Wow, sorry this took such a long time to write. This chapter is just bonding and some might find it a bit boring. Thank you to all you lovely people for your comments and support. ;) enjoy and review.

I do not own Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Javert woke to the sound of screaming. Not moaning or wailing. Throat ripping, ear piercing screaming. It was shrill and high pitched, like an infant who yearned for its mother. Dressing quickly in a shirt and breeches he pulled open his door. The first few buttons on his shirt not yet fastened, Javert ran his hands through his hair and looked down. There, stood in a shirt that slipped off one side of her shoulder, was Eponine. Her tight ringlets had drooped and tangled in the night and she held her doll in one hand. Her improvised nightgown trailed down the dusty hallway like a bride's train.

Her scream wavered when Javert stood in front of her, his fists clenched. Her brown eyes stared up at him and she gulped as his lips set into a snarl. "What," he growled "On earth are you making that ungodly din for?"

"I'm hungry."

"And is that any reason as to scream like a banshee?"

"That's how I got attention from Mama and Papa! Do you know, they forgot me sometimes and I'd have to scream to remind them that I was still alive?" She grinned up at him and giggled as she thought of how they'd jumped from their seats as they heard the cries from the stairs.

"Well, be dressed then and let Amaline take you down when you are ready." Javert shut the door on the smiling girl and he locked it. He checked his pocket watch. It was five o'clock in the morning. Even he, a prepared and eager riser, groaned and slammed the back of his head against the door. He thought that he might as well dress and get some paper work done before seven.

Javert sighed when he walked into the small dining room as he set his eyes upon the small girl stabbing at a plate of scrambled eggs and toast, frustrating herself over trying to get it to stay on her fork. After watching for a considerable amount of time Javert coughed, sending her fork to a clatter on the floor. Javert sighed and strolled over to Eponine's side of the table. He picked it up and calmly rubbed at it a few times with the napkin that had been set on the table by Amaline. Eponine stared as he slowly handed the glimmering silver back into her tiny palms. She looked down at her full plate until Javert spoke. "I suggest spooning the eggs up and eating the toast with your hands." He spoke quietly as he strode over to his own set and outstretched his legs under the table, crossing them over lazily. He scarcely did it while anyone but he or Amaline was around.

He watched as Eponine spooned the yellow mush into her mouth and then started nibbling at the corners of her toast, leaving the slightly burned crusts. She waited before curiously picking up the orange on the separate plate. She grabbed it and held it in her palm before literally leaning over and holding the fruit inches before Javert's un-amused face.

"What's this?"

"An orange,"

"What's it for?"

"You eat it."

"Oh."

Again Eponine stared at it before hesitantly sinking her teeth into it. She winced and stuck her tongue out at the orange before Javert rubbed his eyes with his fore finger and thumb and picked it out of her hand. He could guess that fresh fruit was hard to come by in the slums of France. He gingerly picked around the small teeth marks and handed it over, peeled. Eponine looked down at it on her plate and she picked up an orange slice. She bit it, juice leaking out over the plate and her hands. She slurped up the juice and Javert watched, slightly amused at her first encounter with the fruit. She scrunched up her face before reaching out for another slice. She bit into it and chewed reluctantly on the slice.

"It's not mandatory that you eat it."

"Merci." Eponine let the slice slip from her hand and flop onto the plate. She picked up the clean napkin that was soon covered in orange, sticky stains. Wiping her mouth, Eponine set the napkin on the plate and waited until Amaline took it away. When she disappeared Javert rose and turned. A squeak came from behind him "Aren't you eating, monsieur?"

Javert turned and returned a weak smile "I am not one who favours eating in the morning." She looked disappointed as he turned and grabbed his bicorn and scabbard by the door. "Where are you going?" Eponine enquired before he could walk through the door. Javert's shoulders relaxed as he sighed. Eponine noticed that he sighed a lot.

"I'm going to my job,"

"What do you do?"

"I'm an Inspector."

"Oh."

Javert hastily reached towards the door. Eponine's voice rang out again, much to Javert's annoyance.

