Passing Strange
On Friday, Eleanor can no longer stand the blatant stares as she walks through the hallways and she can no longer handle walking into a room only to have a hush fall over everyone as if she'd been the subject of their chatter. In order to escape the perpetual hell and hold onto what is left of her sanity, Eleanor leaves the hospital grounds for lunch, taking a cab to New York University.
Sweeney had mentioned that morning before he left for work that if she found herself in need of a fruit cup, the university has better things to gossip about than her "soft core porn" video on youtube. She'd thrown a muffin at him from across the breakfast table for the remark, but she knows it is just his way of telling her she has an escape from the hospital if she needs it.
She slips in the back of his class again, just as students are shuffling out, balancing textbooks, book bags and papers. Their professor is standing behind his desk, dusting chalk off his hands, but when the door near the back of the classroom shuts noisily, he glances up.
When he spots her, she sees a knowing look cross his features, as if he'd suspected all along that she would stop by. Knowing him, he probably had. Eleanor pretends not to notice his expression and descends the steps, passing desks, chairs, and the occasional straggling student, until she reaches his side.
Sweeney regards her with that same expression on his face, almost smirking, and she sighs heavily, dropping her arms to her sides. "I'm only 'ere for the fruit cup, so wipe that look off your face."
He nods curtly, his voice patronizing. "Of course you are." She glares, but finds him unfazed. "I was not implying it had anything to do with your - "
She jabs a finger at his chest threateningly. "If you say anythin' sexually suggestive about that video I will - "
"You'll what?" He asks, looking down at her, arms crossed over his chest. He looks deadly serious, face a blank mask, but she doesn't miss the humor in his eyes.
Scrambling for some sort of threat, but finding none, she finishes lamely, "I'll - I'll go back to the 'ospital right now."
"Mm, yes," he says dryly, turning from her with a sigh. "That will teach me to keep my sexual innuendos to myself."
Eleanor wants to hate him then, for seeming to always get the best of her, but she doesn't. She has too much fun arguing with him to muster up any emotion other than the one that leaves her with a silly grin on her face as they stroll casually out of his classroom to seek out the cafeteria.
No one stares as they walk through the halls, and she finds this a refreshing change from her usual environment. She finds herself slowly relaxing as she goes through the lunch line and they find a table together, away from everyone else. It isn't until she has settled in and taken a sip of her strawberry flavored water that anyone pays her any mind at all.
A pretty girl with pale skin and short blonde hair stops at their table, holding a tray of food. "Hey professor," she says. "Do you think you could go over that last minute or so of the lecture again tomorrow?" She looks sheepish. "My pen ran out of ink, I missed a paragraph or so in my notes."
Sweeney regards her with the sternness of a father. "Miss Wright, I believe I have told you time and again to bring several pens, for just such an emergency."
The girl opens her mouth to protest when another girl with dark hair stops at the table as well. "Hey professor," she smiles sweetly, her green eyes bright. She tosses her hair behind her shoulder and smooths a hand over the back of her pants. "Great lecture today."
Eleanor puts a hand casually over her mouth to cover her smirk, meeting Sweeney's eyes from across the table. She sees a barely perceptible darkening of his eyes that lets her know he is aware of her amusement. He mumbles a 'thank you' to the dark headed girl he calls Sarah, and she wanders off to find a seat, swaying her hips the whole way.
"C'mon, Professor," the blonde girl resumes her pleading. "Please? It's not my fault! I loaned my other pen to Kurtis."
"Miss Wright, you should know better than to loan anything to Kurtis that you want returned." He says, and the girl laughs.
"Oh come on love," Eleanor speaks for the first time, smiling at the girl. "At least let 'er see your notes." He glares at her, trying to frighten her into shutting up, but it doesn't work. This isn't London, and Eleanor is no longer afraid of him. "Well you 'eard 'er. It was Kurtis's fault, not 'ers." They have a ten second staring match, silently battling for a victory, but a student behind Sweeney breaks his concentration by bumping into him, and he blinks. Eleanor grins triumphantly and he nearly growls, sneering at her as he nods his consent.
Looking at his bewildered student, he says begrudgingly, "Come by my class after lunch. I'll give you the bloody notes."
"Thanks," the girl smiles at him before turning to Eleanor, putting her tray on the table to hold out a hand to Eleanor. "I'm Jenny, your new best friend."
"Eleanor," Nellie pulls out the seat next to her, and motions for Jenny to sit down. "'Ave a seat, love." She ignores the swift kick to the shin Sweeney gives her from under the table, and Jenny sits down.
