Yay! Reviews! I love reviews! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement! Here is Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Paris, the City of Loners

It was complete and utter chaos once they arrived at the airport. There were fans everywhere and cameras both from television and magazines. Christine had never seen anything like it. They were either pressed up against the glass windows trying to catch a glimpse of them, or they were pushing the security guards trying to catch a handful of Erik or Joel's shirt.

No wonder Erik had insisted that she call him Michael at the book shop and wore sunglasses, not to mention his coat. Christine could see all his fans were teenage girls. All of them. And they were all screaming Erik's name, swooning or just plain screaming.

There were bodyguards for all of them, all of them very big and muscular, holding people out of the way. But it wasn't as if Joel and Erik were ignoring them, oh no. They both stood for pictures, signed autographs and shook their fan's hands.

But Christine couldn't stand and watch either, Lucy had told her that she needed to keep going and pushed her forward. At least, she didn't have people following her, which was a good thing.

Lucy led her to a waiting black car behind a limo. "Erik sends his apologies but he'll be busy for the rest of the day."

Christine nodded. "What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?"

Lucy opened the door of the car and practically pushed her in. "Have a pleasant day." Then she took off back into the airport.

The driver of the car got out and took the luggage that she had in her hands. He greeted her and put them in the trunk. She had no choice but to get inside when the man held the door for her.

She sat inside and saw the car was probably worth more than her whole apartment. It had leather, DVD player, speakers, and wooden panels. Not to mention it was almost like a limousine with a seat facing her. As soon as the driver was inside, the car took off and Christine finally noticed the young man sitting in front of her.

"Bonjour, Christine Daaé, I presume?"

Christine nodded. "Yes, who might you be?"

"Jacques, I am 'ere to give you the tour of our fair zity. 'Ze Record Label contracted me to show 'ou aroun'."

"What about the others?"

"'Ze ozers weel be very, very buzy for 'ze day. Publicity and such. Soon, I am told 'ou weel be also, that iz why you must take zis opportunity and sightsee as much as possible."

He was right, Christine shrugged. "Okay. Where will we go first?"

"Do 'ou have a particular place een mind?"

Christine shook her head.

"'Zen we weel go to le Louvre." He turned and started speaking French to the driver. Turning back to her, he said. "Louvre is a beautiful museum, mademoiselle, you might like some of ze paintings there."

That wasn't true. She liked every one of them. It was a very tourist filled day. After the Louvre they went to lunch across from the Eiffel tower, then walked to a nearby park, to the tower itself and after that they went to the Arc de Triomphe.

Jacques seemed to know a whole lot about everything. Christine would ask questions and he would answer them. More than once Christine looked at his hands to make sure he wasn't reading from flash cards or something.

Jacques just laughed. "I am a history major, Mademoiselle," was what he had told her.

Then they made their way back to the car, Christine bursting with energy she didn't know she had. She had heard of jetlag but none seemed to catch up with her.

"Mademoiselle, we will drop you off at ze hotel, its very late."

Christine glanced at her watch. "But it's only three."

Jacques smiled. "Eet's eight in the evening."

"Oh," Christine smiled sheepishly and set her watch to the current time. No wonder she wasn't tired. That and she slept more than ten hours on the plane.

Christine looked outside her window and watched as the sun disappeared behind the buildings. It was most definitely night-time.

Jacques seemed a nice enough guy, he was always answering her questions and making jokes which Christine most enjoyed. They really bonded, it was good to have a friend in France, now she wasn't alone.

During the day she would think about the way Erik just dumped her. She was mad for a while about that. But her anger faded, she couldn't stay mad with him, after all he did give her own personal tour guide. She was grateful for that.

But the fact that he didn't warn her that she was going to spend the whole day by herself was what made her mad the most. She stopped feeling so angry towards him knowing that it was the same way she felt with Raoul and that was the reason they broke up.

She wouldn't let that happen again.

