�I need to go to rehearsal today... I�ll be in my dressing room most of the time anyway..."
Christine�s words ran through Erik's mind as he made his way down to the lair with his daughter in his arms. Meg was quiet now--Christine must have returned to the opera house and taken care of the baby before going onstage. Erik supposed Christine knew that he had followed her to the mausoleum, and he had purposely waited until after the opera had begun to find Meg--he did not want to confront Christine until after the opera, when they could be alone, at home.
While what was left of his logical side, said that they should be home, the greater part of him wanted to go drag her off the stage and demand to know what she had been doing with Raoul. The vicomte had been extremely started at Erik's appearance--he had stuttered and floundered, and finally produced a story about how some crazed individual was out to kill �The Phantom� and Christine. How the man had made up such a story so quickly was beyond Erik's knowledge.
He had tried to get Raoul to confess what his real reason for meeting Christine was, but Raoul wouldn�t change his story. "I had to warn her!" he had insisted. "I love her--how could I just stand by and wait for her to be hurt, instead of stopping it before it happened? I had to tell her!"
"You could have told her somewhere else--in public! Why bring her to a dark secluded place like this? What did you really want, de Chagny?!"
But Raoul had yelled, "I told you the truth!", then disappeared into the black Parisian night. Erik had followed him, feeling the same murderous rage that had consumed him the nights he had killed Buquet and Piangi. If he had been able to reach the vicomte at the moment, Raoul would likely have fared worse than Erik's previous victims. Their deaths had been quick, and painless--Erik would have squeezed, inch by inch, the life out of Raoul.
But after he had chased the vicomte through countless dark alleys, the vicomte had stumbled into the brightly lit streets and kept going, while Erik kept to the shadows and lost the trail. Furiously, he stormed back toward the opera house, again condemning his face. He didn�t dare to go into the light. He had hidden his face in darkness for years, and now, especially without his mask, could not venture out of the dark world he had created for himself.
So he had remained in darkness as he went back to the opera house, where he hid in the out-of-view passageway behind Christine�s mirror, listening to see if she told anyone where she had been.
The room was silent until an hour before the performance, when voices, and baby Meg�s cries had interrupted the stillness of the night. He heard Christine and Madame Giry talking, but their tones were almost inaudible, and he couldn�t tell what they were saying.
The baby�s cries hushed, and finally, Christine said, "I guess he�s not coming."
"He�ll be here," Mme. Giry said. "Don�t worry."
"Will you stay with the baby during the opera?" Christine asked.
"Of course."
There was a pause, then Mme. Giry spoke again.
"He will come, Christine."
Christine didn�t answer audibly. After a moment, her voice again drifted to Erik. "I�ve got to get out there."
Erik waited until the dressing room door opened and closed, then slowly he pushed the mirror open.
Mme. Giry turned quickly from where she stood near the door. She didn�t seem at all surprised to see Erik.
There was a moment of silence as the two stared at each other, almost seeming to communicate with their eyes.
Finally Mme. Giry said softly, "She was waiting for you."
He scoffed. "I would imagine she was referring to Raoul de Chagny."
"No," Mme. Giry said, crossing to him and placing the baby in his arms. "She only wanted you." Then Mme. Giry had left him holding his daughter, alone in the dark dressing room.
�She only wanted you...� The words echoed through his mind now as he reached the house on the lake and softly lay Meg in her crib. His daughter, the image of Christine, appeared completely innocent--as she was.
But was Christine?
What had really happened at the mausoleum before Erik got there? What story would Christine tell him? �She only wanted you...�
But she had betrayed him. She had blatantly defied his request, and lied to him doing so. The promises she had made him the night she had returned to him were broken; his trust in her was broken.
And yet, as her voice carried even from far above on the stage to the lair in an ethereal way, his heart ached with love for her. This whole thing might be a misunderstanding. Maybe it wasn�t her fault. Perhaps Raoul had forced her to meet him--perhaps he had threatened her life.
Erik recoiled at that thought. If that snake had so much as touched Christine, he would murder him!
But then...the nagging thought was back. Christine had made her own decision. She had betrayed him of her own free will... Hadn�t she?
He remembered suddenly the note that had been left on Christine�s dressing room floor. Recalling it�s message was not difficult...
