"So I'm afraid that in France, we have no anti-stalker laws in place, so until he vandalizes your property or hurts you, there is nothing we can do." Said the police officer Jean had brought her to.
"But she's in danger. He's already hurt her once." Jean pressed.
"I really am sorry but there is nothing the police can do. Finish getting that restraining order, and contact us that second if he ever breaks it. If he breaks it, we can arrest him. If he doesn't, I'm sorry but there's nothing else we can do." The police officer sighed.
Jean thanked him for his time, they shook hands all around and Jean piled René into the car.
"You haven't said a word in an hour. I'm worried. Should I be worried?" Jean asked.
"No. I just didn't have anything to say." She shrugged.
"You're scared." Jean accused.
She didn't answer him.
"You have every right to be." Jean said.
She still didn't say anything.
He sighed and she turned on the radio.
"I want you and Eponine at my house. I can keep a better eye on you there and also that's the address I gave the police." Jean said.
She nodded. "I was kind of hoping you'd say that."
But she said it so low he didn't hear her.
The restraining order came with a hearing. She spent most of the time prepping for it being sick in the bathroom. Eponine held her hand and her hair back.
"Are you going to be able to do this?" Eponine asked once she'd finished.
"Yes. I have to. Enjolras is waiting outside, I have you, there's no way he can hurt me here, I'll make it." René promised.
She stood up and washed her face.
"God, what I wouldn't give for a toothbrush." She muttered.
"Here." Eponine held out a toothbrush, already covered in toothpaste.
René embraced her friend tightly and ran the brush over her teeth.
"How did you know I would need this?" She asked once she cleansed her mouth of sick.
"We did this a lot during Claquesous's trial. You usually spent most of the morning in the bathroom." Eponine answered.
"Right. I'd forgotten that." René murmured.
"I figured as much. I know you don't remember much of the trial." Eponine said as she took the toothbrush and put it in her bag.
"Thank you. I- I don't know what I would do without you." René said.
"Let's have the emotional 'I can't live without you' later. Right now, we need to keep that bastard as far away as we can make him go." Eponine said and gave René a hug.
René returned it, took a breath and exited the bathroom. Enjolras was waiting outside.
"You going to be okay?" He asked.
"Let's just get this over with." René clasped Enjolras's hand and they walked inside.
Montparnasse smiled at her as she walked in. Enjolras snarled at him and pulled René closer to him.
The hearing didn't go as bad as she thought it would. Jean's lawyer stated that Montparnasse was a danger to her life, already having attacked her and been convicted for such actions. She asked for stay away provisions, which meant he had to stay over 500 feet away from her, and no contact provisions, which meant he couldn't interact her in any way, not even mailing things to her. She asked for a relinquish firearms provision as well but Montparnasse didn't own any guns. Montparnasse's lawyer said that there was no need for a restraining order as there was no threat. He had paid his debt to society and said all he wanted was to be her friend. Jean's lawyer asked if he just wanted to be her friend, why would he send her an expensive charm necklace as a gift with the note love Montparnasse? Seeing sense, in René's opinion, the judge granted the restraining order and he wasn't allowed to contact her for five years.
That next Saturday, a package appeared at Jean's door, addressed to René. Inside was a T-Shirt that read His heart belongs to a guitar player. There was no return address. Jean immediately contacted his lawyer but she said that since there was no return address, legally she couldn't prove Montparnasse sent it to her. That next Saturday another package arrived. There was no return address. She threw it in the trash after documenting it. She didn't know if that would help, but it made her feel better. Her life had dramatically changed. She never went anywhere alone anymore, when she wanted to go out which was very steadily decreasing. She usually had an entourage of at least three Amis whenever she did go out. They tried to keep her spirits up, but she had become very afraid of leaving her house. She did her best around her friends but they could all see her fear. Eventually, she stopped trying to hide it and stopped going out.
