From Heaven's Mind

Chapter Eleven

Erik glared at the airport announcements board.

Cancelled. His flight had been cancelled. Furiously he crossed to the payphone and called the house, dreading to think what Christine would have to say about this.

Christine didn't know anything about it. She was at work, struggling through the aria and on the point of screaming in frustration.

"No! Christine, start again and give me that high C straight away!" James shouted. She ground her teeth and waited for the piano introduction. James looked as though he were about to start pulling his hair out.

"Forget it! We'll finish on Monday, everyone get out!" He shouted.

Christine ran her hands through her hair. She was extremely relieved about the early finish on Fridays. Another morning like this and she might just go insane. As she put her things away, her mobile phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Mrs Destler, its Peter." Christine was surprised. The servants rarely rang her mobile.

"What's up?"

"We got a call from Mr Destler. His flight has been cancelled and he's trying to book another but it's not looking hopeful." Peter said nervously.

Christine closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again.

"OK. Thanks Peter, I'll call him."

"You're welcome." He hung up and Christine rubbed her forehead. Well. This was just perfect wasn't it?

"Hey Christine, want to come to the pub for lunch?" Max asked. Christine shook her head.

"Meg and I are having lunch."

"OK, see you later then."

Christine sat in the living room of 42 Jameson Street as Meg handed her a sandwich.

"Here. It's your favourite. Tuna, mayonnaise and lettuce on rye bread." Meg smiled brightly. Christine smiled.

"Thanks Meg."

Meg sat opposite with her own sandwich and said,

"What did Erik say?"

"He doesn't think he's going to be able to get another flight." Christine said miserably. "I'll have to wait until next weekend to see him."

"That sucks."

"It sucks big time."

Christine bit viciously into her sandwich as Meg turned the television on. She froze and swallowed the mouthful hastily.

"Meg, is the mayo off? This tastes weird." She said, wiping her mouth in disgust. Meg shook her head.

"My sandwich is the same and it tastes fine." She said. Christine put her sandwich down and looked at her friend.

"Meg… I need to tell you something."

"That sounds ominous." Meg grinned and then saw the look on her friends face. "What is it?"

Christine took a deep breath.

"You can't tell anyone about this, OK?"

"OK. What is it?" Meg said seriously, worried by Christine's manner. Christine swallowed hard, breathed deeply again and said quietly,

"I think I might be pregnant."

This took a moment to sink in. Meg stared at her.

"What?"

"I might be pregnant."

"Did you take a test?" Meg asked quickly.

"Two. Last night."

"What did they say?"

"That's the problem! One said that I was and one said that I wasn't." Christine said irritably. "For god's sake, make up your mind!"

"OK, don't worry about it. Eat your sandwich and I'll call the doctor. They've probably got more accurate tests." Meg said, reaching for the phone. Christine bit her sandwich again and then shuddered.

"Seriously, Meg, this is disgusting."

"Give it here." Meg said, taking the sandwich. She bit a chunk off and shrugged. "Tastes fine to me. Of course it could be your crazy pregnant hormones."

"Maybe it's one of those phantom pregnancies." Christine suggested.

Meg looked at her and burst out laughing. Christine stared.

"What's funny?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I just… Erik and the mask… phantom pregnancy!" Meg giggled. Christine looked at her and then couldn't help smiling at her unconscious joke.

"That's terrible, Meg!"

"Hey, you said it!"

"Just call the bloody doctor." Christine chortled.

Erik threw his suitcase bitterly onto the floor and sank into a chair, holding his head in his hands. All week he'd been waiting for this and his hopes had been dashed. He wouldn't see Christine for another week.

His headaches were getting worse, despite the prescribed medicine. Yes, Tony had finally convinced him to see a doctor. And don't for one minute think that that had been an easy task. The doctor's opinion that the headaches were stress related was expected. Erik had had this problem before. Erik swallowed two pills and went to the shower, switching it on viciously and standing in the hot force of the water. His headache slowly ebbed away and Erik put on some comfortable clothes before settling at the piano to play something relaxing.

The telephone rang but Erik let the machine get it. There was a beep and a female voice spoke.

"Hi, Mr Destler? It's Kelly Delaney here. Sorry to bother you but I think I left a bag at your apartment. You've got my number, so if you could call and let me know when it'd be OK to pick it up, that'd be awesome. Thanks."

