Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter!
Over the next few weeks Eponine found herself spending more nights in Enjolras's bed than in her own. Even she didn't really understand how quickly they found themselves falling into such a comfortable pattern of desperate kisses and tangled limbs.
When she had woken up on the couch the morning after that night in the living room she had been so conscious of her nakedness and couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed about what had occurred between them the night before. Of course that wasn't the first time they had been so intimate with one another, but the time before they had been able to blame anything they said or did on the fact that they were drunk. That morning there was nothing they could do to shrug off responsibility for their actions, and neither of them had really known how to deal with it. Eponine had spent all of that following day replaying the events of the previous evening over and over again in her head, whilst trying so desperately hard to fight the desire to do it all over again. She had decided that they needed to talk about it, address what had happened and then take it from there. Instead she had been shocked to find Enjolras already home when she got back to the apartment. The second she looked at him she knew what was going to happen; she didn't even manage to take her coat off before his mouth crashed into hers.
Initially he had been almost afraid to touch her, he would always wait for her approval, like he needed to be constantly reassured that what they were doing was OK. The first few times had been rushed and chaotic, as though they were both afraid the other would call time on what was going on at any moment. She couldn't pinpoint the moment when it changed, when they had suddenly become so lost in each other that it was hard to remember a time when it hadn't been that way.
When they were alone they spent most of their time entwined with one another, but in the company of the others they would jump apart if their legs even happened to touch under a table. She'd lost count of the number of nights they had sat in the Musain acting like there was nothing between them, when all she had wanted to do was kiss him in front of everyone. Eponine knew it was ridiculous, but in a weird way she liked how things were, she liked that they were kind of existing in their own little world.
She wished it could stay that way forever.
"Are you nervous?" Enjolras asked as they sat in the ultrasound room. Eponine was perched on the end of the bed and he was sat on a chair to her left, fidgeting with the cuffs of his shirt.
"I guess," she replied. "Well I don't know if nervous is the right word. Shit scared might be more fitting." She kept shifting her position on the bed; partially because she was trying to get comfortable, and partially because she was so scared she didn't think she could actually sit still.
The door suddenly burst open and a middle aged, extremely cheery looking, woman came bounding in.
"Right my love, Eponine is it?" she said, flashing a massive grin her way.
Enjolras glanced over at her, she could already sense him starting to squirm.
"Eh yeah, that's me." Eponine replied, trying to keep a straight face.
"Alright my sweet, my name is Eleanor and I'm the ultrasound tech who'll be looking after you today." She turned to Enjolras. "And what's your name handsome?"
"Enjolras," he stammered in response.
Eponine smiled, amused at how uncomfortable the word 'handsome' had made him.
"Well it is lovely to meet you both," Eleanor said, as she fiddled with the ultrasound machine. "Now Eponine, you just lie down there and pull your shirt up, and I'll do all the rest."
She scrawled something down on the clipboard in her hand whilst Eponine hesitantly pulled up her shirt. She had become quite conscious of her stomach, it hadn't popped yet and she was convinced that she just looked bloated and a bit flabby. Enjolras was constantly telling her that it was all in her head, that he thought she looked beautiful, but she didn't believe him.
"Right well pets, let's have a look at this baby of yours shall we?" Eleanor said, covering Eponine's belly in cold, clear gel, making her shudder. "Sorry about that love, I know it's cold." She concentrated on the screen as she scanned over her stomach. "OK, let's see what is happening here. Enjolras love, why don't you get closer so you can get a better look."
"You don't have to," Eponine mouthed to him.
He shook his head, got up from the chair and came to stand beside her. Right as he got to her side the room was filled with the sound of loud thumping.
"Lovely strong heartbeat," Eleanor said. "Just what I like to hear."
"That's the baby's heartbeat?" Eponine asked, unable to hide the amazement from her voice.
"It is indeed love, isn't it beautiful? Like music to your ears."
