A/N Thank you my reviewers. I love that you are giving me some insight to what you think about the story.

Ch. 9♪

Erik loved Anna, and he knew that nothing would ever change that fact. But he was beginning to become very impatient. He wanted so much for her to leave that sorry excuse of a man, and go away with him. He could not survive another broken heart. He could not even bear the thought of her leaving him.

Erik had just dropped off a note at the manager's office advising them to hurry and find the second lead soprano for the opera. He was becoming impatient with that also. He was walking out of the theater when that infamous voice of his past rang out.

You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge

In pursuit of that wish which till has been silent, silent

I have brought you, that our passions may fuse and merge

In your mind you've already succumbed to me

Dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me

Now you are here with me: no second thoughts

You've decided, decided

That voice was not here, not now. This cannot be happening.

Erik ran back into the theater to see if maybe it was his ears that were playing tricks on him. But when he looked up at the stage, he saw HER. She was singing his song. The reality of that made his heart bust.

He was snapped back into reality when he looked over and saw Anna's face. She had the look of jealously plastered all over it. He guessed she was jealous at the fact that he had once loved her.

And the idea scared her to the very core.

She was scared of losing him. But he knew in his heart that she had nothing to fear. He was bound to her, as she was to him, whether they liked it or not.

Past the point of no return

Christine had butterflies flying throughout her stomach. She had not been this nervous when she arrived. Her thoughts were broken when she heard the wails of praise from the managers, her husband, Andrew, and other various people.

"My dear that was simply superb." M. Dubon told her smiling gaily.

"Yes, Christine you sounded so wonderful." Raoul said as he pulled her into his arms.

"Thank you." Was all Christine could manage to say.

"Well I believe I speak for Patrik also, when I say that you have got the job." Dubon nearly shrieked due from his loud resonance

Upon hearing those words, Anna's knees unexpectedly gave out. She felt her cheeks growing red with embarrassment. She was not known as a klutz. When she looked up she saw many worried yet curious faces.

"Anna, are you all right?" Gustav asked hoping the young child was not coming down with some sort of sickness.

"Yes, Anna, are you feeling well?" Andrew chimed in.

"Yes, I am perfectly fine." She began slowly standing back up. "I just did not get enough sleep last night so I think it is a bit of exhaustion"

"Well then I think you should go rest." Andrew told her in a fatherly tone.

"Yes I think you are right." Anna said turning around to face the entrance of the theater.

It was two piercing eyes that caused her to gasp. He had seen and heard the entire thing.

Christine saw what Anna gasped at and immediately when white. Christine knew the look the Phantom could make people express. But Anna's face did not show fear, rather the look of adoration aligned with hurt, that had taken her aback. Surly Anna was not seeing the Phantom. Christine saw Raoul lean over to whisper something in Andrew's ear.

"Is she alright?" Raoul had asked

"No I do not believe she is, and I have a bet as to why." Christine interrupted, answering the question meant for Andrew.

The four men looked at Christine with a puzzled look on their faces.

As soon as Anna was out of sight, Anna began to run with all her might. She had to get out of these damned walls or she would die of confinement. She looked throughout each dormitory, before finding her mother in the last room.

"Maman I have been trying to find you." Anna rasped, clearly out of breath.

Madam Burbon was taken completely by surprise; Anna was usually a very composed young woman. The girl standing before her was a disheveled mess.

"My goodness child what on earth has occurred?" She asked confusedly

"I have to go out for a bit, I just need to get away because I am feeling a bit on edge, oh maman I am so confused." Anna babbled.

"Anna please calm down." Madam Burbon told her daughter, as she pulled back to look into her eyes, she saw the despair in her eyes. "Child, why are you making yourself so miserable?"

"I do not know maman, but I wish I knew what to do oh I really do wish I knew." Anna said beginning to cry. "I love Erik, I want to be with him so much, but I just don't know what is right anymore."

Madam Burbon gave a reassuring hug to Anna before speaking. "Child if you love this man why are you staying with Andrew? Anna the man loves you more than life, why are you string him along when you heart belongs to another?"

Anna knew that her mother what right but it did not make anything more clear in her mind.

"Maman I have to go." Anna told her as she walked to the door. "I will be back later."

Anna needed to leave the theater. Leave the stress of her job behind. Leave the stress of dealing with Andrew behind. And quite possibly, she needed to leave the stress of dealing with Erik behind.

Anna wandered through the streets for an hour of two before finally heading to the cemetery that her mother was buried at. She had not visited in a while and she was hoping that maybe her mother's spirit might help her make a decision. She need to make a decision on what to do.

Anna's thoughts wandered back to the day she received the letter from her birth mother. She had been completely shocked. She knew that she had been adopted, but the shock of knowing her real mother loved her caused her to break down with tears.

one year before

"Anna I have something for you." Madam Burbon told her. "It is a letter from you real mother."

Anna instantly felt cold. She did not remember saying anything only reading it.

My dearest Anna,

I want you to know that I was so very young when I gave birth to you. I had no husband and no family. I had no way of taking care of you. But I made sure to find you good home. I have always known where you were for I watched as Madam Burbon picked you up from the steps of the theater.

I hope that you do not hate me for leaving you there. But I did what I thought was best. I did it because I loved you. I loved you enough to give you up. You are so talented and you would never have what you have had I not given you up. I am beyond proud of you.

I write this letter to you because I am dying and it is my last wish that you know I love you. By the time you receive this letter I will already be dead. Bit I need you to know that not a single moment goes by when I do not think of you. I am sorry to say but I leave you without and brothers or sisters, but you were my angel. The angel that saved me.

With all the love in my heart,

Kimberly Macron

Thinking back on the day brought tears to Anna's eyes. She looked at her mother's grave and began to sob harder.

"Oh mother please help me be strong." Anna sobbed into her hands. "I know who I love and I know who I want to be with, but I need strength, strength to do this show, and strength to believe that in the end of all this Erik will not leave me."

It was a soft voice that caused her to jump.

"Why do you fear me leaving you?" Erik asked her.

Anna stood up to face him only to cry more at the sadness that shown in his eyes.

"Anna tell me." He told her more commanding.

"How can I not fear you leaving me?" Anna yelled at him. "I am sorry to say this Erik, but Christine is a beautiful woman. I am nothing compared to her."

Erik's heart broke at her words. How could she think this?

"Anna you mean more to me than Christine ever did and the reason is that you loved me when no one else would. I asked her to love me forever, and the only reason she said yes to loving me was to save the man that she truly loved." He told her as he grabbed her shoulders to force her to look into his eyes. "I love you Anna, more than I have ever loved anyone."

Anna looked into his eyes and saw that all he said was true. He loved her, and at this point it was all she needed to know. Anna grabbed Erik's hand and reached up to kiss him, long and slow.

"Lets go." Anna told him breathlessly.

Erik could see the lust and desire in her eyes. Tonight he would make her his and there was no turning back, not anymore. Erik grabbed Anna's hand again leading her off to his carriage.