Alright, please don't kill me for not updating sooner. I had a major writer's block.

Anyway, i've hidden hints on this chapter on what's Mr. Todd been up to. XD

Enjoy! :)

As the barber regains his consciousness, he instantaneously feels the cold and hard wooden floor he is lying on. It is strange, for he does not recall his cot being that firm. His mattress may be old and tattered, but for what he recalls, it still serves its purpose. What's even so perplexing is the soft thing he is pillowed on. Has he decided to sleep on the floor last night?

He opens his eyes to get a glimpse of his surroundings- and to confirm if he has really slept on the floor. But, upon opening his eyes, he is immediately welcomed by the blinding glare of the sun; causing a sharp pain to shoot up in his head. He squeezes his eyes tight shut, but the action only intensifies his headache.

Moaning in misery, he reaches up to his head- hoping that somehow, his touch will alleviate the pain. His hand comes in contact with a rough texture. Wanting to know what this thing is, he grabs it; wrong move. He jerks his hand away as he feels like his head is going to explode. He thinks he now knows what the thing is, and why is it there- he is bruised, but how?

He does not drink too much anymore, so passing out from drunkenness and hurting himself is out of the question. Maybe he slipped? Can be, but his wound is tended to- he knows this because the thing he touched, he is positive, is a gauze. Well, maybe he slipped and someone saw him and took care of him. Now, who must this person be?

Needing to find answer to his questions, he slowly pushes himself off the ground- with his eyes still closed. Though he feels like his brain is being hammered, he ignores the pain. He spreads his arms and feels for something that he can get a grip on to support himself in standing up. His right hand comes in contact with something round and soft; it looks like it is covered in cloth. He squeezes it- out of curiosity- but immediately takes his hand away when the thing that he seems to be holding suddenly screams.

He forces his eyes to open, and when he finally adjusts to the bright light, he sees Mrs. Lovett in front of him. She is seated on the floor with her back resting on a chair, her arms crossed and she is glaring at him. He ignores her for a moment and takes a look around him- he's in her shop. But how? Returning his gaze at the baker, he finds her still glowering at him.

"What?" he asks, while trying to remember of how he has gotten to sleeping on the floor of the baker's shop.

Mrs. Lovett huffs and sends a nasty look at the barber. "Well, if you're not aware, you just groped my breast, Mr. Todd!"

The pale face of Mr. Todd turns red as he hears the scandalous accusation of the baker. He sneers at her and defends himself "I did not!"

An exaggerated gasp escapes from Mrs. Lovett's mouth, making Mr. Todd rolls his eyes at her antics. "Yes, you did! I ain't lying."

The barber blushes even more, knowing that what she is saying is true- recalling the round and soft thing he's just touching a while ago. Embarrassed, he just ignores the baker and stands up, stretching his sore limbs. He does not bother with helping her in standing up. She is perfectly capable in doing so all by herself.

"Mr. Todd, I need to ask you something… about Richard." The baker is now sitting on a stool, her leg on top of the other; she is arranging the pins in her hair to make it look as presentable as possible.

He is about to leave the woman alone, but curiosity got the best of him. So instead, he takes a seat across her. Besides, he has a lot of questions to ask, too. He cocks an eyebrow at the baker, encouraging her to continue.

Mrs. Lovett finishes fixing her hair first before she acknowledges the barber. She likes to mess with him, because she knows how impatient he is; and she is sure that he will not walk out from her because she also knows that he is a very inquisitive person.

Satisfied with making Mr. Todd wait, it's time to get some answers to her questions. "Why did you attack Richard yesterday?"

Mr. Todd's brows furrow. His mind is still fuzzy, so he is trying to recall of yesterday's events. But after a few minutes of racking his brain, he is able to remember of what has happened. "He recognized me- from the past."

Once again, Mrs. Lovett does her exaggerated gasp, covering her mouth.

"Will you bloody stop doing that, woman!?" the barber snaps, banging his fist down the table, startling the baker. Mrs. Lovett just sneers, and ignores the moody man.

