A/N: Thank you to Amelia Mariee, Qtkittee, BabyNake, FleshofMidnight, sharp52092, peanutpup, and Phantomgirl24 for the reviews on the last chapter, they really are so encouraging, and I love hearing your thoughts!
The next morning, as the three of them left their suite to meet Erik in the lobby of the hotel, Christine was still questioning her decision to let Erik spend the day with them, but she was trying to hold out hope that possibly their outing wouldn't be a complete disaster - although judging from their past history, maybe that hope was too optimistic.
When they reached the ground floor, Christine glanced around, not seeing Erik until he suddenly appeared right beside her.
"Good morning," he greeted them, as she noticed his gaze flitting over Gustave.
"Hello," she answered, trying to hide both her second thoughts about what they were doing and the fact that she was slightly unsettled by his sudden appearance - not that that was anything unusual for Erik.
As he and Mamma also exchanged greetings, Christine took Gustave's hand. "Well," she asked him, "should we go?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed, heading for the door with his usual energy, and if Christine was glad for the small distraction her son provided, she refused to feel too guilty about it.
As Mamma got in the backseat with Gustave, Christine moved toward the driver's door of the SUV, but Erik followed behind her.
"I can drive if you want, Christine. That way you can see more of the scenery."
Nodding, she went around the vehicle and slid into the passenger seat, looking at Erik before glancing in the backseat.
He must have sensed her unspoken question, because he added, "I've actually been to quite a few of the local places of interest with Nadir's family. Was there anything in particular you had in mind to see?"
"We had thought that we would just start driving and see what we found," Christine answered. "I'll have more free time this week, so we aren't on a tight schedule or anything."
"All right," Erik said as he put the vehicle in gear, pulling onto the highway as an awkward silence descended over the vehicle.
Fortunately, Adelaide broke the silence after a few minutes, asking Erik a few questions about the area, which he responded to succinctly but politely, and within just a few minutes of driving, he was pulling the vehicle into what looked to be a small town.
"What's this place?" Gustave asked in a voice that bordered on being whiny, and Christine cringed internally. The last thing her nerves needed today was for her son to decide to be in one of his relatively rare bad moods.
"It's a ghost town," Erik answered him, but Gustave didn't respond. "For the most part, anyway. A few people still live here."
As Erik slowly drove them down the dirt streets of the town, Christine took in the worn buildings, most of them looking like something out of a movie set, and exchanged comments with Adelaide about the normal-looking houses scattered among the old abandoned buildings.
Although the town was small, Christine could have happily looked around for a while longer, but Gustave spoke up from the backseat once they had driven through the side streets and Erik turned the vehicle back onto the main street.
"This is boring. Why can't we do something for kids?"
Conscious of Erik sitting next to her, Christine tried to modulate her tone, even though it was a challenge in the moment. "Gustave, not everything has to be for kids. Mamma and I like to do adult things sometimes, you know."
She wondered if her lecture was going to result in a full-blown tantrum, but mercifully Gustave accepted her statement, at least for the time being, sulkily turning his head to look out the window. Deciding to take that as a win for now, Christine was surprised when Erik spoke up.
"You might like the next place we're going to better, Gustave. We can get out of the car there."
Gustave waited so long to reply that Christine thought he might not respond at all, but finally he said "Okay," quietly, still looking out the window. Stealing a glance at Erik, she hoped he wasn't growing upset that Gustave was once again reserved with him after having been so friendly toward him the day before, but he didn't seem any more tense than he usually did. He had indicated that he spent quite a bit of time with Nadir's young son, who was apparently only a year older than Gustave, so maybe the moods of a four year old weren't completely foreign to him.
As Erik pulled off the gravel road they were driving on onto what appeared to be a dirt driveway, Christine wondered what they were doing out in what felt like the middle of nowhere, but as he parked the vehicle their destination became clear: spread out before them were several cemeteries, each fenced separately from each other, some seeming more well-kept than others. At a loss for words, she simply looked at Erik. Did he really think a four year old was likely to be excited about visiting an old cemetery?
