Another little bit of smut at the end of this one... And the action is picking up a bit! I have a quick question before you guys possibly kill me for this ending: should we have an Enjolras POV at the end of this? Leave a review! PLEASE!

Éponine's bare feet were too loud on the deck. Montparnasse had a run in with an old acquaintance, and while the ships passed each other by and the captains shouted across the salty chasm, Montparnasse kept her at his side like a dirty, ragged trophy. Because of him showing her off as 'Thernardier's Oldest Whore Daughter', her friends (did they still think of her as such?) went ignored for the day.

As she opened the door to the hold, a hand snaked out of the shadows and took a firm grasp on her elbow. She yelped and quite nearly dropped the bundle (bundles really were better for carrying food than trays) when she was spun to face Montparnasse. They stood in silence for a few moments, his eyes narrowed at her and her arm straining to escape his hand.

Finally he spoke, and it was like his smooth voice was slippery on the deck. She would fall under his voice and he would pull her away and into his lair like Scylla.

"Where are you off to at this time of night, 'Ponine?" He whispered. She scoffed and tried again to pull away, only for him to yank her closer. The bundle of food jostled against his leg and he looked down with a dawn of understanding coloring his cheeks. Montparnasse released her.

Unready for such easy freedom, Éponine stumbled to the deck. She instinctually curled into herself, ready for a blow or two. Instead, she just felt the coldness of his shadow draped over her and heard a warning fall beside her on the deck.

"Be careful, little Époninna."

She shuddered and waited until he was long gone to descend into the dark jail that felt more like home to her than her small, constrictive cabin above decks. And much more so than the fancy bed on which Montparnasse took her in the most intimate way.

"Good evening," She greeted, first going to the candle and rekindling it, reigniting the warm circle of light. When she got no response, Éponine turned to see Marius and Cosette asleep, his arms loosely wrapped around her waist and her legs comfortably laying in his lap. Enjolras was lounging against the far wall, watching her through hooded eyes. He smiled tiredly at her.

"It is evening?" Enjolras asked. She nodded and came to kneel in front of the bars. He stood and walked over to be closer to his conversational partner.

"How is your back?"

"It is better… Has not bothered me all day." He concealed a wince. Éponine raised her eyebrows skeptically only for him to shake off her worry. "I promise you that I am fine."

"If you're sure…"

"I am." He winced again as he angled himself to better face her. Enjolras's hand went taunt around the bar he was holding, his knuckles white. Éponine, without paying attention to what she was doing, laid her hand over his. Soon enough, his hand relaxed. She flushed when his other hand went there over hers as well. Now that he was facing her, the exhaustion etched into his features, she wanted nothing more than to keep holding on. She released him despite that.

Éponine caught the briefest glimpse of his eyes when she let go, and she could've sworn that she saw something akin to disappointment in his eyes. It made her heart thump in the recesses of her chest. She cleared her throat in a gross noise that she giggled nervously to try to play off. Enjolras chuckled too, and eventually their laughter grew until they were heaving and their bright eyes were inches away and their lips even closer.

Éponine sobered up and pulled away instantly. When did being around Enjolras get to be so hard?

"Are we going to have a lesson today?" She asked. He still looked lost as to why their laughter stopped, his cheeks were rosy and his almost-bare chest heaving. Enjolras was beautiful in that moment, youth shining through the stress lines on his young face.

He sighed heavily and leaned away for a moment. The bruises under his eyes seemed to darken and sleep was a glaze that coated him. He managed a half smile at Éponine. "Je suis désolé. I'm too tired tonight."

Her heart weighed heavily inside of her as she acknowledged what she took to be his dismissal of her. Her skirts were too loud in the disappointed silence that radiated off her and at the same time not enough. Am I just his student?

She couldn't escape the thoughts that plagued her.

Does he care for me in the slightest bit?

Am I even worth that much to him?

"Are you leaving so soon?" He asked her, rousing her pleasantly from the self-conscious blabberings that swarmed her.

"Do you want me to stay?" She asked in return, looking at him carefully. She tried not to get too hopeful, but she couldn't help it. Please say yes.

"I would not be opposed to it; I would have no reason to be. You are more than a shipmate or a student to me, Éponine. You are a… friend." The hesitant way the last word rolled off his tongue caught her attention and pleased her at the same time that it worried her immensely. Such an inflection could be taken two ways.

"Well, alright then." She sat in front of him once more. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes burned from under his mop of golden curls. She absentmindedly reached through the bars and tousseled them out of his face. How could she be so physically intimate with him and still feel like their hearts were worlds away?

With Enjolras, there was no way to tell what he was feeling unless he told you straight out.

"How is life above deck?" He asked. She froze for a moment. Had Cosette told him? Would he not be angry with her if he knew.

"It is… Life with pirates. The air is getting chilly, I feel like you would enjoy it." She teased. "Is that not what tes amis would say of you? Man of marble with insides of ice?"

