Christine's POV

I didn't know what happened to my angel of music after the mob chased him into the woods. When the mob returned to the Opera House, I thought they had frightened him away for good. I wasn't concerned about him, for I knew he could take care of himself. I never spoke about my angel to Raoul again, for I prayed that he would just leave me be. I was in love with Raoul and I wanted my angel to understand that. But here I was, a few days later standing in my dressing room with Nadir and finding out that the mob had set out to kill him. But they didn't… Nadir had taken my angel to his home and attempted to nurse him back to health. I didn't want to go with this man, for I didn't want to see my angel again.

"He needs you," Nadir said. "He needs you now more than ever."

I didn't want my angel to need me! I didn't want to continue our friendship. But Nadir went on to explain that my angel had done everything for me in the past, and it would be selfish of me not to help him just this once. Therefore, I agreed… This would be my goodbye to him. After throwing on my cloak, I followed Nadir out into the snowy night, not quite sure on where we were headed. The man led me into the stables and held out his hand to help me onto the back of a huge black stallion. Once on his back, Nadir hopped up behind me and we were off into the snow covered city. Nadir's home was on the other side of Paris, away from everyone else. He had a stable of his own located on the backside of his home, and once this stallion was unsaddled and placed inside his gate, we walked beside one another towards the brick building that Nadir called home.

"Oh, Christine let me take your cloak," he said once we entered his home. There was a roaring fire in the hearth and colorful tapestries covering every inch of the walls.

"Your home is nice," I said, gazing around the family room. "I've never seen so many beautiful tapestries."

"Hand sewn from my home country. I have quite a few artifacts that I obtained from Persia displayed throughout my home."

"I can see that."

Nadir lit a candle and motioned me to follow him towards a flight of stairs that were on the other side of the room. I placed my hands beneath my arms to keep warm and followed the man up the flight of stairs, taking time to gaze at a few family portraits he had hanging on the wall. When Nadir noticed me looking at the pictures, he stopped and shun his candle light towards the picture I was currently looking at.

"My wife," he said, pointing to a beautiful woman dressed in Persian robes.

"Where is she now?"

"Dead. She passed while giving birth to my son."

Before I could ask about his son, Nadir shun the light at another picture of a small boy that couldn't have been any older than five. It was funny, for the child looked exactly like Nadir.

"That is my son, Reza."

"Does he live here with you too?"

Nadir lowered his head and sighed. "I wish, Christine. He became very sick when he was only four and passed when he was five."

"I…I'm so sorry, Nadir. I shouldn't have asked."

"You didn't know, Christine. Anyway, it's just me now, and it may not be a life filled with loved ones, but it's not a bad life. Allah has his plans for us all I guess."

Deciding to continue the walk in silence, I didn't say another word and followed Nadir the rest of the way. Once we were at the top of the stairs, Nadir approached a closed door and turned to speak with me one final time.

"I assume that you've seen his face before?"

I swallowed hard, for I had. It was certainly something I didn't want to see again, especially after the way he had reacted when I tore his mask from his face.

"I'll take that as a yes… I want to warn you, Christine. He's not wearing his mask… I took it from him, feeling that he would breathe easier with it off."

"It's fine," I lied, knowing that I would only be in here a few moments.

With that being said, Nadir opened the door and I followed him inside the dark room. I stood there at the doorway, not being able to see anything. All I could hear was a heavy unsteady breathing and the sound of Nadir's footsteps heading towards the window. A few seconds later, a lantern was lit, and the small dark room lit up in a shadowy orange color. The room came alive, and there, on a small bed, lay my angel of music. He was barely moving, his flesh almost the color of snow and his breathing labored. I had never seen him like this before… He had gone from being an angel to being a man, to becoming a corpse. When Nadir told me that my angel was on death's door, I never would have believed that it was this bad. He was badly bruised and sickly… It also seemed as though he had lost weight.

"Nadir, I…I didn't think it was this bad."

"It's all right, Christine. You're here now and that's all that matters."

I was afraid to approach the bed, for the view I was getting at the door was bad enough. I didn't want to approach his bed and find that his condition was indeed much worse than I was seeing now.

"Christine, don't be afraid. He's not going to harm you, not like this…"

I slowly took a few steps towards the bed and gasped when I saw how ill my angel actually looked.

