The Day After

Marius Pontmercy had not had a good day today. Yesterday had been wonderful, he had gotten married yesterday, but today everything seemed to have changed.
It wasn't Cosette, she hadn't done anything wrong, In fact it was her father. That morning he had come to Marius and told him everything about his past. More than Marius wanted to know in fact, he didn't know how to handle the information, he didn't want the information, it had tainted what was supposed to be the happiest days of his life.

Once he had time to think about it though he realised it was better that he knew. Now that he knew, he could keep Cosette safe from him, Cosette was his wife now which meant she only had to answer to him, her father had no claim on her anymore.

Marius had decided that he would prove to Cosette that he would be the only man she needed in her life; he would prove to her that he loved her more than anyone and she would never doubt it.

And he knew how to show her how much he loved her; he found that out last night. And tonight he planned on showing her all over again, but for different reasons. Now he had a sense of protectiveness about her, and he made a promise to himself that he would protect her from now on.

That night, when they were in bed Marius didn't waste any time in showing her how he felt. As soon as she was ready he held her tightly in his arms and was on top of her before Cosette knew what was happening.

He kissed her a little roughly on her lips and her neck, and Cosette did her best to reciprocate but he was moving too fast for her, she wanted to say something to him but she didn't know how to, she assumed this was normal behaviour, that this was part of marriage, so she just let him touch her the way he wanted too, even though she wasn't feeling quite comfortable with this right now.

Marius took her hands and placed them over her head holding them quite tightly as well at the wrist, he looked her in the eyes briefly before moving on to the next step and he entered her without hesitation.

Cosette gasped as he pushed himself into her, she didn't want to tell him that she was still a little sore from the night before, he seemed so eager, and she wanted to be everything for him so she let him do what he wanted.

Truthfully though he was scaring her a little bit, he had been so gentle last night, he had whispered such nice things to her and touched her so softly, this amount of passion from him so soon was too much for her, she still felt quite virginal and this was making her uncomfortable. "What had changed with him?" She thought to herself. She knew it was something to do with her father visiting this morning, he had been acting differently ever since then.

"Marius, slow down" she whispered as he was moving inside her quickly, but he didn't answer her. He just continued on eagerly, not realising he was going too fast for her.

"This hurts, Marius...please dont". she said desperately, trying to move her hands but finding them still held tightly in his grip.

"It's alright Cosette" he whispered back as he kept moving roughly "Just relax, you're safe with me". And he kept going despite her being clearly distressed, he was oblivious to her plea though, all he wanted to do was prove to her that he was the only man in her life now.

"Marius please.…you're hurting me, please stop!" She cried out in panic, and that finally got his attention.

He stopped, and looked at her in shock as he realised what he was doing. He was hurting her, which was something he had never wanted to do to her.

"Oh God…" he said as he let go of her hands "I'm sorry Cosette, I didn't mean to….I'm sorry".

He sat up on his knees and put his face in his hands, trying to hold back tears, he felt so ashamed of himself at what he had been doing. Cosette sat upright and tried to comfort him, but she had no idea what to say.

"Dammit" he said angrily, which only served to scare Cosette even more

"Marius what's wrong?" she said, feeling like she was about to cry as well "I can tell something's wrong, please tell me. Is it me? Did I do something?"

"No" Marius said suddenly "It's not you Cosette".

"Then what is it? You've been acting so strangely all day, and this…." She said referring to the way he had been touching her just now "This isn't you."

"I know" he said, still fairly worked up

"Please tell me what's wrong Marius" she said taking his face in her hands and making him look at her. "I know it has something to do with my father visiting this morning".

Marius knew he couldn't tell her the truth, for one thing he had promised her father he wouldn't, but he wasn't really concerned about that, he just knew he couldn't tell her that he was trying to force her to see that he was the only man in her life now. So he quickly thought of a lie to tell her, even though he was already tired of lying to her.

"Cosette, I just got carried away. I saw you looking so beautiful tonight and I just couldn't control myself. I swear I didn't mean to hurt you, I wasn't thinking. Yes it does have something to do with your father as well, I saw him this morning and I could tell he was hurt by the fact I took you away from him, and knowing that I had been with you so intimately last night made me uncomfortable to be around him. That's why I've been acting strangely; I just have so many thoughts and feelings going round my head that I wasn't thinking right tonight. I shouldn't have hurt you like that though, I'm so sorry Cosette".

"Are you sure that's all?" Cosette asked

"Yes, I swear that's all" he said convincingly, even though he knew it was another lie.

"Marius…." She said, pulling him towards her and letting his head fall onto his shoulder "You don't have to feel uncomfortable about anything, whatever we do in this room is between us. My father knew I was getting married to you and I'm sure he doesn't resent you for it. I love you Marius".

"I love you too Cosette" he said burying his head in her hair.

"I can show you how to be gentle with me" she whispered to him as she kissed his hair and ran her fingers through it "If you still want to tonight?"

"I do" he whispered back, kissing her gently "I want to show you how much I love you"

"Here, lie down" She whispered, as she pulled him gently back down on the bed with her.

Cosette showed him that night how to touch her, she showed him how he could pleasure her body without hurting her in the process and when he entered her for the second time that night she didn't feel any pain or any nervousness at all, she just felt love.

And it was so much better for both of them that way; Marius knew he had been a fool earlier to be so rough with her when it was so much more wonderful to take it slowly and gently. Cosette had shown him what love was, and now she had shown him how to love her.

Later that night Cosette had fallen asleep curled up against him with his arm around her. Marius was still awake going over what had happened earlier in his head. He couldn't sleep when his mind was racing so much so he gently slipped out of the covers without waking his wife.

He walked into the washroom that connected to their bedroom and splashed some water on his face from the wash basin. The water felt cool on his skin and made him feel better for about thirty seconds, before images from earlier that night flashed through his mind again.

He sat down on the floor of the washroom and held his head in his hands. "What did I do?" He thought to himself "I practically raped her in her own bed". He couldn't stand to even think of that word, but that's how he felt about it. "How could I do that to her?"

Marius almost lost himself that night in his thoughts, but he managed to snap himself out of it before he completely disappeared within himself.

Cosette had been so trusting of him that night and he vowed to himself that he would never again hurt her and he would never give her a reason to fear him like she did tonight.

Marius got up off the floor again and went back into his bedroom, Cosette was still sleeping peacefully and he gently slipped back into bed next to her. He looked at her for a moment and touched her hair and kissed her gently on the forehead, "I love you Cosette". He whispered to her, before putting his arm around her and holding her safely in his arms all night.

The End