Note: Here's where ya'all find out about who that mysterious visitor is, and bonus points to whoever guessed Alex for they are right. Thanks to all my reviews, oh and Moon Avenger, I am stealing Erik back. I need him, he's kinda important to me...mwahahahaha:steals Erik back and runs away as fast as she can then smacks into a door. "I'm okay!":

Chapter 12

Erik looked at Ana who had stiffened in fear. Her eyes were wide with horror as she stared at the door.

"Answer." he mouthed to her.

"Y...yes Meg. I am fine, I just believe I got a little sick. It might have been something I ate at the Bal Masque. I felt queasy in my stomach, so I left. I'm afraid you caught me at the time I was in the middle of changing. If you will give me a few minutes, I can finish changing." she called back.

She turned to see Erik slipping into her closet. "What in the hell are you doing! Why aren't you going back into the mirror!" she hissed as quiet as she could.

"Because, my dear trollop, the mirror would make to much noise opening and closing. You better hurry, you don't want to keep your...visitor waiting." Erik said as quietly as she had back to her.

Ana glared at him and stepped behind her dressing screen. She quickly took her now ruined dress off and rolled it up into a ball. Throwing it into one of the corners behind her screen, she pulled on her long night shift and pulled on the sleeves to make sure the bandages were covered up. Then she walked to her door, slowly taking the pins out of her head. She opened the door a crack and peeked her head out.

"Yes Meg, you said I had a visitor?" Ana said hoping her french accent that she had been working on, would cover her American accent.

"Yes, he says he knows you? An Alex McKinley." Meg said quietly. She knew who Alex was and told him to wait in the stage area to see if Ana was accepting visitors this late at night.

Ana began to quake with fear. He had seen her, had seen her and followed the coach to the Opera House. But maybe she could ward him off, make him think he had the wrong person. "I am sorry Meg. I do not know an Alex McKinley. Please tell Monsieur McKinley that he must be confused. Now, I bid you good..." but she froze in fear as she saw her ex-husband step out of the shadows.

"I believe, my wonderful wife, that you do know me." he said smoothly. "Thank you Mademoiselle Giry. I will take it from here."

Ana looked helplessly at Meg, she silently begged her not to leave her alone with her ex-husband. Meg mouthed that she would be behind the door and that Ana should scream if she needed help. Ana gave a small unnoticeable nod and let Alex in.

Alex pushed his way into Ana's room and shut the door behind him. "Well, well, well my sweetheart, it seems you can't escape me. Clever for you to run to your home country. Now, you should come home quietly. I don't think it would look good for me to come home with my wife dead."

"You bastard. You should leave, leave now. I am not going home, you can't force me to go home." she spat at him, keeping a safe distance between herself and the monster in front of her.

"Oh really my dear? And how are you going to stop me? I could easily ruin your precious life that you built up here. Does your friend know you're a whore, selling her body as easy as a baker sells bread? Or should I tell her that you are a killer, you killed your parents and your own child. And yet I kept you protected, even when you forced yourself onto me. How would that sound? Now that I know where you are, I'll be keeping my eyes are on you. If you try and run, I'll know. Now have a good evening and I'll see you in The Magic Flute. Good bye my dear." He put his fingers to his hat and nodded. Then with a sly smile he opened the door and let himself out. Ana's eyes teared up and she sank to the floor. Meg came rushing in and put herself down beside Ana.

"Are you okay? What did he say to you? Do you want me to get my mother?" She asked, worry in her voice.

"I...I'm fine. You must go for tomorrow will be a trying day. I need to go to sleep. I still don't feel good and I need some sleep. Good night Meg." She got up and led Meg to her door. Meg looked like she didn't want to go, but went reluctantly. Ana looked her door then put her back on the door and slid down. She put her head in her hands and began to sob. She faintly heard her closet door open and then heard Erik make his way towards her.

"I know what your thinking Erik, you're thinking that I am a whore. Well, you can keep thinking that, I won't deny it. You heard what Alex said and you will most likely believe him than me. Now, you can go. I want to sleep." she said quietly, barely audible for Erik to even hear.

"No, I won't leave you. I don't want you cutting yourself anymore tonight. Now, you are going to go to bed and I shall sleep here, in your chair." he held out his gloved hand. Ana looked up at him, eyes puffy and swollen. She took his hand and let him lead her to her bed. She laid down and drew the covers up to her chin.

