After the Barricade
A/N: I own nothing except my OC, Nicole Combeferre. This is just a little drabble of something that I came up with one day because I wanted Jehan to have a semi-happy ending. My envisioning for how they survived the barricade (because I don't address it during the drabble) is that Jehan was wounded (not a fatal wound, but one that meant that he could no longer fight), Nicole took him to one of the surrounding houses where he was treated by a doctor, and they remained there throughout the final battle because Jehan would be no use to his friends wounded and he couldn't leave orphaned, brother-less Nicole completely alone in the world. Oh, and if it isn't clear who the unnamed man is in the story…ask me in a review. (:
Some days are harder than others.
Some days, Jehan doesn't go to class. He wakes up after a nightmare in which he sees his friends dying, dying, always dying, and he refuses to let Nicole out of his sight. So they stay in bed and recite poetry to each other and take bets on how long it will be until the Pontmercy couple has a baby and just rest there in companionable silence. She doesn't tell him that everything is fine and he doesn't apologize that he is like this now. Instead, she lays her head on his chest so that she can hear his heartbeat and he plays with her hair and they know that they're going to be okay because they have each other. And if he isn't ready to face the empty chairs in his classes where his friends should be sitting, he knows she won't mind.
Some days, he comes home from the university to the flat that they now share to find her sitting in a pile of her brother's belongings. Books and clothes are scattered around her and she sobs into one of his jackets. Jehan walks into the room silently and sits down beside her, taking her in his arms. She turns in his arms to face him and clutches at his shirt, as her tears leave wet splotches on it. He kisses the top of her head and whispers soothing words to her unless she stops shaking and her tears subside. Eventually she falls asleep in his arms and he stands up to place her gently on the bed. While she sleeps fitfully, he packs her brother's belongings back into the cabinet as tears of his own fall for his dead friend and the broken little sister he left behind.
The worst day of all is when they go to claim the bodies. It's a few days after the barricade fell and he's still in pain from his wound, but he refuses to let her go alone. The bodies are laid out in a row, their blood dried on them. She feels it's her duty to claim her brother's body – if she doesn't, who will? – and she and Jehan have agreed to claim any of their friends who are left unclaimed. The couple sees Musichetta who is there to claim Joly and Bousset's bodies. Nicole spies a well-dressed young man that she remembers seeing with Eponine a few times standing over her body. While Jehan is talking with Coufeyrac's older brother and Enjolras's mother, she quietly walks to the man's side.
"Did you know her?" he asks gruffly, but she can hear the emotion behind his rough tone.
"Not well, but we talked a few times. Were you her friend?" He nods, his eyes still fixed on Eponine's body.
"Her brother's body is over there. Gavroche? I don't know if you knew him, but if you're going to claim her body…you might want to take his too." The man looks up at her suddenly, his eyes searching as though he doesn't understand. "I fought here with them," she explains quietly. "My brother died. I only survived because my…because Jehan was wounded. She was brave, Eponine. Gavroche too." He nods in appreciation and she smiles sadly at him before returning to Jehan's side.
When they find Combeferre's body, they cry over him together. She presses a kiss to his forehead and fixes the collar on his blood-stained shirt. She has so many memories of their childhood together and of her time with him in Paris after their parents' death. She finally realizes that she is actually alone in the world because her older sister lives far away in Normandy and her brother, like their parents, is dead. Her tears turn to sobs and she cries out in sudden anger, "How could you leave me? How could you leave me alone?" But Jehan's gentle hand on her back reminds her of all she has left and of the future that she must live for all of those who died. Together, they pay for a proper burial for not only her brother, but also for Feuilly and Grantaire, whose bodies were never claimed. She buys a small Polish flag to tuck into the coffin with Feuilly.
Some days are easier.
Some days, Jehan comes home from his classes brimming with ideas. He tells Nicole everything that he has learned and she listens attentively. He writes new poetry that's better than any he's written before. A few months later, he is able to publish a small book of poems which pays their rent for several weeks. One day, they hear a mewling in the alleyway by their home and they're surprised to find a tiny kitten. They decide to adopt it into their home; Nicole names it Gavroche because the little cat is clearly a fighter. Marius asks Jehan to be the best man at his wedding to Cosette and the young poet happily agrees. Jehan and Nicole have fallen into an easy friendship with Marius and Cosette. It's comforting to have someone who understands their loss.
Some days, Nicole goes to the Fauchelevent household to help Cosette plan her wedding. She likes Monsieur Fachelevant because he reminds her of her own father. She begins to understand why Marius loves Cosette so dearly, because one cannot help but be happy when around her. When she returns to her apartment, she often finds Jehan waiting for her. They go for walks in the Luxembourg Garden and she always points out the place that they first met.
Jehan proposes the night of Cosette and Marius's wedding. He tells Nicole that he asked Combeferre's permission the night before they went to the barricade, just in case he survived. He promises to stay by her side for the rest of his life. She cries, but they are happy tears for the future that they're going to have together. He tenses, afraid that he's upset her in some way and desperate for her answer.
"Nicole Prouvaire…it sounds poetic, don't you think?" she teases him before he kisses her.
There will be good days and there will be bad days, but they will get through them as long as they are together.