Sarah came up to fetch Christine no after too long. Since she knocked, Christine had just enough time to quickly dry her tears. Then she followed Sarah down to the dining room. When Erik saw her, her smiled brightly, then stood up to pull out her chair. She looked at him in surprise, but then felt ashamed. Why would she be surprised that Erik had manners? Of course he did. He just...never showed them...ever before.
She sat in the indictated chair and he pushed her in, then sat across from her. Giovanni sat diagonal to both of them, sitting at the head of the table.
"Giovanni, I'd like to introduce you to Miss Christine Daae." Erik said after an awkward pause. Giovanni put out his hand. "An honor to meet such a fine lady as yourself." He said, but Christine just blushed and nodded.
"So Erik, now tell me about what you have been up to all these years. What have you done? Did you continue to design buildings at all?" Giovanni asked as the meal plates were put before them.
Erik cleared his throat and sat up. "I...designed a Persian temple. I was the head of building it as well."
"A Persian temple?" Giovanni asked in amazement.
"For the King."
Christine looked at the man across from her in surprise. Never would she have guessed that that laid in his past!
"What did you do after you finished that?"
"Nothing. I stopped after finishing the temple. I returned to the Opera House, where I had lived...nearby for some time before venturing into Persia. There, I became a singing tutor for the woman whom sits before you."
"Miss Daae was your student?"
"Indeed. And she became quite the soprano diva."
"Really?" Giovanni's amazement was now directed upon her.
Blushing, she shook her head. " It was only for a very short time."
"Come, she is being modest. Her voice was better than any diva there. And even a short time is still a time when she ruled above the others. I'd have her sing for you, Giovanni, if I didn't fear her weariness and the cold night's air damaging her vocal chords. In time, I shall have to get them back into shape."
"There is no point now, Erik. You do not have to." Christine said softly.
"Nonsense. Just because we are not near an opera house does not mean you should altogether stop your singing. You love to sing, do you not?"
Christine sighed as she nodded, but said nothing.
"Anything else you have done since you've been away, my son?" Giovanni asked after a slight pause.
"Nothing worth mentioning, I assure you. My life has not been terribly exciting."
"No? What about Miss Daae here. It is obvious now that she is not just a fellow traveler. What is she to you? Are you two wed?"
Christine was sure she was crimson after that question! She was surprised, whoever, that Erik remained calm and not thrown off beat in the slightest.
"It's not quite...something we can talk about at this point of time." He answered.
"So you have no children, then. If you do get married, do you plan to have children?"
Oh why, why did she have to sip wine at that moment? Christine never had tasted such bitter wine before, and accidently took a gulp of it. It stung her throat, making her convulse with unstoppable coughs. The more she tried to hold them in, the harder she coughed. But why did it have to happen when he asked such a question? What must they think of her? She dared to look up at them, and saw that both were looking at her in surprise.
"Strong wine." She finally managed to utter.
Erik looked back at Giovanni. "In this situation, it would be quite the impossibility. And something also tells me that I wont have to worry about that." He said, side glancing at Christine. She slid farther into his chair, now upset that she gave him the wrong impression.
Conversations went on, talking of trifle things such a the weather and conditions of the road at this time of season until dinner was through and Christine returned to her room, claiming she was quite exhausted.

Christine tried, really she did, to remain in her room. But knowing just half of the story of this young girl named Luciana had her perplexed and curious. There would be no hope of sleep until her wondering mind was put to rest. Therefore, she crept down the stairs a bit, peeking out of the railings, while trying to remain mostly covered by the wall that blocked a few feet of the staircase.
"Come, sit beside my chair, my boy." Giovanni said as he settled into his rocking chair. Erik did as he was told and sat down beside the elderly man. "Do you remember the days when you were just a young lad, and I'd come up with any excuse to get you to trust me enough to sit beside my chair each night?"
"I do." Erik answered softly, as if he was being transported back in time. "Those were some of the best days of my life."
"Mine as well. You were a true highlight to my life. I thank God each day that he brought you to my life, if not just for a little while."
"Giovanni...no more small talk. We both know what separated us, and I think it's time we come to terms with it."
"I agree. I'll go first in saying how terribly sorry I am that I ran you out."
Erik looked up at him in confusion. "Christine is no longer here with us. You do not have to act like this. I'm serious, Giovanni, and I want you to be as well. Don't act like this is your fault. We have just one night. Let me make my amends."
"Erik...Erik, my dear boy...ow many years did you needlessly go on to blame yourself for the death of my daughter? I tell you now, in all truth, that not for a moment did I ever blame you for it. Not even I n my darkest, loneliest hours did I blame you."
"How could you not?" Erik exclaimed, not understanding. "The reason why she fell to her death was because she ran from the horror of my face! Because I agreed to show her the nightmare that I myself was scared to death of. How could you be to blame for my horrid features?"
