Disclaimer: I do not own Erik or anything/anyone related to or mentioned in The Phantom of the Opera, whether the musical, book, or play…obviously.

Chapter the Sixth

IN WHICH Feelings Long Kept Are Finally Revealed

The two women somehow managed to drag Erik out of the opera house, covering his face and bruised neck with Christine's shawl. Christine managed to hail her driver and they set about bundling him into the back seat while she ordered him to speed back to the de Chagny estate, and gave him a list of tasks to accomplish once they arrived, which included summoning the family's doctor by swift horseman.

She now sat as far away from Erik, who lay half leaning against Amelie, as she could in the car's crowded backseat. "My husband will be less than pleased that I'm bringing a murderer who almost killed him to our home. And considering Erik's reaction to the news of my son's existence, I…this man has nothing left to live for, that much is clear. And I cannot have his death through my indifference on my conscious, no matter who he may be. I will place you in the guesthouse – the servants will be able to bring anything you need, Michel and Raoul will never have to see him, and you will have a room in which to stay. I will have to tell my husband, there is nothing for it, but I will do my best to keep him away."

Amelie studied the noblewoman in what was now the light of early evening. "Madame de Chagny, I am more than grateful for your help. I do not mean to pry, but there was once a connection between you and Erik. I know that he still feels its effects deeply, and although you have married, I must ask..."

Christine cut her off with a raised hand. "Mademoiselle, I know why you returned to see Erik. I could see the pain in your eyes when he tried to end his life of misery and I know that pain because I have felt it myself, when this very man attempted to kill my husband, and I truly thought I would lose Raoul. I know that you love him."

She smiled sadly at the young woman before her, so determined and heartbroken. She followed her heart, the way Christine once had, but there was something different in her eyes that Christine knew she herself had never possessed in any great quantity. It was a mixture of stubborn resolve, loyalty, and so many other things.

What she did not know, and neither did the young grey-eyed woman before her, was if Erik truly felt the same – if he could possibly forget Christine and embrace the love that was being offered to him with so many fragile hopes. And no matter what her husband did or said, Christine was determined that somehow, Amelie would be given the chance to find out.

- - -

The guesthouse was more of a small mansion to Amelie's eyes. She was given her own suite, far from Erik's quarters, complete with a full bath and dressing room. Christine met with the servants, explaining that the house's outside doors were to be kept locked at all times, but that a servant would always be posted near Amelie's door – and all the servants were paid to maintain secrecy. Christine had them fetch some clothes and supplies for Amelie.

"The doctor will see to Erik, but I would prefer you refrain from visiting him for a few days. He may be a bit…dangerous, as well as foul-tempered, until he is well again and has some time to settle down again."

Amelie nodded and curtsied in her borrowed clothes as Christine exited quietly. She moved to the window to study the impending twilight. Being locked in with a man deranged with heartbreak will not be awful, she thought. At least I shall be able to work on my sketches.

A servant deposited a tray laden with a feast the likes of which she saw at home only on holidays upon her private parlor's table. The meal brought to her mind another meal, the one at which she had spoken to Erik of her envy of his freedom…and the memory of her fingertips brazenly touching his face was not far behind.

She cursed herself for a fool. The man she was so suddenly in love with was a killer, some might even say a murderer, driven mad by loneliness and hate. Yet Amelie had been changed by her brush with death – had sobered and matured. She knew that he was scarred by nature and years of cruel treatment, even at the hand of the kind woman who had offered her house and help to him. So much had been denied him, and that was why Amelie could not walk away from Erik…she had to know if there was any way that he could see beyond the scars of the past – if he was something more than dangerous and tormented.

When she slept, Amelie dreamed of a quiet song, played by a man shrouded in mist, and of tarnished golden angels.

- - -

The doctor was efficient and promised his silence, helped by a heavy bribe. He confirmed that Erik had sustained no permanent damage, only a bruised larynx and several ruptured blood vessels. Bed rest promised to heal him quickly. Christine saw the doctor out and spent the rest of the night cradling Michel in the nursery. The servants reported that Raoul had decided to visit a friend with new horses and would return in the morning. She did not worry over his absence, instead concentrating on how to prevent Raoul from calling the authorities to arrest and kill Erik.

She woke early and checked in on her son before seeking out her husband. He was seated in the drawing room in his favorite chair, perusing the paper, when she approached him timidly.

