A/N- Um. I don't feel like thinking of something witty to say. I'm too
sleepy. I practiced the piano for an hour and a half... I have Federation
next week... *drifts off to sleep*
Elyse3- Ah! Random Stick of Doom I like! That's hiiiiiiiilarious.
La Pamplemousse- Sure it is, Javert! Poor Ponine, though. She was born too late to interest Javert in the least.
sweet775- This is a good thing? If not, hang in there. It gets better.
Disclaimer- I only own Bobette. (Told you I was tired. My disclaimer's not even witty!)
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Bobette was out of breath by the time she reached the sewer where the gang had last lived. She found a bit of fabric from her own dress, currently worn by Cosette, stuck in the broken lock. The sewer was empty.
A had grabbed her shoulder. "What are you doing here, girl? You in with the robbers we pocketed here earlier, or- oh, pardon me, Baroness Pontmercy. I failed to recognize you. You are aware of the danger of this place, am I right?"
Bobette whirled around and found herself face to face with a policeman. He smiled. "We arrested a whole gang of criminals here earlier. Two almost got away, but we caught them at a grate a few streets over. Then, this morning, they broke out of jail. We assumed, Madame, that they would be back."
"W- what did they look like?"
"Who?"
"The two you caught later."
"The two who almost got away?"
Bobette nodded.
"Let me see... a charming young man with a top hat and tails and... and a ragged young girl. Come to think of it, the girl looked... she looked quite a bit like yourself, Madame. Only not so attractive. I believe that their names were Montparnasse and Hawk."
"Parnasse is with the Lark!" Bobette whispered.
"Yes, Madame Pontmercy, the park is a much safer place to take a walk. I would escort you, but I must guard the sewer here in case the criminals come back."
Bobette rolled her eyes. "Oh, they'd really come back to a place they were just picked from," she muttered.
The policeman did not hear. He bowed and Bobette, having done what she could, returned to the Pontmercy home.
/\/\/\
The old man cleared his throat. "Hawk, are you coming in or staying outside tonight?"
Cosette blinked. "Well... I... uh... suppose I am coming in."
She found it in herself to smile at the old man as he held the door for her. "Thank you... ah... Thénardier."
The man smiled delightedly. "Oy, Montparnasse! Hawk's remembered my name!"
"Excellent, wonderful," Montparnasse said as he came carefully back down the rotting stairs. "Where are the others?"
"That boy's out getting them. They all got pocketed. We thought you two had made it. But... well, it doesn't matter anyhow. You're out, I'm out, and soon the rest will be out, and we'll all stay here."
"Have... we... always lived together? The... um... robbers?" Cosette ventured.
"Poor kid. No, no, wasn't so long ago I had the rest of my family with me and we lived under one roof – well, the rest of the gang lived off in the sewers or wherever. But we find it easier to be all in one place now."
"What happened to your family?" Cosette asked, thinking of the baby boy from the tavern in Montfermeil. He was the only Thénardier who hadn't ever been rude to her.
"Well, my wife died in prison. Then my older daughter, Eponine, got herself killed over that neighbor boy of ours in the revolution. Come to think of it, the revolution took the boy Gavroche, too. Well, he never lived with us anyway. I had two other sons, but I've no notion as to what became of them. We rented them to some wench who got herself thrown in jail," Thénardier explained.
"Old man! The boy who warned us of the police was one of yours!" exclaimed Montparnasse.
"Yeah, well, a fat lot of good he did us."
"He got us all out!"
"Yeah, sure. But he wouldn't have to get us out if we hadn't gotten in in the first place."
Cosette watched this in horrified fascination. If she and Marius ever had children, she couldn't imagine just turning them out into the streets. And even worse, not recognizing one of them when he saved your life! It was almost too much.
Then, something Thénardier had said triggered her attention. Eponine had died for a neighbor boy in the revolution? Marius had been in the revolution! If Eponine had loved one of Marius's friends and died for him on the barricade, wouldn't Marius have met the girl?
"What neighbor boy do you mean?"
"Oh, that no-good lawyer... the girl was head over heels for him."
Cosette did not find this very helpful, for many of Marius's friends had been lawyers. In fact, Marius himself had been a lawyer.
"Do you remember his name?" Cosette pried.
"What was it? He paid our rent once. Oh... oh, that's it! Monsieur Marius!"
Cosette barely concealed a gasp. Marius had never mentioned any girl saving his life!
"Yeah," Thénardier continued, "but he was after the Lark the whole time. I even heard tell Eponine found out where the Lark lived just to make him happy."
"Oh! The same house we tried to rob that night! You remember, Eponine said it was a biscuit, but we came anyway. She wouldn't let us in! Guarding him, I suppose. I knew we couldn't trust her!" Montparnasse said suddenly.
Thénardier snorted. "No, boy, you sure as the devil didn't trust Eponine. Not with anything!" He sounded sarcastic.
Montparnasse looked indignant. "Well, I didn't have anybody else at the time."
"Yeah, that girl said she loved you. You heard her. And what did you say?" Thénardier demanded.
