The Barricade Girl (A Les Miserables FanFiction)

Chapter Fifty-Seven

"But when?" I turn to Enjolras, grabbing his hands with my own, my eyes wide in a mixture of excitement, amazement, and worry. "How? You're kind of in the middle of something right now", I look around at the barricade and our friends, who have settled down to try and get what little sleep they can.

"Right now. Everyone's asleep. We can slip away...and we can get married", he smiles at, lovingly squeezing my hand.

"But who will marry us, Enjolras?" I laugh at the unbelievability of it all. "There's no-one here –"

"Then we'll find someone", he replies. "There must be someone awake in this city who can –" My gaze falls upon Monsieur Valjean. He appears to be praying quietly over my brother.

"Valjean..." I whisper to myself before turning to Enjolras, excitedly squeezing his hand. "Enjolras! Monsieur Valjean! He can!"

"Him?" Enjolras looks doubtful.

"Monsieur Valjean is a holy man. A man of God. We could ask him to marry us!" Without letting go of Enjolras' hand, I hurry across to where Valjean kneels, dragging a confused Enjolras with me. I hang back a little, silencing Enjolras beside me, watching our new friend as he finishes praying over my brother. I'm touched by this gesture. He doesn't even know my brother all that well, but cares enough about him because his daughter cares for him. He is a truly good man. I catch a couple of words of his prayer, but not all of it.

"Let him live. Bring him home. Bring him home. Bring him home" Valjean prays quietly, over and over. I wait until he opens his eyes, marking the end of his prayer.

"Monsieur?" I get his attention.

"Miss Juliette. Monsieur Enjolras.", Valjean smiles warmly. "I was just saying a prayer for your brother, and for you. For both of you", he gets up from his kneeling position as he looks at both of us.

"Thank you, Monsieur", I smile back, tears pricking the corners of my eyes at this kindness.

"I think what you're both doing is very brave. I know, as a couple, the two of you are putting a lot on the line", Valjean states.

"That means a lot, Monsieur, thank you", Enjolras nods respectfully, while I stand there wondering how Valjean possibly knows all that he knows about us. Perhaps he is just that observant. Either way, I know he's send here from God. "Actually, Monsieur, we were wondering – we know you're not a priest or minister – but you are a representative of God...and we..." This is the first time in a while that I've heard Enjolras tripping over his words. I find it endearing – he's nervous. "Juliette and I...we want to get married...and we were wondering if you would do us the honour of marrying us tonight?"

"It would be an honour and a privilege", Valjean beams. "Come, let's go inside", he places a hand on each of our backs and leads us toward the Café Musain.

"If that speech was just him asking me to do the ceremony, then I can't even begin to imagine what his proposal to you must've been like", Valjean jokes.

"You definitely got the better proposal", I laugh back.

In our frantic quest to get married as soon as possible, Enjolras and I picked two witnesses – one each – to stand by our sides as we said our vows. I had the task of waking the sleeping Madame Houcheloup from her slumber and asking her to be my only bridesmaid. The excitement alone was enough to pacify her, and she wasn't angry at losing her sleep for too long. Enjolras asked one of the other boys to relieve Courfeyrac of his duties, keeping watch for him atop the barricade so that Courfeyrac could be his best man. I also asked Courfeyrac if he would be the one to give me away. We stood in the upper room of the Café Musain – the room where we'd had some many meetings, the room that had become our home, and the room that Enjolras and I first met in. Madame had taken some flowers from a vase downstairs and had wrapped their stems in a white cloth and had given them to me to hold. She had broken off little white flowers and pinned them to the Valjean and Courfeyrac, and to Enjolras' burgundy jacket, insisting that he wear it for the ceremony.

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right!" She had snapped at Enjolras when he tried to argue with her that we didn't have the time for preparations. "I've been waiting for this day your whole life, Enjolras! Don't take this away from me!" She said as she slapped the back of his head. "It might be your wedding night, but I'm still not going to take any of your cheek!" Madame had allowed me to borrow her Grandmother's old wedding veil, and pinned it to my hair. And now, here we stand, in the Café Musain upper room, holding hands, facing one another as Valjean leads us in promises and vows to one another that will bind us together as man and wife. Madame lets tears of happiness flow freely down her cheeks. Courfeyrac, my greatest friend in the whole world, stands by beaming with pride having just walked me down an invisible and imaginary aisle. And Enjolras looks at me, with those same stunning blue eyes that met me when I first interrupted his meeting on the day that we met, and I hear him saying the words that make me feel like I've been waiting my whole life to hear him say them.

"I, Enjolras Apollo, take you, Juliette Pontmercy, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part". Enjolras' voice breaks on the last part. The words linger there – the weight of the words heavy in the room amidst the joy. How far away is our parting? How soon will it be for death to part us? It feels almost imminent. I then find myself speaking the same words back to him.

"By the power vested in me by God and man, I pronounce you husband and wife", Valjean proclaims proudly as if I were his own daughter. "Enjolras...you may kiss your bride". Enjolras sweeps me into his arms, embracing me as he kisses me, perhaps more passionately than he ever has before. Madame, Courfeyrac and Valjean clap and cheer for us, and Enjolras leans his forehead against mine, almost breathless.

"This must be the breathless delight Marius talks about so much", Enjolras jokes. "We did it...we got married", he kisses me again, wrapping his arms around me as I wrap my arms around his neck and he lifts me off the floor. Enjolras puts me down and turns to face Valjean.

"Thank you, Monsieur", Enjolras shakes Valjean's hand. "You've given us the greatest gift of all".

"My pleasure", Valjean congratulates us, kissing my cheek. Courfeyrac walks toward us, and slaps a hand on Enjolras' back before enveloping me in a huge hug.

"I'm so proud of you", Courfeyrac beams at me.

"I love you, Courf", I squeeze him tightly.

"I've prepared the guest room for the newlyweds", Madame Houcheloup announces. "I know we're in the middle of a revolution, but the boys are sleeping, and so must you", she points a finger at Enjolras. Enjolras opens his mouth to protest, but Madame silences him before he can say anything. "They can do without you for a couple of hours!"

"At the first sign of any trouble, I'll come and find you both", Courfeyrac assures him. "I'll be sure to knock first!" He winks, earning a swift punch to the arm from me.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Courfeyrac!" I smirk.

"You only get your wedding night once. So, go! Waste no time!" Madame shoos us towards the guest room, and we oblige. Enjolras takes me by the hand, and leads me towards the room. He opens the door to the room, and suddenly sweeps me up in his arms, carrying me the way that I'd seen grooms carrying their brides so many times before, and carries me over the threshold to the room.

"Welcome home, Madame Apollo", he beams.

"I love you...Husband", I whisper the word to him, loving the way it sounds. I wrap my arms around his neck, stroking his hair with my fingers as I gaze at him. He kisses me again, even more passionately than before, away from the prying eyes of everyone else. As he kisses me, he kicks the door shut, not looking at what he's doing, the slam of the door shaking the room. For the first time, we are alone. We are man and wife, and it's just the two of us. We are free.