Summary: It's Satine's birthday and she's feeling a little depressed. Christian tries to make her feel better.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Moulin Rouge.
Satine woke up slowly as the morning sunlight came through the window. She opened her eyes, expecting to see Christian lying next to her. Instead, she saw a piece of paper folded up on the pillow. Satine sat up in bed and opened it. It read
Happy Birthday, diamond!
I didn't want to wake you up. I had to go to the Moulin early, something about a costume check. Come by at about noon, I'll be done by then and we can go home and celebrate.
Love Always
Christian
Her birthday. Satine hadn't even remembered until she saw the note. Today was her twenty-third birthday. Satine never really got excited about her birthday anymore. When she was younger, like most young kids, she looked forward to the day months in advance. Now she almost dreaded them. No one gave her presents anymore, except for Marie. Half of the girls at the Moulin Rouge didn't even know when her birthday was. Satine's birthday was no longer a special day just for her; instead it was a reminder that she wouldn't be the sparkling diamond forever.
But Satine still had one glimmer of hope that this birthday would be different. After all, so much had changed. She was no longer a courtesan, now she was a real actress. After Spectacular Spectacular, it had been decided that the Moulin Rouge worked much better as a theater than a nightclub. More people started coming because they were no longer ashamed to be seen there. The Duke had been banned from the Moulin Rouge after the opening night, and Harold had taken up a donation fund to finance the next production. Spectacular Spectacular had been so well received that people were glad to donate, and soon Harold had enough money to finance a permanent theater. Christian, who had been planning to take Satine away from the Moulin Rouge, was convinced to stay when offered the permanent job of writer, as well as the best medical care for Satine. And Harold made good on his promise. He had the most renowned doctor come in to treat her consumption, and now she was almost cured. All of this happened within a year. Maybe her birthday really would be different.
Satine looked at the clock by the bed. It was ten thirty. Since starting treatment for her illness, she hadn't managed to get up before nine on her own; no matter how early she went to bed. If she was to be at a rehearsal at nine, Christian would have to wake her up. "An hour and a half before I have to meet Christian." She thought. She was still a little confused as to why he was asking her to meet him at the Moulin. It was her day off, and it was supposed to be his, too. She shrugged it off as she brushed her hair. She opened up a dresser drawer and found an old scrapbook. Satine smiled as a memory from her childhood came to mind. Every year since she was old enough to hold a crayon, it had been her own little tradition to "draw" her birthday and paste the drawing into that book. Her mother had started it on the day she was born, and done the page for her first and second birthdays. For her third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, Satine had made a drawing of everything she had gotten, and everything that had gone on that day. When she was seven, she had learned to write, so she began writing down what happened. However, the book stopped at 11. When Satine was 11, she was forced out onto the streets and later into the Moulin Rouge. She was surprised that the book had survived, as Harold had a pet peeve about his girls bringing childhood memoirs to the Moulin. Satine sat down on the bed and flipped through the pages of the book. She laughed at some of the drawings; her artistic skills had not been the greatest. She stopped when she got to the page about her seventh birthday. This had been the first year she was able to write down what happened. In her shaky childhood handwriting, she had written
"Mommy woke me up early. I had breakfast. Uncle John and Aunt Mandy came over. I played with Miranda. I opened my presents. I got clothes, a puzzle, crayons, a doll, and the best of all was Brownie. Brownie is a bear. I love Brownie. After I opened presents we had dinner and cake. I had a good birthday
Satine couldn't help but giggle at her description of the day. She smiled at remembering how happy she was when she opened her stuffed bear. It was her favorite toy for years, and the only one she took with her when she was forced onto the streets. But after years in the Moulin Rouge, the bear was lost among her dresses, costumes, jewelry, and other items. Maybe one day she would find it again. She sighed as she stood up, leaving the book on the bed and finished getting ready. It was now quarter to 11, and she only had an hour and fifteen minutes before she was to meet Christian at the Moulin. She got dressed, and was about to go and surprise Christian early when Toulouse burst through the door.
"Satine, I'm so gad to find you here! I was wondering if you could come upstairs with me and hewp me with something. You see, I'm working on painting some of the scenery for the show, and I don't know if it is going to work or not. You know more about the show then I do, so I figuredÉ.
"Sure, I'll come help. I have a little while before I have to meet Christian anyway. " Satine smiled. She loved it when Toulouse rambled like that.
"Thank you, Satine. And happy birthday." Toulouse said as he and Satine started up the stairs to his apartment.
Not more than two minutes after they left, Christian burst into the garret. He had been at the Moulin all morning, as his note had said, but he had not been there for a costume fitting. He had been putting together a surprise birthday party for Satine. He had everything together except for one thing-his gift. Of course, he had purchased a gift weeks earlier, but he wanted to give something of sentimental value to Satine. After all, she had spent most of the last twelve years receiving expensive gifts from men. His gift had to be different. He paused when he saw the birthday scrapbook on the bed. He had hit the jackpot! He quickly read the page about her seventh birthday, and knew what he had to do. He had to find Brownie.
