Christine wrapped the cloak tight around her as she made her way through the quiet cemetery. No one in their right mind would be out this late into the evening in a cemetery. But no one else was to be married the following day with such heavy doubts weighing on her conscience.

Could she honestly marry Raoul and doubt her love for him? Did she even know what love was? She cared about Raoul, but she wasn't looking for someone to be her husband she was looking for someone to be a father figure. She needed guiding and care, not passion and love. Raoul wanted more than she knew how to give.

"Father," Christine whispered, finding herself before her father's grave. "Have I made a mistake? Should I marry Raoul? I only want a friend to be beside me, someone to depend on, and someone to care for me – like you did. I want a protector to scare away the beasts beneath my bed. I want someone like you… Raoul wants to take the music away from me…."

Christine.

Christine stumbled backwards, losing her footing and staring up at the monument in front of her. No that couldn't be a shape in the darkness, on the rooftop of her father's grave. No there was no way that he was still alive.

Her Phantom.

"Angel?" Christine called out, looking up at the dark outline against the dark sky.

In a sweep of the figure's cape, he jumped down from the mausoleum, landing before her. "Christine."

She cowered at his voice, bowing her head in fear. He hadn't died! He had been here all along! And he had heard her speak to her father's spirit about Raoul.

"Why did you make me leave?" Christine felt tears stinging her eyes as she looked up at him, she could see the outline of his hand reaching out towards her. His mask the only clear determination that he was truly there.

She reached for his gloved hand, letting it pull her to his feet.

"He wants to take away our music?"

"Yes." Christine trembled, clutching his hand tightly. "He wants me to stop singing when we're married. He thinks because I fought so hard against singing Don Juan… Oh. My angel! They made me betray you, please. It wasn't me."

He laughed a little abruptly, startling her. "I was there mon petit, the angel always knows. You put up such a beautiful display of your will, but I know that you have weaknesses."

"If you knew…"

"I chose to perform Don Juan, because I thought that it would be the only way that I could touch you without you shrinking in fear."

Christine's eyes widened with disbelief, "Oh!" There were no other words that she could think of saying, the revelation of his desperation to have a human care for him frightened her. He would risk his life to have her touch him. "I would have kept kissing you if you hadn't sent me away."

"Why would anyone wish to be with this monstrosity?"

"Catch me." Christine whispered, releasing his hand and slipping past him. Where had this playful thought come from? Why would he care for her childish games? He would disapprove even stronger than Raoul, wouldn't he?

She hid behind a mausoleum, listening with all of her might. She thought she'd hear only silence, but suddenly she heard the soft padding of his feet against the mossy graveyard ground.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are." He taunted as he heard a twig snap behind the mausoleum that he suspected her to be behind. He lunged around the corner, missing her slim arm by a fraction. She squealed as she rushed away from, bursting into giggles as he chased after her through the graveyard.

The game continued until they came to the rot iron fence that surrounded the cemetery. Christine searched for some means of escaping but instead found that she was trapped.

"Looks like our game has come to an end."

Christine grinned in the darkness, as she tried to rush past the Phantom. He caught her, crushing her petite body to his. She felt him tense beneath her, suddenly realizing the position he'd put them both in. She playfully pushed against his shoulders, before slipping them behind his neck. Her nimble little fingers found the band that held the mask to his cheek.

She pried the mask away from his cheek, slowly and afraid that'd he act out in anger again. But instead she found him still.

He shuddered as the cool air met his disfigurement and even more so when her smooth fingers met the roughness of his ugliness. "Christine…"

She silenced him with her lips. She could enjoy the feel of his uneven lips without Raoul watching them. Without the haunting sound of a mob descending on the lair.

How was it that such twisted and deformed lips brought her such pleasure. Pleasure she didn't remember feeling with Raoul's lips.

"Christine?" He questioned as she pulled away, her bosom heaving with desperate need for oxygen.

She pressed a finger to his lips, shushing him. "Where words run dry." Where had such bold statements come from? She was so shy and modest with Raoul, even when he was not and suddenly she was being so desirous with her Phantom that it startled her. The cover of darkness had unlocked her passion.

Christine let out a gasp as she felt the Phantom's hand slip beneath her cloak, the cold air clung to his leather glove as it caressed her breast. She pushed away from him, and not to deceive him of her true intention she grasped his hand quickly. "Away with these. They are frightfully cold." She tugged at the dark leather that clung to his hands, frustrated at the difficulty in removing another person's gloves.

He did as she requested and let the discarded gloves fall to the earth beside them. "Christine, Christine." He leaned into kiss her, clutching her form to his. How it felt to be free to hold and caress, touch and embrace, another person!

"All I want is someone to care for me."

"I will care for you." He pushed the cloak from her shoulders, catching her beneath her bottom and slowly lowering them to the ground atop the warmth of her velvet cape. She wasn't stopping him, she wasn't turning from him, she wasn't afraid of him.

Christine pushed away his own cape, letting it loose from his shoulders so she could start to unbutton his waistcoat.

Was this what womanhood was? This unbridled passion that led you to do such dark, dark deeds beneath a moonless sky.

On the eve of your wedding to another man? If Raoul wanted her to grow up, then she would. Perhaps not as he had planned, but how she had unintentionally planned. She would face Raoul when the time came, but for now she had no thoughts within her heart but thoughts of love.

If she could have her music of the night, she would not need to face Raoul in the morning. There would be no wedding.

~o~

A/N: Don't get me wrong. Hadley!Raoul was one of the hottest things I've ever seen. I loved his backbone, among other things… But, I just found him to be less. "Oh dear Christine" and more "Christine pull it together!" Which I loved. This might be blossoming further into something more.