I felt the need to speed things up, so this is fast forward about two weeks. Just humor me and imagine that have had some more arguments and they've basically all ended the same way the ones I have written have. I've been getting a lot of questions asking me if this was going to turn out to be an E/C story. I hope this chapter will answer that question ;). Except for the first paragraph, this whole chapter is from Erik's POV.

Chapter Seven

Two weeks had passed, and each day Christine stayed, she had less and less will to leave. At times she was very resistant, but all her Angel had to do was sing for her. When he sang, she succumbed to his power and lived off his voice. Each day had the same rhythm as the one before. Christine would wake around 9:00, bath and change. They would have breakfast together, discussing the music they would work on for that day. Then they sang. He would sing for her. She would sing for him, exciting and inspiring each other. And then they would sing together. Their voices would melt into one, and for a moment, they became one body, releasing two magnificent sounds. Those moments were the reason Christine stayed with her Angel. Even if they only lasted a few minutes, she would stay with him for a thousand years, if only to experience it again.

Erik could not believe how well everything was turning out. Christine still thought of him as her "Angel" not a real man, but he would change that in time. Meanwhile, they surprisingly got along.

But he could tell her spirit was beginning to leave her. He knew she loved singing for him, with him, but she had another love: Performing at the Opera House. They worked on Don Juan Triumphant each day, and she sang it flawlessly. He felt that after all of this hard work, she should be the one to perform it, not Carlotta. He had gone up a few times over the past few weeks, and he was appalled to hear the Diva shrieking her way through "The Point of No Return." And so one evening, after her lesson, he approached Christine about returning to the opera house.

"My Dear?"

"Hm?" she lazily responded. She was lying on the couch, engrossed in a book from his library. She wore her white nightgown with the matching shear robe. In one hand she held the book, and with the other she twirled a tendril of hair around her delicate fingers. Candles burned directly behind her, her hair glowing; she was a Goddess.

"I wanted to talk to you about Don Juan Triumphant."

"Oh, what about it?" she responded, still reading.

"Will you be so kind as to put that book down for a moment?" he said, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, sorry, it was just getting really good."

Erik smiled. She was still a child; still fascinated by stories of princes on white horses. "How do you feel about performing the role of Aminta at the Opera House?"

"Oh! Could I? I'd love it so much! You'll really let me? Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she leaped over to him, and hugged him out of gratitude. He was in a brief state of panic. What should he do? Should he hug her back?

Suddenly his mind cleared, "Of course you should hug her back, fool! The girl is touching you out of her own free will, and your standing here like an idiot!", he thought.

He strongly embraced her, slightly lifting her off of her feet. "Would it really please you, Christine?" asked, snuggling his face into her curls.

"Oh, yes! Yes my Angel! Yes! Yes!"

Erik suddenly put her down, and placed his arms on each of her shoulders. He looked into her eyes. A wave of passion swept over him and he wanted to kiss her. Could he kiss her? Should he? Oh, how he wanted to! She softly looked back at him, but her eyes still had that fire. That fire she omitted through her voice. That fire that made him weak in the knees. She had hugged him; maybe she wanted to be kissed as well. He was tired tiptoeing around her feelings. She belonged to him, he knew it and she knew it. Throwing caution to the wind he leaned forward to kiss her lips. But as he lowered his head, he looked at her; she knew what he was doing. The smile dissolved from her face and her eyes were in a state of panic. Before he could stop himself, she lowered her head and his kiss landed on her forehead.

She had rejected him. She knew he wanted to kiss her, how he wanted to kiss her, and she turned her lips away. His heart sank. He could feel his checks begin to feel heavy.

Humiliated, he tried to play it off as if that were his intention, hoping she would buy his phony lie, "I'll take you up tomorrow, with a note for the managers instructing them that you will take over the role of Aminta. Good night."

Christine forced herself to smile at him, and went to her room. Frustrated Erik sat at his organ and began writing music, anything to take his mind off of the embarrassment he had experienced. How could he have been so stupid? Why would she want to kiss him? She could never feel that way about him, how could she? But didn't she realize how much he loved her? Wasn't it obvious? Why was he rejected, time after time? Why God! Why?

Suddenly she was standing next to him, gently massaging his face, the way she did the first time she tore his mask away. "Was she going to take it again?", he wondered. "Fine let her take it. I'm tired of hiding."

And as though she could read his mind she gently took the mask off and stared into his face. He closed his eyes, too terrified to witness her reaction.

And then Christine kissed him. She kissed him fully and completely with every ounce of strength she had to offer; her tongue intertwining with his, her lips softly grazing his skin. She kissed him as he had longed to kiss her. She pulled him out of his chair and stood looking at him face to face. She wasn't frightened.

"Good night my Angel", she softly whispered. She turned to leave, but Erik grabbed her by her shoulder and threw her back into his mouth. He violently grazed his tongue with hers; searching through, caressing every corner of her mouth. He grabbed her hips and flung them up against his. He could feel her hands stroking his face, traveling into his hair with desire. His eyes welled up with tears of joy, and without a care, he let them run. This is all he wanted in life! His Angel, her body, spirit, mind and voice, all to him! He feverishly continued kissing her, until he was breathless. He then slowly parted their lips.

Christine looked at him and saw a tear streaming down the deformed side of his check.

"Don't cry, my Angel", she soothed, kissing his tear away.

"Don't cry."

Erik and Christine kissing, as my buddy Martha would put it: "It's a good thing."

This is my favorite chapter so far. I had this idea when I was getting ready for bed the other night, but I didn't know yet where it would be in the storyline. I sat down to my computer, and thought, "Hmmm….what should happen next? Aw, screw it, I'm doing the kiss, damn it! This has gone on long enough!" I also wanted to address the musical aspect and answer the questions asked to me about whether Christine will perform again.

I'm afraid I won't be able to update for a while. I was so excited to post this chapter, but now I have no more, and have to write them (. That on top of school, sorority, and NCAA basketball season, they might be slow coming. But don't fret! I have a whole storyline planned out, so it definitely won't be abandoned!