"Speaking of Gavroche" Courfeyrac said, "this seems like a nice place for us to end our walk."

Eponine looked at him confused before she realized that they were in the town square where so many of the street boys spent their days. Perhaps Gavroche had been here that day she came looking for him. "Where is he?" she asked.

"Gavroche?" Courfeyrac answered.

Eponine gave him an exasperated look before responding sarcastically, "Yes, Gavroche."

"He usually spends his time over there" he pointed to a wide road bordering the other end of the square.

"For some reason he likes the carriage traffic." Eponine made her way over to the road that Courfeyrac had pointed out and after several minutes she saw a small form with a head of unkempt hair darting between the carriages, popping his head in occasionally asking for a coin or two. Eponine stood watching him for a while before making her way over to him and tapping him on the shoulder. He whipped around quite defensively, her innocent brother had obviously had to change in his months on the streets, she just hoped not too much.

"Hey Gavroche" she said.

"Eponine" Gavroche said, in a tone that Eponine had a hard time placing. He was certainly surprised to see his sister and slightly disappointed that she had interrupted his process.

"Courfeyrac!" she heard Gavroche call as he grabbed her hand and started walking in the direction that she had come from. Gavroche was surprisingly strong and as Eponine turned around she saw that Courfeyrac had been standing watching the whole thing. Once Gavroche had dragged Eponine over to where Courfeyrac was standing he said, "Courfeyrac, this is my sister Eponine."

"Yes, we've met." Courfeyrac answered.

"What?" Gavroche said sounding slightly concerned and confused.

"I went looking for you this morning at Chiot de Combat, and found Courfeyrac instead." Eponine answered

"Oh" said Gavroche, this response seeming to be enough for him. He stood looking at Eponine and Courfeyrac for a couple moments before sighing and saying, "well if there isn't anything else I'm going to go." As he turned and started to walk away Eponine found herself disappointed. She had worked so hard to get herself to Gavroche, to find him and make sure he was okay, but he seemed to have found a new family and things to occupy his time.

Just as Gavroche had almost disappeared among the carriages again Courfeyrac called after him, "Hey 'Roche, you don't think we forgot your birthday did you?" At this Gavroche turned around and beamed before running back to them. At the mention of Gavroche's birthday Eponine's felt blown back by embarrassment and guilt, how had she forgotten Gavroche's birthday when she had been talking about her own birthday not long before? She remembered when Gavroche was born she was so excited to have a little brother; she thought that he was a birthday present for her. Back then her parents loved pleasing her and were more than happy to go along with this fantasy; things had changed a lot since then.

When Gavroche ran back to Eponine and Courfeyrac and directed his attention towards Eponine. She smiled at him before responding, "of course, how could I forget your birthday?"

At that Courfeyrac handed a five franc piece over to Gavroche, "Happy Birthday, have fun."

"Five Francs!" Gavroche replied. Eponine agreed with his surprise and with it felt a pang of jealously. The three francs that she owed her father still weighed on her mind, and that five francs could be the answer to her problem. She forced this thought out of her mind, no the five francs was for Gavroche, it was his day.

"Five francs for a fifth birthday, I thought it seemed appropriate." At this Gavroche nodded, looking down at the money in his hands; after some time Eponine elbowed him, although she was jealous of the money that Gavroche had gotten, she wasn't going to let her brother forget his manners.

"Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome. Well, I've got to get going."

"But it is my birthday."

"And if I am not home soon my father is going to start wondering where I am, but you have a good day with your sister, take some time off, give the carriages a rest for the day."

"Will do." Gavroche said.

"It was nice to meet you Eponine, I'm sure I'll see you around again"

"It was nice to meet you as well Monsieur."

At this Courfeyrac turned and walked away, and after a moment he put his hand in his pocket and pulled a small object out and threw it Eponine's way. She put out her hand and caught it, opening up her fist she looked down and saw a five franc piece.

"In case I don't see you again before your birthday," Courfeyrac called back after her.

"Thank you Monsieur" she called in response. At this Courfeyrac turned and walked out of sight. Eponine shifted her attention back to Gavroche and asked, "So Gavroche, how do you want to spend your birthday?"

