Title: I'm Sorry, Mama (this may be subject to change)
Summary: I was up late one night battling insomnia and eating sugar cookies and drinking Pepsi and this was the result. I know everyone does childhood stories, but this is my stab at it. (BTW, it's Satine's)
Disclaimer: You know the drill-
Not in the movie = mine
In the movie = not mine
Reviews: Please, please, PLEASE! I'm sacrificing my dignity and begging! I hope you're all happy now!
Chapter 1
May 13, 1873
~Villeneuve, France
"By God, when I get my hands on that no-good husband of mine, I'll wring
his neck!" Marguerite DuBois cried as she gripped the brawny, tanned arms of her
midwife, Cosette. Her finely trimmed and uniform nails bit into the seemingly
impenetrable layer of skin as another merciless contraction seized her body. She
gnawed on her bottom lip so hard that it tore and the salty blood flooded her
mouth. She wasn't cut out for motherhood.
"Oh Madame DuBois you doin' great...Few mo' pushes and you'll have a fine
lil' baby to flaunt." Marguerite managed a strained smile. She had plenty more
to flaunt without having to go through this unbearable pain. She threw her head
back against the rough pillow on the bed and slammed her eyelids closed, trying
to put herself back in her father's house, with everything she ever wanted.
Goose-down pillows, silken sheets, fine dresses and laces...her reverie was
suddenly and sorrowfully interrupted by another spasm.
But no...she thought as she sobbed and the pain resided. I had to go about with
that idiot, Peter. And now this baby is forcing me into a life I don't want! She
nearly cried at the unfairness of it all.
Peter had been the bad boy...expelled from St. Frances's Academy in Paris and
disowned by his father until he "got his act together", Peter had moved to
Villeneuve to reside with the only relative that would have him, his aging Aunt
Annalisé. Marguerite had taken an instant attraction to him, and against her own
father's wishes had begun running with him. It was only now, a year and a half
later, she realized her mistake.
"Madame DuBois, I do declare your baby is coming now!" Cosette exclaimed.
About bloody time...Marguerite thought.
"Push now, Madame...you gots to push, or dat baby ain't going nowhere."
Marguerite clutched the oak bed railing and braced her body. She would do
anything just to make the pain end.
With the wood splintering underneath her clutches, Marguerite forced all
her body's power into a series of excruciatingly painful abdominal thrusts when
the relief came to her and the pain stopped, she thought joy in itself would
kill her.
"Aw, Madame DuBois, you got youself a fine baby girl!" Cosette held the
tiny writhing figure up. Marguerite felt her face contort. It was disgusting!
Covered in white substance she couldn't place, wrinkled, red, and fuzzyheaded,
it was what her nightmares were made of. Marguerite began to cry. Cosette looked
at the screaming infant and then to it's screaming mother.
"Oh Madame DuBois, don't cry now. I'll clean her all up." Marguerite laid
back as Cosette rushed into the opposite room and placed the baby in the basin,
washing it off. She rubbed her forehead, allowing her fingers to rest below her
blonde hairline. She had never seen a baby so awful looking! She had three
younger siblings and none of them had that ghastly appearance.
Just then, Cosette returned. She had the girl wrapped in a white cotton
blanket. It was contentedly sucking on its fist. The hair was flaming red, like
Peter's, the eyes big as tea saucers and the color of the Mediterranean Sea and
finally facial features were gently formed. Cosette beamed with pride and all
Marguerite could do was to keep from screaming in frustration. What was so
great? Now, thanks to this little brat, she was stuck in marriage to a man who
was nothing but a lousy lush! As tears streamed down her face, Cosette smiled.
"Ah, Madame DuBois is it natural to be emotional. I was after my first. Of
course I had seven more, and the effect wears off. Here." She placed the bundle
in Marguerite's arms. The baby smiled adoringly at its mother and Marguerite's
stomach turned. She never liked babies to hold, just to look at as they sat in
carriages or their mother's lap. Now she would be responsible for this mewling
creature.
"What will you name her?" Cosette asked. Marguerite looked down at the
wiggling thing and grimaced.
"I don't know! I just want to be alone! Please, take her away!" Marguerite
held her arms out and Cosette quickly took the infant.
"But Madame DuBois, you must give the baby a name!" Marguerite raised her
hands.
