Chapter 5

Would you do me the honor?

"Enthralled to the call of the Beauty Underneath…" Love never Dies

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Christine shook her head; the man was brilliant when it came to women he was as thick as a hunk of plywood. She leaned on his chest and felt him stiffen but still she wanted to curl up with him and that was just what she did. He shook his head and started to pull away from her, injured eyed and tearful as though she had physically ripped his heart straight out of his chest. He tried to pull away but she held onto him so hard that her knuckles turned white as a sheet and they both winced. Her from the pressure of her grip and he from the unexpected strength of it, she knew his skin was sensitive and felt sorry when she saw dents forming in his skin. She released him and kissed the reddening marks on his arm in apology.

"I mean 'I love you' exactly what I said." She replied, cuddling into the niche of his shoulder.

He leaned down and sobbed into her strawberry blonde hair, his tears soaking her hair and causing it to stick together. She sighed and reached up to wrap her hands gingerly around his neck and kissed the side of his throat wanting to comfort her lover but knowing that no words would be sufficient and the best thing to do at the moment was assume that his tears were ones of joy. Erik said nothing to her instead he tipped her chin up wordlessly asking for a kiss. She gave it and he stared at her in shock. He let her relax on him and simply kept his arms around her so she didn't fall.

This was their moment, the moment they had both been waiting for. The moment they had denied themselves for so long one out of denial the other out of sheer despair. The lovers wanted to be together now in this one space of time and they wanted it to be special so they didn't speak. Just held each other and waited for time to freeze. It seemed to bend to their will and stop for them; he bent hid head and inhaled deeply into her curls sighing with contentment as though pleased.

"Mmm…"he murmured, "vanilla…and strawberries."

Christine laughed out loud, she never thought Erik to be the type of man to notice subtle things like the scent of her hair. But then, Erik noticed everything so she did not really know why she was surprised. He looked down at her frowning at her with confusion and raised a patch of skin where a missing eyebrow should have been beneath his mask and she laughed even harder. Erik shook his head, muttering something she didn't catch and she decided to drop it, enjoying the simple pleasure of having the ability to laugh after so many stressful nights.

"You noticed?" she asked, smiling.

"I notice everything, from your blue eyes to the silly blush on your cheek." He replied.

"Mmm…" she murmured, leaning on him.

Erik simply continued to shake his head and say nothing as he listened to her, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth even as he tried to hide it from her. Christine had never seen Erik smile and was determined to get him to do so. She shook her head and laughed at the thought that the Phantom was so human and the irony that she had dismissed him as otherwise. Erik looked down at her and she playfully kissed his masked nose causing him to blink. He gave her a curious look, his eyes puzzled at the onset of her overly playful attitude.

"What is so funny about this?" Erik asked his face becoming worried and placing his cold palm on her forehead as if to check her temperature.

"Nothing my love…" Christine replied, blue eyes dancing, "I'm just happy."

"What is there to be happy about?" he asked.

Christine shook her head and pulled him down to her giving him a kiss, determined to act like a normal couple with him as abnormal as they were. In the dark shadows the couple became aware of time slipping slowly away from them but not wanting to break the spell. Erik held her face between his skeletal hands and kissed both her cheeks carefully, judging her reaction fearing that she would recoil from his touch. Christine felt her eyes shut as she pictured that beautiful angel singing in the clouds as she unknowingly caused him to sin. He still had the same eyes; God had let him keep those at the very least, it was strange that something as trivial as human beauty had nearly cost her the greatest gift she had ever received. Her own angel was right here and she was in his arms.

She no longer cared that her father had technically broken his promise; she had gotten the angel of music. Whether she had received him of his own doing or by her father's wishes she had the Angel. He had given her everything she ever wanted and in turn the only thing he wanted was love. It was a price she was more than willing to pay after that horrible exchange when he had given up his very existence and cursed himself to that awful life of servitude and exile. Not a very steep request, he deserved her love after everything he had done for her. It was a shame though that the price he had paid was so great, but then she was not so sure that the price had been complete.

She ran her hands over his shoulders, noticing how broad they were and tall they were. Christine let her hands splay over the wiry muscles of his boney chest and noticed for the first time how perfectly built he was. She looked up into his grey eyes and then slowly, very slowly she ran her hands over his lips, they felt like normal lips, smooth and warmed from her kiss. He gasped at the contact. Erik retreated from her and caught her hand hard in his; she didn't flinch but instead concentrated on the feel of his hand on hers.

