very very very sorry for such a late update! this was an extremely hard chapter to write, probably the hardest. plus iv been swamped with school as usaul. thank you for everyone whose been waiting for this and who has been reading this so far! a quick recap, well mrs. lovett went to pick some strawberries and dragged sweeney with her. sweenett moment :)

thank you everyone whose been reviewing so far as well! Kate: I'm a huuuge fan of them to! thanks for reviewing. Ana: Agreed love, thanks for reviewing!

ahem anyway onto the chapter!

Chapter 7 The sudden truth


Mrs. Lovett fumbled with her purse as she tried to open it, her shaking hands were failing her. Her cheeks were still scarlet and no matter how many deep breaths she took her heart wouldn't stop thumping. She couldn't believed that she had kissed Sweeney, right on the corner of his lips. What had gotten into her? All she knew was that it seemed right. Oh how it seemed so right. His body pressed up against her, their lips only inches apart. She wanted it so badly. " Why did I have to lose control of myself like that? Mrs. Lovett thought furiously. She couldn't bear to think of what Sweeney was thinking of now, or what was going to happen. The baker shut her eyes, not wanting to think of it. She let out a frustrated groan. Where were those bloody keys? She desperately wanted to go inside before he did; she felt a small nudge on her arm which almost made her jump in surprise.

" Oh Toby, it's you. What is it?"

Toby frowned, looking at the still flustered Mrs. Lovett.

" Uh, Mam are you ok?"

Mrs. Lovett nodded, not really paying attention. She frowned as she began taking things out of the purse.

" Toby, have you seen those blasted keys?"

" I have."

Mrs. Lovett really did jump this time, she whirled around to see the barber standing there, the keys hanging loosely on his fingers. His eyes were cold and his expression was blank. Sweeney didn't say anything but simply held out the keys which Mrs. Lovett's trembling hands took.

" Ah, yes love, thanks." She quickly said with her eyes still on the keys.

Quickly she turned around and began attempting to open the door, feeling his eyes burning into her, Mrs. Lovett's fingers got tangled and caught in the many keys before dropping them. Toby stared at the baker, puzzled at her clumsiness. Sweeney too was watching her with deep interest. He knew he had to talk to her away from Toby, and now seemed like the best time. Mrs. Lovett's cheeks turned a deep rose colour as she bobbed down to pick it up, before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

" We need to talk." Sweeney said.

Mrs. Lovett bit her lip slightly and cast a look to the still confused Toby.

" Really Mr. Todd.." she whispered but she was cut off by Sweeney took the keys from her hand and chucked them to Toby who quickly caught it.

" Here boy, open the door. I need to talk to Mrs. Lovett."

Sweeney grabbed Mrs. Lovett's arm and took her around to the side of the shops and under the stands. Mrs. Lovett freed her arm when they were standing under it.

" What is it Sweeney?"

Sweeney was slightly taken back at her addressing him by his first name, but put it aside.

" I-.." Sweeney stopped himself, just realizing how embarrassing that this topic was. Averting his eyes from her he took a deep breath then exhaled, before starting again.

" I need to talk about what happened before...at the strawberry farm..." His voice trailed off and Sweeney looked back up at Mrs. Lovett.

Mrs. Lovett's eyes were closed, before she opened them, taking a deep breath.

" Look, I-I've always had a small fondness for you.." she stopped there, not being able to go on. But Sweeney seemed to have gotten the message.

Sweeney didn't know how to react, he was frozen on the spot as he stared at the baker. Mrs. Lovett shut her eyes and shook her head.

Before he had a chance to reply there was a small scream from Toby, which was unusual for Toby's voice to be that high pitched. Mrs. Lovett's head whirled around when they heard his loud footsteps running to them.

" Mam, Mr. Todd sir!" Toby yelled, his waving in the air in panic. " Come quickly, someone's broken in!"

Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett turned to each other, eyes wide in horror. They were both sharing the same thoughts. If someone had broken in and seen the bake house? But I always keep it locked, Mrs. Lovett thought. She prayed to God that it was still locked safety. Quickly they both ran after Toby and into the shop. Toby led them to the living room and into Mrs. Lovett's bedroom. The sight made the couple freeze solid. The window was smashed to pieces, with remaining glass scattered around the bed, her draws and wardrobe had been raided with bits of clothing lying on the floor everywhere, and the mattress to had been thrown off onto the floor. The room was a mess. Mrs. Lovett was the first to speak.

" Shit," she whispered, her eyes stills scanning the room.

Sweeney nodded and walked in. " They were searching for something," he stopped and quickly turned to Mrs. Lovett, his alarmed eyes meeting hers, reading " the bake house." Mrs. Lovett got the message. She quickly nodded and hurried out of the room to the bake house. Sweeney turned to Toby, who was wondering around the room and looking to see if anything was missing. He walked over to Mrs. Lovett's bedside table and took out her jewelry box, noticing that everything seemed to be there.

" But what would they be looking for?" Toby suddenly said to Sweeney, looking up at him. " They didn't take her pearls, and Lord knows that there worth a lot."

Sweeney shook his head, it didn't seem to make much sense to him ether. Unless...god he hoped that Mrs. Lovett came back from the bake house with good news. He walked around her room, examining the destruction the intruder's had made. The door swung open and Mrs. Lovett ran in. Quickly Sweeney looked up to her and saw that she was smiling, shaking her head to him. The bake house was locked; Sweeney let out a sigh of relief.

" What did they take?" Mrs. Lovett asked walking over to him.

" Nothing of value."

Mrs. Lovett frowned and walked over to her bedside table, opening the draw and rummaging through her clothes. Sweeney frowned and followed her. He noticed that her breathing became heavier as she began throwing clothes out of her draw, frantically trying to search for something. She looked back up at Sweeney, a shade paler than usual.

" What is it?" he asked, something inside him dreading the answer.

" My diary's gone," Mrs. Lovett whispered.

Toby walked over, wondering what was going on. " Should I call for the law Mam?"

" NO!" Mrs. Lovett shouted at him.

Toby took a step back. " Ok then," he said quietly. " I was only thinking.."

Mrs. Lovett took a deep breath before exhaling. " Sorry Toby love, I just mean, would you mind running down to the store for me? Could you get me some more sugar so I can start making up these strawberry pies?"

Toby frowned. " But someone broke in! Shouldn't we.." But he was cut off by Sweeney's menacing glare.

" Do what she tells you to do!" he snapped.

Toby glared furiously at him but with the pleading look of the bakers eyes he grudgingly walked off. Mrs. Lovett sighed and Sweeney spoke.

" Diary? Why is this such a big deal if your diary's gone?"

Mrs. Lovett shook her head and walked over to her bed, sitting down at the edge of it. " You don't understand, that diary holds..information of the past."

Sweeney frowned, then something suddenly occurred to him.

" About the corpses, did you write about them?" he said hurriedly, fearing the answer.

" Of course not" she replied irritably. " Do you think I'm that stupid to record that? Bad enough that I already have to see them every day, why would I want to write about it?"

Sweeney forced himself not to role his eyes at her small ranting and came and sat down beside her. " So what's the problem then?"

For some reason the baker looked put her head in her hands, looking annoyed and sad. Sweeney frowned and bent his head down to try and meet her eyes. It was then that he noticed that she was crying. She had small droplets rolling from her cheeks and onto the palms of her hands. Sweeney didn't know what to do as he sat next to the crying baker. He was confused as to why she was crying and felt a sense of awkwardness just sitting there. Slowly he reached out for the baker's chin and raised it from her hands so he could see her eyes. Mrs. Lovett stopped crying and stared at the barber as he slowly wiped the remaining tears on her cheeks with his thumb. Sweeney didn't know what made him do it, all he knew was that she looked upset and he didn't like it. Mrs. Lovett sniffed a few times, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

" I'm sorry love, it's just that..oh god." She shut her eyes. " The memory is just too painful."

