What if the time came for the Amis to fight for their beloved revolution again?
"It seems... The time has come." Enjolras stood on the platform in front of the Amis in the Cafe Musain, holding a letter in his hand. The people gathered around him all fell silent as he called out those words, stopping their conversations to listen to what he had to say. "Over the last eight months, I have exchanged several letters with a Monsieur Moreau from the French Government regarding the changes we... suggested the government put in place. Our letters spoke of compromise on several occasions, but this morning I received this reply," Enjolras cleared his throat, bringing the letter up so that he could read it, "Dear Monsieur Enjolras..."
I once again discussed your suggestions with my colleagues. After much debating, we are unanimous on the fact that your changes cannot be implemented by the government in the near future. As asked, your suggestions were also taken to his majesty, the King of France, who found very few of your ideas reasonable.
You have my sincerest apologies, and I hope that we can perhaps work together at some point in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Bastien Moreau
Lowering the letter once again, Enjolras looked around at the people surrounding him, most of whom were gaping or muttering angrily. Éponine, having already read the letter and had to deal with an incredibly angry Enjolras that morning, was sitting on a chair in the corner, a plate balanced on her still growing baby-bump. She was eating fruit-biscuits as if she had an infinite supply (which she very nearly did; she had spent the entire weekend baking with Cosette, cooking the only thing she could. It ended considerably better than it had the last time she made biscuits...).
"What are we going to do, then?" a voice called out. Many of the Amis were a bit shocked to find that Grantaire was the one questioning their leader; he was, after all, the only member of the Amis who didn't truly believe in the cause. Everyone knew that Grantaire was only there for Enjolras and the rest of his friends.
Enjolras seemed to be the only one who was unfazed by Grantaire's question; in fact, he grinned cunningly as he answered.
"We're going to the government buildings before this week is over."
In theory, the plan was simple; all the group had to do was get into the government buildings and persuade whoever was behind the front desk to let them see Monsieur Moreau, which shouldn't have been difficult with Enjolras and his incredible speaking skills on their side.
What they didn't expect to be matched with was a very grumpy receptionist who didn't like to be interrupted at half past one when she was just about to go on her lunch hour.
"Monsieur, if you do not have an appointment with Monsieur Moreau, and you are not planning on getting an appointment in the near future, then I'd strongly suggest that you leave before I call for the police to remove you using force."
"Mademoiselle, with all due respect, this is a rather important matter with regards to the state." Enjolras said, and, had he not wanted to make a good impression, he would have gritted his teeth and glared at the woman. This was met by cheers from the other Amis.
"Vive la France!"
"Down with the monarchy!"
"Freedom for the people!"
Enjolras barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes; enthusiasm was, for the most part, welcomed by him when it came to the cause; when he was trying to persuade a woman who sincerely didn't want to be persuaded to let them pass, it was more of a hindrance.
"Excuse me, coming through, Courfeyrac get out of the way." Another voice carried over the heads of the other Amis as Éponine pushed her way through the crowd of people gathered in the lobby of the government building. She finally reached the front of the crowd to stand next to Enjolras at the reception desk.
"Monsieur, once again, I must ask you to leave." The receptionist said, ignoring Éponine's arrival.
"Yes, hello, good afternoon," Éponine butted in, placing her hands on the front desk, "My name is Éponine Thénardier, I am six months pregnant and I'm in an extremely very bad mood. If you want to escape the outburst of pure annoyance that is about to happen, I sincerely suggest that you send word to Monsieur Moreau that Monsieur Enjolras and his party are in the lobby waiting to see him about a very important matter that really can't wait another moment to be discussed." Éponine smiled a warning smile at the receptionist, who frowned disapprovingly at her.
"I'm afraid Monsieur Moreau is very busy today," she said stiffly, "Might I suggest that you come back tomorrow?"
"Apparently the words 'can't wait another moment to be discussed' didn't register to you when I said them," Éponine said, "I do hope that you understand that an outburst of annoyance from a heavily pregnant woman is really a recipe for quite a catastrophic disaster."
"Especially when Éponine gets annoyed," Enjolras inputted, "You definitely don't want to be on the wrong end of one of Éponine's mood swings..." Courfeyrac caught on to the pair's plan, and started joining in.
"Yes, last time Éponine got annoyed at me, she threatened me... with a spoon. I didn't think a spoon could be such a deadly weapon until then..." Gavroche, who was standing at his feet and hadn't yet been noticed by the receptionist due to his rather lack-of height, grinned madly.
"'Ponine's really scary when she's angry," Gavroche spoke up, "She made me organise her cupboards last time I annoyed her... it took me days!" the receptionist stood up slightly, peering over the desk to see the owner of the voice. Gavroche grinned up at her, using his 'adorable face' as Éponine had branded it not so long ago.
