Say You'll Share With Me | Phantom Oneshots

Our Little Home

this is one of my phantom of the opera oneshots that I've posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net (where you can check me out - nerdywriter36 :D) and decided to bring over here as well :)

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It was quiet.

That was the first thing that Christine noticed when she stepped into her home - her family's home. She hadn't thought that she would be so fortunate to have a humble little flat like the one she called home now; at least, she hadn't considered having a flat aboveground in Paris. After her marriage to Erik, she had been content to think that she would spend her days in the home that he had made for himself beneath the Opera House, and for the longest time, that had been Erik's plan as well.

That is, before they found out about the baby.

She had had her suspicions before she knew for certain; she had ignored the nausea when it first began, passing it off as illness that would fade over time. When it persisted, though, in combination with missing her monthly cycle three months in a row, an increasing, unfamiliar tenderness in her breasts, and the slight, yet noticeable, tightening in her bodices, she knew that her hunch had been correct.

Despite knowing that she was carrying a baby - carrying Erik's baby - she hesitated to tell him, to share her joy with him, for she didn't know how he would react. Would he share her enthusiasm for the child they were expecting together? Or would his emotions take over as they so often did, sending him into a blind rage or a fit of tears that only ended in him locking himself in his music room for hours on end? The latter option was the one that frightened her; she knew that overstimulation was far from healthy for him, what with the already weakened state of his heart. So in the wake of her uncertainty, she had turned to someone who had become as much of a friend and confidante as he was for Erik - the Daroga.

She still recalled how Nadir's eyes had widened slightly when she had told him the news, followed quickly by him helping her onto the sofa in his parlour so she could explain her concerns to him.

"You must approach it delicately with him. That is the only advice I can give to you, Christine," he had said, gently holding her hand in his own. "I would be happy to be there with you to ensure that all is well."

Christine had never been so glad to have him there as she had been that evening. When she had told Erik the news, her voice as soft and gentle as she could possibly make it, he had still had an immediate outburst; he had jumped to his feet, towering over her where she sat on their sofa, and torn his mask off, demanding how she could possibly bear to bring a child into the world with the risk of it looking anything like him. But just as tears had begun to pool in her eyes, just as Nadir had stepped to his friend's side to calm him, an expression of pain had washed over her husband's face and his knees had buckled under him, his weakened heart betraying him in the moment of such intense emotions.

If Nadir had not been there, Christine did not know what she would have done. Simply sat by her husband's side on the ground as she waited for him to return to consciousness and gain even the slightest bit of strength to walk back to bed, she guessed. Thankfully, Nadir had caught him before he hit the floor and carried him to their bed, staying longer than expected to wait until his friend's eyes opened again. He had been less than pleased when Erik refused to give them permission to call a doctor but still chose to give Christine a gentle kiss on the cheek and to wish her all the best before leaving the couple to themselves.

And it was then, with Erik's emotions once more in check - after a few moments of crying and begging for Christine's forgiveness, that is, - his right hand holding tightly onto Christine's and the left, albeit weak and slightly numb, resting on her stomach, that they decided that they were going to bring their baby into the world, taking on whatever challenges the experience might throw at them.