A/N: THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING I LOVE YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY FANGIRL HEART! After reading everyone's totally awesome reviews I couldn't stop smiling so I listened to On My Own, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, I Dreamed a Dream, Death of Gavroche, Epilogue, and Drink with Me over and over again until I calmed down. Those songs can definitely make someone cry.

"You are a genius Eponine, you somehow guided Colin to Marielle and now they have found love in each other. I am amazed at your matchmaking abilities, love. You are just full of surprises. I just realize now that you orchestrated the 'hair cut' idea; I thought you were serious," Enjolras praised as they spied on Marielle and Colin laughing in the garden behind the building. They were laughing now, but when the laughter finally died down their eyes became downcast. Today was the eve before Colin's departure.

"What can I say? Love is love, but sometimes we all need guidance to know that it is there," Eponine shrugged. "I have to say, the haircut idea worked out miraculously. Of course I know how to cut hair; when I was younger I would trim Gavroche's unruly hair all the time."

"When was the last time you saw Gavroche?"

"I can't be sure; he pops up at the most random of moments. I do not think he has seen me since my… transformation from a gamine to a mademoiselle. I wonder how he will react…" Eponine trailed off.

"Look! They're kissing again!" Enjolras whopped, but Eponine rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her fiancé. Honestly, he was more excited about Colin and Marielle's newfound love than she!

"They have been doing that for the past several days. It burdens my heart every time I think about how this is Colin's last day in Paris before the revolution. Marielle is going to miss him fiercely," Eponine sighed.

"I wish we could freeze the world for them," Enjolras said sadly, but Eponine could tell that he wasn't just referring to Marielle and Colin but also himself and Eponine. "Yet, with the rate things have been progressing, I assume Colin will be returning as early as the end of May or the beginning of June."

"That's so soon!" Eponine gasped. Instead of worrying about Marielle and Colin, she began to worry for herself and Enjolras. What would become of them when the barricades arise?

"I wonder what will happen to you and I," Enjolras wondered aloud voicing Eponine's thoughts.

"When the revolution ends and the barricades have been cleared and the blood mopped up, you and I will be standing hand in hand and very much in love. Maybe we will be standing in the middle of the street that the barricades had been erected on, or we could very well be looking down on the scene from heaven. But however our fate plays out, I will always be standing right beside you," Eponine said passionately.

"Always?"

"Always and forever," Eponine promised before kissing Enjolras soundly. He pulled away when he felt his cheeks grow slick with water.

"Why are you crying?" he asked blatantly. Eponine sniffled twice and brought her hands up to her eyes to wipe away the tears, but Enjolras caught her wrists and wiped away the tears himself. Eponine let out a shaky laugh and shook her head.

"I'm afraid to die now that I have you," she admitted wrapping her arms around Enjolras' iconic red vest. She inhaled deeply and relaxed at the scent that was attributed to his vest.

"Then don't die. Don't come to the barricades and be safe."

"It's not just that, Enjolras. Thoughts of you dying plague my mind and it frightens me further. I cannot lose you."

"We have managed to rally more people than I thought possible at this point; I know we will win. I can feel it in my bones, resonating like a good omen," Enjolras stated.

"If you die, I will kill you."

"Good luck with that, Eponine."

"I don't care what you say, I am coming to the barricades and I will be there right by your side the entire time. I love you," Eponine said softly. Talking lovingly and passionately with a man was a concept that was still foreign to Eponine and she felt awkward every time she muttered an 'I love you.' Yet, whenever she said those three words to Enjolras, her heart would soar to the highest cloud and she would feel the thrill and excitement of love course through her small body and fill her with joy.

"I love you too, mon amour," Enjolras muttered pulling Eponine closer. "I will protect you."

"We're back!" Colin shouted as he and Marielle entered the flat, and putting an end to Enjolras and Eponine's tender moment.

"Colin, you have something on your face," Eponine said with her mouth turned upwards into a smile. Colin looked confused and proceeded to wipe his face. Enjolras glanced up at his face and let out a loud chortle when he saw what Eponine had been referring to.

"What's wrong with my face?" Colin demanded trying to wipe the mystery 'something' off his face. Marielle looked smug beside him.

"You, erm, have some lipstick… everywhere," Eponine said bursting with laughter at Colin's horrified expression. Colin's face immediately darkened into a bold crimson as he stormed off to the bathroom to remove the lipstick from his face.

