A/N: I have NOT seen a production of Les Miserables, so I do not know if this is what actually happens during this portion of 'At the End of the Day.' Tell me if I got anything wrong and I'll correct it.
A/N: (16 October 2009) Okay, so mirifaery reviewed and corrected my French (evidently I don't speak French, otherwise I would have gotten it right). Thanks. Anything else, just tell me and I'll fix it. Thanks.
"What is this shouting all about?" the mayor asks after rushing out of the factory. "Will someone tear these two apart? This is a factory, not a circus. Now, come on, ladies, settle down. I run a business of repute. I am the mayor of this town." He looks to the foreman and continues, "I look to you to solve this out and be as patient as you can."
"Now, someone say how this began," the foreman says to me and the girl who took my letter.
"At the end of the day, she's the one who began it," she says, shocking me somewhat. I had been staring after M. Madeleine, our mayor, and wasn't expecting someone to straight-out answer him, even though I should have been. "There's a kid that she's hiding in some little town. There's a man she has to pay. You can guess how she picks up the extra. You can bet she's earning her keep sleeping around, and the boss wouldn't like it."
I look straight at her and retort, "Yes, it's true there's a child, and the child is my daughter, and her father abandoned us, leaving us flat. Now, she lives with an innkeeper man and his wife and I pay for the child. What's the matter with that?"
"At the end of the day, she'll be nothing but trouble," every other woman joins to say to him. "And there's trouble for all when there's trouble for one. While we're earning our daily bread, she's the one with her hands in the butter. You must send the slut away or we're all gonna end in the gutter, and it's us who'll have to pay at the end of the day."
"I might have known the bitch could bite," he says to me. "I might have known the cat had claws. I might have guessed your little secret." He grabs my chin and turns my face to look directly into his. "Ah, yes, the virtuous Fantine who keeps herself so pure and clean. You'd be the cause, I had no doubt, of any trouble hereabout. You play a virgin in the light, but need no urgin' in the night."
"She's been laughing at you while she's having her men," the girl says.
"She'll be nothing but trouble again and again," the women chorus.
"You must sack her today."
"Sack the girl today," everyone agrees.
"Right, my girl," the foreman says, taking me forcefully by the upper arm and almost dragging me to the gates before shoving me out. "On your way." He shuts the gates, locking them.
I look up and down the street and see the mayor. I start walking towards him and realize he's doing the same. "Good afternoon, monsieur mayor.
"Good afternoon, mademoiselle. I see you just got yourself fired."
"Which is partly your fault, sir. If you would have helped sort it out instead of leaving it to the damned foreman, I'd still be in a job and my daughter wouldn't be as good as homeless."
"Miss, I'm sorry. I really should have stayed. If you'd like, I could give you a place to stay, and I'll go get your daughter and you two can live together again.
"Sir, I couldn't possibly impose on the mayor of my hometown," I say. "But it's kind of you to offer."
"My dear, it would be my honor to let you stay at least one night at my own home."
The clock in the bell tower chimes five and the factory gates reopen, letting the workers out. The mayor takes my hand and pulls me around the corner. "Please. It's the least I can do," he says to me.
I look away sighing as the girl who got me fired passes. "Okay. One night," I say.
I've never been a light sleeper since I started work at the factory five years ago. That night at about one, I am lying in my bed asleep until someone comes in and climbs onto the bed. My eyes snap open. "Fantine?"
It's only the mayor. "Yes, monsieur?"
"I'm sorry that it's partly my fault that you're out of a job, and I was wondering if I could make it up to you."
"How?" I ask after turning onto my back to look up at him.
He holds up a ring and half offers it to me. "Marry me?"
"Sir, this is so sudden."
"Please? Fantine, you're out of a job, you have a child who desperately needs money. It would help you both."
I smile at his thoughtfulness. "I see nothing to lose. Oui – yes." I take the ring from him.
"No, allow me," he says, taking the ring back and slipping it onto my ring finger. He leans down and kisses me. "Good night, Fantine."
"Good night, sir."
I close my eyes as he lies down next to me, a smile on my face. My child as a father now, and we're going to survive in this world.