Okay, so I just got back from seeing Les Miserables... again... and this popped into my head when Eponine was talking to Marius in his apartment. In the book, Marius and the Thenardiers are neighbours so... well, here's my idea.

Disclaimer: I don't own Les Miserables or the characters.

Marius was sitting in his apartment, reading one of his law books, when he heard a loud thump and the sound of wood breaking. He put his law book down and got up. The sound had come from the neighbouring apartment. There was another loud thump, followed by the sound of a creaky door being opened, another thump, and lastly, the sound of a door being slammed shut. Marius walked over to the door and opened it, wondering what on earth his neighbours were doing. There, on the ground, he saw a girl holding her head, her face was contorted in pain.

The girl's head was bleeding quite a bit. Her tangled brown hair was dripping blood and her grimy hands were covered in it. Marius looked at the girl in shock, wondering what had happened to her. Had she been beaten? Was that what all the noise had been?

The girl didn't move, just sat there on the ground, leaning against the wall, and holding her head. She didn't seem to notice Marius. Marius walked over to the girl and knelt down next to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. The girl, not looking at him, gave a slight, sarcastic laugh.

"Do I look alright?" she asked sarcastically. Marius frowned.

"Let me help you," Marius said, standing up and holding out a hand for her. Still not looking at him, the girl stood up without any help from Marius. "How badly are you hurt?" he asked her.

"I've had worse." she replied merely. Then, she looked at him. She took in his handsome, young face that was seemingly full of concern. She looked into his deep, caring blue eyes.

"Are you sure you don't need help? It looks like you've lost a lot of blood." he noted. He wasn't wrong. There was a large puddle of the girl's blood on the floor and the poor girl was still bleeding.

"I'll be fine," she said, not wanting him–or anyone else, for that matter–to think she was weak. But as she said this, she stumbled a bit and nearly collapsed. As I've mentioned, the girl had lost a lot of blood. Marius held the girl up so that she did not fall.

"Please, let me help you." he said, watching her worriedly. The girl sighed and gave in to Marius' offer of help. Marius brought the girl inside his apartment and treated her wounds to the best of his ability–which was actually pretty good.

Marius noticed that girl was shivering. Then he noticed the threadbare cloth that she was wearing. Marius gave her the blanket from his bed. There wasn't much else he could do. While it was true that Marius had a rich grandfather, it was also true that Marius refused to take any of his money. Marius had only the money that he had earned, which was still a fair amount. But he did not use it on finding better living quarters. His apartment was quite bland. There was not much in it. He had a bed, a fire place, a sofa, a small chest, a washing basin, and a bookcase. The small chest contained a few articles of clothing as well as an extra pillow and an extra blanket. The bookcase had only a couple of law books.

The girl wrapped the blanket around herself, still shivering. Marius noticed how thin she was. She looked like she hadn't eaten in days, which, in truth, she hadn't. The girl was covered in grime and her hair was in knots, yet she still retained some beauty. The girl was also covered in bruises. She was very pale, but that was probably due to loss of blood.

"What happened?" he asked, wondering how she had gotten the injury in the first place.

"Nothing," she replied. Marius raised an eyebrow. The girl frowned. "Well I didn't do anything." she added. She sighed. "This," she said, gesturing towards her head wound "is what happens when my father gets angry."

"He... he beats you?" Marius asked, shocked. The girl nodded sadly. "Why?"

"I wish I knew." she replied, frowning. A sudden thought occured to her. "I really must be going." she said quickly. She gave him back the blanket. "My name's Eponine, by the way." she told him.

"I'm Marius." he said. Eponine smiled slightly. It was the first time Marius had seen her smile. It was amazing how that small smile lit up her face. Marius smiled back, which made Eponine's smile widen.

"Well it was a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Marius." she said before she left.

Marius hoped that she wasn't going back to her father. For some reason, he didn't want anything bad to happen to Eponine, for some reason he felt protective of her. But Eponine hadn't gone back to her father, nor did she intend to.

Eponine had left because she didn't want her father to know that Marius had helped her, she was worried that her father might do something to Marius. So Eponine took to the streets. She knew she couldn't go back to her father. She was now homeless.

Alrighty, so now it's up to you whether or not I continue this. If you want it to be more than a one-shot, then please say so in a review. Au revoir!