Hey everyone, nothing much here just enjoy the story….
Early the next morning, Erik awoke with the weight of Christine's body lying against his. He reached over for his pocket watch and noticed that it was nine am. He easily lifted Christine's body up and lied her down on the mattress before getting up to get changed. Afterwards, he grabbed his pocket watch and ran out the door to meet Andre at the theater to continue with the rebuilding of the Opera House. When Erik arrived he approached Andre who was already there waiting for him. "Erik where have you been?" asked Andre. "sorry, I over slept last night." he replied taking out his pocket watch and looking at the time. "tell me is Christine doing ok? She seemed a little upset yesterday when she came to drop off lunch." said Andre. "yes she's doing ok. I think she was just a little tired. She was actually still sleeping when I left the house." said Erik. "are you and her still together?" asked Andre.
Erik put his pocket watch back inside the pocket in his shirt and said "I don't know what we are. She broke my heart and at the moment I don't know if I could ever forgive her. I love her but right now it's not enough for me to forgive her." "do what you must Erik but in the end I believe that love can find it's ways through the stickiest situations." said Andre. "I'm going to change the subject to a work related talk." said Erik as he and Andre walked through the rubble of what used to be the Opera House. "you know Erik I would love to have dinner with you tonight to go over those wonderful ideas for the Opera House." said Andre. "they aren't that great." said Erik. "nonsense boy they are wonderful. I never knew that you were so talented." said Andre. "well maybe if you would have talked to me instead of trying to hunt me down you could have gotten the chance to know me better." said Erik. "Sometimes the world is so used to being cruel to each other that the people who live in it can't see the beauty in something so distorted." said Andre.
Erik looked at Andre, and said "don't you think that it's the reason I wear the mask?" "if everyone were like Christine the world would be a better place." said Andre. "you know Andre sometimes Christine isn't perfect either." said Erik. "but she was the first person, the first girl to ever look beyond the mask." said Andre. "yes she was and sometimes I wonder why? I mean why her? She's beautiful and talented so why would she want to waste her time around me? She has done a bad thing by betraying me but still she admits that she loves me and only me." said Erik. "You're talented as well." said Andre. "when would you like to have dinner with me?" asked Erik changing the subject. "tonight at "la vi en rose" eight shall we say?" questioned Andre as he kicked some of the debris aside. "that's fine." said Erik. "wonderful, now I want to tell you that tomorrow all this debris will be cleaned up and your plans for the new Opera house will be put to work. I'm aiming for it all to be complete with in a month." he replied. "impossible." said Erik. "not the whole thing boy, just the outside. One the outside is done then you and I shall start with the interior and work our way to the finish line." said Andre. "you should have just said that in the first place." said Erik. "I'm sorry it's just hard for me to change the way I talk about things. When Firman was alive he knew exactly what I was talking about when I spoke. You just have to get used to some of the phrases and shortened speeches that I give." said Andre. "I'm terribly sorry about him. I wouldn't have wished that on my worst enemy. Well maybe Philippe but not on anyone else." said Erik with a low laugh. "what is happening with the boy anyway?" asked Andre. "Christine and I haven't heard anything yet. As far as we know Philippe is being held in jail until he gets a proper court date." said Erik. "And are you going?" asked Andre. "only if we truly have to." said Erik. "if I were you I wouldn't go." said Andre. "I'm going to try to stay out of it all." said Erik as he kicked over some debris as well.
Christine awoke to the sound of water running. She sat up and looked around for Erik who couldn't be found any where. Meg then entered the room with a towel wrapped around her body. "Meg? What are you doing?" asked Christine as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "just got a bath and need some clean clothes. I mean you technically are in my bed room." said Meg with a smile. "why did you give me your bedroom again?" asked Christine. "because you and Erik are lovers and shouldn't be sleeping on the couch. Do you know how uncomfortable that would be?" questioned Meg as she grabbed a dress from out of her closet. "well you and Marco are newly weds and shouldn't be sleeping in a twin size bed in your guest room." said Christine. "nonsense you two are our guests." said Meg. "well hopefully I'll find a place to live soon so you and Marco can have your bed back." said Christine.
Meg put on the dress, and said "hopefully my mother will have an opera house to go to so she can teach ballet again. I think the thought of living here for the rest of her life is driving her mad. All she does is cook and clean and take long walks around the block." "well she's out of her natural habitat Meg, and she doesn't know anything but Ballet and opera. What did you expect?" said Christine. "you have a point." said Meg. Christine combed her hair, and said "did you see Erik down stairs?" "no, I haven't seen him since last night when you two were battling it out." said Meg. "Please don't remind me." said Christine. "how is it that you argue with someone and then sleep in the same bed with them?" asked Meg. "I don't know, me and Erik's love life is like a rocky twisted road. We fight, we argue, we kiss, we make up, we fight some more and then fall asleep in each other's arms. I know it seems strange but that's just the way we are." said Christine.
