"Elle?" she asked softly, her voice cracking slightly as tears spilled down her cheeks.

She took a step forwards before falling too her knees. Sweeney came out of his shock in time to catch her and fell to the floor with her, holding her gently and soothing her as she cried into his chest.

Elle made it into the pie shop before collapsing into tears on the floor. 'What had she done now? How could she do this?' she thought to herself. She sobbed silently as she shook roughly, pulling her knees up and burying her face into them. She scooted back and leaned against the wall as tears streamed down her face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sweeney asked softly in her ear as he continued to hold her.

She sniffled and pulled away from him muttering her apologies as she wiped her eyes, even though the tears had yet to stop. She slowly stood up and sat on her bed.

"We were together." She muttered staring at the floor.

He frowned, "What about Albert? Does he approve?!" he asked concernedly.

She scoffed, "He died ages ago love." She said softly, tears still trailing down her cheeks.

He bit his lip, "You do know that it isn't proper right? For you two to be together like ya have been." He asked looking at her tilting her chin up so she would look at him.

She glared at him wrenching away from his grip on her chin. "I don't give a damn 'bout what's proper, I-I love her!" she cried as she raced out of the room hoping she could find Elle and they could make up.

Sweeney stood up shaking his head as he followed after her. "Bloody woman's gonna get herself hurt." He muttered.

Elle froze as she heard feet coming down the hall. She pressed herself further against the wall as silent tears still ran down her face. She frowned as she stared at Nellie coming from the back and heading for the door.

"Nellie?" she called hesitantly.

Nellie froze. Had she really heard who she thought she had? She slowly turned around more tears coming from her eyes. She looked around and spotted her on the floor against the far wall. She gasped and immediately rushed over falling to her knees and holding her tightly crying harder now.

Elle stared at her in shock as Nellie flung herself at her. Could this really be happening? After staring ahead in shock for a moment she wrapped her arms around Nellie tightly burying her face in the woman's neck.

"I thought ya were gone!" sobbed Nellie into Elle's shoulder.

Sweeney walked into the room and turned towards the woman sighing, knowing this was going to be hard. He carefully approached the two women clinging to each other with a true desperation for each other. He took a deep breath before placing a hand on Eleanor's shoulder.

"Eleanor." He said firmly pulling lightly on her shoulder.

She ignored him holding on tighter to Elle who also increased her grip.

He sighed angrily and grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from Elle screaming and clawing at him to let her go. Elle immediately stood up and tried to get to Nellie only to be pushed back to the floor by Sweeney. He grabbed a tighter hold of Eleanor before picking her up and carrying her back to her room and tossing her onto the bed before leaving and locking her inside. He leaned against the door breathing heavily for a moment before Elle came dashing down the hall to get to Nellie, who was screaming and crying hysterically.

"What are ya doin'?!" Elle yelled at him as she tried to push past him to open the door for Nellie.

He grabbed hold of her and pulled her back into the shop and shoved her out the door before locking it quickly. They may hate him for it now but hopefully they will thank him one day. They would be out of business so fast they wouldn't know what happened. As soon as somebody found out they would be avoided like the plague. He did them a favor.

Elle quickly ran down to the alley next to the shop and kneeled down by a window and looked through tapping on it lightly.

Nellie had collapsed against the door crying. She didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't want them together and she had no idea how to prevent that from happening. She looked over to her only window wiping tears from her eyes and running over to it.

"Elle!!" she exclaimed before hastily opening her window. She held out her hands and helped the woman inside the room before holding onto her tightly.

"Hey my love." Whispered Elle softly as tears flowed down her face. She held her back just as tightly. She could never bear to lose the woman. That man could go to hell for all she cared, how dare he try to separate them like that.

"Nellie will ya listen to me?" she asked with a quiet and quivering voice. "We need to go love. We can't wait till we have more money we need to leave now."

They froze and pulled back to look into each other's tear-filled eyes. Together they recalled a memory from many years ago.

It was mid-afternoon when there was tapping on Nell's window. She had a confused expression as she walked to the window. She was 16 now. She had been seeing a beautiful 16 year old in secret for many years now. They had to keep it a secret because the person she was seeing was Elle Mooney; Mrs. Mooney's daughter.

She opened the window and let her lover in. she quickly went to the stairs to check if her mother was still out as Elle closed the window. She walked back inside her room with a smile.

"I didn't know ya were comin' over today." She said to Elle with a smile as she wrapped her arms around her waist.

"I saw that asshole leave with your mum and thought I could surprise ya." She said as reached into her bodice and pulled out a small box.

"I got ya somethin' special for today." Said Elle; handing Nellie the box.

