N He stole back to her dressing room when the curtain fell for intermission. Christian was expecting her to weep with joy and rush into his arms when she saw him there.
He was in for a rude awakening.

The Satine that sat at the heart-shaped vanity table with the gold-framed mirror was much changed. Her hair, that sweet, rich red hair he'd so loved to touch, was now gold. When she heard the door open, Satine spun around on her chair and gasped. "Christian! What are you doing here?"
To hear her voice again...it sent shivers up and down Christian's spine. "Satine...you're alive."
"You shouldn't be here, Christian. You know I can't see you anymore."
His heart fell along with his face. "Why?"
"I can't."
"Satine, I thought you loved me."
"I thought I did too."
"Then why can't you see me anymore?"
"Because love is a waste of my time."
Christian was speechless at this distorted woman. "Why didn't you tell me you were alive?"
"I couldn't. Christian...you must understand."
"Forgive me, Satine, I don't. I thought you were dead, Satine! I thought..."
"My death was an elaborate scheme, if you will." Satine replied, her voice cold. "To get me away from the Duke. I didn't die that night after Spectacular, Spectacular. When they took me away from you, Chocolat took me down to a room underneath the Moulin and there Marie prepared me to leave. We didn't tell you. Christian, please, understand this. I wanted to save you from the Duke. And I did, didn't I?"
"I still don't understand."
"Christian," she cleared her throat and started to sing. "I'm a bitch, I'm a tease..."
"No, Satine, you're not." He whispered, staring into the eyes that were now greenish.
"I'm a bitch, I'm a mother, I'm a child, I'm a lover." She continued, spreading color over her cheeks.
"You don't love me anymore?" His eyes were cloudy and hard to read.
"Christian...I'm just a whore." She said before singing again, "Nothing's right I'm torn...I'm all outta place, this is how I feel..."
Christian began to sing. "Time is never time at all...you can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth."
Satine paid no attention, trying to harden her heart. "Believe...believe in me. Believe that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain."
"You and me, we used to be together...every day together, always." Satine sang, ignoring Christian's words.
"We're not the same, we're different, tonight! We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight..."
"No, Christian. Not anymore."
"Believe in me as I believe in you tonight." He continued, not listening to her pleas for him to stop.
"You're only in for heartbreak." She sang.
"I don't care, I don't care..."
"Let's end it on this, let's end it on this! It's over..." Satine's voice was featherlight.
She doesn't love me anymore. It is over. There isn't anything to keep me here. And Satine isn't herself. She's changed, Christian thought. "I am barely breathing, and I can't find the air. Don't know who I'm kidding, imagining you care." He sang.
Satine didn't reply.
"Don't leave me this way...I can't survive without your sweet love, oh baby, don't leave me this way." Christian was using the words he'd used that magical night on top of the elephant.
"Like anyone would be, I am flattered by your fascination with me. Like any hot blooded woman, I have simply wanted an object to crave..."
"I wanna see you and me singin' love songs...together singin' love songs."
"But you, you're not allowed. You're uninvited...an unfortunate slight." Satine sang, pouring her heart into her words. But a secret part of her was holding back.
"How do you numb your skin after the warmest touch?" Christian sang to her, reaching out to touch her hair. She moved away. "How do you slow your blood after the body rush? How do you free your soul after you've found a friend? How do you teach your heart it's a crime to fall in love again?"
"Like any uncharted territory, I must be greatly intriguing. You speak of my love like you've experienced love like mine before. But this is not allowed...you're uninvited."
Christian continued his song. "Oh you probably won't remember me, I'm probably ancient history."
"Christian, don't."
"I'm one of the chosen few who went ahead and fell for you."
That stung. Satine shook her head, hoping to get rid of Christian soon. This was going to ruin her performance for the night.
"I'm out of vogue, I'm out of touch, I fell too fast, I feel too much. I thought you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive." The look in his eyes bored holes in Satine's heart.
"Christian, go. Please. You're setting yourself up for heartbreak."
"You want me to act like we've never kissed, you want me to forget."
"Christian, intermission is almost over." Satine said. "Love is just a lie."
"You tell me to find someone else to love, someone who'll love me too, the way you used to...but now, I've realized I was crazy for lovin' you."
And with a slam of the door, he was gone. And Satine was alone, shaking and sobbing quietly on her chaise.

