Yay! Thirty-two reviews! (does a dance, sits back down) I was waiting ofr review number fourty but since it hasn't come, I decided to update anyways. I know I'm being slow with the updates but I swear I'm going as fast as I can. This chapter is well... I'll let you be the judge of it. Chapter Fourty-Seven:

The Best Man's Toast

The only thought she had in her mind was to get Raoul off the stage as soon as possible. Others thought the same because some men were trying to get him off.

"No, wait," Raoul slurred. "The Best Man gets a toast!"

"Oh, this is not going to end pretty," Christine said.

She could feel Erik's hand in hers and only then did she notice her hands were sweating.

"I want to give a toast to my brother Philippe. He has found the happiness that was once mine. He'll probably be the only de Chagny to marry. Not that I didn't want to- where is she?" He looked out into the audience and when his eyes fell on Christine, he smiled. "Ah, Little Lotte, and-" Looking at Christine holding Erik's hand, he beamed. "Monsieur Fantôme, I'm so glad you could come to my brother's wedding!"

Christine just stared at him, not knowing what to say. It was as if she were glued to the floor.

"I wasn't expecting you to come but I guess that wherever Christine goes you'll follow like a little dog."

She would have gone up there and slapped him if Erik hadn't kept a firm hold on her hand.

"It's always been that way," he continued. Looking at Christine's angry glare, he laughed. "I haven't felt this much hate in a room since after Don Juan Triumphant, only this time the roles are reversed, Christine is the one with murder in her eyes instead of him. Wait!" he gasped in such a fake manner that it was obvious that he was drunk. "Don't you know who this man is? Maybe he needs a mask and a cape for you to recognize him!"

"Raoul!"

Christine turned to the voice and saw Madame Giry approach the stage. She banged her cane against the floor and drew the attention from everyone watching Raoul's confession. Christine watched in awe of how the small woman could draw attention from everyone in a room. "Raoul de Chagny, you will stop this foolish behavior this instant!"

Raoul laughed as it were all a big joke. "Foolish behavior? Madame, I was not the one who tried to hang a man to convince a sixteen-year-old girl to marry him!"

Christine felt the color drain from her face, the floor fell from beneath her. She could hear people murmuring and as the whispers intensified, she wouldn't dare bring herself to look in Erik's direction.

"Did you tell him about the nights you cried yourself to sleep or about the nightmares? Did you tell him about the time Madame Giry wanted to get you a counselor because of it? That you thought about killing yourself?"

Christine looked to the floor, taking a deep breath to keep from crying.

Raoul continued. "How long did that depression last, Christine? Six months, eight?"

She could hear his father yelling at his son. "Raoul, stop this now, I did not raise you to be that way."

Christine looked at Raoul on the stage, tears filling her eyes.

"At least I was raised, yes? My mother didn't drop me off at the circus or my father abandon me when I was fifteen."

Christine found a gasp escape her lips. "How dare you?"

"How dare I what?" Raoul asked annoyed. "I was not the one who fed my child bullshit about an Angel of Music and a little girl named Lotte when what I should have been doing was going out into the world and getting a real job."

Christine was left with her mouth open and said the only words that would come to my mind, "How could you!"

"Oh, Christine, don't cry, dearest," Raoul told her from the stage. "I never want you to cry."

She wanted to go up there and slap him as hard as she could. She wanted to beat him for the words he was saying but above all, she wanted to shut out his words. But they rang true, everything he said was true, as hard and as cruel as Raoul was making it.

She began to doubt herself, everything that she was feeling. Did she really love Erik or was she with him out of pity?

She looked to Erik, wanting to apologize but not finding the words. She thought he would be seething or furious or even remotely upset, but it didn't seem that way. He was the picture of perfect calm, unlike her.

She looked to Meg and saw her tear-stained face, crying on one of her bridesmaid's shoulders. Her wedding day had been ruined because of a drunk Raoul. And Raoul was drunk because of her, she knew it.

