A/N- ACK! Tragedy! This hugely long whopper is pretty much the last chapter, although there is an epilogue afterwards… Man, what am I gonna do with my life after this? (Want me to tell you? I already have another angst/romance type fic written and ready to post. Heads up, all, for "Charmer of the Shadows")

H. Sibelius- Does that qualify as "hurrying"? Probably not... well, merry Christmas! I'd send you a present,but updating is easier... Thanks so much for your retaliation to that random... ahem... idiot again.

Obsetress- I hate evil computers... The ones at my school have so many blocks on them that they usually forbid me to come to this site.

nebulia- Cyber cookie for remembering the Muchisetta/Joly thing! After this you could... erm... read Charmer of the Shadows... -big pleading eyes- I'm a Ryan fangirl myself, although I greatly prefer Mark.

Danica Enjolras- Yes, and I apologize profusely for it. And yes, Rob is still yours, thanks for returning! Rob is in this chapter, you know.

ponine4ever- See review by H. Sibelius.

Pink Velvet- And thank you for your kind words... Did I tell you the quartet now has six people? That's right, I get to chill with Squiffy on Christmas eve. And Wednesday at the practice Fluffy was sick, and I caught it... Yay, I'm sharing germs with theboy!

SuperCrazy01- I'm sorry about your Mark's finger, and glad it healed. Hehe... yayfor Marks!

Disclaimer- I don't own Les Mis, its lyrics, or any other show mentioned in this entire series. The idea for the first one came from my friend Sara, and the plot of the sequel and assistance to the threquel came from ma bonne amie Pink Velvet. Christopher Mark Peterson, Squishy, Fluffy, and BriAmi all have characters based on/named after them, and I don't own any of these people (sadly.) There, a whopper disclaimer to go with a whopper chapter and a whopper series.

"Nina!" shouted a woman on the other side of the room. "Oh my God, your hair!" She rushed over to Nina, followed by a good-looking man.

"Amanda? Holy crap, it's been ten years!" Nina laughed, throwing her arms around the other girl's neck.

"I missed you! We'll get together more often from now on. Guess what! I got married!"

"You did?"

"Yeah," Amanda said, motioning to the tall blond man at her side. "This is Grayson… we met when I was in Phantom."

"Oh, right, Raoul! You told me about him last time, remember?" Nina shook the man's hand.

He smiled, and Nina couldn't help noticing that he was incredibly handsome. "So you're the famous Nina, then? She's been talking about you nonstop since I met her."

"Uh-oh," Nina grinned.

"We've been married for about twelve years now, and that little girl over there is our daughter," Amanda said proudly.

"What little girl?" asked Nina, scanning the room.

"D'you see those two girls over there, the one with the curly black hair and the blonde one?" said Amanda, pointing. "The blonde is our girl Meg. I don't know who the other one is."

Nina smiled. "I do. That's my Cosette."

"Cosette and Meg," Grayson repeated. "We've got it bad, haven't we?"

"At least no one here has named their kid Enjolras…"

"Fantine."

"Courfeyrac."

"Thénardier."

"Montparnasse."

"Eponine," Amanda said.

Nina punched her arm. "Hey!"

"Oh, right…" she laughed.

"Nina, is that you?" asked a young man, joining their group. He was probably in his twenties with dark hair and big brown eyes. Nina stared at him blankly.

"Are you somebody's kid?"

"I can't believe you don't remember me!" he said. "It's me, Josh!"

She gasped. "Little Joshie? You're all grown up!"

Laughing, he put out his arms and she hugged him. "You haven't changed much. Except your hair."

"My hair, my hair!" Nina sighed.

"How much did you get cut off?" Amanda asked.

"Fourteen inches."

"Wow," said Josh. "Did you give it to the bald cancer kid thing?"

There was a brief pause, and then all four of them began to laugh.

"What's the joke?" asked a man's voice.

They turned their heads, and Nina recognized Rob of Javert fame. He joined Nina, Josh, Amanda, and her husband Grayson as they caught up on life and show business. Rob had been Gus in Cats, had had a divorce, and was trying to get into the movie business. Josh was engaged, Orin in Little Shop of Horrors, and had just left Jekyll & Hyde, where he had been an ensemble member and the Newsboy.

"Wait," Nina laughed, "you went from being the newsboy who has, what, two lines-"

"Five. I sang three lines in Façade and two in Murder, Murder."

"Five, then. You went from that to Orin Scrivello, as in the dentist with a solo and that song where you die?"

"Yup. I get fed to a man-eating plant twice a day and they pay me!"

Amanda laughed. "And Rob here is Gus, huh? You always were a ham."

"You have to sing that whole song in… what is it, Latin?" Grayson added.

"Growltiger… nice." Nina smiled.