All of a sudden Eponine felt Enjolras grab her hand. When she looked up at him he was just staring at the screen.
"And here we go. So, here's your uterus," Eleanor said, turning the screen to face them, "and right here is your baby."
Eponine don't know what she was expecting, some kind of weird unrecognizable alien, but the picture on the screen looked like a very real and proper baby. She could see a head, she could see a body, she could see this real little person that was happily growing away inside of her.
"Oh my God," Enjolras said.
"Everything is looking just wonderful," Eleanor said, smiling at them. "Congratulations you two."
Eponine couldn't even drag her eyes away from the screen to acknowledge what she was saying. All she could see was the baby and all she could hear was the thump, thump, thump of it's heartbeat filling the room.
"I'll leave you alone for a moment whilst I get your printout." Eleanor removed the scanner from Eponine's stomach and the thump, thump thump stopped.
She missed it. She already wanted to hear it again. She wanted to hear it all the time, to remind her that the baby was really there.
The image on the screen froze. The little grey baby caught there in all it's glory.
Before Eleanor left the room she reassuringly tapped Enjolras on the arm.
For the first few moments after she was gone neither of them said anything. In the end it was Enjolras who broke the silence.
"That is insane."
"I didn't think it would look like a baby," Eponine said, still fixated on the frozen screen.
"Are you OK?"
"And the heartbeat, did you hear the heartbeat?" she said, unable to keep the smile from her face.
He leant over and kissed her. "Yeah, I heard it." he said, grinning.
"That was amazing," Eponine said. "That was actually the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
"I had my 12 week scan today," Eponine said.
"And how is Enjolras junior?" Grantaire asked.
He was lying on his couch feeling exceptionally sorry for himself after a particularly heavy night with Courfeyrac the previous evening. He had called Eponine begging her to bring him a McDonalds and keep him company, claiming that he was really at death's door this time didn't want to die alone.
"It might be a girl you know," she replied.
"Fine, Enjolrasa junior then."
"You want to see a picture?" Eponine said, already rummaging in her bag for the printout.
"Sure," he replied, making the most annoying slurping noise as he finished off his milkshake.
"Here you go," she said, passing the picture back to him from where she was sat on the floor, her back resting against the couch.
He was quiet for a few moment before asking, "where is it?"
"What?" she said, turning round and sitting up on her knees.
"Where's the baby?" he said, scrunching up his face as he stared intently at the picture in his hands.
"It's right there R," she said, sounding exasperated as she started to point out the baby's shape. "That's it's head, and there's it's body and it's feet. Do you see it now?"
"Oh yeah, I see it," he said, tilting his head to the side. "It looks weird."
"Grantaire!"
"In a nice way!" he exclaimed. "I mean, it's just not a great picture, it's all grey and shit, doesn't really show Enjolras junior is his best light."
"I can't believe you just said my baby looked weird. I came all the way over here to sit with you in your apparent final hours, I even brought you food, and this is how you repay me!"
They were soon so busy bickering that they didn't hear Courfeyrac's key in the door. He was standing 3 feet away from them before they even knew he was back in the apartment.
"What are you two yelling about?"
As soon as Eponine saw him she began to panic.
"Eh, nothing," Grantaire replied, trying desperately, and without much luck, to shove the scan picture into the pocket of his jeans.
"You don't sound suspicious at all." Courfeyrac asked, raising his eyebrows. "What is that?"
"What is what?" Grantaire replied, sounding like the most suspicious person of all time. Eponine was pretty sure all the color had just drained from her face.
"Whatever that is you're trying to hide in your pocket." Courfeyrac dived across the couch before he'd even finished his sentence, grabbing the picture from Grantaire's grasp.
"Courf, give it back," Grantaire yelped, scrambling up from his horizontal position.
Eponine thought she was going to throw up. She watched as the realization of exactly what he was looking at dawned on Courfeyrac.
"Are you pregnant?"