May 26th 1882

Erik had been awake for the entire night, pacing his bedroom up to a hundred times as he tried to work out a plan of action to go forward from his realization. It had been about eight o'clock in the morning before he'd recognized he couldn't come up with a strategy until he knew what he wanted the end result to be and about three hours later he'd ended up slumped at his desk, his head against the weathered surface and fast asleep. The difficult decisions had been too much for even his brain to process and, although he was used to keeping unsociable hours, this shock to the system had all been too much.

It was at four that afternoon he was jolted awake by a knocking at his door. Rubbing his left eye whilst feeling his right cheek to ensure his mask hadn't come off he sleepily called permission for his visitor to enter. Erik stood and stretched his arms to the ceiling, his back cracking in protest, before turning to find Christine, not Meg as was usual, holding his afternoon beverage.

Both were frozen in place, nervous energy charging the space between them as the ghostly blue eyes held the gaze of the pale green ones. It was Christine who broke the silence, clearing her throat as she moved to place the crockery down on the desk behind him. Not wanting any accidental contact with the woman, Erik swiftly moved away and stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed with his back to her. He tried to take deep breaths and count to ten as he pushed all thoughts of the baby to the back of his head.

"Erik?" He started as a hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to face Christine whilst simultaneously creating another foot of distance between them. The brunette looked taken aback at the reaction and his weary heart twisted as he noted a flash of hurt in her eyes but she said nothing of it. "Madame Giry suggested I bring your tea up. No one's seen you all day."

He swallowed thickly as the green eyes looked him up and down with concern. Erik knew he must look a state having not bothered to change from his robe since the encounter in the kitchen. "Thank you." Even those two words were a struggle for him, his voice cracking.

Christine tried to move forward but instinctively he made to move back and maintain the separation. "You said you were well this morning," Her voice did not falter as his had. "You lied."

He frowned at the accusation. "Why on Earth would you say that?"

This time when she edged toward him he made no attempt to get away and she stopped so there was still a little space between them. "I know you," Christine's voice was hushed and worried as her pupils flickered up to take in the bruise-like bags beneath his eyes. "Please tell me what's wrong?"

Erik looked down into the shining green eyes at the whispered plea. He hadn't really had time to reflect upon how she'd altered from when they last met, but then he hadn't expected seven months to change her. Christine's cheeks no longer had a healthy flush and her own dark marks stood out harshly under her bottom eyelids. She'd been aged, not unattractively he thought, but prematurely so and it was sad to think that one so young felt burden so great as to bring about physical effects. It was now as he looked down at her that he realised he couldn't bring himself to hold a grudge against her – he never could. Christine held his heart in spite of it all.

He took a breath and slowly moved a trembling finger to brush her own with a sad smile on his face. She clutched onto his hand in response and gave it a reassuring squeeze, urging him to tell her what grieved him. It took Erik two attempts before the words finally came out: "I know."

His angel just frowned with a bemused expression and used her free hand to lightly grip his forearm, holding his gaze as she questioned: "You know what, Erik?"

"I know about her," At that her expression dropped to one of horror and he couldn't say he was surprised, he'd half expected himself to erupt into a rage. "Christine?" He whispered, moving his arm out of her grasp and gently tucking a curl behind her ear. "Please don't be afraid."

At his words the woman's face crumpled and a few stray tears escaped her. If he were a man more accustomed to people, Erik might've embraced her but this was perhaps pushing his boundaries. "I wanted to tell you," Her voice was shaky and she no longer looked him in the eye, instead focused on the wall behind him. "But I couldn't – I had a husband and a home and I couldn't risk you coming back here, not after last year…" Christine inhaled deeply in an attempt to control her emotions before suddenly taking a turn and pushing him away much to his surprise and jabbing his chest with an accusatory finger. "You left! If you hadn't of left, I wouldn't have married him! I wouldn't have hurt him like this!"

