Sorry these are taking so long. School work as been delaying progress, plus these past two chapters I have re-written so many times due to my frustration at being able to portray what I want/see in my head.

Please review honestly.

Chapter 11- City on Fire

Do you think you'll see her again?

Mrs. Lovett finally broke the silence.

No.

This was the truth, Benjamin knew it. Hell seemed to make since now, things opening and closing as doors, but also as wounds to the heart. The more doors he closed, the more wounds he opened.

But are they worth opening?

Still around Sweeney?

If you are so am I. You know that.

Mrs. Lovett looked anxiously around the bake house like a racehorse at the starting gate.

Well, I for one am leaving. I'm not sticking around in this place any longer then I have to.

Benjamin followed her out. Mrs. Lovett turned to him as they crossed the threshold into the street, looking surprised.

You're coming?

If you are going somewhere interesting.

Mrs. Lovett wasn't sure how to respond. Where was she going after all? Benjamin smiled. She was just trying to get rid of him.

You don't have anyplace in mind, do you?

Sure I do. I… um, I am going to look for my husband.

Would he be down here?

Mrs. Lovett laughed cynically.

Just as much the next man around here.

Benjamin recalled faintly, that he had heard a lot of yelling from below, many years back.

What was he like?

Mrs. Lovett froze. She was taken aback. She was certain that claiming that she was searching for her husband would have deterred him from coming with her. She had just about had it with him. He had never paid her any real interest, and probably never would.

But here he was asking questions.

Uh… well, he was quite the butcher. And a great cook I might add, he could make anything taste good. Unlike myself. That is really the thing I guess I miss the most, after 8-9 years or so of crummy food.

Benjamin wondered why they had gotten married even, if his food was his best quality as a husband.

How'd you meet him?

Through a friend who knew I needed a good, strong, sensible guy to marry before my father died. Doesn't do a girl any good with no one to support her.

So a marriage of necessity?

Mrs. Lovett didn't want to talk about her husband.

Why the sudden interest? Why do you care?

Benjamin paused. Why did he care?

Shouldn't I?

Do you always do things because you aught to?

Isn't that why everyone does certain things?

No. You are supposed to do things because you care.

But I do care.

About the facts, or about me?

Benjamin couldn't seriously answer that question. So he wasn't sure what to say. Luckily for him or unluckily, he didn't have to respond,because at that very moment, Judge Turpin came around the block again, and had spotted him.

Benjamin Barker!

Benjamin turned to see the Judge running towards him. He turned to run away.

Stupid, coward, you can't ignore him. He'll always be around here somewhere.

Benjamin sighed and came to a halt. Judge Turpin had mysteriously gained on him enough that Benjamin's abrupt stop made the Judge collide into Benjamin's backside. Benjamin fell to the ground. Judge Turpin began beating him with his stick.

You killed me, you bastard. You killed me, murderous scum.

Benjamin tried to wiggle away, and the Judge grabbed his arm. And in that moment Benjamin closed his eyes.

It was not Toby whom Benjamin saw like he expected. It was an entirely different cell. This one was full of men, women and children. He scanned the room looking for people he knew. Why was he here? Is this what the Judge saw?

"Speaking of me. I'm right here."

Benjamin turned his head, and behind him stood the Judge.

"You… you can hear my thoughts?" Benjamin thought to himself.

"Yes." The Judge's lips didn't move but Benjamin clearly heard yes.

"Where are we?"

"Look closely, you and I know the twit in the corner."

Benjamin looked, and in the corner facing the walls was… the sailor. Anthony. Benjamin scanned the room for Johanna but it was soon clear she wasn't there.

Debtor's jail.

"Disruption of the peace. Fined more then he makes in a year."

Benjamin shivered. The sailor would never get out. He studied the sailor boy. It was clear many years had already passed in this cell. Maybe 5 or 6. It was hard to tell. But it was clear that the once bright and optimistic boy had become a lonely, melancholic man.

"Calling on a Mr. Anthony Hope." Someone was yelling through the cell bars on the door.

Anthony didn't even turn his head.

"Letter for Mr. Hope."