"Raoul, I have something to tell you, but you must promise you will not move from that chair until I finish speaking."

He instantly lowered the paper. "What ever is the matter, darling? Did something happen yesterday while you were out?"

She forced herself to meet his eyes. "Raoul…yesterday I went to the opera house. He was there, I saw him."

Raoul leapt from the chair but she held out a hand, and he fell silent, though rage and concern occupied his face.

"There was a girl there, one whom he saved from a terrible accident – an accident not of his doing. I was a fool and told him…" She could barely speak the words to him. "…I told him that we have a son. And…"

She had to physically block the door to keep him from storming out. "Raoul, wait! Michel is fine, he's in the nursery! Nothing has happened to him – please, just sit down and listen!"

Raoul backed away, still wary, but listened to his wife. "When I told him…Raoul, he tried to kill himself. This girl, she begged me to help him. I could tell, just looking into her eyes, that she loves him. And so I agreed to save him.

"WHAT?! Christine, you should have let him rot in that hell he inhabits! How could you, you…" He grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall. Tears spilled from her eyes but she could not keep the truth in.

"That same look in her eyes, it was the one I recognized in your eyes, one which said she would have done anything to have him safe – you had that look in your eyes, once."

"Yes, because this same man was trying to kill me and imprison you!" A sudden though dawned on him. "Christine…he's not here?"

"I placed him and the girl in the guesthouse and locked them in. He won't harm anyone, Raoul, except perhaps himself."

The last time she had seen such horror and furious repulsion on her husband's face had been a night she wished so very much to forget. Yet again he tried to leave but she blocked his way.

"Raoul, he's changed. That this girl would go so far for him tells me that he is no longer the man that we feared. I risked a life of misery and darkness to save you, and I would do it again. And I know this girl would do the same for him, and that is why I helped him."

His eyes searched hers before he embraced her so tightly she could barely breathe. "I love you and Michel more than my own life, Christine. More importantly, I trust you. He is not to see our son, nor enter our home…yet I will allow him to remain, for the girl's sake and yours. But I beg of you, keep no more secrets from me."

Christine knew he was still furious, and justly so. She laid a tender kiss on his mouth and felt it returned, and forgot her cares for a moment, satisfied that Raoul would allow Erik to remain undetected by the authorities, at least for a time.

- - -

For four days, Amelie felt her reinjured wounds heal as she paced the halls of the guesthouse, often stopping before Erik's suite but obeying Christine's instructions to leave him to rest. She sketched the grounds visible from the picture window of the house's main, largest parlor and tried to read, but she could only concentrate on thoughts of Erik. She was nervous, not only for his mental and physical condition but in light of her tremulous feelings for him. She loved him, she knew it in her whole being, that she could not forget such a man though she might live a hundred years…and the thought of never seeing him again, of his rejection, filled her with dread. She loved him, and the uncertainty was driving her mad.

It was on the fifth day that Christine, who had discovered much about Amelie in long afternoon talks with the girl (although Raoul objected heartily to Christine's time spent so close to Erik), finally allowed her to see Erik. Christine walked her to the door of the man's suite and pressed Amelie's hand tightly in her own. "You'll be quite alone, I've dismissed the servants to the entrance wing. If you need assistance, ring for them."

Amelie smiled. "I don't believe I'll need a chaperone, but thank you. I honestly believe my parents were more worried about me wandering alone in the company of a single man than about my nearly dying. I was lucky I managed to keep them away with that ridiculous story in my letter."

Christine's smile faded to a wistful sadness. "I stood where you are, once, at the edge of that bridge – but my ties to another world pulled me back. I was not strong enough to give what was needed. Do not mistake me, I am wholly happy with my choice, but…" She bit her lip. "I always wished that I had not had to find my happiness by forever destroying his. I hope you will be able to bring him back…I pray you will. I saw how his eyes lit up when you appeared. You may be the one who shall save him, if he can be saved."

After Christine turned and left, Amelie knocked as gently as she dared before opening the door and slipping inside the room, uncharacteristically timid. Erik was lying amid downy, luxurious bedding, bare to the chest. The left half of his face was covered not by his mask but by a wrapping of bandages. The marks on his neck looked swollen and sore still, and one of his eyes was tremendously bloodshot.

