A/N: I finally did it! The finale to this story! It took me longer to decide if Erik should still be scarred or not than to actually write this. Thank you to everyone who put this tale on alert or favorite, and eternal thanks go out to TheWickedWitchofOZ for being my beta. I never would have gotten this up without you!

"One hundred and forty years. One hundred and forty years I've been waiting and these idiots are making me wait longer?" I hissed under my breath. Korfus and I had left his home in Cairo nearly an hour ago, and he had called the airport to ready his private jet. Now we were sitting in the comfortable chairs waiting for clearance from the traffic control tower to take off, and I was more than a little antsy.

"Mina, you have been a vampire for several thousand years. One would think you would have learned patience by now." Korfus teased. I glared sharply at my sire as he chuckled softly, his eyes scanning over a newspaper. Korfus was about two hundred years older than me, but looked like he was in his late twenties. As a mortal, he had been a personal guard to a pharaoh of Egypt, but in the modern world he was more of a scholar. He glanced up from his paper and grinned at me.

"I have been patient Korfus. It took me millennia to finally find him, and I have spent the last hundred and forty years in torment, never knowing if he would ever wake up. I think my eternal patience has just about run out!" I snapped. Korfus stretched his hand out and grasped mine gently.

"Why don't you try to rest? I'll let you know when we arrive in Paris," I sighed and settled back into the comfortable seats. Despite my eagerness to reach Paris, and despite Erik's words over the phone, I was still afraid. He had spent so much of his life shunned because of his face that his natural reaction to people was to hide away or make them fear him. Now that he was an eternal vampire, would he still react this way? Still brooding, I closed my eyes and let my mind drift, a faded memory rising to the surface of my mind as I dozed.

I grinned in triumph as I watched from my hiding place as Meg and her young pursuer giggled and ducked into a seldom used hallway. The boy pulled the young ballerina into his arms, smiling wickedly as he kissed her neck. I sensed movement behind me, but I didn't react, knowing it was Erik.

"What are you doing?" he whispered in my ear. I spared a quick glance over my shoulder at him and turned back to the hallway ahead of me.

"Guarding young love," I replied softly. Erik peered down the hall and tensed when he saw Meg in the young man's embrace. Knowing of his oath to protect the Girys, I gripped his arm tightly and shook my head slightly.

"You will allow this boy to take advantage of her?" he hissed in my ear, his hand already going for his Punjab lasso. I rolled my eyes and gestured to the pair.

"Meg adores him as much as he worships her. Maurice is a gentleman, and will never go farther than she allows. I think they deserve to be happy."

Erik said nothing, but pressed closer behind me to observe the pair. Maurice lifted his head to gaze lovingly down at Meg, and I felt Erik's sharp intake of breath at the sight. The boy had an ugly, curved scar along one side of his face, the edge puckering around his eye. The scar was still healing, but he had survived past the risk of infection, so I had high hopes.

"His face," Erik breathed. The pair turned toward us and Erik pulled me through a hidden panel as they past.

"Compliments of Joseph Bouquet. Maurice was trying to defend one of the chorus girls and Joseph took a knife to his face for it. Meg found him and fetched me right away. She stayed by his side while he was recovering. When she looks at him, she doesn't see the scar, she sees the man who rescued one of her friends." I explained, turning to lean against the wall of the tunnel. Erik turned away his eyes dark.

"Bouquet's death was too good for him," growled the Phantom. I sighed and straightened my gown, slipping through the panel back into the now empty hallway.

"I have to go. I promised a friend I would visit," I said. A moment later, I felt a gentle brush of a hand against my hair.

"Until we meet again, mon ami."

I opened my eyes and looked absently out the window at the night sky. My mind was still occupied with Erik, and I glanced at the fine wristwatch I wore to check the time. It was already a little after three in the morning, and I blinked slightly before I remembered to adjust for the time difference. Beside me, I heard Korfus chuckle.

"You must be distracted, if you did not notice the tarmac outside the window," he said, eyes twinkling with amusement. My head shot up and I was on my feet almost before I could think to do so.

"Why didn't you say something?" I demanded. Korfus' chuckle turned into a full laugh as he stood and gently took my arm, tucking my hair behind my ear in a fatherly manner.

"You are so very nervous, my child. You needn't worry. We will be in Versailles soon enough, and you will be able to see your beloved ghost for yourself," he soothed. I allowed my sire to lead me down the steps and across the private airstrip to the spacious garage where we kept out Paris vehicles. Korfus selected his favorite car, a vintage Rolls Royce with no top, and slid into the driver's seat. I slipped in next to him and watched as he went to turn the engine over, and paused.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I just remembered that this car doesn't really go very fast. Perhaps the Ferrari would be better for your sanity," he teased. I huffed in annoyance, but obediently followed as we switched to the jet black Ferrari. Like most vampires, we enjoyed driving fast cars due to our heightened reflexes. It's one thing that Hollywood got right. We are always careful to not get caught, and if we do, well, I'll just say Erik is not the only one with a talent for hypnosis. At that absent thought, I burst out laughing. Korfus glanced over at me curiously as we left Paris behind us.