They arrived at the hotel and Christine was left absolutely speechless. I was just so beautiful. There were marble floors everywhere. Statues of women adorned the walls. There were chairs with the most expensive fabric Christine had ever seen. There was even a chandelier over a small table arranged with flowers.

She followed Jacques as he pulled her small luggage by the wheels. Christine only carried her Louvre pamphlet, the bag from a gift shop in the Eiffel Tower and the hat on her head that she got from there.

She was so busy looking around the hotel lobby with her mouth hanging open that she almost bumped into Jacque and the concierge. Jacques spoke to him in rapid French and the concierge nodded. Jacques handed the man her bag and turned to her. "Well, Mademoiselle, this iz where I leeve. Louis, the concierge weel show 'ou to your room. I hope 'ou enjoyed today."

Christine nodded. "Yes, I did. Thank you, Jacques."

Jacques took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "It's been a pleasure, Mademoiselle. Perhaps we weel see eech other again."

Then he left Christine and the concierge by themselves in the lobby.

She followed the concierge to the elevator and they went up to the top floor which was the sixth floor.

They went down the extravagant hallway and Christine suspected that most of the stuff there had to be gold.

The concierge led her to a room where two large white wood double doors blocked their entrance. He took a card from his pocket and placed it in the slot. The light turned green and they went inside as soon as he handed her the key card.

Christine again was left breathless.

The room seemed so old. There were antique furniture everywhere almost all of them was white wood with gold trimming. The borders had painted flowers. The windows, she suspected led to a balcony because it reached all the way to the floor.

There were lace curtains under a light blue velvet curtain on top. The bed was huge and the comforter was the same color as the drapes light blue. There was two bureaus, one she suspected had the television, while the other was most likely where she had to keep her clothes.

The concierge turned on different lights and Christine could see the hotel room was almost as big as her apartment. The concierge turned to his right and Christine followed. "Mademoiselle, this is the restroom."

Christine looked inside and saw almost everything had to be marble including the bathtub. There was a shower in the curtain with gold holding the glass together. Over the bathtub was a window with lace white curtains.

She ran into the bathtub and looked at the view from the window. It was the Eiffel Tower lit up. "Wow."

"The bath crystals are all complimentary from the hotel as are the soaps, conditioner shampoo and candles."

Christine smiled with glee as she jumped out and looked at the bathroom counter. There was lotion and toothpaste and even more candles.

The concierge left the restroom and Christine followed.

He opened the doors to the balcony. "These doors face south and has a nice breeze every once in a while." He opened one of the bureaus to reveal a television with satellite. "There is a complimentary breakfast every morning from six to ten downstairs in the main restaurant. There is also dinner from five to eleven. Room service is open twenty-four hours. The spa and such have special hours which are displayed on the pamphlet next to the telephone."

Christine thanked him as he went on his way out. When she asked if he wanted a tip, he said that it was all taken care of. Then he left, leaving Christine alone in her lavish hotel room.

Christine fought all urge to jump on the large bed but gave in. She ran to it and threw herself on it. Never in a million years had she imagined herself in a place like that. Christine, the daughter of a poor violinist who only played at fairs and at churches, it was like a fantasy.

Everything seemed so surreal and she screamed into a pillow with glee.

After five minutes of imagining she was rich and could afford such things, she walked to the restroom to look at the spectacular view. As she passed the double doors she noticed a vase full of blood red roses.

She walked to it and upon closer inspection she saw that there was a note inside. She looked inside and recognized the neat black writing. To Christine, I hope you have a pleasant time in Paris, Erik.

She took a rose in her hand and inhaled the sweet fragrance, then she started to dance to the bathroom singing her father's favorite song.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive."

She opened the drawers underneath the TV and found a radio. She went into her bag and fished out her CD and put it in. She wasn't one for country music but for Faith Hill she made an exception.

It was while Faith was singing with Tim McGraw in their duet that she heard a knock on her door. She went to the door and opened it to find Erik on the other side with a smile on his face.

