Chapter Three - Unexpected Request

Everyone then started to make a move, they all bid Erik and Christine goodnight before they left. Madeline pecked Erik on the cheek once again and fluttered her long eyelashes at him making Christine blush. Erik, Christine and Meg all went down in the same lift and walked together to the front door. "Well Chris, I'd better be heading home now" said Meg as they stepped outside. Christine Smiled "I'll see you soon, Meg" the two of them hugged then Meg turned to Erik "Good night then, Mr Foster" She said. "Good night Meg." said Erik as he shook her hand. They both watched Meg as she got into a taxi drove away.

Christine turned back to Erik "I guess it's now my turn to say goodnight?" she said. Erik shook his head "I'm afraid you're wrong Christine" her smile left her face "What do you mean?" she asked confused. Erik put his arm round her shoulder and led her to the edge of the pavement. "We have to go back to my place for a moment, and then you will take over with the directions." Christine suddenly understood "You're coming home with me?" she said and Erik nodded "I've shown you my humble abode twice already, it's worth you showing me yours." She thought for a moment then nodded. Erik smiled and patted her shoulder. "That's the spirit my dear" He said as he waved to an approaching taxi. As they were driving along it was quite similar to earlier, except this time Erik had his arm round Christine's shoulder. Christine was silent because she was feeling a little nervous, because she was wondering where this was going to, they arrived outside of Erik's home he said "Wait here, I won't be a minute" and he jumped out of the taxi and hurried inside. She leaned back in her seat and waited "Did you two have a lovely night?" the taxi driver asked. "Yes we did, in fact it was more than I'd expected." Said Christine as she stared at her hands clasped on her lap. "Good for you" the taxi driver replied. Two minutes later Erik came back out carrying a bag over his shoulder. He got back into the car and said "Alright Christine, if you'd like to give the address." She swallowed and told the taxi driver her home address. Erik put his arm round her again and she rested her head on his shoulder but kept her hands on her lap.

It wasn't long before they reached Christine's tall terrace house. She climbed out while Erik was paying the driver. Once he was out and standing beside her she led the way towards the black bricked house and thumbled in her bag for her keys. When they stepped inside she closed the door, switched on the lights and threw her coat over the banister of the stairs. "Well welcome" she said and he too threw his coat over the banister. "My goodness Christine, it's much better than I thought it would be. I was half expecting you'd live in a flat." Christine shook her head. "No, I find it more peaceful having the whole place to your own, and not having people stomping and shouting above and below you." Erik nodded "How true". There was a small silence then Christine yawned and asked "Well how long are you planning on staying tonight? Because I'm quite tired now and I want to get to bed." Erik let out a small laugh "I was actually planning on staying the night, Christine. That is why we dropped back to my place back then, so I could collect my things for the night." Christine's breath seized, she hadn't been expecting him to say that. But she decided that there was really no harm in him staying for one night. She cleared her throat "Well alright, I don't think it will take me too long to make you up a..." but she didn't finish because he stepped right up in front of her and said "Christine, I will sleep with you tonight" Christine's heart stopped "What did you say?" she asked. He smiled and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers "Tonight Christine we shall sleep together"