He picked up the phone just before she said goodbye.

"Hello Miss Delaney."

"Oh, hey! I didn't think you'd be in, I thought you were going to England."

"There's been an unforeseen change of plan. I'll be here this weekend. You can pick your bag up when it is convenient for you." Erik said, glancing at the bag under the kitchen table. He'd briefly noticed it that morning but hadn't taken it in.

"Well, I'm free tomorrow afternoon at about three. Can I come by then?"

"That's fine."

"I'll see you tomorrow then." She said cheerfully. Erik put the receiver down and stretched. His back ached, probably from being hunched over paperwork for too long that morning.

He wanted to see her. He wanted to be with Christine right now, wanted to be able to reach out and pull her into his arms, to kiss her, to smell her, to simply have her nearby. Even when they'd been working in the Opera House together they had spent hours apart, but he always knew that she was close, that he could still just call to her and she would come to him.

It made all the difference in the world, that knowledge.

Christine sat nervously in the doctor's office, waiting for the result of her test. The doctor was a pretty woman called Doctor Pine.

"Does the father know there is a possibility of your pregnancy?" Dr Pine asked.

"No… no, he's working in New York. He was supposed to come home yesterday but his flight got delayed. I'll be seeing him next weekend." Christine explained.

"OK. Now, let's see…"

Doctor Pine took the test and examined after a moment. She put it to one side and wiped her hands on an antibacterial wipe. And then she smiled.

"Congratulations, Mrs Destler. That's a positive test. You're pregnant. I'd say about two weeks so far."

Christine stared at her. Her smile faded slightly.

"Would you like me to get your friend?" Christine nodded dumbly and Doctor spoke to the receptionist on the intercom. Meg came rushing in, looking like an avenging angel.

"Christine?" She said, kneeling beside her friend's chair. Christine nodded again and Meg smiled.

"You are? You really are?"

"Yes." Christine said weakly. "I can't believe it…"

"It's always a big shock. I'll let you two talk for a moment and get you some pamphlets and things. Then we can talk about making some hospital appointments for scans."

Meg clutched Christine's hands.

"Aren't you happy?"

"I… I don't know. I'm just… Meg, I'm going to have a baby. A person is sitting inside me, a real person."

"Christine, you're going to be a mother." Meg said softly. "You're going to have a baby; you're going to be a mummy."

"I am… Meg, I'm going to be a mother."

An explosion of joy, terror and love at the thought rushed through her and she squeezed Meg's hand as Dr Pine returned. She smiled at the pair.

"Here are some things you'll need now. Diet, preparations, that sort of thing. There are also a few books you might want to read, they're available at the local library. I'll send your file to the hospital and they'll contact you about scans."

"Thanks Doctor Pine." Christine smiled, taking the leaflets.

In the car on the way home, Christine said,

"Meg, promise me you won't say anything about this to anyone. Not before Erik knows."

"Of course not. Not even Tom could force this out of me."

"I can't believe the baby doesn't like tuna. I love tuna. If I'm not allowed to eat tuna for nine months I'm going to be one grumpy pregnant lady." Christine said sadly. Meg laughed.

"Don't worry! Maybe you'll get over it. You just worry about the morning sickness."

"Well, that's just perfect. Hopefully I won't start to show too much before the opera finishes. I'll be four months gone by the time we finish."

"Maybe Jun will be able to alter the clothes so you don't show too much." Meg suggested. Christine nodded, glancing through the leaflets.

But before anything came the hardest part. Telling Erik. She couldn't do it over the phone. It'd have to wait until she went to New York the following weekend.

Christine didn't know whether to be excited or terrified. So she settled for a healthy mix of both.

Erik got up from the piano as there was a knock on the door. Kelly Delaney stood in the hallway and she smiled at him.

"Hi. Sorry for being so stupid, I couldn't believe it when I got home and realised I'd left it here."

"It's not a problem." Erik assured her. "You're lucky my flight was cancelled."

"It was? You must be so disappointed."

He nodded and she patted his arm.

"There's always this weekend, right?"

"Yes. There is." It was the only thing he was clinging to at that particular moment in time. Kelly smiled and Erik said,

"Would you like a drink?"

"Sure, what have you got?"

"Tea, coffee, several alcoholic beverages, although I don't tend to indulge in them during the day."

