Five years passed. The children were all eight. Grantaire was looking after them at Enjolras's apartment while Enjolras, Éponine, Marius, Cosette, and Musichetta went to run errands. They invited him to come, but he knew his leg would be a bother and someone had to watch the children.
Grantaire was in the kitchen, talking with Charlotte. Maximilien and Josephine were playing tag around the house.
"Can you tell me more about Greek Mythology?" Charlotte asked. "What goddess am I like?"
Grantaire smiled and thought to himself. "I say Hestia."
"What's Papa? And Mama?" Charlotte asked.
"Your father is Apollo and your mother is Artemis," Grantaire said. It was sort of weird, since Apollo and Artemis were twins, but Éponine was too fierce to not be Artemis.
"What about Max?" Charlotte asked.
"I say Zeus," Grantaire said, thoughtfully. "He has a lot of your father's talents. He'll become a great man one day."
"What about Josey?" Charlotte asked.
"Hmmm, Aphrodite? Athena? It seems to me that she is a combination of the two. I say she's Athena, Uncle Marius is Eros, Aunt Cosette is Aphrodite, and Aunt Musichetta is probably Hera."
"What about you?" Charlotte said, jumping up and down with excitement. Her long brown hair bounced around, and Grantaire smiled.
"Dionysus?" Grantaire said, shrugging.
"Max says that they really aren't our uncles and aunts," Charlotte pouted.
"Well, not really. We're just really close friends. We've been through a lot together," Grantaire said, softly.
Charlotte could see he was upset, and she hugged him.
"She's so adorable," Jehan said to Courfeyrac. Gavroche was running around the streets with Bahorel, looking for his sister.
"Yeah, she really is. She needs a protective older brother. Good thing she has Max," Courfeyrac said.
"It's Maximilien," Combeferre said.
"I'm not calling him that," Courfeyrac said. "I'll call him Max. Max works."
Combeferre scowled, "it's informal!"
"Times are changing," Joly reminded them.
"Too fast," Bossuet said. "Musichetta's moving on with her life without us."
"Is she?" Courfeyrac asked. "You've noticed how she's not becoming a mistress for any one. She's still staying true to you two."
Josephine just tagged Maximilien when she heard Charlotte scream. Their faces paled and they ran inside the kitchen. Charlotte was holding an apple, and Grantaire was unconscious on the ground.
"I went to get some food and he fell!" Charlotte was crying. Josephine ran over and hugged her quickly. "Max, stay with them. I'm getting help," Josephine grabbed a coat and hat and ran outside, looking. Maximilien was shaking as he pulled Charlotte closer to him.