And here is the new chapter for you all: D
I hope you all like it, please review and let me know what you think
Eponine took a deep breath in order to calm herself as she stood outside her run down home. She thought about the times before it all went wrong for her family, before they lost the hotel, before they lost the money. They had been happy before they lost it all. Eponine tried to remember seeing her parents smile after they came to city. She knew for sure that they never smiled when it came to little Gavroche. Her mother had wanted a little girl, not a boy. And he was sickly. Being born premature, her parents were forced to pay the hospital bills. Azelma had adored him just has much as Eponine did. She would be happy to see him now. There were times where Eponine believed that her parents had lost all ability to care when they lost the money. They had not appeared to care when Azelma died and she knew that they did not care about the loss of a second children when they sent Gavroche away.
Upon entering the house, Eponine found her parents in the kitchen. Her mother, dressed in her usual tattered dress and jacket, stood at the table pouring beer for her husband. Mr Thenardiar watched her intently, but his gaze soon turned to Eponine. "Where have you been girl, you have missed an entire day of work!" He asked
"I have been working papa, I've been with the young men in the red light district" Eponine replied "I promise papa, this proves it". With that, she passed her father the notes.
Thenardiar smiled counting the notes to the sum of 100 euros. When he found the cheque, he gasped, a grin across his face "well, what did you do to get this little lady, 1000 euros in a cheque?"
Eponine paled. She hadn't known that was there. "Well, papa" she started. She had to think fast and make it believable. "I went to this little bar right down the alleys, you know the sort of place. The rich go there. And this man, well, he paid for me for the whole night. I made no complaint and that was my payment"
"Well done Eponine, finally learning are we?" He smirked "will I be getting more?"
"If the work comes" Eponine replied going to leave the room.
"If the work comes" he repeated "I expect it will come as you will go back tonight, yes?"
"Don't make me papa" Eponine pleaded. "I promise that I will get a job and send money your way, I promise". She had to promise even though she had no idea who she was going to keep money coming to him. That was Courfeyrac's money not her's. If she got a good job, she could send him money. There was only one thing she knew for sure, she had to stay away from this house.
"You better keep money coming into my pocket, or you know what will happen to you girl" he snapped stuffing the money into his pocket. "You remember what happens when I lose money!"
She nodded, tears in her eyes "yes papa, I promise there will be more money, I promise" she said in a weak voice. "Please papa"
He nodded pushing her back "if I don't have more money by the end of the week, I'll send Montparnasse to you"
"Yes papa, you will have more money" she nodded. Eponine did not know why she had agreed to his command. She only had the money she had been saving in a box under her bed to buy Gavroche something special for his 5th birthday. If he wanted more, she would be in trouble.
"Good girl" he smiled roughly petting her cheek "now get out of my sight"
"Yes papa" Eponine sighed, glad to be getting out of the room. She could remember the days when her father was her favourite person in the world. When she was a little girl, her father would pick her and kiss her cheeks and cuddle her, taking her everywhere with him because she was the most precious thing to him. Now money was the most precious thing. He had treated Azelma like a princess when she was small, now she was dead and he didn't care. She had the only photographs of her sister. She had the only photographs of Gavroche, she had taken them. No one else had wanted to remember his early days.
She entered her bedroom, quickly putting her clothes into a bag. Her bedroom was plain and dark, one small light hanging from its wire. The only thing she liked about it was the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Azelma had helped her put them up when they had first moved to the house when Eponine was 11 and Azelma was 9. With a sigh, she stuffed Azelma's red gem necklace into her pocket and reached under the bed to pull out her money box and two photo albums. One was full of photographs of her and Azelma, the other was Gavroche's baby photographs. These and the necklace were her best prized possessions.
"Eponine, what are you doing up there?" Her father called
"Nothing papa" she replied
"Good, you better stay up there girl!" He shouted, wanting to keep her in her place
She didn't reply, she knew this was her chance. Picking up the bag, she went to the window opening it and sitting on the ledge. She wanted to escape. She wanted to escape from this world where her parents kept her locked away and forced her to steal and put men upon her. Holding the bag over her shoulder, she began to climb down being as quiet as she possibly could. If they found her know she knew it would all be over for her. Her father and his gang had killed before; she wouldn't be surprised if he was to kill again.
….
"Mr Combeferre, when is my papa gonna be back?" Gavroche said looking up at the young doctor. The little boy, having 'taught' Combeferre how to play snap and beaten him more than once, had grown bored and now sat with his head on his arms on the table, watching Combeferre as he read through medical notes.
"I don't know Buddy, soon properly" Combeferre replied looking at Gavroche. "Are you bored?"
At the mention of the word 'bored', Grantaire looked up from his drawing and nodded to himself. "Bored? We can't have that" He smiled standing up and walking over to the counter picking up a small cup of crayons they gave the children in the café. "Hey Gavroche, you want to do some drawing?"
