A/N- Everyone, enjoy this chapter conceived for the sole purpose of FLUFF. Yes, it's a fluff attack, and it makes me go Aww. So, enjoy it while it lasts. Sorry that took so long, but I was kinda expecting more reviews. -shrugs- Oh, and I know it'll look like I'm sorta making fun of Southerners with the way Sara and Jason talk, but I'm from North Carolina and that's how I talk, so if anyone takes offense then you're just being silly. So meh.
Marion- Huzzah, multiple reviews! I saw Stephen Tewksbury -nods- He was good. I love Les Mizerating people (that's a new word, ya know. Fresh from the forums.) And yeah, almost all Mizzies are inSeine. We'll make a movie of it someday. Yep... D'you want Jehan? Nobody's asked for him.
nebulia- Yeah, she's got the whole Mark black hair thing goin' on. I think this site's gone paranoid, a bit. Man, I will MISS A Ridiculously Cliched Muder Mystery by Mystical Chinchilla... -cries- That's the story that got me into fanfiction and parodies and this site and Montparnasse and...
RoseMisre- Assuming you can see this, would you like me to e-mail you that chapter? I could do that, gladly. My school's got these new ANNOYING controls on the internet that block sites with words it doesn't recognize, meaning I can barely do anything fanfiction related at school anymore, which stinks. A lot.
Obsetress- Hehe... sure. About the half an hour thing... We're... um... semi-twins. Yep. I'm sure that works somehow.
A week before their wedding, Mark and Nina visited Nina's parents in North Carolina. They'd just come from Mark's father's house in Philadelphia, where Nina had been treated like one of the family. Now, however, as he stood before Nina's mother and father, Mark found that he was rather nervous.
"Hey, Ponine! We haven't seen you in ages! Why're you visitin' us all of a sudden?" her mother, Sara, demanded.
"Momma! You got our wedding invitation, right?"
"Yeah, and we thought it was real sweet of you to marry a boy we'd gone and approved of for you."
"Now Sara," her father interrupted, "Ponine lives in the city now, bein' onstage and whatnot. She don't have too much free time."
"I know, Jason, but you'd think my own baby'd let me meet her boyfriend 'fore she goes and gets herself engaged!"
Nina cleared her throat. "Momma, this is my fiancé, Mark. We're gonna spend the rest of our lives together. Why don't you try to make a good first impression?"
Mark's ears were bright red.
"Look at you, Ponine! You're gainin' weight! That city's no good for a girl like you!"
"Sara..."
"I'm talkin'! Now, just cause you've got yourself a fiancé don't mean you hafta let yourself go like that. You oughtta stay cute at least till you're married. And-"
"Momma, if you don't stop right now, Mark and I will get back in that car and drive home and get married without you! You're embarrassing us both. Don't you even wanna speak to your future son-in-law?"
"Sara, think how you'd feel if my momma'd treated you this way 'fore she'd even let you in the door," Jason added.
There was a moment of silence. Mark's eyes were focused on the porch, and his ears were a violent shade of crimson that was spreading to his cheeks. Nina saw this and took his hand in hers.
"What do you have against him, Momma? He's everything you tell me to look for – he's sweet, he loves me, I love him, he's an actor in Les Mis..."
Mark's entire face was as red as Enjolras's flag.
Jason smiled. "My goodness, Sara, let the kids in 'fore the boy's head busts."
Nina's mother sighed and stepped away from the door.
"It's late, kids. Y'all eaten?" Jason asked.
"Yeah," Nina said, "we stopped at a restaurant a while back."
"I'm sorry, son, we ain't been properly introduced. My name's Jason, this's my wife, Sara... and I guess you know my daughter Eponine."
Mark grinned nervously at him. "Sorry to be trouble. I'm Mark."
"And I'm exhausted," Nina said. "Where do we take our stuff?"
"You go to your old room, Ponine," Sara answered. "That boy-"
"Mark," Jason interrupted.
"He goes to the den. And Jason, make sure we leave our door open tonight."
Mark grabbed his bag and followed Nina to the den, where a couch had already been folded out into a bed.
"And there's a bathroom through the kitchen, down the hall, and on the right."
"Thanks," he said quietly.
Nina rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she said pointedly. "Nina, remember? Future wife? A bit in love with you? Any of this sound familiar?"
He smiled. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, Mark. My mom's crazy. She treated every boy I ever dated at least as bad as that. Dad'll keep her straight."
Mark dug a set of flannel pajamas and a toothbrush out of his bag while Nina went upstarts with her things. She looked around her old room – nothing had been moved. A dark blue trenchcoat and top hat hung on her coat rack, a large poster of Young Cosette covered one wall, and her little shrine to Les Mis sat in the corner.
Nina put her bad down on the red rug in the middle of the room and sat on her bed. As she was removing her shoes she heard her mother talking across the hall.
"Some kinda simpleton boy who don't even talk!"
"D'ya think you mighta scared 'im like to death? Poor kid..."
"The nerve of her! Never even met him and I get an invitation one day – oh, by the way, ma, I'm gettin' married! I didn't even know she had a boyfriend! Then she comes traipsin' in here like..."
Nina closed her door.
Downstairs, Mark lay on his back for what must have been an hour, watching the fan turn. He assumed that Nina's parents' room was directly above him, for he heard them stomping around for nearly fifteen minutes. And then the house was still.
A floorboard in the next room creaked, and Mark sat up. Nina slowly opened the door. "Did I wake you?" she whispered.
Mark shook his head. "I couldn't sleep."
"Worried about Momma?"
