Sorry it took so long to update, but this chapter was a major pain to write. I also wanted to include a confrontation between Cosette and Eponine, but it wasn't going to fit in unfortunately. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

Eponine did the best she could to keep herself under control as she walked back towards Enjolras' flat with him and Marius, Gavroche limp in Enjolras' arms. Every now and then, Marius would glance at her, a nervous expression on his face, making her wonder if he had heard her comment to Enjolras before about wanting to talk to him. The words had been friendly enough, but her tone had been venomous. During the walk there, they had run into Cosette and her father, and Cosette had somehow ended up joining them. Eponine had barely paid attention to how it had happened, she had been too busy trying not to glare at the blonde.

The Lark, she had called her when they were children. Lark. She looked more like a kitten now. Sweet and innocent; a mixture of beautiful and adorable. Everything Eponine wished she could be.

She bit her lip as they walked in order to keep herself from yelling at Marius then and there, especially as he and Cosette were contentedly whispering to each other and giggling. A single glance at Enjolras told her that he felt very awkward in the position he was in, carrying an unconscious Gavroche as he walked with a pair of lovebirds and a visibly furious gamine.

"I'm really sorry about this," she said to him after a while. Enjolras looked at her, visibly surprised by her words. She smirked.

"What's this? Did I just surprise the marble prince?" she asked him teasingly.

Enjolras simply smiled at her. "You almost always surprise me, Eponine," he replied. "But really, there's no need to apologize. Just try not to kill him with Cosette present, please."

"No promises," Eponine replied, narrowing her eyes. They had reached Enjolras' house, and the lovebirds clearly weren't paying attention. Sighing, Eponine pushed the door open, since Enjolras was carrying Gavroche, and Marius was too absorbed with his blonde angel to be useful.

The group entered the flat, and Enjolras carried Gavroche to the spare room, Eponine trailing behind him, leaving Marius and Cosette behind.

"So what exactly do you plan on saying to Marius?" Enjolras asked her, and Eponine shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure yet. The fact that Cosette is here is bound to make it difficult, though."

Enjolras nodded. "Well, good luck."

Eponine blinked. "You aren't going to ask me why I left, or tell me off about it?" She had been expecting for him to reprimand her.

Enjolras gazed at her intently. "Not yet. I know you've been eager to yell at him. And the sooner you get it over with, the less harsh it will be."

Eponine smiled grimly. "I should probably go talk to him then."

Enjolras nodded. "I'll stay with Gavroche."

Eponine bit her lip, looking at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at him. "Thank you, Enjolras. I- I don't know what I would have done without you."

She then quickly left the room without waiting for a response, and headed towards Marius and Cosette, hands clenched tightly into fists. This was not going to be a pleasant confrontation.

She found them standing in the middle of the room, their arms around each other, gazing into each other's eyes intently, whispering and giggling quietly. Eponine rolled her eyes in disgust, and cleared her throat loudly.

"Ahem."

They quickly jumped apart and looked at her, blushing. Eponine frowned at the sight of what appeared to be a smudge of lipstick on Marius' cheek.

"Eponine!" Marius said happily, although the happiness sounded forced. No doubt he was upset that he and Cosette had been interrupted. "I don't believe I've had the chance to introduce you properly to Cosette."

"You haven't. The last time we met we were all in a bit of a shock," Eponine replied dryly, folding her arms across her chest. "And then there was the revolution…" Her voice trailed off as she gazed intently at Cosette, wondering if Marius would have fallen for her if she looked more like his beloved angel.

As she looked at Cosette, she knew exactly why Marius loved her. Cosette was beautiful, far more beautiful than her. She clearly hadn't missed a single meal since she had been taken away from the Thenardiers, and her complexion was perfect, as was her golden hair. And Eponine could tell just by looking at her that she was gentle and kind. Cosette was clearly perfect, inside and out.

