CHAPTER NINE (THURSDAY)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Les Miserables.

A/N: GUYS the reviews you've been giving me are amazing, I really appreciate them! You're all perfect.

This contains some more angst... sorry... But, I made up for it, because YAY ENJOLRAS POV! We get to see the inner workings of our handsome rebel with a heart of stone. (Well, his heart isn't particularly stony in this story, because later on there will be romantic interaction – a fair bit later on - but he's still pretty Enjolras-y. I hope...)


Eponine felt pain rushing through her body before she even properly woke up. There was a pounding in her head and all her limbs felt stiff.

"Eponine, wake up, please..." A voice pleaded.

She took a deep breath, which resulted in the feeling of knifes scraping at her stomach, and tried to open her eyes. Her vision was blurred but she could just make out the outline of her brother, kneeling over her body. She tried saying his name but her throat was dry and her voice was so croaky she could barely pronounce a syllable.

As Eponine tried and failed to sit up, flashes of the previous night came back to her.

"Ep?" Gavroche's voice sounded again.

Think you're above this life missy?

"Should I get someone?"

Think you're better than us?

"Eponine, you're bleeding."

Well you're not!

"Can you say something, please?"

You are low.

"Dad might come! You have to get up!"

You are scum.

"Should I call the ambulance?"

D'you think your fancy university friends think you're better than this?

"I'll call Joly..."

Do they even know who you really are?

"Don't... call..." Eponine tried. She couldn't let them see her this way; she couldn't let them find out about her life.

"Ponine, you're bleeding and I don't know what to do..."

She heard her brother crying and was reaching her hand out to console him when suddenly she felt herself going limp and darkness took over again.


As usual, Enjolras had been up since 6am, after getting about 4 hours of sleep. He was drinking coffee and looking over notes from a lecture the other day, hoping they could help him with his next rally, enjoying the silence that came before Courfeyrac woke (usually around 10am since somehow the man had pulled some strings and gotten all afternoon classes that semester). The notes were from his political class the other day (politics was his major, journalism his minor) where the lecturer had covered some interesting points that would surely help with his latest cause.

It had always been like this, ever since Enjolras' good friend had moved in last year. They worked very well as roommates because they both spent time together in the evenings, either at the bar or the café, and sometimes they would stay together till very late at night, but in the mornings they had completely different routines, which meant they never saw each other until at least 4pm.

It was very convenient because by the evening Courfeyrac had woken himself up and Enjolras had calmed himself down and they could both deal with each other without wanting to rip off the other's head.

Yes, Enjolras liked the way things worked with his roommate, and he especially liked the way it was going this semester. It was only the 4th week of classes, but things were already going his way. He was on top of all his schoolwork, which gave him more free time to spend on the constant fight for social justice.

So maybe he was more than a little disappointed when Courfeyrac burst into the kitchen, one hand holding a phone to his left ear and the other doing up the zip on his jeans.

Enjolras had half a mind to walk over to his friend and throw the phone down on the floor – it was his quiet time and Courf knew that – but the other man looked so distraught and messy that the blonde decided that it might be a very important manner.

"Is she breathing? Gav, check for breath."

Okay, it was definitely a very important matter. Enjolras frowned, and got up from his chair.

"Fucking – sorry, I shouldn't have said that... yeah I know you've heard it before, but your sister... no, listen to me, she might be... Gavroche!" Courfeyrac's said the name sternly, and Enjolras had never heard his friend use that kind of tone before. "She might be pissed off when she wakes up, but we have to come over there. Which would you prefer, your sister dying or your sister being mad at you? Shit... I'm sorry, I just... can you please tell me where you guys live? Gav, come on!"

Enjolras walked over at that point, gave Courfeyrac a look and took the phone.

"Gavroche, it's Enjolras." The blonde began. "Can you explain to me what happened?"

"Eponine got caught sneaking in last night, I think." The little boy's voice was so scared and upset that it was hard to listen to him. "I just... I woke up this morning and she was lying on the couch... She's been... there's blood everywhere, it... it's never been this bad. I think someone moved her from the ground, because she can't move on her own. I tried to get her to talk but she's not breathing properly and I don't know what to do."

How did this happen? Enjolras briefly wondered, before reminding himself that those questions could be asked later.

"Gavroche, can you tell me where you are?"

"I'm at home."

"Where is that?"

"I promised... I promised 'Ponine I'd never say."

The man resisted the urge to growl. Gavroche was just a kid.

"This is very important, Gav."

"I can't!"

