Okay I had no idea my last chapter would be such a big hit with everyone. I'm so glad you all liked it. Now we'll be moving along to the battle of the managers. Who will run the Opera House, when the reconstruction is finally complete?

Chapter 25: The Battle of the Managers

That night Christine and Meg had stayed the night. Lotte and Pierre had shared Pierre's bed, Erik and Christine had Lotte's bed, and Meg was offered Erik's bed, but the idea of sleeping in a coffin frightened her, so she slept in the study.

The next day Erik was awoken by Christine whispering his name into his ear. "Erik time to get up," she said softly touching his cheek tenderly.

"Not yet. I'm enjoying this moment."

"You haven't changed a bit since last I saw you all those years ago. How long have you been watching over Lotte and me?"

"Since Lotte was born. I took every chance I got to come and check on her. Yet, I never stayed long for the fear of being seen. But we'll talk more of this later. Meg and you have to get back, but I will send Pierre with you. He will be stepping in for me as the role of manager."

"What? You're sending a 19 year old in your place." She thought it over a bit. "Actually that just might work. But do you have any money to pay for it?"

Erik climbed out of the bed leaving her there, but soon returned with a large coin bag. He opened it and had her look inside. There must have been over 100,000 francs in it. "Its leftover money from before Andre and Firmin came along. I've been saving it for years now hoping an opportunity like this would present itself."

"You're really desperate aren't you?"

"You really don't miss a thing do you?"

Christine smiled while Erik got up and went into Pierre's room quietly shaking the boy's arm. "Huh? What is it?"

"Shhh, don't wake Lotte and come with me."

Pierre kissed Lotte's head and followed Erik into the music room. Meg and Christine were waiting. Erik explained what Pierre was to do when he got to the Vicomte's house. He had cleaned the blood stain out of the suit for him and gave him the bag of money after the boy had gotten dressed.

"Are you clear about your duty?" Erik asked.

"Yes, but what about Lotte? Will you tell her I'll be back and not to worry?"

"You have my word. She'll be fine here with me."

Christine came over and gave Erik one last passionate kiss before getting into the boat. Meg climbed in and Pierre grabbed the pole sticking it into the water and pushing off. Christine gazed at Erik as if she was never going to see him again. She blew a kiss as she turned the corner and Erik could feel his heart go all a flutter.

Climbing up a set of stairs he came to the small corner of the lair where the bust of Christine's head was kept. "Soon you'll be back with your Angel of Music. I promise."

xxxxx

Lotte woke a while later confused at why it was so cold. She sat up a bit and was surprised to find Pierre not beside her. She climbed out of bed and pulled a robe around her. She pushed open the door and went into the music room where her father was sitting at his desk. "Father have you seen Pierre? I woke up and he wasn't there."

"He went with Meg and your mother to buy the Opera House off of Raoul. I'm sure 100,000 francs will be enough to cover it."

"Where did you get all that money?"

"I held on to it for years for just such an emergency as such. I also have some left to pay for supplies and materials. Plus the Vicomte will be a nice provider like he was once before," he laughed.

She went into her room and closed the door behind her. Now that she knew him as her real father, things seemed much more pleasant here at home. The drawing had been sitting on her dresser for some time now and as she looked at it a smile came to her lips. "So that's what you were trying to tell me," she said holding it up to the light.

She changed into a simple day dress and left the room her hand still grasping the sketchpad. Erik still hadn't moved from the table and Le Noir was sitting near him meowing softly. Lotte looked through the sketchpad disappointed by not having a blank sheet, when she saw an empty piece of sheet music.

Picking up a piece of charcoal she sketched out Le Noir batting at a rolled up piece of parchment Erik had thrown across the table. Then she sketched Erik as he wrote furiously his quill moving swiftly across the paper. No one said anything; it was just like the good old days.

xxxxx

Pierre was nervous as they approached Christine's house. He would be seeing where Lotte had grown up before being at the Opera House and he would finally come face to face with this Raoul character everyone seemed to have a grudge against.

