Author's Note: Hey A Timeless Love readers, I'm SSSSOOOO sorry I haven't updated in a good few weeks (my apologies especially to PurpleFanMagic who reviewed the last chapter and was very EXCITED about the big twist concerning Eponine's childhood and her connection to the Time Lords - Thanks for the awesome review!)

To all the other readers, make sure you let me know what you think by leaving a review and/or fav and follow this story :) This chapter includes characters from the Dr Who spin-off series "The Sarah Jane Adventures" and is basically a shout out to the amazing actors from one of the series I loved as a kid (although it is cool to see Daniel Anthony still acting in Casualty and playing such a well-written character)

Anyway, here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy!


Nine:

Eponine

Dress shopping. This was something that was completely unexpected, especially to someone like me and so surely you must understand my surprise when I was invited to go shopping with Sarah Jane Smith for her wedding. I knew why I was asked to join her (Mickey had explained our living situation and how we met), but Sarah Jane actually turned out to be quite a sweet woman and she was instantly likeable. We went into the small town centre where we met up with two girls around my age, Maria and Rani who were like surrogate daughters to Sarah Jane (even though Maria was shorter, had curly black hair and Rani was taller and of British-Indian heritage).

Now obviously these woman all looked beautiful in their dresses, especially when Sarah Jane walked out of the dressing room in a elegant wedding gown and the smile on her face made her look twenty years younger.

"OMG, Sarah Jane!" Maria gushed happily, her eyes brimming with tears "you look beautiful!"

"Totally!" Rani agreed enthusiastically, but I was lost for words and remained silent. I had been the only girl who hadn't tried on a dress 1) because I didn't have any money and 2) there was no way any of these dresses could make me look as beautiful as Rani or Maria who were still wearing their blue bridesmaid's dresses.

I know I was being depressing, but when I lived in Paris and I lived in a low-income inn with my horrid father and insensitive mother… pretty dresses and nice things were out of the question, so I have learnt not to expect anything like that as I got older.

Although it would be nice to wear a beautiful dress and see Mickey's dark brown eyes twinkle with surprise and happiness when he saw me, to allow him a dance that he asked for while being the perfect gentleman and to feel his strong arms hold me as we danced to the music and he had eyes only for me.

A girl can dream.

"Epoony?"

I looked up and saw Maria looking at me with a curious look, holding a dress bag in her hands.

"It's Eponine," I corrected her and her face flushed with embarrassment "is something the matter?"

"Yeah, you haven't tried on your dress." Maria explained and I looked at her in confusion. My dress?

"I don't have a dress-" I began, but Sarah Jane shook her head with a motherly smile on her face.

"Jackie bought you a dress earlier today and asked us to pick it up for you." Rani said cheerfully, but the look in her eyes said there was more to it then that. It was lovely that Jackie had bought me a dress, but the embarrassment of not being able to pay her back hung over my head and I shook my head sadly.

"I can't afford it," I mumbled, gesturing towards the dress bag and knowing that no matter how beautiful it was I could never wear it "I'll tell Jackie thank you, but I'll make sure you returns it to get her money back."

Sarah Jane chuckled, looking at me fondly and I realised that not even my own mother spoke to me the way Sarah Jane does. She was truly a remarkable woman.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're Mickey's plus on and you have to look nice for my wedding because it's only happening once." Sarah Jane said brightly.

Yes, Mickey had asked me to accompany him to Sarah Jane's wedding and the thought made my stomach fill as if butterflies were racing around my insides. Mickey would look so dashing in a suit, but I would look like nothing compared to the likes of Rose Tyler and to my slight disappointment Rose will also be attending…

Rose and I still haven't had a conversation properly, but the fact that Mickey and I have been spending a lot of time together hasn't gone unnoticed and I dread to think what she will say or do when she sees me. Before I could dwell on this however, Rani grabbed my hand and lead me to the changing rooms while passing me the bag. The look on her face said that I wasn't going anywhere until I'd worn that dress.

