Confused

"He is very lucky, Monsieur Daae, he should be dead..."

Erik heard this statement brake through the clouded confusion his mind was in. His body was wracked in pain and a fire had started in his veins. He just wished to slip into the blackness that promised him release from the pain, but the conversation going on around him was what he needed to hear.

"The man who did this...has anyone heard his name?" the man, Daae, asked. There was silence for a moment.

"Someone said that they heard this masked gentleman call him Rousseau," the doctor said. Erik shifted and the voices became silent for a moment.

"The woman, the one who is injured, she is your sister?" the doctor asked. Erik's senses became focused again as he listened intently to the mention of Christine, hoping beyond hope that she was alright.

"Yes, this is her husband," Daae answered.

"She should be alright, Monsieur, there is nothing to worry about. She just needs to rest for a few days," the doctor assured Anthony. Erik sighed in relief, and allowed his body to fall into the dark embrace of unconsciousness.

xXx

Raoul held Christine's limp hand and stared down at her face. She had not woken in two days and he was worried about her. What the hell had happened and how come Erik had not been there to protect her? He was her husband, for God's sake! He needed to protect her!

What he and Anthony had done to that man would always be with him but he had done it for Christine and he refused to be sorry. She was alive and she was going to be alright. If they had not arrived she would have been raped or worse. He was going to have a serious talk with Erik when he woke up, and he would make sure Christine was never going to be hurt again.Christine stared at the empty place in her bed for several hours. No matter how hard she tried she could not get Erik off of her mind. She had woken up the night before to Raoul sitting by her bedside. Her surprise of seeing him there showed and he explained the whole situation. She had pleaded and begged to be brought to her husband but he was in critical condition and both Raoul and Anthony refused to let her see him.

Raoul had been the one to tell her that he and her brother had killed Kenneth. There was a numbness about her when he told her that. She could feel no remorse, Erik might be dying because of him. The bullet had missed several major organs and blood vessels and if it had been only slightly higher he would be dead, which was far too close of a call.

She realized that she did have feelings for her husband, though what they were exactly she was not sure. She did not love him...but she cared about him. Of course she cared about him! In a way she thought of him as a friend and she did not know what she would do if he were to die. She had begun to depend on him in many ways.

But who was this person that had begun to disrupt their lives? First the attack in the ally, then the rats, the letter to Nadir, and now this! Who would wish to do something like that to them? Would it only stop when both of them were dead? That idea made her shiver. They needed someone to help them and Christine could think of no one.

Anthony and Raoul knew nothing and she wished to keep it that way, she did not want to see them hurt. Who would be able to help them and knew something about the situation? She thought about it for a long time, staring at the ceiling above her head. The man came to her like a thunderbolt.

Nadir Khan.

He was the perfect man to help him. Although she knew that Erik would never let the man help after what he had accused him of doing. But he was the only one. He knew something about Erik's past that Erik had not told her and Nadir had been close to her mother. If he had cared anything for her then surely he would help her own daughter? Christine did not like running from something she did not know and she needed to explain that to Erik. Surely he would see reason.

Thinking about her husband brought a pain in her chest as she thought of how much pain he must be in. That thought was what allowed her to push herself out of bed even when her body ached and protested. She needed to see him and prove to herself that he was going to be alright.

Raoul was sitting in a chair beside the door, but he had fallen asleep in his exhaustion. Christine smiled at him tenderly and walked past him on silent feet. Anthony was sitting outside Erik's door but he too had dozed off. She slipped inside the room and shut the door behind her.

Erik was lying motionless on the bed, the white from his mask and his bandage glowing in the moonlight. On hesitant footsteps she walked toward him, hoping that he would not look that bad. The bandage covered his right side and she could see small hints of blood.

His face was very pale and his skin appeared clammy. Swallowing Christine went over to him and gently laid her body down next to his, careful not to jar him in any way. She set her head down on his shoulder and sighed as she looked at him.