AN : Hello everyone ! I want to start by thanking all of you for reading, reviewing, following and favoriting my story ! It really helps me to write so I'm very grateful ! So this chapter is a bit shorter than the last one but it just felt right so I hope you won't kill me for it... Anyway, I'll leave you here with the reading so that you can judge by yourself !

Disclaimer : I do not own Les Misérables. I however, do own a bed so Aaron Tveit is welcome here anytime !

Her job at the Café de la Gare was pretty boring but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Thankfully, Germans did not like it for some reason, maybe because it was not modern enough, so the majority of her customers were French. Her shift always started in the afternoon since her second job prevented her from working in the morning.

Every afternoon she would begin by washing the dishes of the morning. Then she would welcome the clients that came for a quick coffee after lunch and afterwards, it was quite calm. Some regulars always asked her the same thing, and she complied with her best smile. Sometimes, students would come and enjoy the silence of the Café to study. It was actually how she had met Marius.

He had come and sit by the window. When Eponine realized that he had forgotten to order something, she approached him and they ended up talking for the most part of the afternoon. He was really nice with her and although he seemed pretty rich, he did not act haughty at all like some people did. He was like fresh air for Eponine. She spent most of her life trying to breathe but the air surrounding her was thick and dirty. But when Marius was talking to her again, she was breathing properly. She couldn't believe that a guy like that would spend time with her, but he did and she was more than grateful. He helped her, unconsciously albeit, surviving through poverty and war.

She realized that she had strong feelings for him but she also realized that he would never be able to reciprocate them. Even less now that he had met Cosette. Cosette. She had wanted to hate her, but it truly was impossible as she was one of the nicest people to ever walk the earth. She just hated the fact that Marius was in love with Cosette.

They had met in this Café, in front of Eponine. Cosette had once come here and Marius had not been able to take his eyes off of her. They had talked and since then, they had started dating.

Even though the heartbreak was really tough for Eponine, she was in a way grateful. She could not live forever on the hope that Marius would love her back. She was trying to move on but seeing Marius at least once a week did not make things easy.

Just as she was thinking about him, Marius entered the Café. Eponine was surprised because he usually came sooner to work, but he did say the day before that he might come.

"Eponine," he began as he spotted her behind the counter "how are you?"

"As fine as I can be," she replied. She was never the optimist "how about you? Were your friends mad at you yesterday for being late?"

"No more than the usual," he replied with a smirk. "Is your shift finished soon? I need to talk to you." She supposed it was about meeting his friends. When it came to Marius, she had learned the hard way not to imagine things too fast. The pain that followed was just not bearable.

"Yes, we're closing up in fifteen minutes. Do you want something while you wait?"

"A coffee would be nice, yes." They fell into silence afterwards as she needed to keep working and he did not seem in the mood for small talk. Once the Café was closed, he led her into an alley where they were alone. Even though the neighborhood was not the best of Paris, Eponine felt safe knowing that Marius was with her.

"I'm sorry to bring you here but it is really important and I can't take the risk of being heard." She had never seen Marius being so serious. She decided to just nod and not to interrupt him. He had won her full attention. "You remember I talked about you meeting my friends yesterday?" She nodded again. "I talked to our leader about it and he did not seem to be against having you in our group. I must warn you though. I know that you hate the war, that you hate the Nazis and you even told me once that you had wanted to fight. Well this is it 'Ponine. My friends and I don't meet just to hang out. We meet to fight against the occupation and the injustices of the war. I am not allowed to tell you much about what we actually do but you must understand that if you accept to join us, you could get arrested at any moment and you could also get us arrested. This is really serious Eponine and I want you to be honest with me. We are close friends and I will understand if you want no part in it. But if you don't I will have to ask you not to tell anyone about this. Not even your sister and your brother. If you accept however, you will meet our leader who will see if you can be trusted and when he does, you can officially join us. And of course you can't tell anyone either."

After this speech, Eponine stayed silent for a moment. She could see in Marius' eyes that he really was invested in this cause. But if she did accept, she could not do it for Marius. It was bigger than her, bigger than Marius and bigger than everything she had ever done. She truly did want to fight and that seemed like the perfect opportunity but she still had to think about the responsibilities that she had. Her siblings needed her and her father would kill her, literally, if she ever did something against the Nazis. She didn't want to put Marius and his friends' lives at risk either, with her job with the Nazis. If they ever learnt, she would be considered as a traitor and they would never accept her in their group but if they didn't know, she would be basically sending them all to their deaths if the Nazis found out. She did not know what to do and decided that it was better not to give an answer right away.

"Marius, I truly appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to talk to me about your... activities," she saw Marius shift uncomfortably as he thought she was going to turn him down "but I need to take more time to think about it. As you said, the risks are high and I have a family to think about. I however am truly exhausted with this war and I want to take action against the Nazis. If you would just give me the night to think about it? We could meet tomorrow at the same time and I will tell you my decision."

Marius seemed hesitant about it so she quickly continued. "Rest assured, I will not tell anyone about our conversation and your group of friends. You can trust me, I will bring the secret to my grave." She saw Marius relaxed a bit. She knew that in time of war, even your closest friends could betray you. She had seen it happen. Moreover, she hadn't known Marius for that long so she completely understood that he could be worried about her giving them away.

"Thank you, I know I can trust you with this 'Ponine." She smiled when she heard the nickname. The situation sounded a bit less serious with him using it. "Take your time to think about it," he carried on "but I hope you will accept. You're really smart and I know you will be a great help for us. We can't assure you complete protection but you don't have to tell anyone about your siblings. The less you share about them, the safer they are. I will see you tomorrow then!" And then he was gone.

When she saw her little brother, Gavroche, smiling just before she had to leave for her second job, she realized that she did not want him to grow up with a traitor family and that someone had to be fighting for him and the better life he could have if the Nazis were not oppressing them.

That's why, when she met Marius in the dark alley the day after, she told him with unfaltering eyes:

"I want in."

To be continued

AN : As usual, let me know what you think about this chapter, and if you didn't like something !

Next update soon hopefully :)