"That's impossible! I don't remember him from before. Surely you must have misheard him?" Mrs. Lovett suggests, not fully believing Mr. Todd's story. Later- she takes a mental note- she will ask Richard of what he said to the barber before he attacked him. She must hear both sides of the story as not to be bias- and to confirm the truth!

"I don't know, Mrs. Lovett. Maybe you have told him about me, eh?" he leans towards the baker, both hands flat on the table. He does not remember Benjamin knowing Richard, so he can only assume that the baker has told the man about him. She does have a tendency to just blurt out whatever it is in her mind, especially when drunk.

Unperturbed by the barber's accusation, Mrs. Lovett just smirks and dusts off some imaginary dusts from her dress. "You wouldn't be here talking to me if I told Richard about you. If I did, It's either you're back to Botany Bay, or hanged."

Mr. Todd slowly pulls away from Mrs. Lovett, with disdain written all over his face. Though he does not want to admit it, she's right.

"Last night, what happened? Why am I here in your shop?" again, knowing his defeat, Mr. Todd just changes the subject of their conversation. Though he really wants to know of what has occurred last night that causes him to earn a gash on the head and a sleepover with the darling baker.

Mrs. Lovett chuckles and has to bite her lower lip to stop herself, when she earns a glare from the barber. "I should ask you that question, Mr. T. I saw you creeping up the bake house in the middle of the night- and I thought you was a robber. Well, when you made it to the top of the stairs I-"

"You hit me with the rolling pin." Mr. Todd finishes for her, remembering now that it was the last thing that he saw before he blacked out. At least the baker did not catch him when he is still in the cellar, or else, she would not like what she will see.

Mrs. Lovett grins, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. "So you remember now! That's a stupid thing to do, really, Mr. T. I could have hurt you real bad."

"As if you still haven't." glaring at Mrs. Lovett, Mr. Todd stands up from his seat and walks away to go to his room upstairs. Midway through the door, he trips over his own feet causing him to stumble forward. He is quick to regain his composure, but he is not fast enough to escape hearing the insulting laugh of the baker.

"Richard." Mrs. Lovett calls the attention of the man. They are in his lavish living room, sitting next to each other. Her head is resting on his shoulder and his on top of her hers. It has only been half an hour ago since they have arrived from her shop. She has decided to sleep in Richard's house today, just so she could get clothes and other necessities she will need for the following days that she will stay in her own home.

Richard just grunts, he is too absorbed in what he is reading to really listen to her. But she will not have it. She hates it when he is like this, he reminds her too much of the demon barber who always ignore her. So she tries again. "Richard."

Well, fortunately, the man is more sensitive than Mr. Todd. Mrs. Lovett is successful in garnering Richard's attention. He has now placed his book aside and is looking at her inquisitively. She straightens up from her position, clearing her throat before she speaks. "Well, I just want to know what you said to Mr. Todd before he attacked you."

Richard's brows furrow, he is about to ask the baker why she is asking him this, but she beats him to eat. She senses that he will be asking what he is about ask by that look on his face. "Because I spoke to him about it, and he said that you said something that he didn't like."

Richard thinks for a second before answering. He is trying to remember what exactly he has said that must have offended the barber. "I don't know, Eleanor. I wasn't able to say what I'm going to say because he was on me before I knew it. But I do remember telling him that I came there to warn him. Really, I was only going to tell him to leave you alone."

Mrs. Lovett is baffled now. She does not know which of the two is telling the truth. Mr. Todd told her that Richard recognized him- but now, Richard is claiming he hadn't said anything. Who should she believe? Maybe the barber just did not like it when Richard went up to him to preach him about leaving her alone. Well, in that case, he just overreacted. The little bastard is creating stories!

She is about to dismiss the topic and let Richard read his book when he adds. "Unless he found it offensive when I called him Mr. Barber."

"What did you call him?" has he really called Mr. Todd, that? Did she hear it right? No wonder the bloody man was prepared to kill Richard. She's right! The barber has misheard what Richard said.