Anthony slowly got up, and took the letter through the space between the bars. He went back to his corner and opened it.

Benjamin walked closer, so he could read the letter over his shoulder.

It read:

Dear Mr. Anthony Hope,

I am saddened to inform you of your mother's passing. Your father has been notified and will be coming to bail you out so that you may attend the funeral in three days time. He feels that you have learned your lesson by now. After that he will request that you pay him back by living with him until you are properly married in the future. He has heard about your attempt to elope, and he will have none of that. It would do you well to heed all of your father's requests; he would probably send you away with nothing. I'm sure he will make his first requests clear when he arrives, but I feel the need to warn you of a few ahead of time. 1. You will take his family name, not the one you made up on your own. 2. You will not be a sailor, you will be trained to be a gentleman. And 3. …

Benjamin never got to read the rest, because at that moment, Anthony balled up the letter and threw it at the wall.

Some of the people in the cell stared for a moment, but eventually they went back to talking amongst themselves.

Benjamin stood there for a long time just watching him. He had forgotten the Judge was still there with him. He reached out his hand towards the boy and put his hand as close to his shoulder as he could.

"I'm sorry. You just reminded me of well… me. I tried to show you the world was cruel, but I think you already knew that… I told you to stay away."

Anthony shivered.

"Let's go."

Benjamin jumped. Judge Turpin looked peeved, but Benjamin thought perhaps this was because he hated having to watch this.

Apparently Judge Turpin could hear that too.

"He deserved to know that he was no better then anyone else. Him and his fancy romantic airs, and impossible dreams. These do not make him a man."

Benjamin jumped to his defense. "But he could have become better then anyone else. He had risen above the cruelty of men, because he believed he could."

"You are deluding yourself, Benjamin Barker. True, he is a lot like you were stubborn, naïve, and a hopeless romantic. But every person has a dark side, even this rift- raft of a sailor. He resents you, he resents his father, you're just lucky that you're not still alive. I have seen the way this boy treats his father. The man doesn't have to take him in; he doesn't have to openly admit such a mistake."

"He's out of wedlock?"

Judge Turpin glared slightly. "Seems that the lack of decent communication was mutual between the two of you."

Benjamin paused and thought about what he actually knew about the sailor boy. He knew his name or his made-up last name at least it seemed. He knew his ship, his status, where he had sailed to, and that he fell in love with Johanna.

Nothing much really. In fact he knew as much about the sailor boy that had helped safe his life, as he did about Johanna.

Benjamin had wanted to rescue her. The stupid boy couldn't even describe her hair color. He wanted to marry her after having just met her.

"Really does sound like you, doesn't it?" Sweeney mockingly laughed at Benjamin.

Benjamin recalled a young spirited version of himself, declaring to his friend Jack the first time he laid eyes on Lucy, that they were fated to be married. Within a month or so this statement had become a reality.

Sweeney had convinced the boy to bring her to the shop, as pawn in the game towards the final destruction of Judge Turpin once and for all. But it was Benjamin who didn't stop him from bringing her there, because he wished he could distance the two. After all such a start in a relationship had done him little good.

"We managed to break them up it seems, without even trying hard really." Benjamin had to agree with Sweeney. "It would never have worked out for the best."

"It seems then we are in agreement about something." The Judge spoke up for the first time in awhile, making Benjamin shiver. Could he think nothing without the Judge hearing?

"Unfortunately, I don't anything would have worked out in Johanna's favor."

"With me she would have been safe."

"But unhappy." Benjamin replied caustically.

"He was the only thing that ever made her really smile. I…I wanted to make her smile. I wanted to be the one she wanted. She was everything I had, everything I wanted…" Judge Turpin was almost boiling over with emotion.

Benjamin shivered in disgust, glad it seemed for the first time that Judge Turpin was fated to see Anthony and not Johanna, even if that meant not seeing her.

There was silence.

Benjamin did want to know so badly about what she was like. And so did the Judge, who thought that Benjamin could see her.

But a wall of bitter and painful pride separated the two men whom had made each other, their own worst enemies. And interestingly enough that was what was keeping Johanna as safe and as happy as she possibly could be, given the circumstances.