Super long one for you all today!
Disclaimer: I don't own Les Miserables. However, I do have a t-shirt which says France Before Pants on it, and has Enjolras's face on. So that's something.
Éponine woke slowly from her deep, dreamless sleep. The first things she noticed were the stiffness in her joints and the immobility of her face, which confused her. Why would I have a problem moving my face? It was only when she tried to move her legs and was met with a blinding pain which shot straight through her, that she remembered everything: Cosette. Marius. Rue Plumet. Her father. Gueulemer. Pain. Crying. Loneliness. Then… Enjolras. After that, she remembered nothing at all.
She strained to open her eyes, succeeding in getting the right one open but getting nothing but water out of the left. She slowly and carefully moved to sit on the edge of the bed, and then looked down at herself: she was wearing a Black Keys t-shirt that was far too big for her, and grey men's sweat pants with an elasticated waist. Her right leg was heavily bandaged, and a check under her top told her that so were her ribs, suggesting that at least one might be broken. Feeling her face, she felt strapping on her nose and a plaster over her left eye, possibly a cut?
Christ, I'm really in a state.
Looking around the room, Éponine realised she was in unfamiliar territory. A chair was pulled next to the bed, so she hadn't been alone all night. Where am I? I've never been in this place before. Is this Enjolras' room? It doesn't feel like somewhere he'd live, somehow. She gathered all her strength, anchored herself on the chair and stood up, the sweat pants barely clinging onto her hips. Once she had her balance, she moved over to the desk, spotting a framed picture of Musichetta and several medical textbooks. Oh, I'm in Joly's room! Enjolras must have brought me here.
She limped her way to the door and opened it, getting a bit of a shock at the scene she found in front of her – virtually all the Amis were there: R, Courf, Enjolras and Gavroche stood in the kitchen area, with the living room couches occupied by Combeferre (who looked wrecked), Joly, Jehan, Bahorel, Bossuet and Feuilly. Musichetta was sat on Bossuet's knee and Sylvie sat on the floor between Feuilly's legs. A collective cheer of 'ÉPONINE!' went up when they noticed her, and everybody sprang into action; Gavroche ran immediately to her side to hug her, closely followed by everyone else, shouting questions about her wellbeing and what happened and was she ok? They made such a racket talking over each other that she couldn't hear individual voices anymore, and the crowding and the noise was all a bit much for her, so she grabbed at the wall to steady herself, prompting Musichetta to yell 'RIGHT EVERYBODY MOVE!' and guide her into an armchair. She gladly collapsed into it, glancing gratefully at Chetta before quietly apologising to Feuilly and Sylvie for taking their seat.
The Amis all settled back down into chairs around her after Joly had told them to stop crowding her; some on the sofas, some on kitchen chairs they brought over, Gavroche cross-legged on the rug. Joly came over and checked her pulse and put a hand on her forehead, speaking to her quietly as he did so. 'You seem all right, your pulse and temperature are ok… you're a tough cookie, Éponine. Gave us a hell of a fright for a while there.'
She just gave him a small smile in response and rasped out 'thank you so much for looking after me, Joly.'
He waved her thanks away, simply replying 'what are friends for?'. Éponine kissed him chastely on the cheek and he smiled, before standing up and going to sit on the arm of one of the sofas.
She looked around at the worried faces of the group in front of her in silence, then realised something.
'Where's Marius?'
Her voice was barely above a hoarse whisper, and her throat felt like sandpaper. Her question was met with a very awkward silence, which was broken by Combeferre.
'We… don't know. He hasn't answered his phone.'
Her heart stopped, the shock breaking her already weak voice as she croaked out 'is he ok, when did you last hear from him?!'
R quickly stepped in to reassure her. 'Enjolras saw him last night just before he found you… Don't worry Pony; I'm sure he's fine. Probably just forgotten to charge his phone again, you know what he's like.'
'I should go find him' She made to stand up, but the cries of outrage (and, if she was honest, the pain in her leg and ribs) pushed her back into her seat.
'You're going nowhere.'
'You're in no fit state!'
'That's mental, Ép!'
Alright, I get it, bad idea! 'OK, OK, I'LL STAY!'
Silence again.
'If… if you're ready and strong enough… maybe you could tell us what happened?' Jehan asked tentatively. 'Don't feel you have to though.'
Strong enough? I'm a Thénardier, we're always strong enough.
'No, no, I'll tell you, I'm fine. Really.' She cleared her throat and began to speak.
