A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for all the support and reviews! You guys seriously make my life, I was smiling like an idiot the whole time I was reading the reviews! Some of you were on guest, so to the two of you who were anonymous, thank you so much for your compliments! I had almost forgotten about this fic, too, but thank goodness for inspiration!

And to ConcreteAngel, THANK YOU! I'm so flattered because you said it was one of the best AUs you've ever read; it just made me so happy!

This chapter is gonna start out odd, but I would like Éponine's feelings start to develop out of a humorous situation that we've all experienced before ;) Thank you so much for reading, and enjoy!


Éponine wasn't sure how they had gotten into this position, but she was not complaining in the least. Enjolras' left hand was cupped around her cheek, and his right was placed on her thigh, and she could tell he was struggling to keep himself under control. Their lips were interlocked, both holding back because they were too stubborn and wanted the other to break before they did.

Éponine obviously made it her objective in this moment to turn Enjolras into a shuddering puddle of want, which is what she would become in a few small moments. She moved one hand into his hair, and gently started massaging his scalp, which made Enjolras' right hand tighten. Éponine smirked against his lips, which she knew he felt, and moved her other hand underneath his shirt, where she barely trailed her fingers over his toned body, memorizing each and every muscle she came across.

The marble man let out a short, soft grunt, but Éponine wanted more. She bit his lip ever so slightly, and kissed him more fervently. She was convinced that she had him wrapped around her finger, but he did something unexpected and completely out of character just then; he broke his lips apart from hers, and moved them to her neck, where he bit and sucked and pulled Éponine closer to him. She gasped, and pulled her hand out from his shirt so that she could put both of her hands in his hair, where she pulled and tangled the gold strands like there was no tomorrow.

He moved his hips ever so slightly, and they both maneuvered themselves so that he was on top of her, her legs wrapped around his waist, and his kisses trailing everywhere he could reach. Éponine couldn't stand it; every movement he made spread fire throughout her very being, and she muttered his name through clenched teeth.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice raspy and downright sexy. Enjolras looked up from his current position, which was just above Éponine's stomach; his lips were puffy and his hands were gripping her thighs and Éponine saw a light of challenge in his eyes. She was obviously going to be the first to break and melt into him, but she would try to keep her cool for as long as possible. So, Éponine sat up and pulled his chin up to meet her face, and she placed her hips strategically on top of his, wrapping her legs around his waist, and put her lips a breath away from his.

"I said," She whispered, and looked sharply into his eyes, which were glazed with lust and fighting an inner battle of staying cool or taking Éponine right then and there. "Enjolras." Éponine muttered his name slowly, enunciating every syllable, just to get under his skin. Just then, she saw in his eyes that the latter of his inner battle had won, and he shoved her down, his lips colliding with hers.

"Éponine!"

She jolted awake, in the same bed as last night, except drool was hanging from her mouth and there was a small puddle on the pillow she was hugging. Éponine was tangled in a mess of pillows and sheets, which she had kicked off of her last night, and she looked around quickly, fully aware that she was blushing as she wiped the drool from her lip. A gray light was entering through the blinds of Enjolras' room because it was still overcast, and that was when she noticed that a light blanket was draped over her. She touched it with her fingers, and noticed the smell of coffee; looking over to the night stand, there was a warm cup there, welcoming her with steam.

Éponine tucked her hair behind her ear, refusing to think of who might have put it there; perhaps it was just Musichetta, not Enjolras. Speaking of which…

Did she seriously just have one of those dreams about her friend? She was still blushing furiously, a little mad at herself that she had thought of Enjolras in that way for even a second. Éponine looked down to her current attire, which was underwear, and blushed even redder; what if Enjolras had come in before she had woken up and placed this blanket over her, and then set the cup of coffee on the desk, thus seeing her all exposed like she was?

Éponine sighed heavily, burying her face in her hands, trying to ignore how good that coffee smelled and how much she wanted it. No, she couldn't risk developing rebound-feelings for Enjolras just because she couldn't have Marius. How selfish of her! Plus, he had the revolution to worry about, and she needed to help Enjolras with his new problem of Delmont, and how could she help him with such things if she kept getting distracted over how nice he looked when he's concentrating and how his eyebrows furrowed when he's confused and how his hands felt over her skin—

"Éponine, darling, you better wake up soon! The radio news will be on in a moment!" Musichetta's voice called.

