Christine's POV

That evening just as the sun went down, I went through my dresses, attempting to find the right dress to wear to dinner. I only had three dresses and none of them seemed worthy enough for a dinner date.

"For someone who isn't working tonight, she sure is looking at her outfits a lot."

I turned to find Reha standing behind me. I smiled and finally picked up my green dress. This one was going to have to do.

"I'm having dinner with the Master tonight… I was trying to find something to wear."

Reha seemed frightened over this, for she took a step back.

"Why would you want to have dinner with the likes of him? He's cruel and unworthy of your company."

"He is many things, Reha, but he and I share a history and no matter where we go or what we do, we both wind up together. Perhaps not as a couple, but as friends."

"Do you have feelings for him? Because I know he has feelings for you. I see it… When he is around you, he doesn't act cruel. He's gentle with you."

"I know…"

"I could help you…" Reha said, approaching her wardrobe closet. The woman opened it and pulled out a beautiful white robe. It reminded me of the one I wore to his lair the night after Hannibal. "Here, you can wear this."

I slipped on the green dress before wrapping the white garment around me. When I saw myself in the mirror, I smiled, for I was indeed beautiful.

"Thank you, Reha…"

"You are beautiful, Christine. I have to get to work, but enjoy your dinner with Erik tonight. I hope things go better than they have been over the last few weeks."

When Reha left, I brushed my curls and headed out the door, walking across the field to get to Erik's caravan. Once there, I lightly knocked, not wanting to enter without his permission.

"Erik? Are you home?"

The caravan was in darkness, making me wonder if he was even there…

"Erik, it's me, Christine…"

When he didn't answer, I turned around and began walking back towards Nadir's caravan, believing that I had been stood up. That's when I heard a familiar voice calling for me. I immediately stopped and turned to spot Erik hurrying to my side. He was dressed in black trousers and a matching overcoat. He looked so handsome…

"Christine, forgive me… I was setting up for tonight's performance and I also had a surprise for you."

"There is no reason for you to apologize," I began. "I know that you're a busy man."

I was just turning to head back to Erik's caravan, when he tugged on my arm.

"We won't be having dinner in my caravan tonight, Christine. I have something else planned."

Trusting the man, I followed him deep into the woods. Erik's eyes lit up like a cat's, for he was walking and leading me along without tripping over a single branch. I was frightened of the dark, and stayed close to the man, wondering where he was taking me. Though, soon the woods opened up and we came face to face with a beautiful moonlit stream. But that wasn't all… No, Erik had set up a picnic blanket and had dinner waiting for us.

"I hope it's not too much," he added. "I thought that a dinner by moon light would have been better than a dinner in my dark and dismal caravan."

It certainly was beautiful, for never had anyone done anything so nice before, not even Raoul. Raoul's idea of a romantic evening was taking me to the local pub to meet up with a few of his friends.

"No, not at all," I said, taking a seat on the blanket. Erik watched me for a few moments before sitting down beside me. From there, he opened his basket and pulled out a bottle of wine and a few sandwiches.

"I've kept this bottle of wine for a few years now. We don't have access often to alcohol and I'm not a heavy drinker to begin with."

"Neither am I."

"Good," Erik said, pouring me a glass. "We can both drink for pleasure then."

I took a sip of the sour tasting drink and watched as Erik struggled to drink his. His mask was always in the way, even now. Every time he lifted his glass to his lips, the edge of his mask would block his way.

"Erik, if you need to take off your mask in order to drink your wine, you can do it."

Erik shook his head. "Christine, I…I never had dinner with a woman before and if I removed my mask and frightened you, I would never forgive myself."

"It wouldn't frighten me," I assured. "I have seen your face, and yes, it frightened me at first, but I think we're past that."

It took Erik a few moments, but soon after, his shaking hands lifted the mask. I looked at him and tried to smile, hoping to give him the confidence he needed to keep it off.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" he sighed. "Even you can't bear to look at it."

"That's not true…" I assured. "I'm still here aren't I?"

"I feel ashamed, ashamed that I can't bear to sit here and be as handsome as any other man. You don't deserve it, Christine."

"Don't be ashamed of yourself, Erik. You can't help it, and I'm still sitting here. You asked me out on a date, and here I am. Don't ruin it by worrying about your face."

I was glad Erik stopped complaining about his face and continued with dinner. We ate our sandwiches in silence and then, Erik surprised me by pulling a few pastries out of the basket.