"So, I don't mean to pry," Jenny says, taking a bite of a chicken nugget. "But you're the woman in the Twist and Shout video, right?"
Eleanor delivers a kick to Sweeney's ankle when he nearly chokes on his coffee. "That recognizable, huh?" She asks the girl, looking glumly into her salad.
Swallowing a mouthful of some caffeinated drink, Jenny wipes her mouth on the back of her hand. "Oh I wouldn't have recognized you unless I already knew you from the last time you were here. Plus, the professor kind of flipped when he realized we were watching it, so I figured it had to be you."
"Flipped, eh?" Eleanor raises an eyebrow questioningly at the man sitting across from her, and he tries desperately to avoid her gaze.
"Totally," Jenny looks at her professor. "Didn't you tell her about the other day?" Sweeney merely glowers at her and Jenny takes the hint. "Well, I should probably get going. But I'll see you after lunch professor." Turning to Eleanor, she smiles warmly. "Maybe I'll see you next week?"
Eleanor nods, but the smile drops from her face when the girl is gone. She turns to Sweeney with a pout. "Scare off all my friends, you do. I wanted to 'ear that."
"If I wanted you to hear about it, I would have told you myself," Sweeney counters, and Eleanor makes a face into her salad.
"Sarah seems nice," she says slyly, just out of spite for him shooing Jenny away when the conversation was getting juicy. Her delight grows when she sees him flinch at the girl's name. "I think if she'd smiled any wider, 'er face woulda cracked."
He stabs a piece of chicken with a little too much vigor, but says nothing.
"She's pretty," Eleanor continues to bait him, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. "Seems to like you too, what with the way she tossed 'er 'air like that." She pauses thoughtfully. "I wonder if she knows you're not into brunettes?" The glare he shoots her way doesn't phase her and she smiles languidly. "No need to get worked up, love. Just makin' sure you know your options."
"College girls are not really my type Eleanor," he snarls, obviously tired of her teasing.
She is about to ask him what exactly is his type when the chair next to Eleanor is suddenly occupied once more, by a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looks familiar, and the name Russell comes to mind but she isn't sure if it is a first or last name. "So this is the famous Twist and Shout lady," he says, ignoring his professor's glower as he holds out a hand.
Nellie ignores his outstretched hand and groans, putting her head in her palms. "There's no getting away from it," she says, looking at Sweeney through her fingers. He isn't looking at her though, he's still staring at his student with narrowed eyes, but the boy isn't paying him any mind.
Realizing that Eleanor is not proud of her internet fame, the boy tries to backtrack. "Oh, it's no big deal," he says. "We post stuff on Youtube all the time. I mean, just last week they posted a video of Tommy Hall jumping off the roof of the school with his skateboard. Most popular kid in school now." He grins. "We're all planning his Get Well party."
Eleanor chokes on a laugh.
"Or there was the guy who got drunk and streaked across campus in broad daylight," he continues. "Now he was a funny guy."
Nellie gasps, shoving the boy's shoulder in shock. "I saw that video! I 'ad no idea 'e went 'ere."
"Oh I've got a ton of these," he says, running a hand through his thick mane of hair and suddenly looking very nervous. "We should, uh, we should hang out sometime, I'll tell you a few."
Eleanor sees Sweeney freeze out of the corner of her eye, hand paused in mid-reach for his coffee cup. She shrugs. "Sure, that sounds fun."
"Sweet," he grins at her, and she sees something like relief flash across his features, which puzzles her. "What about tomorrow? I don't have class, we could get coffee or something."
"Um," Nellie hesitates. She'd been planning on spending her Saturday locked up in her apartment with Sweeney and Louie. But that would be like running from her problems, and she sure as hell doesn't want anyone to think she is hiding. "Why not?"
He holds out his hand again and this time Nellie takes it. "Kurtis Russell," he says.
"Oh, the pen thief," she laughs.
"Pen?" He looks confused before his eyes light up in comprehension and he reaches for the pen behind his ear. "Hey Jen!"
The blonde girl from a few tables away turns to look and Kurtis tosses her the pen, shooting her a thumbs up. She grins and goes back to her lunch. He turns back to Eleanor with a shrug. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"
She nods and seconds later, Kurtis is gone. Nellie sighs, turning back to face Sweeney. "Such a sweet boy, that one." For the first time since Kurtis had come to their table, Eleanor looks directly at her friend, and finds his face stony and unreadable, eyes dark. It reminds her of the barber shop, and coming upstairs with his meals to find him sitting in his chair, expression stoic. He always looked right through her back then, never at her. She has a sudden flash of deja vu and shivers, bringing herself back to the present. "What's the matter, love?"
