A/N: Thanks for the reviews and support, everyone!

A long chapter here.

Chapter 3: Beyond the Oath

'If only I hadn't promised to 'first do no harm,' I would have gladly had let that man have more than just a piece of my mind,' Eponine fumed silently as she stormed out of the recovery room. While she was used to all kinds of blasé and even slightly rude reactions from agitated and terse patients emerging from anaesthesia, none of them had ever been as off-putting as her conversation with Enjolras. She gritted her teeth as she thought back on her own assessment of his condition. If he had that much fight in him, perhaps he would mercifully be off her hands in less than seven days.

"Eponine! There you are!" a slightly cracked voice called from up the hall. The young surgeon turned to see Mabeuf hurrying towards her, with a haggard looking young man in tow. "How is your patient?"

"He's awake. The odds are in his favor," Eponine replied even as she could taste the bile in her throat. She saw that Mabeuf's companion let out a deep sigh of relief. "Are you a friend of his?"

The young man nodded as he extended a hand congenially. "Maurice Courfeyrac. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Thenardier. Dr. Mabeuf speaks very highly of you."

"I was just telling him that he's one of five people in the world I'd trust to patch up his friend, given his condition when he was brought in," Mabeuf said proudly.

Eponine smiled gratefully at this praise. "You ought to also thank the emergency room team; if not for them he wouldn't have made it to the OR." She took a deep breath before looking at Courfeyrac. Despite his drawn and harried look, he was clearly congenial and had a smile that spoke of humor and camaraderie. His dark brown curly hair and button nose only helped further the engaging impression. "Mr. Enjolras is being brought to his room now; I heard you were the one who arranged it."

"That is exactly what we need to speak with you about," Mabeuf said seriously. "It might not be advisable for you to leave the hospital premises, at least for tonight."

Eponine's jaw dropped. "Are we on lockdown?"

"No, not at all. It's only a precaution for some of our staff and employees given the profile and circumstances of some patients," Mabeuf said.

Courfeyrac stuck his fingers in his belt loops. "There are a number of people who have a vested interest in silencing my friend. Until we can be sure as to who was behind the attack, anyone who has helped him out may be at risk of meeting a similar fate."

"People don't know I was his attending," Eponine argued.

Mabeuf wiped his spectacles. "All the same it's a risk we cannot take, Eponine. You are too valuable to lose, especially at a time like this."

Eponine sighed before glancing briefly out the window. It was evening now, and normally at this hour the city was a beautiful panorama of neon signs and trails of light on the streets. Tonight the lights were still there but wreathed in smoke from barricades and bonfires. 'It's not like trying to outrun the big boys on a rainy night,' she reminded herself. Whoever had been behind the shooting was out for more than just blood. "May I at least call up Azelma and Gavroche? I need to make sure they're okay," she asked.

"Of course. Give my regards to them," Mabeuf said before looking down at his cellphone, which had begun to beep. "Excuse me for a moment; I have to take this call."

Courfeyrac gave Eponine an apologetic look as Mabeuf hurried towards the elevator. "I'm sorry about this mess. It wasn't supposed to happen. We had a permit and everything for the rally."

"A permit doesn't mean anything nowadays," Eponine said as she brought out her phone and pressed '2' on the speed dial. She bit her lip as she heard Azelma's cell phone ring twice before the familiar click of the phone being picked up. "Zelma, are you and Gavroche home?"

"Yeah, we just got in. Gavroche is in the shower,"Azelma replied. "Are you doing overtime again?"

"Got a tricky patient to watch,"Eponine said. She could not give her sister any more details, for the sake of confidentiality and safety. "It's crazy out there, so please stay inside. Tell Gavroche to stay put too."

"Nothing is going on here."

"You'd better hope it stays that way. It's going to be a long night."

"What's happening, Ponine?" Azelma asked worriedly. "I heard that it's because some politician dude got shot?"

"I'll tell you when I get home, okay?" Eponine replied, fighting not to show her trepidation at being away from her siblings at this time. After all they were old enough to take care of themselves; Azelma was just two years younger than her, while Gavroche was three years Azelma's junior. Eponine cleared her throat before speaking again. "There's still some meatloaf in the fridge. If you want something just get it from the convenience store downstairs."

"Screw the meatloaf, I'm making mac and cheese," Azelma laughed.

Eponine snorted. "Next time you tease me about my cooking, you're not having any."

