Injured and A New Home

Chapter three is here and present! I just thought that I would come out with this one and two together since I've been so bad about it. So I do hope that it somewhat makes up for my lateness. If not then, you can say something to me that will make me sad in your review (if you do review). I do hope that you get some entertainment out of this chapter though. So read on my friends. Oh, I don't own Sweeney Todd. *Sweeney*: She doesn't, and it's just making her suffer! Ha! Me: Aw man, Sweeney's making me feeling suffering.

Many thoughts ran through Sweeney's head as Maggie cleared her throat, signaling that they should get to business. Was he going to be able to afford to stay here and keep up with the rent? Mrs. Lovett had always kept it easy for him; she had given him a more than fair rent cost. What was Mrs. Lovett doing right now anyway, was she regretting her decision to send him away by now?

He halted and closed his eyes tightly. He had to stop this, why was he thinking about the woman anyway? He didn't give a shit about what happened to her, he would be happy if she suffered without him. He thought about how satisfied he would be to return to 186 Fleet Street one day. Only to find the immoral and uncomfortably kind baker dead from self-neglect, and possibly to find the foolish boy that she had taken in either gone or suffering himself.

That's when he thought of the problem that was the most important to him. How was he going to kill the judge now? It would have been much easier before; his home and his shop were the same place. All that he would have to have done was draw the sick bastard into his shop; the rest would have been easy. Now he didn't even have a shop anymore, where would he find one?

The bird's singing was what woke Nellie Lovett the next morning. She rose out of bed and dressed quickly. She checked the clock in her parlor and cursed under her breath, running into her shop to prepare breakfast.

When Toby came into the shop his eyes lit up and he could not stop staring at the food. "Wow mum, everything looks delicious." He smiled at Mrs. Lovett and ran around to the back of the counter to embrace her.

"Aww, well thank you dearie. What's all of this for though?" Toby quickly let go and looked down, saying that he simply felt like it. Nellie smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, as Toby went to sit down and eat he saw Mrs. Lovett grab a third plate of food. "Erm mum, what are you doing?"

Mrs. Lovett looked down at the plate and suddenly her glowing face darkened. Her eyes seemed to dull and her mouth turned downward. "Right, I just forgot is all." Suddenly her lips turned into a tight smile and she brought the third plate over to the table. "'Ow's about we split the rest between the two of us Toby?" He nodded and watched her as she moved half of what would normally be Sweeney's breakfast between the pair. They ate their breakfast in an awkward silence.

Toby kept taking quick glances up at Nellie. When she caught his glance a clearly forced smile would appear on her face. When he saw that she wasn't looking at him though, her expression was very different. Her smile constantly changed between a tight straight line and a much too obvious frown. Her eyes also seemed hollowed out as she absent mindedly moved the food around on her plate. She took a few bites, then noticing that Toby had already finished she began to take them away. "Mum, I'll take mine and you just finish eating yours."

Mrs. Lovett gave him a small smile. "Thanks sweet but I'm not terribly 'ungry. Anyway, we've got to start baking some pies otherwise the customers will 'ave nothing to eat." Toby simply shrugged and left to get the ingredients all together while she cleaned. He already knew that this was going to be a long day for the both of them, especially with Mr. Todd gone.

Nellie walked down to the bake house; luckily there were still a few bodies left from before Sweeney had left. There seemed to be enough for lunch and dinner that day, but she would certainly have to go out and get more meat the next day. She only hoped that it wouldn't be too expensive. She loved the boy as if he was her own son; he was sweet and was actually thankful for everything that she did for him. Sweeney never did a thing to show that he appreciated her. She had loved him with every part of her; she would have done anything for him. The selfish bastard didn't care though, he never cared about her! All that he cared about was revenge, the judge, his daughter and his horrible wife. The more that she thought about him, the angrier she got until she was hacking away and ruining all of the good meat that could be used in the pies. She cursed loudly and cleaved madly at the dead body in front of her, not paying any attention until pain spread through her. Her gaze shot downward to see blood pouring out of a gash in her hand. Tears started to run down her cheeks as she let out a loud scream.

Suddenly she heard the scamper of quiet footsteps. "Mum, mum are you alright?" Mrs. Lovett moved slightly and glanced upward to see Toby looking down at her.

He began to make his way down the stairs but Mrs. Lovett screamed up at him. "No Toby, there's no need to come down 'ere love. I just gave meself a nasty cut is all, I'll be right up." She got to her feet and made her way up the stairs, her hand wrapped tightly in her apron. Once she reached the top step she ran for the pie shop and thrust her hand into the water hoping that it would get rid of some of the blood. Toby walked in wringing his hands, Mrs. Lovett gave him a large smile to try calming his nerves. "I'm really fine Toby love; do you remember where the first aid kit is? Could you just grab it and bring in here for me?" Toby nodded and ran off while Nellie continued to soak her wound.

