AN: So, after an interesting morning with my boyfriend - this idea just *popped* into my head! Hope you like.
Disclaimer: I do not OWN, except for my boyfriend - he I DO own but he is not a part of this story.
Time slowed down as the two burned holes into each others eyes. It had been so long since they had seen each other, and the last time they had it was not good. He'd nearly killed her. Now, five years later he found himself at the very pie shop. Now that he had had his revenge - and had clear thought, he realized that he had come back for the wrong woman. He needed to right his wrongs, apologize, melt his heart of ice, and get to know the only woman who had held him dear to her heart for over twenty solid years, including when she was married. He understood that all he was to Lucy was a trophy, a fool. He knew this was not the case with Mrs. Lovett.
She was the first to break the eye contact. She tore her eyes away and spun around just before the tears escaped her eyes. What could he possibly want now? No doubt to do what he'd failed to do five years ago. It wasn't fair. She should've stopped loving him a long time ago, if not when the killings started then when she was almost his victem. No, she still loved him though, but she wouldn't make it so obvious this time. She spoke,
"Sweeney, Benjamin, whatever the fuck you call yourself now," her words were acid-filled and venomous. "Get out o' me shop before I throw you out!" she was able to hide the fact that she was crying suprisingly well. Sweeney stared at her with an unknown emotion. He soon recognized it as guilt. He was too late. In the time that it had taken him to realize that she was the woman he should've been with all along, Nellie Lovett had fallen out of love with him. He admitted that he deserved it, he just wished it didn't hurt so much.
"I'm sorry," he apologized in a broken whisper before doing as she'd asked. He left with a heavy sense of loss. When Nellie was sure he was out of earshot she let her control on her composure go and gave into the sobs that were welling up in her chest. She felt worse now, at Sweeney's broken words. He'd apologized, for what she did not know, but he'd apologized all the same, for what she didn't know and now probably wouldn't find out. After five years of absolutely no contact, her love had returned and she had only given him the chance to say two words. She terribly regretted it now, for she would always wonder what he was apologizing for. She wouldn't allow herself to hope that he'd come back, because she knew, the knowledge was rooted deep in her heart, that this time he wouldn't be coming back.
Three months later Nellie was on her way to the market when she was pulled into an alley. Her eyes widened in a frenzied panic as she was shoved against a brick wall. She didn't dare speak, think, or even breathe. The man who had grabbed her hastily pushed her skirts up. Tears welled in Nellie's eyes as she knew what was to come. With no warning the man shoved into her. It was too painful for her to stay quiet; she let out a mighty scream as tears streamed down her face and all faded to black.
Five hours later Nellie regained consciousness. Her body ached everywhere, and it was pitch black outside. Outside? Why was she outside? And then she remembered the horrible rape and the beatings that followed it when she couldn't contain her screams. Her dress was torn to shreds, and the cold breeze made Nellie shiver as it stung her wounds. She was bleeding from the back of her head, from in between her legs, her calves, and she even had scratches on her back, neck, and chest. She slowly attempted to stand up and screamed in agony when she felt the most unbearable pain course through her body. Something had been broken. Most likely her leg. She leaned against the wall for support. As she looked out for any source of light, for any possible path that would take her home, she saw a dark figure coming her way. She recoiled in fear, too exhausted to hold in a squeak. The dark figure spoke,
"Nellie?" it was him. It was Sweeney's hushed, handsome voice. Nellie was so thankful that he couldn't see the state she was in.
"What are you doin' 'ere?" she asked in suprise. Then, she could feel pressure behind her eyeballs. No! she thought. As much as she wanted to she couldn't stop the tears. Her voice gave into the sobs mere seconds after the floodgate opened.
"What's wrong?" Sweeney asked in a concerned, protective tone.
"Where are you?" Nellie's voice was broken as she desperately tried to find Sweeney in the dark. It wasn't easy. His hand caught ahold of her's.
"I'm here," he said assuringly. Nellie guided herself to his body and collapsed onto it, crying relentlessly. Sweeney was quick to wrap his arms around her. He could feel that the material of her dress was ripped to shreds. He could feel the blood from her wounds. A mixture of emotions washed over him. Guilt, sorrow, anger, agony. He had a pretty good idea of what had happened. Who would do such a thing to such an. . .innocent women such as her? How could anyone do that to anyone. . .? No one as caring as a reformed murderer, he thought bitterly, the irony killing him. How many people had he hurt - how many loved ones and family members had he stolen away? How many Nellie's in one's life had he ridden of?