"No arguments about this, go put it on."

Once in the changing room, I looked at the dress in awe and couldn't believe I was holding a dress that beautiful. The fabric was smooth as silk and dark pink, following to the floor elegantly and it was so soft to the touch. If I thought it was beautiful to look at, I was in for a shock when I was finally wearing it. The dress hugged my curves and the small diamond beads attached to the dressed shimmered in the dim light like small stars. It was hard to believe that the smiling dark haired beauty was me and not a familiar stranger, but it was me. I walked out of the changing room and all three woman looked at me in shocked silence, which made my grin falter.

"Do you not like it?" I asked awkwardly, but Sarah Jane burst into happy tears and hugged me tightly.

"You look beautiful!" she bawled and I was very confused by this woman's behaviour, because she was acting like I'd know her for years. Thankfully she quickly composed herself and turned to the other girls.

"We better get going, Luke is coming home soon and I want to see him," Sarah Jane turned to me to explain "Luke's my son and he's been attending Oxford University, but he's coming home for the summer and to give me away."

The happiness when speaking about her son brought tears to my eyes, simply because my mother had never spoken in that way about or to me and was only happy when throwing hurtful insults at me. Luckily, Rani piped up excitedly and I was given the chance to dry my eyes of tears before anyone noticed.

"Yeah I'm glad he's coming home… I bet Clyde will be happy to see him." Sarah Jane and Rani giggled at something I must have missed, but I could not miss the look of anger mixed with jealously on Maria's face when Rani said Clyde's name.

The reason for that was later answered when we returned for to Sarah Jane's home and had coffee in her nicely furnished attic (yes, her attic you heard me right) and I was sitting on the sofa with my mug of tea (I hated coffee, it was not a drink I was fond of) while sandwiched between Rani and Maria. Sarah Jane chatted animatedly with us about her plans for the wedding and honeymoon, they were going on a three week vacation to Venice… something I thought was truly romantic.

The sound of the doorbell ringing was clearly audible and Sarah Jane jumped up from her armchair, a grin spreading on her face.

"If that boy's forgot his keys again…" I didn't hear what else she said because she was out the door and rushing downstairs. A few minutes later, she returned and was closely followed by a dark skinned eighteen year old boy with a lean muscular build and a cheerful grin.

"Eponine, this is Clyde Langer," Sarah Jane introduced us and I shook hands with Clyde, his smile vaguely reminding me of Mickey and I gave Clyde a cheerful smile.

"Hey, Mickey's told us about you and I can see why he talks about you none stop," Clyde didn't notice me blushing red at the thought of Mickey talking about me, because he turned to the other girls and asked "is Luke back yet?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Maria snapped snidely and I was confused to see her glaring frostily at Clyde.

"He hasn't answered my calls, so I was wondering if you knew what time he'd be back." Clyde answered shortly, frowning at the way Maria was looking at him with such loathing.

"Well we don't, so there's no point of you being here." Maria snapped, but Sarah Jane suddenly stepped between them with a disapproving look on her face… not directed at Clyde, but at Maria.

"Maria, this is my house and I decide who comes here" Sarah Jane said firmly "and I would like you to show my guests the same respect I show you, do you understand?"

There was a moment of silence and Maria nodded bitterly, throwing an emotionless "sorry" in Clyde's direction.

"Hey everyone!"

We all turned to see a seventeen year old boy with messy brown hair standing in the doorway, a rucksack slung over his shoulder and a huge grin on his face.

"Luke!" Sarah Jane cried happily, throwing her arms around her son and pulling him into a hug that looked painful.

Luke returned the hug, but pulled back when he saw Clyde and his grin grew wider as Clyde hugged him tightly.

"God, I've missed you." Clyde said softly, looking into Luke's light brown eyes with such love and honesty that I felt as if we were intruding on a very intimate moment. But then again I was reading too much into it and they are just friends, right?

