Rose sat on the old dark green velvet couch, shoes off, her legs tucked under her. Her tongue pressed to her upper lip as she unbuttoned the trousers of the automaton in front of her. She pushed them down to the floor and giggled.

Gustave turned around, still holding a naked automaton, "What is so funny, my dear?"

"By the time I am done undressing all these for you, I will be quite the expert on our wedding night. Is this why you never fumbled with my buttons?"

The Young Mister put the automaton in an empty cupboard before walking over to his fiancée. He tilted his head and ran his fingers though his light brown hair, "You know I've never thought about it. Though I guess you're right. I can only dress and undress these young ladies so many times without mastering it."

He lifted the automaton in front of Rose up off the floor, freeing it of its pants." He looked it over and frowned, "This one is going to need some work."

As he walked towards the other side of the work room, Rose adjusted her legs on the couch. Her foot hit a hard spot. "Ouch! What was that?" Turning and getting on her knees, Rose stuck her hands under the pillow and found the hard object, a book. She pulled it out and found herself face to face with a copy of Kama Sutra.

"Oh my dear Goose!" she giggled.

"And just what are you laughing about now?"

"Looks like someone else is going to be an expert. Though aren't you worried your parents will notice it's missing?" A slight blush on her cheeks yet a mischievous grin on her lips, Rose turned around and held up the book.

"No, because that is my own personal copy. Do you know how difficult that is to purchase? Turns out it's illegal here in America. My dad's copy is from France where it wasn't illegal. I told the dealer a French version was fine as it was my native language."

Rose giggled again and opened it, "Well then you can continue to help me improve my French since I'm just here for the pictures."

"Rose, please I'm supposed to be working."

"What is my looking at this going to distract you?"

"My fiancée looking at sexual positions…yes."

"How about I mark ones that interest me so you can study to make sure we do not have a repeat of our first…"

"Oh I've been studying!" Gustave flopped down on the couch next to her. "There's a whole section on increasing pleasure." He leaned and placed kisses on her neck.

Rose closed her eyes and sighed. She tilted her head exposing more of her neck to him. Goose trailed his lips up, until his kisses were behind her ear, her dangling earring brushing his cheek.

"Oh Goose," Rose dug her nails into the book as chills ran up and down her spine, her nipples hardening and poking through the linen and lace of her shirtwaist. "Be a dear and undo this dreaded bowtie!"

"Oh but you love your blue bowtie," Gustave lifted his lips to her ear and whispered.

"Not at the moment! I need more neck for you to kiss."

The young man lifted his fingers to her neck and untied it slowly. "So show me your favorite positions."

Rose flipped through the pages frantically and then stopped, "This one. I like the idea of being propped up, you on your knees, my…" she turned her head away, her cheeks even redder.

"Oh so you're being bashful now?" Gustave chuckled as he tossed her bowtie over his shoulder. He leaned in and kissed her cheek as he undid the top buttons of her blouse. He trailed his kisses from her cheek, along her jawline and back down her neck, "I'll tell you what I like about it." His lips slid further down and were now on her collarbone, "Your legs will be up on my shoulders, I can put my fingers on that spot while I am inside…"

A key pushed into the lock of the door, metal on metal echoing through the room.

"I thought you locked the door, Goose!"

"I did! Only, one other person has a key…Papa!"

The lock clanked and turned, followed by the door handle.

"Gustave? Are you in here?"

Rose slammed the book shut and turned it over so the cover did not show.

Gustave jerked away from his fiancée and sat up straight, "Over on the couch, Papa! Just taking a break from working on the automatons."

The Phantom walked over and the half of his face not covered in his mask actually showed some surprised upon seeing Rose. He noticed the flush still on her face, her bowtie at the other end of the couch, the undone buttons on her shirtwaist, the usually fair skin of her neck turning red.

He quickly regained his composure, "I was not expecting to see you today, Rose but it is a wonderful delight."

"It's lovely to see you too, Erik. Gustave was showing me how he preps the automatons for winter storage. We were just taking a little break to talk about some final wedding issues."

The Phantom's eyes lit up at Rose's words, "So was he really showing you how to prep the automatons?"

"He was."

"And what did you think?"

"It's been fun. I've only been helping to undress them. But Goose said later I could watch him fix one of the smaller issues," She looked at her fiancée and smiled. "Only the smaller issues because we do need to get back and settle a few things before the wedding."