"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle," he said taking her hand and kissing her knuckles like almost everyone else had done.

Christine smiled and said the only thing she had learned the whole day. "Merci, Monsieur."

"Are you enjoying your day so far?"

Christine nodded and moved to the side so he could enter.

He did and she shut the door. "Thank you for the flowers."

He shrugged and looked around the room. "I felt bad for just leaving you there by yourself."

Christine passed him to shut off her radio. "Don't worry, I completely understand." Then she continued to put her clothes in the spare dresser. She was glad that she decided to put her undergarments away first. "Besides, I had fun. Jacques knew everything about everything."

Erik smiled as he made his way to the balcony. "I heard he was the best."

When Christine was done, she remembered the present. "Wait, I got you something." Christine took the bag in her hands and fumbled through it.

"Christine, you didn't have to get me anything."

Christine only laughed. "It's nothing big or anything, when I saw it I knew I had to get it for you."

Christine took it out and gave it to him. It was a hat, a foam replica of the Eiffel Tower about a foot big. He placed it on his head and Christine laughed as hard as she could.

Erik looked at his reflection. "I kind of like it."

Christine held her sides. "You look better in it than I do."

"Oh really?" He took the hat from his head and placed it on her's.

Christine smiled as large as he had. He pinched her cheek. "Cute as a button."

Christine laughed as she handed it to him. "It's for you."

"Thank you, dear," Erik said to her. "I trust you already ate dinner?"

Christine nodded. "Jacques knows all the best places. It was exquisite."

"Great, then," Erik said. "Tomorrow you will go to Palais Garnier to begin the video."

"Already?" Christine asked him.

Erik nodded. "Tomorrow is the only day we get the Opera House empty."

"Will you be there?"

Erik shook his head. "I have to make some appearances but I will be with you the next day at the studio all day filming also."

"Studio?"

"The exterior shots and some of the hallways will be shot at the Opera House but there are more complex scenes that will be shot in a studio in Orly."

"Oh," Christine said in understanding.

"Would you like me to be there?"

Yes, her mind shouted. "Well, you'll be busy, besides you don't have any shots there, do you?"

"No, I don't. The Opera House is a little too..." he searched for the right word,"…bright for my scenes."

"Well, then we'll get together the day after that," Christine said smiling.

Erik smiled at her proposal. "Good night, then, mon ange. Shall we meet together tomorrow for breakfast? Say, seven?"

Christine smile as she followed him to the doors. "I wouldn't miss it."

At the doors, he turned and kissed her cheek quickly as if he had quickly made up his mind.

Christine smiled at his shy gesture.

"Sweet dreams," he said against her ear.

"You too, Erik," she replied.

Then he left, leaving Christine with a smile on her face.

I don't know why but when someone says "Paris, the city of lovers" I get reminded of the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Disney. One of the songs, the gargoyles starts to sing, the first line is. "Paris, the the city of lovers is shining this evening, true, it's because it's on fire, but still there's l'amour" and he eats a sausage. I always found it funny.
I know there's a lot of fluff and I'm not one to write a lot of fluff (angst is so much better) Unfortunately there is a reason there is a lot of fluff...that's all I'll say.
katie, I'm sorry but at the speed I'm going you guys still have to catch up the ten chaptersI have already written and I'm not even remotely finished. I'm not suprised if it's a seventy chapter story the rate i'm going. I wrote these in March I was/am sixteen, I'll be seventeen very soon...
Did you guys get the "City of loners" thing? Get it? It's the "city of lovers" but Christine was by herself and so it was the "city of loners"? Get it? Oh, the cleverness of me! (can't say i own that, I got it from Peter Pan)
Okay, Chpater Thirty is still to come: The Palais Garnier
If anyone is curious as to what hotel they are staying in, it's the Four Seasons, Paris. They have spectacular rooms and I thought that Erik would want nothing but the best.
Ten Reviews, and an update!