A/N: Glitter Queen- I don't mind at all if you write a one-shot. Let me know when you finish cuz I'd love to read it! (And don't worry, I am going somewhere with the murder charges.)

The first rays of sunrise slipped between the curtains and beat against Raoul's eyelids. He shut them tighter, trying to force back the day, unwilling to relinquish the night. Lazily he moved his arm to embrace Christine, but his hand fell on cold sheets. His eyes fluttered open and scanned the room, but he couldn't find his wife. His mind quickly returned to the morning he had first discovered that she was missing. The familiar sickness returned to his stomach as he thought that perhaps he had invented her return.

"Monsieur," Henriette called through the door, "Madame Christine requests that you join her on the veranda for breakfast."

Relief flooded through him and the breath he had been holding was released with a deep sigh. "I shall be right down," he answered, quickly dressing.

Raoul was careful to make no noise as he stepped outside. Christine sat at the table, watching Christophe chase a small butterfly. Her back was to him, but Raoul was sure that she was smiling. For a long moment he merely stood there, watching the scene playing out before him. He feared that, should he interrupt it, it would somehow be lost to him like a mirage in the desert. Finally Raoul approached Christine and placed his hands on her shoulders, running them down her arms and back up again. Christine leaned her head back into his stomach, her eyes closed. Raoul kissed the top of her head before drawing up a chair and sitting beside her. He picked up the newspaper that lay on the table and casually thumbed through it. Christine noticed that even as he read, one of his hands still rested on her leg, his fingers gently running over the fabric of her dress. Raoul had always been affectionate, but it seemed to her that lately he took special care to always be touching her somehow. He must have found the contact comforting, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.

"He's amazing, Raoul. He already reminds me so much of you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Do you really think so?" he asked, setting his paper aside and glancing over at his son. "Whenever I looked in his eyes, I always saw you staring back. It was almost like having you here even though you were gone."

His last comment caused Christine to drop her head and her dreamy smile to fade away. Raoul's emotions quickly changed to match hers as he reached a hand up to stroke her cheek.

"I'm sorry, chéri. I…I didn't mean to upset you," he apologized.

Christine forced a small smile. "It's not your fault, mon amour." She looked up into his face, her eyes once again shining. "At least for now, can we pretend that I was never gone?"

"Anything you wish," he answered, leaning in to kiss her.

She smiled against his mouth, her hands holding his face close to hers.

"Maman," Christophe interrupted as he tugged at Christine's dress.

Christine looked down at him in surprise. "Raoul, did you hear him?" she asked excitedly. "He said 'Maman'!" She lifted the boy onto her lap and kissed his forehead.

"I was thinking that we could take Christophe out on the horses and have a picnic, the way we used to," he said, rubbing his son's back.

Christine gave him a quizzical look. They had never taken Christophe out on the horses; he had been too young before. Christine waited for Raoul to explain himself, but he simply smiled back at her, awaiting her response. She thought for a moment, and then it suddenly dawned on her. Raoul was willing to indulge her imagination, making up a life for the time she had missed.

"That sounds lovely, dear. We must be sure to take him down by the lake again. He laughed so hard every time his feet touched the water," she said, happily playing along.

Raoul chuckled, enjoying the game as he had enjoyed their pretend engagement. It seemed so long ago, almost in another life. He was happy to know that despite their experiences, they had retained some of the innocence they once possessed.

"Oh, before I forget," he began, "a man from the paper is coming tomorrow to write a story about us. You know, to clear things up. I think it best to leave our 'friend' out of it and simply say that a kind family took care of you until you got your memory back."

"You're probably right," Christine responded quietly, leaning back slightly so that their servant could set the silver tray of food down on the table. The servant was a younger woman that Raoul didn't recognize. "Who was she?" he asked after she had left, pouring Christine a cup of tea.

"Her name is Michelle. I hired her a week or so before…" she stopped quickly in the middle of her sentence.

Raoul looked up and saw the tears once again forming in Christine's eyes. "I'll make sure Emile has the horses ready so that we can leave later this afternoon," he said, trying to change the subject.

The day passed by, calm and uneventful; Christine and Raoul were both satisfied to have it that way. What Christine had begun to suspect after she became engaged to Raoul, she now found to be true. She no longer required the excitement that the Opera Populaire had once afforded her. She wanted the rest of her life to pass in this manner- simple days spent with the family that she loved. After all, she thought, there's nothing wrong with being normal. She made up her mind then to have a quiet life. She was successful in her endeavor, until the next week when the paper arrived.