Disclaimer: Les Misérables and all its associated characters do not belong to me. I am not a Legal scholar, so please bear with me on this chapter.

Summary: One inch was all it took for Éponine's life to be spared and it altered the fates of four people. Éponine/Enjolras.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the nice reviews and new follows/faves! It certainly motivated me to write quicker!

Chapter 13

Over the next few days, Éponine and Enjolras developed somewhat of a routine for life here at the convent. She would rise before him and go out to fill a basin for her wash. Once she was done, she would fetch some more water for him to bathe. She only assisted him when asked and gave him privacy otherwise.

To Éponine's frustration, her physical attraction to Enjolras did not wane after the first day. It was still thankfully only particularly pronounced when they were in an intimate setting though, while helping him bathe or in bed at night, for example. Unfortunately for her, Enjolras was thoroughly oblivious and did not seem to be similarly impacted by her physical presence. If it were possible, he was in fact growing more comfortable with being in more intimate scenarios with her… He had so far consented to her helping him wash his hair, shave his face, and change into his sleep shirt at night. One of these days, he would ask her for a full sponge bath and she would really be in trouble.

After their morning grooming and breakfast, Éponine would go outside the convent walls to purchase groceries, deposit their dirty clothes at the laundress, and run any other errands for Enjolras or Monsieur Fauchelevent. During this time, Enjolras would occupy himself with books or — if he could manage it — with conversations with Jean Valjean.

Perhaps it was because the man had declined his attempt to help him reconcile with Marius and Cosette, but Enjolras found himself somehow responsible for Valjean's wellbeing, as if he could not let the old man spend the remaining part of his life alone. If he could not have his daughter by his side, perhaps Enjolras could provide some valued company.

But it was not a one-sided act of altruism on Enjolras' part. He truly enjoyed speaking with Monsieur Valjean. The man had a fascinating and mostly miserable life, which was largely due to bad luck, but also a product of the society he was in. Still, Valjean spoke at length about how his fate was amazingly turned around when Cosette and this convent figured into it. It was as if he was reborn and given a second chance at salvation, the first being when he encountered that Bishop so many years ago...

Enjolras found the talks of redemption quite inspiring and helped him develop ideas for the pamphlet that Combeferre and Joly would help submit for him. He would require Éponine's assistance to write it down though. This she usually did after luncheon, during their daily study session, or in the evening after dinner, depending on the mood of the day.

Because tract writing required very specific language with a variety of words that were not the easiest to spell for Éponine, Enjolras had to come up with a way to save time on his dictation. He supposed he could just allow her to write it without much interference and let Combeferre or Joly correct the spelling and grammar later when they receive the manuscript, but Enjolras wanted to ensure his point come across as precisely and as accurately as possible.

So he had taken to looking over Éponine's shoulder as she took his dictation. They did this by dragging the two chairs to the desk and placing them very close together, as the table was only long enough to accommodate one, really. Éponine would sit on the chair on the left, which was pulled right up to the desk, while Enjolras sat slightly behind her, his injured arm resting along the right side of the desk, his left across the back of her chair. His left leg was practically brushing up against her right one and his head was almost resting on her right shoulder as he dictated his speech and read over her writing.

Éponine wanted to hate this arrangement. It was bad enough that she could barely keep a cool exterior when she had to get into bed with him or help him bathe, but the intimacy was now invading the previously quite sterile environment of her studies as well.

Perhaps it was the reason why she was struggling so much with her spelling. She had actually improved tremendously since that very first lesson in Monsieur Combeferre's spare room. But now... How was she to concentrate when she could feel his warm breath on her cheek as he leaned in to check her spelling? She tried pulling her right thigh away from being pressed up against his, but there was nowhere to go in the cramped setting.

Still, she said she wanted to hate this set-up because the truth was... there was a part of her that enjoyed it... She just could not believe that Enjolras was as unaffected by her as she was with him. The thought annoyed more than depressed her.

Unbeknownst to Éponine, Enjolras was in fact not as impervious as she perceived... Un-beckoned to his mind one day came a fleeting thought that Éponine smelled nice… It was not perfume, like his mother would use — she being the only woman with whom he had ever been in close proximity for an extended period of time — it was more like a pleasant scent that was a mixture of soap and just... her. Did all women smell like this? He had been trying to figure out what the scent reminded him of when he realized that he was being distracted from the task at hand by such a pointless musing. It was such a quick, momentary diversion, but he found himself wondering why he had been thinking about it in the first place...

