Gaia cried the day her husband made baby Adrian his first mask. She had not been able to bring herself to do it, but she understood the necessity; she may have loved the boy in spite of his face, but the world outside the vineyard would not. Erik was going to begin working on turning the decrepit winery into a functioning bed and breakfast, which meant Gaia would have to go start going to the markets in Modena on her own. She couldn't possibly leave the boy behind even if she wanted to, not while he was so young. In order to take the baby out though, he needed to be masked whether Gaia liked the idea or not.
At a year old, Adrian was making truly stunning progress; he had been walking for four months, and speaking for two months. Erik had somehow even managed to teach the boy to read; words his little mouth wasn't yet developed enough to form he could gesture when he saw them on paper. He would often stand next to his father on the piano bench, watching Erik's fingers caress the keys. Gaia would stand in the doorframe for minutes watching them before either even realized she was there.
There was one thing that concerned Gaia about the boy… around her, he was a perfectly normal, healthy baby boy. They had bonded immediately, and would spend hours laughing and singing, smiling and playing together. But with Erik… with Erik the boy was different. Eerily adult for a child so incredibly young. The boy had grown quickly from his tiny newborn frame into the frame of a normal sized child, and then some Gaia was sure. This didn't surprise her much; she had developed at a young age, and was always one of the tallest girls in her class, and Erik was certainly one of the tallest men Gaia had ever met. But was physically developing young supposed to come with such seriousness?
Erik didn't help matters. Gaia knew Erik loved his son, but there was a strange sort of tension between them this past year. It was almost as if Erik was jealous of the attention Gaia paid to Adrian. She wasn't sure why her husband would feel this way; her sisters had warned her that husbands sometimes get jealous, but Gaia loved her husband more than her sisters loved theirs she knew, and she made a point to spend just as much time alone with Erik as she did with Adrian. Almost as soon as she had recovered from her pregnancy they had resumed their eager lovemaking.
Gaia couldn't have known the nature of Erik's jealousy, and if Erik had his way she would never know. Watching them laugh and play should not have upset him as much as it did, and he knew this. Whenever Gaia caught her husband watching them play, she would invite him to join them and Erik would politely decline to work on some project or another; the last thing Erik wanted was to develop some bizarre oedipal complex regarding his wife. Erik made very sure to let mother and son have all the time they needed; as jealous as he was of the rich childhood Adrian was experiencing, Erik loved the boy too much to begrudge him a proper mother. It was strange how much Adrian seemed to sense his father's unease, and how uniquely he responded to it. Around Gaia he was a perfectly normal little boy, but it seemed to Erik as if he was doing his best to put his father at ease whenever they were alone by acting as unlike a little boy as possible. The child was curious and insightful almost to a fault, already having a massive vocabulary and a tendency to become transfixed on Erik as he played the piano or tinkered with some mechanical device or another.
In spite of distancing himself from his son, Erik did love the boy and was concerned about his first day in the city. "If you're so worried why don't you come with us?" Gaia suggested, walking outside after Erik.
"Because the barometer's dropping, and if I don't get the holes in the roof of the winery fix all the wood I laid out yesterday will rot when the storm hits," Erik explained, walking with his wife across the road to where the couple kept two horses in the large pasture beyond. The two beasts trotted over at the sight of the masked man eagerly; Gaia had always wondered how Erik managed to call them over without saying a word. Slipping into the stable, Erik put away the larger of the horses and saddled the smaller, tamer of the two. "Make sure you remember to pick up the book I ordered last month, it should be in by now,"
"I will, Husband," she promised, adjusting Adrian on her hip.
"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" On top of how people would react to her carrying a masked infant, Erik was concerned she might have trouble with the horse; the beast was used to traveling with her companion, and Erik was unsure of how reliable she might be alone.
"Well I don't really have a choice, do I?" Gaia pointed out. "Even if I could wait to get a new outfit for Adrian, we need food and more hay, and you need that wood order-"
"I know, I know. Just promise me you'll stay on the road?"
