Ah, the last chapter. I want to thank all the people who've read this story. And I forgot to mention this during the last chapter, this story is dedicated to My friends, Reagan (always for you, don't forget it mon ami.), Lauren, Susan and Casey. You've all supported me throughout all my stories and I am immensely grateful. I also want to thank all of my reviewers, you have no idea how much your reviews light up my day. I swear, one review can get me through two math periods! With that in mind please review! And once again, I hope you enjoy this chapter and this I shall try to overcome my writers block.

POTO (c) Gaston Leroux

Chapter 2

Five years later....

Raoul de Chagny looked up at the policeman that was leading the search for Christine. It was a two man operation now. After five years most people had given up. There had been clues from time to time but no solid proof. But Raoul refused to give up hope. He would find Christine again someday.

It had been at least a year last saw this man. The last time was when someone thought they saw someone fitting the description of Christine in Rouen. The clue had led to a dead end

The masked man and Christine had virtually disappeared from the earth. For the first year the search had been vigorous and had everyone looking. But after that they all gave up and said that if Christine had been taken by the Opera Ghost then she would most likely be dead by now.

But Raoul refused to believe that. As much as that maniac could hurt other people he would not dare harm Christine.

Now, there the man was in front of him once again. And this time he knew where they were.

"Excuse me M. Le Comte. But I have found them." The man (whose name is Jacques) said to Raoul. Raoul felt his heart skip a beat as he heard this news. They had found Christine at last! After five long years he had found the only person he had ever loved.

Over the past five years he had had many mistresses of course. But he could not truly love any of them. His heart belonged with Christine, wherever she was.

But now he would know. And he would see her too.

"Tell me." Raoul demanded. When the man uttered these words his breath had hitched and his heart had skipped a beat.

"One week ago one of my men was patrolling the villages around Rouen. There have been rumours of a special sickness down that way and he went to go see if these rumours were true-they were not of course- and when he was patrolling a down named de Boscherville and he heard rumours of a masked devil and his wife. Matthew of course went to see if this was a part of the rumoured illness. The man who opened the door fit the description exactly of the man who seemed to have kidnapped your Fiancée. He came back immediately and reported this to me." Jacques reported.

Raoul stood up and called James into the room. The butler came immediately and ordered Raoul's carriage.

He had left immediately. It would take a good day and a half ride to get to the town. He stared out the window as he waited but did not see the beautiful Parisian landscape. His thoughts were consumed by Christine.

What would she be like after 5 years? Was she happy? Did she go with that man willingly? There were so many questions that were pounding in his head that he had wondered about for five long years. Now he would have a chance to get answers.

The ride was quite comfortable, as expected of a count's carriage. It had taken Raoul a few years to properly take his brother's formal title after he had drowned in the lake underneath the opera house. Many say that Erik killed him but he denied it, saying that he had drowned. Raoul had no idea why but for once he believed the man.

As they grew closer to Boscherville Raoul began to feel more and more anxious. Would that man try to harm him for coming to find Christine? Would he kill him? Raoul had chosen to visit unaccompanied by his police escort. He wanted to face Christine alone with no interruptions.

They rode for the full 36 hours without break. He was too anxious to stop and think. It was dusk when they reached Boscherville. At first he reservations about going and seeing her that evening but knew that he might run and never come back if he did not.

He walked from the inn he had managed to find within town-the only inn within a fifty mile radius of the town itself. He tried not to walk to quickly but the town was very small and it was not long before he arrived at said house.

He knocked on the door to the house and waited for the door to be opened. He held his breath as he saw swing open.

Erik stood in the door as menacing as always. Wearing black and the same white mask that he had been last seen in by Raoul.

"What do you want?" He barked when both overcame their initial shock. Raoul mentally shook himself from his stupor.

"I need to talk to Christine." He replied glaring at the masked man.

"No." Erik went to close the door but found that he was incapable of doing so with Raoul's foot jammed in the door.

"No, I can promise you that I will not leave until I see Christine." Raoul said adamantly. Erik looked as though he were about to strangle Raoul, or something to that extent when they heard a voice from the house.

"Erik? What are you doing? Who's at the door?" Raoul felt immense relief when he heard Christine's voice.

