A/N: Thank you to Phantomgirl24, peanutpup, BabyNake, and the Guest for the reviews on the last chapter, it means a lot to me to see them!
Erik stifled a groan as Christine's phone buzzed on the nightstand next to his bed, waking her and causing her to roll away from him so she could check it, hating the loss of even a few minutes to hold her before they had to start their respective days. However, seeing how quickly she reached for her phone swiftly distracted him, causing him to worry that something might be wrong with Gustave.
She didn't leave him wondering long, at least. Exhaling, she rolled back into the bed, placing her arm over her eyes. "I have to go - Mamma woke up with a migraine, and Gustave will be up soon."
"Oh," Erik responded, taking the opportunity to appreciate how utterly adorable Christine was when she was trying to force herself to wake up in the morning, now that he knew Gustave was fine. "Is she okay?"
"She gets them sometimes," Christine started before suddenly sitting up in bed, a new thought obviously having crossed her mind. "But she won't be able to watch Gustave today, and I can't miss rehearsal - we're too close to opening. Shoot," she muttered to herself, getting up to start collecting her clothes. "I wonder if I can find a babysitter somehow."
As she turned back to him without warning, Erik quickly dropped his gaze, afraid that Christine would realize he'd been staring at her backside in the darkened room, but that thought didn't seem to occur to her - or if it did, she didn't seem to mind. "Or, maybe you could watch him?" she asked hopefully, causing Erik's eyes to shoot up to meet hers.
His initial reaction was to tell her that that didn't sound like a good idea, but as Erik let the thought form in his mind he realized that maybe it wasn't so outlandish to think he could watch Gustave for the day. True, the boy didn't know it, but Erik was his father, after all, and he could probably keep him alive and relatively happy during that time span.
And, he realized with a burst of pride, Christine would never ask him to care for Gustave alone if she didn't think he could do it successfully - Erik knew without a doubt that she loved the boy far too much to take any chances with his safety.
Unconsciously straightening his shoulders, he nodded. "That should be fine. I do have some calls I have to be on today, but as long as he can come down to my office for a while, I can do it."
Smiling, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "Okay, that's great. Do you want us to meet you down there?"
"That's fine," he agreed, and the happy smile she gave him at his words went a long way toward soothing any apprehension he felt over the fact that he would be spending the first significant amount of time alone with his son. Surely they would figure the day out as it went along.
xxxxx
As Christine got Gustave up and ready for the day, she found her thoughts drifting back to Erik. Although she wasn't sure that he realized it himself, it had become clear to her that he had changed quite a lot during the five years they had been apart.
For one thing, while Erik had always been extremely intelligent and competent, he seemed to have much more confidence now - no doubt a result of having become a successful businessman, although Christine had the feeling that he still thought of himself as a recluse.
Gustave ran back into the kitchen, interrupting her train of thought. "I think I'm ready, Mom!" he exclaimed, holding up his backpack.
"Okay," she replied, unable to miss how excited he was to spend the day with Erik. "Let's check it really quick so you don't have to come back up here. We want Mamma to be able to get some rest today."
After determining that Gustave had enough supplies to keep him entertained for the day, Christine took him down to Erik's office, where he happily settled into a spot on the floor without asking, opening his backpack and starting to pull things out of it - seeming oblivious to the uncertain tension both the adults in the room were feeling.
"Do you have any questions or anything?" Christine asked, knowing she needed to get going but feeling nervous at the idea of leaving Erik and Gustave alone, although she wasn't entirely sure why.
"No, I don't think so. Nadir should be in soon, too, so we won't be entirely alone."
"Okay," Christine responded. "Well, if you need anything, I'll check my phone when I can."
"Alright," Erik agreed, looking down at Gustave, who had already pulled out a coloring book. "I think we'll be okay, though."
xxxxx
Thankfully, Erik's words to Christine proved true, he realized when she showed back up in his office after rehearsal.
"Hi!" she exclaimed from the doorway, causing Gustave to get up and run over to her.
"Hi, Mom!" he answered, raising his arms to her as Christine knelt down to hug him, causing a lump to form in Erik's throat at the sight of them together.
"Did you have a good day?" she asked as she stood up, meeting Erik's gaze almost shyly.
"Yes!" Gustave replied before Erik could say anything. "I had ice cream, and Reza came to see his dad, and we played together for a while."
"That sounds fun," Christine said, gaze still searching Erik's. "Better get your stuff picked up," she continued, walking over to Erik as Gustave started to follow her instructions.
"So it went okay?"
"It went really well, actually. Rookheeya bringing Reza in was fun for both of them, I think. And she wanted me to be sure to tell you that they'd be happy to babysit Gustave sometime if Adelaide wants to go to the opera."
"Oh, that's so nice of them! I really do like Rookheeya," Christine said, gaze landing on Gustave as he stood up with his backpack. "Do you want to eat supper with us? I was thinking we could go out to give Mamma more time to recover."
