The courtroom exploded. Azelma was frozen in place. Gabe was gaping between his girlfriend and her alleged parents. Gavroche shrunk in his seat. Éponine was just glaring at Claude and Helena.
"Yes, my dear, Éponine. Thank you for the very thoughtful invitation." Helena sneered at her oldest daughter.
"What are you doing here?" Éponine sneered right back.
"We thought we should be present for the court case in which our eldest daughter was trying to beat us out for custody of our youngest child. Our long lost Gavroche. Oh, Claude, look at him. He's all grown up! Come here, Gav-"
"Absolutely not! You gave up your custody of him five years ago, when you left him on the street. You never deserved to raise this boy, nor anyone else. You didn't raise anyone. I raised myself, Azelma, and Gavroche, until you got rid of him. My new family is the best thing that ever happened to me, and you aren't going to ruin it like you've ruined everything else for me. I will not give you the chance to mess up Gavroche like you messed up me. I'm not winning custody over you. I'm gaining custody from the government. You need to leave now. After getting custody of my little brother, our first order of business will be getting restraining orders for the six of us from the two of you." Éponine said, glaring at her parents each in turn.
"The six of who? We only have three children." Claude said.
"I mean, Gavroche, Azelma, Azelma's fiancé, my boyfriend, Azelma's baby, and myself, along with any of your future grandchildren." If the Thenardiers were taken aback by anything Éponine said, they didn't show it.
"Of course, Azelma would get knocked up first, wouldn't she. And we don't even know the boy. She's always been a trainwreck." Helena said to her husband. Courfeyrac started to stand up and defend his fiancée, but R and Bahorel held him to his seat. The judge finally banged his gavel to gain control.
"Can we please get some semblance of order in this courtroom?" He said. "The two of you need to leave, or take a seat and shut your mouths so that this case can proceed. We have lots of work to do." He said, pointing to the Thenardiers. The took seats at the back of the room. "Thank you. Now, Mr. Enjolras, that seemed like enough of a case for me. Ms. Jondrette seems like a perfectly fine and loving guardian for her brother from that speech. There are a few more things for us to hash out, making sure everything is strictly legal, good, and healthy, for the boy. But according to me, if Mrs. Valjean and the boy don't object, Ms. Éponine Jondrette can become Gavroche Thenardier's legal guardian by the end of the week."
"I agree completely." Fantine said, smiling and nodding.
"Of course I want to live with Éponine!" Gavroche said.
Éponine's face broke out into a smile and tears leapt to her eyes. Gabe and Gavroche were also smiling. She pulled both of them into a group hug. "Thank you very much, your honor." She said.
The rest of their time spent at the courthouse was fairly boring. Gavroche went to sit with Azelma and Fantine, since he wasn't needed. They hashed out the monetary issues and the future housing situation of the trio. Luckily, they had done their homework and had already had all the numbers crunched. The Thenardiers didn't make another peep the whole time. By five o'clock, everyone was exhausted, but Éponine had the documents in front of her. She, Gavroche, and Fantine had to sign many times, but when they left the building, she was Gavroche's legal guardian.
On the steps of the courthouse, she pulled her boyfriend to her and kissed him. They stood with their foreheads together. "I love you so much. Thank you so much."
"I love you too. You're a natural in the courtroom. Are you sure you don't want to switch your major?" He asked. They heard a click of a camera. They turned in the direction of the sound and saw Azelma holding up her phone.
"You guys are too cute for me not to do it! You'll thank me someday. Now, Gavroche, get up there with your new mom." She said, laughing.
"Eww! She's not my mom! She's my sister!" He said, running up the stairs to stand with the couple.
"You'd be a lot cuter if I was your mom." Éponine said, ruffling his hair before posing and smiling. Azelma took a few more pictures before the Thenardiers came out of the doors behind them.
"Mom, Dad." Éponine said, glaring and pushing Gavroche behind her.
"Éponine, don't I even get to see the boy?" Claude said.
"Nope. You've had the last eight years to see him, and you didn't want him any of that time." She said. As her father moved forward, looking like he used to before he gave her a beating. She felt a tense Gabe step up behind her.
"So, this is your new boyfriend. He's cute, 'Ponine! And smart, too, if what we saw in there was anything to go by. He'll definitely get you a good sum." Helena said. "But I really want to meet Azelma's hubby. Where is he?" She said, ignoring Éponine's glare and looking down the stairs to where Courfeyrac was standing with Azelma. "Ooo! Azelma, you certainly could've done worse." The rest of her words were lost on Éponine as the older woman staggered down the courthouse steps.
Claude stepped towards the couple at the top of the stairs. He examined Gabe up and down. "You would have been better off with Montparnasse, bitch." He said. Gabe lunged at him. It took both Éponine and Gavroche to hold him back.
