Title: An Angel's Return
Summary: Four years after the closing of the Opera House, Christine is happily married to Raoul. However, a heartbreaking tragedy turns her world upside down and sends her back to a place she swore she would never return to.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Phantom of the Opera" or any of the characters that appear in this fanfic.
Chapter 1: A Reverie
Christine took a step back, tilting her head to the side and scrutinizing the vase which held the flower arrangement she had painstakingly created for the dining room table. She needlessly adjusted the flowers one more time, and poured in a little more water before she finally became satisfied. She looked around the small room and smiled to herself. With the touch of a vase filled with flowers, the little apartment became a home.
She began to wipe her hands on her skirt, then winced and found a hand towel to take care of the remnants of her day spent tidying the house. Not that there was much left to clean after the maid Raoul had employed went through, but Christine was determined that this apartment would be hers as much as it was the maid's. She smiled to herself at the thought. Raoul wanted to make her life easier, but he didn't realize that he resigned her to the boredom of cleaning already immaculate rooms when he arranged to have things done for her.
After four years of married life, Christine was no longer the same girl that had left the Opera Populaire after the fateful interruption of "Don Juan Triumphant" and what had occurred beneath the Opera. Christine had grown older, and even a little bit wiser. In her marriage to Raoul, she left the childish chorus girl behind and became the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny, a countess, nonetheless. She supported Raoul in his work, attended all the parties she could imagine, and was at the forefront of the social scene. These thoughts made her grin as she picked up a book and reclined not-so-gracefully on the couch. More often then not, a night out with other socialite couples resulted in Christine kicking Raoul under the table to keep him from laughing inappropriately, and one of them making an excuse to leave a painstakingly boring dinner to walk along the riverside as if they were two children strolling by the sea. Spending the rest of her life with Raoul was going to be an adventure, of that Christine was sure.
The door opened, snapping Christine out of her reverie, and Raoul strolled in, looking tired but immediately brightening when he saw Christine. She smiled and went to meet him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. He laughed and held her tightly to him, kissing her back thoroughly.
"Missed me, did you?" he asked teasingly.
"You would think," she replied flippantly, patting him on the shoulder and turning into the kitchen.
"I smell something…" Raoul said and followed Christine into the kitchen. "You baked!"
"Of course I did! And to think you doubted my abilities," she told him, presenting him with a cake. He winked at her, and she tried to cover with her arm a place where the cake was sagging a little bit. She knew that Raoul could see it so she giggled and he laughed good naturedly at her efforts.
"That has to be the most amazing cake I've ever laid my eyes on," he stated grandiosely.
"Really, now? I would think that the famous Parisian cooks who serve your lunch every day could manage to top my cake," Christine threw back at him, thoroughly enjoying teasing him.
"Now what would give you that idea, my dear Christine? Not even the greatest chef in Paris could bake me a cake with as much love as you put into yours." With that he kissed her again, and she laughed, as much at the utter ridiculousness of his statement as at surprise from his kiss. She let him hold her then, resting her face against his shoulder, and he ran his hand along her shoulder blades, making her smile.
Christine looked up at him and brushed some of his hair behind his ear. He smiled and brightened when a thought struck him. "What do you say tonight we forget the dinner party and just go to a café?"
"No one will know we're the Chagnys if we do that," she said.
"That's the idea," said Raoul with a smile.
"Well that sounds like a fine idea to me," Christine smiled back at him. "I'll go change."
That night Raoul and Christine took a carriage to a café that had been Raoul's favorite in his youth, before he became a more prominent figurehead in his family. The carriage let them out several streets away from their destination, and they walked the rest of the way, stopping to look through the windows of closed shops, and to greet people as they passed by, not knowing who they were but sparing them smiles nonetheless. Christine stopped to lean in and admire a necklace in a store window, and as she was looking at it Raoul slipped her hand into his and kissed the side of her forehead. She turned around to smile at him and he kissed her again, making her laugh.
"Really, Raoul, we're never going to make it to this café of yours," she said, not minding his attention at all but weakly protesting nonetheless.
"Oh but it's more fun this way, Christine," he argued, putting his arm around her as they continued walking.
"I never said it wasn't fun," she added, and squeezed his hand.
A few minutes later they arrived at the small, quaint café. They were dressed unostentatiously and fit in perfectly with the relaxed, casual atmosphere of the café. They were seated outdoors, with candles providing ample lighting for their dinner. The girl that waited on them was friendly and kind, and Christine sighed and relaxed, realizing how much stress she put on herself when she accompanied Raoul to a high-class restaurant, where still, after all these years, she felt she didn't belong. He noticed her sigh and smiled at her, laying his hand on top of hers. She loved that about him, he knew what she needed and what would make her happy better than she knew it herself. He appreciated simplicity as much as he did elegance, and sometimes Christine got the idea that he preferred it as well. They talked and laughed, and Christine marveled to herself that they never ran out of things to talk about, even after knowing everything about one another and being so attuned to each other that talking wasn't even necessary. She smiled, it was just one more thing that made her love him even more.
They took the carriage back to their apartment as it had grown too dark to walk. Raoul kissed her in the backseat, and Christine thought fleetingly that the carriage driver must think they were teenagers courting one another by their behavior, but she didn't care and kissed him back with an intensity that rivaled the passion she had felt on their wedding night.
They stumbled up the stairs to their apartment, and later that night, lying beside Raoul in bed, her head on his chest, Christine kept thinking over and over how lucky she was to be able to spend the rest of her life with someone who she loved, and who loved her, this much. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" she thought. Her reverie was ended by Raoul's sudden coughing. She got up and brought him a glass of water. He smiled thankfully at her and she settled down next to him again, falling asleep in his arms.
Well, what did you think? Review and I'll update as fast as I can! Don't worry, it's going to get more exciting soon enough, this chapter was just to set the scene!