AN ~ Might I just say I'm happy I am well enough to do this chapter, I have been extremely ill lately, and unfortunately am going away for a week, sorry friends. I can't help it, and I'm sorry if it deture's from the pace of this story. So ever notice how you name something and then later you don't like the name you given a character? that's my problem. I have this thing with the name Adrienne. Probably becuase I know one that isn't too cool or nice, he's kinda creepy stalker like. Anyways my point is, although it's quite irrelevant I just wanted to say, I like the name Darien better. Maybe I will find a way to justify putting that name somewhere.
yes I used Cyndi lauper as my title for my chapter. I just couldn't help it, I was listening to the song when I wrote the last part of it. just be glad I didn't name it "Food pyramind" by Marilyn Manson from Clone High. That's what I was listening to at the first part of the story.
ah well, I'm done really. So anyways, review review review! I cannot say enough how much I want or need the attention. I think that I'm going for the record 100,000 word story on the site. Maybe have the ONLY one for a very long time?
Chapter Thirty: Time after Time.
Hide our sword now wounded knight
Your vainglorious gasconade
brought you to your final fight
for your pride, high price you've paid!
"Uncle Raoul." Adrienne called as he was running towards the man who was standing at the front door of the small apartment.
"Adrienne what have I told you about calling the Vicomte uncle?" Meg said to her son as she followed behind him.
"That will be all Fleur," she called down to the servant who was still holding the door open for Raoul.
Meg looked at the man in front of her door. Time does many things to men but it did very little for Raoul. Other then the pain filled eyes that held dark memories of the past, no one could tell how many years had gone by since his first arrival to the opera populaire.
Sighing she began to walk down the long hall of the apartment and thought of how she looked. She had been putting her hair into a fashionable bun, however she had heard the door so it was falling everywhere around her. Today was a day off from her trying schedule of work and she planned to spend it with her son therefore her dress was modest, a pretty blue, which was her Adrienne's favourite.
"Oh Meg, you know I told him too a long time ago." He said picking up the young boy at his feet. Adrienne's blonde curls bounced as he laughed at the sudden change of altitude. Raoul watched as Meg continue to walk down the hall towards him. He waited for a reaction to his undermining of her parenting nevertheless, there was none, which reminded him to not do it too often.
"Happy birthday little one, I brought you a present." Raoul said looking at Adrienne who was still being held to his side giving him a free hand.
"Really? You remembered! Oh how wonderful, may I see?" Adrienne said squirming as if his Uncle Raoul was hiding the present behind his back. He rarely got new toys, yet he did not mind to terribly much. He had his maman, and she loved him very much. Although he was young he knew that she did the best she could with what they had. He was always provided for, they lived decently enough, and he still had his friend, Fleur, that helped his mother out.
"Hold your horses young man, it is not proper for a gentlemen to be so impatient." Raoul said continuing to laugh at the squirming young boy.
"I tell him everyday it's a virtue but does he listen, no. Hello Raoul." Meg said approaching Raoul and kissing his cheek.
Blushing he looked at Meg to see if she noticed. He thought of fondly how her hair was beautiful down like that, it almost reminded him of...
But Meg, she looked quite pretty he thought as she blushed under his eyes. He became aware of why she was blushing as well. She had not been that forward since she was younger. Lately she had been prim and proper like her mother, and that had been a lapse in her demeanour. Their eyes met and for a brief moment they shared a moment of understanding about the child in his arms.
Raoul then put him down so that he could take the present from his pocket.
"Happy sixth birthday Adrienne." He smiled.
___
_/___\_
(*)_*
Those who hear your voice
liken you to an angel...
"Papa I do not feel well." Danielle said coming into her father's room as he was playing on the massive organ. It was new music for once, making the child wonder if he was composing a new opera. He usually asked for her advice on certain arias when in a good mood, and she loved to watch him sit there wrapped up completely in the score in front of him.
