Éponine looked out of the carriage window at the Lestat estate, her throat went dry at the sight of the large buildings. "I don't know about this..." She turned to Daniel, "I don't know why we even came."

Daniel gently squeezed her hand, "you were going to have to meet them at some point," he reasoned. "Besides they will love you," he gently squeezed her hand.

Éponine nervously bit at her lower lip, "what if they don't?"

Daniel smiled, "trust me, they will."

Éponine sat still for a moment, "what if they ask me about..."

Daniel gently patted her hand, "everything will be just fine, I just want you to tell the truth."

Éponine sighed, "alright, but if they don't like me?"

Daniel kissed her on her cheek, "then we'll just have to elope won't we?" Éponine couldn't help but smile and feel a little better about what lay ahead at his family estate.

When the carriage finally stopped in front the house Daniel exited first and then helped Éponine. A couple of the families servants took their belongings away into the house and only two remained to greet them. "This is M. Baudet our family butler," he gestured to the older man with greying hair, "and Mme. Bernalle our housekeeper." The older woman bobbed her head in recognition.

"Your family is waiting for you, we should not hold them up for too long," M. Baudet spoke up.

Éponine's nervousness worsened and she swore she could feel the color draining from her face. She tried desperately to not let it show, but knew that she was failing.

"Come my love," Daniel called to her, she went to his side and some of her confidence returned to her but not much.

When they entered the house she was very much in awe of her surroundings, they were so grand and spectacular. M. Baudet took them through the hall and to the parlor.

"Daniel!" A young girl of about the age of tweleve ran to him and embraced him.

"It's good to see you too Rosalie," Daniel smiled, Rosalie stepped away from him and looked at Éponine.

"Is this her?" She grinned, "my look what you've got... Lucille could never stand a chance against her..."

"Who's Lucille?" Éponine asked.

Daniel sighed, "she is my sister Clarise's dearest friend and infatuated with me."

Éponine tried to brush it of with a laugh but she herself had once harbored feelings of infatuation for young man, feelings she mistook for love.

"Well come on! Maman and Papa would like to see you!" Rosalie pulled at his arm, all the Lestat children tended to use less formal terms of endearment for their parents.
She took the two of them to the parlor, where they were greeted by a tall man with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

"Good to see you my son," then he looked to Éponine, "ahhh... So this is the lovely girl?" He smiled at her kindly. "My name is Victor Lestat, and this is my wife Madeline."

"How are you my dear?" Madeline asked, she was very pretty, slim with light brown hair pinned into a fashionable twist.

"Very well," Éponine replied tentatively, Madeline gently took her hand.

"I see you've met Rosalie, these are my other two daughters Clarise and Elisabeth." She introduced her to Daniel's other sisters.

Clarise seemed to be about her own age while Elisabeth was closer to Azelma's, "how do you do?" Clarise held out her hand.

Éponine took it, "Very well, thank you," she replied.

"Oh Clarise don't bother her too much, she must be tired after the journey," Elisabeth spoke up jokingly but politely, like a proper lady would.

Indeed she was but she was still a little nervous to say so, sensing her discomfort Clarise came to her aid, "perhaps you would like to sit down? You like quiet weary." Éponine smiled and sat upon one of the sofa's feeling grateful towards the other girl.

"So Mademoiselle Thenardier, where is it that you and your family come from?" Monsieur Lestat asked.

Éponine swallowed nervously, "I... Uhh..." Daniel's words from earlier was the only thing that urged her on and kept her from lying. "We come from Montfermeil, but we came to Paris when I was twelve."

"Montfermeil? Nice place, quiet town..." Daniel's father mused, Éponine sighed, things were alright for now.

"Yes... I liked it there very much, oh how I hated to leave..." She frowned, her speech came a little easier now."

"I don't mean to pry but may I ask why you left?" Madame Lestat then asked.

"The inn... That was what my parents ran... Well we lost all our money and that, we couldn't stay any longer," she blushed with embarrassment about her families predicament. How could they really understand? They probably had never been hungry a single day in their lives.

"You poor dear..." Madame Lestat shook her head, "did Paris bring new hope?"

Éponine bit her lip, coming to Paris was the beginning of her downfall, from when she turned from a pretty little girl to a street walker and thief. It had taken her five years of her life away, but now she was free from all of it. Now she had her whole life ahead of her instead of wishing she would die from cold or disease. "It did not..."

"What do you do in Paris?" Clarise asked, steering the conversation away for a moment.

"Now? Oh, well now my sister and I are seamstresses, we work for Madame D'Auvergne," she spoke proudly.

"You have a sister?" Rosalie asked excited.

"And a brother!" She replied smiling, but then she realized what she had said. She didn't have a brother anymore... Gavroche was dead.

"What are they like?" Rosalie grinned.

"Azelma... My sister, she likes to draw pictures when she can, she loves walking through the market but tends to be quiet. I think she must be about Elisabeth's age..." Éponine looked at Elisabeth.

"And your brother?"

"My brother... Well you see... Gavroche..." Her throat seemed to close and a couple of tears fell down her cheeks, "I'm sorry it's just..."

Daniel tenderly put his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "would you like to tell them, or should I?"

"I'll be fine," she whispered back and quickly dabbed at her eyes, "I'm sorry," she apologized once again, "my brother... Well he liked to have fun, that was all he ever wanted to do... But he died on the barricades last year... He was eleven..."

