((More updates! This chapter is a little…empty. I know it's not elaborate enough but I was trying to convey some basic ideas to get the plot moving… Thanks once again to all my reviewers. You are my motivation.D- Shammy))

"What? Absolutely not." Marius shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest in a firm, reproaching gesture. The request was bizarre and unnecessary. After all, that's why there was a lock on the front door. He saw fit to inform Grantaire of this, it proved to be a less than persuading point.

"Locks will not keep out the essence of night himself!" The drunk spluttered with a frown. "Locks will not protect us all from an intruder like Montparnasse." He added, regaining some composure and forcing upon Marius his most disapproving gaze.

"Intruders break in." The other pointed out with hesitance. Earning no immediate reply, he continued to speak. "He used the front door after all. Perhaps he…just came by to visit Eponine?" He sounded weakly optimistic. The statement would have been laughable if it hadn't been so very terrifying.

"Visit her?" Grantaire took a swig from his wine glass and set it down on the table again. "He looked ready to slaughter her! Slaughter!" He repeated, adding several frantic, violent looking hand gestures that were apparently meant to send words that he could not speak. The only think he achieved in sending was his wine glass crashing to the floor.

The deep red liquid ran across the floorboards, around the fragments of glass which now lay between the two men. There was a brief moment of silence. Marius was worried whether or not the liquid would stain the wood. Grantaire hummed a little segment of taps in his head numbly, mourning over what had been an exceptional swill of wine from an exceptional bottle. Then he grinned still realizing he had the rest of it in his room.

Cosette entered, followed by Eponine. Both women seemed in something of a rush to see what had broken, whether or not it was fixable, and appeared relieved to find out it hadn't been broken upon one of the young men's heads by the other in frusteration.

"Damnit…" Grantaire dropped to his hands and knees haphazardly beginning to brush the pile of glass into a neat pile. "Marius I'm sorry-" He stopped feeling a shaking hand on his shoulder and a pain in his palms. The drunk turned them upward and seemed surprised to see blood there, as well as glass. Marius and Eponine exchanged worried glances and Cosette repressed a shudder.

"Eponine…could you help him… I'll clean this up." Marius stated quietly. She nodded weakly, removing her hand from Grantaire's shoulder.

"Come on… We'll get you patched up." She said in a strangely gentle tone, steering Grantaire from the room.

Marius got a broom, hurriedly sweeping up the mess. What he'd seen had disturbed him more than he would've liked to admit. Cosette got a cloth, helping him to sop up the remaining wine. He noted she was oddly silent. She'd been sociable before they returned to the Rue Plumet, and now her quiet worried him.

His brow furrowed gently, about to sink into the grey toned world that he seemed to find whenever Cosette looked troubled. She saved him though, by speaking her mind.

"Marius…I need to go to Montreil-sur-mer. Papa wrote of it in his letter. I want to see the town my mother lived in." She said quietly. Thinking it over for a moment, Marius nodded gently.

"I understand." He said quietly. "I made a journey similar once. When will we leave?" She frowned, setting aside the cloth and taking his hand.

"When you made that journey, did you go alone?" Marius nodded slowly, still not quite grasping what she was asking of him. She looked at him searchingly, but after a moment, seeing no light of realization, she spoke her mind.
"So must I." Her husband paled gently and he swallowed gazing at her with a soft shake of his head.

"But… Cosette…it is a long way to go alone… It may be dangerous." He persisted with a worried look. Marius could hardly see himself jumping to her rescue like a gallant hero, but at least his presence might discourage trouble.

"It is not as if I'd go on foot." She said with a gentle smile that was somewhat reassuring. "I would take the fiacre. I would stick to the main roads and only go out during the day!" Cosette sounded like a child pleading with a parent for permission. Perhaps that's what she needed most right now; someone to gently guide her. Valjean had always been there to gently guide her and now he was gone. Perhaps it was important that she made this journey on her own, to gain back some independent skills.

"Please…Marius?"

Eponine's hands tenderly wrapped his cut hands with bandages, perfectly intent upon their task, though she was feeling somewhat off balance.

"You really ought to be more careful…" She mumbled softly, not meeting his gaze.

Something put him off when the words passed her lips and he raised an eyebrow. Was that wine on her breath? Definitely. Grantaire, of all people would know wine when he smelt it. His gaze went uncertainly to the bottle he had known to be on his bureau and was a little less than surprised to see that it was empty. The green glass flickered in the candlelight. Her hands did seem somewhat unsteady now that he thought of it, on a second appraisal.

"Eponine…?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to suppress a grin of amusement. "Are you…drunk?" A flush riddled her cheeks as she lowered her gaze even more to gaze at the floor. It was all the answer he needed, but she tried to give one anyway.

"W-well…after Montparnasse came…I was a little… worried. I couldn't help it." Her words quietly slurred together as she rocked gently back on her heels and sat on the floor before him. Grantaire smiled.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. The only certainly is a full glass." He assured her. For once he felt nearly sober…it was an odd feeling. Being on the outside and looking in… She cut off his pleasant musings with a few thoughts of her own. Grantaire knew that liquor brought out the darkness in some people. One of them happened to be Eponine.

"Death is a certainty too." She mumbled shutting her dull eyes, engrossed in sadness that seemed to have been drawn from deep within her soul. "I think about the night on the barricades often…" She said quietly. "I wonder how Marius feels… He knows death personally. Yet… I feel as though am betrothed to it." She laughed then, uncertain and nervous.

"Death has been visiting me lately…" She confessed, biting her lip and looking up at Grantaire with a frown. He figured she had more to say and remained perfectly silent, waiting for elaboration. There seemed to be some final truth she'd been struggling with, and she fought to say it now.

"I've been thinking about…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Suicide."

The single word stuck Grantaire hard. It seemed to stop him from drawing a breath and instead of air he was taking in dread. His mind reeled and he slid onto the floor to be more level with the girl.

"Did you ever think that you may have survived the barricades for a reason?" He insisted. "I know who kept you from there Eponine. I am damned sure I know what happened to you that night. Yet…don't you think it could have been for some greater purpose?" She shook her head stubbornly, tears forming in her eyes.

Whether it was from the liquor or from something within, neither he or she could tell.

"My life was Marius…and now Marius has left me." She quickly wiped some of the tears away. "Bless your heart Grantaire, staying by me like this." A watery smile accompanied this comment.

Her companion smiled taking her into a friendly embrace, to assure her. To ensure her life…after all… He too was running out of people to depend on.