Jen Lennon: Glad you dropped by. I've been enjoying your story on Gerry's site. Thanks for the review, and I look forward to the updates on your story.

MetalMyersJason: Thanks for a second review. Do you really think that I would do such a thing as break his heart again? Heck, I wrote this silly story just so I could give him some happiness... Alas, though, you'll have to read on to find out what happens. :)

Well, on with the show. Sorry for the long chapter, but the dictation in my head just kept coming and coming, so being the good court reporting student that I am, I had to take it all down and present it to ya'll to read. Enjoy...

Chapter 15

She gently pulled away from their second and more intimate kiss to see his response, wondering if he would react in the same manner as before. He still had a look of disbelief on his face, but this time, the tears did not come. She smiled at him and then rested her left cheek on his chest. Timidly, he put his arms around her as he felt her arms go around his waist.

"What are you thinking, Erik?" she asked softly.

"Thinking?" he asked, his voice sounding distant. "Just trying to take in all that has happened in the past few days, I suppose."

"The past few days," she mused. "Yes, a lot has happened in the past few days, from one extreme to the other, no?"

He let out a soft chuckle and kissed the top of her head. "Yes, most certainly, little one. It has been a most interesting last few days," he said.

"I'm guessing you never would have imagined this to be the end result to your crash to the first floor, eh?" she asked as she looked up at him with a smile.

"No, I never would have imagined this could happen to me ever," he said with amazement. "Let's just say I never would have believed there was anyone in this cruel world that would actually desire my company, let alone nurse me back to health, bring me music and breakfast, and then kiss away my tears," he said as he looked at her with a tender smile to match her own.

"And deal with your stubbornness," she added, wearing an expression on her face so as to ensure he knew she was only teasing him.

"Yes, and deal with my stubbornness," he said as he rolled his eyes.

She hugged him tight before pulling away and gesturing towards the bed and a place to sit down. She and Erik sat down, and he looked at her expectantly, feeling sure she had something she wanted to say.

"I think that we…we should discuss where things are going to go from here, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, we should definitely figure out where to go from here," he said after some hesitation. He wanted to blurt out his request for her to join him in his underground world, but he knew that wouldn't be prudent. At the same time, she wanted to blurt out her desire for him to come stay at the château and get away from this dirty old church…with her father's permission, of course.

"Well, I think it's safe to say we've moved past the usual student-teacher relationship," she said with a sheepish grin.

"Yes, that, we have, my dear. Kissing the teacher does tend to move one beyond that normal point of teaching and learning," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Beyond the point of teaching and learning the violin, anyway," she agreed. "But I'd say we're still teaching and learning, though. It's just a vastly different subject."

"Yes, well, um…" he stammered.

She congratulated herself on leaving him speechless since he always seemed to have a comeback to her comments.

"Anyway, I was thinking…" she started.

"Yes? About what?" he questioned.

"When my father returns, I'd like to tell him about you, and I'd like for the two of you to meet," she said. She watched his expression carefully, knowing that this was a lot to ask of him but hoping he wouldn't refuse her request.

"Do you really feel that is wise? Your father would no doubt disown you if he knew you were spending your time with the Pha…with a monster such as myself," he finished lamely.

"A monster such as yourself, huh? I thought we had agreed that you wouldn't refer to yourself in such an awful, untrue manner," she chided him. "Do you mean a man who feels more comfortable wearing a mask to hide half of his face and living in the basement of an abandoned church to avoid the rest of the world?" she asked with surprising directness.

He glared at her. Such directness was almost unheard of coming from a woman, and he found that he didn't like her summing up his miserable existence in such simple terms, however true those terms were.

"Well, my father will find out one way or the other, so I thought it would be best if I simply introduced the two of you at the start, rather than waiting," she said.

"And how, exactly, would he find out?" Erik asked.

"Because he's going to want to know why the time I spend at the church has increased substantially," she replied. "I refuse to stop spending time with you just because my father will be back in a few days. You mean far too much to me to just abandon you."

