Sorry this is late, but had a sudden bad turn and had to go to hospital for a few days, so had a lot of time to write but no internet to upload :( I'm feeling better now and as I'm supposed to be resting and as it's the holidays I am going to try to upload at bit more often. Enjoy!
"Enjolras? You here?" Grantaire called out as he, Courfeyrac and Joly entered the front door of Enjolras' home accompanied by Gavroche.
"I think they were in the kitchen. They all came out the back door, which leads into it." The gamin piped up, before running ahead into the dark room. By the time Gavroche had got to the ABC café and explained what had happened, darkness had fallen over the city of Paris, and as there were no candles lit in the house it was hard to see anything.
"Hang on." Courfeyrac pulled a box of matches out of his pocket and lit one, using it's dim flame to search for a candle in the kitchen. Once he found one and lit it, it was easier to look around the room.
"I found him!" Gavroche called out, and the others rushed over. They were shocked at the state their friend was in. There was deep purple blotches covering his nose and on his cheeks either side, as well as dried blood from the base of his nose to his chin. Upon closer inspection Joly noticed that there was a large lump on the left side of Enjolras' nose, luckily it looked dislocated, not broken. He also saw that there was a small cut just passed his hairline but as it was already starting to heal on its own, the best thing to do would be to leave it and just clean up the blood that wasn't directly on the wound.
"Gavroche, find some more candles and light them. Courf, get some water and a cloth so I can wash the blood off his face, Grantaire, stop trying to get into the wine cabinet and find some smelling salts, I think there are some in the second cupboard on the right, on the bottom shelf."
"How do you know were Enjolras' keeps smelling salts?" Gavroche asked, after lighting more candles. Courfeyrac laughed.
"He sometimes has to use them on dear Grantaire if his hand too much to drink and passes out." Courfeyrac set the bowl of water down next to Joly, along with some cloth he found in a cupboard.
"Very funny." Grantaire muttered under his breath. Joly cleaned the blood off Enjolras' face and hairline and Grantaire found the smelling salts at the back of the cupboard and passed the small bottle to Joly. Joly unscrewed the lid and waved the bottle underneath Enjolras' nose.
Suddenly Enjolras' head shot up, before his face scrunched up in pain.
"Welcome back to the land of the living!" Courfeyrac said in a cheery voice, causing Joly to roll his eyes.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like somebody's dragged me behind a cart for a mile."
"What happened? Gavroche was only able to tell us so much." Joly asked, gently prodding Enjolras' nose, trying to find the source of the dislocation.
"I got hit the stomach. Hard. Then once on the nose, and once in the...the.." Enjolras looked down at his groin area, causing the other men in the room to wince.
"What about your head?"
"I got hit by..ow..something blunt like...ow..like a bat...ow. Joly will you stop doing that?!" Enjolras felt like pushing the young doctor away from him.
"I've found were your nose is dislocated, you're luckily it's not broken. I'm going to push it back in, but it's going to hurt."
"Just do it, if it means you're going to stop poking me." Without warning Joly pushed Enjolras' nose back into its socket. The pain was worse that when Montparnasse had hit it, but once the nose was back in its place the throbbing did go down. The only think stopping Enjolras from crying out was the knowledge that he would never hear the end of it from Grantaire and Courfeyrac if he screamed.
"There, it's back in. Carry on." Joly said, smirking at the expression on Enjolras' face. He knew that he was in pain but was trying to hide it.
"It was Eponine's father's gang...Oh my god! Eponine! They took her, I have to find her!" Enjolras pulled himself up, wincing as the muscles in his stomach and groin protested against the sudden movement.
"Enjolras wait!" Gavroche stopped Enjolras, from going out the door. "When I saw 'Ponine, I asked her why she was going with them, I thought she was happy with you, and I asked her why but she wouldn't tell me anything, said it was complicated. But she was scared, really scared. When Montparnasse was hitting you she was shouting at Da-... Thenardier, saying that they had a deal. I think she made him promise not to hurt you if she went with them. If you go after her it's only going to make things worse, for the both of you. Please think about what you're doing, I don't want to see my sister hurt."
Enjolras looked at the young gamin, and realised, maybe for the first time, that underneath his tough exterior, Gavroche was still a child, and still scared for his family, what little he had left. Enjolras bent down to Gavroche's level.
"Gavroche, I love your sister more than anything, and I will do anything and everything I can to make sure that she doesn't get hurt, but I can't do that if I don't do anything. Perhaps if you help me we can do it quicker, what do you say?"
Enjolras held his hand out to Gavroche, who shook it firmly. Courfeyrac, Grantaire and Joly stood there in a stunned silence. They had never heard Enjolras speak like that before, about anything, not even his beloved Patria, let alone another human being.
"Let's get started then." Gavroche grinned, before heading out of the house, Enjolras and the other's following.
"Where are we going Gavroche?" Enjolras asked, having to run to keep up with the younger boy.
"The café of course, did you really think that we were going to do this on our own?"
Eponine slid down the wall of an alleyway in the slums of Paris, her arms wrapped around her knees. She was shakong, even though it was a warm evening, and tears where welling up in her eyes but she refused to let them spill down her cheeks. In an attempt to get the money her father wanted as quickly as possible so that Montparnasse would leave her alone, she did something that she thought she would never do willingly.
She slept with Montparnasse.
He told her he would get the money her father wanted as long as she had sex with him. He even produced a dress for her afterwards, claiming that the one she was wearing was "to fancy for our line of work". Eponine put it on without complaint, even though it pained her to do so, as it was a gift from Enjolras, as she knew that Montparnasse would sell it. Even though it was over quickly, and would save her one hell of a beating in the morning, Eponine hated herself for sleeping with him.
The act made her feel dirty, cheap, worthless, all the things that Enjolras didn't. Being with Enjolras gave her some self-worth, some pride, because he loved her and would never harm her. Eponine started crying then, as she felt that she had betrayed him by making that deal with Montparnasse, even though she thought of him and only him while she was doing it, she still cheated on the man she loved, and that made Eponine more upset that anything that Montparnasse or her father could ever say or do to her.
At least he is safe. Eponine thought, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand and resting her head against the wall, looking up at the sky. He can forget about me now and move on, be with a girl that he deserves, that's the right class and pure, not just some scum off the street.
Eponine fell asleep in the alleyway, not knowing that the man she had let go would search the entire city looking for her, and stop at nothing to get her back.
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