Mrs. Lovett was suddenly having second thoughts about letting Sweeney stay and open up shop. Sure, she was expecting him to resent Pirelli a bit for taking over the title as the best barber in London, but she never would have expected to walk back up the stairs to find his dead body in a damned chest.

"You're barking mad!" she exclaimed. If he reacted this violently to something that was only slightly trivial, how was he going to react when she told him about Lucy? When he found out that Mrs. Lovett lied to him before. She started to feel slightly nauseous, picturing him taking one of his polished razors to her neck, or being bludgeoned with a teakettle as the poor Mr. Pirelli had.

But Sweeney explained to her that Pirelli had, in fact, threatened to blackmail him for half his earnings. His anger boiled over and he had mindlessly killed the man currently folded up in a box. Mrs. Lovett's nerves calmed somewhat after Sweeney justified himself. So at least he had some kind of motive…but he still bloody killed a man!

. . .

Later, after the judge had gone and Mrs. Lovett had shared her brilliant business venture with Sweeney, she felt a little safer. They were closer now that they decided to be partners, he would be able to freely kill whoever he wanted without worrying about disposing of the bodies, and Mrs. Lovett had a new secret recipe that would hopefully bring in more business.

It was almost perfect. It would have been perfect if Mrs. Lovett didn't still feel a pang of guilt whenever she remembered she had yet to be honest with Mr. Todd. Soon. She would do it soon.

She was in the kitchen mixing, in a large bowl, dough for the pies when Sweeney unexpectedly walked in the door. She was slightly startled since she didn't even hear him come down. She watched him move across the room as she kept mixing.

"Need somethin' Mr. T?" she asked, still not entirely sure why he was down there.

He didn't respond, but rather disappeared into the next room. He returned just as quiet with a new bottle of gin and a glass and sat down at the table. Mrs. Lovett stood there curiously covered with flour and sweat as she stirred the mix cradled in her arm.

"Two more," he finally growled before downing a full glass of gin. She nodded and put down the dough concoction wiping her forehead with back of her hand. She was going to tell him. Now.

"Good," she responded, not entirely sure what to say. One moment she was fine and now she was more nervous than she'd ever been. Her insides were tying knots.

"Mr. T?" Mrs. Lovett started, moving around the counter slowly. He didn't respond, he simply shifted in his chair. She stopped in the front of the counter only a few paces away from him and stood with her hands fidgeting in front of her.

"Look, Mr. T, I been meaning to tell you somethin'." Still no response. "It's important, Mr. T." This prompted him to look up from under his brow, his eyes the only thing that moved. At least she managed to catch his interest a little.

"Uuh…well," she started. "Look, it's about what I told you the other day…when you first came in to my shop. About…" she paused. Why was this so hard?"

"About what," he said so quiet it was almost silent. This scared Mrs. Lovett a bit.

"Well, it's about your wife," she blurted. This caused him to snap his head up and furrow his brow, which made him look even more frightening than usual. Very slowly, he sat up in his chair.

"What about my wife," he said just as slow and rough.

"She ain't exactly…I mean I didn't…" she didn't know how to put it delicately. Oh, will you just get it over with. "She's not dead. I'm sorry I lead you to believe she was, I didn't mean to. She's not well."

Sweeney rose from his chair without making a single sound and stood. It was eerie how still he could be. His scowl remained frozen while his arms stayed rigid at his side.

"Mr. T…I'm s-" but his sudden movement cut her off. In what seemed like a fraction of a second, Mr. Todd had pulled out a razor, strode over to where Mrs. Lovett stood, and held it to her throat while keeping a firm grasp on her arm. She closed her eyes and shrunk into him. Now you bloody well did it, he's gonna kill you. Here and now.

But he didn't. Several moments passed and Mrs. Lovett dared to open her eyes. Sweeney had not moved, but his angry expression changed. It was still stern and hard, but not angry. His eyes moved to hers and she felt her heart jump.

"Show me," he growled.

Ooooh, what's gonna happen next? New chapter soon. Reviews are appreciated, thanks for reading!