The Light of His Life

Disclaimer: Don't own POTO… but I do own Piers, Stephanie and Xavier.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed…another chapter for you with Erik being his lovely, possessive self. Things get a bit… naughty, I suppose one could say, towards the end of this chapter – but in a very tongue-in-cheek kind of way. Nothing really – just a bit of innuendo…

Please read and review…

Chapter 3: A Decidedly Unorthodox Existence…

After school that day, Erik was driving home less peacefully than usual. He looked in the rear-view mirror at Christine as she talked happily with Meg. Christine had invited Meg over for the evening with a few others, who they were making their own way there later. He couldn't really hear what the two of them were saying – not that they were whispering – but he had a lot of things on his mind… some were coherent, others were not.

Looking between them, he couldn't help feeling jealous of Meg for being Christine's best friend. Christine had always been everything to him, and, he didn't see why she had to care for other people as well… especially someone like Meghan Giry…

Meg was just that little bit older than Christine but she was far more outgoing than her and everybody treated her like their best friend. She was a very confident person who spent more time making friends and going out to parties all night than she did studying or being sensible in the slightest. And she was the more popular because of it…

Christine – the quieter, more reserved of the two, who was always doing well in school and had an aptitude for music far beyond her years – tended to be left to the wayside… not so much ignored, as people did like her, but they assumed that she wasn't as fun as her friend. Erik couldn't see why they were so close when they obviously led very different lives, but, they appeared to compliment each other's personalities.

It was obvious that Christine was absolutely beautiful… not that Meg wasn't – but Christine's beauty was of a different, more ethereal sort – and she was never overlooked for being the most exquisite creature in the school… But hers was the sort of beauty that made men worship her at a distance – she was beautiful in a non-approachable, perhaps slightly intimidating way. Meg, however, had young men tagging along at her heels and it made Christine feel unwanted as she did not seem to realise the true reason that none of her peers had asked her out. She was a relatively insecure individual because of it…

Erik, though, had eyes only for Christine… and he wished fervently for the chance one day to do something about his feelings for her without ruining the relationship they already shared.

Tonight, though, Erik only had hiding away in his rooms to look forward to while Christine had her friends over. Actually, he knew that Christine wouldn't let them go upstairs or anywhere he might be, like the kitchen or the library. She was a very considerate young woman and he knew very well that he was lucky to have her.

Ada Giry sighed and laid her head in her hands as she sat at the desk in her bedroom at her parents' house. She still didn't know what to do about Christine… It had been more than a few months now and Erik was still looking after her back at his home in Hertfordshire. And Ada felt awful that she had just abandoned Christine with him and not been in touch since.

The school was happy to allow her compassionate leave until she was ready to come back and they had a substitute covering for her – but, she knew that Meg would have to go back soon and it was unfair for her to keep her away from children her own age. She also knew she would have to take Christine off of Erik's hands… Thinking about it now, she imagined he was fed up with the little girl he had cared so much for just a few months ago. He was probably almost ignoring her now… she just hoped that he wasn't neglecting her. Not that she seriously thought he might.

Later that week, in the Phelps-Jones-Daaé house, Erik twirled Christine around as she jumped into his arms from where she had been standing on top of his bed. She had mentioned that he was very tall and her neck hurt looking up at him so he had lifted her onto the bed to make her happy.

She, of course, didn't realise it, but, she had already made a big change to his life – she made him very happy and had become like a little attachment to his life that he could not live without.

Which was, perhaps, why the visitor who had just arrived was not so welcome…

"What are you doing here?" Erik asked Ada as he opened the front door to let her in.

"I've come to take Christine back… it's about time I returned to work and got Meg back to her routine. So, I can take Christine off of your hands now…"

Erik was devastated. He had known he would have to give her up eventually but he supposed it had only been at the back of his mind and he hadn't really entertained such thoughts since he'd had her to take things off of his mind. An in-built urge to protect what he believed was his kicked in and he held Christine to him all the tighter. "No, you can't have her," he said firmly.

"I don't want to go with her, Angel," Christine said to him.

"I know, sweetheart, and you won't be. I won't let anyone take you away from me." He placed Christine back on her feet and told her to go and play in her room while he talked to Ada, then he turned to the woman in question and folded his arms across his chest, standing in front of the staircase so she couldn't pass him. "I think you'd better leave."

