A/N: Sadly, the rights to Les Mis were not under my tree this year.
In the book Les Misérables, Jean Valjean arrived at Montfermeil on Christmas Eve 1823. The next day, Christmas Day 1823, he left the Thénardiers' inn with Cosette as his new adopted daughter. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of this occasion, I have written this short fanfic. Enjoy and R&R please!
Cosette went into the woods to get water, and she came back with so much more. The good Lord in Heaven must have heard the little girl's cry of fright in the darkness and sent the good man like a guardian angel to protect her. The man was old and had white hair, and he had given her the most beautiful doll in the world and had left a louis d'or in her shoe while she slept; maybe he was Père Noël.
Of course, Cosette had been wary of the old man at first. The few adults she had known in her life were mean to her, ordering her around like a slave. But this man had helped her carry her water bucket back to the inn and then given her the doll. She could only stand it up in the middle of the floor and stare at it. The man urged her to play with it, but Cosette wasn't sure how to. The only thing she had ever had to amuse herself with in the past was a tiny lead sword.
Then the man had told her that he was going to take her away from the inn. Cosette was unsure if she wanted to go with him, but she knew her only other option was to stay with the Thénardiers and be their servant forever. If going with this white-haired man meant she could get away from sweeping floors, fetching water in the dark, and receiving beatings, then she would go gladly.
Now, in the carriage, Cosette was curled up on her new papa's lap. She was falling asleep, and he was singing a song to her. It was a pretty song, and she tried to stay awake and listen to it, but she was too tired. At least she could rest in her papa's arms. She finally had someone who loved her and wanted to protect her. She never wanted to leave him.
P.S. Merry Christmas!