Music of the Night: The Phantom of the Opera Returns (Guile & Melody)

[Guile]

Erik chuckled and smirked at his wife as she spoke. "Proud of him? I am not proud of that mutt." He mumbled, jokingly. "He led me right in here, but didn't warn me that Carlotta was coming." As she placed her lips on his, Erik grinned even more. "Oh, don't pull that 'do what you promised me you wouldn't' guilt trip on me. You will get what is coming to you." He teased, though he had no intention of locking her away. Instead, his punishment was far less severe. Erik simply locked lips with hers in a long, passionate kiss. He ran his fingers through her hair, not allowing her to break away from him until he was satisfied. When, at last, he broke for air, Erik smirked at his wife. "You are lucky. I let you off with a warning this time." He teased, laughing softly.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh, you let me off easy?" Christine rolled her eyes as they made it home. "That wasn't easy at all." She laughed and watched Jasper make his way down the stairs and around the many corners. Christine remained how she was, wanting to kiss Erik more and more with each passing second. "I'm sorry. Truly I am. I should not have played such a cruel joke by leaving you in town." She hid her face in shame. "Forgive me."

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed at her comment before she stopped suddenly, and he paused beside her. He looked at her curiously, noting that she was hiding her face. "Hey..." Erik whispered, turning her head just slightly to face him again. "Christine, it's alright. It certainly gave me a fright, but nothing bad happened to me. I forgive you, darling." He smiled at her and chuckled warmly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his embrace gently. Erik placed another kiss on her lips, softer but no less passionate than the last.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Thank you so much." Christine smiled and kissed him a final time as they opened the closet door and came inside their home, but two of their co inhabitants were no where to be found. "Where's your sister?" Christine lifted Alistair's chin to face her. Alistair didn't want to answer that question. He knew that Catherine had asked him not to say anything about it to their parents. But, it was a dead giveaway as to what they were doing. Their curtains were closed. "Daddy made it back!" Lilly held up her arms while coming to Erik. "And Jasper found Mommy?"

 

[Guile]

Erik followed Christine through the closet into their home, and shut the door behind them. He turned just in time to see Lilly running at him, her arms held up high. Grinning, he bent down and scooped his little girl up into his arms and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Of course I made it back! What, have you no faith in me?" Erik laughed, and then the dog was mentioned. "What, that fur ball?" He was about to say something along the lines of 'he hardly helped at all', but then swallowed his own pride and admitted the truth, grumbling. "I suppose he did, but he wasn't very efficient at it. He got distracted once or twice." Looking around the area, Erik couldn't make out any signs of Andrew or Catherine either. He furrowed his brows in confusion and had just turned to ask Christine where they could have gone when he caught sight of their closed curtains. "Dear God..." He whispered, turning away from the sight and feeling quite ill. "That's just lovely. Leave the children out here by themselves to hear such a thing." Erik could only half-tease, to no one in particular, for he was torn between wanting to rush in and throw them apart, and wanting to laugh.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine couldn't help but smile as she thought of what was going through Erik's mind right now. "Well, we knew that this was bound to happen sooner or later, my overprotective father of the bride." Christine laughed. "I'm sorry for not allowing you the chance to see her growing up, and now that's over and look what she's doing now." Christine couldn't really tease either. This was her fault and she knew it. She took Catherine away that night during the premier of Don Juan and again when Raoul found out about Catherine's lineage. "I'm truly and terribly forever sorry." Christine walked away with her head held low, a remorseful expression on her face. "I didn't know what to do at the time."

