A/N: Hi all! Thank you so much to the new followers and to those who left a review! Your input means a lot and gives me inspiration to keep going! Now, on with the show!
"Thanks for seeing me, Madame Giry."
"You know I will always make time for you, Christine," the older woman answered, beckoning the girl into her office. Christine shut the door carefully behind her, shuffling over to one of the chairs before Giry's desk.
"I don't want to take up too much of your time," Christine hedged, sitting down slowly.
"Nonsense. What seems to be the problem?"
Christine felt her cheeks color. "There's something I wanted to discuss but first...I need to confess something to you." She looked down at her lap. "You won't be happy with me," she softly admitted.
Giry said nothing, waiting.
Christine sighed, then spoke. "I haven't done as you've said. I've kept in contact with that man. With...Erik."
Giry sighed, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses. "Yes, Christine, I've thought as much." She lowered her hands, gazing at Christine carefully. "You have circles under your eyes. You haven't been sleeping well." She narrowed her eyes, zeroing in like a hawk. "Has he hurt you?" Her voice was even, but even Christine could hear the note of danger underneath.
"No!" Christine quickly assured her. "No, nothing like that." She looked away.
"Then?" Giry prompted.
Christine licked dry lips. "We had a fight. Sort of. Things ended on an OK note. But I couldn't help but feel like I'd done something wrong, even though I know I haven't. He's...strict. In a way I guess I wasn't prepared for."
She quickly summed up what happened. Giry lowered her chin onto her fingers, listening to Christine carefully.
"You think he might have other reasons for not wanting to see you go out with Raoul, other than concern for your music?"
Christine shook her head. "No! I...Maybe?" She rubbed her clammy hands along the tops of her denim-clad thighs. "I haven't had a relationship like this before." She looked up at Giry, her expression confused. "Erik's not like anyone I've ever met."
"Well," Giry said, "Speaking as a teacher, and moreover, Meg's mother, I can understand the demand for excellence. However," she held up a finger, "There is much you do not know about Erik, still. And I'm not sure I trust him around you."
Christine pressed her lips, ready to defend Erik, but decided it might be a better idea to switch topics, instead. "As for the reason I actually came in…"
She told Giry of her feelings of being watched, observing as Giry leaned back in her seat, her expression more concerned than before. When she saw Christine looking at her, she must have seen Christine's own fear, for her expression quickly shuttered.
"I'm sure it's nothing, dear, but I'll inform campus security that there might be a strange character about."
Christine's eyes widened. "You mean you'll tell Erik? Isn't he campus security?"
Giry looked at her strangely for a moment, then blinked it away. "No. I plan on talking to someone...quite different. But for now, continue your classes and your studies as if all is normal. If you continue to see this person or have this feeling, let me know. We'll stay on top of it, I promise."
Christine smiled uncertainly, but nodded. She trusted Madame Giry, and knew her to be as good as her word.
"Thanks, Madame. I'll see you Saturday night for dinner?"
Giry nodded. Christine closed the door quietly behind her. When she heard Giry pick up her phone and begin dialing, she scurried away, not trusting herself to stay and find out who the woman was calling.
"So, did you tell her?" Raoul asked when she came back outside.
Christine approached him, nodding. He released a sigh of relief.
"And?"
"She said she'd look into it." Christine clutched one arm with her opposite hand, peering back over her shoulder at the dance building. When her eyes returned to Raoul, his were concerned.
"What is it?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Nothing. It's just…" She bit her lip. "I feel like maybe she wasn't telling me the whole truth," she admitted quietly. "I asked if she was going to tell Erik, and she said no. But she wouldn't tell me who she was going to tell." She sighed. "Maybe she thinks I'm being silly and is just humoring me."
"I'm sure that's not the case," Raoul murmured. His expression turned speculative. "Although…"
Christine looked up, frowning. "What?"
Raoul took her arm gently, leading her away from the building. He lowered his voice. "Maybe...please don't be mad at me for saying this, Christine. But maybe she has the same bad feeling I have, and is just trying to protect you."
He led her to a nearby bench and they both sat down. She looked at him with wide eyes, uncomprehending. "What do you mean? What bad feeling?"
"Christine," he began apprehensively, "I know that you have the highest opinion of your teacher, but don't forget how he first made himself known to you."
She fiddled with one of the rings on her finger - a simple gold one, something of her mother's that her father had given her before he died. "I told you, it sounds worse than it was. He's just a really private person, I think." She couldn't quite meet his eyes, and Raoul noticed.
"You don't have to tell me everything that happens between you and your teacher, Christine. I trust you," he added, his words heavy.