Meg smiled, and said "I would love to be able to go to bed with someone even after we fight. I know it sounds strange coming from me, but your love life is really nice. Yea I know you fight and argue but in the end when you can actually sleep in Erik's arms knowing all the bad things he's said to you it's still romantic." "Meg do me a favor and never say that ever again." said Christine as she laughed. "fine I won't say it to you but I will say it to your baby when it's old enough." said Meg. "I love Erik I just wish that he could be happy that I'm pregnant." said Christine. "he has to feel some kind of happiness." said Meg. "and why's that?" asked Christine. Meg began to brush her hair, and said "because if he was really all that mad over it he would have left you. He's still sleeping next to you and he's still coming home every night. He's sticking around because deep in his heart he has the feeling that maybe there is a possibility that this child is his." "you think so?" asked Christine. "Christine I know so." said Meg as she placed her hair brush back down on the dresser. "hey let's do something." said Christine. "like what?" asked Meg. "let's go into town and walk around the market." suggested Christine. "I can't my mother wants me to go to the stables and feed the horses from the opera house. Do you want to come?" asked Meg. "sure, I haven't seen Erik's horse in a long time." said Christine putting on her cloak.
Christine and Meg walked down to the stables and entered the dark wooden pens. Meg walked over to the corn crib and took out the bucket of feed that was inside it. She then poured it into the dishes that were hooked to each pen. Christine how ever walked over to Cesar's pen and petted his dark mane. "You poor thing, Erik hasn't been here has he?" said Christine as she continued to pet him. "maybe you should take him out for a walk." said Meg. "maybe, but Erik wouldn't like me doing that. He hates when I take care of Cesar because it makes him look like a bad owner." said Christine. "Duh, he is. Ever since you guys went to Persia a long time ago my mother has been taking care of Cesar." said Meg. "that's not true, Erik has been here after we came back…once or twice." said Christine as she laughed. "Christine that horse would be dead if one of us never came to check on it." said Meg. "I know I know, but I'm really trying to get back on Erik's good side right now and so I don't want to make him angry. If I take Cesar out for a walk and Erik finds out he'll be ever more mad at me and this time we probably won't fall asleep in each other's arms." said Christine as she walked out of Cesar's pen. "well do the damn horse a favor and tell Erik that he needs to take a ride on him so he can stretch his legs." said Meg. "I'll try to get him to do it tonight if he's in a good mood." said Christine. "Well tell Erik that if he won't I will." said Meg. "ok, ok." said Christine.
A few hours later, Christine walked through the door of her room to see Erik sitting in the bathtub washing his body with a soapy cloth. "Hey, you're back." said Christine as she hung up her cloak. "yes, where have you been?" asked Erik. "Meg and I went into town to get some food and to shop." said Christine. "oh, that's good." said Erik as he took off his mask and place it on the floor. He then easily washed the distorted side of his face, cringing as he ran the cloth over it. "are you ok?" asked Christine in a concerned tone of voice. "my flesh is irritated." said Erik. "it's from wearing that mask so much while you're working. The sweat is running down your face as your working and with the mask on it has no where to run or to evaporate. You should really keep the mask off once in a while." said Christine. "it's always so much easier said then done." said Erik. "don't get like that Erik, you know I don't mean it that way." said Christine. Erik got out of the tub, and angrily through on his trousers. He then ran his fingers through his wet blonde strands and said "maybe I should just go to work looking like this." Christine sighed "oh Erik you're not a monster." she then grabbed a towel and easily dried the few strands of blonde hair that he had left and looked at his irritated skin. "that looks horrible." she replied. "of course it does." said Erik. "no Erik I mean the irritation looks bad." said Christine as she put down the towel. She then opened one of the drawers on the dresser and took out a container of lotion and rubbed some of it on the irritation. "ok Erik that should help but you have to keep your mask off until tomorrow morning." said Christine. "I can't, I have a really important dinner to go to tonight with Andre." said Erik. "it's only Andre." said Christine. "I don't feel comfortable going into a public place with my face exposed to the whole city of Paris." said Erik. "well it's too late because I already applied the medicine to it." said Christine. "you just love to embarrass me don't you?" questioned Erik as he slipped on one of his shirts. "Erik don't be like this. You know better than that." said Christine. "I'm wearing my mask and that's the end of it." he replied as he placed the black wig on the top of his head. "You're going to be sorry later." said Christine. "sorry? Christine just leave me be." said Erik as he placed the white mask over the distorted side of his face. "do you want me to go with you?" asked Christine. "do you want to?" asked Erik. "sure why not." said Christine. "fine, get dressed." he replied.
