"What..." Hannah began, her eyes wide.
"The..." Madi continued.
"Hell?" Kara finished, pointing skyward. "Houston, we have a problem." She clicked her feet in their new Betsey Johnson boots and grabbed for Christian's hand. "Okay, we gotta get back."
"We're scandalizing the whole world! Nic and Ewwie are gonna kill us!" Hannah said, looking a little nervous.
"I love it." Kara and Madi said together.
"Um...girls? Um...where's Satine?" Christian tentatively asked. "Don't we have to find her?"
"Uh-oh." They chorused.
"We kinda can't go back without her, right?" Christian took Madi's extended hand and the four went up to the studios.
They hadn't seen such commotion before. Katie Couric lay on the floor, her pink suit beginning to wrinkle. "Mayday, mayday!" Someone was saying into their headphones. "She's getting wrinkly!"
"Get an iron!" Another screeched into her headphones. "We can't have a rumpled Katie!"
"Get Matt on the set."
The Rougettes laughed nervously. "C'mon, Chris, let's find Stine." Madi gave him a little-sisterly smack and linked her arm through his.
A laughing Matt Lauer cornered them. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm aspiring young journalist Karita K. from MTV, and these are my friends, Hannah Star and Madeline Queen. We're the Rougettes." Kara said, flipping her ponytail and acting as though this was an everyday thing. "We're just here to look around."
"Oh, hi, Ewan!" Matt grinned at Christian, who frowned.
"I'm not Ewan."
The intimidating-foreheaded news anchor just gave him a blank smile. "Okay, look around then."
"Satine isn't here!" Hannah hissed. "She's gone!"
"She went back." Christian stated gravely. "We have to get back."
"Now." Madi added. "What do we do?"
"Grab hands?"
All four did so, right in the middle of the NBC Studios. "Hey, Karita, click your heels three times." Hannah kidded.
Kara did so. "There's no place like Moulin Rouge, there's no place like Moulin Rouge..." She said aloud. "C'mon, speds, repeat after me!"
"Speds?"
"Special Ed? You know...kids that aren't all mentally there?"
The other three followed Kara's words.
And then they were gone, leaving some Today Show staff gaping open-mouthed at the strange spectacle.
"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!?!?!" Nicole wailed as she and Satine were thrown into the darkness that was time-traveling.
"Probably back." Satine answered nonchalantly.
"But...but...I have to go back to my time!" She whined. Suddenly, all was quiet. Their bodies fell with a loud thump on the floor of Christian's garret.
"Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1899!" The Rougettes sang, dancing around in their pretty clothes that they were using for the show tonight.
Kara whirled about like a crazy woman and then smiled broadly at the crowd of onlookers. "I love 80's music."
Of course, the 1899ers had no idea what she was talking about.
Hannah smoothed down the red satin of her gown and looked at her Rouge sisters. "I can't believe this is actually happening. We're entertainers. And we look sexy."
Madi, wearing a silk dress that changed from blue to a greenish hue to pink, nodded. "But what are we going to do now that we've saved Christian and Satine? We can't stay here forever."
"No way. I can't live without my computer." Kara laughed.
"And the Moulin Rouge DVD." Hannah added.
"Yeah, but we kinda have our own private Moulin Rouge right now, silly bean."
Karita was back in her 80's stage. "What song should we sing and dance to tonight, girlies?" If Hannah and Madi would have replied, she wouldn't have heard, as she was so obsessed with her reflection. Kara's dress was strapless and hot magenta, like Madonna's "Material Girl" outfit. Like her friends, her ears and wrists dripped with flaming diamonds. "I...need...liquid...eyeliner." She gasped, pretending to be pathetically ill.
"Karita, you are sick." Madi and Hannah said, rolling their eyes.
"I know." She giggled.
The door creaked open and someone who wasn't Satine but looked exactly like her walked in. "OH. MY. GOD!" Madi shrieked.
"NICOLE!" All three screamed.