This was the ninth Saturday a package addressed for her arrived on Jean's doorstep. She called Enjolras. She felt helpless, exhausted and terrified and she didn't know what to do. He promised he would be there soon. She fell asleep waiting for him on the couch. She hadn't been sleeping well these past weeks and the fatigue finally caught up with her. The doorbell woke her.
"Enjolras." Jean had answered the door. Good, she could stay here and not move. She was just so tired…
"Hello, sir. Is Grantaire home?" Enjolras asked.
"She's asleep on the couch. I'd rather you not wake her." Jean answered.
"Has she had a seizure?" Enjolras pressed with a sudden change in his voice.
"No. For some reason, when it comes to fear, she doesn't seize. Or at least in this situation she doesn't. We don't know why." Jean assuaged.
"It's all right, sir. If you can spare a moment, I'd like to ask you something." Enjolras said.
"Of course, son. Come on in." Footsteps grew closer and she felt someone press a kiss into her hair. Enjolras. For someone who never had a girlfriend before, he was quite good at being romantic. She never would've guessed.
"This is just an idea, sir, but I think it might help Grantaire." Enjolras started.
"By all means, son, say it." Jean prompted.
"I think she should come live with me. Now, I respect you sir, and if you say no, I completely understand but I ask you to hear me out." Enjolras suggested.
"Say it quickly." Jean said through clenched teeth. It was clear he didn't agree with Enjolras's plan.
"Sir, I propose a trade. Grantaire moves in with me, and my friend Combeferre, the medical student, Eponine's boyfriend, moves in with you. She'd take his room and I promise I would keep my distance. Eponine, Ferre and I have talked about it, and we think it could work. If we don't tell anyone, save for the Amis then we can easily pretend that she still lives with you. And she won't have to worry about every Saturday getting a package from him. I know they're on board. We were going to talk to you later, when all three of us were here, but I can't watch her go through this anymore. She's scared to death and I can't just stand by and do nothing."
Jean thought for a bit. She could hear his foot tapping against the floor, which meant he was considering it.
"She'd have her own room? That's not yours?" Jean clarified.
"Yes, sir. I wouldn't do that, sir." Enjolras responded.
"Under normal circumstances, I'd say no in a heartbeat. She's much too young. However, these aren't normal circumstances." Jean sighed. "All right. But I want her to call me every day, if she says yes."
"I promise I'll call every day." She said, sitting up.
"How long have you been up?" Jean asked.
"Doorbell." She admitted.
"Have you eaten anything?" Enjolras requested.
She shook her head.
"I'll take you out for lunch then. Do you mind, sir?" Enjolras turned to Jean.
"If you can get her to eat something, I don't care what you do." Jean said before heading to the kitchen, probably for some lunch himself.
"So do you think of living with me?" Enjolras said as they got their food in the Musain.
"I guess it's fine." She shrugged.
"You haven't been eating lately, have you?" He asked.
"Haven't been hungry." She said, picking at her food.
He sighed.
"What?" She groaned.
"I'm worried for you. Not eating, not sleeping, these are not good ways of coping. Not that I know of any good ways." He muttered.
"What do you think I should do?" She shot.
"I don't know. I've looked online, read books but there's nothing on how to handle this. I won't say just pretend it's not happening, because that's even worse. I just… I just want to make the world safe so you don't have to be scared all the time." He admitted.
She smiled a little. She ate some of her food, but stopped when her stomach hurt. Enjolras said that was normal.
"And how would you know?" She replied.
"Because I once went three days without eating in my sophomore year." He blushed.
"Enjolras!" She chastised.
"Hey, I got enough of that from Combeferre. He was not happy when I passed out in the middle of the final. Neither was the professor but he let me retake the final anyways." He chuckled.
She laughed a little. He smiled strangely at her.
"What?" She cocked her head to the left.
"It's been a long time since I've heard you laugh." He said.
She nodded somberly. "I haven't had much reason to lately."
"Well, school's starting this coming Monday. That should be fun." He smiled at her.
She returned it. "Yeah. They let me take all the same classes again. So I'm more familiar with what we're doing. Miss Fantine emailed me a few days ago. Told me she would be so happy to have me back. Even Javert emailed me."