"Erik, what on Earth are you doing? Do you have any idea how ridiculous this sounds? Christine is my responsibility and I have the rights to care for her. You know that I was named in the will as her guardian…"

"It has been more than half a year, madam. No court in the land would let you take her back – it is bad for a child to be moved around a lot at her age and she has already been upset that way twice. She is settled here…"

"You can't be serious…"

"On the contrary, madam – I am very serious. If you want to take her from me, you are going to have to fight me for her – I am willing to go to court over the matter, but, let me point out my advantages… I have been caring for her for longer than you have, I can devote all of my attention to her while you already have another child, I am not bereaved so I can concentrate on her bereavement alone, I have a great deal of money with which I can support her, and, perhaps most damning of all, she doesn't want to leave me… Now, I do believe you were leaving, madam," he said smugly as he moved to open the door for her.

"Don't be so arrogant, Erik… one day it'll come back to haunt you." And she left without having to be told again, still unsure of what to do, but, still in her state of bereavement, selfishly glad that she could concentrate on Meghan.

Meanwhile, Erik leaned back against the door in exhausted relief and let out the breath he had been holding.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Christine asked from the top of the stairs.

"Oh, nothing," he said, recovering himself. "Nothing at all now that I have you…" He was still not sure that the matter had been resolved, and, of course, he was right to be wary, but, he would not let Christine see that.

Erik parked the car in their drive and, while Meg got out herself, Christine was helped out by Erik, who had a great deal of old school manners even though he had little other social skills to speak of. He opened the front door for them and relished in the kiss on the cheek that Christine gave him before she disappeared into the living room with Meg. He then went upstairs to the music room and spent the next several hours engrossed in his piano playing as her other friends arrived. It wasn't until he heard a noise that he didn't particularly like that he stopped…

He sat for a moment, silent, still sitting on the piano bench as she tried to decipher exactly what it was that had disturbed him. It had been rather high pitched and short but he still didn't know what it was that had made it. So, when he heard it again, he opened the music room door and decided to go down the stairs to see if Christine's friends were making it.

It was then that he realised exactly what – or rather, who – the sound was coming from…

"Hey, come on, Raoul… put me down," Christine yelped as he playfully lifted her up by the waist and pressed her against the wall. They – Meg, Raoul, Christine and a couple of others – had been playing in turns against each other on the games console, when Raoul had commented that he could do what he had made his character do and then an argument started between the boys about who was the strongest. And, they had promptly started lifting the girls to see who could do it the highest…

Erik moved into the open doorway, and, without a word, he took Christine out of Raoul's arms and lowered her to the floor at his side as he turned around to give the offending boy a very cold glare.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Mr. de Chagny?" Erik asked as he made a point of standing between him and Christine.

Raoul looked over Erik's shoulder at Christine for help and had his attention swiftly drawn back to Erik as he took a step to his left, blocking Christine completely from view.

"Don't look at her – I know she's beautiful but she can't answer that for you. Can't tell me, hmm? Well, then I suggest you get out… Don't make me tell you twice, boy."

"Erik, really, you're overreacting…" someone said.

He rounded on the person who had interrupted him and was surprised to see Piers getting up from the floor by the rest of them.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came over to apologise for my behaviour earlier and your beautiful daughter here," he said, smiling at Christine, "invited me to join them as you were busy on your piano."

"Yes, well, you can stay out of this, Piers – she is not your concern."

"Erik, I think–"

"I don't give a damn what you think," Erik snapped at Piers, before turning towards Raoul again. "Now, I believe I told you to get out, boy."

"Sir," Raoul laughed nervously. "Christine?" he asked, less hopefully.

Throughout, Christine didn't say a word – she knew better than to undermine Erik in front of everyone and knew it would hurt Raoul less to be thrown out than it would hurt Erik to be humiliated by her. It may have seemed terribly disloyal to her friends, but, Erik was her first priority and she wouldn't go against him.

"I think it'd be best if you left, Raoul… I'll see you in school," she said from behind Erik, laying a hand on Erik's back to reassure him that she would back him up against anyone.