"Mr. Barber." The baker cannot help but laugh. Once again, Mr. Todd has proven of his stupidity. Oh, she has no doubts that it will get him killed one day. She can't wait to deliver the good news to the barber.

She is stopped from her musings when Richard taps her on the shoulder, causing her to face him. "What are you laughing about?"

This makes her laugh even more. She can just imagine the angry Mr. Todd ready to kill Richard just because he called him 'Mr. Barber'. She wants to explain it to Richard, but he will never get it even if she does explain, because he doesn't know of Benjamin Barker, and she has no plans on telling him.

"Nothing, dear. Go on, go back to your reading." She answers, leaning her head back on his shoulder. Richard does what she says and does not ask her anymore about the matter.

After a few minutes of silence, Mrs. Lovett can feel that Richard is looking at her. She looks up at him and confirms that she is right. "What?"

Richard has that glow in his eyes that she always sees when he is happy. He cups her face and lightly caresses it with his thumb. "Just admiring your beauty."

Mrs. Lovett leans in to his touch. She allows this kind of affection from him, because from a rare moment like this, she actually believes that she's beautiful. That's why Richard is very close to her heart, because he can make her feel like she is special. If only she can really love him, then they will both be very happy. But the problem is she can't, and she doesn't know why. Maybe someday she'll learn how to.

She grabs Richard's hand and plants a soft kiss on his palm. "Thank you."

Once Mrs. Lovett arrived in Fleet Street, the first thing she does is visit Mr. Todd. She cannot wait to see how he will react about what she has to tell him.

She knocks on his door, but unlike before where she would usually just barge in, she decides to wait for him to open it. She does not want to witness another awkward situation happening inside his shop. Luckily for her, she does not have to wait long, for the door immediately opens revealing an angry Mr. Todd.

"Good Morning, Mr. T." she says, adding an extra cheeriness to her voice because she knows it will only worsen his mood. Indeed it does. He makes to close the door on her but she prevents it by lodging her foot on the doorframe.

The barber glares at her but steps aside to let her in. He walks back to his usual position- by the window- his back on her. She follows and stops to stand beside him. "Come now, Mr. T." she drones, twirling a lock of her hair. "I have good news for you."

Mr. Todd does not speak; he only glances at her sideways. She takes this as an invitation to go on and talk, and so she does. "Richard doesn't know Benjamin."

This catches the barber's attention. He is now facing Mrs. Lovett with an eyebrow raised- a gesture she knows that it is to let her know that he is listening. "I asked him about it- Of course I didn't ask him if he knows Benjamin Barker! I questioned him about what he told you when you almost killed him, had I not come."

"He's spoken of my name." Mr. Todd insists, turning away from the baker and walking towards his barber chair. He plops down on it; he whips out his silver razor and begins to twirl it.

Mrs. Lovett laughs, startling the barber. She walks towards him standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. "He did not. Do you know what he called you, Mr. T?"

She only gets silence as a response, but she knows that Mr. Todd is still listening to her. She walks around the room, fiddling with whatever things she sees. After rummaging about, she stops behind the barber chair and leans towards the barber's ear. "He called you Mr. Barber."

Mr. Todd leaps off from the chair, startling the baker. "Liar! I heard him!"

Once again, Mrs. Lovett cannot help but laugh. She knows what she's doing is dangerous, for the barber tends to go crazy when he is mad, but she cannot contain her glee. Stupid Mr. Todd! "I told you, if he knew, then you wouldn't be here."

She can see the emotions passing through Mr. Todd's face. Relief, Defeat, Anger. Before she knows it, she is being pushed outside the barber shop. The barber's grip on her forearm is too tight that she cannot escape it, so she just complies. When the door shuts behind her with a loud bang, she just goes down to her shop- a huge smile is on her face.

Ines Lovett - Another chapter for you. Hope you liked it! :D

personafail - I hope this chapter does make you laugh :)

MyDarlingRose - Thank you, dear. I shall carry on. :P

I SingOnly4MyAngel - I hope this chapter is to your liking. :D

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