Summary: Jean wants to help raise his sister more than he should

Victoire Pontmercy was a very precious baby in the home of her family, with two parents, a nanny and five siblings who adored her she was always being picked up and carried and doted on by one member of the family or another. Apart from her mother and father the other member of the family who loved her the most was her big brother Jean.

He was so taken with that baby girl; he had been since the day she was born. He was always the first one out of his siblings who wanted to hold her or help his mother or nanny care for her. Cosette of course was delighted that her little boy was such a good brother; Marius on the other hand was mildly concerned as he thought it made the boy seem soft.

"It'll teach him to be a good father one day" Cosette had told her husband, "I don't see any harm in it". This was the end of any concerns for her, but perhaps not so much for him, he let it go mostly because it was nice to see one of his boys being a good brother. Courfeyrac was uninterested in girly things at the time Victoire was born, and Léon was still a toddler, this left Jean the job of being the best brother in the home.

So it wasn't unusual one day when Victoire was only a month old that Jean heard her crying from her parents bedroom and wanted to comfort her. He was only seven at the time, but it was like an instinct for him to want to soother her cries.
She had been put down for a nap hours ago in the afternoon, but she was awake now and hungry for milk, Jean had been idly passing his parents bedroom when he heard her crying from her cot. Usually her mother would be there when she woke up from a nap but it seemed that on this day she was busy with other household duties for the moment, so Jean decided to check on his sister himself.

"Mama?" he said opening the door to his parents bedroom, thinking she might be in there. She wasn't, and his sister was still crying in her cot in the corner. He went up to her and tried to comfort her but he was slightly too short to see into the cot properly. His mother had set a rocking chair by the cot as to be convenient for feeding times so Jean thought it would be a good idea to climb upon that to get closer to his sister.

"Hello" he said sweetly to his sister as he perched precariously on the armrest of the chair. He reached over to stroke her little head, it was so soft and small and it made Jean smile. "Don't cry" he said, although he was unsure how to comfort her more. He didn't know it was because she needed feeding and he was ill equipped to provide that for her.

"Come here" he said putting his arms around the tiny bundle and attempting to pick her up out of her cot. It was difficult though considering his difficult position on the chair.

Just at that moment Cosette entered the room. "I'm coming sweetheart" she said softly before she saw Jean balancing on the rocking chair. "Jean!" she exclaimed, "get down from there this instant! What on earth are you doing?"

Jean got down rather unsteadily as Cosette made sure the baby was safe in the cot, lord knows what would have happened if Jean had taken her out of there when he was balanced on the chair like he was.

"What were you doing?" She asked again after the baby had settled down. "Why were you trying to pick her up"?

"She was crying mama; you weren't here so I wanted to help". He said, a little upset at being yelled at by his mother.

"You know you're not supposed to pick the baby up without an adult present, and certainly not when you're standing on the arm of a chair" she said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I wasn't going to hurt her" the boy said, looking sad at his mother

"I know" she said, softening a bit. "But anything could have happened. Babies are delicate and they wriggle, you could have dropped her by accident or both of you could have fallen".

"I'm sorry" he said, looking like he was about to cry.

"It's alright Jean" Cosette said, "I know you meant well. But promise me you'll never try and pick up your sister unless someone else is with you".

"I promise" he said looking at his feet. And then neither of them knew what else to say.

"She needs feeding, do you want to stay here with me while I feed her?" Cosette asked, to which the boy nodded.

Cosette gathered up the baby and sat on the rocking chair to let her feed whilst Jean perched himself on the end of his parents bed, watching intently whilst his mother cooed at his baby sister and rocked gently.

He had seen his mother breastfeeding before, but not quite so up close. He was fascinated by it to some extent and wasn't sure if he should ask questions about it or not. It looked terribly uncomfortable to him, but his mother seemed to take some joy in it.

"Does that hurt?" He blurted out suddenly

"Feeding? No" she said, looking at Jean curiously. "Well, maybe a little when Marie was a baby, but I wasn't so used to it then. After I had you it started to become easier. Now with this little one it's become something that just has to be done".

Jean didn't say anything to that, in fact he didn't know what else to say now.

"Why are you so curious?" Cosette asked her son, to which the boy just shrugged his shoulders. In truth he didn't know why he was so fascinated by babies and breastfeeding so much, it was like something he wasn't allowed to experience and therefore it made him want to experience it through others.

"Well, you'll never have to worry about feeding babies Jean" Cosette said with a smile "But I promise you when you have a wife of your own you'll see more things than you want to see".

"I don't think I want a wife" Jean said "but I think having children would be nice".

"Unfortunately they usually come as a pair" Cosette said, before remembering that that wasn't entirely true, due to many factors. "Well, unless"…..she began before remembering that Jean was still a little boy and didn't need to hear about the more unsavoury facts of life.

"Never mind that now" she said, changing the subject quickly "I think this little one's full".

"Can I take her downstairs now?" Jean said standing up from the bed

"I'd better do that" Cosette said, "Why don't you go and play with your brothers, I'm sure they're much more fun than a baby".

Jean looked a little sad at that suggestion, but said nodded anyway and headed towards the door.

"Jean" Cosette said before he opened the door "I'm glad Victoire has a brother like you, but remember that you're still a little boy. I'm the parent, you be my little man. Alright?"

"Yes mama" Jean said with a smile

I'll be honest folks, i wasn't really sure where i was going with this chapter i just wanted to get something new up as i haven't updated in ages. Sorry for the poor work :(