Save it for another day
I'm not sure how many chapters this is going to be. We'll see. Not all the characters are in this chapter, but they will be in the following ones.
Age and occupation for this fic:
(Waitress and other things) Eponine is 23
(Fashion designer) Azelma is 17
(None) Gavroche is 11
(None) Peter Thenardier (Eponine and Gavroche's younger brother) is 9
(None) Ash Thenardier (Eponine and Gavroche's other younger brother) is 4
(Judge/Lawyer) Enjolras is 24
(Student) Combeferre is 23
(Mailman) Courfeyrac is 24
(Lawyer) Grantaire is 24
(Law student) Jehan is 21
(Teacher) Cosette is 23
(Waiter) Marius is 24
Eponine sat outside the taunting office. She glanced at her watch again and tapped the bloody thing with her index finger. It was practically the longest twenty minutes of her life. Eponine started tapping her foot nervously. Her taps echoed through the marble hall. The only other person in the room was the elderly man who was mopping the spotless floor, the bodyguard who was so still he could have been a mannequin and the receptionist who sat quietly at her large desk in the front of the hall. The place was lined with a row of green chairs on one side and a row of brown doors on the other. She looked up at the door in front of her which read, Sir/Judge J. Enjolras. The name was written in gold above the door. That was the man she was going to be seeing today. In fact, that very man could actually change her life, forever. It wasn't really helping with her nerves to be honest.
Eponine stopped tapping her foot when she heard the entrance door swung open. A familiar young man with caramel colour hair and a pass around his neck that read, J. Prouvaire, law student. He showed the guard his pass and quickly speed-walked over to the distressed Eponine who sat in the chair with wet hair and creased clothes. "I got your text. What's the matter?" He asked her impatiently. "And what's up with your hair?"
Eponine shot up to her feet, "Where the fuck is Grantaire!" she whisper-yelled. "The judge expects to meet me with my lawyer! I can't do this without a lawyer!" She spoke so fast that Jean almost missed what she said.
Jehan spoke slowly, trying to sooth her, "Ok, just calm down, you can do this-"
"Calm down? How-the-fuck-am-I-supposed-to-calm-down?! My hair's wet from my shower, I look like a slob, I'm late for work and my lawyer's missing!" Eponine pulled at her soaked hair and started hyperventilating.
Jehan and Eponine had been friends for a long time. Even though Prouvaire was younger than she was, he'd helped her out of many sticky situations like that one time she got called into the police station (but in her defence, that was the year she was so low on cash, she was picking coins off of the sidewalk.) "Ok, relax 'Ponine. Take deep breaths. I'll give R a call once you go into your meeting. All you need to be worrying about is your judge." Jehan comforted, holding Eponine's hand. "Now, Enjolras may seem kind of evil, but he's actually a real nice guy. We went to the same law school. He graduated early at age seventeen and was knighted by the queen for his contribution to society…so, like I said, first impressions are important."
Eponine grabbed the slightly soggy coffee cup that Jehan held in his left hand and gulped the liquid down in one go. Jehan's eyes widened, slightly impressed. Suddenly, the receptionist picked up the wired telephone that sat by her desk. Her voice echoed through the large and almost-empty hall. "Sir…alright…I'll tell her." She placed the phone down and turned to the two at the back of the hall. "Mr Enjolras will see you now." She said plainly.
Eponine turned to Jehan. "It'll be fine. Stop stressing." Jehan said, giving her a light pat on the back. Eponine nodded and cleared her mind. She walked over to the door which seemed much more intimidating than it did five minutes ago. She slowly moved her hand towards the handle and pushed it down. The door clicked open and Eponine stepped inside.
A young man, who only looked a year or two older than Eponine, sat at a large desk at the end of the office. On the left side of the desk was a brown cabinet and on the right was a table with a picture of a baby, a toddler and a young woman who, Eponine was guessing, was the mother. Hanging on the doorknob of the cabinet was a gold and red jacket on a silver hanger. Eponine then turned her attention back to the man, who still hadn't looked at her once. The man wore a crisp navy-blue suit and matching tie around his thin neck. His curly hair was cut short to a neat length and his sharp sea blue eyes were down on his work. Eponine watched as the man jotted notes onto a bright yellow piece of paper, his hand moving so fast and restlessly that you'd guess he was a robot (and the unblinking eyes also contributed to that theory.)
When the man finally did look up at Eponine, he let out a sigh and sat back a little more in his black desk chair. He gave a half-smile to Eponine, which was probably fake. It wasn't genuine enough to be real. "Miss Thenardier if I'm not mistaken? Please, take a seat." He said. Eponine nodded, timidly and walked over to the other side of the desk. She sat opposite him in the wooden chair on the other side of the desk and sighed. Enjolras looked down at the form Eponine had sent in earlier that week. "Sorry about the long wait. I don't usually have appointments on Sundays." Enjolras' voice was calm and official. He acted older than he was. "I understand that you wish to claim custody over your three siblings, Ash, Peter and Gavroche." Enjolras tapped his finger on the edge of his desk and hummed to himself. "And, why do you wish to do so, might I ask?"
Eponine cleared her throat, realising that it had gone rather dry. "Well, my mother and father are filing a divorce. I personally believe that the children would be safer with me. You see, my mother and father are con-men. I don't want my siblings going down the same road as them."
