My apologies for the long wait. This chapter is a bit on the short side, unfortunately. Enjoy!

"Christine?"

Christine was staring at her hands, currently clenched into fists around the small piece of paper. The original sheet had been ripped into small pieces after departing from Mme Giry's, around an hour previously. Now, all that was left was a small scrap with the name of Erik's residence. The smaller the paper was, the easier it would be to hide it from Raoul.

Whom of which, was now repeating her name in an agitated tone.

"CHRISTINE!" he yelled, making her jump as she swiveled around to face him. Her husband was sitting on the chaise, sitting upright with his elbows resting on his knees. His blue eyes bore intently into hers, brow furrowed. "Are you okay? You've been staring at your lap for the past thirty minutes."

Her nose wrinkled, and her retort came out before she was able to stop herself. "No, Raoul, I am most decidedly not okay. Our son is missing, and we don't know where he is, whether or not he's safe," of course, she knew where Gustave was, but it would be difficult to simply disclose that select bit of information to Raoul. Christine couldn't just straight up tell her husband; 'our son is with his actual father, who is, in addition, your old rival who nearly killed you and forced me to marry him ten years ago. Cheers!'

"On top of that," she said instead, "I'm helpless and cannot do anything in the meantime. Is that answer enough for you?"

Immediately, though, she felt guilty. Gustave was gone, and arguing with Raoul wouldn't do anything to help. They needed to help each other as much as possible, even if she felt a tad bit reluctant to team up with him.

Raoul must have sensed something of the sort, shifting over to where she sat and pulling her into a tight hug. She sat stiffly in his embrace for a moment, before relaxing. "I'm sorry," he murmured into her hair as she wrapped her own arms around his neck, closing her eyes. "That was terribly insensitive of me- I know how much you miss him. We'll find him, y'know?"

Christine didn't reply for a few moments, exhaling. Life, specifically hers, was tumultuous, and she enjoyed taking a moment to simply revel in the simple human contact. While she was still angry over his seeming lack of care what happened to their son, it was important to keep a clear head in all of this.

"I know," she murmured. "Everything has just been...so wild lately. First with arriving in America in the first place, and then Gustave's disappearance. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you." Raoul hummed in a manner that made her assume that he agreed with her former statement. She couldn't really tell, not with his voice being partially muffled.

"I'll tell you what," he pulled back a little bit, and she momentarily missed the warmth his body had provided. "How about we set out on our own and conduct a small search for him? To ease your mind."

Despite the fact she had been out and about for nearly the entire morning only an hour previously, she found herself nodding to his request. "Alright," she said. "I suppose we could give it a try." The corner of her lip twitched in the ghost of a smile.

"That's the spirit!" he replied. "And who knows, we might even find him."

Her smile disappeared, yet he was left none the wiser as they headed out a little later.

It was most definitely warmer out now, later in the day. The sun was out, yet clouds were also visible, hinting at a possible storm in the evening. The wind was soft, lightly tussling her hair as she strode along at a brisk pace, a little bit ahead of Raoul. It was muggy, as well. A few extra wisps of her curls stuck to her neck, but she was too determined in her task to rub them away. "Christine," he huffed, out of breath. "Could you possibly slow down?"

She paused, sighing. Christine wanted nothing more than to send Raoul back home and get Gustave for herself, but she supposed that her voyage could wait at least until the night when no one could see.

Yes, she thought as she waited for Raoul to catch up. That's precisely what I'll do.

Once it was dark, around midnight, she would get ready and find Gustave herself. She could claim that she found him wandering, lost and alone in some dark part of New York. 'Mother's intuition,' she would say. Considering they had kept his disappearance on the down-low, it wouldn't be terribly difficult.

Christine was shaken from her thoughts by Raoul's hand clasping around hers. His blue eyes looked at her with earnest. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," she shook her head. "Just about Gustave. You know that."

They kept on walking, her hand clasped around his own reluctantly.

XXxxXX

Nadir rubbed his face, sighing. He still felt a tad bit taken aback by his first encounter with Erik. Gustave was missing from his mother's side, most likely forcefully, from the look of it. The Persian was rounding the corner when he spotted two figures striding forward, a man and a woman. Instantly recognizing them as the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Chagny, he took a few rapid steps in the opposite direction.

After making sure either had not spotted him, he glanced back at the couple. Christine seemed restless, glancing side to side in a skittish manner. Raoul, on the other hand, looked rather comfortable with his elbow squared with hers. Chin tilted upwards, eyes glinting a soft aquamarine in the sunlight, he looked at ease. Odd, Nadir thought, for a man whose son was missing.

He frowned. That wasn't entirely true. The moment the Persian had sat down across from Gustave and Erik the day before, he had nearly well been knocked off his feet (or seat) with the realization. It was painfully clear that Erik was the true father of Gustave, from the young boy's eyes to the way he leaned back in his chair, to the way he spoke or laughed…

The biggest question was, did Erik know? His masked friend, since the term was used loosely, hadn't given any hint as to whether or not he was aware, but there was a lot to the man than what lay on the surface. Erik was a complicated puzzle, one that Nadir had spent the past few decades struggling to solve, to no avail.

He tidied his hat, blinking away his thoughts to spot the pair again. Much to his disdain, the two had moved on down the street, lost from his view. Nadir sighed, shaking his head. Nadir had half a mind to make his way back to Erik's home, grab the boy and return him to his mother. Getting inside his flat wouldn't be the biggest issue, though. Erik had mailed him a key to his home a month or so after settling himself down in his current residence, under the pretense of 'just in case.'

'Just in case' could have been interpreted in a thousand ways. 'Just in case' he got hurt? 'Just in case' he did something irreversible and needed a stable head to think for him, and clean up his mess? The moment that Nadir had heard the infamous Mr. Y from Coney Island had invited Christine to America, he had grasped ahold of the key, going with the latter. However, Nadir had a better chance of getting struck by lightning than getting out of his flat alive with the boy. Erik, he knew, would sooner kill him then let him take Gustave.

"Until this entire dilemma is fixed," he grimaced beneath his breath, "I will simply have to stick around."

What did you think of Christine's plotting? Her character is unusually difficult for me to write.

Nadir's explanation and plans?

Tell me your thoughts! Reviews boost my motivation.