AN - It doesn't seem anyone is reading this, hence the lack of updates. I know these are old chapters but I've really been bulking them up, theirs much more too them then their used to be... I only wish that people enjoyed them. Again if you were reading "Outtakes and Plot holes" it was taken down, but I never got up as much as I wanted too. Perhaps I can figure out a way so it's not breaking any of rules. Also, I don't like the quick edit thing, has anyone else have been having problems with it? If I fix stuff, sometimes it doesn't show up, sometimes when I load things their are spaces missing... it's odd.

Chapter Eight: Cruelty in love.

His Lordship sure
would die of shock!
His Lordship is
a laughing-stock!

Bogart watched out of the window of the winery as his children played a game of tag. It had been eight months since the Vicomte, their benefactor, had come to them, with the ultimatum to keep the winery open, and it had been merely hours ago, that he had decided to shut them down.

"What will we do Audric?" The man asked as he continued to watch the children running back and forth in front of the doors of the large winery. Their mother was dead, and everyday before work, he brought them here to play on the vast lawns encircling the building.

"Well, the truth is there is nothing we can do my son. Nothing at all, The Vicomte told us himself he would not support a dying cause, and that is all this winery is... It has not made money ever since it was opened." The older wiser man stated simply.

"I will not live in the slums with my children any longer!" Bogart cried out in rage. He could not bear to see this happen to his family. His own father, once an amazing winemaker had been fired many times over for sampling some of his work at the other factories. It wasn't until he came here that he conquered his addiction to the liquor that had caused him so much turmoil. He himself, felt a strong connection to alcohol, it had eased the death of his true love and the mother of his children.

"I will not have Aimee becoming a whore! Or Damien living the life I have led... If the winery closes we will have nothing, and that will surely happen." He turned back to stare down at his young daughter and her twin brother. Only a minute older, his son always looked out for his angelic little sister. He had not always been there for them emotionally, but he always made sure they were well fed and taken care of.

"Then what do you suggest we do? What can we do? There is nothing left for us Bogart, we are merely the poor and weak, no one will listen to us now." Audric stated, putting a hand over his eyes in a sign of weary resignation. He remembered a time where he had been as fiery as his own son, but now… Now he hadn't the energy to fight. He would go peacefully into that good night if he were given the opportunity.

"We haven't done EVERYTHING..." Bogart said sinisterly, causing Audric to lower his hand.

-
(' ) '
-

Poor young maiden! For the thrill
on your tongue of stolen sweets
you will have to pay the bill -
tangled in the winding sheets!

Raoul sat in front of the fire to nervous to move. His hands dug into the arms of the chair and sweat was forming on his upper brow from the heat of the flames. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, as he numbly continued to watch the dancing brightness. The fire took no heed of its audience as it spurted and cackled making brilliant colors in the darkened den.

He heard Michelle's quiet steps down the stairs and he turned to see her.

"Is she? How is she?" Raoul managed to somehow choke out.

"I shall not lie to you Master, she is not well..." She quietly told him before curtsying and returning to her mundane task of fetching towels and a basin.

"Can I… May I see her yet?" Raoul asked.

"I'm sorry Master, but the doctor told me that the less people in the room right now, the better… apparently, Madame is… having hallucinations."

Raoul felt his heart in his throat. The last three months of Christine's pregnancy had left him torn and tired. The once young handsome man was becoming more haggard and stern in his appearance as well as in his demeanor.

As he continued to star into the depths of the fireplace that he was sitting in front of all he could remember was the night Christine had found out about her pregnancy... and how he would never forget her reaction.

-
(' ) '
-

I'm here,
nothing can harm you -
my words will
warm and calm you.

Did it ever occur to you that it might not be the baby you don't want, but Raoul's baby?

"NO!" She said aloud, not caring that she was taking the insanity of talking to herself to the next level and vocalizing it.

"No, he loves me, and I love him. That is the way it was meant to be and will forever be." She said in an unconvincing tone.

But the dark voice did not reply she was left alone to think again.

One thing she did not want to think about is how eerie it was that the dark voice had sounded like Erik's.