Montparnasse looked at the floor and said something they couldn't hear.
"Sorry? What did you say to my girl when she called you her love?"
"I said... I said 'Watch out, my knife is open. Don't cut yourself.'"
"And then...?"
"That's all I said."
"No, boy," Thénardier argued. "You said, 'I was ready to give the girl a clout.' You said you'd kill her!" The old man did not seem to find this at all upsetting. He was apparently just poking fun.
Montparnasse had been trying to tell Thénardier something with his eyes, but it wasn't quite working. The young man would give Thénardier a desperate stare, then look pointedly at Cosette, and then try it again.
"Awfully true to your mistresses, aren't you, boy?" Thénardier continued.
Montparnasse finally gave up. "Just the ones with your blood in 'em, old man."
Cosette noticed he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She ignored this entire conversation. "The house where... the Lark lived... was it in the Rue Plumet?"
"Yeah... yeah, it was. How'd you know, Hawk?"
Cosette stifled another cough and frowned. So far she understood that the Thénardiers had raised her and mistreated her while indulging little Eponine. Then Jean Valjean had taken her to Paris. The Thénardier family also moved to Paris. In fact, they lived next door to Marius Pontmercy, Cosette's future husband. Eponine Thénardier was in love with Marius who was in love with Cosette, the same little girl they had abused several years earlier. Eponine had showed Marius how to find Cosette, then stopped her father's gang from murdering them. Finally, their daughter had died for Marius. Then Marius and Cosette were wed. Now, Cosette had somehow ended up with Thénardier's gang, and they believed that she was one of them. Her head spun.
The door to the old tenement opened and more men hurried in. They were the kind of people one would not want to meet while alone and unarmed. And behind them was the little girl who had had the injured hand when Cosette and her papa had visited the Thénardier family in this very building so long ago.
"Hawk! Wonderful to see you! Word is you got hit upside the head and lost a tad up here," the girl grinned.
"I know you, don't I? You're his girl," Cosette mused, pointing to Thénardier.
"Yeah, that's me. Azelma, remember?"
Ohhh, Cosette remembered. Azelma, Eponine's sister. Wondering vaguely if Azelma had loved Marius too, Cosette nodded.
"Wonderful!" Montparnasse cried, putting a hand on her shoulder.
And Cosette thought of the awful burn that her papa had had after he returned from the trip to help the Thénardier family.
She thought of Montparnasse threatening to kill his lover if she got them sent to jail.
These people were not only robbers, but murderers, too.
Cosette repressed the urge to shake Montparnasse's unwelcome hand from her shoulder.
Her mind went over brutal scenarios.
Cosette shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold.
Elyse3- Ah! Random Stick of Doom I like! That's hiiiiiiiilarious.
La Pamplemousse- Sure it is, Javert! Poor Ponine, though. She was born too late to interest Javert in the least.
sweet775- This is a good thing? If not, hang in there. It gets better.
Disclaimer- I only own Bobette. (Told you I was tired. My disclaimer's not even witty!)
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Bobette was out of breath by the time she reached the sewer where the gang had last lived. She found a bit of fabric from her own dress, currently worn by Cosette, stuck in the broken lock. The sewer was empty.
A had grabbed her shoulder. "What are you doing here, girl? You in with the robbers we pocketed here earlier, or- oh, pardon me, Baroness Pontmercy. I failed to recognize you. You are aware of the danger of this place, am I right?"
Bobette whirled around and found herself face to face with a policeman. He smiled. "We arrested a whole gang of criminals here earlier. Two almost got away, but we caught them at a grate a few streets over. Then, this morning, they broke out of jail. We assumed, Madame, that they would be back."
"W- what did they look like?"
"Who?"
"The two you caught later."
"The two who almost got away?"
Bobette nodded.
"Let me see... a charming young man with a top hat and tails and... and a ragged young girl. Come to think of it, the girl looked... she looked quite a bit like yourself, Madame. Only not so attractive. I believe that their names were Montparnasse and Hawk."
"Parnasse is with the Lark!" Bobette whispered.
"Yes, Madame Pontmercy, the park is a much safer place to take a walk. I would escort you, but I must guard the sewer here in case the criminals come back."
Bobette rolled her eyes. "Oh, they'd really come back to a place they were just picked from," she muttered.
The policeman did not hear. He bowed and Bobette, having done what she could, returned to the Pontmercy home.
/\/\/\
The old man cleared his throat. "Hawk, are you coming in or staying outside tonight?"
Cosette blinked. "Well... I... uh... suppose I am coming in."
She found it in herself to smile at the old man as he held the door for her. "Thank you... ah... Thénardier."
The man smiled delightedly. "Oy, Montparnasse! Hawk's remembered my name!"
"Excellent, wonderful," Montparnasse said as he came carefully back down the rotting stairs. "Where are the others?"
"That boy's out getting them. They all got pocketed. We thought you two had made it. But... well, it doesn't matter anyhow. You're out, I'm out, and soon the rest will be out, and we'll all stay here."
"Have... we... always lived together? The... um... robbers?" Cosette ventured.
