I'm back! Sorry this took so long, I've had the outline written in my notebook for over a month now but I never got to it. I should be studying for a math quiz right now but I'd rather fanfic :P

Ok so this starts with Erik, then Christine, then Erik again :P

Why do I feel scared to write this? Ok anyway, here I go…I don't own the POTO references or the Gameworx ones…

pls RnR! ^_^

As Erik drove home in silence, he intermittently brushed his lean fingers on his lips, trying to savor the sweet taste of Christine's breath. Like strawberries, he thought to himself. But why had she hesitated to kiss him? She was nearly able to before they went out to eat dinner, and again when he dropped her off. Was she scared of his mask?

Erik tried not to think about the possible reasons for her indecisions and just tried to remember her fragrance. Taking a deep breath, he could almost feel the aroma fill his nostrils as if she was sitting right next to him.

A few minutes passed and Erik was at his condo. He parked his car into his usual slot in the basement parking lot and walked up to the elevator. The doors opened for him and he had to adjust his eyes to the bright lights inside the elevator. The basement parking lot didn't have a lot of lights switched on at this time of night and he was used to it.

He punched the button for the third floor where his room was and leaned against the cold metal railing of the elevator. Knowing that no one ever came out of their rooms at night, he removed the stifling mask on his face and moved his jaw and cheek on the right side of his face to stretch out the rough skin hidden during the day.

The elevator shuddered and the doors opened. Erik walked out and quietly made his way to room 308. He stuck his key through the doorknob and entered his home turning on only the hallway light.

He put his wallet, keys and mask on the kitchen counter and stretched as he walked to his bedroom filled with soft moonlight. Routinely, he took some night clothes from his closet and walked to his bathroom to take a shower. After he finished, he stretched his arms and legs before tucking into his unusually large bed.

He touched the right side of his face and cringed at the roughness at contact. He rolled over to his side and thought about Christine. His breathing evened out and was soon in a state of dreams.

That night he had a terrible dream. Tossing and turning under the comforters, he envisioned Christine in his arms like in the bowling alley before; her, staring into his eyes. As they both leaned in to kiss each other, a cloud of black smoke appeared in between them, tearing each other apart. Erik groped through the heavy confusion shouting for Christine.

"Christine! Where are you?!" Erik cried out, heard a piercing scream that tore through his chest and doubled him over.

Suddenly, tons of bowling balls fell through the roof, hitting him, and slowly killed him. The last image he saw was Christine, enveloped in a soft glow of white, watching him die with her big brown eyes…

"NO!" Erik shot up on his bed, drenched in a cold sweat. The sun was peering through the blinds on the north side of the bedroom wall. His breath was shaky and couldn't remove the images of the dream out of his mind. He climbed out of bed and walked to the kitchen to put his mask on.

He gripped the counter and calmed himself down fearing that Christine wasn't okay.

The rest of his day was just as terrible as his morning—he almost rammed into a light post as he was thinking about Christine; he burned himself while working with the soldering tool; he paced back and forth in his little pro-shop trying to make sense of the dream. He tried to reassure himself that Christine was going to be okay—he'd see her at training anyway.

During his break, he received a message from Meg. He eagerly pressed the playback button, hoping for a word from Christine.

"Hi, this is Marguerite Giry, Christine's best friend. I just wanted to tell you that Christine is sorry that she can't attend training today. She isn't feeling well, and she just wanted me to tell you that she's sorry again. She'll probably be at Gameworx tomorrow, though. Hope you have a nice day, Mr. Destler." Click.

Hope you have a nice day. "Damned straight I am," Erik muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. How could his day be anyway worse?

­­­­­

"Hello there, Christine. Feeling any better?" said Dr. Andres warmly as he walked through his clinic door. Christine was already perched on the medical bed, waiting for him.

"I'm actually feeling the exact opposite today, Doc. I had a…really rough night," murmured Christine, too tired to even speak.

Meg practically had to drag her out of bed so that she could see Dr. Andres. Meg was so worried for her best friend but she never showed even a shadow of her inner feelings in front of Christine, although she had been confiding in Raoul.

"How strong were your convulsions?" said the heart specialist, already performing the habitual stethoscope procedure.

"Pretty hard to tell. I only did pass out from the pain and all," Christine was in no mood to answer stupid questions. She knew that Dr. Andres was only asking it out of medical reasons but she didn't want to put up with any 'nonsense' today. She only wanted to see Erik, but she didn't want him to see her like this.

Ignoring Christine's spiteful reply, Dr. Andres continued with his check-up. It long and silent before Christine spoke again, looking straight ahead—eyes, ominous.

"Daryl, I don't think that bowling is working out for me. My last attack really took me overboard and I think that it's because of a lot of bowling. That's what I really came here to tell you, I want to stop." But inside, she didn't really want to stop because it would mean that she wouldn't see Erik anymore. As much as it pained her to do so, she knew that it would hurt more if she continued to play bowling.

Hearing his first name, Dr. Andres spoke naturally. Christine was a long-time patient of his and he didn't mind it at all when she called him by his first name. He had always looked at Christine as his daughter because he didn't have one himself. His wife could not conceive.

"Oh Christine, we aren't sure of that. And besides, how are we so sure that it's really bowling that's to blame? You've been bowling for some time now and this attack only happened just recently. In all my expertise, I can hardly say that this is because of your playing bowling, sweetie. Plus, your EKG's have been reading perfectly normal, save of course for this freak attack," Dr. Andres explained, Christine looking at him hopefully before she dropped her eyes to the floor, playing with her fingers again.

