Blood. Blood was that warm and sticky stuff. There was so much of it. It was everywhere. He'd never seen so much blood anywhere in real life before. More blood than any horror movie he'd ever seen.


"Let's go for a drive." Grantaire offered.

"All right." Enjolras smiled.

They climbed into the car and he started driving.

"Any idea where we're going?" Enjolras asked lightly.

"Just around. I need to talk to you." She shrugged.

He agreed and just started driving straight. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Look. I love you. But we need to be on the same page here. You're not stealthy. You're not subtle. We need to agree. Whatever we choose, neither of us can regret this. Otherwise, one of us will lose the other. And I don't want that to happen." She said.

"Oh. Of course. I'm sorry. I… I just… You're right. Both of us have to agree on this. And I haven't been agreeing with you on this. This is your choice. And whatever you choose, I'll stand behind you." He swore.

"But you aren't showing it. I need you with me on this and what you're doing isn't being with me. I can't take all this 'maybe we can paint the guest room' or the 'don't worry about money' shit. I've started to make my choice and I need you." She countered.

He sighed. He looked her in the eyes and saw a slight redness in them.

"I thought if I said those things then you would think about my side a little more. You would consider motherhood. Starting a family with me." He tried.

"I have been thinking about that. I've been thinking about nothing else." Grantaire snapped.

"But all the time I see you at home, it's always those abortion websites and support groups for abortion and I just thought that you weren't considering it enough." He explained.

"What are you, a mind reader?" She spat.

"What? No." He answered.

"Then how in the hell do you know what I'm thinking and considering?" She growled.

"I can take an educated guess." He shouted.

"Educated guess, my ass!" She yelled.

"Where are we going?!" He screamed.

"I don't know!" She shrieked.

He pulled over and stopped sharply. She took deep breaths and calmed down.

"Where are we going?" He repeated, his voice and emotions spent.

"We aren't going in the same direction." She sighed.

He mimicked her. "We aren't."

"We need to be if this isn't going to destroy us." She squeaked.

She thought he was going to leave her for this. He told her he loved her every day but even with that it must not have been enough. She was cynicism incarnate, he understood that, but he married the woman. She should at least know he loved her.

"I won't let this destroy us. You mean too much to me for that." He grasped her hand tightly.

She turned to actually look at him. She smiled when she saw the genuineness in his eyes.

"You want to know where we're going? Let's just go to dinner. Let's find a nice little café and have a simple dinner." Enjolras offered.

"You mean the Musain." She smirked.

"You know me so well." He kissed her and pulled back into traffic.

"Whatever you decide, I will never leave you. Having a life with you is the best part of living on this oppressed Earth. You are my reason for fighting against the patriarchy and hatred." He whispered.

She didn't say anything in response. She just squeezed his hand. That was all the response he needed.

Dinner was a lovely affair. They shared a bottle of apple cider and the entire night neither mentioned her pregnancy or her decision. Except when she told him that Bahorel found out about her when he came over.

"When did he come over? Was he looking for me?" He asked.

"No. He wanted to go drinking but obviously I didn't go." She said.

There was more than that but he let it go when she didn't add anything on. Sometimes keeping secrets was good for her. So she wasn't obligated to tell him every last detail of everything about her life. Even though it had been eight years, she never did quite shake having a stalker. She had moved on, but some of those habits had become ingrained in her.

"Courfeyrac also has a secret stash of chocolate in his car apparently." She snickered.

He joined her. "That seems like him."

"Yeah. I wouldn't doubt Jehan has his own too." She said.

He nodded, taking a bite of his food.

"I wonder when those two are going to get married. I mean, it's finally legal now. Across the entire country." She mused.

"I don't think marriage is really their style." He thought.

"I guess so but you never know. Marriage wasn't your style until you met me." She countered.

"Fair enough. It was just my opinion." He shrugged.

"I'm just satisfied I got the high and mighty Apollo down to lowly Earth to gossip." She winked.

