Guess who's back...!

Thanks so much for sticking with me while I've been away guys, sorry for leaving you with a cliffy at the end there haha!

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Les Miserables, I'd pay Samantha Barks and Aaron Tveit to just be Eponine and Enjolras all the time. In every production. Especially the one that would happen outside my house. Then we could get a Chinese and watch Singing in the Rain. Unfortunately, I don't, so that ain't happening.

Joly was looking under his desk for his pen when Courfeyrac shouted his name.

'JOLY!'

The shock caused him to jump up suddenly and as a result he banged his head on the desk, knocking his glasses off. 'SHITSHITSHIT OW! That's definitely going to cause a bump - I might have a concussion or amnesia or a brain haemorrhage! I need to go for a scan as soon as possible, Courf'll have to drive me. Wait… Courf wanted something…' he thought to himself, as he cautiously reversed out from under the desk, and then placed his black rectangular-framed glasses back onto his nose.

He walked out of his room, saying 'Courf I've got a brain inj- SHIT.' He'd seen their unexpected guests, sending all his fears about brain haemorrhages straight out of his mind: Éponine was more in need than him right then. 'Lay her flat on the table, I'll get my bag.' It's not ideal… I haven't sterilised that table in at least half an hour, but it's going to have to do.
Courfeyrac jumped into action, saying 'It's ok, I'll get it, and you just… just help her Joly. Please.' The last word came out as a pleading whisper, filled with worry and helplessness and guilt for not protecting her.

Joly crossed the living room and cleared the large kitchen table of the few things left on it, before helping Enjolras slowly lay the unconscious Éponine onto the top. He grabbed a blanket from the sofa to use as a pillow. After spreading alcohol gel from his pocket onto his hands, he handed the bottle to Enjolras so he could do the same. He stood at Éponine's side, looking up and down her unconscious form, and all other thoughts cleared his mind as he went into what the lads called his 'doctor mode', where the only things he notices are the medical needs of his patient and how he can help them.

'How long has she been unconscious?' he asked as he checked her airways were clear.
'It must be about five minutes now… I… I found her up by Rue Plumet and… and she was awake when I put her in the car, but she was gone by… by the time I got here. Is… is she going to be ok Joly?' Enjolras could barely speak for worry; Joly had never seen him so freaked out about something. Before he could answer, Courfeyrac returned to the living room with Joly's large black bag of medical supplies and his eyes met the young doctor's. Despite all his cheerful silliness, Courfeyrac was a very sensitive person, who knew exactly what the look in Joly's eyes meant: he really didn't know whether Éponine was going to be ok. 'Enjolras, can you help Joly with Éponine, I'll go and get Gavroche, he should be here.'
Joly turned to Enjolras. '…it's too early to say. I'd wake her up but she's going to want to be unconscious while I sort out some of these bones. Right, hand me my stethoscope.'

He checked her heartbeat: a little fast for his liking, but there wasn't much he could do for now. Her breathing was also shallow and irregular… he needed to act fast.

He started at her head. There was a fairly deep cut above her eyebrow that was going to need stitches to stem the bleeding. Her left eye was swollen shut but that was a lower priority, it would be uncomfortable but not life-threatening: the same went for that split lip. Her nose was clearly broken; he would strap that up later.

Moving down her body, he identified a severely dislocated shoulder, and a quick squeeze of her sides told him several of her ribs were cracked, with two of them possibly fractured. The uncomfortable angle of her right leg told him that it was definitely broken and needed strapping up.

'I need to put her shoulder back in but I'll check her abdomen before I do too much. Enjolras, get the scissors and help me cut this t-shirt off.'
Enjolras froze. Panic rose in the eyes of the handsome leader.
REALLY, MATE?! 'ENJOLRAS, this is not the time for modesty, she's in danger! Get the scissors!'
He hesitated, but did as he was told. Joly held the sopping fabric tight for him to cut, barely able to conceal his smirk, despite the seriousness of the situation. Not scared of women my arse. He's lucky it's just me in here - Grantaire or Courfeyrac would have eaten him alive.

As he cast aside the remnants of her t-shirt, Joly grimaced at the state of Éponine's body. Her chest and abdomen were severely bruised, with her stomach in particular covered in angry red, black and blue marks. It would be nothing short of a miracle if there was no internal bleeding, but if it was really severe it would have become more obvious by now. That'll be the decider in how serious this really is. I suppose we'll find out soon enough. 'Ok… shoulder. Enjolras I need you to hold her here' he gestured to an area on his back 'and here. Really hold it firm and I'll push her shoulder back in… this is going to hurt her a lot, so she might wake up - be prepared for that.'
Enjolras looked terrified. 'Can't you give her some pain relief?'
'I've only got a limited supply and I don't want to mask any symptoms so she can give us a full picture when she's awake… later, I will. I promise.'
Apparently satisfied, the taller, curly-haired man pushed back his wet sleeves and got into position as Joly had showed him. The young doctor met his eyes then looked back at Éponine's shoulder. 'Three, two, one…' CRACK.