"Now, if we just had Ewwie..." Hannah added.
"What happened? Why are YOU here?" Kara asked, lipstick in her hand.
"I don't know. Satine took me with her."
"Cereal?" Kara continued. "Serious in Karaspeak."
"You need a dictionary to understand that." Madi quipped.
"Shut up!" Karita jabbed Madi's side playfully and Hannah stepped between the two. "HEY! KARITA! RED LIPSTICK DOES NOT LOOK NICE ON MY DRESS!"
Nicole stood, watching the girls. "So, let me get this straight. You three time-traveled back here and you saved Satine?"
"Yup."
"Okay...you also went to New York and then you took me with you."
"Yup, Johnny Cochran." Kara teased.
"Well, how am I supposed to get back?"
"We don't know. We don't know if WE'RE gonna get back."
"Hey, Nic, do you know where Ewan is?" Hannah asked.
"No, I don't."
"Shoot."
"Well, he probably has a beard. EWAN, BEARDS ARE BAD!" Karita said. "NO BEARDS."
"No kidding." Madi agreed. "But then, I guess I like him either way."
"I love Ewwie."
"We know, Hannah." Madi pulled on Hannah's hair to get her out of her dreamworld.
The door to their dressing room opened again and Satine came in, wearing her jeans and Poison t-shirt. Nicole noticed her face and said, "I'll leave you guys alone."
"Hey, girls." Satine said softly, sitting down. "I just want to say thank you for all you did."
All three sat down at the same time and put their arms around each other's shoulders.
Satine continued, "I just can't believe that you would sacrifice your...lifestyle for Christian and for me. I mean, you did everything in your power to cure me and make our lives better. You even yelled at the Duke for killing frogs!"
"That was so wrong." Hannah said indignantly.
"I just don't know how you could act so selflessly."
"Oh, honey, it wasn't so selflessly. We did get to see ya'll and go shopping at Betsey Johnson." Kara laughed.
"Well, anyway, Christian and I both want to say thank you. We don't know what else to do."
Tears came into Madi's eyes but she wiped them away before her makeup would run.
"We're going to name our first child Hannah Madeline Karita just for you." Satine smiled.
"Don't do that. That sounds bad. How about you name the first one Karita?"
"No! Hannah!"
"No! Madeline!"
"Well, whatever. Have lots of kids. They're good for you. Who knows, they're probably our grandparents or great-grandparents or something." Kara said.
"How can we repay you girls?"
"Well..." Evil glints came into their eyes. "There is...some stuff we'd like to have."
"We can't take the elephant home with us."
The Rougettes sighed. "Too bad. I liked that thing."
"Diamonds?" Satine asked, grabbing a handful of the jewels.
The three shook their heads.
"Shoes?"
"Nah."
"Well, maybe those..." Kara said.
"Take them."
"Thanks."
"Costumes?"
"You win a new car, Satine!" Madi teased.
"What?"
"That's what we wanted." Hannah explained.
"Take whatever you want. It's yours."
"Cereal?" Kara questioned, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.
"Huh?"
"Karaspeak for serious."
"Hey..." Madi began, a huge, mischievous smile stretching across her face. "C'mere, Karita. C'mere, Hannah."
Satine couldn't hear their whispering, only the muffled giggles. "Let's do it." She heard Hannah say.
"Oh Satinnneeee..." They sing-songed. "We have an ideaaa..."
"What are you going to do?"
Little more than an hour later, Satine emerged from her dressing room looking like a reject from the Lady Marmalade video. Hannah, Madi, and Kara had had their way; blue and yellow eye makeup was blended way up towards her eyebrows, which were darkened to an almost black color. Hot pink blush streaked across Satine's sculpted cheeks and bright red-orange lipstick destroyed her mouth. "You look great," they assured her.
"I think not!" She scoffed, frowning at the girls. "How do I get this off?"
"With soap, maybe?" Kara raised an eyebrow.
