'Stealing the Heart of the Phantom's Son'
Chapter 2 - "Emotions of Elizabeth"

Five Years Later

Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open as she heard a very familiar voice singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a groggy whisper as she rose up into a sitting position on her bed.

"I wanted to make sure I was the first one to wish you a happy seventeenth birthday!" Thomas replied with a grin spreading ear-to-ear appearing across his face.

Thomas hadn't changed much over the years since that fateful night, many years ago; his personality was still the same. His hair was still curly, but instead now it fell just below his ears, making him look incredibly sexy. His eyes hadn't changed at all. They were still the same pools that Elizabeth loved to get lost in. He was still towering over her at 6'3", but the biggest change that even she noticed, was his muscular body, the one that she wanted to run her hands all over. A couple weeks ago she had caught him with his shirt off. He had the perfect body, chiseled abs, pecks, biceps, and secretly, one that Thomas didn't know she had seen. His ass, and that's all she wrote. The most mysterious of all his features, was that bloody mask. What was he hiding from her?

Elizabeth on the other hand had changed a whole bunch since five years ago. Her curly, dark brown hair now reached her waist. Thomas noticed over the years that she was most definitely turning into a young woman, no a young belle. (Beauty) She was still a lot shorter than him, standing at only 5'2". Her eyes were the same as well. But along with her body, her personality matured. Except whenever the two of them were together. She always acted like a little girl around him, not caring what anybody thought about her. The only thing that really remained the same was that horrid scar on her right cheek!

"Well, you are. Hey, guess what?" Elizabeth questioned with earnest.

"What?" Thomas inquired as his answer.

"I had a dream about you last night." She excitedly told him.

"Well, I expect that it was a good dream of course," He paused as she nodded her head in reply, "What was it about?" He wondered.

"It was about when we first met. Remember?" Elizabeth explained.

"How could I forget it?" He answered happily.

"Hey, did you know I'm in the next opera?" She asked him.

"Yes, I did. What did my father say? With a few years of practice you'll have the voice of an angel." He replied.

"Well, you better go. I have to get ready for rehearsal soon. Thanks for everything this morning. I'll see you later." She nervously stuttered as he got off the bed and waved.

"Good luck today." Thomas said back to her as he slid the panel of wall closed and walked back to his humble abode.

Later That Day; At Rehearsal

"Ok, let's practice the first song and dance." Announced the director, "From the top." He continued, the orchestra striking the first few notes. Elizabeth's male counterpart in the opera, Pierre, started off with a low tenor sound and as his voice rose an octave she joined in, her soprano voice filling the whole of the auditorium.

The rehearsal was drawing to a close; after four long hours of dancing and singing, Elizabeth was exhausted, as well as everybody else. She was heading back to her room when Pierre put his hand on her shoulder to signal her to stop. When she turned around she noticed that Pierre was a little too close for comfort. She tried backed away from him, but she bumped into the wall that was behind them.

"You did good today, Ellie." He mumbled in her ear in a "seductive" voice, which to her was actually a very perverted and disgusting voice.

She felt revolted by his closeness and his slurred comment. (No he isn't drunk, he's just trying to be sexy, and it obviously isn't working in his favor.) She was also very pissed that he had called her 'Ellie.' Her eyes darkened with a passionate hatred for this "man" trying to seduce her.

"Nobody calls me Ellie. You want to know why? Only my Mother and Father can call me Ellie and you look like neither one. You disgust me, you foul, horrible, nauseating, little creep!" Elizabeth exclaimed with a newly discovered raging, resentment. With that being said, she pulled her hand back and slapped him with a force she didn't even knew she had in her.

"Nobody insults me, slaps me, and tells me what to do without paying for it!" He yelled right back as he pulled his hand eye level and smacked her across her left cheek, the one that didn't hold the scar from Monsieur Queline's strike.

The sound echoed throughout the hallway as Elizabeth turned her face back towards him, a red handprint was starting to reveal itself. Her eyes began to tear up as she turned and ran the rest of the way to her residence. She didn't stop at her bed; she went to the wall/door and pulled it open. Making sure topull it shutbefore continuing her run. When she reached the lake, she didn't even stop to get in the gondola, she plunged right in the water and swam all the way to Thomas' home.

"Thomas? Thomas, are you here?" She cried out as she got out of the lake and waited for him to show himself.

She saw him come from his room and she scrambled up to him, threw her arms around his shoulders, and cried into his chest. Thomas was taken aback by the sudden contact as he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and just let her cry. After about five minutes, her sobs started to turn in to sniffles and she pulled back and looked at him. That's when he noticed her reason for weeping.

"Who hit you, Elizabeth?" He demanded.

"It was the guy that's in the show with me. It was after rehearsal and he just… He…" She started to cry again and Thomas interrupted.

"I don't need an explanation." He reassured her, rubbing his hands up and down her back, trying to calm her fresh sobs.

"Thomas, I'm so scared!" Elizabeth whimpered.

"Please don't cry, Elizabeth. You know I hate it when you cry." He kindly commanded.

"I know, but I just can't stand it when he touches me. He knows I don't like him, but he just won't listen. You're the only person, besides my parents of course, who has ever treated me with this much care and respect before. Thomas, you are my best friend and guardian angel!" She elucidated with a watery smile appearing on her face.

"Like you should be the one to talk. You think I have ever been treated with any decency before. You're the only one, besides my father, who understands what it's like to be alone. Elizabeth, you are my best friend and a perfect fallen angel! So what if your halo's a little crooked and bent out of shape and your wings won't function properly. I think you're perfect just the way you are and that's good enough for me!" Thomas gave her his own clarification.

