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The next morning, Jean arrived in Satine 's room to watch a curious exchange : the sick young woman was still here of course, but her companion had apparently manage to stay as well and they were both arguing with one of the hospital's nurse :
"- I cannot even believe that someone of our own staff let you stay here last night ! That was totally irresponsible ! Especially with your condition, Miss !"
Satine looked a little guilty but answered back :
- "Christian already has been exposed, one night more is not likely to change anything !
- You don't know that ! Consumption is still relatively unknown and deadly in almost every case ! This is not something to be taken lightly !"
Looking a little abashed, Satine looked about to answer when a violent cough interrupted her. As soon as he heard that sound, Christian was at Satine's side :
"- Are you all right ? After her coughing finally ended, Satine finally managed to give him a little nod. Christian turned back towards the nurse :
Who as set up those rules anyway ? They are stupid !"
The nurse seemed momentarily out of objection and Jean decided it was the good moment to make his presence know, before there was more trouble :
"- Hum, hum … It is ok, Miss, this man had to stay for some tests anyway. Could you go tell to Doctor Dubois to prepare the material for a consumptive test, please ?"
The nurse looked about to protest at first, but then, she seemed to change her mind and simply said :
"- I'm on my way Doctor Bequerel."
As she turned towards Christian, she added :
"- But if you are to stay here as a patient, you'll have to go in the men's wing. This is a respectable hospital here, not a brothel !"
This last remark seemed to make Satine uncomfortable, so Christian broke the tension by saying :
"- This nurse reminds me of my father : always talking about rules and respectable ! "
Satine smiled a little at that :
"- You never talk to me about him … One of these days I like to hear more about your family."
- Believe me, it is a boring story."
His face became anxious as he asked the dreaded question to the doctor :
"- So, what is the second diagnostic ?"
Jean hesitated, not wanting to give any false hope :
"- Well, it's a mixed bag really … I was right about my diagnostic last night : traditional medication against consumption would not have any lasting effect on such an advanced case as yours, miss.
But maybe there could be a slight chance and I insist slight that …
- A slight chance of what ? Just tell us everything, please , intervened Satine.
- All right. I talk with two of my friends of your case this morning and we think that we may have an experimental treatment that could have better results than other traditional treatments.
- Really ? That's wonderful news ! Will it be able to heal her completely ? And your friends,they are good doctors, I'm sure, said Christian.
- Don't get too exited yet. As I said, it a highly experimental treatment with a new chemical element with some amazing properties : uranium. We have discovered that a limited exposition to its radiation could cure mice from certain diseases, including consumption : the virus seems to burn inside the body and, from what we have seen until now, it does not come back. And my two friends are not doctors but very good chemists : Pierre and Marie Curie. My father works with them, that's how I know them."
Christian and Satine seem unsure of how to react. Satine talked first :
"- Well, That's good, isn't it ? Better to have some hope than none ! What exactly are the chances of my recovery ?
- Hmmmm …First, you must know that this possible treatment has only be tested on animals and never on humans. Normally, the mammals physiologic system is quite similar to ours, but there is still a small risk that it won't be the case here. And even though, the chance of a recovery at your stage are relatively slim : about one out of five. We could perhaps rise the odds a little by combining it with more traditional medications."
Their conversation was shortened by the nurse entering to announce it was time for Christian to do his test. After promising to Satine to come back rapidly in order to learn all the details about this treatment, Christian left.
About half an hour later, Jean et Christian were back. Christian had to wait until the evening to have the test's results but Jean wanted to explain to the two young people everything about his potential treatement.
"- Before you decide whether or not you are going to try this treatment, I must warn you of his major drawback : while it might eventually heal you, it will also probably weaken you and, if it doesn't work, it could even shorten your lifespan.
- But you think it is my only chance, right , replied Satine.
- Yes, I believe so. But as I was saying earlier, this new treatment is totally experimental and is not one hundred percents reliable. The decision is yours to make. I must leave now but I'll be back this evening with the test results. Oh, and if you decide to do this treatment, the sooner we start, the better chances it has to heal you."
He finally left the room. Christian and Satine kept looking at each other for a few seconds, not knowing quite why how to start. Finally, Satine broke the silence :
"- It seems like there is a small chance I'm going to be alright after all.
- See, I told you we could find something to save you !", replied Christian, looking very relieved and almost radiant.
Satine stared at him a bit worried and answered :
"- You know that, statistically, there are much more chances this treatment won't work, don't you ?
- Don't talk to me about numbers, please ! I always hated them ! You must have faith you will heal !
