Author's Notes: I know Javert isn't given a first name in either the book or the musical but for this I thought he needed one so…

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Detective Inspector Richard Javert was very good at his job. Practically everyone in the Metropolitan Police Force knew that. His arrest rate was much higher than that of any other officer. However, the percentage of these criminals that were actually found guilty was not very high at all. There was one reason for this.

That reason was Jean Valjean, the best lawyer in the city and the only lawyer who would take any case and somehow manage to always get the verdict of not guilty. Javert hated him. Not because he was affecting Javert's statistics but because of who he defended. Valjean defended people who were obviously guilty, the scum of the Earth, the ones that deserve to be in prison.

Javert had woken up at his usual time of five thirty and jumped in the shower. After this he would put on his suit, gel back his hair and check his appearance in the mirror. He was just over six feet tall with black hair and rather startling blue eyes. Before leaving he would have some sort of breakfast and then grab coffee on the way to work.

Today they would find out the verdict on a very high profile murder case which he had been responsible for catching the killer. The killer who had hired Valjean. The jury had been up late into the night discussing the case and would be ready to make their declaration first thing in the morning.

He arrived at the station at seven, long before he actually started work and began the long wait for the verdict. After a very long ten minutes he decided to read some old case files to pass the time. Oddly enough this did pass the time and suddenly he looked up at the clock at noticed that it was nine thirty. The court would be in session now. All he could do was wait.

Around an hour later the phone rang and he picked it up immediately.

"Detective Inspector Javert?" the voice on the other end of the phone asked.

"Yes?"

"Ed Michaels was just found not guilty of murder," the voice announced.

"Thank you for informing me," Javert replied and hung up the phone.

Then he slammed his head off the desk a number of times while letting out groans of frustration and anger. His colleague, DI Davidson, picked that exact moment to walk in.

"You've heard I take it."

Javert lay his head down on the table and didn't move.

"The man was guilty," he almost shouted.

"I know but that bloody twat Valjean got to the jury again."

"I don't think I've ever hated someone as much as I hate that bloody lawyer," Javert replied.

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Valjean was smiling to himself as he left the courthouse, another victory under his belt. Suddenly a woman appeard beside him, anger apparent on her face.

"You're just as bad as the criminals," she snarled.

"I'm sorry but I really don't have time for this."

"And I really don't care whether you have time or not. My son was the man Ed Michaels murdered," she replied.

The announcement caused Valjean to stop walking and turn to face the woman.

"Why do you defend these people?" she asked.

"I'm a lawyer, it's my job."

"No," she interjected, "You defend people who don't deserve to be defended."

Valjean didn't know how to reply so he just stared at her in silence.

"My son was walking home from the cinema when Ed Michaels walked up to him and stabbed him thirty seven times in the chest," she explained, "A number of witnesses identified him and he even boasted about it to friends. How can you sleep at night knowing that you are responsible for putting that man back out onto the streets?"

"I am very sorry for what happened."

"Have you ever had anyone you love hurt, Mr Valjean?" she asked.

"No," Valjean replied, the truth was he didn't have anyone to love, he led a rather solitary existence.

"Well, it's awful, the pain is terrible. Maybe one day it'll happen to you and you'll realise the error of your ways."

"Maybe I will."

"Goodbye."

With that the woman was gone but she had left him with an awful lot to think about. He made a ridiculous amount of money defending that sort of people but he could still make a comfortable amount defending those who were actually wrongly accused.

Valjean was going to change his ways.