A/N: Forgot about the double space between paragraphs thing this whole time. Ugh. Why can't the document just go in exactly how I wrote it instead of messing up and getting all funky with the formatting? This chapter is brought to you by my obsession with thunderstorms and my grieving over the fact that there hasn't been a good one over here in forever. And I do not own the song or book authors mentioned in the chapter.

I put away Treble's new tug toy. Hopefully, she won't shred this one in less than a month. No sooner had I straightened up from the top of her crate than I heard a little thump outside my window. Could it be? There was a little vent outside my bedroom window, and raindrops made a thumping sound when they landed there. And it had been overcast the past two days, which I had enjoyed, but now, was it happening?

So I ran downstairs, full of excitement. I hopped out the back door and walked out from under the patio. Oh, please, I thought, please let it last this time…please let there be a good show! I stood there, breathing deeply and listening hard. It was breezy and dark overcast and the air was heavy. All good signs, but the weather likes to tease here. There was an ozone smell in the air, but it was faint right now. It was pleasantly cool out, I thought, but then a particularly gusty breeze made the leaves of the huge tree in front of me hiss and made me shiver a little. Okay, it's cold. It's cold enough for goose bumps. I'm going back inside.

Playing with a dog who likes to maintain her title of tug-of-war champ makes her human hungry, so I snatched a little frozen pasta dish from the freezer to make lunch. The kitchen at home was very different than the kitchen in my apartment I had at college, and I was still learning it—not used to certain placements and markers yet, so cooking actuall full meals from scratch by myself didn't happen…yet. So I ate my microwavable lunch.

Wow. It's really windy. I'm hopeful for a storm here, Lord. Please pretty please with reverence during mass on top? I threw away my empty, flimsy cardboard container that pretended it was a plate and stuck my head out the back door. I couldn't tell if it was raining over the sound of the wind, but it definitely smelled like it!

So I ran back upstairs. At least I'm getting some exercise today. In my room, I listened out my window…thump, thump, thump-ba-dum-dump. YES! Okay, okay, it's perhaps happening! Yes, I said perhaps happening. It's common where I live to get teased with just enough rain to dirty your family's cars and then stop before your plants can get watered.

I went back downstairs and opened the window in the family room wider to smell and feel and hear the rain. Rain makes me think of a good book and hot chocolate. We didn't have cocoa in the house at present, and my little machine with the braille books was being a buttface…but I still had fanfiction!

Awhile later, I was jamming out to Enya Pandora (yes, that can be done). An Adiemus song was playing: Chorale VI. Readers, Youtube that eargasm right now; it's long, but it's amazing. The other members of my family all had plans for tonight, so I was free to blast my music and listen to videos on Youtube without head phones and LOL; and I was free to actively fangirl out loud and crazy about whatever struck my fancy. (I could yell or squeal at fanfiction out loud and not look like an idiot.)

The marvelously textured sound of nonsense syllables and percussion and orchestra faded out suddenly, and as my phone vibrated, and just before my Masquerade Music Box ringtone reached my ears, I heard the sound of hard, thick, and fast raindrops on the windows of the house and on the pavers in the yard: it was totally pouring! After I hung up, the music would take a break; I had a storm to listen to!

But for now, I checked the caller ID and excitedly answered. "Hey, you! Whatcha doin?"

"I'm home alone," said Erik's soft voice. "There's a storm outside."

"Yeah," I said. "And I hope it—thunder!" A rumble I heard, like a guy with a really deep voice chuckling. "Yay!" I squeaked. "Oh, my thunder. I missed you." I love love love the sound of thunder, and it's even more beautiful when it comes on top of all the other sounds of a storm. It's like the perfect soundtrack for dreaming.

"Ayesha doesn't like thunder, and neither does Erik!" And now my Phantom's voice goes from timid and childlike to agitated and…pouty?

"Don't like being alone when it's stormy? Want to come over?" I asked, trying to calm my excitement from the storm.

"Perhaps," Erik answered in a hard voice. "If Lauren will be true to her Erik and not get distracted by the sound of the thunder!"