My dear Christine,
I simply must see you. Please, meet me tomorrow, as soon as it is dark, at the mausoleum--alone. Please, Christine, I must speak to you.
Raoul
Erik�s heart plunged with the realization that Christine truly had betrayed him. "Oh, Christine..." he whispered painfully, "Christine..."
A sudden resolve came over him, and he shook his hurt away. If his wife thought she could ignore him and his wishes, then she was wrong. He would show her that he hadn�t forgotten her promises, even if she had. He would make sure she never hurt him this way again.
His anger kindled more and more as he paced the lair waiting for the opera above to end. By the time he heard the faint notes of the final song, his wrath was like a bonfire, threatening to destroy anything it encountered. He dared not wake Meg for the trip up to get Christine--the baby�s cries would send him completely over the edge.
So he left Meg sleeping in the bedroom, and strode purposefully out to the boat. He would find out what had occurred at the mausoleum.
*****
To Christine, the night had seemed to last forever. The three-act opera seemed to take years to perform, but somehow, amid many mistakes, she managed to get through, and she hurried to her dressing room before Reyer could find her and insist that she must be in rehearsal the next day.
The dressing room was dark--only a single candle flickered eerily on the table. "Madame Giry?" Christine said, seeing no one.
The mirror suddenly swung open. Christine drew in her breath as she looked toward it "Who�s there?" she whispered.
Erik stepped out from the darkness. "Were you expecting someone else?" he asked, anger obvious in his voice.
She quickly shook her head. "No one else knows about the mirror," she murmured.
He scowled as he stepped further into the room and reached for her hand. "Come with me."
She shook her head. "I have to change. I can�t wear this costume home."
"It won�t be missed." He took her hand in his and started toward the opening by the mirror.
She pulled her hand away. "I have to change." She turned toward the closet.
His hand grasped her elbow. "I told you to come with me."
A chill ran through her. Where was her kind, gentle husband? "Please, Erik, this dress is so uncomfortable--"
"You can change just as easily at home."
"But..." Suddenly, she noticed something. She looked up at him. "Where�s Meg?"
"Asleep at home."
"You left her alone!?" Christine gasped as she remembered Raoul�s words. "How could you? She�s hardly two months old! She can�t--"
"She�s fine, Christine. I wasn�t about to wake her up. Now come on." He pulled her toward the mirror. Distressed about the baby, she relented and followed as he led her down through the darkness to the boat.
The trip across the lake was silent, aside from the sound of the water moving underneath them, and the splashes that resulted from Erik furiously shoving the oar through the water. Christine cringed inwardly, terrified of what he might do when they reached the house. The only times she had seen him this upset were when she had torn his mask from his face over two years before in the lair, and when he had dragged her down once more after his opera "Don Juan Triumphant". She shuddered at the memories--she did not want to experience his wrath again.
The boat reached the other side and Erik climbed out to secure it. Christine stood and stepped out before he could rise to help her, and she hurried inside and toward the bedroom to check on Meg.
His voice stopped her just before she passed out of the room.
"I suppose you thought I would never find out that you had gone to see the Vicomte instead of to rehearsal."
She slowly turned. He stood near the organ, staring at her. She stared back, forcing herself not to flinch under his piercing gaze.
"And," he continued, "I suppose you�ve been meeting with him all along, in dark places where no one sees, like the mausoleum. You told me de Chagny was on an expedition to somewhere, and that he wasn�t due to return for at least another year. Apparently he�s returned early--if he was ever gone in the first place."
Indignantly she gasped, "I have never--"
"How long has this gone on?" he demanded. "How long have you pretended?"
"I haven�t!" she objected. "The first time I saw Raoul in two years was last night after the opera."
"Last night? Is that when he gave you the note?"
"Yes."
"Where were you? In your dressing room? I came in late--what did I miss?"
"How dare you!" she erupted. "How dare you even suggest--I can�t believe you! You know that I would never deceive you like that!"
"Apparently you would! You told me you were going to rehearsal!"
"You wouldn�t have let me go to the mausoleum if I�d told you!"
"You�re right! I wouldn�t have! I don�t trust de Chagny--and now I don�t know whether or not to trust you!"