"I do hope you like these," he said. "I went into town this afternoon to purchase them. I…I didn't get treated kindly at the bakery."

"The world is a cruel place," I said. "The world doesn't have a right to treat someone so poorly because of their appearance. I'm sorry, Erik."

"Sorry about what? Sorry that I was ridiculed by the pastry chef or sorry that you treated me terribly in the past? Which is it? And please, choose wisely."

For the first time in my life I was seeing things through Erik's eyes. In the past I had treated Erik terribly, in the past I had said things to him that I would never be able to take back. I never thought twice about the things I had done to him…but now I was seeing Erik for what he was… I was seeing Erik for the man that was on the inside.

"I do hope we can start over, Erik. I know what I did to you in the past was wrong… Will you forgive me? Can you forgive me?"

Erik thought long and hard before answering. I knew what I had done cut him deep to the core. I knew there would always be scars, scars that would probably never properly heal.

"In time I may be able to forgive you, Christine, but I know that I will never be able to trust you like I once had in the past."

"And I'm willing to work at gaining your trust. You have left me unshackled for a while now and I have yet to run. I think that says a lot, don't you?"

"It only proves that you have no place else to go. It doesn't prove to me that you won't ever leave this place, for I know once you see a handsome face again, you will flee into his arms and leave me forever."

I couldn't believe that Erik thought I would do something like that. Yes, I had done so once, but that was different for I had known Raoul ever since I was a child.

"Raoul was different, Erik. I knew Raoul as a child…"

"And who's to say that another one of your childhood sweethearts won't come strolling into the camp one day? What then?"

"I never had another childhood sweetheart, Erik. There was only Raoul…"

"And what about the patrons and my employees? They will tickle your fancy sooner or later. I have a strong man named Mr. Squelch… I'm sure you will fall in love with him. Or what about my juggler? He's a very handsome man."

"How am I to ever gain your trust if you automatically believe that I will fall for any handsome face? I've come to learn that looks are not everything, Erik. I can look beyond a face and see the heart that someone bears."

Erik lashed out at me and I fell back against the blanket. The man was leaning over me now, his deformity looking me straight in the eyes. It wasn't pretty, I was certain of that. I closed my eyes in an attempt to get away from it, but the man forced me to look at him.

"You say that you can look past someone's appearance, and yet, you close your eyes when a monster looks at you. I know you will never be able to look at me, Christine."

Erik's shaking hand placed itself on my thigh, his icy touch sending shivers through my spine. Though, the touch must have burned him, for he quickly moved his hand away from me.

"I…I was saving myself," he quivered. "Saving myself for a woman who could love me. That was my dream in life… to find someone to share my life with. When I met you as a child, I went on believing that it would be you. Even when you reached the proper age, I still believed that there would be some hope in you loving me. When you married the Fop, I lost all hope. I waited five years after that, five whole years, Christine… I got desperate and drowned out my sorrows in a brothel. It disgusted me… Nothing felt real, not even the sex I paid for."

I was frightened, frightened over what Erik was going to do to me. I was ready to fight him off if I needed to, for my eyes were currently looking at the knife that was lying beside the basket. It I had to reach for it and stab my angel of music, I would…I only hoped it wouldn't come down to that.

"I could take you by force if I wanted to, Christine… No one would hear you scream, for we're the only ones out here."

His icy hand touched my thigh once more, my hand slowly reaching for the knife.

"But I can't… For nothing would mean anything if you didn't love me."

My angel rolled off me and pulled his knees into his chest.

"Go now, Christine… Run off if you want and leave me. I'm disgusting… No one, not even you would want to have a dinner date with the likes of me."

I sat up and watched the man rock back and forth like a child. Yes, I wanted to run, but I wouldn't, for doing so was no way to earn my angel's trust. I knew if I wanted to be friends with my angel again I was going to have to work harder than I did before. Erik had a lot of problems, problems that he was never helped with. I knew I could gain his trust by working with him through these problems. In the past I had run from them, but I couldn't, not anymore. The man needed me now more than ever and I was going to make sure that I stuck around to help him this time around.

"Dinner was delicious," I began. "I know you had other things planned for tonight. It's such a beautiful night, why stop our date now?"

And then, the man's eyes lit up as if he never expected to hear such words coming from my mouth.

"I…I did have more planned," he mewed.

I stood and reached out my hand to help Erik up.

"Well then, let us continue…"