Author's Note: This is a sort of remake of a story I had posted on here years ago. It is changed a lot from the original idea… in fact, this first scene is the only scene that is almost exactly the same as the story once was. This story was probably never popular enough for anybody to remember it in the first place, but none-the-less, here it is… Hope ya'll enjoy.

Thunder clashed overhead, rattling the sconces and windows with a quiver. A flicker of lightning was the only illumination that brightened Christine's face as the cloud cover of the late afternoon laid thick over the heavens. She covered her ears and ducked her head, trying to block out the angry rumble from outside. With her back pressed against a wall inside of the drawing room, she tried to hush her heavy breathing, trying to capture the sound of the lurking figure in the other room. She pressed her hand to her lips, believing that would suppress her sighs as a creek from the floorboard disturbed all silence. Her eyes widened and her fingers tightened around her dress. She wrinkled her nose and bit her lip as she could hear the clumsy footsteps approaching her hiding spot.

Before he could reach the wall she was pressed against, Christine ran across the room, alerting Raoul's attention to her as she jumped behind a large armchair beside the fire's hearth. Raoul chased after her, yelling for her and trying to reach out and grab her hand as she went. Christine laughed and grabbed his newspaper from the table beside his chair and rolled it inside of her hands. Meanwhile, Raoul stood on the other side of the boundary between them, plotting which direction would result in capturing her best.

"You're trapped now," he said, wiping a strand of blonde hair away from his brow.

"But you haven't caught me yet," Christine beamed.

Sensing the challenge, Raoul ran forward toward the chair, finding he chose the wrong direction, for Christine slipped past him and managed to hit his arm along the way with the rolled paper in her hand.

"How dare you; with my own paper too!" Raoul said as he tried to keep up behind his wife.

Christine threw the paper behind her, hitting Raoul in the chest as she held onto the banister of the stairs and swung herself around it to scramble up them. Raoul struggled to turn his weight as quickly and nearly ran past them. Christine turned over her shoulder and laughed, watching her husband struggle as she seemed to glide while she traveled. She swung the door to their bedroom open and ran inside, closing the door behind her to once again slow Raoul's momentum. In her gained time, she ran to her side of the bed and found she was stuck. As she turned, the double doors swung open to reveal Raoul with a look of triumph radiating in his eyes.

A heavy roar was sent broadly over the house, shaking the windows again on their panes and filling the room with another warning glow. Christine smiled and eyed Raoul as he began to slowly walk toward her, knowing he now had her trapped. Eyeing her surroundings, Christine's gaze turned over to the bed, and just as Raoul began to run toward her, she turned and made a leap onto the mound of pillows and covers. Desperately, Raoul leaped after her, trying to catch hold of her leg as she went. Just before he could grab on, Christine had slipped off of the bed and was back on her feet while Raoul was left on his back, struggling to get back into the chase.

He managed to roll off the side of the bed and caught sight of Christine halfway down the stairs again, holding her dressi in one hand and the banister in the other. She was turned as she ran, looking back to check Raoul's progress and began to laugh as he appeared from the bedroom doors again.

"Get back here," he yelled, chuckling as he joined back in.

Christine disappeared past the foyer and into the salon. Raoul quickened his pace, trying to regain the distance he had lost. He jumped the last step, trying desperately to recover when he ran straight into Marie, the maid. He grabbed onto her arms and pulled her back to balance on her feet.

"Monsieur!" Marie cried as he began to laugh.

"Beg pardon, Marie, I'm terribly sorry."

Yet without another word, he was back in pursuit, leaving Marie shaking her head and cocking her head at their childish game.

Raoul came to a stop as he caught sight of Christine standing with her back to the casement doors, her hands mischievously behind her back. She grinned impishly as he stopped to question her intentions when a look of shock spread over his face.

"You wouldn't," he said, almost seriously.

With a quick turn of the handle, the door released from its hinges and cracked open slightly. Raoul flinched at the sound, almost as threatening as the thunder, and held his hand up hoping to stop Christine from fleeing. In his hesitant action, Christine flung the doors open from behind her and stepped out into the storm, letting the rain pour down her back. Raoul stood for a moment – astonished – before charging out after her. Christine began to run again, holding her skirts up over her ankles and laughing as she squinted her eyes as the raindrops beat against her cheeks. She spun around the base of a tree, urging Raoul to follow closely behind her and fell into the damp grass laughing prettily. Raoul dropped to the ground beside her, his hair already drenched and dripping down his nose. He sat himself down beside her and reached an arm over her waist, leaning in close to her lips and planting a solid kiss on them.

"Caught you," he whispered into her lips.

"Don't let me go," Christine whispered back, taking up his offer for another kiss.

Marie watched from the window and shook her head again, looking to her side at another maid of the house, Sarah. Sarah gazed on from over Marie's shoulder, unsure how to feel of the couple's romance. Though childish, she partially wished that she could have one similar to what they shared: the impromptu games, the laughter, the innocence, the passion…

They came inside shortly after their moment outside and each warmed up with a bath. Marie and Sarah put out warm night clothes for each of them and quietly spoke of the only past they knew of the couple: their childhood. It made perfect sense how playful of a couple they were knowing only this past, yet they knew that there were many rumors about the couple that were covered from becoming a scandal. Many whispers and murmurs about a secret romance between them and even another man's involvement with Christine. It was all very hushed, yet they couldn't imagine them to be behind any type of trouble.

"I even heard that Christine used to sing opera," Sarah said to Marie in a whisper.

"Nonesense," Marie replied, pushing the idea aside. "Surely we'd know of something like that."

Sarah shrugged, a bit embarrassed that she had even mentioned it to such response.

"I don't know, I heard somebody who was speaking with Monsieur de Chagny mention 'your wife's previous lifestyle,' and then he said something about opera singers."

"Then why does she never sing here?" Marie offered.

Sarah was lost for words. She never thought about it since she had overheard the conversation between the Comte and a man he was doing business with.

"I only know one thing for sure, and that is that his sisters are displeased with monsieur le Comte's decision in marrying the Comtess. No real reason behind it that I've heard," Marie said.

"Perhaps they are afraid there will be no ere to the family," Sarah suggested.

"Hush, Sarah," Marie warned. "Don't be rude."

"Forgive me, I only pray that my suspicions aren't true."

"As do I," Marie said. "Regardless, they have been nothing but good to us. Covered up past or not, they are who we serve and I am grateful for it."

Sarah nodded this time, fully in agreement to her older counterpart of the household.

As the night wound down, Sarah smiled as the couple closed the doors to their bedroom for the evening in a familiar tradition. The final chores of the night would now begin as the couple was locked away for the night as the storm continued outside. Each time Sarah would pass by the stairs leading up to the bed chamber, she'd send a silent prayer, hoping that this time they would be blessed with a child.