He merely shakes his head, dark hair falling over his eyes and she feels that ever present urge to reach up and tuck it back into place for him. She clenches her fists in her lap instead, watching him watch her. He mutters something along the lines of 'stupid bloody boy' but nothing else, and she lets it go at that. They finish their lunch without another word on his part. Eleanor does most of the talking, without getting much of a response from him. She leaves again for work without feeling much better than when she had walked into Sweeney's class.
She puzzles over his strange behavior for the remainder of the day, but in the end she doesn't have much time to contemplate it. There is an emergency heart transplant just when she is about to walk out the door at the end of the day, and when the surgery is over, it is four hours later. The sky is dark as she walks out to the curb and hails a cab to take her home, and Eleanor is exhausted.
When she walks through the door of the apartment, Louie greets her at the door, tail wagging at the return of his favorite person. Laughing, she bends down to pet him, letting him lick her cheek. She likes coming home to the dog every night, knowing that no matter what, someone will always be happy to see her.
Standing up from her kneeling position in the floor, Eleanor pushes her disheveled curls from her face and wanders toward her bedroom to change into something that doesn't involve scrubs, skirts, or high heels. She stops in the living room however, finding Sweeney asleep on the sofa, the glow of the television giving the otherwise dark room an eerie glow. He is clutching the remote in his hand, and the screen is playing a Cops rerun loudly.
Smiling gently, Nellie grabs the blanket draped over the back of the sofa and uses it to cover his prone form. Tugging the remote from his grasp, she turns off the television and just this once, she reaches out with a trembling hand, brushing away an errant lock of silky hair.
He stirs slightly in his sleep and she pulls her hand back quickly, holding it to her chest as if bitten. He doesn't wake up, and she quietly tiptoes from the room, blushing at her foolish actions.
--
On Saturday morning, Sweeney Todd wakes up on the sofa in the living room and he vaguely remembers getting sleepy during a repeat airing of Cops. Sitting up, he pushes away the blanket Eleanor must have covered him with and stretches lazily like a cat in the sun. The large windows behind him give him a perfect view of the city below, and he almost smiles at the scene before him. The morning is bleak, the sky overcast and gray. His favorite kind of weather.
A small part of him hopes it rains today, not just for his perverse pleasure, but because maybe Eleanor will cancel her little outing this afternoon. He frowns suddenly, standing up to shuffle to the kitchen for breakfast. He still can't believe that she agreed to go out with that buffoon. It had bothered him at first, but then he reminded himself that he doesn't care what Eleanor does, or who she sees. It doesn't matter to him one way or the other. He is completely indifferent.
But the way she had smiled at him! The nerve of that woman, grinning so openly at the boy just because he told her a few stories about his idiot friends and their internet videos! Sweeney has reassured her a hundred times over that it isn't a big deal and everyone will forget in time, but does she listen to him? Of course not. She listens to Kurtis - the cynical rich kid with surfer hair. He suddenly pictures Eleanor toying with the surfer boy's hair and shudders, yanking a box of cereal from a cabinet. Fine. Let her go out with him, date him, sleep with him. See if Sweeney cares.
But the thing is, he suddenly realizes, dropping his spoon into his bowl, he does care. God help him, but he does. He doesn't know why, but the image of Eleanor with that boy makes him want to throw his currently soggy bowl of cereal at the wall. Sweeney doesn't have time to contemplate what this means before he hears faint footsteps sound from the hall, and Eleanor appears in the kitchen, already dressed for the day.
"Mornin' love," she smiles brightly, walking up to where he stands at the kitchen counter. She leans into him, reaching her arm across his chest to grab the cereal box and he stiffens noticeably. "What's wrong?"
He shakes his head, jabbing his spoon at a group of clustered cornflakes, and says nothing.
Eleanor frowns at his silence. "You know," she says softly. "You've been actin' awful strange since yesterday. Somethin' 'appen that I don't know about?"
"No," he says shortly, and his voice is a bit harsher than he'd intended, but he still doesn't look at her.
"You're grouchy," she states knowingly, and though he doesn't look, he can practically see her giving him that skeptical look of hers.