"What is your name? I don't know a lot about you"

"My name is Inspector Javert." He sighed and felt as if he could hit himself. He had been asked the question so frequently that he had now grown accustom to it over the twenty years. "If you will excuse me, I must bid you adieu." Javert turned to close the door behind him. He looked up for a brief second and then instantly wished he hadn't. Eponine stood there like a wounded dog, her eyes round and glistening with fresh tears. She bit her lip and her right hand, the one that he had held last night, twitched. He looked down at her in her pink dress adorned in flowers and pearls and her feet squeaking about in her delicate little shoes. She sniffed and was not quick enough to wipe away the tear that had escaped from her brown eye.

Slamming the door shut, Javert stepped back into the hallway. He unattached his scabbard and shoved it into its snug holder by the door. Pulling off his leather gloves, Javert slammed them down the table with a smack, causing Eponine to jump backwards, as if she had been hit.

Javert looked at her and finally said "Fine, I will stay. But hear me out. If you should dare to scream or cause any other such interruptions or havoc, I will send you strait to the orphanage. Is that clear?" Eponine smiled and nodded her head eagerly; Javert swept passed her to his study.

"What shall I do monsieur? Amaline told me that she was going to the market this morning." Eponine informed him with a desperate tone. Javert grumbled to himself that he had forgotten that she was going out.

"Play out in the garden."

"But, I cannot go out into the garden on my own."

Too weary to argue, Javert collected his paperwork and took Eponine into the open, where the sun was already beating down heavily. Eponine waited for him to nod until she let go of his arm and ran, with a large grin set upon her round face, into the surprisingly large garden, slightly messy and unattended. Javert set his work down on a small outdoor table and stared at the records of convicts. He again read his, now detailed, notes on Jean Valjean.

He must have been somewhere in Montreuil-sur-mer. He was the Mayor for Christ's sake! Although, surely he would not be stupid enough to stay in town after the confrontation. He had probably fled the city with the girl, nay, the country! Javert began to get frustrated as he looked over a map of France. He could have not travelled far in two days.

Javert mulled over these thoughts until an ear piercing scream, not that different form the one that morning, rang in his ears. Alarmed and prepared for whatever he faced, Javert rose from his seat and paced towards the tangle of rose bushes and trees.

"Eponine?" He called wearily, awkward about calling her by her name.

"Monsieur!" The girl cried out in a panicking voice. Javert could tell that she was crying from the wavering in her high-pitched voice. He found her tangled in a thorn bush in a large ditch. He winced himself as he saw her petite leg, which was twisted in an abnormal direction, just peeping from beneath her light pink skirts.

Not wasting any time, Javert crouched down and picked her up, slightly disturbed by her tear filled eyes and the small whimpering noises that she produced from her quivering lips. Javert placed his hands underneath her to pick her up, but stopped instantly as she cried out in pain.

"Eponine," He whispered, not caring anymore for formality of names "You're going have to be brave and hold onto me when I pick you up." Eponine cried again as he lifted her "I know that it hurts, but you're just going to have to grit your teeth." Eponine nodded and Javert picked her up again. This time, Eponine winced and gripped onto Javert's coat as he held her. Her frail body was no trouble for his strength that he had worked on for twenty years of being on the police force.

The weather had changed, fitting with the circumstances, and it had begun to rain slightly. Javert rushed in, not bothering with his paperwork. That would have to wait although; he looked at it despairingly as a few drops of rain fell on his work. Most of it was in a bag anyway. Valjean's notes were going to be the most affected. Damn it all.

It then began to rain heavily and Javert paced indoors, in time to see Amaline breeze through the door. "Will you help, woman? The girl has only gone and broken her leg!" He called as he rushed upstairs, Eponine still whimpering in his arms. Javert slammed the door open with his foot and laid the squealing child onto the soft sheets. She was a little reluctant to let go of his thick uniform but lay down and clutched at her leg in pain. A few tears rolled down her cheeks and mixed with the rain droplets on her red face.

Amaline, still with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, followed no long after and sat down next to Eponine, immediately making comforting noises and stoking her hair. Javert informed her that he was to send for a doctor and that she should dress Eponine in her nightgown, if she could. Grabbing a thick coat, Javert rushed out into the heavily falling rain and mounted his horse, which he brought hastily out himself. He finally reached the doctor and told him to come quickly. The doctor asked why, and Javert struggled to come up with a reasonable answer.

