A week after Marius had returned from his latest journey he was awoken late one night by baby Victoire who was fussing in her cot. Marius thought this was unusual because she had been sleeping soundly through the nights for months now and was usually a very good baby when it came to her bedtime routine.

He didn't want to wake Cosette, so he decided to check on the baby himself. He quietly lit one of the oil lamps by the bed and slipped out of the bedcovers whilst she continued sleeping. There was no reason that both of them should have their sleep disturbed he thought to himself.

Marius walked over to the crib that was at one side of their bedroom and he found Victoire sitting upright with her tiny tear filled eyes looking up at him. Every time he looked at his baby daughter his heart would just melt, she was such an adorable and helpless little thing right now that he couldnt help but smile to look at her. Plus she looked exactly like Cosette which made Marius feel even more in love with his baby girl.

Marius picked up Victoire and held her close to him, "Ssssh little one" he whispered to her "Don't wake your mama".
He checked her nappy but thankfully she didn't need a change, She shouldn't be hungry Marius thought, Cosette had given her a feed before she had been put to bed and that had always seen her through until the morning so this night shouldn't have been any different. He felt her forehead but she didn't feel warm so she mustn't have been ill, what was making her fuss tonight then? he wondered.

He sat down with her on the chair next to the crib that Cosette used for nursing her and held his baby against his shoulder, he rubbed her back and rocked her gently and she settled down quite quickly after that.

"Did you just want attention"? He whispered to her playfully, knowing he had just been conned out of sleep by his ten month old baby. "You did didn't you little one? Well I suppose you deserve lots after today my clever little girl". He kissed her gently on her tiny baby head where she had some soft fine hair growing and rocked her again to try to get her back to sleep.

It had been a big day for little Victoire, early that afternoon Marius had been catching up on some paperwork in his study that he hadn't been able to get around to during the week, he didn't usually like to spend a lot of time in his study when his children needed his attention but he didn't expect it to take up a lot of his time so he got to work. It was a lovely sunny Saturday so the children were happily playing the day away throughout the house under the watchful eyes of both Cosette and the nanny so he knew he wouldn't be distracted by them.

Jean had been happily playing with Victoire in the living room that afternoon. The dear boy had become especially attached to his baby sister since she had arrived in the family and spent a lot of his time with her. Marius wasn't sure if this was appropriate behaviour for a young boy, honestly he would have preferred it if he played more with his brothers, but Victoire seemed to get such joy out of being with her big brother that Marius didn't seem to have it in him to tell the boy off for it.

That afternoon whilst he was working, Marius's concentration was broken suddenly by the sound of Jeans voice calling out for him and Cosette.

"Mama!" he cried out "Mama come quick, Mama! Papa!"

"What on earth?" Marius thought as he rose from his chair, he could still hear Jean calling out as he made his way out of his study, there was a sense of urgency in the young boys voice that seemed to demand attention and Marius's immediate thought was that there was something wrong. Cosette had been distracted elsewhere in the house when she also heard the boy yelling and as Marius made his way towards the boy's voice so too came Cosette looking worried.

"What's going on?" she asked Marius with a slight panic in her voice, she too had immediately thought that something was wrong, otherwise why would the boy be shouting for them? Jean was usually such a calm and peaceful boy so this was completely out of the ordinary for him.

"I don't know", he replied "I thought you were with the children?"

As they both entered the living room together they were expecting something horrible but instead they saw Jean and Victoire both looking cheerful.

Cosette went immediately up to her son while Marius remained standing near the doorway.

"What are you yelling for?" Marius asked his son, confused about the commotion the boy had been making.

"Mama! Papa! She did it!" The boy said excitedly, barely managing to get spaces in-between his words. "She really did it, I showed her how to do it and she did it!"

"Do what? What are you getting so worked up about?" said Cosette, kneeling down so she could be at her sons level.

"Mama she crawled!" he said, pointing to Victoire. "I showed her how to do it and she crawled all the way across the room!"