Suddenly there was a fierce knock on her door, one that demanded her attention more than words could state. Carefully she got off her bed and walked over to the door that had been locked shut so that no one could intrude on her thoughts. She unlocked it and opened the door swiftly, knowing that it would be Raoul staring at her from the other side.

"How dare you..." She said with contempt in her voice.

"Dare I what Christine? Protect you and my child?" Raoul said not understanding her anger.

"Protect me? From what, Raoul? Why must you still feel the NEED to protect me?"

"I will always need to protect you..." Raoul said silently.

She knew he was thinking of Erik, and did not like how he was tip toeing by the subject.

"From what?" She repeated, "You know Erik is dead, what do you need to protect me from now!"

"FROM YOURSELF!" Raoul shot back at his wife.

There they stood in silence for a good long moment.

"Well..." Christine said finally knowing how Raoul felt. He believed she would never, and could never be able to take care of herself.

"You let yourself be taken by Erik, Christine. If you had told him no, he would of let you go. You encouraged his delusions and fantasies, and if I did not come along you would of probably still been at it to this very day. " Raoul said finally releasing himself from the chains he had been keeping.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Christine screamed at him. "How dare you take something so personal, so pure, and turn it so ugly. You are the reason why I could not see Erik in his beauty!"

"I am the reason? There WAS no beauty to the monster! Not in his soul Christine, not anywhere… You think I'm so caught up in looks? He MURDERED without a THOUGHT, and yet, if it were him here right now, trying to protect you… would you be so intent on punishing him?" Raoul raged back at her.

"I… he would have never…" she started.

"Oh would he of? You claim that he loved you just as I did… then wouldn't he have done the same that the doctor had claimed to be the best for you? Wouldn't he have done everything in his power to make you happy? I believe so. Just as I believe you still love him. But Christine, oh DEAR Christine, if there is one thing you love more than your two men, it is yourself! You sold your morals under the guise of innocence because you secretly loved him and were afraid of what others would think of you! I sometimes wonder Christine… just what exactly DOES make you happy. NOTHING anymore… No, I bet even your precious 'Phantom' couldn't make you smile now!" He spat.

"Get out... GET OUT NOW!" Christine screamed in rage.

"Christine… I… I'm…" Raoul said, the color draining from his face. How could he have said that to her? Did he really feel those feelings? How could he accuse her of such… horrible events?

"GET OUT NOW RAOUL! AND STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Christine cried and picked up the clock by her nightstand.

Suddenly, she hurled to by Raoul's head and saw him flinch as the gold, and glass, shattered and crunched against the wall.

"As you wish..." Raoul said bitterly.

-
(' ) '
-

Why did Christine
fly from my arms . . .?

That was the most they had maybe said to each other for the last three months... Christine had moved back into her old room. The servants didn't see this as a huge change; most families with a noble background did not actually sleep in the same room together. However, it had been an easy transition for servants when the Vicomtess had told her maids that she would be needing their services from her husbands room every morning when they had first gotten married. They had been so in love, intent on spending their honeymooning moments together. Nevertheless, after their loud and personal argument, he never knew if the maids had been told to or, they had known… but they never intruded on his rooms since that night. He had asked Christine why she must stay in her rooms all the time and she had replied that once the baby was born she would need to be by it at almost every waking moment.

Raoul explained that was what hiring a nurse was for, to take care of their children.

"Our children Raoul? Don't get ahead of yourself..." Christine had said vindictively.

She remembered her words now as she sat in front of the vanity in her rooms. She wondered if Erik would even notice her now, her ill temper, her baggy eyes, her voice which had lost it's smoothed polished surface, was now only a mere apparition of what it used to be.

As time went on, the little sleep Christine had been getting became even scarcer. She tried to sleep but when she did, she could only see Erik, Erik saying the same vicious words. Erik telling her she was a user, a whore as her husband so eloquently had said to her. She felt anger and resentment towards Raoul, and sadness that he believed in his words. She felt even sadder knowing that they held some truth. Her husband never apologized and she never forgave him, it was one of their many unspoken understandings.

One day, three months after their harsh argument, Christine was sitting in front of her vanity table, brushing her curly locks. At first she just rest her hands on her large belly, staring into the mirror, wondering who the girl was that was staring back. A pinkish haze now clouded her crystal blue eyes, and the fair skin surrounding her eyes had turned to bags.

