Disclaimer: I own nothing but my feels and the plot.

Author's Note: Well after sitting on the completed chapter for about 4 or 5 months I finally remembered that I hadn't actually typed up this chapter like I had thought. So apologies for the delay. Thanks all of you who are still sticking with me and showing support.

I've really enjoyed working on the next couple chapters to come. This story has sort of become my happy place over this and the last semester. Even if I don't update often, I work on it a lot here and there. It's just a real joy to develop all these relationships and my own personal modern day characterizations of them. Hopefully I've done them justice.

Okay, I've made you all wait long enough so please enjoy.

A little over half an hour had passed since breakfast and now R was walking beside a very determined Eponine on the busy Parisian streets. She seemed nervous but there was a practiced sort of decisiveness to the way she led Grantaire from their apartment. She seemed different now, not just since they left but over the past couple of days in general. Grantaire's perception of her had altered radically since she started staying with them. He wasn't sure if it was because he was just seeing her in a non-workplace setting for the first time or if she had actually changed since getting out from her parents' thumb. Perhaps it was a little bit of both.

Regardless of the cause, the fact remained that Eponine was now more than just the friendly bartender he'd known a few days ago. He was still getting to know this version of her but he thought that he probably liked her better. She was more open and less resistant to letting herself be close to them. This Eponine listened to him and helped him more than any shrink ever had. This Eponine wasn't afraid to tell him about her own past or brush hands with him as they walked together. They'd been friends before, to be sure. They'd joked and teased and talked but it had an altered dimension now, more intimate in a number of ways. Something about her assault and his confession yesterday had catapulted them past some unseen line and into the borderlands approaching a deep friendship.

He wasn't going to say anything but he knew there was a deeper significance to her asking him to come with her today. Her relationship with her parents had always been complicated and messy for as long as he'd known her and probably much longer than that even. And from the way she had fidgeted while he ate earlier, it was clear she was deeply anxious about going back. Not that he blamed her, this was the sort of situation that, in his own life, would be systematically avoided and treated with large quantities of alcohol. But that wasn't Eponine, she may not like something but she always faced it head on. And, after what she did for him yesterday, he figured the least he could do was be there for her today, however she needed him.

As they continued walking he couldn't help but notice the quality of the streets deteriorate. The vegetation was no longer well maintained or in neat little plots. Weeds grew in clusters as they creeped through the cracks in the pavement. The cigarette butts, fast food wrappers, and broken bottles lay abandoned on the sides of the road and in the entrances to the alleyways they passed had increased in frequency. The graffiti smeared across signs and boarded up store fronts ranged from obscene to territorial. All of this culminated in that, despite the broad daylight that illuminated the scene, the whole atmosphere reminded R of the attack the other night. He began unconsciously walking a little closer to Eponine. If she noticed, she didn't say anything. She didn't seem afraid though, more sure of herself. She walked quickly but not skittishly. These were her streets and she would not be cowed simply because she was a slight, young female. She'd learned long ago that that attitude made up for a lot of things. Besides, she felt safer with R by her side.

Before too long she slowed her pace and led him down a smaller side street. After a few paces though, she stopped and stared across the road. Before them was a row of narrow two-story apartments.

"Well, here we are," she announced anxiously, gesturing to the one directly in front of them. He wasn't sure if it was just because he had foreknowledge of the people who lived there and the way they treated their kids inside of it but the apartment seemed dirtier than the others.

Eponine made to move forward but Grantaire suddenly caught her arm. The scar she'd shown him on her back yesterday at the forefront of his mind. "Are you sure they're gone?"

