L'amour Fou

by A.L.S.O.

Chapter VII – We All Need Some Truth

Dedication: Lady-Evenstar, a great reviewer who gave me a great idea and inspiration to write the next chapter ASAP! Thank you so much!

The days passed and still there was no sign of Marie or Zidler. Every other minute Satine was looking out the display window as if expecting a carriage to pull up in front of her apartment and her world to come crashing down, but each and every time the streets were deserted of carriages and she continued working. After a while, Christian started to notice that she was apprehensive and scared about something, and got the definite hint that something was wrong when every time he started touching her, she flinched. If he put her hand on her shoulder, she would jump, if he turned her around and kissed her, she screamed. There was definitely something wrong.

"Sarah?" he asked her one night. The children were in Christopher's bed sleeping, and Satine and Christian were sitting quietly in the living room, Satine constantly staring out the window.

"Yes?" she responded, her eyes still focused on outside.

"Sarah, look at me."

With one last nervous look at the window, she turned her head and gave him a fake reassuring smile.

"What's wrong?" He was speaking quite seriously and his eyes were hard and callous, making the smile disappear from Satine's face.

"Christian, don't start this again," she sighed, looking towards the window once again. "We've been over this a hundred times, everything is fine."

"Damn it, Sarah!" he yelled, standing up furiously. "Stop telling me that! Everything is not fine and you know it! Why can't you just tell me? I thought you loved me!"

"I do love you!" she shouted back, standing up and facing him. "But this is my problem, my situation, and my life!"

Christian stared sadly back at her. They both knew that by just saying that, he was hurt in a way that was unforgivable on Satine's part.

"Oh, Christian, I'm so sorry," Satine whispered, and tiny tears started making paths down her cheeks. God! she thought angrily. Is cry the only thing I ever do anymore?

"No, no you're not," Christian spat. "You're not sorry for anything, are you? You're not sorry for what you're doing to me either, I bet! Do you even care that my heart is breaking to see you so upset? It breaks again and again every time you look out the window and frown—why can't you tell me what's wrong so I can stop worrying?"

"I can't, Christian," she said, the tears now pouring heavily. "Don't put me in this situation! Don't make me choose between telling you or losing you, I just can't do it!"

"You'd rather lose me than tell me?" he said quietly. He looked at her disbelievingly. "I—I can't believe you just said that! I can't believe you can't choose between the love of your life and—never mind. I don't even want to think about it."

Satine sighed, rubbing her temples. She stood to go to the bathroom but Christian stopped her by catching her off her guard and kissing her.

"Christian, what are you doing?" she whispered between the hot kisses he placed on her neck, her face, her sweet lips. Hadn't they been fighting just a moment ago?

"I fought with the love of my life before and wound up losing her," he whispered before kissing her again. "I don't want it to happen to you, too."

Satine knew he was talking about herself, and she pushed away from him, unable to be kissed like that when she was feeling so guilty. "People don't just make up like this, Christian—"

"Yes, yes they do," he said desperately. He took her hand, kneeled on one knee, and inhaled deeply before continuing.

"Christian, don't do this," Satine cried.

But when his heart was set on something, Christian went the full distance, and he kissed her hand delicately before looking up into her beautiful face and asking, "Will you marry me?"

At that moment both Satine and Christian's lives changed forever. There was someone at the door, someone knocking to get in and Satine knew who it was and dreaded it with all her might. Her heart began to beat so fast, the pounding filled all her senses and she momentarily went mad. She pulled Christian up to his feet, taking his face between her hands, and kissed him, knowing it would be the last time. She caressed his cheek and whispered, "I'm so sorry for everything in advance, and just remember that no matter what happens, no matter what comes between us, I'll always love you."

Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, a heap at Christian's feet. He was about to bend down to help her when the door swung open and there appeared two people he thought he would never see again.

"Zidler?" he said in amazement. "Marie?"

"Christian!" they both gasped, and then they saw Satine lying at his feet, crying and rocking herself back and forth.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Marie said, running to her side.

"How do you know Sarah?" he asked angrily. "And what the hell are you doing here?" His head pounded with old memories of Satine, of her voice, her touch, her delicate kisses—what was going on?

"Who's Sarah?" Zidler asked in confusion.

"What do you mean 'who's Sarah'?" Christian shouted. "This is her damn apartment and I still don't know why the hell you're in it!"

"Oh, no," Marie sighed, still by Satine who was continuing crying and rocking. "I can't believe this. Oh, poor dear, what you must have gone through!" She stood up and put her arms around Christian, and when she stepped away, tears were in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Christian asked, his brow furrowed.

"Where's your daughter?" she asked simply.

"What does Amour have to do with anything?" he said sharply, not wanting to get his daughter involved.

"Christian, I'm trying to remain calm and reasonable. Now listen to me, go get your daughter and bring her out here."

Christian disappeared into Christopher's bedroom. Zidler stormed into the apartment, slamming the door behind him, and demanded Marie tell him what was going on.

"Harold, I don't want to hear another word from you!" she yelled. "If it hadn't been for you, perhaps none of this would have happened! But your big mouth got these two in the worst complication that they could ever handle, and I don't want you here making it worse! I swear, if you say one thing—"

"Marie, if you don't tell me this instant what is happening—"

They were both interrupted by Christian reentering, a little girl in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder, and a little boy holding Christian's hand, rubbing his eyes with the other.

"This is Amour," he said, putting her down and taking her hand. "You better not hurt her, I swear you better not."

"Christian, I would never hurt her in any way or form," Marie said reassuringly. "But I think it's time you all know the truth."

At that moment, the crying figure of Satine jumped up and started screaming. "No, Marie, don't! Please don't ruin everything!" She was still crying and shaking so hard, that small coughs were quickly escaping, sending drops of blood all over her hand.

