Chapter 11 - The City
A/N Sorry it's been a week since my last update, hopefully this chapter makes up for it :)
It was the 1st of July before Enjolras and Eponine came to the mutual agreement that Enjolras could leave the house again. Had it been up to Enjolras he would have been out the week after the barricades but with Eponine in the house there was no way that was happening, she made sure he wandered no further than the small courtyard behind his house, through the door in his kitchen. On the 1st of July though, a particularly sunny morning, the pair both awoke in Enjolras' bed, as had become custom for them since their dispute had been resolved, and Eponine set about dressing herself and seeing to her hair.
Since moving in together properly, Eponine had visited a dressmakers on Enjolras' word and acquired 3 beautiful new dresses, paid for by his father, though the older Enjolras had no knowledge that this was how his money was being spent. The dresses were truly amazing garments Eponine could only ever have dreamed of when she was a young child stitching flowers onto her bonnets and skirts. From the moment she put one of them on she felt like a proper lady and so made a point of doing her hair each morning to truly fill the role of a Parisian lady.
"You look lovely today 'Ponine." Enjolras said, coming up behind her and placing his hands on her waist.
"As do you." She replied without even turning around, though had she, she would have noticed that he seemed to have forgotten to wear a shirt that morning. At her response he laughed a little before reaching around her and picking up the white shirt from the chair next to her then throwing it over his head and covering his bare chest.
"I can't believe I'm asking you this but may we please go out somewhere today Eponine? I'm so fed up of this house." He said when the two of them were finally sat down at the table in the kitchen.
"You know, I'd been thinking, perhaps it would be good to go out today."
"Oh Eponine, this is excellent! Where shall we go? Who shall we see? What shall we do? So many possibilities." Enjolras cried, jumping in his chair as his excitement grew.
"Calm down." She laughed back, it was good to see him so happy again. "How about we walk to that bakery where we first met and pick up some lunch then perhaps we could visit Marius and Cosette, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to see you."
"You have no idea how much I've missed those apple pastries." Enjolras replied.
"Not your friends?" She laughed back.
"Well them too but those pastries really are something."
Within an hour the two of them had begun their walk through the city towards the small bakery here they first met. Enjolras held Eponine's hand in one of his and a walking cane in the other as Eponine had insisted that it could be a long walk for him and as he was still recovering he should take the cane for support. Eponine was also wary that anyone may recognise Enjolras, though the barricades were almost a month ago now and there had been no more mention of them in the news she was sill worried that someone somewhere may still be looking for him. She did not let her thoughts stop her from enjoying their first say out together in weeks though, as they happily strolled down cobbled street after cobbled street, smiling and laughing as they had done on those days before the barricades.
When they reached the bakery Enjolras' face lit up even more than it had been during their whole walk.
"Look Eponine! We're here! I remember the first time I saw you here." He said, giving her a slight nudge with his elbow causing her to giggle.
Once they'd been inside the little shop and bought their apple pastries the couple sat outside on a bench the baker had placed below his shop window.
"So you remember that day?" Eponine asked as they ate.
"Of course I do, don't you?"
"Well of course I do too, what do you remember about it?"
"Well I remember I was in a terribly bad mood with Marius as he'd insisted we stopped by the bakery on the way to class because he thought it would be nice to have some fresh pastries for our lunch. When you have classes with Marius you know that he's very rarely on time for any of them and I was not about to join him in being late to everything so I was rather impatient to move on. I was tapping my foot loudly in an attempt to pressure Marius into hurrying up counting out his change and I just happened to look out the window and see a rather scruffy girl looking back through and attempting to straighten out her skirt and hair though I'll say it made very little difference to her overall appearance."
"Hey, at least I tried." She nudged him playfully then let him continue.
"Well the girl came into the shop and greeted Marius, I won't lie to you here, this annoyed me even more as I knew he was now bound to stop and talk when he knew full well we did not have time for idle chit chat."
"I'm so glad your social skills have improved."
"Yes well… Anyway Marius greeted you as Eponine and I knew exactly who you were in that moment."
"You knew who I was?"
"Of course I did, Marius was always talking about 'his friend 'Ponine', there's no way any of us couldn't know who you were." At this Eponine's heart swelled a little, she may no longer have been infatuated with Marius but at the time she was and it made her happy to know he talked of her. "I remember how you blushed when I called you Mademoiselle and how you kept staring at me while I waited for Marius to pay the baker, however subtle you thought you were being, I saw every one of your glances." He laughed.
"Do you want to know what I thought of you then?" She asked in a teasing manner, knowing he'd probably object to her description.
"Very well, enlighten me with how uptight you thought I was."
"Well I thought you would have been quite handsome if you'd stopped scowling for just one second, I also thought you were a lot more formal than Marius and I wondered what it was that made you two opposites such good friends." She said matter-of-factly.
"Only quite handsome?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, only quite, don't push your luck!" The two of them sat and laughed for a few seconds longer before Eponine interrupted with a question. "What did Marius say to you after you'd left the bakery?"
"I don't remember."
"When he nudged you and then you seemed to lecture him, walking down the street?" She giggled at the memory.
"Oh.. That.. It was something along the lines of 'if you weren't so haughty and uptight all the time, you're totally the kind of guy she'd go for'" He replied then looked down at his lap and fiddled with his hands awkwardly.
"Well I guess he was kind of right wasn't he?"
"I guess he was."
An hour or so later the two of them were stood on the steps of Marius' grandfather's house waiting for the doorman to let them in.
"And you think your place is a bit much." Eponine whispered to Enjolras before a man in a suit came and guided them through the halls towards a large sitting room where Marius and Cosette were waiting for them.
"Eponine!" Cosette cried and ran to hug her friend. "Oh and Monsieur Enjolras, it's so good you're better at last!" She said as she pulled him in for a hug too leaving him awkwardly trapped in her arms.