When she took the stage again, he was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, Satine found the strength to finish the last act and put a smile on her face even though her heart was screaming. "Why did I tell him I didn't love him? But Harold said it- we are creatures of the underworld. We can't afford to love. No, we can't. And though I will try to rise above my past, right the wrongs, I'll always be Satine, the Sparkling Diamond. A whore. But I can't put love before my career. I can't let anything stand in my way."

"I was a fool to believe she loved me." Christian fumed to himself. "She never did. It was just a ruse. An act." He exited the theater through a back door and left the place Satine cared more about with a taste of bitterness in his mouth.


When Satine returned to her small but comfortable flat that night, Marie greeted her at the door. "He asked for you all night," she said as if reading Satine's thoughts.
"Is he asleep?"
"Sound asleep. How did it go tonight?"
"Awful." Satine threw off her coat and began undressing.
"Why?"
"Christian was there."
"Did you speak to him?"
"And I broke his heart." Satine dabbed at her eyes with a red silk handkerchief. "And mine along with it."
"Oh, dearie girl." Marie pulled Satine close and let her sob into her shoulder as she had done when she was a little girl.
When she had finished crying, Satine crept into her bedroom, not wanting to wake her baby. She peered over the edge of his crib and ran a finger over his soft, plump cheek. Gavin's dark hair was rumpled and he grasped his worn teddy bear. "Hello, sweetheart." Satine murmured to her two-year-old son. Christian's son. The child he'd never set eyes on.
Gavin gave a little cry and opened his eyes. "Look who's awake." Satine cooed softly.
"Mummy," he whimpered, holding out his arms to her. She lifted him out and held him close, savoring his sweet baby smell and humming softly.
"Did you have a bad dream, little prince?"
"Yes." He sniffled. "Is it mornin', Mummy?"
Satine marveled at how fluent her son was with his words at only two years of age. He was Christian's son, that was for sure. "No, darling, it's not morning. It's very late, and Mummy needs to go to sleep."
"Home tomorrow, Mummy?" He asked, yawning.
"I'll be home tomorrow, pumpkin."
"Good." Gavin yawned again and said, "Wanna rock, Mummy."
Satine sat down in her rocking chair and kissed her son's forehead, moving back and forth in a slow, steady motion that lulled him to sleep. But before he slept, he whispered, "Sing, Mama."
Satine's thoughts were full of Christian, and she sang the first thing that came to mind, then instantly regretted it. "If you knew," she thought, "that your father wrote this for me..." Gavin wouldn't know his father. Christian hated her. "My gift is my song," Satine sang softly to her son, "and this one's for you..."
When Gavin was fast asleep, Satine laid him in her bed and curled around him for comfort. He was so like his father...the father she'd almost forgotten and would never be able to get back.

"Where'd you go last night?" Stuart asked his friend the next morning.
"I left."
"I noticed." Stuart said dryly. "Why?"
"Stuart..." Christian began. "Satine was there."
"No she wasn't, Christian. Satine is dead."
"She's not dead. I'm serious, Stuart, she's not."
"Don't tell me; you went to see her and she ran back into your arms and everything's just peachy now, right?"
"Wrong. She doesn't love me. I was so stupid for ever thinking someone like her could love me...or be loved. She's changed, Stuart."
"And what are you going to do?"
"What else am I supposed to do? I can't just leave her but I can't beg her to take me back. Besides, it's not worth it. I don't love her anymore."
"You're fooling yourself. You love her and you know it. But if you want to, move on."


"Do you want me to go out to the market, Satine love?" Marie asked, standing in Satine's doorway. She was lying in bed, Gavin by her side, reading him a book.
"Mummy, can we go?" Gavin looked up at his mother with those wide blue eyes and Satine's heart melted.
"Gav and I will go, Marie."
"If you'd like to."
The little boy grinned in delight and shut the book. "Let's go now, Mummy."
Satine laughed. "First we should eat breakfast. Aren't you hungry, little prince?"
"I'm always hungry."