"If it makes you feel any better, the results from our tests are coming in soon and we can finally find out what is really the matter! I, for one, am how you kids say, 'totally syked!'" Daryl said this with a bad impersonation of a kid from the ninety's that Christine had to laugh it his attempt to make her feel better. He knew how to cheer her up.

The heart doctor put a warm hand on her shoulder and whispered lovingly.

"But you must understand that the outcome of the tests might not be good. I mean, they really won't be good things since you are sick with something, but I'm trying to say that there's a possibility that things will happen out of our control; that some things can't be cured,"

Christine looked up at him now, sarcasm turned into fright.

"Anything is possible, though, right Daryl?"

"Of course. All the more reason for things to turn out wrong in the end," Dr. Andres replied with a sigh. "I'm going to write you another prescription for your medicine. I know you're running out."

Christine thanked her doctor for the prescription and walked out of the hospital in a daze. She didn't call Meg to pick her up because she decided that a good walk would help her. All the more reason for things to turn out wrong in the end. She knew exactly what Dr. Andres was driving at. There was as much of a possibility for her to die from her disease as there was for her to be cured. She wasn't ready at all to die. She wanted to finish college, and she couldn't bare the sight of leaving Meg.

She sighed and looked down at her feet as she realized that she was speaking in such cliché that she ridiculed herself inwardly. But she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Erik, too. How would he deal with her death, if ever? She didn't hesitate to think that feelings for him were growing inside of her and she hoped that he was feeling the same things as well.

She just couldn't deny the intense sensation she felt when Erik held her arms and looked at her with such profound concentration that she thought he was peering into her soul. She had never felt a shiver as strong as she felt when she nearly kissed him inside his car…

She didn't realize that she had made her way to Gameworx and she stared at it as the sunset glared into her eyes. She squinted and debated whether she should visit him or not. She had already asked Meg to excuse her from training so there wasn't much of a point to go.

But she felt like she needed to be beside him and touch his skin to be able to cure herself to health. She wanted to breathe in his scent. She wanted to rake her hands through his hair. She wanted ever so badly to press her lips against his and wrap her arms around his body…

A jolt of electricity in her chest startled her from her reverie and she realized that she was in the middle of the sidewalk. She looked at the big sign of Gameworx and reluctantly turned into the direction of her apartment. She took the sudden pain in her heart as a sign that she wasn't ready to see him.

"I get it okay?" she grumbled to herself, referring to her heart. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and walked home.

I should call her, and ask if she's okay. No! She might not want to hear from you anyway! Why else would she not kiss you? But something might really be the matter… Erik debated to himself and fought his inner demons as he wondered if he should call her or not.

The anxiety that he felt the whole day was enough to rip his mind to shreds and make him go insane. He was drumming his fingers against his chin and lips; desperate to know what to do.

After a long while of staring at the old telephone in his pro-shop he finally decided to call her. He thought that there was no harm in checking in on her, especially with this really heavy feeling inside of him, telling him that there was something wrong with the atmosphere.

"I've got nothing to lose, right?" he told himself, determining that he really did lose his mind.

He punched in the numbers of Christine's apartment. He remembered it by heart when he read the personal information profile that he had asked Christine to fill out when they first met. The sweet smile on her face...

Through the receiver he heard the ring and a wave of nervousness coursed through his body, making him feel utterly uncomfortable. It rung twice, then four times and he was feeling more and more impatient. He almost hung up before someone picked up and breathed a swift hello.

"Christine, it's me, Erik," nervousness was replaced by relief when he heard her voice.

"Erik, what a surprise! Did you not receive Meg's message she left for you?" her voice sounded foreign and tired and heavy and it downed Erik's spirit quickly.

"No, yeah I got it. I just wanted to know you are alright. I-I've been having this edgy feeling the whole day and I just felt like I needed to call you or something." Erik tried to make it sound as light as possible but what he really meant was: please tell me you are alright. I had a bad dream last night and I needed to know that you are safe.

"Well," a pause, "I'm fine, Erik. I just have a lot of homework to do and I have a lot of papers to write," she hoped she sounded convincing but Erik knew better.

He was hoping that she wasn't lying and that she wasn't pushing herself away because of what happened between them—or what almost happened. He was beginning to feel the rejection.

"Please tell me that this isn't because of…what I did, if ever I did anything against what you wanted to happen. I'm sorry if I went over the line, I don't want to do anything to hurt you, Christine, please know that." His voice was weak and it caused Christine's little I'm-fine-nothing-to-worry-about charade to falter and her real emotions seeped out a bit.

"I know that you'd never hurt me, Erik. Don't think that it was your fault why I'm not going to training," it was useless feigning the homework overload, "I'll tell you someday when I'm ready. Don't worry about me too much okay? You might sprout white hairs" Christine chuckled uneasily.

"Oh, and Erik?"

"Yes, Christine?" his voice low, controlled.

"I-I miss you," it was cheesy and uncalled for and downright shameful. But it sounded so right.

"I miss you too. Feel better, Christine," click.

A very heavy and deep feeling was embedding itself into Erik's thorax. He wasn't so sure where it came from, but he knew that it felt good. He was falling in love.

Christine put the phone into the cradle and breathed deeply as her chest gave its normal flutters. They seemed to be intensifying these days.

there you go. a good transition chapter i think. i intended it to be...not so eventful because of the upcoming chapters :) just sit tight okie?

and i found it vaguely important to characterize Erik so hence the Erik pov's ^_^