Hello once again! Here is the next chapter, and it seems Brielle and Erik are finally beginning to be pleasant to one another. Hurray! Don't have much else to add at the moment. Review and tell me how you all like it!
Disclaimer: Don't own phantom characters. Poo! But I do own the others.
Chapter 12: Learning to be Friendly
Late the next evening Brielle sat hunched over her writing desk, furiously scribbling upon a nearly full sheet of paper. Piles of haphazardly stacked texts surrounded her upon both the desk and the floor. Lamplight lit her face with a soft yellow glow, glinting off the reading glasses which sat perched upon her nose. The fiery spark in her eyes, along with the white lab coat she had on, created the disturbing picture of a mad scientist busy at work.
Pausing in her writing, Brielle turned her attention to an open medical text; using her finger, she consulted several lines before taking up her pen once more. Tapping the writing instrument against her bottom lip in concentration, she collected her thoughts before setting pen to paper.
"I can't believe the board rejected my proposal once again. Damned biased morons. If they would only read my work they would know what they are missing. But nooo, once they see Mrs. Donovan wrote it they set my papers aside. Gah! I am sick to death of men and their stupidity," she mumbled to herself as she began to write once more.
"Do you often talk to yourself or is this a special occasion?"
Brielle nearly jumped out of her skin when a deep masculine voice cut through the silence of the late hour. Turning quickly, she sighed in relief when her eyes landed upon Erik and not a burglar. He stood casually, one shoulder leaning against the door jam, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, a rakish smirk plastered across his sinfully full lips.
"You scared the breath right out of me!" she gasped, placing a hand over her fluttering heart. His unkempt appearance did nothing to sooth her nerves.
"That was not my intention," he began snappishly, but at her pointed glare Erik cleared his throat and started over again. "What I meant to say was that I didn't know anyone was still awake."
"Oh, it is alright," she said, waving a dismissive hand in his direction. "You move like a cat is all, I didn't hear a thing."
"I don't like to make a lot of noise. And I didn't want to disturb anyone," he said simply with a shrug, staring intently at Brielle's glasses.
Noticing his stare, she quickly reached up and snatched the spectacles from her nose. Once again feeling self conscious under his gaze. "Is that why you waited until 11:00 at night to go for a stroll?" Brielle asked.
"I am a night person and I felt like stretching my legs," he began defensively before relaxing when Brielle rolled her eyes at him.
Squinting in the lamplight Erik took a step forward, trying to see over Brielle's shoulder. "But what are you doing up so late?"
"Ohhh, nothing much," she said quickly, leaning an elbow over the papers upon the desk to block them from view. She had not known Erik for very long but she did not peg him as being a tolerant man. In fact, he seemed to be fairly intolerant and so she did not think it wise to give him extra information with which he could barb her.
"You are lying. There wouldn't be any reason for all those books unless you were doing something with them." He bent his head to the side, reading a title as he slowly walked further into the library. "Anatomy of the Circulatory System? A little heavy for some bed time reading."
"How very astute of you Erik," she stated with annoyance. "However, I don't see how it is any of your business what I do with my time." Turning her back upon, him she began to tidy up the disaster which was her desk.
Erik made a grunting sound deep in his throat, his arms crossing over his chest once again. "Now, now what unfriendly behavior. Was it not you who proposed we act civilly towards each other?"
"Of course, but it seems we are both finding it a difficult task. You simply know just how to irritate me."
"A talent I will try to suppress. And do not change the subject. I believe I inquired about what you were working on."
Marking a page in one of her books, Brielle slowly closed the well used pages. She turned in her chair to glance back towards Erik, only to find him standing directly behind her. His close proximity was unsettling.
"Are you trying to say that you would find the work of a woman of interest to you?"
"Feh, no. I find your work of interest," Erik said with a snort as he turned and slowly dragged a chair close to her desk. Every motion he made was sluggish, but his natural grace veiled the weakness which still lingered from the fever.
"I don't know if you realize this but you are most unusual," he said, taking his seat next to her, his crystalline eyes pointedly staring at the white lab coat she was wearing over her simple green dress.
Brielle didn't know if she should be insulted or flattered by his ambiguous words. "Oh? Unusual am I? And how have you come to this conclusion?"
Only now did the arrogant smirk falter upon his face. "Well, since you left me with nothing to do this past week…" The dark glare freezing her features gave him pause.
"And rightly so I might add," he said clearing his throat. "Anyway I have been observing you and your habits to pass the time. I am a very keen observer, though it wouldn't take a genius to discover you are different from most people."
To distract herself from the intensity of his eyes Brielle looked down at her desk, absently tugging upon her snow white braid. "No, no it wouldn't take a genius to see I am different," she said quietly, hearing many of the unspoken meanings within his words.
The sudden melancholy in her voice bewildered him; he responded by instinctively gentling his voice.
"It was you who dragged me from the Opera," he murmured, his voice soft as a caress in the silence of the lamp lit room. "I cannot remember exactly what happened, only that there was so much smoke I couldn't breathe…"
"I also know you cared for me over the week I was taken with fever. I thought it a dream at the time, but I remember your voice speaking to me late into the night. Sometimes you would sing, I believe, a lullaby of some sort. You held me down when I thrashed with nightmares. You sang even after I struck you, didn't you?" He stopped then, his eyes upon the fading bruise about her right eye.
