Hey guys, I'm back from my vacation, and here is my next chapter, I know I promised individual replies to my reviewers but I decided against it knowing that I should get this out as soon as possible. Hope you like it.

I also want to know what you guys think on the issue of sex in the story...I can write it either way, by going into some detail or hardly mentioning it (not explicit though) It's entirely up to you guys if you want me to write it I can and if not, then I won't. I write the rating as adult and I assume that you can all read adult work becuase you've reviewed and read up to now but I just want to know what you think... I also have to say that it probably won't be in the next two or three chapters but soon after that I'm sure I'll be getting to that...I'd love your opinion thanks.
Margo

Chapter 19 –

Everyone warmly welcomed Andrew, and they were all really excited that he would narrate the show. Elizabeth wanted very much to go down to the classroom to see how everyone was doing, but she had loads of work that she had been avoiding since Andrew had come.

Her first order of business was to head down to the classroom that had been turned into a costume room, in order to resolve some problems.

"What happened?" she asked the seamstress.

"Finally, you've had the time to come down here." The seamstress replied sarcastically. "I only asked you to come in Tuesday and it is Friday." She turned to find some costumes.

"I had more important matters to attend to." Elizabeth replied, irritated.

She brought over two costumes and some notes. "All right, I do not understand the problem. The Cinderella and Prince Charming outfits look great. What's wrong?"

"You gave me the wrong sizes! Now Cinderella's dress fits Prince Charming!" The woman screamed back at her. Elizabeth had always had problems with the seamstress but she was the only one in town.

"Remake them." Elizabeth replied rolling her eyes.

"I can't just remake them. I need more material…"

"Buy new material. I gave you money and I do recall telling you if you needed more I'd try and supply it. Now I am sorry, Ma'am, but I really need to get back to other matters."

The other lady muttered something under her breath, and Elizabeth made a mental note to bring in an out-of-town seamstress for the next year. She began to curse quietly to herself, and didn't realize that she was about to walk straight into someone.

Erik, however, noticed. Before she could walk into him, he held his arms out and stopped her by her shoulders. "Cursing is not a very ladylike trait, Miss Bennet."

"Go away, I'm busy, Erik." she said harshly and tore herself away from his grip.

He was silent for a second. "All right, I'll speak to you later."

"I'm sorry, it's just this whole thing has me very stressed. Nothing seems to be getting done. I just went to the costume room, found that the seamstress screwed up the sizes, and then had the mind to tell me it was my fault. Now I have to go figure out what to do about the sets. The so-called blue paint we received for the sky dried green, so now I am going to have to pay the painters for another week so they can redo the skies on all of them. I don't know how they managed to do them all without realizing it dried green. After that, I have to figure out seating for the show. Then I have…"

Erik put his hand to her lips. "Quiet. Just calm down. You have enough time, don't rush it. You don't want to overwork yourself. I suggest that we take a weekend. During which, we will not work on anything for the show."

"I can't, Erik, and you know it. Now I really need to get to work." She swerved around him and rushed down the hall.

She was doing too much and he knew it. He wished he could help, but she refused to give him a job to do. Eventually, he headed back to his classroom to do some one-on-one work with the children. He had managed to get permission to take each student from their studies for ten minutes once a week to work on solo songs. Today he was working with Emily, Hattie, and Fredrick.

When Elizabeth finally arrived home for the weekend, Erik wondered how she had managed to walk all the way there with the papers and other things she was carrying home. "I'll be in my study if you need me."

"You should eat first. You didn't come for lunch and you barely touched your breakfast."

"I'll have something brought up."

Erik didn't argue, but he knew she was doing too much work. He wished he could get her to take a break even if it was just for a few minutes. He decided he would not be doing any good if he just sat around and worried about her, so he headed up to the library and found something worth reading. Around midnight when he finished the book, he wondered if Elizabeth had eaten anything. He knew it really wasn't his business, but he cared for her, and the last thing she needed was to collapse of exhaustion before the show.

He walked slowly toward her room, but when he got to the corner he stopped and decided that it truly wasn't his business. He turned around and walked the other way back to his room, but then stopped again and walked back to her room inwardly cursing himself.

He didn't understand why she had this effect on him. He had always been able to decide what he wanted over what he didn't, but for some reason Elizabeth made him doubt his own decisions. Now here he was, trying to decide whether he should be proper and return to his room or if he should check her study- which he was forbidden to enter- to see if she had eaten.

He was just about to turn back to his room, when he saw that there was still light from under the door of her room. He couldn't believe it; she was still working. She really was going to get herself ill. He walked closer to the room and opened the door slightly.

At her desk Elizabeth lay, sleeping on top of all her papers. Black ink had come off the paper and now was stuck on her pale face. He also noticed that the food that was sent up to her had not been finished; half of the bun was still there, the meat had been cut into pieces, but he doubted she had actually eaten more than a few bites, and the vegetables hadn't been touched at all.

