I have time! Time -glorious, beautiful, wonderful time! Eh, well, actually I don't, but I'm putting off my Latin homework just to post this! Aren't you lucky? Please tell me if there are any mistakes in this chapter, for I edited it really quickly, and I'm not sure I got everything.
The doctor stepped into the waiting room some time later to find the two men glaring at each other.
"Messieurs," he said, shutting the door, "Mademoiselle Daae has awoken, and I have assessed her condition. She has a slight concussion, and says that recent events are somewhat hazy." Raoul smiled with relief.
"May I see her?" He asked anxiously. The doctor nodded and Raoul and Erik followed him out of the waiting room and up the stairs to another room. He stopped outside of a door.
"Please wait here while I go and check, just to make sure she's well enough to see visitors." He opened the door quickly and slipped inside before Erik or Raoul could see in.
"Mademoiselle Daae, there are some visitors wishing to see you," he said to Christine, who was sitting up in bed, eating some broth.
She looked up in surprise. "Who?" She asked.
"The two gentlemen who brought you here, your fiance and his brother." Christine nodded happily.
"Raoul!" She said. Then she thought of something. His brother was probably the count, was he here as well? She did remember Raoul, she had jumped in front of him to save him, and there had been someone else. She thought it was... But no, that was just her imagination, she assured herself. After all, he couldn't have been there.
"Would you prefer if I refuse them admittance?" The doctor asked, seeing her frown.
"No, no, please let Raoul in," Christine said hastily.
Oooooooooooooooooooooo
Outside the room Erik was growing impatient. He wanted to see his beloved now and make sure she was all right. He reached for the doorknob, but Raoul stepped before him.
"Let me through," Erik ordered. Raoul stood his ground.
"She might still be weak, we need the doctor to check her," he said.
"Don't try and stop me," warned Erik.
"I won't let you hurt her, even unintentionally! We stay out until the doctor says we can go in." Raoul said firmly.
"I will see her!" Erik snapped as he grabbed the doorknob.
"Stop!" Raoul cried as he struggled to keep the door shut.
Within the room, Christine and the doctor glanced curiously toward the door when they heard raised voices. They listened as the argument became louder, and Christine gasped.
"Open the door," she pleaded. The doctor nodded and started toward the door. It burst open before he reached it and the two stumbled into the room.
"Christine!" Raoul said as he ran to her side.
Erik reached her first. "My angel," he whispered as he touched her cheek tenderly. Raoul ran up next to Erik, grabbing Christine's hand and knocking Erik's fingers off her cheek.
"Oh, after what happened I feared you were dead! Thank goodness you're not!" He cried. Christine looked up at them in wonder.
"It really was you..." She said in amazed disbelief.
"Yes," Raoul said, "it was." Erik glared at the doctor, who had come up to the other side of Christine's bed.
"Please, she needs rest," he said to Raoul and Erik. "She should stay here for at least another day, preferable two, so that I can be sure she's healing." Raoul nodded.
"Your fee?" He asked. The doctor shook his head.
"Never mind that right now," he said. "Now, I really think she should get some more sleep. You two should go back to your house and wait for a while before you come back." Raoul and Erik both scowled at this idea, but they did grudgingly start toward the door.
"May we have a few minutes alone?" Raoul pleaded. The doctor nodded and went out the door. Raoul frowned at Erik. "I meant alone, me and Christine," he said.
"A deal," Erik said, "you get a few minutes alone if I get a few minutes alone." Raoul glanced at Christine. She nodded.
"It's fine," she said to Raoul. Raoul turned and nodded grudgingly to Erik.
"Three minutes," Erik said as he left and shut the door. Raoul rushed back to Christine and she looked up at him desperately.
"Raoul, please tell me what happened," she said. "Why are you here? Why have you come with Erik?"
Raoul blinked, the phantom had a name? He had always thought of him as... Phantom. He shook his head and decided to ponder it later.
"Dearest, it's a long story," he said. Christine looked up at him with large eyes.
"Please, tell me quickly, I don't remember very much." She pleaded. Raoul briefly summarized his meeting with Erik, their alliance, the rescue.
"That's it," he finished, "and now you're here, healing. You shouldn't have hurt yourself on my account." Christine shook her head.
"Raoul, youcould have died," she protested, "and you mean so much to me. I couldn't let that happen." Raoul suspected that Erik was listening through the door.
I hope you heard that, phantom! He shouted mentally. I mean so much to her! He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Christine, when he comes in to see you, I want you to know, I'll be right outside the door. If you feel uncomfortable, or if he tries anything, please call out to me." Then Erik opened the door.
"Monsieur?" He said sarcasticly to Raoul,pointing out the door into the hallway. Raoul leaned forward to Christine.
"I'm just glad you're safe," he said, before leaning still closer, and kissing her gently on the cheek. He walked past Erik, grinning defiantly. Erik growled, before shutting the door behind Raoul. Raoul immediately pressed his ear against it.
He could hear voices...
The doctor cleared his throat and Raoul jumped guiltily. The doctor motioned him over a few feet from the door. "That man isn't really your brother," he stated.
Raoul shifted uncomfortably. "What makes you think that?" He asked.
The doctor shook his head. "I have two brothers, one younger, one older, and I know exactly how siblings behave." Raoul smiled but said nothing. He didn't want to be the one to be blamed if Erik's masquerade was brought out into the open. "If he is a danger to you, I could summon the police," the doctor said quietly.
Raoul glanced at him. "Monsieur, I once thought him a dangerous murderer. An insane madman. In fact, I was writing to the police about an institution for him, but somehow..." Raoul trailed off. It wasn't that he thought Erik was sane, quite the opposite in fact. He clearly had problems. Why, in the recent few days, Raoul had seen him kill several times. And yet... Raoul was beginning to have a sense of what it was for, what drove Erik to do such things.
He shook his head. "No, monsieur, no police." He said firmly. "This is a... Family issue." The doctor scoffed, but he let the matter lie. Raoul figured that it had been several minutes. He knocked on the door and then opened it to see Christine and Erik.
Erik was a respectable distance away from the bed, Raoul noticed, and Christine seemed fine. "Now, please," the doctor said, motioning Erik out of the room. He closed the door and turned to Raoul and Erik. "As you have seen, she is well. Now -go back to your house, and return this evening if you really wish to. Mademoiselle Daae will be resting this afternoon, and I want you two out of here." He looked at them sternly.
Erik turned with a swirl of his cape and strode down the hall, leaving Raoul to make their goodbyes. Raoul said that they would return that evening, and then he ran after Erik, stumbling on the stairs.
Sooooo, the plot thickens! Well, it doesn't actually, but I've always wanted to say that :D
Just one more chapter. Sigh. But this chapter had several interesting points. What did Erik say to Christine in the room when Raoul was talking to the doctor? What has Raoul figured out about Erik's motives for, uh, everything? Why did Raoul stumble on the stairs? Heh, I don't think any of these questions are ever answered...