Hello lovelies! I promise I haven't abandoned you! School has started up again for me again, and in addition to that, my work is extremely short-staffed. Like we're supposed to have forty to fifty people working per store, and my store has twenty-five and so I'm working six nights a week. But the story will continue! Bare with me until I can figure out how to balance everything out, okay? Great! And as a reward for your patience, here's a new chapter! Read and Review!

Katja stared at the Persian man before them, completely stunned. Just a few hours ago, she and Erik had been arguing about the best way to go to Nadir in Paris, yet here he was, standing on their doorstep. "Oh," she gasped. "Hello."

Nadir smiled warmly at her. "Hello Katja."

After she got over her surprise, Katja remembered her manners. "Come in Herr Kahn." She grabbed her husband's hand, led the two men into the parlor, and motioned to a chair. "Please sit down. You must be exhausted."

"Thank you," he replied as he sank into the chair.

Erik had yet to say a word. He seemed to be in shock. The only time she had seen him this speechless was when she told him about the baby. Finally he spoke. "What are you doing here Nadir?"

"I was due for a holiday," his friend answered nonchalantly. "And I thought I'd pay you a visit."

"You were due for a holiday?" Erik repeated in disbelief. "You were due for a holiday?! There's got to be more to the story than that!" Katja could tell that Erik didn't quite believe Nadir's whole story, but she knew it was just because his visit was so unexpected.

Her husband sat slowly on the couch, staring at his friend. Katja sat beside him, her feet curled beneath her. "How did you find us?" Erik demanded.

"It wasn't hard," Nadir retorted. "If you think you're hiding, you're very, very wrong. I bought your train tickets, remember? I bought one for myself to the same town, and then simply asked if anyone knew where I could find a French man who wore a mask. There were about a dozen people that directed me here."

"But we're not trying to hide," Katja explained to him. "Everyone knows we're here! I see my family all the time. Erik has a job even at the theater!"

Nadir's eyes widened. "Do you now Erik?"

Erik nodded. "I play the piano in the pit."

"Well, I must say I'm impressed," Nadir replied. "I didn't expect you to adjust so well, especially this quickly."

"Once I told them I had been at the Opera Populaire, they barely hesitated," Erik said proudly.

Katja's eyes grew wide. Erik hadn't mentioned this before. She could see her surprise mirrored on Nadir's face. "You told them about the Populaire?" she cried. "Erik, what were you thinking? Everyone knows that the Phantom wears a mask! If someone were to connect the dots, Erik you could be in very real danger!"

"There's nothing to be worried about love," Erik assured her. "They didn't hear about the Phantom all the way out here. No one is going know. We're safe out here."

"But Erik…"

"It'll be okay Katja." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I promise you nothing will happen."

She hugged her husband tightly. "It's just that with everything that's happened, and with everything that's going on right now, I don't want anything else to go wrong!"

"Nothing will go wrong. I swear."

"Speaking of everything that you two have been up to," Nadir interrupted. She beamed as Erik's arm wrapped around her waist. "I believe that congratulations are in order. And since you weren't going to return Erik, I thought I'd be a good friend and bring you the belongings you left behind. I brought your violin, the music you left behind, and of course, Cesar."

"You didn't have to do that," Erik replied. "We would've made do without. It had to be horribly expensive to get Cesar if you took the train. You would've had to pay for space for him in a boxcar and…"

His friend cut him off. "Consider it a wedding gift."

"Thank you," Katja said with a smile. She snuggled closer to her husband and rested her head on his shoulder, one hand lying lightly on her stomach. "I take it that you got Erik's letter?"

The Persian nodded. "Yes, although I knew it was only a matter of time. I would have been very surprised had Erik returned to Paris without you. It is easy for anyone to see that he is madly in love with you." Katja's smile grew even bigger at his comment.

Nadir's eyes fell upon her stomach and his brow furrowed. She didn't know if Erik had told him about the baby yet, but the Persian didn't say anything. Her stomach was starting to round a little bit, but unless you knew she was pregnant, it only looked like she had put on a few pounds.

Before she could announce the baby, Erik spoke. "So Nadir what have you been up to since we left?" Katja closed her eyes and listened to the lull of their voices as they talked, mostly about Nadir's horses. Not understanding most of what they were talking about, she began to drift off to sleep in Erik's strong embrace.

"Is she asleep now?" Nadir inquired softly.

Erik nodded. "I'll be back in a moment." He scooped up Katja and carried her into the bedroom.

Her eyes fluttered open for a moment. "Erik?" she asked sleepily.

He gently helped her undress and put on a nightgown. "Go back to sleep," he whispered then kissed her tenderly.

"Aren't you staying with me?"

"No," he replied with a shake of his head. "Nadir is still here. I'll be in in a little while, okay?" She nodded, before curling up into a ball and closing her eyes.

"What's really going on?" Erik demanded as he walked back into the parlor where Nadir still was. "You could have written and said you were coming before you just showed up. It's one thing when we were in the same city, but it's not like you to trek across Europe simply because you can."

"Alright," he sighed. "I went down to your lair when I got your letter to get your music and belongings that got left behind, and I was just going to ship them to you. But the place was torn apart. Someone had been down there Erik. Someone was looking for something down there. I saved what I could, but a lot of the music wasn't salvageable and a lot of things were smashed or broken."

"It must have been an animal or something," Erik replied dismissively. "There are really only two safe passages: through Christine's mirror and across the lake or through the fake wall in the stables that you use. Only you and I know about those two, and only I can navigate through the rest of the passages because of the booby-traps. No one could have gotten down there."

"I came to warn you Erik," Nadir continued. "If someone's after you, both you and Katja could be in danger. And if you've told people that you were from the Populaire, that's just another link to help whoever it is find you."

"Everything will be fine," Erik responded. He had left France for a fresh start; he sure as hell wasn't going to his past haunt him here in Germany. "I'm sorry you wasted your time coming all the way out here."

"Just watch your back," Nadir advised. "I don't want to see you or Katja getting hurt."

Erik rolled his eyes. Nadir's years as Daroga in Persia had made him paranoid. No one could have gotten into his lair. No one knew the way in. "So how long are you staying on your 'holiday'?"

"Not long," his friend answered. "I can't stay away from my horses for more than a few days. My train back is in two days."

"Well it's good to see you again." As much as they annoyed each other, Nadir was one of Erik's only friend's, and he had missed the Persian. "Maybe you should move out here. Plenty of empty space for you and your horses."

"Yeah right," Nadir said with a laugh. "Unlike you, I can't simply drop everything and leave."

"Maybe you should," Erik countered. "Where are you staying?"

"I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find you, so I rented a room at an inn in town. Speaking of, I better be heading there. It's getting late. I think your wife is waiting for you."

Erik nodded. "Alright. Feel free to come by tomorrow and we can catch up more then."

Once Nadir had left, Erik headed into the bedroom and changed into his nightclothes. He slipped into bed beside his sleeping wife and pulled her into his arms, making her stir. "What were you and Nadir talking about?" she asked drowsily.

"Oh, nothing important," he replied.