Eponine wrapped the black tattered sweater tighter around her slim figure. It must have been around two or three in the morning, and the cool autumn wind was blowing through her dirty hair as she quietly followed her father and his gang, Patron-Minette. "You've done it this time," she thought miserably. She thought back to class that day and mentally berated herself for not stealing another wallet. The argument between that opinionated Enjolras and the professor had distracted her, she mused as she balled her fists around the thin black garment in anger. That was it. It was all Enjolras' fault for making her forget her place. How could her precious Marius be friends with such an outspoken swine?
Eponine was jerked out of her thoughts as the group abruptly stopped in front of a house that Eponine had never seen before.
"This is it," hissed Thenardier between his yellowing teeth. "Brujon! You take the look out." The young gang member smirked at Eponine before he silently slinked away into the shadows. Eponine's blood ran cold. She must really be in for it if she wasn't playing lookout for the band of criminals.
"'Ponine! You can stay by me," murmured Montparnasse in Eponine's ear. She fought to keep the grimace off her face as the stench of his rancid breath crossed her nose. Montparnasse wrapped an arm around her waist as he turned her to face her father.
"Alright. You know what we're here for. Grab anything that looks valuable. Gueulemer, you take the dining room and kitchen. Babet, you help him. I'll take the living room. 'Parnasse, you make sure 'Ponine doesn't fuck this up. You two take the bedrooms." The lackeys nodded at their leader as they set off for the back door (picked, courtesy of Claquesous). Thenardier grabbed his daughter's wrist and sneered at her. "I mean it, don't fuck this one up, or I'll make you wish for death."
Eponine struggled to keep her face void of emotion as Montparnasse led her up the stairs of the foreign home. She could hear a faint snoring coming from behind one of the closed doors. "We'll have better luck in the girl's room," 'Parnasse breathed into Eponine's ear. The young assassin let go of Eponine's waist and crept down the dark hallway. He silently opened a door near the end of the hallway and peeked in. He motioned to Eponine to follow him as he slunk into the room, as fluid as a shadow. Eponine crept behind into the bedroom behind him and looked around the dark room.
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and she peered around the room. Montparnasse was already picking jewelry out of a small wooden box. Eponine's chocolate eyes landed on the sleeping form in the corner and felt the room spin. She recognized the girl. It was the blonde student from the university. Eponine took the opportunity to study the young woman. She definitely wasn't deformed. In fact, she was quite beautiful. Her blonde locks gently curled around her relaxed face. Eponine shook herself out of her inspection and tried to rid herself of the jealous tears that were threatening to fill her eyes. Of course Marius was smitten with her.
Eponine turned away and found herself observing the drawings and doodles that littered the rather large desk in the room. Eponine picked one up out of curiosity. The young woman had been doodling her name over and over in different fonts. Cosette. Why did that seem so familiar?
"I swear, Enj- Enjolra… ras. I can do this on my own."
"You can, what, pray tell? Walk? Because I'm finding that hard to believe."
"Yus. I can… erm… walk. I can walk."
"Ah, but can you walk and talk?"
"Shuddup, Courfeyrac."
Enjolras shook his head. He could only imagine what the trio would look like to anyone passing by. Courfeyrac and Enjolras had Grantaire slumped between them as they half carried and half dragged their drunken friend down the dark sidewalk.
"Why do you insist on drinking so much?" inquired the dark haired Courfeyrac.
"It gets me the ladies," slurred Grantaire. He tried to blow a kiss to an invisible lady, but only succeeded in smacking Enjolras in the back of the head.
Courfeyrac began to laugh so hard that he almost dropped the drunk. Enjolras shot him his best glare.
"I hardly think that this is a laughing matter."
At this point, Courfeyrac doubled over in laughter, and Grantaire dropped to his hands and knees. Enjolras was about to help him up when Grantaire clutched his stomach.
"I think that I may need to take a minute, mon ami." At this, Grantaire began to expel the alcohol from his stomach.
"Oh, yes, Grantaire. Lovely. Sure to get all the ladies, right, Enjolras?" Courfeyrac choked out between laughs.
Enjolras, however, wasn't listening. He was watching the dark figure that was surveying them from the shadows across the street.
"I beg your pardon for my friend, monsieur," Enjolras apologized to the thin man.
The man froze when he realized that the three college students had noticed him. He promptly turned and disappeared between two houses. Enjolras and Courfeyrac exchanged a shrug as they hauled their inebriated comrade off the concrete and continued on their way home.
Eponine had followed Montparnasse out of Cosette's room when the assassin was satisfied with his now bulging pockets. The young pair was now silently searching the guest bedroom. Something, however, felt wrong. Eponine paused and glanced at the dark shadow that was 'Parnasse. He didn't seem to be bothered by the same strange feeling as he dug through the vanity next to the bed. Eponine sighed as she thought about the situation she had landed herself in and started. Her low sigh had seemed awfully loud in the silence. Eponine and Montparnasse seemed to reach the same conclusion at the same time. The snoring from down the hall had stopped! Someone was awake! Montparnasse fumbled for his cell phone so he could send a warning text to the rest of the group and nearly dropped the small item as the sound of sirens approached the house. Montparnasse grabbed Eponine's arm as he tried to hide his terror.
"Hide!" he hissed as he dove under the bed.
Eponine frantically looked around the room. Montparnasse had taken the only hiding spot in the small guest room, and Eponine didn't dare to try to find a way out through the hallway. She found herself starting towards the clear glass doors that led out to the balcony. Her hand froze on the doorknob as a knock on the front door reverberated through the house.