Toby helped Mrs. Lovett wrap the bandage around her hand. Toby looked at the baker's forced smile and looked away slowly saying "You don't have to make me feel better mum. I'm sure that it 'urts a lot more than that. I am glad that you're okay though."

Nellie gave the boy the most genuine smile that she could and pulled him close to her. "You're so sweet Toby, thanks so much darling." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and he smiled at her. "Well, it looks like we're both going to have a bit of time off while my hand heals up. We don't want to be getting this infected or giving any customers an illness."

Toby nodded and his eyes suddenly lit up. "I've got it mum, why don't I do it? I could make the pies and serve them out, I just won't make too many or anything."

Nellie quickly put his idea to an end. "No Toby, I am happy that you want to help me. It is a lot of work though and I don't want you overworking yourself dear. At least wait until I'm all better, then you can help me make as many pies as you'd like?"

Toby looked down frowning and slowly lifted his head up to face her. "Alright mum, are you going to be alright?" She nodded and gave him a small wink before asking Toby to put some water on for tea.

Sweeney was unfortunately right back where he started. The rent that the Smith's had offered to him was too high for him to afford, or at least to be able to keep up with. With no clear space available nearby where he could open a barber shop, he wouldn't be able to afford the rent for long. He was just lucky that they had allowed him to stay the night without expense; he had to think of some way to thank the couple. So he had decided to spare Terrance Smith's life.

Sweeney had to think of something; maybe he could find other lodgings someplace. At least until he found a place where he could conveniently have a barber shop again, and that he could afford. Suddenly something caught his eye, a conspicuous barber pole a short distance ahead. A smirk came to his face as he quickened his steps. His smirk only grew wider when he saw the "For sale" sign. He opened the door to see an elderly balding man sweeping hair off of the floor. The man turned around in a wobbling manner and flashed a toothy grin at Sweeney. "Hello there sir, come in for a trim or a nice shave?"

Sweeney shook his head and held up his hands. "No, I was actually wondering about the sign you have in your window. I am a barber myself and am looking for a shop. I had to leave my last shop due to unforeseen circumstances, are you offering it?"

The old man smiled and nodded. "Why yes I am sir, the name's Burke Dokhill. I was beginning to think that no one would want to buy it; I've had this sign up for a few months now. Unfortunately I'm just getting too old for this job; the rooms upstairs are for sale as well. I can only assume from your bag that you were looking for a residence as well, luckily the upstairs comes with the downstairs."

Sweeney stood with his eyebrows raised; he honestly could not believe his luck with finally finding a suitable residence. "Now I suppose you would like to talk about the business of money before you actually have a look around eh?" Burke teetered over to the corner of the shop and picked up a cane that was resting against the wall. "Now do you see why I need to sell the place, I can barely get around anymore myself." Burke let out a weak laugh and slowly made his way over to the door. "Come on then, my living room's through here. You drink son, I can make us a few and we can talk payment." Sweeney simply nodded and followed the elderly man through the door.

After a bit past an hour, the door opened and the two men came back into the barber shop. "Well I do wish you success on your future shop Mr. Todd. So I'll just finish up my packing, my daughter and her husband should be by tomorrow to pick me up. I did tell you that they were allowing me to move in with them right? My daughter's just so worried about me being out in the city alo-."

Sweeney nodded his head quickly in order to stop Burke from continuing with his sentimental drabble. "It's fine sir, should I just stay in the extra bedroom back there?"

Burke nodded and smiled. "If you would like to you may join me for dinner as well. I've heard a lot of good words about a pie shop on-."

Sweeney furrowed his eyebrows and spoke quickly "Fleet Street." Burke nodded and Sweeney shook his head. "I'd rather not. I'm just, not much of a meat pie fan. I am not especially hungry, my gratitude for the invitation though Mr. Dokhill."

The man shrugged and struggled over to his coat, slowly pulling it over his shoulders and slowly making his way to the door. Sweeney brought his hand to his back pocket and felt for his razor. "Feel free to do some more looking around Mr. Todd, look around your future bedroom if you would like." Burke was about to open the door when Sweeney wrapped his arm around his neck and dragged the razor across the elderly man's throat. Burke let out a scream that ended in only drowned gurgles as the beautiful rubies projected from his throat. He smirked and pulled the body into the now former owner's living room. He looked around until he saw the door that Burke had said led into his cellar space. He smirked and pulled Burke's body down the stairs and into the cellar. He let out a sigh and decided to dispose of the body completely later, for now he had to find a mop to clean up the bloody mess with.

