Author's Note: I realize this has taken me quite awhile to complete, but I finally finished it, and it's probably the longest chapter of this story that I have ever typed. There are flashbacks, but they seemed needed. There will be two more in the next chapter. So yeah. I hope they don't suck... Read on!
Disclaimer: I don't own.
Quick Sir, Run And Tell, Warn 'Em All Of The Witches Spell!
Eleanor smiled, grabbing Toby by the arm and ruffling his hair slightly. "We're all together again."
"Unfortunatley." He grumbled, pulling Eleanor's head to his chest.
She laughed, remembering a time when she had done the same thing to him.
"Yeh love Sweeney an' yeh know it." Eleanor whispered, watching Sweeney continue to hug his two children.
"'E wos a bloody monster, mum. I don' see 'ow yeh still love 'im after all these years."
Eleanor sighed, her eyes speckled slightly with tears. Sweeney looked over at her, his eyes soft. A smile touched his lips and she felt her heart flutter. "I do, son. I do."
Sweeney Todd, quite frankly, had to be the best father Eleanor Lovett had ever seen.
He spent every amount of his free time with his children; playing and laughing with them as they went swimming outside. She felt kind of relieved that they enjoyed his company so much. Eleanor hadn't introduced her children to another man besides Toby in the past five years, and even then, they decided to try to beat him up constantly. He was their older brother after all.
"Daddy!" Jazzmyn yelled, latching onto Sweeney's arm. "Will yeh go an' swimmy with me?"
Sweeney smiled, his teeth flashin brilliantly in the sunlight. "Of course."
The funny thing was, Eleanor noticed that he seemed like even more of a father than he had been with Johanna. Eleanor had seen him many times when he and Lucy had lived in the house with him, and he always seemed afraid to handle his delicate daughter. And yet here he was, holding Jazzmyn by her sides and having her glide through the air as if she was flying... a lot had changed in the past twenty two years since he had been Benjamin Barker...
Mrs. Lovett rolled the dough between her fingers, her eyes warm as her husband Albert sat across from her in the booth. He smiled warmly over at her, his eyes lazily dipping down her figure and she tingled at the feel.
"Must yeh do tha' Albert?" She asked, her smile never faltering.
"Just takin' in the sweet view of you, dear." Albert coughed for a moment, his large body shaking.
"Yeh alrigh' love?" Eleanor asked, her eyes widening with worry.
"Fine." Albert smiled as the shop door opened beside him.
Eleanor looked over at the customer, her eyes soaking in his face. He wasn't pale ( odd really,) but full of light color that seemed flushed even more across his face as he huffed in a deep breath of air, shutting the shop door behind him with a soft thud. He pushed back his dark hair and turned to face her, his eyes warm, yet slightly flustered looking. He smiled at her and leaned against the door.
"Sorry about that, Miss." He mumbled, bowing slightly.
"Mrs." She corrected with a smile, looking over at Albert.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ma'am. Sir." The man bowed again, this time to Albert. "Me wife and I were out shopping and I kind of got seperated from them. Landed myself into a bad alleyway, nearly got robbed!"
"Fleet Street ain' the best place ter be lost Mr..." Eleanor trailed off.
"Oh! Barker. Benjamin Barker, that is." The man smiled warmly again, and this time, Eleanor felt a flutter in her chest that she hadn't felt since she and Albert has eloped.
"Well Mr. Barker, woul' yeh care for a pie? They're no' the greatest, bu' I can give this one ter yeh fer free." Eleanor smiled, holding out a small plate with a crusty pie on it.
"Sure." Benjamin smiled, grabbing the pie and taking a seat across from Albert. "Is it always so dangerous out here? I don't think I have been on such a terrible street before."
"Yeh mean, where yeh came from, there wasn' a bit o' crime?" She asked, pulling out a bottle of gin and pouring it into a glass for him.
"Well of course there was, it just wasn't so bad. Although, we're planning to move. We kind of got evicted because we can no longer pay the rent..." Benjamin sighed. "My barbering business hasn't been going so well with all the other barbers moving around us."
"Yeh're a barber?" Albert finally said to him and Benjamin nodded.
"Yes. I just wish my wife Lucy would work..." He sighed again. "But he's more of a motherly type than anything else."
