A.N. Thanks for all the good reviews! I hope you enjoy chapter 15.
Disclaimer: I don't own Moulin Rouge
Satine walked home from the hospital, went up the stairs, and got into bed. And with a determination that Christian was more than happy to see resurface she stayed there. The more time passed, the stronger her determination grew. Satine went from over exerting herself to barely exerting herself at all. Although Christian was happy to see this strength returning, he still had one question for Satine.
"Now, what is it that brought about this sudden willpower?" he asked her one evening.
Satine thought for a moment and said, "Christian, everyone is just sitting here in London, waiting for me to get better. Meanwhile, there is a whole cast of people back in Paris wondering if we're still alive. This illness is the only thing standing in the way of all of this finally being over. I want this to be over, Christian. I want my life back.
Christian kissed Satine on the forehead and replied, "And with that attitude you'll get it back sooner than you think.
And Christian was right. As the weeks passed, Satine's health began to get better and better. The doctor was astonished. Very few patients in Satine's condition ever recovered, let alone as fast as she did. Eventually, she was deemed well enough to travel, though her illness was not fully healed yet. Satine, however, still insisted on staying.
"If I go back to Paris now, the air is going to cause a relapse and then I'll be worse off than I am now. It's better if we just wait until I am fully recovered," she had said. Christian wasn't about to argue with that, so they remained in London for a few more weeks. As Satine slept one afternoon, she was awoken by a sound that she had not heard in a long time: the sound of Christian typing. Slowly, she got out of bed and crossed the room. When she reached his side, she put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump.
"What are you writing?" she asked playfully.
"Well, seeing as how we're going back to Paris soon, I figured that I should start finishing up the show. When you fell I only had it about halfway written.
"Oh, well how far are you now?" Satine gently bent over his shoulder in an attempt to read what he had written. Christian quickly covered as much of it as he could with his hand.
"No, not yet. I don't want you to see it until I'm done with this scene" he said. Satine turned around and started to walk back to the bed.
"In that case, I guess I'll justÉtake it from you!" Satine forgot about conserving her energy for a moment and ripped the page from the typewriter. Christian leapt up and chased her to the bed, tackling her onto it. By now, both of them were laughing hysterically. Christian rolled over and looked at the ceiling. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy.
After two more weeks had gone by, Satine was officially declared free of consumption and the group prepared to return to Paris. It was raining on the morning of their departure, so Christian, Satine, Christian's family, Harold, Marie, Toulouse, and Chocolat were all huddled on the front porch of the house saying their goodbyes. After everybody had hugged everybody and the final goodbyes were said, the group piled into the carriage for the ride to the shipyard.
As the carriage rolled along, Satine sat silently, listening to Christian describe the new scenes for the show to Harold. At any other time, Satine would have paid closer attention, especially since these were the same scenes that Christian had not wanted her to read a few weeks earlier. However, she wasn't really paying attention to what Christian, or anyone else, was saying. She stared out the window at the rain, thinking about when she had first arrived in London and how much had changed since that day. Things in Paris would be much easier now. She had no doubt in her mind that the show would be a huge success. After all, her penniless poet was very talented. And now, with no Duke to bother her and her love affair out in the open, she was free to spend as much time with Christian as she wanted. Satine knew that she should have been bursting with happiness, but for some reason she still felt a pang of sadness.
When the carriage arrived at the shipyard, Christian saw that Satine was no longer scared of large crowds of people. Rather than having him lead her to the ship, Satine took charge of the group and led them through the crowd of rain-soaked people to the correct boat. Once everyone was situated in their cabins, Christian sat down on the bed beside Satine.
"Is everything alright? You seemed a little upset on the ride to the shipyard." Christian asked. Satine leaned back, resting her head on his chest.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous, that's all" she said. Christain began to rub her shoulders and asked,
"Nervous? About what?
"Christian, on the ride to the shipyard I realized something. Everything is better. My memory loss, my consumption, the Duke, they're all gone.
Christian was confused by Satine's response. "And this is a bad thing because
"Christian, I never have had a happy ending. Even when one problem went away, there has always been another one to take its place. I just can't help feeling like when we get back to Paris something's going to happen.
"Listen," Christian said, "you are going to get you're happy ending. Your memory is fine, the doctor said your consumption is gone, and the Duke is in a London jail somewhere. Everyone at the Moulin Rouge is fine. In fact, I'm sure they'll be much happier than the last time you saw them seeing as they've been on vacation for the past two months.
Satine couldn't help but giggle at this. "Yeah, you're right" she said as she let out a yawn. She closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep in Christian's arms.
-Two Weeks Later-
Kiss...HandDiamonds Best Friend
Satine was again going through her opening routine. This time was different, however. This time it was opening night. Upon her return from London, the cast went back to work and rehearsed every day for two weeks, incorporating Christian's new scenes into the show.
There were also some other changes made. Christian had suggested that Satine not dance down the stairs anymore, so the routine had been changed to have the male dancers pass her down the stairs instead. Satine, as well as Christian, had been very relieved by this.
Diamonds Are A
Diamonds Are A
Diamonds Are A
Girls...Best...Friend
As the audience applauded, Satine thought to herself, "This is it. It's finally happened. I'm a real actress.
A.N. Ok, so that took a little longer than I expected. I've had to do some other writing for school so I haven't had a lot of free time lately. OK, one more chapter to go-the epilogue! I will have it up as soon as I can!