Good morning guys!

So, here we go. I'm so glad to see some of my favorite reviewers back!

I hope that you guys like this...when I first started writing this, I contemplated posting it on Fiction Press, because I thought it didn't have enough POTO to post on this site...but, thenI realized that most of you wouldn't see it, and I've totally grown addicted to your lovely reviews. lol.

This story is quite different from my previous POTO phics, but I'm definately ready to take on a new perspective on things. I feel like the "Christine comes back to the Phantom" thing has been very played out, especially by me. I thought I'd take a stab at a plotlineI had never seen before, and I hope it's as refreshing for you to read as it has been for me to write so far.

On with the show!

Nico

Gerard pulled a pair of sunglasses from the inside pocket of his black blazer. Quickly, he placed them on his face, lighting another cigarette.

"You smoke too much," Rae informed him. "And I don't know if you realized, but the sun doesn't shine at one in the morning."

Gerard exhaled a plume of smoke in her direction, causing her to cough dramatically. "I don't know if you realized, but my face has been splashed across every magazine on display here in Paris…and it's pretty well known that I've checked into a mental hospital…so I'd rather not be noticed."

"Oh, yeah…and the sunglasses are a really good disguise," Rae told him sarcastically. "There's no way people are going to be looking at the weirdo wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night."

Gerard pulled the sunglasses off and shoved them into his pocket. "You're really quite irritating," he informed her.

"Hey, don't be angry with me just because I'm right," Rae replied, stomping her feet and rubbing her arms. "Hurry up and finish that cigarette…I'm freezing and I want to go inside."

Gerard looked up at the huge hotel they were standing outside of. He had stayed here before, on his first world tour. He smirked to himself as he remembered how hard he had partied the last night he was inside these walls.

He threw his cigarette on the sidewalk.

"Finally," Rae said, opening the clear glass door for him.

Gerard stood motionless.

"Come on," Rae exasperated.

"You're pretty eager to spend my money," Gerard said, walking through the doorway with her on his heels.

"I have money," she informed him.

"Oh?" Gerard asked, ducking his head as the night security guard squinted at him as he walked by, no doubt trying to place his famous face.

"Yeah," Rae continued, looking up at him. He was obviously very uncomfortable.

Without thinking about it too much, Rae grasped his hand in hers. "My parents are rich," she finished.

Gerard looked down to where her tiny hand was folded neatly in his. Then he looked up at her face.

She blushed slightly and looked away from him, leading him determinedly to the front desk, where a nervous looking hotel clerk adjusted his tie, obviously aware of just who Gerard was.

"Good Evening!" The hotel clerk greeted them, more loudly than necessary. "And welcome back to the…"

"Shhh!" Rae exclaimed. "We're hiding from the press," she continued, squeezing Gerard's hand, indicating that she had the situation under control. "Now, listen…" she stopped to read the clerk's nametag, "Dennis…as Gerard's agent, I am required to do everything within my power to ensure he is not hounded by those endlessly irritating photographers," she continued. Gerard looked over at her, speechless.

Never would he have imagined the embodiment of Christine Daae to be so forceful and crafty…

But perhaps that was simply Rae's personality overcoming Christine's delicate demeanor.

"We would like a room…a big one…and complete discretion," Rae was saying to Dennis, who was nodding enthusiastically, looking as if he was a solider who had just been issued an incredibly important mission.

"Absolutely Ma'am," Dennis said quietly, typing unknown information into the computer.

After a few beeps and clicks, Dennis quickly placed two credit-card type keys into an envelope and slid them across the marble hotel counter. "You'll be in the penthouse," he informed them in a hushed whisper. "Please, feel free to utilize the back elevator…here," he slid a small silver key to them, "this will operate it...it's totally private."

Dennis came from behind the hotel desk. Rae stifled a laugh as she realized just how short the man was. "I shall bring your bags up for you," Dennis informed her.

