AN: So, here's Chapter 4 and things are finally starting to run smoothly. You'll see what I mean. More ExE scenes are coming in the following chapters, here's only a little bit.

Please, please, please, guys...what do you think about the story? Thanks a lot to avengedchocolateangel, but what about CarolineWrites, yellow111 or mizunodreamer?

Anyway, enjoy!

Greets, Catharina

IV. Curiosity
Éponine avoided Marius the next days. A week had passed since his meeting with Cosette and still Éponine couldn't ban the hurting pictures from her mind. They seemed to be there all the time, mocking her with her loss, showing what she was in comparison to Alouette.

It was not like Marius didn't try to contact her. He had been busy, but still he bothered to find at least little amounts of time to visit Éponine. He remembered her promise to always find her at the market yet she was nowhere to be seen these days. Just when he started to really worry, Gavroche popped in at the café Musain at Place Saint-Michel. He was talking to Combeferre, waering a serious look that didn't fit his young face. When he rushed outside again, Marius held him back.
„Gavroche!" The boy looked up, his eyes wide open.
„I haven't stolen anything, M'sieur." He shrugged boldly.
„No, I hope you haven't." Marius uttered a brief laugh. „Could you tell 'Ponine to come here? It's important. I've got a message for her."
„I can take it. If you pay me, of course." Gavroche held out his hand with an innocent grin.
Marius shook his head. „I prefer to know the letter is in safe hands."
„It is with me."
Marius laughed. „Just tell her. Please." He ruffled his hair, but Gavroche moved away, offended. „I have to get back to work."

Once again Éponine wandered around the streets. The weather was cooler now but she didn't feel the fading warmth.
Her fingers were clenched to her skirt, right beneath her waste. Through the rough linen she felt something hard yet familiar. Unseen to everybody, a silver bracelet was sewn into the fabric, a work which had cost her more than one meal and an awful lot of needle stitches in her fingertips. The little pendant, a solid cross, would've guaranteed her many days without worry about hunger, even if it hadn't been solid silver, which she was not sure of. But for some reason she couldn't part from the trinket she had found near Marius' new home one day. It just gave her an unexplained feeling of certainty, made her believe that maybe somewhere up there was a God, holding his hands over her and her beloved ones, trying to find a way to make her happy someday.
Just that this moment she couldn't see God anywhere. Where was He, the Almighty? Was this part of his big plan? Why was she chosen to suffer that much?
From the opposite end of the street she heard children's laughter, the loud, bossy voice her brother used to talk in when he commanded the two little boys he was living with in the giant elephant statue at Place de la Bastille. For a second, a brief smile crossed her face.
Soon he spotted her too. „Éponine!" He ran towards her, his two boys trying to keep up with him. They were around five and eight years old, too young to understand what their life was like and why it was that way. „You should go and see Marius at the café. He's got a letter for you. To deliver", he added hastily when she raised one eyebrow.
Her heart sank again. „You saw him?"
Gavroche nodded. „You really better go. It's been like, three days since he asked me."
„Gavroche!", she gasped dispraising but he didn't really seem bothered. „See you, sœur", he greeted and continued his way.
Éponine stood there, struggling with herself. Did she really want to see him? Was she ready? Yet on the other hand she felt her heart yearning for him. Finally, she turned around and headed for Place Saint-Michel.
It was early afternoon. When she arrived at the café it seemed empty, this time no laughing men were seen through the windows. She frowned in confusion, but finally stepped up towards the door and entered.
She had been right, that early nobody was seen here drinking. Only a chubby waitress was working behind the bar, cleaning glasses and wiping the counter.
„Can I help you?" She threw Éponine a suspicious look.
„I'm looking for Monsieur Pontmercy. He's always here."
She shook her head with no sorrow. „Sorry, can't let you go there."
„He's here?"
She suddenly looked like having said something she hadn't been supposed to. Éponine made five large steps to cross the room and leaned towards her. „Where is he?" she asked again, a serious look upon her face.
„I can't tell."
„Well, then I guess I'll have to find him myself." She rushed off, ignoring the protesting calls in her back. She heard the waitress coming after her and walked the only possible way – a corridor leading away from the main room. Torches lit the windowless hallway, emblazing a few doors.
She followed her senses. Loud voices were coming from one of them, it took her a few attempts to find the right one. Once she ended up suddenly outside the café, facing a completely different road.
All heads turned towards her when she obviously swung open the right door. A squared room was filled with young students, all of them turned towards the middle of the row, where, standing on a table, a man had been interrupted in his speech. His fist was still raised in a victorious gesture. It was Enjolras and both his and Éponine's eyes widened when the recognised each other.
„'Ponine!" Marius was the first one to break the silence. „You came!"
Immediately, conversations began again when the interruption turned out to be uninteresting.
„You have to deliver this to Cosette", Marius said, producing a folded piece of paper from his jacket. "Her father is worried about the attack. This should calm him, but Cosette has to..."
„What is she doing here?" Enjolras cut Marius off, his face angry and worried. „Didn't Chantal keep her out?" She must've been the waitress.
„She did, sort of", answered Éponine in Marius' place and Enjolras rolled his eyes in annoyance. „We can't afford to let anyone in here", he explained but then went back to the others.
„He doesn't like being interrupted", Marius chuckled when Enjolras was out of earshot, but then got serious again. „Don't lose the letter, you hear me? You're the best for doing this." He handed her the writing and she nodded fiercely.

