Okay, really crappy filler chapter. One soon to follow.
1Things slowly returned into some semblance of normal following Andrew's death. Jacqueline was bailed out of jail by her father and shipped off to America immediately to be some family's governess. Andrew's funeral was a large affair and though everyone knew how crazed he'd become, Meg made sure that only good things were said about him as she sat in the front row, holding her sleeping newborn, a hat and veil hiding the tears running down her cheeks. Katherine and Andrew Sr. had asked Roxana to say a few words. Nervously, she'd walked up to the front, a protective hand on her slightly rounded stomach.
"I never thought I would have to lose so many people I cared about in such a short time, but they say God has a reason for everything. I'd like to believe that. Andrew was one of the most determined people I have ever met. All he ever wanted was to feel like he was good enough. I know he would have melted at the sight of his son, and I think that everyone deserves a second chance." She stopped to look at Erik and smiled sadly. "Everyone." She quickly ended the speech and retreated back to the safety of her seat where she broke down for the third time that day.
The wake was at the Westcliff's mansion directly following the ceremony. Katherine approached Roxana tearfully and took her hands, nodding politely at Erik who was holding James.
"Roxana...I do so hope you will consider all of your children our grandchildren as well as Jamie. You are like a daughter to us." Roxana smiled at the woman and nodded.
"Of course I will Kate." She said biting the inside of her cheek to hold back the tears. Katherine's eyes flashed with despair.
"Do you think he went to Heaven Roxana?" She asked suddenly, and Roxana knew she meant since he'd killed himself. Looking at the ground first, she met Katherine's eyes squarely.
"Yes Kate, I do...I think he redeemed himself in the end and I believe God forgave him. I forgive him. I think he is reunited with Justin finally."
Katherine sighed, looking at Meg who had Justin cradled in the crook of her arm. She had yet to let many other people hold him.
"When I think of the things he did to that poor girl..." She said, but when she saw Meg laugh at something Lord Westcliff said, she stopped. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now." She sighed and kissed Roxana's cheek, patting her belly softly.
"I'm going to go see how my Drew is faring." She gave Erik a quick hug and Jamie a kiss before striding away.
Roxana buried her head into Erik's shoulder and allowed him to stand with his arm around her shoulders for a moment while she gathered herself. Christine was not present, as she was home with Raoul who had finally been released from the hospital. He was very weak but his recovery was looking well. Brett and Meg decided to marry as soon as the scandal of Andrew's death died down and just get it over and done with so that Justin could have some shadow of a normal childhood.
Later that night when they were finally home, Erik came into the room to find Roxana looking into her book with one hand low on her middle and a half smile on her face.
"What is so funny?" He asked her and she set the book face down on her lap.
"It's moving..." She said with a laugh while he looked confused.
"What is?" He asked, making her roll her eyes.
"The baby..." She said impatiently as his eyes widened.
"Ah. You can actually...feel it?" He asked, pulling off his shirt and pants and crawling under the covers. She nodded.
"So can you...if you want to." She said, pulling the covers back so the small bump was more accessible.
Before he could protest, she had his wrist and planted his palm on the area she had been feeling the movements. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"I don't feel anything." He grumbled, as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Give it a minute!" She laughed and as he began to retort, sure enough there was a distinct movement. He pulled his hand away as if he'd been burned. She howled with laughter.
"It feels so strange, I mean that something like that can form inside a woman and then..."
"Erik." She interrupted and he looked at her, taking off his mask.
"What?" He asked and she squeezed his hand.
"Stop thinking like a scientist and think like a father..." She said affectionately.
He tried again and this time allowed her to keep his hand there.
"It's…not like anything I would have expected…" He admitted as she set her book aside and lay down.
"What do you mean?" She asked, laying on her side and gently massaging his abdomen with her fingertips. He caught her hand between his and kissed it.
"I just mean…I didn't expect it to actually be that easy to feel." She yawned, exhausted but nodded. By the time he'd looked down at her again, she was sound asleep. He reached over to turn out the lamp.
"I bloody wish you would stop treating me like an invalid." Raoul groused as Christine changed the bandage on his scar. She rolled her eyes and gently tapped his cheek.
"Enough Raoul de Chagny…you're whining more than all of your sisters put together." He scowled.
"I hate not being able to do much…I feel like a waste." He said while she finished the job.
"All done." She said triumphantly as he struggled to sit up. "And I thought I was supposed to be the one in a delicate condition." She laughed. Remembrance filled his eyes and he clapped a hand to his own cheek.
"I'd nearly forgotten!" He cried, pulling her to sit beside him. Still grinning, she shook her head.
"Only moments ago you were perfectly fine with me lifting and nursing you…now you act like I am physically impaired." With an evil grin, she jumped from the bed and allowed her nightgown to slide off her body.
"I think I am going to sleep naked tonight. Dreadful nightgown is uncomfortable." She sang, sliding beneath the cotton sheets.
"Christine…" Raoul whined, she suppressed a giggle.
"Do I look physically impaired to you?" She asked and he shook his head.
"We need to talk." She said, taking his hand. He struggled to turn onto his side but she made him stay put as she propped herself on her elbow. He sighed.
"Raoul, I am scared." She said, laying her head on his shoulder.
"We're going to be just fine…we can do this!" He said, knowing she had doubts about being a mother. She frowned.
"I don't know…I've never even been around a baby! I don't know the first thing about them or children!" His arm tightened around her, comforting her somehow.
"Christine, I am twenty-two. I have three younger sisters. I know enough and we will learn! My mother was an only child and when she had me, Dad said she was lost. She learned though. He said to take it one day at a time."
"I suppose…" She said, looking up at him. He could see the slight twinge of fear in her eyes and put both of his arms around her as tightly as he could manage.
"Christine, seeing the way you took care of me tonight and since the surgery and the way you care for Erik, Roxana and little Jamie as well as Meg and little Justin, you are going to be fine. You held Justin just yesterday when Meg and Brett visited. She bit her lip as he caught her chin gently between his thumb and index finger.
"I am still scared about the birth. It hurts…people die in childbirth." She said, kissing his collar bone.
"That won't happen and don't you dare think it. If childbirth was so horrible, do you think women would continue to do it?" He asked her, making her think.
"I guess I never really thought about that."
"I told my mother today." Raoul said, of the countess's visit.
"Oh?" Christine replied and he began to play with her hair.
"She's thrilled to death of course, as she spent the day shopping with Rosie for a wedding dress." He said, remembering the way his mother's face had lit up. After Izzy had been born and the doctor had told her she couldn't have any more children, she'd felt somewhat devastated as bearing children was something she had loved. Raoul's parents had wanted six children, but, as fate would have it, Monique miscarried between Raoul and Rosaline and since she'd had a difficult time with Elisabeth, it was time to stop. Since Alana and Izzy were so close in age, they had been the demon children always in trouble. They were as close as if they had been identical twins.
Raoul himself wanted a large family and was too afraid to tell Christine since she'd never had the chance to have brothers and sisters other than Meg.
"Can we…" Christine began but stopped herself. "Never mind." Raoul tilted her chin up to look at him.
"What is it?" He asked and she sighed.
"Can we name it Gustave if it is a boy?" She asked and Raoul chuckled.
"Is that all? Of course…goodness Christine, did you think I could refuse you?" She smiled, relieved.
"No."