"Enjolras." Marius said as he extended his hand for his friend.
"No need to be so formal Marius!" Cosette said as she pushed the two men together into a hug.
"Oh er, sorry Cosette. Eponine, it's good to see you again too." He said then pulled his old friend into a hug as well.
The two couples sat for hours discussing old times and updating each other on recent occurrences in their lives whilst drinking tea and eating sandwiches and cakes provided by the butler.
"We have some news for you." Cosette squealed after a while. "We're getting married!"
"Oh Cosette, that's wonderful news!" Eponine said and rushed to hug the other girl again.
"Congratulations Marius." Enjolras said. The two of them had spoken very little since their arrival, both Eponine and Cosette had tried to include them in their conversations but neither of them would properly address the other.
Eponine sat back down beside Enjolras and took his hand, she knew it was hard for both him and Marius. Here they were, sitting in a ridiculously lavish house surrounded by luxuries when all their friends had perished fighting against all this. The elite upper classes were still running the city and the poor still had very little say. Their rebellion had really done very little except kill their friends. Enjolras responded by squeezing her hand slightly and nodding to her that he knew what she was thinking and he was grateful for her being there.
"This has been a most enjoyable reunion but I think it's best Enjolras and I head home now, it's been his first day out the house and I don't want to tire him out too much." Eponine said, standing and reaching out her arm for Enjolras to support himself with when he stood.
"We shall call you a carriage home." Cosette responded at once though Eponine was quick to dismiss the idea.
"Oh no, that won't be necessary, it's a not a long walk and the evening air will do us both good. Thank you for everything though Cosette."
"It's been pleasure." The girl replied and hugged her friends one last time before they made their way back to the door.
"I hope to see you both again some time soon, we shall send you our wedding invites in the post." Marius said from her side and pulled them both into a hug one last time. The hug between Marius and Enjolras this time was less rigid, Eponine knew that they both needed each other though neither one of them would admit it and the hug between the two was their way of letting each other know.
As the couple strolled down the cobbled streets of the city, back towards their house, they swung their hands lightly between them and Eponine would look over at Enjolras every now and again and smile at the way the moonlight bounced off his face, illuminating it. He was beginning to look more and more like his old self each day, his square jawline looked as though it could cut glass again, his hair had regained its golden glow and his eyes were beginning to sparkle again.
"I can see you staring at me you know." He said once, not looking down at her, just staring ahead.
"I know, but you're not stopping me." Enjolras just shook his head and laughed slightly, continuing to walk looking straight ahead.
It wasn't long before the streets narrowed as they veered off the main road and followed the smaller side streets back to the house. Eponine still loved the city streets at night, just as she had done for all those years she'd been made to stand around watching out the for the police when in reality she'd be looking around and taking note of every building she could see.
She recognised the road they were on immediately and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Enjolras why are we here?" She asked, panic thick in her voice.
"It's the quickest way back to the house." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"But you know what's on this road?"
"Oh shit."
"It's fine, I know another way back from here, there's a small alleyway on the left just up here we can turn down and that takes us back just as quick."
"No."
"What?"
"I need to go back to the cafe some day, why not today?" He asked, turning to look her dead in the eye.
"Are you sure? I mean it hasn't been long since-"
"I'm sure. I can't put this off forever." He said, taking her hand again and leading the way to the familiar doors where the words "Cafe Musain" still hung.
Eponine took a deep breath and rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand as he placed his free hand on the wooden panel of the door and pushed it slightly. A small creak escaped from the hinges though the door opened with no difficulty.
"It's so weird to be back here, everything looks the same." He said quietly, and he was right. Though the room was now empty as all the furniture had been thrown onto the barricade the walls were still the same shade of green with patches of paint peeling off all the way round the room. Bottles lay disregarded on the floor, no doubt some of them had been Grantaire's, half burned candles hung on the walls reminding them of the time the room had been warm and bright.
They climbed what was left of the stairs and sat at the top, dangling their feet down over the floor below. By the moonlight shining through the window Eponine could see a box of matches and a candle lying not too far from her so she picked them up and made a source of light for the two of them.
"Whats this?" She asked, picking up a piece of paper that sat on the windowsill just above her head.
"Friends of the ABC. There will come a time…" Enjolras mumbled as he read from the page. "It's one of my speeches."
"You don't have to read that." Eponine gasped and placed her hand on his knee.
"Friends of the ABC." He continued, "There will come a time when we are engaged in battle with then enemy and I am unable to say this to each of you individually so I shall say it to you now. You are all brave men, fighting for what you know is right, you shall not be forgotten in this world. Do not listen to the cynics, everything you have done up until now has been worth it and everything you do from now on will be worth it too. Believe in yourselves, believe in the cause and look out for one another, we'll all see the change one day." Enjolras dropped the piece of paper to his side and broke down in tears. Eponine draped her arms over his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, not knowing what to say she hoped that her actions would be able to speak for her.
Once Enjolras had regained some composure they decided it was best to leave the cafe and continue home. Eponine placed the folded up speech back on the windowsill exactly as she had found it before and then helped Enjolras back onto the ground floor.
When they stepped back out onto the street the two of them turned around to look up at the building they'd once loved so much, Eponine had left the candle she'd lit burning on the windowsill for everyone in the street to see. There it served as a sign of remembrance for their friends who had fallen in that very spot.
A/N Thanks for reading guys, this one had a bit more of a plan than my last chapter but not an amazing amount so I hope it makes sense and you all like it, leave me a review and let me know.
In other news, there's only one chapter to go! I'm going to miss this story! The last chapter should be up at the weekend and after that I'll probably wait a week or two before I post my next one so bear with me until then.
Thanks again, laters :)