Elizabeth's face reddened and her breath caught in her throat, rendering her speechless. She looked down hoping he hadn't seen her embarrassment, but it was too late, he already had. Thomas lifted her chin up so he could see a full view of her face.

They stared into each other's eyes as he brushed his thumb across the tear trails. Elizabeth shuddered with pleasure, liking the feel of his touch lightly grazing her skin. His thumb then gently traced the scar on her right cheek, moved downwards and outlined her jaw line, then slowly maneuvered upwards and glided around her lips and then it stopped where her lips were parted slightly, her breath increasing with shock at his actions... He leaned in at the same time she did and they stopped when they were nose-to-nose where both of their breaths mingled together. Soon enough Thomas' hands were around her waist again, placed on the small of her back and Elizabeth's fingers dug themselves into his hair as they closed the last portion of space between them.

Lips seeking the others, Elizabeth felt an electrical shock shoot down her spine as their lips were introduced with one another. Apparently, Thomas felt it too because she felt him shiver against her. 'Wow, I didn't know Elizabeth could kiss this good. This is Heaven!' He exclaimed inside his head. Elizabeth timidly let her tongue slip across Thomas' lips, as if asking for permission to enter, which he of course granted her. He parted his lips and shyly made contact with her tongue. Elizabeth gasped and let the dancing tongues have fun for a while more. Thomas and Elizabeth were lost in their own little world. He had wanted this since he was fourteen and it was more tantalizing than he had ever imagined it would be.

When they both pulled back for a breath she whispered, "Wow!"

"Well, erm, I guess that's your birthday present?" Thomas stammered, uncertain if Elizabeth was angry or all right with the previous actions.

"Thomas?" Elizabeth wondered.

"Yea, Elizabeth?" He replied.

"Well, you see, that was my, uh, my f-f-first kiss." She told him, still breathless and breathing fast from the event that had just taken place.

"I know, it was mine, too." Thomas answered to her remark.

He remembered that she had swam through the lake as she started to shiver from the lack of warmth that his arms had given her. "We had better get you in some dry clothes." He advised her as he put his arm around her again and led her over to where he had appeared from.

He looked through his dresser for a shirt that would be big enough to cover what was necessary. He pulled out shirt after shirt after shirt, and he still couldn't find the right fit. Either the shirt wasn't big enough to cover her body or it was too big and it would probably fall right off of her. After much deliberation, he had finally found a shirt that was too big, but should stay on her.

He turned around and handed her the shirt before declaring, "I hope this fits you, Elizabeth."

"Turn around and NO peeking, Monsieur!" She warned as she took the shirt from his grasp and waited till he turned around.

Although she turned around herself, he still could see her back side. As she unzipped her dress his heart started beating rapidly with anticipation. One sleeve slipped off her shoulder, then the other, and then the dress slowly dropped down her back and went to rest on the floor around her feet.

As she tugged the shirt on, he quietly sneaked over to her and before she could button up the shirt, he put his hands around her waist. Next he nipped at the exposed flesh of her neck. After that he moved on to nibble on her earlobe. She gasped as he ran his nimble fingertips across her abdomen. Her head dropped down onto his shoulder and she gave a barely audible moan as she bit her bottom lip.

"You look so sexy like that, with your lazy, oh-this-feels-so-good look." Thomas huskily whispered in her ear.

'Now that's a seductive voice!' Elizabeth cried out in her head as she mentioned breathlessly, "I thought I told you, no peeking!" As she turned to face him with her bottom lip slightly sticking out and making her puppy dog eyes.

"I don't think you mind though…" He gruffly pointed out to her.

"Of course I don't mind…" Shesoftly let the words slip over her tongue and she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

"Ahem." Came a cough from the doorway.

The two teenagers shrieked as they looked to where the disturbance came from. Elizabeth hastily buttoned up the shirt, while Thomas removed his hands from her waist and his lips from hers. They jumped apart from each other ending up at opposite sides of the room. She nervously shifted her feet underneath her as he sheepishly rubbed his neck.

"Son, please, if you do that here, make sure your door is SHUT, so that, while I am trying to compose music, I don't happen to hear you two outside." Erik informed Thomas while smirking, absolutely bemused.

After Erik walked back to his organ, Thomas shut the door and turned and saw Elizabeth lying on his bed with a blanket over her legs. They started to laugh as he walked over and laid down as well, wrapping the blanket around his legs and his left leg intertwining with her right leg. She was blushing, once again, as she scooted closer and kissed him on the cheek.

"Can I ask you a favor, Thomas?" She questioned as she pulled back.

"Yea, sure, anything." He responded.

"Well, could you sing for me?" Elizabeth inquired softly.

Thomas nodded and soon he started singing. It was in French so she didn't understand all of it very well, but it was even more stunning than if she did understand it. When he was finished she started to get drowsy and her eyelids were beginning to droop.

"Je t'aime, Elizabeth." He tenderly murmured in her ear. (I love you, Elizabeth.)

"Je t'aime, aussi, Thomas." She gently whispered back to him. (I love you, too, Thomas.)

And with that being said, they both drifted off to sleep. Her arm around his waist, his arm around her shoulders, calmly rubbing her back. Lastly, her head was placed in the crook of his neck as she finally drifted away from the rest of the world.

AN: Well, I hope you liked the second chapter. Wow, I have never written anything so long before… This was seven pages long and the last chapter was eight! Please review and I'll send you a virtual cookie and a new chapter, I hope! LOL! Anywho, if anybody wants to be my beta writer, you can just tell me in a review... Everybody reading this, knows I need one! Well, toodles!
-Brittany

M'AIMER POUR QUI JE SUIS…
…love me for who i am