Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera, and this fic is Leroux-based. Matthieu and Adèle are original characters. I really do not like this story so constructive criticism is most welcome. And if my French is wrong, pray tell me.
Raoul de Chagny was bored. Very bored, in fact. One could even say he was excruciatingly bored. This annoyed him. Quite a bit. You see, Raoul de Chagny was not a man who liked being bored. He was sure there was something to do, but he could not for the life of him figure out what it was. So, he was watching the grass grow, in hopes that such actions would lead to something more constructive. It was not working. Christine had taken the children into town to get some things. They were not due back until three o'clock, and Raoul could not picture what he was going to do for two more hours.
Suddenly, it hit him. Actually, that's not quite true. It did not so much hit him as lightly brush him in passing. Why, he thought, do I not go the library and find something to read? And thus deciding his course of action, he did just that.
He browsed the library shelves with no apparent purpose, just waiting for something to catch his eye. Then he saw, lying innocently on a table, the book Christine read to Matthieu and Adèle every night before they went to bed. It was a magical book, full of stories about fairies and pictures of shady wood glens. Or at least that was what Adèle told him. He smiled slightly and sat down to see if she was correct in her assessment.
Christine let the children in the house, both of them with a pink glow to their cheeks after walking home in the brisk spring air. They hurried to the fire to warm their hands. Christine gently took off their mittens and overcoats and then left to put down the bags from town. She put them in her bedroom, and wandered off in search of Raoul. She looked in the parlor, the kitchen, and all the bedrooms, but he was nowhere to be found. She let herself out by a side door and walked quickly to the stables, thinking perhaps he had gone riding, but his horse was happily munching on some hay. She went back in and ask the children if they had seen their father anywhere. They had not, so the trio went searching again.
"Papa? Où êtes-vous?" Matthieu called softly. He opened the door to the library and peeked in. He saw his father asleep in a chair with the fairy book in his lap. Matthieu smiled and shouted "Maman, je le trouve!" Christine and Adèle came running and Christine started reprimanding Raoul (who had woken at Matthieu's voice) for frightening them all like that. Her gaze fell to the book in his lap and she smiled and asked him if he was enjoying this fine piece of literature. His eyes suddenly looked mischievous and he replied that she really should have told him she was a fairy, he always thought that her beauty was unearthly. She blushed and told him that his remarks got him nowhere; she was still angry with him for giving them all a scare. Adèle then tugged her father's hand and said "Papa, est-ce que vous pouvez me lire une histoire?" Raoul smiled and opened the book and began to read. Adèle sat down and listened, enraptured. Matthieu hovered nearby, for he was all grown up and ten years old and certainly did not believe in fairies anymore. Christine took the indecisive boy's hand and whispered that this was his favorite story about the two young fairies who get into trouble all the time. They all sat down and let the words was over them.
Matthieu says "Dad, where are you?" and "Mom, I found him".
Adèle says "Papa, will you read me a story?".