Chapter 10

            Diana retreated to the back bedroom where Christian was asleep.  She gently ran her fingers through his hair as she watched him sleep.  Then she looked at his clothes; he was a mess.  She couldn't let him stay like this.  Diana gently, so she wouldn't wake him, removed his shirt and torn pants and threw them on a chair.  She quickly grabbed the quilt from the chest in the room to cover her shivering husband.  As she climbed into bed next to him, Christian stirred slightly.  She whispered softly to calm him and soothe him back into sleep.  Diana felt him fall back into a deep sleep and she relaxed slightly.  As she gazed upon her husband, Diana felt the tears start to burn her eyes.  She started to cry angry tears, thinking to herself that this should have never happened.  All the emotion that she was unable to release over the last month came out now as she cried silent tears.  With all her emotional and physical pain realized, Diana slowly drifted off into a dreamless and most uncomfortable sleep a few moments later.

            Just past dawn the next morning, Christian awoke, alone in the bed.  He didn't know where he was or how he got there.  He gazed around the room until he saw Diana.  She sat in a chair across the room, just trying to work through the pain.  This was the first time he really took a survey of her injuries.  Diana saw him starting to get worried and she came back over to the bed.  As she sat down on the foot of the bed, he saw the split lip and the bruises that covered her body.  He noticed that both of her hands were bandaged to just past her wrists.  Tears started to well in his eyes when she flinched when his gentle hand touched her.  Christian couldn't contain his emotions when he asked her about all this.

            "I'm fine.  The only major thing is a few cracked ribs." Diana said as she moved closer to him to hug him.  "Why are you crying?" she whispered to him as she held him close to her.

            "I thought I had lost you." Christian sobbed.

            "I told you that I would never leave you, remember?"

            She felt Christian nod against her shoulder.  When she looked at him, she could see how worn out he was.  Diana knew Christian hadn't slept much or eaten since she had been gone.  Now, his injuries took a lot out of him.

            "Go back to sleep Darling.  I'll explain everything later." Diana said as she kissed him.  Christian slowly drifted back to sleep, giving into his exhaustion.  Diana went out into the main area where everyone else was.

            "Everything gets planned today." Diana said addressing everyone.  "Slick, book the tickets today.  First Class, no matter what the cost is, I'll pay it.  Ears stay here; keep a guard out for the police and the damned Duke of Monroth.  Vicki, first I need you to help me and then I need you to watch over Christian while I'm gone.  He is my life and I don't like seeing him hurt."

            Jack got up to head out the shipyard while Vicki followed Diana.

            "Vicki, tighten up my corset for me, I can't reach.  Normally Christian does it but he can't right now."

            "Where do you think you're going?"

            "I have to get our things and during the day, everyone knows me as an upper class woman." Diana said as she braced herself.

            Vicki went behind her and began to retie the laces.  As she pulled them tight, Diana screamed in agony.

            "Take it easy!"

            "This is the only thing holding your ribs in place right now."

            "I'm aware of that!"

            "Then stop complaining!"  Vicki said as she continued.  Diana flinched with every pull but this time she stifled her screams.  When she finished, Diana got dressed and did her make up.  Moments later, she emerged looking like a different woman.  Even though she still wore the dress that she came in, she had managed to draw attention away from the stains.  Her make-up was done so that none of the bruises even showed.

            "Remember Vicki, take care of him for me.  Charlie, come with me."  Diana said as she left to pick up her life again.

            "Your job is to take the trunks down for me.  I can't lift them now.  We have to be as quiet as possible, but luckily enough, most everyone will still be drunk and hung over.  First, our apartment and then the Moulin Rouge." Diana said to Charlie.

            "What happens if someone sees us?"

            "Let me handle that when the occasion arises."

            The two of them first set out for the apartment.  Diana looked around for one last time at their home.  She was once again uprooting her life.

            Diana and Charlie worked quickly to pack everything, being especially careful with Christian's typewriter and Diana's cherished letters.  Charlie removed all the items to the awaiting carriage below while Diana examined what she had done.  She looked at these barren rooms with only a few pieces of furniture and reluctantly closed the door on this part of her life.

            Next was the Moulin Rouge.  Diana walked back into where everything began.  There were bloodstains all over the floor; the mirror on her vanity had cracked when Christian hit it, and everything she had there was in disarray.  Diana now had to finish what she started the night before, packing her life up. 

            Time was now a factor.  Diana hurriedly packed and closed up to avoid the issue of dealing with a waking Montmartre.