Sorry it's taken so long to update this story, I'll try not to leave it this long again... I could give you all these reasons but they'd probably bore you to death, not something I want to be responsible for. Well here's the next chapter, I do hope it's true to the characters, it's hard to make Sweeney a bit more caring but still leave him with the same Sweeney attitude we all love. Hope you like it.
Trust is a funny thing. Mrs Lovett knew that the most logical thing to do would be run from the barber, to find the nearest police officer and hand over the man, not caring if it meant that she would most likely be sent to jail aswell. But still, after all she this, she trusted the man. She trusted him with her life but in saying that she had trusted him with her life from the get go, the amount of times he had lost control of his anger, was thinking about Turpin or simply wasn't in the mood and she had found herself with a razor or another sharp tool against her throat was unbelievable, yet, he had never hurt her, not until that night at least.
Sitting down across from Sweeney, Mrs Lovett watched him for a moment not sure what to say. She hadn't seen the man in over a year and now he just wandered into her shop as if nothing had ever happened. If she didn't know better, she'd say he wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Nellie, what are you doing here?" he asked, not looking at her, not looking at anything particularly. Mrs Lovett didn't answer straight away, he had never, never called her by her first name before, after all these years she didn't think he knew her name. While she was his landlord he always called her Mrs Lovett and when he returned the first time it was always either Mrs Lovett, pet or love.
"Mr Todd?" she asked equally as quietly as she picked up her glass, wincing once again at the movement. Deciding it wasn't worth it she put the glass down again, not even bringing it to her lips, resting her arm comfortably on the table.
"Foolish woman." he said slowly as he finally turned to look at her, studying the way her hair, still a mess, hung down over her far too pale face. Nellie had always been pale, and it suited her, simply topped off her beauty but now she looked out of place, sick. The way her hands rested on the table, in a position that simply couldn't be comfortable.
Both the man and woman sat in silence for a few moments, for once Mrs Lovett didn't actually know what to say to him. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sweeney opened his mouth and although she wasn't directly looking at him this little movement was not missed by the baker. Closing his mouth he defiantly thought better of what he was going to say. Standing up he took a quite large step towards Nellie, gesturing her to stand up while his hand rested firmly on her shoulder. He wasn't quite sure why he did this; he no longer needed to make sure that the baker was in her best condition however there was a slight part of him that wanted to make sure she was well. To get her back to full health.
Just like some small part of him wanted to be the man that she still obviously thought he could be. The man who could return the undying love she seemed to have towards him. If only he had realised her feelings for him earlier, maybe he would have at least tried to be a bit more friendly towards her, he had no idea how he had been so blind but the very first time he had any idea about her feelings for him was just before he threw her at the wall, knocking her out cold. How deeply he regretted it. How much he regretted not noticing her feelings early.
So wrapped up in his plans for revenge, so worked up about the supposed death of his dear Lucy. She was right though, what's dead is dead, life is for the alive. All those months before hand he simple dismissed her constant coming up to him and touching him, pulling him around the room or telling him to sit down nothing more then what he saw to be a very annoying habit, after all those years of being alone that seemed to be a logical explanation. Now however he realised just what it was, her strange way of showing her affection towards him, affection that he didn't deserve, not in the slightest.
"Stand up." he ordered and although the words themselves seemed pretty harsh they were spoken softly, quietly yet lacking the affection she had been dreaming that she would hear come from those very lips since he first came back as Sweeney Todd. "Go back to bed, pet. I'll still be here when you wake up." he continued, his tone not changing as she slowly stood up, knowing full well that there would be no point in arguing with the man.
Although he had never actually been in her room he knew exactly where it was, after all these months of not being anywhere near the place. Considering the state she was in her room was surprisingly clean, everything was exactly where you would expect it to be, it was, well perfect except of course for her bed. Closing the curtains on his way past he gently pushed her towards her bed, not giving her the option to change. From the look in the eyes she wanted nothing more then to know what was going on but that was the only clue she gave away it was obvious she was far too tired to really take any of this in, chances are she probably thought it was a dream.
When Sweeney was satisfied that she was laying down on her way to sleep he turned around, looking around the room before spotting a wooden chair next to the door. For a little while the only sound came from Nellie's gentle breathing and the occasional ruffling of sheets as they moved beneath her as she did, trying to get comfortable. Those simple sounds however died down until the house was completely silent, not even the bakers breathing was audible now. Sweeney was used to the quite but it was weird being in the same room as Mrs Lovett and it being silent.
For the first time since he got here he wondered where Toby had got to. The last thing he expected the boy to do was leave the woman like that. The Demon Barber never particularly liked the boy however Mrs Lovett simply adored him and it was obvious, even to him, he who he now realised payed next to no attention while he was here, that Toby looked up to the woman as the mother he never had. He too must have left which led him to another question. Would she have taken better care of herself had the boy still been here? Of course she would have, her two objectives had been to look after Sweeney and to look after Toby, anything else was never as important.
He didn't even really realise that he was still in the bakers room until much later, he was so deep in thoughts, thoughts that used to revolve around Lucy and Johanna now seemed to be about Nellie and Toby. Was this his brain trying to tell him something? Trying to tell him to move on? No, it couldn't be, it was just the fact that he happened to be in Mrs Lovett's room at this present moment, if he was in his room surely he would find himself lost once again in thoughts about Lucy and the life they could have had together.
Pulling a slight face he silently stood up and left the room, making his way through her house up to his old barber shop. It was still too early for the usual crowd to be found outside, the sun barely showing casting a shadow over the streets of London. As soon as he opened his door her heard the familiar bell which told him whenever a customer (or manic barber, whichever it happened to be at the time) wanted something from him.
His eyes instantly searched for the wooden box, home to his friends. Of course they were there next to his chair, glistening in the morning sun which shone through the window. Well, most of them were there, all but the one which was lying on the bench in the kitchen down in Mrs Lovett's Meat Pie Emporium next to her rolling pin. Foolish girl, he thought to himself remembering what had happened the a few hours ago. She could have died; she could have hurt herself terribly, especially since she held a razor in one hand. Once again he found himself overwhelmed with thoughts and memories as his paced his familiar track in front of the window, occasionally looking up to stare out the window at the street which was slowly getting inhabited by the usual rat race.
Time passes quickly when you are that deep in thought, the next thing he knew the street was crowded with people all wanting to go where they needed to be in as little time as possible. Stopping his pacing he made his was over to the door, his pale fingers lingering on the handle a moment to long before walking out into the chilly London air. Knowing the mad woman she would wake up any moment now, although she consistently used to tell him to go to bed and actually get some sleep, she got the same amount of sleep that he usually did which wasn't as much. Low and behold as soon as he set the kettle down to boil he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him.
Without turning around he knew she was there, looking at him, studying him. "You know Mrs Lovett, I was thinking. There's no time like the present," he began, aware that he was quoting something that she had told him what felt like a lifetime ago. "Maybe it is time to start a new life, down by the sea." he continued slowly, still looking down at the kettle waiting for it to boil.