Et Velle Et Perficere

Disclaimer: Don't own POTO… but I do own Croft Manor, Jeremy Harper-Matthews and Old Dusty.

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Chapter 5: Such a Delicate Beauty…

"So, what is it like at your school?" Erik asked, early the next morning, as he and Christine cleared an area in the attic to get the spinet towards the rear stairs and into his room.

"It's not much like other schools, I suppose, but you'll get used to it. It's difficult being away for so long but I'm sure you know what that's like." She paused for a moment to help him lift an old table to one side and proceeded to choke on a cloud of dust. "You already know me and you've met Jeremy so you won't be completely alone at the start of the year; you wouldn't believe how glad I was to already know Meg and Raoul before I started."

Erik jerked his head up at that. "Who is Raoul?" He had a feeling he would not like her answer or the boy, himself.

"Raoul, he's a friend, I suppose…" Christine said, remembering their last conversation.

"You suppose?"

"Well, he has been asking me to go out with him for the last few months and I did promise him an answer by the end of term but… well, I sort of turned him down. I suppose I still haven't given him a proper answer… we did not exactly part on good terms," she sighed.

"I expect you'll want to rekindle your friendship then when you get back," Erik said curtly with his back turned towards her.

"I would hardly think our friendship would need that much repair; he just needs to let his pride heal. You men and your blasted arrogance…" she laughed.

"Ah, my dear, you know too little of me to tar me with the same brush as that boy. Anyway, I think that we have enough room now, let's see if we can't get her through. I'll just go and get Michael."

When they eventually got Old Dusty down the back stairs and into the hallway on the second floor, they were all covered in a thick and clinging layer of dust. Christine was the first to sneeze and she looked up sharply when she heard Erik laughing. "What exactly is so funny?"

He moved forward and stroked her hair behind her ear and when he began to speak, his voice was soft. "You are covered in dust, Angel, and the way you blinked up at me with your big wide eyes like a child… you were adorable."

If anyone had been watching Erik at that moment, they would have seen the tender look he was giving her and the gentleness with which he caressed her hair. If they had been watching, they would have seen his hesitation at removing his hand. They would have seen his reluctance to part with her.

Michael had been watching and he had seen everything…

Later that day, while Christine and her parents were away at Mass, Erik looked over and cleaned off the old spinet in his room. He soon realised that, though it was fixable, it would take longer than he had anticipated. He had wanted to surprise Christine with it when she got back but he now knew it might be another two or so Sundays before he would be able to do that. And she would likely ask about it before then.

As he moved around the back of the spinet, he heard the doorbell ring and paused to think. Should he answer it? He wasn't sure. It had never rung in the time he had been there and he didn't know what he should do. If it were important, Michael would be pleased he had answered it, wouldn't he? And if it weren't, then he had not lost anything by going to the door, had he?

Deciding that he might as well, he headed down the stairs and towards the front doors. Taking an extra second to compose himself, he pulled open the doors and was confronted with a blond-haired boy roughly his age. Erik vaguely recognised him as the boy from one of Christine's photos and he wondered if this was that Raoul she had spoken of. Now wishing he had not, in fact, opened the door, he folded his arms across his chest and waited for the boy to start speaking.

Raoul was momentarily stunned by the imposing figure that had opened the door, and took a moment to find his words. He had been expecting either Christine or her parents, all of whom he had known for years and would welcome him, and so he had not really thought out what to stay if it wasn't one of them that answered.

"Are you always this slow, boy, or are you making a special effort today?" Erik sneered.

Recovering himself, Raoul said, "Actually, I was here to see Miss Daaé. Is she in?"

"No," Erik said shortly, leaning up against the doorframe.

"Well, do you have any idea when she'll be back?"

"No."

"Do you know where she is?" Raoul asked, exasperated.

"She has gone to Mass with her parents, when they get back they will want to sit down to lunch. You have not come at the best time."

"Look, I've known the Daaés all my life and I've spent four hours in a car to get here to see Christine – they will not mind me joining them for lunch or, in fact, if I came in and waited for them to return," Raoul said, now highly agitated by the indifference of the masked figure standing, uninvitingly, in the doorway. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"If you want to come in, you are certainly not going about it the right way."

"I've never heard any of them mention you," Raoul continued, ignoring him.

"Nor have I heard any of them mention you," said Erik.

Raoul sighed heavily and decided to introduce himself properly, "I'm Raoul de Chagny. Christine and I have been friends since we were children and I go to the same boarding school as her. Now, I have come to speak with her and I would be grateful if you would let me in to wait. Otherwise, I'll be waiting out here in my car but either way I will talk to her… If you really think I'm going to nick something then I'm sure you are more than capable of watching me…"

"And watch you, I will, Mr. de Chagny. Wait in the drawing room," Erik said, stepping away from the doors and pointing to the room he spoke of.