"So what?" He snaps. "I am a human being Eleanor, and a very old one at that. And as such, I am entitled to be "grouchy" every now and then. If it's going to be a problem for you, you are welcome to leave early for your date so you don't have to put up with it."
"You are worse than a bloody woman with PMS," she bites right back. "I never know what kind of mood you're going to be in." She puts down the box of cereal with more force than is necessary, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter instead. "Keep an eye on Louie, I'll be back in a few hours."
Sweeney doesn't look up until he hears the apartment door slam closed behind her, and he drops his spoon with a heavy sigh. He isn't sure why he'd snapped at her, he knows he is being childish. It isn't as if he's jealous. The day Sweeney Todd is jealous of a college boy is the day he dies of old age.
Still scoffing at such a notion, Sweeney throws out his breakfast and makes his way up to the loft to rifle through Eleanor's music collection. As he sorts through CDs, his thoughts continue to race and he is helpless to stop them.
It's shock, that's all. He is only shocked that Eleanor had agreed to go out with the rat. He had been sure she would turn the boy down, and when she hadn't, he'd been...surprised. He tries to push thoughts of Eleanor's love life out of his mind and focus on finding something suitable to listen to.
Patsy Cline? No, no country music. The last thing he needs is to be more depressed, and he has a feeling Crazy or Sweet Dreams might push him over the edge.
Dreams. That bloody dream. He still hasn't completely forgotten it, and when he goes to bed at night, he wonders if he will have the dream again, or at least one like it. But so far he has woken up with no memory of anything resembling the one he'd had a few nights ago. He isn't sure if he is relieved or disappointed.
Ray Charles? No, Sweeney likes him too much to associate him with such a confusing point in his life.
Definitely relieved, he decides. He is relieved that the dream hasn't occurred again, because it had been beyond disturbing to think of Eleanor that way.
The Beatles? No, too many bad memories.
He doesn't look at Eleanor like that, after all. She is a friend and it had taken over a hundred years to make him even admit it to himself. He does not want her - despite his very risque dream. He just...doesn't want anyone else to have her either. He ignores the part of his mind that tells him how twisted and illogical this is, and instead plucks a CD from the massive collection in front of him.
Metallica.
Sweeney falls back onto a comfortable chaise lounge and props up his feet. Closing his eyes, he lets the familiar opening guitar riff of Enter Sandman drown out his troubling thoughts.
--
Eleanor meets Kurtis at a coffee shop, still furious over Sweeney's petulant behavior. Sometimes she just wants to throttle the man. However, in the span of a few hours, Kurtis has made her forget her bad mood. They have had coffee and bagels, strolled through Central Park to feed the pigeons, and now they are browsing through an old bookshop. It is something Nellie has always wanted to do since moving to the city, but she has never taken the time for it until now. The store is an old second-hand shop, filled to the brim with books both new and old, and the musty scent of them lingers in the air like the smell of rain after a storm.
An old man behind the counter, dressed as though he has come straight from 1930 in his trousers, vest and hat, sits on an rickety stool behind the counter, dusting off the ancient cash register. He keeps one spectacled eye on Eleanor and her companion, as though waiting for the two to start stuffing books in their clothes.
The place has a friendly feel to it though, and Eleanor wants to just curl up inside it and never leave. As she flips through a sketchbook filled with pictures of Japanese landscapes, Nellie decides that she has to start spending more time with friends. She has had a good time today and she thinks tomorrow she'll invite Carol to dinner somewhere, just the two of them. Especially if Sweeney is going to continue acting like his former, brooding self. Or in more comprehensible terms, a complete ass. His behavior is still confusing her. She can't figure out what has caused his sudden change in attitude. One moment they are bickering amiably and the next he is barely speaking to her. Eleanor finds the whole situation completely baffling, but now that she has calmed down considerably, she resolves to go home after her outing with Kurtis to try to get the bottom of this mystery.
When she finds a copy of the bedtime story Goodnight Moon, she giggles and waves Kurtis over. He puts down his book and jogs over, grinning. "Remember this one?" She asks, holding it up for him to read the cover.
He laughs. "Oh man. My mom used to read that to me." He takes it from her and opens to the publishing information on the first page. "This is a reprint from the eighties. I was just a kid."
Eleanor frowns, snatching the book from him good naturedly. "Now I feel old."
"Sorry," he says, still laughing. As Eleanor begins searching the shelves again for something interesting to leaf through, Kurtis watches, following behind her. "You know, this is the most fun I've had on a date in a while."
