A/N: And here's another installment. Is anyone still reading this?
Chapter 9: On What We Must Agree With
'Every man or woman needs a pacifier, but mine just happens to come in a cup,' Eponine tells herself ruefully as she opens up a sachet of instant decaffeinated coffee and tips it into a cup of hot water. She perches her elbows on the cafeteria table and waits for the brew to steep for a few moments before steeling herself to take a sip. Objectively speaking there should be no difference between this cup or any other cup of coffee as far as taste is concerned, but the mere knowledge of its adulteration is enough to have her setting it aside. She groans as she takes a look at the clock; it's been five minutes since she's left her office on the pretext of getting a drink, but she has yet to feel her nervousness and worry even begin to dissipate. "It's going to be a long seven months without coffee. Nice going kiddo," she mutters as she pats her middle.
"After a while you don't go looking for it anymore," Marguerite chimes in as she walks up with a steaming cup of egg drop soup. "I was at that point five years ago."
Eponine cracks a smile as she picks up her drink. "Boy or girl?"
"Boy. He's Percy Blakeney the Second, but he mostly goes by Junior," Marguerite replies. She smiles sympathetically as she stirs her soup. "It's not easy, my dear. Sometimes you don't know what's more maddening: the man or the mission. I daresay that you can't live without either."
The doctor lets out a breath she did not know she had been holding. "You'd know from being married."
"Also from having a brother, friends, and schoolmates who are just as cavalier," Marguerite points out. "You've met my brother. He's among the best of men, but I would have to say that his idea of planning isn't quite the same as Percy's."
"It's manageable," Eponine quips, even as she remembers the misadventure she and Enjolras got into with Armand St-Just only over half a year ago. "Your friend Ffoulkes is married as well?"
"To another good friend, Suzanne," Marguerite says with a nod as they start walking back to Eponine's office. "She should be here in a while, once she's found someone to watch her kids."
Eponine cringes just from imagining the quandary that Marguerite's friend must be enduring. "She's not part of your organization?"
"Not directly," Marguerite pauses to take a sip of her soup. "She helps with contacts, organizing events, but nothing of the day to day work. That's mostly Andrew's job and his business."
Eponine manages to take another sip of her coffee without grimacing. "Doesn't it ever get a little problematic, if you know what I mean?"
"It suits them-meaning she's safe and happy, he's content that she's secure," Marguerite says. "Of course, not all of us in this world are amenable to such things."
"I see," Eponine says. It reminds her a little too much of the debacles that her friends Combeferre and Florence had just weathered but she is not about to voice out any comparisons to a stranger's affairs. It is just as well that she feels her phone begin to vibrate in her pocket. She takes a deep breath as she picks up the call. "Hello Pontmercy. How is the patient doing?"
"I just got him out of the CT scan room, and he's stable," Marius answers cheerily. "There are no intracranial haemorrhages or contusions, so he should recover quickly. His wife is here at the CT scan, tending to him. From a neurological standpoint he can go home, but be kept under close observation."
"Thank you," Eponine says before relaying the news to Marguerite. She looks around and catches sight of Enjolras walking up to them. "I thought you'd be waiting at my office," she says, fighting to keep the rancor out of her voice.
"I decided against waiting, especially since Blakeney himself has gone off to ask about Ffoulkes," Enjolras answers. "My apologies for intruding," he adds when he sees Marguerite.
"No, you two need to talk. Believe me. I'll be with Percy at the CT scan," Marguerite says seriously. She squeezes Eponine's shoulder. "You'll do just fine," she whispers before walking off in the direction of the Radiology department.
Enjolras glances back in the direction from which he came. "I got in touch with Bahorel and Feuilly. They want to meet up here too."
"We may as well, till Ffoulkes is properly discharged," Eponine concurs. "The only injury he's got is that gash at the back of his head, but that's taken care of. So you guys were attacked by a group?"
Enjolras raises an eyebrow. "Whatever happened to not stressing out?"
"We started this case, we'll finish it," she replies adamantly. All the same she's glad the conversation has swung in this direction. She takes a minute to finish drinking more of her coffee. "The lack of closure is going to drive both of us nuts."
"Point taken." He uncrosses his arms as he gives her a sidelong glance. "I mean it when I say that I will be careful."
"And how long is that going to last? We have this case, but what about the next case, then the next?" she demands. "We can't keep on running into danger."
"So are you suggesting we just drop everything?" Enjolras asks.
"No! That's not going to work either." She bites her lip, knowing that she cannot ask him such a thing, no more than he can extract such a ban from her. "It was one thing last year when it was just the two of us, but now we've got a kid. That changes everything."
"Eponine, I'm also doing this for him or her. Our child deserves to grow up in a world without the impunities we've both grown up with," he points out.
"I know, and it's a wonderful thing, but that's not going to matter if one or both of us are absent, Auguste," she insists. "I'm not saying we ought to quiet down, move out to the suburbs and do the entire soccer dad and mom thing, but I just don't want to be using the past tense when I tell our child about you."
