René didn't see Enjolras for the rest of the day, and the next. She considered asking Euphrasie to tell Enjolras she wasn't mad at him, but then she figured Euphrasie would tell him she was sick so he would know she wasn't avoiding him. She sent out a mass text saying not to visit her as she was sick and didn't want to infect anyone. For six days, all she did was sleep, play video games on her phone, watch Code Lyoko, take medication, and play guitar when her fingers were up to it, Eponine thankfully leaving the guitar in her room.
She was half-conscious after taking some decongestant medication when voices drifted into her room.
"I don't think we should tell her." She'd never heard this voice before. Male, and probably older. It held a certain weariness in it.
"She deserves to know. They're together. He never left her side when she was in a coma. When he was brought in, she told him to survive and he did." Euphrasie argued.
"Well, maybe eventually. But right now, she's sick and so is he. Telling her will only upset her and aggravate her cold. She will be fine in a week. Tell her then." The man said.
"He might not make it that long!" Euphrasie shouted before she took a breath. "Huchloup, wouldn't you want to know?"
"It's not my wife. I can't empathize." 'Huchloup' answered.
"Wouldn't you want to know? Or would you rather they didn't tell you until she was already dead." Euphrasie cut.
That's a little harsh, René thought.
Huchloup didn't answer vocally. Euphrasie's steps got closer.
"Hun, are you awake?" Euphrasie whispered.
"'M awake." She slurred.
"Don't lie to me." Euphrasie threatened.
"'M not. Heard everything you said. Something about people being already dead." René said.
Euphrasie didn't look convinced but continued. "Sweetheart, I need you to promise me that you won't freak out. I need you to keep calm. I won't tell you if you don't promise me."
"I promise. You won't even know I'm here I'll be so calm." René grinned.
"God, I really wish you weren't high on cough medicine." Euphrasie hissed under her breath.
"I am not high! A little tired, but not high." René protested.
"If you say so." Euphrasie took a breath. "Something happened to Enjolras. Somehow, the infection in his shoulder went to his chest and he's… he's really sick."
Suddenly, all lethargy vanished from her system. Enjolras? Sick?
"He's going to be okay, right?" René asked.
"We don't know, honey. He's fighting but this could kill him. And before you even think about it, you can't visit him. You're still sick and a sick person visiting another sick person will only make him worse." Euphrasie pushed her down as she tried to get up.
"He needs to be okay. Why is it we always fight before we physically can't forgive each other?" René moaned.
"Excuse me?" Euphrasie questioned.
"I said stupid things before I left him. And I didn't take them back. It's always like that. It'll never change." René spat.
"He might not die. You said yourself he's a fighter. You ordered him not to die." Euphrasie tried.
"Yeah, well, I find people have a way of disappointing me." René sighed.
"There is still hope." Euphrasie said.
"Hope? All hope has ever done for me is beaten me down and left me in the gutter to die. I have no hope. It has forsaken me." René growled, ending the conversation.
Euphrasie sighed, gave her shoulder a squeeze which René refused to draw comfort from, and left.
She did not sleep for the rest of the day. Nor did she speak. It was 4:34 when she last looked at the clock but she knew more time had passed. Knowing Euphrasie wasn't going to be on shift, she managed to get a nurse's attention as he passed. She feigned exhaustion, though it wasn't entirely too hard.
"Look, I really want to sleep but I'm not really that tired. Could you please bring me a wheelchair so I can tire myself out?" She begged.
The nurse shrugged and brought her one.
"Just ask if you want someone to bring you back." He said and left her without a word.
She expertly maneuvered herself into the chair and rolled up to the nurses' station. She snagged one of those masks the nurses wore when they didn't want to spread germs. She'd often seen Joly with one on so she knew a little of what she was doing. After putting it on, it was really pretty simple, she went to Enjolras's room. She got lost, a fact of which she would never admit, but eventually made her way to his room. His bedside clock said 6:21. Okay so maybe she got lost more than once. It was a big hospital!
Enjolras was still when she entered. She hadn't expected him to wake up but it was still strange seeing him so still. She rolled up to his side and grabbed one of his hands. She could see his pale and sweaty complexion even in the darkness of his room. The palm in her hands was sweaty and tense. She tried stroking her thumb down the back of his hand but very little tension left his hand. He was in pain even as he slept, or was unconscious. She wished she could take his pain, give him as much comfort she could. But she knew she couldn't. Physically and he would pitch a fit about how she went through enough pain already. Which was just so Enjolras.