Christian ran back to the Moulin Rouge and found Marie. "Marie, quickly, do you remember if Satine brought a stuffed bear here when she first came?
Marie paused, and then answered, "Yes, in fact she did have a bear. She called it Brownie. I put it in the old blue trunk to keep it safe, I had a feeling someone would be looking for it someday.
Christian hurriedly thanked Marie and began his hunt for the blue trunk. Thankfully, he was familiar with the Moulin's color-coding trunk system. He shoved away several red trunks, filled with costumes. He shoved away several green trunks, filled with the girl's personal clothing. He finally came to a dusty blue trunk. He brushed off some of the dust and opened it. If this had been any other time, he would have slowly looked through all the memoirs in the trunk, but now he only had twenty minutes to find the bear and finish getting the party set up before Satine arrived. He rummaged through the trunk until he found what was undeniably Brownie. It was the only stuffed bear in the trunk, for one thing, but there was also a paper heart tied around its neck, on which a young Satine had written her name on one side and Brownie on the other. Now that he had a gift, Christian went and finished setting up the decorations.
Satine arrived at the Moulin Rouge at 11:55, with Toulouse following close behind. She knew that Christian was up to something, because Toulouse's paint color crisis was most defiantly part of a plan. Toulouse would never, under normal circumstances, need Satine's opinions on what color to paint the mountains or what color a wall should be. Christian met them at the entrance. He kissed Satine on the cheek. "Happy birthday. Come on in, I just have one more thing to do before I'm done here." He said.
"And what would that be?" Satine asked as she walked into the main hall.
"Throw you the best party you've ever seen!" he replied. That was the cue for everyone to come out. Satine couldn't believe it. She had never been thrown a surprise party before. Everyone had a really good time, and at about 3 Satine walked over to Christian and asked "Do I get presents too?"
Christian laughed. She said it with such innocence, she sounded like a small child. "Of course. Everyone, we're doing the presents now. " he called out. Everyone gathered around Satine as she opened gift after gift after gift. Christian patiently waited until every other gift had been opened before giving her his own. He first gave her the necklace he had bought. She was still admiring it when he said "And there's more. I was looking through some of our stuff today, and, wellÉ" Christian handed Satine Brownie. Satine started into Christian's eyes. "How did youÉ" she began.
"Well, Toulouse here conveniently got you out of the apartment, and I did a little snooping. I found that book on the bed, and I saw the page you made about the bear. So I ran back here and found it, with a little help from Marie, of course. " Christian explained.
Satine jumped up and hugged Christian, Brownie still in her grasp. "I love you, Christian." She whispered.
The party continued until about 5:30, when everyone went home for dinner. Christian stayed a little while after to clean up. When he was finished, he looked over at Satine. She was sitting in one of the Moulin Rouge's booths, playing with Brownie. He couldn't help but laugh as he went over to her.
"That bear is really important to you, isn't it?" Christian asked as he rubbed Satine's shoulders. Satine nodded. "I got him for my seventh birthday. Six months later my mom died. He was my last gift from my mom." She said. Christian noticed a tear running down her cheek. "Come on, let's get home. I think I know what might make you feel better" He said, taking Satine's hand.
Once Satine and Christian got home, Christian went over to his desk and took out a sheet of paper. "We're going to make a new page for that book of yours." He said as he gathered some supplies for her. He put the paper, a pencil, and some crayons he had bought in front of her. Satine felt rather silly, but part of her really did want to make the new page. She picked up the pencil and began to write. Once she had finished her writing, she picked up the crayons and added some borders and drawings. She then turned around and handed the paper to Christian. Christian looked at the finished page. Satine's handwriting was still rather shaky, and she had printed rather than written in cursive like most adults would. He wasn't sure if this was a style choice or if she still had her 11-year-old handwriting. The paragraph read
"I woke up late. I found my old birthday book in the drawer. I looked at it and went to the Moulin Rouge. Christian threw me a surprise party. I got Brownie back. I went home and made a new page for my book. It was the best birthday ever.
Satine had added a border around the writing, and at the bottom she had attempted to draw Brownie. Her artistic skills were still a little lacking. "A wonderful job, Satine. " Christian said as he put the page in the book.
The two of them had dinner together, and Christian had yet another birthday cake for Satine. Later that night, Christian walked out of the bathroom to see Satine asleep on the bed. She held Brownie tightly, and had the tip of her thumb in her mouth. She wasn't exactly sucking on it, but Christian still found it adorable. She looked so innocent. He walked over to the bed and gently brought the blanket up over her. He got into bed himself, kissed her forehead, and softly whispered in her ear. "Happy birthday, diamond. I love you