A/N: Thanks to peanutpup, Dkk5, BabyNake, Phantomgirl24, sharp52092, and ClaryF for the reviews on the last chapter, I appreciate them very much!

After Erik departed the opera house with Christine and she turned to walk up the block toward what he presumed was the restaurant they were meeting Gustave and Adelaide at, he walked next to her automatically, but found his mind was already racing in regard to what he had just agreed to.

Why had he thought this was a good idea? It wasn't as though he socialized much at all, aside from Nadir and Rookheeya occasionally practically forcing him to, but did he really think he would be able to sit and have a relatively normal meal with the three of them after what he had just discovered?

Panic rising, Erik looked at Christine to tell her that he couldn't join them for lunch after all, but she wasn't looking at him. Instead she was staring straight ahead, appearing as lost in thought as he felt. Wondering if she was regretting issuing the invitation as much as he was regretting accepting it, Erik opened his mouth to tell her he couldn't do this, but no words came to his lips.

Before he could work up the courage to talk to her, they finished their short walk to the restaurant, and Erik found himself holding the door for her before trailing behind her into the small dining room, seeing a look of mild surprise cross Adelaide's face before she schooled her expression into a neutral look. Once he looked at Gustave, though, all other thoughts left his mind. Was it really possible that this perfect child was his?

Still staring at the boy, Erik sat down automatically, vaguely hearing Christine say in a tone that was slightly too bright, "I asked Erik to eat lunch with us! I didn't think you two would mind."

"No, of course not," he heard Adelaide respond, but Erik's attention was still on Gustave, who was intensely coloring the child's menu in front of him. "We ordered already, though," the older woman continued. "Do we need to get another pizza?"

Realizing she was speaking to him, Erik tore his gaze away from the boy. Before he could answer her, however, Gustave spoke up.

"We got two pizzas! Because I only like cheese."

Christine looked at him helplessly, and although Erik knew his instincts when it came to her were hopeless in general, even he could tell she felt as out of her depth as he did. "I'm sure that will be fine. I won't eat much anyway."

In fact, he realized just how distracted he had been to agree to this in the first place. Erik usually tried to avoid eating with other people at all costs, only making the relatively rare exception for Nadir and his family, because it was very difficult to eat with the mask on. Just then, he saw a server walking toward their table, probably to take his and Christine's drink orders, and he cringed further at the thought of a stranger gawking at his mask.

However, although he saw her eyes flit over the mask, the server remained very professional as she greeted them, and Erik relaxed a little on that front, realizing that she had no doubt recognized him by reputation as the eccentric, reclusive owner of Phantasma. One benefit to these towns being so small, he supposed.

Once she had departed to go get two glasses of water for the pair of them, Erik found himself studying Gustave once again. The boy didn't seem to be paying any attention to him, still absorbed in his coloring, as Erik tried to take in every detail about him. After a few minutes, though, he heard Christine clear her throat somewhat desperately next to him. Slightly distracted, he turned to remind her to be careful with her voice, but Adelaide spoke before he could.

"So, Erik, Christine has told me that you actually own Phantasma? That's quite impressive. It's a beautiful place."

Resisting the urge to return his gaze to Gustave, Erik responded "Yes, along with Nadir. It was originally his idea to get into the casino business - he just needed me to help fund the investment, but it turned out to be a much more interesting project than I had anticipated."

As Adelaide asked more questions, seeming to be genuinely interested in his responses, Erik felt his confidence increase slightly as he told her the story of how his and Nadir's original investment in the failing casinos had succeeded, culminating in the two of them building their dream property of Phantasma. Although he was still severely overwhelmed at the thought of Gustave being his son, thinking of himself as a successful businessman helped a little. The factual tale he was relaying to her was not one of a man who was a complete failure, after all - perhaps there was something positive he could offer the boy.

When the pizza arrived, Gustave set his crayons aside as Christine put a slice of cheese pizza on a plate for him, wanting the two women to look at his artwork. As they each took a piece of the pizza they were sharing and took turns admiring the boy's drawing, Erik awkwardly helped himself to a slice of Gustave's plain cheese pizza. The last thing he wanted to do right now was eat anything, but he was certain that not taking any food at all would make him look even weirder in Christine and her family's eyes.

Cutting a small bit off with his knife and fork, Erik had just placed it in his mouth when Gustave spoke to him.

"Do you want to see my picture?"

Nodding, Erik swallowed the small bite of pizza before taking the piece of paper from the boy.

"Can you tell what it is?"

Stalling for time, Erik studied the drawing, hoping that Gustave didn't have his heart set on a future career as an artist.

"A dog?"

"No," Gustave replied with a small giggle, apparently not offended. "It's a dinosaur."

"Oh," Erik replied lamely. "I see it now."

