"Docteur! Docteur!" Éponine shouted as she ran down the streets, she had to make quick work of finding the man of medicine before it was too late for Enjolras.

She rounded a corner, colliding into a man. "Ah, who do we have here? Thénardier's little brat Éponine."

Éponine stepped back, " 'Parnasse, what do you want?"

"Could say the same of you," Montparnasse gave her a sly grin. "Why are you running the streets at such an hour?"

Éponine crossed her arms across her chest, "Why are you skulking at such an hour yourself?"

"Cunning little brat," He spat, stepping closer to her. "Where's your father at?"

"Lurking the sewers and stealing from God's people." Éponine snarled back, trying to see a way out of this. She didn't have the time to waste.

"You seem in such a rush."

"The Barricade fell there are wounded men in need of help."

Montparnasse gave her a wink, "Wouldn't want your clientele too wounded to pay."

"You know nothing of me." Éponine tried to brush by him.

"I could make you my wife." He grabbed her arm, gripping her tightly.

"God take my life." She snapped, smacking him across the face.

Montparnasse jerked her towards him, "I'd think a second before you make another mistake."

Éponine wilted, pretending to submit, "I am sorry 'Parnasse."

"Good Éponine." He ran his hand up her arm, making her feel sick. "Good little thing."

She'd seen some of the prostitutes attack men who tried to have them without pay, the things she had seen all those nights she'd walked alone. Reeling back, she brought her knee up, making she planted it exactly where it would bring any man down.

"I think you ought to think a second before you make another mistake," She mocked, watching him fall to the ground. She didn't stick around much longer before she was darting back through the city.

Éponine came to the house where she knew that a doctor lived; he was the man that was teaching Joly at the university. She banged her fists against the door, "Doctuer! Doctour!"

After a few minutes, that felt like hours, a older gentleman came to the door in his dressing gown and night cap. "What is it child?"

"My friend! He is dying. The Barricade fell tonight! Please monsieur! Come and try to save him."

"Slow down." He stepped outside of his door, "What is wrong with your friend?"

"He was shot. He was shot," She pointed to herself were Enjolras had been injured. "Here. He was bleeding a lot and he was coughing up blood too. Please monsieur doctuer!"

"Let me get my medical bag." He disappeared inside of his house, shutting the door behind him. Éponine expected that he was not going to remerge, but she was proven wrong.

"Make haste child and show me the way." Barked the doctor as he hurried out of his home. "Before it is too late."

~o~

They arrived at the Barricade after running across the city. They had taken longer than Éponine had expected, she feared that it had been too late. Running into Montparnassse had set her back, and the older doctor was not as able to run as she had hoped.

"Let me show you to him," Éponine covered her mouth and nose with the back of her hand, the smell of blood making her sick. Where was Enjolras exactly? Past Gavroche's small body, past Lesgles, and Combeferre, and, "Here!" She shouted spotting his red and gold vest. "Enjolras!"

Éponine shook his hand, fearing the worse when he didn't respond. "No." She cursed, "God you cannot give him to me and take him all in one day!"

The doctor leaned down, opposite of her. Pressing two fingers to the side of his neck, "Child.."

"I do not want to know." She wiped away her tears that fell down her face.

"You do not want to know that he is still with the living?"

Her heart leapt for joy, "He is not dead?"

"Not yet. Help me lift him." She obeyed the doctor, helping him lift Enjolras' limp body. "Lay him there on those boxes."

Éponine shed her coat, balling it up propping his head up. "Please you have to fight Enjolras." She chocked on a sob. "Please God give him strength."

"He needs God is he is going to live. He has lost great amounts of blood. More than I have seen." The doctor was cut his shirt away from his chest. He poked and prodded at the wound, "Pray thanks that he is not conscious for this."

"Will he live?"

"I would not think he would. He may linger, but he may never return to the waking world."

Éponine gulped, "What can I do?"

"I need to cut him open, his lung has been punctured." He pulled a knife from his bag, it looked archaic and primitive. "Hold his hand. If he awakes, though I doubt it, keep him calm."

All she could do was nod and pray as she rested her forehead against his cheek.

~o~

The doctor had finally finished his surgery after an hour or more of cutting and digging and stitching. Éponine could not understand how any man could perform such an act on another human being. She had focused on talking to Enjolras, even if he could not hear her or would never be able to respond. She spoke of what would become of them after he got better. She had told him that she couldn't promise that she would love him yet, she cared for him, yes, but it wasn't love. Not yet. She told him how they would leave Paris, go somewhere bright and green free from the worries and gloom of the city. Somewhere he could fully recover. They would become to closest of friends, and then one day Éponine would wake up and realised that she loved Enjolras with all of her heart. They would be married and they would have ten children, or was that too many? Perhaps two.

The doctor couldn't bear to tell her that he doubted he would ever be able to give her children, or even more so wake up. "Stay here with him, I am going to go and fetch my servants and return with a carriage. I will take him back to my home where I can watch him."

"Thank you monsieur." Éponine cried, as she stared at Enjolras. "Thank you for saving him."

"I have not saved him. It is up to God if he lives or dies." The doctor bowed his head before leaving Éponine with Enjolras.

"You have to live Enjolras," She showered his face with little kisses, "I was so busy wanting Marius to see me, that I never saw you there." Éponine held his hand tight, "How foolish was I? Pining after a boy when all I needed was a man."

She felt a raindrop land on her face. Burying her face against his shoulder, feeling the hysteria of the matter set in, she said half laughing and half crying, "A little fall of rain makes the flowers grow."

"Éponine."