Oh! Éponine had woken from… that dream… because someone had called her name, but she thought it was all a part of the dream.

"Coming!" She called, and scrambled out of bed, slipping on the dress from last night and dashing out of the room to the kitchen.

Joly and Musichetta were sitting at the kitchen table, completely at ease with the gun that was in the middle of it from last night, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, and Enjolras was on the couch, hunched over and rubbing his neck. He was wearing a shirt, but it was unbuttoned and Éponine looked away quickly. 'No; no feeling anything other than friendship!' She scolded herself.

"Where's the cup of coffee I brought you?" Musichetta asked, looking surprised. "Also, good morning, sleeping beauty." She grinned and took a sip of her own coffee. Éponine relaxed a little when she heard that it was Musichetta who had brought her the coffee.

"Oh, sorry, I'll go get it." She said, and left, then returned with the coffee as she sat at the table with Musichetta and Joly.

"Enjolras, come join us! We were just about to hear the news." Joly called, folding up the newspaper and turning on the radio.

"Fine." He grumbled, running a hand through his curly hair as he got up and walked over to the kitchen, reaching into the cupboard and getting out a cup, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Right as the announcer came on the air, Enjolras came and sat next to Éponine, his eyelids droopy and his stature hunched; unlike his usual self. She shifted in her seat, ignoring the feeling of his lips and hands all over her body, and how much she had enjoyed it and how much she wanted to do such things to him now.

"Good morning! It's currently 8:06 am, November 4th 1920 in the beautiful city of Chicago! The weather was quite a bit wet last night, wasn't it folks? Yessiree, I had to run home and fetch my raincoat before I went and visited a very new and very glamorous club called the Chez Paree, owned by a Monsieur Fauchelevent. He sure does know his stuff, because golly did that place have rhythm! I was dancing so much last night, I think my feet fell off. There were many public officials there, as well as celebrities, such as D.W. Griffeth, Charles Lindbergh, and Al Smith! Everyone was havin' a bangin'-slammin' good time, but every rose has its' thorns.

About 2 hours into the opening of the Chez Paree, a ruckus occurred on the dance floor. Many of my sources tell me that a man and a woman in their mid-40s were pickpocketing many of the attendees, and after further inspection, were found out to have been smuggled into the party! No one knows for sure who this criminal was that smuggled them inside, but the names of the two thieves have been released: Thénardier. So look out folks, just in case they get snuck out of jail! Their bail is currently listed at $150."

Éponine felt crushed; she looked down to the table, and held back a sigh. Who was at her home now, taking care of Azelma and Gavroche? Did Montparnasse make it out undetected? She didn't put it past her parents if she found out that they threw her and her siblings under the bus in the hopes of getting out of jail sooner. She could feel Enjolras' gaze on her, but she ignored how nice it felt that he was paying attention to/thinking of her.

"And that's not all! About an hour after that whole fiasco, on 42nd street, a shot from a gun was heard, inside a bookstore and now a known speakeasy called the Lucky Clover. A policeman and two of his officers were found at the scene, but the police aren't releasing any more details other than that."

Éponine and Enjolras shared a look of relief; at least Delmont kept his trap shut.

"It's been a shared effort of public officials to find every speakeasy they can, and shut them down so that drunks don't roam the streets and hurt our women and children. Therefore, public officials have released a statement saying that they are to be searching all buildings they suspect of hiding a speakeasy, and/or tunnels leading to other speakeasies. Here, we have a guest speaker who is a full-time supporter of the Prohibition…"

Joly clicked off the radio, and all four of them sat in silence for a while, sipping on their coffee.

Enjolras sighed, rubbing his temples. Musichetta glanced at Éponine, who was staring at the floor, her jaw set and her hands gripping the chair tightly. Joly cleared his throat.

