Ok so after my first Sweeney fic everyone wanted me to do another one so I decided I would give in and write another one. I liked my first one better, I am not sure this one's quite as good but anyway here it is.
'The Pure One'
"Toby I am going to take Mr. T 'is lunch, I'll be right back." Mrs. Lovett called to the boy who was at the moment sitting in the Parlor with a bottle of gin no doubt.
"All right mum." The boy called back. Mrs. Lovett picked up the tray after putting the food down on it. Mr. Todd didn't eat much, in fact he hadn't eaten at all this week so Mrs. Lovett was going to be sure that he did today. She had made a small bowl of soup a pie, made with real meat. And she also set a glass of water on the tray. She left her shop and slowly walked up the stairs making sure she didn't spill anything. Balancing the tray on her hip she opened the door to Sweeney's shop. The bell rang above her head so weather he said anything or not he knew she was there.
"Good afternoon Mr. T" she said placing the tray on the desk in the corner.
"Lovely day 'in'it." She said walking up next to him at the window, he simply grunted a reply and continued to gaze at his precious razor. Mrs. Lovett let out a small sigh.
"Now listen 'ere Mr. T, you 'aven't eaten all week so your eating today weather you like it or not." She said placing her hands on her hips. He turned and gave her a blank stare.
" 'ow do you plan on getting revenge like this, if you continue to not eat your not gonna be able to even stand and 'ow are ya gonna get rid of the judge if you can't even stand up, so today your gonna eat." She said looking him in the eye, and in a moment of courage she grabbed the razor out of his hand and pointed to the tray with it.
"I aint leaving till you eat so get goin." She was pretty sure he growled at her but he walked over to the tray and sat down next to it. She took the razor back to it's box and set it down. She then looked for a place to sit. The barber chair was the first thing she came to and she moved to sit down but then remembered the 'adjustments' Mr. Todd made to it and decided that the trunk next to the wall would be a better place to sit. This didn't go unnoticed by Sweeney and he let out what she guessed was a laugh at her fear of the chair, she simply gave him a look and sat down on the trunk. He hadn't touched the food yet so she pointed to the tray again.
"Eat." She said and he glared at her and then picked up the pie and bit off of it. He then took a sip of the water she brought up and continued to alternate between the two until the pie was gone. He gave her a look as if he thought he was finished.
"No you don't, eat the soup." He simply glared at her again and began to eat in silence. After a few seconds she decided to try and talk to him.
"Mr. T may I ask you a question, if ya don't mind." She said not looking him in the eye. He shook his head yes and so she decided to ask.
'Mr. T, however did you get that white streak in you hair?" She asked glancing at him, he looked at her and to her surprise began to answer her question.
"When I was in Australia, the prison was full of other men, and there were different groups of them, gangs you could say." He took another spoonful of soup and continued. "They weren't very nice people, but there was a group of us, men who didn't interact with all the others but the other men didn't know who we were since we all pretty much looked the same, there was no way to tell us apart from the other groups. So those of us who didn't interact decided to find a way to tell us apart so we wouldn't be mistaken for one of those,…" He paused and got a horrible look in his eye and continued to eat the soup. Then he looked back to her and continued.
"So, The group of us got together and decided that we should change the way our hair looked, cut it a different way, dye it a different color. So one of the men said we should dye part of our hair white, he said it was because white meant purity I just figured it was cuse he was crazy." He shrugged his shoulders and finished the last of the soup and water. Seeing this as a sign that he was done Mrs. Lovett got up to get the tray. He waited till she got close enough then grabbed her wrist.
"I am not finished Mrs. Lovett." He growled at her.
"Ok then love." She returned to her seat on the trunk.
"So since I was the barber I had to be the one to do it, so we used what little we had and we all gave ourselves a white streak. Most of the other men made them very small, some so small you couldn't even see it, those men didn't live much longer. So I decided that I wanted to be known, I wanted the other men to know that I didn't want to take part in the beatings they issued to each other every day. So I made my streak longer and bigger so that they knew I wasn't going to be taken advantage of." He finished talking and looked to the floor. Mrs. Lovett wasn't quite sure what to do so she simply did the first thing that came to her mind, she got up slowly and made her way over to the barber knelt down in front of him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. He didn't object but he didn't hug back either he simply sat there. She let go and looked into his eyes.
"I am sorry Sweeney." That was the fist time in a long time that she'd used his first name. He looked at her for a second.
"It's not your
problem to worry about Nellie." She was slightly surprised that he
actually used her first name but she had used his so she didn't
think anymore of it. She decided her time here was over spent and
picked the tray up wile he simply watched her. She made it to the
door and then turned around.
"Thank you Mr. T." She said as
he got up and walked over to his razor, he stopped and turned to look
at her.
"For what?" he asked slightly confused. He hadn't done anything for her, if anything he just made her more depressed with his stories.
"For letting me in." She said, but then decided that was a little to deep.
"And for eating, I'll be up with you supper later." She said and quickly left the shop and headed back down to her own. She then began to wash the dishes and get ready for the dinner rush as Toby came in and set a half empty bottle of gin down on the counter.
"What took you so long mum?" He asked. She picked up the gin and took a sip then put it away.
"Just talkin to Mr. Todd." She said, Toby looked at her like she was crazy.
"'e actually talked to you?" He questioned.
"Of course love whey wouldn't 'e?" She said giving him a smile.
"'e just doesn't seem like the type to talk." He said quietly.
"You should really think better of Mr. T, 'e takes very good care of us you know." She said
"Yes I know." He said giving a slight frown.
"Good, now help you mum get ready for dinner rush please." She said taking a few trays out from under the counter.
"Yes mum!" He said more eager now.
Dinner rush went well and Toby helped as always and the two of them made a decent amount of money for the night. After everyone had left and Toby was cleaning up the trays and glasses Mrs. Lovett headed up stairs to give Mr. Todd his supper. She opened the door, walked in and set the tray down on his desk again. She didn't say anything this time, she simply let him know that the food was there and then went back downstairs to help Toby finish cleaning up. Once they were done Mrs. Lovett took Toby into the parlor and set him down with the bottle of gin, kissed him goodnight and went back into the kitchen. Upon arrival she noticed the tray of food near the sink completely cleaned of all food and holding a piece of paper. She picked up the paper and read the note to herself.
Thank you for the food,
delicious as always. Please
feel free to come back up and
talk anytime.
'The pure one'
She let out a small laugh and looked up to the ceiling.
"You can bet I'll take you up on that offer Mr. T." She said walking to her room and setting the note down on the stand beside her bed and laying down falling asleep to the sounds of Mr. Todd's pacing above her head.
So there you go. Like I said I liked the first one better but oh well. This was just kind of my idea of how Sweeney got that white streak in his hair, love me or hate me for it,whatever. Let me know what you think. THANKS!!
Nellie Lovett