Whereas Eponine was the opposite, and she knew it. She was hardly beautiful with her tangled auburn bush that was growing out of her head, and she was scrawny from barely ever eating enough. And her skin was covered with a layer of grime. The two weeks that she had been at Enjolras' house had fixed some of the problems, so she was a little less skinny, and a bit cleaner, but she was still no match for Cosette. Especially since many of her bruises and scars had yet to fade.

Marius grinned sheepishly. "Well, Eponine, this is Cosette, my beloved."

"And his fiancé," Cosette added quickly, turning her head to beam up at Marius, who nodded happily.

"And my fiancé," he agreed.

Eponine's eyes widened momentarily, and she nodded curtly. "Lovely to meet you," she said slowly, careful to control her tone.

"And Cosette, this is Eponine, one of my best friends. We have her to thank for our love," he said happily, clearly oblivious to the dark looks the two young women were exchanging.

He didn't know it, but they had met before as children, and still remembered each other, and had met again when Eponine had delivered a letter directly to Cosette. And that meeting had been rather disastrous in Eponine's opinion.

"Enchanté," Cosette said with a half-forced smile.

Marius grinned, looking back and forth between the two. "I'm glad that the two of you are already getting along. I'm certain that you will be good friends!"

That was enough for Eponine. She turned from Cosette to Marius, her eyes narrowing. "Speaking of friends, monsieur," she said venomously, "you and I need to talk."

She saw Cosette raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye, and realised that she was confused at what was happening. Marius gulped.

"Eponine, could we possibly talk about this later-"

"Absolutely not!" Eponine hissed.

"Marius, what's going on?" Cosette asked, tilting her head as she looked at her fiancé.

"So, he didn't tell you everything I did for him?" Eponine asked, her attention snapping back to Cosette.

"Please, 'Ponine, can't this wait-"

"Don't you 'Ponine' me!" she yelled, advancing murderously towards him as Marius began to back away, realizing just how angry his friend was.

"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Cosette asked, but neither of them answered.

"We were best friends for years, and I've loved you for the last four years!" she yelled furiously. "Not that you ever noticed or cared! But despite that I tracked down Cosette for you, delivered your messages to her for you, for which you barely thanked me, then ran back to the barricade for you-"

"Technically I never asked you to-"

"I could have died, Marius, but you clearly didn't care that much!" she shrieked. "When I woke up in the middle of the night at the barricade, it was just in time to hear you moaning about whether or not Cosette would cry or not if you died, and saying that life without her would mean nothing. And the next day, you left to go find her without even a second thought for me!" She was trembling with fury now, and she reached one hand up and pulled her cap off of her head. She had loved her cap from the day she had gotten it; it had been a birthday gift from Marius over a year earlier. She had loved it because it had been from him.

"Well, go ahead and marry your precious little Lark!" she spat. "Fine by me! I don't care anymore!" And with that, she threw the cap at his face before turning and storming, out slamming the door behind her.

At the sound of the door slam, Enjolras left the spare room and smirked at the scene before him despite himself. Cosette looked rather dismayed and confused, while Marius appeared to be in complete shock, standing against a wall with his mouth wide open, holding Eponine's old cap.

"Well, I take it that things went rather well," Enjolras commented, leaning against the doorframe.

"What has gotten into her?" Marius wondered aloud after a moment. "I've never seen her like that before!"

"And you wonder why I don't waste my time with women," Enjolras sighed, shaking his head.

"Except for Eponine," Marius retorted.

Enjolras rolled his eyes, reluctant to respond. "She's different," he said after a while.

"She's crazy," Cosette muttered.

Enjolras glanced at the blonde and raised an eyebrow before turning back to Marius. "Just find her and apologize."

"For what?" Marius asked. "I did nothing! She just started screaming at me!"

"And for good reason," Enjolras told him. "Which you would realize if you paid attention to her."

"How was I supposed to know how she felt?" Marius retorted. "It's not like she ever told me!"

"Everyone but you could tell Marius, you were just oblivious," Enjolras explained calmly. "Especially after you met Cadette-"

"Cosette!" Marius corrected.

