As Satine lay dead in his arms, Christian was overwhelmed with sobs.  His tears ran down his face onto Satine's cold skin.  Everyone in the Moulin Rouge had no idea on how to react.  Do they mourn for themselves?  Comfort Christian?  Or leave him be. 

            Toulouse attempted to calm Christian but was to no avail.  Everyone felt such anguish when hearing his sobs.  By this time, Christian was choking on his tears. 

            The most painful time was when they came to take Satine's body to be prepared for the funeral; Christian would not let go.  The Argentinean had to practically carry him into another are so Chocolat could remove her. 

            The Bohos brought Christian back to his room and laid him down on his bed.  Still crying, Christian rolled over, away from the ever -caring Bohemians, to face out into the night.  The Bohos felt they could do nothing for him and retreated upstairs, always keeping watch on Christian from the hole in the floor. 

            Christian mourned Satine incredibly deeply.  He continued crying most of the night until he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.  His mind was racked with dreams of his love.  Several times he woke up crying and bathed in sweat.

            The next morning Toulouse was worried about Christian because he didn't hear him moving about.  Fearing the worst, he peered down the hole and saw Christian still asleep.  He assumed it was logical because of how late he was up the previous night.

            Around mid-afternoon, the Bohos heard Christian stumbling around.  Toulouse went down and quietly knocked on his door, no answer was received.  He went in the darkened room slowly.  With the curtains drawn and no lamps lit, Christian sat quietly in a chair with his head down on the table.  The room was cold and Christian was shirtless and without a blanket.  Toulouse saw him shivering.

            "Chwistian?" he said quietly, not sure if he was asleep or not.

            Christian looked up in Toulouse's direction.  His eyes were blood shot and tired looking.  He was unshaven and n a general mess.

            "What is it Toulouse?" Christian asked in a teary voice.

            "We're all worried about you."

            "Let me be… I want to be alone."

            "You do know that her funeral is tomorrow?"  Tears started streaming down Christian's face again causing incredible guilt in Toulouse for making him cry.

            "Leave me."  Christian said through his sobs and Toulouse left reluctantly.  His tears continued through the night again.

            The next morning, the Bohos had to try to get Christian up and ready for Satine's funeral.  All 4 went down to still find him asleep.  Christian was lying in his bed with his blanket pulled up to his ears.  They gently shook him awake.  He opened his eyes slowly and looked around confusingly wondering why everyone was here.  Then he remembered what day it was.  Christian was trying to control his emotions, trying not to start crying again.  He knew though, with how tired he was and how awful he felt, this was not going to be easy.

            Through a great effort by all 4, they managed to get him dressed but getting him to the cemetery was another story.  The Bohos dragged him there, telling him it was going to help.  The funeral only pained him more.  He started sobbing as the casket was being lowered into the ground.  The sadness became so unbearable for Christian, he ran off so no one could see the pain.  He didn't want anyone staring at him while he was falling apart.

            A couple hours later, Toulouse found him, asleep in the Elephant at the Moulin Rouge.  This broke his heart, seeing his friend so distraught and so sad.  Toulouse first thought of waking him but opted instead to let him sleep, thinking he's caused Christian enough pain today.

            Shortly after midnight, Christian awoke in his "hiding place."  At first, he didn't remember where he was but he then looked around and realized that he didn't want to be flooded with these memories now; he wanted to escape.  Christian got up and returned to his apartment, oblivious to the activity going on in the main part of the Moulin Rouge.

            Upon arriving at his room, he stripped off the rest of his clothes and went right to bed, still exhausted from the day.  Usually when he falls into an absinthe-induced sleep, more common since Satine's death, it is dreamless and he awakes feeling like hell and throwing up the next day.  Tonight was different; he was stone cold sober.  The images he wanted to lock away came flooding into his mind… Satine.

            Their first meeting, the Elephant, Spectacular, Spectacular, their love, their passion, her beauty… her death.  Christian awoke scared and crying.  He remembered she was gone and started sobbing.  Becoming more awake, he became aware of the commotion going on across the way.

            "Who would be in the Moulin Rouge at 3am?" he thought aloud while standing at his window, seeing some light in a building he regarded as a corpse.

            Since he was now fearful of his dreams and the racket going on outside his window, Christian remained awake the entire night… watching the Moulin Rouge return to life.

~~~ MORE TO COME~~~~