"Christine, please let me in." Raoul pleaded trying to get around Erik.

Christine stood frozen for a moment, stunned by the fact that Raoul had found her. Then saw that Erik was blocking his entry.

"Erik, let him in." She said with a stern voice. Erik reluctantly let Raoul pass but not before whispering so only Raoul could hear,

"If you touch her, Erik will not hesitate to cut your fingers off. You try to take her away from Erik and you will find yourself at the gates of hell. She is Erik's and you will not forget that." Raoul suppressed a shudder at these words.

Christine silently led him through the halls of their house and into the study. She sat him in a chair opposite to the one she would be sitting in.

"I'm sorry for Erik's behaviour. I honestly thought he was getting better but I suppose that you bring back too many bad memories for him. Would you like something to drink? Tea? I'm sure we have some brandy around here somewhere." Christine asked. Raoul looked bewildered at her offer.

"I understand..no thank you I ate at the inn before I came." He said in response to both statements.

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment, Christine knew that Erik would be waiting outside the study door listening in on the conversation. Or he would be...no, he would be outside the study door.

Christine sighed and Raoul jumped about a foot in his chair.

'I guess you're wondering what happened after we left your house right?" She asked with a sad smile. Raoul nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you everything, that would take far too long. But I suppose I can give you the shorter version." She warned Raoul just gave her a look that clearly said Get on with it!

"Well, after we left we went back down to the fifth cellar. We tried to sort out our differences and such. We managed to let go of the past after a while and start a future together. The I started to get sick and Erik realized that it was from the lake and the dampness around his home. At first he was at loss of what to do. Then he remembered a place that he could go. But first we stayed at the Persian's place for awhile. He helped Erik find this house and reclaim it. Then, about a month after we started our relationship Erik, in his own awkward way proposed to me. He took me out under the stars and asked me if I loved him. I told him that I did and he must have asked me that five or six times before placing a ring on my finger and saying that if I could share a life with a monster, he would like to be that monster. And that I would always be his. It took a moment for me to understand what he was saying then, when I did realize it I hugged him tight and told him I accepted his proposal. And then he said-I will quote him- "Christine, there is no other woman besides you. You are an angel that Erik does not deserve. If you had said no...Erik would have let you go, but he would never, never leave you. He could never be strong enough for that." About a month after that we had our wedding. It was small and had two paid witnesses. But that was enough for me. That night...well we consummated the marriage and the next morning Erik took me to Italy. We had the most wonderful trip. We were gone for three months. But after that I started to get sick again. I was getting morning sickness, tired all the time and it seemed I was perpetually hungry. I found out later..." Suddenly the study door creaked open and Raoul's attention, as well as Christine's was diverted to the little boy who entered the room.

He had raven coloured hair and glowing gold eyes. His skin was pale. On the side of his neck he had a large scar that ran along the side of it. The scar wasn't very wide but plenty long. It was not one caused by an accident but by birth. Raoul could tell that much. He looked as though he was around four years of age. There was no mistaking who his parents were.

"Mama! Papa said that he was going to teach me to play the organ!" The little boy cried joyfully as he flung himself into his mother's lap.

Christine stroked the boy's hair for a moment before saying to him

"Angelo, we have a guest. I would like you to greet M. Le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny properly."

Raoul cleared his throat.

"Actually, it's count now. I took over Philippe's title years ago. After his death." He said awkwardly.

The boy looked him up and down and said shyly

"Bonjour M. De Chagny." Raoul noticed that they boy's voice sounded slightly like Erik's and that when he grew up it would be just as seductive and menacing.

"Bonjour Angelo. I see your name fits you well." Raoul said, he liked this boy. He was Christine's son and so he would be treated with the respect and admiration he deserved.

The boy blushed and backed out of the room, running back to his father no doubt.

Christine sighed happily as she watched the boy run out, closing the door behind him.