"Drawing" Gavroche smiled looking up at the dark haired man. "I can draw a picture?"
"Of course you can" Grantaire smiled tearing some pages out of the sketch pad and putting them along with the crayons in front of the small boy. "You can do some drawing and I will do some drawing, does that sound good?"
"Yes Mr 'Taire" Gavroche said with a cheeky grin picking up a crayon and starting to draw "What are you drawing?"
Grantaire smiled "A boring poster for one of Enjolras' equal rights meetings" He said rolling his eyes
"Don't let Enjolras hear you say that" Combeferre chuckled. "Or he won't be paying for your drinks when you beg anymore"
"Alright" Grantaire nodded before smiling cheekily to Gavroche. "That comment is our little secret kiddo, you got it?"
"Got it Mr 'Taire" Gavroche smiled giving him a smile "Equali…Equally meetings not boring"
Grantaire laughed "You're funny kid"
Gavroche giggled continuing with his drawing, drawing stick figures of him, Courfeyrac and Eponine. For a child like Gavroche, having a real family was very special and very important to him. He had Courfeyrac as his papa and he had Eponine. They were family to him. Grantaire smiled looking over at the picture. "Is that Courfeyrac and Eponine?" He asked
"Yes" Gavroche smiled. "It is papa, and 'Ponine and me"
"You like living with Courfeyrac don't you?" Grantaire smiled leaning against the table and smiling at the little boy.
"Yes I do Mr 'Taire, he is my papa now and that's very special" Gavroche said colouring in Courfeyrac's dark brown curly hair on his picture with a series of brown scribbles. "I love my papa"
Grantaire nodded. "Hey Gavroche, do you know what gossip is?" He asked. The little boy shook his head. "Okay, gossip is like a secret but it is about other people. So do you know any gossip about Courfeyrac and your sister?"
"I don't know what you mean Mr 'Taire" Gavroche said with a confused expression.
"Well you know in the movies, there is always a boy character and a girl character that love each other. They like to spend a lot of time together and they cuddle and they kiss" Grantaire smiled. "Do you think that Courfeyrac and Eponine love each other?"
"Leave the boy alone Grantaire, he won't know anything about them" Combeferre said looking over at the pair
"He might" Grantaire smiled "Well Gavroche? Do you know anything about them?"
"I don't know but 'Ponine had a bad dream last night and this morning, Papa wasn't sleeping on the couch like he was before, he was cuddling with 'Ponine and they were both asleep in Papa's bed" Gavroche smiled. "Papa says cuddling makes bad dreams better"
"Oh really, well isn't that sweet" Grantaire smiled
"Does that mean they love each other Mr 'Taire?" Gavroche asked
"Maybe it does, and maybe they don't know it yet so this is another secret" Grantaire smiled ruffling the little boy's hair.
…
'Come on Eponine, you can do this' Eponine thought to herself as she started climbing down. She knew that Courfeyrac was waiting for her just a block away. He would probably be worrying now, wondering why she was taking so long. He was a sweetheart, giving her all that money just to make sure that her father would be happy and she would be safe. He seemed so concerned about her safety, more concerned than anyone had been in many years. She only expected him to be concerned about Gavroche. That should be his main priority, not her.
She climbed down, holding her bag of her most prized possessions tightly as she began to run. She ran away, hoping that she was running away from her old life towards something that would be much better for her. She wanted freedom and a home where she wouldn't be afraid to leave the safety of her own bedroom. She kept running until she saw Courfeyrac's car. She knew that her parents would notice she was missing soon. She just hoped she could find a job and find some money to send home to him to keep him away from her. She never wanted to see him again. She knew that it wouldn't be the last time she saw him, he wasn't one to give up that easily, but for now that was not her main concern at the moment. Her main concern was getting to Courfeyrac. She knew that it would all feel alright if she was with Courfeyrac.
"Eponine, are you alright?" Courfeyrac said, a sigh of relief coming with the words.
"I think so, he seemed happy with the money" Eponine nodded, taking his hand. "But I have one little question"
He nodded squeezing her hand "Anything" He smiled
"1000 euro, really Courfeyrac?" She said looking him in the eye "You could put Gavroche in school for a year with that"
"I have money put aside especially to put Gavroche through school that money was to ensure your safety. And it worked, you are out of there. You can be safe now, I promise" Courfeyrac smiled
Eponine rolled her eyes. "Have you ever been told that you are too kind and too sweet for your own good?"
Courfeyrac chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment"
"Fey, you know that this is not the last time we are going to see my parents. They are going to notice that I am gone, and they are going to come looking. I got scared and I said that there would be more money, I'm sorry" Eponine sighed looking down
"Then they can have more money" Courfeyrac smiled. "It isn't a problem"
"I can't keep taking your money" Eponine replied "I don't have a job, I can't repay you"
"You will not need to repay me even when you get a job Ep" Courfeyrac said kissing her hand as they entwined their fingers. "You coming to live with us is repayment enough"