Enjolras furrowed his brow. "Well, actually, Miss Thenardier-"
"Eponine…" she interrupted. Enjolras looked at her, slightly baffled. "Could you just call me Eponine? I hate my last name…"
Enjolras remained motionless for a moment. He then gave a light chuckle and nodded slightly. "Alright then, Eponine, as I was saying…I did a little background-check on your parents, and, well, there's no actual evidence that they're con-men. According to the computers, your mother works in a café and your father is a salesman."
Eponine's eyes widened in shock. "What? No, there must be some mistake. My parents have been con-men for most of their lives! They tried to get me to become one as well."
"Sorry Miss- I mean, Eponine…your parents have no record of ever disobeying the law. Unless your parents are such good con-men that they've never been caught out, which I highly doubt, they are innocent people, and you wouldn't be able to take the children away." Enjolras said, flipping through the papers on his desk. Eponine felt like she was going to be sick. She felt like she was falling off a skyscraper, and had no idea when she'd hit the ground. "But…I guess there is one way you'd be able to gain custody over the children." Suddenly, she stopped falling. She stopped breathing. She looked at Enjolras, forgetting her own self-awareness. "I guess if you could prove that you are in fact a better guardian for the children…you could have custody. Although…"
"What?"
Enjolras bit his lip. "Eponine, you're a waitress at a rundown sandwich shop on Finchley Road. You're late on your rent. You dropped out of school…no offence, but it barely looks like you could hold yourself up…let alone three children." Eponine looked down at her feet. "Now, you don't have to go through with this court order…I can cancel it if you wish…personally, I think it's for the best. Don't want to waste anyone's time…"
Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. Enjolras eyebrow twitched. Without much other warning, a man in black trousers and a green waistcoat walked into the large office. He also wore a pass around his neck that read N. Grantaire, environmental/business/finance/personal lawyer. Eponine stood from her seat and turned around to see her lawyer, Grantaire. "Hey, sorry I'm a little late."
Eponine sighed, "Um, this is my-"
"I know who he is." Enjolras said, rolling his eyes, hatefully.
Grantaire sniggered, "Enjolras! Hey, haven't seen you since law school. Enjoying your highlife? Enjoy it while it lasts buddy."
"You guys went to the same law school? Perfect." Eponine said, punching her left palm with her right fist.
Enjolras huffed. "How's being a lawyer working out for you? Too bad you're not a big enough shot to become a judge. When did you graduate? Like yesterday?" he said bitterly.
"When I was nineteen actually." Grantaire said smugly.
"Well…seventeen, I win." Enjolras coughed and sat back in his chair.
"At least I got my status because of my brains and not because everyone wants to sleep with me…" Grantaire said with a shrug.
"For your information, I was knighted because of my contribution to the United Kingdom."
Grantaire shook his head. "Yeah, no. You were knighted because of your pretty little ass."
Eponine then realised her lawyer and her judge just got into a full-on cat fight. "Um…guys…back to the matter at hand now…please."
Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Sorry, where was I? About the court order, are you sure you want to go through with it?"
Eponine started biting her nails as it all came back to her. "Well… I want to go through with it…but there's no point if there's no chance I'm going to win custody."
Grantaire raised his eyebrows. "Why won't she win custody?"
"She's underqualified. She has a low paid job, works late hours, can't afford it, struggling with rent and she lives on her own, which I personally think is too much pressure on a young woman such as herself." Enjolras said with a frown.
"Well, what if you gave her time to prove that she was capable of looking after the kids?" Grantaire asked. "I say, give her a few months, she might be able to fix her life up."
Enjolras chewed on his bottom lip. "I'm a busy man. I can't push this case too far back. I've got other things to do you know. More important cases."
"Well, how far are you willing to push this case back?" Grantaire asked.
Enjolras thought for a moment. He then leant against the table on his elbow. "One month tops."
Eponine's eyes widened and her jaw hung open. "One month? One fucking month!?"
Enjolras looked down. "Please don't use such language in my office."
Eponine couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How the hell do you expect me to prove myself in one month?"
"Hey, if you truly love your siblings, you'd do it for them." Enjolras shrugged.
Ooo
Eponine sat on the bench outside the empty park. One month. In exactly one month, it would all be taken to court…how was she supposed to get a good job, find a new apartment and prove that she was responsible…in a month? It'd started raining. Not that Eponine cared. Her hair was already wet before…she'd lost all hope now…Eponine wasn't sure how she was going to do it…but she had to save her siblings from her parents…she didn't want them ending up like them. Eponine felt like crying. Actually, she felt more like screaming. What was worse was that her lawyer and the judge seemed to hate each other, which meant there was no way Grantaire was going to be able to convince Enjolras to push the date back…
Eponine felt lost…alone…she didn't want to lose her brothers forever. She started crying. She didn't care what other people thought of her anymore…she wiped at her eyes with the back of her drenched-in-rain sleeve. Suddenly, the rain stopped. Well, it didn't stop falling, but it stopped falling on HER. Eponine looked up and saw a tall young man with silver glasses, holding a blue umbrella over her head. "Are you alright Miss?" he asked kindly.