It took a while for all the reviews to get in. I blame this on the fact that classes for a lot of you have started. I'm glad that you guys like my story so much, this has inspired me continue writing. I am writing as fast as my imagination lets me and my fingers, too. I thank all of your encouragements, really thank you. (Erik says thank you, too) Rightnow I am in the middle of writing his point of view and well, lets just say that upping the rating is required. Almost all of your questions will be answered soon through that chapter and hopefully you will understand what is going on. Okay Chapter Thirty-Nine:

Forgiveness

Christine didn't call Raoul like Maria had suggested, she instead called Meg who told her that she had to be at a small airport at nine-thirty in the morning at a private hangar on Thursday. Christine didn't ask about Raoul and Meg didn't bring him up. It was as if he was dead.

She wasn't stupid, she knew she had to tell Erik about her going to New York. She decided that she would tell him that day.

Even though he had a CD coming out and he had to do a lot of publicity, he found the time to be with her. It was while they were watching television in her living room that she told him.

Though he was far from being normal, they did normal things like watch television with a pint of ice cream on their lap. Well, for Christine at least anyways.

"I read somewhere that ice cream makes you gain weight."

Christine looked at him with a fake gasp. "I resent that. Besides," she pointed to the label, "its fat free. Fat free equals guilt free, so there."

"Well at least eating of the carton will do something to you."

"Prevent me from washing dishes," she said shrugging.

"Christine…"

"All right, fine," she said standing up. "If it bothers you that much." As soon as she started to leave the room, his hand shot out and pulled her to him on the couch. Her legs went to the side where she had been sitting at and her head in his arms. He placed the carton of ice cream on the coffee table and pulled her to him, kissing her.

When he pulled away, he only looked at her. "You're so beautiful."

She smiled. "Thank you and you're so-"

He kissed her again, shutting her up.

When he pulled away, he whispered, "On Saturday we should go somewhere, anywhere you want to go."

Christine bit her lip and sat up. "Erik, I've been meaning to tell you. Well, you see, I'm going to New York."

Erik pinched his eyebrows in confusion. "New York?"

"Meg- you remember Meg, don't you?"

He nodded. "Little Giry. The little blond who was too curious for her own good."

Christine smiled. "She's getting married next Friday and I'm the Maid of Honor –Matron of Honor whichever it is."

"Megan Giry married?" He inquired. "Who's the lucky man?"

"Philippe de Chagny, Raoul's brother."

He nodded. "I always thought those two would get along together fine. He's just as nosy as she is. Once, I caught him near one of my trapdoors, it took a lot of me not to ki-"

He stopped and Christine thought it was a good idea.

He gingerly kissed her lips. "Forgive me, my angel."

Christine smiled sadly. It seemed as if his past would always be there. She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts, he was trying so hard to change.

"Maybe if you're not too busy, you'll join us?"

He thought about it for a moment. "But Christine, what if someone recognizes me as the Phantom? And they know where I am? Then they'll call the police-"

"Well," Christine said biting her lip again. "Come on, you're on every television set in America, whoever figures out then that you were the Phantom has to be pretty dense. Besides, everyone thinks you're kind of dead."

"Kind of?"

"Okay, dead."

"Yeah?" Erik asked. "Who killed me?"

Christine shrugged. "Well, we had to tell the mob something or else you wouldn't have gotten away so I told them that Raoul…killed…you… Why are you laughing?"

Erik didn't stop laughing and Christine soon realized that it was contagious. She loved it when he laughed. It was a beautiful sound, it was as if her ears were new to it.

"Wait," Erik said taking a breath. "Raoul, Raoul de Chagny, the fop killed the Phantom of the Auditorium?" He couldn't contain his laughter and continued.

"I don't fine it that funny," Christine pouted.

"Who thought it up?"

"I did," Christine told him. "I don't understand what's so funny."

"And how many people believed it?"

Christine shrugged. "Well, everyone."

His laughter ceased and he looked at her un-believing. "Everyone? You mean to tell that I was so intimidating that any guy a brush, and a pocket mirror can come and kill me? The one person that terrorized people for years?"

