In the days that followed Eponines health seemed to improve drastically and it wasn't long before she was sat up in bed, impatiently glaring at the doctor as she waited to be told she could finally leave. She watched him like a hawk every time he past the end of the room, heading down the corridor with the clipboard in his arm and stethoscope around his neck.

Her gaze made the hairs raise on the back of his neck, just knowing that she was watching him put him on edge for reasons he couldn't explain. She had some kind of hold on him that he just couldn't put his finger on and although he'd been given the news almost a week before that she was recovering and that she could soon go home, he was yet to actually allow her to leave the hospital. He'd put in requests for more tests, put her on bed rest and checked on her almost hourly. He had to make sure that her health was good enough to allow her to actually return home, so that she wouldn't return here for yet another visit. Perhaps her cancer would finally go and she would be fine, he could only hope so, anyway.

When visiting time was drawing to an end, and she still hadn't had a single visitor, Combeferre finally made his way towards the bed with a heavy heart. It would be sad to see the young woman finally leave the hospital, he knew he should be happy for her. Happy that the treatment had worked, that she could return to her friends and family, that should could enjoy her life once more but he would miss her wit and her charm, the way she glared at him for doing the simplest procedures and how stubborn she was.

She simply stared at him as he approached, her brown eyes never leaving his as he sat down in the chair beside her with a forced smile. Her quizzical look began to fade, replaced by a look of concern. "Is it back?" She asked him, her voice low as she stared at him. "Is it another tumour?"

He forced his smile to grow as he shook his head and reached for her hand, noting it's roughness in his as he gave hers a reassuring squeeze. "No, you can go home. All of the tests have come back clear, you can leave in the morning. Is there someone you wish for me to ring for you? Someone to come pick you up?"

She laid back against the pillow as she grinned, staring up at the ceiling. "No, I'll be fine on my own. I'll grab a taxi or something," she told him.

He stood up, letting go of her hand and placing it gently on the bed as he watched her for a moment. He couldn't help but genuinely smile at the look of glee on her face. For the first time since he had arrived there, he hadn't seen her smile like this. Her usual look of annoyance and frustration had finally gone and it made her look so much younger. "Get some rest," he instructed her. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait," she breathed as she pushed herself up to look at him. "Thank you."

He blushed as he ran his fingers through his hair, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm just doing my job…"

"You're not like the other Doctors," she told him. "I like you. I'm going to miss you."

His blushed deepened as he looked around for anything to distract him. Hoping for a sick patient to look his way, or a worried parent to wave him over but for once, there was nothing. There was no distraction to drag him away from Eponine like there was usually. "I… I'll miss you, too," he told her honestly. "It has been a pleasure to treat you."

She scoffed. "I bet you say that to everyone."

"Only the ones I like," he joked. "Now, sleep Eponine."

"Night Doc," she smiled as she laid back against the bed before turning onto her side and closing her eyes even though she knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.

Combeferre sat in silence at the nurses station, tapping the pen against the edge of the desk quietly as he glanced around the ward. Around him his patients were sleeping, he'd sent the nurse on a break a few minutes before with the request that she brought him back some chocolate, at least.

His eyes fell on the brunette curled up at the top of her bed with her eyes firmly shut. The moon light broke through the gap in the blinds, illuminating the side of her face as she laid facing him. Her chest rose and fell steadily as her hand clutched at the top of the blanket, pulling it up to her chin.

He could have sat there all night watching her, resisting the urge to go over and push the few stay locks of hair from her face. He stood up quietly, approaching her with light footsteps until he stood at the end of the room that her bed was located in. There was only one other patient in this section, a young girl that seemed to have the ability to sleep through anything, unlike Combeferre. No, Combeferre was a light sleeper and sometime he wished he wasn't. Enjolras was forever up during the night, slamming down books and pens when his inspiration struck him.