"That's not going to happen."
"Says the one I've had to see in this ER before."
"So do you mean I should do less fieldwork?"
"Less dangerous fieldwork, I think. You're just going to have to trust people to help you with the dodgier side of things."
He grimaces at this prospect. "As it is, I've already downsized Courfeyrac's case work and assigned him to less perilous matters. I don't know if I should ask more out of Feuilly, Bahorel, and Bossuet."
She sighs at his illustration of his working situation. "Must it be just the five of you on top of things? I've always thought you were undermanned out there," she points out. "I mean, you can at least get some help with the paperwork or rely on other agencies to help you with the legwork."
Enjolras' expression is pensive as he meets her eyes but at last he squeezes her hand as he closes the distance between them. "I'll look into it."
Eponine nods, knowing that at least this is a start, however small. "Thank you." She leans in to plant a kiss on his cheek, laughing when he goes red under the attention, "Anyway you won't be the only one making adjustments soon."
"Point taken," he says with a teasing smirk as he slips an arm around her shoulders.
She laughs as she nestles closer to him, but that's only till she hears her phone beginning to beep. To her surprise it's Feuilly trying to call her. "Hey Feuilly, what's going on?" she asks.
"Hello Eponine. I got a text from the Chief that there's a meeting in your office. It's locked though," Feuilly greets.
"Locked?" Eponine repeats but even as she says this she catches Enjolras swallowing hard. "Auguste, did you lock the door on your way out?" she asks as she covers the mouthpiece with her hand.
"Yes. Force of habit," he admits. "You have your keys?"
Eponine quickly checks her pockets, only to come up with her coin purse and her hospital ID "They were in my work tote..." she trails off just as she sees Enjolras beginning to turn red. She claps her free hand over her mouth but it's too late to hold back an unladylike snort. "Us and our habits..."
"Well now Bahorel and Percy are texting me about where we'll meet now," Enjolras mutters, holding up his phone that has some new messages. "You're still on the line with Feuilly."
"Oops," Eponine whispers. "Sorry about that, Feuilly. I'll be along in a few minutes to pick it. See you," she says into the phone before quickly ending the call.
"Are you really allowed to pick locks around here?" Enjolras asks as they begin walking together.
"No one says we are not allowed to," she points out even while she catches sight of Marguerite walking up to them, with Percy following close behind and pushing Andrew in a wheelchair. Also with them is a slightly built young woman with her flax colored hair put up in a single long braid. 'This must be Suzanne,' she realizes as she nods to them by way of greeting.
"Have we interrupted a moment?" Percy asks them cheerily.
"On the contrary we are about to impinge on your conversation," Enjolras deadpans.
Eponine elbows her spouse discreetly before looking to Suzanne. "It's good of you to come here, Mrs. Ffoulkes. Your husband is a brave man," she says.
"Of course he is," Suzanne says proudly as she gives Andrew a hug from behind. "You should have taken better care of him," she tells Enjolras more balefully.
"My apologies then for the trouble this has caused you," Enjolras tells her stiffly.
"Suzanne my dear, if it wasn't for Enjolras, I would have fared far worse on the floor," Andrew reminds his wife gently. "No luck finding the girl?" he asks Enjolras.
"Perhaps Feuilly will have found something; I asked him to pass by and check the dock house records," Enjolras replies.
Marguerite nods before giving Suzanne a significant look. "We'll meet up later, and we won't keep Andrew out late. It's just a few minutes."
"Thank you again, Marguerite," Suzanne whispers before hugging first her friend, then Percy, and finally giving Andrew a kiss before she nods to Eponine and Enjolras. "I have to go. Maybe I'll get to meet you again soon," she adds.
"You will-"Eponine begins but Suzanne moves far too quickly out of earshot. She sees Enjolras shrug; clearly this has happened before. 'If that is the case, no wonder Marguerite thinks she'll be so easily overwhelmed,' she notes as she walks ahead to pick the lock on her office door.
As she rounds a bend in the hallway, she notices a light coming from the general direction of the office door, as well as the sound of Feuilly's voice haranguing a much calmer one. She pauses in her tracks to listen, and perhaps get help if necessary. "Of all people on earth..." Eponine whispers, now recognizing who her friend is speaking to.
Enjolras, who is not far behind, stops as well. "We should call security."
"Maybe," Eponine whispers as she now crosses the last few steps to the doorway. She knocks on the jamb. "Feuilly? Who helped you get in?" she calls.
"Are you seriously going to thank him instead of me, Ponine?" a deep voice drawls.
Eponine steels herself to step into the office, where she now can clearly see Feuilly standing by her desk, glaring at the dark-haired, grinning interloper seated in her chair. She takes a moment to stare down this newcomer. "Get your dirty shoes off my desk, Montparnasse. You'd better have a good reason for turning up here."