Once Christine got dressed into her evening gown, Erik grabbed his blue prints and they were out the door. "the restaurant is too far to walk so why don't we take Cesar?" questioned Erik as he escorted Christine down the cobble stone road. "perfect." she replied. Once they got to the stable, Erik opened up Cesar's pen and lifted Christine up onto his back. He then jumped on as well and patted Cesar to gallop up the road towards the restaurant. "how did you ever get Cesar?" asked Christine as she held onto Erik's sides. "one of the horses that we use in the operas had him. The manager was going to put him down because he was a runt. Well I was about twenty five at the time and stole him one night placing him in my care. Cesar's not a runt anymore and is actually one of the biggest horses we have in the opera house.
Once they arrived at the restaurant Erik and Christine entered to look for Andre. When Erik spotted him at a table with a few other men he wondered what was going on. Erik and Christine approached the table, and Andre stood up and shook his hand. "Erik, glad you could make it. There are the two architects that will be rebuilding the opera house with there workers." "evening." said Erik as he nervously took a seat. "they are Mr. Wintson and Mr. Shocklan." said Andre. Erik didn't know what to say to the two men and had a feeling that they were staring at his mask. In anger, Erik pulled Andre close to him, and whispered "I thought you said that it was just going to be you and I." "what can I say? After you went home they came to me for a visit and well I couldn't deny them dinner." said Andre.
Erik picked up his glass of wine and drank it to calm his nervousness down. "so Mr. Erik Andre has told us that you have blue prints." said Mr. Wintson. "yes, I do." said Erik handing him the blue prints. Both men looked at them, and smiled. "these are beautiful." said Mr. Shocklan as he ran his fingers over the beauty of Erik's work. "Erik are you ok?" asked Christine as she saw the sweat running down his face. "I'm just hot is all." said Erik as he wiped his fore head with his sleeve. "we are going to follow every detail I can assure you that much. Would it be ok if Mr. Wintson and myself kept these as a reference?" asked Mr. Shocklan. "Go ahead." said Erik. "so why do you wear that mask?" asked Mr. Wintson. Erik squeezed his fists and said "does it matter?" "we were just wondering is all." said Mr. Shocklan. "Men, this is Christine Daae Erik's friend." said Andre trying to change the subject. "not related to the famous Violinist?" questioned the men. "yes, his only daughter." said Andre. "that is wonderful." said Mr. Shocklan. "I don't know if you heard that I'm pregnant Mr. Andre." said Christine. "you are? When are you due?" asked Andre. "not for at least eight more months." said Christine. "and I suppose Erik is the father?" asked Andre. Erik gave Christine the dirtiest look in the world, and it took a few moments for her to even get over the expression. "well why wouldn't he be?" she replied. "that's marvelous." said Andre. Once they ordered dinner, all of them especially Erik mostly ate in silence. After their good byes, the ride home was silent as well. Once both Christine and Erik got back to their room, Erik quietly walked over to the dresser and stared at himself in the mirror as he took off his mask. He then looked at his agitated flesh that was worse than before he placed the mask over his face. Christine on the other hand dressed her self in her night gown and said "it's awfully quiet in here Erik. What did I say now?" "what did you say? What worse could you have said? You just had to tell the whole world that you were pregnant didn't you?" yelled Erik in anger. "what Erik? I had to change the subject. They were asking you about your face." said Christine. "well you could have said "hey the weather is nice" or "hey what do you want to eat tonight?" no, you go and tell everyone that your pregnant and then you say that I'm the father when you don't even know that it's for sure." said Erik. "you know Erik all this week I've been trying not to get you mad. You're just a hard person to keep happy and when I think about that it's what makes me hate you." said Christine.
Erik put his head down and said "look, I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you about my flesh. I'm sorry to say that it burns now and I'm in pain." Christine took a cloth and soaked it in a good amount of alcohol and wrung it out. She and Erik then crawled in bed together and Christine placed the cloth over his irritated flesh. "I'm still mad at you Christine." said Erik. "don't talk to me Erik, just go to sleep." said Christine. She then rolled over and closed her eyes. Erik held the cloth to his face as much as he could until sleep over took his body as well leaving the horrible night with just memories…..
More to come soon. Reviews be nice..R&R