A/N: I'm fairly certain that this is one of the longest chapters I've written for this story yet. 3,000+ words. And I'll get to work on the next potc chapter tomorrow after I take my math placemet exam for college...ugh. Getting up at 8 in the morning during summer just to do math...ew.
anyway thank yous go out to: GladeSistas , -Valor- , Midna Hytwilian , linalove , bittersweetxsymphony , and of course ThePurpleness who always manages to helps me muddle through my ideas to fish out the best ones. Luv ya babe!
btw Midna: i finally got to the k.o. by teakettle scene you were waiting for haha ;)
underlined: Linnet singing
bold: Sweeney singing
The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.
~ Bill Cosby
A few days later found Sweeney standing by the window in his shop, aggressively swiping his razor across a sharpening block as he watched the people below pass by. Linnet sat on an old, empty crate by the window, wrapping her arms around her upraised knees as she watched him; all the while thinking of anything she could say or do to calm him down. Nellie wasn't helping much as she draped herself on an old monstrosity of a chair she claimed belonged to her late husband.
"Sit in it all day long he did." She said, "After his leg gave out with the gout." It was the best they could do for a barber chair at present but Linnet would keep looking. A small and amused voice within her mind questioned whether gout was contagious, imagining the disease lingering behind on that chair, snickering when another behind came to rest on it, and presently that rear end belonged to Mrs. Lovett, before she shook her head at her own foolishness.
"Why doesn't the Beadle come? Before the week is out, that's what he said." Sweeney grumbled, still not paying any mind to Mrs. Lovett.
"Well who says the week's out? S'only Tuesday." Nellie remarked. Linnet smacked her palm against her forehead. Clearly the art of pacifying had completely washed over this woman. The good Lord, or what was left of Linnet's belief in him, had not graced this woman with a great deal of compassion nor sympathy. Mr. Todd's only retaliation to her comment was a disbelieving glare before throwing the sharpening block to the floor with a resounding bang as he moved to the other side of the room, farther away from Nellie though, Linnet noticed, he did not stray too far from her.
As Sweeney began to wander away, Nellie began chasing him around the room talking about bubbling plans, daisies and Gilly flowers. Linnet sighed. She always knew the woman was a nut.
"And the judge? When'll we get to him?" Sweeney replied as he walked out the side door to gaze out the balcony. Nellie pursued him still 'tsk'ing at his one track mind.
"Can't you think of nothing else? Always brooding away on your wrongs, what happened, whoever knows how many years ago."
"Fifteen Nellie." Linnet remarked, causing Sweeney to throw a pointed look at Nellie, who then glared at Linnet, who then smirked inwardly. It was no large secret that Mrs. Lovett had her sights set on Sweeney just as Miss Baker had her sights set on Benjamin. If Linnet had anything to say about it, Nellie Lovett would be no more prosperous than Nellie Baker.
"What do you think?" Nellie asked, bringing Linnet out of her thoughts.
"Hmm?" She looked up, "About what?"
"Honestly you're as bad as he is. Gilly flowers or daisies?" She replied.
"Nellie." Linnet sighed, "I think it's best you head downstairs and tend the shop, I'll take care of anything up here."
"Speaking of shops, when are you opening yours?" Nellie whipped back, appalled at the thought of being pushed out of her own building.
"She's not." Sweeney growled in such a tone that had Nellie backing towards the door, "The man who raped her lives and if he catches wind that she's back he'll come at her again. She's staying here during the days."
"And nights? I don't have room for her to sleep."
"I have a home Mrs. Lovett, I will still sleep in my own bed, Sweeney however, had been kind enough to offer his services as an escort."
"Oh well, yes that was very kind." She muttered before heading downstairs.
"Did you have to add that last part?" Sweeney asked.
"Yes, I felt the desperate need to let her know that you and I share a relationship similar to that of mine and Benjamin's and that she's up a dead end creek without a paddle." Linnet pouted slightly.
Sweeney chuckled lightly before returning to his dismal state, staring out the window. "This room no longer feels like home to me. It feels more like a rented space. Cold and empty. There's no familiarity within the walls anymore. No sense of warmth left." He spoke, knowing he could confide with her his woes freely. He turned his head to face her as he sat down on the decrepit old chair, looking very much the lost man she knew him to be. "I'm tired of feeling this coldness. I'm tired of feeling alone. I'm tired of feeling...just tired." He hung his head and Linnet moved almost involuntarily towards him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he leaned his head into her stomach, moving his arms around her waste as she soothingly stroked his hair. He seemed to become a child in her arms, one who was in desperate need of hope.
"In the arms of the angel, fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room,
and the answers that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage,
of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find, some comfort here." She sang as she soothed him and felt his arms tighten just slightly around her before he answered in turn.
"So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn,
there's vultures and thieves at your back
The storm keeps on twisting,
keeps on building the lies,
that you make up for all that you lack."
