As soon as Enjolras pulls himself together, he runs. He frantically dials Eponine's cell, dodging people on the street and screaming in frustration as it rings and rings before going to voice mail. A few vulgar curses loudly escape his mouth and he just ignores the stares of several shocked older ladies walking past him. He dials again as he fumbles with his keys and gets into the car. His hands are shaking so much he can barely get the key in the ignition and he angrily throws the phone down as it goes to Eponine's voicemail again. What the fuck is going on? Why isn't she answering?
The drive to the hospital feels like it takes forever, even though the gas petal is literally on the floor, and it will be no surprise if flashing lights show up behind him. Whatever. If they do, there's no way in hell he's stopping. They'll have to arrest him if they want to stop him from getting to this hospital and finding out if she's okay. If they're both okay.
His chest gets tight again and his knuckles turn white against the wheel as his mind takes over; he can't help but imagine the worst, and he doesn't even know what the worst might entail. Losing the baby? Losing Eponine? Surely it's not as bad as that. It's probably nothing, and he's completely over-reacting and freaking out for no reason. He'll show up and see her happy and smiling, and she'll tell him everything is fine, and he'll cry out of sheer relief. And then she'll make fun of him for being such an emotional basket-case when he cried about a total of ten times in his life before he met her. Fuck, since she got pregnant alone he's cried at least ten times. He's pathetic, and wrapped around this baby's little finger already, just like he is with Eponine. So if he loses them, there's really nowhere to go from there. Living wouldn't be worth it. But he isn't going to lose them. He isn't.
Before he knows it, Enjolras is inside the hospital and desperately asking where Eponine is. He must look as crazy as he feels because the lady behind the desk that's finding Eponine's room for him is looking at him with clear concern. She gives him quick directions without him having to ask her to speed it up, which he appreciates, and he sprints the rest of the way to her room. He meets a nurse halfway down the last hall that stops him.
"Sir, sir! I need you to slow down. Where are you going?"
"My wife..." Enjolras gestures down the hall. "Eponine Enjolras? I'm her husband."
"Oh. Oh, of course." She reaches out and touches his arm and Enjolras flinches. "We're keeping a close eye on her, Mr. Enjolras. I'm sure everything is going to be fine."
He wants to ask what's going on, but he wants to see Eponine more, so he just nods and keeps going, speed-walking the rest of the way. He barrels into the room like a bull and is suddenly at her side, gently gathering her to his chest, before he even registers anything else. He presses his lips against her hair and holds her tightly, not saying a word.
"Enj!" Eponine is surprised and it takes her a minute to react. When she finally does, she clings to his arm, and he realizes she's shaking a bit. She picks up on his distress right away and twists away to look at him. "Oh, babe..." Tears pool in her eyes and Enjolras kisses her quickly. She's pale and her whole face is a bit puffy from crying. She looks awful, and it worries him more.
It's then he registers Grantaire on the other side of the bed, though he doesn't ask questions yet, and sees all of the monitors and IVs that she's hooked up to. Her hospital gown is pulled up to expose her stomach and all sorts of little machines are strapped on. His breath hitches again and Enjolras takes Eponine's face in his hands. "Ep, what happened? Are you alright?"
She bites her lip and shrugs. "I'm so sorry. I know you're scared out of your mind. I just..."
"What's happening?" he asks impatiently, and probably too loudly, and feels Grantaire's hand on his arm.
Eponine looks at Grantaire gratefully and turns away, covering her mouth to keep from crying again. Seeing him so frantic has obviously upset her, probably after she's just calmed down, and Grantaire pulls him into the hall for a private chat.
"Enj, you need to get it together. You're freaking her out again, and you can't grill her right now. She's blaming herself already and..."
"Blaming herself for what? What's happening? Is..." he can't finish the thought.
"She fell. Apparently one of her kids took her down pretty hard while they were at recess, and she fell on her side, and...I don't know the whole story. It happened this morning and she thought she was fine. She said she started to have cramps after lunch that ended up being contractions and just felt weird, and there was some blood."
Enjolras leans heavily against the wall, his eyes wide. It's bad. Grantaire stops talking for a minute, letting him process what he's said so far, and Enjolras nods for him to go on after a minute. Grantaire sighs and runs his hands through his hair, suddenly looking scared himself.
"Enj, she's like...fucking in labor or something. She's having contractions and they're in here every five seconds listening to the baby's heartbeat and looking at the monitors and she's rightfully scared out of her mind."
Enjolras leans over now, thinking he might be sick. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Grantaire puts his hand on Enjolras' shoulder and squeezes, and he asks tightly, "What does that mean? What's going to happen?"