Nellie's tears soaked his shirt, and she still didn't stop. Of course, it wasn't only what had happened that night, it was everything. She was overwhelmed. Through her tears she muttered, "Take me 'ome," Sweeney lifted her carefully into his arms. He could tell that some part of her body had been broken just by the way she was settled in his arms. It was hard for him to see, but his sense of direction would work in his favor, he knew every street of London so well if he had been blinded he would be able to get around easily on his own. In less than ten minutes they had reached the pie shop.
Sweeney sat Nellie down on the settee once they were inside the parlor. He could see her perfectly now in the light of the gaslamps hanging along the walls. It was worse than he'd imagined. "Stay there," he told her, as if she'd go anywhere. If it was kept in the same spot it was five years ago, Sweeney knew exactly where the gin was. He'd need it to clean her wounds. Nellie hadn't even heard his command over her own tears, nor noticed that he'd left. Everything was too surreal for her. This was the kind of stuff she read about, not things that happened in real life. No, she was dreaming it all. It was all some long, sick, horribly twisted dream she'd wake up from shortly.
Nellie's eyes shot open as she felt a painful stinging coming from her leg. Sweeney reached up and squeezed her hand.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "But this needs to be done in order for you to heal," no way. This was not happening. Sweeney helping her? Sweeney tending to her wounds? No - that wasn't Sweeney. That wasn't Benjamin. This was all a figment of her imagination, it had to be. But the pain was real. The pain was too real and too intense for everything to be a dream. The feel of Sweeney's hand brushing against her leg every once in a while was real. The feel of his hand wrapped around hers was real.
When Sweeney began to tend to the wounds on her chest Nellie squeezed down onto his hand so hard the intensity nearly broke it. A pained expression appeared on Sweeney's face; it was a combination of the pain of her death grip on his hand, and also empathy for what she was and had gone through. An entire hour passed simply by Sweeney tending Nellie's wounds. When that was done the two looked into each others eyes the same as they had three months previous. This time Nellie didn't break away. Instead their lips met in a frenzied kiss. When they pulled away tears were shining in Nellie's eyes again, though out of happiness this time. Behind the tears her eyes held pure love for the man who had just cared for her in such a way she hadn't imagined in her greatest dream.
"I love you!" she whispered quietly. "I love you so much!" Sweeney's face broke out into a once rare smile. He wrapped his arms around her, being careful of her freshly tended wounds, with a joyous laugh.
"I thought I was too late!" he could feel tears of joy pricking at his eyes. "Three months ago when I came back, the way you talked to me, I was sure you were beyond accepting apologies. I was sure you didn't love me anymore!" Nellie laughed - something that had become rare in her life.
"Oh, I did! Even then - I was trying to save myself from getting hurt," Nellie admitted. "Speaking of apologies, before you left - what was it you apologized for?" It was a serious question and Sweeney felt the need to look into her eyes to tell her his serious answer. So he pulled away and looked deeply into her eyes.
"Everything," he answered. "Everything from marrying Lucy instead of you when it was obvious she never loved me, to almost killing you for lying to me," Nellie smiled. She couldn't believe he'd just apologized for marrying his 'virtuous, beautiful, yellow-haired' Lucy. She kissed him passionately. Sweeney broke the kiss to say,
"I love you," and then returned his lips to her's.
And he did. In time his feelings had grown to the point that he worried when she stepped foot outside the door. One might call that clingy, Nellie called it a miracle. They ended up marrying, not that they didn't want to, earlier than they would've liked because Nellie had gotten pregnant from the creep who had raped and beat her's child. They raised it as their own though, and he looked like he could have easily been Sweeney's child. After a year they had two beautiful twins girls of their own. They ended up moving out of England when Nellie's rich aunt in France had a heart attack, leaving her home and three cats to Nellie in her will. Turns out the words that Nellie had spoken to Sweeney that very, very long time ago, 'all good things come to those who can wait', turned out to be quite accurate.