"Love Comes To Those Who Wait"

By Nabira

CHAPTER 6

ISABELLA WAS VERY happy to be back at the Opera House at the end of November. Claude and his infernal questions were beginning to get on her nerves and Isabella missed Philippe immensely. She had only spoken to him twice since the beginning of the holidays – she had missed him nearly every time she had rung, and the same had occurred with him.

Curiously, however, Isabella could not locate Philippe anywhere in the vicinity of the Opera House. She searched everywhere she could think of that he might be, but after checking his office for the third time, she had come to the conclusion that Philippe was not at the Garnier.

Sighing sadly, Isabella returned to her dormitory. Where could Philippe be? she thought to herself.

Isabella was sitting down on her bed to pine for Philippe when a knock came at the door. Thinking it was the very person she had been looking for, Isabella threw herself at the door, opening it quickly.

She was surprised, however, by Monsieur Noverre standing at the door. "Monsieur," she stammered, as she recovered quickly from her disappointment. "What can I do for you?"

"Mademoiselle Chagny," he said, "I have come to ask a favour."

"Yes?" Isabella replied expectantly.

"Maurice Chardin has been given some time off over the Christmas break as his wife is about to have their first child," he informed her calmly. "We need another flute player to cover him while he is away and I was wondering if you would consent to do it."

Isabella didn't have to think about it for long. "Certainly," she replied. "How many performances are there?"

"Five," Noverre replied. "Two the week before Christmas, one on the twenty-second, one on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas night."

"Okay," Isabella replied, excited about the Christmas performances. "When are rehearsals?"

"They start tomorrow," said Noverre. "Nine am, on the dot."

Isabella grinned. "Great!" she replied. "I'll be there tomorrow."

"Thank you, Mademoiselle de Chagny," Noverre said as backed away from the door. "I'll let you get back to your unpacking, now."

Isabella shut the door and decided to use Noverre's idea. She somehow had gained a lot of stuff while in England and although she felt too lazy to unpack at this moment, it would give her something to do.

An hour later, after Isabella had finished all of her unpacking with still no sign of Philippe, she decided to once again go looking for the elusive man. I bet his great-great-grandfather wasn't this hard to put up with, Isabella thought with a giggle as she left her dormitory.

She still had no idea where Philippe might be and so headed back to his office hoping to find him there. She wasn't watching where she was going, however, and as she turned the corner that led to the office, she walked straight into a hard, muscular chest.

"I'm so sorry," she stammered, but as she looked up into the tall man's face, her eyes lit up with joy. "Philippe!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him.

Philippe laughed, his musical voice filling the room. "I've missed you, Bella," he said, a smile splitting his face.

"Where have you been?" Isabella asked, stepping back from Philippe. "I've been looking all over for you."

"I've been around," he replied, his eyes not quite meeting hers. "We've probably just missed each other every single time."

Isabella didn't catch the slight untruth, but Philippe did feel guilty nonetheless. He truly had been around, though he knew that Isabella would never have thought to look in the bowls of the Opera House. But Philippe contented himself with the thought that Isabella would find out what he was up to at Christmas.

"What have you been up to on your break?" he asked, leading her back to his office.

"Fighting with my brother most of the time," Isabella replied. "He's twenty-three years old, yet half the time he acts as though he's five!"

Philippe laughed. "And I bet Miss Nearly Nineteen spent half of her time rising to his bait and then acting as though she was only two!" he teased.

"That's not nice!" Isabella said, laughing. Philippe unlocked the door to his office and stood back to allow her to enter first. Isabella, however, stopped dead.

"I have something for you," she said at Philippe's curious look. "Stay here, don't move, I'll go and get it."

Philippe knew that Isabella wasn't joking and so he stood there, with the door half open, waiting for her to return. She was back in less than five minutes, carrying a plastic bag. She grinned at Philippe as she made her way through the door, sitting down on the couch while he shut the door.

"To escape from Claude while at home, I spent a lot of time in our attic," she said, smiling. "I found this, which I believe should belong to you." Isabella passed him the double picture frame, which Philippe immediately opened and gasped at the pictures inside. "Apparently it belonged to Erik," she explained. "There was a piece of paper inside it that Christine must have wrote, that explained that it was Erik's parents and that she 'rescued' it during one of Erik's temper tantrums."

Philippe was speechless and Isabella could understand why. Suddenly he had a tiny part of his family's history, a history that he had only ever known to go back to Erik. Isabella, on the other hand, had aristocratic heritage stretching back for a good ten generations at least.

"The other thing I have," Isabella said after Philippe had recovered, "Is Christine's diary. You might want to read it."

"Thank you, Isabella," Philippe said. "This means so much to me."

Isabella smiled. She was simply content that she had made Philippe happy.

-♥-

DECEMBER PASSED IN a blur, including Isabella's birthday. Her nineteenth was a quiet affair, including phone calls from family in the morning and dinner that evening with Philippe. Suddenly, however, she was on the fourth of five performances and ready to finish the Christmas performances.

The Christmas Eve performance was the busiest out of all the concerts Isabella had done as a part of the Opera Orchestra. It seemed to Isabella that going to the Populaire for the Christmas festivities was a tradition in many families, something that Philippe agreed with. After finding out that Isabella was to be a part of the performance, he had booked one of the boxes for all five performances.

Isabella could see him from her place on the stage and his presence calmed her. But she was around some of the most accomplished musicians in the world and felt quite embarrassed that she could be reduced to nerves in front of these amazing people.

The performance finished and fifteen minutes later, Isabella was moving back to her dormitory. She got a fright, however, when she found the man sitting on her bed, his golden eyes shining in the slight darkness.

"Philippe, you scared me!" Isabella said, laughing. Philippe smiled.

"I have a surprise for you," he told her, holding out his hand for her to take.

Philippe led her down the corridors and once again into the disused dressing room, pushing open the mirror and ushering her through.

Once again, they walked down the Old Commune Road, but this time it did not seem as scary. The lake, while it was still dark and treacherous, did not have that toxic quality it had once had.

Philippe moored the boat on the other side and helped Isabella out, his actions as gentle as a lamb. He paused, cheekily smiling at Isabella before he opened the door.

Isabella gasped. The lair, which had once been in a desperatestate of disrepair, now gleamed. The mahogany furniture was new and polished until it shined. There were new carpets, a new couch and a magnificent black piano sat in the middle of the main room, the feature of the area.

Philippe and Isabella sat on the couch, Isabella staring in wonder at the transformed abode and Philippe telling her exactly what had been changed. It wasn't until Philippe felt the firm press of Isabella's head on his shoulder and her gentle breath on his neck that he stopped. He didn't want to wake her.

Author's Note:

Very sorry about the long wait for an update, I had no idea how to start this chapter! Then I got stuck in the middle.

Good news is I have finished exams. Bad news is I go away in a week's time. But it's only for a week. I'm hoping to try and get a lot done on my stories in that time – both the ones that are half published and the ones that are in planning.

I am really looking forward to trying out the new 'reply to reviews' so please review!

Catch you all later,

Caitlin.