Thanks to everyone who read the first part, and most of all to those who reviewed as well. I am pleasantly surprised by your enthusiasm for the story this far and I hope you'll continue to like it =D
I'm sorry it took me so long to update; this was far from the three or four days I had mentioned earlier. A few things went wrong but here I am, posting this chapter on my birthday ;)
Chapter 1
"You are what?" Sweeney said, his eyes narrow dangerously.
"You heard me," Mrs. Lovett said timidly. Fear was taking over her as the barber stared at her with disgust written on his face.
"You little slut," he hissed, his eyes moving from her face to her belly and, very briefly, lower. "You deceiving bitch! How could you?!"
"I'm not a slut," she said softly, tears welling in her eyes while she wondered why he had to react like this. She knew that he wouldn't be happy with the news, but this…
"Not a slut?" he asked, his voice threateningly low. "Then what do you call a woman who sleeps around and finds herself pregnant? Do you have even an idea who the father is?"
"I don't sleep around," she answered, her voice trembling. "And I know very well who the father is."
"And then," Sweeney said darkly, approaching her, forcing her to step back, "would you be so kind to share that information with me?"
"Not that it is any of your business," she spat, her anger with him because of his cruel behavior stronger than fear, "the child is…"
"Not any of my business?!" he yelled, causing Mrs. Lovett to jump in shock. "Not any of my bloody business? It is, now that you are pregnant and unable to work for a year."
"What?!" she screamed back, her fury provoked by the heartless words of the man in front of her. "Is that all you can think of? I don't like this myself, but there's nothing I can do about it. And just in case you didn't notice, I did work the past few weeks. I am baking those bloody pies all the time, only to help you, and I intend to continue doing so for at least a few more months. That Lucy spent nine months in bed, doesn't mean that I will too."
The moment she said those last words, she knew that it was a terrible mistake, but it was too late already to take them back. Sweeney was truly angry now and terror, more intense than she had ever felt when he was around, overwhelmed her. In his fit of rage, the man truly was a demon.
When he stepped closer to her, she closed her eyes and folded her arms over her stomach, intuitively protecting the innocent creature inside of her.
The blow against her head came as a shock. She had expected the barber to place a razor against her throat, perhaps even to apply some pressure to create a small wound, but she had not thought that he would ever hit her, let alone when he knew that she was with a child.
The violent movement made her feel dizzy and she lost her balance. She would've fallen to the ground if it weren't for the huge chest that had contained Pirelli's body not so very long ago. She leant on the wooden box, breathing heavily, nothing but chaos and raw emotion in her mind.
"Get rid of the child," he hissed, towering over her. "There are plenty of people in this goddamn city that can 'help' you with that."
The tears were falling freely now, dropping on the wood of the chest she was still leaning on.
"Or else," he continued, his voice filled with so much anger that she could hardly hear the words properly, "I'll do it myself. There is nothing between me and my vengeance, and especially not…"
Sweeney never had the chance to finish his sentence. His word had pushed Mrs. Lovett beyond fear into an irrational woman, protecting her child at all cost; not just a seemingly crazy female, but a mother. She loved the man, she truly did, but this… this went too far.
"You," she whispered, black and red dots of anger clouding her vision, "I curse the day that you dared coming back here, only to use me to get your vengeance. If you ever threaten my child or me again, I'll make sure you regret it."
In that moment, Mrs. Lovett was possessed by anger like usually only the barber could feel and, hardly aware of her own actions and the stupidity of it, she stepped to the dumbfounded man and slapped him hard in the face.
There were not many things in her life that had been more satisfying than the feeling of her palm hitting Sweeney's cheek. But before she had the chance to enjoy it, the power of her rage made her impulsively burst out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Half a minute later, Mrs. Lovett rushed into her bedroom, not even bothering to be quiet in order not to wake Toby. The boy was sleeping on the couch and she didn't want him to know about her pregnancy yet. She hoped that he hadn't heard anything of her fight with Mr. Todd, but he probably had not, thanks to all the gin he drank each night.
Hastily, Nellie closed the door of the room and fell on her bed, burying her face in the pillow. As she calmed down slowly, it dawned on her what exactly she had said and done, and what consequences this was going to have. Horror welled inside of her as she vaguely recalled how she had challenged the barber, and had even physically attacked him. He deserved every bit of it, of course he did, but no matter how much he had been asking for it with that horrible behavior of his, he would never let her get away with it. If she wanted to survive this, if she wanted the baby to survive, she had to flee for Mr. Todd and his punishment for her behavior as soon as she possibly could.
But first, she needed to sleep. The tormenting fight upstairs had exhausted her already tired being even more.
"Just a few hours," she said softly, "then we'll leave this damned place forever and leave that madman all by himself. Let's see how long he survives without me. But Toby will help us, he's such a good…"
But she was asleep already, arms hugging her pillow and tears still running down her cheeks.