"What is wrong little angel?" he said turning on the stood as the eight-year-old dizzily walked into his room. He had been working on the new opera he was trying to write.
Trying to, was the operative word, he had no muse for it what so ever. Things were not like they use to be where he would sit down and write for pleasure, or a way to escape the chains of this existence. Now he wrote so he could continue to provide in the somewhat lavish lifestyle he had grown accustom too. He knew he also did it for Danielle, and yet, deep down he knew that if they lived out in the country, or a small apartment in the city she would not care. She had the ability to make the best out of any situation.
He had stopped his career as the opera ghost years ago, and the money had not yet begun to dwindle, however he felt he needed to have some source of income still.
"I don't know." She said foggily and he would have ran to her side if he didn't remember he must give her a chance to make her way to him. He always had to remind himself not to smother her, that she was a flower who needed to grow.
"I feel very odd." She said approaching him.
Carefully he placed his cool hand on her head only to find its temperature was quite high. On a normal day her smooth forehead would be warm under his icy fingers that she had grown accustomed too. Yet today, he could tale by her pale countenance and hazed eyes that a fever had taken her.
"Oh my dear Dani, perhaps you should lie down." He said getting up from the stood he had been sitting on and picking her up. He knew these days of carrying her close to him were soon coming to an end; therefore he cherished every moment of them.
"Alright Papa, will you lie with me? Please?" She asked as her burning head came in contact with his shoulder and neck and he placed his on top of it.
How could she be sick? How could you let this happen? He asked himself. If you weren't so damn caught up in that disgrace of an opera you were writing, maybe you would have seen this coming.
"I will once I make a remedy for that fever of yours," He said as he opened her bedroom door and placed her on the lavish bed that once held her mother in the state she was in.
"Promise?" she said sleepily rolling to her side so she could see him before he left and closed the door behind himself.
"Promise Danielle."
___
_/___\_
(*)_*
Makes you glad,
makes you proud
All the creme de la creme...
Adrienne sat playing with the model horse that Raoul had brought him as a present.
"I still say it was too much." Meg said quietly watching her son play with the expensive looking figure. She secretly loved it when Adrienne was given nice things, but she didn't want her son to get spoiled, nor feel dependant on Raoul.
Deep down, she still remembered when he walked out of her life six years ago and was waiting for the incident to happen again. She could not depend on anyone, except herself for that matter. Now there was a new problem that she feared her friend overlooked. Adrienne adored Raoul like a father and would call him so if he already didn't get in enough trouble for calling him uncle.
What was she to do? She never wanted Adrienne to feel what she felt when Raoul left her. She didn't want her son to feel any pain of the sort. She cursed Raoul for finding a way back into her life and her son's. If it had just been her, she may have been able to handle these feelings of abandonment, but it wasn't just her.
Nonetheless she knew that Raoul cared about Adrienne deeply, even if it did bother her. As silly as she knew it was, she was jealous. The two held a special bond that she felt she was left out of, and she was his mother. Sighing, she was defeated knowing that she would have to get past these feelings. Raoul would never hurt her or Adrienne like Audric did. He would protect them, and if not love her, love Adrienne in the very least.
"Too much indeed."
"Oh come now Meg, what ever happened to the care free girl who used to love presents?" he said smiling and patting her hand as they sat side by side in front of the fire.
"She went away when she learnt of bills and work." She said laughing sweetly. Her blonde locks bouncing freely. The small creases in her brow smoothed and she looked all a twenty again Raoul mused. He made another mental note to make her laugh more often.
"How is work?" Raoul asked as he watched Adrienne made neighing sounds in the corner of the room. He was truly fascinated with the small toy that was given to him. Raoul thought of how much he could truly give that child if he was given the opportunity, another reason why he came to visit Meg.
"Work is... well work monsieur de Chagny. Hardly anything to talk about on a fine Saturday like this." Meg said fixing her skirts trying to avoid looking him in the eye. She didn't want to tell him that she was going to be taking a pay cut in a few months, she didn't want to tell him that she may be out of a job soon after that. He would only offer her more money, false protection that she did not want or care for.
