Katja loved having Ayesha in the house. The kitten kept her company during the day when Erik was at work. She was curious, playful, and loving once she adapted to her new environment. Ayesha would often play with a ball of yarn while Katja would knit or sew clothes for the baby. It was nice not being alone all day.

And as much as Ayesha seemed to like Katja, her bond with Erik was far stronger. When Erik was working in the nursery, playing the piano, or composing, the kitten was never far from him. She had even taken up sitting on top of the piano when he was playing. Erik would often stop what he was doing to play with Ayesha. It excited Katja to see him like this. It just showed he was going to be a wonderful father when the baby came.

Ayesha was beginning to grow, and Katja was pretty sure that she'd be fully grown about the same time the baby came. As time passed, Katja found her stomach growing rounder and rounder, and soon she was noticeably pregnant. The first time she was questioned about the baby actually happened when she and Erik were having dinner with her family. "Why are you getting so fat?" Tanja asked before stuffing a bite of food in her mouth.

"Tanja!" Brigitte cried, appalled at her daughter's behavior. "You should never ever call someone fat! It's rude and offensive! Apologize to Katja!"

Katja wasn't offended at all. In fact, she was rather amused by her stepsister's comment. "I suppose I am getting rather fat. It's because I'm pregnant."

"Oh," Tanja said, her voice muffled by the food in her mouth. She swallowed before continuing with, "What does pregnant mean again?"

"It means Erik and I are going to have a baby."

"Already?" her stepsister asked in surprise. "Is it coming out soon?"

"Well not exactly," Katja explained. "The baby isn't coming for another couple months."

"Why not?"

"Because the baby is too small right now, which means he or she needs to grow more. In other words, I'm probably going to get even fatter."

"I don't want to have a baby then," Tanja replied. "I don't want to get as fat like you."

"Tanja!" her mother gasped.

"It's okay," Katja assured Brigitte. "I don't mind. Besides, she's only ten. She may change her mind someday. Especially when she falls in love." She glanced over to Erik, but all he did was offer her a small smile that didn't even reach his eyes. Something was bothering him. Katja made a mental note to find out what when they got home. After all, this sudden change of behavior didn't come from nowhere.

"Are you two preparing for the baby's arrival?" her father asked.

She nodded. "Erik's nearly finished the nursery. It's so beautiful, like a palace! He's truly an artist! Our baby is going to be so spoiled." Katja put her hand on Erik's arm, but her husband barely acknowledged her touch. He was never this distant. If anything, he usually was desperate for physical affection, addicted to it even, having been denied it most of his life. Whatever was bothering him, it was big. In an attempt to draw Erik out of himself, Katja changed subjects. "So enough about us. How are things going here?"

"It's wonderful," Brigitte replied before beginning to talk about the café.

"What's wrong?" Katja asked once they returned home.

"Nothing," Erik answered. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"You've been so quiet tonight. You barely spoke at all at dinner." She put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What's bothering you?"

He shrugged her off. "Nothing is bothering me. I'm fine." Katja was hurt by his coolness. "Go ahead and go to bed. I'm going to compose for a while. I'll be in later."

Katja kissed his cheek gently. "Don't be too long," she said softly. Erik didn't answer, just walked into the music room, leaving her standing there alone.

A moment later there was the sound of a sour chord, like several random keys being hit at once then Ayesha dashed out of the room and leaped into Katja's arms as the door closed. The sound must have been the cat leaping on the keyboard in her rush to get out of the room. Even she could sense the change in Erik. Katja stared at the door for a moment, waiting to see if Erik would come out. When he didn't, she sighed then walked into the bedroom.

Over the next week, things didn't change. Erik seemed to be slumped in a depression. He wouldn't come to bed until Katja had fallen asleep and he was up long before she was to the point where Katja wasn't sure he was even coming to bed at all. When he came home from work, he'd disappear into the music room for hours on end, refusing to come out. Katja had yet to hear him play a single note, and the lined paper he used for composing remained blank. While Erik had never eaten much, he was eating far less than normal. He wouldn't play with Ayesha anymore and only talked to Katja when she forced him to. This must be what happened when Erik threw himself into one of what Nadir called his "moods".

Finally Katja had had enough. She walked into the music room and saw Erik staring blankly at the paper before him, clearly deep in thought. Katja wrapped her arms around his neck, making him jump. Obviously he hadn't heard her come into the room. "What's bothering you?" she asked for the thousandth time that week.

"Nothing's bothering me," he replied dismissively, slipping out of her embrace. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Dammit Erik!" she cried in frustration, tears springing to her eyes. "I just want my husband back! You've shut yourself off from me. You won't talk to me. You won't even look at me! All I want is to help you. But I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong!"

"The baby," Erik whispered.

His answer was so soft that Katja wasn't sure she heard him correctly. "The what?" When she realized what he had said, her eyes grew wide. "What do you mean the baby?"

"I don't want to frighten our child. Most people are horrified by the sight of me. I…" He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm scared I'll be rejected by my own child. Or even worse, that the child will look like me and will be rejected by humanity like I was.

"Our baby will see you the way I do, a loving, caring, far too underappreciated genius. Like I do, she will love you for who you are, not what other people think of you. And even if the baby does inherit your deformity, I will love her just the same, maybe even more."

"But even if we do the rest of the world won't. I don't want our child to be put through the same pain and humiliation that I was. I don't want the baby have to hide like I do."

Katja stood behind him and began to rub her husband's shoulders, trying to get him to relax. "But the baby won't. We'll love and protect her, no matter what."

"We won't always be around though!" Erik cried. "And once we're gone, who's going to protect her then? I don't want our child to suffer!"

"Everything will be okay," Katja cooed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "She will know love, whether she looks like you or not. I promise you that she won't be alone in the world."

Erik pulled her into his lap and held her tightly. "What would I do without you?" he murmured into her hair. Katja could feel something warm and wet and realized he was crying. "I'm so sorry for hurting you. I didn't mean to abandon you. Please forgive me."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist and clung to him, relishing the feel of his embrace that she had missed so much. "It's okay," Katja whispered, tears beginning to slide down her own cheeks. "It's okay. Just hold me." Erik kissed her forehead, eyes, lips, and cheeks, everywhere on her face that he could reach. He stood, still holding her, and carried her into the bedroom to show her how sorry he was.

The next day, Erik walked home from work in much better spirits than he had been in for days. Before he headed into the house, Erik stopped by the small but sufficient stable that now housed Cesar. It was nice to have his horse back. Other than Nadir, Cesar had been the one thing in his life that had always been there for him. He rubbed the horse's back affectionately.

Suddenly there was a loud scream. Erik took off running for the house. The last time it had only been Fredrick accidentally frightening Katja, but after Nadir's warning, he wasn't going to assume it was an accident like before.

He burst into the house and to his horror he found Katja lying motionless in a frighteningly large pool of fresh blood. Standing over her was the very same gypsy who had attacked her Paris. Erik lunged at the man and wrapped his hands tightly around the gypsy's neck. He was going to kill him for hurting Katja. He wanted to squeeze the last breath out of him. He wanted to feel the life drain from his body.

All of a sudden Erik felt something sharp digging into his wrist. His eyes snapped open and he saw Katja in bed next to him, her blue eyes open the widest he had ever seen as she desperately clawed at his wrist. Erik instantly released her and Katja began gasping for air, finally able to breathe. Horrified at what he had done, Erik yanked on his pants and ran out the door without a word.