Eponine might be sick. She couldn't believe that Cosette was making her do this. The first time she'd brought it up Eponine had told her straight up that it wasn't going to happen. She didn't meet parents.
Not ever.
Despite the fact that they'd lived together for almost three months now, and had been dating for almost a year before that, she'd never met Cosette's parents. She was perfectly happy with that. While Eponine would never dream of stopping Cosette's weekly visits to her parents house, she had no intention of ever accompanying her.
She wasn't exactly the type of girl your parents would be pleased that you'd brought home. So, she had a record… and bad parents… and tattoos… and she was poor… and unladylike… and a little rough around the edges… but it wasn't her fault, not really.
And to make matters worse, Cosette was an angel in every sense of the word. She was exactly the kind of girl you would be proud to show off to the world. Eponine often found herself marvelling at how a girl like Cosette could love a self proclaimed street rat like herself. And yet, for whatever reason, she did.
But Cosette had insisted. Begged her even. If the truth be told, one look of Cosette's sad puppy dog eyes and Eponine would have done just about anything. And so she found herself standing next to her girlfriend out the front of her house, feeling like she'd quite literally like to be anywhere else.
"Relax, they'll love you," Cosette whispered when she noticed the rather green look on Eponine's face.
Somehow, she doubted it. But hand in hand the pair walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell.
Why had she agreed to this again?
It took only a few seconds before the door opened, but to Eponine those seconds felt like an eternity.
Cosette grinned widely as one of her father's came into view. "Papa! I've missed you!" she cried, momentarily dropping Eponine's hand as she threw her arms around the greying man.
The man in question, whom Eponine took to be Jean, returned the hug with equal fervour, pressing a quick kiss to Cosette's cheek before he released her. "I've missed you too, my dear," he said with a smile. Then he turned his green eyes onto Eponine.
"Papa, this is Eponine, my girlfriend. Eponine, this is one of my fathers, Jean Valjean," Cosette said, beaming at her.
She looked so beautiful when she smiled like that. Reluctantly she tore her eyes away from her girlfriend and looked at Valjean, a sense of dread already brewing in her stomach.
What she saw, however, startled her more than anything else.
He was smiling at her.
Where was the look of barely disguised disapproval? Contempt? Disgust?
"Ah, yes! Of course. It's a pleasure to meet you, Eponine. Cosette has told us a lot about you," he informed her, his welcoming smile never once faltering.
Eponine was floored. So much so that she could barely respond without sounding like a complete idiot. As it were Eponine merely shrugged and mumbled something about 'you too' and left it at that.
Thankfully, Cosette used that opportunity to once again take her hand and lead them all into the house.
"Where's dad?" Cosette asked once they'd reached the lounge room and sat down.
"He'll be down in a minute, I'm sure. He's been nearly run off his feet this week from work, but he's here. Somewhere. Doing something. Now, tell me what you've been up to. How's university going?"
Cosette grinned and launched into her weekly recap, telling him all about her classes and the copious amounts of assignments she was being buried under. She told him about the new 'revolutionary' group their friends had started, pointedly ignoring her father's slight disapproving gaze at that. And then she told him about the date Eponine had taken her on the night before, about the little café on the river and their walk under the stars together.
Eponine couldn't help but blush at that.
"And what about you, Eponine? Cosette tells me you're not studying at the university."
Eponine gulped and shook her head. "No, I actually uh… I'm an artist you see, and um… yeah," she finished lamely. Now she was sure to get his disapproval. It was one thing to be a poor university student, quite another to be a poor, currently unemployed 'artist'.
But once again Cosette's father surprised her. "Really? What kind of art do you do? I've always enjoyed sketching myself, but I fear I'm rather terrible at it."
Before Eponine could even think of an answer a tall, imposing figure walked into the room.
"Dad! I thought you were never coming down!" Cosette laughed, and just as she had with her papa, she leapt from her seat and raced to throw her arms around him.
He stumbled slightly from her attack, but wrapped his arms around Cosette just as tightly.
"What, and miss this? Not a chance in hell," he said warmly. "I swear you look more beautiful every time I see you, Cosette."
He kissed the top of her head fondly and stepped back, his cold grey eyes finding there way to Eponine.
Fuck.
"Dad, this is my girlfriend Ep-"
"Eponine Thénardier," he said softly. "You don't need to introduce us, little one. I've met Miss Thénardier several times before," he told Cosette.
Cosette frowned and looked to her girlfriend.
Eponine felt sick. Of all the policemen in the world, why did this one have to be her girlfriend's adopted father?
"When?" Cosette asked, confused. She was such an innocent little thing, one of the many reasons that Eponine loved her.