Erik shook his head and slowly walked toward her. "Elizabeth." he whispered. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

"Elizabeth. Wake up." He tried again.

"Erik." She whispered. He thought she was waking but she didn't stir. Now Erik was wondering why she would whisper his name while she slept. Finally, he resorted to lightly shaking her shoulder to wake her up. Her eyes opened and she lifted her head off the desk. As soon as she saw Erik she was even more confused. "What…What is…I'm confused." she finally said.

"You fell asleep while working. You need a proper sleep. I'll help you in the morning, and don't say that you can handle it alone."

"Okay, yes. I like the idea of sleep." she said, still groggily.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, but I can't promise I'll answer before morning." She said as she rubbed her left eye.

"What were you dreaming?"

Her eyes opened wide and she very suddenly was wide-awake, and if it weren't for the lack of lighting, he would have seen her blush bright red. "Why do you ask?" she finally managed to say.

"Nothing, it was just something you said in your sleep." He grinned, tauntingly.

"Good night, Erik." she said as she made her way to the door.

"Good night, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth got into her room and dropped down onto her bed. She couldn't help but wonder if Erik was kidding about her whispering in her sleep. No one had ever said she talked in her sleep before, yet very few people ever really heard her sleep. She also wondered if he wasn't lying. What was it that she said?

It had been a very strange dream. She had been out with Erik as if he had been courting her rather than spending time together as friends. Sadly she realized that the way the two of them acted around each other, many people could assume they were a couple. The reason for that probably being that neither had ever really followed the proper rules of society- she was a woman who ran her own successful business and he was the Phantom of the Opera- they were not your average two people.

It wasn't something she could dwell on though, because they were off limits for each other. Parents would not agree to two teachers of their children being romantically involved, it was out of the question.

She took off her dress and her confining corset, which hurt her even more than usual because of the position she had been sleeping in on the desk. When she got into bed she thought once again about the dream and couldn't help but think about how she enjoyed the way his lips felt on her own. She quickly inwardly cursed herself for even thinking it.

'Calm down Elizabeth,' she thought to herself. 'It wasn't even real, how could you possibly know how his lips feel? Grow up. You are not a silly schoolgirl.' With that, she dropped her head back and landed amongst her many pillows. It didn't take long before she was asleep.

Erik didn't want to head right back to his room so he sat down at her desk. He felt like he was being rude about it and he acted as if he was being too nosy, but he also thought that if he finished some of her work, she'd be able to get back on a regular schedule.

He sat down in front of her desk and looked over the guest list. He saw that her family were all going to be coming, and he thought they should receive seats close to the front so that Amelia could see well. He had to admit that he did miss them, since at Christmas they had made everyone so happy. Caroline missed Daniel, and she wasn't hiding it. She received mail from him, as well as from Amelia, usually once a week, and Erik felt very protective of her. She had only just turned thirteen and she shouldn't be getting that serious with a fifteen-year-old boy. He also knew it wasn't his place to say anything; her parents, however, didn't care enough to worry.

He read a few more names and gave them random seats. Finally he came across Roger Wilkinson, and he really wanted to conveniently lose his ticket, but knew that it would only cause more trouble. He decided that Roger would be more suited for the back of the auditorium, rather than near the front, because he didn't come for the talent. He came entirely for the image.

He finished the guest list in only a half an hour, and he felt like he had trespassed on Elizabeth's room long enough. He peeked into her bedroom to hear her light snoring. He smiled slightly, then closed the bedroom door and headed to the outer door.

When he got into the hall, he ran into Marie.

"Mr. Erik, sir, what are you doing here?" she asked, confused at why he was leaving Elizabeth's study.

"I was just helping Elizabeth get ready for the production. She's been working so hard and when I came by about half an hour ago, she was asleep at her desk. So I offered to help. She's in bed now though, so don't worry. What are you doing down here?"

"Nothing. We do our rounds around midnight every night, it was my turn, and I was late. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine—just as long as you promise me something?" He asked, slyly. He knew she was young, and girls her age were prone to gossip, so he was going to have to do some slight blackmail to keep it secret. She nodded. "I won't tell that you were late, if you don't tell that you saw me here."

"Yes, sir." she replied quietly and quickly, too quickly. "Good night."

"Good night, Marie." he replied and headed back to his room. She slowly made her way back to the servant's quarters.

Erik truly didn't care what kind of gossip was said about him; he was used to it. The ballet rats were much worse than anything a maid could do. He only cared that it was also Elizabeth's reputation. Having a man leave the study that attached to your bedroom was not proper, unless he was a relative or your husband, and Erik was most certainly not either.

She liked to keep her image straight, and it was not fair for Erik to mess it up any more than he already had. She had risked her reputation for him, and she deserved his protection of her dignity.