Christine's POV

I worked swiftly at mending Erik's jacket, looking up at him every few moments to see what he was doing. He was sitting at his desk, reading the newspaper, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows once again. Like before, I could see every scar he had crisscrossing over his flesh and couldn't help but find it looking quite painful. Usually, I didn't like to ask him questions, but it was on my mind.

"Your arms," I mewed. "Do they hurt?"

The newspaper Erik had been reading slowly lowered and his eyes moved to his arms. He didn't say a word… No, he began unraveling his white sleeves to cover his emaciated limbs.

"You don't have to do that," I said. "I wasn't complaining to you about them… I…I was just asking you if they hurt?"

Erik paused. His sleeves were back down over his arms. He didn't even answer me… He just continued to believe that nothing had been said and walked into the kitchen to make himself something to drink.

"How is your wound? You haven't said a word about that since Nadir's been back with your medicine."

I went back to looking at the sleeve I was sewing when I heard something slam down on the counter. He had startled me, for I pricked my finger with the needle and flinched. Erik had slammed down his cup and was standing beside the kitchen counter.

"Why must you ask me such personal questions? Questions that have nothing to do with you?"

"I was just asking. It's the nice thing to do, you know…"

"Well, to answer your question, Christine, I'm all right. I've been washing it out daily and besides a few jabs of pain every once in a while I believe I'm going to live, no thanks to you."

I rolled my eyes, for it was so like him to be not only sarcastic, but ignorant as well. Once the room fell silent, I believed that the fight was over, but it was only beginning.

"When are you going to be finished with my jacket?" he impatiently questioned.

"Why? Are you going on a date?" I snapped.

"As a matter of fact, I am! With myself! I haven't had a moment to myself in over two weeks! With you here, I can't bathe, I can't piss in peace, I can't sleep and I can't remove my mask! It's an inconvenience, one that will be ending as soon as you're finished with my jacket. You're going to waddle your way back to Nadir's caravan and that's where you'll be staying from now on."

"Well, seeing that I've been here for a few weeks now, how about you take out your key and unlock the shackle that's around my ankle?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he sneered. "You would love for me to take that shackle off your leg so you could flee during the night?"

"I could flee now if I wanted to… There is no chain to hold me back from running. As you said, my trust has to be earned… Well, have I not gained your trust by staying here and sewing your jacket?"

I tied off what I had been sewing and tossed the article of clothing at him. The man caught it and placed it down on his chair. I had hoped that by sewing his coat he would set me free from the shackle, but as the moments passed, I knew that he wasn't going to be doing so tonight.

"Trust is more than sewing my clothes and working for me, Christine."

"I've been here two weeks!" I groaned. "If I wanted to run or kill you I could have done so already."

"And how do I know that you're not just attempting to gain my trust so that you can stab me in the back when I'm not looking? No, it's going to take much more than that to gain my trust, especially after what you've done to me."

I was so angry that I marched into the kitchen and picked up one of the carving knives Erik kept there. The man turned and grabbed my hand, the sharp knife a mere inches from his heart.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked, his grip being deathly tight around my wrist. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with."

"I'm not going to kill you, I'm trying to prove a point!"

Erik forced my hand below his waist, the sharp knife now pointed at his groin.

"Maybe you wish to cut me there as well? No? Well, maybe here…"

He then forced my hand up to his neck, the knife resting against the pulsating artery near his jawline.

"How about here? Go ahead, Christine, no one is stopping you… One slice is all it takes. I'll bleed out and you can flee the camp. That is what you want, right?"

When I didn't dare move, Erik's other hand swooped up and snatched the knife from my hand.

"I thought so… Enough with these games. It comes down to this, you little vixen. When I say you can be released from that shackle, that's when you will be released. Not a moment before or after. Are we clear?"

I had tears in my eyes once more, tears that caused him to chuckle.

"Tears will do you no good, Christine. They may have pulled at my heartstrings in the past, but they don't anymore. You are useless against me."

I was feeling so angry…Oh, so angry with this man! I wasn't sure what came over me, but I pushed him hard, harder than I had ever pushed him before. It wasn't much, just a shove, one that any angry person would give. Though, it wasn't the shove that had caused him pain, it was where I had placed my hands in doing so. The moment my hands made contact with the center of his chest, the man stumbled backwards and landed on the floor. I began storming towards the caravan door to leave, but stopped when I noticed that he hadn't gotten up.