Christian stared, oddly reminded of Satine. He shook his head and turned back to Marie, who was now frowning.

"It will be better for everyone," she said, making Satine scream and plead even more. "He would find out sooner or later anyway."

"Marie, no! I forbid you to tell him anything! This is not your problem! I can solve this myself! I don't need you! Get out, GET OUT!" She ran to Marie and started punching her elder's chest with such force that Christian was surprised she didn't collapse in the middle of the beatings. Instead, she calmly took Satine's wrists and forced her to calm down, and she did, falling helplessly into Marie's arms.

"I promise you everything will be okay. Shh, this will solve anything," she soothed. "Shh, calm down, dear, calm down."

"Papa?" Christian looked down to see Amour staring sleepily at him. She shouldn't have to see this, he thought, this isn't something for a child to witness. "Can I go back to bed now?" Christian shook his head gently, but sat her and Christopher on the sofa.

"If you don't mind," he said, his face contorted into an irate expression, "my daughter is tired and unless we are to settle this now, we're leaving."

Satine looked up at him, still crying. Her long black hair was all over and her makeup was running, but to Christian she still looked as beautiful as ever. "Christian, you have to go. Please, Christian, just leave; I don't want you to be here, to hear any of this. Just go, please, for all of us."

Christian looked towards Marie, who seemed to be the leader of all this, and saw her shake her head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but if it concerns you, I think I should hear it," he said quietly.

Zidler, who had been hiding in the shadows of the corner, suddenly burst forth in anger and cried, "HER NAME IS SATINE!"

Everything went quiet. Satine stopped crying and Marie stopped whispering placating words; the children stopped yawning and rubbing their eyes, keeping their focus on their Mama and Papa; Zidler went white, knowing what he had just done, and collapsed on the sofa, rubbing his face guiltily.

But Christian...he stopped moving, stopped breathing. He stood rigid as around him the world seemed to fade away and become nothing, and just for a second that sad, beautiful black-haired woman became the seductive, gorgeous radiant Satine. Then the present came back, the clock's started ticking, and he was in a room where there seemed not a drop of happiness.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" he whispered, not even daring to speak louder. "Satine is dead, she died, she died having my precious Amour." His head snapped towards Satine who had silently started crying again. "Sarah, tell them!" His voice was almost begging her to tell him the opposite of the words he had just been told. "Tell them this isn't true! Tell them you're Sarah James!"

She began to sob uncontrollably but nodded all the same.

"See, there's your proof," Christian spat. He walked to the sofa and picked up Amour, and went swiftly past Marie and Satine. "I don't need this, I don't want to be a part of this. Goodbye."

"But I wasn't Sarah James forever," Satine whispered to herself. She looked up just as Christian reached for the doorknob and straightened, trying to gather together enough strength. She swallowed hard and started to sing.

"Never knew I could feel like this." Her voice came out thin and weak, but it caused Christian to stop in his tracks. "It's like I've never seen the sky before...want to vanish inside your kiss, every day I'm lovin' you more and more."

A strangled noise came from Christian, silently announcing he was starting to cry. He turned his face slowly around, tearstained and irate, to where Satine was looking at him intently, the tears come faster and harder and the song coming out even more limply.

"Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?" she continued. "Come back to me and forgive everything!" She stopped, gasping for breath.

Christian opened his mouth as if on instinct to sing, but quickly closed it when he remembered what had just happened.

Satine didn't have the strength to sing anymore. She fell to her knees once again, but this time Marie let her be and didn't help. She was gasping and strangling, almost begging for air, but it came in short, small gaps, and soon blood was falling onto the rug of the floor.

"Papa, what's happening to Sarah?" Amour asked, breaking the silence.

Christian silently turned to leave again, but he realized he couldn't do that to his daughter. He could break his heart all he wanted, but now that he knew the truth, he couldn't do that to his daughter. He smoothed the hair away from her face and said shakily, "You know how I said Mama was up in Heaven, in God's house?" Amour nodded. "Well, God decided it was time for her to come back to us, and...Sarah is your Mama, darling."

"She is?" Amour gasped. "Can I go tell her?"

Christian looked down pathetically to the lump that was the sobbing Satine. "Maybe another day. It's time to go home."

He reached for the door and this time no song, no surprising or shocking words, stopped him and he continued on into the hallway. With every footstep he took that echoed back into Satine's room, she felt him taking another step out of her life forever, and nothing Marie or Zidler did could keep her from sobbing out her heart that night, until the chest pains came, the coughing shook her, and blood appeared on her lips. Even then her heartbreaking cries continued on.

A/N: There, he knows, ya happy? J/K, I liked writing this chapter. It was fun, but I cried. I dunno what direction to go into after this. I have a sense of what I'm gonna do, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna go through with what I planned to from the beginning. Again, thank you Lady-Evenstar for the idea. I didn't use it how I wanted to, but oh well; it was still a good idea. Anyways, like I said, I don't know exactly what's gonna happen after this, so the next chapter might take a while.

Oh, and since this'll be the last chapter I upload today (five is enough) I want to say one more time HAPPY BIRTHDAY/ANNIVERSARY MOULIN ROUGE AND CONGRATS ON IT BEING EXACTLY ONE YEAR SINCE YOU CAME OUT IN MOVE THEATERS ON JUNE 1, 2002 AND STILL YOU'RE THE BEST MOVIE EVER!! Or to me, at least.

Special Thanks: to all the reviewers, you make me scream and cry and jump for joy every time I read one of your reviews!! Lol, it makes me so happy, you have no idea!

Translations:

None

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Moulin Rouge or any of its affiliates. If I did I certainly wouldn't be here whining about it.

I don't own the songs either:

'Come What May' by some genius I don't know