The shop was warm when Mrs. Lovett wandered through the door in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The lamps had been lit sometime during the night, and most were nearly burned out, casting long, blurry shadows around the room.

The bench was littered with baking supplies, knives and other various utensils. There was flour on every available surface, along with bits of lumpy pastry, watery gravy and dead flies. At the table in the window, staring forlornly at a lopsided, charred and pathetic-looking pie, sat Sweeney Todd.

"What's going on here, love?" Mrs. Lovett rolled up her sleeves and grabbed her mop from its spot in the corner of the room. "What's all this? Looks like we been robbed."

Sweeney shrugged, picking up the pie before him, examining it with a look of vague, listless distaste. He dropped it back onto its plate before staring out the window, frowning at the middle distance he constantly seemed to be contemplating.

"I couldn't sleep."

Mrs. Lovett yanked a bucket from under the bench. "Don't see how that's got nothing to do with nothing, Mr. T," she frowned, then thrust the mop at him. "here, hold that for us, dear. I needs to get some water."

Sweeney watched her bustle out of the shop and over to the tap in the wall outside, which was the only source of water. He cautiously stood, leaning on the mop, and blew some flour off the table.

"Now, my dear," Mrs. Lovett continued, lugging her bucket of water back inside. "You just sit yourself back down and tell me what happened, eh?"

She sat him back down in his chair and took the mop off him. "How did me things get from one end of the kitchen to the other?"

Sweeney flicked a lump of unidentifiable substance off the crust of the pie and sighed. "I told you, pet. I couldn't sleep. So I…"

"Oh, love."

Mrs. Lovett turned to him, her face softening into a smile. "You tried to…"

"You make it look so easy," Sweeney muttered, and pushed the pie away in disgust.

"Now, dear," Mrs. Lovett admonished. "You'll never get nowhere acting like that. You're like a little baby what's not allowed any sweeties."

Sweeney glared at her, but she wasn't put off. Instead, she took his arm and led him over to the bench.

"Now, love, the secret is to always stir the dough clockwise. Most'll say that's an old wives' tale, but it's served me well enough, I'll tell you that much…"

…

Toby woke up later than usual and hurried out to the shop to see if Mrs. Lovett needed him. He ran through the parlour, and was about to push the dor open when he heard Mr. Todd's voice, almost laughing, telling Mrs. Lovett that she was a bloody wonder.

"Thank you, my love, I'm sure," she smiled, and subtly kicked the parlour door closed as she leaned towards him, lips puckered, over the baking tray.

…

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, there'd be a lot more sex going on.

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