The receptionist looked confused at the fact that Gavroche was there, but overlooked it as she sat back down. "I'm afraid that it simply isn't possible for you to see Monsieur Moreau today. If you'd like to come back later this week, I will let Monsieur Moreau know that you were here."
The look on Éponine's face darkened. Enjolras, catching the rather scary look in his beloved's eye hastily retook control of the situation.
"All I need is five minutes," he said, "It really is essential to the state. Does that mean nothing to you?!"
Before the receptionist could answer, a door on the other side of the lobby opened and a plump, elderly man wearing small glasses and a suit approached the desk, not looking up from the report he was staring intently at.
"Jeanette, I need you to organise a meeting with Monsieur Carroe, preferably before next Tuesday..." he looked up and stopped short at the sight of almost fifty revolutionaries standing in the lobby of his workplace.
"Monsieur Moreau, I assume?" Enjolras said amusedly, making his way past the desk and holding his hand out to the man who was too shocked to shake it, "I'm Enjolras, though I feel you've probably guessed that."
"What... what are you doing here?!" he asked, outraged, "I thought my business with you blasted revolutionaries was finished!"
Had the man been talking to Grantaire, or Courfeyrac, or Gavroche or even Éponine, he probably would have been met with a fist connecting with his face at that point. However, Enjolras, being the stoic and strong leader that he was, knew better than to entertain the man with the anger that he would be expected.
"I'm afraid not," he said, still smiling slightly, "You see, I think you may have forgotten... we built a barricade for the sake of the people last year, and many of us almost died trying, my beloved being one of them," Éponine waved from where she was still standing behind the desk. Enjolras smiled at her, waving back, before continuing his speech, "And, I don't know what message that sent out to you, but it was intended to say 'we're not going down without a fight'." He was once again met by cheers from his fellow Amis.
Moreau frowned angrily, "You people are a disgrace to society!" he raged, "You should accept your monarchy! Accept your country the way it is!"
"Why should we accept anything less than perfection?" a voice called out.
Another joined him, "Your society's rubbish!"
Followed by several others, "The king knows nothing of the people and neither do you!"
"How would you like to live on the streets?!"
"I'll show you where you can stick your monarchy!"
Moreau seemed overwhelmed by the people shouting at him; when he had been asked to take on the revolutionary case, he had not expected to be met by a group of angry students as he was about to go to lunch with his sister.
Enjolras was joined by Marius, who had pushed his way through the crowd to join his friend, "Monsieur Moreau, I believe you know my grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand?" Moreau's face lit up in recognition.
"You're Gillenormand's grandson?!" he asked incredulously, "You, amongst these..." he faltered for a second.
"I believe the word you're looking for is 'people', Monsieur Moreau," Enjolras said. Moreau glared at him, but turned back to Marius.
"And what is your grandfather's opinion on all of this?" he asked. Marius smirked.
"Well, at first he shared your opinions," he said, "He thought I was a disgrace to my family. But after I fought on the barricade, after I was willing to risk my life... his opinion changed. He still hasn't told me why. He simply said that 'family is family, whether they are disgraceful or not'. I believe my father in law may have had something to do with his change of heart. Nonetheless, he supports my role in the revolution."
Moreau frowned in thought, and Enjolras gestured for the Amis behind him to quieten down. After almost a minute of near-silence, the older man sighed.
"Monsieur Enjolras, perhaps you and a few of your... party, would like to discuss your revolution with me in my office?"
"I think that would be appropriate," Enjolras nodded, the amused look still in his eyes, "Courfeyrac, Combeferre, 'Ponine... Gavroche," he picked out a few of his friends to join him, "And Marius," he said, before nodding to Moreau. The old man looked over to Jeanette-the-receptionist.
"Jeanette, please send word to my sister that we'll have to reschedule our lunch meeting," he said, "Due to important matters of state." And with that he turned around and made his way back towards the stairs, leading the small group up to an office.
Enjolras clasped a hand on Marius' shoulder, "Thank you," he said sincerely, "I've often doubted if your heart was in anything that the Amis were doing in recent months. You proved me wrong."
"I feel like I know why Grantaire is still here now," Marius replied, "It's not just about the cause, it's about being there for your friends. And you're right; I've forgotten the Amis in the last few months, and for that I apologise. Do you forgive me?" he held an apologetic hand out to Enjolras, who shook it without a second thought.
"You're here now," the revolutionary leader said, smiling slightly, "That's what matters." Marius grinned before walking faster up the steps to talk with Combeferre. Enjolras fell back slightly to join Éponine who was struggling to keep up with the boys as she climbed the stairs whilst being six months pregnant. She smiled gratefully at him for waiting, resting one hand on her bump and taking his hand in hers with the other.