"What? Are you going to lie there on the floor like a child?" I cried, walking around the side of the counter to see what had happened. Though, the moment I saw him lying there, I knew there was something wrong with him. He was grasping onto his chest and gasping for air.

"Erik, are you all right?"

When the man didn't answer me, I knelt down beside him. It only took a few moments to realize that he was having another panic attack. I wasn't sure what to do, for I never had one of these horrible attacks before. I wasn't sure if you could die from it, and I knew that going to get Nadir would only leave Erik angry. Therefore, I began to sing to him in hopes that he would calm himself down. It took a few moments, but his breathing began to return to normal, and he didn't seem as scared. Though, instead of his attack ending and him getting upset, he seemed exhausted and within seconds of it ending, he passed out on the floor.

Erik's POV

All the yelling and fighting I had done with Christine had caused me to have another panic attack. The girl didn't leave my side like I thought she would have done. No, she stayed by my side and sang to me in an attempt to calm me down. It had done the trick, but after every panic attack I have, I always feel too tired to move and I eventually passed out. When I woke, my chest was not only aching, but I was disoriented and achy. Christine was nowhere in sight, but I had a pillow beneath my head and a blanket draped over me. I was still lying in my kitchen, making it obvious that I had fallen asleep on the floor. A few moments later the door to my caravan opened and Nadir came walking in. He chuckled at the sight of me and bent down to help me off the floor.

"Christine told me what happened to you last night. What has the doctor told you about getting yourself worked up? It will lead to nothing but panic attacks. When you get your heart racing, you're going to get your mind racing and when that happens…"

"You don't have to go into it, Khan!" I growled. "I can think for myself."

"And yet you're getting yourself worked up again."

The man placed me down on my bed and tucked me in. I snuggled my face into my pillow and sighed… But as I did so, something rushed back into my mind… I thought about the night before and how Christine's voice had calmed my nerves.

"Christine slept in my caravan last night in case you were wondering," Nadir said. "She woke this morning and told me that she left you on the kitchen floor. I didn't want to believe it and came to make sure that you were all right. You could sleep today anyway, for we will just be traveling to the next town."

"She sang to me last night," I said.

"What? Who?"

"Christine, you idiot… When I was on the floor attempting to stop my panic attack, she knelt down beside me and sang. I…I haven't heard her voice in years, Khan. And my body reacted to it. The moment that beautiful sound entered my ears, my mind was able to concentrate on something else and the attack ended."

"And what are you saying?"

"What?"

"What are you trying to tell me? There is a moral to the story, is there not? Or is this just another one of your pointless thoughts?"

"My thoughts are never pointless, Persian! I was just getting to the moral, and the moral of that story is that she can help me."

"So your plan is to keep her here as your prisoner forever then is it? To have her at your beck and call every time you have a panic attack? A caged bird that will be forced to sing in order to put your mind at ease?"

"That is not what I was thinking! What is wrong with you?"

"I find it strange that for once, that is not your plan."

"The point is to keep my attacks away, and with no means to do so, I am always in bed, exhausted and fighting for strength. If she were to sing in the show instead of sewing costumes, perhaps hearing her voice each night would put my mind at ease."

Nadir rolled his eyes. "You're her captor, Erik. She is not going to willingly sing for you each night, not after you poured soup on her head and threatened her life."

"She sang to me last night…"

"Yes, only because she was afraid of getting into trouble with not only you, but me as well. She didn't want to be the blame for your attack. She told me so herself…"

"I am the owner of this camp! I get what I want…"

"And you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink it now can you?"

"She will sing for me, Nadir… Mark my words."

"Well then, you better start working on your manners. A little bit of "please" and "thank you" would be a great start. And what about Raoul's brother? I thought you placed her in the costume department to keep her away from being seen by the public?"

"She doesn't need to sing for them… She can sing for me."

"Sing for you? Like a caged bird?"

"No, as my employee…"

I knew Christine would not willingly sing for me after all that we've been through, therefore, I was going to have to improvise… But if there was one thing that was certain, she was going to sing for me no matter what I had to do to get her to do so, even if that meant lying to get what I wanted.