A/N: Here's one for the first request I got! Hope I did your imagination justice :) Let me know if you guys like it!

Late August, 1832

The embers crackled and sparked as the newly made fire ate through the logs and grew. It cast an orange glow on the stones of the small fireplace that was complimented by the sunset's golden light stretching across the wood floor.

Etienne Javert sat in one of the chairs by the hearth, leaning slightly into the seat on his good side. He stared into the fire. The flames dancing in his eyes eliminated any chance of her reading their expression, but still produced a beautiful effect of shimmering gold on calm green. The silvery hairs in his beard and on his head blended with the sandy ones in the last orange light of day. It was as if the colors slowly worked to control him, eventually turning Javert into solid gold.

"It's August." Elisabet said matter of factly after taking in the scene.

Javert blinked expressionlessly a few times before turning just a few degrees in her direction. "You were outside?"

"I had to bring Evie and Atlas back into the stables and feed them before the sun sets. When did you get back?"

"No more than twenty minutes ago."

"And you felt cold in the late summer evening, so you lit a fire?"

Javert merely grunted and turned back to staring into the unnecessary flames.

Elisabet took off her shoes and briefly checked on the food in the oven before returning to the sitting room. She leaned against the window, staring out onto the hill that the sun was quietly crawling behind. She turned back and studied Javert, noticing his locked bottom jaw moving side to side in his mouth.

"How long did it take to walk into town?"

"Maybe half an hour."

"Leg?"

"Fine."

"I don't think it's a good idea walking that far, though. You never know."

"I will ride in in the future."

"So then you've got the job?"

"They told me about the letter that Vipond sent concerning my experience and my recommendations. They asked if I would consider working in their police station managing and mentoring the younger officers."

"I'm glad you reached out and told him everything, that was so kind of him to just write them right away. But then again, when you're retired I guess you have that kind of time. What did you say?"

"I told that I would be honored to accept the position, discussed salary, hours, protocol."

"So what's the matter?"

Javert looked down silently and Elisabet could tell that he was wondering whether he should lie and say nothing or lie with something else. So when he responded, "The injury.", after a little while, she wasted no time in shooting down his answer.

"And how would you know?" he asked, raising his eyebrows slightly in what she was happy to see was mild amusement.

"Because you don't even tell me when it's really hurting. I'm supposed to believe that you're sweating in front of a fire right now because your hip is sore?"

"Fair enough." he snorted.

Elisabet walked closer to him and leaned on his unused armrest. Her voice became gentle as she voiced her thoughts. "Is it the job? Are you worried about going back into the police after... everything?" The events of just over two months ago weren't any easier for her to speak about than they were for him.

Javert looked down into his lap and sighed, and Elisabet knew she was at least in the right direction.

She put her hand on the back of his head and mindlessly ruffled her fingers through his hair.

"It's okay, you know. You understood your mistakes, otherwise you wouldn't be where you are today. It's just a job. If it was anything more, you wouldn't have the choice whether to take it or leave it. Or you could take it and then decide to leave later. You did it before. And if you ever start feeling it like it's the only thing, you'll come home at the end of the day and I'll always remind you that it's not. You're not coming home to an empty house anymore where all you think about is work. It's not the only thing going on in your life. It'll be part of it, of course, but... you know, so am I." The last part made her face grow hot for some reason, and she looked down sheepishly before looking back up to see Javert staring at her.

Without warning, he pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled his face into her neck. Elisabet gasped in surprise before wrapping her arm around his shoulders and making a contented noise, leaning her cheek on his head.

"What other options would I have? If I did not take it?"

"Well, I don't know. Open a store, farm, or just stay home and read books. It's not for me to say, as long as you're happy. Just live day to day, if you decide to take it then don't think about what might've been if you didn't. If you wake up one morning and decide you want to see what else could be, go ahead and quit. I can promise you that your life will keep going, and I'll still be here."

Lilybet had given him this speech, or versions of it, several times. Nevertheless, it had a relaxing effect on him. Hearing her taking comfort in the unknown almost... emboldened him, in a way. The part of her neck just under her jaw was warm and vibrated lightly as she spoke, and as he held her Javert knew that what she was saying was true. The law would not have him in a vice grip because it was no longer all he had. He had a small home, he had a field where he liked to plant various vegetables and take his horses out. He had a bookshelf that now contained some books of Lilybet's that he had not read. He had Lilybet.

