A New Beginning

Chapter 41

The next morning, Erik woke up before the sun even started to rise and he threw on a pair of trousers and a shirt and ran off to the hospital to bring his princess home. His daughter was so fragile, she didn't even wake up until a couple minutes after Erik had tucked her in her own bed, of course Erik was right beside her. "Princess," he grinned once the little girl opened her eyes.

"Papa!" Lotte cheered weakly and reached for his hand.

"Yes angel, we're home. I told you it would be alright," he smiled as he took her hand and kissed every finger.

"We're home?" she looked at her surroundings for a moment before she acknowledged she was in her room.

"Are you hungry? I will cook you anything you want. I can even have the hotel or the restaurants bring us something if you want," Erik offered rubbing her hand.

The little girl giggled and looked at him with happy eyes. "Could I have crêpes, papa?"

Erik kissed her forehead, "Of course you can have crêpes. I'll make them myself and send your brother here so you won't be alone." He kissed her hand again and left the room.

The day went by rather quickly, as they were all happy Lotte was back, but when bedtime came, she asked her papa to read her the story he'd written for her again. Erik, realising he had left it at the hospital, put on his coat and went to fetch it.

As he entered the room, he found a doctor was looking through it. "Doctor?" Erik called.

"Mr. Y," the doctor smirked. "I believe you're here to take this," he said and held out the book.

Erik took it and nodded. "That's the reason," he stated simply.

"Thank you for sharing such a story, I will see you arrested in the morning," the doctor chuckled evilly.

Erik just left quickly without another word. Once home, he found Lotte had already fallen asleep. He kissed her forehead, sighed, and went to his own bedroom after leaving the book on the girl's nightstand.

After a few moments of pacing while Christine put Gustave to bed, Erik decided to go downstairs and phone an old friend. "Daroga, I need you here...soon," Erik told the Persian desperately.

Nadir promised he would be at Phantasma the following night. Erik of course didn't find his answer good enough, so he reluctantly climbed back up the stairs with a troubled look in his eyes. "Darling, what's the matter?" Christine asked.

"I-I think they've found out who I am..." he whispered, changing into his nightgown rather clumsily.

"Erik, I'm sure it's just your mind playing games," Christine assured as he took a seat beside her.

Erik shook his head, "My Christine, I wrote a book for our little girl. She wanted a story and the one I wanted to give her was...our story," he began explaining, "but a doctor found the book and has reported me to the police."

Christine took him in her arms and rubbed his head. "Everything is going to be alright, I'm sure we'll find a way," she tried to think.

"Nadir will be here by tomorrow night, I'm sure he'll help. For now just sing to me, Christine. Please," Erik begged.

Christine kissed his temple and began to sing to him softly. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime," she sang.

In a matter of minutes, Erik was asleep. Christine, worried about the whole thing, couldn't manage to sleep no matter how tired she was, but as she looked at her sleeping angel, she felt reassurance and managed to close her eyes for longer than only a few seconds this time around. She would not let them take him, not after all the years of hiding, fighting, and most importantly, changing.