About two days later, he was feeling much better. The bruises had already started healing and his arm wasn't in constant pain anymore. However, a very familiar (but slightly unwelcome) sight greeted him the next morning. The police had arrived at Enjolras's hospital room. One was a large man, well-muscled and pale skinned. The other seemed to have skin of black velvet and a braid of black going down to her waist. Both showed their ID to him when they entered. The man's name was Mabeuf, and the woman's was Brevet. Both looked very serious but his presence never inspired much happiness from the police. He caused too much 'trouble' for them.
"Can I help you, Officers?" He asked tensely.
"We are the officers assigned to your case, Monsieur Enjolras." Mabeuf started.
"We caught the person who crashed into you." Brevet finished.
"Oh was it a hit-and-run or something? The hospital staff hasn't told me much about it." Enjolras inquired.
"No. A woman was texting while driving. She wasn't looking where she was driving and therefore crashed into you." Mabeuf said.
"Would you like us to tell Madame Enjolras as well?" Brevet offered. "I notice she's not here at the moment."
"No. That would be unwise. Grantaire is… having a difficult time right now." He dismissed.
"Well, the arrest was by the book and-" Mabeuf tried.
"Am I allowed to know who she is?" Enjolras interrupted, an anger he remembered well started bubbling in his chest. He had only hated Montparnasse that much after what he did to Grantaire.
"Not until the trial. That's what's best for everyone involved. We just thought you would want to know personally that we caught her." Brevet answered.
"All right. I believe that you're right." Enjolras admitted.
"As I was saying, the arrest was by the book and we shouldn't have any trouble with it at the trial. It is an open-and-shut case." Mabeuf finished.
"Thank you very much. For this and your service." He recited.
"Of course. Here, let me give you my card in case you, or your wife, have any questions about the trial or anything else. Call me anytime." Brevet smiled gently.
He nodded, and thanked them again as they left.
Combeferre and Eponine joined him a few hours later.
"I'm going to check on René." Eponine said after kissing his cheek.
"Tell her I love her, won't you?" He called after her.
She nodded.
"I've just barely held the Amis back from swarming your hospital room. I didn't know whether you would be up for seeing them so soon." Combeferre stated.
That explained a lot, Enjolras thought blandly. He had noticed his hospital room was very quiet at times these past couple of days.
"You knew?" He accused.
"I'm not just your medical proxy, Enjolras. I'm hers too. And when she… wasn't doing well they talked to me and Ep. That's how I found out. How I knew to stay away for a few days after you woke up." Combeferre explained.
Enjolras nodded. He had been grateful for the solitude. It gave him time to think about his options and how he and Grantaire would move on together.
"And you haven't-" Enjolras began.
"Told them? No. That's not something I should tell them. Especially in how closely guarded a secret she kept this. Whenever you're both ready is when we should tell them." Combeferre finished.
"Wait- how are we going to explain why she's in the maternity ward?" Enjolras remembered.
"She's not. Madeleine knew better than to place her there. Right now, she's resting in her own personal plain room." Combeferre reassured.
Enjolras breathed a sigh of relief. "Let the Amis in. They're probably dying to see us. But not to R. I doubt she will want to see anyone right now."
Combeferre nodded but sat down.
"How are you? Besides physically." He asked.
"I'm fine." Enjolras shrugged.
"Enjolras, we've been friends for too long for you to lie to me. Now tell me the truth." Combeferre pressed.
"The truth? I'm devastated. Heartbroken. I wanted a baby and now I might have to plan a funeral. How would you feel?" Enjolras snapped.
Combeferre seemed not to notice his harsh attitude.
"I would feel the exact same way." He acquiesced. "Have you talked to anyone about this?"
"No. I want to talk it out with R to see what she wants to do first but she won't talk to me. I asked and she doesn't blame me for what happened, she doesn't blame anybody, she just doesn't want to talk to me yet. She doesn't want to talk to anyone actually. She says she's not ready to talk about it." Enjolras explained.
Combeferre nodded. "That… is to be expected."