"I'll save you some," Azelma said cheerily. "Hang in there, sis. See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah-Azelma!" Eponine replied but at that moment she heard the crackle of the connection becoming choppy before the call ended altogether. She shook her head before trying to call again, but this time she could not come through. 'Please be careful,' she would have said, but she settled for quickly sending this by text before pocketing her phone.

Courfeyrac smiled sympathetically at Eponine as they too began walking to the elevator. "That was your younger sister?"

"Yeah. She's a schoolteacher downtown. She also does boxing in her spare time by the way," Eponine said. Azelma always told her to add this last bit every time it was a guy asking about her. The surgeon grinned approvingly when Courfeyrac didn't cringe at this information. "So are you working on Mr. Enjolras' staff?" she asked cautiously after a moment.

"Not at all. We go back a long way, even before law school," Courfeyrac said.

"That's a surprise."

"He's not like many of those prisses who want their assistants at their beck and call. He doesn't bring what staff he has for things like this. He doesn't want to force anyone to be involved or to take a stand just because they are working for him."

'But it's another thing if one has to save his life,' Eponine groused silently as she pressed the button for the elevator. She checked her phone again but found no reply from her sister by the time the elevator doors opened. "So if you're friends with him, does that mean you also know Combeferre?" she asked after a while.

Courfeyrac nodded. "We were all children together."

"I see," Eponine said, making a mental note to ask Combeferre a little more about his own past. 'I didn't let him pry into my story even when we were dating and in return I kept out of his,' she thought, now feeling a little rueful at her reticence.

When she and Courfeyrac stepped out on the ground floor lobby, they saw people quickly backing away from where Mabeuf and some other doctors were in the middle of furtively explaining something to a squad of men dressed in fatigues. Before Eponine could take another step a pair of arms seized her shoulders and dragged her to a nearby nook. She almost drove an elbow into this person's side before she found herself looking into a familiar pair of bespectacled green eyes. "Joly!"

Joly nodded before quickly grabbing his phone from the pocket of his lab coat and keying in a message. 'Those men want to search the hospital for political dissidents.' He nodded to Courfeyrac, who was also trying to make himself small in the nook. "They know," he mouthed.

Courfeyrac swore under his breath. "We should have shooed the TV crews away. Where are the others?"

"Still on their way, I hear," Joly said. "Have you seen Chetta?" he asked Eponine.

The surgeon shook her head as she brought out her phone. She first sent a message to Combeferre in the event he was still in the operating room wing and then scrolled through her address book for Louison's number. "Louison! Are you still upstairs?" she asked in a whisper.

"Still doing the transfer," Louison replied after a moment. "Is something wrong?"

Eponine looked to where one of the men in fatigues was shouting at Mabeuf. It would not take them long till these searchers would delve into the hospital CCTV system or demand records which would show them not only who had attended to Enjolras, but also the room that Louison and the orderlies would be bringing him to. "Take the service ramps right now, skip the elevators, and don't let anyone see you. And use the leftmost sixth floor room, tell the nursing station that it's my orders," she said slowly into the phone. One of Louison's other patients had been discharged from there just earlier that day, and as far as Eponine knew that room was still vacant.

"Eponine, where are you? Is something happening?" Louison asked.

"I can't say yet, but please just trust me!" Eponine said. She winced when she saw one of the men spit at Mabeuf. She thought she also heard Enjolras on the other end of the line but before she could ask Louison about this there was a shout from the lobby followed by the sickening snap of a pistol whipping someone's head.

Eponine and Joly sprang out of their hiding place to catch Mabeuf as he sagged to the floor, bleeding profusely from a gash on the right side of his brow. "They didn't hit him anywhere else," Eponine said as she checked the elderly man over. Yet this was the only reassuring sign for Mabeuf was seemingly dazed and groaning with his eyes closed.

Joly nodded grimly before glancing to Courfeyrac, who was yelling for help. The doctor quickly shook his older colleague. "Mabeuf! Can you hear us?"

Mabeuf opened his eyes slowly. "Those vultures-"he whispered as he tried to sit up only to collapse again. His fingers scrabbled for his phone and he pressed '3' on the speed dial. "Lock down the ER, block the computers," he managed to say into the mouthpiece before he groaned again and shut his eyes. "He's not the only one who needs to hide."

"Who else?" Eponine asked as she tried to steady Mabeuf's head and neck. 'If he only gets whiplash out of this, that would already be a mercy,' she realized. Out of the corner of her eye she could see some nurses and orderlies running up to assist. "Who else is here?" she reiterated.