"Whatever!" Enjolras said in exasperation. "Just go talk to her!"

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Cosette asked, breaking in.

"Eponine's been in love with Marius for years but he was too oblivious to notice even though the rest of us could, he saw you, fell in love despite not even knowing you, got Eponine to find you for him and then deliver messages to you for him, despite the fact that she was in love with him, then she got shot on the barricade. Finally told Marius how she felt, nearly died, Marius was too blindly in love with you to really care after finding out she would live, and now she's furious," Enjolras explained, quickly summarizing. "And now Marius is being too stubborn to just apologize for hurting her."

"I didn't mean to hurt her-"

"That doesn't matter, you should still apologize!" Enjolras snapped.

Marius sighed. "Fine. But on one condition."

"What?"

"You have to admit that you're in love with Eponine," Marius replied with a smirk.

Enjolras glared at him. "Fine. I'm in love with her."

Marius grinned. "I knew it! So why don't you just tell her?"

Enjolras was silent for several moments before replying. "I already did, and it didn't end well." Marius opened his mouth to respond, by Enjolras cut him off. "I admitted it, and that was your condition. Now go apologize!"

Marius sighed, and left to find Eponine while Enjolras looked up at Cosette.

"I apologize that you had to endure this, mademoiselle. But I assure you, it was necessary."

Cosette smiled. "I understand, monsieur. I just hope that this will be the end of all the drama."

"I don't want to hear it, Marius!" Eponine snapped, turning away. She was sitting on the steps outside of Enjolras' home, and Marius was trying to talk to her.

"Eponine, please, I really am sorry!" Marius replied, sighing in slight frustration.

"You should be!"

"I never meant to hurt you so much. I didn't know-"

"Obviously."

Marius sighed. "Will you ever forgive me?"

"Maybe, but not yet," Eponine replied. "You're just going to have to wait a bit."

Marius sighed. "Fine. But will you please at least come back inside?"

Eponine scowled and stood, brushing past Marius and back inside. Enjolras and Cosette were staring at her, Enjolras with sympathy, and Cosette with guarded curiosity. She met Cosette's gaze evenly, challenging her to say something, but Cosette remained silent.

Marius walked over to Cosette, and whispered something in her ear briefly before turning his attention back to Enjolras and Eponine.

"We should probably be leaving, it was nice to see you Enjolras, and you Eponine," he said, adding the last bit quickly. He was still holding her cap. He carefully advanced towards her with it, as if he was going to return it.

"Keep it," she said coldly, her gaze icy as she looked at him. "It means nothing to me now. That part of my life is over."

Marius nodded, and returned to Cosette, offering her his arm, which she happily took, leading her to the door.

Once they were gone, Enjolras approached Eponine carefully. "Are you all right?" he asked her gently.

"I'm fine," Eponine replied quietly.

"I'm glad you've given up on him, you deserve better-"

"If by better you mean yourself, I'll have you know that that's why I left in the first place," Eponine replied, cutting him off.

Enjolras sighed. "Eponine, what happened at the barricade… Let's just forget that it ever happened."

"You know as well as I do that that isn't possible," Eponine said quietly.

"Then what do you want to do about it?" Enjolras asked her. "If you have a solution, I'd be more than happy to hear it."

"I- I don't know," she replied. "Thank you for helping my brother, Enjolras. I- I should probably go too-"

"You're not running off again, Eponine. Not with Montparnasse out there. You got lucky this time, but you might not next time," Enjolras told her sharply.

Eponine looked up at him, an annoyed expression upon her face. "So I'm stuck here again?"

"I'm afraid so," Enjolras replied. To his surprise, however, Eponine smiled.

"I suppose I can live with that," she said after a moment. "I should go check on my brother. Merci beaucoup, Enjolras." And with that, she walked up to him, kissed him quickly on the cheek, and went into the spare room to see Gavroche, leaving a very dismayed and confused Enjolras behind her.