"Well I was actually going to go and meet the boys down by the river, they said they have a surprise for me."

"Well that sounds like a good time." Eponine said. After a few awkward moments Gavroche just looked at her and Eponine realized that Gavroche did not intend for Eponine to come along with him. "Can I walk you there at least?" She asked, hoping for some sort of consolidation prize.

Gavroche smiled, "sure" he said. Perhaps he actually did miss her. Eponine was just realizing it would take some time for him to trust her again, but she would get there, she was confident. As they walked to the river Eponine tried to get some sense of Gavroche's life since she last saw him. He did really love the boys that he lived with, it seemed that they all cared for each other, none of them ever went hungry. He seemed to be particularly close to Courfeyrac, who Gavroche said sometimes called him his younger brother. Eponine didn't know whether to be touched by this or betrayed, she didn't want anyone to take her place, but she was glad to see that others had come to care about Gavroche as much as she did. Once she got to the river she saw a group of boys and recognized Tyce standing among them.

Gavroche turned to Eponine, "thanks for the walk Eponine, will I see you tomorrow?"

"I hope so." Eponine said, "Happy Birthday, have a good night."

"Ok" Gavroche said, and at that he turned and ran off to the rest of the boys. Eponine stood and watched him until she was sure that he was with them and safe; even though she knew by now that he could take care of himself. Tyce looked up and waved at her and she waved back before turning around and beginning to walk away.

"Eponine!" she heard an out of breath voice call from behind her. She turned around to see Tyce jogging to catch up with her. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah" Eponine sighed, "you know, places to go."

"Why don't you stay?" he asked, "celebrate Gavroche's birthday with us."

"Nah" Eponine replied "he seemed really excited to be spending it with you guys."

Tyce looked at her for a moment.

"He's glad you're back." He said.

"What?"

"Gavroche, he is glad that you are back, a little confused perhaps, but mostly glad."

"I didn't…" Eponine started before Tyce interrupted her again.

"I know Gavroche can be a little hard to read sometimes, he doesn't really show is true feelings straight off, I thought you would like to know."

"I know" Eponine replied defensively.

"Okay, good." Tyce stood there for a moment longer.

He seemed oddly unsure of himself, standing in front of her without a knife as a distraction or for protection, although Eponine was sure it was hidden somewhere. She wondered if she should say something about his brother, say how sorry she felt, and how grateful she was that he had adopted Gavroche into his group. But instead she just said, "The boys will be wondering where you've gone."

"Yeah I really should be getting back." Eponine's voice seeming to snap Tyce back into the moment, "will you be back tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'll try."

"Okay good, that's good, it is good for Gavroche that you keep coming back." He turned to leave before turning back again, "stay warm."

"Huh?" Eponine hadn't quite heard what he had said.

"Stay warm, it is going to be a cold night tonight, I can tell."

"Will you and the boys be alright?"

"Oh yeah we'll be fine, we always manage, see you around Eponine." Just as she had done with her brother she waited to watch Tyce return to the group of boys before turning and heading for home. If it was going to be a cold night as Tyce at said it was best she spent it indoors, she had already gotten the three francs her father had wanted, plus some.

As she neared the front door to her apartment she could hear the voices of multiple men speaking with her father who they seemed to be treating as their leader. He screamed at them obviously not pleased about something that they had done. Eponine did not realize that her father had friends, or more a gang from the sound of it. But whoever they were and whatever was going on it sounded like something that best not be interrupted by Eponine so she decided to wait in the hall. She didn't have to wait for long, because after only five minutes the door to her apartment flung open. Out of surprise she jumped up and pressed herself against the wall as three large men and one man who looked to be quite a bit younger passed by her. The last and youngest paused for a moment and looked Eponine up and down, she only looked at him for a moment before deflecting her glance to the ground. Although the young man seemed to be only Tyce or Courfeyrac's age something about him made Eponine feel ashamed. After what felt like ages the young man yelled back in the direction of her apartment, "Thenardier, your brat is home," before sauntering off again with the rest of the gang.