"My goodness, you look a fright." Amelie clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified at herself. For a moment, Erik was frozen in shock, then a humorless grin appeared on his face.

"You've seen the horror that is my face and were unaffected, but add a few bruises and I'm terrifying?"

She pulled a chair as close to the bed as she dared and sat, nervously smoothing her skirts. The fire ever-present in his eyes burned like dull coals but still seared her to the core. It seethed with anger when she did not answer and he leapt up stiffly to stand at the foot of his bed, hands clenched into fists. "Perhaps it is good that I kept these bandages on, that hid my face from the doctor, so that you might be spare the sight which so disgusts you," he spat.

Before she could think, Amelie stood and reached a hand out as if to touch him but stopped. "Please, Erik, I was so worried about you! I thought you were going to die in my arms." The sob in her voice surprised him; he opened his mouth to speak but she spoke before he could unleash cruel, incensed words. She had to make him understand how she felt, consequences, propriety, and all be damned.

"I know you've been hurt so very much. I know that Christine chose the vicompte over you, and I know that wound will never, ever heal. But that you could ever think that your life, wretched as it is, could be worth destroying…I've seen the beauty of your gifts of architecture and music, I know there is something great in you - and that you could even for a moment ignore that is the greatest tragedy of all. I don't care what you look like, damn it, I…"

Her tears flowed too freely for her hands to keep them wiped away. Erik was silent in utter and complete shock, having been subjected to the most profound berating of his life. He reached mechanically to offer her a handkerchief but it was slapped out of his hand to the floor as her tears became livid.

"I don't need a hankie! I nearly died a month ago and then you have to go and injure me again, and, and I'm completely in love with you and you don't even know and…" She paled as the realization of what she had said dawned on the pair of them. Before he could utter a word, she pushed him away and fled through the door, slamming it behind her.

When the shock that had frozen him to the spot faded, Erik hastily and carelessly pulled on a shirt before following Amelie out of the door. His heart pounded dangerously in his chest at the words which Amelie had uttered, which had never before in his long life been said to him – which he had waited a lonely lifetime to hear.

He found her flung across a chaise lounge in the large parlor, sobbing wretchedly. Careless of his weakness or her barely re-healed injuries, he crossed the room, and, jerking her over to face him, asked in a voice hoarse with emotion, "Amelie, I did not intend to upset you. Never before has anyone told me that…" He swallowed thickly, and said, in an intent voice, "…that I am loved. I am sorry if I did not think that you meant…I don't know what I was thinking, I…"

Her tears ceased to flow as she ignored the painful grip on her arms. The fire in his eyes roared and she could see his chest heave with every breath. This man, who had been abandoned at every turn, stood desperate and broken, not daring to believe that the love which had been thrown in mockery in his face in the past was now being offered to him with open arms and a hopeful heart, after such a long time in darkness and sadness. Pity, and something vastly greater, welled up in her.

"I-I meant…" She freed herself from his arms and, before he could react, tore the bandage from his face. His anger returned, but before he could react, she reached upwards with a hand, pulled him closer, and laid a gentle kiss on the ruined side of his face.

Time seemed to stop within the vast room as she pulled away and their eyes met, his absolutely and completely dumbfounded, hers burning with an intensity that almost matched that found perpetually in his gaze. More unsure of himself than he had ever been in his life, he lowered his face to hers, fear and panic surging through him in a wave. Only once in his life had he been kissed, and never before had he so wanted to bestow one – and when he hesitated a fraction away from achingly desired contact, he could not help but think that any moment, Amelie would turn away and flee. Never had he been so close, and still he dreaded the inevitable, until suddenly his body moved of its own volition and their lips met in a searing kiss.

Amelie had been kissed before, but never like this. Where experience was lacking, instinct supplied much – it seemed that Erik's passion, so well-displayed in music and architecture, extended to love as well. The beautiful ache of desire, so suppressed by the propriety of society and its lessons, was uncloaked by the tentative, equally yearning kiss that Erik barely dared to give. She pulled him closer, conscious of his body so close to hers, separated by mere layers of fabric. Her hands slid to press against his chest and slid up to cradle his face, instinctually careful of his bruises. Her whole frame shifted so that she sat against the arm of the chaise lounge as their kiss deepened, their lips parting only for an instant before meeting again.