Éponine, meanwhile, tried to divert her mind away from anything to do with Enjolras' physicality by staring at the words in front of her and concentrating doubly hard on their meaning.

She surmised that he was writing about law reforms, especially focusing on the prison system. He was saying that he did not intend to be lenient on crime, but he believed that the focus for the prisons should not be on punishment, which also must be reformed to fit the crime (five years were excessive for a simple thievery of bread, for example), but on rehabilitation. The concept of parole should not be used to mark a criminal for life, forcing them to carry a yellow passport that prevented them from finding easy work, but should be used to provide those who had definitively passed rehabilitation an opportunity to set their life straight.

At that point Éponine looked at Enjolras in surprise, momentarily forgetting her recent distraction, "Do you really believe this, Enjolras? That all criminals deserve a second chance?"

"I do believe that every citizen should be equal, so yes, I do. Why? Do you not?"

"Well..." Éponine collected her thoughts and slowly formed her words, "I suppose I would be — what's the word? — 'hypocritical' if I say that I do not believe in it, since that would mean that I too belong in jail, but... does it have to be all or nothing? All criminals or none at all?"

"The law must be consistent, Éponine... But I did also mention that the punishment must fit the crime. A judicial system that would sentence a person five years' imprisonment for stealing bread for his starving sister's family does not deserve to continue unreformed..." Éponine watched him, mesmerized by the fire that always appeared in his eyes whenever he talked of his passion. She wondered who precisely he was referring to, though she thought she had a clue...

Enjolras, meanwhile, was continuing with his current reverie, "And perhaps the motive should also matter to an extent? People who are desperate, who are pushed to criminal activities because they have no other option, because the infrastructure had failed them, had left them at the basest of poverty — both in material and in spirit — they should not be punished as severely as those who commit crimes out of greed or lust or other malicious intent."

"How do you tell the difference?"

He paused, "That is the question, is it not? I am not sure either. People do lie..."

"Perhaps the number of past crimes should be used as a consideration? Career criminals do not tend to drift away from what they know."

"Yes, perhaps... Is that why you are not sure if second chances are for everyone?"

"Yes, I would say so… I doubt any member of the Patron-Minette would turn their lives around if offered a second chance, for example… But I should not pass judgment, as I was acquainted with them once too…" Before Enjolras could ask her more about it though, Éponine moved on, "You also said that parole should be granted only to those who have successfully been rehabilitated... How would that be determined?"

"I suppose it would be the prison administrator and the court..." As usual, Éponine was questioning him on the actual implementation of his plans. He quite appreciated it. "We perhaps also need to reform our wardens and judges, overhaul their way of thinking from delivering punishment strictly according to the letter of the law to identifying those prisoners who have the potential to turn their lives around if given the opportunity."

"Is that through education again then?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Is there anyone you do not wish to educate, Enjolras?" Éponine asked with much amusement.

Enjolras chuckled a little bit, "Well, I used to think that my words were enough to move people to action, that they would see the common sense in my speeches and rise up against their oppressors, but then you came along, Éponine, and make me re-think my approach... And it all seems to come back to education."

"Oh," Éponine felt extremely pleased that she had such an impact on Enjolras. She could not stop the blush that was forming in her cheeks though. To distract him from noticing it, she turned their attention back to his writing, her pen hand poised over the paper, "So what do you want to write next?"

"We should add in everything we just discussed."

"How do you wish to say it?"

"Why don't you help me come up with the words?" He asked kindly. "Some of these thoughts came from you, Éponine. Your voice should go into this tract as well, I think."

"You really think so?"

"Definitely," Enjolras smiled at her encouragingly and for good measure squeezed her left shoulder softly.

He did not notice Éponine being amazed by the physical gesture.

Author's Notes: I planned this chapter to be longer, but it ended up being too long, so I split it with the next one, which is already partially written, so hopefully it won't take me long to update. Anyway, tell me what you think! :-) Review/PM/follow/favorite! Merci.