It was March before Marius and Éponine next saw each other. Things were not going very well for Éponine. She had continued to sleep under the Pont Neuf and while the coat Marius had given her shielded her somewhat from the harsh winds, the coldness of the winter seeped right into her bones and she soon found herself very sick indeed. Most days, she barely even moved from where she lay curled up on the stone. She had considered turning to Marius for help some three weeks ago, but when she had gone to the Gorbeau House, she had found that he had moved and that her family seemed to be gone as well. She didn't know what had happened and for the first time in awhile, she felt really and truly alone.

She knew now that she was pregnant. She knew it and despised it, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She couldn't afford any of those remedies from the apothecary that were said to terminate pregnancies. At this rate, she felt certain she'd die of starvation or hypothermia before ever giving birth. She was surprised she hadn't already miscarried; she knew she was fading away, and she had given up the fight. Death would be sweet.

She had started to show rather early. This, she figured, was due to undernourishment; it made the hateful bump more prominent because she was so thin everywhere else. She knew she couldn't go on much longer like this. The past few days, she had begun to cease caring. Everything felt hazy. The cold nipped at her cheeks and legs, but she no longer felt it. She hadn't shivered at all that day and the faint part of her that was still mentally present was fairly sure that her body was shutting down. She hadn't eaten in just over a week and the hunger pains were becoming unbearable, such that at night she couldn't help but cry out from the pain of it. That night, the pain was particularly bad and she couldn't help but cry.

She tried to retreat to her happy place. She closed her eyes and tried to picture Marius: his emerald eyes, his messy hair, his freckles... but it was getting harder and harder to do, harder to escape from the harsh reality that was her life. Usually, with the mix of pain and delirium, if she could recall him to her mind, then when she opened her eyes he would be there. There only for her. This night, however, she found she could not recall Marius's face and it made starving all the more agonising. She let out a particularly pitiful wail and buried her face in her hands.

"C-Come back..." she moaned. "D-Don' leave me h-here t'die alone..." She reached out for him, but of course he wasn't there, had never been there. "H-Hold me... P-Please come back..." Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Hello?" came a soft voice. "Is there someone down there?"

Éponine's eyes widened. "Marius..." she breathed. "Find me... Find me... Dear god, find me... I'll be good. W-Won't make no more trouble..."

But it wasn't Marius. She heard footsteps approaching, but she lacked the strength to raise her head to look. If it's not Marius, she thought, let it be death.

It wasn't death either. It was Jean Prouvaire. He had been out for a nighttime stroll and had heard her pained cries. Taught by his parents to always help others if he could, he had come to investigate and it was he who gently laid a hand upon the bony shoulder, and he who gently rolled Éponine onto her side so that he could see who it was. He gasped when the moonlight caught the gaunt face.

"Éponine!" he gasped. "My god..."

Her eyes wouldn't focus on him and kept shutting. It seemed a struggle for her to open them each time. "Y-You... Y-You're not Marius..."

He stooped to lift her from the ground and found that it was much too easy to do so. Jehan was not particularly strong in terms of upper body strength, but Éponine was several pounds lighter than she ought to have been. Yet her stubborn nature was determined to make this difficult and she squirmed so much that he dropped her, managing only to slip a hand under her head before it hit the concrete.

"D-Don't wanna..." She moaned. "Lemme die... Please god, I want to die..."

"Shh," Jehan hushed her. "Hey, you're going to be okay now. Let me help you."

"M-Marius!" She cried in anguish.

"I can bring him to you," he promised her. "But you need to let me help you."

She paused and for the briefest of moments, her eyes fixed themselves on his. "B-Bring Marius?"

"Yes."

She gave a feeble nod and allowed him to pick her up again. He held her close to him and carried her out from under the bridge and up the steep stairs leading to the quai de Conti. He carried her all the way to his apartment on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Being from a rather wealthy family, Jehan lived in a very nice, very expensive apartment building. Éponine normally would have commented on this, but at the moment she took no notice at all. All she was really aware of was that one moment she was in Prouvaire's arms and the next in a very soft bed.

"I'll heat some water for a bath," he told her. "You stay there; I'll be right back."

It took him maybe a quarter of an hour to prepare the bath. When he returned to Éponine's side, she was shivering rather violently. All thoughts of propriety went out the window when he saw her and he wordlessly stripped her of her freezing clothes, trying his best not to really look at her, and then carried her to the bath and set her down inside it. The shivering slowly subsided and he thought she was beginning to relax a bit in the warmth of the water. He gently washed her hair for her and stayed with her while she soaked. Only when the water was starting to cool did he lift her back out. She barely even seemed aware of him and she kept mumbling to herself. He dried her off and fetched her one of his own nightgowns, and then helped her into it.

"Marius..." she mumbled distantly.

"Yes, soon," he promised her as he helped her into his bed and wrapped the blankets around her. He pressed a hand to her forehead. "You're burning up... I'm going to make you some soup."

"Nnn... Marius..."

"You'll see him just as soon as you eat."

"N-No, s'over there..."

"Sorry?"

"D-Don't... Don't forget it..."

"... I'll bring you some soup." And he left to prepare some for her.

When he returned, she was half asleep and muttering incoherently. He gently shook her shoulder. "Mademoiselle? Come now, it's time to eat." She tried to reach for the bowl and nearly knocked it out of his hands. "I'll help you with this as well. Just open your mouth. Yes, that's it." He spoon-fed her the soup and when she finished, he was about to ask her if she wanted more, but she fell asleep almost instantly. He watched her for about a half hour to make sure she wasn't going anywhere, during which she kept mumbling Marius's name in her sleep. When he was certain she was deeply asleep, he went to send for Marius.

Finding a gamin out in the street, he offered the boy a solid five francs if he could fetch Marius as quickly as possible, as well as Combeferre. He gave him the addresses and the boy offered a two finger salute before hurrying off. Jehan returned to Éponine's side. She was tossing and turning now, clearly not very restful. Jehan bit his lip and hoped that help would come soon. Within another half hour, Marius was knocking at his apartment door.