When they reached the room they had met Enjolras' parents in, there were three more bodies there. One was a beautiful, tall, blonde woman. She was in the midst of a conversation with Jackie when Éponine happened upon the room. She was dressed in a white halter top dress. It had pale pink flowers covering it, and was very vintage looking. She had on nude heels, not that she needed them.
The next was a small girl. She had brown, long hair, and big brown eyes. She was sitting on Regis' lap. Next to them was an even younger boy with curly blonde hair and blue eyes, like Gabe's. He was climbing up onto the man, trying to push the older girl off.
"Ooo! You must be Éponine!" A shrill squeal sounded. Éponine's attention shifted towards the gorgeous woman who had spoken. "'El, you have to introduce us!" She said.
Who is 'El? Éponine thought, but was answered when Enjolras stepped forward. "Nice to see you, too, Adélaïde. This is Gavroche Thenardier, the child I have been taking care of this semester. And this is the beautiful Éponine Jondrette. Éponine, Gavroche, this is my eldest sister, Adélaïde Leclair, and her two children, Pénélope and Théo. Shall we sit?" He suggested.
Éponine smiled at the woman. There was a couch, in which the two children and their grandparents were sitting. In front of it was a coffee table, and two chairs on the opposite side. Adélaïde sat in one, and Gavroche occupied one at the head of the coffee table, in direct view of the fireplace. That only left one chair for Éponine and Enjolras. Enjolras sat down, and before she could say anything, he had pulled her into his lap, gracefully.
"Oh! You are too cute!" Adélaïde exclaimed. "So, how did you meet?" She asked.
"Umm, a mutual friend. Then we paired up for The Kid Project, and the rest is history." Éponine said, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"How long did it take for you to actually crack the marble?" Jackie asked.
"Uh-"
"Mom." Enjolras warned.
"Oh, right. We don't want her running off, now do we! Not the girl who won over my son's unwinnable heart." She said, tickling Pénélope.
The group fell into easy conversation. Éponine learned that Pénélope was five, and while very smart, very shy. She also learned that Théo was two, and was already talking fairly well. She learned that Adélaïde didn't work and her husband, Gilbert, and their adopted son, who was also Enjolras, Adélaïde, and Adrienne's cousin, Zacharie, were working on a project at home and couldn't make it for lunch, but they would come for dinner and definitely Thanksgiving tomorrow.
After a while, Jonathan came in and told them lunch was ready. Jonathan was a tall, slender man with very little hair on his head. He had glasses on and wore all black. Over all, he looked very stately and, well, butler-ish. He lead them into the dining room, which was through the foyer and under the stairs. It was a very ornate dining room, but set with very normal dishes. Régis sat at one end of the table, while Jackie took her place at the other. Adélaïde sat to the right of her mother, and Gabe at the left of his father, leaving a place in between for Éponine. The three children sat on the other side. There was already a booster seat to the right of Jackie for Théo, and his sister sat next to him. Gavroche sat to the right of Régis and across from Enjolras.
Several younger looking ladies brought in trays and set two salad bowls on the middle of the table, much like at Olive Garden, and served each person with a chicken salad sandwich. One girl was coming around and filling everyone's glasses with water at the same time. Gavroche just looked up at Éponine, concern and surprise evident on his face. She smiled sweetly back at him, trying to tell him to relax and just eat normally. They ate and were companionable. Gavroche even made decent conversation with Régis, and many bellowing laughs were heard from the older man. Jackie and Adélaïde continued to pry into Éponine and Enjolras' relationship, but she had regained her footing and could handle their questioning.
"Éponine, what is your family like? Are they a family I would be acquainted with? I'm sure they love that you and Gabriel are dating." Adélaïde asked. Éponine looked down at her food.
"'Laide!" Enjolras said chastisingly to his sister, then to Éponine, "You don't have to answer that."
She shook her head before answering. "My parents don't know Gabe. My brother and sister adore him, but I hope, for everyone's sake, he never meets my parents." She didn't look up, but after speaking, she set her fork down, lifted her napkin off her lap, and set it on her plate. "May I use the restroom?" She asked, standing. Gabe, being the first to recover, shook his head and stood up next to her.
"Of course, I'll show you." He said, taking hold of her elbow and showing her out of the room. Once they were out in the foyer again, Enjolras spoke.
"Éponine, you didn't have to answer. Adélaïde was just prying where she doesn't belong and doesn't know anything about. Are you okay?" He asked, noticing she wasn't looking at him. She shook her head. "Oh, Éponine. What's wrong? Please talk to me." He said, wrapping her in his arms. She tucked her head into his chest.