Although Erik didn't want Raoul anywhere at all in the house, he knew that Christine would be upset with him if he let the boy wait outside in his car until they returned. He was also suspicious of the reasons the boy had come all this way just to talk to Christine, especially knowing what Christine had told of him just that morning. And, what of the night to come? – Erik knew that Michael would not have Raoul driving another four hours that day to get home; he would probably ask him to stay for the night. Erik did not like that idea, at all. What if he and Christine reconciled? Would she agree to go out with him?

Erik would not have to wait terribly long to find out as he heard the Daaés' car in the driveway…

"Raoul, what are you doing here?" Christine said happily as she hugged him in the entrance hall, "I thought that was your car in the driveway."

"I came to see you, I know we did not leave things very well on Friday and I did not want to have us not talking for the whole holidays," Raoul said as he returned her hug.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you," she said.

Just behind them, Michael and Sarah came in the door, both happy to see him. "Raoul, my boy, it's been too long, how are you?" Michael asked, as Christine and Raoul broke apart.

"I'm well, Mr. Daaé, thank you. And how are you?" Raoul moved away from Christine and towards her parents as she, herself, went to talk to the distinctly unpleased-looking Erik, standing in the shadows of the hallway.

She placed her hand on the crook of his arm, which was still folded across his chest, and squeezed gently. Erik, though he was not used to the contact and was not in the mood to be touched, could not force himself to shrug her hand away. She, the only one to offer him physical comfort, would not be shunned as he had been, many times in the past. However, though he could not shun her physically, he could not stop his sharp tongue.

"Erik, what's wrong?"

"Why should there be anything wrong?" he snapped.

"Well, it's just that you seem to be upset about something."

"Do I?"

"Yes… is it Raoul? Has he done something to upset you?" she asked, "You were fine this morning…"

"What makes you think that that boy could upset me? Excuse me," he said as he turned his back on her and headed swiftly to the rear stairs.

"Erik, wait…" Christine called after him.

Raoul walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong with him?"

Christine didn't say anything…

"So, he's your brother, then?" Raoul asked. He and Christine were sitting in the living room while her parents prepared lunch for the five of them. She had not seen Erik since he had disappeared up the rear stairs shortly before.

"He is not my brother," Christine said, perhaps a little too sharply, "I mean… we're not related and he calls my parents by their given names so he's not my brother in any sense of the word. Besides, they have not adopted him, they are only fostering him."

"Alright… Anyway, what's wrong with him?" Raoul asked.

"'Wrong with him'? There's nothing 'wrong with him'."

"Well, he's the rudest person I've ever had the misfortune to meet, not to mention, the most hostile."

"Don't be so hard on him, Raoul; he hasn't had as easy a time of it as we have. Imagine how you'd feel if you didn't live with your own family and had to rely on the kindness of others to get the things you wanted. If that happened I don't think either of us would cope well and I think we'd be entitled to be slightly hostile. Besides, he's never like that with me…"

"I'm sorry, Christine, I didn't come here to upset you… he was just very short with me earlier…" Raoul said sincerely.

Christine stood up and offered her hand to him, "Come on, Raoul, let's go have lunch. I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"Christine? Why does he wear that mask?" Raoul asked.

"I expect he'd tell me if he wanted me to know…" she replied before heading out the door towards the dining room.

At the dining table, Erik made perfectly sure he would be sitting next to Christine and that Sarah would be sitting at her other side. He could not, however, stop Raoul from sitting across from her.

"So, Christine, what have you got planned for your birthday?" Raoul asked as they all began to eat.

"Your birthday?" Erik asked, incredulous, "You never said it was your birthday."

"Well, it isn't for another two weeks yet, Erik, and I've only been home two days," Christine said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you… but I didn't think you'd be bothered."

"Where would you get such a ridiculous idea as that from?" he snapped, looking away from her.

"Erik…"

"Christine, leave it, sweetheart," her father said.

She turned back to her food briefly before answering Raoul, "I haven't really planned anything… I'm just glad to be home… but I was hoping that Meg and a few other friends would come over and, of course, you're more than welcome to join us…"

"I'd love to, Christine," Raoul said. "Will it be on your actual birthday, or, the Friday before?"

"I'm not sure yet, Raoul, but I'll let you know."

"I look forward to it."

Christine turned back towards Erik as Raoul and her parents started to speak about the things he had planned for his holidays.

