A/N: Hello from Spain! :D There is wifi but it's not great, so any prompts I don't get out on the day (I'm almost definitely back to daily updates now) will be posted as a double the next day. Weather is amazing. But there are crying babies everywhere and it's so annoying. Oh well. There's a pool like ten metres away so I'm off there when I've finished this. Oh, and do check out Hugo High, no updates for a couple of weeks whilst Rainbow-Bunnii is away but I'm pleased with it, and the Meponine fluff shows hints of beginning (still only in friendship but maybe somethin' more later on ;) )

Enjoy!


Prompt: Imagine Person A suffering from pregnancy back pain and Person B offering to massage their back for them.


Éponine groaned.

The child was due in about a week, and the back pains had reached their worst.

Marius had been given a month of paternity leave, which he was over the moon about, meaning he could spend those first few precious weeks with their newborn once he or she came. Éponine was grateful too, but she was finding it hard to do anything but sleep (and even then she had to sleep on her back, which sent her muscles into a frenzy the next morning) as her back was so bad.

She was lying on her side (which was incredibly uncomfortable as her bump was getting in the way) with Marius still sleeping next to her. It was early, the sun not yet risen. According to his watch, it was thirteen minutes past five in the morning, which meant she'd slept about four hours.

Brilliant.

She groaned again as her back let out a particularly nasty ache, before hearing Marius shuffle next to her, and sighing. She'd woken him. "'Ponine?"

"Go to sleep, it's five in the morning."

"I could say the same thing, love. What's the matter? I heard you groan, like you were in pain. It's not the baby, is it?"

"No, just my back. It's a bit sore."

He sat up beside her, dipping down to plant a soft kiss on her cheek. "Maybe if you walk around it'll help?"

She sat up, leaning against the headboard of their bed. "Maybe."

She did anyway, Marius helping her up and wrapping an arm around her waist, lighting a few candles as they went. They were settled in to their new house by now, everything painted, scrubbed and organised, as they walked through to the lounge.

"Any better?"

She stopped, arching her back as the bone clicked. "A little, but not much."

He sighed. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"Don't be ridiculous. It's worth it."

"Only a week to go."

She nodded, smiling as he kissed her temple. "Why don't we sit on the sofa for a bit? Perhaps sitting in a proper sitting position will help."

"Worth a try."

So they settled themselves on the sofa, Marius' arm remaining around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder, kissing her head a couple of times. "Working?" he asked after about ten minutes.

"Not really. I could go back to sleep."

"We're up now, may as well stay that way. I could give it a massage?"

"You know how to give back massages?"

"Kind of. As you know, I can do shoulders, and how different are they, really?"

"Good point. Might as well try it then.

As she settled herself between his legs, he lifted the back of her nightshirt and began to gently knead her lower back, where she said the pain was worst. She let out a low moan, relaxing against him. "Don't stop, this is brilliant."

He leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. "I'll assume it's working then?"

"Shut up and massage on."

He chuckled, moving his hands to slightly higher. She smiled as his fingers dug in to her aching skin, leaning in to his touch. "Bit lower?"

He obliged, moving back to slightly lower than where he'd started, massaging again. She couldn't contain the grin as two months worth of aches and pains melted away. "God, do I love you" she said, causing another chuckle. "Love you too, my bed-ridden Éponine" he replied, massaging slightly further to the left.

About an hour later Éponine was feeling better than she had in who knows how long, leaning back against Marius' chest. He was tracing circles on her bump, kissing her hair. "In a week you won't have this anymore."

"Nope, we'll have the upgraded version instead" she said, causing a smile. "We will. We never did consider names, did we?"

"Hmm. Well, for a girl I've always liked Charlotte, Samantha, Monique, Danielle and Alexandra, and for a boy, Victor, Jaqcues and Jean."

"I like them all, although Charlotte, Samantha and Victor in particular. My thoughts were Alice, Marie, Annalise, Eliza or Geneviève for a girl, and Louis, Pierre, William, Gustave and Gabriel for a boy."

"Well, if it's a girl then shall we go with Charlotte? We can always shorten it to Lottie too."

"Marius, Éponine and Charlotte. I like it. And if it's a boy?"

"Up to you."

"Okay, how about Jean-Louis? We both get an input then."

"Sounds good. And if it's a girl then we could have Samantha as her middle name."

"Sounds perfect."

Éponine turned her head around to kiss him. "It doesn't seem real, that in a week were going to be holding little Charlotte Samantha or Jean-Louis after so long."

He smiled, kissing her forehead as she turned around again. "It doesn't, does it?"

"I can't wait."

"Me neither. Joly agreed that you'd be better off giving birth in a hospital, as in the hopefully very unlikely chance something does go wrong, you're already in the best place for it."

She nodded. "You'll stay with me though, won't you?"

"They can threaten me with a spears and a pickaxe, the only place I'll be is the chair by your beside, no matter what."

Éponine smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now go to sleep, it's only 6AM."

She nodded, turning her head to one side on his chest. "If my back is bad in the morning can you massage it again?"

"Of course. Promise."

She smiled once more before closing her eyes, slipping silently in to sleep as his other hand came to rest on her heavily pregnant stomach.