When Vipond had written Javert back and told him that he completely understood and respected his decision, he was relieved. When he told him that he would write to his old acquaintance who just happened to be in the town's police department, he was in equal parts hesitant and relieved. Relieved, that he had found work so early, and work that would suit his knowledge. But if he were not careful... how did Javert know that it would not consume him? That he would not live and die by the law?

Then he would look at Lilybet, who busied herself by adding finishing touches here and there to make the house just as she liked it (and to try and keep her head off of her recent loss, he knew), and he knew the fears had no base. The law would not be his life because she was. He would not sit at work through the night because he was eager to get back to her at the end of the day. He would not leave before sunrise to be the first one there because he could barely tear himself away when the sun hit Lilybet's face in the morning, only inches from his and still snoring lightly because she almost always got up later than he did. He would not work on weekends, because he and Lilybet explored the surrounding areas and he would busy himself finding lunch in town for the both of them until she met up with him after going through the market.

He knew deep down that he would not make the same mistake- but it was nice hearing it for reassurance.

"I love you." he told her, nuzzling deeper. Lilybet held him tighter and curled against him, clearly pleased by the sudden affection. It was freeing to hold and kiss her as he pleased, not worried about the status quo or public opinion.

"If you loved me you'd put out the damn fire."

Javert did as he was told and returned to his chair. Lilybet, liking their previous arrangement, sat back down on his lap.

"How has your day been, Mademoiselle?" he asked as she switched to putting her head on his shoulder.

Lilybet sighed and kissed his earlobe. "It was nice. I tried to make preserves, we'll see how they turn out tomorrow. I practiced riding Evie again and I think I've gotten better, I didn't go too crazy though, just a slow trot around the fence."

"You are getting more comfortable with interpreting her?"

"Yes, I think she and I are really beginning to understand each other. I want to see if there's a place in town that may have a book on horses, next time we go."

"Would you like to go tomorrow?"

"Sure, let's."

Javert nodded, putting his hand on her back.

"Also I think I'm pregnant."

"...What?"

Lilybet almost fell off his lap when he sat bolt upright, but Javert grabbed her and pulled her back protectively. He pulled her face to his and looked between her sheepish eyes and her normal midsection.

"Are you really surprised?"

"Of course I am!"

"I wasn't really sure when or how to bring it up-"

"-how long have you known?"

"I suspected it for the past two weeks or so, but I'm pretty sure now it's certain-"

"-you have been riding horses for two weeks with the assumption that you are pregnant?"

"Yes, I mean, what? No? Should I not?"

"No!"

"But I was getting so much better?"

Javert felt the warmth within him manifest itself into a smile on his face, perhaps the widest and toothiest he had ever made. He pressed his forehead against his wife's as her confusion turned into delight at his response. A child. He, Javert, was going to have a child.

His hand automatically went to Lilybet's stomach but he was suddenly too nervous to put it down. He could have sworn she heard his thoughts, because she took his hand and pushed it lightly down until it rested on where her stomach would soon swell. He looked back into her face. What a mother she would be, he thought.

"Promise you won't stop loving me when I'm fat?"

"I could never. Never ever."

"And when I start eating more?"

"Is that possible?"

She laughed as they sat in their quiet home, excited for what the future held.

"You do not think that I will be too old to be a good father?" he asked, the one doubt nagging at him.

"I don't think your age has anything to do with it. You, now, exactly as you are, will be a wonderful father." Well, he would try his best to be.

Lilybet sniffed the air before standing suddenly.

"I have a chicken in the oven, I think I need to go take it out."

"No." Javert said almost before she finished. He took her hand and stood while gently but firmly seating Lilybet back down. "You stay here, be comfortable. Do you need a window open? Are you still hot? I will take care of everything."

As he walked towards the kitchen, Lilybet called to him, "This is nice, but I'm not dealing with nine months of this, you know!"

He looked back over his shoulder. "And do not ride any more horses."