"I promise you, I have never--"
"Promises don�t mean anything, Christine! You promised me you would never lie to me--you promised me you would have nothing to do with him. You obviously kept neither--why should I believe you now?"
She was silent. Erik still stared at her, challenging her with his eyes to come up with another excuse. Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked at the floor. Impatiently he growled, "Answer me! Why should I believe you?!"
She didn�t speak for a long moment, then finally, her whisper reached him. "I�m sorry."
"You�re sorry? That�s all you have to say?"
"I know you don�t believe me...I should have told you," she wept. "I wanted to tell you, only I didn�t dare...I knew what you�d say, and so I--"
"So you just decided I didn�t need to know and went on with it? What happened to your telling me everything?"
"I�m sorry," she murmured again, slumping against the doorframe. "I was wrong. But Raoul was so desperate, and I knew you�d refuse--"
"You�re right! I would have! Listen to yourself--�Raoul was so desperate.� Why does it matter if he was �so desperate�? You didn�t care when I was desperate two years ago--when I loved you more than anything and you went off with him."
"But I was wrong then too! I loved you, only I didn�t realize it. You know I love you, Erik! I came back--I did care, I still do care!"
"And apparently you still care about him too!"
"No, I promise, I only--"
"There was no reason for you to go to him. If you had insisted, he could have told you last night, in your dressing room, whatever was so drastically important, if indeed all he wanted to do was talk to you. What did he want?"
"Didn�t you drag it out of him?" she accused, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"He concocted some story about how someone is after you and I. He had no facts--only speculation. Obviously he made it up as an excuse, trying to cover the truth. What did he really want? I only saw part of your conversation--the last part. I don�t know what you did when you first got there... Do I even want to know, Christine?"
"It wasn�t a story. That�s what he told me, I promise you."
"He went to all the trouble to get you alone, out of sight, so he could tell you he thinks we�re being hunted? I don�t think so."
"Why can�t you believe me? I would never--"
"You lied to me! You told me you were going to rehearsal. I came up to find you, for the baby, and you weren�t there. What was I supposed to think? You said you would be either in your dressing room or in rehearsal. Instead, I found Meg Giry probing through your closet for your costume--then I found the note from de Chagny on the floor."
"Erik--"
"What did you do?" he continued. "Plot all last night on how you could get away from me?"
"No!"
"You knew I wouldn�t agree, but you couldn�t help yourself. You�ve grown tired of me, is that it? You needed an escape from this place, this dismal hole we live in. You needed an escape from here, from me, from my--"
"Don�t say it!" she cried.
"My face!" he yelled. "My horrible, hideous, loathsome, deformed face! It�s finally too much for you to bear, isn�t it?" He strode across the room and placed his hands on either side of Christine�s face, pulling her close--only centimeters away from his own disfigurement. "You can�t stand it anymore, can you? You�ve decided to just forget about me--never mind that you say you love me, never mind our baby--you just want to run away and forget all we�ve shared!"
"No," she sobbed, "please, Erik, you must believe me. I love you--I love you more than anything! I would never hurt you--"
"But you have!" he said. He stared into her tear-filled eyes and felt his anger giving way to hurt. He closed his eyes. "Christine... Christine, why?" he whispered. "Why?"
Another sob escaped her, and she buried her face in his chest. His arms fortuitously wrapped around her, and he held her as she cried. "I�m sorry," she whispered against him. "I�m so sorry. I don�t have any excuse... I should have told you. I just... Raoul was desperate, and I couldn�t get him to leave my dressing room till I promised to meet him tonight... And then I couldn�t break my word... I had to meet him, alone as he said, and I knew you�d insist I couldn�t go, at least not without you. I�m sorry," she cried. "I�m sorry."
"You said you�d never lie to me!"
"I know," she sobbed. "I�m sorry. I was so wrong."
"Couldn�t you have at least told me you�d seen him? Couldn�t you have told me you needed to meet him? You know I would give my life for you, Christine--I love you!"
"I know," she whispered.
"If you had just told me, if you had insisted you had to see him, I wouldn�t have stopped you. I would have gone with you, to make sure he didn�t harm you, or at the very least watched from a distance... And even if I hadn�t gone with you, at least I would have known where you were. I�ve never been more afraid than I was at the moment I didn�t know where you had gone. You told me you�d be there--and you weren�t. What was I supposed to think? I didn�t know if you�d been hurt, or..." He tilted her face up so she would look into his eyes. "Christine, if I lost you, I...I couldn�t survive."
