Epilogue

They spend Christmas Eve with all of their friends, first having dinner at their favorite diner in the Marigny ("Tachos. Fucking tater-tot nachos, guys. It's genius."), and then driving around in Feuilly's ridiculously over-sized van looking at Christmas lights and singing obnoxious Christmas carols. Eponine's hand rests on Enjolras' thigh as they sit in the back of the van and he plants soft kisses on her temple every once in a while when he thinks no one is looking. He only sort of minds now when his friends send obnoxious "awwws" in their direction or when Cosette literally has to fight back happy tears every time they make eye contact.

He has everything he could possibly want at this moment, and though he knows they will surely reach trying times in both their lives and relationship, he is confident that they can fight through them together. Once he commits to something, or someone, he isn't one to give up easily. Eponine isn't either.

When they are finally home later that night by themselves, Eponine sits him on the couch. "So...I got you a few presents. You can't open them until tomorrow, but there's one you can enjoy tonight."

"Please tell me this present involves you getting naked."

"It might." She winks at him, then retreats into the bedroom. She comes back out a few minutes later with a short, silky, red robe on.

"I like the color," Enjolras says. "Red suits you." He's always had a thing for red.

"Thank you; I thought you'd approve." Eponine slowly unties the robe and lets it fall to the floor to reveal a lacy red lingerie set that immediately makes Enjolras lick his lips. She smiles seductively at his reaction and moves to the couch, straddling his lap.

They make love right there, slowly and sensuously, his eyes never leaving hers. Enjolras stifles her cries as she comes with his mouth, pulling her bottom lip between his teeth. Afterwards, Eponine stays in his lap, resting her forehead against his and playing with his hair.

"I think you should wear this every Christmas Eve," Enjolras finally says, leaning down and burying his face in her cleavage. "Even after we have kids and Christmas will be crazy."

Eponine sucks in a breath and pulls on his hair, turning his face back to hers. Her eyes are searching his face. "Did you just say we're going to have children? Jesus, I've really done a number on you, Enjolras."

He blushes and shrugs. "So maybe I've thought about the future."

"Good. I'm glad you have. Because even when your beautiful, full head of curly hair is long gone, I promise I'll still love you," she teases.

"Who says it's going anywhere?"

She snorts. "I've seen your father. He's bald. There's no way this is lasting."

"Maybe I'll get lucky."

"Or maybe I'll just have to enjoy it while it lasts."

"I'm not going to go bald, Eponine."

"I'm asking your dad tomorrow when he started to lose his hair."

Now Enjolras is laughing. "Don't you dare! My family is insane enough already without getting onto the subject of hair loss. We totally don't have to go there tomorrow, anyway...the few times a year I see my family are a few times too many."

Eponine shrugs. "We can decide tomorrow. Right now, though..." She leans forward and brushes her lips against his ear. "Take me to bed."

Enjolras stands, scooping her up in his arms. "You don't have to ask me twice."

The next morning, Enjolras wakes up to Eponine bouncing on the bed beside him. "Wake up! I want to open my presents and see what my sexy boyfriend bought me." She teasingly runs a finger down his bare chest, then grabs his hand, pulling him to his feet. He's still half asleep and sighs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When Eponine hands him a pair of pajamas, he dutifully puts them on and follows her into the living room. A pan full of cinnamon rolls is cooling on top of the oven and filling the room with a delicious aroma.

"Can we eat first?"

"Hell no. Sit your ass down. It's present time."

Enjolras plops down on the floor next to the tree and watches her with amusement. "Why are you so excited?" he asks curiously.

Eponine turns more serious eyes on him and shrugs, picking up her first gift and holding it gingerly in her hands. "Because I've never had this before. Courf and R spend Christmas morning with their families, so living with them, I just kind of spent it alone. And growing up, we never had any presents except for what my sister and I scraped together for Gavroche or strangers donated. And my parents just drank. So...I want to start a new Christmas tradition with you. Be officially domesticated and all of that boring bullshit." She finally gives him a lopsided smile.

Enjolras feels his chest tighten at her words, and feels an immense responsibility to suddenly make this the best Christmas she's ever had. And every one after this, too. He reaches out and takes the present she's holding, knowing it's the expensive copy of Jane Eyre he found, and sets it aside.

"Well then, you need to save that one for last, because I think it's going to be your favorite. At least I hope it is."

