A/N I seem to be making it a habit to update quickly...let's see how long that lasts. Thanks to LesMisLoony and M.Leblanc for their praise and helpful criticism in their reviews! I hope that this chapter will end all ideas about a Mary-Sue OC in this story...

As usual, I do not own any aspect of Les Misérables. I just own Théo. For those of you who would find this interesting, the idea of naming a female character "Théo" came from a girl in my French class. She chose that as her French name on the first day of class in seventh grade, not realizing that it was a boy's name and short for "Théodore." When informed of this fact, she decided to keep it anyway and it's been her French name ever since. My Théo is not based on this Théo in any way except for the name, however.

Also, Eponine's song is taken directly from a scene in the book.

The days that followed the kiss encompassed the best and worst times of Théo's life. They mostly consisted of the mundane events that make up prison life, but they were punctuated by exchanges that illustrate the two cellmates' descent into mutual adoration and parallel delusion, which, after all, are not very different states of mind.

The next morning, Théo was woken by the sound of soft singing. She rolled over to see that Eponine was already awake and sitting up on her own bunk. Though the two girls had shared that first kiss, and several after, each still possessed the same modesty that she would if she were in a relationship with a young man instead of a young woman. Therefore, neither had suggested that they share the same wooden bunk, though Théo at least had the desire to do so.

Eponine was singing a song that was unfamiliar to Théo, but seemed to her to be the sort of tune that it was her habit to hum:

Nos amours ont duré tout une semaine,

Mais que du bonheur les instants sont courts!

S'adorer huit jours, c'était bien la peine!

Le temps des amours devrait durer toujours!

Devrait durer toujours! Devrait durer toujours!

At the end of this verse she stopped to see Théo staring. She grinned, though Théo could see that her eyes were a little bloodshot and had a somewhat glazed look. It was obvious that she had not slept the previous night.

"Good morning, ma chèrie!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Did you sleep well? I hope I didn't wake you with my singing. I'm terrible, you know, I probably shouldn't do it all, but I forget sometimes. You know how it is, too many thoughts, so little brain to keep it all straight in," she chattered.

"You didn't wake me and you're not terrible," Théo lied. "Just try not to do it so early, all right? We're not all night owls like you," she yawned.

Eponine's smile vanished. It was obvious that she thought she had fooled Théo into thinking she had slept the night before. "Of course," she said. "I'll try to remember."

"I know you will," Théo said, walking across the room to give Eponine a clumsy peck on the cheek. It gave her satisfaction to see Eponine begin to blush as she looked away shyly. For a girl who's seen all parts of life on the streets she's awfully shy, thought Théo. Maybe she's not used to it. I know I'm not.

She walked over to the wall where they had scratched in the practice sentences and the declaration of affection the day before. As she read the inscriptions again, she heard Eponine begin humming the same song again. She chuckled to herself as she listened to the words. They seemed fitting for this situation; though their love might only last a week, it was worth the pain.

The singing stopped, and all at once she felt Eponine embrace her from behind. She jumped, startled, but relaxed against the other girl's body.

"Mm, hello there," murmured Théo as Eponine kissed her neck gently. Eponine stopped after a moment.

"You know that I love you, right, Marius?"

Théo froze. Her insides felt as if they had turned to stone. She broke away from Eponine and turned around to face her.

"I'm Théo, not Marius. Marius isn't here," she said slowly and forcefully, staring hard into Eponine's eyes, searching frantically for something more human behind them than the same unnerving light.

"I know that!" Eponine snapped, turning away from Théo. "I didn't say Marius!"

"Yes, you did, Eponine! I heard it," Théo responded, beginning to raise her voice. If she had been unsettled at all before by Eponine's demeanor, she certainly was now.

"All right! Fine! I did. So what? I made a mistake, big deal. Everyone messes up sometimes! It's not a big mistake to make!" Eponine yelled back, her gaunt face flushed, the feverish gleam in her eyes more apparent than ever. She threw herself on her bunk and turned away from Théo.

Théo was about to keep on shouting at Eponine, but stopped herself with some effort. She realized she was shaking.

"You're right, Eponine, it's not a big mistake. I'm sorry," Théo said calmly. She was lying again, of course. It was a big mistake, and a very big one at that. This exchange had shaken her deeply and she was still very upset with Eponine. Just when Théo thought she had something real and good to hold onto in her life, it turned out that she had deceived herself into false happiness once again.