"You're up early." A raspy, thin voice brought her out of her thoughts.
Though his eyes were more red than blue, the only emotion in them was indifference. She hung her head in shame.
"I shouldn't have said what I did. I wasn't feeling all that great and I was exhausted. I'm- I'm sorry." René whispered.
"I know." He stated.
"Do you even want me here?" She asked, dreading his answer.
"No. But not for the reasons you're thinking of." He answered.
"Excuse me?" She responded, her shoulders sinking to the floor.
"I've never been fond of people seeing me when I'm weak or vulnerable." He said.
"Then what was the day you took me to the Musain for lunch?" She snorted, more from nerves than sarcasm.
Somehow, he knew. "I thought it would be rude to kick you out after what you did for me."
She smiled softly but it did not last. Every last bit of hope she could have had, had fled her body.
"Look at me." He commanded.
She did. His eyes were still indifferent but then she saw pain and fear behind them. He wasn't being indifferent to her, but hiding his pain from her. Fear turned to annoyance.
"Do you want me to hit your pain med button?" She tried.
"It's manageable." He said stiffly.
"Don't bullshit me." She said bluntly.
"Yes. I wasn't expecting it to hurt this much." He admitted.
She hit it once, so he would still be conscious and mostly in control but the pain could lessen.
"Thank you." He breathed.
"Of course." She sighed. "I don't know what to say. I didn't plan this out. Probably should have."
"It's okay. I don't really know either. I wasn't expecting you. I do wish you'd tell me when you decide to pop by." He said dryly.
She laughed, but soon the smile faded.
"I'm not going to die. I promise you that." He grabbed her hand, which was still on his bed.
"Yeah, well, Ryan promised me that before he went to college. Look what happened to him." She muttered.
"Have you ever had hope?" He asked bluntly.
"When I was a kid, yeah. Before my parents were killed and I learned what human nature was truly like." She swallowed hard.
"Eponine told us what happened to them. I'm so sorry." He whispered.
"When?" She tilted her head. She wasn't mad, just curious. Though she didn't deny her annoyance that she wasn't the one who told them what happened to her parents.
"I think it was the first December you were in a coma. Did I just get her in trouble?" He grimaced.
"You earned her a head smack but the first person who told me would've earned her that so don't worry about it." She promised, going into a small coughing fit.
"Are you all right? You don't look well." He noticed.
"I'm sick, honey. Just a common-"
A thought hit her. She had been sick with a chest cold. Enjolras now had a chest infection. She had been sick when she came to visit, or at least she was a carrier.
Oh God.
Oh God.
She'd given Enjolras her virus. Enjolras could die because of her.
Something far, far away was shouting, something about her name and help, but she couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. Black spots danced along her vision until two centered dots started to get larger and she sank into oblivion.
He knew she was going to have a seizure the minute she stopped speaking. A single tear slid down her face. From the looks of it, she didn't even try to fight it. Or she couldn't. Enjolras couldn't tell which it was.
"Grantaire. Grantaire! Help! Somebody help! Please!" He screamed as loud as his voice allowed him to.
It wasn't very loud, but one of the nurses managed to hear him. That or the shaking of the wheelchair as Grantaire violently shook. Immediately, nurses rushed into the room and lowered her gently to the floor. One grabbed the pillow under him, he leaned forward to make it as easy as possible, and placed it under her head. Another ripped the mask off of her face to try and work her jaw. The worst part was lying on his bed, which was raised, he had a perfect view of Grantaire's shaking body, fluttering eyelids, and the whiteness of her eyes which had rolled back into her head. For the first time, he could hear something come from her mouth. It sounded like pained whimpers. He knew he was right when he saw tears streak down her cheeks.
"Dammit! Her jaw's clenched on her tongue. I can't get it open." One of the nurses cursed.
"She has to ride it out. We just have to hope she won't need stitches." Another said.
"From the blood pouring out of her mouth, she's going to. Fetch" He checked the bracelet around her wrist, "Madeleine."