Éponine did deliver the letter but before handing it into the hands of Cosette, her eyes kept down at her feet at all times, she opened it. She knew she was wrong, but there it was in her hands and nobody around to stop her. Carefully she opened the unsealed paper. In the dimming daytime it was hard to make out each letter but with the glooming light of a lantern every word hurt even more. Only when blotches the size of her thumb nails appeared on the white paper, turning it brownish, she realised she was crying. Angry with herself, she brushed them away and made, as quickly as possible, her way to the house at Rue Plumet.

She headed back to the café Musain. She was usually not an eavesdropper but inside her was suddenly a desperate urge to find out what Marius was doing in there all day long. Enjolras anxious reaction to her interfering – she was curious for the reasons behind that fear.
And suddenly she was grateful for the back entrance she had discovered earlier the evening. When she entered she kept still for a few seconds, listening for any sign of Chantal's afreshing anger but only half-drunken voices and laughter was heard from the bar room.
And then she crawled towards the door she had discovered Marius and his friends behind earlier. Her head pressed to the carvings-decorated wood, she tried making out the voices from inside. There was only one man to be heard, his power and passion filling each corner of the room. She could feel the vibe of his exertion until the corridor. A shiver ran across her skin but when she had accustomed to the thrilling voice she began listening to the words. She held her breath.
"People talk about justice every day. The say 'life isn't fair'. And they are right. But what they don't know, is that this is our, the society's, fault. We could change that.
"Everybody deserves a life worth living. Just before the doors of this café, below the houses we live in, a corner away from the streets we walk, people are fighting for their lives day after day, some are starving to their deaths. So – why can't everybody have enough food to live? Because the rich bourgeoisies, the ones even atop of us take more than they need, enjoy and waste."

Éponine returned the next time Marius went. Again, she listened to the voice of the passionate stranger through the door, always looking out for Chantal, the waitress, to find her.
"Liberty. Liberté. Just taste that word for a moment. It means so much. And it changes everything.
"But it's not reachable for every citizen of France. Some have too much of it and some don't have any.
"Yet everybody should have. This nation should be able to make its own decision and the key to it is called democracy. Where is the king who rules this land? For what do we need him? His decisions don't make any good!"

