I would like to thank all my reviewers thus far. I'm enjoying myself a lot and I'm glad to see that all of you are as well. To Jadedrose, please reread the part in the first chapter about the music videos. Erik changed the channel after Shania's video finished. I can't imagine Celine singing country either. LOL. Enjoy the next chapter everyone!

CHAPTER THREE

The first surgery Dr. Stepanik had preformed had taken a long time. It laid the basic foundation for all that the doctor would have to do in order to give Erik a new face. Dr. Stepanik knew he had his work cut out for him in this case, but he was up for the challenge. Cases like Erik's were the reason he had become a plastic surgeon that specialized in burn victims. But between the damage that Erik had been born with and the burns inflicted by the lightning, Dr. Stepanik knew that even with all the modern day technology and his own know-how, Erik's face might not ever be perfect. It all depended on how the skin responded and how well Erik healed.

They'd encountered problems a few days after Erik was admitted, when he'd begun to go through withdraw from heroin addiction. He'd gone full blown cold turkey off the stuff, although admittedly not by choice, and it hadn't been pretty. They'd seen the volatile, dark side of Erik's personality and the only one other that Dr. Edwards that had been able to handle him was Delores. She wouldn't take his abuse and informed him in an icy voice that it was his own fault that he was suffering so badly. She also explained to him that he needed to get the drugs completely out of his system if they were to do the surgeries on his face that he needed. That had made the decision for him. The need for the drugs was overridden by the desire to have a normal face for the first time in his life.

Delores came into Erik's room the morning of his second surgery, intent on preparing him for the operating room. It was just beginning to get light out, the grey dawn giving way to the sun that was peeking over the towering office building visible from the window. She stopped just inside the door when she saw that he was already awake and staring out at the lightening skyline. His face was still bandaged, but his profile was different, even through the bandages. Dr. Stepanik's work was very evident to the trained eye and Delores had been dealing with burn victims for a long time.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Madame?" Erik's voice was warm and low, yet it startled Delores because she hadn't thought he'd heard her come in. She kept forgetting how acute his senses were.

She smiled and came to stand beside the bed, reaching for his hand. His long fingers folded themselves around her small, plump hand. Delores rubbed his cold fingers with her free hand, much as a mother might when comforting her child. She wondered at how fond she'd grown of her patient. It wasn't wise for a nurse to become overly involved with the people they treated, but there were some cases that were special and Erik was one of them.

He had many facets, she'd discovered. Sometimes he was a lost, lonely child needing comfort while at others he turned angry, his temper turbulent and frightening. And right now was another side that he only showed to a select few; a gentle, contemplative mood.

"What's beautiful, Erik?" She called him by his given name now, after he'd vehemently instructed her to do so. In truth, he enjoyed the attention of his staff as he'd come to think of them, and liked hearing his name. After being called "The Phantom" for so long, it was wonderful to be called his real name.

"The sun. I've hidden from the daylight for so long that I never had much of opportunity to watch the sunrise. Is it any wonder that poets have written so much of the sun? It does so much for this earth; provides warmth, assists the plants to grow and keeps us all from living in utter darkness." Erik turned his gaze to meet Delores's and she was arrest by their azure blue depths. He has such odd eyes, she thought again. Mesmerizing, really. They reflected the light, even dim light and changed color depending on his mood.

Her brow furrowed and she squeezed Erik's hand. "Why would you hide from the daytime? Where did you hide?" None of them knew much about his background. He'd chosen not to fill them in on anything not related to his medical treatment.

His eyes closed in his bandaged mummy's face and he inhaled a deep breath. He was trying to decide how much to tell her and how much to leave out. Should he tell her anything at all or just pretend anger to make her drop the subject. Erik opened his eyes again and regarded Delores intently, taking in the curly, slightly disheveled gray hair and kind eyes. She was a compassionate person Erik knew and so far he'd found no reason to distrust her. She'd seen him through a very difficult patch in the two and a half weeks he'd been in the hospital.

"I would like to explain myself to you, my dear, truly. But I would have your word that you would never repeat what I tell you to another soul so long as you live. Do I have that promise?"

His eyes bored into hers, causing Delores's skin to break into goosebumps. The hair along her nape stood up, something that always warned her of danger. She'd never ignored it and had never regretted it. She knew that whatever Erik would tell her would somehow alter her life. For worse? Would she regret keeping a promise made to this man of mystery? Something in his gaze prompted her to agree. Maybe it was a certain integrity she saw there. Or maybe it was her curiosity that spurred her on. She couldn't tell, but she also couldn't refuse him.

"Erik, I promise that whatever you tell me will not go any further than you and me. If I had a stack of bibles, I would swear on them."

After several moments of intense scrutiny, Erik smiled slightly.

"I believe you, good woman. And so you shall have the full story. But perhaps we should wait until after my surgery. We don't want to keep the good doctor waiting, now do we?"

"Oh, crap, Erik! I still have to give you your pills! See what you do to me? Make me forget what I'm here for. Shame on you!" she scolded him in what he liked to call her nurse's voice and started flitting about. In no time he'd had the medication that would begin to relax him, preparing him for the surgery and she'd taken his vitals, as he'd learned they were called. Thanks to television shows such as ER and General Hospital, Erik had gleaned much medical terminology.

Jesse the orderly burst into the room as Delores was checking Erik's IV. He was a young black man with a big smile and a thick skin. No matter how much Erik yelled and ranted at him, Jesse just went about his business, doing whatever his job required him to do at the moment. One day, after a particularly vulgar stream of obscenities, Jesse had just turned to Erik and said, "Ya'll done now? Feel better? Good. Glad you got that off your chest, E. I'll see you in the morning and we'll do this all over again."

E. The nickname that Jesse had given him. He was the only one who dared to call Erik that. Not even Delores tried it. Although Erik was loath to let on, he actually liked the fact that someone had given him a nickname. He'd been offended at first, not understanding that it wasn't done out of disrespect, but because Jesse liked him. But once Delores had explained it to him, Erik had understood the reasoning behind such a thing.

"Yo, E! Time to get a move on, man. The doc is waitin' for you," the young man informed him, patting the gurney he pushed.

"Are you sure that you're qualified to operate that thing?" Erik asked as he removed the covers and began to swing his legs over the side of the bed.

"Been doin' it for a coupla years now. Ain't killed nobody yet." Jesse grinned broadly. "But I might just make an exception in your case. Now get your ugly white butt on this gurney."

Erik chuckled and stood, unfolding his tall, lanky form from the bed. It never failed to surprise Delores how tall he was. He just didn't look it while he was laying in bed.

"Just for that, I might not tie my gown in the back, since you seem to have such a fixation on my posterior. Perhaps I shall grant you a peek."

Delores choked back a laugh at the grimace on Jesse's face.

"Man, that's just nasty. Del, double gown him in the future, will you?" Jesse made gagging noises as he rolled his patient down the hallway.

Delores couldn't hold her mirth in any longer and her shoulders shook as it came out. "Good luck, Erik!" she called after them. "You're in good hands."

"That remains to be seen! If I'm not in the operating room within twenty minutes, send a search party after me!" Erik instructed her before Jesse turned a corner to the left and they were gone from her sight.