He nodded slowly, looking wistful for a moment. "They didn't understand…" His eyes flashed to her for but a moment and once again they were burning ice that made her shiver at the same time her gut burned. "You won't believe what happened last night." He said bitterly, shooting a look of daggers towards the sleeping couple.

"What happened?" Éponine watched Enjolras scoot away from Marius and Cosette, and when she looked closely at them, she saw a red welt on Marius's throbbing pulse. She winced. Had it been her doing that made Cosette anxious to get rid of her purity? "Oh."

"Yes." Enjolras shrugged. "Unfortunately, they forgot that I was awake as well."

It was hard to not laugh at Enjolras's expense. Even then, Éponine felt horrible that Cosette lost her virginity there on a cheap animal skin in a jail cell with a third party all too aware of their activities. At least Éponine had the luxury of a bed and an empty room.

"It is a shame," Éponine looked over at the peaceful Cosette. "That it happened here."

Enjolras's hand reached for her face and managed to cup her cheek. She froze and found herself completely unable to move. He was feeling her, it felt like, by just holding her face.

"Have you been… taken advantage of?"

That was the question that she couldn't answer. Had she? But Éponine had given herself willingly to Montparnasse in exchange for Enjolras's life. That did not mean that she wanted it by any stretch… But how to answer the question…

It was as if her silence said everything. "Éponine…" His voice was slow. She sank into his hand and closed her eyes for a long time. The truth was bound to come out at some point.

"I was willing… It was not rape by the traditional definition." She said it slowly. "But I didn't want it. Not really."

"What do you mean?" He was confused with every right to be. She tried to contain that part, she really did, but her traitorous eyes flicked to the wooden container of salve sitting in the corner. He caught it and almost immediately tore his hand away as if her skin was on fire.

"Now," her voice broke and she rose unsteadily to her feet. "Now you think that I am disgusting." She could feel the grief, anger, and hurt rising in her. His face had been so shocked, he couldn't believe that she had done that. "What did you expect? I am the daughter of a whore and a pirate who follows in her mother's footsteps."

She left as quickly as she could, ignoring his voice desperately calling her back. Enjolras did his best to get her attention back, pleading with her to stay. However, he slammed his head against the bars when she was too far to come back to him.

Éponine ran to the aft deck and rubbed incessantly at her face. She couldn't stop crying. Why did she let herself fall in love? When did she understand that it was truly love that Enjolras embodied for her? She bent over the rail and sobbed into her hands. He hated her, he had to. Why wouldn't he?

Through the cracks between her fingers, she saw the sea glinting cold and unruly in the open expanse of the starry late September sky. How easy would it be to just jump and end it all? It would not be a quick death; the boat wasn't tall enough to kill her from the impact of water on bones. But the chill and water-filled lungs would get her.

It was a return to the little girl who stood on the banks of the Seine, ready and willing to jump, but too scared to carry out her plans. Now it was a duty that held her feet to the ground. Before it had been fear, now it was responsibility. How the times had changed!

"What brings you away from your lover?"

"Go away, 'Parnasse." She murmured. His arm found its way around her shoulders, and although he was the last person she wanted to see, the warmth was appreciated. She felt another cry rip her throat and Montparnasse buried her face into his thin chest. She didn't want to reap comfort from him, but he was there and he was accessible.

She didn't care that her tears were soaking his waistcoat or that his hands were no longer moving platonically over the planes of her back. His fingers drummed close to her rear and the heels of his palms dug into her skin like he was ready to rub her the way that lovers do.

His lips began to nip at her throat, and one of his hands lifted to push away her hair. Subtly and with the ease of a snake, he began to lead Éponine away from her possible death and further into the depths of the ship. He kept kissing her even as they moved, and she had not the strength to fight back. The air was cold even through the protective layers of him and her clothing.

A door creaked open, and warm candlelight spilt on the deck before suddenly she was surrounded by it and all too aware of her current situation. Her chemise was being lowered down her shoulders and then pushed under her breasts. Montparnasse pushed her to the bed, no longer gentle. She rolled over on her back and squeezed her salty eyes closed. She could hear the sound of his clothing being discarded; she didn't want to do this, not again. It would only be her second time, and somewhere in the depths of her mind she believed that this time would be with Enjolras.

In her mind, she could still imagine him in the throes of laughter, and it was his face that she kept at the forefront of her consciousness as Montparnasse climbed atop of her and pushed her skirt up her thighs. She desperately reached for memories of the boy she now could admit that she loved as Montparnasse thrust inside her.

If she could pretend she was not there, the sensation was not as bad as the first time. She pretended that, if she were to open her eyes, she would see pale blue eyes looking down at her- burning her, and his stronger chest looming over her. It was Enjolras's hands that roughly roamed her body (maybe he was just eager?), and with those thoughts her back arched so that their torsos met. She moaned and continued imagining.

Enjolras.

Suddenly, Montparnasse stopped. "What did you say?"