Hey!

This took me ages to write because I kept giving up and going back to it. I haven't had time to check it but hey-ho, you'll manage. This first chapter is a bit boring because I had to do the boring intro and lead up to the main thing so yea.

This Father/Daughter fanfic was inspired by PhantomFandom's cute little story Ma petitee Fleur. It was a lovely read and I highly recommend reading it because she is a wonderful writer. :)

PS. Bicorn is just a fancy word for Javert's awesome hat. ;) Enjoy and review x

I do not own Les Miserables the book or musical or its lyrics.

Javert sighed as he looked at the all too familiar name on the piece of parchment paper on his desk. Jean Valjean. He picked up his quill again and dipped it in the ink well. His writing hand hovering over the page, Javert tried to think of something else to add onto this brief note. A drip of ink splattered onto the practically empty page and he dabbed it before it could spread. He then simply underlined it multiple times, furiously scrawling preferably strait lines under the convict's name. He threw down the pen and slammed the leather book shut, making the dust around him fly up and become visible in the moonlight straining through the small window.

Valjean had just admitted himself as 24601 in the court which Javert had sat in to see the man believed to be Jean Valjean. Javert had gone to relieve himself of the mystery, to see his face when he was sentenced life in prison. He sat tall and proud in his chair, his eyes focused on nothing else but the convict. At the moment that the judge was about to slam down his hammer, the man that Javert had once called Monsieur le Mayor, entered. Javert's head turned immediately to the door as soon as he had pushed through the great doors, entering with great frustration and pace.

"And so your honour, you see it is true, this man bares no more guilt than you," He paused and Javert arose from his chair slightly. "Who am I? 24601!" The so called Mayor stood there like a lunatic while everyone in court whispered and gasped. "Monsieur le Mayor, you are not well. You must come with me." One of the judges took him by the arm and began to lead him out of the courtroom.

"If you don't believe me, ask Inspector Javert. You'll find me at the hospital." He said rather calmly and walked out without much aid. The audience immediately began to mutter and gossip .Javert stood slowly, taking in what had just been witnessed.

"My God," He murmured to himself and he rushed out of the chaotic room. The judge slammed his hammer furiously, indicating for there to be silence in the court. Javert paced down the hallways and eventually found himself out in the still, early January air, a few snowflakes fluttering down and landing on everything around it. The thin layer of snow crunching underneath his heavy black boots, Javert paced to his great black horse and mounted it with ease. He spurred it on with his boots and directed it towards the hospital.

He found Valjean hunched over a sickly looking woman that Javert recognised from the other day, when Valjean had ignored his commands and the obvious crime that the whore had done and taken her here. He felt no pity as he set his cold eyes on her limp, lifeless body. Javert took a silent step forward. "Valjean, at last, we see each other plain. Monsieur le Mayor, you'll wear a different chain!" Javert announced without emotion. Valjean whipped his head up.

"Before you say another word Javert, before you chain me up like a slave again listen to me! There is something I must do." He stood as Javert took another step forward. "This woman leaves behind a suffering child. There is none but me who can intercede. In Mercy's name, three days are all I need." Javert whipped out his sword as an answer and threw the scabbard to one corner of the room with determination. No games now. He would capture Valjean now or, god so help him, he would damn this night forever.

"Then I'll return, I pledge my word. Then I'll return." He pleaded desperately, pacing backwards and making a grab for a loose piece of wood on the wall. Javert still persisted forwards.

"You must think me mad! I've hunted you across the years; a man like you can never change, a man such as you."

Javert readied his sword and fought Valjean with great skill, deflecting any swings that Valjean aimed at him. "You know nothing of Javert. I was born inside a jail," He eventually disarmed Valjean from his weak weapon and raised his sword to him. "I was born with scum like you. I am from the gutter too!" Javert looked at him as if to say 'There 24601, now there is no escaping.'

