Author's Beginning Notes: Thank you for all of the reviews so far, and for that plot-bunny with Christine's first crush...I'll do that one eventually, but sorry to say not for a while. (Have to develop her crush first...)Also, about someone's surprise about the first story not being about the first Erik/Christine meeting... Well, I rather planned to maybe save that particular story for the very end of this collection, although that may take awhile since I've realized that with the overall theme of this series, I could go on for a long time... Anyway, here's story 3, injected with a some angst mingled in with the 'fluffiness.' I hope you enjoy, and please remember to leave a review.

Summary: (A series of one-shots set in the pre-movie dimension.) Simply snapshots in the lives of Erik and Christine in the beginning, when he was still an invisible deity, and she a rather superstitious child...

Disclaimer: The Phantom of the Opera doesn't belong to me; if it did, Christine would've gone with Erik...

In Which Christine Asks Erik Where Babies Come From

"Child, is there something on your mind? You're usually sleeping by now..."

"Well...yes," the young Daae awkwardly replied as she scuttled out from the shelter of blankets, her mouth stretching out in a gaping yawn.

"And?" Again, the Phantom was astonished by the measure of patience he could exercise with Christine, and theorized that perhaps it had something to do with the strange soothing effect the child had on him.

"Oh," began Christine, pausing to yawn once more, "I've just been wondering where babies come from." She ignored the loud sound of Erik falling against the wall once his legs weakened beneath him, the girl thinking it of no major importance. "Do you know, Angel?"

The man had to fight viciously to retain his calm control, and failing; crouched on the floor, his fists resting against the mirror, it took all his energy just to choke back various curse words that he dared not inflict upon his student's immature ears. It was the first time Erik realized how much Christine made him blush and sweat, and for a rare moment he felt hate toward the girl, but just as soon as that thought registered, he savagely beat himself back, falling onto that old crutch of self-loathing; she did nothing...

The Phantom stood up all rigid before leaning into the mirror, running a gloved hand through his dark hair as a pale sigh uttered from his lips; how the hell was he going to handle this? He was sorely tempted to tell his student just to ask Madame Giry about the origin of infants, but logically that did not truly work well, for in Christine's eyes he and the elder Giry held the same authority, and if the Phantom were to look more closely, he'd realize that his power was actually greater than Giry's. Why send me to Madame Giry, when you can answer Angel, Erik thought as the young Daae's query, whether she said it out loud or not. But...god, him talking about sex! He, who could never ever taste the reward of flesh for the trials and achievement of love?... Why are You always so cruel to me God, the Phantom mentally asked his age-old question with bitter detachment.

"Angel...you're still there, aren't you?"

"I--yes Christine, I am still here," answered the man wearily from behind the mirror, too tired to even bother scolding himself for losing track of time; and he still had no idea how to teach his student this particular lesson... Would Madame Giry even want young Daae to learn about sex from him? Was that a matter she had claim over? Taking one look at Christine's wide eyes, Erik felt himself wrapping around her finger, and the girl had absolutely no idea of the sway she had over her teacher. No, no, he whispered in his mind; just have to take the plunge, the man thought as he began.

"Child, you know how flowers grow from seeds?" Starting with a metaphor might work.

"Uh huh." Curling up more into her blankets, the little girl wondered where this was going, how flowers related.

"Well, babies grow from seeds too."

"...Really?"

"Oh yes, but it is not strictly the same process as flowers, for example there is no soil, and you cannot truly touch or look at the seed, etc."

"Okay..."

"Now, a man and a woman are needed to make babies from grow from seeds; they work together, you see..."

"They're garderners?" The Phantom was shocked to find himself chuckling, his student's innocent remark calming him down somewhat.

"Yes," he breathed out between laughs, "I suppose they are in their own way gardeners."

"But they don't need soil, and they can't pick up the seed, right," Christine asked, eager for confirmation.

"That is correct," the man put in with an edge of pride tinting his voice that he had trouble comprehending, and the young Daae glowed in pleasure.

"Now...the seed grows inside a very special place in the woman, or the mother."

"Uh huh."

"And then the man, or father, shares his own seed with the mother's seed, and through their combined efforts the seed is ready for a baby to grow from it... Understand?" Although Erik was pleased to find that he handled the sex talk better than expected, he hoped that Christine would be satisified with his explanation and drop the subject for the moment to pick up again at a later time with him or even continue with Madam Giry.

"Yes Angel," answered the girl, nodding as she yawned; she really should be getting to sleep soon, Madame Giry always knew if she stayed up too late, and typically grew angry... "So the seed is in the mother, and the baby grows from the seed, so then the baby is inside the mother," continued Christine, one more thing weighing on her mind that had to be answered soon.

"Yes."

"Then how does the baby come out of the mother?" Erik had an image pop into his head of spread apart legs and a bloody head emerging from in between them, and he shuddered quite visibly; he had never seen a child's birth, but he of course knew information on how the process went.

"Well," he began unsteadily, "normally, it takes 9 months until the baby is ready to come out--"

"9 months?"

"Yes, a baby needs 9 months to grow fully from its seed."

"Oh."

"Yes, so after 9 months, the baby is ready to come out, and..."

"And?"

"And..." Damn it, finish it, finish it, Erik yelled inwardly at himself, dearly wanting to bang his head against the stone walls to beat himself into submission.

"And--and--and--and--and--and--and--and--"

"It's okay Angel, you don't have to continue," Christine put in kindly, and the teacher found himself compelled to obey his student. "Thank you so much for telling me where babies come from... Good night Angel, have sweet dreams," the girl said before she blew a kiss in a random direction, knowing that the Angel of Music would recieve it wherever he was. And in a few minutes the young Daae had given into her exhaustion once unburdened by her ponderings, falling into a peaceful slumber. Her teacher stood shocked behind the mirror, touching his unmasked cheek where Christine's blown kiss had fallen, for those types of kisses always find their mark. Even though it was an imaginary kiss, it still somewhat filled in that ravenous gap in Erik, that gap where his mother never ever dared to kiss, that gap where human contact was forbidden. A lone tear dripped down, followed by many more, and yet he smiled.

Author's Ending Notes: I seriously hope I handled Erik's explanation of sex well. I hope you enjoyed that most recent installment, and please remember to leave a review.