"For your information," Rob said in mock offense, "I have one of the biggest parts in the entire show. I get to be operatic and-"

"So what're you and Grayson doing nowadays?" Josh asked Amanda.

Rob huffed. "I can see I'm not wanted here."

They laughed and all hugged him, assuring him that he was indeed loved.

"It's just that we've all seen Cats once, and that was quite enough," Josh grinned.

"Okay, that was uncalled for," Rob said. "You've insulted my bread and butter."

"I've seen Cats twice," Nina said. "I took Jehan when he was little, and then we took Cosette just recently."

"Did you see me?" Rob asked.

Nina shook her head. "It wasn't that recently."

"What did Cosette think?"

"She fell asleep."

"Okay, okay, I get it, everyone!" he sighed. "I'm off to get something to eat… anyone wanna come?"

Josh and Grayson joined him, leaving the two women alone.

"So, you know all about my married life… Where's Mark?" Amanda asked. "I haven't seen one of you without the other since… that car accident thing. D'you remember that?"

"Do I remember that?" Nina repeated. "Do I remember my childhood best friend getting drunk and hitting me with her car?"

"Oh," Amanda giggled, "good point. So where is Mark?"

"He… uh…" Nina really didn't want to think about it. She had been smiling and enjoying herself for the first time in about a month. But of course she would have to tell the whole story again, and then she would start crying, and all of these people would want to know what was wrong, and she'd have to tell them, too…

"Mom?" Jehan asked, joining them. "Is everybody here?"

Nina sighed in relief. "Yeah, Jé, I think so. Why?"

He scanned the crowd, then turned back to her. "Where's the guy who used to play Marius?" he asked, looking carefully into her eyes.

Nina looked at her son, reading a look of defiance on his face. He knew! But how could he? What did he think? She crossed her arms tightly over her stomach.

"Drew?" Amanda broke in. "He's over there, talking to Grayson, John, and Rob."

"No… the guy who played Marius after him."

Nina shuddered.

"D'you mean Nick? Nick… you didn't stay long after he came, Nina. Remember him? There he is, over there. He took over after Scott."

"That's who I mean," Jehan exclaimed. "Scott. Where's he?"

Again Nina saw that his eyes were on her, and she felt a little dizzy. How had he found out? Was he angry?

"Scott… we don't really know what happened with him. He disappeared for two weeks and then turned up dead in the park. They said it was suicide… I dunno, if I was Scott I would never have killed myself."

"Why not?"

"That man was hot! What's wrong, Nina?"

"Nothing," she whispered, staring at Jehan. The boy sneered at her before leaving their group. "Amanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Danielle here?"

"Omigosh, Danielle! She's not here yet, but she's probably locked up somewhere."

"Locked up?"

"She showed up last time and kept wandering around asking where Scott was … She thinks he's still alive, you know."

"She's insane?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I mean, I'd never seen a crazy person before, except in movies and stuff, but she kept muttering and looking all weird and… ugh. I hear she got her license revoked after driving drunk and getting some poor guy killed. I think she just couldn't handle Scott killing himself like that… I mean, it was pretty awful for us, but imagine what it must have done to her! They were deep in love, you know. They kept making all those cutesy plans that annoy most people, like where they would live when they were married and what their kids' names would be…"

"It's my fault…" Nina whispered.

Amanda didn't hear. She was distracted for a moment and then said, "Hold on, Grayson needs me." Nina watched her cross the room and join her husband. He slipped an arm around her waist and said something that made her laugh.

Nina sighed miserably. She had a feeling that Mark and Grayson would have been friends, had they ever met. If only Mark were here…

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder, and Nina spun around. Ryan smiled nervously at her. "Can we talk?"

She followed him through the room and into his empty kitchen. Remembering their last encounter in an empty room, Nina took a step back.

"No, don't leave. I- I just need to talk to you alone."

She bit her lip. "About the other day?"

"Nina, I'm so sorry. I didn't… I never wanted to… Well, I wanted to, but I certainly never intended… It just happened. The way… it's because…"

"Because every guy our age in the show wanted to marry me," Nina whispered, remembering Mark's last letter. "I thought he was exaggerating…"

"What?" Ryan asked.

She shook her head.

"Mark was one of my friends, Nina. I noticed when he started staring at you from the wings… He was a great guy, but he was never very subtle…"

Nina couldn't help but smile.

Ryan seemed to relax. "When I saw how taken he was with you – I mean, it's Saint Mark we're talking about – Enjolras incarnate… Well, then I started to notice you… Nina… Do you remember when we were Joly and Muchisetta? I… I didn't have to… to pretend…"

She stepped back again. "Ryan… it's only been a few weeks… I need time, okay? I'll think about it, but…"

"I'll leave you alone."

