---

Standing outside the girls door Nellie wished for the tenth time she had stopped just once in front of a mirror. Tugging at her dress and dusting the coal dust from her apron she raised her hands to her hair which as usual was sticking out everywhere; well there was nothing short of a hundred hair pins or a talented hairdresser that could fix that birds nest. Gathering her courage Nellie raised her hand and knocked.

"Come in Miss Templeton." A timid voice drifted through the door.

Pushing open the door Nellie stepped into the room coming to a halt as the opulence of the bedroom struck her. The walls were swayved in expensive yellow wallpaper and in the morning light it seemed to glow. The room's suite was made from the most delicate looking mahogany, all child sized and finished in gold silk with tiny white plumped cushions all delicately embroidered.

Every sort of toy in existence stood neatly stacked or packed away in toy boxes and for a moment Nellie despaired, how could she persuade a child to leave all this behind. To leave this life of comfort where her every whim was catered to for a life on a shoe string where the priority was food in her belly not porcelain dollies or pretty dresses.

"You are not my nurse."

Whirling round Nellie gasped when she saw Joanna. Sat up on her bed, pillows and eiderdown pulled up under her chin she looked tiny, large eyes staring out from a pale face which was lost in a sea of frills and flounces.

"Who are you?"

Smiling warmly Nellie took a step towards the bed. "I'm Nellie Miss Joe."

"Why are you here, where is my nurse?"

"Oh she felt a bit poorly this morning so I offered to get you up." Nellie replied softly, edging forward slowly as if not to startle a small timid animal. "I 'ope you don't mind."

"No I don't mind." Joanna replied politely but coolly.

Suddenly awkward Nellie strode over to the closet, pulling the door open she found just what she expected dress after dress made from the most exquisite fabrics. "Now what would you like to wear?"

"I don't mind." Joanna replied softly.

"Oh come now you must 'ave a favourite." Nellie chided imaging her own response as a child when faced with such delightful clothes.

"It doesn't matter, they are all the same."

"Well let's see. When I cannot decide what to wear I like to make a game of it." Nellie coaxed, pleased when Joanna actually looked over at her in interest.

"A game?"

"Yes a fun game. I'd go over to the window…" Nellie paused scampering over to the glass. "Well come on slow coach you can't play from all the way over there."

"You want me to play with you?"

"Well it's no fun playin' by m'self!" Nellie retorted.

Waiting for Joanna to join her Nellie hoisted the little girl up onto the window seat.

"What are we looking for?" Joanna asked politely when Nellie continued to look out of the window.

"Ah there do you see that old man." Nellie exclaimed waving her finger at a heavily bearded gentleman who was shuffling along with his cane a newspaper rolled up under his arm.

"Yes." Joanna replied clearly perplexed.

"Well what do you think he is?"

"I do not know."

Shaking her head so hard her curls danced Nellie coaxed her little charge. "Guess...I think he's really a spy, a Russian spy and rolled up in his newspaper are secrets that he has stolen from our government and he's shuffling off to the docks to hand them over to a pirate who will sail them back to Russia. So if I felt like it I might dress up as a detective and follow him, retrieving the plans before he could hand them over to the pirate."

"That sounds a little dangerous." Joanna mumbled.

"Well if you don't fancy catching a spy how about telling me something about that pretty lady out walking her dog?"

"Well she likes animals." Joanna started encouraged when Nellie nodded. "Well maybe her dog is special, perhaps it can do tricks, perhaps even talk."

"That's a good one."

"But I do not see how that helps me decide what to wear?"

"Well that's easy." Nellie insisted. "A clever dog like that would make a marvellous attraction at a carnival or circus, and you could be part of the act you could say things and the dog would repeat them or perhaps you can both do clever balancing tricks."

"So what should I wear?"

"Well lets have a look and decide which dress would be best suit a circus performer." Nellie insisted, taking Joanna's hand and rushing over to the large closet where they spent a happy half an hour selecting a pretty rose coloured dress with matching ballet slippers.

"Now my little performer I think we need to work on those circus skills."

"I don't know any circus skills…I have never even seen a circus." Joanna replied hesitantly the excitement that had brightened her cheeks fading far too quickly.

"Well then it's a good job I have love." Nellie replied brightly. "They are some right strange folk. Men so strong they could lift both you and me and probably Mrs Jenkins as well." She added to Joanna's delicate giggles. "Bearded Ladies."

"Ladies with beards!" Joanna gasped.

"Oh aye full bushy ones. Then there are men that can breathe fire or swallow swords as long as my arm."

"I do not think I will able to swallow a sword." Joanna insisted.

"Well not straight away." Nellie joked. "How about we start small we can do some balancing and perhaps a bit of juggling."

"Juggling?"

