Before the Barricades Arise
Chapter 8
Marius carries me into a room that is close to the stairs so I can still hear what's going on with the revolution. He lays me in the bed that is positioned next to the window.
"Oh Eponine, how did this happen?" he says sadly looking at me.
"This damn war and the damn government." I answer.
"Hopefully it will be over soon and we will have our freedom." Marius says.
"I'm not going to count on it." I say. "High hopes only lead to disappointment."
Marius just nods in response. "Let's get you cleaned up a bit then I will let you rest."
He leaves the room and I can't help but realize that I have Marius' undivided attention. I wish I didn't have to get seriously wounded for him to notice me though. I want him to like me for who I am, not because he feels obligated to take care of me. But still, he did say if we got out alive we would see about us.
Marius returns with a cloth, a basin of hot water, and another blanket.
"Can you sit up?" he asks.
I obey and push myself up with my one good arm.
He soaks the cloth in the water, wrings in out and starts cleaning the blood off of my arm the dirt off my face.
"Thank you, monsieur." I tell him.
"I'd do anything for you." He tells me.
I manage a smile.
"Where is your family in all of this madness, 'Ponine?" Marius asks.
"Well, Gavroche is downstairs and I don't know and honestly don't really care where my parents are." I reply.
"They're your parents though."
"Yeah, and they've treated me like shit ever since Cosette left when we were kids." I snap at him.
"You knew Cosette when you were little?" He asks.
"Yeah, we grew up together. My parents took her in made her do everything and treated her like shit but then she got picked up by some guy one day." I explain.
"That's awful." Marius exclaims.
"Face it, me and Gav were raised by criminals and we're both kind of criminals." I say.
"No you're not." He says.
"Yes we are. We usually resorted to pickpocketing in order to bring home enough sous for our parents." I tell him.
"Why didn't you come to me? I could've helped." He asks.
"Because I didn't want to be just a sad sob story and I didn't want you to waste all your money on me." I say.
"It wouldn't have been a waste. My grandfather just usually stored away money and never did anything with it." Marius says.
"Oh…" I didn't really know how to reply to that. "Where's your grandfather now?"
"I have no idea." Marius says sadly.
He wraps me up in the other blanket that he got for me and tucks me into bed.
"I'll let you get some sleep. The more you rest, the faster you'll heal." he says to me leaning over and giving me a kiss on the forehead.
"Marius, will you stay with me tonight?" I ask.
"Of course I will if you want me to." He replies.
He takes off his bloody shirt and shoes and crawls into bed with me.
He rolls over and looks at me and I look at him and smile.
"You are so beautiful." He whispers.
"Thank you, so are you."
I run my fingers through his hair and get lost in his gorgeous green eyes.
He moves over closer to me so that our noses are less than an inch away from each other.
I lean in closing the gap between us and press my lips against his. His lips are soft and warm and he is kissing me back, hard.
He pulls me in so that I am on top of his bare chest. Our fingers are tangled in each other's hair and we are still kissing fiercely.
I roll off of Marius back onto the mattress and slow down to a gentle kiss before pulling away.
Neither of us say anything, we just stare deep into each other's eyes and smile.
"Good night, Eponine." He says to me and gives me one more gentle kiss on the mouth.
"Sleep well." I reply softly.
I really didn't want that moment to end. That was what I'd been dreaming of for years. Marius and I, in bed, kissing. But somehow I didn't think that was the last time that we would do that. I think after tonight, I can finally safely say that Marius is mine.
Well, Marius and Eponine are finally together! I really liked writing this chapter and I hoped you guys enjoyed it too!
And this week is march break so I'll post a couple new updates this week hopefully :)