"Yeah, Christine, sorry, we're going to get off now too," Meg said as she and everyone else filed out of the room with Raoul and quickly out of the front door, leaving just Erik, Christine and Piers in an awkward sort of silence. Piers didn't know what to say… he imagined Christine would be livid with Erik now and he wanted to stay to keep the peace but he couldn't think of the right thing to do.

Christine, however, was not angry at all, but rather, worried that Erik had gotten himself wound up over something so trivial. "Angel, you alright…?" she asked softly, rubbing his upper arm as she turned him around to look at her.

He pressed his forehead to hers in supplication and joined their hands together. "I'm sorry," he mumbled – something he had only ever been able to say to her, and her alone. He knew how lucky he was… any other person would have been angry at him for having ruined their evening and wouldn't understand that he had certain anger and possessiveness issues that originated from a childhood he would not speak of. But Christine was a diamond and he loved her. "You aren't angry with me, are you?"

Piers was amazed… he'd never heard Erik apologise to anyone in all the time he had known him and he had certainly never been so openly appealing for someone's forgiveness. He decided he'd best leave them alone but was rather cheesed off when neither of them even seemed to notice him go.

"I'm not angry with you," she confirmed as she smiled up at him, stroking his back soothingly as though he were a child. "But I don't think you'll be very popular with the rest of your class for a few days…"

"As if they don't already have a bad opinion of me… I expect they think you're living with an ogre who keeps you locked up in the loft and only lets you out to do the chores."

"You…? An ogre…? Don't be daft… you're just a big, cuddly pussycat who needs a bit more attention than most."

"A pussycat…?" he laughed. "Now who's being daft…? I'm no more of a pussycat than you are a man-eating great white shark."

"You've always been very much a pussycat to me, Erik – one stroke behind your ears and you're lost to whatever is my whim at the time," she said, not really serious. "But, people aren't always what they seem…" She slipped away from him and headed out of the door as he followed.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing…"

"No, you meant something or else you wouldn't have said it."

"Nothing… just that, you might seem imposing but you're really a sweetheart…" she said nonchalantly.

"That's not what you meant," he argued.

"Yes, it was."

"No, it is not what you meant."

"Let it go, Erik. It is what I meant."

He wasn't convinced…

"Seeing as you scared off all of my friends, it is up to you to entertain me," Christine said after he refused to answer a question she had asked him. They were lying on cushions on their stomachs in front of the fire and Christine had been questioning him about his life before her.

"How long was your longest relationship then?" she asked.

He looked at the dear woman to his right and sighed. She would never understand… "Thirteen years…" he answered truthfully, if ambiguously.

"Then why aren't you still with her?"

He looked at her pointedly. "I am still with her…"

"That doesn't count, Erik," she said, nudging his shoulder with hers. "I'm not your longest romantic relationship."

"You are my longest relationship of any sort…"

"Angel…" she said firmly.

"What?"

She sighed, exasperated, and shook her head, sending an array of long chocolate brown curls falling about her shoulders. "That can't be true – you've known Mrs. Giry and Piers far longer than you've known me…"

"I neither know them as well nor as gladly… And I see them far less often than I see you – if we added up all the days I have spent with you, they would far outweigh the amount I have spent with them added together."

"Well, what about that woman, Steph, who was here this morning?" Christine asked, trying not to sound bothered.

Erik could tell she was, though, but he didn't know why. Still, it made him feel happy for a moment as he imagined that she could be jealous for some reason. "What about her?" he asked, intent on drawing it out as long as possible.

"Did you go out with her? You said you had to let her go… I wondered if that was because something had happened between you and it hadn't worked out."

"I have never heard anything more ridiculous," he stated.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked Stephanie as he walked into the dining room to see her laying two plates out on the candlelit table.

"I decided to try out a new recipe and I thought we could eat it together – get your input and all that…"

"Well, that's very kind," he said, slightly confused by her behaviour. "But, I have to make sure Christine eats before I will even think of doing so myself."

"I've already given her her food, Erik."

"You've done what?" he snapped.

"What's wrong?"

"You know what I pay you to do – and you know what I pay you not to do. She is mine to care for and you knew that, so, perhaps you can explain to me why you have done what I told you not to do…"

"Look, calm down, I just thought we could have a nice meal together without any other distractions…"

"How dare you call my angel a distraction," he hissed. "You are the one who is keeping me from her."