"Stay away from my family. You weren't worthy of them ever, and they are better off without you. Éponine doesn't need anyone to look out for her. She could easily get rid of you herself, but if you come within a mile of her ever again, I will personally beat the crap out of you." He said. Combeferre and R had finally gotten up the stairs to help pull Gabe back.
Éponine turned her back on her father. "He's not worth it. Will you go get the car so we can leave? I'm famished." She said to her restrained boyfriend. She kissed the corner of his mouth and then motioned for the boys to take him down the stairs. She turned back to her father. "Gabriel Enjolras is the best thing that ever happened to me. If you come after us, you better be ready to spend the rest of your life in prison, because that's exactly what will happen. I suggest you grab Mom and leave, now. I don't ever want to see you again, and you will never see Gavroche again or any of your grandchildren that will be born."
When Claude didn't move, she took her phone out. "Or I could just call the police now. By tomorrow I could have solved half of the the thefts and murders in this city from the past twenty years, if that's what you prefer." That got him moving. He stormed down the stairs, grabbed his wife, and they left, disappearing into the shadows of the early winter night.
Éponine finally turned to her brother. A huge grin spread on her face. "Two in one! We got rid of them forever, and I have you forever. Are you ready for that?" She asked, smirking.
He looked concerned for a moment, but then smiled his big, toothy, eight-year-old smile before launching himself into his big sister's arms. She picked him up and hugged him.
"Thank you, Eppy." He said.
"No, thank you, Gav. I know it was a little weird to see Mom and Dad, but now that's all over. Let's go find Gabe and the car." She said. They walked down the front steps of the courthouse hand in hand to join the rest of their friends. "Where do we want to celebrate?" Éponine asked.
"I think Gavroche should get to decide." Cosette said, smiling at the boy.
"Hmmmm, McDonalds!" He said. They all laughed.
They decided to go to Ruby Tuesday, as it was a little fancier, the adults could get alcohol, and they still had burgers for Gavroche. He also thought it was great that he could get strawberry lemonade and it looked like one of the alcoholic beverages Cosette and his older sisters got. It was great for everyone to be together to celebrate one more time before the end of the semester. It was a very carefree time, full of laughter and friendship.
That night, after getting home from the celebration and tucking Gavroche into his room, Éponine and Gabe were lying in his bed. "You were amazing today." She said.
"You were too. I really think that your parents coming in was one of the best things that could have happened." He told her. "That speech you made was flawless, raw, and from the heart."
"I just said what I knew. I wish it didn't have to spurred by them. I meant what I said about never wanting you to meet them. But the past is in the past. I really could never repay you for what you did for us today." She told him. He kissed her.
"You never have to. I did it because I love you. And I love Gavroche. I wanted to win just as much as you did." He told her.
"But normal people have to pay pretty hefty sums for an attorney, don't they?" She asked.
"Well, yes. But that's why you're dating me, right? Free legal advice?" He said, grinning and kissing her again.
"Gabe, really." She said, pulling away.
"If you really feel that terrible about using my services, I could think of some other ways you could repay me." He said, smirking at her.
She swatted at him. "Gabe!"
He shrugged and laughed. "It's just a suggestion. I'm not taking any of your money." He told her. She rolled her eyes before rolling on top of her boyfriend and kissing the night away.
A/N: Sorry. Please don't murder me for leaving you on that cliffhanger for, what? Two weeks? Three? I don't even know the last time I updated. I've been crazed and really uninspired to do anything. Writing, music, basically anything besides playing Minecraft after a long day of work. But you really don't want to hear about my problems and excuses. I think I'm going to update the last chapter later this week? Is this really the end? Nooooo! I don't want it to end! Anyways, I need to get this one finished. I feel bad about not updating. I also have a new idea for the next story I'm writing, so we might make a two week hiatus until I start publishing that one. I really need your input. Anything that you have a problem with, or want something slightly different for my coming stories, now is your chance to tell me! For instance, someone mentioned they wanted longer chapters. I'm going to try my best for the next story to make each chapter 3000 instead of 2000 words. I wanted to make a reader survey, but I just don't think that's going to happen. Maybe for the last update.
I also have a bone to pick with you all. A lot of the stories I read, in the ANs, sound like they get threatened when the don't update and seem to have very passionate readers. I don't feel like I have that. Do you know why? Because I don't. I mean, I don't mind not getting threatened, but a little bit more expression on my readers' parts would be nice. I don't know. If you have ideas, let me know. I'd love to hear from each and every one of my readers, especially on the last chapter. So read and review! If you have read the whole thing and haven't reviewed, I would much appreciate your input and your review on either this chapter, or the last chapter. I personally only review the last chapter of any given story, so I completely understand. This is getting really long, so I'm going to go work on my next story now and I will talk to you in the next update! Read, Review, and love Les Mis! Ciao!