"Erik," she said, softly, "I'm sorry I've upset you. I didn't mean to…"

"You haven't upset me, Angel."

"You have not been yourself today since we left for Mass… is it something I've done?" she asked.

Erik finally turned to look at her and sighed at the expression of concern on her face. "No, sweet angel, nothing you've done. You are far too good to be so concerned about upsetting me, I assure you, I am not worth it…"

"You are worth it, Erik. Don't ever think that you are not."

Raoul turned back towards Christine and noticed the way she and Erik were almost huddled together, whispering. He did not like it one bit. He did not trust Erik with Christine and he certainly didn't like the way they were talking to each other. Raoul fumed silently as Christine put her left hand on the crook of Erik's right arm, which was lying on the table between them, and kept it there. Spurred on by Erik covering Christine's hand with his own, Raoul decided he would try to irritate him like Erik had done to him from the moment they had encountered each other at the door.

"So, Erik, how do you feel about having a new sister?" he asked, smugly.

Erik dropped his fork sharply on the plate and looked up. He hadn't expected that boy to ever willingly speak to him and he couldn't believe what he'd said. "She is not my sister."

"Raoul…" Christine, Michael and Sarah said, warningly.

"What is she then, really? Her parents are fostering you, that makes you siblings, or, at the very least, foster-siblings. I'll ask you again, how do you feel about having Christine as your baby sister?"

Everyone could tell that Erik was extremely tense but none of them could think how to stop it, short of chucking Raoul out of the house immediately, of course, something none of them would do.

"Christine is no more my sister than you are her boyfriend," Erik replied, curtly.

"So you say, Erik," Raoul said calmly as he lifted his glass to take a sip.

"Raoul, stop it now," Christine warned.

"I was merely making conversation, Christine. It's not my fault if your new brother has a problem with his harboured feelings for you." Raoul smiled insolently towards Erik and rejoiced in his triumph.

Pulling his napkin out of his lap and depositing it on the table, Erik stood up and removed himself from the room and that boy's presence.

"For God's sake, Raoul, what did you have to go and say that for?" Christine said as she got up too and left the room to go after Erik.

Michael caught up with her in the hallway and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Let us go and talk, Christine… in the lounge."

"What is it, Daddy?"

"Do you have any idea why Raoul would want to upset Erik?" he asked.

"No, none at all… I told him earlier not to give Erik a hard time and he seemed to accept that then. I don't know what's gotten into him – he isn't usually so inconsiderate. But, I don't know why Erik got so upset… he often seems so uninterested when it comes to others – like with Mr Harper-Matthews."

"I don't really think this is to do with Raoul," Michael said, "not in the way you might think. I don't suppose they'll ever like each other nor will they be friends but I doubt it's just because of Raoul."

"Well, what was that all that about, then?" she asked.

"Christine, don't you know he cares for you?"

"Raoul?"

"No, not Raoul… Erik."

Christine looked at her father, unconvinced, "You think Erik cares for me? We've only known each other two days…"

"I know that, Christine, but I don't think you can quantify what Erik feels in terms of days… I know it's a lot to take in but I think he's jealous of Raoul and I know that Erik cares about you dearly. Raoul, apparently, can see that too."

"I had no idea," she said, softly.

Erik had his back turned towards the music room door, leaning over the desk, when Christine entered and did not turn around as she moved closer to him.

"Erik, I'm sorry that Raoul said those things… he should not have done so."

Erik immediately straightened his back and bristled at the mention of the boy's name. "Get away from me, sister dear, I wouldn't want your boyfriend to get the wrong idea."

Without turning around, he could tell that he had upset her and, with an anguished sigh, he realised, that to hurt her was only to hurt himself. He turned around to see she was crying silently and immediately cursed himself.

"Don't cry, Little Angel, I'm sorry I snapped at you. You do not deserve my anger…" Erik said as he moved towards her. He reached his hand out to her and called to her softly, "Come here, Angel. Come, let me hold you."

She stepped into the circle of his arms and cried into his shoulder as he hesitantly wrapped her in his arms and stroked her back gently. She felt amazing to him; just holding her like that was bliss. And the smell of her hair made him light-headed… he wanted to hold onto her forever and never let her go.

"Precious Angel, forgive me my cruelty. I would never willingly hurt you… I have never known such a delicate beauty; I fear my callousness will bruise you."

She leaned back slightly and looked up at him as he wiped her tears away with his thumb, still holding her with one arm around the small of her back. "Am I forgiven, Angel?" he asked her and, looking into her stunning blue eyes, he knew instinctively that he was…

© Copyright of CrawfordsBiscuits, October 2005