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

[Guile]

Erik wrapped his arms around Christine and buried his face in her hair, closing his eyes to shut out pictures of the past that threatened to come. "I know you are, but don't be. That is over now." He went silent as Lucy passed by, and waited until the girl was out of earshot before answering Christine. "I highly doubt that Andrew and Catherine know about this. They've seen how hard Ali was working to please Lucy. They wouldn't let him get his hopes up if they knew she was going off with another boy." Erik's heart ached for his son. How could Lucy do something like this? She was such a sweet girl! Even sweet girls fall in love. Erik had to remind himself of this.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine felt hopeless, helpless, even. "I can't help but feel partially responsible, though." She sighed. Unbeknownst to the Destlers, Alistair was up and working on his piece again. Done with the first couple of lines, he was so happy that he wanted to immediately find Lucy. "Okay, how do I do this?" He changed into nice clothes and fixed his hair in the broken mirror. "Alright, Father, I'm sorry, but..." he snatched up a single rose. Instead of tying a black ribbon around it, he used Lucy's favorite color, dark blue. "Now, I can do this."

 

[Guile]

"Responsible?" Erik was shocked by her words and pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. "Why on Earth would you feel responsible, Christine? You have done nothing to influence Lucy's behavior - no one has. You've nothing to do with her, my dear. Do not feel responsible for this mess." He pulled her gently back into his arms and held her tight. "We will have to tell Alistair. It will hurt him, but he must know the truth. Tomorrow morning we can explain what we saw to him - let him sleep tonight. Let him have one last peaceful dream of her - one night free of heartache." Why must this happen to my child? This was the last thing I wanted for them. I don't want Ali to relive my life...

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Alistair skipped down the hallway, feeling giddy. He was so excited that he felt as if he could burst. "Her expression will be so beautiful! Well, not that it isn't every second of every day." Still, he continued on to the stage, where he was certain that Lucy would be. She loved helping take care of the children that belonged to the cast. So, with a last glance back at the entrance of his home, the Destler boy followed the sounds of the cast, but, he had to stop around the corner from where his parents were standing. "Please, go away. Go home!" He whispered just under his breath. "I can't let them see me."

 

[Guile]

Erik pulled away from Christine's embrace so that he could wrap his arm around her to lead her back down. "Come, let us go home, Christine. Standing here dwelling over what is to come will not fix anything, nor will it make the pain in our hearts go away. We must try and sleep tonight so that we can tell Ali tomorrow." He took a few steps foreword towards home, but before they rounded the corner Erik heard whispering. It didn't take much to realize who it was. Ali...what is he doing here? With a gentle pull, Erik kept Christine from rounding the corner and whispered in her ear his reasoning for doing so. "It's Ali...we can't let him see Lucy like this." Without waiting for a response, he rounded the corner on his son. He may hate me for the rest of my life, but I will not let him go out there and see Lucy like this. If he goes out there and sees her with another boy it will hurt him far worse than Christine and I just breaking the news to him. "Ali. What are you doing up here this late?" Erik did his best to make their interaction casual. He couldn't let on about Lucy...not yet. Not until they got home.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine nodded as Erik had led her away. He was right about them needing sleep. It was hard to come by with a crying baby on her hip all the time. "I understand, Erik." She walked on, until her husband stopped her. She looked back, thinking that he may have seen Raoul or some other enemy of theirs. "What-oh..." she heard her son's name and understood immediately. "Yes, of course." She whispered. As Erik started speaking to him, the poor boy's legs started shaking, shaking in fear because he had been caught doing something against his parents' rules. "U-Uh...I" Alistair stuttered. "I was just getting some water, ya know?" He tried to move past, as casually as possible.

 

[Guile]

Erik saw the fear in his son's eyes. Normally, he would have scolded him and forced him to return home, but this time was different. He knew the heartache his son was either going to endure tonight, or tomorrow morning, and he didn't want to upset him anymore right now. Erik held out his hand in front of his son to stop him. "Water or not, Ali, you shouldn't be out so late." He kept his voice soft and even smiled at his boy, even though he was slightly hurt that his son would feel the need to lie to him. Perhaps I frightened him too much when he did wrong. Should I have done something different? "I'm going to have to ask that you return home, please."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Just as it had done to Christine many years ago, Ali's lie was starting to eat away at his insides like a deadly virus. Defeated, Alistair pocketed the rose and his work and took his father by the hand. "Are you angry at me, Father?" He asked in a hushed tone. Christine watched this, her heart also breaking for the little one. As angry as she was that Alistair dared lie to them, she let it go under the circumstances. "You're right. We should all go to bed. In the morning, we'll all spend time together." She said as playfully as she could.

