A/N - As always thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter - this story now has over 200 reviews, which I never expected when I started posting it; so thank you for sticking with it and for taking the time to review :-]

I really hope you enjoy this new chapter - it's the climax to the emotional rollercoaster of the previous few chapters, so it's pretty heavy on the angst - but I promise things are going to start looking up for these two!

Enjolras showed up at Grantaire's apartment the next morning. Despite her protests he had given up his bed for Eponine and was still asleep on the couch when he heard the persistent buzzing coming through the intercom. He had a pretty good idea that it was Enjolras before he even hit the button.

"I'm sorry to wake you," Enjolras's voice crackled through the intercom, "but I need to see her."

"She's asleep Enjolras," Grantaire replied, still not fully awake. "As was I until your annoying buzzing rudely awoke me."

"I said I was sorry Grantaire, please just let me in."

"Fine," Grantaire said, stifling a yawn as he buzzed Enjolras into the building, knowing that there was no point even trying to argue with him.

When Enjolras burst through the front door it was obvious that he hadn't slept all night, the dark circles under his eyes standing out against his ashen complexion.

"You didn't at least bring coffee?" Grantaire said, following Enjolras into the living room and flopping back down onto the couch.

"Is she OK?" Enjolras asked, blatantly ignoring Grantaire's attempt to lighten the mood.

"She's been better," Grantaire said, "and like I said she's still asleep, so I think you should keep your voice down."

"Does she hate me?" Enjolras asked, sitting down beside Grantaire on the couch.

"I wouldn't use the word 'hate'."

"Fuck," Enjolras exhaled, throwing his head back against the couch.

"You've really hurt her Enjolras, I really don't understand what the hell you were thinking."

"I told them," Enjolras replied. "I told them the truth last night after we got off the phone."

"And?"

"They freaked out, which I knew they would. My dad thinks she did it on purpose."

"Did what on purpose?"

"Got pregnant."

"Your dad does know that it takes two people to make a baby, right?"

"You know what I mean, he thinks she did it to trap me."

"Your dad is a asshole."

"I know that. I told him that."

"I'm sure that went down well."

Before Enjolras had the chance to reply Grantaire's bedroom door opened and an exhausted looking Eponine emerged. Enjolras jumped up when he saw her, but he didn't move any closer, clearly unsure of how she would react at seeing him.

"I thought I heard your voice," she said, remaining in the doorway.

"I didn't invite him over here, I didn't even know he was coming," Grantaire interjected, waving his hands behind Enjolras's standing frame.

"What are you doing here Enjolras?" she asked, not even looking at Grantaire.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were OK."

"Well I'm fine, so you can go now."

"Is the baby OK?"

"The baby is also fine. I'm continuing to do a stellar job of taking care of your accidental bastard."

"Eponine, please," he replied, making a step towards her, causing her to take a step back into the bedroom.

"I asked you to go," Eponine said, sounding completely emotionless.

Grantaire stood up and put his hand on Enjolras's shoulder. "Maybe you should go Enj," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry about last night Eponine, I'm so sorry," Enjolras said, ignoring both requests for him to leave. "I messed up."

"No shit Sherlock," Eponine replied.

"Please let me make this right," Enjolras pleaded.

"You can't make this right Enjolras."

"I've told my parents the truth," Enjolras spluttered.

Eponine slowly clapped her hands. "Oh well done you, finally managed to tell Mommy and Daddy that you got the Thénardier girl pregnant. They must be so disappointed that their wonderful DNA is going to be tainted."

Grantaire shuffled his feet awkwardly. "If you two want to talk, maybe I'll just go," he said, pointing towards the door.

"You don't need to go anywhere R," Eponine quickly replied, "Enjolras is the one leaving."

"Jesus Christ Eponine," Enjolras snapped, "you do realize that we're going to be having a baby in a few months? You can't just tell me to go and not even try to sort this out."

"Don't you dare try to make me the bad person here Enjolras," Eponine hissed.

"I didn't say that Eponine, I just think we need to talk about this."

"This isn't anything to talk about. This," she said, gesturing into the space between them, "is over."

"What do you mean it's over?"

"I mean it's over. Me and you, whatever it was, it's over now."

"Eponine please," Enjolras said, lurching towards her and grabbing her hands in his. Eponine's body stiffened at his touch.

"I really think I should leave you two to it," Grantaire said, making another move for the front door.

"No," Eponine said sternly. "Stay there."

"OK," Grantaire replied, slowly sitting back down on the couch; staring at the ground and fiddling with his hands in a vain attempt to not be swallowed by the tension in the room.

"What can I do to fix this?" Enjolras begged, still grabbing Eponine's hands. "Please Eponine tell me what I can do."

"You can't do anything Enjolras," Eponine said, her body finally softening slightly to his touch.

"I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to be, I should have told my parents the truth from the start, I should never have put you in that position. But please, please don't do this," he pleaded. "There has to be something I can do, just tell me what it is and I'll do it."

Eponine sighed. "We need to be realistic Enjolras, this was never going to work."

"Why not? I love you Eponine, I think I've probably loved you from the first time I met you, and you love me, I know you do."

"That doesn't mean it's going to work out between us."

"We're having a baby for Christ's sake! If that's not a reason to work things out I don't know what is."

"Because having two parents together automatically means a child is going to have a happy, wonderful childhood? Look at my parents, God look at your parents Enjolras! They're been miserable for how long? Your dad has had how many affairs?"

"I would never cheat on you, you know that." Enjolras said, sounding horrified that Eponine would even suggest such a thing.