Enjolras sighed. He knew how stubborn both Gavroche and Eponine could be. He was about to hand the phone back to Courf when suddenly an idea popped into his head. "Can you meet us outside, on the pavement? Get someone to help you move her, and then you'll only have to tell us which street you live on."

There was silence for a moment. "Okay, I'll try to find someone."

Then the boy hung up.

Enjolras cursed, as he hadn't thought to ask Gavroche to stay on the phone, and started to call the boy again, when Courfeyrac's phone buzzed with a new text. Enjolras opened it without even considering that it might be personal, but thankfully, it was just Gavroche texting the address.

The taller man nodded to his friend, told him the address, and gestured that he would lead the way.


Eponine's head was still swimming, and she could barely open her eyes. She felt completely numb (but that's good, she told herself, I can't feel the pain this way) and she couldn't taste or smell a thing.

So how could she still hear her brother and sister arguing?

"Fuck off, Gav, I'm not helping her. She's gone through it a million times."

"It's much worse this time. Have you even looked at her?"

"Not really - hey, get your hands off me!"

The voices grew louder, indicating her siblings had come closer to her.

"Gav, what... Jesus Christ. What did she do to get a beating like this?"

"I don't know, but I'm really worried. Her friends are coming but they're picking her up at the corner of the street and I can't get her there."

"I can't lift her."

"We'll do it together. Please, Azelma... I'm scared and I need her to be okay. You owe her."

Silence.

"Fuck. Fine, fine, I'll do it. But only because it's this bad."

"Thank you so much, 'Zelma!"

"Alright, no need for any of that hugging bullshit. And don't call me 'Zelma."

Then the voices quickly faded away.


"Are you sure this is it?" Courfeyrac said worriedly, eyes darting around the empty streets.

"It's coming up on the left." Enjolras replied sharply from the driver's seat.

"On the left? I can't see... wait, wait, is that them?"

Enjolras slowed the car down for a moment until his eyes confirmed that Courfeyrac was right, and then he quickly drove up to the corner. He didn't bother to properly turn off the car. He and his friend got out of their seats and ran over to where Gavroche and a girl Enjolras didn't know were holding Eponine.

As soon as he was close to them, Enjolras felt like throwing up and punching something simultaneously. The unconscious girl was covered in bruises and blood. She looked so fragile and weak, so unlike how she presented herself normally. No traces of the strong and resilient girl he'd come to know could be seen – she was in pieces.

Courfeyrac took Eponine from Gavroche and the other girl, who Enjolras assumed was Azelma, the other sibling that Eponine had spoken about. She had a face that was very similar to Eponine's, just a bit sharper and meaner looking (but if Enjolras was being honest, she wasn't nearly as beautiful as Eponine – not that it mattered anyway).

"Shit, Gav, what happened?" Courfeyrac muttered, holding Eponine close to his chest and taking her over to the car as quickly as he could.

She looks wrong in his arms. Enjolras thought to himself, before shaking his head and realizing that he was being ridiculous and that there were far more pressing matters to deal with.

"I don't know..." Gavroche lied (badly), getting into the car and sitting next to Courf who was still holding Eponine.

Enjolras made his way over to the car quickly, and got in the driver's seat.

"We need to get to a hospital." He stated, turning on the car.

"She doesn't have insurance." His friend said from the backseat.

The blonde sighed and rubbed his face. "We have to get her some medical help."

"Joly and Combeferre."

"Courf, they're only medical students, they're not qualified-"

"They're our best chance."

"... Okay."


When Eponine woke, she almost screamed. She didn't recognize the room she was in at all – it was white floor, white walls, white sheets, grey lamp. Then she saw the medical textbooks, and noticed that Courfeyrac was sleeping on the sofa and Enjolras was staring at his hands and pacing the room, which helped her come to the conclusion that she was safe, and calmed her down a fair bit.

"What's going on?" She whispered, her voice feeling andsounding hoarse.

Enjolras stopped pacing immediately and turned to face her. His face displayed shock, then concern, then more shock.

"Eponine, you're awake. I was worried..." He trailed off.

"Where am I?" Eponine asked, feeling an ache start up in her body.

"You're at Joly and Combeferre's."

"What happened?"

Enjolras' lips tightened, and he looked at his hands again. "We were hoping you could tell us. Gavroche called us up this morning, scared shitless and talking about how he'd found you unconscious on a couch. He wouldn't tell us where you were, because he didn't want to give away your home address, but he said you were really badly injured, so he and your sister carried you to the corner of the street and Courf and I picked you up, then took you here. Joly said you have no broken bones but you're in very bad shape."