"Coffee'd be great." She said, slipping onto a stool. Erik found a box of cookies that Christine had bought when she had been there last. She had a sweet tooth and Erik usually made sure there was something for her, but had forgotten that time.

"Cookies? You don't really seem like a cookie-munching kinda guy." Kelly teased, taking one.

"They're Christine's. I'm not particularly fond of biscuits." Erik admitted. "And it doesn't help with Christine teasing me that they'll go… what was the phrase? 'Straight to the thighs' were her exact words, I believe."

Kelly snorted in laughter and glanced down.

"Your thighs look fine to me." She smiled. Erik shifted uncomfortably.

"She only says it to make me feel awkward."

"I think it may be working." Kelly said, that tiny smile growing slightly as her eyes glittered. Erik hurriedly began to make coffee. Kelly watched, allowing herself to admire him.

"May I ask you something, Mr Destler?"

"You may. I can't promise I'll answer." He said vaguely.

"Why do you wear a mask?" She asked, leaning on the counter with folded arms. Erik straightened, plugging the kettle in.

"Because there isn't a reason not to." He said calmly.

Kelly lifted an eyebrow.

"Care to be a little vaguer?"

"My main reason, Miss Delaney, is because I like to be different. In my particular line of work it takes a lot of originality to become superior. I wear the mask to remind me that I am different and because I feel different, I am able to direct differently." Erik said, spooning coffee into the machine. Kelly looked at him closely for a moment.

"That's very… eccentric."

"As Nadir likes to put it, I can afford to be eccentric. If you saw someone in the street dressed in a mask you'd write him off as mentally disabled or idiotic. Give him a few bank notes and he becomes eccentric."

"Well, aren't we feeling philosophical today?" She teased. Erik smirked.

"As Bertrand Russell put it 'A philosopher is a person who never feels badly after he has made an ass of himself.'"

Kelly laughed as he poured hot water.

"God, you're amazing. You are definitely one of a kind."

"I'm glad you think so."

"My opinion counts?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't it?" He said. "Milk and one sugar, correct?"

Nadir returned from London on Tuesday. Christine was already home from work and sat in the living room, pouring intently over a book. Nadir entered silently and tried to see the title of the book but couldn't.

"Christine?" She looked up sharply and then smiled, slipping the book into her bag.

"Nadir! How was London?"

"Frustrating. Honestly, it's like these people aren't willing to do everything my way!"

"Shocking." She agreed in a mock-solemn voice. He smiled and they hugged.

"What are you reading?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing in particular. I had some spare time this weekend so I thought I'd go to the library." Christine said, sitting down.

Nadir looked surprised.

"Spare time? You mean Erik let you leave the bedroom long enough?"

"Nadir!"

"What?" He said innocently. Christine scowled.

"I expect that sort of talk from Max, but not from you! And Erik didn't come home. His flight was cancelled and he couldn't get another one." She said, tucking her feet underneath her on the sofa, not meeting his eye. Nadir sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"I'll be seeing him this weekend though. And I'm determined to make it up to him." She said firmly. Apparently this came out a lot more suggestive than she meant it to because Nadir snorted and she threw a cushion at him.

Unfortunately Nadir was a lot brighter than appearances would suggest. He soon figured out what was going on. Christine wasn't sure whether it was the new diet, the pregnancy leaflets he found in the desk drawer or the fact that two days later her morning sickness started. Anyway, he put two and two together. She emerged weakly from the bathroom having deposited the contents of stomach in toilet and found Nadir waiting with a cup of tea.

"Pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Erik doesn't know?"

"No."

"You're telling him this weekend?"

"Yes."

"Oh… OK."

She only hoped that telling Erik would be so easy.

Erik watched the first act and then stopped them.

"Carol, move the dancer left three paces and start from the second pirouette. Michelle, that was good but I want to hear a little more emotion in the first verse. Go from the beginning." He called. Tony said,

"It's starting to come together well."

"Hmm. This act anyway. The second and third are still up in the air."

"We can start act 2 next week. This one is practically done. Why not just do a run through of this first thing and then start new material late morning?"

"Yes, we'll do that." Erik agreed.

He left the Opera House pleased with the day's work and considerably more relaxed than he had been in recent times. He had a few pieces of paperwork to finish that evening and then Kelly Delaney was coming to see him with a few final details for her article. He suspected that she now felt more comfortably around him and wanted to see if she could get more in depth answers. And he didn't particularly have a problem with that. He rather enjoyed the company. It was all very well burying yourself in paperwork but he still needed contact with the human race occasionally.