"You did well," she told him as the carried on slowly up the steps.
"You did more," he chuckled, "Angry 'Ponine? Not even I would want to face her!"
"Yes, thank you ever so much for mentioning my mood swings," she said, mock annoyance on her face. Enjolras, kissed her lightly on the lips.
"Forgive me?" he asked. She couldn't stop the blush spreading over her cheeks; even after almost a year with Enjolras, she still felt so ridiculously happy every time he so much as touched her.
"For now," she said, ignoring the way he smirked as he noticed her pink cheeks, "Now stop looking at me like that; you have a revolution to fight for."
"We have a revolution to fight for," he corrected her. Éponine rolled her eyes.
"Nevertheless, it involves 'fighting' and I feel you are better matched to that task than I am," Éponine laughed, "You, after all, are only carrying one person. I'm carrying two."
"Excuses, excuses," Enjolras teased as they reached the top of the stairs, "Ready to give this man a piece of our minds?"
"More than anything." Éponine grinned, pushing the door in front of them open and joining their friends in Moreau's office.
The rest of the Amis found themselves waiting around in the foyer. Many were sitting on the floors around the edge of the spacious room, wondering exactly how long Enjolras and his party were going to take.
"What can they possibly be discussing that's taking this long?!" Grantaire complained loudly after almost an hour of waiting.
"Patience, mon ami," Jehan said soothingly, "They have much to discuss."
"I thought the whole 'discussing' issue was what brought us here in the first place..." Grantaire grumbled, "I knew I should have brought that bottle of ale..."
Feuilly smirked, "It probably would have been confiscated from you the second you stepped into the building."
"Well, at least that would have made things a bit more interesting," Grantaire chuckled, "It would have simply hilarious for us all to try and get it back again."
As their laughter died out, the door Enjolras and the others had disappeared through opened again, the six of them filing out with Moreau close behind. Enjolras shook the older man's hand with a smile on his face before they made their wake back over to the others.
"Well?" Joly prompted after a moment of silence, "What's happening?" Enjolras smiled.
"Come, my friends," he called out to all of them, his voice reaching them all despite the way they were spread out around the room, "We have cause for celebration, after all." He was met by cheers once again, though this time they were more triumphant shouts than passionate jeers.
"You did well up there," Éponine murmured to Enjolras as they followed the others out, repeating what she had said before entering Moreau's office. Everyone was tactfully ignoring the glares directed at them from Jeanette the Receptionist, "You were fair and you were calm, but you got your way."
Enjolras smirked, "I always get my way," he pointed out, "And Monsieur Moreau didn't put up much of a fight after you started telling him all those details about living on the streets."
Éponine shrugged, "He needed a wake-up call," she said defensively, "And if he thought my depictions were bad, then I'd love to see how he'd fare if he had to live on the streets himself."
"I doubt he'd last very long," Enjolras replied, "Then again, if any of the bourgeois people in Paris had to live on the streets, I don't think any of them would be able to cope..."
"I know they wouldn't," Éponine replied, "I don't even think I could nowadays... I spent nine years fending for myself, and not even a year after I stopped, I'd be dead in days if I went back."
"I'm sure you wouldn't," Enjolras protested, "Did you not tell me once that a lot of it was instinct?" Éponine looked thoughtful.
"True," she agreed after a while, "But I wouldn't have you by my side. And that is surely a recipe for disaster." Enjolras laughed.
"Oh, believe me, Athena, if you had to live out on the streets again, I'd still be living with you." Éponine raised her eyebrows.
"You'd do that for me?" she asked, part of her fully expecting him to say no, he wouldn't.
"I'd do anything for you," he said immediately. Éponine blushed again, not fully trusting his words, "You expected me to say something different, didn't you?" he asked, noticing her pink cheeks. Éponine blushed even redder.
"I blame being pregnant," she sighed, "Baby is making me question everything."
"Baby seems to think that Papa is going to abandon you," Enjolras said, fixing Éponine's bump with a disapproving frown, "Which is never going to happen." Éponine laughed at the fact that Enjolras was simply staring at their unborn child.
"Well, I know that Papa isn't going anywhere," Éponine said decisively, "Because if he does, then Mama will have to kill him."
"Ouch!" Enjolras aid, feigning being hurt, "That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Éponine shrugged.
"That depends on whether or not you think I was joking." With that, Éponine flashed him a smile and sped up slightly to catch up with everyone else. Enjolras shook his head, wondering how on Earth he and Éponine ever became a successful couple, but being grateful for it nonetheless.