She blinked. "What does that mean?"
He sighed. "Simply that you don't have to tell me everything about the man. But I don't know him, and all I can go on is the things you've told me. I'm afraid you can't see the picture clearly, that you're muddled by your gratitude towards him for teaching you."
Her mouth hung open, fire dancing in her belly and working its way up her throat. "Raoul, I can't believe you!" She stood up, outraged. "So I don't know my own mind, is that it? I'm just some stupid little girl who's been tricked by some bad man?"
"No!" He stood up quickly, his face pale. He tried to grab her hands, but she evaded his grasp. "Christine, that's not what I meant at all! I'm just afraid for you! I'm scared that some creep is following my girlfriend around school, and I don't know what to do, OK?"
Christine took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She could see that he was being sincere and wasn't trying to pick a fight.
Still, she didn't like the insinuation that Raoul was making about Erik. True, she didn't know Erik very well, and he hadn't exactly shown her that he respected her privacy, but he hadn't given her any indication that she should be afraid of him.
If anything, he was afraid of her. She hadn't forgotten the way he had run away from her the first time they met in person.
Like she was the dangerous one.
No, Erik couldn't be behind this. Despite everyone else's misgivings, Christine had only ever felt safe around him. Even before she knew his name.
And in any case, Christine had a feeling that if Erik had wanted to follow someone, they would never even suspect he was there. He was uncanny that way.
She allowed Raoul to take her hands, and his face immediately slackened. She squared her shoulders to him. "I appreciate your concern, Raoul. It's really sweet." He opened his mouth, his brow furrowed, but she spoke before he could. "But you'll have to trust me when I say that I have absolutely zero doubt in my mind that if someone is following me around campus, it's not Erik."
Raoul conceded, ducking his chin. "Regardless, the point still stands. I'd feel much safer if you spent the next few days at my apartment. At least until Madame Giry or campus PD or someone figures this all out."
Christine's cheeks reddened. "Raoul…"
He gripped her hands a little tighter. "It's for your protection, Christine, nothing more. The point is to make you feel less anxious, not more. The bed in the spare room is all yours. I even know where the clean sheets for it are."
Christine laughed a little, breathless. "If that would make you happy, Raoul…"
He nodded fervently. "It would." He kissed her hands, his gray-blue eyes pleading with hers.
She deliberated for another moment before shrugging. "OK, that sounds good. The only reason I have to be on campus after dark is on Sunday for my lesson, but other than that, I can come straight to your place after class."
"And I'll pick you up," Raoul finished for her.
"Really, Raoul, it's too much to ask-"
"Nonsense, Lotte," he assured her, defaulting back to her nickname from when they were children. It was always effective in endearing Raoul to her, and for good measure, he winked. "Now let's go get some of your things and hope Miss Giry isn't home to tease you." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
She smacked his arm before taking it, laughing again. "Raoul Chagny, you're incorrigible."
Helene Giry had set the meeting time as close to sunset as modern technology could predict. She couldn't wait much longer than that, and was unwilling to. Despite her rigorous schedule as a dean at this school, only one thing had occupied her mind for the entirety of the day, and it would not stop plaguing her until the matter was put to bed.
She felt rather than saw the dark figure approach from her left. His presence, she was quickly learning, felt very much like a force of nature, an unstoppable, impending storm.
Impending doom is more like it, she thought grimly.
He stopped a good distance away from her, posting his tall frame deeper in the shadows than was necessary in the waning light. "I do not understand why we could not meet in your office." His tone was put-upon, but not offended. Giry thought she should be glad for small miracles.
Giry shrugged, fighting to stay nonchalant. She kept her gaze out towards the open campus, speaking to him though he hovered somewhere to the left and slightly behind her. "I thought you might be more forthcoming on your own turf." She gestured to the night around them.
She sensed him squaring off to her. "Forthcoming on what matter?"
She finally turned to look at him in that direct way of hers - unblinking, like a cat. "What problem do you have with Raoul Chagny?"
He considered her, his masked expression as unreadable as ever. "You have spoken to Christine, I take it?"
Giry fought against shuffling her feet before him. "She came clean with me. I had not been aware that your...acquaintance had continued after the incident in my office."
Erik locked his hands behind his back, standing impossibly tall before her. "I asked her to keep mum about our lessons. It has been difficult enough to lie to her about my presence here at the school. Of course, I have lied for her benefit." He paused. "But I am curious," he continued, his voice almost hypnotic in its softness, "As to why she decided to break that faith now?"