Eponine wasn't listening to Théo's insincere apology, however. Much to her chagrin, Eponine had begun singing that insipid song again.

"…Mais que du bonheur les instants sont courts!

S'adorer huit jours, c'était bien la peine..."

She was sitting on the bunk and staring at the wall blankly. All of Théo's patience left her.

"Eponine!" she shouted angrily. "Are you even listening to me?"

But Eponine only began singing louder, and, if it was possible, staring at the wall more intensely. She repeated Eponine's name again, to no avail. Unable to control herself, Théo slapped Eponine across the face. Eponine gasped with pain and surprise and looked up at Théo. The odd light was all but absent from her gray eyes now. Instead they were wide with shock and fear.

Overcome with remorse, Théo kissed Eponine hard. "Mon Dieu, Eponine, I'm sorry," Théo said softly. "I don't know where that came from." What had gotten into her? Hurting the only person who cared if she lived or died in this horrid place was the last thing Théo wanted to do, even if that person was more than half insane. Eponine was sweet and kind, but insane. Théo realized this fully now.

"Don't worry yourself about me, chèrie. We both made a mistake, no?" Eponine said, smiling again.

Théo smiled back. Looking into Eponine's eyes with their uncanny shine again, she convinced herself, for the time being, at least, that it didn't matter.

The girls had not mentioned the fight for the rest of the day, but instead kept their conversations limited to sweet nothings, pleasantries, and the occasional anecdote about their lives outside prison. Eponine told more about the gang her father was in, called Patron-Minette, and about his role in it, which in reality was not so important. She talked about the letter-writing scams, and about how her father had made the family go by the alias "Jondrette."

"Of course, I forgot about that when I came here. When I met you I told you my real name by accident. I should have told you I was Eponine Jondrette, not Thénardier. Oh, well, I hope 'Zelma kept to the plan," she had said.

In turn, Théo had told Eponine some stories from her adventures on the streets with her brothers. All the while, they took care to keep the conversation away from Eponine's feelings for Marius. Neither wanted to relive the morning's argument or the pain it had caused.

Now, however, it was midnight. Théo was still wide awake, and she knew Eponine was too, despite her efforts to lie still and breathe slowly. Though she was exhausted, Théo could not get to sleep. She kept replaying the argument in her head, analyzing it, picking it apart, looking for some evidence that Eponine had made a genuine mistake and did not wish that she was holding Marius instead of Théo that morning. It was no use. She had to either accept her own conclusion on the matter or ask Eponine outright who she loved. Had she truly forgotten Marius or was Théo just someone to pass the time with? Was there any way of knowing?

All of the uncertainty running through Théo's tired mind soon gave rise to another emotion: fear. As time went by, she could feel her whole self being consumed by it; her breathing quickened, she felt lightheaded, and she could hear her heart thumping loudly. This had happened before, and the first occurrence was always an indication of worse to come in the following weeks. Théo was plagued by bouts anxiety and despair that transformed her life into hell for weeks at a time. If the anxiety happened in the daytime, she would try to calm herself down by concentrating on something simple, like counting cobblestones. But more often they happened at night, and then there was no escape. Sometimes she would think that her heart was beating so fast that she would die, but then after an hour or so it would slow down, and the fear would ebb, and she would finally fall asleep, only to wake up the next morning to dread it happening again the next night.

In her heart she knew she was as damaged as Eponine. She only had better control over it. But she told herself that it wasn't a problem, that she could handle it, and sometimes she convinced herself that it just wasn't happening at all.

It was a habit of hers to deceive herself into thinking that things were under control. Her mind crafted its own reality around her world's true events, and she was usually able to keep it stable. Stability was what she so desperately needed, and so she made it for herself. That was what she had done when Eponine had said the wrong name. She told herself that it was a mistake and moved on, saying that it didn't matter, just like always.

But now? Now she couldn't do that. She had lost the ability to tell herself lies. Her one defense was gone to her, taken by a girl with shining gray eyes.

An hour later, or it might have been a year, Théo whispered to Eponine through the darkness.

"Psst! Eponine?"

"Mm?"

She took a deep breath. "Do you love…him?" She couldn't make herself say the name.

"Who?"

"Marius," she said finally.

"You know that I love you, what a silly question. Now go to sleep, Monsieur."

Théo grit her teeth and dug her fingernails into her forearm to keep herself from crying audibly. She did not sleep that night. The sounds of her reality crumbling kept her awake until morning.