"I guess I could come back after our honeymoon and fix some of the others on some weekends," Gustave ran his fingers through his hair.

Erik cleared his throat and straightened his back, "Would you like to fix them permanently, son?"

Gustave arched his eyebrow. Such odd behavior from his dad. "What kind of question is that?"

"I wanted to talk about something important with you and it's fitting Rose is here. May I sit?"

Gustave looked at his father perplexed, "Since when do you ask permission?"

"You're a young man now, about to get married, start your own family," Erik bent over and picked up the bowtie. He sat it on his lap after he sat down. "I know you've changed since going to college, discovering who you are outside of your family, trying to find that you are more than a freak and the music in your head…"

Gustave sighed, "Papa, do you have to bring that up now?"

"I do, because no matter what you do or where you go, you're my son. Do you remember the first time I removed my mask and showed you my face?"

The young man nodded his head, "It was that day you took me into your music room and I played first song I had composed in my mind on your piano. You played me songs you have never shared with anyone else. We spent the afternoon talking about songs in our minds. You showed me secrets of the park, I told you secrets I had never told anyone. We called everything the beauty underneath. And then I ruined it by screaming and calling you hideous when you showed me who you really are."

Rose reached over and grabbed her fiancee's hand.

"You ruined nothing, son," Erik smiled as he patted Gustave's shoulder. "You were only ten and I shouldn't have just removed my mask. But the past is the past. It was half way through that afternoon, I started to think that maybe you were my son and not Raoul's. Your mother confirmed it after she sent you back to the hotel. It was then I swore everything I had and everything I ever would have would all be for you."

Gustave looked away sheepishly, "But that was before Charlotte, Matilda and Arthur. What about them?"

"Still the caring big brother," Erik chuckled. "They will all get their share, don't worry. However, you're the grown man now and I come to you with a proposal. How would you like to run Phantasma?"

Gustave's eyes widen. He shook his head, "Run Phantasma? What do you mean run Phantasma? I can't run this place!"

"You most certainly can!" Mr. Y exclaimed. He reached out and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "I saw you run it when I was sick this summer."

"That wasn't running it! That was just managing it. I put other people in charge of things. You, Papa you run this place! You're in the shadows pulling the strings, in the light directing the shows, on the stage…"

"And that is the problem, my boy! I cannot keep this pace for the rest of my life. Your mother has pointed out I have given too much of myself and of our family to this place, that maybe, like her, it is time that I let it go."

Gustave jumped off the couch, "And you thought I'd want it? That just because I am your son I would just take on all of this? As if I don't have another job and another life?" He paced back and forth. "And what of the family I am about to start? What about Rose? Mama says you give too much and now you want to give me the park and do the same to my wife?"

Erik closed his eyes and sighed. "That's not what I am saying."

Rose sat the book down where Gustave once was. She uncurled her legs from under her and placed her stocking feet on the floor. She sat up taller trying to make up for the state of her appearance, "Erik are you telling us Christine wants you to retire with her?"

"Yes. She is set on going to Florida this winter and relaxing."

The young woman clasped her hands together, "Awww, Goose, isn't that romantic? Don't you want that to be us when we're old?"

"Rose, I cannot run this park. Do you forget I work for your father now?" He walked over to her and took her hands into his.

She jumped to her stocking feet, "And did you forget what you told me in the house of mirrors? That my telling you to stay here and work made you feel like a kid again?" She smiled as she pushed her nose into his, "That I was your partner in crime that brought the joy of the normal world? And you taught and showed me what it was like not to have a normal life?"

Erik looked down at the floor trying to give this intimate conversation some privacy. Well at least now I know how he's felt all these years seeing his mother and I in various states of ecstasy.

Gustave rested his forehead against his fiancee's. "The beauty underneath," he whispered.

Rose squeezed his hands tight, "You are never this happy balancing my dad's books." Still holding one of Goose's hands, she turned and looked at Mr. Y, "Erik, give us until supper to discuss this but it is going to be a tentative yes."

The Phantom laughed as he stood up. He walked over to his soon to be daughter-in-law, "I am excited to have such a lovely woman in my son's life." He handed her the bowtie, "Though please rearrange yourself before joining us for supper."

He turned his attention to Gustave, "And son, you're a grown man, you can keep your copy of The Kama Sutra in your room. Though the odds of 'catching' your fiancée finding it out here are greater since we are still projecting the image of propriety in sleeping arrangements."