Being the avid Phantom of the Opera fan that I am, I have decided to write my first Christmas Phantom fic, and seeing as Carlotta is my favorite character, she shall be my "first victim"!

I just realized that I wrote "Paris Opera" in one of the previous chapters but it's always referred to as the Opera Populaire… oh well…

Disclaimer: I do not own most of these characters, just a few here and there that I have made up somewhere along the line, and you'll be able to pick those out easily. I do not own any of the songs in the story either, I just really really love them and find that often songs just fit in too well in my stories. I don't own any of the Shakespeare either. Please read & review, I am always open to any ideas and suggestions. On with the story!

Carlotta awoke the following morning to the sound of banging on her door.

"Signora Giudicelli! It is ten o'clock, Signora Giudicelli; you have an interview to give!"

It was Monsieur Firmin, one of the two managers of the Opera Populaire.

"Signora, please!"

Carlotta let the banging continue for a few minutes before standing up. Her head was pounding and she was in no mood for an interview. She made her way to the door and swung it open, only to be smacked in he face by Firmin, who was in such a state that he did not realize that the door had opened.

"Ugh!"

"Signora Giudicelli, I am so sorry!"

Carlotta mumbled something in Italian.

"Monsieur Firmin, I apologize, but I will not be giving an interview today. I am not feeling well."

Firmin paled.

"What's the matter Signora? May I get you anything? Do you need anything? Will you be better by tonight's performance?"

Carlotta's eyes narrowed as the events of the prior evening flooded back into her memory.

"I will be all right so long as I am not disturbed. Good day, Monsieur."

With that, she slammed her door in Firmin's face and returned to her rooms.

Five minutes later, Ubaldo Piangi slammed his own door in Firmin's face and demanded to be left alone as well.

Rumors about La Carlotta were flying all through the opera house. Some said that she had received a ghastly review in a paper and that was why she refused to leave the confines of her suite; others said that she was not in her suite at all and had abandoned the production. There were even those that said that she had had a lover's quarrel with Piangi. That particular rumor didn't last long, however, for Piangi (who did finally decide to leave his own suite) decked a chorus member in the jaw upon hearing it for spreading lies. La Carlotta was a mean and vicious woman, he declared, and he would have to be mad to be in a relationship with her.

A half hour before curtain, more and more people began to panic about Carlotta. She had been silent the entire day – not one outrageous demand, not one flying object, not one insult, nothing.

Suddenly, the door to her dressing room flew open and Carlotta was barking orders right and left. She was colder and more unsympathetic than usual. Within five minutes, those who could avoid Carlotta were avoiding here, and new rumors started to circulate; this time, the rumors all concentrated on flaws in her performance.

Just before making her first entrance, one of the rumors reached Carlotta's ears, and she silenced it with a backhand blow to a ballet rat's mouth. The girl ran from the wings crying and dripping blood, for her lip had been cut by rings on Carlotta's hand, but Carlotta was indifferent.

Tosca's anger and fury was intensified during the first two acts, as was her jealousy in the first act. Carlotta was still furious at Ubaldo, and Ubaldo was still furious at Carlotta. There was a hint of softness trying to come out of Ubaldo occasionally, but Carlotta's behavior seemed to make the softness disappear instantly.

Upon returning to her dressing room during the intermission before the third and final act of Tosca, Carlotta discovered another package and envelope in her dressing room. This package was silver and green and the wrappings themselves boasted elegance.

She picked up the card.

Day 2: Sweets for my sweet.

How comes it now, my love, oh how comes it

that thou are thus estranged from thyself?

Ah, do not tear away thyself from me!

For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall

a drop of water in the breaking gulf,

and take unmingled thence that drop again

without addition of diminishing,

as take from me thyself and not me too.

She set the card down and opened the package. Inside laid a box of fine truffles.

Truffles and Shakespeare. She instantly turned around and looked around the room in search of her admirer. She saw no one.

It was surely one of her usual admirers, she thought, only how had they managed to get things to her dressing room? Someone who worked at the opera house had unquestionably brought them to her dressing room when she was performing. There was no other explanation.

But who could it possibly be?

Just then, a stage hand knocked politely on her door.

"Five minutes, Signora Giudicelli".

Carlotta looked at the boy and for the first time that day, she smiled.

"Thank you, my dear".

The boy nodded in appreciation and scurried off, certainly surprised that Carlotta had not yelled at him or thrown an object at his head considering her usual temperament and her mood that day.

Carlotta looked at the chocolates and at the journal. Her eyes then came to rest on the roses that Ubaldo had brought her the night before.

Could it be Ubaldo?

She froze.

Could Ubaldo be the secret admirer? He had certainly been acting funny the night before. But what about the kiss? He had denied that it had meant anything. Ah, but he had a lot to drink, Lotta, as did you, said the nagging voice in the back of her mind. Could it be that he did not know how you would react, so he claimed that it was an accident, and you blew up because you had had too much to drink?

"Oh my goodness… Ubaldo!" she cried out.

How could she have been so blind? Of course it was Ubaldo! Of course he loved her! She had sensed it, no? And Carlotta had never been wrong about a man in her life. It had to be Ubaldo. There was no other option.

The giddiness from the night before filled her once again. How could she have ever doubted him? Oh, Ubaldo… Ubaldo, Ubaldo, Ubaldo! The man set her soul on fire. She had to find him before going back on stage; she had to find him to tell him that she loved him too.

Carlotta left her dressing room in such a rush that she nearly ran over a ballet rat. Ubaldo made his entrance from stage left, she knew, so that was where he would surely now be.

As Carlotta went to stage left, she heard a loud giggle and saw one of the chorus girls with her arms wrapped around someone, and she was kissing him so hard that she appeared to be sucking his face off. She stood transfixed by the gratuitous scene until the chorus girl withdrew her head to take a breath, and when she did so, Carlotta almost fainted.

The man that the girl was practically devouring was Ubaldo.

That night when Tosca leapt to her death, she took all of Carlotta with her, body, soul, and heart.