"They're trying to stop it. They've got her hooked up to some sort of medicine I can't remember the name of to try and make it stop."
"What if it doesn't work?"
"I don't know..."
"Fuck," he swears again.
"Look, man, you've gotta get it together before you go back in there. She's Eponine, and you know she's a fucking mess, but she's not going to want to show it, and you need to be there for her. So don't go back in there if you can't pull yourself together."
Enjolras knows he's right. It's just such a shock, how quickly everything can change. As fast as they found out she was pregnant, now she could just...not be?
"Okay. Okay." He straightens up and shakes his arms a bit, rolling his neck back and forth. "Get it together," he mumbles. After a minute of deep breaths and jogging in place, Enjolras feels more like himself, a rock of composure. He opens his eyes and nods gratefully at Grantaire. He's still not sure why or how he's here, but he's beyond grateful. "Can I have some alone time with her?"
"Yeah, man, you don't have to ask. I'll be right out here if you need me."
Enjolras nods and goes back into Eponine's room. Her eyes are glued to one of the monitors, the one that's spitting out a stream of information that looks something like a seismograph. He has no idea what any of it means. Without saying a word, he sits down close to the bed and takes her hand, pressing it against his lips.
Eponine glances at him, and the fear is evident in her gaze. "I'm sorry," she says again.
"Stop. Stop it. This isn't your fault and I will never, ever blame you," he says firmly. "And everything is going to be fine, Ep. You're both going to be fine."
She finally turns to look at him, her jaw clenched. "You don't know that. I'm having a fucking contraction right now and you don't know that it's going to be fine. I might have to give birth to our dead baby today and it is not fine! I'm not fine! Don't tell me it's going to be fine!" She's almost hysterical now and Enjolras moves to sit on the edge of the bed, pulling her up gently against his chest and wrapping his arms around her. He's steady now, determined to be calm and bring her down from this. He's sure being this anxious and stressed isn't helping anything, so he just rubs Eponine's back and smoothes her hair. Eventually, he feels her relax against him and she buries her head in his chest, her breath shaky but calmer.
Their doctor comes back in a few minutes and gives them an empathetic smile as she sees their position. "Hi, guys. I need to check things out again, honey, if you don't mind. You can stay where you are, Mr. Enjolras. I'm glad you were able to get here."
He nods and manages a small smile. "Yeah, thanks. And my friend told me a little of what's going on, but do you mind explaining again for me?"
"Of course. Right now, Eponine is in pre-term labor, though I'm hesitant to even call it that; I'm not incredibly worried, honestly. Looking at this," she gestures to the machine, "the baby's heart-rate is strong and completely normal. You have not lost the baby, and if the medicine keeps working, I don't think you will."
"But worst case scenario..." Eponine says uncertainly.
"The worst case scenario is your labor progressing to the point that we can't stop it. If you were to deliver today at twenty-one weeks, the odds are so very microscopic and miniscule that the baby would survive more than a few minutes that I can't even give them to you; however, I can't stress enough that I don't think that this is going to happen. You were having nine contractions an hour when you first got here, Eponine, which is fairly significant, but you've only had two in the last thirty minutes. Your cervix is still closed and baby girl's heart is fine. We'll do another ultrasound soon to take a look at everything one more time, but I really think the worst is over."
Enjolras lets out a breath of relief and squeezes Eponine's hand. "And her falling caused this? Is that common?"
"It's not unheard of. You said you fell pretty hard; you may have landed in just the right way to cause this. Or there could have been an issue we weren't yet aware of. I really think we need to wait a little longer, though, to talk about next steps. We just need to see what happens now."
"Okay. But you really think it's going to be alright?" Eponine asks anxiously.
"Yes, I really do. We'll do everything we can to make it okay."
Enjolras thanks the doctor and turns back to Eponine once she leaves. "See? It's going to be fine. We're not having a baby today, Eponine. We're not."
Eponine nods and closes her eyes, slowly leaning back against the bed, but keeping her hand securely in his. "Okay, I know. You're right, it's going to be fine. I'm sorry I was so crazy. It's just been so terrifying, and as amazing as Grantaire was, he isn't you and you didn't answer and I needed you."
Enjolras swallows the guilt he feels and leans over to kiss her. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what happened. Did you call my cell? It never rang, I have no missed calls from you..." Realization dawns and he groans, gritting his teeth. "Shit. I ran to the courthouse and I stayed a lot longer than I thought I was going to. I don't get any service in that building."
"Oh. Yeah, I know that..." she sighs and reaches up to run her fingers through his hair. "It's not your fault, Enj. I'm just glad you're here now."
"And you called Grantaire?"
