A/N: So this chapter ended up being super long so I split it into two. Sorry if it seems really slow, but I'm hoping there will be more exciting stuff in the next one. Thanks again for all the follows/ Reviews/ favorites!

Chapter five: Recovery

"I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday"- Diddy ft. Skylar Grey

Enjolras and Grantaire walked down the empty Paris street toward their home. It was very late and Grantaire was very drunk. Enjolras was mainly there to make sure his friend made it home safely, though he was still having fun. It was raining a little, but they didn't seem to mind They were having a good time and a little rain wasn't going to ruin that. The students were laughing loudly when they saw someone slide around the corner as they ran at full speed. The person collapsed on the sidewalk, gasping for breath. As they warily approached the figure, the recognized him.

"Marius! Where did you go?" Grantaire yelled to him. "You disappeared from the party after like an hour!"

"Shut up!" Marius whispered furiously, turning to them. "They're going to find me!"

Enjolras and Grantaire shared a gasp as they saw Marius's face. He had blood underneath his nose with slight bruising already around it. His lip was swollen and cut. His cheekbone was also red and cut.

"You look like shit. What happened to you?" Enjolras asked, coming up to get a closer look at his friend's face. "Who did this?"

"I was walking home from the party and I was running late to meet Cosette so I decided to take the shorter way, though it's through a worse part of town. Tonight we were going to celebrate our three-month anniversary, so it was really important that I wasn't late. Then suddenly, I was pulled into an alleyway, surrounded by like five men. They told me to give them my wallet and anything else I might have had. I said no so this enormous man hit me in the face! He was about to hit me again when someone called out. They distracted the men enough for me to get away, and I have been running since," Marius said in a hurried whisper. He would flinch at any noise and would look around at any sign of movement. His whole body was shaking from adrenaline and fear.

"Do you have any idea who those guys were?" Enjolras asked. "Or who saved you?"

"No, it was too dark to see anyone. I barely saw the guy in front of me. I just heard five different voices."

"Why didn't you just give up your money? It's not like you have that much," Grantaire said bluntly.

"Because I bought Cosette really nice bracelet for our anniversary." Marius started checking his pockets, making sure everything was there. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he frantically searched all his pockets again. "Shit! It's gone!"

After searching around them for a while, Enjolras said, "It probably fell out of your pocket while you were running. Let's just go back in the morning and look for it." Grantaire nodded in agreement.

"No! It'll be gone by morning if I leave it. I have to go back now!" Marius stood up and quickly started going back the way he came. His friends sighed and followed him. Using their phones as lights, they searched his whole trek to the alleyway. "I don't see it. It must have fallen out of my pocket when he hit me... I think they're gone now and even if they do come back, we can take them, right? Yeah, we totally could," said Marius, trying to talk courage into himself. He took a deep breath and turned the corner into the dark alley.

At first glance, the alley was empty. Enjolras was the first to see the body. In the dim light, he couldn't see the face, but he could tell it was a girl. Her body was laying in an awkward position and he saw blood around her. "Shit! Grantaire, Marius! Come here! Someone's hurt!" He rushed over to the body to assess the wounds as best he could. He knelt over her, lifted her head, and checked for a pulse. His mouth went dry when he saw her face fully. It was Eponine.

Grantaire came up behind Enjolras to look at all the fuss. "Shit, there's a lot of blood. Is she alive?" he asked. "Wait... Is that..?"

"Eponine," Enjolras whispered. Realization kicked in and Grantaire knelt on the other side of her, not able to take his eyes off of her face.

"'Ponine!" he cried, his voice cracking, tears falling down his face. "Eponine!" Grantaire turned to see Marius staring at her, dumbfounded. His face changed from one of sorrow to one of anger. "This is your fault," he said, rising to his feet. "She saved your life, and could be dead because of it!"

"Do not blame this on me," Marius snapped back. "You would have done the same in my situation, you coward. I didn't know who it was. If I had known it was Eponine, I would have stayed!"

"Bullshit! You're too worried about your precious self to care about her!" Grantaire approached Marius, his eyes flaming and his hands shaking with anger.

"That's not even true!" Marius defended. "I looked for her too when she left!"

"Where were you before that? Where were you when she was homeless? Where were you when she was jobless? Off with Cosette? You seem to really care," Grantaire yelled, approaching Marius, his fist curling. Marius backed up against the wall, fearful for the second time that night of getting pounded.

"Stop fighting, you two." Enjolras stood and separated his friends. "We need to worry about Eponine now. She's alive, but I can't tell how badly she's injured. R, you call Joly and tell him to meet me at my apartment. Marius, you help me lift her without hurting her. We need to get to her somewhere safe now."

Marius gently lifted Eponine and put her into Enjolras's arms. Grantaire frantically called Joly. She was rushed as quickly as they could to Enjolras's apartment, where Joly was already waiting. The group walked up the few stairs in silence. They unlocked the door and hurried in. Enjolras rushed over to the couch and put her down on it and let Joly get to work.

