Disclaimer: I do not own Erik, or Meg, or Madame Giry, or any other characters from the ingenious mind of Gaston Leroux! Anne, however, she's mine...well, she resides in my head until her story is done.

AN: If you read Chapter 45 before 5/15/2013, I added two lines at the end. I added this chapter paying close attention to a timeline. Today I spent almost 3 hours rereading the previous chapters and making sure that I had a timeline that actually worked. And it did with no changes that needed to be made. Whew! Now...onward!

Chapter 46

"I'll kill her! I swear I will!" Erik paced back and forth across the music room, his mind filling with possible ways to destroy the Vicomtess. How dare she lay a hand on his Anne!

"Pacing like that, and thinking such vile things will not accomplish anything, Erik." Madame Giry stood calmly in the doorway, her hand clasped around her ever present cane.

"She had no right! No right!"

Madame Giry chose not to give in to the tugging on her lips. It was such a unique experience to see Erik so changed from the person he was a few months ago. From fawning over Christine to threatening to kill her... Erik, however, saw her fighting over her smile.

"You think this is funny?!" He roared at her. "You think slapping your niece across the face is funny? I dare say you thought that her Grandmother beating the daylights out of Anne before she decided to stay here was a hilarity as well."

It had slipped and Erik hadn't realized it. He was too busy developing plans of revenge. Madame Giry on the other hand had stopped breathing. Her mind was trying to process the fact that someone had beaten her niece. It wasn't possible. She'd have seen something. Anne would have said something...right? The moment that question crossed her mind she knew the answer. No, Anne wouldn't have said anything. There were times that she was just like her mother, always keeping the pain to herself.

She looked back to Erik, finding him to be still pacing back and forth lost in his own vengeful thoughts. Knowing that she wasn't going to get anything more out of him, she turned and left him to his thoughts. The only person that could answer her was Anne herself.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. "Meg that hurts!" I lightly touched the cut on my cheek wincing in pain. That hurt for more than I expected it to.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have antagonized Christine in such a manner to make her retaliate." Meg put the cloth back into the basin, squeezed out the excess water and returned the cloth to my cheek. "You really have no one to blame but yourself."

I replaced Meg's hand with my own and held the cloth to my cheek, hoping that the cool water would sooth the cut. "She deserved what she got," I muttered.

"Anne!"

I looked at Meg. "What? I was right and she knows it."

"Still...you provoked her."

"I could have hit her back."

"You're too kind hearted. You wouldn't have done such a thing."

I sighed, Meg's truthful words ringing in my heart. I was going to say so when the door to our room opened and in walked Aunt Giry. She looked very angry and out for blood.

"Mama!" Meg leapt to her feet. "I helped clean Anne's cut."

Madame Giry smiled affectionately at her daughter. "Thank you, Meg. Now, if you would be so kind as to fetch us some tea. I have some things to say to Anne."

Meg was out of the room in a flash, obviously not wanting to be present when I was given the set down of my life. I waited, patiently, as Madame Giry closed the bedroom door and came to sit down on Meg's bed.

"Now...Anne..."

"Before you give me a lecture, Aunt, you have to believe me when I say that..."

She held up her hand and I instantly stopped talking. "No, Anastasia." Her voice was gentle, but firm. "You don't get to talk. You get to sit and listen to me talk."

I closed my mouth. "Alright." I waited patiently for almost a full five minutes but she didn't say a word. She sat there, staring at me, apparently trying to say what she was thinking.

"Anne..." Her voice was soft and there was a slight quiver which she obviously was trying to hide. "I've heard something that...needs some clarification."

I blinked. "Alright. What do you need to know?"

She chewed on her lower lip. "Anne...when you decided to stay here, you paid a visit to your grandmother."

I nodded, entirely confused as to where this conversation was going.

"It's come to my attention that she..." Aunt Giry looked away from me as if embarrassed that she would have to say whatever it was she needed to say.

"Aunt, what is it?"

"What happened while you were there?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"How...upset...was she that you were not coming back to live with her?"

I searched her eyes for what she was really asking. I found it...the unspoken question. I decided it would be best to answer it instead of what she asked. "Yes, Aunt. Grandmama got quite physical when I told her I was staying at the Populaire."

Her eyes instantly filled with tears and I looked away. "How...how bad was it?"