Cosette gasped at this news and held her hands to her mouth for a moment. "Oh Jean, did she really do it?" she asked, taking the boys hands in hers gently.

"Yes Mama" he said softly "I'll show you".

Marius went over to his wife and sat next to her whilst Jean settled himself at one end of the room opposite from Victoire; he knelt down and called out to his baby sister whilst beckoning with his arms for her to come to him.

"Victoire" he said gently "Come here Victoire, Come here."

Victoire looked up at her brother from where she was sitting and immediately got into a crawling position, she paused for a moment as if she was getting her bearings and then to the astonishment of her parents she crawled over to her big brother like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Cosette clasped her hands over her mouth again and she felt tears of joy form in her eyes as she watched her baby crawl properly for the first time. She had worried so much about her not being able to reach this simple goal that this felt like a real achievement for her.

"Oh Marius she's really crawling" she said looking at her husband who was smiling brightly, they were both feeling so proud right then of their baby and their eldest son.

Cosette went over to the two children and kissed her sons forehead and then took the baby off him and kissed her too.

"My clever girl" she cooed to her "My beautiful clever girl! You crawled!"

Marius also went over to kiss and congratulate his baby girl, and then he turned his attention to his son as well.

"Well done Jean". He said proudly to his boy.

Later on that day Marius asked Jean to come into his study; he wanted to have a talk with the boy in private. Jean was slightly concerned about this as usually when one of the children was summoned to the study it meant they were going to be disciplined for something.

"Don't worry son, you're not in trouble" Marius said as he pulled the young boy onto his lap

Marius had never been quite sure how to give out fatherly praise to his children, having received little to none from his grandfather when he was boy it wasn't something that came easily to him, but over the past ten years he had spent as a father he had learnt that sometimes his children needed a kind father as well as a stern father so he tried very hard to give out extra praise when they needed it.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm very proud of you Jean" He said to his son. "You've been a wonderful brother to Victoire and the way you helped her learn to crawl today was remarkable. Me and your mother, well, it's made us very happy".

Jean just smiled at his father for a moment, he had always been more attached to his mother than his father but at that moment he couldn't have felt closer to his father if he tried. He felt very grown up to be having such a heart to heart talk with his father that he decided now was a good time to ask him something he had been wondering for a while

"Papa?" the boy asked, "Is Victoire feeble?"

Marius looked disheartened for a moment, that was something he and Cosette had worried about for a long time, but he had no idea until just now that the other children thought about it too.

"Where did you learn that word Jean?" He asked his son

"I heard you and mama talking about her a while ago" he told his father "It means that she's not smart doesn't it?" he added.

Marius nodded, thinking that his eight year old son was very wise beyond his years.

"So is she really feeble papa?" he asked again.

Marius decided to be frank with the boy, after all he seemed like he had earned the right to be spoken to like a man today.

"I'm afraid it's too early to tell son" Marius told him "She's still a baby right now, but she does seem to be learning things slower than the rest of you did, I don't know if that will continue for the rest of her life but your mother and I do worry about her".

Jean looked sadly at his father, and then said something Marius never expected to hear from him. "Will you still love her if she isn't smart?" he said

"Of course I will" Marius said, slightly alarmed at what the boy had said "And so will your mother, we love all of you. She's still my daughter no matter what".

Jean smiled at his father "I'll love her too Papa, no matter what. She'll still be my sister and I promise to look after her forever".

Marius felt even more proud of his son at that moment and gave the boy a hug. His son was becoming a real gentleman and there was nothing more he could have asked for from his boy than that.

Marius was lost in thought as he held Victoire that night and gently lulled her back to sleep, he looked at her again as she rested against his shoulder and noticed she had nodded off already. He stood up slowly and placed her gently back into her crib and tucked her blanket around her, whilst thinking how sweet she looked when she was sleeping.

"Goodnight my sweet girl" he whispered to her, and then he quietly made his way back to his own bed and put out the light.

Before he drifted off to sleep again that night Marius thought to himself that the only thing he found better than being a husband was being a father.

The End