'Well you all know I went with Marius to find his girl – her name's Cosette – on Rue Plumet… we drove there from the café, and he got out and went to see her: she lived at the top end, you know, the big posh places with the gates and the high walls? I… I was meant to wait in the car but… I couldn't just sit there not knowing… so I got out and hid behind next door's wall to listen. She loves him as well by the way guys, so at least there's some good news there…' She went quiet for a second to keep her composure, not daring to meet anyone's eyes (if she had, she'd have been met with very sceptical expressions – raised eyebrows all round) before picking up her commentary again, with slightly stronger voice. 'Anyway… I saw someone sneaking around in the shadows across the road, so I went to go and see what was happening. It… it was this gang; they're called the Patron-Minette, bunch of thieves and murderers and generally terrible people. One of them was… was my father. They were going to rob Cosette's house and they'd have hurt her and her father and Marius, so I went to try and talk them out of it, distract them… it… kind of worked. I… I screamed and Marius went into Cosette's garden, which… didn't please my Pa and… well, I ended up like this.'
'Your own father did this to you?' Sylvie whispered, horrified.
'It's mostly this bloke Gueulemer actually… he looks like Shrek and he's got the brains of a dead sheep. Pa told him to, though.'
'You should call the police, Éponine!' exclaimed Musichetta
Éponine smiled grimly. 'No point. They know what these guys are like but don't do anything about it. They've tried before, but that lot always get off – my Pa once had a jury convinced that the policeman who found him robbed a house.'
Bahorel joined in angrily 'but he can't be THAT good, nobody's above the law!'
'He's not above it. He's below it, far below it. You've probably heard of him… I'm not really a Jondrette, you see… my real last name is Th-Thénardier.' She looked around at her friends' reactions. Most looked shocked, angry, a little scared. Even Enjolras' trademark apathy was tinged with surprise and anger. 'I'm sorry I didn't say, I was trying to protect you… and myself if I'm honest. And especially Gavroche.'
'You've lost me with that last bit… why Gavroche?' queried Feuilly.
'I'm 'er brother' the little boy announced cheerfully.
Exclamations of 'REALLY?!' and 'NO WAY' and 'Actually, I totally see it now' filled the room, putting smiles on the faces of Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac and Grantaire, who had already known.
'Any other secret siblings we should know about? Is Bossuet actually your third cousin twice removed?' Musichetta joked.
'They've got the same bad luck' Bahorel remarked, causing scattered chuckles.
Éponine grinned 'Just a sister, Azelma… you don't know her. She's still at the inn'
'So what happened next?' asked Jehan. 'What did you do?'
'Well, I couldn't move, for my leg? I… I tried to shout for Marius but I couldn't really speak and he wouldn't have heard or seen me, since I was in the garden opposite, so he drove away. My… my Pa had made it pretty clear he was coming… coming back… so I had to get out of there.'
Combeferre raised the question they were all thinking 'But… how?'
'I… I just grabbed the wall and… and used it to walk. It took a few tries…'
'But your leg, your ribs!' Joly was horrified.
'It hurt…. A lot, actually. But it was still better than what I'd have got if I stayed. It was still pissing down, so anything was better than sitting in a puddle.'
'How did you keep walking?' asked Bossuet.
Well this is embarrassing 'I… I sang. It kind of… focuses me. I… I sort of knew I could keep going if I could just keep singing' you are such a loser, Thénardier. They're all going to take the piss.
But they didn't. It had the opposite effect actually. Jehan and Sylvie both had tears streaming down their faces, with several others looking close to joining them. Gavroche moved over to hug her good leg, and Grantaire and Enjolras exchanged a strange look before looking down at their feet.
'So how did you get here?'
'I… I don't remember exactly. I remember I fell, and Enjolras came and picked me up, then I remember being in his car and telling him no hospital, but… I don't know what then. I guess you must have brought me?' She addressed the last part directly to the handsome leader, who was stood, arms folded behind the couch.
He cleared his throat and said 'yes, well… Marius came and told me about the scream and that he didn't know where you were but he wasn't… well, anyway I decided to drive down to Rue Plumet to find you and I… I heard you sing and I found you on the floor. You'd got all the way to Rue de la Quintinie by the time I arrived.'
'All that way?!' breathed Sylvie, through her tears.
'Yes… so I picked you up and put you in my car and brought you here. Then Joly fixed you up and we all know the rest.'