"I�m sorry. I didn�t realize... I didn�t think you�d find out."
"Why couldn�t you have told me?"
She seemed to search for an answer, but couldn�t come up with one. Finally she pushed her face against his chest again. "I...I just...I�m so sorry, Erik."
He held her silently, her sobs muffled by his shirt. He believed her then--she did love him; and obviously hated herself for deceiving him. He shouldn�t have been so hard on her--but she had terrified him. Without her love, he was nothing.
But even as he admitted to himself that he believed her, doubts swarmed his mind. What if he was wrong? What if she disappeared again? Would he again find her with the vicomte?
And had Raoul�s only goal been to �warn� her of the impending danger he believed she was in? Why had he summoned her alone to the mausoleum? Was there more to it than Christine would admit?
"What did he want?" Erik asked. "I need to know, Christine."
"Only what you said he told you," she sniffed. "He said he�s uncovered someone�s plot to kill us."
He pulled back and tipped her chin up with his fingers to look into her eyes. "Is that really all he wanted?"
She paused for a moment, and Erik�s heart sank. Now would come the part he dreaded.
"He asked why I chose you," she whispered. "He told me he still loves me."
"And?"
"That�s all. I told him I love you." She stared into his eyes. "I will never leave you, Erik. No matter what happens, I will be yours forever."
He pulled her close to him again. "I believe you," he said. "I�m sorry."
"It�s not your fault. I should have told you the truth."
"Promise me," he whispered, "that you�ll never lie to me again."
"Never," she whispered. "I promise you, never again."
"Christine--"
"Erik," she said suddenly, pushing back so she could look up at him.
"Yes?"
"You...you don�t think Raoul was right, do you? About someone searching for us, wanting to kill us?"
"Of course not," Erik said, ignoring his own doubts. "Don�t give that a single thought. No one has anything against you. If anyone was out to get us, they�d only want me. Not you. Not Meg. You don�t have anything to worry about."
"But is someone after you?"
"I don�t doubt that there are many people who would like to get their hands on me," he said, "but don�t you worry about it. None of them knows where I am. I can take care of myself."
"But why would Raoul go to all the trouble to get me alone to tell me something that wasn�t true?"
Erik sighed. "That�s why it doesn�t make sense to me. But there can�t be any danger. The only people who know our whole story are trustworthy enough. If the truth were told, I�d say that de Chagny is the one out to kill me, so he can have you."
"He would never do such a thing!"
"It wouldn�t surprise me," Erik said. "You said yourself that he still loves you."
"But he knows that you mean more to me than anything. If he hurt you, he would hurt me. If he loves me, he won�t harm you. I�m more worried that someone else is after us, or you, as he said. Erik, he wouldn�t lie to me. I know he wouldn�t. If he says he�s discovered something, then most likely he has."
"We�re in no danger, Christine. Trust me, all right?" He touched her cheek softly. "You know I�ll protect you. No one will ever hurt you as long as I�m there--and I will always be there. I promise."
"But what about you?"
"Sshhh--don�t worry." He hugged her to him. "I�ll be all right."
"But--"
"Sshhh," he soothed, rocking her gently. "We�ll be fine."
"Oh Erik, I love you," she whispered, her trust in him obvious.
"I love you too," he said. "You have nothing to worry about."
"I won�t worry," she murmured, running her finger tenderly down his cheek. "But Erik, I need to check on the baby. And this costume is so uncomfortable."
"I�ll get Meg," he said. "You go on and change."
She nodded. "All right. I won�t object. I can�t believe she didn�t wake up, with all the noise we�ve made."
They went into the bedroom together, and Christine gratefully began unbuttoning the long string of buttons down her back as Erik went to check the baby.
"I didn�t sing very well tonight, darling," she said. "Can you run over some of the music with me tomorrow? I thought I had it down, but with all the stress, I just... Erik?" She looked at her husband.
He was staring into the bassinet, his face pale. "Christine," he said in a strangled voice.
"What? What�s wrong?" she hurriedly crossed to him, following his gaze. "Is Meg all--" She suddenly gasped as she saw what he did.
