And a new chapter of the guys. It will be exceedingly chaotic but also funny. And there is an attempted murder but I won't tell you more. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

Greetings Petit Erik

31.8.2022

For 3 weeks now the Christines knew they were pregnant. And since then, everyone was really glowing. If at the beginning it was only Murphy at the joyful prospect of becoming a father again, now it was actually all of them. Soot and Ayesha had also noticed that their masters were behaving differently. But because they were cheerful all the time, they were not worried. Currently, everyone was spending time outside and enjoying themselves. The ladies lay in the sun and a few opera spirits lay with them. Maria was gently untangling Hofmann's sparse hair and when she found knots in it, she carefully untangled them. He had his eyes closed and relaxed into her gentle touch. The children were out in the garden picking flowers to make their fathers a flower crown. Meanwhile, the Christines were busy making flower necklaces. When the boys were done, each father got a flower crown and their Christines gave them more flower necklaces. Ayesha immediately wanted to get at Kerik's with her paw but he protected them as if they were his sanctuary. These things came from the two people he loved above all else and he would defend it. Even if he had to mess with his cat to do so. Soot was playing with Panaro in the garden, as he often did, when suddenly the dog saw someone at the front of the road, heading for the house. He ran into the house and started barking at the front door. Jenny followed him, accompanied by Panaro, who did not understand at all what was going on with his dog. Jenny opened the door and saw a big black dog standing in front of her. She looked up and saw a young woman standing in front of her and next to her was someone who looked loosely like Erik. Only he had a nose.

"Hello," said the young woman.

"Um, hi," Jenny replied, perplexed.

Who on earth was this woman? And why did she think she had Erik, but with a nose, standing in front of her?

"Clara, dear?" the man asked suddenly, "do you think it's the right house?"

'Holy shit!", Jenny thought in shock, 'this guy is actually Erik! But why does he have a nose?'

"Absolutely, dearest. I saw all those phantoms running in there, didn't I?"

"Wait, wait... what?" asked Jenny.

"Yes, walking along here with Charleston, we've seen the gentlemen in this house sometimes. And this cute ball of fur, of course," the woman said, gently holding out her hand to Soot.

The dog came unsteadily out from behind Panaro's leg and sniffed her hand. Then he whined and nuzzled his nose into her hand. She stroked him gently, smiling. The other dog, which was apparently named Charleston, slowly came out from behind Erik's leg. He came up to Soot and sniffed. Then Soot sneezed and so did he.

"They seem to like each other," said the woman, whose name was apparently Clara.

"But really. Do you really have 30 phantoms living together?"

Jenny nodded.

"Yes. And 30 Christines. And four children. Still. Soon more."

"But won't it be too much someday with all these... you know what I mean," Erik said, pointing to his face.

"Do you think it's going to be too much? No. Never. I really only know them without the mask. I have to be honest, I'd have to get more used to it if they all suddenly started wearing their masks again."

Before their counterparts could say anything, a rumble sounded. And shortly thereafter, Erik was visible. Without his nose, of course. As it always was. The latter stopped as if rooted to the spot and looked at the other Erik.

Then he looked at Jenny.

"Jenny? Could we talk for a minute?"

She nodded, excused herself briefly, and then went to Erik.

"Who is that and why does he look like me and have a nose?"

"I have no idea either. But Soot seems to like the other dog."

A bark came from outside and Jenny went back to the door with Erik. Soot and Charleston were running around the front yard chasing each other.

"If you'd like, you're welcome to come into the back yard. I'm sure the dogs would love it," Jenny suggested.

"Gladly," Clara replied, following Jenny with her dog and Erik.

In the garden, all the other Eriks and Christines were split up.

"Wow," Clara said when she saw them all, "that's a lot."

"Indeed. Most of the Eriks are the ones from the musical. A few based on the book are there, too. And of course the movie adaptations too," Jenny quickly explained.

Soot shot over to Panaro and his master took him lovingly in his arms.

"Who's that?" asked Clara, pointing at the two of them.

"Oh, this is Panaro. A very well known and highly respected Merik. But he can also be very dangerous. But mostly he's just charming, kind and loving," Jenny explained to her.

Erik approached her and asked, "And who is that?"

As he did so, he pointed a long, thin finger at Gerry.

"That's Gerry. He is the newest of all the filmadaptations and also one of my best friends. He was relatively shy at first but now he's settling in quite nicely."

That same Gerry lay with his head in Emmy's lap and she stroked his sparse hair. He put his hand on her belly and stroked it gently.