"I meant what I said. I never want you to meet my parents. They wouldn't like me dating you, and even if they did, it would just be to try and con money out of you. If they ever find us again, I don't know what they will do. Now that I have Gav- Oh, Gabe." She said, burying herself deeper.
"Shh, I won't let anything happen to you or Gav. You know that. Éponine, I love you and I will do anything for you. Nothing Adélaïde or my parents or anyone else says can change that fact." He rubbed her back and played with her hair until she calmed down enough. "There. Are you better now? Do you want to come back in and finish eating?" He asked her. She nodded. "Good. Come on." He said, as he wiped the few tears that spilled out, off of her beautiful face.
He wrapped his hand around her waist and they walked back into the dining room. They walked around the table and he pulled out her chair for her. She sat down and shot a thankful glance at him. He sat next to her, but kept his left hand on her knee as they finished eating.
After the end of the tense meal, Enjolras announced that he had some work to do and he would be in his room for a while. Éponine and Gavroche stayed downstairs with the rest of the family. Gavroche was playing with Pénélope and Théo, who found Gabe's old LEGO sets. Éponine was sitting in the same chair as before, half listening to Adélaïde catch up with her parents, half lost in her own world of thought. She pulled out her phone and saw she had a couple of messages from Azelma, one from Cosette, and one from Grantaire.
AJ: Did you make it okay?
AJ: Let me know if you need anything. How is meeting the parents?
CF: They aren't too scary, are they?
HG: How are Régis and Jackie treating you? Drop my name if they start getting too harsh on you, they love me. :) Hang in there, kid.
She responded to all of them, saying they had made it to the Enjolras estate and that it wasn't too bad, yet. After that, she decided to go upstairs to work on some of her own homework. She excused herself and found her way to the room she and Enjolras were going to sleep in. She knocked and walked in.
"Hey. Everything okay?" He asked her as she sat next to him on the bed.
"Yeah. I just wanted to work on some homework. Your parents, Adélaïde, and the kids are still downstairs." She told him.
He nodded, and she pulled out a book she was supposed to be reading for her English class. After a while, she got bored of the book. She closed it and set it on the bedside table. She glanced at the beautiful man next to her before curling up next to him. She put her head on his shoulder, wrapped her arms around his torso, and just sat, watching him work. He was taking notes while reading something on his iPad.
"Can I help you, Miss Jondrette?" He asked, not looking up at her.
"Nope. I'm just fine where I am." She responded.
"Well, you are inhibiting my ability to take notes by taking my shoulder captive."
"What are you going to do about it?" She asked, coyly, moving her head up to kiss up his neck.
"Éponine-" He sighed as her lips moved to his jaw. "What am I going to do with you?" He set his iPad and notebook to the side, turning to take her into his arms. He kissed her squarely on the mouth. When they pulled back, both breathless, he said, "You just wanted cuddle time. That's why you came up here, isn't it?"
"No, I actually wanted to get some work done, which I did. But it was boring. You are much more fun to do than homework." She said, winking at him. They both laughed at her innuendo. He pulled her close, hugging her on the bed.
"I love you. I don't know what I would do without you." He told her. She lifted her head and captured his lips in a sweet, loving kiss.
"I love you, too. Now, I'm tired." She said, rolling over to take a nap.
"I guess I'll join you, since you trapped my arm under you." He said, lying down next to her.
"Because I'm so heavy to lift and get your arm back." She commented.
"Miss Jondrette, if I didn't know better, I would think you didn't want me to sleep with you." He said.
"I don't." She said, eyes closed.
"Fine. I'll go back to taking notes." He said, pulling his arms from around her. She whimpered. "Oh. I thought you might." He said, chuckling.
"I'm just cold. I don't need you." She said.
"Just admit it, Ép." He said, burying his face in her hair. "You need me. You want me." He said, smiling against her neck.
"Never." She said, a smile on her face as well.
A/N: This was a shorter chapter, but the next will make up for it. It's pretty long. Guys, I have very exciting news! I finished writing this story! I have a few tweaks to make to the ending, but I have a couple of questions.
1. If anyone knows anything about the kind of court case that would be ensuing for Eponine to gain custody of Gavroche, please let me know. I'm completely clueless.
2. About Azelma/Courf's baby... Do you want it to be a boy or a girl? Do you have preferred names? Let me know!
3. Do you want a sequel that has the second semester of the school year in it? I have a few ideas, but if you wouldn't be interested, especially since the epilogue of this one is the following summer, I won't write it.
Please let me know your ideas. I'd like to get lots more reviews on this story! It's seriously lacking. But that isn't the most important thing to me. I got two PMs this week that were seriously the sweetest and inspired me to finish this story. You probably know who you are, but thank you so much! Read, review, and have a great week!