"I don't care! Name it yourself! I need to relax!" she snapped. Cosette
shrugged and walked away.
~*~
"I tell you child, your Mama is a strange one." Cosette said to the DuBois
baby as she laid it in a crib. It was a simply wooden crib with cotton sheets
and a small quilt. Madame DuBois had not put much thought into it, and for that
Cosette was sorry. This was a gorgeous baby that was one hundred percent
healthy, and all Marguerite DuBois could think of was herself. Women who Cosette
had midwifed for would have killed to have a baby half as beautiful and healthy.
"She won't even name you, cherié. How peculiar! Well I'll just have to
name you myself!" she leaned down and examined the baby. It watched her with its
singsong eyes as she stroked its head. It certainly had quite a bit of crimson
hair for a newborn. And the hair was soft as satin. Surely, it would fall out,
but the strength of its color and texture were sure to return.
"That's it! Satine! That shall be your first name...and Isabeau shall be
your middle name. Satine Isabeau DuBois...how perfect!" Cosette kissed Satine's
forehead. The baby cooed in excitement, even though it had no idea what was
going on. Cosette scooped Satine up and hurried into Marguerite's room.
"Madame DuBois, I present Satine Isabeau DuBois!" Marguerite opened her
brown eyes and frowned.
"I thought I said to LEAVE ME ALONE!"
~*~
Peter DuBois was lying face down in an alley beside LaBec's, a bar in the
seedier section of Villeneuve while Marguerite brought Satine into the world.
His red hair was stringed, greasy, and plastered to his head as his jaw drooped
and a hundred obscenities flew from his mouth as the pain began to pound. Gilbert LaBec shook his head and plopped the grimy
garbage can down and placed his hands on the hips of his oily apron.
"'ey, DuBois!" he spat through his yellowed teeth and the toothpick
dangling from in between them. Peter rolled over, his tweed jacket soaking up
the rainwater. His shirt was torn open revealing a bruised chest, a courtesy of
some thugs he'd ripped off in an earlier poker game. LaBec grabbed the lapels of
his and shook him.
"Yoh, DuBois! Word came from your place!" Peter's eyes rolled around but
finally he regained focus.
"Wha is it, LaBec?" he asked, slurring his words. It was only because
LaBec had spoken to so many drunks before that he could understand.
"I say word came from your place! Marguerite had your baby." Peter
squinted, his azure eyes glistening and the tiny red veins were bulging.
"My-my, baby? Oh..." he struggled to stand, with LaBec's help. Peter
drooped his head.
"Is everything all right?" LaBec nodded.
"Far as I heard. Mamie Barthau came on down and said 'twas a girl."
Peter smiled, his perfect white teeth untouched despite his ungodly appearance.
"Well thas great! I gotta get home!"
~*~
Satine's shrieking protests made Cosette blood run cold. She tried once
more to put the baby back down in the crib, but every time she put the baby down
it began to wail, thus causing Marguerite to moan and curse. Cosette needed to
get home to her own children, but she feared what would happen if she left the
howling child alone with the temperamental Marguerite. So now, she was cradling
Satine and singing "Feré' Jacques".
Just then, the front door of the tiny house flung open and the inebriated
Peter DuBois staggered in.
"Cosette! Mamie Barthau tol' me I got a baby!" he shouted. Cosette rolled
her eyes.
"You sure do, Monsieur DuBois! But don't think for a second you get to
hold her until you clean yourself up!" Peter shrugged and stumbled into the
other room with the wash basin. A few moments later he returned, a tad cleaner
and with a different pair of britches and shirt. Cosette pointed to the chair.
"All right, sit there and hol' your arms out." Peter did as she instructed
and Cosette reluctantly handed the cooing baby into his Neanderthal arms. She
expected to have the same reaction from Peter as Marguerite, and she was oddly
surprised. Peter actually got choked up at the sight of his daughter. His head
bobbed down and he kissed her, showing an unknown kind of compassion Cosette
never imagined Peter had.
"Satine..." he whispered finally. Just then, Marguerite's high-pitched
voice called from the other room.
"Peter! Is that you?" Peter maneuvered Satine in his arms so he could
stand and he made his way into Marguerite's room.
"Marguerite honey, did you see our daughter?" she sneered at his sudden
idiotic doting.
