Chapter 2: My Favourite Things

After her encounter with the frog, which Eponine had decided to name him 'François' before setting him free, she began to unpack the few things that she had brought with her and investigate around the old café. She tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to cause a scene and interrupt Monsieur Enjolras' teaching of the children. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw no children but she did see the very man she had tried to avoid. She timidly stepped out from behind the stairwell and into the room.

"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Eponine," Monsieur Enjolras said, breaking the silence of the room and without turning around. Eponine was momentarily confused – how had he known it was her? She then realised that she had been the only person upstairs and the children weren't present.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Enjolras. Where are the children?" She asked as he turned around. It was at this moment she realised she hadn't truly taken in his external appearance. Naturally, she had noticed his blonde hair and tall stature but it was then for the first time she truly took him in. His blonde hair fell in ringlets that she could see he had tried to tame and slick back, but perhaps due to his work with the children, a few strands had fallen out of the style to frame his face and decorate his forehead. As her eyes travelled down his face, she noticed his blue eyes were like winter puddles; they were a light blue, a colour not dissimilar to that of which an infant would wear. The rest of his facial features were strong, much like his opinions as Eponine had noticed earlier and would continue to notice, his nose was sharp and his mouth pressed into a straight line.

"They are on a walk." He stated, internally noting that she had been analysing his facial features. He looked at her in return, he saw that her brown hair was cut so it fell just above her shoulders and there were a few tresses that continually fell into her eyes. He saw her mahogany eyes as they continued to investigate her surroundings and he saw her small nose and gentle lips grace the lower half of her face, giving her a caring, maternal look.

"Ah," the woman responded, taking a brave step closer to the man. "I forgot to ask Grantaire earlier, when is lunch?" She had been so caught up in trying to make a good impression on the children that it had completely slipped her mind.

"Lunch is after the children finish their walk, they should be back soon. Mademoiselle Musichetta informed me a couple of minutes ago that the soup would be ready in a couple of minutes." Monsieur Enjolras informed her.

"Mademoiselle Musichetta?" Eponine asked.

"Our housekeeper, she also tends to double as the chef. I should pay her more." The man replied, a half smile making its way up his face. He had always liked Musichetta; she had applied to help at the orphanage about the same time a five-year-old Joly appeared on the doorstep of the abandoned café. In the five years she had worked there, Monsieur Enjolras had spoken to Musichetta regularly after dinner, whilst helping her by washing up the children's dishes; he discovered the girl's love for ballet. In fact, he had bought her tickets to the ballet for Christmas last year (Musichetta believed him to be joking, however she knew that Monsieur Enjolras was not the type of man to play practical jokes on people.)

"Oh, she sounds lovely," Eponine wasn't sure what to say without making the feel of the situation one of awkwardness. "I can't wait to meet her." She smiled, Monsieur Enjolras stayed indifferent.

"I am sure you'll both get along, I shall see you in the dining room in a moment, Mademoiselle." He nodded in greeting before exiting the schoolroom. Eponine wandered through the door on the other side of the room to find a corridor, a room covered in white tiles with the door open at the end of it. She walked down the corridor towards the tiled room.

Once in the doorframe, Eponine noticed a girl calmly pouring soup into 12 bowls. She had wild dark red curly hair, which reminded Eponine of Courfeyrac, the boy with the curly hair that she had met earlier. She had quite a petite frame and wore a red dress with an apron wrapped around her waist. This, she presumed, was Musichetta. Eponine took a timid step into the kitchen. The other girl heard steps and put the soup in the side before turning to face the direction of the noise.

"Hello," Eponine spoke, "I'm Eponine, I'm the new governess," she introduced herself, she wasn't sure whether governess was the correct word but it seemed like the closest job to match the description. A wave of recognition flashed across Musichetta's eyes.

"Ah, yes, Enjolras mentioned you'd be coming," She replied, smoothing out her apron, "I'm Musichetta, the housekeeper and everything else-keeper," Musichetta giggled, before lifting her hand for the other girl to shake. It seemed Eponine would be doing a lot of hand shaking today.

"Would you like a hand taking the food in?" Eponine offered; Musichetta's sigh was answer enough. Eponine grabbed a tray and put four bowls of soup on to it.

"Enjolras will be getting the kids in the dining room, so one of us will have to come back and get the last tray," Musichetta explained, picking up her tray and walking to the door, "come on then!" Eponine walked quickly but carefully towards Musichetta and followed her to the dining room.