It was smooth and strong, with thick callouses on his nimble fingers, his grip was steady capable as though he had done manual labor. Who knew that the Phantom of the Opera had hands like that? Strong hands that felt like they could save her from everything in this cold world, hands of a protector, hands that could kill, hands that could create…hands that could love. She smiled at him and kissed him again and his tongue felt the same way that Raoul's had, smooth and soft but rough enough to denote his gender. It felt just as Raoul's loving kiss had. No better, Erik's kiss was pure and whole as if his heart was in his lips and he very gently pulled away and gave her a tearful look.

"What is it?" she asked,

"I don't want to wake up…"

"Wake up?" Christine echoed.

"This is a dream and I'm going to wake up and I don't want to." He sobbed.

"No," she whispered, "I love you and you're beautiful…"

Erik choked, "you're being kind." He said, "I am repulsive, a monster…"

"No." she said, "Close your eyes for me." He did and she took his hand in hers, "Feel the way God made you, feel how sculpted your body is…how gentle your hands are…feel how strong and steady your heartbeat is as it thuds softly in your chest." She kissed his chest right where his heart was.

"Christine is kind but I know I am repulsive, ah but you are a good, honest girl saving my wounded heart."

Christine sighed and shook her head, taking one of his hands and placing it over her full breast. He gasped at the contact and tried to pull away but she didn't let him, she leaned forward and kissed him fully on his mouth. He groaned softly, mumbling something and kissed me back, warming us both. His hands were cold on her shoulders and she felt herself falling forward into his chest so that they were both lying on the bed. Her hands tangled in the thick cocoa hair and she found herself lost in what she was doing. The pure sin of it and the knowledge that what she was about to do and how she knew it would damn her immortal soul. The thrill of this knowledge and knowing that she didn't care

"Stop…" Erik murmured, "What are you doing?"

"Shh…" she whispered, "Don't ruin this."

She didn't know what she was doing really, only that she needed to be with him right now. Her mind screamed at her to stop but her heart told her to keep going and so she did. Erik was responding well and it seemed he needed this just as much as she did. It gave her a thrill knowing that he needed her just as much as she needed him. Her arms wound around his neck and she kissed him and he leaned back so that she was lying with him in the shadows, the candlelight casting arches of mystery on her already beautiful face.

"Christine, we must stop this before we—mmm…" her kiss stopped his protest and he kissed her back.

In that moment time seemed to pass slowly between the two of them as they explored that forbidden world of passion and sin. They were shy like two schoolchildren but their curiosity urged them on. He let his hands travel over her, being careful not to go too far and let her lead him in these dangerous waters to where she wanted them to go, His hands were soon everywhere in places that only a lover should caress causing her to experience things that were far better left to the imagination than described. She closed her eyes and imagined her mother blushing and hiding behind her hands at the sight of her little girl doing such things.

But the further they went the more she forgot her modesties and discretion until they were joined together with nothing between them but the skin. They finished with each other, reveling in the pleasure, the pain and the completion of it all. Her nightgown underneath her stained with her innocence and her head fitted into the crook of his shoulder. Erik was crying into her hair, tears of joy and love; she pressed her hands into his hair and moaned softly, hiding her face in his neck. He suddenly groaned as if in frustration.

"What is it?"

He rose from the bed and slipped into a black robe and paced across the room and sighed looking up at the ceiling. His fists were clenched and he looked as though his temper would explode in any moment. She felt a sudden tremor of fear at the thought of his rather unpredictable temper. She shook her head at the thought of his rage and his love, how quickly they switched places, how one moment he was weeping with joy over their intimacy and the next he was looking furious.

"I'm frustrated, if my face was normal it'd be so much easier."

"What would?" Christine looked at him.

He looked at her and the love was back, his mercury eyes liquidy with the intensity of it. He went to the side of the room and went to a white vase, picking up a red rose. Erik dropped to his knees and Christine looked down at the rose in his hand; its bloom was crimson and wavy as delicate and pure as love itself. In its silk ribbon was a blue diamond as deep as her eyes, she let him slide it on her hand. She gasped and looked up at him and when he stared at her, directly, unblinking.

"If I were normal I'd take you out, court you properly and then one night in winter when the sky was clear but snowy evening when your hair was dripping with the diamonds of the melting on your sunset curls I'd take a rose just like this and ask you a question."

He handed her the rose and got down on his knees, she put it to her nose, inhaling its fragrance, her blue eyes full of tears as she guessed what he was going to do. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes as if to steady himself before brushing a simple kiss to her knuckles. In that simple gesture was all the words he needed to say, all the feeling he had but still he felt compelled to finish it. He had been waiting so long to ask her this question, it made his heart pound with anticipation and when he spoke again he could read the answer in her eyes.

"But since it is not snowing I must do it here…Christine Annabelle Daaè, would you do me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage?"