"That won't be necessary, Dennis," Rae said. "He's famous, not incapable. Now, if you'll excuse us, Gerard needs his sleep."

"Of course," Dennis said, following them a bit. "And if you need anything," he pulled a crisp white card from his perfectly pressed suit, "please don't hesitate to call me…my cell phone number is on the bottom."

"Thank you, Dennis," Gerard said, following as Rae pulled him to the elevator.

Rae flipped on the lights to the penthouse. Immediately, the marble shone…the white carpeting looked like snow…leather furniture invited a seat…polished tables adorned with fruit and candies spread across the several rooms Gerard and she were about to call temporary home.

"Not bad," Rae announced. "I've seen better."

"So you were spoiled as a child," Gerard assumed, putting his suitcase down and lighting up again.

"Hardly," Rae said, immediately taking the cigarette from his lips and inhaling it herself. She looked pensive for a moment. "Although, lately, I find myself forgetting more and more of my own memories and replacing them with hers," she said.

Gerard nodded. "There are days when I cannot remember anything but the taunts of local children as they came to laugh at me as I sat in that cage…"

His voice trailed off at the end in a mixture of pity and sorrow.

"Well," Rae said softly. "I suppose you have it slightly worse than I do."

Gerard scoffed. "Slightly?" He asked, flopping down on the end of a couch and leaning his head back.

Rae watched him, feeling sympathetic. She slowly sat beside him, handing him back his cigarette. "It will be alright now," she told him. "We're going to take our lives back."

Gerard lifted his head and looked over at her. "Why do you think this is happening to us, Rae?" He asked softly.

Rae shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I do know that it's happening for a reason. There must be something we have to do…"

She stopped, looking up at Gerard for long enough to make them both uncomfortably shift positions.

"It's strange," she said quietly. "I feel such a connection to you…a connection that goes deeper than I've ever experienced with others."

Gerard nodded. "I feel the same," he told her.

Rae moved slightly closer to him. "And I don't know if it's her pull to him…or my own pull to you," she admitted, lowering her eyelids, embarrassed that she had basically admitted attraction to the man sitting beside her. "It's confusing," she finished.

"Do you remember the night she left him?" Gerard asked.

Rae nodded, lifting her now damp eyes to his. "It's the memory that torments me the most," she said, close to sobbing.

"After she left him, he was destroyed," Gerard told Rae. "That is when the memories become truly terrible," he said.

Rae bit her lip, unable to prevent feelings of guilt from overwhelming her.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Why are you apologizing?" Gerard asked, his heart aching at the site of the fat tears rolling down Rae's perfect face. "It wasn't you."

Rae shook her head. "But it was her…she destroyed him…and to be honest, I'm still not certain why. And now her mistake is my cross to bear."

Gerard bowed his head.

Before he could stop himself, he felt his hand rise and come to rest on hers, his thumb gently rubbing the back of her cold hand.

Rae looked up, locking eyes with his. "Gerard," she whispered.

"Yes?" He whispered back. They had moved impossibly close to each other. So close, in fact, he could feel the slight puff of her breath on his face.

For a moment, Rae's eyes slid shut, her lips coming to brush slightly against his.

The shock of electricity that moved through them both at the contact caused Rae to gasp.

And back up.

"We can't," she said, pulling her hand from his and standing. "This isn't us…this is them…and we can't confuse the situation any further than it already is."

"Rae," Gerard said, standing as well.

"No…not now," she said, holding up her hand again. "We're confused…and this is certainly not the way to remedy the situation."

"Or perhaps it is," He said, moving closer to her again, pulling her gently towards him.

It seemed, at least for the moment, that the elusive Phantom of the Opera had taken control.

But Christine Daae was coy, the memory of her beloved Phantom too intense to indulge tonight.

"No," she shook her head again, pulling from his clutches and moving towards an extra bedroom. "Goodnight, Gerard," she said. "Tomorrow, we go to the Opera House."

And with that, she shut her door, leaving Gerard to face the fight to maintain control over himself alone.