Not Some Cindernellie

I was watching Sweeney Todd the other night, and was thinking about how Sweeney treated Mrs. Lovett. With the way that he expects her to do all of these things for him, and doesn't thank her or anything. That can really 'grind my gears' sometimes. God I sound like my mom when she's talking to my little sis now, lol. Anyway, I've gone on enough tangents, enjoy the story dears.

Nellie flopped onto her settee and groaned in weariness. She listened to Sweeney's pacing upstairs and covered her ears with a few pillows. She didn't know what was wrong with the barber. It seemed that the more she was willing to do for him, the more he ordered her to do. He asked her to wash his shirts, to make him a meat pie and then bring it up to him. Even on days when her body ached from running around all day, he'd still tell her to bring him up each meal. She'd offered to let him eat downstairs with her and Toby, but he'd simply scowl and tell her that nothing could bring him downstairs to eat with them. Sweeney stopped stomping around, and Mrs. Lovett smiled. She rose to possibly get a good-nights sleep. As she was about to walk into her room to dress into her nightgown, she heard a knock on the side door that led outside to the barber's shop. "Now 'oo could be seein' me at this time?" By Sweeney's halted pacing she could already assume who it was.

She opened the door and stood with one hand hand on her hip and the other on the doorknob. Sweeney looked at her, frowning as usual. "I was wondering when you'd answer. I need you to get rid of something for me." Nellie rolled her yes and walked up the stairs to the barber shop above. She opened the door and looked around, nothing looked different.

"What did ya need 'elp wiv Mr. T? Everything looks the same since the last time I came in 'ere." Sweeney shook his head and slowly made his way over to his chair like some frightened child. At the sound of scuttering feet, his face went from his normal frown to a look of terror. He shakingly pointed to the chest that at one point had hid Adolfo Pirelli. "It's um, behind the chest." Nellie raised an eyebrow and made her way over to the chest. She sucked in as large a breath as her corset would allow and pushed the chest away from the wall. She giggled and bent down, picking up a small round brown ball from the ground in her gloved hands.

She walked over to the barber and he looked up at her. "Here's your little enemy Mr. T, i's just a mouse." Sweeeney shook and looked away. "Come on now Mr. Todd, you're not saying you're afraid of a small mouse are you?"

Sweeney lowered his head so he wouldn't have to look at the creature. "KIll it, no, stun it. I don't care how you get rid of it, even if you slit it's little mouse throat, just get it away from me." Nellie smiled sweetly and nodded her head. Upon walking down the stairs and finding a place to free the small rodent, Mrs. Lovett couldn't stop think about how, once again, Sweeney hadn't thanked her.

After Nellie had changed into her nightgown and had gotten herself into bed, she still couldn't sleep. That man was really getting on her nerves, she did everything for the ungrateful barber. She cooked for him and brought his food up to him, cleaned for him, made his bloody customers into meat pies, and now she had even gotten rid of a stupid little mouse, all for him! What was he going to ask her to do next, feed him his food like some infant?! She knew one thing for sure, that was surely what he was acting like, some helpless immature child. He wasn't a child though, he was an adult, and not just that, an adult male. Everything she knew said that men should be able to take better care of themselves than he did. Her thoughts overwhelmed her at one point, and she ignored it all and fell alseep to the sound of the barber's pacing footsteps.

The next morning, the baker woke to the sight of sunlight coming through her window. She got dressed and walked out to the pie shop, to see Toby already up and making breakfast. She walked over to him and ruffled his short hair. "Oh Toby dear, you didn't need to do this. I would've done it."

Toby smiled. "I know, but you weren't awake yet. And I wanted to do it." Nellie bent down and kissed her adopted son on the cheek. She thanked him and started to clean up the mess he had left behind. They ate breakfast and Mrs. Lovett grabbed Sweeney's pie and a glass of ale. She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. She hard a quiet acceptance to her entrance. "Sorry if I woke ya love, but I want ya to eat breakfast at least" She looked down and saw that he hadn't even touched his dinner from the night before, she had missed that then. She set down the tray and picked up the uneaten pie. She rose and was about to leave when Sweeney called her back.

"Mrs. Lovett, could you do this too?" He handed out the shirt to her.

She took it and looked it over. "What's wrong wiv it, it looks fine?" Sweeney shook his head and pointed to a light red blood mark. "I'm sorry to sound rude Mr. T, but really? It's just a small little mark, it's barely noticeable it's so light."

"Just clean it out until I can't see anything alright Mrs. Lovett?" He turned away from the baker and and walked back to his chair.

Mrs. Lovett didn't know what to do anymore. All of her thoughts from the night before flooded back to her, and the annoyance returned. She didn't want to, but before she knew it she had said the wrong thing. "No!"

Sweeney stopped and turned to glare at her. She backed quickly against the wall. "What was that woman?"

Suddenly her breathing became heavy and she found the voice she had been afraid to let out at the only man she'd ever loved. "No Mr. Todd, I said no. Why the bloody 'ell should I clean the shirt again if I already did and you 'aven't worn it yet? I's not me fault! I'm not some Cindernellie you can boss around! I do everything for you and you don't even give a damn! You don't thank me, you never aknowledge everything I do for you. I've been afraid to say anything for the past months we've worked together, but I gotta say it now. You're nothing but an ungrateful arse!" Sweeney walked back over to her and slapped her across the face. She knew she deserved it, but she was finally saying what she had been wanting to say for a few weeks. She slapped him back. Then something happened that she didn't expect. He smirked and quickly attached his lips to hers. When he pulled away, Mrs. Lovett back off and let out the breath she had been holding. "What, what was that for?"

Sweeney smiled weakly. "I was just waiting for that side to come out." Mrs. Lovett rose an eyebrow in confusion. "You're always doing everything I tell you to, I think I was just waiting until that non-cannibal dark side burst out of you."

Mrs. Lovett blushed. Partly at her outburst, and partly because of the responce it got. "And, how do you feel about my feelings finally coming out? Do you feel glad that I said all of that to you?"

Sweeney chuckled slightly and put his hands on her shoulders. "Well, I wasn't favorible on being called an arse, but I suppose I deserved it." Mrs. Lovett rolled her eyes and nodded. "Well, now's as good a time as any, thank you my pet. For everything." Nellie took this advantage to stand on her tip-toes and give him the kiss this time. He answered by lowering his hands to hold hers and deepened the kiss.

So, I hope you enjoyed my story. If there was any OOCness, I apologize. Or if I took Nellie's argument with Sweeney too far, I also apologize. Sometimes I get lost in the emotions of the characters I'm writing for, so as Nellie was getting madder at Sweeeny, I was too. LOL. Oh, and there was another line reference to another JD character as there was in my daisy story. See if you can find it, huh? Like my last one, people who see the reference will get their names mentioned in the nexy and of course, last chapter to this story. Remember, reviews are always loved and they makes me smile. P.S. So any of you still costume for halloween? Tell me what you are? I'm Edward, :). My mom and I finished working on my hands today. (Snip snippy). I'm even going to carry around a carton of lemonade with 'Do Not Like' written on it, lol.