Just as Javert was about to step forward Valjean turned and fled to the window. Javert tried to grab at him, but failed as Valjean made no hesitation at jumping out of it and landing in the freezing river. Javert looked down and growled, frustrated and agitated. He viciously thumped the window shutters and turned. He paid no attention to the dead woman on the hospital bed and ran to his horse. Javert had returned to his office and cursed words that only scum of street would dare to use.

There must be some way to get to him. Javert ran this possibility through his mind again and again, Valjean's face tormenting him. Goddamn that scoundrel! He stood and kicked his chair with some violence and cursed as he felt the pain in his foot. Then he thought of it, the inn in Montfermeil. The girl he had promised to fetch for the whore. Extinguishing the candle with his forefinger and thumb, Javert picked up his bicorn, and set off out of the station. He mounted his horse and headed towards the inn.

Javert arrived to see a run- down inn, thriving with drunkards, whores and gamblers. A shifty looking man and woman stumbled out of the wide open doors. Javert did not bother to dismount his horse to talk. "Where is the child, Cosette?" He demanded in a quiet, yet threatening, voice.

"She's-" the woman started, but stopped short and narrowed her eyes. She stepped forward. "What's it to you?"

"I am willing to pay for her. I promised to take her for her mother, who is now deceased."

The woman's eyes widened as soon as she heard the word 'pay' and rushed back inside. She returned no more than ten seconds later with a small girl. She held her waist and crouched own, so that she was level with her, and started to whisper something harsh and rushed. The girl nodded and fiddled with her dress as she walked towards the innkeeper. He looked down at her, then to his wife. Something in him clicked as he saw his wife's threatening face and he smiled.

Javert took this moment to look at her properly. She had tanned skin and big, brown, hopeful eyes. Her hair bounced around in neat, glossy ringlets and she had a dark blue bonnet crammed over them. She wore a reasonably fashionable pink dress and clutched an expensive looking doll under her petitee arm.

"175," the woman declared, her hands firmly on her hips. Javert immediately snapped out of his concentration and looked down at her.

"Excuse me?"

"She said 175 francs, no less." The man urged it this time. Javert sighed. He would not stoop so low as to haggle for a child. He took out the money from the inside breast pocket of his heavy coat and threw it in the snow in front of them.

"Take it and be damned." He sneered as they both made a grab for the money, clawing at it with desperation. He hopped down from his horse and walked over to the confused looking girl. Javert was not patient or sentimental in any way and he simply took the girl, known as Cosette, by the wrist and pulled her towards the huge beast. He lifted her firmly up and then climbed up himself, holding her small body close to him. The last thing he needed was his bait with a broken neck.

"If a man comes here asking after her, with the name of Jean Valjean, tell him to come to this address." He passed down a small scrap of paper with an address scrawled on it. The innkeeper's wife took it between her fingers as her husband counted the money.

Javert sighed and turned his horse, encouraging it on by clicking his tongue. The girl fidgeted and looked behind her, her large brown eyes staring at the couple in disbelief and sadness. Javert pulled her back harshly as the horse quickened to a gallop. The girl held onto the Inspector's arms, her little knuckles turning white. Javert found this fairly annoying, but chose to ignore her.

The girl could not be happier when the horse slowed and stopped in front of a house. Javert struggled to swing his legs from the horse and sighed as he swung his leg around the back of his horse. He turned and lifted her down. A scrappy looking young boy ran forward and the Inspector handed him the reigns. Javert was about to step forward when he felt something tug on the back of his coat. He turned sharply and stared down at the cowering girl looking up at him.

"What?" He said harshly, making the girl flinch. Even so, she brought up her tiny palm to him. Javert looked at it with some confusion and she jabbed it further towards him. The realization hit him. She wanted to hold his hand. "Oh no, no, no, no." He said firmly and turned. He paced up the steps and turned when he realised he had heard no scuffle of small feet behind him. She was still stood there, staring at him like a puppy, her eyes misty and her lower lip trembling. Javert sighed and looked up the stars. The things I do for the law.

