When Tomorrow Comes

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

"So that's how the story ends?!"

Enjolras smiled.

"Oh, this is just the beginning of the story," he replied.

"I want to know how it ends!"

"Well, after that, Eponine and Enjolras go on living together."

"That's a boring end..."

"Wait, it gets better! Then they have a child, a beautiful young girl that they decide to name Gabby."

"That's me!"

"Yes it is, sweetheart."

Gabby smiled as she wrapped her arms around her father's chest.

"It's cliché," she let out. "Your story is predictable..."

"How so?"

"I knew Eponine was going to live."

Enjolras rolled his eyes.

"Well, of course you know the end..."

"It would've been better if she died," Gabby pointed out.

"Now, hold on there," Eponine said, arriving in the doorway. "I like this ending much better."

"You're just saying that because it's your story," Gabby replied.

Eponine smiled.

"Papa told you that one again?"

"Her fault," Enjolras answered, pointing at the little blonde haired girl. "She insisted."

"Papa!" Gabby exclaimed.

"It was that or my life," Enjolras continued. "She didn't give me any choice. I had to do it... I was held against my will."

Gabby punched him in the chest.

"Not true!" she told her mother. "Papa is lying!"

"And who told me I'd be deprived of hugs if I didn't tell it to you?" Enjolras added.

Gabby slowly went to hide under the covers. Eponine stared hard at her daughter.

"What?" Gabby innocently said.

But then Eponine looked straight in Enjolras' eyes.

"It's just a story," Enjolras tried.

"Enjolras, she's only nine! She's too young to hear about revolutions, guns, people being shot and..."

The word got stuck in her throat.

"... dying?" Enjolras finished sadly.

"Yes, dying..."

Eponine looked to the ground.

"I'm sorry, Monsieur."

"It's fine," Enjolras said. "What's past is past. Can't change it, can we?"

"But Maman!" Gabby interrupted. "It's much more than that!"

"What is?"

"The story! It's much more than the day the barricade fell. You have to look beyond the barricade."

"And what am I supposed to find?"

Gabby smiled as she looked from one parent to the other.

"You're supposed to find the greatest love story ever told..."

Gabby stretched out to grab both her parents' hand and linked them together.

"There, you see it now?" she asked.

Eponine smiled.

"Of course I do," she answered.

Enjolras pulled her closer and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, 'Ponine," he said.

"Ew!" Gabby protested. "You just ruined my ending! Kissing makes all endings cliché!"

Enjolras laughed.

"Sorry, sweetheart."

"Well, she's kind of right," Eponine said with a smile.

"Fine then, I won't kiss you ever again."

"Now, that wouldn't be okay with me," she replied, kissing him back.

"Ew!" Gabby let out again. "Stop it!"

But then Enjolras grabbed her arm and pulled her in to kiss her as well.

"Papa!" Gabby protested. "No! Ew! Stop it!"

And then she looked at Eponine.

"Maman! Help!"

Eponine smiled.

"Okay, it's time for bed, sweetheart," Eponine said.

Enjolras let go as Gabby started laughing.

"Alright, good night Papa!" the little girl replied.

She jumped out of bed and grabbed her mother's hand. Together, they walked out the room. Enjolras couldn't help but smile at what life had given him.

And then his little girl came running back in the room. She jumped on the bed and gave her father a big hug.

"I love you, Papa," she whispered in his ear.

She shifted her weight and added very discretely so that Eponine wouldn't hear:

"Oh and don't get me wrong; I love happy endings..."

Gabby jumped right off the bed and ran back to her mother's side. Enjolras' heart felt like it was slowly melting in his chest as he watched the two playing around in the hall before bedtime.

"I love happy endings too," he let out under his breath.

THE END