A/N: So… you can totally tell I'm mourning for my favorite characters can't you? Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Ah, well. This is unbetaed, deal with it. I hope I finish it. I usually do.

Disclaimer: Gavroche, Eponine and Javert belong to one Mr. Victor Hugo, now dead, and I claim no rights to them whatsoever.

Gavroche blinked around in confusion. The barricade no longer loomed above him, the bodies of the dead had vanished, all replaced by a white void. When he looked down it was to see his ragged clothes washed and pressed, his various satchels missing. His hands were clean, gone was the dirt beneath the nails which had been there since the day of his birth. "What in the name of--"

"Gavroche?"

The young urchin took note of the fact that he no longer had lungs. If he had, they would have stopped functioning at the sound of that voice. "'Ponine?" He whirled around to see his dead sister standing behind him, her expression as shocked as his own.

"You died?" she exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "How could you die? You're a child, you're not supposed to die!"

Ignoring his sister's confused babbling, Gavroche ran beneath her quivering hand to throw his arms around her waist. He pressed his face firmly into her dress, and refused to budge an inch. Finally, her expression softening, Eponine let her arms fall around her little brother.

For quite some time they stood like that, simply coming to terms with each other's unexpected presence. After a few moments, however, they were interrupted by a clipped cough.

"Ahem." A man with a pointed face stepped out of the white, wearing a pair of thin glasses. His hair was pulled straight back from his face, and everything about him looked stretched, as though someone had taken hold of his head and his feet and pulled. "As tender as this moment appears to be for the both of you, there are things to be done. You'll forgive me if I request that you save your sentimentality for later."

"Who're you?" Gavroche asked insolently, only to be silenced by Eponine's hand on his shoulder.

"He's an administrator of Heaven," Eponine replied. "He's been waiting here with me since yesterday, but he wouldn't tell me who for. I guess it was you."

Gavroche blinked owlishly. "An adminiwhosit of what?"

"Heaven," sniffed the administrator. "Congratulations, you've both made the cut, if only by a little. The both of you have taken what was never yours, but you took it only out of necessity. You, Eponine, have been jealous, but you never acted on your jealousy. These are halfway sins, and forgiven. Unlike your... less than virtuous parents, you have been kind and good--" The administrator paused for a moment, and seemed to be thinking. "I wonder... would you do one favor for the man about to arrive? It would certainly mean much to him, though he will not appreciate it immediately, and it will be but the slightest inconvenience to you in the face of eternity."

Gavroche opened his mouth to refuse, but Eponine flicked his ear. "Of course, good administrator. It would be our pleasure." To Gavroche, she hissed, "We only made it in by a hair. Don't ruin it now."

A wide smile split the administrator's face, looking more like a grimace than anything. "Marvelous! How good of you. He should be along any minute--"

The administrator's words were cut off by the sudden appearance of a disheveled-looking man in a police uniform. He clambered to his feet, his hair in disarray and his face harried. "Where in God's name--"

"You!" Gavroche howled, coming to stand in front of his sister. "What're you doing here? You ought to be rotting in Hell, Inspector Javert!"

Javert straightened and turned to narrow his eyes at the young urchin. "You're the little guttersnipe who uncovered my identity at the barricade!" His eyes turned to Eponine. "And who is she? Some backstreet whore dead in the battle, no doubt."

Eponine could barely hold Gavroche back as he snarled and lunged for Javert. "Don't you ever talk about my sister like that, you slimy old--"

The administrator stepped between them, hands spread. "Now, now, gentlemen, no need for that. Gavroche, Eponine, this is Javert. Javert, you'd best be kind to these children. They are all that stand between you and damnation."

Silence fell like a brick released from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

"What?" Javert hissed, his voice oozing with suspicion.

From the looks on their faces, Eponine and Gavroche were just as apprehensive about this change of mood.

His sly smile growing, the administrator turned to the Thenardier siblings. "Why, did you not agree just moments ago to do a favor for the man expected to arrive next?"

"Yeah," Gavroche spat, "But we didn't know it'd be him."

"Ah, but that is the risk you take when making promises." He turned to Javert. "In life you were an honest man. You fought for what you thought was justice, and put many evil men behind bars. However, you also imprisoned many innocent people. Your good and bad are almost evenly balanced, but the evil outweighs the other by just the barest hint of a fraction. Since this is such a borderline case, we are prepared to offer you a second chance. These two children never had a proper father. We will place you all back on earth, your bodies repaired, in England where no one will recognize you. You, Javert, will be a father to these children and take on whatever duties that entails. If they can come to care for you and you for them, in spite of the crimes for which you know they are guilty, then you will be welcomed into Heaven with open arms upon your passing. If, however, no love grows between you, the children will remain in Heaven under our care and you, Javert, will be sent to the eternal flame."

There was a long, pregnant pause.

"Then we're agreed!" chirped the administrator cheerfully, and he clapped his hands three times. The white of their surroundings became blinding, and when they could see again they were standing in the sitting room of a large, Victorian house.

"Well," Eponine murmured dizzily, "That was sudden."

Then she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

A/N: I'd love to hear from you. I love all reviews, but critiques make my heart jump around all funny and rainbows dance on my walls.