The Opera was not doing as well as it could be in the last few years. After Christine there had been the lovely voice of a Chantal Belmont who sang as the prima donna for a few years. It was when her husband died that held true to the traditions of any widower and went into a year of mourning. By then her contract was given to a Valerie Dabien who could not sing if her life depended on it. The shrill woman was nice however, making her stay a bit longer then the audience would have liked. Yet another tragedy fell upon the opera that year when she took ill and died. After that, there were not very many dedicated patrons of the opera, due to Miss Dabien's tendency to sound like a whiny violin, God rest her soul.
New Prima donna's came and went, as did many to the opera. However none drew the attention Christine had eight years previously or even Carlotta's hold on the audience for that matter. What they needed was a good opera, something that would draw people back, something that was entirely new. How many times could you hear a bad singer play Marguerite when they had heard the best years before? If they didn't have the talent, they should at least have a fresh plot.
"Oh come now, there has to be something we can talk about." Raoul said quietly trying to catch her eyes.
"There is one thing, something you have been putting off my friend." Meg started, "How was the funeral?"
Raoul thought about the question for a moment. He knew what she was talking of, the funeral for Phillipe last week. He had died finally of his old age and now Raoul was the soul owner of the entire de Chagny estate.
"It was a funeral Meg, nothing more really." He said uncomfortably. Was he going to tell her why he didn't invite her? He had not thought about it before coming. How was he to ask for her child to be his heir if he couldn't even feel comfortable bringing her to the funeral?
No that wasn't been it; he would of rather her been there right beside him. To have the support that she was always so good in giving. Nonetheless, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, and she surely would of around that many depressed aristocrats.
"I read in the paper that your already the new Comte de Chagny, must be quite the change." She said awkwardly. Why had she even brought it up? It was in the past, nothing she could do to ease his pain or take his mind off it. Raoul's life was full of death of the ones he loved. From his parents at an early age, to his wife and daughter, and now the brother that he had indeed held dear to his heart.
"Well not really, listen Meg, about the whole thing." He said deciding to skip the part about how he didn't invite her. He was sure she already knew that it wasn't his wishes to leave her out of such a troubling time, in a way she had most likely been grieving as well. Although Phillipe and Meg were not the closest people they had both talked on several occasions about his problems years ago. They had many things in common when it came to his well-being.
"Remember how you said that giving him that present was too much? Well I'm not too sure if you are going to agree to this but I have to try. As you know I no longer have an heir to the de Chagny estate. I want to make Adrienne that heir Meg; I want to treat him as I do now, but even better. I came to talk to you about Adrienne and how much this could do for him think of the education, think of the opportunities! He could have everything his little heart desires and the best that money can buy." Raoul said taking Meg's hands in an attempt to make her understand what he was offering.
"That is what I'm afriad of." She whispered looking in his eyes
There's a chapter there...
makes you proud
All the creme de la creme...
"I still say it was too much." Meg said quietly watching her son play with the expensive looking figure. She secretly loved it when Adrienne was given nice things, but she didn't want her son to get spoiled, nor feel dependant on Raoul.
Deep down, she still remembered when he walked out of her life six years ago and was waiting for the incident to happen again. She could not depend on anyone, except herself for that matter. Now there was a new problem that she feared her friend overlooked. Adrienne adored Raoul like a father and would call him so if he already didn't get in enough trouble for calling him uncle.
What was she to do? She never wanted Adrienne to feel what she felt when Raoul left her. She didn't want her son to feel any pain of the sort. She cursed Raoul for finding a way back into her life and her son's. If it had just been her, she may have been able to handle these feelings of abandonment, but it wasn't just her.
Nonetheless she knew that Raoul cared about Adrienne deeply, even if it did bother her. As silly as she knew it was, she was jealous. The two held a special bond that she felt she was left out of, and she was his mother. Sighing, she was defeated knowing that she would have to get past these feelings. Raoul would never hurt her or Adrienne like Audric did. He would protect them, and if not love her, love Adrienne in the very least.
