Wait. Meg thought for a moment. She recognized that song. She had heard it in the rafters of the Opera House, and before she fell asleep, when Christine had still been with her.

With them, she now realized. They both had lost Christine.

For some reason, she found her voice then. It probably wasn't wise, not wise at all, to speak to a man who had killed and was lovesick, but she did. "I'm sorry she's gone."

The Phantom was quick to catch that voice and he jumped back, trying to desperately find his way back to the door way, but instead he ended up falling backwards, startled and a little afraid that someone was also in the room. In his mad attempt to get back up, he knocked over a candle stand and it crashed to the floor.

"'Ello, is someone in zere?" A voice called from outside the door. Erik quickly sprang forward and cupped his hand over Meg's before dragging her with him behind the passage way and dragging her off down the hall.

"Who are you?!" he demanded.

Meg recognized the voice. It wasn't her mother, praise the gods, but it was a rather gossipy new dancer who was very flighty and vain. She was also a rather light sleeper.

It was a great surprise that Meg did not scream, but she did follow along with the Phantom. She remember this pathway! She had been down her, when she heard voices, but her mother had stopped her about four yards in. (And then had slippered her for wandering off and not warning her where she would be.)

"I'm Meg Giry," she answered honestly. "Madam Giry is my Maman."

The Phantom frowned and looked at the young blonde woman ominously, a look of both annoyance and seriousness on the visible part of his face. "Meg Giry?" he frowned and then remembered Madam Giry, the young girl who had helped him escape the cruelty of the world, and lead him here.

"Come with me, we have matters to discuss." he frowned, taking her upper arm and leading he through and on to the small raft that would take them across the water. "I'm not mistaken when I say that your mother does not know you are here?" he asked, his tone wavering on stern but still dark.

Her mother had not told her the story about how she saved the Opera Ghost, as it was a very private story of her life that she did not enjoy telling anyone. However, through the years, Madame Giry and the Phantom did remain... not particularly friends, but certainly more than acquaintances.

Meg let out a small squeak when he grabbed her arm and began to drag her, but she made no other comment until he asked her his question. She blushed a little and nodded. "Oui, Monsieur... She does not know..."

The Phantom frowned at her confirmation and he stepped off the raft with her, knowing that he needed to deal with the young woman first, as a duty and a payment to Madame Giry. "She would be most displeased with you." he answered and started to lead her over to the piano, and more importantly, the piano stool.

"Naughty young women, should be given a hard spanking to correct misguided behavior, am I correct?" Erik asked, eyeing her with his one visible blue eye.

Meg blushed even more at his words. A spanking?! She hadn't been punished like that, in, well... a few months. And before then, it had been a full year! But she wasn't unaccustomed to being spanked, but... But she'd never been punished like that by a man!

Perhaps he didn't know that though! After all, if he spent all his time down in the lair, and the ballerina's rooms were several stories higher than the stage, he wouldn't know! Meg shook her head. "Non, Monsieur, non, please..."

"Child, do not try to sway my mind, it will not work in your favor. Had you been a man, I would have killed you by now." The Phantom answered and took a seat on the Piano stool. "Your mother will be wondering your whereabouts, and I have seen her thrash you once." he pointed out before bending Meg over his knee and holding her down in place.

Wait, he saw?! When had that been?! Surely that hadn't been when she'd come snooping down in the lair last time! And now she was over his knee, wearing nothing but her thin nightdown. But that still didn't stop her from squirming a little. "Please, non, Monsieur!"

"Hush Child." The Phantom said sternly before reaching his gloved hand back and pulling up her night gown. He was a little surprised to have bared her bottom already, thinking she might have been wearing underwear. He placed the hand on her bottom and raised her figure a little over his knee.