"What do you want me to do, Nadir?"

"I'm going to go downstairs and make him something to eat. In the meantime, why don't you sit by his bed and speak to him. Hopefully he hears you."

When Nadir was gone, I took a seat at my angel's bedside and looked at him. He seemed so uncomfortable and in pain. Never had I ever seen him in a bed before… I never thought he slept, for whenever I was down in his lair, he was always awake, even after he placed me into bed. His deformed face was lying down in the pillow, leaving his flawless side and bald head exposed. My angel's shirt was unbuttoned and beneath the shirt, I could see nothing but bandages. I wasn't sure what to do, nor was I sure that he would even live through the night. But Nadir believed that I could save him, therefore, I would at least try my best to do so. The only contact my angel and I had ever had was eye contact. Never once had I ever hugged him or touched any part of his flesh. But there, lying at his side was his boney hand. I watched him very closely as if he would wake at any moment and reached my hand down to embrace his own. He made no movement as my hand wrapped around his… His touch was lifeless and cold. He didn't even squeeze my hand when my fingers intertwined with his.

"I…I don't know what to say to you. We never really had a normal conversation with one another, nor do I know much about your personal life."

Silence filled the room once more. What I had said was true. What could I say to this man? There wasn't much that I did know about him. He used to be my angel of music, but he was no angel, he was a human with feelings and a life. Therefore, I decided to stop talking to him and sing to him instead. I sang a song he had taught me long ago, a lullaby that he had sang to me one night when I was feeling ill. It had helped me, and I hoped it would help my angel. By the time my song was over, Nadir came walking in with a tray in hand. On this tray, there was a steaming bowl and a few other things as well. He sat the tray down and looked over my angel of music, his face seeming worried over his condition.

"His fever is really high, Christine," he said, reaching over on the tray for the cloth that was placed on it. "I think I'm going to give him a cool sponge bath after he eats. Dabbing his head is no longer working."

After dabbing my angel's head, he proceeded to lift my angel up into a sitting position.

"He's weak, Christine. He's barely eaten anything in the last few days. Let's see if you can encourage him to keep his meal down."

I wasn't sure how I was going to do that, but I would certainly try. When Nadir would bring a spoonful of the soup up to my angel's mouth, I spoke softly to him, hoping that he would open his mouth.

"Come on, ange…" I cooed. "You need to eat so you can keep the medicine down."

It took a while, but he must have heard me, for his mouth eventually opened and he swallowed the substance.

"Good, Christine, that's really good."

My angel only took a few spoons of food before he began to get ill from it. When Nadir believed that it was enough, he cleaned up from my angel's dinner and came back in carrying a basin of soapy water.

"Christine, why don't you go wait out in the hall? I'm going to see if a sponge bath will make him feel better."

Knowing that I would feel embarrassed seeing his naked body, I did as Nadir asked and stepped out into the hall. As I waited, all I could think about was my angel and the horrible condition he was in.

"Christine, you can come in now…"

When Nadir popped his head out into the hall, I obeyed and walked back inside the tiny bedroom. My angel was now washed up and dressed in a long robe.

"Christine, I was able to feed him and have him keep his medicine down. I can't thank you enough for helping me with this."

"It was no problem at all, Nadir. I…I was happy to help. I don't know how much I truly helped him, but I'm glad you think it worked."

"I'll take you home now, Christine. You did say that you wanted to say goodbye to your angel… You told me that's why you came tonight, to say goodbye to him and to do what you could to help. He's resting easily now, and if Allah sees it fit to pull him through this, then I'm sure he will live."

I looked towards the door and knew that going home was what I wanted… But then, I looked back towards that bed where my angel was lying and knew where I belonged. My angel of music was not yet out of the woods, and I knew if I left, he might die. I had come this far, so why not stay and see to it that he does indeed live? Once more, I looked out the window and noticed that it was still snowing. I didn't want to go back out into the storm tonight and get wet.

"I'll go get Cesar saddled up and we will have you home in an hour."

"Nadir, wait…" I began. "I…I think I will stay tonight… Just to make sure that my angel makes it through the night."

Nadir seemed satisfied with my answer, for he headed towards the nearest closet and pulled out a few blankets.

"Good, I'll make you a bed."