Sorry about how short it is, I just wanted it up.
Meg's arms dropped and she started coughing uncontrollably for a minute. In a second, Erik was over at her side and he slapped her on the back a few times. When she stopped, she stared up at him, breathing in short, and shallow gasps, quietly she asked, "What did you say?"
"I asked if you were pregnant," the beginnings of panic bit at Erik's mind. A hundred thoughts clamored in his mind, who? When? Does she really love me? I thought she did. How could she do this to me? Erik was so confused that he wasn't thinking about what all had gone on the last six months. Meg's head dropped and she stared at the floor miserably. She gave a nod so small that unless Erik was paying very close attention, he never would have noticed. That nod floored Erik; he dropped onto the bed and buried his face in his hands. "Who's the father?" his voice was muffled by his hands.
A small tear rolled down Meg's cheek and dropped on the floor silently. "I don't know," she responded quietly.
"How can you not know?" Erik snapped, jerking his head up, "Do you just go around sleeping with random men?"
Just as he finished saying that, a small, pale hand contacted his cheek. Hard. But when it did, Erik's senses returned in a roaring rush. In front of him Meg's bottom lip trembled and a fire smoldered in her eyes and they flitted back and forth from her red hand to Erik's cheek which had a shining red handprint on it. Erik lifted a hand to touch his burning cheek, he was horrified at himself! How could he forget so easily? He had basically called Meg a whore… He should have figured that she could be pregnant, three months gives plenty of opportunity for a pregnancy to begin. Meg could be up to six months pregnant, but judging from the size of her stomach and when she was getting sick, that seemed unlikely.
"Meg," he whispered, taking a step toward her, "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking," he reached out beseechingly, but she only stepped back a bit.
"No, you obviously weren't," Meg said. In her eyes were tears that threatened to cascade down her cheeks and her face was slowly turning a blotchy red.
"Meg-" a sharp knock on the closed door interrupted Erik, and Raoul stepped into the room.
"The carriage is ready to take you home," he said with a goofy grin plastered onto his face.
"Thank you Monsieur," Meg said shortly, walking over to eh wardrobe that held her dress.
"I'm a daddy!" Raoul clapped giddily and skipped down the hall humming to no one in particular.
Meg slipped her burgundy dress over her head and put on her shoes and walked stiffly out of the door. With his head down, Erik followed her into Christine's room and he found the two women cooing over the small baby girl.
"What's her name?"
"Katrina Emberlynn," Christine stroked Katrina's soft, brown, curly hair.
"Exactly like her mother," Raoul said softly.
Once again, Erik felt like an intruder and hung back in the doorway, but Christine beckoned him over. He padded over softly and Christine placed little Katrina in Erik's arms, repositioning them so that Katrina's head was supported in the crook of Erik's arm. A pang shot though Meg's heart, Is he going to love my baby? Quickly she dashed the thought away, How could you think that, she scolded herself, but how is he going to react? That explosion wasn't a real reaction, he was just surprised. And Meg knew that, but she was very hurt. Still, Meg forgave Erik… mostly. After all, Erik had overreacted.
Erik gazed at the little pink bundle in his arms. Katrina waver her tiny fists in the air and cooed contentedly at Erik causing his heart to swell in his chest. He had never held a baby before.
"Erik," Meg said softly, even though she could see the happiness on Erik's face, it was growing late, and they needed to return home. Silently, Erik nodded and placed the baby back in Christine's waiting arms. With an unspoken thank you in his eyes, Erik followed Raoul out of the room. Meg gave Christine a final hug and Katrina a kiss on her soft cheek.
"Promise to visit soon?" Christine asked. Meg smiled, nodded, and walked out the door, sad to leave but happy to go home.
When Meg got outside, Erik was already in the carriage and Raoul was talking to the driver. Meg stepped inside and sat down next to Erik, patting him on the knee. Raoul shut the door, said goodbye and the carriage began to roll away to the opera house.
The ride was mostly silent, not awkward, just quiet. When they got home, Meg immediately changed into a dress more comfortable and she ditched her corset. She was fit and she was pregnant, what did she need the corset for? After changing clothes, Meg went into the music room where, as she expected, she found Erik. Meg tiptoed over to him, and careful not to disturb his writing arm, slipped her arms around him. Erik put down his quill and turned around. Standing in between his knees, Meg gently took off his mask and placed it on the bench he was sitting on. She leaned down and kissed him softly, trailing kisses over his face and neck. Erik drew her closer and rested his hands on her hips, careful to keep his hands there incase she flipped out again. Meg returned her mouth to Erik's, "I love you," she whispered.
