A/N: Sorry for the slow updates. This chapter was tough for me… rewritten several times. The next few updates might be slow as we're drawing to a close and I really don't want to get this wrong.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the last few chapters. At the moment I haven't got time to reply to each person individually. I will in the next chapter.

Thank you once again and please read… please review… please enjoy

'Baby, I don't want to fall in love with you
I try, try, try but I can't get around the truth
Please don't say my name, give this heart a break
I don't want to make the same mistake but it's too late
I'll leave on the light' – Bon Jovi – Open All Night

Chapter 58- Closed Hearts…

He spoke to her like he hadn't seen her for years not wasting a single word, giving every one of them meaning or emphasis. To Christine It felt like they had loved each other all of their lives. She closed her eyes, letting the breeze sway her gently into Erik's body and she wondered if, perhaps, when she was young she had loved him in her dreams.

She thought so.

He told her about the events that unfolded all those nights ago, he described to her, in the way only he could, the sword fight. What Philippe had said, what he said and didn't say. Erik told Christine the way he felt, the way he was afraid but not because he would die but because he would never see her again.

Then, when he told her of them moment Philippe drew his pistol Christine gasped and pushed her body into his, needing to feel that he was still there, with her.

She felt so young, felt so good… she felt so alive.

Erik then explained what had eventually happened to Philippe, about the hospital and the story that Henry's colleagues had given when they arrived. When Erik slowly retold the moment he found out that Henry was alive she let the stream of tears she had been holding back trickle down her cheeks.

Antoinette Giry had saved Erik's life by being what she had always been to him, caring and firm. She had forced him to keep his eyes open and not surrender to his body's will to give in. She had cleaned the wound, removed the bullet and burned the flesh and skin to stop the bleeding and to prevent infection. After once more ensuring that it was clean she had bandaged it and told him that he must take care of it.

Erik had been living with the Giry's ever since.

They walked along to the end of the field, the soft wind touching their bodies as they lost themselves in conversation. When Christine turned around to look behind her she didn't recognise the scenery and she wondered how far they had walked.

'I was supposed to be waiting for Madame Giry,' she said suddenly and stopped walking.

Erik glanced at her and then pulled himself up carefully onto his stallion, wincing as the pain shot through his shoulder.

'She knows where you are,' he said and helped her up so that she could sit in front of him. As she nestled herself into the groove of his body Erik took the reigns in front of her and gently nudged the horse forward.

Christine wondered what the horses name was and then she was amazed at the things that crossed her mind when she became nervous.

'How?' she asked, referring to Madame Giry's knowledge of her whereabouts. She asked but shedidn't need to... she already knew the answer

'She brought you to me,' Erik smiled and she nodded her head slowly and let out a small sigh.

She looked around her with the realisation that the night was slowly closing in around them, she knew that soon she would have to go home and wondered what would happen after she did.

Was this real? Had everything that had happened to her over the course of three years real?

They turned the corner closest to the town as they left the park and moved around the streets under the cover of near blackness. Erik's body was warm behind her and it was comforting in the chill of the night. It was remarkable how cold it could get so quickly.

'Christine,' he said, his voice was so quiet she wondered whether she had heard it at all.

'Are you okay?' she asked and she felt his chest heave.

'No,' he said but it wasn't angry, it was gentle.

'Erik...' she said but stopped herself. She knew what was happening as he pulled the horse to the side of the cobblestone road, ending the clicking of its hooves.

'Will you be okay to walk from here?' he asked.

She knew that her home was only around the corner but her heart was far, far away.

'I...' she began. 'Yes.'

He helped her down from his horse before jumping back on and turning him around. Erik glanced down at the shadow of Christine and then he closed his eyes. She watched him as he squeezed them tight, gripped the reigns of the horse in his hand and took a deep breath.

'I'm sorry for all of this, Christine,' he said, letting the air out of his lungs slowly. Suddenly she knew what it was to be hurt by the sound of her own name.

'It's okay,' she said, holding back her heart break as the white of Erik's mask shimmered through her tears. She could barely see him but she knew he was looking at her.

'Will you...' he started but Christine didn't let him finish, she turned on her heels and bolted over the cobbles and around the corner, out of sight.

Erik watched after her shadow, as she disappeared, he knew she was crying and his his heart pulled hard in his chest... he sighed and was only glad that he couldn't hear her sobs.