Chapter 2

Eponine jumped as the door she had been leaning on swung open. She sprang to her feet and moved out of the way as a confused Enjolras stepped into the room.

"Eponine?" he reached behind him to shut the door, his eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

"Er…hi," she stammered. Frankly, she was surprised that Enjolras even knew her name. The numerous nights she had spent frequenting the ABC Café were spent in corners and behind tables. The young leader had never spoken to her before, much less called her by name. Eponine was convinced that she had become a silent wallflower peering in on a battle too big for her to fight, with the exception of the occasional word from Marius.

"What are you doing here?" Enjolras slipped out of his jacket and hung it on the coat rack beside the entryway. Piles of rifles lined the walls next to it, accompanied by barrels of gun powder and miscellaneous weapons the students had managed to throw together. Eponine had not noticed how many instruments of death were surrounding her until now.

"I-well-Javert, he was here and-I…" the words came tumbling out of her mouth in a sorry attempt at coherency.

Enjolras smiled warmly and took the girl's shoulder. She shuddered at the memory of Javert's hand in the very same place, only a couple of hours earlier. But Enjolras's was different. He was calm and unobtrusive. The golden haired boy lead Eponine over to a small table in the opposite corner of the room and pulled out a chair for her.

"How about you try again?" he asked, his eyes crinkling into a soft expectancy as he placed a glass in front of Eponine and filled it with wine.

She took a deep breath before beginning again, keeping her eyes fixated on the small amount of red liquid before her.

"I was on my way to the meeting…" she continued to explain how Javert had offered to escort her home, her cunning plan to escape suspicion, and what the Inspector had said upon their arrival. "I'm sorry, I should have left before you came home. I was just so scared,"

"'Ponine? Scared? Couldn't be," Enjolras took a sip of his own wine and laughed amicably.

"You say that as though I'm a brave person,"

"Of course you are. Everyone knows about how you stood up to Monsieur Thenardiér the night he tried to rob the aristocrat's house. Not to mention you're one of the only girls to join the cause," Enjolras leaned back in his chair, eyeing her with a fondness she had never encountered with anyone.

"I didn't realize…I mean I thought that no one noticed me,"

"Seems you thought wrong, little lady,"

Eponine felt her cheeks turn crimson. Here she had thought she was an outsider looking in, when all this time the very leader of the revolution had known who she was-perhaps even respected her-and had never said a word.

But there were more pressing matters than that of her status among the rebels.

"What are we to do about Inspector Javert?" she pressed, leaning into the table.

"Ah, his threats are of little value now. Lamarque is dead,"

"What? General Lamarque? That's horrible!"

"It is," Enjolras nodded solemnly. "But it's also wonderful. We're going to fight. The time is now. The day of his funeral we are going to build the barricade and begin the rebellion. His death is the sign we've been waiting for, don't you see?" his eyes lit up as he spoke. He seemed to grow bigger and taller in his chair, his hands flying feverishly through the air.

"But…that's so soon…" Eponine lowered her head as she took in the news.

"Yes. But what better time than now?"

"But will we be ready?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it. Although Marius has gotten his heart all strung up on some girl at precisely the wrong moment…but I'm sure he'll remember what's of more importance soon enough,"

Eponine snapped her head up at the sound of Marius's name.

"A girl?" she trembled.

"A petty thing. He only laid eyes on her and pledged his soul, the fool. I never took him for the romantic type, but I suppose we all have our own surprises hidden away,"

Eponine felt her chest tighten. It was stupid and childish of her to think that Marius had ever had any interest in her. A few conversations and a smile every now and then did not equate to a romance, and yet somehow she had made it seem to be so. But childish ideas were the very things she was trying to get away from. Eponine tucked her crumbling heart away for someone else to feel. She would no longer allow herself to dwell on the boy, however seducing his voice and however confusing his intentions.

"Unfortunate," she replied.

"It's no matter. I know he'll fight. He has to," Enjolras stood, grabbing his empty wine glass and setting it on a cabinet full of bottles and cups. Eponine suddenly remembered her drink and downed it rather quickly, standing and handing the glass to Enjolras.

"I'm sorry to have intruded. I'll be leaving," she brushed herself off and headed for the door.

"Well you can't walk all the way back at this hour," Enjolras set the empty cup down and fell in step behind her.

"It seems I haven't left myself with much of a choice," Eponine turned to look up at the broad shouldered boy who seemed to be so much more of a man than the past months had bestowed. Suddenly his jaw was much more angled, his arms brawnier and his gaze more intense. This was no child staring at Eponine. Not anymore.

"You could stay here,"

The wary girl looked at Enjolras searchingly. It was true, her parents wouldn't notice the difference, perhaps wouldn't care. And it was true that the walk back to her home would be quite a lengthy stretch of unaccompanied wandering, which wasn't exactly safe well after sunset. But Eponine had never spent the night at someone's apartment, much less a man's. She didn't know what the offer was intended to mean, and there didn't seem to be any polite way of asking.

There are moments when asking too many questions leads to too many answers, though. Eponine, feeling impulsive, decided that this was one such moment.

"Okay,"