Hello my lovelies, sorry again for the wait... life, you know? Well, here I have a new chapter! So, Azelma talks a bit flapperish, but i was watching Throughly Modern Millie when I was writing her so yea :) Anyhoo, the plot thickens by the end, little bit of a cliffe ;) Beginning's a bit of a filler, but I decided that this ship should sail!
So without further ado, chapter 23!
Warning: Fluff
Disclaimer: Nope...
Chapter 23: New Kind of Relationship
It felt like only moments later when a ball of ginger energy burst into the room, two clumsy figures chasing after her.
"Zel," Feuilly whispered desperately "They may still be sleeping. It's only nine am!"
"Oh Posh Fee," The ginger sighed, shaking her head and letting the fiery red ringlets practically crackle with electricity. "I'm simply preparing them for what life's going to be like."
"He's right Zelly," Bahorel commented. "We didn't leave the room till past midnight."
Azelma eyed her beau(s) and rolled her eyes.
"Boys, no matter the time and no matter how groggy and asleep they are, they'll bolt out of bed when they learn of our new arrangement." She winked, waltzing into the room.
The sight on the bed froze her; letting her shoulders sag and her lips melt into a wide smile. Combeferre was on one side of the bed, two swaddled bundles on his chest, both (remarkably) sleeping soundly. On the other side, Éponine was curled into her fiancé's side, Gavroche curled into her.
"Gee," She sighed, leaning onto the doorjamb and crossing her arms. "They've become a little family."
Bahorel and Feuilly were standing behind her, also smiling at the family portrait before them. Bahorel took out his phone to snap a photo.
Combeferre, sensing visitors, cracked an eye open. Seeing the three in front of him, he groaned before turning to Éponine and kissing her temple.
"Ponine, your sister's arrived." He sighed.
"Tell her to come back when it's not the crack of dawn." She moaned.
"That's a fine way to treat your baby sister Pon." Azelma whined, moving into the room.
"Zel," Éponine sighed. "What have I said about watching those flapper movies. Keep the language in the 21st century."
"Posh Pon, my language is terrif! You'd have to be a modern to understand." She teased, moving to the bedside.
"May I?"
Combeferre sighed, slowly shifting to a sitting position as to not wake the babies on his chest. Unfortunately, the sudden shift in position startled Sarah…who startled Ben…who let out a shrill cry.
"Thank you Azelma." Éponine deadpanned, sitting upright to take her babies into her arms.
Azelma, not looking the least bit guilty for the intrusion, simply reached out her arms and took Sarah from Combeferre's arms.
"Zel!" Bahorel scolded
"What Rel? I'm simply working my magic on my little niece. Aint that right ma cherie?" She cooed, drawing her attention back to the child in her arms.
Sarah, who had only just begun to whimper mimicking her brother, looked up at the new comer in wonder. Azelma, noticing this, began to bounce her curls in front of the girl's face.
"Like 'em? Aint they the bees knees?" She laughed as Sarah reached up to try to grab the many ringlets.
"If you're lucky pet, you'll get my hair."
"Zel, if she get's your hair, you'll be the one taking care of it, I won't be doing that again." Éponine yawned, stretching her hands above her head. Combeferre slowly rocked Ben to a quiet whimper then passed him to Éponine. Gavroche, frowning at the loud noises, groaned in his sleep before squinting open his eyes.
"Who's makin all the noise?" He complained.
"Why can't my family greet me in a proper fashion." Azelma sighed, popping her finger on Sarah's nose. "I'll teach your proper etiquette, Lord knows you won't get it from the pack you'll spend most of your time with."
"I take offence to that." Bahorel grunted.
"Oh hush babe, she'll learn her fighting from you."
Bahorel smiled, nuzzling close to Azelma to admire Sarah. Feuilly was close behind. Combeferre and Éponine watched this exchange and then stared at each other.
"You don't think?"
"I've given up."
She sighed, an amused smile playing on her lips as she saw the protective flash spark through Combeferre's eyes.
"I personally think it's cool, but you can do your interrogation, I'll bond with my siblings." She patted his shoulder affectionately, quickly turning her attention back to Ben, attempting to get him to feed.
"Zel, come grab a seat." Éponine patted the bed.
Azelma eyed her boys curiously before shrugging and carefully getting onto the bed with Sarah in her arms. Combeferre rose and moved slowly to the other two men in the room.
"Can I talk to you guys for a sec?"
Feuilly visibly paled, Bahorel smiled slightly and nodded, leading the group out the door.
Once they were clear of the room and the two interrogates leaned against the wall, facing their interrogator, Combeferre began.
"Alright, when did it happen?"
The two men stared at each other for a moment, wondering who would begin their tale. Finally, Bahorel spoke up.
"Well, you already knew Feuilly and Zel have been a couple for what, a couple months?"
"Six." Feuilly added quietly, not making eye contact with Combeferre.
"Yeah well, I'm going to admit, I've always had a crush on Feuilly, since I met him when we were kids."
Combeferre fought the urge to gape at this, Bahorel who'd had a woman clinging to him nearly every weekend at university had crushed on the young paper folder of the group for most of his life. He'd always noticed Feuilly's attachment to the fighter, which is why he was shocked when he and Azelma started going out. But looking back, Combeferre guessed there were some signs of their interest in each other.
"But I was never angry at Zel, or jealous really." Bahorel continued. "She's a beautiful girl and Feuilly and her deserved each other, I wanted them to be happy."
Combeferre nodded. "Alright, so when did you decide to follow Musichetta, Joly and Bousset's lifestyle?"
