Freakstar: You just may be the best reviewer I have ever had! (I've been doing this for about 7 months!) Thank you for all your reviews, they mean alot to me! I'm flattered:)

Erikmysweet: Are you on PFN with the same name? If so, I'm Phanphicwriter14 on there (writer of Paradox and Secret of Rouen). Just wondering if it was a coincidence or not...

All the rest: Thanks SOOOO much for your sweet replies! love to you all...and another chapter!

Christine had ran down to the lair, only to find it empty. Erik was not there, which only made her stomach churn. Surely the papers couldn't be true...could they? No, of course not! Just because he wasn't there now didn't mean she should doubt her trust in him!
She was soon pounding on the door of the Vicomte's house, or rather, from the looks of it, his mansion. A servent opened the door and gave a slight bow. "Yes, Madam?" She said in a timid voice.
"I'm here to see Vicomte de Changy immediately." Christine panted.
"We do not accept-"
"My name is Christine Daae - I am a very good friend of Raoul's! Please, let me see him!" Christine was reduced to begging now, but she didn't care.
The little black woman nodded and let her in, then indictated for Christine to be seated while she confirmed the situation with Raoul.
Christine couldn't help but stare. He did have such a beautiful house. Everything had amazing detail. All this for one man? Christine felt a pang of guilt as she let her mind wander as far as thinking that all of this could have been hers.
She rose from the ivory colored davenport when the servent came back.
"This way, Ma'am." She said curtly, then led her up a flight of cream colored stairs. All the while, Christine kept looking all around her, soaking it all in. Finally, she reached the door to the room that Raoul was in. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to see the man, her ex-fiancé, that she hadn't seen in what seemed like an eternity.
She opened the door and saw Raoul laying in his bed, looking quite pale. He was without a shirt, only large amounts of bandages across his chest, so only oneof his shoulders stuck out, the rest the sheet over him covered. His eyes were not open when she entered the room, but as she drew near, his eyes not only opened, but widened in amazement.
"Sarah told me a Christine Daae was here to see me...but I thought she must be mistaken. Christine, after all this time, can it really be you?" Raoul asked. Christine's heart wrenched, the memory of how badly she had hurt him coming back to flood her. Truly, she still loved him as she always would. Just, for some reason, her love for him and his for her just was never enough in her eyes. But seeing him now made her start to doubt.
Christine ran to Raoul's bedside, sitting on the wood floor as she grabbed his outstretched hand and kissed it.
"Raoul, you look terrible!" She cried, emotions overwhelming her.
He grinned slyly. "Why thank you - just the compliment I've dreamt about you giving me the next time I saw you." He teased. But Christine was in no mood to be jovial with.
"Was it really him, Raoul? Truly? You saw him...you're sure?"
Raoul gave her a sympathetic look, knowing what she was going through.
"I'm sorry Christine, but I saw his mask."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
Christine looked down, feeling her heart break. Why? Why would Erik try to not only keep his old habits of murdering to get what he wanted, even after he knew she loved him, but to attack someone that was so dear to her; that's still dear to her!
Raoul sighed, tightening his grip on her hand. "I'm sorry, Christine. Although I can not understand why you torture yourself with trying to love a man such as he, I do understand what this means for you. I grieve for what you will inevitably put yourself through because of this."
Christine's piercing brown eyes looked painfully into his blue ones as her heart felt like it was being ripped from her chest. Raoul put his hand gently on her cheek to comfort her, old feelings for both of them rising. Just then the door burst open again and a little girl with long curly golden hair and big blue eyes running in and jumped on the bed, making Raoul wince from pain.
"Are you alright?"The little girl asked, her face inches from his, her eyes like saucers.
"Yes Katie, I'm fine. Didn't your mother tell you that?" Raoul replied.
"Yes...but I was afraid she was just saying that. You're really okay, Daddy?"
Christine's heart stopped as she sucked in her breath. Daddy?
Raoul side glanced at her with an unreadble look on his face, then ran his hand through the little girl's wild hair. "Yes honey, I'm alright. Really, I am."
Christine sat on the floor, feeling suddenly like she didn't belong here.
'So he had moved on. He doesn't love me anymore...' She thought.
She had begged him to move on from her the last time she saw him. Why did she feel like he betrayed her when she saw that he did what she asked?
She felt another presence in the room. Christine turned to see a tall, very elegant looking woman standing in the doorway. Her brunette curly hair was pinned up in a loose bun, and jewerly seemed to adorn everywhere possible. Her dress was of class. The woman looked over the situation and frowned deeply. She looked like she was a bit older than Raoul was, but Christine knew who she was immediantly. His wife.
It was only then when Christine became very self concious under the woman's hard, icy gaze. Looking down, only then did she become aware that nothing more than a cloak hid what she wore underneath still - her nightgown. Her hair was messy, the curls seemed like they were in a frenzy. Raoul, when they were still sweethearts, would have said she looked beautiful and innocent as a pure white dove, but Christine was positive that wasn't what the woman in the doorway was thinking. Anything but!
Christine gulped, trying to still her heart as she flashed Raoul a worried glance. She knew now that she shouldn't have come! What had she walked into; what had she stirred in the woman's thoughts?
Christine rose from the floor and tried to smile, pushing her loose hair back with her left hand as she neared the woman; neared Raoul's stern wife.
"Hello, I'm Christine Daae - I was Ra-...the Vicomte's dear friend when we were young. I'm sure he told you of me-"
"He told me nothing of you. How do I know your story is true?" She asked coldly. Christine was taken aback, though she wasn't sure what she was more shocked about - the fact that this woman questioned her intentions here, or that Raoul had never even uttered a word of her to his own wife! It saddened her deeply to know that Raoul thought so little of her. She glanced back at Raoul, who's cheeks were considerably reddened.
Christine sighed and decided to do what she must, even though she wanted so badly to talk to Raoul.
"Forgive me, Madame de Changy, I can see that I am not wanted here. I'm sorry I intruded upon your home." And with that, Christine walked out of the room, looking dignified, but not looking back. What did it matter now, anyway? She had gotten what she came for - the truth. She knew now, though her heart wrenched in trying to believe, that Erik had indeed done what she thought he would never do - hurt her deeply. Both of the men that she had dearly loved at one time or another had both betrayed and hurt her within the same day. As soon as Christine was out of sight from the de Changy's house, her shoulders slacked and her head bowed - she no longer felt very dignified. She no longer felt a lot of things.