"How the everliving fuck did you find this number, Montparnasse?" Eponine spat as Enjolras turned around and came over to her without even setting the timer on the oven. She didn't bother to tell him to do so.

"Well, it was easy, really. Help from an outside source." Eponine shuddered at the pure enjoyment in his voice, and she hated him all the more.

Enjolras tried to hear what he was saying in the phone, but Eponine shook her head at him and gripped the countertop. "What do you want?" Eponine growled, trying to make her voice sound braver than she felt. Who gave him my home number? Can he find my apartment with just my number?

"Not much, really. I just want to have a quick chat with you," he drawled, the phone's metallic playback only notching up the eeriness.

Eponine bristled. "If you think I'd meet you, alone, after all you've done to me, you're off your fucking rocker."

"Oh, but I wouldn't do that if I were you," he interjected. "See, I have something that you might be interested in taking back."

"I can guarantee you-"

"No, 'Ponine, I can guarantee that you will want this one back. Meet me on the ally a little ways down from your adorable little bookstore. Eight PM. And before you threaten to send the cops down there, you should know that there will be severe consequences if any copper pulls up. Just like there will be severe consequences if you don't get there at eight."

Eponine looked at the clock. Three twenty, god damn it. "Why can't you meet me there now?"

Enjolras's eyes widened, and he mouthed no at her before she gave him a glare, effectively silencing him.

"Daylight, obviously." A thud came from behind him. "Shut the hell up!"

"Who are you with?" she demanded.

"No one you don't already know. And I think they might be interested in reacquainting themselves with you," he teased.

A million thoughts raced through her head. Had he brought her father? Had he sold her out to a cop for some fake crime? Was he going to try to jump her and kill her?

Casting another sidelong glance at Enjolras, she turned back into the phone. "Alright. But if this is some glorified prank, I'll kill you on sight."

She hung up without waiting for his answer.

"Eponine."

She grabbed her shoulder bag off of its hook, frantically looking for possible weapons. "Enjolras."

"Did you just agree to meet Montparnasse alone at night in a dark ally?"

Taking a sizable knife from a drawer and wrapping it in a hand towel, Eponine rolled her eyes at him. "I'm a lot less stupid than you make me out to be, you know."

"I didn't-"

"I'm not meeting Montparnasse alone," she sighed. "You're going to come and stand where he can't see you, and if it gets bad-" she paused to point at him for emphasis, "and by that I mean if my life is in imminent danger, you step in." She pulled out a meat tenderizer from the drawer and passed it to him. "You won't need to use it. The distraction of you will be enough for me to get a knife in his ribs."

"Eponine, he might have a gun."

No shit, like I didn't give that a thought? "Let's keep that on a might."

"I don't think that you're talking this seriously, can't we call the cops?" he asked, slipping the meat tenderizer into his pocket anyways. The handle stuck out too far, so he pulled his shirt over it.

"Whatever he's doing, he's going to do something worse if a cop comes."

Enjolras stood in front of the drawer of kitchen utensils, effectively blocking Eponine from loading up with more knives. "You are not going to confront him."

She rolled her eyes again. "I've managed to keep myself alive this long, Enjolras, and I can keep doing it. It must be the 'grew up as a pawn in my father's great chess game of organized crime' part of me showing through." Shoving him out of the way, she took a smaller knife with a two inch blade, which she could easily conceal. The big knife could always be a backup. "Besides, this is Montparnasse. The idiot couldn't string beads. He's not going to pull one over on me."

"Your hubris seems to be a growing a bit."

Eponine slammed the door closed. "I don't think you get it. Montparnasse is just a pest that you keep killing, but gets back in your house anyways. I've dealt with him before, and I can deal with him now. Not all of us grew up in sheltered, well-to-do neighborhoods with happy parents, okay? Maybe you can't deal, which is fine, just go home then."

Enjolras stood in the middle of her kitchen, slightly taken aback. "I thought you wanted me to-"

"Forget it. I don't need backup, I'm not some helpless little girl."

Enjolras paused, then nodded, but surprisingly, walked over to her couch and sat down, his eyes not leaving her challenging gaze. "I'll leave with you. I'll do everything you told me to do, wait outside of the ally, whatever. But I'm not letting you get yourself killed for that bastard's pleasure."

Fuming with rage, Eponine shoved a steak knife into her bag. "Fine. Be a chivalrous fucking knight."

She took the cupcakes out of the oven, ignoring the fact that they were only half baked. Cosette's birthday could wait for a little while, she supposed. Maintaining her angered countenance while panicking on the inside, she sat down on the couch next to Enjolras and started to watch the clock.