"GIRLS! You, you there! You three! HAROLD IS WAITING FOR YOU!" The stage manager, his face a fiery beet red, stormed into the room. He stopped short at seeing Satine. "Mademoiselle Satine, what did they do?"
"We gave her a makeover!" Madeline giggled. "Want one?"
He just scowled. "Get out there, you three. Make those gents happy."
Kara rolled her eyes and, without the other two noticing, ground her boot heel into his foot. He gave a loud yelp, and the three Rougettes, collapsing with laughter, ran to the stage.
"Let's go, girls." She said, just loud enough so the crowds of tuxedos outside could hear her.
"The French are glad to die for love..." Hannah began.
"They delight in fighting duels." Madi cut her off.
"But I prefer a man who lives and gives expensive..." Kara added. The three were still standing behind the curtain, enjoying the fact that their voices were making hundreds of old men stiff.
"Jewels!"
With a loud blast of trumpets, the Rougettes were revealed to the audience. And, taking their cues from their Sparkling Diamond idol, they flirted and waltzed about the Moulin Rouge, collecting the gems and trinkets that were offered. Kara threw her feather boa to Toulouse, who did a naughty little dance with it.
At the end of the night, their feet aching and their necks, arms, and hands weighted with costly jewelry, the girls retired to Christian's garret, their abode of choice.
"This has been too much fun." Hannah sighed, draping herself on Christian's bed.
"We're gonna have to go back soon, though." Madi put a damper on their happiness.
All three were silent for a few moments. "Where should we go next time?" Kara asked.
"We'll have to come back in a few years, to check on their progress."
"Of course."
"Um, girls?" Christian and Satine walked into the room, clinging to one another. "Can we have this room now?"
The three Rougettes, wearing comfortable men's shirts and completely devoid of makeup, nodded and smiled teasingly. "Good night, Christian. Good night, Satine." Like three little girls sent to bed by their parents, they hugged each one before trudging off to their little room.
Completely contented, the Rougettes fell into deep sleep, not knowing what was going to happen next.
"The..." Madi continued.
"Hell?" Kara finished, pointing skyward. "Houston, we have a problem." She clicked her feet in their new Betsey Johnson boots and grabbed for Christian's hand. "Okay, we gotta get back."
"We're scandalizing the whole world! Nic and Ewwie are gonna kill us!" Hannah said, looking a little nervous.
"I love it." Kara and Madi said together.
"Um...girls? Um...where's Satine?" Christian tentatively asked. "Don't we have to find her?"
"Uh-oh." They chorused.
"We kinda can't go back without her, right?" Christian took Madi's extended hand and the four went up to the studios.
They hadn't seen such commotion before. Katie Couric lay on the floor, her pink suit beginning to wrinkle. "Mayday, mayday!" Someone was saying into their headphones. "She's getting wrinkly!"
"Get an iron!" Another screeched into her headphones. "We can't have a rumpled Katie!"
"Get Matt on the set."
The Rougettes laughed nervously. "C'mon, Chris, let's find Stine." Madi gave him a little-sisterly smack and linked her arm through his.
A laughing Matt Lauer cornered them. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm aspiring young journalist Karita K. from MTV, and these are my friends, Hannah Star and Madeline Queen. We're the Rougettes." Kara said, flipping her ponytail and acting as though this was an everyday thing. "We're just here to look around."
"Oh, hi, Ewan!" Matt grinned at Christian, who frowned.
"I'm not Ewan."
The intimidating-foreheaded news anchor just gave him a blank smile. "Okay, look around then."
"Satine isn't here!" Hannah hissed. "She's gone!"
"She went back." Christian stated gravely. "We have to get back."
"Now." Madi added. "What do we do?"
"Grab hands?"
All four did so, right in the middle of the NBC Studios. "Hey, Karita, click your heels three times." Hannah kidded.
Kara did so. "There's no place like Moulin Rouge, there's no place like Moulin Rouge..." She said aloud. "C'mon, speds, repeat after me!"