Christine wiped her cheeks on the sleeves and made her way forward, Erik's hand releasing her. She walked to the DJ and unplugged Raoul's microphone. The DJ obviously didn't know what to do in that type of situation.

Raoul looked at his un-working microphone dumbfounded. "What the hell…"

Christine took the microphone from his hand and threw it at the DJ. "Come on, Raoul, we're leaving."

"What?" Raoul asked outraged. "No!"

Christine dropped her voice to a whisper as the people around them began to murmur. "Raoul, stop this. You're being a jackass."

"But I'm your jackass, aren't I?"

Christine looked at him disgustedly, reminded of the night before her first day of school her sophomore year when he said he would always protect her and let no harm come to her. She shook her head at the empty promise, he had no idea what he was doing to her heart.

"Yes," she told him taking his hand and pulling him forward. "Come with me."

Raoul followed obediently as she made her way outside, taking her purse along the way. Looking at where she was previously standing, she saw that Erik was gone.

No one dared approach them as made their way out of the hotel. Once outside, as Christine hailed a cab, Mr. de Chagny approached her.

"Christine," he told her. "I'm terribly sorry about what he said. I'm sure he didn't mean those lies."

"Yes," Christine said absently. "Lies."

"Who said I was lying?"

Christine looked at Raoul but immediately looked away, trying to fight the urge to slap him or push him into a puddle on the sidewalk. Turning to his father, she said, "I am sorry about that, too. Raoul and I must speak, you do understand, don't you?"

Raoul's father nodded and handed her a CD.

"What's this?" Christine asked, eyeing it.

"My niece, Valerie, well she records everything. And she got the speech on there. I thought that maybe you should let him know of what happened. He has to know of what he did to you."

Christine nodded and accepted the money for the fare from him. When the cab pulled up, Raoul's father told him where to go. Raoul's apartment.

There was no way she was going to site next to him so she sat in the front seat with the driver. On the way there, she wondered why she why helping him in the first place. She immediately knew why. Because she felt guilty. Somehow, she knew that all of that was her fault, starting with their break up and ending with her bringing Erik to the wedding.

She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying in front of the driver.

She used his help to get Raoul to the lobby of his apartment, where she asked the concierge for the key to Raoul's apartment. Upon recognizing the almost unconscious man leaning on her for support, he quickly got the key and helped her up to the fifteenth floor.

Entering the apartment, she thanked him and told him she could take it from there. She gave the concierge the money for the taxi-driver to thank him for his efforts with three of the twenty dollar bills Mr. de Chagny had given her. Once she closed the door, Raoul slumped against her and said in her ear, "Alone at last."

She pushed him away as hard as she could, making him stumble back a couple of steps. Christine could smell the nauseating smell of liquor on his breath. "Raoul, you need to go to bed."

Raoul shook his head.

Christine sighed and started looking through the doors for the bedroom. "Raoul, don't be difficult."

"I'm not," he slurred. "Where is your precious boyfriend?"

When Christine didn't answer, he gave a wheezing laugh. "He left you, just like I said he would!"

Christine looked at him indignantly. "Raoul, you don't know what you're saying."

"Don't I?" Raoul told her placing his arm over her shoulders. He garbled against her ear, "I would never leave you."

Christine pushed him again. "Raoul, I hate it when you're drunk." Finding his room, she pulled on his arm and practically pushed him on the bed. "You need to go to bed."

"Will you stay?" Raoul asked as he almost tipped over while he sat on the mattress.

"No," Christine told him harshly, taking his shoes off.

"You're going back to him, aren't you?"

Christine looked up at him. For a drunken man, he certainly knew what was going on, it was nothing like in the movies when they couldn't make a coherent sentence.

Al though she didn't know where Erik was, she lied to him just to spite him. "Yes, I am."

Raoul scoffed. "He doesn't deserve your company."

"And you do?" Christine asked indignantly.

Raou sighed and looked around his room. Christine tried to avoid feeling jealous at his wealth, even the apartment he hardly ever used was decorated richly and was in one of the most lavish buildings in all of Manhattan. "He doesn't love you."