"It's Grantaire. She takes every psychology book ever written and burns it, chucks it out the window and then dances on the remains." Enjolras said tiredly.
"Sounds like the woman you married." Combeferre smiled softly.
"I wouldn't have her any other way but… I don't know how to help her here. It's not like we could've ever foreseen this." Enjolras sighed.
"Don't forget you're just as important." Combeferre reminded.
"Yes, I got the lecture from the doctor already. She's really nice actually. I think you'd like her." Enjolras rolled his eyes.
"I got married just like you did." Combeferre chastised.
He laughed lightly. "You married more of a demon than I did."
"That's my wife, Julien Enjolras, and I am not afraid to set her on you." Combeferre's eyes twinkled mischievously.
Enjolras could feel himself pale. "What? I would never say anything bad about your lovely wife who just happens to be my wife's best friend and I really shouldn't make an enemy of her because she's very fierce and I don't want her to kill me while R looks on and laughs."
Combeferre laughed. "The others should be here soon. I texted them a while ago."
He smiled at the thought of his friends. At least, at the end of the day, no matter what happened, their friends would break down doors to get to them. Not seeing them must have driven the Amis crazy, but he was glad to wait.
"Well, I talked about everything else just like you said to honey but the minute I ran out of topics that she'd missed and I tried to approach the 'baby talk', she completely shut down and "fell asleep". I swear I'm so glad she decided to go into music because she's an absolutely terrible actress." Eponine said as she reentered.
"Dammit." Combeferre cursed.
"That's R, honey. When she's ready, she'll talk to one of us." Eponine promised.
"Hopefully me." Enjolras added.
"Hopefully you." Eponine repeated.
"Oh. I almost forgot. I called your office and said what happened to you so you've got the entire next week off to call them and figure all that out. Plus I picked up your mail. I know you hate leaving that piling up in the box." Combeferre said, and reached into Eponine's purse.
He brought out about six envelopes. One was for a magazine subscription, another was a credit card upgrade offer, a third was from the local newspaper about renewing their subscription, the fourth was from his parents, the fifth was filled with coupons, and the sixth was an advertisement.
"Huh, nothing in particular seems interesting." Enjolras mused, reviewing everything and then stopping.
The fourth was from his parents.
As it was addressed to both of them, he quickly opened and scanned it.
"My parents want us back over for Thanksgiving." He groaned.
"Oh. That's… nice of them." Combeferre tried.
"It's awful. And of all times, it happens now. I see why she always complains about having bad luck." Enjolras countered.
"But I thought your parents liked her." Eponine said.
"They do. Well, they like the part of her we showed them. I doubt she will want to be in that kind of a mood again." Enjolras replied.
"What do you mean?" Eponine asked.
"We only showed them the nice and gentle side of her. The kind of girl that seems to be the type of girl you could be proud to take home to your family. No drinking, no sex jokes, no curse words, it was like living with her biologically the same sister but in no other way is the sister actually similar to her. I hated it." Enjolras moaned.
"Then why did you do it?" Combeferre questioned.
"Because she wanted me to not give up on my family. I don't think it will last long but that's what she wants. Plus there are some family members I do still talk to and she doesn't want me to lose those relationships. So she was René, rather than Grantaire for about four days. She said she didn't mind though." Enjolras replied.
"If she said so, she didn't. Though, your parents have to be complete idiots in order to believe her acting." Eponine scoffed.
Enjolras shrugged.
"I know exactly why she doesn't mind. She lost her loving family and will never understand actively casting aside your family. So if she has to be someone else to save your relationships then fine. Family means a lot to her, like it does to a lot of people. So many people with loving families don't understand why people like us don't feel obligated to love your family. To them, family is an unbreakable bond of love and mutual respect. But it's not always like that. You and I both know that. She doesn't. Or well, she does know the theory but she will never understand it. She still doesn't see why I don't have any contact with my parents even though she knows exactly the kind of people they are. Those whose family loves them never know the constant absence of that love. Usually." Eponine clarified.
