Chapter Two: A Pleasant Seduction

"I'm Mademoiselle Satine's only child."

Ziegler could only stare at her; his mouth open in shock and his eyes wide with amazement, before he regained his stony composure.

"That's completely absurd. Satine was the star, the "Sparkling Diamond", of my Moulin Rouge. It would be impossible, if not inconceivable, for her to hide all the signs and trials of pregnancy, especially under my watchful eye. Things such as a growing waistline, swollen feet, constant fatigue, and daily nausea would not go unnoticed for very long, especially at the Moulin Rouge. She had so many admirers, so many customers; she rarely had time to herself…ever. Perhaps you are mistaken."

But even he didn't look convinced; she was, after all, the spitting image of her mother. She stood about the same height as Satine did, her forehead reached his chin. She possessed the same physique as her mother, a voluptuous but petit figure. Flowing auburn hair drifted past her slender shoulders, ending just before the small of her back. Finally she shared the same luscious lips that seemed to smirk at her audience, while piercing blue eyes laughed at the irony of the world. Even as Ziegler watched, her pale red lips formed a tight grin before she replied.

"Only you would think you are so great that you could never make a mistake." she spat at him. "Well guess what? Satine was an even better actress than you ever thought, and she managed to trick not only you, not only her fellow dancers, but everyone who ever entered the Moulin Rouge. She was better than you ever gave her credit for…" she trailed off, feeling tears come into her eyes at the thought of her poor mother being forced to suffer in hiding.

"She wore tighter corsets to accommodate her growing belly," she continued. "And convinced every one that saw her that she had the flu, so naturally no one stayed around her very long as to avoid infection. Soon rumors of her illness were going around, and she received fewer customers, though she lost no admirers but since it was winter, business had slowed down greatly for everyone. But surely you recall the fight the other dancers had to have Satine removed from their sleeping quarters into quarantine so she wouldn't infect them as well and ruin business?"

Start Flashback

Of course Harold remembered that night. It was the dead of winter, a gentle blanket of snow covered the ground, and the quiet lights of lit candles shone through the town. However, due to the cold weather, not many came to the Moulin Rouge at night to be entertained, so the dancers were fighting for business. To cut Satine out of the picture, they had been spreading rumors that she came down with the flu, or perhaps consumption; the disease became more serious with each rumor.

One particularly cold night, Ninny had asked to speak with him and demanded that he throw the disease ridden tramp out to the streets. What's worse is that some of the other dancers had actually backed her up! But Harold had had enough; this time Ninny had gone too far!

"How dare you pass judgment on the person that keeps the Moulin Rouge afloat? You stupid disease ridden sluts! She is a beautiful woman who could be a star if she was given the chance, while you jealous hores will never amount to anything but one night stands and sleepless existences. I will make the decisions around here; however this time you're right, she should be moved. I don't trust her around you anymore so she will be moved into the Elephant Room."

So Satine had been moved, for precious quiet and isolation, to the Elephant Room, which had been remodeled for her. She now spent most of her time in their, being as not many clients wanted to sleep with a sick dancer. So she would sit on the roof and sing her melancholy songs, and many passerby would stop and listen. The soft heartbreaking tone in her voice seemed to draw anyone who heard it to yearn for more, and so they came to the foot of the elephant and gathered to hear the angelic voice of Moulin Rouge's Sparkling Diamond.

"And…" Nicolette continued. "The night of my birth, she stayed in the elephant room while you thought she was attending to a client."

Harold remembered that too; after her bout with the flu, Satine seemed weaker than usual, but the customers still requested her often, so as to not disappoint the customers, Harold would give Satine to the highest bidder and that gentleman would have her for the night. Luckily that night, a regular customer had taken her and Ziegler knew from past times, he'd probably use her for an hour before he'd leave. But he became worried when it was 4 hours later and Satine was still moaning and groaning; he was surprised that the man was so insatiable. But poor Satine, 8 hours later and it was still happening; All Harold could worry about now was how much money he would receive from Satine's hard-earned reward.; after all, if the man wanted to part with his money so badly, who was Harold to stop him?