"Does Monsieur Enjolras help you take the food in normally, then?" Eponine asked as they reached the room, Musichetta nodded in agreement. Upon entering the dining room, the two young women saw the children sat around the table and Enjolras beginning to sit down in his chair at the head of the table.

"Sorry, Mademoiselles, there was a situation involving a muddy dress and a bruised Bahorel," Courfeyrac apologised on behalf of the rest of the children for their slight lateness to lunch. "You're sat next to Joly, Mademoiselle Eponine," Eponine nodded and walked to one side of the table before placing the bowls in front of the hungry children, she went to walk to the door but Musichetta shook her head and Eponine took this as a signal to stay put and sit down.

Eponine sat in her chair next to Joly, or she would have if it weren't for something spiky preventing her from sitting properly on the chair. Eponine squealed and jumped away from the chair, causing the children to laugh. She looked down towards the bottom of the chair to see a large pinecone resting on the chair. Her squeal had attracted the attention of Monsieur Enjolras.

"An enchanting little ritual, Mademoiselle, something you learnt at the abbey?" He asked, chuckling (something Eponine had decided was out of character for him) with his head tilted slightly in confusion but also suspicion of the children in his care.

"Oh, no," Eponine stuttered out as Musichetta returned to sit next to her, "Just a… rheumatism." Monsieur Enjolras raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she sat down. He nodded for the children to begin eating and each person began to tuck in except Eponine. "Excuse me, Monsieur," He looked up, "but haven't we forgotten to thank the Lord?" The man nodded, and gestured for Eponine to pray on behalf of them.

"For what we are about to eat, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen." Eponine finished, the rest of the children, Monsieur Enjolras and Musichetta repeating an awkward 'Amen.' After a few mouthfuls of soup, the new woman decided to make conversation with the children.

"I'd just like to thank you all, for the precious gift you left in my pocket earlier today," Eponine broke the silence of eating. Enjolras looked up from his soup bowl.

"What gift?" He asked, eyes moving from Eponine to the children, mainly Grantaire.

"Oh," Eponine began dismissively, "François." She refused to divulge any more information on François, certain the children knew what she meant. From the looks of mortification on every child's face other than Grantaire's, she had presumed correctly.

"I suggest you keep François," He paused, "to yourself and let us eat." After the cold comment, he turned his head back down to his soup. Eponine wasn't finished.

"Knowing how nervous I must've been, a stranger in a new place, knowing how important that it was for me to feel accepted, it was so kind of you to make my first moments here so warm and happy and pleasant." Eponine smiled and returned to her soup. Feuilly and Lesgle however, did not return to their lunch and began to cry, causing Gavroche to join in.

"Feuilly, Lesgle, Gavroche," Monsieur Enjolras addressed them, "what is the matter?" The three youngest children wiped their tears and picked up their spoons.

"Nothing." They replied morosely in unison.

"Mademoiselle," Enjolras' attention transferred from the youngest children in his care to the new governess figure sat at the opposite end of the table to him, "is it to be at every meal or merely luncheon that you intend on leading us through this rare and wonderful new world of indigestion?"

"They're all right, Monsieur, they're just happy." Eponine gave him a small grin before lifting a spoonful of soup to her mouth. At this point, all of the children – including Grantaire – began to cry into their soup.

The ringing of the doorbell of the old café interrupted what Eponine had dubbed internally "the crying session." Musichetta got up from her position by the door and went to go and see who was at the door. She returned with a note in hand.

"A message for you, Monsieur." She handed the note to him; he read it rapidly at the table.

"Who delivered the message, Mademoiselle?" Grantaire eagerly asked Musichetta. The woman smiled at the teenager.

"Why, it was that young woman… I forget her name," Musichetta replied, returning to her seat. "Azelma! That was it." Grantaire grinned to himself before turning to Enjolras. The colour slowly left Eponine's face in recognition of the name 'Azelma.'

"Enjolras, may I be excused?" He asked the older man sat to his right.

"I am afraid not right now, Grantaire. You do have a lesson this afternoon, do not forget." Monsieur Enjolras dismissed the teen's request before picking up the roll of bread that sat beside his bowl.

"Children," Enjolras addressed the table, "In the morning I shall be going to the outskirts." This statement caused a small-scale riot and cries of 'not again, Enjolras' and 'why?' filled the small dining room.

"How long will you be gone this time, Enjolras?" Gavroche asked from Enjolras' other side.

"I'm not sure, Gav." The Apollo-esque man replied to the youngest of the children.