"When I've arrested her."
Someone kill her now. Please.
The tension in the room was palpable. Both of Cosette's fathers were staring at her with unreadable expressions. Well, Valjean's was unreadable. Javert's was more of a scathing disapproval that turned Eponine's heart to ice.
That's it. She was done for. There was no way in hell that Javert would let his daughter be friends with, let alone date, a criminal. She knew she should never have agreed to this.
Suddenly Valjean cleared his throat, "Now that you've finally decided to grace us with your presence, perhaps we can get some lunch?" he asked his husband, a faint hint of a warning in his tone.
Javert merely nodded, never taking his eyes off Eponine.
Lunch was awkward. While the food was amazing, courtesy of Valjean, the conversation was less so. Cosette tried hard, she really did. She heaped praises onto Eponine, most of which Eponine felt she didn't deserve, but that was Cosette. She saw the best in everyone.
Valjean also tried to engage her, asking more about her art, what other hobbies she had, how she and Cosette had met, but with Javert's cold glare on her, Eponine just couldn't relax.
Eponine had never wanted to disappear off the face of the planet more.
Had Cosette not been sitting beside her, one hand resting reassuringly on her thigh, Eponine was sure she would have fled by now.
Once everyone was full Cosette, despite her fathers' protests, collected all the plates and took them back into the kitchen to load them in the dishwasher.
Leaving Eponine alone with not one, but both of her parents. Without Cosette there to fill in the gaps with animated chatter, the silence seemed long and awkward. Eponine kept glancing out the doorway, trying to will her girlfriend to appear so they could just go home and forget this had ever happened.
"So Eponine, how are your dear parents?" Javert asked from across the table.
Why was he doing this? Why did he feel the need to drag her past out in front of everyone and mock her with it? That part of her life was dead. As long as she had Cosette she had a reason to stay clean, stay straight. With Cosette she could start again… be happy even.
"I wouldn't know, inspector," she hissed the word like it was poison, "I haven't seen them for years."
It was true. As soon as she'd turned sixteen she'd run away from that godforsaken hell hole and moved in with her friends, Marius and Enjolras. It was through them that she'd come to meet Cosette. Her own parents had never met Cosette, and god willing, they never would.
"Javert, is this really necessary?" Valjean sighed wearily.
"It's absolutely necessary! I think we deserve to know exactly what sort of girl Cosette's dating, don't you?"
"I'm not that girl anymore," she whispered fiercely, glaring up at the inspector.
Javert laughed, cold and mockingly. "You expect me to believe that? People don't change. You'll always be a criminal."
Eponine could feel the tears gather in her eyes, but she would be damned before she broke down in front of them. She was stronger than that!
"Javert, leave it alone," Valjean warned. "It's not our place to judge oth-"
"She's my daughter as much as she is yours, Jean! I will be damned if I let some thieving low life like her," he jabbed his finger in Eponine's direction, "corrupt Cosette!"
Each word was like a piercing blow to her heart and she had to physically restrain herself from fighting back. Oddly enough, she didn't have to.
Cosette was standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with fury, her hands clenched into fists. She'd heard every word.
"Dad! How could you? You don't know a single thing about Eponine! How dare you judge her?"
Javert scoffed, "I've arrested her four times! She's bad news, Cosette. Trust me, she'll go down again and she'll drag you down with her! I refuse to sit back and watch that happen!"
Both Valjean and Eponine could only sit back and stare as Cosette stalked into the room and stood in front of her father.
"It's not your choice! I love her and despite what you may believe, Eponine is a good person! She's kind, and smart, and brave and she came today because I begged her to! Because I wanted her to meet the other two most important people in my life! How dare you demean her in front of me?"
"Cosette, darling, listen to me-"
"NO! I've had enough. Eponine was right, this was a mistake." Cosette turned and marched towards her bewildered girlfriend. "Come on, let's go home."
Eponine was on her feet in a second.
"Cosette, please don't go," Valjean tried, standing up in an attempt to calm the blonde down.
But it was useless. Cosette had taken Eponine's hand in hers and the two of them were out the door before he'd even finished his sentence.
The door swung shut with a resounding slam.
In the cab on the way home Cosette cradled Eponine against her, but she didn't say a word. That night her phone rang off the hook, but Cosette didn't answer.
The next morning she'd given Eponine a sweet, lingering kiss and headed off to university. Eponine took that to mean that they were just going to ignore what had happened the day before. It didn't bother her, but over the next few days Cosette seemed preoccupied, distant even. It was eating away at her.