Is that really me? She asked herself.

Dear me, I look worse than Erik! She thought unhappily, imagining him rejecting her.

"I'm sorry my dear… but I do not wish to sleep with… someone looking like death." She could hear him say in his silken voice. Giggling she rubbed her hands against the material sitting loosely on her stomach. Sleep with? Where did that come from? When had she begun to view Erik as a sexual being?

She was to have a child, a child that she could love forever and unconditionally...

Something to take care of, and worship and pamper, someone who would not feel the need to 'Protect' her.

Damn Raoul! She thought bitterly. Why did every man in her life protect her?

No wonder she never knew what to do with Erik, He expected her to be able to make decisions for herself, but she had never been taught how. It hadn't been so much the accusations that hurt Christine, as much as Raoul claiming to know the depths of her relationship with her Angel. He knew NOTHING of the passion and relationship they shared. He claimed that Erik would have done what was best for her as well, and she can agree to that. She could even resentfully admit that she perhaps, would not have been as mad at Erik for hiding her pregnancy from her as she had been with Raoul. But she was so sure it was because Erik had always expected her to make her own decisions. He had expected her to have some semblance of will. He wanted her to know herself, to understand what she wanted, and she always acted like she didn't, making him believe he had to make the decision for her. It was because he had no patience she was treated the Raoul treated her. It wasn't because Erik felt he needed to protect her at every waking moment. If she had shown backbone, would she have prevented Erik from believing she was in love with him as well as with Raoul? Would she have prevented the ultimatum that Erik gave her, making Raoul think he was a monster? Or would she have actually figured out to stay with Erik herself? Telling Raoul away. She did not know. This is why Erik himself had wanted to protect her, because she gave no man an option not to. They all wanted to keep 'Poor little Christine' as innocent as possible.

Well she was tired of being on the top of everyone's pedal stool, only to be afraid to fall. Their standards were too high, and if she were to fall from their heights, she would surely break.

As she noticed all these changes, she picked up the brush and ran it through her hair.

Oh, Raoul. She thought.

She loved him still, she always would, Where Raoul underestimated her love for Erik, and Erik had always underestimated her love for Raoul. She thought back to one of his outbursts.

"What do you see in him? He knows nothing of the depth of your love for music. He knows NOTHING of you… He shows up at your door after 12 years of knowing nothing of your existence, and he is magically in love with you? Christine do not be so naïve… he will love you, then leave you like trash… and I will not find treasure in his trash Christine…"

But what Erik didn't know is that Raoul had loved her since she was five, not since the night, he saw her perform. When they courted in the winter she spent away from the opera house, he showed her the letters he had written for her eyes only while growing up. He showed her all of the memento's he kept of her and her father. Old newspaper clippings, thread from her scarf, pedals from a rose she gave him when they were young, and her fathers obituary.

"When he died," she could still remember him saying to her. "When your father passed on… I grieved for you. I grieved for him as I would grieve for my own father, as I would grieve for you. I couldn't help but think of you all alone, my little Lotté left for the wolves. I remember, pleading with Philippe to hunt you down, find out what had happened to you, even perhaps… to try and find you and bring you home with me, but he would have none of it. He told me to let go of the past, that you surely had." She remembered looking up into his eyes and seeing the pain their, the grief in knowing that he had been helpless to save her that time.

Even now, after remembering those pure and true feelings in his eyes, she still felt betrayed. She believed if he truly loved her, then he would trust her. For love involves trust, and if there is no trust, how can there be love?

This has gone on long enough! She said to herself, I shall go speak to him about this at once, even if we are both to stubborn to settle our differences, I can be the bigger person here and solve this issue between us, after all we are married, and if we are to bring this child into this world, we should be happy as well...

As she began to walk hastily out of the room, she tripped on a corner of the throw rug underneath her. Christine fell to the floor with a loud crash, only to have Charlotte rush to the side of her Madame.

"Charlotte..." Christine said weakly, "Send for my husband... please..." Christine said as she felt the water from her womb seep out onto the floor.

The last thing she remembered before she fell into blackness was that it was too soon... It was a month too soon.