Eponine's eyes widened. "That's a lot to take in."

"I know... I'm sorry. Joly would probably be better at explaining this to you. He's taking some important test right now and he left you in our hands. Combeferre's doing the same at his uni."

"How long have I been here?"

Enjolras looked at his watch. "About 5 hours. Joly said you probably wouldn't wake up till much later."

"I'm tough." The brunette said sharply. The memories of how she got so beaten up were coming back to her now, and for the life of her, she couldn't come up with a good cover story.

"So, what happened?" Enjolras asked finally.

Eponine shut her eyes tight and tried to think. "I... I think I fell down the stairs. Someone must have moved me to the couch before Gavroche found me."

Her friend scoffed. "Yeah, sure. What's the real story here?"

"I told you the real story." Eponine said.

"No, you fed me a bunch of bullshit and I'm not falling for it."

"It's not bullshit! Jesus, Enj, what do you think happened?"

The man said nothing.

"Eponine, you're up!"

The brunette turned to see that Courfeyrac had gotten up from the couch and was smiling at her.

"So are you." She replied with a smirk.

"How are you feeling?"

Eponine shrugged. "I've been better."

Courfeyrac gave her a sympathetic look, and went to stand beside the bed she was lying in.

"She fell down a flight of stairs." Enjolras muttered from his place. She shot him a look – what had made him decide to go along with her story?

Her other friend frowned. "Doesn't sound like you."

"I'm always running into doors and tripping over at home. I'm clumsier than Grantaire when he's drunk." Eponine lied again.

"Well, you do show up to the café or the bar with bruises sometimes." Enjolras said, raising an eyebrow as if challenging her. She hadn't realized that her makeup hadn't quite covered up in those cases, but at least it seemed that Enjolras was the only one who noticed.

She didn't want to explicitly state it, but she did give him a look that clearly said 'I don't care if I'm injured, I will kick you in the nuts if you don't shut up'. Instead of shrinking back like her other friends normally did when given that look, he held her gaze.

"You guys okay?" Courf broke the silence, and the staring match.

"Fine. I'm feeling much better, actually."

Okay, that's only a white lie. She thought to herself.

"Do you want to try and get up?" Courfeyrac suggested.

Just as she was about to reply, Enjolras cut her off. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"I'm resilient, Enj, you know that." Eponine tried for a light-hearted tone. "I've been through worse."

He frowned even harder at that.

"Come on, I have to leave here sometime." Her eyes found a clock on the wall that read '12:48'. "Shit, I missed my lecture."

"I called the university." Enjolras said, not meeting her eyes.

"Oh, uh... Thanks." Eponine said. How had he remembered her schedule? "Lucky I don't have work today. Anyway, I need to get home soon."

She was dreading the thought of leaving the safe comfort of her friends, but she had to get home and clean up the mess she'd made with her father before he decided to take it out on Azelma or Gavroche.

"Don't be stupid, Ep, you can't go home." Courfeyrac told her.

"Fuck you, Courf, I can take care of myself." Eponine had intended on saying the words in a jokey manner but they came out a bit more stern than she'd expected.

"I know that. Look, we don't know much about your home life, but we've been talking to Gavroche, and we've decided you can't go back to that house."

"Courfeyrac, that sounds a lot like an order, and you know I don't take orders from anyone."

Except your asshole of a dad, of course. The more cynical part of her sneered.

"He's not trying to order you around, but if you fell down the stairs and couldn't rely on your parents to get you to a hospital, then you can't live there." Enjolras stepped forward.

"Where the fuck am I supposed to stay, then?"

Enjolras and Courfeyrac shared a look.

"With us."


A/N: What? What is this? Proper E/E interaction? WHAT?!

Hah... but in all seriousness, I hope this was believable. Obviously Enjolras is kind of OOC in this story because at some point he's probably going to have romantic feelings for something other than Patria (gasp) and in the brick, he was kind of portrayed as asexual. Some people say he was gay for Grantaire, which I find hard to believe to be honest. I'm not hating on that ship – in fact, I rather like one-sided R/E – but if we're going off the brick, I just don't find it believable that Enjolras would feel the same.

Then again, my OTP never even had any real interaction, so I should probably keep my mouth shut and keep writing crack fic.

What do you guys think about Eponine moving in with Enjolras and Courfeyrac? Of course, she technically hasn't agreed yet, but spoiler alert: she will, at least for a while.

Xx

Abigailbelleofkilronan