"It's my…my…my daughter. She's broken her leg." Javert mumbled the word daughter quietly, so that he wouldn't hear. This doctor had served Javert many times with bullet injuries and scars. He knew Javert well enough now to know that he certainly had no daughters.

Not in the position to ask, the doctor said that he would be there soon and Javert set off again to try and salvage what paper work that would be left. The doctor arrived at his home a few moments after Javert arrived home and Amaline greeted him. Javert felt a pang inside of him as he heard the morbid screams from the girl's room.

Snapping back into concentration, Javert remembered his paper work. He ran outside into the pouring rain and stopped as he saw the paperwork, ink running over the sopping ages. Javert slowly picked them up and stared at the ruined hours of writing. He gave an angry grunt and slammed them down onto the sodden grass. He prayed to God that the rest of his paper work was not harmed.

Rain dripping from his clothes, Javert stomped inside, carelessly leaving wet footprints behind him. His ears rang as he still could hear the desperate cries form upstairs and he slammed his study door shut. He lit a fire and a candle at his desk and threw off his thick, dripping coat. He then began to look through what was left of his paper work and was relieved to find that it had been untouched. Javert still thought of his months' work on Valjean and kicked his chair, still hearing the squeals that Eponine was producing. He should've taken her to the orphanage as soon as he had taken her back. They wouldn't accept a girl with a broken leg, surely. He kicked the chair again and sat down, the screaming never ceasing. Javert sat there for what seemed like hours, in what could only be described as a manner of a sulking child.

Half an hour passed, and Javert finally found peace in the quiet house. He stood and stepped out of his study, meeting the doctor who had just come down the stairs.

"So…how is she?" Javert asked, wondering if he would be burdened with a child who had a broken leg.

"She'll be fine. I've straitened her leg, with a bit of encouragement. Make sure she stays in bed and in a month or so, just call for me." He smiled and Javert paid him. He then set upstairs to try and sleep. It was only midday but Javert hadn't had much sleep last night. Just as he was about to cross to his room, Amaline came out of Eponine's, rather quiet room, and caught his arm.

"She's been asking for you, monsieur." Amaline said in a hushed tone. Javert nodded and waited until Amaline had gone before hesitantly creaking open the white door.

Eponine looked tiny as she led in the oversized bed and was nearly being swallowed by the large pillows. Her soft curls were spread across the white pillows and she gripped the soft, blue sheets with her miniscule hands. Javert gently closed the door and strolled over to her. He waited a few moments before awkwardly sitting down near where he could see her small feet poking upwards.

About to open his mouth to speak, Javert was interrupted by a sob. He jumped as he heard the cry and stared down at the girl in bewilderment. Her face screwed up and red, she grabbed hold of Javert's arm and wept bitterly into it. Javert blinked down with confusion, wondering what on earth to do.

"Oh, it was awful monsieur! He got hold of my leg and pulled and tugged it and then bandaged it up. I called for you but you didn't come, why didn't you come? I was scared." Eponine pulled him closer to her and rubbed her red face into his uniform. Javert eventually put his arm around her back and patted it, awkwardly showing his way of comforting. For some time they sat like this until Eponine's whimpers died down and she began to murmur in soft whispers. "I hated it, hated him. Oh Papa, I called for you. I…"

Javert pushed her away as gently as he could. "What did you just call me?"

Eponine stuttered as she heard the dangerous tone in his voice. "I…I…I thought…"

Javert stood quickly, harshly pushing her from him. "No, no I am not your…Papa." He held his gaze on her as he watched the tears fall down her face. Javert turned and slammed the door shut as he left, telling himself that he did not feel the slightest bit of guilt. He'd take her to an orphanage, as soon as she had healed. For now, he'd have to endure it.

Javert strode to his room opposite and slammed that door shut too. All he wanted to do was shut it out, shut her and the whole world out. He wanted to find Valjean and see his face behind bars, not look after a feeble child like a wet nurse.

Javert undressed and lay on his bed, once more staring up at the bland ceiling. One word circled around in his mind again and again until he fell asleep a few hours later.

Papa.