Sheltered from the Past
by Saber Girl Leia
2/21/05
AU Jean Valjean kept one other thing in his trunk... a journal. He meant for Cosette to have it once he died, but what if she discovered it one day by accident? Takes place sometime after Cosette starts meeting Marius in the garden, I think.
Please review! Constructive criticism appreciated!
Cosette flipped slowly through the pages one more time.
...convict...loaf of bread...24601...
...bishop...soul...
...Madeleine...
...Fantine...prostitute...dying...
...daughter...Cosette...sick...abused...
...running...Javert...convent...protect...
...running...
...man in the park...
...running...
Always running, Cosette thought. She felt sick. Her father... was not her father. She would never know her true father. Her parents had been unmarried. Cosette had heard a few rumors of such happenings... but living first with the nuns and later protected by Fauchelevent, she did not know quite what the truth was. But instinctively, she knew that this cast shame on her. No wonder her fath- no, Fauchelevent- no, Madeleine- no, Valjean- had hid this from her.
A sudden flame of anger burst up inside the normally serene girl. He had no right! And her thoughts came back to him, the one she trusted above all...
He was a convict! So, his carefully constructed lies were crumbling now, were they? Perhaps this Javert would find them soon and take the villain away, and send her to a true guardian.
Wait! Cried a small voice in the deepest regions of her mind, has he ever been unkind to you? Mistreated you in any way? This must all be some sick joke. Soon you will wake up, and there will your father be again, the good man that he is. There is no man better. Well, there is Marius... but that is different.
For surely he could not be a good convict. The two could not be reconciled. Could they?
Come to think of it, Father had never said much about thievery. Only that it was wrong to steal, but that those who repented would be forgiven. He said that God did not refuse those who turned to Him. But other than that, her father had avoided the subject.
As one with a secret would.
Should she show Marius? He was a lawyer; perhaps he knew how to find the truth. But would he hate her then?
A soft knock came at the door, but it startled Cosette as if it had been deafening. She quickly hid the book between her skirts, and called, "Come in!" as cheerfully and calmly as she could.
To be continued...
Please review! Constructive criticism appreciated!