It had been a good meeting; Grantaire hadn't shown his face that evening and Enjolras had been almost pleasant removed from the influence of his unwelcome shadow Marius reflected as he left Le Café Musain. The crisp, invigorating air of autumn entered his lungs. Life was wonderful. It had only been a few days earlier that Eponine Thenardier, his best friend, had led him to Cosette. Cosette, the love of his life, they were destined to be together for the rest of their lives, he knew.

Suddenly, a figure, slight and shadow like, leaning on a light pole across from the Musain's doorway. Half stooping and half clinging it seemed at once desirous to attract and avoid his attention. He moved awkwardly forwards for a few steps, the broke out into a run as he recognized the figures identity.

"Azelma!" He cried in concern upon recognizing Eponine's younger sister. "Are you OK? But that's stupid, your face is bruised and you're bleeding. How stupid can I get?" He reached out, putting his arm about her shoulders. She flinched before leaning up against him, her thin shoulders heaving with sobs.

"What happened?" He questioned gently.

"M-my, my father," She paused, fighting for breath. "He – beat me. And then the other ones came and did – did worse…" Her face was buried in his turtleneck without his understanding how it happened. He became conscious of a protective feeling for the wretched girl in his arms.

"Shhhh, it'll all be okay. Come on, let's get you to a hospital. Wait here and I'll call an ambulance."

He quickly turned and ran back into the Musain. It was a matter of seconds before he was dialing 911.

The ambulance had come within 10 minutes and the technicians had quickly loaded Azelma onto a stretcher and whisked her away leaving Marius on the curb looking after them. He hailed a cab, and drove to the station promising his driver a sovereign to get him there quickly.

He entered the reception room. It took him a few minutes to locate Azelma since she had just come in and no one had given her name to the front desk. It was 15 minutes before a white-coated nurse entered. She spoke tentatively, "Marius Pontmercy?"

"Yes." He snapped to attention. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Oh, of course. It wasn't anything too serious, just a couple of broken ribs, but she'll have to be quite for about 2 weeks and take it easy after that for longer." She raised an eyebrow at his appearance, mentally contrasting it with that of Azelma. "If you don't mind my asking, sir, will you be the one taking care of Azelma?"

"No," He responded, "But I think her sister might."

"Ah, well, Azelma is asking for you. Perhaps you'd like to see her?"

"Yes, I would."

"Okay, follow me then."

She led him out down a long corridor, then another and another. Finally, they arrived at Azelma's room.

"You have ten minutes." The doctor left.

Marius left when his 10 minutes was up. Azelma had asked him to "go find Eponine for me --- please." Adding with a weak laugh, "Pretty, pretty please?" Finding Eponine now seemed the most daunting of his tasks. A couple of hours before all he had to worry about was the paper Blondeau had ordered everyone to write on Rousseau and how to keep it uncontroversial…thank God Enjolras wasn't in that class with him.

He mentally checked over all the places Eponine could be at that time and groaned, there were so many locations and none of them had a very specific local. She didn't have a cell phone or pager so he couldn't use either of those methods. Oh well, he might as well go back to his flat. Tomorrow he'd go to see her mother and ask if she knew where Eponine was. Perhaps Courfeyrac might even have some ideas.

Stumbling up the stairs in the dark, he cursed the economy of the landlady that forced him to grope his way with only the handrail for a guide. Smash. He collided with someone else.

"Marius! What in Patria's sacred name are you doing here?" A voice, vibrant with life exclaimed. Marius jerked back. Enjolras was the last person he wanted to see.

"I'm trying to get home, but the landlady turned off the light and I keep falling on the stairs." He answered.

"Ah, well, all I wanted to see you about was to tell you that I've got to go home next week and ask you to lead the meeting in my place."

Marius stood back for a moment, stunned by what he had just heard. Enjolras missing a meeting?! It was unheard of. However, he supposed he should do what his leader asked.

"Y-yes."

"Good then. I'll come to see you when I get back. Send me a full report of the meeting by e-mail. The server at Café Theiraud is secure from government spying."

Enjolras turned on his heel and left.

Marius drew a huge sigh of relief. At last he could go to sleep – or so he thought for the brief moment before he remembered his paper. Unfortunately, he still had half of it – 5 pages – to write. Flipping the switch, he entered his book-infested room then crossed to his desk and took up his ballpoint pen with a sigh.

This deadline was going to give him a long, somnolent night. He'd have to hope he heard the alarm in the morning.

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