A/N: Hello Wreckateers! Thank you all for leaving such wonderful reviews! Redejeka, Narcissaist, thelovelyflorencelovett, Nancy Sikes, Noodlemantra, Burtonized Lady HellRat, homicidal hufflepuffs, EllieLovettBovine, Carina Green Bonham Carter, leo is mine, Mirabilem Electo, Dark Elizabeth Nellie Lovett, ToujoursPurLestrange and Signorina Bottom Bells I love you all!
This chapter would have been written sooner, but I spent my entire week reading re-posts of that wonderful Harry Potter fic My Immortal. Then I spent the weekend watching AVPSY! Just thought I would share that with you since you're all so interesting in what I do in my spare time when I should be writing the next chapter.
Okay, this AN is annoyingly long so enjoy the chapter!
Nellie hurried down the empty road, glancing at the rapidly darkening sky. She had hoped to be home by now, not wanting to be out alone at night, but time had slipped away from her. She had only meant to pick up a few things at the market, unfortunately a few of the shop windows had caught her eye and she had ended up spending the whole afternoon downtown. Now she was going to have to walk all the way home alone in the dark.
"And what is a lovely lady like you doing out alone at this hour?" Nellie let out a small yelp and dropped her basket, spinning around to face the source of the voice.
"Mr. Williams." She gasped.
"I apologize, Mrs. Todd. I didn't mean to frighten you." He said, bending down to pick up the apples that had rolled from the overturned basket.
"Thank you." She nodded, taking the basket from him and clutching it close to her.
"Like I asked before, what are you doing out alone? It will be dark soon and you can't always trust the streets at night."
"Yes, and that's why I was just about to go home." Nellie made to walk past him but he blocked her path.
"So soon? But we've just started talking. Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you." He offered her his arm, which she politely refused. "How quickly you forget just how close we are and how…intimate we've been in the past." She stiffened as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.
"I don't think my husband would appreciate you walking me home." She said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but he held on tightly.
"Nonsense. Your husband and I are good friends, he would be grateful to see me walking his pretty wife home." He tightened his grip on her and began to walk.
0o0
Nellie tossed and turned, thinking about the things that Timothy had said to her earlier. She sat up and glanced over at her husband, not wanting to believe what Timothy had been hinting at the whole time he had been talking to her. She sighed and curled up in the sheets again, trying to push the worrisome thoughts out of her head.
0o0
Nellie found Toby and Sweeney sitting at the table in the dining room a few days later. Sweeney was attempting to teach Toby how to write. She stood in the doorway, watching the two in amazement. She never thought that the barber would willingly spend time with the boy. They hadn't noticed her yet and she was about to leave them be when Sweeney looked up and noticed her.
"Why don't you show your Mum what you've done so far?" Toby picked up the paper he had been writing on and passed it to Nellie.
"My name is Toby Todd. My mother is Nellie Todd. My…"Nellie read, trying to decipher Toby's writing. "What does this say Toby?"
"My father is Sweeney Todd." He smiled proudly.
"That's very nice, dear" She kissed his forehead.
"Mr. Todd said he'd teach me how to shave later." Toby's smile grew wider and Nellie looked at the barber in surprise.
"He did?" Sweeney nodded. "That's very sweet of you, love."
"Toby, keep working on your writing. I'm going to talk to your Mum, I'll be right back." Sweeney pulled Nellie out of the room. As soon as they were out of Toby's sight, Sweeney looked Nellie over, looking a little worried. "Are you alright?" He asked. He was taken by surprise when she hugged him tightly and buried her face into his chest. "Nellie?"
"I'm fine." She said softly. "I just need a moment."
"What's wrong? You've been acting strange." He placed a hand on the small of her back and stroked her hair with the other.
"I ran into someone yesterday at the market…Mr. Williams."
"What happened, what did he do to you?"
She shook her head, "He didn't do anything to me." Sweeney relaxed a little. "But he was making me a little uneasy. He knew so much about us…and he said you were friends, is that true?"
"I wouldn't call our relationship a friendship." He mumbled.
"Well it made me a bit uncomfortable, and the way he talked about you…" She trailed off.
"How did he talk about me?"
"I-I-I don't know, but it was strange." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just thought it was something you should know."
"As long as he didn't hurt you-"
"Why are you so worried about him hurting me?" She asked, looking up at him, frowning. "Is there something I should know?"
Sweeney shifted uneasily. "No, but you're in such a fragile condition. I believe I have the right to be a little more protective than usual."
She rolled her eyes and almost laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you." He whispered.
She smiled softly, "I love you too."
0o0
Nellie stood outside on the porch late that night, occasionally glancing at the door. It was just past midnight and the world around her was silent, with only the sound of the waves in the sea. Her heart was beating faster rapidly in her chest and her stomach was churning.
"Hello Mrs. Todd." Timothy grinned, startling the baker.
"You requested for me to meet you here, now what do you want." She could barley make out his figure in the darkness.
"Yes, I have an offer for you. I'll keep your secret, if you do me a few…services."
"If by services you mean me becoming your harlot, then the answer is no."
"My, you are a stubborn one, that's what I like about you." He reached out to touch her cheek, but she slapped his hand away. "You're testing my patients, Mrs. Todd. If you don't do everything I ask of you, then I'll have no problem telling your husband all about how you failed to inform him his wife was still alive when he returned to London."
"No!" Nellie cried. "Please, no. If you tell him he'll be furious with me, he'll never speak to me again, he'll-"
"Hush now, Eleanor." Timothy cut her off. "I won't tell, as long as you do everything I say."
A/N: Oh snap. What's going to happen?! Nellie's past is coming back to haunt her! I don't really like this chapter, but please REVIEW and tell me what you think!