"Je t'aime,"
Meg drew back and rested her forehead against his. "Robert," she said softly, her eyes filling with tears.
Erik's brow furrowed, "Excuse me?"
"Robert, I think he is the baby's father." tears slid down her cheeks and fell on Erik's face and neck.
Erik was filled with an odd mix of rage, compassion, sympathy, and a bit of horror. It wasn't a scream and run away kind of horror, but a 'how could this be happening?' kind. A small sob tore itself from Meg's throat and Erik wrapped his long, protective arms around her.
"Oh Erik," she sobbed into his shoulder, crawling into his lap and hugging him tightly. "I don't want this. I don't know how to cope. I'm having a baby and I am not even married! Oh what do I do?"
Erik was thankful that Meg couldn't see his face and the shock that was written all over it. A husband… he had never thought about it before. As far as he knew, he was the only man in Meg's life that could even possibly fill that position. Slowly an idea dawned on him. "We could pretend," he said slowly.
"Pretend?" Meg asked. She straightened up and wiped her eyes with a sniffle.
Erik nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, pretend. All we would really have to do is buy a pair of rings. But then again you need one more than I do…" he trailed off at the expression on Meg's face. "What?"
"Pretend we are married?"
Erik nodded, "Yes, it would ensure that you were not the next gossip topic… Granted we know what happened but… Meg, are you okay?"
Meg smiled brightly, maybe a bit too brightly, "Nothing. Nothing at all, it is a brilliant idea," she kissed him quickly, "what is my last name now though?"
Erik thought for a moment, "Beauvias is a name I have rather liked."
Meg kissed him again, "When we ring shopping Monsieur Beauvias?"
Erik kissed her back, "After dinner?" Meg nodded and ambled into the kitchen.
After dinner, Erik donned his flesh colored mask, long black cape, and his fedora (pulled low over his face of course). Meg pinned her hair up and put on her blue dress, the one with the empire waistline. Hand in hand, they left the opera house, going out the back way to ensure that they would go unnoticed. The opera house had been mostly repaired in the six months that they were gone, but really the only thing that was keeping it from being finished was that there was no song, no ballet, no soul to the empty skeleton of an opera house. That and there was no one who wanted to become manager of a "haunted" opera house.
Meg and Erik received a few stares because what kind of person wore a long black cape in the middle of summer? They slipped into the jewelry store and Meg's eyes were drawn to the more upscale jewelry, but she guiltily put her eyes into their proper place, although this was not before Erik could notice the longing in her eyes.
Amidst the other couples, Erik and Meg seemed to be slightly out of place. The women in the store seemed overly superficial and vain whereas Meg was quiet and conservative. Meg wasn't the one babbling at incredible speeds about the cut of a diamond, or hanging on Erik's arm whispering and cooing in his ear, or even talking to the other women about wedding plans. Then again, Meg didn't have any wedding plans. Erik and Meg held hands, where many men had their hands in places inappropriate for public. Meg dressed modestly, in a decently cut dress with no cleavage showing. Many women, however, wore dresses that were to low cut for propriety. Despite the glaring differences, the couple went unnoticed.
Meg quietly went over to the display of rings that were more inexpensive than the ones she was first drawn to. Faint warmth touched her eyes and she pointed out a pair of rings to Erik. There was nothing extravagant about them, all the rings were, were simple white gold wedding bands. Erik didn't understand what she liked about them, but she liked them so he liked them.
"We need to get you an engagement ring," Erik said softly in her ear. Wordlessly Meg pointed out a ring with a thinner band than the wedding bands but the ring had a small square cut diamond that would look lovely on Meg's hand. "Are you sure?" Again, without words Meg nodded and smiled up at Erik. He flagged down the jeweler and pointed out the rings. The jeweler registered some confusion at the man dressed in all black, but said nothing. The rings were paid for and Erik and Meg slipped home without any fuss at all.
A/N: ITS MY BIRTHDAY! GONNA PARTY LIKE ITS MY BIRTHDAY! WOO! LEAVE A REVIEW PLEASE! THAT CAN BE YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESSIE TO MEH! Heh cappies… can anyone tell that I am on a sugar high? Oh and I showed my friends (who live under rocks and have never seen the best movie in the world) Phantom and they liked it! YAY!