"You little minx," Eponine teased Marielle. Marielle widened her eyes and pretended to look innocent.

"Who, me?" she feigned ignorance. She began to join Eponine and Enjolras' loud laughs until all of their sides hurt. Marielle's giggles halted and soon all that was left was the ghost of a happiness that once was and a large frown.

"What's wrong, Marielle?" Eponine asked concernedly as she noticed Marielle's sudden change in attitude.

"I keep dwelling on the unfortunate fact that Colin is leaving when the sun rises tomorrow," she sighed burying her head in her hands. Eponine untangled herself from Enjolras and soothingly patted Marielle's back.

"He will come back for you in no time, but he has to go to Provence to aid the supporters over there. The revolution is so close I can feel it, and when the storm brews, he will return with the rain," Eponine coaxed.

"Colin will return to a dangerous world with blood and fighting. What if he falls in the battles?" Marielle fretted.

"I promise both you and he will live," Eponine murmured.

"You don't know that!" Marielle wailed becoming slightly more hysterical. Eponine looked at Enjolras for help.

"Let us all worry about the revolution at a later time. Now is a time to spend with those we love most, and these moments may be our last so we should relax and find peace and love in each other," Enjolras said as gentle as possible, but his words made him cringe. He was going soft. Thinking such thoughts and speaking such words were slowing him down.

The rest of the evening was quiet yet slightly more cheerful. Eponine fell asleep wrapped in Enjolras' arms, but she tried not to notice the pain that stung her heart when she awoke in the middle of the night to an empty bed. Of course Enjolras would be up at this hour plotting and planning, he had been born with a quill in one hand and parchment in the next with a speech rolling off his tongue, and despite all the love he had for Eponine, she could never change who he was.

LINE BREAK

The black carriage tumbled away down the rain soaked cobble stones carrying Colin inside. Marielle stood in the street with her hand raised in a forlorn goodbye, and rain accumulated onto her small frame and soaked her lilac dress. The rain camouflaged her tears that poured in a steady trail down her face and almost made her cries inaudible. Almost.

"She will be okay," Eponine assured Enjolras as well as herself. They stood in the threshold of their flat watching Marielle as she crumbled in front of them, her strength finally resolving. Eponine imagined herself in Marielle's shoes and Enjolras in Colin's, but the thought of being separated from her fiancé was too great a burden. "Marielle is one of the strongest people I know."

"It's funny how love can make you weaker and stronger at the same time," Enjolras observed casually.

"Oh? Do explain."

"Love can make you weaker because you no longer ultimately care about only yourself, but a whole other person as well. You give your heart to another, yet they have the power to shatter it in one motion. You are my weakness, Eponine, and if anything were ever to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to live with the pain. Yet, love is also strength for love pushes you beyond boundaries you never thought you could possibly cross. Come the dawn of the revolution, I will be fighting for my Eponine. You are my reason to live, my Patria, and with you I know I will finally achieve my happy ending," Enjolras said thoughtfully.

In front of them, Marielle finally calmed herself down and reentered the flat. The sadness in her eyes that had been present until she met Colin suddenly reappeared and broke Eponine's heart. Marielle deserved better than this. Eponine didn't say any comforting words to Marielle because she knew that Marielle wouldn't want to hear it. A simple smile would suffice.

"I have to go to the café and finalize my attack strategy, you should stay here with Marielle," Enjolras told Eponine and she nodded. Eponine looked dismally at his retreating figure. The revolution had completely consumed him at this point it seemed, and despite how proud Eponine was of him, she felt lonely inside. And when he was home he may be physically there, but he was never really there anymore.

"Good luck," she offered even though she knew Enjolras couldn't here her before vanishing to the kitchen to brew a cup of tea.

On his walk to the café Enjolras kept thinking about how much he had to lose now that he had Eponine.

A/N: Today I spent an hour learning how to play On My Own on the piano and it sounds freaking beautiful. Sorry for the kind of uneventful and overall sad chapter, but we did have to say goodbye to Colin. The action is going to start happening in the next chapter so watch out! And now I am sad because the story will be over soonish But never fear I have a good idea for the next Enjonine fanfic! MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! Ha ha because it's May 4th? I really need to stop explaining my jokes.