Pregnant…Lucy was pregnant.
Johanna stood silently, her hands still on her hips, though the girl was not aware of it. Sweeney Todd had staggered a few feet backwards until he was in the safety of a chair. The man's face was blank, as if he could not think or function on his own. The declaration lingered in his mind, floating over the very rim of his consciousness. The entire world fell away, all of it except for the condemning words. The words that had stripped him of any anger yet shocked him beyond credence.
Mrs. Lovett emitted a sort of groan from the back of her throat. When few gazes flew to her face, she straightened her posture and wore a thin expression, the distance between her eyebrows narrowing.
The group now embraced immobility. Johanna had since sunk into the chair next to Toby, offering a slight smile when he placed a hand over hers in an act of consolation. Sweeney now stared at his hands-his wife-his hands.
"Should not this be happy news?" Johanna exclaimed after the silence had become too much to tolerate. Not one person made an effort to answer the question the moment it had been asked.
Lucy was now standing over the counter, gripping the edges for support. Looking over her shoulder, she sought Sweeney in her glance. Her face depicted nothing short of uncertainty and fear, mingling with boundless misery. In a silent plea, she bore her gaze into her husband's bowed head, begging that he would say anything, be it intense displeasure or limitless joy.
Catching his wife's look of imploration, Mr. Todd stood and walked towards Lucy, an incomprehensible expression painted on his features.
Johanna, sensing her parent's need for momentary solitude, grasped Toby's hand and led him to the parlor once more, mentioning that they needed to sort out the lyrics to the next verse of their song. Toby had followed Johanna's lead and had requested that Mrs. Lovett sit with them. Not wanting to disappoint the boy and unwilling to leave, Mrs. Lovett let a deep breath of air through her lips as she stood and followed the children into the next room, not even bothering to conceal the pain that had came with Lucy Barker's news.
The couple was left alone. They now stood and faced each other, weary and irresolute of what was to come from the other.
Gazing into his wife's blood-shot eyes, Sweeny questioned, "Are you happy?"
Taken aback by the simplicity of the question, Lucy answered, "I think so. Are you…are you glad that we are going to bring another…child into this," Lucy sent the shop's window a cold glance, "world? Are you regretful that we spent the night together?"
"No."
Lucy sent him an inquisitive look.
"I am not afraid of bringing another child into this world. I know from past experience that this world-London- can be sick, cruel, and degrading." He lowered his voice to that of a lover's whisper, his words overflowing with compelling adoration. "Coming back here, to this place of treacherous acts and torturous memories…was one of the best things that have ever happened to me."
With a pitiful sob, Lucy clutched at her husband and settled her face against his shoulder.
"Coming back here…brought me to you. To my family, and I am grateful for that. I really am."
He tilted her chin towards his face with his hand, giving her no choice but to stare into his eyes. "We are going to raise this baby."
Guilt engulfed the woman. "And what if I am to fail as a mother once more? What if I become so horribly selfish that I decide to take my own life, just as I had done before, leaving this baby alone, just as I had done to Johanna?"
Tears spilled over and slid down her face. "What if I am too much of a coward to face the world and care for this baby? How can I raise a child when I could not even raise Johanna?"
In truth, Lucy had hit one of the nerves that had been irking Todd. He had, though he was ashamed to admit it, been quite upset with his wife over her attempted suicide, leaving Johanna to be raised by a rapist. Yet, his wife was in a helpless condition. Her innocence had been stolen quite quickly, resulting in her despair. He could not let her live with such twisted thoughts. He simply could not.
Sweeney Todd now spoke with determination. "Lucy, I understand why you had poisoned yourself. I am able to comprehend your reasons. But now we must look towards the future and try to…" Sweeney struggled against the chains of his own fears. "We have to try to forget, or at least forgive." This, for the barber, would be no easy task. Forgetting seemed an impossible act and forgiveness was not in his nature. But, at least his wife could give it a try. She held more virtue then him, though some of her virtue was tainted, yet still there.
"The very thought of you being away from me, or giving up, it makes me feel close to death. I cannot live if I do not have you swear to me, right here right now…that no matter what happens,"
Lucy grasped his hands.
"…no matter how horrible times can be,"
She wavered under an unknown force, crushed by the passion in his voice.
"…you have to promise me that you will never give up. You must swear that you will never renounce."
She let out yet another choking cry.
"Swear to me."
He grasped her arms and pierced her soul with a demanding, yet loving gaze.
"I promise, Benjamin. I will never give up."
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Victor
paced inside of his small room among the mess from that his fit had
created.
He had hired a prostitute the other night. She was rather pretty, with brown hair that reached the middle of her back and green eyes that held comparison with a tranquil lake. Her looks had been what he liked about her. After suggesting that he take her with him, she showed a certain uncertainty, for she was very young, but after a few encouraging remarks from the other women, she had agreed to spend the night with him.
They had spent the night under one condition, and that would be that she would be gone before sunrise. She agreed and they proceeded. Yet when he woke, the girl was sitting next to him, babbling on about love and dreams.
He had stood in a rage, called her a whore, and had began to beat the girl until she spat blood and could no longer breathe properly. Every object that was in sight had been used to beat the girl, be it a book or a candle holder; it all was hurled at her head. He told her to leave right then and there before he ended her pathetic existence and did common society a favor.
The girl had scrambled to her feet and stumbled out of the room, her cries unheeded by the man.
And now he was alone amid a terrible mess and a guiltless conscience. He had warned her.
Now, all that was to be left was the motivation for his madness. Benjamin Barker.
Yes, he was back, that was evident. The barber was Benjamin Barker. How he returned home in one piece no longer mattered. What mattered was the question: How does one get an escaped convict to confess of his identity?
An answer had popped into his mind immediately. It was obvious that exposing Barker to the law had done no good, but if one was to strike at a man's life, perhaps his family, then a confession would be the least he would do to save the ones that he cherished.
Broken glass crunched under Victor's boot as a plan formed in his mind.
Strike at the ones Barker loves and he will be singing on the court stand.
Now, all that was needed was preparation.
Soon, Barker would be his.
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Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed these past two chapters filled with fluff, a pissed of Sweeney, singing children, a jealous Mrs. Lovett and a basket case Lucy. Not to mention an increasingly evil Victor Thorne. What will a screwed up family have to endure next? Heh, as if I'm going to tell you! No, but if you want to know, then stay tuned for the next chapter and leave a little review. Thanks! (Oh, and I'm loving the new readers! Welcome!)
