Hey all! This is my new fic.. i got rid of two others so i just have this one and something more now... the other two were crap so i nixed them and decided to only write my best lol. so i hope this will be good and i hope you will all enjoy it.

also if anyone wants to be my Beta please pm me or leave it in a review... i am in need of one desperately lol. thanks

The End?

“Oh well if that is how you feel about it then fine!”

“Christine, please stop this! You are such a child sometimes!”

Christine stopped dead in her tracks and clenched her fists. “A child…” She spun around and charged at her husband angrily. Standing only inches from him she glared up at his towering form. “Oh I am the child…”

“Christine…” Erik cut in, but Christine wouldn’t have it.

“Oh no don’t hold back Erik… I’m a child… Let’s just add that to the growing list of Christine’s flaws, shall we?” She stepped back from him a step and began counting off the list on each finger. “I’m clumsy, unfocused, silly… oh yes let us not forget that I cannot seem to make a satisfying meal for my husband… Okay so add ‘cant cook’ to the list… and don’t even get me started on my singing flaws… and now I am childish!” Christine turned and bolted up the stairs for her bedroom.

Erik followed angrily. This fight being there millionth fight since they had gotten married two years ago, Erik was at the end of his rope this time. He had had it with their clashes and wanted to start living a peaceful life with the woman he had married, the beautiful young girl, with a sparkle in her eye and a smile always on her face. The Christine he had now was nothing like that. He couldn’t remember the last time he had actually seen her smile. “Christine!” He yelled angrily when they got to the top. Seeing that she wasn’t stopping he began speaking. “I didn’t mean you were a child, I just meant you are acting like one! Can’t we talk this out?”

Christine held back her tears as she headed into their bedroom and into the closet producing a suitcase and flopping it onto the bed. She turned towards Erik who now stood in the doorway. She studied his flawless features and had to turn her head away quickly. “No. I wanted to discuss our having children, but you made some flippy remark… so no I do not want to sit down and talk about this. I know how you feel about this and that is the end of it!”

Erik threw his hands up into the air. “Christine I was kidding! When we began dating I told you my opinion on having children and you understood!”

Christine remembered that conversation. He had made it clear that children were not in his future. He was old, ‘too old’ he had said, to have any children and that had been alright for Christine at the time, but she had thought that with everything the way it was that a baby might be what they needed. “I understood then, but I’ve changed since then… and I thought you had too…”

Erik stared at her a moment, realization finally dawning on him. “You are right… We have changed… We are not the same people who fell in love three years ago…”

Christine looked at him, her eyes filling with tears as she realized the same thing Erik had. “Erik I want a divorce.”

Five years later….

Christine sat at her desk reading over the story she had been given. Being one of the top Editors at ‘New’ Magazine, Christine was in charge of perfecting the magazine and removing the flaws. Flaws are the enemy! She had joked from time to time.

With another note jotted down she closed the mock up of the latest edition and sat back rubbing her eyes. She rested her hand on the arm of her chair and glanced at the clock. Ten fifteen pm… It seemed that she was staying later and later in the office these days. Some days she would barely leave before it was time to go back. Not that she was complaining, it wasn’t like she had some wonderful life to go home to.

With a sigh Christine decided to call it a night and got up from her seat. She gathered her things and headed for the door.

In the car she sang along with the radio and tapped on the steering wheel. She pulled into the convenience store beside her apartment building and headed inside for her routine coffee and newspaper.

Larry the twenty-year-old clerk stood behind the counter watching the little television that sat on the right hand ledge. He gave Christine a wave before turning his attention back to whatever he had been watching.

Christine smiled and then headed for the chip aisle. Scanning the selection she chose her favorite barbeque chips and headed for the coffee machine. While she waited for the machine to finish pouring her coffee, she glanced at the newspapers and grabbed her usual.

Going to the counter she silently paid, ignoring the sympathetic smile of the twenty year old. Yeah, yeah, it was pathetic coming in every night, alone, but she would keep her head high.

Heading to the car she put her coffee down in the holder and tossed the bag of stuff into the passenger side, before driving off.

Once home Christine kicked her shoes off and threw the bag on the counter beside the answering machine which blinked the number two. Surprised, Christine pushed the button and stood for a moment sipping her coffee curiously waiting to hear who would call her.

“Chris it’s me Meg… I don’t know if you have heard the news yet, but… Well I don’t want to break it to you over the answering machine… Call me ass soon as you get this please.”

