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Somewhere only We belong to	By : InfernalParadise Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Het Views: 5210 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Sorry for the delay - but bit of surprise for both Erik and Seraphine in this chapter, so enjoy!! And please REVIEW!!!
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Chapter 10
More than expected

After having reached the eighth month of her pregnancy, however, things did turn worse. Seraphine refused to move at all except for what she considered necessary, and the child kicked her unusually often, thus she was in slight pain most of the time. By another week gone by, Erik decided that he didn’t like how her health deteriorated. He had expected her to have no troubles as she hadn’t shown any so far, but now he worried that the birth of their child might turn out complicated, and he didn’t dare risking her nor the little one’s life should his fears come true. Thus he made a decision for both although Seraphine refused to listen to him.
"I’m alright", she protested, closing her eyes when her belly tightened in a slight cramp.
"No, you’re not. Just look at yourself in the mirror – you’ve never been that pale before. We’re going into town, Seraphine, and that’s my last word."
"It’s me being pregnant and not you", she hissed back, the pain driving her mad.
"And I won’t risk you losing the child since I am its father. We’ll go to the old midwife you’ve already been to before. I know that Madame Giry went to see her when she was pregnant with Meg."
"I’m afraid I won’t be able to get on the horse."
"You’ll have to…"
"I’m starting to hate this child", she suddenly said with tears in her eyes as if she hadn’t heard his uncompromising reply anyway.
He kneeled down in front of the old wing chair and took her hands in his.
"Don’t", but she winced in pain once again, "I know it’s hard and you suffer, my angel, but I promise you that you’ll give birth to a healthy child we will always love."
His left hand moved over her swollen belly to rest above her navel. He felt the child moving which sent shivers of joy down his spine, yet at the same time he knew that it wasn’t pleasant for Seraphine.
"We’ll leave tomorrow morning. Try to sleep until then and do not worry about getting there."
But in fact it turned out to be Erik who worried about ever reaching Paris again as their ride there took much longer than expected. Each ten minutes, Seraphine had to get off and vomit, forcing him to keep the horse at a slow pace to avoid any quick, uncomfortable movements. When they finally arrived in the town, it was almost evening and the sun had gone down long since. Erik was utterly relieved that he found the house of the old midwife quite soon and knocked against the door with all his might. The woman opened shortly afterwards, but stopped in shock when she saw the man wearing the notorious mask in front of her. Madame Biselle would have never expected the Phantom to show up at her home although she had always wondered which kind of person he really was and if all those rumors were true.
"Seraphine isn’t well", he simply explained.
And she wasn’t well, indeed, Madame Biselle decided as she took a closer look at the young woman when she and Erik had laid her on the most comfortable bed in the house.
"I will send for Madame Giry", the old woman said, before hesitating, "If you agree, of course."
"I do", Erik gave a nod, wincing as Seraphine closed her fingers painfully around his hand. If she continued her pressure, he feared she might break a few bones, but he wasn’t going to let her down now.
"I’m sorry about not listening to you", Seraphine said quietly when Madame Biselle had shortly left the room to sent a boy to the Opera for getting Madame Giry, "You were right."
"At least one of us has to have the brain when the other one already owns beauty", he told her with a wink, causing a smile to cross her face.
"Erik?"
"Yes, my love?"
"Are you going to take the mask off?"
A silence followed her question in which his free hand came up to stroke her face.
"Do you want me to?"
"I do."
"Then I will."
Madame Biselle reentered to find the couple sharing a soft kiss. She hid her smile at the sight, waiting until Erik looked up again.
"Madame Giry will be here soon", she informed him and he nodded in content. And the ballet teacher seemed to fly straight from the Opera to the midwife’s house as she stormed into the room just a few minutes later, looking as if someone had told her ghost stories. Erik realized that she was more nervous about Seraphine looking forward to giving birth than himself – and that was an admirable fact since his nerves suffered most terribly. He wasn’t used to fear for anything or anyone, yet that very moment he wished he would have experienced it before to now not stress Seraphine who either ignored his behavior or truly didn’t recognize it.
"Oh, my darling", Madame Giry rushed to her substitute daughter’s side, nearly pushing Erik away, "are you in much pain?"
"She’s been for almost two weeks by now", Erik explained.
"Two weeks you say?", the old midwife raised her head in interest, a smile playing around her lips.
"It seemed to be just slight pain in the beginning, but it turned worse."
"I see…", a pair of experienced eyes looked down on Seraphine, "What’s the pain like, my dear?"
"It feels as if the child is kicking… but somehow different."
"Then do not worry", the elder woman turned to Madame Giry who approached her, "I have a pretty good guess about the cause."
A wink was shared, but no further explanations left the midwife’s mouth as she started preparing anything for the birth, finding help in her friend she had once accompanied during giving birth as well.
"There’s one more thing you should know", Erik’s voice raised in a similar way he had always used in the Opera to scold his managers from somewhere above the stage, "I will take my mask off."
Those few words turned the room into a silent graveyard, and even Seraphine didn’t know what to say or how to support him. After all, it had been her plea to see him like she had done in the past months, yet here they weren’t alone anymore and Madame Biselle wasn’t used to his unmasked face by any means.
"I don’t mind", Madame Giry was the first to finally break the silence, "I never did."
Not even awaiting the midwife’s reply, Erik rose his free hand to his face, slowly taking the mask off to not scare anyone to death by the sudden sight of his deformation. His substitute mother remembered the painful event that fateful night of many years ago, even before Meg’s birth, when she had found Erik among the Gypsies, beaten, kept as a circus attraction and misused because of a blemish that had never been his or anyone else’s fault. The old midwife, however, covered her mouth with shaking hands, completely unable to hide her emotion.