"Police! Open up!"
Eponine's ears picked up the sounds of scuffling from the ground floor and darted out on to the balcony. She looked over the edge and surveyed the flowered bushes. It was too far to jump but maybe… Eponine carefully lifted herself over the railing and hung from the edge of the paved balcony. She quickly dropped into the bushes. She rubbed her shoulder as she rolled out of the bushes. She got up and gingerly placed pressure on her now sore ankle. Eponine risked a glance around the side of the house. Red and blue flashing lights now illuminated the once dark neighborhood. Eponine slid through the shadows and took off running.
Enjolras wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. The trio was almost to Grantaire's apartment. Enjolras was so caught up in his thoughts of the dark shadow and the police cars that had passed them a few blocks away that he didn't even hear the hurried footsteps that were approaching him. He didn't notice, that is, until the small woman cloaked in darkness slammed into the small of his back.
"I'm, I'm sorry, monsieur," gasped the young woman between breaths.
All the anger that had previously clouded Enjolras' eyes dissipated as he recognized who it was that had ran right into him.
"Eponine?"
Brown eyes flashed up to Enjolras' usually stone face and Enjolras was taken aback by the tears that threatened to spill from them.
"Enjolras!"
"Why were you running?"
A wave of mistrust and fear swept over Eponine's face. Puzzle pieces clicked in Enjolras' head. She had come from the direction that the police were heading, she was out of breath, clothed in black, and she kept glancing over her shoulder when she thought no one would notice.
"Eponine," Enjolras locked his cool blue eyes with her terrified brown ones. "Were you running from the police?"
Eponine looked indignant, but that look quickly disappeared from her face as the sound of sirens seemed to grow closer. "Enjolras, I-"
"Come on! The last one can't be far away!" It seemed that the police had split up and were now searching for her.
Eponine's face blanched, and Enjolras quickly thought through his options. He grabbed her skinny arm and turned to a bewildered Courfeyrac and mildly amused Grantaire. Eponine fought against his grip as her options for escape quickly diminished.
"Courf, can you take Grantaire from here?" Courfeyrac managed a nod as Grantaire blew Eponine a small kiss.
Enjolras chose to ignore the drunk and started pulling a disgusted Eponine down the sidewalk.
"Please, Enjolras. Please don't take me to the cops. I can expla-" Enjolras cut her off with a quick glance.
"I'm not. I'll take you up on that explanation, but later. We've got to get out of here. My apartment isn't far off."
Enjolras pulled Eponine down a dark side street. He didn't miss the limp that accompanied Eponine's movements.
"Why?" Eponine inquired.
"I have my reasons. Hurry."
Eponine tried to ignore the pain that was shooting through her ankle as she tried to keep up with Enjolras' long strides, and the pair disappeared into the darkness.
Enjolras dug his key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door as Eponine glanced around. He was right, the apartment hadn't been far off, but there were a few times when Eponine was sure that they were going to run right into the police. Enjolras ushered her into the small flat and glanced at his watch with a sigh.
"It's late. You may take my bed," he offered as he turned to hang his coat on a small rack. For the second time that night, he felt Eponine's small body slam in to him, but this time, it wasn't accidental. Enjolras was mildly surprised by the strength that hid itself in Eponine's small frame.
"I am no charity case!" Eponine's chocolate eyes were alight with anger.
Enjolras merely raised an eyebrow at her. "I never said you were. You can take the couch if that suits your fancy. I just assumed-"
Eponine cut him off, her voice nearly at a yell. "If I'm not a charity case, then why the hell am I here? What are your so called reasons?"
Enjolras had enough of this. He spun her around and pinned her to the wall. "I do believe you owe me an explanation first." His voice was low, but Eponine flinched.
"It's just… Well… My family isn't the greatest." Eponine had to tread carefully. She didn't want to risk having Enjolras find out that she was a Thenardier. What if he changed his mind and called the police? "I did something wrong, and as a result, I was pulled into their activities, but I swear, monsieur, I did not go willingly."
Enjolras lightened his grip on her arms and stepped back. He could tell she was omitting a lot of details, but the night had been eventful enough as it was. Now probably wasn't the best time. "I thought I told you to call me Enjolras."
Eponine's eyebrows shot up as she carefully observed his face. "Your turn."
Enjolras sighed. "Grantaire had called Courfeyrac and I as we were leaving Combferre's place. He drank too much and needed help getting home. When we came across you, I realized that you were probably running from the police, but I don't think you're a bad person. I assumed that you had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, I am of the personal belief that everyone deserves a chance to better themselves." Enjolras cut himself off before he started lecturing Eponine on how the need for crime was really just a symptom of the class structure. That probably wouldn't go over well at all.
Eponine eyed him suspiciously and, when satisfied, turned and surveyed the couch. "I'm going to need blankets, you know."
Enjolras grabbed some spare blankets from the closet and gently handed them to Eponine. "I think there's some clean sweatpants and a clean t-shirt in the bathroom, if you'd like to change."
Enjolras was shocked to see a warm smile grace Eponine's dirty face. "I'll be fine. Thank you, Enjolras."
Enjolras gave her a small smile as he made his way to his bedroom. "Yes, Eponine. I think you will be."
A/N: Thanks for reading! A huge thank you to my friend, Duckie, who helped my plot monkeys back on their feet.
Read and review! :)