Dinner was a very uncomfortable meal; Raoul de Chagny sat at the head with Christine on his left and his son on his right. I was seated at the other end of the table; leaves had been taken out in order to shorten the table to a suitable length, and CJ was on my left and Bernadette on my right.

We sat for awhile in awkward silence before Christine made a valiant attempt as conversation,

"Bernadette, what have you been doing this summer?" Christine smiled brightly if not uncomfortably,

"Oh…I have been…" she shrugged, "My father has been teaching me to do magic tricks with cards,"

CJ laughed, "Bernadette, we teach you everything; literature, music, arithmetic, and you chose to talk about card tricks?"

She tossed her long, sleek black hair over her shoulder and smiled, "I thought making the joker appear as the top card was more interesting than Pilgrims Progress,"

I snorted, "We never made you read that book; you started it and then you wanted to finish it," I smiled slightly when I thought of how stubborn she had been when it came to finishing that novel, a stubbornness I believed she got from me,

"All the same; I think the card tricks were the most interesting thing I have done this summer," And she looked significantly at me,

I sighed and CJ rolled her eyes, "Bernadette has been complaining about wanting to join the chorus at the opera," CJ said, turning to address Christine, Raoul, and Henri,

"Oh! Are you interested in music or dance?" Christine exclaimed,

"I enjoy both; I might be a better singer though," Bernadette stated,

"Well, given your father's history, I do not doubt that you are a brilliant musician," Christine smiled at my daughter, and I hoped that she would be tactful enough to not say too much about my past at the opera;

All we had told Bernadette was that we had once saved the de Chagny's son; she had been too young to remember the time when it had actually happened; and that I had known Christine previously when I had aspired to write music for the Paris Opera.

"Yes, Father has taught me a great deal about music," I saw Raoul de Chagny shutter slightly at this statement and the table lapsed into silence once again.

The first course of our dinner was served and we eat in silence, and then to my surprise, a meek voice spoke,

"H-How d-do you do it?" We all looked up and stared at Henri de Chagny, whose eyes darted from Bernadette to the unfinished food on his plate,

I glanced over to see that Raoul and Christine were practically holding their breath and looking from their son to my daughter,

"Pardon?" Bernadette said, and I winced slightly because Bernadette was not used to overly shy people; I had finally outgrown the habit and everyone else she knew and respected; CJ, Marie, the men at the station, were all much like her; bold.

She did not understand that as she locked her bright eyes on him and demanded that he repeat himself she was intimidating the hell out of him,

"I-I w-was wondering," he said softly, and I noted that he stuttered slightly; something people did when they were very unsure of themselves, "H-how you do the trick with the cards?"

All eyes went to Bernadette and waited for her to respond,

"Oh!" She flashed a large smile, "Sorry, I did not hear you before," She ran a hand through her black hair, "It is really quite simple; you have to use magic," Bernadette spoke in a good natured voice, but I sighed inwardly and wished she had just told the boy how to do the trick instead of giving him a coy answer she would have given any other boy she was talking to,

As someone who knew what it was to feel awkward and at a complete loss around woman I knew that now the de Chagny boy was probably feeling as though she had denied him a true answer due to the fact that she did not want to speak to him,

By the way the boy dropped his eyes to his plate and by the way his hand shook slightly when he picked up his fork I was right. I felt a pang of sympathy which surprised me to no end. If someone had told me that one day I would feel sympathy toward a de Chagny I would have laughed them out of the room. However I knew what this boy was going through; he had most likely worked up all his courage to speak and Bernadette had not given him an answer he knew how to respond to,

I did not blame my daughter in the least; she was trying to be kind and funny and in any other situation she would have been absolutely charming. I blamed the boy's parent's who has let him become so secluded and shy, but more over I blamed the weasel who had decided he could kidnap a child and tie him in a basement.

Bernadette looked at me questioningly, and with one glance to make sure Henri was not watching her, she mouthed a question to me,

"What did I say?"

I shook my head and motioned for her to keep eating. The rest of the dinner was taken in relative silence and I was quite happy when we left the dining room and headed upstairs for the night.

Henri ran off toward his room and Raoul and Christine excused themselves as well. As we said goodnight to Bernadette she pulled at my arm and whispered,

"What did I do wrong at dinner? Why did…Henri…that was him name, wasn't it?" I nodded, "Why did he seem so upset?"

"You did not do anything wrong, dear," I told her, "He…he went through a lot as a child; just be the sweet charming girl you are toward him, won't you?"

She nodded, "I can try; no promises though," she grinned at me,

"Goodnight Dette," CJ said as she embraced her, "Sleep well,"

"I will," she said back, "See you in the morning,"

CJ and I went quickly to our room and shut the door. I had no sooner locked the door behind me than we fell on the bed,

It seemed that with all the time spent on work and raising a child there had been little for ourselves; but not this night.

I hungrily pressed my lips to CJ's, pulling off the dress she was wearing and taking her underneath me as she tugged the bottom of my shirt out of my trousers…

"Eri…!" CJ began to cry out as she reached the point of her highest pleasure; worried she would wake the whole house I pressed my lips to hers to muffle her voice,

I pressed her lips harder; opening her mouth to mine as I thrust into her once more, finally releasing inside of her. I collapsed on top of her, holding her close, filled with pleasure, and then I froze,

"Oh no CJ…we forgot to use the…"

"I know; but I would have your child again," CJ smiled at me,

"You would go through another pregnancy?" I lifted my head and stared at her,

"To have your child, yes," and she played absently with a lock of my hair; I kissed her deeply,

"I love you CJ," I whispered to her,

"I love you to," and she wrapped her arms around me