hi!how was everybodys weekend?mine was filled with a bbq, some shopping anf forced family fun so all in all a fine weekend!this chapter wont be as exciting as the last ones, its mostly some background, and loose ends to tie ya like it anyway though!thanks so much to all that have reviewed it really means alot!

Chapter 12

Antoinette Giry sat up in her bed, waiting for her daughter, Meg to bring her something to eat. She had been bed ridden for some months now and she hated every minute of it. Things were starting to turn around though, she could feel her legs getting stronger. She smiled knowing that only a few more weeks and she would be walking again.

"Mother, I have some nice porridge for you!" said Meg as she walked into the room.

Meg was always smiling, trying to brighten up her mother.

"Thank you, my dear. Did the morning paper arrive?"

"Not yet."

Meg then proceeded to place a tray with a bowl of porridge on it next to her mother's bed.

Anntionette's brow furrowed, "I can still feed myself, Meg."

Meg laughed, "I know I just forgot the sugar. I'll be right back."

Meg left the room, as she was out, there was a knock on their front door. Antoinette heard Meg go to the door and open it.
Then she heard the sugar bowl crash to the floor.

"Meg? What's wrong?" She tried to crane her neck to see out her room, as she did Meg walked, her face white.

"Meg! What's the matter! You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Close, Ann, very close." said a male voice behind Meg.

The man walked into the light and Antoinette gasped. Erik stood next to Meg in the doorway.

"I seemed to have scared Little Meg here. You never told her I was still alive?"

Erik sounded slightly hurt by this.

Antoinette looked at Meg and said, "Please wait in the kitchen."

Meg barely nodded, and then she ran out the door closing it behind her. Erik looked at Antoinette still waiting for an answer, but she was too shocked to respond. She hadn't seen him for over a year, and he looked much better then how she last left him. He stood tall, and there was something new in his eyes, something different.

She shook her head, "After that night at the opera house, I thought it would be best to tell no one you were still alive."

Erik nodded, "How have you been, Ann?"

"Better, but still not able to walk."

"I miss the times when you would come and see me."

"I miss them too, Erik."

They both looked at each other remembering better days. Then Antoinette remembered the last day she had seen Erik.

"Christine! Christine!" yelled Erik as Antoinette walked into his lair.

She sighed, thinking it's going to be one of those days. She walked to his bedroom, for the yelling had come from there. As she looked through the doorway she saw Erik throw a liquor bottle against the far wall, shattering instantly.

"Erik! What are you doing!"

She noticed other bottles strew about the room, all empty.

"How much have you drank today?"

"One, two, a thousand bottles! What is the difference? It's the only thing that gets me through the day!"

"You can't keep doing this Erik! You will kill yourself!"

"I welcome death!"

She walked right up to him and slapped him as hard as she could across the face. He stood, stunned, as tears started to come to his eyes.

"Erik." she sighed, then losing her strength collapsed into his arms.

"Ann? Ann are you all right?" he asked forgetting his own pain for the moment. Antoinette stood up a moment then sat down next to him on his bed.

"Yes, I am fine, it's just that I am a little tired is all."

Erik could tell she was lying.

"Nothing is fine, I have been getting weaker, and weaker as the days go by. I have no idea what's wrong!" she said, near tears, then in barely a whisper she said, "It's getting harder for me to come down here."

Erik looked at her, suddenly crying.

"No! Don't you leave me too!"

He got up and started throwing things around his room.

She started tearing up, "Erik please! My strength is spent by the time I get down here! I can't keep coming, I fear for my health! You know I am not doing this to you on purpose!"

Erik wasn't listening, he just kept throwing things.

"First Christine, the woman I love! Now you Antoinette? You're my only friend in this world!"

He stopped throwing things and just stood there, his face in his hands. She got up and walked over to him, and gave him a supportive hug.

"Erik, I am your friend. You know I would not leave you unless I knew I should. Especially not with the state you're in now."

Erik nodded into her shoulder.

"I will miss you."

"I will miss you too, Erik."

Antoinette sat looking at Erik, trying to find a way to ask if he still drank himself blind each day.

"Erik, I must ask you this," she said, "Are you still drinking?"

"Not since that day."

She let out a small sigh of relief. Then she noticed his eyes. They looked, brighter, fuller of life then the last time she saw him.

"Erik?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you stop?"

"After you left that day, and I knew you wouldn't be back for a long time, I stopped. So that way the next time I saw you I would be better."

Antoinette smiled.

"Why have you come to see me now? Its early morning, isn't it risky for you to be out?"

He shuffled his feet, "I was out already, and I thought I should check on you. I've been worried."

He was hiding something, she could tell. She noticed how happy he looked. His face seemed warm not cold like it used to be.

"Something new has happened to you. I can tell. What has happened?"

She waited for him to speak but he didn't. He just looked out the window into the morning sun.

"Well?" she prodded.

"I am giving lessons again."

She shot him a disapproving look.

"Don't look at me like that!"

"Erik, this isn't a good idea."

"How do you know! You know nothing about it!" he yelled.

She sighed, "What if this new student told someone about you?"

"She wouldn't, I trust her."

The way he said that made Antoinette worried. He had a caring sound to his voice, and his eyes shone when he said that he trusted her.

"A girl? How long have these lessons been going?"

"Not long."

"How is she?"

"Bad, but with my help she will be great." he said this with pride in his voice.

She just shook her head and said, "I don't like were this is going. But if you think this girl is worth the risk, and she makes you happy, well I suppose that I am happy for you."

He smiled, "I am glad to hear it. Now I really must be going. Glad to hear you are doing better, and tell Meg I am sorry for frightening her."

He then turned and walked out of the room. She knew he would not be back, and she wished him the best. She heard him go out the front door, and the instant he was gone Meg came running into the room.

"Mother is everything all right? Was that really him?"

Antoinette looked at her, with a sad smile, and said, "Sit down Meg, I am going to tell you about all those days, before I was sick, when I wasn't home."