Eponine caught a small amount of panic along with an ample dose of concern pouring off of him as he held her arm, not tightly but firmly. He was really worried about her. The look both surprised and touched her. In that look the weight of his regard for her hit her in the chest. She could feel his fear of something happening to her and it reminded her of how differently they'd grown up. He'd probably been raised in the suburbs with name brand food and clothes. He may have dealt with parents who neglected and blamed him but they still did what was right by societal standards. Her parents didn't give a shit. Period. Getting smacked around for disobedience was just a thing that happened. She may resent and dislike it but she didn't fear it like most people did. Her first impulse was to brush him off but she couldn't do that to R, the same person who watched his little sister die and had been unable to do anything about it. Eponine could see the fear that he'd have to watch her slip away too.

She didn't want to call him on it though so she tried to inject some levity into the situation while assuaging his doubts. "If they were home I'm pretty sure the house would be on fire."

He examined her seriously, not appreciating her humor for the first time since she had met him. So she tried another tack -honesty. "The windows are shut. My mother always leaves them open when she's home to let the cigarette smoke out. My dad only shuts them before they both leave so thieves don't get in through the windows. They aren't home."

Grantaire examined the apartment critically as she spoke, not liking the look of general disrepair that was evident in the old paint and damaged shutters. There didn't seem to be any signs of life though so he guessed she was right. Momentarily satisfied but unable to completely settle the unease in his stomach, he nodded slowly and released her arm. Taking this as a sort of acceptance of her words she began to cross the street again but this time she reached back and took his calloused hand with charcoal always in his nails in her own smaller, tanned one. Something about the gesture, the gentle assurance that it'd be okay and trusted him enough to show him her dismal house, calmed some of the previous panic he felt as he let her lead him.

The small grassy area right in front was brown and overgrown with a cracked concrete path running through the center that Eponine walked across like a warrior marching into the field of battle. She ignored the scratchy weeds that trailed across her ankles. A little discomfort had never daunted her. Once she got to the door she bent down and picked up a broken brick from a pile by the door- a sort of monument to decay of the neighborhood. A small bronze key fell into her palm when she shook it before replacing it on its pile. The key was smooth to the touch and slightly warm from baking in the brick as Eponine turned it over in her hands.

"Dad took my key but forgot where I hid the spare," she said to Grantaire by way of explanation.

He nodded in understanding as she unlocked the peeling brown door. He'd gotten the impression that her parents had taught her how to pick locks but he didn't want to risk offending her by saying as much so he kept his mouth shut. It was fine with him if it was true but he knew that Eponine could be sensitive about things like her seedy upbringing and vague criminal associations.

Upon entering the house, the first thing that hit him was the smell of cigarettes and alcohol. Though R had been known to overindulge in both, after standing in the doorway for a solid minute as the pungent odor nearly shoved him back out of the house, he resolved to never let it get that bad. Clothes, dirty dishes, and trash lay strewn about across the table, couches, and on the floor like leaves in a park. Eponine sighed sadly as she stepped over chip bag in her path.

"I normally tried to keep things in some kind of order but I guess since I've been gone…" she let the sentence trail off but Grantaire understood.

She cast her eyes about, trying to focus on anything but the mess and the memories that being back returned to her. She began fidgeting with a silver ring on her middle finger before finally turning to him and saying quickly, "Okay I'm going to grab my stuff so we can get out of here. Could you keep an eye out the front window in case they come back?"

"Sure," he replied with a nod.

He couldn't blame her for not wanting to waste time any more time here than was necessary. There was an unsettling atmosphere about the place, hanging low with the stench. He couldn't help but feel a creeping sense of unease prickling along his exposed arms from just standing there. For lack of anything better to do to dislodge the sensation he moved farther into the living room to look out the window Eponine had mentioned.

One thing that struck him immediately was the lack of decorations. The rooms of his parents' house had been like a museum. Complex paintings and stuffy posed family portraits hung in ornate frames while delicate, pretty things and thick tomes filled the shelves. Everything was for show or to prove their wealth and status. Here there wasn't anything on the walls but stains and the one shelf bore nothing but empty beer bottles, dirty dishes and crumpled up napkins. There were no family photos displayed with pride but then again there was no pride in the Thenardier family name and no distinguished guests to impress. The old, large and unwieldy television was layered in dust, a small stack of DVDs and VHSs on top. The bulky couch had probably once been a beige-y cream color but years of misuse had stained it a sickly brown hue with swirls of green and red from where food had been spilled. Grantaire had never met Mr. or Mrs. Thenardier but in that moment of being in the house where Eponine had lived for so many years he hated them fiercely.

