Sorry, I know I said a day... my big brothers came home and I never see them so we went out. Also sorry because you won't even a little bit be interested in this :L
Anyhoooo there'll be another one today, I think
Disclaimer: I don't own Les Miserables. If I did, I definitely could have afforded Vidcon.
Around an hour later, Joly had finished treating Éponine, and given her a small amount of powerful pain relief and a sedative. This had been no easy task, as her repeated protestations of 'I'm fine, honestly! It doesn't even hurt that badly anymore, I'll be able to stand and everything. I'll just go home, you've all been way too kind already, I'll get out of your hair…', which were accompanied by attempts to stand up, meant that administering the injections was much harder than expected. Enjolras, Grantaire and Joly had all told her not to be so stupid, she had to stay, but to no avail. After a while, Combeferre - who had been brought to the apartment by Courfeyrac, along with Gavroche - had been uncharacteristically firm with her when insisting she stayed exactly where she was; he had given all of them a bit of a shock, most of all Éponine, who fell immediately silent and accepted the sedative moments afterwards without protest.
The five Amis and Gavroche were all sat in different places around the room as Éponine lay on the kitchen table asleep, wrapped in several blankets to keep her warm and dry.
Courfeyrac spoke first. 'Well, she can't stay on this table all night, she needs a proper bed.'
'Should we be moving her?' Combeferre asked Joly
'I'm pretty confident there's no severe internal bleeding but I don't want her going far, I want to watch her. She's not out of the woods yet' the young doctor replied, wiping his glasses on his shirt.
'She can have my bed' announced Grantaire, to a chorus of five 'NO!'s.
'Why not!?'
'When was the last time you cleaned your room?!' asked Joly
'Never mind that, when was the last time you even changed the sheets?' laughed Courfeyrac.
Joly added with thinly veiled disgust, 'the smell in there is pungent enough to wake her up, even with the sedative I gave her.'
'All right, I get it, not my room… what about Courfeyrac's?'
'Is that a good idea? Knowing what he gets up to in there, we don't want to add 'accidental syphilis infection' to her list of ailments.' This addition from Enjolras caused a few titters of laughter from around the room.
'What's that mean? What's syfis? 'Ow would Ép get it off Courf's bed? ' Gavroche piped up. The men all looked at each other uncomfortably for a second or two before Joly said 'she can have my bed; it'll at least be clean. I'll stay up and make sure she's all right as well.'
'No, Joly, you've done so much already, you must be half dead' reasoned Combeferre. 'I'll stay up. I've got enough medical knowledge to be able to see to any basic needs, and I can wake you if she looks really bad.'
'I won't sleep anyway, so you have my bed, Jol' added Courfeyrac.
'I ain't goin' nowhere. I'm stayin' with Ép.' Gavroche declared, arms folded and a remarkably Éponine-like glare daring them all to contradict him.
'Of course you can stay, little man. Your airbed's in my room, I'll pump it up for you.' Courfeyrac soothed him, ruffling the little boy's hair.
'Can I be in with Ép?'
Gavroche looked at Combeferre, who said 'there's not really enough room, but I promise I'll wake you if anything happens, ok?'
He frowned, but nodded. 'If ya swear.'
'On my life.'
'Alright then.' He and Courfeyrac left the room to pump up the airbed.
Combeferre looked at Enjolras and asked 'what will you do? Go home?'
He'd thought about it. He'd really done everything he could to help, and there were enough people here now to be sure she was completely safe – better people than him really, who were closer to Éponine and more qualified. His head was telling him to go home and rest, get a shower and a change of clothes.
But he just couldn't. After everything that had happened that night, he had to be sure she was all right.
'No, I'll stay. I can sit with Courfeyrac.'
'You're just as wet and cold as Éponine, you need to get warm and dry or I'll be treating you, as well.' Joly pointed out.
He looked down at his damp, blood-stained clothes and goose-pimples on his arms and decided it was a fair point. He did need a change of clothes. 'I'll go home for a quick shower and change, and then I'll come back. We'd best get her changed and moved, by the way.'
'Oh! Yes of course.' Joly exclaimed. 'I almost forgot, that's terrible.'
'I'll grab some clothes for her' Grantaire muttered, before leaving to do so. On his return, the four men looked at each other before Combeferre asked awkwardly 'What's the best way of doing this?'
Joly said 'I'll do it; I've seen… it before. I'm a doctor. Professional and… stuff. Combeferre, could you give me a hand?'
Enjolras breathed a sigh of relief. For a horrible second there he had thought he was going to see a fair amount more of Éponine than he planned on that night (even more than he had already). Grantaire handed over the clothes and then the pair sat on the sofa which faced away from the kitchen while Éponine's clothes were changed.
Once she was in clean, dry clothing (well, as clean as Grantaire's clothes ever got), it was time to move her. There was the beginning of a discussion about who would hold what but Enjolras was getting bored, frankly, and Éponine had been on the table for long enough, in his opinion. So he walked over and gently picked the tiny young woman up into his arms, for the third time that evening. Nobody protested, and he carried her steadily into Joly's room, where he laid her on the bed softly.
He moved her tangle of damp curls to one side, clearing her face of the sweaty tendrils that were stuck to it. He then pulled the covers up around her, and was about to turn around and leave the room when, on an impulse, he leaned down and kissed her chastely on the forehead.
'Sleep tight, Éponine.' He whispered.
Not even going to lie, I had a big stupid smile on my face the whole time when I wrote the last bit.
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