Summary: My take on the 2004 movie… with an added character. Not an Erik/OC, Erik/OW if that's what you are worried about, or thinking. Erik and Christine's relationship remains the same as it did in the movie, with nothing to complicate it… and I may let them be together in the end… It depends on how big a response I get from you, the readers. Madame Giry will feature in this more strongly than the other characters.
Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything belongs to Sir ALW, and Gaston Leroux. The only character I own in this is that of Philippe Caruso.
"Dance As If Noone Is Watching…"
Antoinette Giry looked at herself in her mirror with nervous eyes. She looked upon her deep purple gown, which seemed to shimmer in the little room's half-light. She looked upon her glossy hair, which floated down in loose curls from her stylish bun to frame her elegant face. She looked upon her carefully applied make-up, which seemed to add a glow to her unusually pale skin. She frowned at the reflection.
Who was she trying to kid?
She was not a twenty year old girl, awaiting her first date.
She was a widow. A mother. Her child was already seventeen, for goodness sake. And here she was, dressing up for a man, thinking that she actually had another chance at love. She didn't. Erik had made it a point to ensure she never re-married. He needed her to deliver his notes, and do his dirty work. Marriage would take Antoinette away from the Opera House. That did not correlate with Erik's plans, and Antoinette knew the cost of going against those plans. She had found out the day Pierre died.
She should not have agreed to go to dinner with Philippe. He was an innocent man, still sceptical about the existence of Erik. He did not deserve to feel the consequences of showing an interest in her, the Phantom's 'right-hand woman'. And admittedly, she had come to care for him.
Philippe was the only man since the death of Pierre that had noticed her as something other than the Phantom's 'lackey', and taken the time to befriend her; her! The plain, strict ballet mistress who moonlighted as the messenger of a murderous ghost. But she could not subject him to Erik's anger. Oh, no. She cared far too much to do that to him.
She would tell Philippe she had changed her mind.
A knock came at the door, and Antoinette sighed wearily, resigning herself to the fact that it could never be. She signalled for the visitor to enter; he did. The poor man seemed to be shocked into silence.
Her lips curled into a little smile.
She still had it.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he got there first.
"You look… utterly perfect, Madame."
She smiled silently, and lifted her head a notch higher, in preparation to tell him her decision regarding their 'relationship'.
"Are you ready to go, Antoinette?"
He smiled at her; a radiant smile, which seemed to light up the room.
She melted.
"I'll get my shawl."