YAY! I got a review! Thank you beneathmyskin for my very first review. Just as I promised, this chapter is longer than the others. I hope for more reviews! Have fun reading!

phantomoftheopera92

Chapter 3: They Meet Again

At first, Christine was filled with happiness, knowing that her daughter had grown into a lovely young woman, and that if she was singing in the performance, surely Erik was nearby. Somewhere. Then Christine felt Raoul's hand on her shoulder, snapping her back to reality. In an instant her heart filled with dread. She turned to Raoul hoping he had not made the connection between Elizabeth and herself.

"Well done, now if you don't mind, I would like to speak with… Elizabeth, was it?" Christine asked. Elizabeth stepped forward, and the two of them then walked over to a corner of the stage, "Are you… I mean… have you… what I am trying to say here is…" Christine stammered.

"I know. And yes, I am." Elizabeth replied softly.

"Have you lived here your whole life?" Christine asked, referring to the dorms in the opera house.

"No, Father and I have been living beneath the opera house… in our home."

"You… you've been living with Erik?"

"Yes, I always have. This is my first time to leave home. I am staying in your old room. The one with the mirror."

"How is he? Do you see him often?" Christine asked eagerly.

"Well, he's fine. We've learned to depend on each other for what we need. I cannot go down very often, but I do return once a week."

"Can I see him?"

"You still love him… don't you?" Elizabeth asked, smiling as she spoke.

"More than anything. But I'm not sure that I would… or could admit it to him."

"I understand. I'm going to see him tonight. I must ask him first, but if he agrees, I shall take you to him."

"Thank you!"

Elizabeth wrote a note to her father asking if she could bring a guest whom she trusted would not tell anyone of their secrets. Erik agreed, but warned her that if the person were to tell anyone, they would have to face the consequences.

That night, Elizabeth led Christine down the familiar path to the home of the Phantom of the Opera.

"Father! I'm home!" Elizabeth shouted upon their arrival.

Erik stepped out of his bedroom. He was wearing black trousers, and a white shirt. Christine let out a quick gasp. After sixteen long years, he still looked the same. The man she loved. Erik looked up, and their eyes met.

"What are you doing here?" he said very calmly.

"Erik, I… I had to see you again." Christine said very quietly.

"Why? Because you have met your daughter, and would like to see the home I raised her in? Or do you at last feel guilt for the torture you put me through when you left with Raoul, sixteen years ago?" he all but shouted this, and Elizabeth quietly made her way to her room. She had never seen her father as angry as he was now, and was aware that anything could happen.

"Erik… I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted to see you. To… to see how you were." Christine said, tears filling up her eyes.

"For weeks, months, after you left, I kept telling myself you would be back. That you card enough about me, about Elizabeth… enough that you would come back. At least to visit or just to see Elizabeth. The young woman she has become."

"I thought… I thought you would have left. I didn't think that you were still here."

"Damn it, Christine! You could've tried! You could have come to see! You knew the way. You chose not to come here! You could have… but you didn't."

"I'm sorry! Alright? I'm sorry!" they were both shouting now, "I was afraid! I thought that if I came back and you weren't here… I was afraid that it would bring back memories. That it would remind me of what we could have been. What I left behind. What I have thought of every day since I left. I didn't know if I would be able to leave again."

"But you're here now."

"I didn't plan to come here. It's just that, when I saw Elizabeth she reminded me of you. And I just couldn't help myself. It only took me a moment to realize who she was, and I knew that I had to come see you."

"Does Raoul know where you are?"

"No. I told him I was going to take a walk, and get some fresh air."

"What did you plan to say to me when you came here tonight? Did you really think that I would welcome you? That we would just be able to pick up where we left off?"

"No. Well, I just hoped that if we saw each other again…"

"That all would be forgiven? Sixteen years of wondering whether or not you cared about me, about our daughter!"

Behind the door to her room, Elizabeth wept. She could not bear to listen to their shouting any longer. Suddenly, she wondered if bringing Christine was the best idea. She had hoped that if they were reunited then, maybe they would remember the better times they had. She wondered if her father would be angry with her as well. As she sat there, crying, the shouting continued.

"Since you left, my life has been a living Hell! The only joy I have left is Elizabeth. You should be ashamed to call her your daughter! You never helped her up when she fell down, you didn't spend years teaching her to read, write, sing, and dance. You were nothing but an old picture on her nightstand for sixteen years! And now you come here, after all you've put us through, and expect me to forgive you?" Erik shouted at Christine.

"I… I didn't think…"

"You're right. You didn't think! At least not about us. Just go. Her life is hard enough as it is. You don't need to be making things worse for her."

And with that, she left. Crying and alone, she left. She knew he was right, that she should have come back.

TBC…