"Are you visiting Monsieur Pontmercy again?" One of the children, Jehan, asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am, Jehan," The older man replied, a serious facial expression gracing his sharp features.

"How come we never get to see Monsieur Pontmercy?" Joly asked.

"Why would he want to see you?" Bahorel replied, jabbing the small girl in the side.

"Actually," Enjolras intervened before Bahorel began punching, "you shall be seeing Monsieur Pontmercy as I am bringing him back with me to visit," The reaction of the children was mixed. Some cheered, some groaned. "And Mademoiselle Cosette." This got the children excited.

"Cosette?" The children exclaimed in a mixture of excitement and disbelief. Musichetta and Eponine chose this moment to walk around the tables and pick up the children's bowls.

The rest of the day until dinner went by smoothly. Enjolras had asked Eponine to sit in on the children's afternoon lessons to get an idea of what she needed to do whilst he was away. Dinner passed by uneventfully as well, Eponine and Enjolras assisted Musichetta in the serving of the food and they all ate together. Grantaire decided to ask Enjolras if he could be excused early once again. This time, Enjolras allowed it and the young man ran excitedly out of the room.

"All right, children, off to bed." Eponine watched as Monsieur Enjolras usher the children up the stairs to their allocated rooms. "Mademoiselle Eponine, could you possibly assist me in putting the children to bed?"

"Hm? Oh, yes! Of course, Monsieur," Eponine snapped out of a trance she hadn't realised she'd been in. She followed the children up the stairs, checking on each of them as a storm had been brewing during dinner and was now in full swing. Eponine's room was at the end of a long corridor, the room across from it belonging to Monsieur Enjolras. Musichetta did not have a room at the old café Musain: she chose to live in an apartment not too far away so she had some space of her own, which she mostly used to practise ballet. As Eponine and Enjolras reached the end of the corridor, he bid her a formal goodnight, which she returned. As she turned to enter her bedroom, a strong hand grasped her wrist.

"Monsieur?"

"Enjolras. Please only call me Enjolras." He stated.

"All right, but please call me Eponine, but perhaps in front of the children we should remain Mademoiselle and Monsieur to each other," she suggested in return, "so as to not undermine authority."

"All right," He paused, "Eponine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Enjolras." She turned and entered her room. Once inside, she began to get ready for bed, she changed into her nightclothes and tied her hair out from her face. Once she decided she was ready to sleep, she began to pray.

"Dear Father, now I know why you sent me here: to prepare the children for a permanent mother figure in their lives. I pray that this will become a happy family in thy sight. God bless Enjolras. God bless Grantaire, Combeferre and Courfeyrac. God bless Bahorel, Joly, Feuilly, Lesgle and Gavroche…" She couldn't, for the life of her, remember the other child's name. "Well, God bless what's-his-name. God bless the Reverend Mother and Sister Marie, and everyone at the abbey…" As Eponine was about to finish her prayer, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Grantaire had snuck back into the café through her window. She wasn't letting him get away that easily. "Now, dear God, about Grantaire. Help him know that I am his friend and help him to tell me what he's been up to." Grantaire interrupted her.

"Are you going to tell Enjolras?" Eponine held her hand up non-verbally telling him to be quiet before pointing upwards.

"Help me to be understanding so that I may guide his footsteps. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen." Eponine crossed her arms and looked at the drenched boy standing in her room.

"I was out walking and somebody locked the doors early. I didn't want to wake everybody, so when I saw your window was open…" his voice drifted as did his train of thought. "You're not going to tell Enjolras, are you?" Eponine walked over to her open window and looked down, and gasped.

"How did you climb up here?" She turned quickly back to look at Grantaire.

"It's how we always got in to play tricks on the governess. Bahorel can make it with a whole jar of spiders in his hand!" Grantaire told her. So, Eponine wasn't the first governess that the children in the orphanage had.

"Spiders?" Eponine exclaimed in worry. Grantaire nodded. "Were you out all by yourself?" Grantaire nodded once more, to which Eponine raised an eyebrow: he nodded even more. "You know, if we wash that shirt tonight, nobody will notice tomorrow. You can put this on. Take your shirt and soak it in the bathtub. Come back here and sit on the bed and we'll have a chat." Eponine grabbed her dressing gown. Grantaire chuckled a bit but she threw it at him. He caught it and went to go and get changed in Eponine's ensuite. He stopped as he reached the doorway.

"I told you earlier that I don't need a caretaker." He looked down at Eponine's dressing gown. "Well, maybe I do." He then left to get changed. Eponine walked towards her bed quickly and pulled the covers back, checking for any spiders or François the Seconds. She paused when she heard the clap of thunder and small footsteps by her door. She opened the door to see Gavroche, Feuilly and Lesgle stood looking up at her.

"Are you scared?" She asked caringly, letting them into her room. The three youngest children nodded. "You're not frightened of a storm, are you? You stay right here with me." She sat on her bed and patted the area next to her for the children to climb up and sit next to her. "Where are the others?"

"They're all asleep! They're not scared!" Gavroche spoke, hugging Eponine tightly as another clap of thunder sounded. She heard the scurrying of more feet running down the corridor.

"Oh, no? Look." Eponine gestured to the door. Joly, Bahorel and Courfeyrac were stood anxiously in the doorframe. "All right. Everyone up on the bed."

"Really?" Joly asked. Eponine chuckled.

"Well, just this once. Come on." The children all clambered up onto Eponine's bed, some hiding under her covers and others merely sitting on top of it. "Now we just have to wait for the others." Eponine crossed her arms.

"You won't see them! They're brave!" Feuilly commented, just before another wave of thunder crashed and Eponine saw the figure of two boys run down the corridor and the door to her bathroom opened. She chuckled.

"Now, boys, you weren't scared of the thunder, were you?" Eponine asked, smiling at the boys.

"Oh no," Combeferre answered, "We just wanted to be sure that you weren't."

"That's very kind of you." Eponine commented, chuckling.

"It wasn't my idea. It was Jehan's!"

"Jehan! That was who I left out! God bless Jehan!" Eponine exclaimed, finally remembering Jehan's name.

"Why does it do that?" Jehan asked, climbing onto the bed with the rest of the children whilst Combeferre and Grantaire just knelt beside the bed, looking up at Eponine.

"Well, the lightning asks a question and the thunder answers." Eponine replied, trying to make thunder and lightning more like a story.

"Why does thunder always get so angry?" Courfeyrac asked; confused as to why thunder sounds so violent.

"It makes me want to cry!" Joly protested.

"Well, whenever I'm feeling unhappy, I just try to think of nice things." Eponine suggested to the sad children.

"What kind of things?" asked Feuilly, shuffling even closer to Eponine.

"Daffodils." Eponine answered immediately. "Green meadows. Skies full of stars."

The children then carried on this list of nice things, each of them sharing what they most loved in the world. For Gavroche: friendship, for Lesgle: kitten's whiskers, for Feuilly: paper fans, for Joly: clean sheets, for Jehan: poetry, for Bahorel: hot soup, for Courfeyrac: velvet scarves, for Combeferre: a good book and for Grantaire: coffee. Eponine couldn't help but laugh with the children and the joy they shared when talking about the things that they loved and enjoyed. She decided that looking after these children wouldn't be difficult at all. She laughed along with them and hugged them like they were her own. It was mid laugh that Monsieur Enjolras was stood in the doorframe, arms crossed and a face much like the thunder she had been comforting the children from.

"Mademoiselle, did I not tell you that bedtime is to be strictly observed?" His strong, commanding voice was louder and more dominant than that of the children in his care.

"You did, monsieur." Eponine stepped out of her bed and away from the children and towards the door.

"Do you, or do you not, have difficulty remembering such simple instructions?" He asked, taking the final step forwards to look authoritatively down at the young woman.

"Only during thunderstorms." She retorted, with an eyebrow raised, not for a moment allowing him to condemn her comforting of the children. He turned to face Grantaire.

"Grantaire, I don't recall seeing you anywhere after dinner." He stated.

"Well, you see…" Grantaire fumbled over his words, looking to Eponine desperately for help.

"What he means to say is that we have been getting to know each other better tonight. But, it is too late to go into that. You heard Monsieur Enjolras, go back to bed." The children smiled solemnly at Eponine as they filed out of their room, each nodding at Enjolras politely as they left.

"Mademoi- Eponine." Enjolras addressed her once all the children had left. "You have managed to remember that I am leaving in the morning?" Eponine nodded. "Is it also possible for you to remember that the first rule of this facility is discipline?" Eponine nodded once more. "Then I trust before I return, you'll have acquired some." Eponine's mouth almost unhinged. She managed, however, to keep from doing so.

"Goodnight, Enjolras."

"Goodnight, Eponine."


Author's Note

Hello! Thank you for reading my little story so far (I will upload more but I am going away for a week so it'll be a bit of a wait) Feel free to review what I've posted so far (it says at the moment that I have one but I can't see it) But I shall speak to you soon. :)

-Zoe