"Oh you…It's probably easier to show you." Nellie muttered grasping around for something to juggle, her eye falling on a box of wooden bricks. "That'll do." Nellie added picking up three and with a deep breath she started to juggle.

"Oh that is wonderful. How clever." Joanna gasped clapping her hands as Nellie struggled to keep all three bricks in the air continuously.

"Hmmm." Nellie grunted, her hands moving quickly in an attempt to keep up, it had seemed much easier when she was a girl. Deciding to stop before she made a fool of herself Nellie suddenly realised she couldn't remember how to stop without just dropping everything. However the decision of how or when to stop was taken out of her hands quite literally when she misjudged a throw and a catch and a brick decided to come down on her head instead.

Holding her forehead and biting her tongue to stop a cuss word from just slipping out Nellie was surprised when Joanna was suddenly at her side her pale little hand patting Nellie's arm awkwardly.

"Nellie…Nellie are you alright?"

"Course love, take more than a little clonk on me noggin to hurt Old Nellie."

"Are you sure? Do you need a cold cloth or perhaps you should lie down…" Joanna fluttered over her.

"Aren't you sweet. Worrying your pretty little 'ead over me." Nellie muttered surprising the girl with a one armed hug; initially stiffening at the contact Joanna eventually relaxed against Nellie's arm.

Resting her throbbing head against Joanna's pale hair Nellie stroked a stray curl back over the girls shoulder. "Just like your Pa." She murmured into the girls hair.

"My Pa?" Joanna questioned, her eyes suddenly eager and bright. "You know my father, my real father?"

"Shush love." Nellie cautioned inwardly chastising herself for even thinking let alone mentioning Benjamin Barker in front of Joanna.

"Please….Please." Joanna insisted her eyes wide and pleading. "Tell me, my guardian won't speak about my parents, he gets angry if I ask a question."

Sighing Nellie was unable to disappoint those eyes, his eyes. "Ask your questions sweetheart I'll do me best answer em but this will 'ave to be our little secret, no telling people about it."

"I won't I promise." Joanna replied in earnest. "I know my real name is Barker but I don't even know my parent's names or anything about them."

"Aye that's right, your mum's name was Lucy and she was just like you, pretty and fair a sweet girl, quiet and quite good with a needle. She loved flowers and she had the loveliest smile."

Sitting rapt, drinking up Nellie's every word Joanna nodded along excitedly. "And my 'Pa'?"

"Oh he was the handsomest man who ever walked god's green earth. Thick dark hair and the warmest brown eyes you ever did see, he was the kindest man I'd ever met. He was a barber by trade, the best in the whole of London."

"What happened to them…Why did they give me away, did they not want me, was I bad?"

"Oh No…" Nellie gasped pulling the trembling child properly into her arms. "No love they would never have given you up, they loved you more than anything."

"Is it because, my guardian said my father was a bad man, he did bad things and he had to be sent to prison."

Grasping Joanna's chin Nellie lifted the child's face so she could look her in the eye. "Your Pa was a good man, 'e never stole a thing, 'e was fixed up right and proper. Then after he was sent away your poor Ma well she couldn't cope, she loved 'im so much that losing 'im made her sick and she had to go away to a 'ospital of sorts." Nellie fudged unwilling to burden a child with the horrors of bedlam.

Rocking Joanna softly in her arms as the girl dried her tears Nellie thought of something to lighten the mood. "Well I 'aven't 'eld you like this since you were a proper little baby."

"You knew me when I was a baby?" Joanna asked suddenly excited again.

"I did, in fact I was the first person to ever 'old you proper." Nellie exclaimed to the young girls delight. "I was there when you were born, gave the midwife a 'and delivering ya, and I was the one who got to clean and bundle you up to keep you warm before your ma had a cuddle. You were a lot smaller then, a lot redder and bald, not a single hair on your head."

Giggling as she ran her fingers through her long blond curls Joanna retorted. "I wasn't bald."

"Yes you were, I aught to know I was there!" Nellie insisted relishing the feel of the laughing child in her arms.

However their little moment of merriment couldn't continue as there was a hesitant knock on the door and the tremulous voice of Miss Templeton could be heard through the wood. "Mrs Lovett…Nellie are you all finished?"

Tapping the suddenly solemn Joanna on the nose, Nellie brought a finger to her lips, a reminder to the girl of her promise before she stood to leave.

"You will come back to see me?" Joanna asked her eyes wide and pleading.

"Every chance I can, I promise." Nellie whispered bending down and placing a quick kiss on the girls cheek. "You're my girl too Joe Barker, why else would I be here?"

"Everyday?"

"Everyday." Nellie replied solemnly crossing her heart with her fingers before opening the door to a relieved Eliza Templeton. It was a start, a promising beginning, and that was all Nellie could hope for.