A/N: Oh god, where have I been? I'm so sorry lovelies - I'm writing a webshow for my school and I've made some special friends :P I hit a giant boulder and didn't know how to get over it for a while there. But I'm over it and ready to start writing again :D
Thanks to WingsxOfxChaos who let me use her amazing character, James!
Mrs. Lovett's heart caught in her throat and she swallowed uneasily.
"Who?" Sweeney asked after a slight pause.
"Don't be an idiot," the man sneered and Mrs. Lovett shuffled backwards slightly. "James!"
A young man appeared in the door to the basement.
"Sir?"
"Lock the door,"
James moved quickly to the main entrance and locked it securely.
"Now sir?"
"Go feed the girl," he hissed and the boy swiftly made his way down to the basement.
"Girl? Why have you got a girl down there?"
The man visibly cringed. Clearly he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box.
"Girl? I said…" he was lost for a witty comeback. "To hell with you,"
Sweeney subtly inched his arm towards his pocket, but a sharp glare from the man stopped him.
"That only further proves my theory," he motioned to Sweeney's arm. "What do you think you're doing? I can see what you're about to pull out of there,"
"What do you want?" Sweeney glared, dropping his arm.
"I got your girl down in the basement," Mrs. Lovett frowned, not game enough to step forward. "You let me turn you in, and she gets freedom,"
"The girl is merely a worker. We don't care for her," Sweeney answered coolly.
"Bullshit." He spat. "You grow fond of workers – I know I treat James as me own son, and he was just a worker to me once,"
James hurried back down to Jess, who was still sitting against the wall.
"How are you doing?" he asked softly, sitting down a fair way away from her.
"My stomach hurts," she whispered, pointing to her lower abdomen. "Right here…where they…"
Tears rolled from her eyes.
"I know…I'm sorry,"
Her eyes closed and he thought she had fallen asleep. He moved around, grabbing food from a cabinet in the corner. He put it within reach, not game enough to get close to her yet, and sat near it. His moving around made her shift uncomfortably.
"You're pretty brave, you know," he said softly, looking at his hands.
She lifted her head to glare at him.
"What?"
"I…it takes guts to keep secrets in…" he looked sideways at her, "Even when you're hurting,"
This brought a fresh round of tears, but she didn't seem as upset. Gradually, she shifted closer to him.
"Were you hurt?" she whispered.
"My parents were killed in an accident," he hissed,
"What made it better?"
"Working," he said after a pause. "Working until the pain was a dull thudding, like the sound of shoes against pavement…" he closed his eyes. "Working until you can't tell which hurts more…the pain, or the fact that you have to live through it,"
Jess crawled forward and shifted the food, so she could almost touch him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, gently and cautiously removing a strand of his dark hair from his eyes.
His eyes opened in an instant, flicking to her.
"You have nothing to be sorry for,"
A/N: Ugh, I went on a diet - RapidLoss. Anyone tried it? Good or Bad?