"I am to blame, Erik, for the reasons of why she acted as so, and why she saw at all. Never should I have forced you to take off the mask that night. She told me of her love for you just hours before, but I knew that it was simple infatuation. Yet I could deny her nothing. She told be she could not fully love you without seeing what was under the mask. I knew from the beginning I should have sent her back to her boarding school, but I could not face her tears and screams of disagreement. Never should I have allowed her to stay under the same roof as you when I knew of her nature. She demanded the world, and I readily gave it to her. So when she demanded you take off your mask...I am so terribly ashamed to admit that I was more willing to ruin all the trust you had built up in me than to deny her. It was my fault, I take every ounce of blame; I always have. You never did anything wrong. Can you help what you were born with? Can you help but to obey your master's command? I beg of to forgive me for the wrongs I've done to you."
Christine's mouth was agape as she saw Erik's face turn to Giovanni - tears were streaming down his face! His shoulders were heaving from the sobs caught in his chest. Leaning forward even more to see, she accidently went to far and slipped down a step, making a terribly loud bang. She gasped and scrambled back up to her room, praying that no one heard her.

Though she laid on her bed, stiff as a board, Christine could not go to sleep. She opened the window in her room and listened to the sounds of the night. Finally, after what she reasoned to be hours after she ran up to her room in retreat, did she hear footsteps coming up there stairs. She listened to them as they stopped at her door momentarily, then kept going into Erik's room.
But, going to his room did not mean sleep to Erik. Christine listened to him pace back and forth without stop. She'd drift off into a light slumber, just to awake an hour or so later, and still hear pacing. It was obvious that he would get not a wink of sleep tonight.
Come morning, Christine awoke one final time. She found her dresses washed. Reluctantly, she shed the nightgown that she had been given to wear, and put on her peasant outfit and black dress.
She hurried down the stairs, knowing that Erik would be there already. She was right; Sarah was just putting a dish heaping with food in front of him. She flashed Christine a quick smile, then went back into the kitchen.
Christine sat down across from Erik as he piled food into his mouth unceremoniously. No manners in eating like last night; he must have worked up quite the appetite as he paced through the night.
"So I'm not too late? I thought you would have eaten breakfast already, not just starting." She said, feeling better about taking so long to get ready.
"Starting? This is my third dish!" Erik said proudly. Christine looked at him with mouth agape as a plate was put before her. "Eat up so we can leave."
"You never ate that much. What's wrong?"
"Giovanni told me last night that if we don't eat enough to his satisfaction, he's not going to let us leave. I think he thinks he'll be able to keep us...obviously his memory is slipping. I can skip quite a few meals in a row and be just fine, but I can also out-eat a horse."
Christine laughed. "But is it right to take so much from an elderly man that is not very rich?"
"I'm already taking care of it. Once we leave, he'll find a handsome sum of money in a leather pouch by the door to repay him twice fold."
Again, Christine felt her body shiver when he mentioned the money. Still, the question of how he managed to obtain that money plagued her.
"Good night sleep?" He asked to break her out of her daydream.
"Hmm? Oh, it was fine. It's just...I kept waking up to hear pacing."
Erik ignored this. "Nightmares, at all?"
"No, none. Why do you ask?"
"Wondering, is all. What you heard last night is probably enough to give grown men nightmares."
She opened her mouth to reply, but he did it for her. "Do not try to deny it. You made much noise on those steps. I'm starting to find that it is good fortune we are no longer in my lair; you would have fallen victim to my torture chamber many times by now. You're too curious, my dear."
"You told me once that you planned to have me with you as your wife long ago. Why would you keep a torture chamber down there if you know of my...curious nature?" She asked with a sly smile.
"To keep out intruders, is all. That and, it wouldn't hurt if I could switch from being the horrid phantom to being the hero that saves the damsel in distress every now and then, would it? Oh, but that is beside the point. You know I have the sharpest ears that anyone has ever had. Do you, while lurking on the steps, try to make me hear you?" He said, the last part sounding more of an accusion.
She hung her head. "I fell." She whispered.
"I suppose you did. Are you shocked?"
"About what?"
"That perhaps I have such dark pasts?"
"No. I still don't know very much, but..."
"You know enough to gather an idea of how dark my young life was. Either that, or you think that I am less than a man."
"Why would I ever think such a thing?"
"What grown man cries like that if he has nothing real to cry about? None, I assure you."
"So...because every once in a while you show that you are human - that you hurt and feel too - that makes you less of a man? Tell me, Erik, do you consider yourself less than a man because you love me? Is that not showing a sign of weakness, after all? That you can not bear to live alone, that you need someone with you?"
Erik smiled sadly. "I did not mean in it that way."
"But do you?"
He was silent a moment, then spoke. "Once I did. Once I wondered why I felt I needed someone. After all, I am the great Phantom of the Opera; the Opera Ghost; the amazing magician; the all wise genius. But I now know that being a man is part of that list, and men can not live alone all their days. So yes, I've changed my thinking, and no, I do not believe such any longer."
Christine nodded. "Good...because you're the strongest, most wonderful man I ever knew. I wouldn't want you thinking any less of yourself."