A/N: Sorry for the wait, but Drama club takes up a lot of my free time. But I am not dead! Here's chapter ten. I'm sorry to say that I may be finishing this up real soon...

Disclaimer: I don't own Sweeney Todd

My eyes fluttered open, my body cold and my head pounding. I groaned as I tried to get up from the floor. I was too weak though and slumped back down on the ground. There was a loud noise, yet silence all at once. I was dead, this was me dead and now all the demons of hell have come to torment me.

"Get up," a voice barked. I vaguely recognized it and refused to do what it told me. I was in no position to even open my eyes. I groaned in protest, my throat burning and my stomach churned. Something was gently nudging my side and I turned over to lie on my back. I was reminded of how I was when I was younger, I wouldn't want to get up for school and would act the same way.

"Get up," the voice commanded again and once more, the sound struck me as familiar. My eyes shot open when realization hit. Sweeney, it was his voice. Blinking a few times to clear my vision, I saw the demon barber standing over me, once more gently nudging me on the side with his foot. Gathering all of my strength (at least what was left) I sat up, resisting the urge to retch.

"What happened?" I mumbled my throat ablaze. Then it all came back to me. Sweeney had sliced my throat, had killed me! Well he tried to kill me. "What the hell is your problem?" I demanded, ignoring the pain and sickness that flooded me.

Sweeney's countenance did not change. In fact, he seemed more nonchalant and relaxed than before. "I could ask you the same thing," he muttered before simply walking away to pace in front of the window. Anger was beginning to bubble up inside of me. Sweeney just tried to bloody murder me and he was acting like it was no big deal. At least I knew for sure I couldn't die.

"What do you mean, 'I could ask you the same thing'?" questioned I as I managed to rise to my feet and step over to him.

He sighed roughly, momentarily hesitating his pacing. "What the hell are you doing changing the past?" he corrected quietly, not meeting my eyes. It was then that it dawned on me that perhaps changing the past wasn't such a good idea, at least not without permission first.

"Saving your life," I shot back, crossing my arms. "Think about it: if I change the past, then you won't die, and neither will Mum." My actions seemed perfectly reasonable, and my explanation was perfectly viable. Not according to Sweeney though as it turned out.

He sighed roughly and turned on his heels to face me. "Jamie, do know anything?" he asked, the amount of harshness in his voice hurting a bit. "Changing the past will change the future. I thought you were smarter than this, I thought you actually had a brain to think these things through, stupid girl."

That was it; that was the final straw. I was fed up with the insults, though there hadn't been that many. But to hear it from Sweeney, it pained me and I wasn't going to put up with such verbal abuse. "Fine, be that way. I won't interfere anymore, I'll just let you and Nellie and Lucy die," I spat and left the shop quickly, muttering dark and evil things under my breath as I started to leave the shop. I felt him tug on my arm, but I pulled away. He grabbed me again and I couldn't resist; his grip was too strong.

"James, stop," he commented in a less harsh tone than what he had been using. Still, I wouldn't let him win this dispute. I supposed that when I mentioned Lucy dying again made Sweeney stop and think about what was to come.

"And why should I? Just continue you on with your life and your killing." I tried tugging away, but Sweeney just tightened his grasp. We stared into each other's eyes, hardly blinking, as if it were some absurd staring contesting.

Sweeney loosened his grip on my arm, his gaze still hard and a bit cold. "We have to work together to get out of this. We have to get things back to normal." I couldn't help but agree with him. "And," Sweeney added, "I don't kill anyone until after Pirelli, recall?"

Oh… right, I forgot about that. I had read Sweeney's biography and he told me about his past when I asked, and now that Pirelli was dead, the "business" would never start. This could be seen as good or bad. It changed the past drastically, but saved a lot of lives. "Alright, but you can still get to the Judge," I pointed out. "Now all we have to do is plan."

And plan we did. Sweeney paced while I sat; I paced while Sweeney sharpened his razors. Occasionally a customer would come in and we'd return to our routine until someone else interrupted. All seemed to be going well with the planning except for one thing: we didn't have a plan.

Mrs. Lovett glanced up to the ceiling, hearing the sound of Sweeney Todd pacing as she leaned against the counter, not bothering to whip up another batch of horrible pies. She would never get out of her debt. Sweeney was having much better luck than her. She wouldn't dare ask him for some money though. That'd be rude and he'd think her pathetic, which he might already think her to be.

Oh if he could only see how much she loved him. Just one kiss, one little bit of acknowledgement would mean the world to her. But he was always up in that shop of his, never eating the food she brought up for him, talking to himself, as if someone else was there with him.

But that was crazy of course. It was just him. No one was sneaking up to his shop; Nellie would've noticed someone, and besides, they wouldn't be able to get away by the time she reached Sweeney's shop. Maybe he was going crazy; maybe she was going crazy?

I sighed quietly, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans. All of the hours of planning and coming up with nothing were getting to be quite dull. And Sweeney was in one his moods, the one where he wanted nothing more than to be left alone. I muttered that I was going down to the pie shop and Sweeney did nothing to stop me.

So I snuck down the stairs and into the pie shop, remembering to walk right through the door instead of opening it. There was Mrs. Lovett leaning against the counter, looking as bored as ever. But then her expression changed to one of surprise as she stared… right at me.