In the minutes he'd wasted he'd turned a full circle, his gaze fixed firmly to the window with his back to the kitchen door. It was then that something hard pressed into his lower back.

"Don't move," a garbled voice said from behind him.

R's heart started beating in his ears, his thoughts racing to Eponine upstairs. If this was her father Grantaire had to keep him from finding out she was there.

"What are you doing here?" The stranger asked.

"I- I…" R began haltingly as he wracked his brain for any plausible excuse. Before he could think of anything, however, light footfalls sounded from the top of the stairs. Sweat beaded on Grantaire's forehead as panic set in. The world turned in slow motion as her feet came into view and he spluttered out, "No Eponine! Don't!"

It was too late though, before he'd gotten it out she'd come into full view. Looking back Grantaire couldn't remember what he thought was going to happen but what he didn't expect was for Eponine's confused face to break into a huge grin as the pressure disappeared from his back. Then the voice from behind him changed into a high, joyous yell.

"Eponine!" It shouted before shoving R as a small figure with light brown hair ran past him to meet her.

"Gavroche!" She replied before promptly rushing down the remaining steps, dropping the duffle bag at the bottom before embracing her little brother in a tight hug. After a minute Eponine returned her gaze to Grantaire as he tried to return his heart rate to normal after his scare. She narrowed her eyes at Gavroche.

"Were you messing with Grantaire?" she asked as she finally pulled back to evaluate him properly.

"Maybe a little," he admitted, brandishing a Nerf gun in answer. "But he was a stranger in the house! What was I supposed to do?"

Eponine grinned, ruffling his hair affectionately. "That's my boy."

"Hey!" Grantaire protested, as he had only barely managed to calm down.

"What? You want an apology?" She snarked back confidently. "I'm sorry but you were a potential predator on his turf. All bets are off on how he can retaliate."

R rolled his eyes but Eponine just laughed and hugged Gavroche again, comforted by the feel of him, warm and close beside her. It was a sweet change to see the normally guarded Eponine show a more maternal side. Grantaire could see there was a lot of love between them. And as happy as it made him to see her so open, he couldn't help the pang in his chest when the image brought to mind his own younger sibling he couldn't look out for anymore. He turned away. His eyes bored into the spot on the wall beside him where the peeling paint made a shape like a shoe.

"Wait, what are you doing here?" Eponine asked, pulling back. "Why aren't you out with Mom and Dad?"

"Well my first tourist gave me enough that I can fool them into thinking I was out all day. Plus, I knew you were gonna come so I had to sneak back here." Gavroche smiled proudly at his report. He really was a smart boy.

"That was really risky Gav," Eponine warned with a stern expression. She tried to hold it in but it cracked with a dazzling grin before relenting. "I'm glad you did."

She then bent down to give him a thorough once over. "How've you been though? You okay?"

"Not too shabby." Gavroche declared with a forced sort of bravado. He stuck out his chin but Grantaire couldn't help but notice how it trembled slightly before he said "I miss you though."

Eponine brushed his hair out of his eyes with a sad look in her eyes that made Grantaire have to look away with the force of her sincerity.

"I missed you too big guy," She finally said. "But it won't be forever. I promise you that. And you can always come see me anytime you need me. You just have to be careful, okay? If I give you my address and Grantaire's phone number, do you think you can memorize it? You'll have to burn it afterwards so Mom and Dad can't find it though."

Gav's voice lit up with excitement. "Like we're spies?"

"You bet!" Eponine said, laughing. "We're totally spies. We've been on enough secret missions to make us seasoned agents."

"Oh yeah!" Gavroche said excitedly.

