Thanks for all of the great reviews! This chapter might seem somewhat boring, but the story will progress, I promise!

Twinkle22: Don't go to the hospital, I will hopefully be getting some more free time in the next week to update for all of my devoted readers!

Chapter 10

Christine sat alone in her flat. Meg went to the opera house for rehearsal of the next upcoming opera. She sat drinking her tea thinking about what happened that day. Ever since that day in Erik's office, Christine realized she was immature at how she acted and now even though she loved Erik, decided that his happiness was most important. She knew that she would get on with her life and hopefully find the one person who would be her love forever. She sat and silently prayed that Gabrielle would be understanding and not send him away like he said she would.

Christine rose to stir up the fire that was starting to die down. As she bent over to poke at it, she heard a knock on the door. She glanced out the window realizing how dark it was becoming and wondered who could be at the door so late in the afternoon, hoping that it wouldn't be Erik. She answered the door, and saw Erik standing there.

"Oh Erik, I am so sorry." Christine muttered without a proper greeting.

"I don't know what to do now." Erik said sadly pushing past her into the flat. Christine quietly closed the door behind him and he turned around.

"Oh, this is my entire fault." Christine said looking at him. He felt as if he might cry again, but held back his tears. Anger then took over and Erik took off his hat and flung it across the room and removed his cloak throwing it also across the room.

"My life is such a joke! Nothing can ever go right!" Erik shouted in his loud Phantom voice. Christine just stood and let him throw his tantrum, for she knew he was in so much pain. Rejected so many times by so many people and now this was the worst rejection ever.

He stood silent breathing heavily and then clumsily sunk onto the sofa. Christine sat in a nearby chair.

"Erik, talk to me. We are just friends now. Tell me what you are feeling."

"Can't you tell? My heart is breaking. This is worse than when you left me. This was the love of my life. Someone who loved me for me and now I fucked up and she's gone! What a waste!"

Christine winced at his last statement for she didn't think that their one night together was a waste.

"Christine, she was the most amazing person. She loved me for me. She kissed me willingly. She would caress my deformed face as if it were normal and had the smoothest skin. Now I can feel her touch, but there's no warmth to it. I love her with all of my heart. I finally got over you and developed the best life a man could ask for and now it's all gone."

After Erik's last encounter with Christine, he really did get over her. The happier and sweeter his life got with Gabrielle, the more he forgot about Christine until she was almost completely gone from his mind, until now. Now, he no longer loved her, but she was now his responsibility.

Christine didn't like to hear the words that he completely got over her, but she knew that it was the best for his happiness. She hoped she would eventually move on like he has.

Gabrielle lay on her bed for the last two hours screaming. She muffled her screams into Erik's pillow as she punched at the bed wildly.

"How could he do this to me? I thought we were in love?" She asked herself in between screams and sobs. She finally stopped screaming and calmed herself down to quiet sobs. She slowly got off the bed and walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out one of Erik's shirts. She held it up to her face and breathed it in, devouring the scent of his cologne. Oh how she loved that smell! She began to cry loudly again as she walked back over to the bed. She lay down without removing her dress and wrapped herself up in Erik's shirt as she cried until she fell asleep.

Erik tossed and turned on Christine's couch that night. Christine sat and listened patiently as he talked feeling sorry for himself. He thought she was being very kind to him listening to his problem, when she has almost the same problem. Erik hated himself right now. How could he make such a stupid mistake? But he thought to himself about how his mother treated him for the way he looked and he decided that this baby would be loved by him no matter what, and even though having it was a mistake. He only wished that he was lying next to Gabrielle right now and she was having the baby, not Christine.

The flat was dark and everyone was asleep except Erik. He couldn't handle being away from home and his wife, despite knowing that Gabrielle wanted nothing to do with him. He felt desperate to get back with Gabrielle; he loved her more than anything else in the world. He finally rose off the couch and put on his clothes. He put on his cloak and hat and quietly left the flat. He decided to take a walk in the middle of the night, where no one would recognize him. He kept walking towards his home, with a little bit of hope that Gabrielle would be outside welcoming him home and kissing him. He knew this thought was just a fantasy, but at this point he dared to dream.

He slowly walked the 2 hours to his house. He stood at the bottom of the hill and looked up at it. He felt sad, knowing that he probably just lost everything. None of the lights in the windows were on, and then he looked up to where his and Gabrielle's bedroom was and there appeared to be a faint light coming through that window. Erik smiled to himself and began running as fast as he could up to the house. Maybe my fantasy will come true after all! He thought as he ran. He opened the front door of the dark, quiet house and quietly walked up the stairs to his and Gabrielle's bedroom. The light shone under the door and Erik still felt hopeful. He opened the door quietly to see that the light was from a candle that was almost burned all the way. He looked over toward the bed to see Gabrielle sleeping peacefully. Erik walked over to her and saw that she had draped his shirt around her and her face was stained with tears.

He knelt down beside the bed with so much sadness and began to whisper softly to Gabrielle.

