Exactly how it had happened, or when, he absolutely could not fathom. It had grown inside him over time, encompassing his body and mind in every respect, and all the while he had been completely ignorant of its presence within him. Until now.
"We could have a life, us two. Maybe not like I dreamed, maybe not like you remember. But we could get by." Mrs. Lovett spoke softly over his left shoulder.
Sweeney turned around and gazed at the woman in front of him. A soft, hopeful smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she stared up at him.
That particular minute in time seemed to freeze, everyone and everything in the entire world immobilized and unmoving, save for him. Very unexpectedly, he felt his heart skip a beat as he gazed upon her face. He looked into her warm brown eyes, brimming with love for him that he had never seen until this moment. For the very first time, Sweeney Todd saw her. All of her.
He thought back on all the times that she had been there for him, when he'd had no one else.
It had been she, who had genuinely welcomed him back and let him stay in her home. It had also been she to think of the ingenious way of dealing with his victims' corpses, in a way that would be useful for her, as well as disposing of the evidence of his killings. She was the one who brought him food, three times a day, every day, so that he wouldn't starve himself to death. She took care of him.
She did these things because she wanted to, not because she had to. And what had she gotten in return? A cold, unresponsive man with a violent temperament. A man who was so hell-bent on blood and revenge, that he never once took her into consideration, or the incalculable amount of things that she did for him. Even when he had been pushing her away, she had still loved him unabashedly.
Most of the time he had thought of her as irritating, but lately, unconsciously, he had been softening towards her. He had been noticing things about her; snippets of unimportant things that were too small for him to have remembered thinking about. Her caring nature, quick intelligence, and eternal optimism among them. The way she cared for the boy, Toby, like he was her own. How she could bake pies all day, and after closing her shop for the day, bake more in the evening, just because she wanted to.
Aside from his own possessions, Mrs. Lovett was all he had.
And then he wondered: would it really be so bad? Leaving it all behind, and starting anew? With a woman who loved him, no less. And, he realized with a jolt, perhaps who he loved back.
These thoughts had been whirling about in the back of his mind for some time, but they had never completely registered before now. He was entirely disconcerted and confused, wondering how all this could have occurred without his realization.
He was about to open his mouth to reply, when suddenly he heard a shout. The world unfroze as Anthony rushed in, exclaiming about Johanna's imprisonment. As Sweeney let his thoughts about Mrs. Lovett slip away, he knew he would not forget them.
Someday, he thought. Someday.
A/N – Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is OOC for Sweeney, but I thought it would be fun to write :)