There was a flurry of movement to his left so Grantaire looked over to see Eponine picking up a crumpled receipt off the floor to write the information down on. Gavroche meanwhile took this as an opportunity to eyeball R appraisingly. The boy had already decided that the newcomer wasn't a threat but he was still an unknown. Gavroche was instantly curious about this messy-haired man who Eponine had trusted enough to bring home- something she'd never done before. They didn't seem romantic but it made Gavroche curious.

Grantaire had returned to his occupation of looking around aimlessly when he felt the boy's eyes on him and turned to meet his gaze. Gavroche smiled at him but as the expression was something you might see on a manic, evil pixie, it was decidedly less than comforting. R found himself at a loss. He was bad with kids -he felt Jacquelyn kind of proved that- and hadn't really been around any since she died. But he knew how important Gav was to Eponine and since she'd started to become important to him, R was resolved to at least play nice. He tried to small back but just as Gav's had been more unsettling than welcoming, Grantaire's came off as more nauseated than friendly. Fortunately for both of them, Eponine finished writing before things could get more awkward between them.

"Alright, so this is where I'm going to be living for a while so if you need me I'll mostly be either there or at work. If I'm not or you can't get away, call R and he'll pass along any message. You got all that?"

Gav nodded gravely as he accepted like it was some sort of sacred charge. She then dug into her pockets and withdrew a few bills and gave them to him as well. "Good. Now that's all I can give you now but I'll try to squirrel some money away for you if you need more." She sighed, looking at the clock on the VCR player. "We're gonna have to go now. I don't wanna risk running into the 'rents if they decided to come back early. But you take care of yourself while I'm gone, you hear?"

The concern on Eponine's face was real and it was painful but Gavroche seemed to know just what to do. He knew how to sooth her when she'd go all mother hen on him, he just looked up at her with a strength and confidence that a boy of his age shouldn't have to have. He winked before squaring his shoulders like a soldier. "Don't worry about me Ep. Being small has its advantages, people always underestimate me. It's them who should be worried."

Eponine let out a beautiful, clear laugh. "Don't I know it!"

She knew he'd be okay but still reached out to hold onto his shoulder all the same. Their time was running out and she knew it but she just wanted to take him away from all this. She wanted to not worry about her parents screwing up Gav like they had her but that wasn't an option right now. She looked around to find anything else to do or say but she knew that if she didn't leave then, she would never be able to. All she could do was hope that one day things would get easier.

She let Gavroche go. "I'd love to stay kiddo, but we should probably scoot. I promise you I'll see you real soon though."

"You better," he said as he hugged her tight. His small arms wrapped around her stomach and buried his face in her shirt.

She held him close for a long time, vaguely noting Grantaire wandering to the front door and peeking out the window. After a couple minutes she finally pulled away. "Goodbye hon."

Grantaire watched as she turned away and began walking away. He could see on her face how hard it was to hold onto her resolve to leave so he opened the door for her to make it as easy as he could on her. Just before she could fully leave though, Gavroche blurted out, "Love you, big sis."

She stopped and turned, giving him a small smile. "Love you too, squirt."

Then she walked out the door, leaving R to wave awkwardly. "See you round."

Gav held up his Nerf gun again in a strange sort of salute. "So long, Predator."

Grantaire chuckled before following Eponine out, not sure if it was a sign of respect or a warning but R thought that he probably liked the kid.

And then they shut the door and then slowly made their way from the bad part of town and back to the comfort of their apartment.

Author's Note: And there we go. Hope that was worth the wait! I'm typically not good at including Gav into my stories but as this story is basically a collage of all of Eponine's relationships as she goes through this sort of journey, I felt it was crucial. And don't worry he'll be coming back later.

So yes, this chapter's another different turn but I enjoyed writing it as I explored Grantaire's and Eponine's relationship more. It was also fun writing the interactions between R and Gav. Haha.

Anyway, please let me know what you all thought! Hopefully it won't be too long before I have the next chapter up.