"Erik was already so skilled at hypnosis, I'm afraid to tell him how much stronger his natural talent will be now!" Korfus' laughter joined mine as we raced through the empty roads toward Versailles.

As the tires crunched the gravel in the drive, I felt my nervousness increase, my hands trembling as Korfus pulled to a stop before the front of the mansion. He calmly climbed out of the seat and moved around to open my door. I let him take my shaking hand and help me out of the vehicle before I turned to look at the door. I took a deep, calming breath, and walked resolutely up to the door. My fingers had just curved around the doorknob when it opened from the inside, revealing Jessie's giddy face.

"Mina!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around me. I happily returned the embrace with a gentle laugh.

"Jessie, I've only been gone a week. I have missed you though," I said, pulling away slightly to peek behind her. She smiled and stepped back to let me in the house.

"He's waiting in the music room. We've been over quite a bit of history, and he asked for some time to think before you arrived," she explained. With a final squeeze of my hands, she let me make my way down the hall toward the music room. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as I neared the closed door. Despite our words on the phone, doubt still nagged at me as I reached for the doorknob. As I slowly opened the door, I heard the gentle strains of music coming from the piano, the soft melody Erik had played for me the night I had passed out in his lair. I slipped inside and leaned against the door, watching him as he played. The music washed over me in a gentle caress, and it took all my control not to rush to him. After a few moments, he stopped playing and slowly turned to face me, his white mask standing out amongst the shadows I had barely registered in the room. He was watching me as closely as I was watching him, and I did not move, letting him take in the image of me in a midnight blue tank top and dark denim jeans tucked over black heeled boots.

"I had worried it wouldn't sound right on a mere piano. I was wrong of course, it sounds even lovelier," he said thoughtfully. I nodded shakily, fighting to keep my legs under me at the sound of his voice. In a second he had crossed the room and pulled me into his arms. I sagged against him gratefully, tears of joy flowing down my face.

"I have missed you so much," I breathed, holding tightly to him as if he would turn to smoke in a second. He drew back enough to bring his lips down to meet mine and I gladly responded. My fingers tangled in his hair as he deepened the kiss, my back pressed firmly against the door.

"I love you Mina," he whispered, his breath hot on my skin. I opened my eyes slightly and smiled dazedly back at him.

"I love you too. My beautiful ghost."

Erik smiled triumphantly and met my lips again. The edge of his mask bumped against my nose, and in a fit of annoyance, I snatched it from his face and tossed it aside before returning my lips to his. Erik had tensed for a moment, but melted at my touch. His fingers slid under the hem of my top, and I let out a soft mewl of pleasure. Through my heavy lidded eyes, something about Erik seemed different. My brow furrowed slightly as I tried to think through the haze of bliss, and Erik smiled. He reached up and traced a finger over my brow.

"What has you so worried, ma ange nuit?" he asked, his eyes shining with happiness. I leaned closer and let my lips wander along the side of his jaw, up his left cheek and over his brow, and down his right cheek to the corner of his mouth. I pulled back suddenly and stared in surprise at him.

"Erik! Your face, it's…healed!" I gasped in amazement as my gaze swept over his now unmarred skin.

I opened my eyes several hours later and smiled blissfully. Erik's fingers were lightly running along my skin, memorizing every inch of my body. I shifted so I could look up at him.

"I wonder what I could have possibly done to earn this Paradise," he murmured, eyes shining with happiness. I reached up and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"You accepted me without doubt, without question. I have known so many people that feared me when they learned the truth of what I am. It was why I was so afraid of telling you the truth," I replied. He leaned down to press his lips to mine as the sun began to rise just outside the window. When I pulled back, I looked up at Erik's perfect features. Korfus had reminded me that the vampire change healed most scars, and that the deformity on Erik's face must not have been a genetic abnormality, but an accident of birth. Erik traced a finger along the curve of my side and I jumped slightly.

"The great and powerful vampire is ticklish?" he teased. I let out a playful growl and tackled him, sending him onto his back with me sprawled across his chest.

"How would you like to buy the opera house?" I asked, sitting upright and shaking my hair out of my face.

"It survived?" he asked, running his hands up the length of my thighs to rest at my hips.

"Well, it's been rebuilt a few times. First after the fire, then it was bombed during the wars, but with a little work, it could be just as great as it once was," I replied, leaning closer to brush my lips over his. He smiled against my lips and suddenly I was lying on my back with Erik leaning over me.

"There's no rush, my love. We have all the time in the world," he whispered, trailing kisses along my jaw. I smiled happily as I realized the truth of that moment. We truly did have forever.

A/N: Well, there you have it. I tried to leave it all sad but my muse just wasn't having any of that. So it's a happy ending for our favorite Phantom, 'cause, let's face it, he deserves the happiness! I am toying with another story with these two involving a new character, but it might take me a while. Thank you for reading!