Christine patted his shoulder. "Don't worry you'll do fine. You're doing this for a worthy cause, so don't back down. Erik and Lotte are counting on you."

Pierre gulped and nodded. She pushed open the door and motioned for him and Meg to go inside. The house was amazing. White silk curtains hung in front of every window, the furniture was simple and quaint without a single speck of dust on it, and in perfect order giving the room a cozy, yet homey feeling to it.

"Raoul, could you come down here? I have someone here interested in running the Opera House," Christine called up the stairs and allowing Pierre to take a seat on the couch. Meg sat down in a chair and wrapped her hair around her finger as Raoul came down the stairs.

He kissed Christine's cheek and smiled. "So, who is the man you speak of darling?"

"He's right over here," Christine said pointing to Pierre, who stood up and bowed politely.

"It's a pleasure to finally be making you acquaintance sir. My name is Pierre and I am here in the behalf of my father, Armand. Sadly he has fallen ill and can not be here, but he wishes to run the Opera House, when he is well again. Being his only son he trusted me to come and take care of all the necessary procedures."

"Oh, yes of course. I just have some simple questions to ask of you, but first how do you plan to pay?"

"Father sent plenty of money with me." He put the coin purse down on the table and opened it. "How does 178, 345 francs sound Vicomte?"

Raoul's eyes seemed to jump out of their sockets as he stared at the money. He suddenly realized his mistake and cleared his throat. "Those will more then cover the expenses. You do know you have to fix it up a bit before any money can come in?"

"Oh, Father is well aware of all that. Even in his critical state he insisted on hiring a skilled team of workers to begin on the process and has taken full estimates on all that needs to be done."

Raoul was impressed. "So does he still wish to accept me as a patron or does he have someone else picked out for the job?"

"He would like your contribution, sir, because he could find no one better then you for the job. Plus you have so much experience with the theatre business and all. What do you say, do we have a deal?"

Luckily Raoul looked down a moment and Christine shot Pierre a smile for being so quick on his toes. "I'll just need you to sign here and the Opera House will be yours and your Father's rightful property. But when will your father be well again? I wish to discuss some things with him."

"Well we're not sure sir, the doctor said it may take days, but he surprises us everyday with his health improving. I know that this will really make his day a whole lot better Monsieur." He signed the contract. "Is that all or is there anything else you would like to know?"

"No, but when do you plan to start the rebuilding process?"

"We hope to begin sometime at the end of the week. Father still has some claims to go over and then he'll call the workers."

"We'll I'm come by on Saturday and see how things are working out and maybe meet with your father if that's all right?"

"I'm sure that would be just fine. I will let him know for you Monsieur."

"Please it's just Raoul. Here is the deed to the Opera House and the receipt for the payment you made. I look forward to meeting your father. Good day Pierre."

Pierre bowed again and sighed after Raoul disappeared back up the stairs.

xxxxx

When they returned to the Opera House Pierre clutched the deed tightly, but feared that Erik would be upset to hear that Raoul would want to see him this Saturday and that was 4 days away. He rowed the boat back to the shore and helped the women out.

Erik stood up from the table so quickly that he knocked it spilling over a whole pot of ink in the process. He cursed under his breath as he rushed to clean it up before it ruined all his hard work. He grabbed an eye dropper and cleaned it up as quickly as he could.

"Rough day, huh Erik?" Christine asked playfully coming up to the desk.

Erik just scowled at her and continued to clean up the mess. When it had all been cleaned up he moved his papers aside and put the cork back on the ink pot. Poor Le Noir had been there during the whole thing and had gotten ink on her paws. She shook her foot splattering ink everywhere on the floor. Lotte came over with a rag and began to dab away the ink while Le Noir mewed.

"So tell me, how did it go?" Erik asked.

"Well I have some good news and some bad news," Pierre confessed. "Which do you want first?"

"After what just happened here I vote to hear the good news."

"Okay, Erik Congradulations you're the new owner of the Opera House."

"Oh, I had no doubt in you pulling it off Pierre. Let me guess his jaw dropped open when you opened the coin purse didn't it?"