He trudged his way down the steps and stood in front of the sniffling child before gingerly holding out a gloved hand. She sniffed and gave a small squeak before slipping her quivering hand into his. Javert tugged her up the steps and unlocked the door.

The girl squeaked as they stepped into the unlit hall way. The smell of books and must filled her nose and a breeze passed from under the door, creeping around her ankles and sending a shiver down her back. She gripped the Inspector's hand tighter and shuffled a little closer to him.

Javert walked over to the barely visible table and crouched down. He carefully slipped his hand out of her tight grip. He tried not to sigh when she instantly wrapped her spindly arms round his collard neck.

Javert blindly fumbled with the matches before it struck and the glow of an orange light illuminated a small space around them, making their faces stand out from the pitch-black hallway. Javert cautiously lit the lamp with the match and the girl snatched his hand as soon as he stood and held the lamp before them. He led her to the drawing room, where the fire illuminated and gave a warm glow to the petite room. He placed the lamp down on a small oak table in between two sizable chairs and walked over to a dusty bookshelf that the small girl decided to be boring, just by looking at their tattered leather spines. He picked one out and took off his bicorn, idly throwing it on an ancient looking desk, cluttered with books and files and ink pens. Javert looked down at her and held out his hand to the chair.

"Sit, if you wish." He said plainly. The girl shook her head fiercely. Javert simply shrugged and slumped in his own chair. The girl stood in the shadows and waited until she finally croaked "Please monsieur, when do I return home? Am I to live here now? Who are you and why did you bring me here?" Her voice became confident as she asked each question. She was cut short by Javert, who abruptly slammed his heavy book shut.

"Be quiet, Cosette." He opened his book and recalled which line he was on. There was about a five second silence before the small girl whipped her head up, "I am not Cosette!" she squealed, as if it were some demonic crime. Javert did not look up from his book as he asked, his voice rising slightly, "Then, who are you and where is Cosette?"

"I am Eponine," Surprisingly a little quieter, the girl now identified as Eponine lifted her round face. "Cosette was taken away by a man." She crossed her delicate arms and jumped as Javert rose, ever so slowly, and made his way over to the corner and kicked the blue painted wall, his hands still crossed behind his back. He sighed and breathed in before turning and looking into the girl's hazel eyes that mutely told him that she spoke the truth. Javert picked up his discarded bicorn and wedged it on his head. He dragged a rather peevish and exhausted Eponine outside into the mild blizzard. Javert barked some harsh words and in less than two seconds, the boy appeared and handed over the reigns of, an already saddled, horse to the frustrated Inspector. Javert snatched them and lifted the shivering scrap of a girl onto the towering beast. Lifting himself up, Javert clicked his tongue and held the small girl's waist as they galloped against the falling snowflakes, seeming to fall faster and sting as they hit the faces of victims with their icy whips.

As soon as Javert halted his horse at the inn, he made no hesitation in jumping swiftly from the horse's back. He roughly pulled the pale looking child from the leather saddle. She stumbled as she was dragged onto the floor, shocked by the feeling of her weight on her feet. Javert grabbed her pointed elbow and pulled her to the splintered inn door. He knocked on it three times with pace and wasted no time in knocking again with more frustration. The door cautiously creaked open and the innkeeper's face appeared in the slight gap that he had made. His face darkened as he saw the Inspector stood at the door with his daughter and a sneer set on his lips.

"Good evening Inspect-" He was cut short by Javert grabbing the neck of his shirt and pulling outside. Eponine gave a small gasp as she witnessed the act. Both men ignored her.

"Where is Cosette?" Javert grabbed the stunned man and pinned him against the door, by the neck.

"That's Cosette." He gasped. Javert tightened his grip.

"No, that is Eponine. Do you take me as some sort of fool? Did you really think that she wouldn't tell me at some point?"