"But I was wondering… Can you tell everyone? About Mark?"

He nodded. "Anything."

"Thanks."

"Mom!" Jehan called, coming into the kitchen. "I need to talk to you."

Ryan shrugged slightly and left the room. There was a moment of silence as Nina and Jehan stared at each other. "So… you've figured it out?"

Jehan rolled his eyes. "Of course I did."

"What'd you decide?"

"What d'you think? You were having an affair with the hot guy and married Dad, so the hot guy killed himself!"

"What?" Nina asked, startled. "I was…? No, Jé, I've never really loved anyone but Mark. It's true we married because I pregnant with you, but we'd have been married eventually even if I'd never gone to that party…"

"What party? What're you talking about?"

Nina sighed. "Look, Jé, I liked Scott for a while because he was really, really good-looking. But then Mark and I became friends, and he… well, he's the sweetest guy I could imagine… I fell in love with him, Jehan, and… well… there was this party, see, and Scott came late and drunk… and then he put something in my drink… and I woke up…" she broke off. "I never told you because I was afraid you would think I loved you less just because I didn't love your father…"

Jehan seemed to reel, and he put a hand on the counter to steady himself. "I was born because of… of a crime? Because of drugs and alcohol?"

"Jehan…" Nina stepped toward him, but he shook his head and hurried out of the kitchen. She leaned her forehead against the doorframe and closed her eyes. From the other room she heard Ryan asking everyone's attention, and she returned to the party.

Ryan was standing on a chair, motioning for everyone to listen. When the room finally fell silent, he said, "Maybe you all remember me getting up on this chair last time. I had bad news then, and I have more now. Since the five-year reunion we've had to stop and think of all the people who aren't with us. First there was Scott, who committed suicide, then Andy, who had cancer… Now we have another name to add to our list."

Everyone began scanning the crowd, trying to see who was missing. Nina crossed her arms over her stomach and tried not to cry or catch anyone's attention. Cosette left her new friends and joined her mother. Amanda caught their miserable expressions, and her mouth dropped open.

"A few weeks ago," Ryan continued, "Mark was shot and killed in an armed robbery. He leaves behind his wife – our Nina – and his son and daughter, Jehan and Cosette."

As he was speaking no one heard the door open; no one noticed an Asian woman with stringy hair slip into the room.

"I know this is a terrible blow to everyone – Mark was one of my best friends in the show…"

"What?" a husky female voice interrupted. "Nina, you killed another one?"

Ryan fell silent, and the entire crowd turned to see Danielle, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Why look at me like that? You all know it's true."

"Danielle," John said thinly, "I see the past five years haven't changed you much."

She laughed – Nina shivered at the sound. Danielle looked around the room, and her gaze rested on Jehan. "My God…" she muttered. "It's him…"

Nina grabbed Jehan's arm and swung Cosette up onto her hip. "I have to go," she said quietly, starting toward the door. Everyone moved aside for them but Danielle.

"You killed him," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "Admit it."

"I've never killed anyone in my life. Move, Danielle."

"Not until you admit to everyone what you did."

"Nothing! I did nothing!" Nina insisted.

Danielle reached for Jehan, but he recoiled. "What's wrong, Scott?" she growled, trying to make her voice softer. "You don't remember me?"

"He wasn't there, Danielle! He's just a boy!" Nina was aware that the eyes of the entire room were fixed on them.

"Oh, but he knows. Don't you know, Scott? She told you, didn't she? Or maybe not… After all, you'd be ashamed to know what a whore she was. He called me Nina once… Tell everyone what your mother told you."

Jehan glared at her. "She never loved anyone but Mark, you psychotic bitch."

Eyes wide, Danielle took a step back.

"They should have locked you up," he continued, "to stop you blaming your crazy boyfriend's suicide on my mother."

Danielle glowered at him, Nina, and the silent crowd behind them. Making a sound of defeat, she darted into Ryan's kitchen.

"Bye, everyone," Nina said quietly as she and her children went out to the hallway. When they were partway to the elevator she stopped and turned to Jehan.

"Jehan… thank you, son. You're really a good kid."

He bit his lip. "I love you, Mom."

Cosette kicked Nina's leg gently. "I wanna go to the elevator, Mama."

Lowering the child to the floor, Nina laughed softly. "We'll be there in a second, sweetheart." Cosette skipped down the hall and punched the down button, waving at her mother and brother as the door slid closed. "I'm not sure that's entirely safe…" Nina muttered. "So Jé? You forgive me?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I should be asking you to forgive me. I've been a jerk."

"I understand, Jé," she sighed, pulling him into a hug. "I love you, son." She heard a door at the other end of the hall open and close. "We're cluttering up the hallway," she said. "Let's go make sure Cosette hasn't been abducted."