Gaia laughed some, gently. "It's the only way into Modena I know, why would I deviate?"
"Because I know you, and you're hard headed enough to go looking for a shortcut," Erik pointed out, and Gaia pouted.
"Not with Adrian," she promised. Just as she was getting ready to mount, hoping Erik had forgotten to make the boy a mask, Erik pulled something small and black from his coat. Gaia frowned deeply and kissed the top of her son's head, breathing in his sweet scent. A year old and already his childhood was about to come to a crashing halt.
"Adrian, it's very important that you not take this off," Erik told his son firmly, and the boy wrinkled his brow.
"What is it?" It never ceased to amaze Gaia how clear the boy's words were, even at a year old.
"It's a mask, like the one I'm wearing now."
The boy's brow furrowed in confusion; he had very rarely seen his father wear the mask, and while he realized his father and mother were different he never understood its purpose; in his little world, it was simply another way men were different than women.
"Erik do we really-"
"Yes," stated Erik firmly, causing Gaia to take a shaky breath and wipe at her eyes with a quiet nod.
"Why not Mama?" The boy asked from confusion, as Erik tied the little black mask around the boy's face, adjusting it so he could still see properly.
"Your mother doesn't need one to protect her, if you wear one," Erik told the boy. "Will you protect her for me while you to into town?"
The boy nodded eagerly, leaping at the chance to please his father. Absently he pulled at the mask before Erik guided his hand away, gently. "I know it feels strange, but you mustn't take it off. Promise me you won't fuss with it."
"Yes, Papa."
Erik could tell Adrian was still confused, and after a bit of hesitation decided to use the lie his mother had used on him so many years ago. "Did your mother ever tell you I was a magician?"
Adrian smiled broadly, new teeth showing brilliantly behind malformed lips. "Yes!"
"Well, I've put a spell on the mask, for protection. As long as you wear it, no harm can come to you or your mother. Do you understand, Adrian?" The boy nodded his understanding, and in a rare display of affection, Erik kissed the black mop of hair on the boy's head. "Very good," he praised before kissing his wife.
"Stay safe. I'll be worrying about you until you come home."
"You needn't worry, Erik. We'll be back in time to start dinner and even have some wine before bed," she smiled reassuringly.
True to her word, Gaia was back from Modena in three hours, just short of the length of their average trip. From the roof of the winery Erik spotted his little family returning, and came down to help Gaia with the horse. "You made good time," he praised, taking the reins and patting the horse's muzzle fondly.
"We kept the trip brief," Gaia told him curtly, dismounting and moving immediately inside with Adrian, not even bothering to wait for Erik to accompany them. It was clear something was very, very wrong. As soon as the mare was taken care of, Erik moved inside the house, taking his mask off and hanging it up with his coat. Gaia was in the kitchen standing over a pot with Adrian nowhere to be seen.
Erik moved behind his wife, frowning deeply when her shoulder shake with a sob. "Gaia, tell me what happened?"
Gaia turned away from the pot and moved into her husband's waiting arms, burying her face in his chest. She stayed there for a long moment, breathing him in before speaking. "They were so horrible, Erik. Just wretched. They called me a monster for putting a mask on him… I'm a horrible, horrible mother, Erik."
Erik hushed her, turning up her chin to kiss her soundly. "You are far from a horrible mother, My Love. You are by far the best mother I've seen. Where is Adrian?"
"I put him down for a nap before dinner. God, I hope he doesn't understand… why can't we have just a few more years? He's only a baby…"
"I'm sorry, Gaia. I shouldn't have sent you two out," he frowned, knowing in his heart Adrian probably suspected something was wrong. Erik had begun questioning his differences from society not much older than his son was now.
"Were the people in France so horrible to you and your mother?" Gaia asked quietly, holding her husband's lean, sturdy frame.
"…my mother never dared take me into the village. She barred my windows and locked the doors to make sure I wouldn't leave. I only ever saw the village at night, when I snuck out."