Satine bundled her son up in his little wool peacoat, a sweet red hat, mitten, and scarf set that Marie had knitted, and gave him a few coins to keep in his pocket. The child swelled with pride at being able to hold this small amount of money. "C'mon, Mummy, let's go!" He grabbed at her hand and was pulling her along before she'd even put on her mink-trimmed coat.
"We're leaving, Marie!" She yelled into the apartment. "See you for lunch!"

On this sunshiny January day, there were throngs of people at the bustling London market. "Hold tight to my hand, Gavin, and don't let go, all right?"
"Yes, Mummy." He nodded solemnly, clutching his coin purse. Gavin's little eyes scanned the crowds and looked for the candy stand, his favorite. "Can I have some candy, Mummy?"
"When we're finished." Satine said absently, inspecting a tomato. She was so engrossed in this menial task that she didn't notice Gavin slip away, lured by a red balloon. "All right, sweetheart, let's go get you some...Gavin? Gavin, where are you?"

Christian wasn't a fan of huge crowds but he needed food, so he headed towards the busy London marketplace. Today, the bright flowers and things that usually cheered him considerably just depressed him. All day long, he'd been replaying his scene with Satine over and over again. Why had she changed like that? Could three years do that to a person? Well, it had obviously changed Satine.
Christian walked by a statue and heard a sniffling noise. It sounded like a child crying. He'd always felt awkward around the little ones, but something in the noise drew him closer. Behind the statue sat a small boy who looked remarkably as he had at that age. The boy's blue eyes were full of tears and he hiccupped every minute or so.
"What's wrong, little lad?" He asked.
"I lost my mummy!" The boy sobbed. "Can you help me find her?"
"What does your mother look like?"
"She's pretty."
"What color is her hair?"
"Yellow."
"Do you remember what she's wearing?"
"A pink dress..." The boy couldn't have been more than two yet he had a very extensive vocabulary. "And a fur coat."
"What's your name? What's your mummy's name?"
"My name is Gavin. My mummy's name is Tine."
Christian held out his hand to the youngster, who was carrying a small coin purse. The little boy took it and toddled alongside him. "Can we get some candy?" He asked in his small voice.
Christian bought the boy a bright colored lollipop and Gavin licked it with fervor as the two, hand in hand, scouted the streets for the mysterious "Tine."

"Have you seen a little boy in a blue coat and a red hat?" Satine asked every vendor, anxiousness in her voice and in her eyes. Where was her son? Her sweet baby son was gone...all the vendors shook their heads, all except the candy-stand woman with the plump rosy cheeks. "I saw the little boy go with a young man...they were looking for his mother."
"Which way did they go?" She asked, frantic.
The woman pointed and gave Satine a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, darlin'. They'll find ya."

A woman with long golden hair and a pink dress swept in front of them, and Gavin yelped. "Mummy!" He cried, letting go of Christian's hand and running towards her.
Satine heard his voice behind her. She spun around and caught him just as he flew towards her. "Gavin! Oh, sweetheart, you're all right! Where did you get that lolly?"
"He gave it to me." Gavin pointed towards Christian, who stood alone, watching.

Christian watched as the little boy reunited with his mother, whose face was partially hidden by Gavin's small body. She turned as though to say something to him, and when he caught a glimpse of her face, his breath caught.
"Christian!" She gasped.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Oh yes, the songs I used in their medley were:

"Bitch" by Meredith Brooks
"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia
"Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Don't Speak" by No Doubt
"End it on This" by No Doubt
Some song-I don't know what the title is....
"Don't Leave me This Way" from ELM (don't know who sang it...Thelma something)
"Uninvited" by Alanis Morrisette
"Love Songs" by the great and almighty Fleming and John, who I strongly urge you to check out
"Insensitive" by Jann Arden
Something by Patsy Cline