 

[Guile]

Erik could only stare down at the rose and Ali's work in his hands with a heartbroken expression that he tried desperately to hide. Tears began to well up in his eyes as soon as he realized exactly what Ali had planned on doing, but he forced them away and smiled at his son. "No, Ali. I am not angry - I could not be. You were only doing what I told you to do. Of course, I didn't tell you to do it so late at night." Erik attempted a light tease as he wrapped his fingers around his son's hand. "Come, and do as your mother says. Tomorrow we will spend time as a family." He began leading his son down the hall toward home, feeling utterly relieved that Ali had not pressed the issue to stay and confront Lucy. Erik wasn't sure if he could bare seeing the pain in his son's eyes if he were to see the girl with another boy.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"I love you, Alistair, you know that, right?" Christine smiled at him, to which the boy laughed. "I know, you tell me every day, sometimes twice a day." He smiled at his mother. Christine laughed as well. "I know. I just want you to know how much. Remember that you always have Mommy, Daddy, Catherine, Lilly and Jonathan." She assured him. Again, the child could only nod. "And, you always will have us." Christine assured him. "Even when your father and I are long gone, you always have us." She kept assuring the boy, causing the trip to be short.

 

[Guile]

Erik's gaze continued to travel from Christine to Ali as his wife spoke. His heart wrenched in his chest with each word, knowing exactly why she was saying all of these things. It won't help, Christine. Maybe it will take away a little pain, knowing that there are people who love him, but his heart will still be broken. It will break and there will be almost nothing we can do to fix it. Erik continued to fight back his tears even as they reached home. When they were finally back, Erik picked Alistair up in his arms - chuckling as he did so - and placed him back in bed once again. "Now, promise me you'll stay there this time." He teased, placing a kiss on the boy's forehead. "Goodnight, Ali. I love you, son."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh, and don't forget Willy, too." Christine almost forgot her grandson in the list of people that love him. Alistair laughed. Then, he felt his feet leave the ground. He laid his head on the man's broad shoulder and smiled. "I know, Mother." He pressed his nose to Erik's neck and sighed. "It's been a long day, but I don't think I'm tired enough to go to bed yet." He teased his dad and climbed out of bed, running away and around the corner to his parents' bed. "Mom! Stop him!" He yelled, as if Erik were an older brother, in modern times, that was picking on his younger brother. "Good heavens!" Christine laughed as Alistair joined her in bed.

 

[Guile]

Erik stood there, mouth open in playful shock, as Ali ran off away from him and to his mother. He couldn't help the smile that came to his lips as he went after his son, glaring at him when he finally found him in bed beside Christine. "Why, you little brat!" Erik leapt foreword onto the bed, laughing as he hit the mattress, and tackled his son. He certainly looked like a child when he began tickling the boy, grinning wildly as he did so. "How dare you disobey me!" Erik teased as he continued to mercilessly hold Ali down, rendering him helpless to his father's playful punishment.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine laughed at her husband and son. Alistair had seemed so serious when he asked for help that it took her some time to realize that they were playing. "Oh, dear." She hid her face in her hands for a few moments, trying very hard to cover up, considering what she was wearing. "Boys. Boys....Boys!" She spoke louder, not yelling, but trying to be heard over her the child's laughter. This was so exciting, in fact, that the family dog decided to lick Ali's face, yipping at Erik, as though protecting the boy.

 

[Guile]

Erik stopped rather suddenly when he heard Christine and looked up at her, trying to stop his laughter enough to speak. "Yes, Christine? Do you object to a little fun, my dear?" He teased before turning to the dog that was yipping at him and playfully growling back, as if he could intimidate it. "Oh, alright, Ali." Erik turned to his son and rolled his eyes playfully. "I suppose we should go to bed. Your mother is tired." He raised a brow at Christine playfully, as if blaming her for the sudden end to their game.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She shook her head. "No, and I don't object to sleep either." She shrugged. She laid down with the dog, who laid on Erik's pillow. "I am just trying to get ready for bed and you are acting like a child." She rolled her eyes and turned over, finished feeding her son, and laying him in his crib beside her. "Good night, my precious angel." She let her fingers grace his back for a few minutes. Ali groaned and leaned over his mother to kiss her cheek before he climbed down and walked away, with a hug for his papa. "Goodnight."