"Yeah..." Eponine manages a laugh and glances towards the door, since she knows he's waiting in the hall. "I thought he was going to pass out a few times, but he's been so amazing. I'm glad he was home."
"Did the contractions hurt?" Enjolras asks, feeling guilty again that he wasn't there to help her though that.
She shrugs. "A little bit, but not bad. Like really bad cramps and my back ached sometimes. I guess I can consider it a preview because I am not doing this again for at least sixteen fucking weeks." She glares down at her stomach as if to send that same message to the baby.
"Absolutely not."
He settles down in the chair next to the bed again, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. He's still worried, there's no doubt about that, but he definitely feels more optimistic than he did before. There's nothing to do now but take it minute by minute, anyway; Enjolras has no idea what to expect or what's coming, so there's no sense speculating. Grantaire comes back in eventually and sits in another chair by the window. Eponine asks him to stay as long as he wants to, because he's clearly pretty invested now, and he's also doing the important duty of manning their phones, answering all of the texts that come in and keeping everyone informed and at bay. Enjolras can't even think about dealing with that right now.
Eventually, the doctor comes back and gives the all clear. Eponine's contractions have completely stopped and everything seems normal. She isn't happy when she finds out they want her to stay in the hospital for an entire week for observation and bed rest, since she absolutely detests hospitals, but Eponine doesn't fight it. Enjolras knows she'll always do what's right for the baby. She does, however, fight him on staying with her.
As soon as the doctor and nurses leave the room, she looks at him sternly. "You are not staying here, Enj. It's bad enough I have to, but there's no reason you do. Go home and get some rest and just come back in the morning."
"Nope. Good try. I'm not leaving." He sits back in the chair and gets comfortable. "There's no way in hell I'm going anywhere; in fact, get used to seeing my face twenty-four hours a day because I'm not letting you out of my sight until we are in the clear and this baby is born."
Grantaire snorts from his chair by the window. "He's serious, Eponine. Good thing you're pretty fond of him."
"I guess so..." She bites her lip. "But I really, really want my own clothes. I want my comfy pajamas and fuzzy socks and my pillow. If you insist on staying, can you at least run home and get things for me?"
Enjolras frowns at the thought of not being here; what if something else happens and he doesn't make it back in time? He knows the odds are slim, but they're high enough to cause him some anxiety. "Uh...I understand why you want your stuff. But can it wait until tomorrow?"
"I can get it, Eponine," Grantaire offers helpfully. "Although I feel like I should get a cut of this baby, somehow, as fucking fairy godmother-like as I've been today. Like I should get to name her or something."
Eponine grins. "Nice try. Will you be content with her never-ending love and devotion instead? Because I'm sure that will happen."
"I guess so. Write me a list of what you need."
Eponine quickly jots down everything she wants (for now) and Grantaire leaves to go get it. As soon as he's gone, Enjolras crawls onto the bed next to her, though it's a narrow, tight fit, and rests his head against her shoulder. They took one of the monitors off her stomach, though the other is still attached, and he gently rubs her belly.
"You know he's serious about this name thing," Enjolras mutters, and closes his eyes. It's only about 7:30 pm now, but it has been an emotionally exhausting day.
"Yeah. I was actually thinking about it earlier, when you weren't here and it completely freaked me out. All I could think about was what if she's born today? She doesn't even have an identity yet because her parents were too fucking neglectful to even discuss names. She could have lived and died without a name and that's just not fair. She needs a name, Enj, even if no one knows it yet but us. I need something to call her."
Enjolras frowns. Eponine is so, so hard on herself all the time. "First of all, it's not neglectful that we haven't named her yet, Eponine. Lots of people don't name their babies until they're born. But we can absolutely talk about names if it will make you feel better. Do you have any ideas?"
She relaxes a little bit in his arms and leans her cheek against the top of his head. "Uh, well...not really. I guess that's the really pathetic part." She manages to laugh at herself at least.
"What about Charlotte?" he offers, thinking of her favorite author, Charlotte Bronte.
"I really love that name, but everyone and their brother is using it right now, and I want her to have something a little more unique."
"Okay...do we want something modern or classic?"
"Classic, definitely classic. I don't think your child could pull off a weird, modern name."
Enjolras smirks. "What, you don't want to pull a celebrity and name her after your favorite fruit?"
"No. Nor do I want to name her 'Liberty' so get that thought out of your head. I think it should be a French name since we both come from French roots and New Orleans is so rich in it."
"I can agree to that...how about we both make a list over the next few days and talk about it again before you leave the hospital?"
"Okay. Thank you for indulging me."