"Poor kid. No, no, wasn't so long ago I had the rest of my family with me and we lived under one roof – well, the rest of the gang lived off in the sewers or wherever. But we find it easier to be all in one place now."
"What happened to your family?" Cosette asked, thinking of the baby boy from the tavern in Montfermeil. He was the only Thénardier who hadn't ever been rude to her.
"Well, my wife died in prison. Then my older daughter, Eponine, got herself killed over that neighbor boy of ours in the revolution. Come to think of it, the revolution took the boy Gavroche, too. Well, he never lived with us anyway. I had two other sons, but I've no notion as to what became of them. We rented them to some wench who got herself thrown in jail," Thénardier explained.
"Old man! The boy who warned us of the police was one of yours!" exclaimed Montparnasse.
"Yeah, well, a fat lot of good he did us."
"He got us all out!"
"Yeah, sure. But he wouldn't have to get us out if we hadn't gotten in in the first place."
Cosette watched this in horrified fascination. If she and Marius ever had children, she couldn't imagine just turning them out into the streets. And even worse, not recognizing one of them when he saved your life! It was almost too much.
Then, something Thénardier had said triggered her attention. Eponine had died for a neighbor boy in the revolution? Marius had been in the revolution! If Eponine had loved one of Marius's friends and died for him on the barricade, wouldn't Marius have met the girl?
"What neighbor boy do you mean?"
"Oh, that no-good lawyer... the girl was head over heels for him."
Cosette did not find this very helpful, for many of Marius's friends had been lawyers. In fact, Marius himself had been a lawyer.
"Do you remember his name?" Cosette pried.
"What was it? He paid our rent once. Oh... oh, that's it! Monsieur Marius!"
Cosette barely concealed a gasp. Marius had never mentioned any girl saving his life!
"Yeah," Thénardier continued, "but he was after the Lark the whole time. I even heard tell Eponine found out where the Lark lived just to make him happy."
"Oh! The same house we tried to rob that night! You remember, Eponine said it was a biscuit, but we came anyway. She wouldn't let us in! Guarding him, I suppose. I knew we couldn't trust her!" Montparnasse said suddenly.
Thénardier snorted. "No, boy, you sure as the devil didn't trust Eponine. Not with anything!" He sounded sarcastic.
Montparnasse looked indignant. "Well, I didn't have anybody else at the time."
"Yeah, that girl said she loved you. You heard her. And what did you say?" Thénardier demanded.
Montparnasse looked at the floor and said something they couldn't hear.
"Sorry? What did you say to my girl when she called you her love?"
"I said... I said 'Watch out, my knife is open. Don't cut yourself.'"
"And then...?"
"That's all I said."
"No, boy," Thénardier argued. "You said, 'I was ready to give the girl a clout.' You said you'd kill her!" The old man did not seem to find this at all upsetting. He was apparently just poking fun.
Montparnasse had been trying to tell Thénardier something with his eyes, but it wasn't quite working. The young man would give Thénardier a desperate stare, then look pointedly at Cosette, and then try it again.
"Awfully true to your mistresses, aren't you, boy?" Thénardier continued.
Montparnasse finally gave up. "Just the ones with your blood in 'em, old man."
Cosette noticed he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She ignored this entire conversation. "The house where... the Lark lived... was it in the Rue Plumet?"
"Yeah... yeah, it was. How'd you know, Hawk?"
Cosette stifled another cough and frowned. So far she understood that the Thénardiers had raised her and mistreated her while indulging little Eponine. Then Jean Valjean had taken her to Paris. The Thénardier family also moved to Paris. In fact, they lived next door to Marius Pontmercy, Cosette's future husband. Eponine Thénardier was in love with Marius who was in love with Cosette, the same little girl they had abused several years earlier. Eponine had showed Marius how to find Cosette, then stopped her father's gang from murdering them. Finally, their daughter had died for Marius. Then Marius and Cosette were wed. Now, Cosette had somehow ended up with Thénardier's gang, and they believed that she was one of them. Her head spun.
The door to the old tenement opened and more men hurried in. They were the kind of people one would not want to meet while alone and unarmed. And behind them was the little girl who had had the injured hand when Cosette and her papa had visited the Thénardier family in this very building so long ago.
"Hawk! Wonderful to see you! Word is you got hit upside the head and lost a tad up here," the girl grinned.
"I know you, don't I? You're his girl," Cosette mused, pointing to Thénardier.
"Yeah, that's me. Azelma, remember?"
Ohhh, Cosette remembered. Azelma, Eponine's sister. Wondering vaguely if Azelma had loved Marius too, Cosette nodded.
"Wonderful!" Montparnasse cried, putting a hand on her shoulder.
And Cosette thought of the awful burn that her papa had had after he returned from the trip to help the Thénardier family.
She thought of Montparnasse threatening to kill his lover if she got them sent to jail.
These people were not only robbers, but murderers, too.
Cosette repressed the urge to shake Montparnasse's unwelcome hand from her shoulder.
Her mind went over brutal scenarios.
Cosette shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold.