Therapy Chapter 13: Family Portrait Disclaimer: I don't own Moulin Rouge

Two days later Satine stood in the hallway of a run-down apartment building. She looked at the paper in her hand. She was at the right place. This apartment was, according to Harold, where her father had taken residence after sending her to "therapy". Satine felt a draft and suddenly wished she had brought someone with her. When she told Christian about her plans to see her father he insisted on coming, but Satine had refused. This was something she had to do on her own. After all, she couldn't go through life clutching Christian's hand all the time. However, she did have a backup plan. Satine had found that Chocolate still worked at the Moulin Rouge, and she had asked him to wait in the hallway "in case something goes wrong." meaning in case her father got violent with her. With her bodyguard standing a few feet away, as not to be seen, Satine knocked on the door.

She was surprised when a young woman, not much older than herself, answered the door.

"Oh, hello. You must be Satine. Harold sent a message earlier that you were coming. I'm Jacquelyn, your father's nurse. Please, come in." she said. Satine did so and looked around the apartment. While it was not in complete shambles (most likely thanks to Jacquelyn) the apartment was a far cry from the house Satine remembered from her childhood. Jacquelyn directed her to the bedroom, and Satine took a deep breath. "If he needs a live-in nurse, he can't be well enough to hurt me." she thought as she walked to the door.

The door was open a crack. Satine pushed it open farther and looked in the room. "Father?" she said, her voice barely audible. The man in the bed looked up, and seemed to recognize her. "Satine? You actually came to see me?" Her father seemed shocked that she was there. Satine nodded and made her way into the room. "Yes. Harold told me you were sick," she said.

Her father sat up a bit. "Satine, I know how hard it must have been to come and see me again. I also know that I won't be here for much longer, so I'm taking care of some business; tying up some loose ends before I go," he said. "And my first task is to apologize to you."

Satine looked at her father. Apologize? Her father never apologized for anything. Her father continued. "I'm sorry about hurting you during your childhood. I didn't hate you, or think of you as a mistake.

"Well, why did you hit me, then?" Satine was confused.

"Satine, you probably don't remember this, but when you were about a year and a half old, your mother and I had a blood test done on you. There had been a lot of sickness and it was advised to test infants in hopes of catching the diseases early. We found out about your consumption through that test. Apparently, you can have it and show no symptoms for decades, which is what happened with you.

"So you hit me because I was sick?" Satine asked.

"No, I hit you in hopes that you would leave, find some other family who could take care of you. But you didn't. After you were attacked that night, I wasn't sure what to do. I knew that place I sent you to was a holding room for the Moulin Rouge. I'd known Harold for a long time, and told him to take you in and take care of you. Satine, it's my fault. It's my fault you ended up at the Moulin Rouge. It's my fault you were attacked. I should have never started talking to that Duke again after your mother died! And it's my fault you ended up with consumption-it runs in families, you know.

At first, Satine wasn't sure what her father meant by this. Then, he shot up and launched into a coughing fit that was all too familiar to her. After the coughs had stopped, he looked at her and said, "You were lucky to get away and be cured. I wasn't so lucky."

He looked at her. "Satine, I'm really sorry for all the pain I've caused you," he said. He then started to chough again. The nurse ran into the room. "I think you'd better leave. He's having another spell," she said. Satine nodded and left the apartment, unsure of how to feel. She saw Chocolate sitting in the hallway and motioned to him that it was time to leave. "How did it go?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Satine said.

She walked back to Christian's garret in silence. Satine wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, he was still the man who hurt her. The reasons he gave were less than acceptable. But part of Satine wanted to forgive him. She could sense that her father didn't have too much time left. She could understand him wanting to reconcile with her before his death. Even though he caused her a lot of pain, she wanted that reconciliation as well. She knew it would bring both of them a bit of healing before his death. She was still pondering this thought when she arrived home.

"SoÉ" Christian seemed anxious to hear what had happened. Although Satine had only been gone three hours, that was longer than they had been apart in the last four months.

"He apologized tom me, but not very well. He made a bunch of excuses, and asked me to forgive him," she said.

"Well, you're not going to, right?" Christian asked. For him, there was no excuse Satine's father could give that would validate hurting his diamond. He noticed Satine looking upset. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Satine looked at him. "He's so sick. He has consumption as well, and he went into a fit while I was there. He doesn't have much time left, and part of me wants to heal this before he dies. But part of me agrees with you, that he has no excuses and cannot be forgiven. I don't know what to do", she said.

As he had done many times before, Christian pulled Satine into his embrace. "It'll be ok, I promise," he said.

Later that night, Satine once again sat alone on the balcony. "Why is it that whenever I decide to sleep on something, I can't sleep?" she thought to herself. She spent the remainder of the night in thought, until both she heard a knock at the door.

Since Christian remained was just waking up, Satine answered the door. It was Harold, who looked like he had some important information.

"Good morning, Harold," she said.

"Satine, I have some bad news." Harold said.

Christian stood in the kitchen, making breakfast. He heard Harold's voice, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Suddenly, Satine came in the room. She looked to be in some sort of a fog. Christian left his cooking and sat down next to her. "What happened? What did Harold say?" he asked.

"My father, he died last night." Satine said.

Christian said nothing. He simply held Satine like he had done before. "Why can't things just get better?" he thought to himself. "She doesn't deserve this.