"Um, Éponine, would you like to go home with Musichetta? Enjolras and I…"

"Yes, we'll go, darling." Musichetta kissed Joly, then stood up and grabbed her purse from the counter. Enjolras and Éponine shared one more glance, then the brunette stood up and made her way to the door, where her shoes were; she slipped them on, and Musichetta walked out of the door with Éponine just as Enjolras asked Joly to get Combeferre on the telephone.


"Are you sure you don't want to come back to my place?" Musichetta asked as the taxi they were sharing drove up to the edge of Éponine's neighborhood.

"I'm sure. Thanks, Musichetta. Have a good day." She said, getting out quickly.

"Try to come to Enjolras' apartment tonight at 7pm! I'll be there, so will Cosette!" Musichetta called as the taxi drove away. Well, if Cosette was going to be there, then Marius would be there, and Éponine didn't want to deal with those two cuddling.

She figured they weren't going to meet at the Musain because it would run the risk of them being caught by Delmont or just the regular authorities.

To be honest, Éponine felt quite relieved that her parents were in jail because they were out of the way; but at the same time, they might rat her or her siblings out and then she would be a known wanted criminal. She began to make her way through alleyways, avoiding the gazes of the occasional person on the street, and eventually stopped in front of her home. She could hear Azelma and Gavroche giggling and laughing inside, and she smiled instantly; they hadn't laughed like that in a while, and it was a relief to hear them safe.

She hurried up to the door and opened it, but her smile instantly turned into a frown when she saw that it was Montparnasse that was making them laugh. He looked up, still smiling, and then stood up, making his way over to Éponine.

" 'Ponine! How nice to see you. I was just telling them a story about-"

"What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly. "Azelma, Gavroche, go upstairs."

The two huffed, and reluctantly made their way up the stairs while Éponine glared at the man before her.

Montparnasse raised and lowered his eyebrows, glancing to the floor like a kid trying to hold back a giggle.

"What?!" Éponine snapped irritably. "You know, I really don't appreciate you coming here and 'helping'. I can take care of them fine on my own, especially without my parents around."

"Really? Not to be rude, doll, but you were kinda gone the whole night. I saw you leave with that golden-haired guy. Is he your new boyfriend, or just another way to earn some extra income?" Montparnasse smirked, then walked over to the table by the door, and picked up a rose that was lying on it. He turned and gave it to a surprised but still pissed Éponine, a sly grin on his face. "Saw that and thought of you. I really do miss you, 'Ponine. And I only came here last night because I knew you wouldn't come back."

"How did you know that?" She bit out.

"Who would wanna come back to this shithole, regardless of whatever family is waiting for them? And after that gunshot, it was better that I was here with Azelma and Gavroche; apparently some new guy is making a name for himself, and I heard that he was the cause of that ruckus. I guess his name is Delmont." He said, shrugging.

"What? Delmont?" Éponine blinked quickly, feeling her stomach tighten.

"Mhm. A lot of your father's gang joined up with him, since your dad ain't getting out for a while. By the way, ever since I've gotten a taste for these rich clothes, I expect to be making more frequent visits to the local tailor for more stuff like this." He looked at his jacket admirably.

"Wait, what are people saying about this Delmont fellow? How has he made a name for himself?" Éponine walked over to the kitchen table slowly, setting the rose down.

"Well, apparently he killed a man and pinned it on—you remember the old man that used to live next to you?—well, that's how the old guy got evicted and put away, all because he didn't pay Delmont back like 5 bucks in debt. People are saying Delmont's a sneaky, back-stabbing bastard, and yet they still follow him. Bit stupid, if you ask me; I had no interest in following a guy like that." He took an apple from off of the table, and took a bite out of it. Montparnasse looked at Éponine, and noticed her almost terrified expression, and instantly got up in arms. "Why, has he hurt you?"

"No. Thanks for staying with Azelma and Gavroche. Please leave." Éponine said quietly. Montparnasse paused, reluctant to leave, but he complied because the brunette obviously needed time alone.

"Alright. See you later, sugar." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, but Éponine paid no mind.