Sweeney didn't say anything, not knowing how to respond to the comment. Mrs. Lovett took a shaky breath before speaking. " remember how I told you about Albert, about how he died from..from blotation?"

Sweeney nodded, deciding to remain silent.

" He didn't though." Mrs. Lovett's voice turned into a bear whisper as she shut her eyes.

Sweeney looked down at her lap and noticed that her fingers were twisting around each other, as if she was nervous. Sweeney took her right hand and put it beside him to stop her hand from fiddling and frowned. " What do you mean? He's not dead?"

Mrs. Lovett bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes darting to her lap. " No, I killed him."

Sweeney froze, not knowing if he had heard her right. Mrs. Lovett looked up to meet his eyes, sadness shinning through her eyes. " Please, don't be angry with me. You didn't know him like I did."

Sweeney still couldn't comprehend Mrs. Lovett murdering a man. He knew that she wasn't purely innocent, after all she thought of the plan to cook the corpse into pies. But surely...

" He was an abusive bastard." Mrs. Lovett stated, interrupting his thoughts. " He went out to that bloody bar every night and came home drunk. Beat me senseless every night he did. Wasn't till I fell pregnant , that day I knew I had to put an end to it, for myself and my child."

Sweeney was stunned, he couldn't possibly imagine his landlord in a situation like that. He always thought of her to be independent, to not ever let a man mistreat her like that. Then his thoughts went back to when he was Benjamin. Sweeney tried not to think of the past, but it just came to him. For those months he had known Albert to be, yes a bit rude and a bit of a pig sometimes. But he had never thought he would be a man to beat up his wife.

" I never knew, all those years living in this shop and I never heard of it." Sweeney whispered.

Mrs. Lovett shook her head sadly. " I had no reason to tell you, and usually you were asleep when it happened."

Sweeney shook his head, still struggling to accept this information. " I don't believe it, I never thought that he...I never saw him..."

Mrs. Lovett let out a small laugh. " Oh he was very good at covering up his acts, Albert. No one ever found out, though Lucy I could tell had her suspicions."Mrs. Lovett immediately shut her mouth after that sentence. She quickly looked at the barber, seeing his reaction to her saying Lucy's name. But his expression was still the same, though his eyebrows were scrunched into a small frown.

" Lucy? She-she never mentioned this."

Mrs. Lovett managed a small smile. " And why should she? I guess she thought that it would be best to stay out of it."

Sweeney was still confused, looking down at the moldy carpet he seemed to be in deep thought. "You were pregnant?"

Mrs. Lovett shook her head. " It was a false alarm, I thought I was. To late anyway, poisoned the bleeding bugger that night in his food."

Sweeney stayed silent for a while before looking up at her and speaking. " I'm sorry."

Mrs. Lovett waved her hand airily in the air. " Don't be love. It's over now. Just saying though, you're not the only one haunted by the memories in this house."

Sweeney pursed his lips and nodded. They both stayed silent, sitting there. Sweeney gently picked up the bakers hand and gave it a squeeze. He didn't know why he did it, only that it felt right and he had to reassure her.

" So you wrote this down in your diary?" Sweeney finally spoke, her hand still in his.

Mrs. Lovett nodded, still caught up in the past she barely noticed the touch of his hand. Mrs. Lovett looked back up at him. " What if whoever found this went to the law?"

Sweeney shook his head. " No. There's not enough evidence in that book. Nothing can happen."

He gave the baker's hand another small squeeze which she did feel. Mrs. Lovett looked down at their touching hands and back up to Sweeney's face, giving him a small smile. Somehow she felt safe there, sitting next to him. The door swung open, breaking the silence in the room. Toby stumbled in with the bag of sugar in his hands; immediately Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney broke their hand contact and stood up. Toby eyed them with a suspicious look but did not bring it up. Mrs. Lovett smiled warmly at him.