 

[Guile]

Erik chuckled, but said no more as Christine rolled over to feed Jonathan. He hugged Alistair tight to him before letting him go and placing a quick kiss on the top of his head before the boy walked away. "Goodnight, son. We'll see you in the morning." Once Alistair had left, Erik turned back to find the dog lying on his pillow. He smirked and ruffled the fur between it's ears. "Hey, mutt. I would like to get one thing straight: this is where I sleep. You...you can sleep elsewhere." Erik stared at the animal as if it understood him before sighing, picking the dog up, and placing him on the floor. "There, much more suiting for a pet, don't you think?" He chuckled before lying down beside Christine and placing a kiss on her cheek.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

The animal wasn't about to give up on his sleeping spot just yet. As Erik picked him up, then put him down, the dog squirmed and kicked, until he was on the floor. Still, he was stubborn. Before the human could get his other leg in bed, the dog grabbed it by the pant leg and tugged. He then let go and started howling, just to annoy the couple. Christine sighed and pressed her nose into her pillow. "Is he like the gate? Is there an off and on switch or something?" She asked, her head laying on Erik's bare chest. "Why'd you kick him out of bed?" She mumbled, tired. Truthfully, she was happy that he did. For these past few nights, they hadn't had time together, and she was well prepared.

 

[Guile]

Erik couldn't help chuckling at the animal's protests to being put on the ground. "Oh, hush." He growled to the animal, knowing that it probably wouldn't stop his racket. "I'll get out of this bed and string you up outside if you keep making noise." He threatened, only joking even though the animal didn't understand. Erik sighed as he felt Christine's head on his bare chest - a sensation he didn't get to feel often. "I kicked him off because this is our bed. I don't plan on sharing my time alone with you with the likes of an animal." He chuckled softly and ran his fingers through his wife's hair.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Having given up on trying to butter Erik up, the fuzzball waddled all the way around the bed and to Christine's side, but was only able to get her feet, for the crib blocked everything else. The dog growled back, his protests being clear in his tone. Christine put a bigger blanket over her son's crib, not wanting him to see anything, though he wouldn't remember. "Now, where were we?" She giggled as she kissed him again.

 

[Guile]

"Let's see..." Erik chuckled as he felt Christine's lips upon his. As soon as the first kiss broke he grinned. "Yes...that seems about right, actually." He laughed softly and let his desire for her take control of the situation. It didn't take long for everything else in the world to fade away. Even the dog's earlier protests were soon forgotten as the passion between them grew.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

The very next morning, Christine was in an almost dead sleep. The only difference was that she was alive. The puppy had taken to waddling over to Erik's fallen cape and making a cushion of some sort out of it, but, to prove his animosity, he started chewing holes in it. But, the sight outside was something to behold. Catherine was in her husband's lap, asleep. "Good morning, my dear." Andrew whispered in her ear, softly. Catherine took her time waking up. "Oh, what happened?" She remembered her wedding. "Oh!" She exclaimed with joy. "That's right!" She laughed and twirled once in front of the man. "I'm married!" Truly, it was as if the wine had gotten to her head.

 

[Guile]

Erik woke the next morning to find Christine still in a deep sleep. He smiled at this beautiful sight and placed a soft kiss on her temple, not wishing to wake her. Reluctantly, he removed himself from the bed and let out a soft groan as soon as he saw the destruction their new pet had done to his cape. "You..." Erik growled softly and glared at the animal. "How dare you?" Still, he simply removed the dog from his cape before picking up the chewed fabric and lying it out of reach. "You had best watch yourself, dog. It's not to late to put you back where we found you." He threatened lightly before going out into the other room to find Catherine recalling her memories from the day before. "Perhaps you should lay off the wine, my dear. You may just end up forgetting who you are." Erik teased, a smile returning to his face as he saw how joyful she was. "And why are you so cheerful? It's too early to be that happy." He chuckled, unable to keep from teasing his daughter.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

The dog let a growl escape his lips as his precious bed was taken from him and put away. Christine remained as she was, sleeping on her belly, with her right arm dangled over the side and into the crib, where Jonathan lay, wide awake, playing with his mother's fingers, his chocolate eyes sparkling in the dim light. Alistair was awake, bright and early, composing again, his father's genius living through him. Andrew watched Catherine and smiled, glad that she forgot what she had been through. "Oh, Father, stop it." She laughed as she embraced him. "I'm just fine." As for why she was so cheerful, she grinned. "You're right, maybe I should be downtrodden about being married." She rolled her eyes.

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed as he wrapped his arms around Catherine to return her embrace. Unusually happy, Erik picked Catherine off the ground just enough to spin her around once in his arms before placing her back on her feet. "Of course you should! Being married means you have to put up with your spouse's sarcasm and teases. It's hellish, but I think you might manage. I, on the other hand, am not sure that I will last much longer." He placed a kiss on Catherine's cheek before chuckling. "Watch out, Andrew. She has her mother's temper and ability to nag endlessly." Erik joked, partially glad Christine was asleep - she wouldn't be able to retort for that comment.