"Anyway, after we found out that I was with child Erik started acting cold to me. I was shocked and hurt. I thought that he no longer loved me. I was packed and ready to return to you when he found me. I'm sorry Raoul, I knew that you would have taken me in and I took advantage of that. I wanted to be cared for...to be loved. When he found me he started to panic. He asked me if I loved him and I told him that I loved him. He obviously didn't love me enough to care about our child. He wept then Raoul...oh he uttered such soul wrenching sobs! I held him and comforted him. Then he told me his fears, He was so scared that our child would turn out like him. I told him that we would still love him no matter what. We would take care of the child together. He told me he knew that I would love the child. He was frightened that if anything did happen to the child that it would blame him for anything that happened to him. He didn't want the child to have a life like his. It took me a very long while to finally get him to listen to me. Even after that he was still nervous. Then, when I finally gave birth and he saw the scar he was devastated. He blamed himself and for a while it seemed as though he was going to die, or more precisely commit suicide. It took a good year before he came to see our son as he really is-perfect. The scar is not as prominent now as it was back then. Erik, doesn't exactly know how to deal with kids and that was a problem for a while. But then he reached out to his son in the only way he knew how-music. After a while they began to do other things and began to mold to fit each other perfectly. Because of Erik, Angelo is almost smarter than myself. Now, I believe that I almost feel jealous of their relationship. I cannot say that this has been easy-or that Erik and I have the perfect marriage. He has too many insecurities for that. But it had been more than I could have ever hoped for." She said after the interruption had left.

For the first time in his life Raoul felt jealous of someone. Erik had everything that Raoul ever wanted. A son, independence, power, intelligence and...Christine.

"So, Raoul, what have you been doing since I left? Have you found love again?" Christine asked concerned for her old friend. She knew that she had scarred him for life when she left. But one could hope that he had found what Erik was to her, right?

Raoul looked down, feeling slightly awkward.

"I haven't been doing much, helping the family, my sisters, aunt and so on. I've taken over my brother's position in almost everything. As for my love life...I have to admit that it's not much for now. It never really has been there at all I suppose. I have bad luck when it comes to love." He replied sadly. Then a saying he had once herd found its way into his mind. We cannot chose where we will love.

Raoul found this absolutely true. He had loved Christine, it had happened and he could not come to regret it for the world.

Christine sighed than said

"You may come in now Erik." Raoul was shocked at this statement. She had not raised her voice as she said this and he saw the door creak open immediately after she said this.

The first thing he saw was Erik's golden eyes looking slightly ashamed. Whether he was caught or that he was doing it in the first place Raoul did not know.

He looked at Raoul and growled menacingly. Christine gave him a stern look. He stopped growling but continued glaring.

"Erik. Raoul is not here to take me away. He came to see how I was. He was worried about me. It has been five years already. He deserved to know everything." Christine explained. Then she turned to Raoul and asked brightly

"So, have you planned your leave yet? If you would like, you are more than welcome to stay with us." Raoul looked at her bewildered.

"No!" Erik yelled harshly. "He will not be staying in Erik's house. He will take Christine and Angelo and never come back. He is never welcome here, never!"

"I think that I'll stay at my inn, thank you very much. I plan to leave on the morrow. " Raoul said trying to stop an unpleasant argument that he knew he would get blamed for later.

Christine uttered an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright, but first I will introduce you to my best friend Susan, she is quite like Meg, Raoul! Come, you must meet her!" She said excitedly pulling Raoul towards the door. He looked back and saw Erik staring at his wife with an intense look that radiated of love. It could not be mistaken about how much he loved his wife...

One year later....

"Uncle Raoul!" Angelo shouted as he ran towards his surrogate uncle. As much as Erik tried to purge him of calling him that name Angelo adored Raoul and would not let it go. This annoyed Erik beyond belief and made Raoul very smug.

Much had changed in the past year. Raoul had finally gotten married and was expecting his first child. He was married to Christine's best friend, Susan. It had been love at first sight.

Erik and Christine were happy and agreed that Angelo would be their only child. They did not want to worry about having a child with Erik's deformity. Or that was Erik's fear. Christine said it did not matter either way and was content with one child.

But, as always things were not perfect. At the odd time Erik seemed to tire of Raoul and almost strangle him. There had been many close calls, but no permanent damage. They were not...friends per say but they had a very odd sort of relationship where one would never know when the other would lose patience and kill him.

But for now, things were perfect. Shattered hearts were being mended and new loves beginning....

Fin

So, what did you think of that ending? I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to make it a happy one. Au revoir to all those readers out there and once again I thank you.