"Erik, I don't see why you're getting upset…"

"Christine would," he stated firmly.

"Look, I didn't mean to upset you – all I wanted to do was cook you dinner for once."

Erik wouldn't apologise for being so easily offended but he did decide to try to be less defensive. "Well, I suppose it is only one night – one night, you understand – and I could do with something to eat, but, why have you set candles out?"

"I thought they would add a certain ambience to the evening and it's not as though Christine is around to knock them down…"

"She could never be so clumsy – she has the grace of a ballerina," he said defensively.

"I didn't mean it like that… I just meant that she is not going to get hurt by them. Why don't you sit down and I'll get you something to drink… Does wine suit?"

"Yes, fine." He sat down in his usual seat and mourned the empty place beside him where his little angel normally sat. "Does that mean that she had to eat on her own?" he asked when Stephanie returned.

"She was happy to watch a film while she ate…"

"Then I think I'd better go and spend some time with her," he said, getting up quickly. "She's been on her own too long."

"Erik, you've spent all day with her at school…"

"Is it a bad thing that I can't get enough of her?"

"Can't we ever have a romantic night in without you going on about her?" she huffed.

"Romantic night in…? What are you talking about? We aren't a couple… we aren't even friends. I am your employer and I pay you to look after the most important person in my life – the only important person in my life. Has someone put you up to this?"

"Nobody's put me up to anything; I don't see why you have to be so paranoid. I just wanted to have some time alone with you."

"Alone with me…? Why would you want to be alone with me?" he asked suspiciously.

"I like you, Erik, when you're not being like this and I know you like me too – we have fun together, don't we? We look after Christine together… Give it a chance – we could really make a go of this."

"You are demented – I have no interest in you… I've told you time and again that all that matters to me is my Christine."

"She won't be with you forever, you know… you said it yourself – it is a purely temporary position."

"Then you understand that I wish to be able to cherish every moment with her. This arrangement is no longer working out – I shall have your P45 ready by morning and I expect you to have your bags packed."

Since then, he had never allowed a childminder he had hired to care for Christine call him by his first name or to live with them. He also had the unfortunate task of explaining to Christine, though, why another person she had become even slightly attached to had left her life and a new person had come into it doing their job.

"Shall we say, she got a little too friendly and I did not reciprocate… actually, now that I think about it, she had been acting strangely for a while before I had to let her go."

Christine was secretly pleased that he had not had an interest in the pretty woman, though, if she had been asked, she could not say why. "Did you ever think about having children, then?"

"I'm not good with children…"

"Said the teacher…" she laughed.

"Well, it's true – I never know what to do around them… especially the ones who don't know what they're doing, themselves."

"You were wonderful with me…"

"You were not an average child…" he pointed out, dabbing her on the nose with his finger like he used to do when she was a child.

"I see – I was abnormal…" she laughed. "You and Frankenstein's monster felt a real bond with me…"

"I did feel a bond with you," he said seriously. "And it has only strengthened over time…"

"Tell me how we met…"

"You know how we met… I taught – I teach – at the school you were sent to…"

"Yes, but how did we actually meet there? You only teach the secondary school and I can't remember you ever going into the nursery or the primary building if I was not there… so how could we have come to meet?" she asked.

"I knew Mrs. Giry and you are aware she teaches the nursery class; well, you were – are – best friends with her daughter…"

"I might have believed you if it weren't for the fact that I know you've never taken much interest in Meg, so, that does not explain how you came to meet me…"

"Alright, I'll admit," he said after a while. "Our first meeting was entirely orchestrated by me…"

"Why?"

"I saw this perfect little angel – a girl so beautiful that my first sight of her brought tears to my eyes – and I knew that I had to have some form of contact with her…"

Christine smiled delightedly. "That's so sweet, Angel… I didn't know that. How did I come to live with you then?"

"How much do you remember of your early childhood?"

"Not much, I'm afraid, Angel… though, sometimes I remember things when you mention something I have forgotten."

"Do you remember your parents?"