Just as he was about to walk out the door, she looked up. "Wait. Can you come by here at 7 to watch Azelma and Gavroche again?"

"Going to visit your boyfriend, I see." Montparnasse said, and Éponine fought back a blush and/or a smack. He scoffed, looking a little hurt, but eventually nodded. "Alright. But you owe me, 'Ponine." And with that, he left.

Éponine sighed, and let her head fall onto the table, where she closed her eyes and let her thoughts race through her mind.

Firstly, she needed to find some way to get her parents out of jail before they threw her or her siblings or even Montparnasse under the bus, and worry about her father's previous gang and how they were now on Delmont's side. Perhaps that was a good thing, because she knew how they worked, but Delmont would warp their minds to no repair, and turn them into monsters.

Secondly, she still had Enjolras on the mind. She hadn't stopped thinking about him ever since last night, and it was almost torture for her to sit next to him this morning because that dream was so vivid, and the worst thing was that she liked it. How could she possibly come to develop a crush on the marble man, the leader of a revolution, and now in charge of keeping a gang of rogue policemen and criminals from terrorizing their home? He was too much of a friend, but apparently now she could only see him as a romantic partner.

Whatever happened to her feelings for Marius? Sure, she still felt that awful pang of heartache every time she saw him, but it was much duller now than it was on that night Marius and Cosette met.

That seemed like such a long time ago. Éponine smiled a little at the memory; that was the same night she met Enjolras. Or, rather, saw him. Perhaps it was fate telling her to let go of Marius and move on to Enjolras? Despite everything awful that had happened in her life, Éponine still believed in Cupid's arrow and fate and all that superstitious fluff.

But she didn't want to be 'in love' with another man again. It hurt too much before, and it didn't end well for her. She still had that note that Cosette had written, up in her room, underneath her bed. Perhaps if she read it, then she would know for sure if she was still in love with Marius or not. Éponine got up and hurried to her room, lifting up the mattress and pulling out the note.

She took a deep breath, sitting on the crumpled and dirty sheets. The memory of falling asleep in Enjolras' bed warmed her heart, and she smiled a little, but quickly shook her head and tore open the note.

'Dearest Marius,

It was on this night that I feel my life has truly begun. I never knew that there was such a thing as love at first sight, until I laid my eyes on you. Marius, my dear Marius, I love saying and writing and hearing and thinking your name! I have never been more happy in my life; you seem to have illuminated it like a candle on a cold winter's night, and everything is warm and soft and pure and I love you.

Is it too soon to be saying such things? I don't care. I love you, I know I do, and I will miss you dearly. You see, my father has told me that in about 2 months, we will be leaving Chicago and go to London. I'm not sure why, dear Marius, but he will not explain or reconsider. I will spend as much time as I can with you, if you wish.

My heart aches to even think of leaving you, so promise me to just be with me and not think about my leaving for a while. I just want to take in as much of you as I can before I go. I love you, Marius. I love you.

Cosette'

Hm. She felt nothing. Nothing except worry for Marius and Cosette and how guilty she felt for never giving this to Marius. How dare she! That wasn't her place, and now Marius and Cosette had about a month and a half left together.

Although, she couldn't help but think about how she didn't feel any lovesickness or heartache for Marius. To be honest, she felt closure; Éponine now knew for sure that there was absolutely no chance of her and Marius getting together in that way, and she felt happy. She felt free.

Éponine stood and gave a huge sigh of relief.

"'Ponine, we're hungry." Gavroche said behind her, from the doorway.

Éponine turned around and smiled, tucking the letter back under her bed. She would give it to Marius tonight, if he would be at Enjolras' apartment. Thinking of Enjolras now gave Éponine a little feeling of excitement coursing through her and she felt a little tingle up her spine.

"Alright, I'll go and get us some food." She said, walking past her brother and ruffling his hair. He grunted, and mussed his hair back to its place.

"How are you gonna do that? You don't have no money." He said sourly, crossing his arms; he must not have eaten last night.

