Enjolras looked around the small café for the first time that night since his friends had shown up. It was now almost empty, save a few regulars that had nothing to do with the Amis, and a drunk Courfeyrac and Grantaire sitting in the corner usually occupied by the Amis. Enjolras had spent most of the night reading yet another book, this time it was

Oliver Twist. Yes, like Great Expectations, he had read it many times before, but seeing Eponine read a Charles Dickens book had motivated him to revisit the works written by one of his favorite authors.

In fact, in the past week, he had already gone through both Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities while spending his time in the café. Yes, that did take up much of his time. Time that Enjolras usually spent back at his apartment, studying for the next exam or writing his term paper. His friends had began to wonder why he was spending so much time at the café. Enjolras did love the place like a second home, but they had never seen him so dedicated to sitting at that exact table every day after classes until well into the night. They tried everything to see if he would budge. They invited him out, offered to all go out to dinner, the works, but every time he would tell them that he was busy and they should go on without him. Eventually they just gave up and let him be.

What they really didn't know was that Enjolras was waiting. He was waiting for the bruised girl to show up again. Eponine hadn't come back to the café ever since she noticed him looking at her injuries. That would mean, today, she hadn't been seen by any of the Amis in 8 days. Not even Marius had mentioned her, and he was supposedly one of her "great friends". Enjolras didn't know why, but he felt concerned for the girl. Maybe it was just his chivalrous attitude, but he felt like he needed to help her. Yes, she had gone weeks without coming to the café before and no one really cared, but that was before Enjolras knew about the bruises. Now that wasn't okay. Now that meant she could be in danger.

So there he sat, every day, waiting for her to come into the café. It had become such a routine that he almost didn't know what to do when the familiar ding of the door opening and hitting the bell above it sounded and a petite figure came into the café, coat drawn tightly. He looked up from his book and did a double take, making sure he wasn't seeing things. No, that was definitely Eponine. She had another book in hand. This time, it was The Great Gatsby. He swallowed and looked down at his book quickly, not wanting to seem like he was staring. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her order her drink and then make his way to a table near him.

The two sat for a while, the only sound was the rambling from the two drunks in the corner and the slight shuffling of papers from the other customers. Occasionally Enjolras would notice Eponine glance at him as she turned the page in her book, but only for a few seconds before diving back into the story. Enjolras figured that nothing would happen now, so he pushed himself instead to concentrate on finishing the book he held now.

After what seemed like hours, but was really only maybe twenty minutes, he felt a presence in front of his table. He looked up, startled, only to find it was Eponine standing there, staring down at him, coffee in hand. She bit her lip and pulled the chair across from him out and sat down, leaning across the table and talking quickly and quietly. "I know what you saw, but you can't say anything. Not to anyone. Please." She glanced at the two Amis across the room, but they were too caught up in a game of cards using the deck Grantaire always kept on his person to notice. "And please, please, tell me you didn't say anything yet." Eponine looked back at him, eyebrows drawn.

He couldn't help but lean forward and reply sadly, "Who did it and why?" He didn't know why he said it, but he felt he had a right to know. If she was going to ask him to hide it he might as well have a good enough reason. At his question, her face immediately turned from urgency to stone.

"You don't need to know any of that. Just please tell me what I need to know and I'll leave you alone." She said coldly before biting her lip once more. He hated that. It made her seem to vulnerable.

"I didn't say anything." He kept it short, not wanting to make her any more angry than she was already. "Eponine...whatever's happening doesn't seem to be good..do you need help?" Enjolras didn't mean to be so blunt, but he needed to make sure she understood that he was there if she needed it. Hell, the whole of the Amis were. Despite her only really being friends with Marius, any friend of one of them was a friend of all of them.

Before the sentence was barely out, she was already standing. She glanced down at him once more, a small smile on her face. A rarity from Eponine, who always seemed so down and lonely. "No...but thank you Enjolras..thank you for, you know, not saying anything. And thank you for not asking." She glanced out the window and he followed her gaze to a black pick-up truck. Eponine looked back at him and he could see the defeat in her eyes. "I have to go...see you later." She said before gathering her jacket and her book and disappearing out the door once more.

Sighing, he watched her climb into the car with a man he had never seen before. Quickly after the door shut, the car sped down the street with a horrible screech from the tires. That's when he realized something. Even if Eponine didn't want his help, he was going to anyways. There was something happening to Eponine. Something bad, and he was going to find out what.

A/N: I'm really nervous about this part guys. I wasn't sure how to have them first talk and I thought that maybe this was the way to go...I know it's not cute or fluffy or like anything close to E/E yet, but whatever. Takin' it slow, yeah? I'm not sure if I wrote this how it should have been, so please, please let me know if you liked it.

Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!