5 years after Aria's wedding.

I crept quietly to Erik's bedside coming beside him and taking his hand. His eyes fluttered open.

"Christine," he whispered hoarsely. I gave him a broken smile.

"I'm here," I murmured, my voice cracking. "I have a surprise for you," I whispered. His eyes held a curious expression, as did the rest of his face, but he said nothing, because it wore him out so quickly. Six months ago, Erik had developed a bad cough, and taken to coughing up blood. Just this last month he had been bed ridden, and I had been there beside him and gotten him anything he needed.

"Noah's home," I said. "He arrived just last night, but you were already asleep, and I didn't want to wake you," I explained.

"Show him in," Erik bade me, attempting to sit up. I aided him and helped him rest his back against the head of the bed. I stood and went out into the hall and came back a moment later with our son.

Noah was tall, dark haired, and blue eyed. he had thin lips, and a long face, just like his father. The scar under his left eye was still there, but it wasn't terribly noticeable. It jsut made him look like his father. Noah was certainly more careworn than the last time I had seen him, seven years ago. He looked more thirty than his age of twenty-five.

"Papa," he said, reverting to his childhood name for Erik.

"Noah," Erik said fondly, a smile gracing his lips. "Where have you been, child?" he asked.

"It's a long story," Noah began, shrugging slightly.

"I've got all the time in the world, son," Erik urged.

"If you say so..." Noah said with a crooked smile that was so like Erik's it was uncanny.

"Papi!" a little girl squealed, running into the room and scrambling up onto the bed and throwing her arms around Erik's neck. Erik laughed, and instantly looked healthier. I smiled at our granddaughter, Rose, and laughed slightly.

Noah looked utterly confused. He had gotten in extremely late last night, and his clothes were completely tattered and worn, so I had ushered him in and gotten him a change of clothes and scooted him off to bed. There hadn't been any time at all to tell him that his sister had married, or that she had a beautiful daughter, and was expecting another child.

I pulled him aside. "Aria and Adam de Chagny married five years ago, Noah," I murmured. "We would have sent you an invitation, but we hadn't heard from you in over a year."

"Is she happy?" he asked, obviously distressed that he had missed so much.

"She's very happy. She fits well into that lifestyle," I said, even as Aria and Adam came into the room, Aria being obviously pregnant.

"Aria!" Noah said, laughing and embracing her tightly.

"Brother," Aria said, looking at him happily. "When did you get here?"

"Just last night, actually. Mother was gracious enough to admit me," he said with a laugh, but it never really reached his eyes. I briefly wondered what had happened to him over the course of the past seven years, but I figured he would tell Erik and I as soon as Aria and Adam left with Rose.

Erik seemed perfectly content, and it showed. His whole countenance seemed to brighten now that we were all together again.

xXx

That was one of the last times our family was together. Aria, Adam, Rose and their new son, Thomas, moved to England six months later. I lost Erik later that year. Noah was there for me throughout all of the change, and I was so grateful for him, especially after Erik passed on. I don't know how I would have faced that alone.

xXx

My mother didn't last very long after my father's death. They were everything to one another, and if you tear half of your soul out, you're not likely to survive long without it. So it was with Mother and Father.

I was relieved, surprisingly, that Aria wasn't there for that. It would have torn her apart, with her tender soul, to see Mother and Father slowly fall apart like that. Not that it was easy for me, either, but I've always been stronger than her, and my years with the circus hardened me to a new degree.

I sincerely hope that they're together in Heaven.

Fin.