Uncertain what to say to him, Christine simply exited the vehicle along with Erik and her family, wondering how Erik was going to handle Gustave's certain displeasure with their destination, but to her shock he was already looking around eagerly, his gaze landing on some older kids who were riding dirt bikes in a field on the far side of the complex.
As Erik led them toward one of the gates, he spoke directly to Gustave. "The reason that Reza likes to come here is back this way," he told him as he held the gate open for the three of them to pass through, Christine and Adelaide exchanging looks as Erik and Gustave turned toward the gravesites.
Christine kept a close eye on Gustave, afraid he wouldn't understand the solemnity of the place they were in, but he seemed to be following Erik's lead, walking calmly next to him - and if the sight of the two of them side by side, Erik so much taller than her son, brought a yearning to her heart, Christine ruthlessly ignored it, choosing instead to try to relax a little now that the day seemed to be going slightly better.
The cemetery was a haunting place, beautiful in a way, with overgrown aspen trees everywhere and old graves in various states of disrepair, and Christine found it more peaceful to explore than she would have imagined, but her attention was split between wanting to see more of her surroundings and watching Erik and Gustave interact.
Gustave seemed fascinated in a way she wouldn't have expected, and that seemed to have helped him to overcome any shyness he was feeling with Erik earlier, as he asked Erik questions, stopping at several of the ornamental fences that surrounded some of the graves to point out some of the symbols and ask what they were.
Seeing the two of them interact like this was eye-opening, although Christine couldn't process exactly how she felt about it at the moment. She had always thought that Gustave took after Erik in some ways, but maybe they were more similar than she had realized - they certainly seemed to be connecting right now, anyway.
When they reached the far edge of the cemetery, Christine finally realized why Erik had thought Gustave would like to come here: right up along the edge of the graveyard, there was a large, somewhat decrepit building standing up on a slight hill.
"That's an old mine," Erik told Gustave, who stared at it in appropriate awe, suddenly hanging on Erik's every word. "Do you want to go look at it?"
"Yeah!" he exclaimed, starting to move forward, but Christine instinctively reached forward and grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait a minute, Gustave. Erik, are you sure this is a good idea? It doesn't seem safe."
Erik suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry for not asking first, Christine. But it is safe - I've been up there with Reza multiple times."
Slightly mollified that Erik was still being so deferential with her when it came to Gustave, Christine thought about his words for a minute before nodding. "Okay, as long as you're sure it's safe. Gustave, listen to anything Erik tells you, all right?"
Nodding as he followed Erik up the hill, Christine watched them, still slightly nervous but deciding to trust Erik that it was safe for Gustave to walk closer to the mine. Erik was nothing if not capable, after all.
As Christine watched them, she felt validated in her decision as she saw how Erik kept Gustave from getting too close to the building as he seemed to be pointing things out to him while Gustave listened intently, staring at the building in front of him.
As they came back down, Christine could hear Erik explaining what sounded like mine safety to Gustave, telling him to never approach a building like that without an adult, and as Christine saw Gustave nod solemnly in agreement, she felt that clench in the region of her heart again.
Once they left the cemeteries, Erik drove them back toward Central City, again pulling off the main road to drive to a lovely lake area. "Reza likes to come here, too," he said as they parked, and this time Christine could see why immediately, seeing that several families with children seemed to be making use of the area.
"It's so beautiful," Adelaide said as they gazed at the crystal blue lake, and Christine had to agree with her as she took in the view, only to be interrupted by Gustave a moment later.
"Mom, can I run around a little?" he asked, and Christine bit back a smile.
"Yes, you can - just stay close to us, okay?"
"Okay!" he answered, darting off to look at a rock under a nearby tree, running back and forth as he followed the general path the three adults were walking around the lake. Just as Christine was feeling a sense of pride in how well-behaved her son was, suddenly Gustave darted in front of them to run out onto a wooden boat dock on the side of the lake.
Freezing as all three of them uttered his name in near unison, Gustave turned and came back to the walking path, looking a little pouty at being chastised.
"Gustave, you have to be careful. You can't run out onto things like that, all right? You know you can't swim yet."
"Fine," he answered, "but you know I want to take swimming lessons."
"And you will, this winter. But swimming lessons or no, you can't run out onto a dock like that - it isn't safe."