After Gustave took a bite of his pizza, he continued on the topic. "Do you know what my favorite dinosaur is?"

Starting to feel like he was on slightly more familiar ground, Erik called upon his previous several years of experience with discussing dinosaurs with Reza. "Tyrannosaurus Rex?"

"No!" Gustave answered with a somewhat more forceful laugh this time, as though the answer to the question should have been obvious to Erik all along. "It's Velociraptor."

"Oh. That's another good choice," Erik replied, which seemed to satisfy Gustave for the moment as he returned to his pizza.

After they all ate in silence - or mostly pretended to eat, in Erik's case - for a few minutes Gustave spoke up again.

"My mom doesn't have rehearsal tomorrow," he started, "so we're going to go on a drive and go exploring."

"That's nice," Erik responded, wondering why Gustave was so much more talkative around him all of a sudden, but glad that he was at least getting the chance to speak with him.

"Do you want to come with us?"

Blindsided, Erik heard Christine cough as though she was choking on her water at her son's question. Having no idea what he should say, he gaped at Gustave for several moments before replying awkwardly, "I…well, I might be able to, if your mother says it's all right."

xxxxx

Unfortunately, Christine had just taken a sip of water when she heard Gustave innocently invite Erik to spend the day with them tomorrow, and her involuntary gasp at the question led to her inhaling some of the liquid, causing her to cough awkwardly for a few seconds. After her breathing returned to closer to normal, she responded to Erik's words.

"We'll see, Gustave. It might not work with Mr. Destler's schedule."

Not for the first time, Christine wondered what on earth she had been thinking of to suggest this. The only thing left to make this meal even more disastrous would be Erik deciding to announce to Gustave that he was his father - and given how unpredictable Erik was, she wasn't discounting that possibility.

Thankfully, however, after Gustave's question, the remainder of the meal was uneventful, and soon the server brought them a box for their uneaten pizza while Erik sent his credit card to pay the bill. At first Christine nearly objected to his doing so out of pride, but stopped herself. They had far more important things to worry about than who was going to pay for lunch, after all.

Once they emerged outside, Christine gave Mamma a pointed glance, and the other woman took the hint, leading Gustave to walk along the sidewalk while Christine hung back with Erik, who gave her an awkward look before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Christine," he began, seeming just as uncomfortable as she felt, judging by his even stiffer than normal posture and the way he was having trouble meeting her gaze. "I didn't know what to say - of course I won't go tomorrow if you don't want me to."

Unsure why she was even asking, Christine responded, "Do you want to come with us?" She supposed if Erik said no it would make this whole situation a lot simpler, determinedly ignoring the small hurt her heart felt at that thought.

The answer was obvious in his eyes, though, as he answered hesitantly, "It's not that I don't want to, but...I don't know what you want."

Reflecting that that certainly made two of them then, Christine briefly closed her eyes before focusing her gaze on her son a short distance ahead of her. What she wanted was to do the right thing for Gustave, but unfortunately she had no idea what that was at the moment.

"We need to talk, Erik." There, she could start by stating the obvious. Maybe the rest would become clearer to her as they went along.

"Yes, I suppose we do," he agreed. As he looked at her expectantly, Christine realized he thought she meant they should have their conversation then and there, standing on the street.

Barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes, Christine clarified, "Not right now. What about tonight?"

"That's fine."

"Okay, give me your number." When Erik gave a slight start at her words, she continued, "So I can get ahold of you later," pulling her phone from her purse.

Christine typed his number as he recited it, making sure she had it down correctly before returning the phone to her handbag.

"I'll text you tonight after Gustave is in bed. We can meet on the balcony, if that's alright."

When Erik agreed, something occurred to her and she quickly added, "Don't come out there before I text you, either."

"No, I won't."

"Alright. I'll see you later, then," Christine concluded before she walked off to join Mamma and Gustave, once again wondering about the wisdom of something she had agreed to do with Erik.

xxxxx

Erik stood rooted to the same spot he had been standing in while talking to Christine, staring after her and Gustave while they walked away with Adelaide until the three of them had disappeared from his sight, still trying to process the feelings that were rocking through him.

Slowly beginning to walk back to where he had parked his vehicle before Christine's rehearsal, Erik could barely wrap his head around everything he had learned since he had arrived in Central City that morning. How was it possible that he was the father of Christine's son? He wouldn't have considered this a possibility in his wildest dreams, but she certainly had no reason to lie - it must be true. No doubt her life would have been much easier if de Chagny had been the boy's father.

What would she have to say to him tonight? Erik knew he deserved nothing when it came to the child, not after the way he had left the two of them to fend for themselves - unintentionally, true, but the end result was the same - but he couldn't help but hope Christine would let him at least see Gustave a little bit. Perhaps she would let Erik join them on their outing tomorrow.

