Disclaimer: Ok, so I forgot to do one of these last chapter. But the song Kris was singing does not belong to me. It belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber, and I'm pretty sure the lyricist was Charles Hart, but don't hole me to that. And in this chapter RENT lyrics belong to the late Jonathon Larson. So nothing Kris sings is mine. Although that'd be cool. Full credit goes to all who deserve it.


"Um, Meg, I don't think I'm going to be coming back to the hotel tonight," I said into the phone.

"Again Kris? Don't you need a break?"

"Yeah, well, Erik said he had something important to tell me. And I don't know how long that'll take."

"Ok, besides, you know that cute waitress at the café by our restaurant? I finally got her to go out with me."

"Really? Congratulations Meg!"

"I know! Isn't it great. So I'll be sure to take advantage of the fact you won't be here tonight." Meg half laughed.

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, you enjoy yourself. I'll see you tomorrow. Love ya."

"You too Kris, take care," Meg replied as she hung up.

I hung up the phone and leaned against the wall. "Shit"

"What's the matter, mon ange?"

I jumped and quickly turned around, "Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that, Erik! You scared me half to death."

"I am sorry, that was not my intent. Now tell me, what's the matter."

"Nothing," I quickly lied, "Just a bit of a headache."

"Oh, well let's get you some aspirin then."

I silently thanked my father for passing on his skill for lying to me. It sure came in handy sometimes, and I don't think Erik is that easy to fool most of the time.

The truth was I had been thinking about the fact that I was falling in love with Erik, but now didn't seem like a good time to tell him. And I really really wanted to tell Meg, but somehow it didn't seem right to tell her before I told him.

Erik handed me the aspirin and I quickly swallowed it. "Thanks." I said with a smile.

"No problem," he responded before giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "Oh, about tonight. I think we shall be going out after dinner. I am not sure how cold it will be, so please dress warmly."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"You know, that's not really an answer."

Erik just responded with one of his fake smiles, then gave me another quick kiss, and headed to his office.

"'Then she put on a pout and asked you to take her out tonight? Right. She got you out! She was more than ok but I pushed her away-'"

"Do you always sing while you're getting dressed, mon ange?"

"Only when I'm bored, and not in a hurry," Kris responded with a smile.

"Ah. Of course. I did not recognize that song though."

"Really? It's from Rent."

"Rent?"

"Yeah. It's a real big musical. Fantastic score. Won the Pulitzer Prize. Ringing any bells?"

"I cannot say it is."

"Hm, how sad. I'll have to let you borrow the soundtrack."

"How about you just sing some more of it?"

"Too many people singing at once. But I can sing you one of my favorite parts, if you like."

"I'd love to hear it," I said as I went to sit on my bed.

"Ok. But I need your help first. Could you please zip up my dress?"

"Of course," I responded with a smile.

Once she was zipped up, she said, Ok. Now this is a little bit before the part I was singing before, 'Open your-' No, not that part. Hold on a sec. 'I think they meant it when they said you can't buy love, now I know you can rent it. A new lease you are, my love, on life-be my life!"

"Beautiful," I whispered while pulling Kris in for a kiss. "Beautiful," I said again, just to make sure she got the message.

Kris smiled and kissed me again, "Come on. You're the one who said we had somewhere important to go."

At this I scowled. "Of course. That must be taken care of. Go ahead and head out to the car. Tony will be there, and I'll be down soon."

"Are you sure? I don't mind waiting."

"No, it's fine. Go ahead."

"Ok," Kris said reluctantly, before slowly walking to the door.

Once she was out of sight, I sighed and whispered to myself, "It's now or never."

It was rather windy out tonight, so I got into the car as quickly as possible.

"Good evening Kris. You know if you'd just waited two more seconds I would have opened the door for you." Tony said once I was in the car.

"It's too windy to wait two second, besides I'm perfectly capable of opening a door for myself."

Tony laughed and responded, "Of course."

Within a few minutes Erik opened the door, and got in beside me. I noticed that Tony immediately stopped smiling and faced forward. Then I noticed what Erik was wearing.

"Erik!" I whined, "Why are you wearing that mask again? I feel so distant from you when you wear it."

"Perhaps that's best for tonight." Erik replied mysteriously, "Let's be on our way, Antonio."

"Antonio?" I asked, completely shocked.

"Do not worry about it, Kris." Both Erik and Tony said at the same time, before scowling at one another for being audacious enough to speak while the other was doing so. It was all very confusing.

"Ok then." I responded, while refusing to look at either one of them."

"Here we are, monsieur," Tony said once we stopped.

"Why are we at the Opera Populaire?" Kris immediately asked.

"You shall see," I responded before shifting my attention, "I do not know how long we shall be, Antonio. You may head home."

"As you wish," He responded before getting out of the car to open our doors.

He opened Kris' door first, and she immediately headed to the door to get out of the wind. Once he opened my door, I stood up and started heading over to Kris. Before I could take two steps, Antonio grabbed my arm and whispered, "Good luck, and be nice."

I nodded in acknowledgement before catching up with Kristina. "Come, we'll head to box 5 first. It is a fitting place to start."

"Start? Where all are we planning on going?"

"You'll see," I said before gently grabbing Kris' waist and escorting her to the box.

AN: Ok. So Erik's secret (or one of them, at least) should start in the next chapter knocks on wood I was hoping to get it started in this chapter, but that didn't happen. It's currently spring break, so with any luch, that'll inspire me to write more. Lets hope so, at least! Oh, and the reason Kris sings RENT is because it rocks. And I wanted to add it. I'll probably do that with more musicals, if I can find somewhere to work it in. And as a bit of backstory, Kris was originally planning on singing the "Open your door, I'll be your tenant" part, but chickened out, because she was afraid Erik would realize she wanted him to invite her to stay longer...