'AHHHHHHH!'

Éponine woke up with a scream of agony and immediately tried to sit up, but felt strong hands push her gently down. She opened her eye to find a dishevelled Enjolras shushing her and stroking her hair. What's happening!? Where the hell am I?! Why is Enjolras here and why does he look so worried? Am I going to die?!' She couldn't see him, but she heard Joly's voice say 'Éponine, you're all right, it's Joly. I'm going to help you, you're safe.' Tears of pain ran silently from her eyes, blurring her vision, but she kept her gaze locked on Enjolras. She couldn't have told you why if her life depended on it, but for some strange reason, in all her pain and confusion it was the only thing that made sense.

The ear-splitting scream had roused Grantaire from his deep sleep, face-down on his bed. As the grogginess cleared, he became more aware of the commotion outside his bedroom door, and he made his way wearily to investigate.

He wasn't sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn't Joly strapping up the leg of a drenched, shirtless Éponine while a soaking wet Enjolras stood by her head comforting her and gently wiping blood from her battered face with a sponge.

A flash of intense jealousy went through him at the close attention his best friend was receiving from the dishevelled – but still bloody SEXY, how does he even DO that? – Enjolras but it was gone as quickly as it arrived when he realised the state Éponine was in.

'JESUS, Éponine! What the hell happened, are you ok?!' He hurried across the room to her side, Enjolras moving out the way so they could see each other clearly. Fucking hell, how did she get like this?!
'R…you're here' she smiled warmly, then started to cry, her face screwed up in pain. Shit, if Pony's crying… it's bad. Hell, it was already bad, looking at her face.
'Try and stay calm, Ép, crying will be very sore on your ribs' Joly advised
He took her hand. 'Of course I'm here, Pony, I'll always be here… what the fuck happened?'
'I…I had to p-protect him. Y-you understand, R-R-Romeo.' Oh Jesus, what did Marius do?

Joly looked up from her leg with an apologetic look on his face. 'Enjolras, give me a hand a second? This part will be the most painful, I'm really sorry… try not to talk.' Éponine nodded weakly. Joly and Grantaire made eye contact for a second, from which Grantaire understood it would be best to distract her.
'I told you not to call me that' he teased, gently. 'The other guys'll get jealous.' She closed her eye and gave a small smile, then bit her lip and grimaced as Enjolras lifted her leg and Joly put the final, tight layer of bandage around it.
'Anyway, Éponine, after this afternoon I had a… what's it called? Erm... oh, an epiphany! I had an epiphany. So Romeo falls in love with Juliet, yeah? BUT, at the start of the play, he's infatuated with this Rosaline, and it feels just as real at the time, but it's not. Maybe, and don't hit me, because it's just maybe… maybe Marius was your Rosaline. Maybe you're still waiting for your Juliet.' He looked over at Enjolras and Joly: Joly was still concentrating, but Enjolras was looking right at him with a slightly impressed expression on his face. Grantaire's heart leapt and his stomach flipped, an uncomfortable side effect of the extreme joy he felt. Maybe his Juliet hadn't noticed him at first sight at a party, but after several years, as a result of something clever he'd said as they comforted and treated a beaten-up young woman on his kitchen table.

It would be unorthodox, to say the least, but Grantaire would take it. He didn't care how it happened. He just cared that it would.

It had to eventually, didn't it?

I continue to be so overwhelmed by the response this has received from you guys - I didn't even expect readers let alone so many views and visitors and followers and reviews - you lovely people who review every chapter are just... I can't even express how much I appreciate it. Thank you, all of you.

Any and all feedback or questions are so, so welcome, so please feel free to leave a review! You don't have to, obviously, but thank you in advance if you do.

I have more chapters than this - despite my lack of internet for posting I was writing in all my (limited) spare time... who knew looking for houses was so time-consuming?! - but I'm not happy with the next one yet, I'm between two options and I want to get it right, since you've all been so nice. It should be tomorrow that I post it, and hopefully I'll be back to updating lots again, so get ready for a chapter spam or two :P

THIS HAS BECOME A VERY LONG A/N AND I'M SORRY, I WON'T DO IT AGAIN