"Any money." She corrected. On her spare time, Éponine would teach Azelma and Gavroche what Enjolras taught her; or perhaps she could have Enjolras teach them himself! "And, yes I do! I pickpocketed an old geezer last night, got myself a 20. I can get you and Azelma anything you want!" She smiled, and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. Gavroche lit up, and called Azelma down as he listed all of the things he wanted.

"Donuts, chocolate, French fries, a hot dog, a-" Gavroche was interrupted by Azelma.

"Some pizza! And some bonbons! And also that good bread from the bakery we stole from that one time!"

Éponine chuckled; she might be able to get just about everything on that list, and she figured they deserved a delicious feast after last night. "Alright! I'll be back in a jiffy, be good to each other!" She called, then hurried out of the house, making sure to lock it behind her, and made her way to the market.


"You know, I didn't know my mouf could hold vis much shtuff." Gavroche said around a mouthful of various food bits Éponine had bought (with $1.50 to spare!), and both Éponine and Azelma laughed. Azelma threw a piece of bread into Gavroche's open mouth, and cackled when he didn't notice because of all the food stuffed in his cheeks.

"This is sooo good, Éponine!" Azelma said happily, taking another bite of the deep-dish pizza from a very good pizzeria from down the street. "You know, the rich can buy all the caviar or cars or whatever it is they buy, but we can get food and actually appreciate it!"

"Amen!" Gavroche laughed after he finally swallowed his food. He went to work on another slice of pizza, and Éponine smiled contentedly.

"Very true, Azelma. But, you know, not all rich people are bad." She pointed out, biting off a piece of bread with jam.

Azelma raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, we kinda discovered how bad rich people are at that party last night. Those stupid riches had their hands all over me, and they tried to make Gavroche into some kinda little gentleman or something. They think that if we don't live like them, then we have zero happiness, which I think is unfair, because we do. Sometimes."

Éponine stayed silent; that was true. Enjolras and the rest of Les Amis probably treated Éponine specially because they felt sorry for her just because she didn't grow up like they did. A little flare of anger sparked inside her, but she kept it smothered because she didn't want to get unnecessarily angry. Besides, they were good to her, right?

"Yeah! And this group of boys I got sucked into were so stuck up, it's like I could see the stick in their ass. They kept asking me these questions about classes I'm taking or something stupid like that. Ech, I never wanna learn out of a textbook. I got all my smarts right here, out on the streets." He grinned, chewing more bites of his pizza.

"I knew you snuck in even though maman told you not to!" Azelma exclaimed, throwing a pepperoni at Gavroche, who caught it between his teeth with a cackle.

Éponine gulped. He didn't want to learn? But learning was so fun and empowering! It made Éponine feel superior to her family in every way, and she didn't feel that way often; was that a bad thing? Perhaps she shouldn't learn or help Enjolras anymore. If she stayed out of the revolution and the sure soon-to-be fight between Delmont and Les Amis, then she wouldn't put her life at risk, and she could always pickpocket the corpses like her mother and father had done to multiple people in the streets.

She winced at the very thought of walking over Les Amis' dead bodies, reaching into their pockets, and then just leaving them there. How could she possibly do that to anyone? That was so immoral and wrong; but how would she know? She was raised to use whatever means possible to get money; why was she suddenly feeling guilty about whenever she stole or drank or did anything illegal?

Because she was getting smart. Ignorance is bliss, after all. That saying always stuck in Éponine's head ever since she read it in a book in the Musain, next to Enjolras. Perhaps Éponine needed to quit while she was ahead, before she hurt herself further. After all, this learning would get her nowhere if she couldn't get into a university like Les Amis.

Plus, she had all the smarts she needed, like Gavroche said. And if she kept hanging out with Les Amis, what if she developed an even bigger crush for Enjolras? What if that crush didn't go away? What if, because she abandoned her family for intelligence, Les Amis kicked her out one day and then she would have nowhere to go with nothing but knowledge about history and oxford commas?

"That's true." Éponine said quietly; her brain wouldn't shut up. Perhaps it would be better if she abandoned Les Amis; then, she wouldn't have to worry about her life being at stake, and she could lay low like she always did.

