Erik knew that he had never been as scared as he had been when he finally returned to Christine that day. He had known something was off, but he had been foolish to let her convince him that it would be fine. To take her words as a comfort before he left.
He should've known better. He should've insisted upon staying with her. Maybe what happened could've been avoided if he had. But unfortunately hindsight was always twenty-twenty. He hadn't followed his gut and he hated himself all the more for it.
He had swaddled the babies as best as he could first, laying them down somewhere safe before turning his attention to Christine. It had been a little harder to handle her state as he hadn't been sure where to start. He'd eventually settled on cleaning her and dressing her first. Letting her become any colder wouldn't do her already weakened body any favors.
He had mentally combed through all of his makeshift medical knowledge in an attempt to find something that would help her. However, it seemed that it was simply the exhaustion and the strain that had gotten to her because she'd broken him out of his thoughts with a weak call of his name. It had been a relief, but a somewhat hollow relief as he knew she still needed some sort of medical attention.
Thankfully, it was easy enough to get her through that when it was something so simple. All he had to was ensure that he gave her plenty of water and food to build her strength back up. The difficult was balancing their newborns and cleaning while she rested. He had only allowed her to hold them and feed them.
The babies themselves were absolutely perfect. Both the boy and the girl had been lucky enough to take after their mother more than himself. The boy had been named Gustave as Christine wanted, but she insisted that he named their daughter. He hadn't argued against the idea. It had just taken him a long time to find the perfect name. But he eventually had. Adélaïde.
But things had taken a turn for the worst, as was their luck apparently. A few days after giving birth, Christine had fallen Ill. He could only assume that it was an effect of her being on the cold floor for who knows how long before he'd returned.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any of his medical knowledge was truly helping this time around. He could ease her cough for awhile but the sore throat and congestion persisted. As did the fluctuating temperature. He could get it to go down but it always came right back up.
Christine understandably didn't feel like doing much. She would sleep off and on, occasionally ask for something or insist upon feeding the children. For this reason, he found himself neglecting his self appointed duties to take care of his family. Even if it wore on his nerves sometimes, this was where he needed to be. Giry would just have to understand.
He had considered going above ground for a short moment, but that idea had been blown to smithereens when he'd noticed how much worse Christine's sickness had actually become. She was sweat soaked and writhing in her sleep, small whines and wheezy breaths leaving her.
Finally forced to admit that he had no idea what to do for her, he wrote a letter to Giry and left long enough to drop it somewhere only she could find it.
Swallowing his pride had been more difficult than he would like, but he would do anything for Christine's sake. Even bringing that nag down here. Maybe she could do something for her. She surely had plenty of practice with raising Meg.
. Antionette had been rather concerned, seeing as she hadn't seen or heard anything out of those down below in awhile. It didn't help that she was dealing with a remorseful Vicomte trying to see Christine every other day of the week.
She hadn't gotten the chance to inform Erik of this as he'd rushed off, cutting their conversation short.
She assumed that he'd simply had enough socialization for one day and had been eager to return to Christine. But even so, it was sort of irritating that she hasn't been able to deliver such important information.
So when she'd stumbled upon the note that was distinctly from the resident ghost , she'd steeled herself to traverse those tunnels in away that he usually did.
She was nervous the whole time, but she was fairly relieved to know that she remembered the less dangerous way easily enough.
However, her heart stopped dead in her chest when she finally arrived. The sight before her was not a way she was used to seeing Erik. He was so clearly shaken, almost seeming like he was on the verge of a breakdown of sorts.
Before she could question him, he dragged her to the bedroom. Her feeling of dread only increased upon seeing the state of the woman and the infants in the corner.
"Help her." Erik demanded, his tone trembling in a way that she respectfully ignored.Which made it even harder to admit that she couldn't help Christine, something she didn't even know was possible.
She'd like to, but this was beyond her meager medical skills. Meg had never really been this damn sick before.
What Christine needed was a doctor. A good doctor. Which was something that she couldn't afford. Erik couldn't afford one either for a completely different reason.
There was only one person that could and she almost hated herself for having to say it out loud.
"She needs an actual doctor, Erik. I think...I think the only person who can really help her is the vicomte. He's been asking for her anyway..." She trailed off, knowing he'd pick up on what she was getting at.
A sound not too different from that of a wounded dog left Erik and he clenched his hands against the footboard of the bed. For a moment, Antionette feared that he would be stubborn and reject the idea.
"Alright...I'll bring Christine up to her old dressing room. You take Gustave and Adélaïde up with you. They're going to need their mother more than me." Erik agreed in a pained whisper.
Antionette simply nodded and headed over to collect the precious little infants. She knew this was probably tearing him up on the inside, but he'd understand that it was for the best. Even Christine would have to admit that as she was still technically married to the vicomte.