Christine’s heart beat rapidly. Meg had been Christine’s best friend since she was twelve. Meg knew everything about Christine and her life and she couldn’t figure out what could cause such a distress for Meg to call like that. She prayed that it wasn’t anything to do with Meg’s mother. If anything had happened to that woman Christine would surely die, she was like a mother to her.

She grabbed her cell and was about to dial when the next message played.

“Hello Ms. Daae, this is St. Paul’s Medical center. We have a Mister Erik D’Aubigne in our care and his information says to contact you as next of kin. If you could, please contact us as soon as possible. Thank you.”

Christine almost spit her coffee out by the end of the message. Her head swam and her heart began to beat rapidly. She hadn’t seen or heard from Erik in five years and now… She picked up her cell phone and dialed Meg knowing she was too worked up to call or go down to the hospital alone.

“Hello?” Meg’s voice answered after only a few rings.

Christine fought back tears. “ Meg the hospital called… What…What…”

Meg cut in hearing her friend about to break down. “Christine sit down and take a deep breath. Erik is alright…”

Christine followed orders and sat down. “How do you know?”

Meg tried to answer calmly. “The news is saying that he was alive when the ambulance arrived and still is.”

Christine shook her head and stood frantic to find her keys and head to the hospital. “What happened Meg?”

“He was in a car accident Christine.”

Christine took a deep breath and headed out the door not even bothering to lock it. “What kind of a car accident?”

Meg could hear Christine’s voice echo off the walls signaling that she was in her apartment building hallway. Quickly she gathered her keys and headed to her own door. “Christine stay put. I will pick you up and drive you to the hospital.”

Christine reached the front door and sagged against the cool wall beside it. “What happened Meg?”

Meg paused and turned the lock on the door. “The news said he was in a head on car accident… It was the other mans fault… Drunk driver… I tried to call the hospital, but they wouldn’t give me any information…. Honey I gotta put you down. I’ll be there in five minutes okay?”

Christine took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright.”

Meg hung up and tossed the phone onto the computer chair and took off to get Christine.

Christine stood watching the cars drive by in a daze. She hadn’t let herself think about Erik since the divorce and now she couldn’t stop herself. All sorts of old memories came back to her and she kept praying he wasn’t going to die. She felt like a little child, so clueless.

The shock of Erik being thrust back into her life and under such dire circumstances made her feel almost dizzy and overwhelmed by it all.

Soon Meg’s car pulled up and Christine rushed out to meet her. “Oh Meg!” She cried as her friend embraced her tightly.

“It’s okay. It will all be okay.” Meg tried to console her.

Christine nodded and they both got into the car.

The drive was deathly silent. Both girls were off in their own minds and remembering their own unique memories of Erik.

Meg glanced over at Christine and tried to smile hopefully. “Don’t worry Christine… You know Erik he is a tough man! He has survived so much more then a little car wreck I am sure we will get there and he will already be yelling at the nurses to let him leave.”

Christine chuckled, her mood being lifted slightly by the act. “Yeah… Erik never did like hospitals…” She sighed and frowned in thought. “I wonder why they called me? I mean we haven’t spoken in five years… Surely he has been remarried with kids or at least a girlfriend… Why call me?”

Meg shrugged. “Well you haven’t been remarried or anything yet… maybe he is in the same way… he is old after all… maybe he’s retired from it all… God he must be reaching fifty now!”

Christine shook her head. “Forty six.”

Meg made a disbelieving sound. “Wow… He was forty one when you guys got married… and you were…”

Christine sighed. “Twenty five.”

Meg chuckled as she pulled into the lane that led to the hospital. “Wow… You like them old don’t you… Little Lolita.”

Christine gasped and hit Meg’s arm. “I am not! Age is only a number.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but this is a large age… you guys were sixteen years apart! That is more then a decade!”

Christine rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Just drive Megan.”

Meg kept going. “Wow… I didn’t know men were capable of still getting it up at that age!”

Christine glanced at Meg and knew that her friend was just trying to keep her mind off the situation. She loved her for it. Keeping up with the game she grinned. “Oh he was very-”

Meg shook her head. “Eww no! I don’t want to hear it!”

Christine chuckled but it faded to a frown when she realized they finally approached the hospital. They pulled into a spot and Meg turned the car off. They sat there a moment and then Meg turned to Christine. “Ready?”

Christine sighed and after a moment shook her head. “Yeah.”

Aphroditebehindthemask