"Of course I remember them… I still miss them sometimes when I think about the things I have missed out on because I lost them so young. But, I'll always love them so even though I don't have as many memories as I would have liked. Most of all, I am forever grateful for the greatest gift they could have ever given me…"

"What's that, sweetheart?"

"Well, you, of course…" she laughed, nudging him again.

Erik looked at her oddly… "Don't you remember the court case?"

"Court case…?"

It had been almost a year now and Erik hadn't heard a word from Ada Giry's solicitors, so, he decided it was time to consult his own about having Christine with him legally. Unfortunately, just as he was talking in his own home with his solicitor, who was detailing exactly what had to be done to transfer her guardianship to him, he got a couriered official letter from the solicitors of a Mr. Charles Atkinson.

"What the hell is this?"

"

"Let me see…" Xavier said, taking the papers out of Erik's hand and studying them for a moment. "Do you know a Charles Atkinson?"

"No… what does he want from me?"

"Well, as Fate – or, perhaps, coincidence – would have it, he has applied for full parental rights of a Miss Christine Daaé."

"What? Who is he to get custody of her?" Erik asked sharply.

"I don't know, Erik, but I'll find out."

"He's contested the will," Xavier stated over the phone. "He is a blood relative of Christine's and he was out of the country when her parents died so he has only just heard about it now. He opposes the unofficial transfer of guardianship from Ada Giry to you… Also, the will states that, in the event of the death of both of her parents, an Ada and a Jonathan Giry be named as her guardians – well, Mr. Giry is dead and that very much changes things. And, you're not going to like this…"

"I have liked little of what has spewed out of your mouth so far today," Erik said indifferently. "What is it?"

"He and his wife were named as her guardians should the aforementioned people be deceased before the will was read."

"Oh, for the love of God," Erik shouted. "I have been looking after her for the last year almost… he can't expect to get her off of me now. What are we going to do?"

"Well, if you are adamant that you want to keep her…"

"I am."

"Then we are going to court…"

"Indeed."

"She'll remain in your custody during the trial because of the amount of time she has already been in your care and that is very much in our favour, Erik. Courts rarely like to move children about a lot… it would be different if Mrs. Giry wanted her back, though."

"Why would it be different?"

"The courts favour women and she is already a mother, not to mention, her legal guardian… if she wanted Christine back, I believe you would have quite a fight on your hands, but, this Charles Atkinson doesn't really have a leg to stand on – he only contested the will because her primary carer, Mrs. Giry, was not looking after her. Fortunately, though, if you get custody of her over Mr. Atkinson, then you will have custody of her forever… Mrs. Giry will not be able to take her back and you will be solely responsible for her until she's eighteen. Actually, it is in your best interest that he has applied for this now because then you can have the matter settled finally."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart; I thought you knew… Your parents didn't give you to me – they gave you to Mrs. Giry to look after but her husband died just a few days after your parents and she couldn't look after you and Meg…" he said softly, placing his hand in her hair. "She asked me to take care of you for a little while and I gladly accepted, of course. However, when some time had passed, I looked into becoming your legal guardian and there was a court case between me and one of your mildly-distant relatives."

"Who…?"

"A Charles Atkinson – some uncle of your mother's or something. Well, anyway, I fought to keep you… for two whole years… and, of course, I won – otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here now, would we?" Yes, we bloody well would, his unconscious commented in the back of his mind. He would not even allow himself to think of the hell he would have suffered if she had been taken out of his life way back then. He would have gone clinically mad, he was quite sure…

"You fought to keep me…?"

"Yes…" he said truthfully.

"I loved you before, Angel… but I love you even more now."

"Oh, I love you so, little darling. In all my life, the decision to take care of you was the one I had to think about the least and the one I revel in the most. I never had so sane a moment as the one, in which, I took responsibility of you… And, if they hadn't ruled in my favour, I would have found some other way of spending the rest of my life with you."

She was silent a moment before returning to her original question. "So you hadn't expected to have children one day, then?"

"No – I had not even considered a wife, let alone any children running about the place and it is rather hard to have a child when one does not even have a partner."

"Have you ever had a partner?" Christine asked. She had added up everything in her head and she couldn't remember a time when he'd even entertained a woman – she imagined he had never had a relationship of any substance… if he had ever had one at all, that is.

