Disclaimer: I do not now nor ever shall own The Phantom of the Opera. This fic conatins suggestion, but no actual sex

Playing House

By Catnip

Meg Giry always noticed that her best friend, Christine Daae, operated like clockwork. Every morning right at 8:00 am Christine would meet Meg and their friends for breakfast. 9:00am to 12:00pm was spent in the ballet room working on technique, then lunch. From 1:00pm to 4:00 the chorus would practice on stage with the performers, and then they would have tea, and finish up rehearsal at 6:00pm before taking dinner. Now this was not at all unusual, at least it shouldn't have been, however Christine always left dinner promptly at 7:45pm usually chiming "I like to be in bed by 8 O'clock." It was strange to Meg why Christine insisted on going to bed so early each night. Of course it was a strenuous career, being a dancer, but Meg usually had enough stamina to keep her awake until 10:30 or 11:00pm on most nights. Even though it was queer Meg usually ignored it, and simply enjoyed her days with Christine and let her have the nights to sleep away as she wished.

Christine was a bad liar, and she knew it. However she was thankful that Meg didn't ask questions, at least not aloud. Still Christine grew more and more nervous of her friend's suspicions. But it wasn't as if she was exactly lying, at least not anymore. At first her reasons for going to bed early was meant to cover up her secret music lessons, but as time went on and her relationship with her mysterious teacher evolved, her reasons for covering up her time became different. Now she wasn't technically lying at all, when she would say "I like to be in bed by 8 O'clock" she was telling the truth. She did, however, on all occasions neglect to specify whose bed she would be staying in.

"Erik, Erik love I'm here" Christine entered into the underground lair and chimed quite casually.

Erik was sitting in the far corner of his workshop scrawling a design on a spare sheet of parchment when he looked up and saw Christine bounding toward him with a wide smile engraved on her mouth. Erik rose and embraced her as he received her into his long arms.

"I missed you today" he whispered into her ear

"I missed you too my love" she replied placing a kiss on his jaw, and then turning to meet her face with his.

Erik sighed, like a great release, 'she was here, she was his, and he could hold her now like he had wanted to do for years.'

"You look tired" she remarked

"I am, I haven't eaten in a while, I've just been in here all evening" he said

"You haven't eaten? Well come, let me make you some supper, and we can sit by the fire" She said as she began to lead him out of the room.

He let out a small chuckle; her attentiveness to him was never unwanted

"No no, not yet my darling, come sit with me for awhile, then we'll eat." He replied pulling her back to him. Christine smiled, sat down on his lap, and kissed him sweetly.

"I love you" he said.

Christine smiled greatly, and enjoyed the vibrations of his voice when he said that, but before she could speak further Erik took her lips with his and enveloped her into his arms.

That was just the beginning. It always started out this way, subtle and gentle at first, then it became powerful as they would struggle against each other and Christine would submit letting Erik overtake her. She straddled herself over Erik's hips and began to kiss him more intensely than before. He stood up, carrying Christine with him, her legs wrapped around his waist, his arms behind her back, and both of them in a passionate kiss.

Christine felt her heart jump; she gasped and breathed heavily on him.

"bedroom" he heard her mumble

"No, right here" he instructed, she almost swore she heard a growl in his underlying tone, but she only smiled at his command. To Christine nothing, no other feeling in the world could compare to what it felt like to be loved by Erik, to be his; his partner, his match, his everything.

Erik sat her down on the edge of his desk, a large cherry colored piece that was strong and durable. Christine pulled him closer and lied down; bring him up onto the desk with her. He began to explore her body as the clothing came off. His hands ran over her body, her shoulders, torso, breasts, and hips; all conquered, but fresh and new each and every time he laid eyes on her. Christine broke their kiss and began to tear off the waistcoat and shirt that he wore. Once those barriers had been removed he swept the desk of any papers and objects that might have interfered, then brought himself onto the desk completely, and pinned Christine down to its cool surface.

"Be careful love, I thought you liked this desk"

"I do" he said "I'll like it even more from now on"

Erik always thought that having Christine in his life was a sort of repayment for all the sufferings he had endured as a child and a young man. She fulfilled every need of his, every desire; his music, companionship, not to mention several other needs that attend on a man. Putting all that aside however Erik thought of her more as a blessing. This occurred to him as he lounged upon Christine's shoulder and she stroked his hair as she commonly did. For years he had sought this girl out, fallen in love with her and prayed hoping God would hear him, and allow her to be his wife. He wanted her, only her, and like everything else in his life he expected resistance, confrontation, a struggle of some sort. But that wasn't the case. Christine came to him willingly and openly. Opera house or no, this was her home now, he was her real home. Christine was fine with that. She adapted so quickly to him, he was amazed. Before he could think twice she knew every secret of his under ground home, every passage, door, switch, which part of the lake was safe to swim in, and which wasn't, how to navigate to any part of the opera house, she even figured out how he managed to keep lit candelabras inside the lake.

Christine was the mistress of his world, the world he had created just for her. "That's the way it is for us now" he thought, "and that was the way it will always be."

Author Comments: This is loosely based on the 2004 picture. I'm not going to repeat the common events of the movie because chances are you know them all too well. I really want to go a different route with this and following those series of events exactly will only get in the way. The very purpose of this is to tell the story in a uniquely different way.

This is my first POTO fic. I have reviewed many, because I'm a huge fan, and until a few days ago I had no intention at all of writing another fan fic. I got the idea for this and couldn't resist writing again. I wrote my last in 2003, and since then have had no desire to ever write fan fiction again. Now if you've looked at my profile, read any of my other fics and thought "What the hell?" well I don't blame you, out of all of those I think I only actually like two of them. But I really want to know what you all think, so leave a review please.