized that I do not wish to be without you."

"And what of the Vicomte?" he asked furiously. "Do not pretend you do not feel for him, Christine. I remember the roof all too well!"

"Raoul was of great comfort, and I do love him for trying to protect me. When I found out that you were not the Angel, I was scared. But I do not wish to be with him as I wish to be with you. I will miss him, but my heart will fall to pieces without you." Christine desperately reached out for him at that moment, wanting him to embrace her...to make sure he would not leave her.

"How can you possibly love me?" he finally asked quietly, the anger gone from his voice. "Have you forgotten my crimes, Christine? There are things in my past you should never have to know of. And this face-have you forgotten it completely? It is not something you should ever have to see, much less get near to, again." His defenses were breaking down, and he wanted nothing more than to grab onto her, but she could not possibly know what she was saying.

"Erik...all I know is that your past was extremely difficult." She hesitated. "Why did Joseph Buquet die?"

Erik tensed. "He knew far too much about me, was constantly spreading ridiculous rumors. And to send a message to those that defied me. That is the truth. Do not pretend otherwise. Do not pretend he simply managed to slip from the rafters with a rope around his neck. Now do you accept that I am a monster? Now do you still love me?"

She paused. "I have learned there is always forgiveness. And though I disobeyed you, no one was harmed the night that I ran away. You could have hurt someone I cared for, but you did not. You are not a monster." Again she reached out to him, nearly tumbling off of the bed in the process. Instinctively, he came closer to catch her, and as he did, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, praying he would not push her away. For a moment, he stood there stiffly. Then she felt him run his hands over her hair in soft, cautious strokes. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head against him, her heart slowly beginning to calm down.

"Christine..." he whispered weakly, as she continued to embrace him. "Promise me that you do not lie to me."

"I do not lie, Erik. I love you. I do not want you to leave me." She felt his long arms fold softly around her shoulders and for a moment she forgot everything.

The moment of bliss was shattered, though, as Christine remembered her earlier cause of distress. She gazed up at him and spoke with worry. "Erik, Raoul is taking me from here tomorrow. I cannot tell him about this. He will not understand and think that I am under your control. He will go to the police!"

Erik glared at this news, the familiar feeling of frantic jealousy overtaking him. The monster returned. Thoughts of whisking her away this very second filled his mind as he lovingly looked down upon the Angel that was so willingly within his arms. She was finally his. She wanted to be with him. He could not lose her now.

Knowing that she loved him, though, Erik felt reason seep into his mind and saw the reality of what they were facing.

The Vicomte would summon the police if he took her. Although after the affair at the opera house the police were wary of continuing to pursue the unseen Phantom, a kidnaping would put them out in full force. They would likely find their way to his lair, and Christine would have to be carried from one hiding spot to the next through the freezing night air. She was likely prone to infection. In her worsened condition, the journey could easily kill her.

If anything were to happen to her because of his recklessness, he would just as soon die. He would be the monster that Christine said he was not.

As she stared up at him with brown eyes that finally reflected the love he had possessed for so long, it was the hardest decision he ever had to make.