"I missed you too," Luke said gently and crushed his lips against Clyde's, pulling him into a passionate kiss.

My mouth fell open in shock as I saw this, my mind not fully comprehending what was happening in front of my eyes. It wasn't the fact that it was two males kissing, it was surprising that they were being open about their feelings towards one another. Back in the 18th century, if a man or woman had romantic feelings for someone of the same gender they would have to suppress those feelings or pay the consequences that were almost unspeakable and barbaric. And yet here were two young men, totally in love with each other and not being verbally of physically attacked.

"Boys, enough of the PDA," Rani said, but she was grinning fondly as Clyde pulled away and wrapped an arm around Luke's waist.

"Sorry, my bad." Luke sniggered, looking slightly embarrassed "I haven't seen him in five months, give me some credit."

"Hey, I'm not complaining" Clyde chuckled, entwining Luke's fingers in his "come on, I'll help you unpack your stuff"

Clyde pulled Luke to the door and closed the door behind them, but my eyes immediately went to Luke's mother to see if her reaction was shocked or furious. It was neither, she was actually smiling with approval and I now noticed that the only person that wasn't happy to see Luke's affectionate moment with Clyde was Maria.

"I've got to go home," she said shortly, gathering her things and storming out the door without another word.

"Yeah, she's still not happy that Luke came out as gay and is now head-over-heels for Clyde." Rani observed "you'd think after seven months, she would have gotten over it?"

Sarah Jane heaved a deep sigh, sitting in her armchair and taking a big drink of her coffee.

"You can't help who you fall in love with," Sarah Jane commented and I absolutely agreed with her on that statement.

Whether it was a love between a man and a woman, two woman or two men it was unpredictable and undeniable. When you find that person that you love with all your heart and soul, that loves you for everything you are and wants nothing more than to see you happy… it is something truly special and you should grab it with both hands.

But alas, I tried to convince myself I would never find that… so why did Mickey's heart-warming smile keep appearing in my mind's eye?

Marius

Ring out the bells
Upon this day of days!

May all the angels
Of the Lord above

In jubilation
Sing their songs of praise!

And crown this
Blessed time with
Peace and love

The crowd of people sang happily as I scooped my darling Cosette into my arms and spun her around the room, loving the sound of her musical laughter and kissing her beautiful lips. This woman was my life and I don't know where I'd be without her, we were destined to find each other.

I set Cosette on her feet and gazed adoringly at her beautiful blue eyes with her perfect blonde hair, thinking how this woman was clearly made from angels in heaven.

"I love you," I breathed against her lips, loving the way she shivered with delight as I brushed my lips against hers.

"I love you, with all my heart," Cosette smiled back and I leaned forward to kiss her again, but a hooded figure in a red cloak standing in the doorway caught my eyes and I pulled back, which caused my beloved wife to look confused "what is it?"

"I'm not sure…" I said slowly, noticing the person beckoning towards me and saw he or she walk out into the hallway "I'll return shortly.

Before Cosette could ask anything else, I followed the mysterious stranger into the deserted stairway and saw the figure had lowered her hood and a woman with wrinkled skin and pure white hair looking back at me… with brown eyes that were all too familiar.

"What do you want?" I asked as much of a brave voice as I could muster, because this woman had an aura of power about her and I feared her greatly but I wasn't going to show it… at least I was trying to.

"I need your help warrior," the woman said firmly, her brown eyes filled with seriousness.

"Who are you?" I asked in a terrified whisper, her gaze making me feel more fearful of this woman's intentions.

"My name is Sarina and I need you to assist me in an important task," Sarina said with the power and authority of God himself "I need you to help me find my daughter!"


Author's Note: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

To any House of Night Fans reading this - check out my new HoN fanfic and let me know what you think, I'd seriously love you guys even more if you submit OCs for me to write as well lol :P

Thanks again! :)