"I would like that," Erik responded, always eager to spend more time with them, even if it meant having to be around other people, before Gustave piped in.
"Can we have pizza?"
Giggling, Christine raised her eyes to his. "I never would have guessed. Hopefully you're not getting sick of pizza by now."
"Never," Erik responded, feeling a smile form on his own face when Christine reached for his hand as they followed Gustave out the door.
xxxxx
After La Traviata opened, time seemed to start moving faster, and while Erik was incredibly proud of the performances Christine was giving every night, he found himself even more aware of the fact that the time that she and Gustave were scheduled to leave was drawing closer. He knew they needed to have a conversation about the future, but fear of Christine telling him that what they had was just a temporary fling kept him from bringing up the subject. At least this way he could still hope that she wanted the same things from him that he wanted from her - even though logically he knew that was unlikely.
On Christine's last night off before the opera season ended, the two of them along with Gustave and Adelaide joined the Khans on a trip into Denver to attend a baseball game. Phantasma sponsored a private suite at the ballpark, and while Erik had never attended a game before, he knew Nadir and Rookheeya took Reza several times a year. He wasn't sure that such an activity would appeal to Christine, but she and Adelaide had both seemed interested in attending, and Gustave was immediately enthusiastic about the idea when he found out Reza would be going.
To Erik's relief, even though far more people were in attendance at the game than he could ever be comfortable around, their experience in the suite was actually very private, and since he only had to interact with his normal circle of people, he found himself relaxing and enjoying the experience much more than he thought he would. Although he had no interest in the game itself, seeing Gustave and Reza taking everything in and enjoying themselves immensely was its own reward - as was the fact that Christine seemed to be having fun as well.
In fact, she was in a playful mood, seeming to want to be next to him all evening, holding his hand at every opportunity, and even pulling him into an alcove for a few stolen kisses.
"This is fun," she said as she smiled up at him. "I didn't know if it'd be something I'd like, but I'm having a good time."
Wanting to memorize the way she looked in that moment, Erik lightly brushed his fingers against her cheek. "You're not even watching the game," he teased, loving the way she rolled her eyes at his words.
"Well, you're not either," she answered, pulling him down for another quick kiss before walking over to take a seat next to Adelaide, looking over her shoulder at Erik in invitation.
Slowly walking over to sit next to her, Erik felt something crystallize in his mind, and he realized that it was time that he tell Christine everything he was feeling for her and wanted for their future. He still wasn't entirely sure that she felt the same way, but when he thought about how she was acting tonight, there was hope.
Deciding that he would tell Christine everything once they were alone tonight, Erik relaxed back into his seat, lips curving as Christine's small hand reached for his.
xxxxx
They didn't stay until the end of the game, deciding to leave early since it was already getting late for Gustave and Reza. As they gathered their things and headed down the private hallway to the parking garage, Erik fell into step beside Gustave, feeling his heart swell when the boy automatically reached up for his hand.
Clearing the lump that had formed in his throat, Erik asked him "Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah!" Gustave replied. "It was good. Next time I want to sit down in those other seats, though. It looked really fun down there."
As they arrived at Nadir's SUV, Gustave's words rang in Erik's head, and the more he thought about them, the more it bothered him. He supposed it was very normal for Gustave to want to sit amongst a mass of people at a baseball game, but just the idea of it was filling Erik with a mild panic. Perhaps he had fallen into a false sense of security in the quiet towns of Black Hawk and Central City, but he was quickly realizing the relative comfort level he had achieved in going out in public in them was not translating to larger crowds.
Letting the conversation from the other occupants of the vehicle fade into the background, Erik continued to try to process his reaction to Gustave's innocent comment.
Had he overestimated his ability to be in Christine and Gustave's life? In his typical selfish fashion, he had failed to consider the fact that he had very little to offer them, besides money. Did they really need a partner and father who panicked at the thought of taking them to a normal, everyday activity?
Before he even realized how much time had passed, Erik was startled as he realized Nadir was pulling into the parking garage at Phantasma. Learning that he had been lost in his thoughts for over an hour, he robotically waited while Christine and Adelaide collected a sleepy Gustave from the back seat before bidding the Khans good night.
When they reached the hallway, Christine unlocked the door, obviously expecting him to follow them inside, but as Adelaide led Gustave in, Erik stepped toward his own door.
"Well, good night, Christine," he said, reaching for his own key, quickly stepping inside his suite - and missing the look of confusion on her face at his untimely retreat.
A/N: Well, I can hardly believe that it's been two and a half months since I last updated, but here we are. It's been a hard summer in several ways, and finding both time and motivation to write has been a challenge, but we are still going! And, the good news is, this is part of a split chapter, meaning the next one has a substantial part written already, so hopefully it won't be too long until the next update. As always, thank you all for reading, and I would love to see any comments you might have - they really do motivate me!