EPILOGUE

March 1873

After eight months away from the opera, Christine returned to play Violetta in La Traviata. It was one of the biggest audiences the Opera Populaire had seen since Don Juan Triumphant. When Parisian society heard that Christine Daaé now Christine de Chagny had returned as the prima donna, tickets were nearly unattainable. It was hard to believe that almost two years had gone by since her wedding. Christine's son was growing at a remarkable rate, and was thankfully a generally happy baby. Meg was not at the opera tonight as she was heavily pregnant and exhausted, but everyone was going to go check in on her after the performance.

It was Alana and Erik's first night out together without the children in an extremely long time. Antoinette, who was at Meg's house had offered to watch the two of them as well as Elisabeth and Tristan. Georges and Monique had also come tonight along with Raoul to watch their daughter-in-law in her first performance back. The opera of course was wonderful and Christine's voice was still as heavenly as ever. Erik had hired a conductor so that he would not have to be both the conductor and the music director. In fact, he had more or less become somewhat of a co-manager at the opera house, giving instructions and suggestions. Firmin and André found to their utter surprise that when they indeed took his advice, it worked to their benefit. Not that Erik was going to go dropping chandeliers any time soon, but you never know…

Gabriel had started school in the fall and was proving to be a fast learner there as well as on the piano. He would be remarkably gifted as a young man and he would someday prove to be quite the charmer. Every year on the anniversary of his parents' death, Alana took him to their side by side graves to put a small bouquet of lilies there, for they were Laura's favorite flower. Even though Gabriel called she and Erik Mama and Papa, she would never allow him to forget the ones who had fought so hard for him, who had loved him so dearly and who had loved each other so dearly. Erik leaned over to Alana during the second Act and said,

"I finished the second act of my opera today…" She looked at him surprised.

"You did?" He nodded and she squeezed his hand.

"That's wonderful…have you decided on a name yet?"

"Yes…I have." He said, with a grin and she raised an eyebrow.

"Well? What is it?" She asked and he ran his fingers gently through the soft golden locks of her hair.

"Une Nuit…I think you'll like it. It's about a man who thinks he's lost everything, but realizes that he's gained so much more after he spends one night with a young woman he meets. The rest of the story is those two pretty much finding their way back to one another." Alana hid her smile.

"I don't know Erik…it sounds a bit boring to me." She teased and he grabbed her, tickling her a bit before kissing her as he pulled her into the shadows of the private box they were sitting in.

Once the opera had finished and Christine changed, the Chagnys and the Devereuxs decided to go straight to Garrett and Meg's house only to find that Meg had just given birth to a healthy set of twin boys, whom they had named Daniel and Philippe.

"Oh my goodness, look how little they are." Christine sighed, peering down into Meg and Garrett's arms. Garrett held Daniel, who had been born first and Meg held Philippe who had surprised the hell out of them about three minutes later.

"Well you would be little too if you had to share a womb with your sibling." Antoinette said, kissing Christine's cheek. Alana looked at her brother and made a face.

"Ew." They both said.

"How did it go?" Annie asked and Christine nodded.

"It was wonderful to be back." She said, taking Tristan from her and kissing his light curls.

Garrett looked scared out of his mind as he carefully held the baby. Meg laughed at the ridiculous sight of him,

"Garrett, he isn't made of glass…you've been around enough babies in the past two years!" She said, giggling. He bit his lip.

"It isn't that Meg…I um…there's this smell…" He said, bending down to get a better sense of it and nearly gagged.

"Holy hell…" He muttered, his eyes watering. Meg bit her lip.

"Don't swear in front of my children you bastard!" She said laughing through her words. He looked helplessly around as Meg nodded her head at Alana.

"Can you show him? He seems to have lost his head."

Lana nodded and grabbed Garrett's hand, taking him to the changing table they had set up in the bedroom. She carefully showed him how to support the baby and change him. He just looked lost.

"What if it gets on me?" He asked, horrified and she smacked his arm.

"You dolt, he is your son! You're the father…it happens…and you'd better watch because boys are trickier than girls when you change them." She said, her eyes twinkling mischievously as he looked at her confused.

"What do you…?" He stopped dead, when her prediction came true and all of a sudden the front of his white shirt was wet. She burst into hysterical laughter and finished changing the baby as he ran to find another shirt. She carefully picked up the little one and gave him back to his mother.

"Your husband is a complete waste of space." She said, kissing Meg's cheek affectionately. Meg laughed as Garrett stumbled back into the room, and smiled at her.

"Well, maybe not a complete waste of space." She joked.

Erik and Alana gathered their two children and headed home, the children asleep before they even reached the house. After they had gone to bed, Erik and Alana did the same, but they didn't go straight to sleep.

"I can't believe Laura is almost two years old Erik." She said, lying with her cheek on his bare chest and her leg entwined between his. He was completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

"I know…Gabriel is six…" He said, "I almost wish we had another baby around here." She let out a low giggle.

"What's so funny?" He asked and she shook her head.

"It's just funny that the man who used to haunt the opera now has two children and wants more." She said and he kissed the top of her head.

"Is it so hard to believe?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No, you are a wonderful husband and father…do you really mean it that you wish there was another baby around here?" She asked and he sighed.

"Of course darling…I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it…" He said and she tightened her arms around his middle.

"Well funny you should mention that because…" He sat straight up in bed as did she her hair falling to her waste in luscious waves.

"Are you?" He asked and she nodded.

He rose from the bed pulling her with him and spun her around.

"I wanted to ask you if we could try again but I didn't know if you'd want to." He said and she laughed, touching his lips.

"Oh Erik…I do love you, you know." She said and he kissed her cheek.

"How soon?" He asked as she calculated.

"Probably end of October." She said and he nodded.

"Just wait until the children find out, Laura will be fit to be tied." He said letting out a chuckle. She nodded.

"Well, she's just going to have to get used to it…" Lana said, leaning up for a kiss which he gave.

"It will be nice to see it happen from the beginning." He said, holding her and she nodded.

"We won't have to deal with any Phantoms this time." She laughed and he smoothed her hair back.

"Well you still have to deal with one Phantom my love…" He said capturing her lips. She smiled against his lips.

"Well maybe one…" She murmured and they were lost again.

THE END…