"What sort of question is that? You know I value my privacy more than most."

"Yes, but you've never had any privacy from me…"

"Don't I know it…" he grumbled. "Like the time when you were seven and you walked in on me while I was undressed…"

"You're lucky I don't remember a thing about that – I expect I blocked it from my mind… but, if you will walk around naked then what do you expect?"

"I wasn't walking around naked… I had just stepped out of the shower and the phone rang downstairs… is it my fault if I dropped the towel out of shock when you propelled a muffin at my head?"

"Lord, that was funny," she laughed.

"I thought you said you didn't remember anything about it."

She lowered her eyes. "No, course… I meant that it sounded like it might be funny."

"I don't believe you…"

"You don't have to."

"How much do you remember?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"You know how, if you last see somewhere when you're young and then you go back years later, it doesn't seem half so big…"

"You cheeky little madam," he said, playfully pushing her over onto her back on the cushions.

"Not that I intend to see that particular part of you again…" she teased. "It was quite enough the first time."

"You are not too old to be punished, Christine. I am not opposed to teaching you a lesson in etiquette…"

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" she laughed. "Oh, and, Angel…?"

"Yes?" he asked guardedly.

"While you were still standing nude in front of me in shock, I happened to notice that you have a very nice-looking… large… long… stroke-able…"

"Yes…?"

Christine wrinkled her nose in amusement and lowered her eyes noticeably to a particular region of his anatomy before bringing them back up to his face while she smiled. Erik, for his part, was curious as to what she might say. Actually, it would have been more accurate to say that he was positively hooked on whatever her next words would be, terrified in the knowledge that what she would say could crush him. "Well, what I am trying to say, Angel," she continued in a mock-embarrassed tone, "is that it looked very… pleasing… like I might enjoy… using it…" Erik was now beyond speech and he stared at her, his mouth slightly open as he tried desperately to make sense of what she was saying. "Yes," Christine went on. "It was a bloody great-looking towel…"

Erik let out a long, strangled sort of breath as his hopes were deflated. He should have known she'd be teasing him… she was always very tongue-in-cheek.

Christine was highly amused that she'd gotten such a reaction out of him and she basked in her power over him. "Maybe I can use it sometime… you don't often find towels like that one," she continued.

Actually, that thought was not totally displeasing for him and he decided to salvage what he could from his dashed hopes than just allow them to be crushed. "I should ground you for that."

"But you won't… you've never grounded me for anything in my life."

"Doesn't mean I won't start now…"

"Oh, yes? And how are you going to keep me in my room, hmm? Tie me to the bed…?" she laughed.

"Sounds like an interesting idea," he said out loud without meaning to. And, before he knew it, he had given in to an urge he shouldn't have even entertained and had pinned her to the cushions.

"Erik, what are you–"

Without giving himself a chance to think about it and back out, he pressed their lips together in an intense, if brief, kiss. Actually, it was very much over before it had even really begun as he threw himself away from her and onto his feet. He stood for a terrified moment as he looked down at her lying on the floor in front of him. He was scared that he had just undone the whole of their relationship with that one stupid unconscious decision to steal a kiss from her – the only kiss he was ever likely to receive.

"Forgive me… it was a mistake… I… I didn't mean to." And, with all the stealth of a leopard, he fled from the room.

Christine, meanwhile, was stunned. She lay on the floor for a while after he had gone, just thinking about what he had done. She hadn't expected it… he hadn't given her any signs that he was going to kiss her – or why he had, in fact – and she had been momentarily frozen in place as she experienced her first kiss.

He had been timid, she recalled – holding his lips still against hers and only for a brief moment. There was not much she could say about it – he was obviously inexperienced, but, she found that to be more endearing than off-putting. And, it was not as if she had had anything to compare him to…

She decided she had liked it… it had been a good kiss, if a bit clumsy, but, she had not expected to share it with Erik – he was supposed to be her Angel, her guardian, her teacher… It could not be repeated, she decided.

But, it had not been a disagreeable experience…

Perhaps I ought to talk to him, she thought. There is no point in leaving it until he is so awkward around me that he cannot even look at me. And, knowing Erik, that will not be long…

© Copyright of CrawfordsBiscuits, October 2005

What can I say…? I'm having an odd week…