Emma's voice brought him out from his thoughts. She was holding Anthony who had already fallen asleep and her eyes were sad.
"Could you watch him? I need to go and see Gustave," she whispered. He wished he had the strength to tell her no but he loved her to much to do such a thing. He nodded with a sigh and Emma gently gave him the boy. She leaned over and kissed Erik's brow.
"You know I love you, Erik?" she whispered. He nodded. He knew. She showed him that love every day.
"Be careful," he pleaded. She nodded and silently slipped from the room. Erik brought Anthony back to the nursery and for a moment after setting the baby down he thought about Emma. Something inside of him was telling him not to let Emma leave the house alone. He had relied on his instincts for far to long to ignore them and silently he left the room. With quickened steps he made his way down the hall and when he spotted Emma not far ahead of him he sighed in relief. Making sure she could not see him he continued to follow her. Thirty minutes later Erik watched Emma disappear into Daae's barn. Silently he slipped inside in time to see Gustave embrace Emma and give her a rather passionate kiss. Chuckles broke into their private moment and Erik concealed himself in the shadows.
"Ah, how sweet."
Isaac glared at the couple from the corner of the barn.
The white porcelain clattered onto the floor, the only sound in the quiet of the room. Erik kept his eyes on his wife, watching as her round eyes slowly roamed over the horrible sight that was his face. Twisted pink flesh, horribly scarred...he had no eyelashes on his eye and his hair-line receded slightly, something you could never notice with his mask on. His skin lay stretched and taut on his face and Christine felt a lump catch in her throat. What had happened to him.
"Oh, Erik..." she whispered, not exactly sure how she should react but knowing that rejection would ruin him. He turned his head from her, not liking the emotion he heard in her voice. She found him repulsive. She would demand that he leave and he would because he was ashamed of himself.
Christine's thoughts were not nearly as depressing as Erik's seemed to be. The initial shock of seeing him without the mask was now over and Christine was left in total surprise. For a long time she had always thought that Erik was a handsome man in a very different way, the mask only adding to his allure. But to find that his face was quite different on the other side left her with a feeling of helplessness. What could she say to him that he would not take the wrong way? He was her husband and she loved him despite the disfigurement.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered. Christine watched him get up from bed and pull a robe on before going to get his mask. His shoulders were stiff and she could see that he was valiantly trying to hold back any emotions.
"Erik!" Christine pleaded. He ignored her, taking his mask and placing it on his face. Christine called his name again and he simply headed to the door, knowing it had been a mistake to show her something she would never accept. He stopped when he heard a loud thud and Christine's painful cry. He whirled around to see Christine lying on the floor, suddenly sobbing hysterically. He rushed to her and picked her up gently, gritting his teeth when she moaned in pain. He laid her down and checked her bandage, sighing in relief when he saw no blood.
"What the hell did you do? Throw yourself out of the bed?" he demanded, angry that she would take such a risk.
"You ignored me! I was trying to tell you to stay!" she sobbed, angry at him. He was not making it easy for her to get over the fact that he was disfigured and he was being rather hard headed, not wanting to hear anything she said, thinking it was going to be a rejection. Erik's face was hard and emotionless.
"You do not want me to stay, Christine," he told her. Christine wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Yes, I do!" she said. Erik's eyes looked away from her.
"I do not want your pity," he growled softly.
"I just want to love you, Erik. If that is to hard then I am sorry that you cannot accept what I have to offer you," she answered.
"You do not realize what you are saying," Erik said.
"Yes, I do! You deformity means nothing to me!" Christine said, begging him to believe her. He said nothing and Christine could see that she was slowly losing him. She grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently within in her own. Once more their gazes met.
"My mother loved you, Erik, and she saw beyond outer appearances...do you not believe that I can do the same?" she whispered.
"I do not want you to wake up every morning to a monster and wish your life was different," Erik murmured, his finger running over the smooth flesh of her hand.
"In the beginning I admit that I wished day and night that I was not with you...that was before I got to know the man I fell in love with...do you love me simply because of what I look like?" she asked, praying that was not the case. She did not want any man to love her because of her beauty.
"No...You're my spit-fire," he murmured. She smiled, liking the spark that came into his eyes when he said that.
"I am not a vain woman, my love. Your visage is horrible to look upon because of the fact that I know how much pain it must have cost you."
Erik studied her closely, desperately wanting to believe that what she was saying could be true. For as long as he had had to wear the mask he had always believed that no woman would love him fully. He had always felt like less of a man because of his face.