She frowned and took the box. "I didn't know today was anything special."

"It's Valentine's day dear." Said Elle; laughing lightly.

"Oh! I didn't get you a present!" she exclaimed opening the box. She gasped as the box revealed a small emerald ring.

"I couldn't afford the matching necklace." Elle said quietly looking down.

"I love it." She said softly as she slipped the finger onto her ring finger. "I couldn't have asked for anything better." She said holding Elle's face in her hands.

She smiled weakly at Nellie. "Ya mean it?"

"With all my heart." She whispered before kissing her.

"I love you Nellie." She said as she backed them up until her knees hit the bed and she fell back onto Nellie's soft bed with a light 'thud'.

Nellie smiled and stayed standing above her as she began to untie the laces of her dress. Her eyes stayed locked on Elle's face the whole time. She slowly slid off her dress. They had never actually been intimate yet. They certainly touched but neither of them had actually done anything below the waist. She was a little nervous and she could tell Elle was but they were both far more than ready.

She let her corset join her dress on the floor before crawling on top of Elle, who could not unglue her eyes from Nellie's already large breasts. Nellie was an early bloomer. She was the first girl their age to even begin the long process of becoming a woman. This wasn't necessarily a good thing though, all the men in town drooled over her. They didn't care about her age or anything they just wanted a piece of her pie.

Elle gently ran her hands over the expanse of white skin on top of her before letting each hand occupy themselves. One hand was tangled into those fiery red curls pulling out the pins; while the other was cupping her milky breast.

"You're so beautiful Nellie." She murmured against the skin of her neck.

Nellie smiled lightly as she let little gasps escape while she hastily untied Elle's dress. She needed to show her how much she loved her, that she would do anything for her.

Once the dress was off Nellie hesitantly slipped off her own knickers and stood at the foot of the bed. Elle's eyes grew large as Nellie took them off. They had never seen each other fully naked before. Elle smiled and slipped off the bed and took off her knickers as well.

They stood there for a moment just looking at each other. They smiled shyly at each other before holding tightly onto one another. Nellie slowly lowered Elle to the bed and moved on top of her.

She slowly leaned down and kissed her while her hands traveled down her body before she slowly let two fingers slip inside Elle's warm body. Elle tensed for a minute as she adjusted to the new feeling. After a few moments she began to move against Nellie's still hand.

"Nellie." She moaned into her mouth. "Please."

That was all the encouragement she needed and she slipped another finger in and began moving quickly in and out of her.

A few hours they were fast asleep curled around each other with nothing but a thin sheet hanging off of them. They scooted closer sighing contently.

There was a loud slam as her mother entered the house. Both girls eyes shot open and they sat up holding the blanket to them.

"Eleanor!!" called her mother. "Get down here now!" she smiled over at Andrew as he walked over and kissed her before walking up the stairs to get Eleanor.

"Oh Nell-bell!" he called out to her in a sing-song voice.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as she got off the bed and began to get dressed at a lightning pace.

Elle followed her actions. They were both lacing up their dresses when Andrew walked through the door.

"Well well well." He said smirking at them. "What do we have here?"

They turned around simultaneously and stared at him. They glanced at each other before backing up.

"Now now don't be shy on my account." He said smiling as he closed the door behind him locking it. "Why don't ya just get back to what ya were doin'." He said smiling as he sat on a chair near the bed.

They were standing on the other side of the bed as him. Nellie looked to her side and noticed the window next to her. She thought quickly as a plan formed in her head.

She walked over to Elle hesitantly and wrapped her arms around her waist pulling her closer and kissing her neck. "Follow my lead." She whispered against her skin. Elle bit her lip nervously before draping her arms over Nellie's neck.

Nellie backed her up against the wall kissing her neck. "Turn us." She muttered against her neck still.

Andrew was sitting back in the chair hastily undoing his pants and freeing himself. Elle pulled roughly turning them so Nellies back was against the window. She sucked on Nellie's neck while Nellie's one hand began working slowly on the laces of her dress while the other unlocked the window. Nellie took a deep breath before throwing the window open and turning them around.

"Go!" she yelled at her as Andrew did up his pants and angrily came over.

Elle grabbed her hand and tried to pull her along. "Come with me we can run off!" she said going out the window.

Nellie let go of her hand. "I can't!" she exclaimed before Andrew grabbed her and threw her to the bed and slamming the window shut behind Elle.

All she could do was look through the window in horror as he took advantage of Nellie.

"Why didn't ya come with me?" Elle asked softly looking at Nellie in the eye.

"He would have come after you." She said softly looking away.

"Well will ya come with me this time?" she asked pulling her close and kissing her lightly waiting for an answer.