Éponine was running with her little brother Gavroche clutching her hand. Behind her, the voices of her parents echoed in the gap that separated them. She felt she couldn't breath anymore and her brother was in the same conditions so they hid under a bush, their mouths covered so their parents didn't noticed them. She closed her eyes when she felt the steps approaching and the candle lighting up the exact place where they were.

"Where are the stupid girl and the brat?" Madame Thénardier asked very irritated.

Éponine wiped the tears that started to form with the back of her hand. She was only eleven years old and her parents were very abusive to her and her siblings so she decided to run away. Her sister Azelma had stayed behind, claiming there wasn't a better place than their parents' side. Gavroche was too small to decide but he was very close to his sister 'Ponine so she decided to take him with her.

"Why are you crying 'Ponine?" Gavroche whispered in her ear but she just made a sign for him to be quiet.

"It's like the earth swallowed them both," Monsieur Thénardier said.

Éponine remembered the loving parents she once had but the memories were so old that they now had become part of a very cruel dream.

"Where's Azelma? She must know where the hell they are," her mother said once again.

'Zelma had told her parents. There was no doubt. Éponine didn't resent her though for she had said she would do so when she proposed the idea one night after a beating.

They spent that night huddled under that bush. When they woke up, Éponine gave Gavroche some bread she had stolen from her parents. They walked half hidden for a few days, stealing bread and pickpocketing whenever they needed and sleeping huddled together to avoid the cold as much as they could.

The night they arrived in Paris was the coldest of the season. They had walked hungrily through the outskirts of the city without finding anything to eat, not even crumbs. They got to a point in which Gavroche started complaining of fatigue and Éponine sought for a place to sleep very quickly, which she found in a small fenced garden. They both jumped the fence and felt soon asleep.

"Who are you?" A woman asked while looking at them in disbelief.

Éponine woke up to see the sunrise.

"Oh! 'Roche, 'Roche wake up! We must leave 'Roche!" Éponine said alarmed, ignoring the stares of the woman.

" 'Ponine I'm very hungry! I swear I cannot move, my head aches so much!"

The woman had knelt besides them.

"Come on sweethearts, let's go home, it's time for breakfast," She said with a maternal smile while taking Gavroche in her arms. Éponine ran by her side.

They entered to a mansion. It was big and elegant, with sober colors and many rooms. The woman guided them to the living room, where there was a man reading a newspaper.

"Cecile, ma belle, who are these two?" The man looked at the kids, skinny and all ragged. Éponine guessed their presence contrasted very much to all the beauty of the house and felt ashamed.

"They are 'Ponine and 'Roche, my dear, our visitors since last night," Cecile said and then winked to Éponine, who was smiling at her.

"Oh, nice to meet you mademoiselle, I'm Jaques Lafévre, the husband of the beautiful lady over there," he said with a bright smile.

"I'm Éponine," She answered, "And he's Gavroche."

Gavroche jumped to Éponine's side and Madame Lafévre was gone for a few minutes. Everyone was quiet and it became very uncomfortable.

"Did you get lost?" Monsieur Lafévre asked.

"No monsieur, we actually don't know where to go," Éponine answered.

"I see…and your parents?" He asked.

"They didn't treat us good, they were bad people to both of us. Also to our sister 'Zelma but she didn't want to come with us and she told them and they searched for us and we had to hide," She answered again.

"Oh," he said before standing up and taking a sip of something red in a glass.

"Breakfast's ready," Madame Lafévre said and they all walked to the dinning room.

"Nana, would you bother in preparing a bath for this kids?" Madame Lafévre asked to the woman that was serving the food.

"Of course Madame," She said and disappeared through a door.

Both kids were bathed after breakfast. Some new clothing appeared for them out of nowhere and they were very grateful for it, although Éponine seemed to enjoy it more than Gavroche. They fell asleep afterwards for their night hadn't been very restful.

From the doorway, Monsieur and Madame Lafévre saw the kids bundled together and sighed. They had been together for twenty years and they couldn't have any children.

"Are you thinking what I am dear?" She asked.

"Ma belle they escaped home, what if their parents are looking for them?" he said.

"Come on my love, look at the state they came in, do you think good parents would let kids live in that state?"

"There are people down the street that don't have better ways to maintain their children, ma chérie,"

"Yeah but why would they escape then?"

"That's what I don't know…Éponine said they weren't very well treated,"

"Very well, there you have it,"

In her sleep, Éponine saw the couple looking at her with love and affection and dreamt of the perfect family she had always wanted. She smiled, she would probably be happy now.

I want to apologize to all of the readers of this fanfic because it was dreadfully written in all terms...thanks to judybear236 it's getting better, she's helping me with grammar and spelling, which I'm not very good at as you might have seen...thanks for reading/commenting!