Her visits heaped up. The time began when she spent every evening at the café, maybe even knowing there wasn't a meeting. Then she would just sit there and wait for the students to arrive, to listen to their heated conversations and – most of all – hear the speeches of the one who filled the air with enthusiasm and passion for France. This country needs more men like him, she thought to herself and wondered more than once whom of the students it was talking so fiercely. Deep inside her she hoped of course for Marius to be the orator, but she was sure his gentle voice could never sound so strong and willing. But who else then? She excluded Jehan as well, even though she had only seen him for so short time, she was sure he was calmer type of man too. She guessed it was Enjolras, but the thought of him being the one she admired was just...too abstract. He was rude – and obviously had shown her he wasn't that much of a speaker.
Weeks passed and Éponine learned their plans. She knew when a meeting ended and when it was time for her to leave. She also discovered the evenings the speaker was in the mood for talk and the ones where he'd let his fellowmen discuss the issues in France.
But she also learned about politics. It had never been a subject of her particular interest but seeing the points the speaker mentioned made her think. He seemed right, what he said was true.
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité was his device and he supported it with whatever possible.
He wanted freedom for every citizen in France, even for the ones like Éponine, the gamines. Maybe that was the reason she secretly began admiring him, his interest in her destiny, but she remembered herself she knew nothing about him but his voice and she was sure he never spoke in public like this – especially not using the words he did in this secret room.
He wanted equality for every citizen in France. He believed everybody had the right to publish their opinion and to have a voice in deciding over the kingdom's future. No differences at court or the police, he wanted a government treating everybody with the same laws and rules.
And he wanted them all to join together to achieve these aims. He trusted in the strength of the nation, truly confided in everybody making up a nation on their own, a free state.
Democracy. And even though Éponine didn't know the words meaning it filled her with a pleasant feeling of hope and trust.
The evenings she hid in the café Musain where the ones taking her from the crucial world that was her reality. Marius, her father, hunger – all these things seemed unimportant surrounded by that passionate voice and the vibe of a better future. Sometimes she even imagined the corridor to the back room as her second home, one where she was welcomed and loved.
But when the evening ended she stumbled with even more powerful torture into the dark streets of Paris, watching Marius taking off for Rue Plumet, leaving her behind without a notice. She wouldn't return to the place at the river's bank, a sudden feeling of vulnerability and nakedness hang around this spot which she couldn't bear.

It turned colder as September came and passed and October began. The small trees in the bourgeoisies' gardens turned orange and brown and let their leaves fall where they danced in the wind across the pavement. The streets grew silent, the lust of life vanished along the late-lasting days and the warm climate. With winter slowly approaching, worries appeared in the nation's minds and every household began filling up their stockings busily.
Éponine was cold often. Only sometimes she would return to the barrack at Maison Gorbeau and until now her father had been greedy and wouldn't allow her to wear her precious boots. So she was still bare feet, walking around the algid streets. With every day getting chillier, she finally stole a cloak, thin and of a brownish, pale colour, but it helped surviving the freezing nights better which she now spent with Gavroche and his two little boys at Place de la Bastille.
It was only a question of time until the first illness hit her. It started with a harmless cold, but already few days afterwards, fever began heating up her body and heavy coughs would shake her body whenever appearing.