"And that there," Jenny said, "is Erik."

"But...he's right here. With me," Clara said, pointing to the Erik standing next to her.

"He is" Jenny smirked, "but that Erik there is the original Leroux- Erik. But I'm glad he's not as emaciated as he used to be."

A shiver ran down her spine at the memory of how bony he had looked. She looked to him and saw that he was talking to Grandcraw. By now, those names were in frequent use. The children just said them consistently and even the opera ghosts started saying them. Although, this didn't bother Crawford or Brawford. They just smiled at these terms and responded to them the same way they would their real names.

"Crawdaddy?!" suddenly shouted Panaro.

"Yes?" came from inside the house.

"Can you bring me some chocolate, please?"

Crawdaddy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I will."

"Thanks!"

"Chocolate?" asked Clara, puzzled.

"Oh, Panaro and his chocolate. Honestly, I'm glad he's not rolling yet. He really loves them."

"Let's hope his kid doesn't inherit that chocolate quirk from him," Gray whispered in Jenny's ear.

"Oh dear, you're right," she agreed with him.

At that moment, Crawdaddy came back outside. In his hand he held a large bag of chocolate balls. Dark chocolate with 70% cocoa, of course.

"Hey, Hugh!" shouted Crawdaddy to Panaro. The latter's head instantly snapped up.

"Yeah?"

Immediately the bag flew to him and he caught it.

"Thanks. I love you!"

"Likewise!" it came back.

Clara and her Erik looked confused, while Charleston had long since scurried off in the direction of Panaro and Soot.

"Just to understand," Jenny explained to them, "Panaro loves chocolate more than anything. Of course, he loves his Christine even more, there's no question about that. But chocolate is kind of third with him after Trista and his dog."

Clara grinned as she watched her tall, thin dog, not unlike his master, run with Soot across the lawn in the large garden. The Labradoodle barked happily and was glad to finally be able to play with another of his kind. He also loved his master more than anything, but unfortunately the latter could not run so long and fast. And not at all in the sun.

"The hairstyle must still sit," Jenny had once feigned and Panaro with the elbow in the side pushed.

The latter just grinned mischievously at her.

Where Erik with nose had disappeared, Jenny now wondered. She had noticed that he hadn't said anything for a long time. But then she saw him. The tall, thin man stood by the Erik without a nose and eyed him curiously. Then he sat down next to him in the grass and the two started talking.

"I didn't think it would happen so quickly," Clara said in amazement.

"Is he also shy and suspicious of new people?", Jenny asked her knowingly.

"Yes, exactly."

"Erik is the same way. He was also very shy in the beginning and almost didn't dare to leave his room but now he really likes being with us and talking to the others. I think so, anyway."

"He seems to like it here," Clara admitted, looking at her Erik.

"If you'd like, you're welcome to come. I suppose Soot likes his new playmate," Jenny laughed, looking at the Labradoodle who was trying to encourage the now exhausted Charleston to keep running around with him.

"Oh dear. Poor Charleston," Clara said.

"You can see Soot is energetic. Just like his master," Jenny grinned.

"His master is?..," Clara started to ask, but Jenny showed him to her.

"That one there," she explained to her, pointing to Panaro, who was playing with his dog.

After Charleston was too exhausted, he had run to his master and sought attention from him.

"A lot of them look a lot alike," Clara said, looking around.

"Yes. Most of them are the ones from the musical. They are all, by and large, the same in kind. Of course there are differences but not that big. And they all get along well."

Clara saw this in all of them. Eriks, whether film, book or musical, enjoyed the company of their colleagues and were a unified community. And every Erik, really everyone, had a Christine with them. At the moment, a little boy was being chased along the meadow by his father. Soot saw this and immediately joined in with them.

"Jake and Murphy," Jenny muttered to herself with a grin.

"What?" asked Clara.

"Jake and Murphy are son and father and are very similar in behavior and humor. And Jake is about to become a big brother, which he's really excited about."