He rolled his eyes.

After they returned home, he noticed the baby pamphlets, as he called them were missing. He didn't comment on it. Her mouth was suddenly on his and he knotted his fingers in her hair. Her tongue slipped into his mouth and explored like she'd never done so before. He pressed their bodies together and her nails dragged against his back. He groaned into the kiss and she smiled. She snaked her hands across his stomach and started to undo the buttons on his shirt. His hands had her shirt halfway off when he realized exactly what he was doing.

"Oh no. We are mm-hmm- we're not having sex. You are p-pregnant and this is what- what started the problem. Also it's not un-unheard of that women get- oh God- pregnant while already pregnant." He stuttered.

She pulled back, frowning. "But make-up sex sounds amazing right now."

"It does and my-my-my answer is final. Aw." Her lips latched onto his neck and he could feel her sucking, licking, biting, leaving a trail of marks down his skin.

"No, Grantaire. No." He said, finally getting control of himself.

She sighed. "It was worth a shot."

"I am- I'm going to take a shower now."


That night, after she had fallen asleep, Enjolras looked his wife over. For the first time in weeks, he truly looked at her. Her skin was ever-so-slightly paler than he remembered it being, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was limp. He didn't remember her looking this unhealthy. He knew she didn't handle stress that well, but the fact that she looked that way made him start to rethink how he'd been treating her. She was right. He wasn't being fair. In his happiness for becoming a father, he had completely missed her terror. It had been years and he was still as oblivious as freshman year of college.

"Like what you see?" She mumbled, startling him out of his thoughts.

He jumped a little. "You're supposed to be asleep."

"So are you." She countered. "You didn't answer my question."

"No, I don't. You don't look healthy." He admitted.

"A lot of pregnant women don't look healthy." She stated.

"A lot of them do." He replied.

"They exercise. I can't run. See the problem?" She growled.

"Look. I don't want to fight. Not now. I hate going to bed angry. You read any marriage book and they tell you not to go to bed angry. You never know what's going to happen to them the next day." He tried.

"I'm not growling because I'm angry. I'm starving." She explained.

"I'll make you something." He offered, but he didn't move.

"You can't make what I want." She hummed.

"What do you want?" He asked tentatively.

"Remember when we went to America to visit your folks for Thanksgiving last year?" He nodded. "And we met up with that nice couple when we got lost because Nashville is fucking confusing?" He nodded again. "And they told us that you don't go to Denny's, you end up at Denny's?"

"Yeah…" He trailed off.

"I want Denny's."

"This is France. That was an American chain restaurant." He protested.

"Too bad. I want Denny's." She mumbled.

"I can't give you Denny's." He said.

"I want Denny's." She whined.

"I'm sorry." He tried.

"Please?" She pouted.

He made the mistake of looking at her. Her doe eyes were powerful, and his legs were shaking. He could feel his resolve weakening.

"No." He turned over on their bed and settled down.

She sighed.

"If you let me wake you, I'll take you to breakfast tomorrow." He capitulated.

"All right. That's a fair deal." She snuggled into his back.

"Okay that feels wrong. I prefer you on my chest." He turned back around.

"You are such a silly goose." She snickered.

He kissed her hair and let his eyes fall shut.

"I still want Denny's though."


He got himself ready before even thinking of waking his wife. She liked her sleep. There was a reason she never said good bye to him before he went to work in the morning. He left before eight and she hardly ever got up before ten. Having a stable income without a stable job gave you that option. Not that he cared. He loved going to her concerts, even if the places she played at weren't very big. It was mostly clubs and cafes though she occasionally got something bigger like being a wedding singer. But the truly big stuff, like being on the radio and making albums- that would come later. He knew it would. He believed in her. (Plus, coming home to a clean house was great. Though, these past couple of days the house hadn't been as clean as she normally had it but he didn't care. She had enough on her mind.)

"Grantaire." He shook her lightly.