"I shoved her out of my body during a process that took eighteen hours
through an area that is only supposed to expand enough to have the diameter of
half dollar! Yes, Peter, I saw!" she screamed. Peter came to her side and patted
her shoulder.
"Baby, calm down! You're gonna upset her!"
"Oh God forbid!" Marguerite snapped. "You weren't even here! You useless
lush! I hate you! Take that whiny urchin away and don't look at me!" Peter shook
his head.
"Fine, darling."
~*~
A few hours later, Marguerite was blissfully asleep, Cosette had left (not
without leaving instructions for Peter), and Peter was left with Satine, who was
too excited to fall asleep. Peter, on the other hand, was pulling into harsh
sobriety and would have paid a king's ransom to get her asleep so he too could
lavish in the same pastime.
"Come on, Satine Isabeau...Daddy's tired, please let me sleep..." he begged. But Satine wailed louder, her balled little fists waving in furious
objection. Peter ran his hand over her head and held her little fists, but she
wasn't contented. Finally he began to hum a tune that his friend Gerald sang at
the bar while he threw darts in every haphazard direction and yelled for another
round.
After a few moments, Satine took an interest in this little tune. The more
he hummed, the softer her cries were. Finally, he began to put words to it, and
in a soft baritone he sang,
You're my love you're my angel
You're the girl of my dreams
I'd like to thank you for waiting patiently
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
How I've waited for this moment
To be by your side
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
It wasn't on a Sunday (Monday and Tuesday went by)
It wasn't on a Tuesday afternoon (all I could do was cry)
But I made a promise that you treasured
I made it back home to you
How I've waited for this moment
To be by your side
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
Daddy's home to stay
I'm not a thousand miles away
Daddy's home to stay
I'm gonna be here come what may
Daddy's home to stay
And Satine fell asleep on her first night in the world to sound of her
father's voice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*
~*~*
Author's Note: I know this is probably the most exhausted type of fan fiction (childhood stories) but like I said, Pepsi and cookies do weird things. Trust me, more is to come and it WILL get better.
~*~HuGz AnD kIsSeS oN lAtEr DaYz~*~
Kate
Summary: I was up late one night battling insomnia and eating sugar cookies and drinking Pepsi and this was the result. I know everyone does childhood stories, but this is my stab at it. (BTW, it's Satine's)
Disclaimer: You know the drill-
Not in the movie = mine
In the movie = not mine
Reviews: Please, please, PLEASE! I'm sacrificing my dignity and begging! I hope you're all happy now!
Chapter 1
May 13, 1873
~Villeneuve, France
"By God, when I get my hands on that no-good husband of mine, I'll wring
his neck!" Marguerite DuBois cried as she gripped the brawny, tanned arms of her
midwife, Cosette. Her finely trimmed and uniform nails bit into the seemingly
impenetrable layer of skin as another merciless contraction seized her body. She
gnawed on her bottom lip so hard that it tore and the salty blood flooded her
mouth. She wasn't cut out for motherhood.
"Oh Madame DuBois you doin' great...Few mo' pushes and you'll have a fine
lil' baby to flaunt." Marguerite managed a strained smile. She had plenty more
to flaunt without having to go through this unbearable pain. She threw her head
back against the rough pillow on the bed and slammed her eyelids closed, trying
to put herself back in her father's house, with everything she ever wanted.
Goose-down pillows, silken sheets, fine dresses and laces...her reverie was
suddenly and sorrowfully interrupted by another spasm.
But no...she thought as she sobbed and the pain resided. I had to go about with
that idiot, Peter. And now this baby is forcing me into a life I don't want! She
nearly cried at the unfairness of it all.
Peter had been the bad boy...expelled from St. Frances's Academy in Paris and
disowned by his father until he "got his act together", Peter had moved to
Villeneuve to reside with the only relative that would have him, his aging Aunt
Annalisé. Marguerite had taken an instant attraction to him, and against her own
father's wishes had begun running with him. It was only now, a year and a half
later, she realized her mistake.
"Madame DuBois, I do declare your baby is coming now!" Cosette exclaimed.
About bloody time...Marguerite thought.
"Push now, Madame...you gots to push, or dat baby ain't going nowhere."
Marguerite clutched the oak bed railing and braced her body. She would do
anything just to make the pain end.