At that moment, Murphy was finally able to catch his son and threw him to the ground with himself. Then he started tickling his son out until he was rolling back and forth in the grass laughing. When Jack saw this, he ran over to them and jumped on Murphy's back and he squealed loudly. Then Jack started tickling Murphy out. When Lewis saw this, he snuck up behind his son and dug his fingers into his sides. His son cried out and tried to fight him off, but couldn't. And when Cortes saw this big strange pile, he decided to help the children and annoy the fathers a little. So he got the garden hose, which was hanging around the corner at the house. His son followed him curiously and let his father explain the plan. Immediately he was on board. He stood at the faucet while his father went to the others with the hose. When he had positioned himself correctly, he pulled lightly on the hose as a sign that his son should turn on the faucet. He did so and instantly a jet of water shot at Lewis and Murphy. Unfortunately, their children were also hit, but they didn't mind as much as their fathers. When the two were really soaked to the bone, Cortes pulled on the hose again so his son could turn off the water. Lewis, meanwhile, straightened up and looked at Cortes with glowing eyes. Then he walked toward him with slow and menacing steps.

"Dad. I think you should run," Christian whispered to his father.

The latter nodded and began to run away slowly and then faster. Lewis followed him and Cortes finally started running, although he didn't have much of a lead on his pursuer. He looked ahead again to see where he was running, but this did not do him much good. He thought he was safe when he suddenly saw the pool in front of him. It was now too late to dodge. He stopped briefly to look around for an opportunity, but that was his mistake. He turned around and gasped. Standing in front of him was Lewis. With a wicked and devious grin on his face.

"Ben, please," Cortes pleaded, but his counterpart shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Gardar. You should have thought of that before."

And with a powerful shove, he pushed him into the water. But what he didn't see was that Cortes had put his hands on his shirt and thus ended up pulling him into the water with him. All the bystanders had witnessed the scene and wondered what the two were doing there together. When Anna and Rachel saw what their phantoms were doing, they turned pale and looked wide-eyed at the pool. They sighed in relief when they saw the two of them reappear. They quickly ran into the house and returned with two large, fluffy bath towels for each of them. By now, the two opera ghosts had climbed out of the pool and were now shivering terribly, no matter how warm it was outside. The two ladies walked over to them and put the towels around them.

"That you guys can never keep it together," Rachel smirked, giving the shivering Cortes a kiss.

He just grinned apologetically at her.

"Hopefully our next child won't be as much like you," Anna murmured.

"You never know," her partner grinned, giving her an affectionate kiss.

"Speaking of which, where's Bronson anyway?" asked Cortes.

He noticed that the last of the Love Never Dies phantoms, since the tickle and water attack, had disappeared. But suddenly he came back. He had changed his clothes and now looked as if nothing had happened. Well, his head looked different. On his head was wrapped a towel as a turban.

"Hello, Nadir!", Kerik called to him, waving and grinning.

Murphy returned it with a smile and then went to join the others.

"Hello!" he said to them with a grin.

His son ran to him and he put his arm around him.

"Like kids," Jake muttered with a grin.

"Don't get involved in this. You're a kid. You're allowed to. But we're adults. We shouldn't do things like that," Lewis said.

"Says the right guy," Cortes whispered, earning a threatening look from Lewis.

Oh, come on, Ben," Jake said, "there's nothing wrong with being a little kid. And I could see you were having fun, too."

The man addressed only grumbled and cast a sidelong glance at Cortes. The latter just stuck his tongue out at him and went into the house with Rachel to change.

"Well, Mr. Bronson, what have you made of yourself?" asked Lewis with a grin at Murphy's turban.

"Well," Murphy fussed, "I've got to dry my hair with something."

"What hair?" a voice echoed to them from the other side of the house.

This was followed by loud laughter.

"You're one to talk, Jeremy!" shot back Murphy to him.

"Why? I don't even know what you mean," the latter replied, running his fingers through his sparse hair, "I have a full head of hair. You can tell."

Murphy rolled his eyes and muttered: "Idiot."

Anna grinned at Lewis.

"Come on. Let's get you into some different clothes," she said to her phantom and pushed him into the house.

Murphy looked after them and then went to Jenny, by whom stood a very puzzled Clara.

"What the hell was that?" asked a confused Jenny.

"Please don't ask," Murphy muttered.

"Okay. But please take off the turban. You look really really stupid in it."

"Okay," he replied, unwrapping the towel from his head.

His sparse hair was sticking out on all sides and was tousled. At that moment, he saw Meghan walking toward him.

"Grooming. Come on," was all she said, taking his arm and pulling him into the house with her.

"It's a pretty messy bunch, isn't it?" asked Clara Jenny.

"Definitely. But a bunch I'd never want to be without."

"I think so, too."

So by now the two of them were sitting in the sun looking at all the other phantoms and the Erik with a nose talking to the Erik without a nose. And it seemed as if he wanted this conversation to never end.