He was so lost in his thoughts of his roommate that he didn't notice the girls eyes open until she cleared her throat. He jumped backwards, crashing into the bed behind him as he spotted the two large black eyes peering at him through the darkness, soon followed by a toothy grin aimed in his direction.

He quickly straightened himself up, patting the bad to make sure he hasn't caused any damage before he turned to face her once he was certain his face was no longer red. Still flustered he took a step towards her, ready to come up with some excuse about why he was stood there but before he could, she spoke.

"It's rude to watch people sleeping," she told him, her voice low in the silence of the ward.

"I was just… uh…" He glanced at the various wires and tubes still connected to her and motioned towards them with his hand. "Just checking."

She smirked as she glanced up at the machines before letting her eyes fall back on his. "And am I still alive?"

"Just," he smirked faintly as he took a seat beside her bed. His eyes met hers, their faces barely inches apart before he quickly looked away, clearing his throat.

"It's going to be weird leaving this place. I've sort of got used to being surrounded by sick kids, you know?"

He frowned slightly. "Well… I'm sure you'll get used to being back home. Do you live alone?"

"Sometimes…. I mean, I do but I crash at my friends a lot… He lets me stay over," she told him.

"Oh… Oh," his eyes widened before he frowned. How could he have been so stupid, of course she must have had a boyfriend waiting for her somewhere outside the hospital. It was hard to imagine that there was anyone that couldn't be taken in by her charm. Besides, it wasn't like she was ever going to look at him in that way, he was her Doctor. It would have been inappropriate for them to date… Wait, he didn't like her. No, he was just concerned about her health and where she was going to go once she left here. He needed to know there was someone that could look after her for the first few days until she was back on her feet. He didn't have any kind of feelings for her, it was just the usual doctor-patient relationship, that was all. Or so he told himself…

"You okay there Doc?" She asked after a few minutes. She frowned as she propped herself up on her elbow and waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Hey, Doc?"

He shook his head suddenly, looking back at her as he tried to ignore his sudden realisation. "Just… zoned out a little, it's been a long day."

"Will you be here in the morning?" She frowned. "You know, when I leave? I want to say goodbye…"

He hesitated as he glanced at the clock that hung on the wall above the nurses station. "My shift finishes at nine… but I can hang around if you want me to."

She forced a small smile as she leaned back against the pillow. "You don't have to do that…"

"No," he told her sternly. "No, I'd like to be here to say goodbye. I want to make sure you get to your taxi alright. We don't want you stuck here for an extra week, do we?"

"Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," she shrugged her shoulders lightly. "You know, it could be kind of nice being stuck here for a bit. I like the company… but don't tell any of them that. They'll come and try talking again."

"It doesn't hurt to make friends," he told her gently.

She shook her head as she stared at the Doctor before glancing over at the other girl that occupied the room. "No, not in this place. What's the point in making friends if they're going to die? You're just setting yourself up to get hurt."

"Not every patient dies, Eponine," he told her. Her response had caught him off guard. Of course he knew that a majority of these patients wouldn't make it more than a matter of years, but that didn't mean they couldn't live ordinary lives during their short time. It didn't mean that they didn't deserve friendship as much as a healthy child. "It doesn't mean you can't make memories with the other patients. They might go away sooner than they should, but it doesn't mean they aren't still with you."

"What do you know of death?" She asked him coldly as she turned onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

He frowned as he watched her. "I know plenty about death."

"You know what you've studied. You know medical shit and that's it. You've watched patients die but you don't know them. You don't know who they are, you don't know what it's like to be left behind. You don't know what it's like to watch someone you care about die."

"My Father died when I was eight years old," he told her quietly. "It wasn't cancer, sometimes I wish it was. He died of a heart attack, it was very sudden. Sometimes I wished that it was something that would have drawn out so we had the chance to say goodbye. At least we would have known we were losing him and we could have said goodbye."

"Shit…" she whispered as she glanced at him. "Sorry, I didn't know…"

"How were you supposed to know?" He asked her with a small smile. "That was a long time ago."

"I didn't mean what I said before, you know?"