"That's a good way to put it." Enjolras acquiesced.
"I'm a social worker. I practically specialize in kids without love." Eponine smiled a little.
"Who's without love?" Jehan asked as he came in, Courfeyrac in tow.
"Just talking about my job." Eponine dismissed.
"Enjolras, you okay?" Courfeyrac questioned worriedly.
"I'm fine. And R will be fine too. I'm even going to be let out of here in a couple days." He smiled brightly, letting his happiness at seeing his friends flow over the grief of losing the baby. He had to be strong for them, and for R. Right now, one of them had to be.
As soon as he finished, both Jehan and Courfeyrac attacked him in a fierce hug. He hugged back as best as he could, perhaps a little too tightly but they didn't seem to notice.
"That's great. Oh we were so worried about you. Combeferre said they weren't allowing visitors for you two yet and it nearly killed us. We wanted to be here when you woke up but somebody wouldn't let us see you." Jehan gushed.
"We're fine. Grantaire has to stay here for at least another two weeks but then hopefully she can be released to me." Enjolras assured them.
"Well that's great. But why aren't they allowing visitors for her still?" Courfeyrac inquired.
"I told you. She is still very weak and needs rest, and that means she has to do nothing all day. Which means no one can see her other than the doctors and nurses. Not even other patients. When you can see her, I promise I will let you know." Combeferre said gently.
Courfeyrac blushed. "I miss her. I want to talk to her and make sure she's alive with my own eyes."
"So do I. But even I can't see her. And wouldn't you agree that I would get first dibs on seeing my wife?" Enjolras teased.
Courfeyrac smiled. "No. We do."
"'Fey." Jehan chastised.
Courfeyrac just kissed him.
Enjolras rolled his eyes.
"Hey, how's our fearless leader?" Bahorel yelled as he entered. Feuilly was right behind him. Both looked relieved when they saw he was already mostly healed.
"Bit banged up but he'll be fine." Eponine answered.
"And our girl?" Bahorel asked. There was a look in his eyes that said this question had a double meaning.
"She's doing all right for what happened. She got hit the worst and nearly died but she made it." Enjolras hopefully put the right amount of accent on she. The glimpse of grief in Bahorel's eyes told him he made his point.
"Well, at least she survived. That's all that matters." Bahorel remarked.
Enjolras nodded.
"When can we see her?" Feuilly inquired.
"Probably not for a few days. I wouldn't want to risk her getting an infection so I know Madeleine won't. If everything goes well, then she should be out of here in two weeks." Combeferre responded.
"And if it doesn't?" Courfeyrac questioned.
"There's no reason it shouldn't." Combeferre replied.
"Worst case scenario." Courfeyrac pressed.
"She dies." Combeferre said easily.
A gasp ran through the room.
"You asked for the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is that she gets an infection in her lungs even though she's completely isolated and has no contact with people who could possibly be contagious, and then every doctor she has ignores her and she dies from the common cold." Combeferre deadpanned.
Eponine snickered. "That's why I married you."
"She's going to be fine. She'll be up and walking around in no time." Combeferre assured.
Courfeyrac blushed. "I'm worried about her."
"As any friend would do. But there is nothing to worry about. The doctors here are very good and will get her up and running in a matter of weeks." Combeferre promised.
Though Enjolras, Eponine and Bahorel all knew the side of the conversation Combeferre was glancing over. The doctors here would be great for her physical health but the question remained. Would her mental health ever return to what it was?
Enjolras hoped it would. He prayed it would.
Suddenly, a knock sounded.
"I'm not interrupting am I?" Champmathieu asked, peeking through the door.
"No, come in. Everyone, this is Doctor Champmathieu. She's Grantaire's doctor." Enjolras introduced.
They all said hello.
"Hello to you all, as well. Monsieur Enjolras, your wife wants to see you."
Hey all! For those of you who remember, I said this story was about actions have consequences. See it now? Well, I don't have much of an author's note for today so...
Until next time. Adieu mes chers.