Mabeuf held up five fingers even as Joly and a nurse carefully eased him onto a stretcher. "Don't let them be found."

Joly looked at Eponine. "I'll stay with him. You have to get everyone clear. Is Marius still on duty at the neuro ward?"

"I think so," Eponine replied.

"That's good. Tell Chetta I'm fine and I'll see her shortly," Joly said before checking his watch and then hurrying after the men carrying Mabeuf's stretcher.

Eponine bit her lip as she caught sight of a crimson puddle on the floor where her mentor had been. "Sorry about the room switch," she said to Courfeyrac as they ran to a fire exit.

"That was quick thinking," Courfeyrac said. "Could you tell me where?"

Eponine keyed in the words '642' on her phone display and held it up to Courfeyrac. The lawyer nodded before getting his own phone out to make a call. Eponine raced the rest of the way up the narrow stairway and shoved open the door on the third floor. 'The computers may be jammed, but there's still some record of the patients on the surgery schedules,' she thought as she ran to the surgery wing. She clenched her fists as she heard voices coming from the open door of the call room, ready to strike and make a run for it if necessary. She let out a ragged breath when she saw Navet emerge, carrying an armful of shredded paper. "You got rid of everything?" she asked warily.

"But I have backups," Navet said, cocking his head to indicate the flash drive he wore on a chain around his neck. "Combeferre said something happened downstairs?"

"The hospital is being searched and some goon pistol-whipped Mabeuf," Eponine replied. "Have you got a photo of the list of our patients' names? I need to track them down."

"No need for that, Eponine," Combeferre chimed in from the hallway. "We already put the contingency plan into play and relocated everyone."

Eponine wheeled around to look at her friend. "What contingency plan?"

"The one that was discussed while you were still in the operating room," Combeferre said sheepishly as he shut the door behind him. "I'm sorry. I was supposed to brief you about it."

Eponine nodded tersely. "You also forgot to tell me that your best friend is the finest of assholes."

Combeferre pinched the bridge of his nose before casting a withering look at Navet, who was now laughing hysterically and holding onto a chair. "Enjolras may be very abrasive, but that's only at the beginning or when he's loopy from anaesthesia. He's one of the best persons I've ever known."

"When I combine that with the fact we used to date, I can now question your standards for 'best person'," Eponine retorted dryly as she crossed her arms.

"Nobody is perfect, Eponine," Combeferre pointed out.

"Then that the third bullet, the one that didn't get too near anything vital, actually blew out his sense of courtesy," Eponine grumbled as she began checking her bag for anything that may have gotten inadvertently misplaced during the chaos she had just missed. "To think he had the gall to demand that I discharge him, just like that!"

"I was there, remember?" Combeferre said, holding up his hands as if to sign for a truce. "I'll have a talk with him, I promise."

"Thanks in advance."

"No, thank you for saving his life."

'The things I do for friends,' Eponine thought as she zipped up her bag and went to a row of lockers. Thankfully she always kept a spare set of scrubs, a change of clothes, and some toiletries in the call room in case of emergencies or unexpected overtime. "Who else is staying the night?" she asked as she threw her bag into the locker.

"Almost the entire ER staff, and of course some of us from the surgery and intensive care departments," Combeferre replied. "Musichetta is staying since there was a pregnant lady also brought in from the rally and she's under close observation. That means that Joly will also be keeping us company."

"Who's going to make sure that Bossuet doesn't burn down their apartment or step into the line of a fire fight?" Navet asked worriedly.

Combeferre shrugged; their friend's unlucky roommate was a fixture at the hospital owing to his penchant for putting parts of his anatomy in close proximity to projectiles and hard surfaces. "He can survive tonight, and anyway Musichetta probably has that covered." He glanced at the clock on the wall, which now showed in huge red numbers the time of 7:55. "There's free dinner at the cafeteria tonight," he said.

Navet brightened up at the prospect of food. "Sure could use that before we go on rounds."

Eponine sighed, knowing there wasn't anything better she could do this evening while stuck in the hospital. "Hopefully it's not soggy pasta; if it is, I'm getting ramen and you boys are free to dig in," she said, feeling a little better as she followed them down to the cafeteria.

By this time, the cafeteria was crammed with hospital staff, outpatients and relatives of patients. After getting trays of stir-fried noodles, spring rolls and some bottled water, the trio went to where Joly, Musichetta, and Courfeyrac were seated with another burly, well tanned man wearing a grime-spattered red t-shirt and a ratty baseball cap. "Long time no see, Bahorel," Combeferre greeted the fourth person at the table.