"I shouldn't have been so pushy," he told her. "Really, it was kind of my own fault."

"It's hard making friends when you know you could die really soon… or they could. You get attached, you have to watch them get upset over it and you know there's nothing you can do. It really sucks," she sighed. "My bodies just… betraying me. It's meant to be keeping me alive and it doesn't want to."

"You're not terminal. You could live a long and healthy life," Combeferre reminded her as he glanced down at the bed. Of course there was a chance that it could the opposite way, but it didn't mean he couldn't hope for the best for her. It didn't mean she had to live as if her last day was soon.

"I could die. I could get a tumour that you couldn't get rid of and I could die… I just have this feeling, you know? That it's not going to be simple. You're not just going to be able to cut out the cancer and get rid of it. My life has never been simple, so why would it be any different this time?"

"Because this time, I'm your Doctor," he told her as he stood up. "Now, get some sleep. You'll be leaving in a few hours."

She chewed her lip as she watched him head back towards the nurses station before she finally spoke again. "Maybe I could come visit you some time…"

He glanced back at her, giving her one last smile. "Sleep," he ordered.

Morning came sooner than he wanted and his sleep was rudely cut short as his phone rang out, breaking the silence of the staff room. He sat up, rubbing his eyes as he glanced at the sun that was steadily rising into the sky. He didn't have long before Eponines taxi would arrive and she'd be leaving the hospital. He quickly got changed, throwing on the faded hary potter tshirt that he'd arrived to work in the day before and quickly pulled his jacket on over the top.

With his satchel swung over his shoulder and two cups of coffee in his hands, he arrived at the nurses station just in time to see Eponine scowling in his direction. He smiled warmly at her in return as he held out one of the drinks to her. "Morning."

"You're late," she scolded him as she took the coffee from him and carefully balanced it between her legs as she turned the wheelchair around, bumping the desk in the process and set off down the corridor.

He stared after her in surprise before he finally remembered how to move his feet and with a few long strides he'd caught up with her. They made their way to the elevator in silence, Combeferre concentrating on the hot coffee warming his hands which would hopefully give him the energy to make it back home. He hummed quietly to himself as he glanced up at the small screen above the door, watching as the numbers slowly escalated as they waited.

He pulled his eyes away from the numbers briefly, glancing down at Eponine who had remained suspiciously quite only to find her smirking up at him. "What?" He blushed.

"I don't know… I never had you pinned as a hufflepuff," she told him casually as she leaned back in her seat, raising the cup to her lips.

"Then what did you have me pinned as?" He frowned.

She tilted her head to the side, looking him up and down. He shivered under her gaze as he awkwardly stepped from one foot onto the other. "Ravenclaw," she stated.

"Maybe I'm a Ravenpuff… or is it a Huffleclaw?" He grinned as the doors finally slid open. He motioned for her to go first before he followed her inside and hit the ground floor button before leaning against the wall.

Once the lift began to move she scowled up at him. "There is no such thing as a Ravenpuff or a Huffleclaw. Either you're a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff. You can't be both! None of the actual students were in more than one house, they were in one or the other. If she wanted there to be some kind of house cross over hybrids, then she would have put them in the book! You're one or the other!"

He grinned as he leaned in closer to her, lowering her voice. "You do know there is no such thing as Magic either, don't you? Or Hogwarts?"

She gasped, her eyes going wide as she crossed her arms against her chest, leaving her coffee forgotten between her legs. "Take that back! That's what they want you to think!"

"Who?" He laughed.

"The Ministry! Magic is real and so it Hogwarts, and Dumbledore and Harry Potter!" She told him stubbornly. She stared at him, challenging him to argue with her.

Combeferre watched her a bemused smile, he'd wouldn't have expected her to have liked Harry Potter. She didn't look like the sort of person that was even into reading, or films for that matter but apparently she'd proven him wrong. Part of him wished he'd known this sooner. He'd wished he could have fetched her one of the books to help her pass the time in here, or at least sat and talked to her about her views on the series, although apparently they were slightly… odd. He had so many theories that he wanted to discuss. He'd already hashed them out time and time again with Courfeyrac and Bahorel it would have been nice to here someone else's option on them.

