Author's note: This popped into my head as one of the ideas I couldn't get rid of. I'm sure most of us who have seen the movie more then a few times have noticed some of the flaws. One of the biggest ones was Christine's missing stockings, and well I just started thinking about what if she noticed they were missing? And what happened to them in the first place? So this is one of the theories I came up with that doesn't involve bringing in actual members of the movie crew, actually another one is thrown in there too. Please enjoy and review. And if you don't do either of those things…well those are really the only options. I'm going to stop holding up those of you who read these things now. Oh wait, disclaimer. I don't own Phantom of the Opera, if I did the movie wouldn't have had so many little things that don't make sense. Or more, I haven't figured it out yet.
They had been quiet for most of the way back to Mademoiselles Daae's dressing room. The night before had been wonderful, to Erik it had been a great success. The day after however….oh why must girls be so curious? Christine had just removed his mask without any warning. She still seemed a little apologetic about it, and had hung her head the entire way so far. He didn't expect her to say anything as she followed him through the tunnels and passageways. Then she suddenly asked a question, and one he wasn't fully expecting.
"Erik? Have you seen my stockings?"
"What?"
Christine sighed. "My stockings. The ones I wore that night after I sang at the Gala. Remember? You sang, I went through the mirror. I was wearing this really low cut nightgown thing that showed off my legs? Well I was also wearing stockings."
"Oh," Erik replied stopping. "Those stockings."
"So you have seen them?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what happened to them? I really liked them and just realized that I'm not wearing them. I've been staring at my legs since we got in the boat, and I thought something was missing and I just realized what; my stockings!"
She looked at Erik as if waiting for him to say something, which he was certain she was.
"I don't know where your stockings are Christine," he said without a single note of untruthfulness in his voice.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure."
"Oh, because I didn't lose them until after I went to your….what is it you live in? It isn't really a house, or a cave. Well I didn't lose them until after I visited you. And I am fairly certain they were not on me when I woke up, which means I lost them in my sleep. That just seems impossible for some reason."
She gave him that look again. Erik thought it was like that look Madame Giry had given him after she had first brought him to the Opera Populaire, when she knew he did something and was giving him a chance to confess. Of course Christine made it look more sweet and angelic; Madame Giry had usually made him tell the truth within moments. Still, he could lie to Christine about her stockings. After all, it wasn't as if it was a huge lie, no worse than masquerading as an angel.
"You were sleepwalking."
She arched an eyebrow, a sarcastic gesture that the former chorus girl did not seem capable of before. "Sleepwalking?"
"Yes! You were sleepwalking and…and you got out of bed removed your stockings and threw them in the lake."
Christine gave him an odd look, as if she still suspected something but wasn't quite sure about her suspicions.
"Why didn't you stop me?"
Erik took a moment to thank his quick mind before going on with the story.
"It's dangerous to wake a sleepwalker. Besides, I didn't notice until you had thrown the second one into the lake. And after that you simply went back to the bed."
From the blank look on Christine's face Erik knew he was in the clear and she was completely oblivious to the true fate of her stockings. He began walking again and Christine followed.
"Thank you for not waking me up then. And I'm sorry for…." She gestured to her face. "You know."
"It's alright Christine, you didn't know."
"I just wanted to know why you wore a mask."
"Could we please change the subject?"
"Alright. If my stockings ever show up on the lake shore or anything like that, could you please get them back for me? They were very expensive."
"I shall. If they turn up on the lake's shore or come to the surface I'll return them." He was pleased and relieved to see they were near the end of the passage. Soon Christine would be back in her dressing room, and all those letters would be read. His plan was going perfectly so far.
"Thank you. I would appreciate it."
He opened the mirror for her and she went through, when it was closed again he went back to his lair. This may have been the word Christine was looking for earlier.
Like a teenage boy who has something he shouldn't have, Erik walked silently, almost creeping, to the life-sized Christine doll which had caused the real Christine to faint. He crouched and lifted up the hem of the wedding gown, where he had hidden the stockings. Christine was right; she had lost them in her sleep, but now she thought she had lost them herself. In truth he had watched her sleep and then thought a souvenir of this little night would be good, he never thought she would miss stockings and so he had removed them from her legs and hid them so she wouldn't find them and he could keep them as a memento forever. Of course soon she would be his, not just the doll or the stockings, but her. He could give her the stockings as a present or something and she would think it utterly romantic. And if she found out that he had taken them she would find that romantic, not creepy in the least.
"I'm a genius," he muttered to himself happily. "A genius."
All I have to say now is please review.
