A New Beginning

Chapter 39

Gustave took his sister's advice and decided to head to the park the following day to find Marie. Once he did, he cleared his throat, raised his chin, and walked over to her confidently. "Marie...hi," he said a little hesitantly as he was now becoming nervous.

"Gustave?" she asked as her friends began to walk away after noticing him.
"Hello."

"Marie... I came to talk to you. I want to ask you something."

Marie sighed and stepped towards him. "Before you do...I'm sorry about yesterday, it's just that I thought my brother was around here and he gets very protective of me," she explained, "but I think you're very cute... and I didn't take the rose because I'm allergic."

Gustave smiled the widest of smiles. "Really?!"

Marie nodded.

"Lotte! Lotte!" Gustave yelled as he ran into the house a couple of hours later, "I fixed it! Marie likes me! I'm going to take her out tomorrow!"

Lotte turned her attention to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so happy for you, Gustave!" she giggled and went back to blushing at a pink rose.

"May I ask who gave you that?" Gustave smirked.

Lotte blushed harder. "No one!" she giggled.

"James, perhaps?"

Lotte smiled and kept staring at the rose. "He's very sweet," she said.

Gustave kissed her cheek and took her hand. "If he makes you happy, I'm happy, but if he is mean, I will punch him really hard!"

Lotte just smiled and hugged her brother. "Don't tell daddy," she whispered.

A few minutes later they were called to eat dinner and then tucked in.

"What do you think about our two little ones? Cupid has been around us a lot lately, huh?" Erik said to Christine as they sat together in bed.

Christine pecked his lips and turned on her side to sleep. "Well I think it's sweet," she said softly.

"Well, I think so too," Erik replied, mimicking her voice.

They laughed together and eventually Erik sang both of them to sleep. However, they didn't remain asleep for long, as they woke up to the sounds of small coughs coming from the hall. "I got it," Erik offered and got up to tend to his little girl. Erik entered Lotte's room slowly and found her asleep but coughing furiously. He put a blanket on top of her to keep her warm for the rest of the night, but as he pulled the blanket from under her side, his daughter rolled a little and Erik's breath got caught in his throat at the sight. A crimson stain lay on her lips and made its way down to her cheek and pillow.

Erik ran back to his bedroom, put on a robe, his mask, and a pair of shoes and scribbled down a quick note for Christine. He retreated to Lotte's bedroom and he picked her up as carefully as he could, but she still woke up. "Papa?" she asked softly between coughs.

"Shh, shh," Erik whispered as he put a blanket on her back and began to made his way outside. "It's alright, princess, it's alright," he whispered as he held her close to him in the carriage he had caught on the street.

Lotte trusted her father before anyone else, so she didn't ask further questions.

As Erik walked rather quickly to the hospital, he called for immediate help, and two nurses came and put the girl in a room, Erik tried to go in but a nurse stepped in front of the door. "Sir, you may not go in."

"She's my daughter, let me in!" he yelled with tears in his eyes. "I have to see her, she needs me," he choked.

"Please take a seat, a doctor will be here soon to take a look at her. She is in good hands, don't worry," the nurse assured and led him to a chair. Erik buried his face in his hands and cried for what felt like days as he saw doctors come in and out of his angel's room, which only made him more impatient.

"Please, little angel, papa loves you," he repeated over and over through his soft sobs until he felt a hand on his shoulder.