Then with a sudden bursting bang within Christine's head, she was back down in the Phantom's underground lair. She was being violently thrown onto a bed and Red Death was leaning over her, his eyes staring down at her were blazing with fury. "Faithfulness is not quality, that I admire in you Christine!" He snarled in anger. Then he threw his leg over her so he was now right on top of her. He reached for his skull mask and with an evil cackle he removed it revealing the hideous face of death. Christine screamed in fright at the top of her lungs and the monster grabbed her wrists pinning them down. "Desire is only a demon Christine. Hell is getting what you desire!" he shouted. Christine tried to struggle free but he was too strong for her. "Let me go!" she squeaked helplessly closing her eyes. "You will never leave here again. Ever!" He snarled. She screwed her face up waiting for the hell and felt the hot breath of the monster leaning towards her.
In another sudden flash she opened her eyes and the same man stood there in front of her grinning. "No! NOOOO!" she screamed and she shoved away from him and charged up her stairs. She flung open her bedroom door, flicked on the light and fell at her knees beside her bed burying her face in the duvet letting the tears escape her eyes. She heard his hurried footsteps follow her then he was down next to her his arm wrapped round her shoulder "Christine what's wrong?!" he asked his voice full of concern. She continued to weep and sat up to face him. In a clenched voice she said "I had a flashback memory of when you tried to...tried to..." she closed her eyes making two more tears fall and continued to cry. "Oh Christine" Said Erik and he pulled her gently into a hug. "Christine my love, you have no reason to be afraid. I never said anything about making love tonight. All I said was that we would sleep together, nothing more. Now come on take deep breaths and calm down." Christine did her best to obey "Yes that's it breathe. There we are, see? There's nothing to worry about. Shhh" He said quietly rubbing her back. She sat up wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "There's another lot of makeup ruined" she said, Erik smiled "It doesn't matter anymore, you were going to wash it off anyway. So consider half of the job is done." Christine tried to smile back at him "I guess so" she said sniffing. "Come on" said Erik helping her to her feet. "You go and wash your face off and I'll fetch our bags from downstairs." Christine walked out of the room and opened the door to the bathroom and stepped in front of the mirror. After filling a basin of warm water she gently removed her smudged makeup, washed her face with a warm flannel then dried her face off with a towel.

She went back into her bedroom and saw Erik sorting his stuff out, he turned to face her. "Feeling better now?" he asked. She nodded "I suppose so. You can go and use the bathroom now if you wish. I just need to go and sort a few things out downstairs then I'll be right back up." Erik nodded "Thank you". She turned and slowly walked along the landing and down the stairs. First she locked the front door, she then checked her phone for any messages and luckily there weren't any. She went into the kitchen to put some washing on. After that she left the room and walked back to the stairs, switching lights off as she went. When she reached the top of the stairs she went straight to the bathroom and found it empty. She undressed and changed into her navy pyjamas that were hung on the back of the bathroom door, she then threw her clothes into the laundry basket. She brushed her teeth and stared at her reflection and she seemed to look normal again, except for the traces of pink in her eyes. She sighed and left the bathroom switching off the light.

When she stepped back into the bedroom she found the main light switched off, but the lamp on the table beside her bed was on. Erik was already in the bed and he was wearing black pyjamas and had taken his glasses off. When he saw her he gave her a warm smile and patted the empty space beside him. Christine slowly stepped forwards towards the side of the bed. She paused for a few seconds before slowly settling in beside him. She looked up at Erik who was leaning up on one elbow smiling down at her. He placed his hand on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "You look much better now Christine." He said. She nodded and turned her gaze to the ceiling. "I can probably guess why you wanted to stay here with me tonight." She said "Tell me" he said. She kept her eyes on the ceiling and said "So you can be sure that I'm not going to try to run away from you again." He laughed once "You're partly correct but that's not the main reason" She turned back to look into his eyes. "What is it then?" she asked. He took hold of her hand. "It's because I've spent all these years without the woman I love. I've missed you so much Christine" There was a deep longing in his eyes as he spoke the words "So now that I've finally got you back, you don't think I'd want to leave you so quickly do you?" he asked and she shook her head "I guess you're right" she said. He leaned forward and placed a long loving kiss on her cheek. She turned and they looked into each other's eyes for about two minutes.

Christine then turned on her side and said "Time we got some sleep, good night Erik" she reached forward and turned off the lamp. "Good night my sweet angel" Erik whispered in the darkness. Christine didn't turn back over to face him she stayed on her side and settled down. Erik wrapped his arm round waist holding her close and buried his face in her hair, his breath warmed the back of her neck. Christine decided that this wasn't bad, he had given his word that things wouldn't go too far. So she relaxed and touched his hand under the covers, he took her hand in his and squeezed it. She felt him place another kiss on the back of her head. For the first time in ages Christine felt that she could trust Erik.