Sweeney sat in his barber chair, well, now it was his. It became his the moment that he had found the sewer grate in the cellar and had thrown the worthless old man into the waters below. In the time between him disposing of the old man's body and now, he had moved his belongings into his new shop and into his new bedroom. Now until Sweeney could convince the judge to possibly pay him a visit, he just had to worry about his meddlesome child and her husband.

The next morning Sweeney woke in his new bed. He yawned and groaned at the sounds of the birds chirping outside. It wasn't as if he abhorred the sounds of their singing. In fact it was one of the only things that brought him some amount of peace, partially because he could remember how much Lucy and Johanna had loved them. He just didn't want so much noise as soon as he woke up. He made his way over to the small window that gave him a small view of the city. So maybe this window wasn't as convenient for finding victims as his one back on Fleet Street, but at least it was something.

He got dressed quickly and made his way downstairs to grab his coat. Maybe he could find someplace to have some breakfast before advertising his new location, plus he still had to think of a way to get rid of the girl and her husband. He saw a carriage go by and suddenly a brilliant idea came to his mind. He found a small eatery, ate quickly and made his way to the hardware shop. If he was going to make this shop like his last one on Fleet Street, he would have to make some renovations.

He had just finished cleaning up the mess from his trap door when there was a knock at his shop door. He opened it to see a young woman with gray eyes and black eyes. "I'm very sorry sir; maybe I have the wrong address." One of her eyebrows fell and the left side of her lips curved into a frown.

Sweeney shook his head quickly. "No ma'am, you must be Mr. Dokhill's daughter." She let out a sigh and smiled, nodding her head slowly. "He isn't here right now actually. I am Mr. Sweeney Todd; I'm taking over the shop. He actually said that he forgot about something and that he was going to be away for a while. He asked if maybe you could take his things now, and since he knows where you live he could arrive later on. He doesn't have much to move really."

The woman frowned and walked back to the carriage and her husband. They spoke quietly before they both came back over to the barber. The man smiled and held out his hand. Upon seeing Sweeney's expression he pulled it back quickly and cleared his throat. "Hello there Mr. Todd, my name's Richard. I suppose that it would be alright for us to take his things for him, it would certainly be helpful to the old boy wouldn't it?" The couple laughed and the barber continued to stand there in his typical nonchalant stance. They looked at each other and Sweeny moved out of the way to give them room to enter the shop.

The woman looked out with her jaw hanging slightly. "Well you certainly didn't waste time getting moved in did you Mr. Todd? You've already got new things in here, and my father's things seem to be all packed up and ready."

Sweeney nodded and clasped his hands tightly behind his back. "No ma'am, he was already plenty packed up when I arrived yesterday. It was his recommendation that I get myself settled in. However I am sure that it does come as quite a shock." The woman faced him and let out another long sigh. "I can help you to move these if you would like." The woman thanked him and he forced a half smile onto his face. The woman let out a slight laugh and quickly turned to her husband, baring her teeth. He crossed his arms and silently agreed with her nervous expression, they could both feel the uneasy tension that the barber gave off.

After they were finished getting everything into the carriage the couple smiled and waved goodbye to Sweeney. Sweeney watched as the carriage drove away and gave a small smirk before going back into his shop. Now the only thing that Sweeney had to worry about was how to get the judge under his desperate razor. Sweeney couldn't wait anymore; he had to get the judge, and now! If he waited any longer he could swear that he would go mad, well, more mad. For now though, he had to get more materials for his tonsorial parlor. He couldn't delude his customers into believing that he was a proper barber if he did not have the right materials now could he?

Sweeney made his way around the market stalls, comparing all of the prices to see which he could get for the best price. He needed to save as much money as he could since he hadn't opened his new shop yet. He was just lucky that he hadn't needed to pay the old fool for his new residence. He couldn't help but smirk as he recalled his most recent, mark, on the world. He paid for his two purchases and continued on his way. He was about to check out another stall when two figures caught his attention.

Dun dun duuuuuuun! So how was that, was it a good enough cliffhanger? Oh I do hope that you liked chapter three and I hope that you enjoy future chapters to come. If not then I do apologize for my ability at sucking. I hope this is keep everyone interested, I know that it has been a while and I do apologize for that. So drop on by and leave a review if you would like. All you have to do is leave some words and press the button. If you do then I will give you a free rat and a delicious cookie! =:3 )~