Feuilly, finally looking up to meet Combeferre's eyes, continued the story.
"Remember when my car broke down that weekend while I was going to pick Azelma up from school?" Combeferre nodded.
"Well, I called Bahorel first, asking if he could get her 'cause I was waiting for a tow truck and I knew he was closer since he was picking something up for the shop. So he drove down to get her." Feuilly shot a look at Bahorel.
"Right, well I picked her up and she was at first peeved it wasn't Feuilly, but she was fine. Then we went out to dinner, had some wine, and man she is a light weight, I mean my…"
"Rel, get to the point." Combeferre bit off, not wanting to hear this about the little girl he practically considered his baby sister.
"Right, well nothing bad happened, but she started spewing her secrets. She told me that she'd had a crush on me and she felt guilty because she was with Feuilly, but she wanted both, cause she always admired Chetta, Jol, and Bos and well, then she kind've kissed me. And then I kissed her. Then we got home to Feuilly and she burst into tears cause she didn't know how he would take it, but he laughed."
Combeferre looked at Feuilly, whose cheeks were becoming progressively redder.
"Well, Rel was my first crush, Zel was my girlfriend, why couldn't they go together."
They finished their story and looked at Combeferre nervously.
The guide massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. Azelma, little Azelma was at least five years younger than Bahorel and three younger than Feuilly. But, knowing how happy she looked back in the hospital room with her boys by her side, he knew he couldn't put his foot down.
"You're going to protect her right?"
The question was simple and frankly stereotypical, but all three of them knew what Azelma had been through in the past. Life with her father, watching her sister nearly die, struggling with her own demons, Azelma was no innocent flower, nor was she a weakling, but Combeferre'd be damned if she ever show up to his house, tears in her eyes, saying simply 'they hurt me.' No matter how much he loved his friends in front of him, if either of them hurt her, there would be hell to pay.
"With every breath." Feuilly said, crossing his hand over his chest, Bahorel nodded fiercely.
Combeferre sighed, breaking into a small smile.
"I swear, my children will grow up with the most diverse family to date."
Bahorel and Feuilly broke into fits of laughter, soon joined by Combeferre. It was bizarre, they're family's view on relationships, but eh… who cared.
They walked back into the hospital room to find Éponine, Azelma, and Gavroche laughing on the bed, pulling faces and tickling the twins; who were lying on their backs on the bed, squirming in laughter, trying to grab the many fingers and various pieces of jewelry (and (as Gavroche was first to discover) in Ben's case, hair.), dangled in front of them.
"Having fun?" Combeferre questioned, moving back over to Éponine side.
"Hm-mm," She replied, not taking her eyes away from her babies.
"We have ticklish children."
"Good to know." Combeferre sighed happily, pressing his umptienth kiss to her brow.
"You didn't break my boys did you?" Azelma accused, rising to poke Combeferre's stomach.
"No, just wanted to know how it happened." He shrugged.
Azelma glared at him for a few moments before shrugging herself.
"Alright then, come on Gav, we'll take you out to lunch."
Gavroche happily accepted and the little family was, for the first time since they first arrived at the hospital, in peace and quiet.
"They're lucky."
"Who?"
"Our babies." Éponine stated, leaning into Combeferre as she adjusted Sarah and Ben to eat.
"They certainly are Ponine,they certainly are."
It was another day before Éponine and the babies were discharged from the hospital. After somewhat settling in their nursery, the new parents decided to bring their children back to their birthplace for a proper welcome party.
Everyone gathered in Musain for the celebration and (if one could imagine) more toys were given. The twins (Sarah especially) were loving the attention and hardly spiraled into hysterics. One of the most shocking events of the evening was when Joly promptly handed Ben to Bousset when the little boy started crying…. Only for Ben to cease his tears and break into a toothless infant smile.
All was going well, until Éponine began to pilfer through the laden gifts everyone brought. One contained a book that she promptly dropped to the floor as if it burned her.
"Ép? Is everything alright?" Combeferre asked nervously, the others watching cautiously.
"Why is that book here?" She breathed, pointing to the 'devil' book.
Combeferre picked it up to see what it was. Seeing it was the Ferber method book, Combeferre looked up confused.
"That was one of the only baby books my father read." Éponine began, tears collecting in her big brown saucers. "And he inflicted it heavily on all of us, Gav and Zelma especially, I will never do that to my children." One tear slipped down her reddened cheeks. Combeferre, hating when he saw his fiancé broken like this, tossed the book to Enjolras (who had turned several shades of red realizing the mistake he made in purchasing the book… he promptly went to the back alley to toss it.),enveloped her into a strong hug.
"Our children are going to be the most loved children in the world Ponine, just look at the love that's surrounding them now." She peeked over his shoulder to see their family, sprawled across the couches. Grantaire rocked a very happy Sarah, humming to her all the way, Enjolras (who'd come back from disposing the book) was poking her tummy every once and a while, just to evoke a smile. Ben was sleeping soundly in Musichetta's arms as she babbled happily to Cosette. Their family was whole and happy and she'd never have to think about her past again.
Well, that was until the evening broadcast.
" Hey Ép," Courfeyac called, a flicker of nerves tainting his ever jovial voice. He shifted Gavroche, who'd fallen asleep, slightly in his lap.
"You're gonna wanna see this." He pointed to the screen and a collective gasp rose from the group.
Bum Bum BAHH! There you have it! Till next time! Leave a comment/review and follow/fav!
Until Next Time!