"G'way." She murmured.

"You wanted breakfast. I'll drive you but only if you wake up." He stated.

"But why so early?" She whined.

"I need time to drive you back home. I love you. I'm not being late." He said.

She mumbled something unintelligible but threw off the covers, stood, kissed him and smacked the back of his head.

"I hate you." She groaned.

She threw on comfortable clothes and slippers. He chuckled.

"What's so funny?" She growled.

"I'm dressed as a lawyer. You're dressed as an eccentric billionaire." He laughed.

"What do you mean?" She accused.

"You're wearing an orange sweater with green yoga pants and bunny slippers. Not to mention the mess you call your hair." He explained.

She looked down and frowned. "This looked better in my head."

"You look fabulous. A client of the highest prestige." He promised her.

She glared at him. "Says the man who once wore a red jacket, a pink shirt, pink pants and pink socks."

"That was for breast cancer awareness!" He protested as she changed her orange sweater to a blue one.

"Whatever you say." She winked at him.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed the keys.

"I want Denny's." She demanded.

"There aren't any Denny's in France, Princess." He said.

"Damn. Take me somewhere I can get fries with my pancakes. Not Hash browns but actual fries. Maybe curly fires. Ooh or garlic fries. Yes- I want curly garlic fries. Oh and I also want ketchup on the pancakes." She said.

"Well, IHOP is out… how about the Musain?" He asked.

"Musain doesn't serve fries until lunchtime." She shook her head.

He sighed. "Do you have any ideas, Princess?"

"There's that new place over on Rue Plummet. It offers all food twenty-four seven." She offered.

"Fantastic. Let's go there." He started the car and backed out of his driveway.

"Rue Plummet. Isn't that near the high school?" He inquired.

"Yeah. It's about two blocks down from there. How I used to be able to walk to school since neither Eponine and I could drive." She agreed.

"Now I actually know where I'm going." He murmured.

"It's basically across from where I spent most of my high school years. I showed you our old house. Across from there." She explained.

"I understand. And that was about four years ago." He countered.

"You remember everything." She shrugged.

"I do not." He countered.

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"I forgot my own birthday two years in a row." He yelled.

"I know." She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes.

"Wait, what about Cosette? Wasn't she with you? Couldn't she drive you? Or your brother?" He asked.

"Cosette and Ryan were freshmen in college when my parents died. Jean asked her not to come back home for me because I couldn't handle anyone else besides Eponine. Ryan did for a bit but I sent him right back a couple weeks after the funeral. He needed to get back to his studies. Not that I sent him back for long." She shrugged.

He was silent for a moment.

"Yeah, I know. Sometimes it scares Eponine too on how casually I talk of death." She guessed.

"Not you?" He remarked.

"Death is just another path. One that we all must take." She said sweetly.

"I guess that's a good way of looking at things." He said lightly.

"How do you not remember one of the greatest quotes of those movies?!" She shouted.

"Let me focus on the road please." He requested.

"You're a great driver. What do I- LOOK OUT!" She screamed.

He started to turn to see what she was so scared of but his world jerked and he could feel himself rolling and rolling, like rocks in a tumbler and his head crashed into something again and again and again until finally it stopped. Everything held its breath for a moment. Even life itself. Then all sound and light rushed upon him like waves rushing to the shore. Lights were flashing, alarms were beeping and there was this white dust surrounding them but he was just so tired and his head hurt so much that he closed his eyes and felt himself fade away.


Hey-oh! This is where I put the maniacal laugh. MWA HA HA! I'm so evil, aren't I? Like I said, this story is about actions have consequences. You'll see what I mean soon. Leave a review if you can please. I've been feeling a little neglected with this story lately and I want to know if you all are still listening to the ramblings of an insane madwoman who really needs to be working on her English paper.

PS Guest- Yes When You Were A Tadpole is a Muppet song. I am a Muppet Nut. I feel no shame in admitting that.