"Shut up, Raoul, you don't know what you're talking about." Christine stood from the bed. "Go to sleep."

As she made her way to the door, she felt his hand around her wrist. Looking back, she saw Raoul next to her looking at her with savage eyes.

Christine tried to hold back the fear she felt at that moment towards him, Raoul definitely wasn't himself. "Let me go, Raoul."

Raoul spoke through gritted teeth, this was a whole new side of him that Christine had never seen and it was made apparent that it was there from the moment he saw Erik and her together. "What does he have that I don't?"

Christine tried to break away from him. "Raoul, I am serious, let me go."

Raoul moved closer but wouldn't let her go. "Let me know, Christine. I'll do it. I'll do anything you ask." As he moved closer, Christine shrank back, trying to loosen from his grip. "Anything, I'll do anything."

"You should have thought of that before you broke up with me."

Raoul glared at her with dangerous eyes. "You made me do it."

Christine hated the way he was looking at her and she especially hated the way he was making her shrink back from him. She was feeling helpless not something that she liked. "You told me you wanted my happiness and I found it, Raoul."

"I don't want it to be with him, goddamn it!" Raoul yelled at her.

All anger, hate and helplessness she had been feeling minutes before instantly vanished and was replaced by one she thought she would never feel from Raoul. Fear. She was scared of what he might do to her in his state.

Christine spoke to him calmly and evenly. "Raoul, please, you're hurting me. Let my hand go. We can talk all you want when you're sober."

He sighed and slumped down against his bed, letting go of her hand. "Christine, I've never wanted to hurt you." His anger drained and replaced with sorrow.

Christine looked at him sympathetically. Regardless of what he had said earlier –although she would never forgive him for that- she said, "I know." She helped him lay down on the covers and reached over at the end table to turn off the light. "Just get some sleep."

He nodded and when she reached over to the light, he grabbed her wrist again. He propped himself up on his elbows and pressed his lips against hers.

Her heart broke in two at that moment, how did she manage to feel so bad for him? It was as if she could feel the heartbreak. He finally realized that he had lost her, even if he knew this for only for a brief moment. In the morning he would forget everything.

She pulled away from him, the kiss lasting no more than a mere second, she didn't let him try to deepen the kiss. She turned off the light and left the apartment, taking the spare key to the apartment and purse with her. In the small elevator, she leaned against the mirrored wall as it made its way down.

Raoul seemed so empty. His eyes held no warmth, no love, nothing, unlike before.

Against her will, a memory flooded back.

They snuck into the baseball field, the lights already on. They weren't supposed to be there so late, especially when the park was supposed to be closed.

Raoul held onto her hand as she jumped over the fence.

"What are we doing here?"

"Well," Raoul said shrugging. "You wanted to learn baseball, right? And I thought that maybe this could help you cheer you up. You've been working too much on that new musical, Madame Giry has for you guys."

Christine rolled her eyes. "I have to sing or they won't give me my diploma."

Raoul chuckled and held the steel bat over his shoulder. "Okay, I'll teach the basics first. Here is Home, over there is first, second and third."

Christine fake snored and Raoul laughed. "Bo-ring."

"You want to hit the ball, right?" Raoul asked.

"Well, duh," Christine said sarcastically. "Here, take this thing-"

"The mitt."

"Yeah, that, and I'll take the shiny thing."

"The bat."

Christine stomped her foot. "I'm not that incompetent, thank you."

Raoul rolled his eyes. "Could have fooled me.

Christine laughed sarcastically. "Come on, let's go. I'm ready to hit a touchdown."

Raoul started laughing.

Christine shut her eyes and took a deep breath, catching her own mistake. "Home Run, I knew that."

Raoul continued laughing as he approached the pitcher's mount. He put the glove on and produced the ball from a backpack which he put on the floor next to him.

Raoul readied himself on the mount as Christine held the bat in place. "Okay, hit me with your best shot."