However, when Harold visited Satine the next morning, he was greeted with a mess of bloody sheets and an exhausted Satine who managed a weak smile for him.

"What happened, my little sparrow?" he had asked. "Where's the money?"

She took a deep breath.

"Harold, the money is on the table over there."

Harold looked over at the table and saw 50 shillings sitting there. Picking them up, he made a fist and banged it on the table.

"Are you going soft? He owed you at least 8 times this for all the moaning and mess I heard last night," Harold raged.

"Well Harold," Satine began with a breathless tone. "The man had been drinking and when I requested further payment for the additional hours, he knocked me out and when I came to, he was gone and the 50 shillings were on the table over there."

If it was one thing Harold didn't like, besides people messing with Satine, it was losing money.

So he sent out orders for the poor fellow to be barred from entering the Moulin Rouge again.

End Flashback

The big picture finally dawned on him. Satine had indeed been pregnant and here was her only child, right here in front of him. Harold Ziegler refused to believe that this was coincidence; he believed fate had rigged this hand just so. The fate which had so unfairly stolen his precious Satine from him and just when he thought he was done for, fate had interfered and dealt him a new hand. He would not forget his former star so soon, but here was Moulin Rouge's new beginning.

"Perhaps I was a little hasty earlier," Ziegler began. "But I could not believe that you are indeed your mother's daughter; now I believe you could have her potential. As a matter of fact, I was in the process of interviewing young women like yourself in search of her replacement; but it's more difficult than I thought to find someone to fill your mother's dainty shoes. Before she died, we had this amazing show called "Spectacular Spectacular" written by our fabulous bohemian writer Christian. However, since your mother was the star, we need to fill that spot before the show can continue."

"I'll think on it," Nicolette replied. 'NOT," she added defiantly to herself.

But the name Christian had rung a bell; The letter that she had found in her mother's belongings had been addressed to both her and Christian.

"Harold," Nicolette purred. "I'd quite enjoy meeting this 'Christian' you speak of, I've heard he and my mother were quite close…Could you possibly arrange a meeting for me?"

The girl was playing right into his hands. Once Nicolette had met Christian, Christian would believe that Satine had come back and then they'd sleep together and Christian would be inspired to write a new, better bohemian show/

"Well, I guess I could arrange a private 'poetry reading' for the two of you," Ziegler murmured, pretending to think on it as he twisted the end of his red moustache. "Maybe tomorrow night at 7:00?"

However, Nicolette was not fooled.

"What's in it for you?" she asked suspiciously. "No one does anything for free, especially not Harold Ziegler!"

He only smirked; this was indeed Satine's daughter. She definitely had her mother's smarts and shared suspicious nature.

"Well, my little sparrow," Harold began. "You will become the star of Spectacular Spectacular and work with Christian on learning the show. I gain nothing except a new star and a happy writer."

"But you haven't even heard me sing!" Nicolette argued. "What if the writer doesn't believe I can handle the part?"

"You can have your audition tomorrow at the meeting," Harold answered smoothly. "But since I don't want the others to know I might have found a new star, we will only refer to your meeting with Christian as a private 'poetry reading'." He noticed that Nicolette didn't look like she was falling for it. "I'll have everything arranged in the elephant room for tomorrow night; don't worry. He'd be a fool not to come and meet Moulin Rouge's new star!"

"Hmph," Nicolette answered. "Well you better keep up your end of the bargain, or else there's going to be problems….and you wouldn't want that now, would you Harold?" Nicolette finished with a smirk.

"So, we'll set it for tomorrow night in this room at 7:00," Harold repeated, choosing to ignore her last defiant comment. "Be there or be square. Ta-ta!"

With that, he walked out the door, and closed it tightly behind him, leaving Nicolette alone with her decision.

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