" Toby love, you brought me the sugar." Walking over she planted a kiss on his forehead and took the bag.

Toby looked at Mrs. Lovett's eyes closely. " Mam, have you been crying? Your eyes are all red."

Mrs. Lovett waved her hand in the air. " No dear, I'm just tired is all."

Toby nodded at this, not looking completely convinced. Then as if by instinct he looked at Sweeney, with a suspicious look on his face. Sweeney stared straight back at the boy, knowing that he suspected himself of making Mrs. Lovett cry. Stupid boy, he thought. He could tell by the bakers cheery attitude that she didn't want Toby to know that she was sad and about her past. Toby turned his attention back to Mrs. Lovett.

" Mam, are we going to do anything with the break in?"

Mrs. Lovett quickly shook her head and made a thin line smile. " No dear, it turned out that no one broke in. It was just one of those old stray dogs from the streets who smashed the window." Mrs. Lovett gabbled away, quite surprised at how fast she was thinking of this.

Toby frowned, looking doubtful. " But why would the dog want to break in?"

Mrs. Lovett tried not to show her annoyance as her brain racked for an answer. Sweeney thankfully came to her rescue. " He smelt some old meat."

Toby's frowned deepened. " What mea-"

" Toby!" Sweeney snapped, interrupting him.

Toby strained himself not to flinch and glared at Sweeney, not saying a word. Mrs. Lovett looked at the both of them, sensing the tension that was beginning to rise.

" Now Toby love, I was hoping that we could have a start on them pies; as I have the day off today. What do you say to that?"

The thought of making pies with the baker then eating them cheered Toby up a bit, and he nodded happily. Mrs. Lovett smiled.

" Just get out the main ingredients and I'll be there in two shakes."

She watched Toby leave the room before turning to Sweeney. " You really don't think that we'll be caught?"

Sweeney shook his head with a firm expression. " No, there's not enough evidence in the book. Even if the authority came to investigate it you could simply say that it was a novel that you were working on."

Mrs. Lovett gave him a small smile, which seemed for some unknown reason to Sweeney made him return the smile.

" Best be getting to Toby to make a start on them pies." Mrs. Lovett said. " it'll be a nice change from those corpses."

Sweeney nodded silently to her and watched her leave the room. Though as he sat there by himself he knew that he hadn't been completely honest to the baker. He was worried. Obviously the intruder wanted something and must have known something about them. Otherwise why would they have gone to so many lengths to break in? They didn't still anything valuable. Yes, Sweeney concluded. Someone was out to get them; he would just have to make sure that he covered his tracks more carefully.


Mrs. Lovett had to stop herself from singing a merry tune as she rolled out the soft dough whilst enjoying the cheerful atmosphere. The sun was setting and the small streams of sunlight seemed to be lighting up the shop, Toby was at her side, slightly humming to himself happily as he chopped up the strawberries. Mrs. Lovett took a strawberries nearby her and bit into it, savoring the sweet juices. Delicious.

" Toby love," Mrs. Lovett said, licking the strawberry stain from her lips. " Would you mind taking the first batch of pies out? I think they're ready."

Toby nodded happily and rook them out of the oven. Mrs. Lovett smiled when she felt dark eyes sinking into the back of her skin. She turned around and almost jumped, where Sweeney stood behind her.

" Sorry dear," she said when reading his expression. " Just gave me a fright."

Sweeney stopped himself from rolling his eyes and examined the room. " So your making strawberry pies?" he asked, studying the mess.

Flour seem to cover a lot of the bench, like falling bits of powder; even the baker had flour powdered on her face and hands. Small bits of crumbs from the pastry were scattered over the floor awaiting the arrival of the hungry cockroaches, cutlery, bowls and measuring utensils were all over in a mess on the bench. Mrs. Lovett smiled at Sweeney.

" Yes dear, do you want to try a slice?" she asked as Toby emerged, carrying the tray of four small pies.