Mrs. Lovett thought for a moment, her eyes soft. She knew she had a room above her shop that she could rent out, and the extra cash would be wonderful...
"Alrigh' Mr. Barker. I'll make yeh a deal." She handed him the glass of gin and he took a bite of the pie she had given him. "I'll rent out the room above me shop for yeh, as long as yeh promise tha' when yeh're barber shop booms, tha' yeh'll pay the rent yeh owe me. I'll even make it a decent price fer yeh."
"Really?" Benjamin's eyes lit up and he stood, grabbing her hand. "Oh thank you Mrs..."
"Lovett." She smiled again.
"Well Mrs. Lovett, I promise you'll be seeing me again real soon!"
"Eleanor?"
Sweeney had pushed her from her memories, his eyes narrowed with worry. She smiled over at him, reaching her hand towards his face.
"I love you." She whispered.
"I love you too." He paused for a moment, looking back at his son and daughter, awaiting for him to take them swimming. "They want me to take them swimming. Will you be alright for now without me?"
She nodded, smiling. "O' course love. Yeh go an' 'ave fun with them, alrigh'?"
He kissed the top of her head and smiled. Then he tore out the front door, the children not far behind him.
Eleanor leaned against the windowsill, her thoughts lost once again to the past...
It was just another ordinary day, in fact, it had been three weeks exactly since Benjamin Barker had promised he would return to rent out the apartment above her shop, and yet, she still hadn't heard a word from him.
"Bloody fool." She whispered to herself as the door to her shop opened. "Sorry, bu' I'm closed."
"Oh." She heard a soft voice say, and she looked up, eyes warm. "I was just hoping for the room..."
"Mr. Barker!" Eleanor said with a little too much enthusiasm. "I wos jus' thinkin' o' yeh, I mean no' like tha', bu' I mean, yeh 'aven' come by an'..."
Benjamin smiled, shaking his head. "Mrs. Lovett, I'm here for the room at last! And I've brought my family with me."
Eleanor stopped moving towards Benjamin when she caught sight of the petite blond behind him. She was gorgeous in such a way that Eleanor felt completely inferior to her. It was suddenly apparent to her just how good looking Benjamin was, and how beautiful his wife was. She was nothing to either of them.
"Mrs. Lovett, this is my wife, Lucy."
Lucy patted her stomach as she smiled at Mrs. Lovett. "Sorry If I take up a bit of the kitchen. The baby is supposed to be here soon, but she just doesn't want to come out."
Eleanor smiled back, but something inside of her felt like it was being ripped into tiny shreds. Her heart. Her bloody heart was being torn apart.
She was in love with Benjamin Barker.
"Tad bi' ironic, I suppose." Eleanor whispered, pushing back her a ragged curl. "I wanted 'im so badly then, and nothin' changed."
She rubbed her arms as she watched Sweeney dip Jazzmyn slowly into the water. The girl giggled and Sweeney smiled larger, his happiness exploding across his features. She hadn't seen him so happy in a long time, and was delighted that his children had such an impact on him.
But then a sudden knock on the back front door caused her to jump.
As she opened the door, she was suprised to see two officers standing before her.
"Mrs. Eleanor Lovett, yes?" One of them asked.
"Wot's it ter yeh?" She spat, eyes full of venom.
"We're looking for your tenant, a Mr. Sweeney Todd. Have you seen him around?" The other asked, looking inside.
"No. I 'aven' seen 'im in five years. Last I knew, 'e wos livin' above me shop on Fleet Street. Did yeh check there?"
"We did ma'am. He was nowhere in sight."
Eleanor tsked. "Sorry, bu' I can' 'elp yeh 'ere. I 'ave children ter take care o'."
"May I ask, are they your children with him?"
A loud smack filled the room as she went to close the door.
"Who me children's father is, is no concern ter yeh. Try takin' yeh're search elsewhere." As she closed the door and she leaned against it in frustration, she knew that they had to leave again. This time though, she was letting Sweeney Todd leave without her.
"Mr. Todd!" She yelled, running out the back door. "We 'ave a problem."
End Note: Well there you have it! I hope it didn't suck as much as I think it did.... Reviews are loveeeeeee. :3