"Too much indeed."
"Oh come now Meg, what ever happened to the care free girl who used to love presents?" he said smiling and patting her hand as they sat side by side in front of the fire.
"She went away when she learnt of bills and work." She said laughing sweetly. Her blonde locks bouncing freely. The small creases in her brow smoothed and she looked all a twenty again Raoul mused. He made another mental note to make her laugh more often.
"How is work?" Raoul asked as he watched Adrienne made neighing sounds in the corner of the room. He was truly fascinated with the small toy that was given to him. Raoul thought of how much he could truly give that child if he was given the opportunity, another reason why he came to visit Meg.
"Work is... well work monsieur de Chagny. Hardly anything to talk about on a fine Saturday like this." Meg said fixing her skirts trying to avoid looking him in the eye. She didn't want to tell him that she was going to be taking a pay cut in a few months, she didn't want to tell him that she may be out of a job soon after that. He would only offer her more money, false protection that she did not want or care for.
The Opera was not doing as well as it could be in the last few years. After Christine there had been the lovely voice of a Chantal Belmont who sang as the prima donna for a few years. It was when her husband died that held true to the traditions of any widower and went into a year of mourning. By then her contract was given to a Valerie Dabien who could not sing if her life depended on it. The shrill woman was nice however, making her stay a bit longer then the audience would have liked. Yet another tragedy fell upon the opera that year when she took ill and died. After that, there were not very many dedicated patrons of the opera, due to Miss Dabien's tendency to sound like a whiny violin, God rest her soul.
New Prima donna's came and went, as did many to the opera. However none drew the attention Christine had eight years previously or even Carlotta's hold on the audience for that matter. What they needed was a good opera, something that would draw people back, something that was entirely new. How many times could you hear a bad singer play Marguerite when they had heard the best years before? If they didn't have the talent, they should at least have a fresh plot.
"Oh come now, there has to be something we can talk about." Raoul said quietly trying to catch her eyes.
"There is one thing, something you have been putting off my friend." Meg started, "How was the funeral?"
Raoul thought about the question for a moment. He knew what she was talking of, the funeral for Phillipe last week. He had died finally of his old age and now Raoul was the soul owner of the entire de Chagny estate.
"It was a funeral Meg, nothing more really." He said uncomfortably. Was he going to tell her why he didn't invite her? He had not thought about it before coming. How was he to ask for her child to be his heir if he couldn't even feel comfortable bringing her to the funeral?
No that wasn't been it; he would of rather her been there right beside him. To have the support that she was always so good in giving. Nonetheless, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, and she surely would of around that many depressed aristocrats.
"I read in the paper that your already the new Comte de Chagny, must be quite the change." She said awkwardly. Why had she even brought it up? It was in the past, nothing she could do to ease his pain or take his mind off it. Raoul's life was full of death of the ones he loved. From his parents at an early age, to his wife and daughter, and now the brother that he had indeed held dear to his heart.
"Well not really, listen Meg, about the whole thing." He said deciding to skip the part about how he didn't invite her. He was sure she already knew that it wasn't his wishes to leave her out of such a troubling time, in a way she had most likely been grieving as well. Although Phillipe and Meg were not the closest people they had both talked on several occasions about his problems years ago. They had many things in common when it came to his well-being.
"Remember how you said that giving him that present was too much? Well I'm not too sure if you are going to agree to this but I have to try. As you know I no longer have an heir to the de Chagny estate. I want to make Adrienne that heir Meg; I want to treat him as I do now, but even better. I came to talk to you about Adrienne and how much this could do for him think of the education, think of the opportunities! He could have everything his little heart desires and the best that money can buy." Raoul said taking Meg's hands in an attempt to make her understand what he was offering.
"That is what I'm afriad of." She whispered looking in his eyes
There's a chapter there...