 

[Guile]

For the first time in a while, Erik's heart ached as he thought about not getting to see Catherine grow up. And now, as Christine said, she was doing very much adult activities. God, it hurt to know that his first born had come into his life as a young girl so very briefly, and came back as a woman. He missed everything about Catherine's childhood and yet, Erik could never be upset with Christine. He placed Lilly on the ground again and kissed her on the forehead before following after Christine, knowing she was hurting. Placing his hands on her shoulders he began to lightly rub her back, hopefully to ease her stressing over the past. "My darling, I hold no ill thoughts about you keeping Catherine from me because I know you wish it could have been different. I am just as much to blame. Perhaps if I had gone about trying to win your love a different way, without frightening you, you wouldn't have wished to leave." Erik whispered, for thinking about his actions of that time brought him a great amount of guilt and pain.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine smiled as she leaned back into her husband. "Even so, I cannot blame you. Fear and anger and hatred, any negative emotion was all you knew prior to that." She wasn't upset anymore, as long as Erik wasn't. "I can't blame you for your mistakes in the past. There is nothing to be done about it." Christine turned on her heel and hugged Erik. "I will never blame you for your behavior. True, you missed your first three children during their milestones: walking, talking, losing their first teeth and everything like that, but I will not make that mistake again." She suddenly heard nothing but quiet. "You hear that?" She grinned. "It sounds just like it did all those years ago. Pure quiet." She held his shoulders for the amount of time it took for her to help him out of his shirt, but that's all she did. "There. No mask. No shirt. I'm happy." She teased.

 

[Guile]

Erik slid his hands down Christine's arms as she leaned back into him, then wrapped his arms around her waist. As he listened to her, he began to feel a very great sense of relief, knowing that she did not blame him for his actions from so long ago "Thank you, Christine. I promise that I am no longer that awful man. You and the children have changed me, my dear, for the better." Erik smiled as she turned around to face him, then, before he knew it, she had taken off his shirt. He laughed at her words, pulling her up against him again. "Now, that is not quite fair. I feel rather vulnerable without my mask, you know that. Plus, I feel like Andrew without my shirt." Erik couldn't pass up such an opportunity to tease about that subject. "And yet, you remain fully clothed." He raised one brow at her and smirked.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine heard his words and gave him the death glare. "This is all the skin you'll see for a while." She lied. "Don't be ashamed of pleasing your own wife by doing this for her. You look nice." Christine assured him with a laugh. "There's nothing wrong with being like your son in law for a few hours. You even said that he had better watch his back, didn't you? Well..." she inclined her head to the closed curtains, behind which their daughter and Andrew were bonding. "If you don't carry out that threat, people may think you are a coward." She teased him in return. "What a disgrace! The famous, kind, beautiful Christine Daae married to the infamous cowardly Phantom of the Opera Populair!" She hid her face. "Oh, the pity of it all!"

 

[Guile]

Erik chuckled at her glare, but frowned when she informed him that he would be seeing nothing more than what was before him for quite some time. "How rude of you, Christine. You force me to stand before you like this and would deny me to see you, even behind closed curtains." He scoffed, teasingly, and raised a brow at her words. "Cowardly Phantom? Why, how dare you even suggest such a thing!" Erik glared at the curtains through which Andrew and Catherine were laying behind. "I am simply considerate! What would Catherine do if I were to barge in?" Though, the idea of frightening Andrew out of his wits brought a smirk to Erik's face.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine laughed. "She would thank you for being so concerned." She listened to them with a shudder. "Care to prove me wrong?" Christine was teasing, of course. She knew that Catherine was only doing what was right in marriage. "But, should you have second thoughts, remember that she's thinking about moving out soon." The young couple both froze. "We're in so much trouble now." Catherine smiled up at her husband. Andrew laughed, but put a finger to his lips. "Maybe if we're very..." he kissed her neck "very quiet, they'll go away." Catherine giggled as they continued. Christine chuffed. "Do they really think so?" She moved to stop them.

 

[Guile]

Erik grabbed Christine's arm and stopped her. He had froze for a moment, soaking in her words. She's thinking about moving out soon. Now, he was brought back to life. "Moving out, you say?" With that, he moved to the curtains and yanked them back, grabbing Andrew by the back of the neck. He wasn't too aggressive about it, and did not hold him tight enough to hurt him, but he was quite menacing with his tone of voice. "We are not going anywhere, not anytime soon. And if you think you and my daughter are, you are sorely mistaken." With that, he shoved the young man down, lightly, but with enough force to push him into the pillow.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

When Andrew was grabbed, he raised his shoulders, an automatic reaction to pressure on anyone's neck. "Let go!" He begged. "Damn, when was the last time you actually trimmed these?" He demanded as he was released. "You could actually hurt someone with those." He complained, rubbing his neck. "God damn!" He fell on top of Catherine again. She winced, but recovered rather quickly. "What's wrong? Who said that I was actually leaving? Yes, I would like to leave, but I don't have the time or money to actually pack my things and move. Most of my stuff is still in Raoul's house anyway."

