Chapter Eight:

"Let me decide for myself." She replied then looked at his face and smiled. Her fingers reached up and gently caressed the right side of face before peeling away his mask.

Erik closed his eyes as he felt her gently peel away the mask. He tensed, waiting for the worst. However, he heard no scream or cry of 'monster.' Had he gone deaf all of the sudden? He felt a soft caress on his now exposed marred flesh then a kiss on his right cheek. "Erik, there is nothing wrong with your face. I love you the way you are."

He opened his eyes slowly and he saw her love-filled grey eyes stared at his golden ones. "Angel..you can't be.." He was interrupted by a chaste kiss to his lips. She took his hands and gently pulled him into the swan bed with her. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer to her body as much as physically and respectfully possible.

Erik buried his head in the crook of her neck as tears of pain ran down his cheeks. She stroked his hair softly, telling him that he was beautiful. He wept quietly against her skin. "Erik. Please stop crying. I tell the truth."

He lifted his head up and stared at her eyes. "I am not crying because I do not believe you. I am crying because you have been so kind in your words and actions."

"Please do not think that this is pity Erik."

"No angel. I love that you have been so honest, but I don't deserve you." He explained as her hands caressed his face.

Michelle forced him to look straight in her eyes. "You always focus on what you do not deserve. But you deserve love Erik. You deserve a life like everyone else. You are not forcing me to love you. I fell in love with you because you are such a kind and intelligent man. This is not pity. It is my love for you."

Erik's lips met hers in a passionate kiss. She kissed back with equal passion then felt him pull away. "No. Too much and I might go too far. Michelle, I can't do this. You deserve someone who is more normal than I."

"I don't want normal Erik. I want you. I want to hear your voice when I wake up and go to sleep." She took a deep breath, "I want you to be the one I have relations with."

He gasped softly, "You can't be serious. We've barely known eachother for a little over half a month. You cannot decide who you want to be with the rest of your life in so little time."

"But i'm serious Erik. Don't you believe me?"

"It's hard to believe when I have been living in shame for all my life." He whispered back, wishing now that he had never brought her down here.

"So you think that I am playing with your heart!" She shouted as she felt tears run down her cheeks. "I can't believe you would think of me like that." Michelle broke away from him and forced herself to get out of the bed.

"What are you doing? You'll injure yourself." Erik suddenly shouted as he rounded the bed quickly to stop her.

"You don't want me here. I'm going back." She told him while trying to move past him.

"No." He whispered then swept her up in his arms and took her back to the bed.

"Erik please. You don't want me here and I feel like I am a burden."

"No!" Erik shouted as he gently placed her on the bed and sat beside her. She turned on her side so she couldn't see his face. "Angel please." He begged with her. "I want to believe you, it is so hard to though. You don't understand."

"How can I?" She asked the commented, "when you don't tell me anything about yourself. You're always talking about me and music and art and other things that matter, but I want to hear your story."

"It is a long one angel."

"I want to hear. Please."

He looked up at her and said, "Alright angel."

A/N: To my reviewers, including my last reviewer (Michelle) , I am going to continue this story. The only reason I am keeping up the old one is that you can compare the old story which was good for a first attempt at POTO writing, but it didn't have the plot that I am looking for. And the emotions are much more raw. I also want to warn ahead of time, that in chapter 10 there will be sex, so if you are uncomfortable with sex – AVOID IT! Please! Anyway, thanks for the reviews.

Your obedient author,

Pyrite