'YOU'RE ALL HEROES' sobbed Jehan, burying his face into Combeferre's shoulder. Ferre rolled his eyes and put his arm around the shaking poet to comfort him.
This was what Éponine had been wary of when telling her story. She didn't want to make out like she was some sort of Hercules, because in her mind, she wasn't. She'd just done what she had to do to stay alive.
That was what life was, right? Doing what you've got to do to stay alive.
So she didn't want to stay there and be praised for it for the next few hours, or have to take the pity or the tears from them all. She had enough to deal with. So she just said 'so now you all know, can I go home?'
Joly wrinkled his nose and said 'you're still going to need a lot of care Éponine… where is home? Maybe one of us could stay with you there until you're stronger?'
Uh oh. I hadn't thought about this. 'Oh it's… you know… near the café.'
'What building?' asked Feuilly
Shit 'well it's… not really in a building as such'
'are you staying with a friend or a relative or something?' queried Musichetta
'No…' please don't figure it out, please don't figure it out.
'You're sleeping rough aren't you?' demanded Enjolras.
Ah, fuck.
Her silence told them all they needed to know. 'Oh you can't be serious. Not even you could be so bloody MINDED as to sleep on the street rather than ask for help' thought Enjolras, furiously.
The others were similarly outraged.
'Oh Éponine, why didn't you say, you silly cow, you could have stayed at the café, or with me?!'
'You must be joking'
'I don't know how you haven't got sick before'
''ere, wot's wrong wif my elephant, why din't ya come down there?!'
She tried to roll her eyes at them all, rasping out 'GUYS it's not that big a deal, I've been in the same place since I left the inn, it's safe!'
'That's a pretty loose definition of safe, by anyone's standards' reasoned Combeferre from the sofa beside him.
'What do you do with your things? How do you wash?!' asked Feuilly
'Actually… she's got some stuff at the Musain' supplied Grantaire.
'You KNEW?!' everybody cried, including Éponine and Enjolras.
'Only since yesterday…'
'This is all moot anyway, because she can't stay there' he declared.
Her face said plainly, Oh, I can't? Says who?!
'And why not, exactly?' she demanded. Now you're just being silly.
'You're hurt, it's cold, you'll get yourself killed, one way or another!'
'I've managed up to now!' Managed to get yourself half dead!
'Yeah, looks like it!'
'GUYS, stop arguing!' Combeferre cut them off.
'He's right on this one, Ép, you can't stay there' reasoned Joly 'you need care, cleanliness… a roof over your head. You can stay here as long as you need, have my bed'
'I can't do that, Joly, you've already done so much, I won't let you put yourself out of a bed.'
'It's no trouble!'
'It IS, I won't let you. But thank you so much, for everything…. Actually, whose clothes are these?'
'Mine.'
'Oh, thanks R. The Black Keys. Nice.' The curly-headed man just smiled, throwing the bags under his eyes into sharper relief.
'You could stay with Bossuet, Bahorel and I?' piped up Jehan
'Do you have a spare bed?' Joly pointed out
'Well… no'
'Then I can't, I'm not putting anyone out of a bed!'
Enjolras met Combeferre's gaze. He'd already thought the same thing as his room-mate; they had a spare room where they did their work. It was small, but it would do. I'm not suggesting it, she's already mad at me! He thought, but nodded at Combeferre, who said quietly 'We have a spare room'
Who is we? Thought Éponine. Who does Combeferre even live with?
'Would you and Enjolras be all right with that?' asked Joly. Oh, BRILLIANT. Is there any way I can get out of this?
'Really, I'm fine, I don't want to be any trouble.'
'You're not getting out of this, Éponine' Combeferre stated, his voice calm but firm. 'I couldn't live with myself knowing you were sleeping rough like this. It's bad enough with Gavroche, and he's in Courfeyrac's room half the time.'
Really? That's new. She looked at Gav, who blushed and said 'I've still got the lads in th' elephant, but Courf's got Netflix an' an airbed an'-'
'its fine, Gav, I don't mind… I'm glad you're indoors, honestly, a bit safer' Éponine smiled reassuringly at him, and he beamed.
'Exactly. So it's settled then.' Grinned Courfeyrac.
Ahh shit, I walked into that one. 'Right… fine. I'll move in with Enjolras and Combeferre.'
They all cheered.
'Only temporarily!' she warned, but nobody was listening.
It's not the most original, but I'm not going down a totally cliché route with it, promise!
20 chapters... crazy. Thanks for sticking with me, here's to another 20! ;)