The innkeeper gave a small smile and shrugged his shoulders. "It was worth a try, wasn't it?" He gulped and squirmed as Javert slammed his head into the frail door.

"You disgust me." Javert spat, loosening his grip slightly.

"What the Hell is going on out here?" The man's wife appeared, wide-eyed. She stumbled when she saw the familiar face of her daughter and the Inspector. Javert stepped pointed a finger at her.

"You are going to jail Madame, along with your husband."

"What for monsieur?" asked the woman, her eyes blinking with innocence. "We have done nothing!"

"Wrong, Madame!" The inspector took a step forward, his finger still firmly pointing at her. "You sold this child and lied about her identity! I hereby arrest you under-"

"Did you not take part in this illegal purchase monsieur?" The innkeeper stepped forward "Could not we equally turn you in?"

Javert's mouth opened slightly as if he were about to say something but he shut it again. He cursed under his breath and kicked the unsettled snow. Eponine clutched at her doll and moved back against the horse. The inspector took a breath before turning.

"Alright, how much do you want?"

"250." The woman snapped.

"Are you mad woman?"

"That or we'll turn you in."

"Oh of course, but, Madame, who would they believe? You two, a pair of worthless innkeepers? Or, I a respectable inspector that has been on the force for twenty years?"

The woman simply smirked. "Oh I have my ways, Inspector." She flashed a devilish smile and rested her hands on her hips, triumphant.

Javert grumbled as he handed over the money. He turned to the girl and pushed her back to the couple. "You can have her back, too." The inspector turned but stopped when he heard the sneering voice of the innkeeper.

"Inspector, a deal is a deal. You are the guardian of the girl now."

Javert stomped forwards and grabbed the girl's elbow, wishing he wipe the smirk that the father wore off of his filthy face. He was too fatigued to argue and once more lifted her onto his agitated and exhausted horse.

Eponine fell asleep in Javert's arms as they rode home.

Javert gently lifted her down, making sure not to wake her. He gingerly carried sleeping the girl in and set her down in a leather chair in his drawing room. He sat and studied her face in the flickering firelight. It was so pure and innocent for a girl raised by such people. She had a flicker of a smile on her gentle lips and she limply held her blonde haired doll in her arms.

Javert fetched his only maid, Amaline. She stared at the child for a few seconds but made no remarks as Javert asked her to ready the small room opposite his. She nodded and went upstairs and returned in a few minutes. "Shall I carry her upstairs, monsieur?" She whispered.

"If you would be so kind, Amaline." He gave a weak smile as he sat down with a few papers with Valjean's name written in various places and the red stamp with the warning: EXTREMEMENT DANGEREUX. Javert sighed as he thought about his failed plan to take Cosette as bait. Instead he had ended up with a child from an inn. He looked up as Amaline rushed through the door.

"Excuse me, monsieur, but what shall I dress her in for bed?" Javert rubbed his eyes and grumbled before answering.

"Would you be kind enough to let her borrow something of yours? A shirt or anything like that?" He rose as a signal that he too was going to bed. Amaline stood there for a moment before smiling.

"I think I will have something, monsieur. And monsieur, may I ask, what is the child's name? She has woken and is quite distressed. No fear for I shall calm her. "

Javert struggled for a name until he thought back to what she had squeaked earlier. "Her name is Eponine. Merci, Amaline." He waited for the old maid to rush back upstairs before extinguishing the candle and retiring upstairs himself. On his way to his room, he heard muffled sounds from the girl's room.

"But I want my mama and papa! Where are they? Who is this strange man? Why am I here? Mama, I want my mama!"

Javert cursed again and slammed the door of his dark bedroom. It seemed to silence the whole house until a few seconds later; the wailing filled the rooms again. Javert undressed and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he listened to the crying of the young girl and the desperate tone of the maid.

What on earth have I let myself into?