Her eyes light up as she eyes the present. "Okay. Here, open this one first." She hands him a gift wrapped in penguin wrapping paper, and Enjolras agrees to open all of his presents first because Eponine likes building the suspense for herself. She gets him a completely random assortment of stuff – a few new ties with patterns (because the plain ones he always wears are just boring), a beautiful book filled with old pictures of New Orleans, his favorite pralines, a new t-shirt that he'll never wear in public declaring "My girlfriend is hot", and a larger traveling coffee cup since she's noticed he's always complaining that the one he has doesn't hold enough. Not to mention several new books he's wanted for a while; when he asked her how she knew which ones to get, she just smirks and tells him she knows exactly where he keeps all of his "to do" and "to buy" lists. He's grateful that she's apparently a snoop. His favorite presents, however, are several framed photographs of different sizes that she's put together for the house; some are of just the two of them over the years, but some are whole group shots.

"I thought it would make this place seem more like home," she explains.

"It already does, with you here," Enjolras says, and then winces. "Jesus, I am such a fucking sap all of a sudden."

"My beautiful visage and charming personality just have that effect on you, I suppose." She smirks and leans over to kiss him. "So you like everything then? I figured you'd hate the ties, but I swear, you should wear them. People like fun ties!"

"I'll give them a chance," he says patiently. "Now are you ready for your gifts?"

"Oh my God, yes!" She claps and crosses her legs, looking like one of the first graders she teaches, Enjolras thinks. He hands her presents one by one, enjoying the way she gets excited over each one, no matter how insignificant. He spent a shit-load of money on her, between all of the little things he bought and the book – way more than she spent on him – but he doesn't care. It's worth it to give her this first special Christmas, a memory she can keep with her for the rest of her life.

She loves everything – the cute children's books he picked out for her classroom, a "world's best teacher" mug, a beautiful new leather bound journal, a vintage framed photo of the entrance to Lafayette Cemetery (why she loves cemeteries he doesn't know, but she does), the new expansion pack for "The Sims", and a silver fleur-de-lis necklace she admired in a store with him one day.

After he's put it on her, Eponine remembers there's still one present left. "Hey! What about the one you took away from me in the beginning? I want to open it."

Enjolras picks up the book and hands it to her gently. "Be careful," he instructs. "It's fragile. Don't rip the paper off like you have for everything else." He eyes the mess of scattered wrapping paper scraps around them and shakes his head.

"Okay..." She chews on her lip, wondering what the heavy object could be, and carefully pulls the paper away. When she notices the title on the cover of the book, her eyes widen. "Oh! Whoa. How old is this? It looks ancient..." She carefully opens the front cover, her fingers playing over the pages with a gentle touch.

"It's from 1910. I found it in a store in the Quarter." He knows it was a good choice just by watching her. She's enraptured by it, her eyes glued to the old print.

"1910? Oh my God. This is amazing, Enjolras, thank you."

"You're more than welcome."

She hugs the book to her chest for a moment and turns serious eyes to him. "All my heart is yours, sir: it belongs to you; and with you it would remain,were fate to exile the rest of me from your presence forever," she recites quietly, and then smiles, laying the book beside her and crawling over to him on the floor. She presses her lips to his as Enjolras wraps his arms around her waist.

After a few minutes, Eponine pulls away.

"Did Christmas meet your expectations?" he asks.

"More than. And by the way, I know it's not polite to ask this kind of stuff, but...how much was that book? It's old."

Enjolras clears his throat and shrugs a little uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it."

She narrows her eyes. "How much?"

"It was't too bad..."

"How much?"

"A lot..."

"What is a lot?"

"Well I got a good deal! He wanted fifteen hundred, but I talked him down to a thousand."

Her mouth falls open. "You spent a thousand dollars on one Christmas present for me?!"

"Yes." He covers her mouth with his hand before she can shout at him again. "And I would do it again! Look how much you love it. And it's rare! It's awesome, Ep, you can't deny it. It's cool to own something so old that you love so much. Right?"

"Yes..." she agrees reluctantly.

"Then I don't want to hear about the cost anymore," Enjolras says firmly. "It doesn't matter as long as you're happy."

"Well, I am. So you win, I guess."

"Good." He smiles and kisses her again, mumbling against her lips, "Merry Christmas, Eponine."

I can't believe it's finished! I've enjoyed writing this story so much. I hope everyone enjoyed the ending; I actually know what happens in this particular universe with these two further down the road, but it's not super dramatic, so I'm not sure writing it is worth it? If you'd like a oneshot or two, please let me know and I may post it on tumblr. (Probably not on here.)

Thank you to every single reader - I appreciate you taking the time to notice my work more than you know. And special thanks to everyone that has favorited, followed, and reviewed. THANK YOU! I hope to hear from you guys again in the future.

Also - tater tot nachos. REAL THINGS. And if you come to New Orleans, I can point you in their direction. ;)

Thanks again, and see you soon!

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