Raoul took a deep breath. "Heeeere battabattabatta, s-wing! Battabattabatta!"

Raoul's unexpected outburst made Christine erupt into hysterical giggles. "What in the world is that?"

"I'm supposed to distract you," Raoul said simply, then he began his mantra again. "S-wing! Battabattabatta!"

"Wait!" Christine said. "I know one!" Then she started her little song and included a little dance that also needed her to move her butt a lot. "Pitcher has a big butt! Pitcher has a big butt!"

Raoul looked down behind him. "I do not!"

Christine laughed and put her finger in her mouth and then above her, like people did in the movies, she didn't know why they did it, but she did it anyways. Seeming satisfied, she went back to her original stance, the bat high. "Prove me wrong, de Chagny."

Raoul threw one as hard as he dared and Christine swung as hard as she could. The bat made a loud sound and when Christine looked at what it was, she saw the ball flying high to her right.

"I hit it! I hit it!" Christine started jumping up and down.

Raoul only shook his head. "It's a foul ball."

"Only a sore loser would say that," Christine said but she knew he was right, the ball was way beyond the white line. Christine ignored that and started skipping to first base. Singing, "I'm getting a run, I'm getting a run!"

"It was a foul ball!" Raoul argued.

Christine continued to second, singing, "Sore loser, sore loser!"

"Oh, yeah?" Raoul asked, running to the ball not too far away.

Upon seeing this, Christine began to sprint, and then run until she was close to Home base. Looking to her side, she saw Raoul almost catch up, the only way to make a run was to slide.

So they both did, they both slid home. Christine banged her palm on the base and Raoul touched her back with the mitt.

"You're out! You're out!"

"I'm safe! I'm safe!"

"You're lying!"

"No, you're lying, sore loser!"

Raoul grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him, both rolling over the red sand. Raoul kissed her forehead. "Okay, you're safe, you won."

Christine smiled and sighed contently. "This was fun. We should do this more often."

Raoul smiled. "I love you, Little Lotte."

Christine looked up and smiled, giving him a light kiss on the lips.

Raoul looked at their clothes and Christine noticed they were covered in the red sand.

Raoul seeing this, said, "Okay, going back in the Porsche is not an option."

Christine sniffled and dried her tears, leaning against the banister around the elevator for support. It would never be the same again. There was something in Raoul that had changed, a part of him that was forever dead, like it was his soul.

Never had she wanted Raoul, her best friend when she was a child, to be so depressed, especially because of her. She didn't want him to grieve for her, not while she was off with someone else. Her conscious ate away at her, the guilt becoming strong.

Her thoughts went back to the toast he had made earlier. Anger surged through her. How could he hurt her like that? How could he just tell everyone that she had been in a depression that at one point she thought about taking her own life? How could he talk about her father that way? She looked ahead of her with resolute strength. She would talk to him about what happened the following morning, he would know of what happened, he would know how much he hurt her.

Suddenly she realized that the innocent little boy that fetched her red scarf in the ocean was not so innocent anymore.

(Puts on helmet to avoid tomatos being thrown by R/C and E/C shippers) Review Responses:
Serpentine Iris: I'm so glad that my story is worthy of someone loosing some sleep (i've done that with many fics and that's only when theyre really good) Does this mean that my story is good? (grins)
So, Christine is left in doubt...again... it seems as if she can't make up her mind.
Isn't Raoul such a ...meanie... for a lack of a better term (I am trying to give up cursing) On some level, I feel that what Raoul said was true. We all know that Christine is going to loathe Raoul from now on. (Receives pat on the back from Erik) I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter even a little. If you hate me or the story and don't ever want to read it ever again, I'll understand...(goes off to sulk in a corner.) I'm sorry but I had to put in that chapter. I will update if you give me ... fourty reviews! (gets knocked out by watermelon thrown by reader) I WAS ONLY KIDDING! dont forget about my neglected little story called Twist of Fate!
BTW, in case anyone was wondering, fantôme is french for Phantom.