Sweeney shrugged, why not? It smelled good and Sweeney couldn't deny that he wasn't hungry. Taking one of the pies he took a bit, before spitting it out whole. Quickly he raced over to the sink and began rapidly rinsing out his mouth. Mrs. Lovett picked up one of the pies and examined it, before frowning at him.

" Now Mr. T, surely it wasn't that bad."

Arising from this Sweeney glared at the pies. " How much sugar did you put in those things, woman? It's much too sweet. And you over-burnt the strawberries."

Mrs. Lovett frowned, eyeing the pies. " Ah well," she said, replacing her frown with a smile. " We'll get there soon, right Toby?" she finished, scruffing Toby's hair.

Toby smiled but Sweeney simply rolled his eyes. The door swung open, which was unexpected as it read closed. Beadle Bamford strolled in, his brown coat covered with grease, his hat firmly in place and his staff at his hand. He gave them a wide grin, showing his pointed yellow teeth.

" Good evening madam, sir," he stated addressing them.

Mrs. Lovett placed her hands on her hips. " And what are you doing here sir?"

He gave her a cheesy grin. " Oh don't worry madam, nothing for you to worry about. I have just been going around the neighborhood and inviting people to Judge Turpin's annual ball."

Mrs. Lovett frowned. " Annual ball?"

The beadle nodded; Toby's ears however perked up.

" A ball?"

Mrs. Lovett cast a look at her adoptive son. " Now Toby, I don't think this is something for you? Why don't you go to your room love?"

Toby looked like he was going to protest but meeting the barbers glare he left quietly. The beadle took no notice of Toby and took out two cream colored invitations in his front pocket. He handed one to Mrs. Lovett and the other to Sweeney, who was doing his best not to glare at him. Stinking, piece of filth, Sweeney thought furiously.

" It is this Friday night," the beadle stated to them both.

Mrs. Lovett was still confused, she had never been invited to this ball before. Maybe she was getting well known for having the best pies in London? She thought to herself. And Sweeney has obviously developed a good reputation as a barber. Hmm, she thought with a smile. They must be getting a higher rank in London. Sweeney however passed him back the invite.

" I am sorry, but I'm afraid that we have to decline. We have no time to participate in such events."
The beadle frowned at this and Mrs. Lovett threw Sweeney a glance. Lord knows that she had never been to a ball herself and inside was dying to go. Then a sudden thought came to her, a plan that Sweeney would have to agree on. Turning back to the Beadle she smiled at him.

" Let me just talk to my tenant sir, won't be a tick."

Mrs. Lovett then pulled Sweeney away by the arm and to her room. Sweeney glared at her.

" I am not going to a ball."

" But I was thinking dear, what if you gave a shave to the judge then? At the ball? It would be the perfect opportunity, because no one would suspect that you did it. You could also give the Beadle a quick snip while you're at it."

Mrs. Lovett held her breath and waited his answer; she could tell by Sweeney's deep frown that he was contemplating her answer. Finally he replied.

" So we go there and kill the judge? That's all? None of this dancing?"

Mrs. Lovett tried not to show her crestfallen face as she nodded. " Coarse love."

Sweeney didn't reply but walked out of the room to the Beadle, who was blowing his nose on a grubby handkerchief. Sweeney Todd glued a warm smile on his lips as the Beadle raised his head.

" Me and my partner would be delight to attend sir."s

The beadle grinned. " Excellent, see you on the night then."

He tipped his head to both of them and slowly headed outside. Mrs. Lovett looked down to her side and saw Sweeney's hands, his fists bunched up tightly. She sighed, and placed her hand on his arm.

" Don't worry love, we'll get him soon. We'll get him."

Sweeney merely nodded, slowly placing his hand on her arm. Though he had no words with this gesture Mrs. Lovett felt as if she knew what he meant. That he understood what she had said, that he agreed with it and that he was there for her. Yes, he was there for her.


thanks for reading. so can anyone guess whats gona happen at the ball? i plan for a bit of drama in the next chapter. please leave a review and il give you an update :)