The atmosphere in the apartment was nervous. Grantaire was standing over Joly, pestering him with questions. "Is she going to be okay? Should we take her to a hospital? You are only a student after all. Are you qualified to be doing this? Is she going to be okay?"

"Grantaire, you are a good friend, but if you don't shut up and let me get to work, I swear I will never speak to you again," Joly finally snapped. Grantaire shut up.

Enjolras was pacing back and forth from the couch to the window. He understood why Grantaire was asking all of those questions. He wanted to ask them himself. It felt like this was all his fault. If he had let them go get Eponine, this never would have happened. If he had only cared more about her well-being rather than her pride, she would be unharmed.

Marius was on his phone, letting his girlfriend know about what happened. He talked to her for a while, apologizing for not being able to make their date. She just responded that she was please he was safe.

After what felt like hours of bandaging, cleaning and stitching, Joly stood up. The three boys stopped and looked at him expectantly. Joly sighed and wiped his hands on his pants. The normally jovial boy looked exhausted.

"She's going to be alright," he said finally. "She has lost a lot of blood and has some broken ribs. She also has a concussion, so when she wakes up she could be sick or even have amnesia. I also wouldn't be surprised if she isn't completely coherent when she wakes up. Most likely, she'll be irritated because she'll be in a lot of pain. Don't let her move, make her rest as much as possible. Periodically change the ice that's on her head and her ribs. When she wakes up, ask her simple questions to make sure she doesn't have any major brain damage. Her nose also is broken, so keep her head raised and put ice on that too. Call me if you have any questions."

Enjolras nodded, taking in all the instruction. He rubbed his tired, red-rimmed eyes. "I'll sleep out here on the floor by her. Joly, please, sleep in my bed. It's almost four and I know you have class in the morning." The student nodded appreciatively. "Marius and Grantaire, you two are also welcome to stay here for the night. There are a couple of chairs you could sleep in, or the floor. But we should all get some sleep."

Eponine woke up to a throbbing pain in her head. Panic started to creep in as she looked around the unfamiliar house. She racked her brain for any memory of the night before, any memory about why she was here. She looked around for a quick escape and saw a door not too far away. She attempted to sit up, but an excruciating pain kept her down, winding her. She laid there, breathing heavily and tried to think of a way out.

"You're awake," said a groggy voice beside her. "Guys! She's awake!"

Eponine turned her head, with no ease, to look at the person who had spoken. It was a boy, not much older than herself. He had messy blond curls and sharp, yet concerned, blue eyes. She knew she recognized him, but she couldn't think of his name.

Two other people came into the room and rushed over to her. One was barely a teenager. Dirty blond, messy curls framed his child-like face. He stood over her, trying not to cry.

The other, quite a few years older, looked at her with worry in his dark eyes. His uncontrollable black curls flopped into his eyes. He held a flask in his hand which he frequently sipped out of.

And like a switch had been turned on in her brain, Eponine remembered their faces and their relation to her. "Enjolras. Grantaire. Gavroche," she said, her tongue like lead in her mouth. Her mouth was dryer than a sandbox. As soon as she took a breath through her mouth she began to cough, making her abdomen hurt.

Gavroche ran to get his sister a glass of water. He brought it back and let her take careful sips out of it.

"Why am I here?" Eponine asked after drinking a lot. "What happened?"

"How much do you remember?" Enjolras asked her after sharing a glance with the others.

Eponine thought, searching her mind for anything out of the ordinary. "I remember getting off work and walking home," she said.

"Do you remember getting home?" Gavroche asked her.

Again, she thought. "No," she said, surprised. "But it was like two a.m. I often don't remember walking home."

"You were hurt in a really bad attack," Grantaire blurted suddenly. "Do you remember who by?"

"I was what? No, there's no way that could be true," Eponine denied.

"It's true," Enjolras said somberly. "Grantaire, Marius and I found you this morning laying unconscious in the alleyway. You got a concussion, which is probably why you don't remember."

Eponine tried her hardest to remember anything from the night before. It felt like a part of her was missing, not being able to remember a whole night. "Why did I get attacked? What did I do?"

"From the way I was told, you wanted to save Marius," Enjolras told her.

Marius. Of course she would risk herself to save him. She would give up anything to save him. "He's okay then?"

"Yes. His nose is bruised, but nothing like yours," Gavroche teased.

Eponine felt her nose with her fingers and a shooting pain went up her head. "Ow. Do you have a mirror? What do I look like?"

A small, handheld mirror was given to her. She stared at the girl looking back at her. She barely could believe it was herself. One eye was already very swollen with purple and blue. Her nose was slightly askew. She had a cut that was stitched on her forehead. She was a mess.

"I look like shit," she laughed at herself. She put down the mirror and noticed bruising. "At least I gave whoever it was some hell."