Yet Éponine didn't quit eavesdropping at the meetings. She was afraid of missing something, especially now that the plans were starting to arise.
She sat there, shivering in the middle of October, leaned towards the door of the back room. The hot days in summer demanded their price.
There was only low muttering coming from the inside today. Éponine was tired from a long night and her head fitted so well into the corner of door and wall. She slowly drifted away, floating between vigil and sleep.
And then a cough appeared in the back of her throat. It was a vicious tickle, torturing and crucial. Her whole body cramped. Holding her torso she tried to force the feeling back.
And then she couldn't hold it any longer. The sound echoed back from the corridor's bare walls, increasing its volume.
Immediately the voices opposite of the door hushed, a deadly and sentencing silence. She held her breath and before she could chose to run, the door flew open, only seconds later.
Icy blue hit warm chocolate brown when Éponine stared into Enjolras' cold eyes. They widened when he recognised her and instantly anger and furiousness crossed his face. He held his gaze, piercing and sharp, then, without taking his eyes from her frozen body, called into the back room.
"Pontmercy. There's someone here for you." His voice was full of reproach and rage.
"No, no...I – I don't want to..", Éponine stuttered, feeling every pair of eyes in the room on herself. He cheeks began burning as her face reddened.
"Take her", Enjolras ordered coldly and more violently than gently she was pulled into the room and forced to sit on a chair. Enjolras bent over the table in front of her, his face too close to hers.
"How long have you been listening?" he asked, quietly but the threat was hanging heavily in the following silence. Éponine couldn't answer, a shiver run down her back.
"How long?!" She winced with Enjolras' outbursting scream. She sat there, crawled together, unable to move from fear. She felt worse than on the streets, here with nowhere to hide and no Patron-Minette to save her from the attack.
Enjolras came closer and her breath stopped. She could feel her heart beating fast and heard, making her fingers shiver but filling her body with heat.
"Please, Monsieur..." she finally managed to whimper but stopped with a fire look of his.
"How long?" he repeated a last time, without a sigh of mercy.
"Just today...it was..."
"You're lying." His voice cut like knives, his eyes seemed to look right through her skin into her body, examining every little detail.
"Since I've been to the back room first", Éponine finally whispered when she couldn't bear his stare any longer and let her eyes sink into her lap.
Enjolras threw his hands into the air, an annoyed and angry but also helpless gesture. "And now?"
Somebody stepped in from behind. It was Jehan. "Let her speak." He acknowledged Éponine's grateful look with a nod and raised a question towards her: "Did you tell anyone about what we talked about?"
She shook her hand and this time no one doubted her truthful answer.
She tried to counter the student's enquiring looks but every time her gaze wandered back to the floor. She knew what she wanted to say yet the words didn't come across her lips. A wish had been there all the time yet she had been too afraid to knock at the door and express it.
"I want to join your group", she busted out. Frozen silence followed, heavy with question and uncertainty. Only her own silence was begging and desperate.
She looked at every one of the students, now all of them having their eyes at their feet. Who was the speaker? Éponine hoped to discover him by his looks but the only one with leadership potential – her gaze stayed at Enjolras bright red coat. But she just didn't want to believe that passionate voice could speak with so much rage and antipathy.
"Enjolras..." Somebody in the crowd raised his voice but was rudely interrupted with a "No!" from their leader.
Enjolras turned back to the one who had spoken, piercing him with his steel blue eyes. "How? How are we supposed to trust someone who was eavesdropping on us all the time?"
"She never did any wrong." Infected with sudden support of Éponine another student voiced his opinion. "Who knows where she comes from?"
"No!" Enjolras began screaming again.
Finally, Marius stepped forward, a shameful look in his beautiful eyes. "Enjolras", he began. "Give her a chance. She knows a lot of things."
"I believe you. It's just that I can't trust her. Who will she tell? What will she do? And lastly – where will she stand when things get serious?"
Marius chuckled. "Enjolras, things are already serious. She hasn't told until now, why should she as a part of the union? And why should she listen all that time if she isn't really interested?"
Éponine felt warmness rushing through her hearing his words. She felt triumph slowly approaching.
Enjolras was just about to complain again, when Jehan gently touched his shoulders. "Enjolras. You are here, talking about justice and equality day by day. You have to let her join. She deserves it and it is your chance to show you mean what you say. Who cares whether she's a woman or from the streets? She's a citizen like everyone else and she has a right to join! Keep your promises."
And with that, Enjolras' resistance was broken. His shoulders sank with a deep sigh as he realised Jehan's right and he muttered a disgruntled and quiet "Fine."
Éponine jumped up, squeaking with happiness. Too many emotions were floating over her at the moment and without hesitating she embraced the student standing right next to her fiercely. He looked stunned but also surprised and when she backed off, her face flushing, he smiled genuine.
Éponine let her glance sweep around the room, examining every face with immense interest. Some wore a smile, some were serious and then there was one face not turned towards her. Enjolras head was bent over a table, sunken into another work, not caring about what was happening around him.
Éponine couldn't bother that moment. She was too happy, too glad and too blessed to think about anything negative. Her peaceful smile didn't fade until she left in the late evening hours and for the first time since years she felt like she had found another home.