"I think it's a good idea. You're right, really, it will be nice to have something to call her. Especially since you're both going to be fine and absolutely nothing else is going to go wrong." Enjolras closes his eyes when he feels Eponine's hand in his hair, running it through her fingers and gently massaging his scalp. It always relaxes him.
"I know." They don't speak again for a while, until Enjolras hears his phone vibrating on the table next to the bed. He reaches over and grabs it, reluctantly climbing off the bed and adjusting his clothes. "R is in the parking lot. I'm gonna go meet him and get your stuff so he doesn't have to park a mile away."
"Okay. Can you get me chocolate from a vending machine on your way back, too?"
Enjolras leans over to quickly peck her lips and says sarcastically, "Anything else you need, your Highness? I think you're going to take advantage of the fact that you know I'll wait on you hand and foot for a while."
"I'll text you if something comes to mind."
Enjolras rolls his eyes and leaves the room to go meet R. He gets all of Eponine's stuff and remembers when he's almost back to the room that he's supposed to track down chocolate, so it's a full fifteen minutes before he finally comes back. Eponine is waiting impatiently for her pajamas and chocolate especially, and Enjolras gets a nurse to see if it's okay for her to be up and walking around a bit to change.
She gets the okay and a nurse comes to help her temporarily unhook the monitors and IVs. As she changes, Enjolras unpacks her things, and pauses when he sees a post-it floating at the bottom of the bag.
It simply reads, "My vote is for Evangeline."
Evangeline? It sounds good in his head, Enjolras thinks, so he hesitantly tries it out on his tongue, whispering the name so Eponine won't hear him from the bathroom. "Evangeline." It feels good in his mouth, too, so he adds their last name this time. "Evangeline Enjolras...Damn it, Grantaire." He scratches the back of his neck, a little bit bewildered.
He really, really likes it. He likes that it starts with an 'E' and the fact that it's origin actually comes from their French Louisiana roots. They could even call her Eva for a nickname.
"Eponine?" he calls out.
"Yeah?"
"What do you think about the name Evangeline?"
She doesn't answer for a minute, but then the bathroom door slowly opens and she looks at him quizzically. "Evangeline? Where did you get that?"
He holds up the post-it. "R's suggestion."
"Oh." She bites her lip and leans against the doorframe, her pajama t-shirt stretched tightly over her bump. One of her hands absently rubs it, and she too tries the name out loud. "Evangeline Enjolras..." Her eyes widen. "Holy shit, I really like that."
"Me, too," Enjolras admits. He's kind of flabbergasted.
"It kind of feels right, like it just fits...whoa. Jesus, Grantaire is on a roll." Eponine shakes her head and crosses the room to wrap her arms around his waist. "Oh my God, did we just name our kid? Was it really that easy?"
"I think so." He kisses her forehead. "Are you really sure you like it? I mean, we have a while to change our minds if we find we like something else better."
"I really, really love it," Eponine says firmly. "I don't know if I can do any better than that. I guess now we have to think of a middle name?"
"And you should get back in bed." Enjolras starts shuffling her back over to the bed and gets her tucked in. "Are you still feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I feel completely normal." She sighs and covers her face with her arm. "Ugh, I just wish this wouldn't have happened. Such a stupid accident." She finally tells him exactly what happened; that one of her kids got stuck on top of the monkey bars, freaked out, and couldn't get down. Eponine climbed up to help and when she was climbing down herself, another kid slammed into her and knocked her to the ground. Enjolras' jaw is set uncomfortably tight thinking about it, and he has to rely on the rational side of his brain to not be mad at the kid, though the emotional side privately calls him a careless little shit.
"Well, you and Evangeline..." he smiles when he says the name, "...aren't going back to work for at least a week, maybe longer. So you have plenty of time to rest up and things will be back to normal before we know it."
They talk for a while longer since it's still early, and though Enjolras still feels a twinge of worry just because of their environment, he's confident that everything is going to be just fine. Eponine is also on edge because she just hates hospitals in general, but she does a good job of pushing her anxiety aside and focusing on him. She eventually falls asleep and Enjolras curls up in the recliner next to the bed to try and sleep, too. It's uncomfortable, cold, and cramped, but Enjolras would rather be next to Eponine, even if they had to sleep on the floor of a cave, than by himself in the most comfortable bed in the world.
I'm sorry it's taken me a week to update! I spoiled y'all by updating fast and then real life caught up with me this week. I still have a lot of lesson plans and other things to work on because there are some changes happening with my job, but it's also a 3 day weekend! And only 10 days total until a few days off for Thanksgiving break. :) Hopefully I will be able to get the next few chapters of this and "Breaking the Rules" cranked out ASAP.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and like the name I picked out! Thanks for reading!