Giry felt many things, but knew it prudent to tread carefully with this man. "She had good reason to confide in me. As she should."
"She is not your daughter, Madame."
"I would raze hell for that girl."
"So it would appear."
They were rapidly approaching an impasse. Giry shook her head. The man was ridiculously stubborn. She did not want to like him, but his obstinacy, combined with his eloquence and old-fashioned sense of honor, made him kindred, in a way. Still, it would not be enough to soften her stance.
"It will not last long," Erik said at length.
Giry narrowed her eyes. "What won't?"
"The relationship. With the boy."
Incredulous, Giry frowned. "What makes you say that?"
"The brother. He is power-hungry, and an elitist. He will not tolerate his brother's fraternizing with a poor, orphaned student who intends to make her career in the opera world. Not for long, at any rate."
"You've certainly done your research on her."
Erik lifted his head. "Simply doing what I've been instructed to, Madame."
Giry looked away. She could not hide the worried note from her voice. "Someone else has been looking into her, too."
Erik turned back to her sharply. "Explain."
Giry sighed, shrugging the strap of her bag higher onto her shoulder. "I called up my contact in the Bureau. They say they've had more internet hits on Christine Daae in the last month than they've had in her entire lifetime." Giry looked at him pointedly. "I can only assume that's because of you."
Erik's lips thinned. "You would assume myself, and not the boy?"
Giry shook her head. "Christine's relationship with him is still in its infancy." She felt Erik's mood change, but would not deign to acknowledge it for fear he took it as any kind of encouragement. "My daughter has told me so."
"You keep tabs on Christine's personal life through your own daughter?"
"Of course," Giry said with a sniff. "I attempted to do the same with Christine for Meg, but the girl was not as inclined to confide in me with that."
She could hear the smile in Erik's voice. "Smart girl."
Giry sighed again. "Honorable, too," she mumbled, her voice weary, but not without a trace of reluctant admiration. She paused, opening and closing her mouth several times.
Erik folded his arms. "What is it?"
Giry mirrored him. "She told me this afternoon that she believes someone might be following her around campus."
He seemed to grow in stature before her eyes, his figure drawing volume from the shadows, or possibly the other way around. "You might have led with that, Dean Giry." A moment or two passed with the energy pulsing between them. He seemed to be growing in some strong emotion, but whether it was anger or something else, Giry couldn't be sure. When his gaze returned to her, she tried to avoid his eyes, afraid he might read the thoughts passing through her mind, like some spectral entity might.
He missed nothing. Improbably, his eyes darkened a shade more than they already were. "She thinks I'm following her," he stated.
Giry shook her head slightly, continuing to look away. "No," was her low reply. "Point of fact, she was rather adamant that she didn't think that."
Erik's chin lifted. "Ah, but you do?"
Giry looked at him again. "Would I bring this to your attention if I did?" she challenged.
Erik tilted his head slightly. "I hardly know. Thus far you have shown yourself to be capable of being either a beneficial ally or a formidable opponent." Underneath the tight coil of simmering rage, Giry thought she could detect an undercurrent of amusement. "Which is it to be, I wonder, in this case?"
Giry did not waver. "When it comes to my children, I would align myself with the Devil himself to protect them."
Erik smiled slowly, the white of his teeth flashing in the darkness. "Fortunate for us both, then." He turned to go.
Giry felt the first real tendril of panic then at his hasty retreat. "Wait! What are you going to do?"
All humor fled from Erik as he turned back to her. "I'm going to do a little research of my own and find out who's suddenly so interested in her. And after I do, I'll dissuade them of that interest."
Before she could think better of it, Giry called out to him again. He didn't turn back to look at her, but he did pause. "Saturday night, she'll be at my home for dinner." She told him her address. She swallowed, praying she wasn't making a mistake. "You'll come, and see if it lures this person out."
Erik shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I...will." He cleared his throat. "But I will stay out of sight. For everyone's protection. And comfort, I should think." He chuckled a little in that dark, disturbing way of his, the sound eerie. Giry opened her mouth to protest this, but he cut her off. "Like a guard dog! Really, all I was meant for. To be a dog at the feet of women. But for her, well…" He stopped, as if caught in an embarrassing moment, and drew himself up again.
"I will make sure nothing and no one hurts her, Dean Giry. If you can trust anything regarding me, trust that." And he was gone.
She sighed, wrapping her jacket more tightly around her as the darkness deepened. She turned to leave, needing to pick up a few more ingredients for family dinner on Saturday. She wondered at the fact that she was less concerned about giving Erik her personal address, and more about giving him the metaphorical keys to her trust concerning Christine.