"Aw, come on," Christine said running her fingers through his hair. "We had to tell them something. Would you have preferred you died and not have what you have now?"

But it seemed as if as if he couldn't get passed the fact that Raoul had "killed" him. "I mean I was terrifying, grown men were afraid of me." He sighed. "I should have stayed in Persia."

"Pardon me?"

He looked at her as if noticing for the first time that she was there. "What did you tell them?"

Christine shrugged and took her hand back, trying to remember. "I told them that you were trying to kill me and that Raoul got to you instead."

Erik stood forcefully making Christine stumble back onto her couch. He started pacing back and forth as if he were mad. His hands were in front of him and he ran them through his black hair.

"Erik?"

It was as if he were composing himself so he wouldn't yell at her. In the next five seconds he went from pissed off to brooding. "Why would you say that?"

"Say what?" Christine asked confused at his passed anger.

"That I was trying to kill you."

"We had to tell them something, Erik. They wouldn't have let you-"

"Did you ever think that I would ever hurt you? That I would lay a hand on that perfect skin of yours?"

Christine looked at his form. "Erik-"

"Is that why you didn't want to be with me? Because you thought that I would harm you?"

Christine hung her head and looked at her hands. "Erik, I'm so-"

"No," he said taking her hands and placing them in his, sitting next to her on the couch. "I'm sorry. Never, Christine, did I ever want to hurt you. I would never want you to feel fear around me. I only did it to win your love. I was mad because you would never want to be with me. Why would you think that I would harm you?"

"Oh, Erik," she said softly pleading. "I was so scared. I was scared for me a-and Raoul."

He held her in an embrace. "I never should have made you choose. You were but a child." He whispered against her ear. "But Christine, know this, I would never harm you. I have been to the brink of oblivion and to the twilight of sorrow. You were my beacon of light in my darkness. Dreaming of your lovely face was what fueled me. Your beauty is what kept me alive."

Christine couldn't help but cry. It broke her heart when he spoke of her like she was some sort of angel. It was like she were a perfect being but she was far from it. The guilt she had once hidden surfaced again and she once again hated herself.

How the guilt eaten her away at her once. How many different way had she tried to drown the blame? How many nights had she prayed that he would come back so that she could apologize?

"Why do you cry?" he asked, his thumb drying her tears. "Christine, please don't cry."

She sniffled and looked at him through the tears. "Erik, how could you think that of me? After what I did to you, I abandoned you. How could you still love me after what I did to you? How?"

He smiled at her and wiped her tears. "Christine, I love you. How can I not think that?"

The warm salty tears spilled over her eyes once more. She felt hopeless at that moment, at the mercy of her angel. "I'm sorry I left you." She didn't try to stop the tears. "I'm sorry I betrayed you." She hugged him and placed her head on his chest. "I'm sorry I unmasked you at Don Juan. I'm sorry I left you alone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She felt his arms around her.

She wanted shrug them away, she felt unworthy of his compassion. He, the man that she had left alone after everything he did to make her a star. The one that taught her, improved her voice, the one man who she trusted while she grieved her father. The one man she had abandoned after he told her he loved her.

She called him by the title she hadn't used in years. His true title, the one that she at first thought him to be. "Angel, please forgive me," she continued sobbing. "You don't know of the guilt I've had to live with. I searched for you for weeks –months after the auditorium burned down, I couldn't bear with the guilt. Forgive me, forgive me. Angel, please forgive me."

He held her close to his body, cradling her and kissing her temple. "Not to worry, my dear. I would never want you to spill another tear for me. Never."

Christine continued sobbing and only stopped when he started singing softly to her.

By the way, Erik didn't call her fat, just in case you were wondering.
A little note to all freshman starting this year: high school isn't as bad as it seems. I remember my first day of high school i was scared (pardon my french) shitless but in time it wears off because you meet new friends. You should try after school activities. I was in orchestra and it made things infinintly better because they had a lot of activites (plus the end of the year trip to busch garden wasn't that bad either) Take care you guys, best of luck. :)
Thank you Miss Christine Daae (takes cookie) Yum!
There are still more chapters to go! Chapter Forty: (damn, forty already?)
Changes