"Hello, my darling. You look so beautiful tonight. I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much. You are the best thing that happened to me. I know I made a mistake with Christine. The truth is, I used to love her as much as I love you. That night, she rekindled my old feelings, only for a little while for something to happen. I realize now that I don't love her anymore. I love only you. Unfortunately, now I must pay for my mistake. I only wish that you were the one who was having my baby, not Christine. But I can't change that now. I just hope that you will soon find it in your heart to let me come back with you, because if I don't have you, then my life is meaningless."

Gabrielle began to stir, her eyes fluttered and she turned from her side to her back. Erik stood silently still, not wanting to wake her and upset her again. Gabrielle lay still for a few minutes and Erik finally decided that it was time to leave. He gently pressed his lips to her forehead and walked towards the door.

"Erik?" Gabrielle asked sleepily.

Surprised, Erik turned around to face his wife.

"Yes, my love?"

"I love you, but I don't know if I can trust you anymore. Without that, there's nothing." Gabrielle said quietly. Erik instantly ran back to the bed, and grabbed Gabrielle's hand.

"You don't have to trust me right now if you don't want to. Just know that you will soon be able to trust me again. Just as long as I know that I can be with you, that is all I care about. I can't live without you."

Gabrielle pulled him closer to the bed and made him sit down. She looked at her fingers interlocking with Erik's.

"Erik, there's a child coming. Every time I look at that child, I am going to know that it was only born out of an affair, an affair on me. I am afraid that I will resent it, and hate it. I don't hate anyone or anything, but I am afraid I will hate that."

She put down his hand and pulled away from him.

"Gabrielle, you are such a good person, I don't think there is any room in that heart of yours for hate."

"Right now, I love you so much, I hate you." Gabrielle said in a cold tone.

Erik winced at these words. They hit him hard.

"I'm so sorry." Gabrielle turned her back toward him and Erik sat there for a moment.

"You can sleep here tonight. I don't know why I made you leave, this is after all your house, and you paid for it." Erik felt like crying. He had never experienced Gabrielle being so cruel. But he knew that even though she was mad at him right now, he wanted nothing more than to sleep beside her.

He quickly undressed and got under the blankets. Gabrielle usually laid her head against his chest until she fell asleep, but tonight she kept her back to him and made sure there was enough space between the two of them so she wouldn't have to touch him.

Erik wanted nothing more than to reach over and embrace her, telling her what a lovely creature she was. But he decided he would keep his distance. At least he was where he belonged, in his own bed.

Christine woke up the next morning. She stumbled out of her bedroom and into the main room where Erik was supposed to be sleeping. She was surprised to see that the couch was empty, but his belongings were where he left them. She figured he was out walking during these early hours, thinking.

Gabrielle woke up and looked at her sleeping husband. She began to smile at how good he looked with his shirt off and his muscular body radiating in the sunlight. She reached out to touch him and then remembered what happened the night before. She wished it were just a nightmare, but it wasn't. What was she going to do? She knew that she didn't want to break up her marriage; she loved Erik with all of her heart. But she didn't know how to forgive him, and she definitely wasn't ready to forgive him. Here, her husband was lying next to her, and she knew that she wasn't the only woman who touched him and loved him.

Instead of waking him, like she normally did, she quietly crept out of bed and quietly made her way down to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. It was still very early, early enough that the staff wasn't awake yet. Gabrielle was glad no one was awake, that way she had time to think to herself about what was going to happen next.

Gabrielle sat eating her breakfast and sipping on her tea when Erik came downstairs into the dining room.

"Good morning." He said smiling faintly.

"Hmm…" Gabrielle replied in between bites of her toast. Erik asked the cook to make him some breakfast and sat down across the table from Gabrielle. She sat for a moment and looked at him and he looked at her. She finally broke the stare by getting up and taking her plate into the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Erik asked, hoping that she would stay and they could talk rationally.

"Anywhere, as long as you are not present" Gabrielle replied leaving the room.

That comment caused Erik's stomach to drop. He already felt guilty enough and his wife was making that guilt worsen. Gabrielle on the other hand, was not saying it in a mean way. She was really going to one of the spare rooms to wrap Erik's Christmas presents that she bought for him. It was only December 13, but she knew she had to have it done early or he would find them like he found the ones for his birthday 3 months ago.

FLASHBACK

"A leather case for my sketches!" Erik said in a fake surprise. Gabrielle watched him, knowing when she bought it that he would love it.

"You should be more surprised than that." Gabrielle said in a scowl.

"Oh, I am, I am."

"Erik, I know you peeked at your presents because when I hid that case it was closed. When I went back, it was open." Gabrielle scolded.

"Oh darling, I didn't peek."

"Yes you did!" Gabrielle shouted smiling. She jumped hard on Erik's lap causing him to give out a big breath. She began to tickle him as he laughed very hard.

"All right, I saw it two days ago!" Erik admitted laughing. Gabrielle tickled him harder,

"That will teach you not to peek again!"

PRESENT DAY

Gabrielle smiled to herself at the memory. Just yesterday things were that simple, and now everything was all messed up. As Gabrielle wrapped his presents, she decided to accept the fact of what happened and accept the unborn child and Christine into her life, but she couldn't bring herself to forgive Erik just yet.