Sooo...I know that I just posted something but I figured you'd all be okay with the quick little resolution to that cliff-hanger. Anyhoo, I was thinking of writing more to this, but Lacey thought that this was such a good ending to a chapter that I should just post it now and get it over with.

Anyhoooo!! Same nonesense about not owning anything. Booo! --

"All this runnin' an' shoutin'! What is it now, dear-" Lovett began as she entered the room to find a not-so-bloodstained Todd and a lack-of-judge in her late husband's chair.

Oh no…

-

"I had him."

Ice trickled down Lovett's back and settled in her empty stomach. The dark chill of fear…

"His throat was bare beneath my hand…"

The baker's eyes widened and she tried to console him, to prevent the insanity hiding just behind his eyes from spilling out and engulfing her. "There, there, dear-"

"No, I had him!" Mister Todd staggered towards the chair where only moments before the Honorable Judge Turpin had sat. "His throat was there and he'll never come again!"

Her breath hitched in her throat. That desperate note in the barber's voice frightened her. "Easy now…hush, Love, hush…I keep telling you-"

"WHEN?!" he shouted, lunging towards her.

"W-what's your rush?" Lovett whispered, her voice cracking in fear.

"Why did I wait," Todd asked himself as he closed the distance between him and the baker. "You told me to wait! Now he'll never come again!" Lovett retreated a step, her back pressing into the cold wood of the door. She couldn't move, she was paralyzed. Breathing heavily, she watched him storm towards the large window, screaming "There's a hole in the world like a great black pit and it's filled with people who are filled with shit and the vermin of the world inhabit it!" He grinned darkly, his shoulders tense with excitement. "But not for long…" Raising his head to the gray sky, he continued. "We all deserve to die. Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why."

'as he gone barkin' mad? Lovett couldn't help but wonder as she followed his progress towards the shattered mirror in the corner.

"Because in all of the whole human race, Mrs. Lovett, there are two kinds of men and only two," Todd explained, staring sadistically at his reflection. "There's the one stayin' put in his proper place and the one with his foot in the other man's face." He turned towards her, the crazed glint shining in his eyes. "Look at me, Mrs. Lovett, look at you."

Lovett held her breath as he advanced on her, crying, "No, we all deserve to die." His fingers closed around her throat loosely, catching her heart in her hands. "Even you, Mrs. Lovett, even I." He led her stiff, unyielding body to the chair that had so recently seen death by this man and forced her into it. "Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief, for the rest of us death will be a relief."

Was that cold metal she felt against her neck? It was!! The insane man was holding his razor to her throat!!

"Mister Todd-!"

"We all deserve to die!"

Grasping his wrist, Lovett cried again, desperate to break the crazed emotion that had taken over her love. "BENJAMIN BARKER!!" she screeched. He froze, the razor still against her flesh, warming itself with her heartbeat.

"I'll never see Johanna…I'll never see my girl again…"

"Mister Todd…we can fix that," Lovett soothed, relieved when she felt him relax and pull away from her. "We can get 'er from that boy…the foolish one wot spoiled ev'rthing. We can fix it, Love," she repeated.

Todd shuffled to the window again. "Finished," he whispered.

Lovett stood and cautiously made her way towards him.

"I will get him back," he added, a little stronger than before. "But on the mean time I'll…practice…on, shall we say, less honorable throats…"

"There, there, Love," Lovett responded soothingly, happy at the change in him. She pressed against him, willing her passiveness to seep into his troubled body. She rested her head against him, but jerked back in jealousy at his next words.

"My Lucy lies in ashes, and I'll never see my girl again…"

Lovett's eyes narrowed. She was just getting him under control; she would not lose him again to the same woman!

"But the world waits," she coaxed. She'd take him any way she could have him, crazy if she had to. Just if he would stay with her for a little longer… "Your alive again, Mister Todd."

His head tilted to the side as if he were considering her last comment. Then he chuckled and he relaxed against her warm body. "And I'm full of joy."

If you liked it, let me know! And if you didn't (although I can't imagine why! wink), leave me a review then too! Remember! Reviews make the world go 'round! 3

(PS: I loved that "I 'Lovett'!" comment! It made my (and Lacey's) day!