- Christian, Doctor Bequerel said that I only had one chance out of five to recover completely. It's good to have faith but we must be realistic …
- Realistic ? Satine, how many chances did we get that you mistook me for the Duke and that we fell in love ? Or that there was a doctor in the room to save youwhen you fell down at the end of the play ? Especially this one, who had an experimental treatment for you ? No, I would say that when it come to us, one chance in a million is in fact closer to nine chances out of ten !"
Satine simply smiled touched by Christian's words. At the same time, she could see that he was not ready yet to talk of the eventuality of her death, so she changed the subject :
"- All right, let's not talk about numbers then. What do you want to talk about ?
- Oh, I don't know, what about what we will do after your recovery or maybe my next writing project ?"
Satine teased him a little :
"- Mayby you should bring your typewriter and work here. I'm sure the nurse we saw this morning would be ecstatic !"
Chrisitan's face became more serious and somewhat ashamed :
"- Well about my typewriter …"
Toulouse was worried. He was on his way to visit Satine with the other bohemians and Harold, Marie and Chocolat had wished to come as well. Harold had told him what he knew of Satine's illness and Toulouse knew that Satine's death would destroy Christian. Satie interrupted his dark thoughts :
" - Toulouse ! We are almost here.
- I'm sorry, I let my mind wandered away."
They were now before the door of Satine's room. Toulouse knocked, not knowing quite what atmosphere would be in the room. The visitors were surprised to see Christian and Satine talking serenely.
After a few explanation from the young people, everyone felt a little relieved and glad to know there was hope, however small.
Then, Christian went on :
"-I also wanted to thank you all for helping us against the Duke yesterday. Especially you, Toulouse : without you, we would probably both be dead."
Satine added :
"- Yes, thanks a lot, you are the one who gave me the idea of using our song to call Christian back."
Toulouse was blushing a little and felt embarrassed with this profusion of praise :
"- Oh, it is not so extraordinary, you know, I only follow the bohemians ideals and …"
He was interrupted by the entrance of a nurse, followed by doctor Bequerel. The nurse looked disapprovingly at the crowd gathered there :
"- You know, the hospital's rules state that no more than two people at a time can visit a patient ! And I hope you are not making too much noise : we are in an hospital, not on a market place !"
With that, she put a plate with what looked as some sort of food on the table and left. Christian rolled his eyes and said :
"- She is really worse than Cerberus !"
He then turned to Jean and asked :
"- So, do you have the results ?
- I do. Do you mind if all these people hear it, or would you prefer to be alone ?
- I don't mind, go ahead.
- There are traces of the virus in your blood, but it is inactive at the moment. I think that a short exposition to uranium would make it disappear for good. By the way, have you decided if you ware going to take this treatment, miss ? If you do, I think we should start tomorrow.
- We'll do it, said Satine and Christian with one voice.
- Good. I will see you both tomorrow then. Oh, by the way, the hours of visite will be finished in half an hour. Good bye".
During the following thirty minutes, they all exchanged the news. There was only one thing saddening the joyous atmosphere : the Moulin Rouge would probably have to close, due to the Duke's actions, even with the success of "Spectacular, spectacular".
Finally, everyone left including Christian this time (Cerberus has seen it done !). They all promised to come back as soon as possible.
Nearly one week had passed and Christian was on his way to visit Satine. The treatment had excellent results on him and he was back in his garret. As for Satine, she seemed weaker, but the doctor assured that it was perfectly normal and that it was too soon to judge if the treatment was really effective.. Christian used the time when he was banished from the hospital to buy back his typewriter (Toulouse gathered the money at the end of the show) as Satine asked him to. But he could not bring himself to write : he spent most of his days with Satine and all of his nights thinking about her. Even though he never showed her any fear or doubt, he could not stop himself from picturing the worst sometimes.
As he came closer to the door of her room, he thought he heard some voices inside. Who can it be ? The bohemians usually don't come so soon !
As he came closer, he could hear a familiar voice saying :
" - Well, my dear, it seems that there is some divine sense of justice after all."
Christian entered rapidly and was met by the cold eyes of the Duke.
P.S : I have done researches on consumption and how it was cured and my "experimental treatment" is medically believable from what I read. Henri and Jean Becquerel really existed and Henri worked with the Curie. Jean was an engineer, not a doctor but I change his profession for storytelling purposes ! By the way, I made a reference to one of the authors I loves, did you see it ? It was Terry Pratchett (Discworld) who talked of the fact that 'mages have calculated that one chance in a million have actually nine chances on ten to happen".