DISCLAIMER: Sweeney Todd belongs to Stephen Sondheim.

A/N: This is the full-length version of Flash of the Forbidden. The chapter titles will all be song lyrics.

-- Forbidden --

- Chapter 1: We Don't Know Just What We Swore -

Now that Johanna was locked away, Judge Turpin's wandering eye had fallen on Mrs. Lovett. Her shop had certainly gotten popular lately, he noticed. And the baker was rather attractive. Of course, she had nothing near Johanna's beauty, but she was a pretty little thing in her own right.

And she was a widow, her husband long gone... She was probably lonely for the company of a man. There were rumors about her and that barber, but it wasn't as though anyone could say for sure that she and the barber were seeing each other. Turpin was willing to bet that the rumors were just rumors. And if there was any truth to those rumors, surely Mrs. Lovett wouldn't choose some scruffy barber over the wealthy lord judge.

Of course, Mrs. Lovett was only all too horrified when Turpin began to show an interest in her. But she had to play along, pretend she was flattered by his attentions when he flirted with her. Because she had seen what happened to the women who rejected his advances.

At first she went along unwillingly, pretending she was shy when really she was just disgusted, going along with it only in order to protect herself. But soon she began to play the part in earnest, as though she were actually interested, because she'd realized it would be so much easier for Sweeney to have his revenge if she could lure the judge to the shop for him.

Sweeney himself was completely oblivious to the goings-on of Mrs. Lovett's personal life and therefore, having no knowledge of the baker's plans, continued to form his own plans which all depended on Anthony breaking Johanna out of the asylum and bringing her here. And when that happened, with Johanna as bait, he could easily get the judge to come here.

Then something happened that Mrs. Lovett hadn't counted on. She realized how nice it was to have someone actually pay attention when she was speaking. How nice it was to have an actual conversation. When was the last time she'd had one of those? She couldn't even remember. She'd been alone for so long that she was used to talking to herself. Being in a room with Sweeney was almost like being alone. She got about the same amount of response from the barber that she would if she were talking to the wall.

But with Judge Turpin, it was a different story. He seemed genuinely interested in the things she had to say. She was careful not to let anything slip about her and Sweeney's... um, business dealings. She never really told him anything important, just chattered on about her day and other inconsequential things.

Once she mentioned how she'd thought some daisies might cheer the shop up a bit, and the very next day Turpin brought her a bouquet of (you guessed it!) daisies.

Sweeney never asked where the flowers had come from. Which was just as well, seeing as Mrs. Lovett didn't want to have to invent some lie to tell him.

She'd gone into this venture planning to help Sweeney get his revenge, but now she found herself making excuses to keep the judge away from either of their shops...

A/N: I know this chapter is straight description with no character interaction, but this is just the introductory chapter. Future chapters will have action and dialogue, along with all the angsty brooding.