"I'm 'avin' a good time too - " Freezing right in the middle of scanning a book of sonnets and plays, Eleanor slowly turns to look at the boy. "Did you say date?" She asks, her voice quiet. He nods, and suddenly she understands everything. He had been asking her on a date yesterday and she'd been completely oblivious. "Oh dear, I-I 'ad no idea this was a date, I thought we were just - "
"Oh geez," Kurtis looks mortified, turning his back to her with a hand over his face.
"I thought we were just going out as, y'know, friends," Nellie finishes, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Kurtis chuckles, still not looking at her. "Dude. I really screwed up."
"No, it's not your fault, dear," she walks around to face him since he refuses to turn around, and she feels her heart go out to him when she sees the blush on his cheeks. "I should 'ave known. I'm just so bloody clueless sometimes."
He sighs. "So...is there even a possibility of a date in the future?"
Eleanor shakes her head sadly, patting his arm. "You're a nice guy, but I'm a bit old for you, lad. Feel like I was datin' my son, I would."
This doesn't help the blush tinting his cheeks pink, and he nods. "I get it, it's-it's cool."
"We can still go to the museum after this if you want," Eleanor offers, hating that she'd led the poor boy on without meaning to.
"Nah," he says with a sigh. "I think I've embarrassed myself enough for one day."
Nellie gives him a sympathetic smile. "You want to get out of 'ere, then?"
"Only if you're ready," Kurtis gestures to the heavy book she's still holding.
She looks down as if she has just noticed it. "Oh right. I'll go pay for this."
Kurtis reaches out and takes it from her with a sheepish smile. "I'll pay for it. It's the least I can do." He starts to walk away but stops suddenly and turns around to face her, expression somewhere between curiosity and comprehension. "The professor...you're into him, aren't you?"
Eleanor blinks in surprise. She opens her mouth once, then twice, only to close it, unable to find her voice. Kurtis seems to understand anyway and he nods, walking up to the counter pay for the book. Nellie is hardly paying attention, lost in her own world. His suggestion is completely absurd, but he'd made her realize something she hadn't before. Sweeney. Of course. It all makes sense. Sweeney knows this had been a date, and he thinks she actually wants to go out with one of his students!
His earlier words come back to her now, "You are welcome to leave early for your date so you don't have to put up with it." She'd been so angry with him that she hadn't paid much attention to the simple word, but now she understands. The reason for his actions in the past day or so are suddenly crystal clear, and Eleanor feels badly for being so clueless. Another thought hits her then and she nearly loses her balance at the possibility. Is he jealous? No, of course not. Sweeney Todd does get jealous. Still...what other explanation can there be?
As she walks home alone a few minutes later, clutching her new novel in her hand, Eleanor determines that Sweeney must be jealous. It doesn't mean much to her though, because men are just like that. They may not want something but that certainly doesn't mean anyone else can have it. "Selfish creatures, they are," she mutters to herself in the elevator. "Like bloody children and their toys." She is most certainly not anyone's toy, least of all his.
When she walks into the apartment, Nellie finds her friend sitting on the sofa, watching infomercials, with Louie sitting on the floor and staring at him. Sweeney looks up when she walks into the room, the bored expression never leaving his face. "I am not a toy," she says.
He looks at her strangely, but decides to play along. "Of course you aren't, pet." She nods at his mechanical response, feeling better now that she has said it out loud. She walks to him, sitting down on the other end of the sofa. Louie immediately hops into her lap, resting his floppy-eared head on her knee. "Did you enjoy your date?" Sweeney asks, his voice dripping with disdain.
Eleanor smiles to herself and looks down at the thick volume in her hand, suddenly remembering why had picked it up in the first place. She waves it under his nose, offering it to him. "I know you read 'is stuff. Take it."
He does, scrutinizing the cover. "The complete works of William Shakespeare." His face shows his total surprise, and she smiles as she watches the way his eyes light up in childlike pleasure. It is almost as if a spell has been cast over him, she has never seen that look in his eyes before. She finds it bewitching. "This is a first edition. I've been looking for this, it's supposed to be out of print."
"I know," she says, sounding proud of herself. "Found it buried under a bunch of Emily Dickinson poetry."
"Thank you," he whispers, fingers running over the worn spine of the book reverently.
It is the first time he has ever thanked her for anything, and for a moment, Eleanor is dumbfounded. "Y-you're welcome," she says finally, hating how soft her voice sounds.
Sweeney looks it over for another minute, his face showing his appreciation, and then he glances over at her. She can't help but notice that his eyes no longer hold that light of awe."You didn't answer my question."