He nodded.
"Me too," Nina said, crossing the room and seating herself next to him.
Mark sighed and took her hand in his. "She's right."
"No, she isn't. Don't say that."
"You could have done better than me."
"Don't be stupid, Mark. You saved my tail and I love you even more for it. If the richest, the most handsome, or the most talented man in the world had proposed to me I'd have turned him down flat. Unless it was Michael Ball, of course."
"Oh, thanks," Mark smiled. "You'd take some older guy over me..."
Nina laughed. "You know I'm kidding."
"Are you?"
She rolled her eyes and flopped back across the bed. "Yes, Mark, I was kidding. I promise."
He lay next to her. "So... your mom is a psycho?"
"Only about guys. But don't worry – it isn't hard to fall in love with you. She'll be okay after a while."
"I remember the first time I saw you," he said softly.
"Yeah?"
"I was talking to Ryan and John when I looked up and saw this beautiful girl walking across the stage, looking kind of lost. I said to John, 'Who's that? Who's she?' and he said, 'Must be the new girl taking Sophie's place.' I said, 'You don't know her name?' 'No,' he says, 'but I heard it was something weird.' I wish you'd seen the look on his face – our faces, really – when we found out your name was Eponine." Mark realized that Nina had fallen silent, and he turned his head to look at her. She was asleep, a peaceful smile on her lips.
Without even considering the possibility of waking her, Mark cautiously stood up and lifted her into his arms. Nina sighed in her sleep and laid her head on his shoulder. He moved quietly through the kitchen and up the stairs; the second step from the top let out a horrible squeal, but it didn't disturb Nina.
As he was trying to figure out which of the four closed doors led to her room, one of them opened and Sara stood there, her arms akimbo.
"Oh, and explain this," she hissed.
Nina slowly opened her eyes at the sound. She saw and understood the situation as Mark returned her to her feet. "Momma... You don't really think... You couldn't possibly-"
"And what's your story?"
"I went down to talk to him... I couldn't sleep..."
"You let this boy deflower you, is that it?"
Nina's face lost its color as quickly as Mark's turned red. "No! Momma, Mark would never..."
Sara took a step into the hall, firmly closing her door. "Just tell me one thing, baby. Are you... Have you ever... How far've you gone with a boy?"
Nina didn't know what to say. Her hand went to her stomach.
There was a moment of steely silence as Sara glared at them. "And how'm I s'posed to take that?"
Neither answered.
"I see what happened. You got my child pregnant, didn't you? That's why she ain't so thin as she used to be and that's why this weddin' popped up outta nowhere, ain't it? You're gettin' married cause you got no other choice!"
"No! It's not like that at all! We-"
"Then tell me you ain't pregnant."
Nina hesitated and glanced at Mark. "I... I can't say that."
The triumphant look on Sara's face faded into one of horror.
"But it's not what you think!"
"Sure it ain't! That boy went and... I'm done with you! Both of you! I'd disown you if I could, Eponine! All my hard work trying to raise you as sweet as Cosette and you still turn out just like Eponine in the book, but you're marrying your Montparnasse!"
Nina interrupted. "I am marrying a man better than Marius, even, because Marius was angry with Cosette when the wind blew her skirt too high so that an old man could have seen her ankles! She couldn't help it! It wasn't her fault!" Nina felt tears gathering in her eyes. "How was she supposed to know? ... What could she have done?" she buried her face in her hands.
Mark glanced at Sara's face and said quickly, "It's late and she's tired," before he put his arms around Nina and let her cry against his shirt. "It's okay, Nina, we know it wasn't your fault," he whispered into her hair. "Listen, it didn't change who you are... I still love you. You're still sweet and beautiful and kind... You're right, it wasn't your fault, okay? It wasn't anybody's fault. Don't think about it. Here, your mom's giving us a look... Don't cry."
Nina lifted her head and looked at her mother, who was staring at Mark in the strangest way. "Momma?"
"Is he always like this? He don't have a dark side? It's like I'm watching a cheap movie or somethin'."
Nina smiled weakly. "He's pretty close to perfect. Except he does tend to hold grudges."
"Will you just let that go?" Mark said incredulously. "She hit you with a car – I think I have an excuse!"
Sara blinked. "I'll hafta ask about that later. First... I feel like I missed somethin' here. My child's cryin' about a story she's known all her life..."
"We have to tell her," Nina whispered. "Oh no, Mark! I can't... Please don't make me go through it again..."
"Do you want me to try and tell her?"
"Please... Oh, now I'm crying again."
"Go ahead and cry," Mark whispered. She buried her face into his flannel nightshirt again, and he stroked her hair. "About a month ago Nina went to a party. I didn't go... I'll probably regret that for the rest of my life. A guy showed up at the party drunk and must have put something in Nina's drink. Next thing she knows she's waking up in an empty apartment the next morning..." he stopped, and the look on Sara's face told him that she understood the rest of the story.
"And you... you said you'd marry her even though she's gonna have this fella's baby?
Mark nodded. "I love her, ma'am."
"Well," Sara muttered, "I can see I've been an idiot. I shoulda trusted my child."
Nina wiped her eyes and sighed. "So you forgive me for wanting to marry Mark?"
"Do I forgive you? Shoot, child, I wanna marry him now," Sara laughed. "Oh, don't look at me like that, boy, you know I ain't gonna marry you."
Smiling, Nina kissed Mark's cheek and hugged her mother. "You'll be at the wedding?"
Sara nodded.
"But not as the bride," Mark said quickly.
Nina kicked him.
"Ow."