"I wish it was under better circumstances. We've missed you and Joly coming around," Bahorel said, clasping Combeferre's arm warmly. He grinned enthusiastically as he caught sight of Eponine. "Dr. Eponine Thenardier, I presume?"

"The one and only," Eponine said. "You are-"

"Remy Bahorel. You're free to change that to 'dear', 'handsome' or whatever pet name suits you," Bahorel replied.

Eponine raised an eyebrow at this line before taking a seat next to Musichetta while Combeferre introduced Navet to the rest of the group. "Why is it that you guys all just seem to know each other?"

"High school and college; the story involves all sharing one house at some point," Courfeyrac explained.

Musichetta crossed herself. "A horror I never want to see again."

"You live with Joly and Bossuet," Bahorel reminded her.

"Yes, but that means going without Combeferre's experiments, Courfeyrac bringing home literally anyone for hot chocolate and movies, or your using up every single band-aid in the house," Musichetta said, ticking these off with her fingers.

"I'm cut to the core," Courfeyrac said as he clutched dramatically at his chest. "You are such a cruel woman, Chetta."

Joly snickered as he casually slipped an arm around Musichetta's shoulders. "That is why she is dating me." He waved to Louison, who was just entering the cafeteria with some other fellows from the anaesthesiology department. "She's in a good mood."

Eponine bit her lip even as she glanced towards Louison, who merely gave her a brief smile and a nod. 'All is well,' the surgeon reassured herself. "How is Mabeuf?" she asked Joly.

"Under observation," Joly replied. "Luckily he didn't get any spinal cord injuries with that pistol whipping," he added.

Eponine sighed with relief as she picked up some noodles with a pair of chopsticks. She felt a jab in her side and she turned to meet Musichetta's mischievous grin. "What?"

"Most of the ladies here would kill to be you now," Musichetta whispered.

Eponine stopped to swallow a mouthful of noodles. "I expected he'd at least be polite to someone who spent the better part of the afternoon with her hands in his abdominal cavity."

Musichetta's jaw dropped, Joly nearly spat out his drink, while the rest of the group burst out laughing. "I take that you won. Almost any other woman who's argued with him ended up reduced to tears. And no, Louison and his mother do not count," Joly explained.

"Eponine, where have you been all my life?" Bahorel laughed.

"No, where have you been all of Enjolras' life?" Courfeyrac muttered before Combeferre gave him a warning look.

Eponine looked to Musichetta for sympathy, only to find her smiling wickedly as she toyed with her earrings. "Chetta, no. Just no."

"You know, he's not going to be your patient forever," Musichetta quipped.

"Chetta!"

Navet looked around innocently. "There's nothing in the rules against looking."

"Watch it, Navet. For as long as you're still on duty, I can give you demerits," Eponine warned. She looked towards where Marius was entering the cafeteria wearing an extremely gleeful grin. She waved to him. "Over here!"

Marius laughed happily as he exchanged a high-five with Courfeyrac and saluted Bahorel. "Am I glad to see you," he said breathlessly before he pulled a granola bar out of his pocket. "The most amazing thing happened to me today."

"What, a free pass on that exam?" Musichetta asked.

Marius shook his head. He flushed quite visibly as he looked around the table. "I need to send an important text to a lady. How should I do it?"

Eponine couldn't help but smile. "That depends on what you have to say."

"That's the problem, Ponine. There is a lot I want to say, but I don't know how to do it without sounding like a cad or blubbering fool on the phone," Marius said. "I managed to get her number, but I didn't get her whole name!"

Eponine gripped the edge of the table even as she felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. She looked at her half-empty plate, all the while wishing that everyone was laughing too hard at Marius to notice how she had taken this tidbit. 'Who could that have been?' she wondered even as she felt Musichetta clutch her wrist sympathetically.

"Pontmercy how is that sort of thing possible? You got a girl's number but didn't get her name?" Courfeyrac clarified.

"We just got talking!" Marius said. "She was in the waiting room at the neuro department."

"I think I saw her. Petite, blonde, almost no makeup, lovely eyes, wearing this cute sundress?" Courfeyrac asked.

Marius nodded. "She was there with her dad, or at least I think it was her dad. They run some sort of foundation and they were accompanying this old lady with a stutter. Anyway I asked her a little bit about the lady first, and then somehow the conversation turned elsewhere. She's a registered nurse, but she works at the foundation her dad runs, not at a hospital. We just talked till she agreed to give me her number. The thing was, before I could really finish keying it in, her dad showed up."

Navet whistled. "Bad timing."

"Yeah. I have her number, but what do I text? 'Hey do you remember me, I was that doc who met you and Mrs. Touissant earlier'?" Marius asked despondently.

Musichetta started at the name. "Mrs. Touissant? Isn't she the executive assistant of that philanthropist Mr. Fauchelevent? I had to call her up about a patient or two referred to me."

"Fauchelevent. Yes, I think that came up," Marius said. "She—the girl-is Fauchelevent's daughter?"

This was all the confirmation that Eponine needed. "Her name is Cosette," she muttered.

Marius gaped at her. "You know her?"

Eponine smiled, hoping that this could help her sound less bitter. "We met in undergrad."

"Ah yes, you took nursing," Marius said cheerily. "Was she nice?"

"She didn't have enemies," Eponine said flatly. 'Of all people, why her?' she wanted to ask. Cosette had been nice, but the simple fact was that she was everything that Eponine wasn't: sweet, poised, popular, happy, and most of all secure. 'As for me, I might have said that I was living on a prayer, if I believed in anything at all,' she thought.

"What's her favourite color?" Marius asked.

"She used to say it was amber."

"Is she into music?"

Eponine sighed deeply. "Who isn't? Don't trust me on this, Marius. I haven't been in touch with her since graduation," she said as she set down the chopsticks.

Combeferre eyed her concernedly. "Eponine, are you okay?"

She nodded as she took a gulp of water and then got to her feet. "I have to start making rounds."

Marius held out a granola bar. "Want one?"

Eponine sighed and stuck her hand in her pocket to prevent from taking the granola bar. "It's okay. Keep it." She quickly walked out of the cafeteria, all the while making sure not to look anyone in the eye lest someone inquire as to her sudden upset.

Just before she reached the elevator she heard a pair of light footsteps behind her. She turned and saw Musichetta standing there with a sad smile on her face. "What about Joly?" Eponine asked as she gestured back towards the cafeteria.

"Let the boys have some time to catch up," Musichetta said. She waited till they were in the elevator before hugging her friend. "I didn't mean to jinx it, honestly. Sorry about that."

It took Eponine a moment to remember the funny conversation she and Musichetta had before the news of the shooting had broken out. "I'll be fine. He's just a guy," she said thickly.

Musichetta shook her head. "Oh, Ponine, don't invalidate things just like that. Cosette sounds like she's great, but Marius is missing a lot by not seeing you."

Eponine scoffed. "Weren't you trying to dissuade me hours ago?"

"Marius is a good guy, but you're a great person," Musichetta said as the elevator doors opened onto the sixth floor, where the wards were. "Don't forget that."

Eponine managed a nod. "Thanks. I'll be fine with my rounds. I don't want to keep you away from Joly for too long."

"Are you sure?"

"They're your friends too."

Musichetta nodded. "When you're done, you should join us for coffee. It would be good for you. I'll even call Marius off if you like."

"Maybe," Eponine said before the elevator doors shut again. 'Maybe I really should take her up on that offer,' she thought as she walked faster. If ever it gave her more impetus to finish her rounds more quickly, and would certainly take her mind off her troubles in and out of the hospital.

At the close of an hour there was only one room that Eponine had yet to visit. She took a deep breath and went to the nurse's station to fetch Enjolras' chart. When she arrived there she found the nurses discussing agitatedly among themselves. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"It's all about the patient at Room 642," Mrs. Hucheloup, the head nurse on duty, replied in an exhausted and exasperated tone.

"He's being hostile?"

"Well, he's being civil at least but I really have to stop these chits from hovering about there especially at a time like this. It's ruining the contingency plan. We can't have people going in and out."

Eponine sighed as she looked at the chart in her hands. Thankfully it seemed as if her patient was stable and would not need the constant presence of a nurse. 'Vital signs improving and there's no need for extra oxygen-it's just the wounds and infection we have to watch for,' she thought. "I think we can go back to the more usual schedule of monitoring vital signs instead of going in every thirty minutes or so. The staff on duty can stay here at the nurse's station. I'm on call on this floor all night," she said.

Mrs. Hucheloup nodded understandingly. "It's a little irregular, isn't it, Doc? You don't have to do the night watch yourself."

"It's my job to make sure he gets out of here alive," Eponine said with a shrug. She saw Courfeyrac walking up to the counter, waving at some of the younger nurses going off to see patients. "Care to help me deal with the holier than thou terror?" she asked.

Courfeyrac laughed. "I'll keep that nickname on file." He cringed as he heard a yelp followed by some choice swear words. "And not a moment sooner!"

Eponine raced ahead of them and pushed the hospital room door open. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" she hissed as she ran to where Enjolras was pressing the blanket to his hand.

"I don't think this is necessary," Enjolras muttered as he pressed harder over where he had just pulled out his IV line. "It was also starting to sting."

"You could have asked," Eponine pointed out sharply as she examined the wound. She could see that the IV port had been a little awkwardly placed, owing perhaps to the haste in inserting it earlier in the day. She looked to Mrs. Hucheloup, who had managed to stop the IV fluid from dripping out the tube and splattering all over the floor. "I'll need a bandage, another IV port, some swabs, and some extra tape," she said.

"You're not taping my hand to the bed," Enjolras said.

"If I have to, I will," Eponine retorted.

Courfeyrac shrugged when Enjolras looked at him. "She means business, buddy."

Enjolras scowled petulantly. "I thought you were on my side."

"I am, that's why I'm letting her have her way with you," Courfeyrac said gleefully.

'Good thing that no one else was around to hear that,' Eponine thought as Mrs. Hucheloup returned with the supplies. She sat down next to Enjolras' bed and first set about to bandaging his other hand, taking care to smooth down the band-aid so he would have no chance of picking it off. "I hope you're ambidextrous; you'll have to use your left hand for the next few days since I'm sticking the line into your right hand now," she explained.

Enjolras winced at this information. "Can't you just try a different place on the same hand?"

"Some would do that, but I would prefer not to," Eponine said as she took his right hand and traced the tortuous blue veins running from between his rough knuckles and over the back of his hand. Setting up a line here would be more of a challenge than she expected. 'How does a man get his hands to be this rough if he is a lawyer and politician?' she wondered.

Enjolras watched her cautiously. "By the way it doesn't matter. I'm actually left handed."

"Well good for you!" She carefully swabbed an area towards the middle of his hand and then placed the IV needle over this spot, making sure that the bevel was up. She felt him flinch as the metal met his skin and she grabbed his fingers more tightly to hold him still. After a moment she was able to guide the IV line in smoothly, after which she grabbed several strips of tape to secure it. "For someone with such a pretty and brilliant head, you really do have shitty timing."

"Thanks for the sympathy," Enjolras flinched again as Eponine taped the IV line to his hand. "You're worse than the night nurse."

"Shut up. Just shut up," Eponine snapped. "Next time, do me a favor and try not to stand in the line of fire. I'd hate to stitch you up again."

"Or get a bullet-proof vest," Courfeyrac chimed in. He fished for his phone in his pocket. "Oh drat, that's my mother," he said before stepping out of the room.

Enjolras let out a deep breath as he looked at Eponine seriously. "Would an apology suffice?"

She started at these words and looked at him. "An apology for what?"

"For how I acted in the recovery room," he said as he still held her gaze. "That was very unbecoming of me and poor thanks as well."

She bit the inside of her cheek. "You ought to add one also for what you did just now."

He sighed deeply as he shifted in an attempt to get comfortable again. "Things are only getting worse outside. Dr. Louison told me earlier."

"Dr. Mabeuf was hurt when someone tried to search the hospital," Eponine informed him. "He'll live; he's just under observation."

Enjolras gritted his teeth as he sat up again, but this time allowed himself to be supported by the pillows. "This is why I can't stay. Enough people have been hurt."

Eponine rolled her eyes. "I told you already, no. If I let you out, now especially, that would be negligent. I wouldn't even give you an hour out there till someone finds you..." She trailed off when she saw him look down. "I talked to Courfeyrac and Bahorel. I think they went through a lot to get you here. Don't you owe it at least to them? To Combeferre too?" she added.

He looked at her keenly. "I'm of no use to them here."

"You're no use to them dead either," she blurted out.

Before Enjolras could muster a reply to this, Courfeyrac returned to the room and was followed moments later by Bahorel, Joly, and Musichetta. "Combeferre will be here soon," Courfeyrac informed Enjolras. "He's just visiting his own patients."

"And Marius?" Eponine asked. She bit her lip hard almost as soon as she said this.

"Down at the neuro ward," Joly replied.

Eponine nodded, now feeling suddenly too embarrassed to look at her friends or even at her patient. 'Is this what I get for going the extra mile?' she wondered as she sat back in her chair, wishing she could do anything to skip the long hours ahead.