"Speds?"
"Special Ed? You know...kids that aren't all mentally there?"
The other three followed Kara's words.
And then they were gone, leaving some Today Show staff gaping open-mouthed at the strange spectacle.
"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!?!?!" Nicole wailed as she and Satine were thrown into the darkness that was time-traveling.
"Probably back." Satine answered nonchalantly.
"But...but...I have to go back to my time!" She whined. Suddenly, all was quiet. Their bodies fell with a loud thump on the floor of Christian's garret.
"Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1899!" The Rougettes sang, dancing around in their pretty clothes that they were using for the show tonight.
Kara whirled about like a crazy woman and then smiled broadly at the crowd of onlookers. "I love 80's music."
Of course, the 1899ers had no idea what she was talking about.
Hannah smoothed down the red satin of her gown and looked at her Rouge sisters. "I can't believe this is actually happening. We're entertainers. And we look sexy."
Madi, wearing a silk dress that changed from blue to a greenish hue to pink, nodded. "But what are we going to do now that we've saved Christian and Satine? We can't stay here forever."
"No way. I can't live without my computer." Kara laughed.
"And the Moulin Rouge DVD." Hannah added.
"Yeah, but we kinda have our own private Moulin Rouge right now, silly bean."
Karita was back in her 80's stage. "What song should we sing and dance to tonight, girlies?" If Hannah and Madi would have replied, she wouldn't have heard, as she was so obsessed with her reflection. Kara's dress was strapless and hot magenta, like Madonna's "Material Girl" outfit. Like her friends, her ears and wrists dripped with flaming diamonds. "I...need...liquid...eyeliner." She gasped, pretending to be pathetically ill.
"Karita, you are sick." Madi and Hannah said, rolling their eyes.
"I know." She giggled.
The door creaked open and someone who wasn't Satine but looked exactly like her walked in. "OH. MY. GOD!" Madi shrieked.
"NICOLE!" All three screamed.
"Now, if we just had Ewwie..." Hannah added.
"What happened? Why are YOU here?" Kara asked, lipstick in her hand.
"I don't know. Satine took me with her."
"Cereal?" Kara continued. "Serious in Karaspeak."
"You need a dictionary to understand that." Madi quipped.
"Shut up!" Karita jabbed Madi's side playfully and Hannah stepped between the two. "HEY! KARITA! RED LIPSTICK DOES NOT LOOK NICE ON MY DRESS!"
Nicole stood, watching the girls. "So, let me get this straight. You three time-traveled back here and you saved Satine?"
"Yup."
"Okay...you also went to New York and then you took me with you."
"Yup, Johnny Cochran." Kara teased.
"Well, how am I supposed to get back?"
"We don't know. We don't know if WE'RE gonna get back."
"Hey, Nic, do you know where Ewan is?" Hannah asked.
"No, I don't."
"Shoot."
"Well, he probably has a beard. EWAN, BEARDS ARE BAD!" Karita said. "NO BEARDS."
"No kidding." Madi agreed. "But then, I guess I like him either way."
"I love Ewwie."
"We know, Hannah." Madi pulled on Hannah's hair to get her out of her dreamworld.
The door to their dressing room opened again and Satine came in, wearing her jeans and Poison t-shirt. Nicole noticed her face and said, "I'll leave you guys alone."
"Hey, girls." Satine said softly, sitting down. "I just want to say thank you for all you did."
All three sat down at the same time and put their arms around each other's shoulders.
Satine continued, "I just can't believe that you would sacrifice your...lifestyle for Christian and for me. I mean, you did everything in your power to cure me and make our lives better. You even yelled at the Duke for killing frogs!"
"That was so wrong." Hannah said indignantly.
"I just don't know how you could act so selflessly."
"Oh, honey, it wasn't so selflessly. We did get to see ya'll and go shopping at Betsey Johnson." Kara laughed.
"Well, anyway, Christian and I both want to say thank you. We don't know what else to do."