Kelly arrived at 7:30 with a bottle of wine and a packet of cookies.

"So Christine doesn't think you ate all the others and start warning you about your chubby thighs." She winked. Erik frowned and glanced down at his thighs rather self-consciously. Kelly laughed and handed him the wine.

"I'm kidding, Mr Destler."

"I hope so or you can certainly take your questions elsewhere." He grumbled. Kelly sat down and flipped open her notebook, as well as placing a tape recorder on the surface. She didn't want to miss anything.

Erik poured them both wine and answered her question truthfully, elaborating considerably more than he had at their previous meetings. Kelly noted down most of it, letting the recorder get the rest. This article was going to be a hit, she already knew it. How could you not be entranced by this man? She'd already selected a picture for the main page of the article. It was a headshot of Erik standing in front of the red velvet curtains of the Opera House, his mask glinting mysteriously in the light and his eyes half cast into shadows that made the pupils seem depthless.

Kelly looked at him as he refilled their wine glasses. She couldn't stand this. Being so close to him and yet not being able to touch him. She wanted to run her hands through his hair, to kiss that perfectly shaped mouth, to peel that mask away and caress the skin beneath it.

Soon, she thought as she accepted her wineglass with a smile that he returned, if only briefly.

Soon.

And it would be soon. Sooner than he knew. Because Kelly was done with waiting.

Friday was one of those dismal autumn days where it never seemed to stop raining. Erik walked home quickly. He had plans for tonight. Christine was due in an hour and he had a lot to do.

Dinner was already in the oven. He had prepared it that morning and simply turned the oven on. Several bouquets of red roses lay on the counter. He set about preparing them and placing them strategically around the room. All those years of set designs had not failed him. He was determined to make sure that Christine would forgive him for the previous weekend. Although she had assured him over the phone that she already had, he would not take that for granted until she was in the room with him and he had seen the look on her face.

He adjusted the lights so they were bright enough to see by but dim enough to make the room seem romantic. Erik changed into black trousers and a red shirt, checking that he didn't need to shave, making sure that Christine's favourite wine was ready on the surface with two wineglasses beside it.

Nothing could go wrong tonight. Nothing.

By the time had had done this the hour had passed. How had time gone so quickly, he thought anxiously, checking the details again before putting on a CD of soft classical music. It filled the apartment and he stood by the window, getting a different perspective of it to make sure it looked right from every angle. He moved a vase full of roses to a different table, considered it, and then moved it back again.

Erik knew that he was fidgeting. But Christine would be here any moment and he couldn't wait. Two weeks? Why not just separate them for two years? It would be no less painful.

And then, to his delight, there was a knock on the door. Erik smiled and called for her to enter. His smile faded slightly.

"Miss Delaney?"

She looked at him, her eyes dark and smoky. She moved into the apartment and closed the door behind her.

"I had to see you." She murmured. Erik frowned. She was wearing an insanely tight dress, showing every contour of her body, her hair loose and soft. She looked incredible but Erik barely noticed. He glanced at his watch.

"I'm afraid you'll have to go, Miss Delaney."

"Erik, please…"

She moved towards him. Erik stepped back and she gazed at him.

"What's wrong with you, Erik? You can't say that you don't feel this between us." She said huskily. Erik stared at her. What the hell…? The woman was insane.

"There is nothing between us. I want you to leave."

"Don't say that…" She whispered, slipping her arms around his neck, a scent of perfume wafting over him. "Don't… I don't want to hold this back anymore…"

Her mouth pressed against his. For the briefest moment Erik was frozen with shock and then lifted his hands to push her away. But she broke off from her own accord and looked away.

Erik's heart went cold. He knew what she was looking at. He had heard the door open and, sure enough, when he looked at the doorway, Christine stood there, her face as pale as a ghost.

A/N: Longer chapter. Better cliff hanger! But a fast update so you can't complain! I've sat here for a good three hours churning this out!

Sorry for my crazy English lingo – the till is where you put the money from sales. It's got a different name in America but I'm sleepy and out of computer time. So leave a review and tell me how evil I am! Mwahaha!

Lotsa luv 'n' huggles

Katie