A/N: Thank you for your reviews! Finally the wait is over after that cliffhanger last chapter! Hope you guys like it!
Éponine's eyes fluttered open. Her head was swimming and she couldn't seem to hold it upright. Gavroche was hugging her fiercely, his gangly little arms wrapped around her shoulders and tears streaming down his face leaving clean trails in the grime that muddied his complexion.
"Fall back or I'll blow the barricade," she heard Marius say from somewhere above her. She listened to angry shouts and an order for the guards to retreat. It was as if she was on the other side of a long tunnel, the way words and sounds seemed echoed and distant. Enjolras descended the barricade with Marius' torch and handed it to another of the amis.
"You could've gotten us all killed Marius!" Combeferre shouted, but Marius wasn't listening. He noticed Éponine hunched over on herself and knelt down beside her.
"What have you done?" he questioned her, pulling her hand away from her bleeding wound and forcing Gavroche to release the tight grip he had on his eldest sister.
"Éponine?" Enjolras cried, pushing Marius aside, taking her face in his hands and staring into her non-focusing eyes. "No… no… no," he mumbled to himself in a broken voice, frantically pulling up the side of her shirt to examine her injury. I cannot lose her, he thought to himself, this woman owns my heart and soul. To be without Éponine would be the worst thing imaginable. He huffed a sigh in relief, releasing his held breath all at once when he saw that the bullet had just grazed her. It left a torn gash that was bleeding fairly badly, but it was certainly not a fatal wound. He ran a hand through his hair to push it back out of his eyes and took a few unsteady breaths, his eyes tightly shut to hold back tears.
"Don't you fret," she murmured, smiling exhaustedly at him. "I don't feel any pain." Yet she winced and sharply sucked in a breath between clenched teeth as he pressed the ripped fabric of her shirt to her injured flesh.
"You promised you would stay away," Enjolras muttered and opened his eyes slowly, blinking away the moisture a couple times before continuing. "You promised you wouldn't do anything stupid."
"She saved my life," Marius interjected, earning him a glare from Enjolras. "I should have been paying more attention. This is all my fault."
"I will be fine. Don't worry about it Marius. I just need Joly to stitch me up and then I'll be good to go," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her breathing was uneven and hitched as each little movement caused a searing pain.
"No, you need rest," Enjolras murmured. He had pulled her onto his lap and was somewhat cradling her as he applied pressure to her wound to slow the bleeding. "I should take you home."
"Nuh uh," Éponine slurred and struggled to keep her eyelids open, "I'll sleep in the café and I'll be ready when the soldiers come back."
Enjolras sighed but didn't argue with her. He just continued to cling to her as Joly stitched up her side and applied a dressing over the angry looking gash. The men began to wind down from the adrenaline-fueled day. Some presumed lookout positions, while others took their turn sleeping in odd and very uncomfortable looking positions, resting their heads on whatever surface of the barricade suited them. After the day they had had, none were very choosey, but rather grateful to be resting. Éponine drifted in and out of a dreamless slumber. She felt horribly groggy and weak from blood loss, but that didn't seem to stop her from jerking awake anytime a man so much as shifted his weight near her. Her heart thudded erratically each time she snapped her head up and it would take even longer for her to fall back asleep. She opened her eyes to see Enjolras wiping a tear from his cheek.
"Don't cry," she murmured, taking him by surprise. He had wrongly assumed that she was fast asleep. "I'm going to be perfectly fine."
"I know," he choked. "But for a minute there I though I had lost you forever. I thought you had gone and gotten yourself killed and that you were leaving me. The thought of continuing on without you was unbearable. I was simultaneously heartbroken and furious -both with you and myself. I feel guilty for it now, but I was livid that you risked your life and foolishly resentful that it was on Marius' behalf because of your past feelings for him."
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, lifting a hand to caress his cheek and wipe away another silent tear that had fallen. "I no longer love him the same way, but he is a dear friend. I would have done it for any of them."
"I know and I understand, but you are too compassionate and bold and it nearly got you killed. I can't be without you, Éponine. I thought you were gone forever and that I would never see your eyes full of life ever again. It just solidified to me, the significant effect you've had on me. To be without that… life surely could not go on."
"I love you," she stated simply, unable to properly express herself at the moment out of sheer exhaustion and overwhelming emotion.
"Marry me," he blurted out suddenly. It was more a statement than a question. He looked down at Éponine, her eyes were as big as saucers and she seemed more alert than she had in hours. He planted a firm kiss on her lips and repeated himself, changing his intonation slightly. "Marry me?"
"Are you serious?" She was utterly flabbergasted. A proposal was the last thing she expected to come from the barricade.
"Of course. I love you and I need you in my life. I'd be honored to have you as a wife. Will you marry me Éponine Thénardier?" His words sounded so certain and full of sincerity that Éponine's mouth fell open slightly, she was still in a state of total shock.
"But –but I'm no one," she muttered, "You come from wealth and high status, won't this embarrass your family?"
"This entire revolution is an embarrassment to my family. In comparison, marrying the woman I love will be a blessing regardless of your lineage. Besides, I have never cared too much for the uppity opinions of others. I care about you and being bound together in everyway humanly possible. When we make it out of this together –alive- I want to make you my wife and be your doting husband. So, my proposal stands."
"Yes," she whispered immediately. Her eyes welled with tears and she kissed his face excitedly. "Yes!" she repeated more cheerfully. "I'll marry you." Enjolras pressed his lips feverishly to hers, adoration radiating from his entire body. His arms encircled her, staking his claim on her heart and soul, she felt herself finally let down her guard completely, all bravado and falsehoods vanishing, a warm tingling sensation taking their place and setting fire to her skin wherever he touched her. They would never have to be without; she was his and he was hers. And there, in the dark corner of the café she'd come to know so well, surrounded by groggy school boys wielding guns, Éponine felt whole and despite the ferocious scar she would have as a constant reminder of the horrible acts faced at this barricade, this was the best day of her young life for someone finally loved her as much as she loved them –fiercely, wholeheartedly, and irrevocably.
A/N: Soooooo what do you think? I'm dying to know! I laid it on a little thick with the lovey dovey stuff, but I wanted this to be a really special and romantic chapter. Let me know in the reviews!
