Therapy Chapter Nine: Mending a Diamond

Disclaimer: I don't own Moulin Rouge

Satine woke up to the sound of the keys on Christian's typewriter. She looked around for a moment. She was home. For that brief moment, everything was all right.

But the sharp pain throughout her body was a quick reminder that her life was far from all right. She moaned a little. Almost every part of her was in pain. Christian looked up when he heard her moan. "Hey, how are you?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Christian, everything hurts! Please, just make it go away!" Even though Satine knew deep down that Christian couldn't make her pain go away, part of her hoped that he could. He had always made everything else better. Christian gently kissed her forehead. "I wish I could, baby. The doctor should be here soon, he'll make the hurt go away," he said.

Even though Christian knew that the doctor would help Satine's physical pain, he also knew that her emotional pain, however bad it was before, must have increased immensely. He doubted that the doctor who would be at their door any moment would be able to make that go away.

Christian heard a knock at the door, and hesitantly left Satine to answer it. As he expected, it was the doctor. Christian let him in and led him to the bedroom. The doctor had a few questions for Christian as they walked up the stairs.

"So, how has she been doing? Has she complained of any physical pain?

Christian nodded. "She says that everything hurts." He opened the door to the bedroom. The doctor looked at Satine lying on the bed. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. He looked at Christian. "I'm going to need you to help me. Satine may be a little scared about me trying to examine her, so you have to keep her calm.

To say that Satine was a little scared could have been the understatement of the century. As soon as the doctor's hand came within three feet of her, Satine tried to move away. "No" she screamed. She couldn't move very far with her broken body, so she just stayed where she was and screamed. "No, please! Christian, don't let him hurt me! I don't want to hurt anymore!"

Christian, from his position next to Satine on the bed, tried to calm her down. "Baby, I promise the doctor is not going to hurt you. The doctor is going to make the hurting stop. I'll be right here the whole time.

Satine trusted Christian and calmed down enough to let the doctor examine her, though she had a fearful expression on her face throughout the entire exam. She let out a yelp when the doctor touched her legs. Her legs hurt more than anything.

The doctor finished his exam and looked at Christian. "Well, she took quite a beating. Almost every part of her body took a hit, so she's going to be really sore for a few days. But what I'm most worried about are her legs." He shifted his gaze to Satine.

"Satine, from what I heard, you were thrown into a rock after being dragged into the woods, right?" he asked. Satine nodded. Why wouldn't he just make the pain go away? "Did your legs get hurt before that?" The doctor's question's continued. Satine nodded again. "Yes, the Duke knocked out my legs so he could drag me. Please, just make it stop hurting!" Satine was practically begging the doctor. "Just as I suspected. Her legs were more severely injured than the rest of her body. From what it looks like now, I would have to assume that both of them are broken. Also, she may have torn some muscle tissue in one or both of her legs, which is intensifying the pain. I'm afraid it's going to be a long time before Satine can walk again. She's going to have to stay in bed to make sure her legs heal correctly. Also, the rest of her will be very weak. I think a lot of the pain is coming from injured muscle." The doctor took some pills out of his bag. He grabbed the glass of water from the nightstand and held it in front of Satine. "These will help make the pain go away," he said. Satine willingly took the pills. She hadn't heard much of what the doctor had told Christian. Something about broken legs and injured muscle. The medication kicked in fast, and made Satine very drowsy. She fell asleep, and got some much-needed rest.

Satine woke up about six hours later. The pain wasn't completely gone, but it had dulled quite a bit. Christian was still sitting next to her. "Hey, how's that medicine working? Do you still hurt?" he asked. Satine smiled, something she hadn't done in quite awhile. She wanted to let Christian know that she would be fine. "Yes, but not as much. Christian, before when the doctor was here, what did he say?" she asked. Christian hesitated. He knew what the doctor had said would not make Satine happy.

"Well angel, he said that both of your legs are broken and the muscles in them may be torn. That's why they hurt the most. He also thinks that the rest of your muscles may be hurt as well," he said. "So how do I get better?" asked Satine. Christian hesitated again. "He said you have to stay in bed to make sure your legs heal correctly, and that you're going to be very weak and sore for awhile.

"Oh." Satine took the news better than Christian thought she would. While it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, she swore to herself that she wouldn't cry. She was sick and tired of crying at everything. For once, she wanted to be strong.

But at the same time, the news was a blow. Satine hated one thing, and that was being helpless. She always felt guilty when Christian would sit up through the night with her while she cried, or when he would spend hours on the couch holding her after a flashback. And now she was not only emotionally weak, but she was physically weak as well. She was completely dependent on others. And she hated that.

She had no other choice, so Satine succumbed to being trapped in her own bedroom. For the next three weeks, Satine spent all of her time in bed. As much as she hated it, she soon realized that she couldn't do anything alone anymore. One day about two weeks after her attack, Satine decided that even if she wasn't going anywhere, she still might as well look nice. She reached for her hairbrush on the nightstand, but was shocked to find that she could no longer lift its metal frame. "I can't pick up my own hairbrush" she thought to herself. I really am in bad shape.

Satine knew that her road to recovery would be long, but she also knew that with Christian by her side she would be fine.