Jehan smiled at her and she put an arm around his shoulders as they started down the hall. A floorboard creaking behind them, and they realized they were being followed. Nina let go of Jehan and turned around.

Danielle was standing behind them, her eyes lit with a violent passion. "Run," Nina whispered to Jehan.

Shaking his head, Jehan answered, "I'm not leaving you here with this nutcase."

Danielle grinned wildly. "You tried to take him from me," she muttered, "but you won't do it again. I won't let you kill him again. I'll kill you first." She brought her hand from behind her back and Nina saw that she was clutching a steak knife, apparently from Ryan's kitchen.

"Run, Jé," she repeated, but he shook his head again.

"She's right, Scott," Danielle laughed, advancing toward Nina. "You'd better get out of here… I wouldn't want to hurt you."

Glancing from Danielle to the knife, Jehan began scrambling for ideas. This woman wanted to kill his mother – who knew why… something about her boyfriend… his father… She thought that he was this guy… She wouldn't want to hurt him.

Taking a deep breath, Jehan stepped between his mother and Danielle. "Leave her alone," he said firmly.

Danielle's gaze shifted from Nina to Jehan. "Even after what she did to you – to us? She deserves it, don't you remember? She killed you!"

Jehan glanced back at his mother before continuing the charade. "She didn't kill anyone… he… I… killed myself. I did it."

"But why?" Danielle moaned, letting her arm fall to her side.

"I… Because I was… Because of what I did."

"Leaving me?"

"No… well, yes, but more what I did to her," Jehan said, motioning to Nina.

Danielle's face darkened. "What you did to her? You did nothing to her! What about what you did to me?"

"I…" Jehan looked back at Nina again. She smiled thinly at him, although he only read worry on her face. "Raped her…" he finished. "I raped her."

Danielle reacted as though she had been slapped. She blinked and looked at the knife in her hand, then into Jehan's eyes. Something seemed to click, and she whispered, "You lie."

"No… no, I don't," Jehan said shakily.

"You aren't Scott! You aren't!" Danielle continued, her voice getting louder. "You're a kid! You're her kid! You wouldn't know!"

Jehan stepped away from her.

And then Danielle gasped. "You're the boy! The little boy from the other reunion! Mark said you were his, but just look at you! Look at you! She raised you, and she told you these lies!"

"They aren't lies!" Jehan shouted. "Your stupid Scott was an damned rapist!"

Danielle cried out in rage and lunged at Jehan, plunging the knife into his chest. Nina screamed. The boy's eyes widened and he clutched at the spot, but Danielle yanked the knife out again and jumped back. A dark stain widened across Jehan's shirt and he turned to face his mother, a frantic look in his eyes. Nina reached for him, but he collapsed onto the floor, dead. Danielle's hands were covered in blood; she grinned at the crimson knife, then turned on Nina.

She felt nothing at all. The knife was buried to the handle in her stomach, and blood was oozing out, flowing over Danielle's hands. The other woman pulled the knife out, and Nina put a hand over the wound, watching the blood run between her fingers. A door slammed and she looked up… Several of the people at the party had heard her scream and were running toward them, John at the lead.

Danielle saw them coming, looked down at Jehan's body, and thrust the knife into her own chest.

"Oh my God!" John shouted. "Jehan! Oh my God! Nina!"

Nina took a step back. Her wound had stopped bleeding. "I… I think I'm okay…"

John didn't seem to hear. "Somebody call the police!" he called over his shoulder.

Amanda glanced at the floor by Nina's feet and screamed.

None of them were even looking at her. Nina moved her hand away from her stomach and looked down at it. It was clean. She jumped and then looked past her hand, at the floor. Jehan's body lay on the ground, and Danielle's with the knife still buried in her chest. But between the two she saw herself.

"No…" Nina whispered.

The elevator door slid open, and Cosette stamped out. "Hurry!" she cried. John skirted the bodies and ran to the child, scooping her up in his arms, but it was too late. "Mommy!" she shrieked. "Jé!"

"Cosette," John sighed, "poor kid… Listen, kiddo, you're gonna stay with me now."

She threw her arms around his neck and began to cry. John laid his cheek against her hair and blinked back his own tears. Nina shook her head. "I can't be dead," she breathed.

"Nina?" said a voice behind her.

She slowly turned around.

Mark stood there, a sad smile on his face. Nina's stomach plunged and she ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. He spun her around once and kissed her.

"Should we go?" asked another voice. Jehan was leaning against the wall, watching them and trying not to seem moved.

Nina reached out and pulled him into the hug.

Mark nodded and tousled Jehan's hair. "We should go."

"But Cosette…"

"John's going to take her. It'll be all right now. You're here," Mark said, kissing her forehead.

Nina smiled. "That's all I need to know."