"Yeah and I was afraid his eyes were going to pop right out of his head."

"So, what's the bad news?"

"Well even though he believed that you are named Armand and have taken ill he still wants to come in on Saturday to see that the work has started on time. The only thing is he wants to meet you in person and I have no idea how we can pull that off. He'll know you right away if you approach him like this."

"Father you could use the makeup again. But instead of doing just one side we'll make sure it completely hides your identity. Raoul won't suspect a thing," Lotte suggested, but was met with a couple of odd stares.

"You called him Raoul instead of Papa," Erik said feeling her forehead. "Lotte are you feeling ill?"

She pushed his hand away. "I'm fine. It's just that, because he's not really my father I don't think I should call him as such. I'm quite happy with the one I have."

Erik smiled at her. "I couldn't have asked for a better daughter, though…" he said ruffling her hair playfully. "You can be a bit of a hand full."

Lotte's jaw dropped in a state of shock before pouncing him. "Well you're no picnic yourself. I always have to make sure you're not off somewhere causing trouble."

He twirled her around in his arms as she laughed. Christine watched a tear coming to her eye. She had never seen Erik be so playful before and now that he was sharing such special moments with his and her daughter was making her cry. Her love for him had blossomed again and she was so glad that he was alive.

Erik noticed Christine's tears and set Lotte's feet on the ground once again, then reached a gloved hand towards his beloved. Without hesitation Christine wrapped her arms around his neck Lotte wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and Erik proceeded to wrap his arms around the both of them. He kissed Christine's forehead and she looked at him her eyes filled with tears.

"I love you Christine," he whispered.

"I love you Angel of Music," she whispered before pressing her lips against his.

Meg and Pierre were also drawn to tears and hugged one another, but then looked at the situation and pushed each other back remembering how much they despised each other.

"Oh, I should be going back. Raoul expects me to be coming home tonight," Christine said pulling back a bit.

"Don't go Christine. Please stay here one more night," Erik pleaded.

She pressed her finger to his lips. "Don't worry your precious angel will come back tomorrow." She reached overand kissed Lotte's head. Then whispered into her ear, "Make sure he gets some sleep tonight. I'm counting on you."

"You can count on me."

Erik rowed them back across the lake, but when he came back he went right to the organ flinging his cape aside. Lotte picked it up and hung it on the coat rack. "Father, come on Mother said you need to get some sleep tonight. No organ playing tonight."

"But I just thought of the perfect song Lotte. Oh how it makes my heart beat with the very thought of her," he sighed deeply.

"I'm sure it does, but I promised Mother. Don't make me use force," she threatened.

"And why should I be afraid of you?"

"Because I'm cute and adorable and you should never trust something that has that combination," she smiled as she lessened the distance between them.

Playing along with her Erik inched away from her along the organ bench. Lotte looked up for a second and saw Pierre standing on the other side. She moved closer making Erik feel like she really meant it. He bumped into Pierre and gave Lotte a sign of surrender. "Fine, you win I've been outnumbered. I'll go all right." He went towards his bedroom.

Lotte went over to Pierre and hugged him. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime Little Lotte."

Lotte stared at him a minute then blushed. "Only father calls me that, but you can if you want to," she said curling one of her brown curls around her finger.

"Then I will as long as we're together. Good night Little Lotte."

"Good night Pierre."

They shared one last kiss then Lotte looked at Erik's bedroom door. It was cracked open a bit. "Father, don't make me come in there. Mother said you needed rest."

Erik shut the door and paced for a few minutes. It was no shock that Lotte was truly in love with Pierre. The way they looked into each others eyes reminded him of how he and Christine would gaze into each other's eyes. He pulled off his shoes and socks before climbing into the coffin and laid on his back staring up the ceiling. For awhile he just watched the flame of the candle dance across the surface, and then he removed the mask and laid it on the bedside table and blew out the candle sending the room into darkness.

He pulled the blanket over him and sighed. How he missed his Christine, but for now dreams of her would be enough till he could hold her in his arms once more.