"He did?" He looked surprised.
"Yeah. Said he was happy I'd recovered and wanted to continue to better myself. He said he'd still be strict but if I needed to miss class for any reason, medical reason mind you, he wouldn't mind accommodating me." She relayed.
"I thought he was just an ass." He mumbled.
"So did I. But he really cares about people bettering themselves. It's kind of like an obsession for him." She said.
He nodded and they continued to eat.
That next day, they moved René into Enjolras's apartment and Combeferre into Jean's house. That next Saturday, no package was delivered to his door. She was so relieved she slept that night completely without nightmares, the first time in weeks.
School started and she couldn't have been happier. Her teachers were genuinely glad to see her, she loved seeing her friends on campus and the people she knew stopped her and said they were happy to see her back. Then she noticed something.
"Ep doesn't have any classes with me this year." She said to Enjolras after the first night.
"Is that a problem?" Enjolras asked.
"No. I didn't feel the need to bolt in any of my classes. Granted, I only had two today but I felt okay. I think my brain hit a reset button when the bottle smashed it." She smiled.
He kissed her.
She lived with Enjolras for a month and there was no trace of Montparnasse. She knew Jean wouldn't tell her if he sent any packages but she felt glad that she didn't know. She didn't have to be afraid at Enjolras's apartment.
One day, he was worried. Her classes had ended over an hour ago and no one knew where she had gone. She wasn't answering her phone or texts. He knew he couldn't call the police just yet, as she hadn't been gone for over twenty-four hours. But he was still very worried. Then he heard the door open. He jumped up to see… someone else. She came home so completely different, Enjolras wasn't sure it was Grantaire. But true enough it was her eyes, her walk, her body but she seemed so incredibly different. He'd never seen her like this.
"You're… your hair." He managed to get out. He sounded strangled to his own ears.
Grantaire was… blonde. And her hair was shorter. And straight.
"I found this on your car." She cried.
She handed him a note before slinking away to her room. Tears streamed freely down her face and he saw her collapse on her bed in a sobbing mess.
Stay away from her. She's my black haired beauty.
Montparnasse. There was a deep pit in hell for that bastard. He put the note into the kitchen and went into her room.
"I'm sorry. I should've texted you where I was and I knew you'd be worried but I knew you'd talk me out of it. Changing my hair seemed easiest and when he backs off I can change it back. 'S not permanent." She sobbed.
"You know what?" He asked, turning her around to face him.
"What?" She sniffled.
"I like it. I won't say I prefer this look but I do think it looks good." He promised, kissing her forehead.
"You really think so?" She wiped her eyes.
"Do I lie to you?" He replied.
She shook her head, smiling a little. "You really think it looks good?"
"You will always be my princess. Now you can be my Sleeping Beauty." He returned the smile.
"You didn't kiss me to wake me up." She chastised lightly.
"I can make up for that." He stole a kiss.
"You're gonna need to do more than that to make it up to me." She grabbed his shirt collar and brought his lips to hers.
He started to run his hands through her abnormally short and straight hair and quelled the uneasy feeling in his stomach. She looked beautiful. He would just have to get used to this new beautiful.
Ta-da! I have just a smidgen of time on my hands and I don't want to keep you all, especially La Patron-Minette, waiting so I updated as fast as I could. When it comes to stalking victims, many people become afraid of most everything, especially going out and they will often change their appearance, in the hopes that the stalker will not recognize them or back off. The worst part is many countries and states don't have anti-stalking laws that protect the victim before the stalker attacks. Which really sucks. But the law hasn't caught up to the ways many people stalk their victims. Hence why Grantaire is stuck in her predicament. Leave a review and tell me one or more of three things: 1) what you think will happen, 2) what you think should happen, 3) how you think it should end. I'd love to hear where you all see this is going. Pardon me while I act like a five-year-old. If you don't leave a review, I have to assume you don't like me. Okay, done being five. Until next time. Adieu mon chers.