A/N: Thank you JudyBear236.

My last post before going away on holiday for a while. Hope this is enough to satisfy as long as I am gone. I know I have been updating tragically slowly the last while. Sorry for that.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine.

CHAPTER 11

"We need to talk."

Éponine did not waste time, addressing Javert the second she closed the door behind her.

His blue eyes fastened on her suspiciously.

"About?"

Éponine moved towards him hesitantly.

"Eugene… There… there is something I need to tell you, but I am going to need your support. You can not betray me."

Javert smiled and touched her cheek.

"I would never betray you."

"There are… some friends of mine, they… they are planning a revolution and the only reason why I am telling you this, is because I do not want you to get hurt."

Javert sighed and leaned his head back.

"Éponine, I am aware of the revolution."

"You are?"

The surprise in her eyes was evident and he restrained himself from reaching out to touch her.

"Of course… I never dreamed that you would be a part of it."

"Are you going to fight them?"

Javert sighed uncomfortably. He seemed to have forgotten that women came with emotions and complications.

"I have no choice."

Éponine stood, her eyes flaming.

"Of course you do! You can end it! You can make sure that the revolution happens without you or any of my friends getting hurt! You can find some sort of compromise and…"

Javert shook his head sternly.
"Éponine, you are being unreasonable. I do not make the rules, I did not create the law!"

Éponine knelt in front of him with tears filling his eyes. She grabbed onto his hand desperately.

"Eugene, please… I'm scared. I care about you and I care about them. Be on the right side."

Javert leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

"I am on the right side, Éponine. You just can't see it."

"They are fighting for equality, for rights for…"

Javert stood, suddenly furious.

"They are fighting for the rights of beggars and whores! Those people get what they deserve, they made their choices."

"They are my people! I was… I am one of them! The fact that I am sleeping with the Inspector does not change that!"

Silence followed her words. The only sound filling the room was Javert's laboured breathing.

"Sleeping with the Inspector? I thought we were more than that."

Éponine reached for him, but he stepped away, his eyes cold.

"Perhaps you should leave…"

"Eugene…"

"No! I was a fool! You were merely a distraction, a temporary distraction. I do not want to see you near my house again. Leave!"

Éponine stepped forward stubbornly. She cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"Eugene, I love you. Just because I am worried about my friends, because I want a different future for my people doesn't change that."

She moved her head towards him, trying to press her lips against his. Javert pushed her away unceremoniously, his eyes blazing.

"I told you to leave Thenardier. You are nothing more than a street rat and I was a fool to allow you to drag me into your web of lies."

Tears fell from Éponine's eyes as she stared at him disbelievingly. In her mind, she had created a fantasy where he agreed to talk sense into everyone – the revolutionaries, his friends… She thought he would make everything right.

Instead, now it felt like the world crumbled down around her. Javert's voice was thick with fury when he spoke again.
"You will leave this instant unless you want to be arrested for trespassing."

She ran from his house without another word, her anguished sobs assaulting his ears.

He did not know how long she was gone, before he sank to the ground – his entire body trembling.

For the first time in his life he had allowed someone to get close to him, allowed himself to feel.

As much as he tried to focus on the law, on what was right, on every single criminal he had removed from the street – nothing that used to make him happy could remove the dreadful pain coursing through him. She was gone.

Éponine spent the entire night wandering the streets of Paris. She could not go back to Javert – she knew that. However, going to the ABC Café, facing Enjolras, Grantaire, Marius… all of the students did not seem right either. In a way, she felt as though she had signed their death warrants. Even though Javert admitted to knowing about the revolution, she had a feeling that his attack would be much more brutal than it would have been had she not brought it up at all.

She had counted on his mercy, only to be reminded that he had none.

Tears shot to her eyes as dawn broke. The world held so many people dear to her. Marius and all of his friends. Gavroche, her poor little brother who hid in the shadows. Javert.

The realization that they were in the world, was her survival. Her saving grace.

By the end of the day, there was a very real chance that not one of them would be here anymore.

Éponine took a deep breath as an idea formed in her head. Perhaps there was a way to save them after all.

She moved quickly, silently rejoicing as she found what she was looking for. She could hardly believe that the boy's clothes were still where she had left them months ago when she had first considered joining in the fight. Of course, then it was only for Marius' sake.

She moved around the corner, swiftly replacing her rags with the clothes of the unfortunate boy she had seen dying all that time ago.

She rubbed over her cold arms as she headed to the funeral.

She would rather die herself than let anyone she loved perish in the fight.