Three days later...

I sat up in bed with a loud gasp. It was night, probably around one a.m. We were in the new room that Peter had arranged for us; on the third floor, all the way across the hotel from our previous room. It had been three days since Maddy's birthday, and neither the Duke nor his minions had been spotted.

I realized I was covered in a cold sweat; the dream had disturbed me that much. Not sure if the dream had been real or not, I felt for Satine's hand. When I found it I grasped it tightly and tried to catch my breath. She was still here. It had all been a dream. Calm down, Christian.

"Christian?" Satine's voice was clouded with sleep. "Christian, darling, what's wrong?" She sat up and looked at me, concerned. "Is everything okay?"

I swallowed and nodded. "Yes... everything's okay. It was just a bad dream." Just a bad dream. Then why am I so scared?

Satine put an arm around me. "What was it about?"

I closed my eyes and sighed. "I had a dream that we were back at the Moulin Rouge and it was our last night there. You know, the night of Spectacular, Spectacular. The night you collapsed. I... I dreamed that you didn't just collapse. You DIED. You really weren't pregnant with Maddy, you just died. And no one could save you, no one even tried." I stopped to compose myself. "You were telling me about how cold you were... and how I needed to tell our story so that way you'd always be with me. And then you just... died."

"Oh, no." She hugged me. "It's okay, Christian. It was just a bad dream, okay? I'm not dead. Everything's just fine. We're not at the Moulin Rouge anymore, and we're still together. I'm still here, right by your side. Just like I'll always be. Okay?"

I nodded. It was a silly dream. I don't even know why I dreamed the whole thing up. The idea was absurd. I shouldn't still be having nightmares about things that happened six years ago. Things that didn't even HAPPEN. I was being an idiot.

"Everything's okay..." Satine said again. "You didn't lose me, Christian. I'm still here." She smiled reassuringly. "Why don't we just lay down to sleep again, okay? It's too early to be awake." She took hold of my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm still here."

*****

"Have you seen anything from the Duke lately?" Peter asked me the next day over lunch.

I shook my head. "Nope. Nothing since Maddy's birthday. He's probably just biding his time, though. Wants us to be on edge."

"Have you been on edge?"

I nodded. "I've been having these nightmares about losing Satine lately." I told him about my most recent one. "I know it was just a dream, but it felt so real. I couldn't stop shaking when I woke up. I haven't been so panicked since Satine went into the hospital six years ago." I shook my head. "I must be going insane."

Peter stayed silent while I continued rambling. "I don't know why I've been having such thoughts; they're so morbid. I guess I'm just afraid of losing Satine forever. Who wouldn't be afraid of losing their soul mate? But I don't know why I'm worried about this stuff. I don't want to think about losing Satine..."

"But what if you did lose her, Christian?" Peter asked. "There's going to come a time when you two are old, and there's a chance that she could die first. What are you going to do then?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. Personally, I don't want to know what will happen if she dies." I put my fork down and folded my napkin. "I don't really feel like talking about this anymore." I shoved my chair back and stomped out of the dining room.

I ran into Satine on my way up to our room. She was crying.

"Christian," she sobbed. "I saw him!"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Have you seen him? Where is he? Where's Maddy?" I hugged her.

"He's trying to kill us, Christian! He's gone mad! He's living in his own fantasy world. He thinks we could still be together; he wants to take me to Paris to become his mistress..." She sobbed. "I was walking outside when he came up behind me and put his hand over my mouth. He tried to drag me away but I fought him off... If we'd left three days ago this wouldn't have happened. Why did you make us stay here, Christian? Why? You're putting us in danger!!!"

She'd started to back away from me. "You knew what he was going to do! You knew he was going to try to kill us, yet you made us stay in this damn hotel anyway! Why, Christian, why?!" She was shouting now.

"I don't know, Satine!" I said. "Peter told me that we'd be safe here..."

"Safe?!" She yelled. "We're safe?! He found us, Christian! This place isn't safe anymore! This is the most dangerous place for us to be right now! We have to leave!"

I nodded in agreement, but she kept yelling. "If we'd left when I wanted to, the Duke wouldn't have tried to kidnap me, Christian! If we hadn't stayed here we'd be safe now! But you made us stay! You made us stay! You put us all in danger!!!"

Her words stung. She was accusing me of deliberately putting my family in danger. That I'd MEANT to hurt them. Of course I didn't mean to do that. It had been a mistake. I'd trusted Peter when he said that we'd be safe here. It wasn't MY fault; it was Peter's.

Satine rushed past me and down the hall. She wouldn't stop when I'd called after her.