The first one ran out of the room. She seized for at least an hour, or so it felt like. After a life age of the Earth, Madeleine came in. Grantaire was still seizing. Blood was pouring out of her mouth, running down her chin and neck.
"Get me a gurney. And someone reach either Jean Valjean or Eponine Thernadier. Tell them I need to speak with them immediately." Madeleine ordered.
After another forever, she finally stilled. Her eyes were closed and her chest was only barely rising. The gurney had arrived and they loaded her onto it. It wasn't until she vanished from his sight that he could tear his eyes away. There was a small blood pool where she used to be. He bit down on his cheek, trying to hold back tears.
"Kid, she'll be okay. It's really not that bad. You need to focus on resting." The one nurse who came back, probably to check up on him, said.
His suspicions were confirmed as his temperature was taken and his pain level was inquired. He answered six, though his heart was more of a twenty. The agony in his shoulder seemed so insignificant to what he had just watched. He guessed the nurse didn't believe his answer by the slight glare coming from the man. His eyes fell onto the pool of blood left on the floor. His stomach rebelled against him but managed to quell his nausea.
"Kid, I'm serious. Even if she needs stitches, it won't be many and those will be out in a few days. The reason it bleed so much was because the tongue has a ton of blood in it. And because of that, the healing process goes incredibly fast. She'll be fine." The nurse swore.
Enjolras nodded blankly. "It's her brain everyone's worried about, though."
"She's an epileptic, kid, I'm sure she's had worse. She might not remember a few things but nothing major." He shrugged.
"You call memory loss nothing major? The last time she lost her memory she lost an entire month." Enjolras snapped.
The nurse sighed, and left. He came back a couple minutes later with a syringe and he emptied it into one of Enjolras's many I.V.s. Darkness overtook him before the nurse even left the room.
Lorde's Royals woke her up rudely. She would have to remember to turn her phone's volume down.
"Is this Eponine Thernadier?" A voice asked.
"Yeah." She answered sleepily. It was too early for this.
"You need to speak to Doctor Madeleine immediately. It's about René Grantaire." Eponine didn't need coffee anymore, thank you.
"What's happened?" Eponine demanded.
"They haven't told me. Only that it's extremely urgent." The voice told her. "Oh here he is."
"Hello, my dear. She's fine, I just have some questions that need answering that aren't in her records." Madeleine assured her.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "What do you need to know?"
"How long was her longest seizure?" Madeleine asked.
"Forty-five seconds. How long was this one?" She countered.
"Roughly two minutes and fifteen seconds." Madeleine admitted.
"Two minutes?! What set her off?" Eponine required.
"We don't know. She's still unconscious and Enjolras fell asleep. And I don't want to risk waking him." Madeleine answered.
"Enjolras?" Combeferre had told them all that the infection had spread to his chest. Could that have something to do with it? "Is he all right?"
"As well as he can be right now. He's still in danger, especially if his fever gets worse, but it seems she's just the one we have to worry about right now." Madeleine replied.
"Did she bite through her tongue?" Eponine questioned.
"No. She sank her teeth in pretty good but she only needs about three stitches and those should be gone in two days." Madeleine promised.
"Good. MRI?" Eponine said.
"Right now. Has she ever spoken during a seizure?" Madeleine requested.
"No. She's always quiet. She may have when she was a child but anyone who truly knows is dead." Eponine replied.
"Not even just whimpering?" Madeleine pressed.
"No. Why?" Eponine countered.
"More than likely it was because she bit her tongue so hard." Madeleine sounded like he was writing.
Eponine assumed she'd been whimpering during this seizure.
"Thank you, my dear. I'll call with updates." She said her goodbyes and they hung up.
She debated calling Combeferre but they'd been up late talking to each other and she wanted to give him some rest. With Enjolras in the hospital, she knew he didn't get as much as he was used to. Especially since he got worse. So Eponine just curled into a ball and cried.
Hey everyone! I'm back. With my speech finally written, and a Lord of the Rings marathon planned for tomorrow I figured I might just squeeze some writing time in for this story. Now, feel free to leave a review- leave one LEAVE ONE- and all feedback is appreciated. Questions, thoughts, goals, beliefs, emissions or desires. No trolls though, please. Feeding you guys is tiring and as a college student, I have no energy. It's called three class a day and for a college student, that's a lot. Adieu, mon chers. Until we meet again.