There was a collective gasp in the room, "Oh my, you poor, poor thing!" Madame Lestat's eyes widened.

As much as she appreciated their sympathy she was not sure how much she really wanted to be pitied, it still tended to make her feel weak a vulnerable... Feelings that that she still did not like having the whole world be privy to.

"I miss him... I do, but I know he's up there happy and having all the fun he could ever want," she smiled weakly.

The rest of day was uneventful, the Lestat family was very taken with Éponine just like Daniel said they would be, it shocked her at first but then realized how much she liked his family. They were very kind to her, and she was getting on delightfully with his sisters.

That evening they continued their conversation in Éponine's room,"What's Paris like?" Rosalie asked with wonder, Éponine smiled, Daniel's youngest sister reminded her of Gavroche quiet a bit.

"Oh it's a big city..." She answered her offhandedly, "nothing too exciting."

"It's got to be more then that!" Rosalie replied, "I bet it's wonderful!"

"Some parts are... Well maybe I've just lived there too long," Éponine shrugged, she didn't want to dash the young girls dreams of the city. After all even though Paris had not treated her kindly that did not necessarily apply to everyone who took up residence there.

"I can't wait till I can go, perhaps one day I'll live there," Rosalie smiled brightly.

Éponine grinned at the young girl, she liked her very much, "I suppose you could."

"I want to meet a devilishly handsome young man and fall in love!" Rosalie grinned happily.

"Sounds like something that could have been plucked from a romance novel!" Éponine laughed casually.

"Oh Éponine isn't there anything else you could tell us about Paris?" Elisabeth asked.

"Have I not told you enough?"

"Beth don't prod," Clarise threw a look to her younger sister, Elisabeth sighed quietly.

Éponine was beginning to feel a sense of home here with these girls, if only Azelma could have been here to meet them too.

"Where is your sister? Why did she not come?" Elisabeth asked.

"She was helping out a couple of our friends," Éponine explained, Azelma had stayed behind in order to help Mirabella and Musichetta move into their new flat. In other words she mostly played with Mirabella's young son while the older girls with the help of one of their new neighbors set up the flat, it was now closer to where both Musichetta and Mirabella worked and had more space.

"I wish to meet her," Rosalie added.

"I'm sure you will, just not this time," Éponine smiled.

"Ladies? Mademoiselle Thenardier?" The Housekeeper called to them, "It is time for dinner."

Éponine was now very much enjoying her stay with the Lestat's and was now able to speak freely and casually, Daniel's father treated her as if she was one of his own daughters and she found how much she liked having a father figure. But, during dinner on one of her last nights M. Lestat asked a question that really did not seem unreasonable but more of a surprise then anything else.

"Have you two made any plans for marriage?" he asked.

Éponine and Daniel both froze, "father?" Daniel asked, his face had gone quiet pale.

"Well come now, look at the two of you! I see how much you love this charming young lady! Surely you will be marrying soon!" He laughed.

"Victor..." Daniel's mother spoke quietly to her husband.

Daniel's face had now flushed a deep shade of red and Éponine could here Rosalie giggling nearby, now that she thought about it, outside of his offhanded joke in carriage ride, she hadn't really ever considered the possibility of marrying Daniel.

"Not yet father," Daniel replied stiffly, the redness was slowly leaving his father, now he had ruined the surprise he had planned for Éponine later that night.

"Well you should get on it my boy!" Victor chuckled, "you should not let her get away!"

Now it was Éponine's turn to blush a little, she tried to had it but there simply was no use.

"Victor..." Madeline spoke a little firmer, "it is not a crime that they have not made plans yet, they are young and they have time." she smiled.

"Very well," Victor turned to his wife, "but when it does you must let me know immediately!"

Daniel nodded his head silently, he had lost all his words and felt as if he would not be able to properly form any kind of a sentence.

Later that night after dinner Éponine and Daniel walked about the gardens, they hardly talked still trying to get over the shock they had received at dinner.

"I suppose he only meant well," Daniel shrugged putting his hands in his coat pockets and breathed deeply.

"I suppose so, it still was... A surprise to say the least," Éponine replied.

"My father can be like that sometimes, I really should have known..." Daniel shook his head as he sat down on a bench, Éponine now sat beside him, "It wasn't that bad..."

"'Ponine..." Daniel started.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever thought of getting married?" He asked her.

"I... Well... I suppose..." She glanced away from him feeling a touch embarrassed.

"What about getting married to me?" he asked.

Now she laughed a little and looked straight at him, "if this is what you call a proposal you are hopeless at it!"

"Women, you can be so picky!" Now Daniel laughed too, "very well... Call that one practice." Then he got down on one knee in front of her, "this isn't exactly as I had planned it to go," he admitted. "Éponine Céline Thenardier... Will you marry me?" He held out a simple but beautiful ring.

"How did you find out my middle name?" she asked.

"Does it really matter? Will you?" he asked again.

Éponine smiled brightly, "why of course I will!" she pulled him back up onto his feet and kissed him, "now how did you find out my name? I've never told you!"

Daniel laughed, "well if you must know... I asked Azelma!" Then he looked at one of the widows in the house and he could see Rosalie's face peering out. "Oh no... Be ready for more champagne and wine then you will ever be able to drink! In about five minutes my whole family will know of our impending marriage." He put his arm around her shoulder, "are you ready to face them?"

"I have you with me, I could take on anything!" she kissed him once more on the cheek as they started walking back towards the house.