At this admission, Gaia buried her face deeper into her husband's chest. What a horrible thought, locking up a child inside the house as if it were a prison! This may have been the first time Gaia had taken Adrian into the city, but they had been outside before, enjoying horseback rides and walks in the shallow areas of the forest. Children needed the outdoors, especially little boys! Adrian adored watching the birds, playing with the cat that had taken up residence in the horse stable, inspecting bugs in the grass, he had been fascinated by the light snowfall they had gotten that winter which never stuck to the ground but somehow had caught the boy's attention nonetheless. To be kept locked up like a criminal as a small child was cruelty at its finest. "I'm sorry Erik, I didn't realize-"
"It's all right, Gaia," Erik promised quietly. "But that is how I know you are not a bad mother; your parenting skills far surpass those of the woman I was 'raised' by." Erik spoke the word 'raised' as if it were poison on his tongue. Gaia frowned but nodded, kissing her husband before turning to salt the water she had been boiling. Erik reached around her to grab her wrist, pulling her to face him once again with something of a smile on his face as he kissed her.
"Erik," Gaia complained half heartedly. "I have dinner to make…"
"I'm not all that hungry, are you?"
"Well, no actually…" she admitted. "But Adrian-"
"Doesn't eat what we do anyway," Erik pointed out. "And besides, he's napping. What do you say we have that wine you were tempting me with earlier, hm?"
Gaia smirked some against his vest. "I actually bought a new bottle while I was in town," she admitted. "I'll bet it's better than the crap we bottled a few years back."
"It really is crap, isn't it?" Erik admitted, causing Gaia to laugh. How he loved her laugh! It was a smooth and sweet as a fine harp, so much finer than any instrument known to man. "Well let's try the wine you bought and see if it's any better."
Gaia blew out the fire under the pot of water, having the feeling their glass of wine might turn into more than one and other activities besides before sauntering off into the parlor where she had left everything she bought but what she needed to cook with. Erik watched her move delightfully as she bent over, purposefully giving him full view down the top of her dress and a coy grin as she unfurled herself, holding up the deep red bottle and shaking it gently. As Erik approached her she stepped back with a smirk, and Erik's eyes gleamed with amusion.
"Come now my pet, don't make me come after you."
"You think you can catch me?"
"Don't I always?" He challenged, darting towards her suddenly, drawing a shriek of delight from the young woman as she bolted up the stairs with the bottle to their bedroom, all thoughts of the horrible day pushed out of her head for the time being.
Author's Note (with (kinda obvious) spoilers!): My regular readers may have noticed the happy ending to one of my stories and the unhappy ending to another... well my dear readers, I have to admit I'm at an impasse for this one. I was was not expecting to like this story as much as I do (specifically I wasn't expecting to like Gaia as much as I do). To spoil the probably pretty obvious surprise, my original outline has her dying from Tuberculosis (consumption), which was a horribly common disease in the mid 1800s during which this story takes place (and is sadly still one of the top causes of death in poverty stricken countries, and is one of the reasons I'm considering getting a PhD instead of an MD, but that's a different story). Anyway, in the light of my coming to like this story more than I initially expected to, I've decided to ask YOU, my beloved readers, if you would like to see a happy ending. Keep in mind a happy ending will wind up making this story more un-canon than it already is. Not that that bothers me much, but it's something to consider. I also have an idea for another fic I might do after this one involving a transplanted Russian Ballerina, who arrives at the Opera Garnier after it is converted from an opera to a ballet several years after the incident involving a certain Mademoiselle Daae (which actually happened by the way; the French have seemingly always preferred the ballet to opera). That particular story may even be a sequel to this one, where the entire Christine fiasco would have involved Erik's son working under his father's name (and thereby allowing me to write a much younger Phantom and avoiding the awkward age gap that makes post-Christine fanfiction so difficult). Haven't decided yet. At any rate, let me know what you think either by PMing me or by replying. Also, the site's traffic gauge is still messed up, so even though I've gotten a few reviews it's still showing 0s across the board, so reviews would help me out in that respect too!