"Erik", escaped her lips in a painful whisper. So this was the man who got called the Opera Ghost, it hit her in bitter realization.
"How do you know my name?", he asked in visible confusion as he hadn’t introduced himself so far. Madame Giry watched with tension how both of them looked at each other in expectation.
"Because I knew your mother", the old midwife finally answered, raising her hand to her heart, "I was the one who put you in a basket when she refused to even hold you in her arms. She only gave you a name. I knew Madame Giry or anyone from the Opera house would find you and take care of you."
With remorse on her face, she turned to the ballet teacher whose eyes were filled with tears.
"Forgive me, my dear, but I couldn’t have kept him… it’s no life for a child here."
"I didn’t find him until the age of nine", Madame Giry finally spoke up, her voice filled with pain as well as deep anger, "Gypsies found him and made a circus sensation of him. The devil’s child… that’s what they used to call him."
"Who was my mother?", Erik wanted to know as if he hadn’t heard his substitute mother’s words.
"A poor woman… your father had left her and she… well, she sold her body on the street. But she would have wanted to keep you if you hadn’t…"
"If I hadn’t been the monster I am", he continued for her, his voice taking a menacing tone. All he had ever feared about his past had come true this moment and he suddenly hated the world again as he hadn’t done so violently in months. Seraphine’s hand closed around his all of a sudden, making him remember what he was living for and that she and the baby were all that counted.
"I’m sorry to interfere", her voice spoke up in agony, "but I think it begins..."
As painful as the last weeks had been, as little time the birth took, and Madame Giry cried with joy when she heard the very first sounds of the child seeing the light of day.
"It’s a girl", Madame Biselle explained and put the little child into a few blankets before she passed it on to the ballet teacher, "as for the second one, however, we will have to wait a few more minutes."
"The second one?", both Erik’s and Seraphine’s head snapped up, two pairs of wide opened eyes staring at the midwife who simply laughed at their faces.
"My guess was right. You’re having twins, my dear – that’s why you’ve been in pain lately. Two children, less space…"
"It can’t be true", Seraphine let out an exasperate sight while letting herself fall back on the bed, but Erik’s soft and just as blissful smile nearly drove her to the edge of reason. If he found it so amazing, it should be him then who had to do all the labor, she decided in frustration as the pain set in once more. A few moments later, however, and a second crying voice joined the first one in Madame Giry’s arms.
"This time it’s a boy", the midwife signed for Erik to come over and take him, wrapping the little thing carefully in blankets. The feeling was overwhelming when he held his son for the very first time. And a big pressure fell off him as he noticed that the child didn’t share its father’s deformation.
"I need you to concentrate one more time, Seraphine", Madame Biselle told the young mother, "because of the afterbirth."
"I don’t want to anymore", she received a weak protest, but the midwife only shook her head in a scolding way.
"You have to", was all she commanded, and minutes later Seraphine was through with all of the birth and most of the nerves she had ever owned. Collapsing on the bed, she closed her eyes, trying to imagine how her life would have been if she had stayed with the Ducards. Utterly boring and joyless, she decided as she felt Erik’s lips on her forehead. He sat on the bed next to her, a small, but loud thing in his arms that expressed its frustration about the new world.
"He has the voice of his father", she laughed quietly, sitting up in the bed and leaning against the pillows. Madame Biselle left the room after reassuring herself that everything was alright and she wasn’t needed in the next half hour. Only reluctantly Madame Giry passed the baby in her arms on to Seraphine before she followed the old midwife to leave the couple alone.
"Who would have ever guessed we’d have twins one day?", Seraphine directed the question more to her little daughter than Erik.
With a silent noise, the door opened again to reveal Madame Biselle’s head.
"There’s a couple outside, asking to see you", she informed the young parents, "Their name is De Chagny."
"We do not wish to see them… at least not for now", Erik’s voice sounded harsh, explaining more to the midwife because of it’s tone than words could have done. Thus she nodded in understanding and retreated again.
Erik placed a kiss on Seraphine’s head, when she sighed in relief, not wanting to see them, either.
"We need names for them", she suddenly said, holding the girl carefully up to allow Erik taking a closer look at her face, "It’s your eyes she owns… and your lips. She almost looks like a copy of you."
"Fortunately only almost", a sigh escaped his lips, "Let me have her for a second."
And swapping their children, they took a look again at the new, small faces.
"What about Gabriel?", Seraphine asked, gazing at Erik who nodded with a smile.
"And you?", he asked his daughter, receiving a weird sound from the baby, "We could call you Rachel. That is if your mother agrees, but I have many ways to convince her once you are both in bed and asleep…"
"God, Erik, don’t tell them such things", a laughter came from Seraphine, "But Rachel is wonderful."
For a second a shadow crossed her face as she remembered what had happened shortly before the birth.
"Erik?"
"Yes, my love?"
He moved closer to her, still watching the little girl in his arms.
"I’m sorry for what you got to know today. I wished you would have never found out about your mother…"
"Don’t worry, Seraphine", his voice sounded soft and soothing, "At least I know now. And it’s the best motivation for wanting to be a good father. We can give them what both of us never had."
"Real parents."
He nodded, gazing into her eyes when she laid a hand on his deformed flesh to stroke it gently.
"I love you, Erik."
Giving her a blissful smile, he bent down to kiss her, carefully making sure to not harm the child in his arms as he did so.
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Somewhere only We belong to