As he entered his vehicle and began the short drive back to Phantasma, another thought occurred to Erik: he was going to need to talk to Nadir about all of this. Erik had previously simply planned that Nadir or his family would receive Erik's estate when he died, but obviously that was going to have to change now.

Thankfully he had avoided unintentionally cursing Gustave with his face, and while the boy had still gotten a very bad deal when it came to a father, at least Erik could offer him financial security. With any luck, Erik would make sure he and Christine were taken care of in every possible way while ensuring that Gustave never had to be burdened with the knowledge of his relationship to Erik.

And maybe it wasn't a bad idea to speak to Nadir in regard to the immediate future, either - while the other man could certainly be annoying at times, maybe he would have some insight on how Erik should navigate the conversation with Christine tonight. Although this was a unique situation that the two of them were in, at least Nadir could possibly provide some perspective. At this point, Erik was feeling confused enough to admit that he needed any help he could get before he talked to Christine again.

xxxxx

All throughout the afternoon and evening, Christine found herself dwelling on the upcoming conversation with Erik, but even after the three of them had eaten the leftover pizza for supper and Gustave had had his bath and fallen asleep, she still had no idea what she should say or do. It seemed that no matter what, Erik was destined to unsettle her life over and over again. But, now she didn't have only herself to think of - if only she could see into the future and see which path she should take for her son's sake.

Unable to put the moment off any longer, Christine stepped onto the balcony and slid the door closed behind her, knowing that Mamma was watching television in her room and listening for Gustave in case he happened to wake up and need something. She deliberately tapped out a short message and sent it to Erik's number, only for him to step through the connecting door between their balconies in mere seconds. Obviously he had been standing outside waiting for her to message him, she realized with a sense of resignation.

"Hello, Christine."

"Hi, Erik."

After exchanging their stilted greetings, they both stared at each other, neither one sure what to say, until Christine finally broke the silence.

"I've been thinking, Erik, and while I'm still unsure about a lot of things, if you would like to spend some time with us tomorrow you can."

She didn't miss the way he exhaled slightly in relief before speaking. "I would like that."

Smiling slightly at his words, she continued, "But - and this isn't negotiable - you have to agree that you won't say anything to Gustave about being his father. You're going to have to prove to me that you won't break his heart before we can talk about that."

To her surprise, Erik let out a short burst of laughter. "Tell him? Why would I do that? Christine, there's no reason he ever needs to know." He turned away from her, shoulders slumping slightly.

Christine exhaled also at his words. Apparently, her fears about Erik blurting out the truth at lunch had been unfounded. "I can't necessarily agree with that either, Erik. If I think it's in his best interest to know one day, I'm going to tell him. If you can't agree to that as well, this can't go any further."

For a long moment he hesitated, but just as Christine was beginning to think Erik wasn't going to be able to agree to her terms, she saw him draw a deep breath before turning to face her.

"Alright. I will defer to your judgment with him - obviously you know what's best."

As Christine silently reflected to herself that she wished that statement was true, Erik continued, "Now, when do you wish to discuss the financial aspect of things?"

Mouth dropping open, Christine struggled to assimilate his change of subject. "The financial aspect?"

"Yes. Just so you know, I spoke with Nadir this afternoon, and obviously I will be changing my will, which he completely understood. And we also need to speak about child support - I need to make up for what I've missed, and we need to figure something out going forward."

Not sure how to respond, Christine simply stared at him for a minute. "Erik, I'm not ready to talk about all that yet." His words brought up another potential worry - if she accepted money from Erik, would he later use that against her to try to get rights to Gustave if he didn't like the decisions she made? It was essential that she remember who she was dealing with here - no matter how relatively reasonably he was acting right now, she had to keep his unpredictable and sometimes volatile tendencies in mind.

Temporarily banishing that worry from her mind, she refocused the conversation. "Erik, at this point, we need to make this simple. Why don't we plan on spending part of the day together tomorrow, like we've discussed, and see how things go from there? I think that's the only way we can do this."

He nodded slowly before answering her. "Very well, Christine, I'll see you tomorrow. What time?"

"Is ten alright?" she responded, struck by how mundane their conversation had suddenly become. When he nodded in answer, she continued, "Okay, I'll see you then. Good night, Erik."

"Good night, Christine," he said in return before he walked back through the connecting door to his suite.

As she watched it close behind him, Christine could only hope that she had made the right decisions tonight - both for her sake, and more importantly, for her son's.

A/N: By this point in the story, I'm feeling the need for a quick (and probably totally unnecessary) disclaimer: if I knew someone in Christine's situation in real life, my advice would be to get a therapist and a lawyer, but since this is phic, we're just going to have fun instead :)

I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks as always for reading!