The Barricade Girl (A Les Miserables FanFiction)

Chapter Sixty-One

I fly like a shot into Courfeyrac's hospital room as soon as we're given the go ahead. Arnaud follows behind like a dog with his tail between his legs. I throw my arms around Courfeyrac as he sits up, awake, in the hospital bed.

"Courfeyrac! You're alive!" Tears stream down my face again – adding to the countless number of times that's happened today. My eyes should've run out of liquid by now, leaving me unable to cry anymore, but that's not the case.

"Jules. What are you doing here?" He asks, speaking through the pain.

"I brought Gavroche here. They're working on him now", I explain.

"You mean he's alive?!" He springs forward on his bed. "He's safe? I thought he died! He stopped breathing. He died!"

"I thought so too. But our little man held on", I tell him, squeezing his hand.

"Thank you, Lord", Courfeyrac leans back, closing his eyes. "What about the others?" He gulps. "Did they – ?" He almost can't finish his sentence, tears forming in his eyes. Typical Courfeyrac – lying there in a hospital bed after facing death's door, and all he can think about is other people. "Did they make it?" A lump forms in my own throat as I'm forced to recall the sights I had seen outside what remained of our barricade and the Café Musain only hours ago.

"No..." Tears start to fall down my cheeks. "They didn't. None of them did. Not even Marius...not even –". I can't finish my sentence. He doesn't say anything, and an expression falls across his face as if he's trying to decide whether to ask his next question or not.

"What about Enjolras?" He finally asks, the pain of the question and its possible answer etched across his face.

"He didn't make it..." It hurts to say it out loud, and the emotion that I've been trying to hold in escapes through tears on my face, and I'm unable to mask the noise of sobs that leak out of my mouth. "I'm a widow..." I shake as the words come out. There's a silence as he tries to process what I've just said. He looks at me and, despite the physical pain it causes him, he draws me too him, holding me in his arms as I weep.

"You're a what?" is all he can respond.

"A widow. Enjolras and I were married last night..."

"Oh, Juliette", he whispers as he strokes my hair in comfort. "I'm so sorry".

"At least I still have you..." I try to regain some composure, not wanting to fall apart completely.

"It's a miracle. I thought I was a goner, for sure", Courfeyrac says. "One moment I'm bleeding to death on the barricade, and the next thing I know, I'm in here with my wounds all bandaged up and pain searing through my body", he tries to smile a half smile. And then his eyes fall on Arnaud, who has been standing silently in the doorway. There's an uncomfortable silence, a tension in the air between them. And then I realise – Courfeyrac has no idea that it was Arnaud that brought him here.

"Well, I guess I'm good for some things..." Arnaud quips awkwardly.

"You", Courfeyrac mutters, his eyes filling with anger and hatred as he looks at the face of the friend who betrayed us at the barricade.

"Arnaud was the one who brought you here, Courf", I say gently, laying my hand on his arm to try and ease the tension. As angry as I still am at Arnaud, he did still bring my dear Courfeyrac here. He must still have some kind of a heart, somewhere beneath his military uniform.