Chapter Two: Changes

Erik turned to look at Christine. She smiled and walked over to him, tears stinging her eyes. He knew that sending Raoul away was one of the most hurtful things that had been done to her in her lifetime. Wrapping his arms around Christine, she began to cry. The shouting of the mob had all but disappeared and Erik wondered if Raoul had anything to do with it. He brushed away the thought and held Chrisitne while she cried, whispering sweet things into her ear to calm her.

She smiled up at him and kissed him, this time with more passion the never before. Erik pulled her closer and there was no room in between their bodies. He moved his hand up and down her back, causing shivers to run through Christine's spine. He gently pulled away, not wanting to start something she wouldn't conclude.

Chrisitne felt hurt. Did he not want her as much as she wanted him? He turned his back to her, trying to control his body. "Erik?" she asked, placing a small hand on his arm. He turned to her, his expression blank. "Yes?" Christine looked at him with worried eyes. "Erik, why did you turn away?" she asked, moving closer to him.

"Christine, I don't believe we should do this right now," he said. She looked up at him and nodded. "I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said, once she had turned away. She turned her head back around. "You could never disappoint me," she said, cupping his face in her hands. Erik smiled, a thing he never thought he would do after Chrisitne had pulled his mask from his face in front of the audience. He closed his eyes at the memory.

Christine smiled at him and took his hand. He followed her absentmindly as she led him towards the bedroom. She wasn't going to try anything, but she thought they would be more comfortable if they were laying down. Pulling him over to the bed, he instantly began to protest. "Chrisitne, I can't-" she silenced him with a finger to his lips. "I'm not going to try anything."

He sighed and watched as she lied down on the bed and looked up at him. It was clear that she wanted to spend this time with him, just to have him hold her throughout the night. Erik took off his boots and gently settled himself in bed next to Christine. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest. Neither of them were getting any sleep, so Erik gingerly picked up Christine's left hand and looked at the ring she had on.

He frowned at it, remembering how he had snatched it from her neck during the Masquerade. Christine seemed to sense his uneasyness and moved closer to him, her hand lazily drawing circles on his chest. Erik had begun to stroke her hand now, but when he touched the ring, he let out a low growl. Christine looked up at him with a furrowed brow. "What?" she asked, not certain why Erik would be growling at his engagement ring.

"The first thing I'm doing when we leave is buy you a new ring," he said. Christine thought this over and then it clicked in her head. "Yes, I think it would be proper for a man to buy an engagement ring for his bride," she said, happy that she hadn't done anything wrong. She sighed and continued to run her hand along his chest. She moved her hand upwards and started to caress Erik's face, her hand making the sensative skin of his right side tickle. He let out a sigh and Christine then noticed how tired she was.

Erik got more comfortable and nestled his face in her lovely brown locks, smelling he lovely scent of her. Christine was doing the same thing, except she was nuzzling his neck. Erik's hand came up and began to run up and down her back, sending shivers down her spine. He felt Christine give a shudder of pleasure and stopped what he was doing. He did not want this to go where it was going.

It wasn't that he didn't love Christine, as he did love her so much it hurt. He was just scared, terrified actually. He had never experienced the joys of the flesh before, and he didnt want to disappoint Christine. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about it. When he finally heard her breaths get longer and heavier, he knew that she was sound asleep. His eyelids felt heavy and he didn't try to deny sleep any longer. The last thought he had was that tomorrow was going to be a whole new day.

xXx

Christine opened her eyes and immedeatly remembered last night. She smiled and lifted her head off of Erik's chest. Turnin her head so that she could look at him, she noticed that he didn't have his mask on. She felt the need to reach out and caress the marred flesh, but decided against it, he needed sleep. She sat up and looked about the room.

Noticing that it was almost completely dark, save for a few candles, she very quietly got out of bed and began to search for something to light the other candes with.

xXx

Erik had exspected to awake to find Christine in his arms, but in the back of his mind he knew he wouldn't. A monster like himself would never awake in the arms of an angel. He slowly opened his eyes and turned over to find Christine. He reached his arm out to touch her, but what he touched made his heart rip in half.

He had touched the red silk of his covers. Chrisitne wasn't there. She had left him! He sat there a moment, in shock. 'See, a monster like you never gets what he wants!' his inner voice screamed at him. "No! NO! Christine didn't leave me! She wouldnt...couldn't," his voice broke into sobs as reality crashed down on his shoulders. He should have never opened his heart to her!

His sobs echoed off of the walls of his Lair and Christine nearly dropped the candle she was using to light the others. 'Why is Erik crying?' she asked herself, setting down the candle and basicly running into his bedroom.

Erik looked up at Christine with shocked eyes. Was she really still here? Or was this another evil dream? Christine rushed over to him and emraced him in a tight hug, which Erik willing fell into her arms. He was a sobbing mess and Christine wanted to know why. "What's wrong, my love?" she asked. This only made his cry harder.

He looked up at Christine and she captured his lips in a passionte kiss. She pulled away and looked into his eyes, but found that he had them closed. She waited patiently for him to notice that she had stopped kissing him, but he didn't open his eyes. Christine took this as a sign and kissed him again. This time, it was Erik who pulled away.

"Christine, I-I thought...y-you le-left me," he said, beginning to cry once more. Christine pulled him into another tight hug and getnly began rocking him back and forth, whispering soothing things into his ear. Erik continued to cry and now Christine knew why he had started. It was her fault, she shouldn't have left to go find some meanings of light, Erik would have done that when he awoke. "I will never leave you, my love. I couldn't live without you," she whispered into his ear, making him relax a little more.

"I don't deserve you, Christine. I've hurt you so much, and now I just feel guilty taking you away from Raoul," he said, finally letting out what had been eating at him. Christine didn't falter in rocking him gently, but said in a serious tone, "What Raoul and I shared was nothing more then sibling love. There was nothing between us but childhood memories."

Erik sighed and looked up and into the caring eyes of his angel. Christine brought her hands up to his face and traced his jawline. She was going to try and be everything Erik thought she was. Erik sensed what she was getting at and that all to familiar feeling took over; fear. He swallowed and Christine almost laughed. She could always tell what his emotions were by looking into his stunning greenish-blue eyes. She could tell he was afriad, but she would change that.