He paused as he let her words echo in his head. She had actually said that he meant something to her. Things had indeed changed so much from three days ago when he was still nothing but the voice of the fictitious angel of music to her. She watched him as he zoned out, thinking everything over very carefully.

"Erik?" she asked. "Are you all right?" His silence disturbed her.

"Hmm?" he murmured.

"I asked if you were all right," she said with some concern.

"Yes, I'm quite fine, thank you," he said coolly.

"Look, I know it's a lot to ask of you, but I really want to introduce you to my world. And meeting my father would be the first step," she said, her eyes welling up with tears. She was hoping he wouldn't refuse her, but she was starting to realize she might actually have to fight hard for what she wanted where he was concerned, and it scared her.

As always, the thought of him being the cause of her tears tore at his heart. He decided on the spot that he would do as she asked. He could deal with stepping into her world for a brief time, if for no other reason than to show her that he didn't belong there.

"Very well," he said. "I will go with you to meet your father whenever you ask. Perhaps then you'll see that I don't belong in your world."

"Don't belong? Oh, Erik. How could you say that? Of course you belong. The problem with you is that you've only experienced dealing with people who have no kindness in their hearts for someone only slightly different from them. You just need to be shown that not everyone is like that. You'll see," she said with a knowing smile.

"Only slightly different?" he asked incredulously, staring at her before quickly standing up and walking out the bedroom door and back into the main room. He walked over to the piano and shuffled some of the manuscripts laying there as he thought of what to say to her. Could this precious angel of his really believe he was only slightly different from everyone else?

She quickly followed him out to the main room, trying to control her irritation before it got the best of her. She looked at him, shaking her head.

"Little one, I know you are young," he said with a hint of sarcasm, "but you need to realize that I'm more than a little different, and that no one, besides you, seems to have the courage to get to know me as you have."

She fought back the urge to smack him upside the head, and instead looked at him defiantly, realizing his self-pity annoyed her. It suddenly reminded her of long-forgotten memories involving her parents. "Actually, I wasn't given a choice in the matter, if you remember?" she shot back. "I got to know you because I thought you were an angel sent from the heavens. You remember, four months of talks about music and things in general? Of believing you were something…someone…different."

He shot her a guilty look and then quickly looked away. She forgot her anger when she saw the look on his face.

Her look softened as she approached him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Actually, I think it worked out rather well," she said. "Although the mask and what lies beneath wouldn't have frightened me in the first place, it was a rare and wonderful opportunity to get to know you as I did, and for that, I'm grateful. I got the chance to see the beautiful soul that lies beneath the rough exterior you're so ashamed of."

Erik turned around and stared at her. "Beautiful soul?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yes, Erik. You have a beautiful soul, truly. I've known many people who look perfect on the outside, but their souls are marred by the terrible attitudes that they carry with them throughout their life," she said. "Attitudes of greed and power or social superiority, to name but three…ones that leave them very shallow inside with no love for anyone but themselves or money or whatever their obsession is."

He sat down in a nearby chair and contemplated all that she had said, and she waited patiently for him to process everything. With her words, Nicole's desire to be with him, to comfort and guide him, she had indeed saved him from his solitude. He decided he would put forth his best effort to fit into his sweet angel's world, knowing once and for all that his heart now belonged to her, and he intended to do everything in his power to make her happy for the rest of her life; however, his expression changed when the little voice inside his head reminded him that he hadn't completely secured his position with Nicole. He still had to meet her father and hoped that her father would be as accepting of him as she had been. The prospect of a negative reaction on Monsieur Clary's part was very real, and Erik realized he must prepare himself for the worst even though he hoped for the best.

As he contemplated how he should react if the meeting with Nicole's father didn't go well, his thoughts turned, one by one, to his life in general, and that caused his mind to wander far away from his lair beneath this old, abandoned church that had led him to Nicole and brought him the first bit of happiness he'd had in a very long time.