Chapter Two, In which Javert

Chapter Two, Part One

Enjolras was struggling to stay awake, he nodded dumbly as the Inspector rambled on incoherently about something or rather, Javert himself didn't know what he was saying, he was talking about anything that would possibly make Enjolras stay awake.

Merely minutes after his first bathing, Enjolras' hair had begun to shade Red again; Javert had stared so horrified that Enjolras feared he had grown horns.

"Your hair!" Javert had yelled.

"My hair?"

"It's red! Blood Red…oh my goodness", he leant close to Enjolras' head and began to examine it.

"What are you doing?"

Javert turned away and gasped for some air, he had gone very pale.

"Oh god, Enjolras how does your head feel?"

"I…I don't know, it's…I don't know!"

Javert parted Enjolras' hair going a little green, "Oh my god…" he muttered again, quieter this time.

"Inspector, have you gone completely insane?"

Javert clasped his hand to his mouth, "The doctor, the doctor can't come any earlier, oh god what do I do?" He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes "God help me…help him…God, hear me, help me!"

Enjolras squeezed his hand, and looked up at the poor Inspector, he is mad, Enjolras thought to himself.

The truth of it was, Javert had found a huge wound in the back of Enjolras' head, it was already becoming infected, though the water of the bath had cleaned it, the sight of it made him feel sick, he had bandaged it, there was nothing more he could do, except pray, hope, wish, and try to make Enjolras stay awake. If he could last the night, get over the fever, he would live.

Suddenly Enjolras grabbed his hand, Javert down at him, "I…Inspector, I can't…what's wrong…please tell me, please…"

Javert sighed, Enjolras had such pleading, persuasive eyes, he didn't want to deny him anything, he would have given him the Earth, The Moon and the Stars, had he asked for them, and he felt so awful…what if Enjolras died? What if he lived?

"It's my head isn't it" Enjolras said questioningly, "It's infected, the wound, isn't it?! You think I'm going to die, don't you!" He struggled to sit up, gasping for breath and shouting in a voice very unlike his own, "Poor Enjolras, tell him he'll be fine, better to see him die this way than shot! Let him die, Inspector Javert doesn't care, no one cares, Enjolras is no one, nothing but food to the germs that feast on his fresh wounds, an encourager, a child, a boy," Enjolras held tightly to the bed and fought or his breath, "I mean nothing to you!"

Javert fell to his knees in front of him, "That's not true, I care, I don't want you to die, you're too young"

"Then you care for me because I am young, because you think you should, because human nature is that the older look after the younger, the stronger after the weaker? I don't want that Inspector, I am a person, a man!"

Javert put his forefinger to Enjolras' lips, "Be calm, you will over excite yourself and do more damage"

"No one would care if I died here and now, no one would care…no one will stand when I am dead and say 'Poor Enjolras, he died for a worthy cause, he was a brilliant man', they will say 'Poor child, poor bastard! He died in vain'" Enjolras lie down as a sob painfully shook his body.

"You are ill and have a fever, and you are raving" Javert nodded, assuring himself as much as Enjolras, "This will pass, and in the morning you will be well".

Enjolras let out a tired sigh, he closed his eyes and his mouth opened slightly in a natural calm sleep, Javert got up and put his face in his hands.

"I shan't be alone…", Javert turned around to look at Enjolras, but he slept on. I mustn't let him sleep long, Javert thought, only an hour or so, he settled into his chair and let his eyes close…

"Inspector Javert!", Javert was suddenly awake, he groaned in discomfort at the pains the chair had given him, his eyes adjusted to the light.

Light! He jumped up, "Enjolras!" he yelled, tripping in his efforts to get to the bed, the bed was empty, the blanket had been neatly folded on it, "Where is he!?" Javert asked franticly, he looked to, for the first time, the figure who had woken him, It was the doctor.

"Doctor, you have him…" Javert said, relaxing and smiling a little.

"Have who?"

