Hello again. It's me with another chapter. I can't believe Christmas is almost here! :O Where has the time gone?
Disclaimer: Listen, if I owned Sweeney Todd, would I be writing fanfiction at three in the morning? Yeah, that's what I thought.
The next batch of cookies turned out beautifully, and Mrs. Lovett let Toby eat a few before sending him off to bed. The boy protested, but when Mrs. Lovett told him it was because she had some presents to wrap up, he went to bed quietly.
Brown paper in hand, Mrs. Lovett sat down at a table and began to wrap the candy, top and woolen gloves she had bought for Toby. Mr. Todd had since retreated into his shop, so she also wrapped the new razor holster she purchased. After seeing the sorry condition of his old one, she was delighted to have found something to give him. She had another gift for him, but stupid Anthony hadn't picked it up for her yet.
He'd better do it tomorrow, Mrs. Lovett thought, Cause Christmas is the day after that.
She placed her gifts under the tree and prepared to go to bed, when she glanced out the window. It was snowing. Mrs. Lovett clapped her hands with glee and quickly turned to root around her closet. She was going outside; she wasn't one to miss the first snow of the season.
Once she found a thick, old pair of boots, Mrs. Lovett grabbed a coat and ran outside. After spinning around several times, and catching snowflakes on her tongue (and consequently, her eyelashes and cheeks) she bent down and picked up a handful of snow. Forming it into a ball, she carefully took aim, and threw it towards Mr. Todd's shop window. The ball soared gracefully through the air and landed squarely on the window.
Smack!
Mr. Todd jumped at the sound. He looked to find snow sliding down his window. Once glance out told him that Mrs. Lovett was the culprit. Taking his coat off the side of his chair, Mr. Todd left his shop, going to stop Mrs. Lovett before she did something even more stupid.
He made his way down the slippery stairs and found Mrs. Lovett crumpling more snow in her hand. "Mrs. Lovett." he said, making her start, "It's far too late to be out making snowballs. Come in before someone sees you."
Mrs. Lovett shook her head. "No," she said, throwing her snowball at him. It missed the barber by inches. "It's the first snow of the season."
"We'll have plenty more snows, now get inside." Mr. Todd said, turning to go into the lower shop. He had been meaning to come down anyway; he wanted a cookie.
With a huff, Mrs. Lovett followed him. "Bloody spoil-sport." she muttered, "Ruining my fun."
Mr. Todd heard this and smirked. "You can play in the snow tomorrow." he said, sounding like a patronizing father. Mrs. Lovett made a face. "Fine," she said haughtily, "I will."
Before Mr. Todd entered the pie shop, something cold and wet slammed into his back, accompanied by Mrs. Lovett's shriek of laughter. With a playful growl, he turned and chased after the baker. It took very little time for him to catch her, and he tackled her, dumping them into a snowdrift. With an evil laugh, he took a handful of snow and rubbed it in her face.
"There!" he said, rising to his feet, "Now come in." He brushed himself off and offered his hand to help Mrs. Lovett up. She gratefully took it and he pulled her till she was standing. "Thank you Mr. T" Mrs. Lovett said breathlessly.
Mr. Todd nodded and retreated inside, where it was warm. Mrs. Lovett followed, shivering in her now soaked dress. After changing into her nightgown, she hurried into the parlor, where Mr. Todd had considerately built a fire. She found Mr. Todd sitting on the settee, staring into the flames, like he usually did.
With a sigh of relief, Mrs. Lovett sank to the hearth, and held her hands in front of the welcome heat. Leaning closer, she tried to warm her whole body at once.
Mr. Todd meanwhile, watched with interest as Mrs. Lovett inched closer to the fire. Any closer and she'll fall in, he thought to himself. Silently, he stood up and slipped up behind her. Suddenly, he said "Don't fall!" and grabbed her, causing her to scream.
"Don't. Do. That!" Mrs. Lovett gasped, "Nearly killed me ya great git!"
Mr. Todd smirked. "Why Mrs. Lovett I have no idea what you're talking about." he said smoothly, "I was simply trying to save you from the danger you were putting yourself in." Mrs. Lovett rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you were." she said sarcastically. After a pause, she stood up. "I'm going to bed Mr. Todd. Goodnight."
She exited, but was drawn back by knocking on the shop door. "We're closed." she called. When the knocking persisted, she sighed and went to open the door. "I'm sorry but were-"
"Mrs. Lovett! It's me, Anthony!" the boy interrupted, "I've seen Johanna, and I got the lock of-"
"Hush!" Mrs. Lovett exclaimed, "Hush you bloody idiot!" then lowering her voice she whispered, "He's in the other room. Keep it down."
Anthony's eyes widened as Mr. Todd walked in. "Mr. Todd," he said sheepishly, "I didn't think you would be awake at such an hour."
"My thoughts on the matter exactly!" Mrs. Lovett said, "Now you really must be tired Mr. T. You really ought to get to bed. Goodnight!" and with that she shoved him out the shop door and up the steps to his barber shop before the confused man could even register what was going on.
Turning back to Anthony, Mrs. Lovett asked quietly, "So you've got it then?" The sailor nodded "She even tied it with a ribbon." he said.
Mrs. Lovett took the box in Anthony's hand. "Thank you so much!" she said, "I can't tell you how much this means to me, or what it will mean to Mr. Todd."
Anthony bashfully stared at the ground. "It's nothing Ma'am," he said, "I'm glad I could help you."
"Come back on Christmas," Mrs. Lovett said, "And eat Christmas dinner with us."
With a grin, Anthony opened the shop door and stepped out. "Thank you!" he called, "I will."
Mrs. Lovett smiled at the sailor's retreating figure. For all his foolishness, he was a good person; probably one of the very few left in the world. She turned back to the box in her hand and decided that she would just tie a pretty ribbon around it and call it wrapped.
Soon all her presents were placed under the tree and Mrs. Lovett was more than ready for a full nights sleep. She tiredly crawled into her bed and fervently hoped that Mr. Todd had not heard too much about his present.
Don't worry. If you haven't figured out what his present is, you'll find out. Eventually. Mwahaha! :P Anyway, so this is crazy: Our Christmas tree has a star on top, and it's very crooked. It looks like it'll fall off any minute. Well I was looking at it today, and I noticed that there's one long strand of spiderweb that goes from the star to the wall. It's so cute/weird/insane!
Review!
