Erik awoke to an unfamiliar weight on his arm. Turning his head, he saw Ella beside him. She whimpered softly in her sleep, so he brushed the back of his hand across her cheek. "Erik!" she suddenly screamed. He shook her shoulder gently to wake her up. Slowly her eyes fluttered open and she threw her arms tightly around him. "Erik! Oh Erik!"

"I'm here mon Ange," Erik replied, returning her embrace. "I'm right here."

"Oh God it was awful!" she cried. He could feel her heart hammering in her chest, and her body was trembling. "Erik I was so scared!"

"It was just a dream, a nightmare," Erik cooed, trying to comfort her. "Whatever you saw can't hurt you now." She seemed utterly panicked and terrified. Whatever she had been dreaming, it was clearly upsetting her. "What happened?" he asked.

"You and Archer…you were fighting over me. He stabbed you with his sword when you tried to stop him!" Ella sobbed. "It was all my fault! He snuck up on me and tried to take me back. You were just trying to protect me!"

Erik leaned in and kissed her tear stained cheeks. "You were only dreaming."

She curled up in a ball in his arms, her head resting on his chest. "You must think I'm silly for acting like this, getting so worked up about a dream."

"Trust me," he said softly. "I've my share of nightmares as well. I'm in no position to judge you in the slightest. But you're here with me and I won't let anything happen to you."

Ella nodded and wiped her eyes. "But I'm scared of what Archer is going to try to do next. I know I shouldn't worry, I know you'll protect me, but I don't want him to hurt you."

"He won't Cheri," Erik promised her. "I'm not going to give him the opportunity."

After a while, he was able to get her to calm down somewhat. "So what happens now?" she whispered.

"Well that depends on you," Erik answered. "I believe rehearsals were meant to start back up now that you've returned, but if you're not up for it I can arrange for it to be postponed until tomorrow, or whenever you're ready."

"No," Ella said, shaking her head. "I can handle it. I want my life to get back to normal or as close as I can get. I want to go to rehearsals, I want to get on stage and start performing again. After all, we don't want all our hard work to go to waste."

"If you say so," Erik answered. "Just say the word and I can change the managers' mind."

"I promise you I can handle it."

Erik pressed his lips to her temple. "Then we better get you upstairs soon before someone realizes you're missing."

"Ella, where did you go last night?" Meg demanded. "You were gone when I woke up, and you had me really worried. Luckily I remembered to check here in your dressing room before I went to my mother. I was scared Archer had taken you again."

"No I'm fine. I just came here for some privacy and some time alone," Ella replied dismissively as she ran her brush through her curls. "I didn't mean to worry you, I'm sorry."

"And?" Meg said with a knowing smile.

"And what?" Ella asked.

"That's all you did? All night? Just spent the whole night in here, by yourself, doing absolutely nothing?" her friend pressed. "It seems highly unlikely."

"Alright, alright maybe Erik was here," Ella admitted.

Meg put her hands on her hips. "And?"

"Don't worry; he was very proper the entire time. He's quite the gentleman."

"Well if you say so…"

"After everything yesterday, do you really think I'd do that?" Ella demanded. "I thought you'd think me more decent than that!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Meg said quickly. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, I promise! It's just that he's done some not very nice things in the past, so gentleman doesn't generally come to mind as the first word to describe him."

"Don't we have rehearsal to get to?" Ella asked, switching subjects.

"Yes although I'm surprised you're going. I would have thought after all the excitement you've been put through Erik would have demanded that you take another day off to recover. You only got back yesterday."

"He tried," she confessed. "But I want things to get back to normal, which means spending every day in rehearsals and performing, singing, and dancing. Maybe if I can do that, this nightmare will just be done and over with."

"Well then come on," Meg said taking Ella's hand. "If we want things to be normal, then we better not be late. Because normally my mother would throw a fit, and we don't want that."

Erik paced back and forth, high in the rafters overlooking the theater. Rehearsals seemed to be progressing normally, but he was keeping a close eye on everything. He could see Dubois with the managers, watching the rehearsal as well. The patron seemed jumpy, his eyes scanning the area above the stage, searching for the Phantom he'd never be able to find.

Ella's voice echoed up to him. Immediately he stopped, looking down with concern. Her voice was strained of course, as she was demanding so much after nearly a week without singing a single note. But besides that, just something wasn't right. The emotion, the passion in her voice was amiss. It wasn't gone completely, just off. As far as he could tell, it was simply from fear and stress, but it still troubled him. Despite Ella's pleading to come back to rehearsal, Erik wasn't sure she was ready. At the very least, they needed to resume lessons until her confidence was back.

He glared at Dubois, even though the boy couldn't see him. Erik was trying to hide it from Ella when they were together, but now that he was alone his fingers itched to have his lasso in his grasp. It was driving him mad that he couldn't kill Archer. There were so many times he could have, but didn't because of Ella. But he would get that boy out of his opera house even if it was the last thing he did. With a swish of his cape, Erik resumed his pacing. Let the games begin.