I've been obsessed with Les Miserables lately, specially the couple Javert/Valjean. Very slight and nice, my first thing from this movie/book. Thought it was a cute idea haha, please comment and enjoy!
Cosette awoke, her dream still lingering in her mind.
They had been grabbing her, forcing her back, back into the dark. She hated the dark and the cold, hated to be alone. But they kept pulling on her, darkness everywhere like the woods in the night, cold like the snow under her abused feet. She had cried out and cried out, waiting for a strong man to come around the corner and see her, to say kind things and take her away. They pulled and pulled, yelling and ordering until Cosette screamed and opened her eyes.
She now sat in bed shivering. It was not her small hard cot at the inn but a soft warm bed in her home in Montreuil-ser-Mer. Despite this fact, it was still very dark in the room and she was very alone. She tried to calm down, to tell herself to be a brave little girl. It was only a dream, she was safe now in this home with her Papa.
As Cosette reached for the doll beside her, she heard noises. Quiet as first, but they grew louder. The sounds seemed familiar to Cosette. She listened. Panting, and gasping, almost like crying. It sounded as though someone were in pain.
The little girl gripped her doll tight as the familiar noises flooded her memories. Back at the inn, Cosette had heard these kinds of noises before. Many times, almost every day no matter the time. Mostly at night.
Cosette's eyes watered. She didn't want this home to be like the inn. She didn't want the dark or the loneliness or these noises. She jumped out of bed, desperate to find her Papa.
He slept in the room down the hall, informing Cosette since her first day here that she could come to his room any time she liked or needed, and that he would not get mad. It took Cosette a while to do such a thing, for if she had been caught wandering at night she had been severely punished in the inn.
The noises got louder as she approached the door and Cosette felt more frightened than before. The noises were coming from her Papa's room…
The noises weren't her father's she thought, but she wasn't sure. They sounded desperate and out of breath. She heard a faint squeaking and thumping as well, very similar to those of the inn. The idea that her Papa, the man she loved and trusted so much, was doing the same things as those horrid people from the inn, creating the same sounds, brought Cosette to tears.
She burst open the door, large drops falling from her eyes. The room was dark but Cosette's eyes were already used to it. Through her slightly blurred vision she saw her Papa's bare back. A man, also completely bare, was underneath him; this stranger's calves were on each of her Papa's shoulders as her father rocked strangely.
"Cosette!" her Papa exclaimed, stopping his motions immediately and grabbing the blanket on the bed. He detangled himself from the stranger, causing the man to groan uncomfortably. Her father wrapped the blanket around his lower half quickly and threw a pillow at the stranger's direction. "What are you doing out of bed, love?" Upon seeing the tears on his child's cheeks, he immediately became more concerned than frazzled and embarrassed. "Cosette, what is the matter?"
"Please stop!" she cried, throwing herself at her father. She wanted so badly to believe he was only good and safe, noting like the innkeeper and those people. "Please Papa, don't make those sounds anymore!"
Jean glanced back at the man sharing his bed. With a blush on his face, Jean stuttered, "Oh Cosette, I…I'm so sorry. I thought you were asleep. I did not mean to…"
"I woke from a dream," Cosette said, pulling away and wiping her eyes. "A horrible dream. It scared me and then I heard those noises. They reminded me of the inn."
"The inn?" her Papa questioned with a curious tilt of his head.
"Yes! I heard those kinds of sounds nearly every night, sometimes from the innkeeper himself with his wife, sometimes he had other women or sometimes from the guests. It was horrible! I never knew what was happening but the sounds…hearing them here reminded me of the inn…oh Papa, please don't! I can't bear to think of that place!" Cosette began crying again and Jean felt his heart begin to shatter. He couldn't bear to see his beloved child in such a distraught manner. He would do anything, say anything to make the tears stop.
"I'm so sorry, darling Cosette," Jean said, hugging the small child tenderly. "Please do not fear."
"Madeleine…" Javert said softly from behind Jean's back. "Perhaps you should explain to the child what exactly it was we were doing."
"Ridiculous!" Jean snapped, keeping his voice down though to not further upset the girl. "I'm not about to talk of such things with a child of barely eight!"
"I know you wish to smother the girl and keep her safe…but its best to make it so she does not fear this kind of thing. She has to see that this is not something only vial low-lifes do." Jean would have argued the point that he himself had been a "vial low-life" but didn't particularly want to bring that up with the Inspector. "It's better to comfort her in that way. Better for her growing-up."
Valjean sighed, knowing it was true. His face grew hot at the idea but he had no other alternative as the girl wept and shook in his arms.
"Cosette, look at me." Cosette removed her face from his chest and looked up at him with large wet eyes. "Cosette, what you heard is nothing you should be scared of." Valjean felt sick, he couldn't believe what he was about to start saying to the child, his daughter whom he wanted to protect from such things! "Those sounds are natural."
"How can they be?" Cosette cried. "Nothing from that inn was good or natural!"
"Yes, that is true," Jean said, trying to find the right words before speaking. He wished dearly that Javert could take over. The Inspector had a way with few words and would be able to properly and precisely say what needed to be said in an effective way. But this was Jean's child and he would take care of this as a parent should.
"Cosette, this is something adults do. I don't want you to mind it too much. It's simply a way adults show love towards one another."
"Love?" Cosette questioned, her voice child-like. She glanced shyly at Javert, who looked back stonely. Cosette flinched away and whispered, "You love that man, Papa?"
Jean laughed softly, a pleasing soft to Cosette's ears. "Yes, Cosette, but I love you most!" Jean snickered silently when he heard Javert quietly humph.
"So at the inn…"
"Sometimes people do those things simply because it feels good, without any love," Jean said sadly. "It's not a good thing, but know that when you heard those sounds just now, it was something done in love. It is nothing scary Cosette; it is something beautiful and natural. But I don't want you thinking about it for a long long time, understand? It is a way for adults to show affection, not children."
Cosette nodded and hugged her father. He hugged back and lifted her in his arms. He stood, careful to keep the sheet wrapped around his waist as he carried the girl back into her room.
"I'm very sorry for the scare, Cosette," Jean said quietly as he lay the tired girl into her bed. He pulled the blanket to her chin and kissed her forehead softly. "I won't do it again."
"No Papa…" Cosette whispered, her eyes already dropping heavily. She felt safer now, with her Papa beside her. "I want you to show that man you love him. I won't be bothered now that I know. I want you to show him as you do to me…when you hug me and say sweet things to me…when you kiss my bruises and buy me new dresses for my doll…" Cosette faded into sleep, clutching said doll in tiny hands.
Jean smiled down at the girl, brushing her hair away from her face, loving the peaceful look as she slept. His heart swelled. He reluctantly turned and left, closing the door behind him.
He sighed as he entered his bedroom, leaning against the closed door. "That was a nightmare…I never want to have a conversation like that ever again…"
"You handled it admirably," Javert said, moving the pillow aside as Valjean crawled back into bed.
"She gave us permission to continue," Valjean said with a sly, tired grin. He chuckled and leaned forward to kiss Javert's mouth tenderly. "But I feel that would not be wise."
"Hmm…since when did you start making wise choices?" Javert said but Valjean noticed the uncharacteristic pout on the Inspector's lips. Valjean laughed and pulled the man down on top of him, kissing him passionately. The two meshed lips, panting silently as tongues collided. They parted.
"Perhaps tomorrow, when Cosette is out playing, I can continue to "show you my love" in an adult manner," Valjean whispered into Javert's ear, receiving a shiver from the grown man.
Javert kissed Valjean eagerly and whispered back, "I look forward to it."