Sunday came and went, but Cosette didn't go and visit her fathers. When Eponine had tentatively brought it up Cosette had merely shrugged and offered Eponine a half-hearted smile. 'I'd rather spend the day with you," she'd said.
Her phone rang seven times that night, and again Cosette ignored it. Eponine pretended she didn't hear Cosette's muffled sobs later that night.
It hurt her to see Cosette so upset, but she didn't know how to fix it when she was the problem. Cosette was extremely close to her fathers. Anyone with eyes could see that. It was hurting her to stay away from them, but she was doing it for Eponine's sake.
She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it.
Part of her was touched that Cosette would go to such lengths to protect her and their relationship… The other part hated that she was the reason Cosette cried at night.
The following Sunday Eponine asked Cosette what her plans were for the day.
"Enjolras asked if I wanted to come to the café. Apparently they're planning some sort of rally next week and he needs me these so girls won't think it's just a giant sausage fest." She smiled at that, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "You wanna come with?"
Eponine grinned right back, "Tempting, but no. I've been Enjolras' obligatory female presence more than enough times. You go and have fun!"
Cosette had kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, Ep."
Eponine blushed, "Love you too. See you when you get home."
Cosette had nodded and left, promising to be home before dinner.
Eponine knew that those meetings never lasted more than an hour or two, certainly not all day.
Half an hour later Eponine got her answer in the form of a text message from Enjolras.
Taking Cosette out after the rally. Might go see a movie with Grantaire and Courf. You don't mind, do you?
God bless Enjolras. While he was often a pain in her ass (though she loved him dearly) he was Cosette's best friend. If anyone knew how to cheer her up, it was him.
Nope. Look after her for me, yeah?
You know I will ;)
Asshole, she thought with a smile.
That afternoon the phone that hung on their kitchen wall rang. Hardly anyone had that number, mostly because both Eponine and Cosette had their own personal phones.
Eponine had a good guess as to who was on the other end of the line. For a moment she deliberated as to whether or not she would answer it, but with a sigh she went and answered. Cosette would never forgive her if something were wrong with her family and she'd ignored the call.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Eponine. It's you… Is Cosette there by any chance?"
It was Valjean. He sounded miserable, and Eponine's heart kind of went out to him. He'd been nice enough to her when they'd met and yet Cosette had shut him out as much as she had Javert.
"Uh, no. She's out right now…"
"Right. Of course. Will you tell her I called?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'll tell her." For all the good it would do. Cosette hadn't taken either of her fathers' call over the past two weeks. Changing the phone they called from wouldn't magically make her want to talk to them.
"Thanks... And Eponine, I'm sorry about the other day…" He hesitated, as if he wanted to say more.
"Okay. Goodbye," she said, slamming the phone back down into the receiver. She couldn't deal with this now. Besides, it wasn't Valjean who needed to apologize.
It wasn't like she gave a damn whether they liked her or not. What she cared about was her relationship with Cosette. If someone tried to stand between her and Cosette, then they had a problem.
When Cosette had come home later that evening she was smiling. Eponine didn't have the heart to take it away, and so when Cosette asked whether anything interesting had happened while she was away, she stayed silent.
That night, after a rather vigorous round of sex, Eponine cuddled up to Cosette, holding her tight. She had been blessed with Cosette. She prayed to god that that this feud between Cosette and her father wouldn't tear them apart.
Eponine hated Mondays most of all. While Cosette was at university four days a week, Monday was the only day she was there until late.
Eponine was rather surprised then, when just after lunch someone knocked on their door.
Figuring that it was Cosette ducking in to pick something up between classes Eponine raced down the hall and threw the door open.
It was most certainly not Cosette.
Inspector Javert was standing there, dressed not in his uniform but a pair of jeans and a shirt with a black coat. A social visit, then. Joy of joys.
"Cosette's not here," Eponine stated, standing in the doorway with a cold look in her eyes.
"I know. I'm not here to see her," Javert replied, though he said it like it was painful to admit.
"Then why are you here? I'm kind of busy right now." She wasn't, but he didn't have to know that.
"Cut the crap, you and I need to talk. Can I come in or are we going to do this right here in the street?"
Eponine turned her back on him and marched into the apartment without saying a word. She heard Javert sigh with exasperation, but he followed her, shutting the door behind him.
"If you're here to tell me that you want me to break up with her, you can get fucked. It ain't gonna happen," she said as she flounced down in her favourite chair.
Javert rolled his eyes. "As much as I might wish it otherwise, I have no control over who my daughter dates. I'm here because my husband wanted me to come and apologize for what I said at lunch that day."
Of course Valjean would have sent him over. She was fairly sure that Cosette had inherited her saintliness from him.