Wondering if he was going to continue to argue with her, Christine let out a sigh of relief when Gustave seemed to accept her words, continuing to scamper around while they made a circle around the lake.
Once they were back in the vehicle, Gustave asked for ice cream. Glancing at Erik, Christine answered, "I don't know, Gustave, we might have kept Erik out longer than he wanted already."
Erik's yellow eyes met hers, and Christine could see the longing in them, although his tone was even when he spoke. "I think ice cream sounds good."
Once again feeling the pull of the knowledge that Erik wanted to spend time with Gustave, Christine smiled in spite of herself. "All right, we can stop for ice cream."
xxxxx
With a small dish of vanilla ice cream in front of him, Erik spooned off a tiny bite and placed it in his mouth, watching as Gustave enthusiastically dug into his dish of chocolate - a compromise with Christine, as the boy had asked for a cone, which Erik could already tell would have been a very bad idea. It really was amazing how good of a mother Christine was, even with the smallest things.
Listening as Christine and Adelaide recounted what they had seen, Erik tried to nod when appropriate, enjoying the opportunity to get to spend this time with Gustave - especially since he had seemed to warm up to Erik quite a bit over the course of the day. Although he still had no real idea what Christine was thinking, Erik was beginning to have hope that maybe this could work, that she would allow him to be part of Gustave's life. And if there was a nagging voice in his head that told him that maybe he could have been a part of both their lives had he not fucked up so badly, he did his best to ignore it, knowing he needed to focus on the present and the opportunity to get to know his son.
Once they got back to the hotel, Erik handed the keys to the valet before walking inside with the three of them, wondering if he should ask when he could see them again, but Christine spoke before he could. "Gustave, why don't you tell Erik goodbye, and then you and Mamma can go upstairs? He and I need to talk about business for a minute, all right?"
To his shock, Gustave turned toward him and opened his arms as though he was expecting a hug. For a long moment, all Erik could do was stare at him, not sure what to do, but when Christine shifted her weight at his side, he collected himself enough to lean down awkwardly, letting the boy give him a brief hug before he walked off, clinging to Adelaide's hand as they made their way to the elevators.
Stunned, he looked at Christine, only to see that she looked emotional as well. For a short time they both simply stood there, each lost in their own thoughts, before she drew a deep breath and spoke, to Erik's relief not acknowledging the emotional moment that he still needed time to process.
"I wanted to ask you about a voice lesson, actually," she started, and Erik felt more grounded at the familiar topic between them. "I know we got distracted with Gustave, but I'd still like to have a few lessons together. But only if you want to."
Trying to hide the way his pulse leapt at the thought of time alone with Christine, focusing on the one thing that had always connected them - well, the first thing that had connected them, anyway - Erik managed to keep his voice even as he answered her. "Of course, Christine. What would be convenient for you?"
"How about tomorrow afternoon? Around four? We can do it in my suite. Mamma can take Gustave to the playground for a while, I'm sure."
As Erik agreed to her plan and walked with her to the elevator, he was almost unable to believe his good fortune. After spending the day getting to know his son, now he had plans to see Christine the following one, and to make things even better, she was going to allow him to teach her again. Now he just had to make sure he didn't find a way to ruin this new peace between them.
A/N: Just a few days ago, I happened to come across a YouTube video that I wish I could link to here, but of course this site doesn't allow links. It is under the account Derelict Doug, and the video name is "Most Haunted Place in Colorado" - Abandoned & Neglected - The Central City Cemetery; alternatively, I will include a link with this chapter on AO3 (I'm under the same user name there) if anyone wants to check it out. As you can probably tell from the title, most of the video is about paranormal activity at the Central City cemeteries, so if that's not your thing I wouldn't watch all of it, but the beginning of the video gives a neat view of Black Hawk and Central City if you want a glimpse of what these towns actually look like. There is a good shot of the Monarch Casino, which is meant to be Phantasma in this story (only with balconies), and at 1:28 you can see the Opera House on the right side of the street as they drive through Central City. If you continue watching once he gets to the cemeteries, he also includes a good bit about the mining ruin from this chapter. So check it out if you're interested!
Thank you so much for continuing to read this story! As always, comments are very welcome!