But something about that sounded boring. She had been laying low all her life, in the shadows and the muck and the dark. Now she finally had a chance to actually do something with her life! If she died young, it would be for a good cause and she would be dying with people she loved. Éponine knew how bad gang fights could get, and based on what she was hearing about Delmont, he would most definitely one day start a fight with Les Amis, and it would get bloody fast. There would be casualties, just like there always were, because she suspected Delmont fought dirty.

But Les Amis didn't know that. How could they? None of them had experience like she, and they needed her whether they thought so or not. She didn't want them to die because they didn't know what they were dealing with.

So, no. She wasn't going to abandon Les Amis just because she was scared of a crush, or because she was scared of what her family would think of her. As much as she loved Azelma and Gavroche, Éponine needed to go her own way at one point or another, and that point was presenting itself now, so she was opting to take the road less traveled and go with her gut.

"Mm, smells good!" Montparnasse said from the doorway. Éponine looked up, and raised an eyebrow. "It's almost 7, doll, you better hurry on over to your boyfriend. Keeping him waiting would be quite rude." He grinned, and Éponine rolled her eyes.

"I'll be gone in a minute." She said, walking upstairs to her room. She still hadn't changed out of her party dress from last night, and she didn't really want to, but Éponine did miss her old clothes. Plus, the red dress was not exactly clean, since she had been sweating bullets when she was being held captive by that brute last night in front of Delmont. She slipped on a simple, worn light blue dress along with her normal shoes, and grabbed a shawl and wrapped it around her for a little bit of extra warmth. As she exited her room, she tucked the letter Cosette had written to Marius in her pocket, and walked down the stairs; Montparnasse was waiting at the foot of them with her cloche hat in hand.

She hadn't worn that since the night Marius and Cosette had met… Éponine snatched it out of his hands and shoved it onto her head, glaring at him angrily. No matter what, she hated his presence.

"Have fun, darling." Montparnasse grinned, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Don't tell me what to do." She said back; it was a stupid comment, but Éponine just wanted to piss him off a little.

Montparnasse chuckled, and walked over to Azelma and Gavroche.

"Ooooh, Éponine's off to see her boyfriend!" Gavroche hollered, and Éponine blushed as she slammed the front door closed. Azelma's and Gavroche's giggles were heard from behind the door, and Éponine couldn't help but smile as she made her way out of her neighborhood to find a taxi.


With only 75 cents left due to the taxi ride, Éponine was standing once again outside of Enjolras' apartment complex. She smiled at the memory of him with his dislocated jaw and how funny he sounded, but then she remembered her dream memory of his jaw and his stubble brushing against her skin, and she pushed the thought out of her mind.

She looked to her left, and noticed that a police car was parked just across the street from the apartment buildings. Panic began to rise, and she felt bile in her throat as she quickly made her way into the apartment, stepping into the elevator with her eyes to the floor.

The police were here? What if they were onto her? What if Delmont had made up some lie about Enjolras and now he was being arrested? What if they found the Musain and they were here to arrest everyone who ever visited that speakeasy? Éponine set her jaw, refusing to let her panic show; she had to keep a clear head, to lie to get out of a sticky situation, just like always.

The elevator opened on Enjolras' floor, and she stepped out holding her head high. She was sure that the police were here for her friends or for her; if they only wanted Éponine, she would go without a fight. Montparnasse would take care of Azelma and Gavroche, as much as she hated the thought, because he really did care about them.

Then again, what if that police car belonged to Delmont and he was here to finish the job he had begun at The Lucky Clover?

That thought made Éponine's pace quicken. No, if Enjolras was in pain or danger, she needed to save him. Just like she did last time, because she owed him that. He had done so much for her, and she cared for him so much already, and she almost ran into Enjolras' apartment door, not even attempting to knock. She flung the door open, breathing quickly because her thoughts got the better of her and she was most definitely panicked.

The apartment was filled with all of Les Amis; Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, and Joly at the table; Marius and Cosette, and Bahorel and Musichetta at the counter; Grantaire next to Jehan, Feuilly, Bahorel, and Bossuet.

They all turned to look at her, along with the four policemen in the room with crossed arms and stern expressions.

"Yep, that's her."