"I don't want to hear your insincere apology-"
"Good, because I wasn't offering you one. I stand by everything I said. You're a criminal and you most certainly don't deserve my daughter."
Eponine's jaw dropped to the ground. How dare he come here and insult her again!
"What the fuck is your probl-"
"Don't interrupt me," he snapped. "As I was saying, you don't deserve her, but for whatever reason she seems to love you. She's happy with you, and Cosette's happiness is all Jean and I care about in the end. So no, I'll never like you, but as long as Cosette wants you around I'll keep my opinions to myself."
Eponine didn't know what to say, so she settled on a stiff nod of her head.
Javert studied her for a moment. "But let me warn you, if I ever find you in one of my prison cells again, I won't hesitate to remove you from Cosette's life."
Again Eponine nodded. "I'm not that girl anymore, inspector," she reminded him.
"Prove it."
Eponine actually smiled at that, she never was one to shy away from a challenge.
"One more thing, if you hurt her in any way, I will personally hunt you down, Eponine." Any glimmer of amusement had left his eyes, and not for the first time since meeting him did Eponine feel a shiver run down her spine.
It was not an empty threat.
He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, so she replied, "I won't. I love her."
Javert nodded and stood up, smoothing out his coat. The two shared a look that more or less conveyed the sentiment of 'let's never bring this up ever again'. However, just as Javert was readying himself to leave, the sound of the front door opening echoed down the hallway.
Two seconds later Cosette burst into the living room. Only something was wrong. Cosette was crying. Like a homing beacon she dropped her bags in the doorway and ran into Eponine's arms, sobbing so hard that she was physically shaking.
Eponine didn't know what to do, so she just held Cosette tight and rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back, mumbling reassuring things in her ear.
Over Cosette's shoulder she caught Javert's panicked gaze.
"Hey, hey there, what's wrong love? You're supposed to be at uni for another few hours still," Eponine murmured.
"I know, I just h-had to come home," Cosette sobbed.
"Why? What's wrong? What happened?"
"It's s-so stupid."
"Tell me anyway," she murmured soothingly, trying to ignore Javert's presence entirely.
"Professor Leroux gave me an F on my essay because I apparently 'cheated'. He threatened to kick me out of the course if it happens again," she cried, clutching Eponine tighter.
Eponine knew that it wasn't just an asshole professor that had made Cosette this upset. She was overtired, overworked, stressed and miserable. It was a lethal combination, and if she were being perfectly honest Eponine was surprised that this hadn't come sooner.
"Do you want me to arrest him?" Javert asked quietly from the corner of the room, attempting a smile.
Cosette broke away from Eponine and whirled around to face her father. She took one look at him and burst into a fresh round of tears.
Before Eponine could move Javert had crossed the floor and had her in his arms.
"It's going to be okay, I promise," Javert murmured, kissing her golden hair.
Eponine suddenly felt like she was intruding on a personal moment and so she quietly retreated to the kitchen to make a pot of chai tea. Cosette always had chai after she'd had a particularly bad day, and today most certainly went under that category. It was odd, but that was Cosette for you.
Ten minutes later Eponine emerged from the kitchen, a cup of chai in each hand. She found Javert sitting on the lounge, his arms around Cosette, who was curled up beside him. Cosette looked up when she entered and smiled, taking one of the cups from her.
"Thanks, babe," she said, sitting up slightly so she wouldn't spill the hot tea. "Dad, did you want a cup?"
Javert smiled down at her with so much love that Eponine felt her own heart tug a little. "No, little one. I should get going anyway, your papa will be waiting for me." With that he stood and placed a final kiss on Cosette's cheek. "I'll see you on Sunday?" he asked, and for the first time ever Eponine saw a little vulnerability from the inspector.
Cosette glanced at Eponine, waiting for confirmation. Eponine paused for a second, enjoying making the inspector sweat, before nodding.
"Yes, we'll be there," Cosette replied, grasping Eponine's hand in hers.
Javert nodded in return and headed for the door. Just before he left however, he turned to glance back at Cosette, "I love you."
Cosette's smile was almost blinding in its brightness. "I know. I love you too, dad."
And then he was gone.
Cosette led Eponine back to the couch and the pair lay down together. Her pale fingers lazily traced patterns into Eponine's skin, "Did he apologize?" she asked softly after a long silence.
"Yeah, he did," she lied.
She felt Cosette relax against her, "Good... I love you, Ep," she murmured, tilting Eponine's cheek so she could kiss her properly.
Eponine smiled into the kiss.
It might be unpleasant for the both her and Javert, but they would do it for Cosette. That's what happens when you truly love someone.