Without thinking he reached out and with the barest tips of his fingers traced over the discolored skin, his eyes intent upon hers. Once again a spark of electricity tingled in the air between them at his touch. Brielle could feel the warmth of his fingers upon her face even after he pulled his hand away. Somehow, in that split second, she felt as if she had known Erik all her life, as if his touch were the most natural sensation in the world.
Brielle brutally pushed such fanciful thoughts aside.
Sitting back in his chair, he shrugged his shoulders. "No ordinary woman would do such things. So I would find it of interest as to what you have been spending so much time on."
She stared at him in disbelief for a few moments as he smirked back at her. "Will you promise not to laugh if I tell you?" she asked uncertainly. No man, besides her brother, had ever shown any interest in her ideas before, not even her late husband. Most found it difficult to see past her face.
"Oh for God's sake just tell me," he snapped with impatience.
"Don't you take that tone with me," Brielle retorted as she moved the papers she had been working on to the corner of the desk so he could have a better view.
"This is my latest idea, which I have been working on for about a month now. So far my proposal has been rejected by the hospital board members but I know that I am correct in my findings." She sorted through several of her papers before finding the one she was looking for.
Holding up a hand drawn diagram of a heart, she began her explanation. "Current medical doctrine states that death occurs when the heart stops beating. However, I have come to believe that the brain can live on for several minutes after the heart stops. If a doctor were able to restart the heart, death could be prevented in some cases of serious injury or illness."
"Are you trying to say you can bring people back to life?" Erik cut in incredulously.
"Oh absolutely not. Just that those we think are dead really may not be and can be saved. It is not one hundred percent accurate, if a person is meant to die they will. But I know many cases which are given up on can be revived using the techniques I have developed."
When Erik remained silent, Brielle continued with her lecture. "One method I proposed involves directing an electrical pulse into the heart in order to shock it back into motion." She sighed and shook her head. "I was told that method was a desecration of the dead. So then I proposed that a doctor could continue to pump blood through the body by pressing upon the chest until the heart begins to beat again. But they did not approve of that idea either."
Erik was silent as he ruffled through some of the papers she handed him. Detailed diagrams outlining her procedures and supporting research were neatly arranged upon the pages she had written. He was surprised to find how much sense her research seemed to make.
"Why have they rejected so many of your findings?" he suddenly asked, looking up at her inquisitively.
"Why do you think? A woman proposing new medical procedures to doctors is not received very well. So they ignore me."
"What a shame. This is all fascinating, genius even from what I can tell given my knowledge of medicine."
A slow glowing smile crept across Brielle's features. "Thank you. That is the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"Don't take it too much to heart. I was only stating the truth," he grunted, growing uncomfortable with the warm expression upon her face.
"Still, it was a nice thing to say," she said, taking her papers from him and stacking them neatly upon her desk. "You can be quite charming when you want to be. I like you better this way."
An unfriendly glare flitted over his face before being deliberately smoothed out. "I suppose I should take that as a compliment."
"Of course, I meant it to be one." Brielle said sweetly as she pushed her chair back with a squeak and stood.
"One thing I must say about our newfound truce is that the house is much quieter because of it. No more screaming."
"Yes, it is more peaceful now. And I do appreciate your efforts to remain pleasant. I know how hard it must be for you," she said whilst suppressing the laugh rising in her throat.
It took him several seconds to realize she was teasing him. When he did, a slight smile broke through the characteristic frown, lighting his eyes and causing handsome wrinkles to break out about the corners of his arrogant mouth.
"Harder than you would think considering the temperament of my current company," he said, purposefully trying to make her smile more. Erik had noticed how dangerously pretty she was when she smiled.
The laugh she had been hiding burst forth and rang merrily about the room before she covered her mouth to muffle the sound. "Ah, so you do have a sense of humor. That is good to know. The Irish always love telling a good joke."
"And the French always enjoy laughing at others."
She shook her head, still giggling. "Stop it, don't make me laugh anymore. I will wake Aria."
"Then I suggest we part ways," he said, slowly getting to his feet, fatigue beginning to show around his eyes. Erik bowed slightly in Brielle's direction before breezing regally towards the library door.
"Wait…" At her request he paused in the door way, his body melting into the blackness of the hall beyond, the whiteness of his mask standing out in stark relief against the shadows. "Will you come to dinner tomorrow? I mean, at the table rather than in your room."
Suddenly realizing how horribly forward that sounded, Brielle folded her hands nervously before her. "It is just that I imagine it would be more comfortable. And you are a guest in this house which makes me feel wretched since I have not asked you sooner. You don't have to come of course. It was only a suggestion since we have learned to stop irritating each other as much. If you would prefer I will simply continue to bring your food to…"
He sighed dramatically. "How long will it take you to just ask the question? If you would like I could go away for an hour and then come back when you are ready."
Brielle glared at him as he lightly mocked her uncertainty. "Fine. Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow?"
"It would be my pleasure," Erik said simply before fading into the shadows of the sleeping house beyond the lit library.
"Good night, Erik," she called quietly after him.
After a pause, his voice hesitantly replied. "Good night, Brielle."