I wrote this as kind of a sequel to a fic of mine called "Valjean, Cosette and a sore knee". I think it works, and i like writing about Cosette and her son.

Summary: Cosette shares a childhood memory with her son Jean

Cosette was busying herself one afternoon with some household duties while her children were happily playing in the garden, she missed being a child sometimes and having that freedom to play, she felt like it had passed her by too quickly. Still, she wouldn't give up this life for anything, it was too good.

She had a lot of happy memories from her childhood, mostly because of her father and the love that she had received from him, but she also knew there were some bad ones in there too. She preferred not to think about bad things though, and liked to focus on good memories and the new ones she was creating now with her own children, that was a better way to live than to think about bad things, life was too good to think about bad things.

Suddenly the peace was shattered when she heard one of her children crying and calling for her, it was Jean, her five-year old son and he sounded terrible.

"What is it? What's the matter?" She asked him slightly panicked as he walked back into the house in tears and looking extremely pained.

"Mama I fell over and I hurt my knee" he said through his tears, making more of a fuss than was necessary over a small scrape on his knee. Jean was such a soft little boy compared to his brother Courfeyrac who was a tough little man already. It might have had something to do with the fact that Cosette mothered him too much. She couldn't help it though, he had been her first boy and she was especially fond of him.

"Oh sweetheart" she cooed at him "Let mama see". She knelt down to look at her sons knee, it was a little dirty and scraped but it wasn't bleeding and didn't look too badly hurt. "It doesn't look that bad darling". She said sweetly to him.

"It hurts!" he whined again clutching at his knee.

"Alright, Mama will take care of you, don't worry sweetheart". She said to him as she picked him up and brought him into the kitchen to fix him up. She placed him on a table and found some rags and water and sat in front of him to begin cleaning up his wound.

As Cosette was mending her sons knee that afternoon a memory stirred in her mind and she smiled softly to herself, remembering a time when she fell badly and cut her knee and her father bandaged her up. It was a nice memory, one of the many she had of her father. Sometimes her life now was so busy with children and her husband and managing the household that she didn't have time to think about her past, it was nice to remember her father like this. In fact she decided to share this nice memory with her son to try to settle him down.

"You know sweetheart" Cosette said, "When I was a little girl my father did this exact same thing to me when I hurt my knee once. He took care of me and cleaned me up and put a bandage over it to stop it hurting".

"Really?" he asked, still sniffling through tears.

"Mmm hmm" she nodded, focusing on cleaning him up.

"Why didn't your mama take care of you?" He asked innocently, not knowing anything about her past yet.

Cosette paused for a moment, remembering a painful memory that she would rather not share, but then deciding that her son was old enough now to know the truth.

"My mama died when I was very young, my father was all I had". Cosette told him.

"I'm sorry" Jean told her sweetly, he was a very sensitive little boy, especially to his mothers feelings.

"It's alright my darling" she told her boy "My father was a very good man and I loved him very much, I was very happy with him Jean."

"How come I've never met him?" Jean asked, which made Cosette look sad again.

"He died not long after I married your father". She told her boy, very matter of factly. "It was very sad, but it was a long time ago sweetheart".

"Do you miss him?" he asked his mother, now fully calmed down from his ordeal.

Cosette felt herself hold back some tears, in truth she still missed her father every day, but sometimes her life kept her so busy that she had no time to think of him. It was nice for her to have this moment with her son to talk about him.

"I miss him every day sweetheart" She told Jean with a smile "Even when I don't realise it I know that I miss him. He's always a part of me, do you understand that?" She asked, realising that might be a bit too deep for a five-year old to comprehend.

He nodded, not really understanding her but wanting to please his mother so much that he lied.

"In fact, that's where your name comes from Jean. I named you after him so I could keep his memory with me. He was very special to me, and now you're very special to me too. I was very proud to be his daughter and now I'm very proud to be your mother, that's why I gave you his name".

Jean smiled at his mother again, who had just finished cleaning up his knee.

"There we are, all better. Wasn't that a big fuss about nothing? It's not even bleeding see". She said sweetly to her son, who just gave her a sad look as if to say he was still hurting inside.

"Aww, don't give me that look". Cosette said, teasing him "Can you be a tough little man for me today?" But Jean just shook his head.

Cosette smiled at her sweet little boy and then kissed his sore knee softly, "Is that better now?" she asked him and then Jean nodded his head happily.

A little while later Cosette was sitting in the parlour with Jean in her lap, he needed to feel special today so she made some time to be with just him. He was curling his fingers through her long hair happily as she held him like a baby again.

The little guy fell asleep in his mothers arms that afternoon, it wasn't uncommon for him to need a nap sometimes just like her other children so she let him sleep there happily.
She loved her son so much; he was a very special little man to her. Cosette loved all of her children equally and she didn't play favourites, but her eldest Marie very much a daddies girl and her twins had each other, so that meant Jean who was in the middle right now was Cosettes very own little boy to cherish.

Cosette ran her fingers through Jeans soft hair gently, not wanting to wake him, she just wanted to enjoy the moment with her son. She had always thought Jean was a very special little boy, she knew it was impossible but she could swear she saw a lot of her father in him and sometimes it made her sad to look at him.

She smiled at him and kissed his hair softly, she hadn't realised it but going over her childhood memories earlier had made her more upset than she thought it would. She missed her father, it hadn't gotten any easier over the years even though she had gotten better at hiding her grief, but she still missed him terribly. She sat there with her sleeping son that afternoon and shed a few tears as she held him. He was all she had of him now even though she knew he wasn't connected to her father by blood at all. Just knowing that he shared her fathers name was enough for her though; as long as she had that then he would always be a part of her, and she thanked God for that.

In fact she thanked God every day just for her father, and even more for her son.