In Heart

Christine could feel Erik's presence at the Theatre Mystere during her performance. It was a sensation she had often felt before, but in his determined absence these past weeks she had imagined herself only conjuring the feeling from her own longings. Now she suspected he had indeed been here on more than one occasion, simply keeping himself hidden from her.

He would not be hiding tonight. As she left the stage after her scene and headed for her dressing room, Erik's presence grew even stronger. She smiled a little, expecting his dramatic appearance at any moment, although she worried for him in so public a place.

As Christine closed the door of her tiny dressing room, she sensed him there and grinned. "I think perhaps I shall need to get a bell for you, so I know when you are about." She turned towards his cloaked figure as she brought up the lamp.

He wore the tan mask she had first seen him in the night before, shaded by the brim of his fedora. The color and the shadow worked in such a way so that, at first glance, it did not seem as if he wore a mask at all. His lips were curved in a beautiful, ironic smile. "It seems you do not need any help in discovering my presence."

Christine smiled sweetly and slipped into his arms, pressing a brief kiss to his lips. "I can feel you with me, Erik. It is a strange ability I seem to have developed."

His left brow rose slightly. "Yes, you've nearly caught sight of me on more than one occasion in these past months."

Her smile grew wider. "I knew you could not have abandoned me completely! Erik, why did you make me wait so long?"

He shook his head and disengaged himself from her embrace. "You know the answer to that."

Christine huffed, "Your sudden unselfishness and desire for my happiness, I know. Let us not revisit that conversation."

Erik looked duly chastised at her biting tone. He regarded her closely a moment, admiring the woman she had become in so short a time. "I find you are much changed these past weeks, mon ange."

Christine bristled slightly. "And this surprises you? I am no longer the little girl who ran from you in fear, Erik. I am a woman who finally knows her own heart." She closed the small distance between them once again and cupped his face in her hands. "And my heart is yours." She kissed him again, allowing her mouth to linger over his before she pulled away with a sparkle dancing in her dark eyes. "Now, tell me, my love, shall I give Monsieur Pinot my notice tonight?"

Erik grimaced, narrowing his eyes. "You most certainly shall! As you would even if we were to stay in Paris! Honestly Christine, how you have consented to appear in such a low end production is beyond my understanding."

Her brows rose and she looked at him crossly. "Erik! I had little choice if I expected to pay my expenses, and Monsieur Pinot has been nothing but kind to me."

Erik conceded her point, if rather begrudgingly. "Well, I must give the man credit for his good treatment of you, but I will never approve of the roles you've been forced to play."

"Well, I suppose I would have needed to give my notice soon at any rate. It will not be long before the evidence of our love becomes unmistakable." Even as she spoke, a serene smile settled over Christine's face and protective hand came to rest over her already thickening waist.

Erik watched the gesture in helpless fascination and he drew an unsteady breath. "Perhaps we should rethink our plans, Christine. You will need support in the coming months which I am not certain that I can give you."

Her smile slipped immediately, and she fought to keep her tone from betraying her anxiety. "Do you mean to send me away again, Erik? Because I will make it no easier for you now than before."

He laughed without humor and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "Christine, I would never send you away from me now." His stormy eyes grew even more pensive. "But perhaps I should not take you from Paris and all that you know in your...current state."

Christine could not help but smile at Erik's almost hesitant concern. She'd finally had her pregnancy confirmed by a doctor that very afternoon, and he'd assured her that all was as it should be. She was in excellent health. "My current state does not prevent my traveling, Erik. Nor does it suddenly render me a fragile and breakable thing…" She grew serious again as she wrapped her arms around him, resting her hands against his back. "But living without you again surely would."

His lips tilted ever so slightly. "No, mon ange. I feel certain you will never be a fragile thing again." He kissed her forehead softly. "How is your English, then?"

Christine looked at him blankly a moment before her eyes cleared. "My English...I'm afraid, is quite poor, Erik."

"Then I shall have to teach you, but you are an exceptional student."

Christine smiled, "Only to an extraordinary teacher. Where in England shall we go?"

"Dover, to begin. I understand French is spoken there fluently due to the trade route. And...perhaps in time..." Erik grinned a little wickedly, "I hear that the London Royal Opera is in great need of a decent soprano."

Christine laughed, "Erik! You wouldn't."

"I most certainly would! You should not be long away from the stage, Christine."

She grinned, "Well, I will have to be for a while at least."

Erik sobered again. "Christine...is this life really what you wish?"

Once again, Christine drew his face into her hands. "How many times, in how many different ways, must I tell you 'yes?' I love you, Erik."

He closed his eyes briefly, relishing the sound of those words floating so beautifully on her musical voice. "And I love you, mon ange, but I am afraid we must wait until we are away from Paris before we can be wed."

Christine gasped a little, pulling back to search his eyes; the wary hopefulness in them betraying his confident demeanor. A playful smile began to flirt around her lips. "Have you just asked me to marry you?"

"If you will have me, Christine."

She smiled more fully. "Oh, I will certainly have you, Erik. You will never be free of me."

Her kiss was a passionate promise, and they very nearly surrendered to it, but this was not the time nor place for such intimate undertakings…the risk of discovery was ever present. Erik reluctantly set Christine away from him. "Go and speak with Pinot, my love. Tell him you will give him no more than two weeks. That should be sufficient time for our arrangements to be settled and farewells to be made. We will speak again tomorrow."

Disappointment flashed in her dark eyes. "Tomorrow, Erik? What of tonight?"

Erik smiled ruefully. "Tonight, we will for once be sensible." He kissed her hand. "Now go, mon ange. I will come to you tomorrow evening."

Christine nodded and kissed him quickly. "Be safe, my love." Then she opened the door, checked the hallway, and scurried away leaving Erik to slip out of the theater undetected.

When Christine gave her notice to Monsieur Pinot, he was not exactly pleased at losing her after so short a time. Yet he could not deny her, nor truly be angry, when she gently asked for his understanding of her desire for a fresh start. He was not losing her to another theater, so he smiled kindly, wished her well and told her she would always be welcome on his stage, should she ever decide to return to Paris.

Convincing him not to advertise her last performance as such took a bit more persuasion on Christine's part. 'Please, Monsieur,' she'd said. 'I fear such publicity would bring questions I am not prepared to answer.' Pinot had looked closely at the silent plea in the eyes of Mademoiselle Daae and relented, holding his own curiosity in silence.

A good mystery was, after all, his livelihood.

A/N: And so the fluff (or is it Phluff) begins. And hey--my reviews went over 100 and my hits are closing in on 5000--so I want you all to give yourselves a hug from poetzproblem. Thanks for reading.