Fly Away

Where I grew up

HMS Britanny pulled up alongside the Statue of Liberty two days later. Satine's condition hadn't improved much and she confined herself to their room. Christian wanted to spend most of his time with her but Satine managed to persuade him to take some tim out. He did so reluctantly.

Satine and Christian were one of the first people waiting to get off. A porter would go and collect their luggage once the ship had docked. It was quite warm but Satine was wrapped up tightly. Christian did not want her to get cold.

'How are we going to stay here?' Christian asked as they slowly made their way down the gangplank. 'You need to be American.'

'I know.' Satine said, calmly. She took her passport from him. 'Look.' He looked under nationality it said 'American'.

'I didn't know you were American.'

'I lived here until...Anyway, here we are.' They had reached customs and Satine showed her passport to the man.

'What about him?'

'He's my husband.'

'Oh, yea. So why isn't your name changed on your passport?'

'Because this is my first time over here in a long time and I haven't gotten around to it.' Satine could feel the anger building up inside her. She knew this was bad so tried to calm herself down. The man looked at her for a moment.

'All right. Welcome to America.' He said and ushered them through.

They walked through and Satine stopped. She began to look around, turning slowly just in case she missed something.

'Satine!' A voice called. She turned around again. A figure was making its way through the crowd. 'Satine!' A youngish man with sandy hair and green eyes stumbled through the front of the crowd. He walked over to Satine and gave her a hug.

'Christian, this is Oliver, my cousin. Oliver, this is Christian, my boyfriend/husband to the customs guy.' Oliver laughed and shook hands with Christian.

'Good to meet you.'

'You too.' Christian smiled at him.

'Where's Livvie?' Satine asked Oliver.

'I'm here.' A small voice replied. Satine saw a petite woman walk over to them. She had long black hair that framed her face and blue eyes that sparkled in the sun. Satine gave her an embrace. She and Livvie were good friends.

'Hi, you must be Livvie. I'm Christian, Satine's....' He was unsure of what to call himself. 'Satine's fiance.' Satine looked at him. He looked back. She smiled and nodded.

'Yep, this is my fiance. This, darling, is Livvie, Oliver's wife.' Christian and Livvie shook hands as a porter with a trolley walked over. On the trolley was their luggage. Oliver pointed the porter in the direction of the car. Christian and Oliver followed with Livvie and Satine trailing behind. Livvie slipped her arm through Satine's.

'It's such a pity you had to come here under these circumstances.'

'Yes it is.' Satine smiled sadly. 'Oh, well, at least I get to see you again.' She smiled at Livvie who smiled back.

'We have a surprise for you.' Livvie said. Satine stopped and looked at her.

'What is it?' Satine asked her eyes sparkling.

'It involves where you are going to live.' Livvie said mysteriously. She reached into her bag and pulled out a key. Satine took it, speechless. She turned the key over in her hands, handling it as though it were gold.

'Is this...?'

'Yes it is.' Livvie said. Satine didn't know what to say. Tears formed in her eyes and she hugged Livvie.

'So, what is it you do?' Oliver asked Christian as they ambled along behind the porter.

'I write. That is how me and Satine met. I wrote a show for the Moulin Rouge and she was the star.'

'Always was the little actress.'

'Thank you! Thank you!' Satine ran up behind him, flinging her arms around his neck. Oliver smiled at Christian.

'I see Livvie told you then.'

'She did. How did you get it?'

'I have friends.'

'Get what?' Christian asked. Satine looked at him, her eyes shining. She held the key out to him.

'Our new house. I grew up there and it is my favourite place in the whole world...Well it was.' She turned away quickly, not allowing them to see the tears fall from her eyes.

Christian, sensing these things walked over and tentatively touched her shoulder. She could sense him coming up and she got herself ready to flinch away but then when his hand touched her she couldn't do it. She melted and turned around to him, her eyes still blurry.

'What is it?' He asked softly. She embraced him and shook her head. She wasn't ready to tell him. At least not yet.