With the wood splintering underneath her clutches, Marguerite forced all
her body's power into a series of excruciatingly painful abdominal thrusts when
the relief came to her and the pain stopped, she thought joy in itself would
kill her.
"Aw, Madame DuBois, you got youself a fine baby girl!" Cosette held the
tiny writhing figure up. Marguerite felt her face contort. It was disgusting!
Covered in white substance she couldn't place, wrinkled, red, and fuzzyheaded,
it was what her nightmares were made of. Marguerite began to cry. Cosette looked
at the screaming infant and then to it's screaming mother.
"Oh Madame DuBois, don't cry now. I'll clean her all up." Marguerite laid
back as Cosette rushed into the opposite room and placed the baby in the basin,
washing it off. She rubbed her forehead, allowing her fingers to rest below her
blonde hairline. She had never seen a baby so awful looking! She had three
younger siblings and none of them had that ghastly appearance.
Just then, Cosette returned. She had the girl wrapped in a white cotton
blanket. It was contentedly sucking on its fist. The hair was flaming red, like
Peter's, the eyes big as tea saucers and the color of the Mediterranean Sea and
finally facial features were gently formed. Cosette beamed with pride and all
Marguerite could do was to keep from screaming in frustration. What was so
great? Now, thanks to this little brat, she was stuck in marriage to a man who
was nothing but a lousy lush! As tears streamed down her face, Cosette smiled.
"Ah, Madame DuBois is it natural to be emotional. I was after my first. Of
course I had seven more, and the effect wears off. Here." She placed the bundle
in Marguerite's arms. The baby smiled adoringly at its mother and Marguerite's
stomach turned. She never liked babies to hold, just to look at as they sat in
carriages or their mother's lap. Now she would be responsible for this mewling
creature.
"What will you name her?" Cosette asked. Marguerite looked down at the
wiggling thing and grimaced.
"I don't know! I just want to be alone! Please, take her away!" Marguerite
held her arms out and Cosette quickly took the infant.
"But Madame DuBois, you must give the baby a name!" Marguerite raised her
hands.
"I don't care! Name it yourself! I need to relax!" she snapped. Cosette
shrugged and walked away.
~*~
"I tell you child, your Mama is a strange one." Cosette said to the DuBois
baby as she laid it in a crib. It was a simply wooden crib with cotton sheets
and a small quilt. Madame DuBois had not put much thought into it, and for that
Cosette was sorry. This was a gorgeous baby that was one hundred percent
healthy, and all Marguerite DuBois could think of was herself. Women who Cosette
had midwifed for would have killed to have a baby half as beautiful and healthy.
"She won't even name you, cherié. How peculiar! Well I'll just have to
name you myself!" she leaned down and examined the baby. It watched her with its
singsong eyes as she stroked its head. It certainly had quite a bit of crimson
hair for a newborn. And the hair was soft as satin. Surely, it would fall out,
but the strength of its color and texture were sure to return.
"That's it! Satine! That shall be your first name...and Isabeau shall be
your middle name. Satine Isabeau DuBois...how perfect!" Cosette kissed Satine's
forehead. The baby cooed in excitement, even though it had no idea what was
going on. Cosette scooped Satine up and hurried into Marguerite's room.
"Madame DuBois, I present Satine Isabeau DuBois!" Marguerite opened her
brown eyes and frowned.
"I thought I said to LEAVE ME ALONE!"
~*~
Peter DuBois was lying face down in an alley beside LaBec's, a bar in the
seedier section of Villeneuve while Marguerite brought Satine into the world.
His red hair was stringed, greasy, and plastered to his head as his jaw drooped
and a hundred obscenities flew from his mouth as the pain began to pound. Gilbert LaBec shook his head and plopped the grimy
garbage can down and placed his hands on the hips of his oily apron.
"'ey, DuBois!" he spat through his yellowed teeth and the toothpick
dangling from in between them. Peter rolled over, his tweed jacket soaking up
the rainwater. His shirt was torn open revealing a bruised chest, a courtesy of
some thugs he'd ripped off in an earlier poker game. LaBec grabbed the lapels of
his and shook him.
"Yoh, DuBois! Word came from your place!" Peter's eyes rolled around but
finally he regained focus.