Tears came into Madi's eyes but she wiped them away before her makeup would run.
"We're going to name our first child Hannah Madeline Karita just for you." Satine smiled.
"Don't do that. That sounds bad. How about you name the first one Karita?"
"No! Hannah!"
"No! Madeline!"
"Well, whatever. Have lots of kids. They're good for you. Who knows, they're probably our grandparents or great-grandparents or something." Kara said.
"How can we repay you girls?"
"Well..." Evil glints came into their eyes. "There is...some stuff we'd like to have."
"We can't take the elephant home with us."
The Rougettes sighed. "Too bad. I liked that thing."
"Diamonds?" Satine asked, grabbing a handful of the jewels.
The three shook their heads.
"Shoes?"
"Nah."
"Well, maybe those..." Kara said.
"Take them."
"Thanks."
"Costumes?"
"You win a new car, Satine!" Madi teased.
"What?"
"That's what we wanted." Hannah explained.
"Take whatever you want. It's yours."
"Cereal?" Kara questioned, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.
"Huh?"
"Karaspeak for serious."
"Hey..." Madi began, a huge, mischievous smile stretching across her face. "C'mere, Karita. C'mere, Hannah."
Satine couldn't hear their whispering, only the muffled giggles. "Let's do it." She heard Hannah say.
"Oh Satinnneeee..." They sing-songed. "We have an ideaaa..."
"What are you going to do?"
Little more than an hour later, Satine emerged from her dressing room looking like a reject from the Lady Marmalade video. Hannah, Madi, and Kara had had their way; blue and yellow eye makeup was blended way up towards her eyebrows, which were darkened to an almost black color. Hot pink blush streaked across Satine's sculpted cheeks and bright red-orange lipstick destroyed her mouth. "You look great," they assured her.
"I think not!" She scoffed, frowning at the girls. "How do I get this off?"
"With soap, maybe?" Kara raised an eyebrow.
"GIRLS! You, you there! You three! HAROLD IS WAITING FOR YOU!" The stage manager, his face a fiery beet red, stormed into the room. He stopped short at seeing Satine. "Mademoiselle Satine, what did they do?"
"We gave her a makeover!" Madeline giggled. "Want one?"
He just scowled. "Get out there, you three. Make those gents happy."
Kara rolled her eyes and, without the other two noticing, ground her boot heel into his foot. He gave a loud yelp, and the three Rougettes, collapsing with laughter, ran to the stage.
"Let's go, girls." She said, just loud enough so the crowds of tuxedos outside could hear her.
"The French are glad to die for love..." Hannah began.
"They delight in fighting duels." Madi cut her off.
"But I prefer a man who lives and gives expensive..." Kara added. The three were still standing behind the curtain, enjoying the fact that their voices were making hundreds of old men stiff.
"Jewels!"
With a loud blast of trumpets, the Rougettes were revealed to the audience. And, taking their cues from their Sparkling Diamond idol, they flirted and waltzed about the Moulin Rouge, collecting the gems and trinkets that were offered. Kara threw her feather boa to Toulouse, who did a naughty little dance with it.
At the end of the night, their feet aching and their necks, arms, and hands weighted with costly jewelry, the girls retired to Christian's garret, their abode of choice.
"This has been too much fun." Hannah sighed, draping herself on Christian's bed.
"We're gonna have to go back soon, though." Madi put a damper on their happiness.
All three were silent for a few moments. "Where should we go next time?" Kara asked.
"We'll have to come back in a few years, to check on their progress."
"Of course."
"Um, girls?" Christian and Satine walked into the room, clinging to one another. "Can we have this room now?"
The three Rougettes, wearing comfortable men's shirts and completely devoid of makeup, nodded and smiled teasingly. "Good night, Christian. Good night, Satine." Like three little girls sent to bed by their parents, they hugged each one before trudging off to their little room.
Completely contented, the Rougettes fell into deep sleep, not knowing what was going to happen next.