title Panic Prone

author pinkeop

summary To end this catastrophic scene awake and breathe in... ( Continuation of Girl Anachronism and Scream )

authors note

!!PLEASE READ!!

Hello, my lovelies! So, I promised you guys a sequel of sorts to Scream and I suppose I should deliver it, eh, eh? WELL HERE IT IS! And for those of you just joining is, if you don't like a dead Mrs. Lovett, an Original Character ( or several ), and Sweeney Todd actually being with someone other than Mrs. Lovett ( because el Judge-o is el dead-o ((i speak mexican!)) ), then you might want to turn around.

And for those of you just joining us who are curious what all the commotion is about- Go read Girl Anachronism and then it's follow up, Scream! And if you're too lazy, go back around and read somethin' else. If you're not- WELL, WELCOME BACK FROM READING THOSE TWO! And now you may sit back and enjoy the Hillywood show... I mean... hehe, Panic Prone. ( -grumbles under breath- )

Well, enjoy these one shots of Ana, Sweeney, and parenthood with little Emszi!

Just so you know, "Emszi" is pronounced "Em-zee". The 's' is essentially silent. Her nicknames will include, "Emmy", "Em", "Zizi", and "Ugly Little Thing." -snicker- Guess which one is her father's nickname for her.

Anyway... on with the show! Ana and Mr. Todd are living together in Liverpool in a house with a loft above it where Mr. T has opened another barber shop because Mr. T doesn't like not having something to do throughout the day. No shop below- Ana's a full time mummy ( and entertainer for Jo and Tony (( har har har )) ).

Love!

Pink Elephants on Parade

--

Claire de Lune

Ana stared dismally at the crib across the bedroom, nestled between the bookcase and the door frame. It irritated her a bit, some what, that she couldn't quite seem to get the hand of the motherhood dealio. She hadn't had much of a role-model growing up. She tried so hard to be different than her own mother that she ended up blurring the lines of what was appropriate and what wasn't. What irritated her more so was that Sweeney Todd, who hadn't touched anything gently in years, seemed more apt at being a father than she a mother! He carried Emszi when she needed to be carried and set her in just the right spot in the living room so she could watch the hustle and bustle throughout the day, as Antony and Johanna and their son were frequent visitors, otherwise Ana might go crazy with no one to chatter to. He even some times took her up into his shop where she could watch her father do what he did best ( which to Ana's insane relief, hadn't been killing in over a year ).

Ana huffed, her brows knit together in the middle of her forehead as she watched where the sleeping child lay in her crib, nestled between an old blanket they'd gotten at the market and a stuffed dog that Johanna had given to them for their daughter.

What was the secret?!

What made Sweeney more capable of being a father than she a mother? What made him so god damn special?

Ana crossed grunted and stood carefully, moving towards the door. She paused to peer into the crib, making sure that Emszi was still knocked out- which she was. The little pale-skinned beauty lay on her stomach with her head turned to the side, her little fists curled and her little legs bent ever so comfortably. She breathed deeply and carefully, her eyes closed, her mouth open slightly. Ana's heart ached. She loved her daughter, more than anything in the whole entire world- so why couldn't she seem to get a hang of this whole being a Mummy thing?

Leaving the door open so she would be able to hear the child's cry from any part of the house, Ana escaped down the long, dimly lit hall way and into the kitchen. Their home was no dissimilar from the one they shared back in London. There was no shop below, just a small, quant house, and a studio above it where Mr. Todd happily ( or, whatever it was that emotion could be called ) opened up a second tonsorial parlor. He liked having something to do in the middle of the day- and they needed money, dispite that he brought all their earnings from London with them ( otherwise, this nice house would have been just a dream! ).

The kitchen was sizeable. Ana liked spending most of her time in there. She'd taken a real liking to cooking too-big meals that neither her nor Sweeney could finish on their own. Adajecent to the kitchen was the hall, and down it one way opened to a lovely living room, with big, bay windows that over saw all of the street. The other way was their bedrooms, the one which they shared together with Emszi, and another that would become their daughters once she'd grown old enough. At the end of the hall was the wash room.

On the outside of the house was a stair case that lead up to her husband's shop. Up there was always so quite and tense. Ana didn't go up there unless she needed to drag him away from his thoughts. But usually tossing a heavy object at the ceiling to get his attention would do. Even if it did get her a good scolding.

Ana settled herself onto the window seat in the kitchen, pulling her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She wasn't wearing a dress- in fact, she was wearing young men's trousers and one of Mr. Todd's old shirts ( which smelt delicously like vanilla ). Dresses were heavy and the corsets- through driving her husband's eyes wild -made it hard for her to breath. So it wasn't rare to find the red-head happily donning unconventional clothes, at least inside her own house.