 

[Guile]

Erik scoffed, crossing his arms. "What's wrong?" He repeated, as if surprised that she did not know. "First, you two have a rendezvous while the twins are just outside these curtains. And then your mother tells me you're looking to move out of here so soon after being married. Where do you plan on going, may I ask? And how do you plan to get your things from the Vicomte's home, even when you do leave? Surely you don't think I'm just going to allow you to walk into his house. I do not trust that man at all, not even enough to allow you to go in his home t gather your things."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Andrew laid back against the bedpost. "And, here it comes." He mouthed Erik's words as he spoke them, a smirk on his lips the whole time. He kept mouthing. "Catherine, my baby, you are too young to be moving out with this street rat." He even made the hand motions. Catherine tried her very hardest not to bust her gut laughing. "Your brother and sister are too young to hear such things. Raoul is dangerous. Andrew can't protect you." Behind Erik, Christine was looking just like her daughter. "Only I can." Andrew finished off. He loved having his own childish episodes, though they would sometimes make people mad.

 

[Guile]

Erik's head wiped around to face Andrew. Oh, how he glared when he realized what the young man was doing. The rage that built up inside him was a horrible thing to be feeling toward ones new son in law, but nevertheless it turned Erik's face red. "Why, how dare you!" He shouted, clenching his fists and forcing them to stay at his side, as if he raised them he may strike the man. "How dare you mock me! You are lucky that you have married my daughter - lucky that she cares for you." He growled, trying to calm himself but to no avail. "You are also lucky that I am not the same man that I was years ago!" Erik knew that Catherine had been desperately trying not to laugh the whole time and so he turned and glared at her too. "Do as you wish! Go off and live on your own, the two of you! You are married, why should I care? But when you find that I am right, do not come back begging for forgiveness! You shall have none of mine!" With that, he wiped around to find Christine standing there. That enraged him even more because he knew that she had most likely been laughing as well. Without another word to any of them, Erik stormed out and found his shirt, throwing it back on in a fit.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

They all stopped. "God, it was only a tease." Catherine followed her father, quite nervous now. She wanted to know why he was so upset. "Ex-Excuse me..." she tugged on his sleeve. "Excuse me, F-Father?" She was very nervous about talking to him. "Listen, if you don't want me leaving, I won't leave, completely. I'll stay in this building. I just want my own space." Catherine hoped to God that these were the proper words to use. "It's getting crowded downstairs and I have my own family now. I don't have to go get my things from Raoul. We'll wait until Raoul leaves on business in Greece." She tried to explain. "Is this about me growing up? Is this about how you didn't get enough time with me?"

 

[Guile]

As soon as Erik felt Catherine tugging on his sleeve, he slammed his fist down on a nearby table and wiped around to face her. "What?!" He yelled, still obviously furious, before he saw the look in her eyes. His little girl look afraid to speak to him...and it hurt his heart. What had he done? He had treated her so horribly, all of them "Oh, Catherine...my child, I am so sorry. Forgive me for yelling at you." Closing his eyes, Erik rubbed his temples in a vain attempted to stop his head from pounding. "It isn't about you leaving, not entirely. I know you must go sometime, you have a family of your own and I can't expect you to stay here forever." Feeling horribly guilt, he plopped down into a chair and rested his face in his hands. "God, you're right. I'm taking this out on you because I couldn't be there for you when you were younger. I'm being selfish...I don't want you to go yet because I haven't gotten any time to have you for myself." Erik forced himself to look up into her eyes from where he sat, feeling awfully ashamed.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Catherine, as soon as Erik yelled, flinched, ready for some sort of impact, but none came. Still, she wouldn't allow her face to be seen. Not by Erik. She didn't want to look at him. She had to go. No child enjoys being yelled at, and Catherine was no exception to the rule. She scooped up her son from the floor and ignored her husband, making a mad dash for safety. Catherine wasn't about to risk the safety of her son around his grandfather. She had seen a small portion of his old ways and it scared her enough to cause her to run away, into the bitter cold of the holiday weather, to Andrew's home, where Peter and the rest were shutting the animals inside to endure a bitter storm. "Peter, Peter, please help me." The man took her inside, where James, Edmund Lucy and Elizabeth all warmed up by the fire.

