Chapter 2

Nathan pulled his coat tighter around him as he walked back from another hard day on the job. One of the backdrops had fallen on stage during rehearsals, scaring the ballet girls out of their wits and sending the resident Diva into a screaming fit. Of course it wasn't his fault, He hadn't even been at his post! But the actors had to pin the blame on someone and a lowly young sceneshifter who happened to be close by would do nicely.

So he had gotten his head nearly bitten off by the managers while Mill. Jaclyn (the prima Dona) huffed and puffed hard enough to blow the opera house down.

He was surprised they let him keep his job at all.

He hoped Nattily had a better day than him. "I guess I'll find out when I get home won't I?" he thought.

A cold wind blew up the street and he shivered. As he trudged through the foot of new snow he thought he heard a moaning noise. "Probably the wind" But when he stopped to listen he realized that the sound was decidedly more human. He turned around and saw a girl slumped over in the snow just off in a small ally. She was not dressed for the cold; in fact he had never seen clothes like that before. She looked unconscious. Nathan walked over and bent down beside her. "Are you alright?" he asked. There was no reply. He brushed her long red hair aside. She was still breathing shallowly. She looked familiar somehow. He gasped and pulled his hand back in surprise. He couldn't believe it! He did know her. It was Claire!

Clare coughed and opened her eyes. The same bright green eyes he had loved all those years ago seamed to stare strait through him. "Claire? Claire can you hear me?" Her eyes tried to focus on him, but he saw no recognition in them. And then they were hidden again, as her eye lids slipped closed. She was unconscious again.

Nathan took his coat off and wrapped Claire up in it. Winter killed in Paris and she looked halfway to death as it was. He lifted her lithe body up in his arms and continued down to his home. Ware had she been all this time?

888

Nattily stirred the pot of stew slowly. To call it stew was a joke; it was just water with cabbage in it. She looked resentfully at it. She wished she and her brother had something more sustaining. He had a job that required strength and this bowl of mush wasn't enough to keep them healthy.

But she had to admit; She would rather be hungry and happy than full and ungrateful.

She and her brother had their problems but they still managed to find the good in life. They would probably be dead if they didn't.

Suddenly someone was pounding on the door. Nattily jumped and nearly knocked the stew over. She wiped her hands off on her apron and answered the door. Nathan had been kicking it, as his hands were full.

"Nattily get some hot water and some blankets" He commanded and walked past her, depositing his load on his bed in the corner.

"What's going on?" Asked the dumfounded girl as she filled a new pot with water and placed it on the stove.

Her brother was hunched over the person trying to get her under the covers.

"Nathan who is that?" She asked, frustrated that he would not answer her. She took the blanket off her bed and brought it over two him. When she saw the face of the person he had brought in she froze. Her eyes grew wide and she dropped the blanket.

Claire had not been seen in over two years. Even Nattily had stopped believing she would come back. Nathan grabbed the blanket she had dropped and covered the girl in it, tucking it is all around her.

"Nattily, the water is boiling. Please bring it here"

She nodded deftly and ran back over to the stove.

A/N

Claire is really Sarah, Incase you didn't catch on. Thank you for the reviews. They spur me on to write more! Hint hint ;) But for once I think this is the only fan fic that I have a basic plot for so that helps with updates too. Lol. Just so you know the phantom WILL be in this! I promise. But it will be much later. No one ells from the book or movie will though. Except for maybe Nadir.