One of Erik's hands left her arms to cup her face before running through her hair, sending pins flying and shivers down her spine. His lips left her to press gently against the side of her face, then her throat, making her gasp. She wanted…she wanted him in a way she had never before wanted anyone, a wholly new feeling that his kisses were burning through her. She grasped his face and pulled his mouth back to hers.

When the contact finally broke as they each panted for breath, his face stayed close to hers. The fire that filled his eyes melted her entire body into trembling of sheer longing as he studied her flushed face.

He kissed her again, almost chastely this time, before pulling her to sit up beside him. Yet he continued to clasp her hands in his as he spoke. "No one has ever…Even when I pleaded with the silent heavens to send me some glimpse of even the faintest hope…and yet, you. You say you love me, and I look in your eyes and see that you do. Despite who I am, and what I've done, you love me. I do not deserve…all I can offer in return is my love, worthless as it is. But I give it to you, all of it."

He lowered his eyes until she removed one hand from his grasp and tilted his face back up to hers. "I know you have done many things for which you should probably not be forgiven. But once and for all…" Joy surged though her – he loved her. She could not keep herself from blurting out, "…if you do not stop hating yourself this instant, I'll never kiss you again, much as I love you."

She burst into laughter at the look on his face as she fell to lean against him, hugging him close. "I'm so…so happy. I can't help it, I'm all out of sorts. I barely survive death after a so-called friend, that wretched Jenny, leaves me to fend for myself. Then you save me, someone feared by all of Paris as a deranged killer, and happen to decide to save me. You turn out to be the best man I've ever met, and then you almost kill yourself because of my stupid ignorance, among other things. I barely manage to convince the woman who is the source of your unhappiness, at least most of it, to help me save you…and you love me."

When her laughter stopped and only a smile remained to flicker across her lips, she pulled back to look at Erik. He looked utterly bewildered but absolutely enthralled, somehow changed from the man who would have leapt up with bitter words and resentment at her jovial words at such a truly life-changing moment.

"I see. You love me because no one else would have such an absolutely daft girl such as yourself."

She kissed him again before replying, serious now. "What I am saying, Erik, is that I don't want anyone else. The world can keep the rest, because all I want is you. Just as you are." His heart leapt as her grey eyes met his, so full of love that he could not stand the small distance that divided them.

Once again he pressed his lips to hers, savoring the touch he had so long desired, which left him longing for more. They might have stayed there in the parlor, basking in the wonder of newly discovered love, had not a knock sounded at the door.

They froze and broke apart, each blushing madly. She helped him replace the bandage over his face before clearing her throat, saying as evenly as possible, "Please come in."

Christine entered. "I trust you're feeling better, Erik? And that everything has been…resolved?"

Amelie could not help the crimson which flooded her face even more. "Your face, mademoiselle, is answer enough." A look of wistful sadness crossed Christine's features briefly. "I'm glad that Erik has found someone who could give him all that I could not."

Erik's reply was slow and cold. "I will never forgive you, Christine. You toyed with me, and broke my heart. For that I will hate you until my dying day."

She paled at his harsh words but her face was resigned. "I deserve that, and more. Yet I can see that you and Mademoiselle Amelie.."

Erik actually stood to move behind Amelie and place a hand on her shoulder, almost protectively. "I saved her, and she saved me. I am not longer so violent, Christine – I seek no more vengeance for the past. I would prefer to leave as much of it as I can buried in the shadows, where it belongs."

Pregnant silence followed his declaration, which was broken by Christine. "I came to tell you something. Amelie, your parents have decided they cannot wait any longer to see you returned home…they are coming tomorrow to accompany you home."

- - -

Author's Notes

Might I just add that this is my absolute favorite chapter so far? And it might have been the end, but there are many loose ends to be tied up ;) I think a few more chapters are in order, no? But I would otherwise be quite happy to leave Amelie and Erik basking in their newly realized love…and yes, Erik has had a real change of heart, so don't get all afraid for Raoul or the kid, LOL. He has what he wants, and I'm pretty sure Amelie would yell at him if he tried to return to his violent self. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it – stay tuned to see what comes next: Amelie's parents are indeed coming to pick up their long-absent daughter, and she has some 'splaining to do about her new hubby. Please please pleaaaaseee review!

Cheers,

Katrina