The doors opened as she continued her rant, two Doctors joining them and glancing warily at the girl in the wheelchair as she continued her passionate speech. Combeferre smiled politely at the Doctors before he nodded his head along with her. "Maybe you're right," he interrupted her.

She frowned, staring up at her. "You think that the Thestrals were portrayed wrong as well?"

"No," he smiled, shaking his head. "I think maybe I am a Ravenclaw."

She looked at him perplexed for a moment before she broke out into a grin. "I'm always right."

He chuckled as the doors slid open once more as they finally reached the ground floor. He took hold of the wheelchair, pushing her out into the corridor. "I'll remember that for next time."

"Next time?" She asked, tilting her head back to look up at him. "What, you going to do home visits now?"

He blushed, staring straight ahead to avoid her intense stare. "No.. I uh, I just meant…"

"It's kind of cute when you blush, Doc," she smirked up at him, making his blush deepen.

"That's… that's inappropriate, Miss Thenardier."

"Aw, don't get all formal on me," she pouted.

He glanced down at her, his brow furrowing as he forced himself to look away from her lips. "You're my patient."

"Not for much longer," she reasoned.

"It's still not allowed. If anything were to happen between us I could lose my job," he sighed.

She paused, frowning slightly as she sat up straight. She stared ahead of them as well, clutching at the coffee cup. "Who said anything was going to happen?"

"I just… You know what I mean! I just don't want people getting the wrong idea…" He sighed.

"It's cute when you get flustered as well," she whispered with a small smile.

He rolled his eyes as he pushed her outside, glancing along the street frustrated. "Your taxi is meant to be waiting. I don't see it."

"It's probably stuck in traffic," she reasoned calmly.

He scowled as he stepped away from the wheelchair and pulled out his phone. He paced along the footpath a few steps away from her, tapping in the phone number for the taxi. He was just about to hit dial when a car pulled up in front of Eponine and he stopped, frowning slightly as he glanced at her.

The driver walked around the car and opened the door for her as she shakily stood up and moved into the seat. He joined them just as the door shut and quickly helped fold down the wheelchair and place it in the boot of the car.

"Thank you," he smiled at the taxi driver as he took a step back, watching as he returned back to the driver seat before he frowned. "Wait!"

The taxi driver scowled, glancing at him impatiently. "Forget something?"

He yanked the door open, taking Eponine by surprise as he stared at her. She raised her eyebrow, tilting her head to the side. "What, got more tests to run?"

"I…" He paused, scratching at the back of his neck. What could he do? He couldn't give her his number, he couldn't tell her he'd grown to feel… attached to her… there was nothing he could do that wouldn't risk him losing his job, his job that he'd worked hard to get… his job that he couldn't just throw away for some girl. "Just… stay healthy, okay? If you feel sick I want you to come straight back here."

She forced a small smile, trying to hide the disappointment behind it as she nodded her head. "Thank you. For everything," she told him. "I'll try not to come back. No offence, your bedside manner was great and all but I don't really like hospitals."

The driver cleared his throat as he tapped the meter. "This chit chats costing you."

Combeferre blushed as he stepped back, going to shut the door. "Right, sorry… I guess, well… this is probably goodbye."

Eponine nodded her head with a small smile. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too," he told her, closing the door softly as he stepped back. He watched as the car drove away, waiting until it turned a corner and he could no longer see it. For a moment he could have sworn he saw Eponine turn to look back at him but he couldn't have been sure. With a small sigh he reluctantly turned away from the road and set off back through the hospital grounds, heading back towards his apartment where he would hopefully manage to get some actual sleep. He hadn't expected Eponines departure to make him feel so… low but it had, it had completely drained him and now all he wanted to do was climb in bed and block out the world for the rest of the day.