The sound of footsteps from above alerted Ana of her husband's presence. She knew he wasn't with a customer- he was closed today. So whatever would he be doing up there that didn't involve him being down here, with her? Irritation spiked the young mother and she swung her legs off the window seat, hopping to the ground. In these clothes, it was much easier to move about. Grabbing a chair from the table, she took her trusty broom and hopped onto it.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

Three hard raps onto the ceiling usually got her husbands attention. And it did. The foot steps stopped with a groaning creak before the sound of the door slamming echoed through the clear morning air. Just as the barber entered moodily through the kitchen door, Ana tossed the broom in the general direction of the cupboard she got it from. It clattered nosily on the wood floor.

Sweeney Todd stood there for a half a moment, watching her with an expression that clearly said he was on the fence of being amused or annoyed. When Ana looked at him, he looked younger than when she first met him. His pale, alabaster face seemed to smooth out, the lines and dents seeming gone. His hair was still unruly in nature, his eyes still dark, but the frown lines were gone from the corners of his mouth, and his brow wasn't always furrowed in the middle of his forehead. She wondered if she was the only one who saw him in such a relaxed light. Her heart ached a little bit as he came around the kitchen table, his hand holding his razor, that extention of his arm, rather lazily at his side.

"You banged?" he asked lackidasically. She tried to ignore the way his eyes raked over her. She felt almost sorry for him. They hadn't had any sort of relations since... goodness, she couldn't right remember! Since the night before she was taken away to Fogg's Assylum. It hadn't been too bad at first. In fact, their 'relationship' seemed to even bloom with the lack of sex. Then it just got to be annoying. There was never any time. And when there was, Ana found herself completely not in the mood.

A smile fell across her face as she dropped herself into a chair at the kitchen table. "I was lonely," she announced. Sweeney Todd wrinkled his nose slightly, pulling his lip back. But he was good natured about it and pocketed his razor, tucking it in it's holster. "I can make lunch, if you like," she went on. "Or some tea."

"Gin would be fine, love," Mr. Todd said dully, not moving from his spot as she jumped up to get the bottle. Ana felt his eyes watching her, and when she turned around with two glasses and the bottle, he was there, right infront of her, silent as a ghost. She jumped and dropped the glasses- they clattered to the ground and smashed into several peices. The bottle of gin stayed firm in her hand. She let out a surprised noise before slapping him hard in the middle of the chest.

"Look what you did!" she snapped, unable to admit she was flustered by getting so easily startled. Smacking the bottle onto the counter, she moved to clean up the broken glasses. But her waist was caught by two large hands, pulling her towards him. Ana looked up into those dark eyes and felt a soft smile twitch over her lips with the look in them.

"Have I e'er told yeh how much I love the look of yeh in my clothes?" Sweeney Todd murmured into her ear. Ana sighed, placing her hands on his chest, fingering his neck tie.

"Only just yesterday when you tried this..." she replied saucily. Mr. Todd's chuckle was dark and muffled into her hair where his nose was nuzzled.

"Is it working?" He asked as his nimble fingers worked at unbuttoning the shirt she wore. Ana grunted and grabbed his hands, pushing them away from her.

"Didn't work yesterday," she replied as his hands returned to pushing her shirt off her shoulders- or trying. Ana discovered he didn't get very far when she squirmed.

Sweeney Todd grunted and gripped her by the hips, lifting her quite easily and placing her on the counter. "Sit still," he grumbled.

Ana growled and grabbed him by the shoulders, shoving him back. "Quit it," she demanded. He grabbed her wrists and pressed them down on the counter, his lips at her throat, caressing the soft skin, nudging her hair behind her shoulders.

"Sweeney," Ana complained. "I don't want to..."

"Well, I do." He growled, licking from the edge of her neck to her jaw line. She stared at the ceiling, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Absolutely not!" she snapped.

"Damnit, woman," Sweeney Todd snarled, pulling back and placing his hands on her thighs, gripping hard.

Ana placed her hands over his and pushed them off. "Can we please just not do this right now? I'm not in the mood."

That set him off. He pushed away from her and paced around the kitchen, his lip pulled back, his hands tight into fists. She crossed her arms, completely unfazed by his temper tantrum.

"Not in the mood?" He snapped, whirling to face her. "Damnit, woman, yeh 'aven't been in the mood for months. 'Ow long do yeh expect me to wait?!"

"God, does it always have to be about you?" Ana complained. Sweeney Todd looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"Wot?!" He snarled. "Wot the hells is that supposed to mean?"

Ana looked away from him. Sweeney placed his hands on either side of her body against the counter, leaning close, his brows knit together in the most malicious scowl. Anyone else might have been intimidated. Ana was just annoyed. It was like he knew he was scary. Like he was trying to scare her out of her panties. And that just ticked her off. Just about as much as it ticked her off knowing he was a more capable father than she was a mother. God, damn, and that certainly ticked her off.

"Why must you argue with everything I do?" Sweeney Todd asked in a low, dangerously dark voice, while his breath- smelling like cinnamon -ghosted across her cheeks.

"M'not..." Ana murmured.