I looked down at my hands that were now in my lap, grasping at the folds of my dress. "She knows how to not break any bones...but the bruises when away quickly. A little make-up, some long sleeved dresses...Erik was the only one who knew." I gasped with the realization that he must've said something to her.

"He let it slip, today, Anne. He didn't willfully give me the information."

"Oh...I see."

"Why didn't you say anything, Anne?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "There was nothing anyone could do."

"Mama! I brought the tea!" Meg burst through the door, carrying a tray laden with tea and sandwiches. She stopped seeing the two of us looking quite pensive at the other. "Um...should I come back?"

Aunt Giry shook her head and stood up. "No, Meg. Come in. You two enjoy your tea. I have to get ready for tomorrow's rehearsal." Before I could say anything, Meg was setting up the tea and Aunt Giry was out the door. I couldn't bear to let us part ways like this. I followed her out the door.

"Aunt, wait!" I reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder. "I...I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

She turned and smiled at me. "You are so much like your mother, Anne. Always keeping things to herself. I really shouldn't be surprised that you didn't say anything." She gave me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Anne."

I watched her walk down the hallway and turn out of sight. It wasn't until Meg was calling me to tea did I return to the bedroom.

Two weeks had passed, the first of December finally arrived, and with it, the cold temperatures. Rehearsals were now over and it was time for opening night. I hadn't seen a glimpse of Meg or Aunt Giry or...anyone closely connected with the Populaire. The only time I got to see anyone was at rehearsals when I alternated conducting the orchestra with Monsieur Moreau, and even then it was all professional. With two days til opening night, the Opera House was a flurry with final preparations: costume fittings, extra dance rehearsals, and the final touches on the backdrops.

After the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday night, I collapsed into bed entirely exhausted. I was grateful that the theatre would go dark on Thursday so that everyone could have a day to rest. I had already decided that I was going to go see Erik for part of the day and have dinner with Meg and Aunt Giry. I smiled, thinking how counterproductive that was...planning out my day when I was supposed to be resting. Regardless, I had to see Erik. I hadn't spent any time him in his lair since the incident with Christine, but we had crossed ways. Apart from checking on my welfare, that was it. Nothing like the man he had been that night on the Opera roof.

"I'm exhausted! My feet have never hurt so bad!" Meg came into the room, shut the door and flung herself onto her bed. "I'm so glad we have tomorrow off. It'll give us some time to go shopping!"

I raised myself up on the elbows and looked at her. "Shopping?"

"Anne!" She raised a hand to her chest and looked at me as if I'd taken complete of my senses. "Don't you know what month it is?"

"Of course, silly. It's December." I laughed at her.

"Then you must know what happens in December! Christmas!"

I blinked. "Oh...I'd forgotten..."

"About Christmas?!" She flung out her arms and stared up at the ceiling. "I could never forget about Christmas! The Populaire will be closed on the eighteenth and then there's a big party on New Year's Eve. So, that leaves us free to have all the fun we want during for two weeks." She sat back up and looked at me, a mischievous look in her eye. "So...what do you want for Christmas?"

"I..." I looked at her and thought for a moment. "I honestly don't know. I haven't given any thought about it. What about you?"

She smiled. "I make a point never to tell people what I want. If you paid attention during the year, then you know what I've asked for."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, Meg." I threw a pillow at her which she immediately aimed back at me.

Her voice dropped to a soft whisper. "Though what you should be concerned with is what you're going to get your Opera Ghost for Christmas."

I instantly sat up straight and gasped. "Oh, no!"

Meg began laughing at me. "Your eyes got so huge!" Her laughter soon died down and then she threw me a wink. "I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm pretty sure I know exactly what he's going to get you."

I glared at her. "I know what you're thinking, Meg Giry. He's not going to propose." Not after the way we've been towards each other these past two weeks.

"Well, I'll just revel in the fact that I'm going to get to say 'I told you so' when it finally happens."

I chose not to answer her comment but she continued laughing until she fell asleep.

AN: Going "dark" was a phrase that I heard during high school. It usually happens during performance days. We had a show Thursday, Friday, a "dark" theatre on Saturday, and then a show on Sunday. Nothing happened on Saturday except everyone getting rest. I used that similar concept here but rather during rehearsal week instead of performance week. Hope that makes sense!