L'amour

by A.L.S.O.

Chapter XI - Crying in the Rain

"Mama! Mama!"

Satine groaned and turned over to see her six-year-old son tugging on her nightgown.

"What is it, Christopher?" she said, still not fully awake.

"Amour is gone, she's not in bed!" he said worriedly, and Satine sat straight up in a rush.

"What do you mean she's not in bed?"

"She's gone, Mama, and this note was on the counter." He handed her a slip of paper and she read it hurriedly before jumping out of bed. She threw on her robe and rushed out of the apartment, mentally noting that the door was already partly open; but she had no time to think as she ran down the three flights of stairs and out into the street.

Of all the things that had happened since May, none could compare to what Satine witnessed next. The shop was on fire, falling and creaking under the consuming flames, and a big crowd of people was gathered in the street, unable to do anything.

"What are you doing?" Satine screamed, running in front of the crowd. Her black hair glowed red from the flames and her eyes lightened from all the tears, and for a moment the town of Bedford saw the true Satine, the Satine that had fled from Montmartre in want of a new life. "What are you doing?" she shouted again, breaking the image. "Get some help! Put out the flames! Please, do anything! Help me!"

Mrs. Gerber stepped forward with tears in her eyes. "There is nothing we can do, dear. It is too out of hand."

"But my daughter is in there!" she yelled. "My daughter and Christian are in there, we need to save them!"

"I told you, Sarah," Mrs. Gerber said quietly. "The fire is too big, we would never make it."

Satine shook her head, pushing away from the old lady. "NO! WE HAVE TO HELP THEM, WE HAVE TO!"

She was answered by a loud groan from the house behind her, and a moment later, the whole shop came crashing down into a huge, flaming wreck. She began to scream and she felt someone pull her into a hug. Looking down she saw Christopher trying to comfort her; he didn't know what was happening.

"It's okay, Mama," he said. "Christian can get a new shop."

Amour yawned, stirring from her deep slumber. She reached over for her nightstand but instead felt something soft and squishy. Still keeping her eyes closed, she felt her way upward and came to something hairy.

"Christopher?" she whispered. There was a slight shuffle in whatever it was and Amour's eyes snapped open to come face to face with Christian. "Papa!" she exclaimed, causing him to wake with a start.

"Good morning, Amour," he smiled.

"Papa, I've missed you so much!" She threw her arms around his neck and Christian held her tightly; how good it felt to have his little girl in his arms again.

"I'm so sorry I had to take you away from Mama," he said, when she had sat down in her seat again, "but she might never have let me see you again if I didn't."

"That's okay," Amour reassured him. "She couldn't tell stories that good anyway."

"That well," Christian corrected with a laugh, ruffling his daughter's hair. "Would you like to hear a new story?"

Amour flashed a brilliant smile and nodded, climbing onto her father's lap and getting comfortable.

"Well," said Christian, "there was once this evil witch who disguised herself as a princess, and she made this prince fall in love with her and made him believe that she loved him, too...."

Satine was gasping and coughing, her body shaking and her mouth dripping with blood. Mrs. Gerber had taken Christopher back to the apartment and was putting him to bed, but Satine found she couldn't move. The crowd had slowly departed as the rain started and the fire began to extinguish, and she was left to her guilty thoughts as she silently cried in the storm.

The house was now fully destroyed; it was a heap of ashes and burnt wood, steaming, hissing, creaking in the cool night. So that was it, as quick as Satine took away Amour, fate had taken away her daughter and the love of her life. At least before Christian had been there just across the street, close enough for her to watch him and love him at a distance, but how could she ever do that with him now only in her heart?

Satine jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up expectantly for Christian, momentarily forgetting he was gone forever.

But it was only Mrs. Gerber, her white hair turning gray from the rain. "Come on then, deary, let's get you out of the rain." With the old woman's help, Satine somehow made it to her apartment and was laid down by the landlord. Mrs. Gerber hobbled out of the room and returned a little while after with a cup of tea. She handed Satine the drink and sat on the side of the bed, patting Satine's hand placatingly.

"Don't worry, Sarah," she said quietly. "I believe God has a reason for everything he does, even if it breaks the hearts of others."

"To hell with that," Satine cried. "If only I hadn't been so selfish and taken his child, maybe none of this would have happened."

"Nonsense! She is your daughter, too, and you just wanted custody over her."

"Of course, but—oh, this is going to sound horrible, but I mostly wanted to anger and hurt him in a way that I would never have been able to done myself."

"Well, perhaps that isn't the best thing one could say, but we're only human after all. Besides, who is to say that what you did caused the fire? The gas stove probably had been left on, or a candle fell. Even if Amour had been there anyway, she still would have passed on. If this is how it must be, then this is how it must be. It is all a part of God's plan."

"Plan? Plan!" Satine shouted, the tears falling harder. "This seems like one damn plan to ruin my life!"

"Maybe, maybe not. But it is a bad plan that it can't be changed."

Satine groaned, her body aching and her mind tangled in dark thoughts. "What have I done, what have I done? I've killed two of the most important people in my life...."

It was odd that at that moment, when to her all the world seemed at a lost and Christian and Amour were gone, that she gave into her feelings; she loved Christian, there was no doubt about it, and no perfect life did she live. It was all one big mess that she seemed to wreck even more with every day she lived.

Christian and Amour stepped off the train into London that night at nine o'clock, which was perfect since Amour was already in her pajamas. They had been on the train for nearly twelve hours and their bodies ached from sitting for so long, and Amour nearly slept as she walked, so tired she was.

Christian carried his one small bag and led Amour to a reasonable hotel where they could spend the night until he figured out what they could do. He paid for the room and carried his daughter up the stairs to the apartments, placing her in bed as soon as they stepped in. But he was unable to sleep.

He had no doubt any longer that what he did was wrong, but wasn't what Satine had done equally horrible? He flinched in guilty pain when he imagined what she would go through....

"I'm not sure where I belong," he sang, looking out the window at the moon, the same moon Satine was probably crying under at that very moment... "No where's home and I'm all wrong, and I wasn't all the things I tried to make believe I was." He closed his eyes tightly to keep away the tears before climbing into bed with his clothes on. "And all the talk and all the lies were all the empty things disguised as me...."

A/N: Second to last chapter. The next and final chap. is the epilogue. But don't worry, there will be a sequel...I think.

Special Thanks: Thanks reviewers! You've made this whole experience even more enjoyable for me!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!

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:

'That-little-song-at-the-end-that-I-don't-know-what-it's-called-I-only-found-it-online' – Someone-who-I-don't-know-but-give-full-credit-to.'