"I had to," Erik's voice was soft but there was a deadly undertone to it. "We both know the police were after me, I had to get out of Paris…"

"And I would've come too!" She cried desperately and it felt like a knife to his chest. "If you'd waited till I stirred, if you'd bothered to wake me and ask me yourself I could've come with you all." Christine's whole body was now trembling as she sobbed and all of her thoughts and fears from the past months flooded out of her. "And instead you decided for me, decided I had to stay, had to marry Raoul, had to be trapped in this horrible situation! And even after all of that, even now…" All her anger evaporated and the green eyes had a hopeless look as she wrapped her arms around herself, bottom lip still trembling. "Even now I can't hate you for it. Because every single day, every time I thought of you it was never about how utterly livid I was at you for leaving… I just wanted you to come back."

Erik tried to process everything she said to him, the realization that his pining for her was all in vain, that he might've spent these past months with his Christine if he'd only asked was all too much. Feeling his knees begin to give way he stumbled to sit heavily on his bed as his vision began to blur. He heard her footsteps as she moved to crouch in front of him, clearly calmer now she'd got everything off her chest, and rested one hand on his knee.

"I've missed you," She whispered with a small smile. Erik snorted, head in hands, unable to believe her as always. Moving carefully so as not to startle him she reached for his mask with her free hand but did not go further than grasping the bottom edge. He looked up at her and his pale eyes swam with fear before he nonetheless gave a slight nod of consent. Christine slipped one thumb under and gradually she peeled the mask from his skin, the porcelain partially stained from where he'd slept in it. Her other arm extended up to slip his dark wig off at the same time and all of a sudden Erik was left feeling exposed. She lay the items down on the bed beside him and then simply looked at him, no horror or disgust in her expression, only acceptance. Her left hand moved up to stroke his cheek but before she reached the broken skin he'd grabbed her wrist.

One boney finger stroked her now empty ring finger and his gaze was mistrusting as he seemed to ask for an explanation. "Raoul took the rings when I visited him this morning," She took his hand in both her own and lightly stroked his knuckles with her thumb. "I told him the truth. He told me I was free to leave." There was a pause before she asked: "How did you know?"

Erik didn't have to ask what she meant. "The eyes. Not a person in this world can forget their eyes, not one person I've met has such pale eyes as myself. After that I took a closer look and found more. It was an informed guess."

Christine smiled. "They were the first thing I noticed last night. She's so perfect-"

"Like her mother," The words slipped out before he could stop himself. Her green eyes snapped up to his face with surprise and his free hand began to play with the bottom of one of her curls on her shoulder, unable to meet her gaze as his cheeks het up. "I shouldn't have said that."

"I'm flattered you did," She tipped his chin up, forcing him to look at her. "But you and I are not as dissimilar as you might think – perhaps she is perfect, but I'm not." Her index finger stretched up to cover his lips before he could protest. "If I were perfect, I would've have admitted to myself sooner that I…"

Erik shook his head and the corners of his lips turned up as he murmured: "You don't have to say it-"

"I want to," She took his face in both hands and leaned up to press a kiss to his forehead. Christine then shifted so she was just beside his left ear and muttered the emotions she'd been longing to confess. "I love you, Erik."

It was he who now shed a few tears, his smile broader than she'd ever remembered it being and the brunette couldn't help but laugh at his delight. "I really do! I love you!" She jumped up, pulling him up with her and wrapping her arms tight around his waist with her head pressed flush against his chest and she continued to giggle with joy. Erik brought his own arms to enclose around her, his large hands resting at the bottom of her spine as he silently wept into her curls overcome with happiness. She pulled back, arms still wrapped around him, her radiant smile beaming up directly at his unmasked face; "I love you."

"I love you too," His voice was thick with emotion and he moved one hand up to cup her cheek. "I've never stopped."

"Even when you guessed about Isobel?"

Erik slowly shook his head; "How could giving me a daughter make me love you less?"

And with that Christine finally did what she been daydreaming about for months on end – her coral lips pressed against his own bloated ones and for the first time in a long time she felt whole.

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And I'm sorry to tell you all, but that's the end! Depending on what you all want there may or may not be an epilogue. I've loved writing these two but I'm afraid my shipping of E/C as anything but AU died out a while ago which made this a difficult project to continue, hence why I started in 2011 and we're still here 3 years later! Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story through high and low points, I write for fun so I'm aware some chapters may not be as good as others etc. but the fact you've all continued reading has meant a great deal to me and I want to thank you all for it, it really does mean a lot.

Anyway, drop me a PM or write in a review whether you're for or against the epilogue. :)