"Enjolras, about so high…" Javert raised his hand in line with his mouth, "Long Blond hair, not tied back…"

"Inspector, when I arrived no one was here apart from you, could we please go to the prisoner? What exactly are his injuries?"

"Gone, he can't be gone, I was watching him. I was…asleep!" Javert rubbed at his eyes, at the evidence of him having been sleeping, Javert sank back into his chair, he put his hands together in a steeple shape and put his fingers to his forehead.

"I am sorry doctor, I have wasted your time, the prisoner….died in the night…"

"He died?"

"Yes, unfortunately his injuries were such that…." Javert sighed.

"I see, how unfortunate….Good day Inspector!"

"Sorry? Oh yes, good day Doctor…" Javert slid further down in the chair.

Should he go and find Enjolras? Arrest him…he had escaped and he could keep him even longer for that.

Javert cursed himself, his profession, anyone he had ever cared about he had wanted to lock away, safe, so they could be safe, and he could watch over them, see that they came to no harm…but he would be in trouble for not having locked Enjolras up, for not reporting it, and he had just lied to the doctor.

Part Two

Grantaire and Joly stood over a bed, looking worried; they spoke in hushed tones.

"What's happened to him Joly?" Grantaire asked, Joly stepped back, Grantaire smelt of his early morning drink.

"I've no idea, I found him on the doorstep this morning…slumped against the wall, couldn't get a sensible word out of him" Joly offered Grantaire a glass of water which he sneered at and turned away, "Well I hadn't seen him since yesterday, after the rioting…I assumed he'd gone home with one of you", Joly lifted a finger to his lips to make Grantaire lower his voice, but it was too late, Enjolras was waking.

He sat up and looked around, "Where am I?" he looked up at Grantaire and frowned "What have you done to me this time, my head! Come, you may as well tell me…what was in my drink?" Grantaire and Joly looked at one another and shrugged.

"You haven't had anything to drink" Joly told him, "I found you on my doorstep this morning, how did you get there? Who put your bandage on? I changed when I brought you in, it was soaked through, nasty cut you have there, friend" Enjolras stared then looked at Grantaire.

"You've got him drunk too! Grantaire, really, Joly needs his sense…more so than I, keep your drink to yourself, please"

Enjolras got up out of his bed, and immediately grabbed the blanket to cover him, "I'm naked!" he said surprised, Grantaire laughed at him.

"You were when I found you, lucky I found you first, if it had been the land-lady…" Joly drew his finger across his throat, "You'd better borrow something of mine to wear for now, everything will hang off you…but it's best until we get your clothes" He put a few clothes on the bed for Enjolras to choose from.

"So what's the story then? How did you end up naked at the door?" Grantaire sat on the bed, combing his fingers through his untidy hair, Joly watched Grantaire wishing he would get off the bed that had only just been cleaned.

Enjolras looked down, and held the back of his head with one hand, "I don't…I can't remember"

"The riots" Grantaire reminded him, "Remember?"

"Yes…we went out into the street, and….and…"

"Remember, when Marius tripped over that old woman…" Joly sighed, why did Grantaire always remember the embarrassing, stupid things?

"And he fell on Joly" He continued, "remember that? And Joly made a huge fuss and you had to come across and sort them out, Remember?" Joly made a face that showed he remembered all too well, but Enjolras looked despairingly out of the window beside his bed.

"I don't remember anything!"

"It will wear off…" Joly assured him "It's that nasty bang on the head you must have had, you'll remember..."

"Will I? Will I remember, Joly?", Joly smiled and Grantaire grinned, greatly amused at Enjolras having been found naked but also concerned for his friend. He laughed and slapped Enjolras on the arm, "Brother, you are late!"

"Late?"

"The meeting! You must have been knocked very hard if you don't remember that!" Enjolras looked a bit blank, "General Lamarque! Mon dieu Enjolras"

"Oh" Enjolras' face coloured and he smiled a little, "Yes I remember that, help me get dressed!" He looked at Grantaire, "On second thoughts, wait outside…I'll meet you out there!"