"Erik, thank you for the heavy cover last night. I, I really appreciated it." she yawned as Erik drew up a chair. He muttered something and then mentally smacked himself. He told himself again and again that she meant nothing to him, that she was a whore and sold her body to men. But now he had a harder choice. Who to believe, a girl who showed very little fear towards him or towards his mask or the husband who abused her and killed her family? He had a tough choice to make, but that didn't have to be decided until a later date.

He began to quietly sing a song from Pappagano's part in The Magic Flute. He stopped when he saw Ana shift in her sleep, a bandage on her wrist becoming slightly exposed. Quite suddenly he began to cough, his body being wracked by the cough. As quickly as it had come, it disappeared and left Erik gasping for breath. He took several deep breaths and prayed that another fit didn't hit him.

'That was odd,' he mused to himself. He had never been sick except for when he had first come to the Opera House. Settling down further into the chair he kept his eyes on Ana's sleeping figure and went back to singing softly.

Ana sat up in the wee hours of the morning with the feeling of retching her stomach of it's contents. She silently slid out of her bed and made her way to her chamber pot. No sooner had she reached it then her stomach took over. As soon as the sickness had come then it stopped since she had hardly eaten anything at the Bal Masque. She whimpered as she took a piece of clothe and wiped her mouth.

The images that made her retch slowly flooded back into her mind. There was the main one when she first woke up after she had been burned by the boiling water. Her skin had been laced open because of the boils that had been formed because of the water. The doctor had taken a knife and had sliced the boils from the middle of her chest down to her stomach and some went beyond her bellybutton. For weeks she had been on laudanum as her skin slowly healed and when it did heal; it looked like she had white rivlets of water running down her torso. Alex called her a monster, that her pale skin had been marred. And at times, her scars would pain her to no end to where she wished she could die. The next dream had been about her parents funeral. All she could remember was the blood that covered her fathers face, the broken bones , the ribs that poked out of his skin. And her mother, who had been beautiful in life was now horribly disfigured in death. There were bruises on her face, one of her eyes had been swollen shut. The face had been twisted into a mask of horror, a huge gash running from her other eye to her chin. A finger was missing and her arms were broken. Both of her parents eyes were open, depicting the horror they must have suffered before they had died. And just as Alex had showed her, her mother's diamond signet ring was missing off her fourth finger on her left hand.

Ana shook and dry sobs wracked her body. She felt empty, alone and wanted to do nothing but to crawl into a hole and die. She didn't hear Erik's soft steps behind her only the whisper of his jacket.

"Come on Ana, you need more sleep. I daresay you won't be dancing today in your condition." he said quietly as he held out his hand to her.

Ana looked up at him and began to protest. "Erik, no I must dance. We open in two days. I am needed there, I must go."

"The only place you are going is back to sleep. I shall leave a letter explaining your situation to Madame Giry. Now come, the best thing to do in your sickness is to sleep." he gently helped her up and made sure she got back into bed. No sooner had she hit her pillow than she was asleep. Erik hated himself for the way he acted towards her. As if he cared enough for her to make sure she wasn't injured. The part of his heart that he had sworn never to let someone have again, seemed to be opening up. And the only way to close it, as he saw it, was to act in a mean way towards her. Quietly, he brought his cloak that he had left there for her, over her shoulders and made sure she was tucked in safely. Then stepping quietly towards her small desk, he sat down and quickly scrawled out a note to Madame Giry. Then leaving it where it would be most noticeable, he silently pressed the mechanism on the mirror and slid into the darkness. As he walked down the damp halls, he began to cough again. Had he paid attention to his sleeve that he covered his mouth with, he would have noticed the sprinkle of blood on it.

Yes! I have updated again...and I am hoping that you will like this chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I've been doing musical practice and my director has now become the Director from Hell and has squashed my inspiration! But it has come back to me like all things do eventually, except for maybe my mind...that hasn't come back since the day I left it...somewhere...anywho! Please, do you all see that tiny review button in the left hand corner at the bottom! Please, please please review! It makes me feel better that I can actually write well and for the fact that I love hearing feedback about my story! Whee! Anyways I gotta go!...hums a song while dancing with Erik.