She sighs heavily and the spell is broken. "College boys aren't really my type, love," she repeats his words from yesterday almost word for word.
"Really?" He asks. His voice sounds uninterested, but she knows better now.
"Yes," she leans back against the sofa cushions. Their eyes lock then, and she doesn't try to look away, letting him see that she has nothing to hide. He nods silently, seemingly pacified, but she knows him enough to know that he is still pouting that she'd even gone in the first place. Scratching Louie behind the ears, Eleanor looks over at Sweeney. "Wanna watch Rambo?"
With that one question, she puts an end to his sulking. He shrugs, but she can tell he is weakening. Giving him the volume of Shakespearean works and letting him watch one of his favorite movies? The man doesn't stand a chance at staying angry with her. "If you want," he says, and she smiles knowingly.
By the middle of the movie, he seems to have forgotten about the whole thing, eyes glued to the screen, but Eleanor studies the painting hanging over the television instead, finding it endlessly fascinating compared to what they are currently watching.
"Ugh," she says when she looks again and sees an attractive woman in a tank top running across the screen. "This is such a man movie. Would it kill 'er to wear a bra of some sort?"
Sweeney looks over at her, tearing his eyes away from the gore on the television. "If I recall correctly, there was a time in your life when undergarments were restricting your femininity and had to be burned in a trash can." He glances back at the television, unable to look away for too long. "Isn't that what you and your fellow feminists did in your spare time?"
She glares at him. "It just so 'appens that no such thing occurred, Professor Todd. Get your 'istory straight. Women did not burn their bras, that rumor was started after a bunch of protestin' women at a Beauty pageant threw their bras in a trash can." She squints, as if trying to remember. "Back in...1968, I believe."
He stares. "Why are you not teaching your own class? You have the memory of an elephant, Eleanor." She merely reaches over to steal some of the popcorn out of his bowl, stuffing a handful into her mouth. "Always such class, pet," he mutters.
Eleanor grins at him through a mouthful of salted popcorn, happy to have her friend back. She likes him better when he's brooding and talking to her, rather than brooding and ignoring her. When he doesn't talk to her, it reminds her too much of a time in her life she would rather forget.
The situation with Kurtis does not change anything between them. They still bicker like children, cohabitate like a married couple, and tease like old friends. But occasionally, Eleanor will remember Kurtis, and the way Sweeney sulked like a scorned lover. In these times, she will only smile at him, like she knows something he doesn't.
--
Fate only takes you so far, the rest is up to you...
Urd cannot hold back a huge sigh of relief when Todd and Lovett go to bed that night on good terms once again. "That was a little too close for comfort," she says. "Imagine, the two of them getting so worked up over a college boy."
"Well at least we know now that Todd is the jealous type," Skuld reasons, but she can't keep the relief out of her own voice. It had been a close call, and she'd found herself once again rooting for this unreasonably stubborn couple.
"Or he is merely selfish," Verdandi lightly runs her finger over a shining silver thread. "Just like Lovett said. A little boy stingy with his possessions."
Urd shrugs carelessly. "Either one is an improvement over cold indifference."
"True," Verdandi concedes. "But what next?"
"What about a nice power outage in Manhattan?" Skuld asks excitedly. "A lot can happen when they are alone in the dark for hours."
Verdandi casually plucks a thread, watching it wobble and bounce back into place. "Or perhaps bring in another woman. Although that could result in some sort of cat fight if Lovett is terribly possessive."
"How delicious," Skuld cackles. "Lovett does seem like a hair puller."
"No," Urd shakes her head firmly. "None of that."
"Then what?" Skuld looks eager to move along with their plans.
Urd watches the two mortals sleeping in their separate bedrooms and sighs, her heart aching for them. If only they would stop being so hardheaded - they would be so happy together, she knows it. "I think we should leave them alone for now."
Verdandi frowns. "Alone?"
"Are you sure you can trust them not to kill each other?" Skuld asks, bemused.
Urd waves her away. "You know very well that death is impossible until those three little words are said. They have a whole summer ahead of them. Let's just...sit back and see what happens."
A/N-Hey guys! Let it be known that this chapter gave me a huge headache, so make it all worth it and leave me a review! By the way, thanks for all the encouragement on the previous chapter, I really appreciate all of the wonderful feedback I've been getting;) Props to Bellatrix5982, who mentioned Kurt hitting on Nellie. I found it an incredibly amusing image, and I had to use it.LOL