"I'm not saying that you would, I'm just saying that you can't honestly think this fucked up mess we've been calling a relationship is a good environment to bring a baby into?"

"But we're good together Eponine, you know we are," Enjolras said, leaning towards her and resting his forehead against hers.

Eponine closed her eyes, trying not to focus on how close he was to her. She could feel his breath against her face and she knew that if she looked at him she would crumble. When she finally opened her eyes she stared straight down at the floor.

"I do love you Enjolras, fuck I love you," she said quietly, "but we were never meant to be together. If I hadn't gotten pregnant that night would just have been one drunken mistake that we never spoke of again."

"I don't think that night was a drunken mistake, you know that."

"But you didn't think the consequence was worth telling your parents about?" Eponine asked, a hint of anger seeping back into her voice.

"I'm a fuck up Eponine, I'm a massive fuck-up," Enjolras said, "Please." He moved his mouth closer to hers so that their lips were almost touching. His sudden movement caused her to lift her eyes from the floor, finally looking at him. When her eyes locked with his she felt like was falling in love with him all over again. She wanted nothing more than to tell him that it didn't matter, that she could forget about it. She wanted to close the gap between him and kiss him harder than she ever had done before.

But she couldn't forget about it. She couldn't forget the fact that he didn't tell his parents about their child because of who she was, because of where she came from. She couldn't forget how worthless that had made her feel, when she had promised herself that she would never let anyone make her feel that way again.

"I can't Enjolras," she said, "I can't keep doing this. We can't keep doing this. We can't keep hurting each other."

She didn't even realize that she had started to cry until she felt him let go of her hands so he could reach up and wipe away the tear that had started falling down her cheek.

"Please don't cry," he said softly. "I don't want to be the person who makes you cry."

"I think you should go," she whispered.

Enjorlas dropped his hand from her face down to his side. "OK," he said, finally admitting defeat. He took a deep breath before he stepped back, Eponine let out a slight gasp as the loss of contact. "I never meant to hurt you Eponine, I hope you know that."

"I know," she said. "I never meant to hurt you either."

Enjolras shoved his hands into his pockets and looked over to where Grantaire was still sitting awkwardly on the couch, still staring at the ground and pretending he wasn't in the room.

"I'll come by over the next few days and get my stuff," Eponine said.

Enjolras felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He couldn't imagine his life without her, he didn't want to have to live his life without her; going back to waking up in an empty bed and coming home to empty apartment. Her stuff was all over the place, she had torn through it like a hurricane; she always left her shoes where she took them off, she always hung her outfit for the next morning on the closet door, and she had completely taken over every spare bit of space in the bathroom with her vast collection of make-up and toiletries – but Enjolras didn't care. He loved hearing her laugh when she was watching a show in the other room, or hearing her sing along out loud when she had earphones in. She brought noise and chaos into his world, and he didn't want to go back to the empty silence.

"You don't have to," he said, swallowing hard in a vain attempt to keep his voice steady.

"I can't keep living there Enjolras, I probably never should have moved in there in the first place."

"Where will you go?"

Eponine didn't have an answer. She couldn't exactly move back to her old place now that Marius and Cosette were playing happy families there, and she definitely didn't have enough money to get somewhere of her own. As she felt herself beginning to panic Grantaire cut in.

"She can stay here with me."

"What?" Eponine said.

"You can stay with me, it's fine."

"But you only have one bedroom," Enjolras said, spinning round to look at Grantaire, who had stood back up.

"I'm cool giving up my room. You know me," he said, trying to cut through the stifling tension, "I don't sleep that much, and I'm always open to spending the night in someone else's bed."

"Thank you," Eponine mouthed. Grantaire flashed her a sympathetic smile in response.

"Right," Enjolras said, "I guess that's that then."

"Yeah," Eponine said.

"If you need anything for the baby you'll call me right?" Enjolras said. "Or if you need anything, it doesn't matter what time it is or anything, you call me."

"Thanks," Eponine said, her voice coming out as barely more than a whisper.

"OK then," Enjolras said, rubbing the back of his neck.

He took one final look at Eponine, silently begging her to change her mind. Instead she just stood there, wrapping her hands tightly round her bump and re-averting her gaze back to the floor. Enjolras made his way towards the door, Grantaire giving him a weak nod as he left.

As soon as the door closed Eponine let out the wail she had been so desperately holding in, as her body gave way she grabbed onto her knees to stop herself falling to the floor. She felt Grantaire grab her shoulders and pull her body up and into his.

"It's OK Ep, it's going to be OK," he said, trying to sound as soothing as possible.

"Fuck Grantaire," she sobbed into his chest, her breath catching in her throat as her hands grasped at the back of his shirt.

"Ep, you need to calm down," Grantaire said, rubbing her back, "you need to try and breathe. You being this upset isn't good for the baby."

"I want to go back to bed," she stammered.

"OK," Grantaire said, gently kissing the top of her head.

Eponine pulled her face out of his shirt, still trying to correct her erratic breathing. She turned around and walked back into the bedroom, her body moving on autopilot as she crawled back into the unmade bed. As she lay down she curled her legs up as much as she could, her protruding belly stopping her from pulling them right up against her chest. As she closed her eyes she felt Grantaire pull the duvet round her.

"I'll find somewhere else to live R," she mumbled.

"Don't be stupid Eponine," Grantaire replied, "you can stay here for as long as you want."

She didn't even manage to reply before her emotionally exhausted body shut down, sleep finally taking over.