I shouldn't have laughed at an upset Erik, but I laughed. "Are you jealous of the thunder? It's just a sound! You're a real person! Thunderstorms don't happen here very often, but I have you all the time. You're way better than thunder!"

More rumbly sounds, louder this time. Dang it Thunder heard me say that, haha.

Erik's tone of voice didn't change all that much. "Tell me, my dear, what else does the storm do to you? If the loud thunder makes you so very elated, how does the rain make you feel? Does the rain and the wind make you feel very happy? Does the thought of fallen trees and floods make you feel good like the horrible, sky-quaking thunder does?"

Oh, Erik. "Rain makes me feel like being cozy, like relaxing with a book and a hot drink," I said gently. "I don't have anything to make hot chocolate, though, and my braille display isn't working right now. But I totally feel in the mood for relaxing with company. Do you want to come over? You can if you want. My family isn't home, so we'd have the house to ourselves."

Call ended.

A text immediately from his angel. "Just let me know if you want to come over. Open invitation. I don't want you to be scared."

Part of Erik wanted to get angry at Lauren for assuming he was weak…but she was very right: he was frightened of the storm. When he had called her just then, he was looking for comfort, like the safe-and-warm feelings she had given him when he was ill and she had come to his house with all those things to make him better. And now…now he had ruined it! He wouldn't blame her if she told him to go back to his own time and his own universe…but she didn't tell him to do that.

Erik stared at the text message. She didn't tell him to do that! She had not renounced her invitation! After a minute, he shut Ayesha in her cat house with all her favorite toys and some food and water and moved her litterbox closer to the little house. He went downstairs and gathered up some supplies, and then he replied to the text. And not 5 minutes later, Erik was inside her house.

Erik came in with apologies and offers for cuddles and books and hot drinks. "I brought you things for hot chocolate, my angel. And I have some books, and I can read them to you—if you want: I brought a book of Edgar Allan Poe poetry and a book of Shel Silverstein poetry…I know how much you like them." He set everything down on the table, and then dropped to his knees and flung his arms around me and pressed his masked face into my chest (my arms automatically encircled him). "Do please try to forgive your Erik, angel Lauren. Storms frighten him so, and Erik doesn't like how he feels when he is frightened—"

I cut across him. "I love you, silly. You're forgiven. You brought me hot chocolate and books? Really?" I squeezed him. This night was already awesome, and now here comes my phangirlified Erik to make it perfect. "A thunderstorm and hot chocolate and my Erik reading me books: I'm in heaven!"

Some time later, our bellys were full of hot chocolate and warm fuzzies. Erik placed Silverstein atop Poe and settled back down in our cuccoon of blankets. "I could turn Silverstein poems into songs," he murmured, tucking my head under his chin.

"Do it," I said simply. And then I got to listen to my Erik humming under his breath in my dark house, with the thunderstorm in the background, and feeling safe and warm in Erik's arms…I was a really happy phangirl.

One thing I can see really well is light-on-dark contrast. I was just closing my eyes when I heard a quiet thunder—and remembered: I hardly ever had the opportunity to see lightning. But now, here, with no lights on at all…it would be perfect. So I kept my eyes open and sat upright, focusing my brain on looking for flashes.

Erik jumped to attention when I sat up. "What is it, my darling?"

"Sorry, love. I just really want to see lightning. I don't see it much. But since it's dark, then maybe I could."

So Erik sat up with me and we watched for lightning. I'm not sure how long it was, but at some point, I did see a flash! A really bright flash, like a camera but huger…like patio light meets camera flash.

I jumped up in the air and squealed like a schoolgirl. "Lightning! I saw lightning! I saw it! I can still see it…YES! And it's not just white, it's bluish! Suck it, doctors: I can see colors!"

Erik's laughter rang through the house and he took the opportunity to lift me up, spin me around (which resulted in both of us laughing), and give me a big kiss. "Thank you for sharing this moment with me," he sighed as we settled back down on the couch.