"Absolutely you are," Sweeney snapped. His hand gripped her chin and forced her to look at him. Ana, glaring with all her might, stuck out her tongue. There was a silent pause in which the barber gazed upon his wife with such a confused air. He released her chin and placed his hands back on her thighs, this time much lighter, gentler.

"What ails you, pet?" he asked.

Ana heaved a sigh. "I'm... just... let's not get into it, alright?" she murmured.

Sweeney shook his head, stroking her cheek. "We haven't been getting into anything lately- I'd like to know why."

Ana rolled her eyes- is that all he thought about?

"It's just... Emszi, you know... I mean, I'm just getting used to this wriggling little... thing... that's mine, my daughter, and I have no idea how to be a mummy and here you are, you, for God's sake, you! Emszi likes you, she doesn't cry when you hold her, the only time she doesn't cry when I'm holding her is when her mouth is attatched to my teet... And I don't know what to do because she's so small and frail and... and I just... I can barely figure out what to do with one daughter- I don't want any more. Sex leads to children and I don't want any more. It's bad enough I can't be a mum to Emszi..."

Ana let out a deep breath after that and peered up through her lashes Sweeney Todd was looking down on her with a confused, slightly amused look. Slowly, he shook his head and his laughter made her angry. She pushed him back and jumped down off the counter. The barber grabbed her by the wrist and spun her so her back was pressed against the counter once more. "There, there," he amended. "My apologies, Ana. I didn't mean to find humor in your misfortune."

Ana grunted, crossing her arms. "This is why I dont tell you things," she snapped.

A soft noise came from down the hall. It started out as the tiniest of gurgles before a loud, piercing, unhappy cry alerted the couple that their daughter was awake and sorely upset. She grimmanced.

"Go on, then," Sweeney said. "She's most likely hungry."

Ana gave a heavy sigh before turning round about and went to the bedroom. She leaned over the side of the crib. Emszi looked unhappy, her face red and blotchy, tears streaking down her little face. She leaned over the edge and picked up the child, kissing the side of her head before carefully hushing her. "Alright, then, lovie," she murmured. "You hungry?"

Emszi wailed a high pitched cry, waving her hand to and fro towards Ana's face. Moving to sit in the rocking chair in the corner, Ana expertly unbottoned Sweeney's old shirt and let it fall off her shoulder, allowing Emszi to attached herself to her breast. Ana watched quietly as her daughter happily fed- the one time when the child was not bawling in her presence. She sighed. Why couldn't the child be at peace all the time?

A sound from the door way made her look up. Sweeney Todd was leaning against the frame, his eyes soft.

"See there?" he asked lightly. "You're the picture of a mother."

Ana wrinkled her nose, her fingers stroking over Emszi's cheeks. "Am I, then?" she asked.

Sweeney nodded, moving across the room and kneeling before her, his chin on her knee. Ana smiled softly. It was these moments, she supposed, that kept her sane. These short, small moments.

"She's quiet, ain't she?" Sweeney questioned. Ana frowned.

"For now," she amended. A few moments of silence, Emszi turned her face away from Ana's breast, snuggling her face into the smooth skin. She cradled her close with one arm, the other pulling up the shirt so that it fell over her breast. After another minute, Emszi began to cry, upset at something Ana could not figure out.

Tears prickling her own eyes, Ana glared at her husband. "Will you take her, please? She likes you."

Sweeney shook his head. "No, love. She's your daughter."

Ana felt frustrated at her husband. Emszi was prone to crying all through the night if her father didn't tend to her. Standing, forcing the barber's chin from her knee, the young mother gently rocked her daughter, shushing her equally. She must've paced the room a dozen times. Sweeney Todd had taken place in the rocking chair, watching in amusement.

"C'mon, Emmy," Ana said whistfully, kissing the child's head. "Mummy likes when you shut your trap..."

"Ana," Sweeney said lightly. She ignored him, rocking the child warmly to and fro in her arms.

"Ana," her husband said, a bit louder, but almost shushed, as if he were trying to control the volume of his voice.

"What?" she snapped, whirling carefully to face the barber.

There was a silence. And then Ana caught on- a silence!

Emszi had stopped her wailing, staring up at her mother with those big brown eyes, clutching onto the lapels of her shirt. Her face was less red, the tear tracks dried. Ana felt her smile widen across her lips. Her husband smiled back- though it was fleeting, and soon he stood and kissed the side of her head.

"I'll take her, now," he said, scooping his daughter from Ana's arms. "And you can make lunch."

Ana laughed warmly, watching her husband carry Emszi from the room. It always caught her a bit off gaurd, watching him carrying that small child. His hands were unnaturally large, easily able to wrap around her thigh, and to watch them hold a child who was small and easily premature- it was sweet and comical, though if she wanted to have someone to sleep beside her every night, she was reluctant to tell him that.

Following her family out of the room, Ana began to chatter boistriously to Sweeney and little Emszi about what would be good for lunch.