"Wha is it, LaBec?" he asked, slurring his words. It was only because
LaBec had spoken to so many drunks before that he could understand.
"I say word came from your place! Marguerite had your baby." Peter
squinted, his azure eyes glistening and the tiny red veins were bulging.
"My-my, baby? Oh..." he struggled to stand, with LaBec's help. Peter
drooped his head.
"Is everything all right?" LaBec nodded.
"Far as I heard. Mamie Barthau came on down and said 'twas a girl."
Peter smiled, his perfect white teeth untouched despite his ungodly appearance.
"Well thas great! I gotta get home!"
~*~
Satine's shrieking protests made Cosette blood run cold. She tried once
more to put the baby back down in the crib, but every time she put the baby down
it began to wail, thus causing Marguerite to moan and curse. Cosette needed to
get home to her own children, but she feared what would happen if she left the
howling child alone with the temperamental Marguerite. So now, she was cradling
Satine and singing "Feré' Jacques".
Just then, the front door of the tiny house flung open and the inebriated
Peter DuBois staggered in.
"Cosette! Mamie Barthau tol' me I got a baby!" he shouted. Cosette rolled
her eyes.
"You sure do, Monsieur DuBois! But don't think for a second you get to
hold her until you clean yourself up!" Peter shrugged and stumbled into the
other room with the wash basin. A few moments later he returned, a tad cleaner
and with a different pair of britches and shirt. Cosette pointed to the chair.
"All right, sit there and hol' your arms out." Peter did as she instructed
and Cosette reluctantly handed the cooing baby into his Neanderthal arms. She
expected to have the same reaction from Peter as Marguerite, and she was oddly
surprised. Peter actually got choked up at the sight of his daughter. His head
bobbed down and he kissed her, showing an unknown kind of compassion Cosette
never imagined Peter had.
"Satine..." he whispered finally. Just then, Marguerite's high-pitched
voice called from the other room.
"Peter! Is that you?" Peter maneuvered Satine in his arms so he could
stand and he made his way into Marguerite's room.
"Marguerite honey, did you see our daughter?" she sneered at his sudden
idiotic doting.
"I shoved her out of my body during a process that took eighteen hours
through an area that is only supposed to expand enough to have the diameter of
half dollar! Yes, Peter, I saw!" she screamed. Peter came to her side and patted
her shoulder.
"Baby, calm down! You're gonna upset her!"
"Oh God forbid!" Marguerite snapped. "You weren't even here! You useless
lush! I hate you! Take that whiny urchin away and don't look at me!" Peter shook
his head.
"Fine, darling."
~*~
A few hours later, Marguerite was blissfully asleep, Cosette had left (not
without leaving instructions for Peter), and Peter was left with Satine, who was
too excited to fall asleep. Peter, on the other hand, was pulling into harsh
sobriety and would have paid a king's ransom to get her asleep so he too could
lavish in the same pastime.
"Come on, Satine Isabeau...Daddy's tired, please let me sleep..." he begged. But Satine wailed louder, her balled little fists waving in furious
objection. Peter ran his hand over her head and held her little fists, but she
wasn't contented. Finally he began to hum a tune that his friend Gerald sang at
the bar while he threw darts in every haphazard direction and yelled for another
round.
After a few moments, Satine took an interest in this little tune. The more
he hummed, the softer her cries were. Finally, he began to put words to it, and
in a soft baritone he sang,
You're my love you're my angel
You're the girl of my dreams
I'd like to thank you for waiting patiently
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
How I've waited for this moment
To be by your side
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
It wasn't on a Sunday (Monday and Tuesday went by)
It wasn't on a Tuesday afternoon (all I could do was cry)
But I made a promise that you treasured
I made it back home to you
How I've waited for this moment
To be by your side
Daddy's home your daddy's home to stay
Daddy's home to stay
I'm not a thousand miles away
Daddy's home to stay
I'm gonna be here come what may
Daddy's home to stay
And Satine fell asleep on her first night in the world to sound of her
father's voice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*
~*~*
Author's Note: I know this is probably the most exhausted type of fan fiction (childhood stories) but like I said, Pepsi and cookies do weird things. Trust me, more is to come and it WILL get better.
~*~HuGz AnD kIsSeS oN lAtEr DaYz~*~
Kate