 

[Guile]

As soon as Catherine picked up William, Erik became worried. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop her from running out and away from him. He tried calling out to her to stop her, but nothing would. Ashamed, Erik leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes, fighting back the sadness that came with watching his daughter run from him. A sudden wave of fury came over him and he slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair, but took several deep breaths and tried to calm himself. Though he was concerned for the state of his daughter and grandson, Erik could not force himself to go after her. She fears me! God, what have I done? I have made my daughter fear me! He was worried that, should he go after Catherine, she would become upset with him. She wants to go. Obviously she wants nothing to do with me. Well, then, let her go! Once again, he went from worried about her, to furious with himself and her, for running off - for not trusting her own father!

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine watched this all play out. "Fine. Give her space. She needs some time to think." Christine was a little upset by Catherine's behavior. "There's nothing we can do about this, not in the snow." She had a hard time looking at her husband for a time. "You've never turned your back on any of us before. Why start now?" She trembled while placing her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them. "Please, calm down. We all love you." Having complete trust in him, Christine dared to lift Jonathan in her arms and hand him over to Erik. She voiced him for Erik, trying to make light of the situation. "Daddy, pweez, oh, pweez, don't be mad at Mommy." She smiled behind the baby. "Mommy don't wike seeing Daddy mean." She handed him over.

 

[Guile]

Erik sighed, giving in to Christine's wishes to calm himself, when she began to rub his shoulders. He felt the slight trembling of her hands and immediately cursed himself for frightening her, for frightening all of them. "And I love you all. I am sorry, Christine, I didn't mean to upset anyone." He looked up to see Christine holding Jonathan in her arms, talking for the boy. Erik couldn't help the smile that came to his face, nor the laugh that came from his lips, as he took his son in his arms. "Well, since you asked oh so nicely, I suppose I shall have to listen." Erik looked up into Christine's eyes and took her hand in his free one. "I am not angry with you, Christine. I am not angry with any of you. I am, however, furious with myself for acting the way I did." He brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "Forgive me, please."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine laughed at him when he did take their son from her. "It seems that you just can't say 'no' to your son, I mean, you can say it to William, but not Johnny. Why is that?" She remembered the tantrum their grandson threw when he didn't get that cookie. "I forgive you, but it isn't me that ran out with a baby. Catherine was so scared, Erik. She looked like she did when we brought her home from that fire. It was terrible." Christine kept looking back to the door, wondering about their daughter. "She'll be alright, won't she?" Christine looked back at Erik, still worried. "It's an awful storm out there. It must be winter time." She predicted. "It's getting chilly here at home, that's all."

 

[Guile]

Erik held their baby close and smiled down at him before placing a kiss on his forehead. He seemed to be wrapped up in little Johnny, though he did hear Christine. "Of course I can't say 'no' to him. I didn't want to say it to William, but Catherine is his mother and I couldn't disobey her wishes." Now, Erik looked up at his wife and grinned. "However, Jonathan is our son, partially mine, so I have a say in whether or not I wish to spoil him...and I do." He chuckled at this before Christine brought up Catherine again. Suddenly, his grin slowly left his lips and he became filled with dread. "I didn't mean to frighten her..." Erik trailed off, looking down at Jonathan but with less joy in his eyes. "I would never hurt her, or any of the children. Why would she run off like that? I was awful to her, but why would she go out in the cold with William over this?" He looked up at Christine, concern in his eyes. "I should go after her. I can't have her running around in a storm like this with William. Alone it would be dangerous, but now she has the child involved."