"It don't make a difference,
escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
In this sweet madness,
oh, this glorious sadness,
that brings me to my knees,
In the arms of the angel, fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room,
and the answers that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage,
of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find, some comfort here
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find, some comfort here." She finished, keeping her hold around him as he allowed her words to sink in. So long as she could help it, she would not ever leave him. She would stay with him, through every moment of happiness, but more importantly, through sadness. There was a place for him in her arms and if he desired, he could leave the cold loneliness of this room and stay with her in her home. He knew she had two extra rooms in the house for her late father and her flighty brother. He decided he would take her up on that offer. And stay the night in a place more familiar to him. Just then, he heard footsteps echoing hurriedly up the stairs and moved to a strategic position behind the door, awaiting his unexpected guest as Linnet simply stood by the chair.
Neither expected Antony to barge in but both quickly came to their senses, questioning what would bring him in such a hurry.
"Mr. Todd, Mum, there's a girl who needs my help. Such a sad, lonely girl, but beautiful too! And-"
"Slow down son." Sweeney said as he guided the boy to the chair. Linnet smiled at her son as she realized he had been hit square in the heart by Cupid's arrow. She had noticed Sweeney's use of the word son but played it off as nothing just yet.
"Yes. I'm sorry." Antony replied as he took the offered seat, Mrs. Lovett entered in shortly after, having seen the boy race up the stairs, a questioning look on her face as she turned to Linnet. Linnet however, had eyes only for her smitten son as he continued, "This girl has a guardian that keeps her locked away but then this morning, she dropped this!" He pulled out a rather decorative looking key on a silk ribbon, "Surely a sign that Johanna wants me to help her." He said looking pleadingly at Sweeney who looked at the key and then directly into Antony's eyes.
"Johanna?" Linnet asked at the same time as Nellie.
"Yes that's her name." He looked at Linnet and couldn't help but smile, "Oh Mum, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever met and her voice! I heard her singing from the pavement below, her voice seems so forlorn and yet just as strikingly beautiful as her. The problem is a man named Turpin is her guardian, he's some sort of judge." At this he stood and embraced his mother warmly before looking at her face and continuing, "Not to fret however, once he goes to court, I plan to slip into the house, release her, and beg her if need be, to come away with me. Tonight!"
"Oh this is very romantic." Nellie commented, making her presence known to all in the room.
Linnet, ignoring her, turned back to her son, "Away? But Antony dear-"
"Mum there's no other way, if I stay here, Turpin will get her back for sure, possibly send me to Australia to work the labor prisons on charges of thievery and kidnapping! The reason I came here is because I know no one else in London and I know my mother trusts you sir, and I need somewhere safe to hide her while I hire a coach to take her away."
"Bring her here sweetheart, we'll figure something out hmm?"
"Thanks Mum." He kissed her cheek warmly before turning to Sweeney, who could do nothing but nod as he swallowed the thick lump in his throat. "Thank you! Thank you my friend." Antony said to him, shaking his hand vigorously before running out the door.
"Seems like the fates are favoring you at last Mr. T." Nellie remarked as she watched him and Linnet move to the window, watching the boy run down the street excitedly. The former wearing a troubled expression, the latter wearing a small smile. When he only grunted in response, she questioned him, "You'll have her back before the day is out."
Sweeney reached for his detachable strop and hooked it onto the chair, his back facing Linnet who still gazed out the window, "What about him?"
"Him? Oh well, let him bring her here, and then, since your so hot for a little," She continued motioning to her neck and forgetting Linnet was still in the room, "that's the throat to slit, my dear."
"You will not!" Linnet gasped turning to Nellie, "How dare you suggest such a thing!" She began closing in on Nellie as Sweeney watched, slightly amusedly at the feisty mother protecting her young one, "If you so much as think about hurting one hair on his head, I swear to any damned deity in existence, I'll drag you down to the bakehouse by your hair andbeat you to within an inch of you life with the meat mallet!!!"
"Alright Nets, calm down now. You know I'd never hurt your boy." Sweeney chuckled, deeming now the perfect time to intervene. He placed his hands on her hips and moved her away from her imposing position leaning over a cowering Nellie, who glared at Linnet after hearing Sweeney's pet name for her.
"Sweeney just let him bring her here, I'll talk to him then, maybe we can send him and Johanna to my brother in Wellingborough just long enough for us to get Turpin, then I'll tell him it's safe to come back and we can cook up some story of aneurysm or some such. Or we could move to Wellingborough ourselves and you can set up your business anew. A fresh start. Everything will work out in the end love, just you wait and see."
"Hang on." Nellie said, "What's he doing here?"
Linnet and Sweeney both moved to a side window and saw an incredibly purple clad man approaching. "Pirelli." Linnet commented.
"And the poor lad." Nellie cooed.
"Oh so now you've got some bloody compassion." Linnet hissed and Nellie glared once more.
"Nellie keep the boy downstairs, and send up the stupid blighter. Linnet you can stay under the pretense of my assistant." Sweeney picked up a brush and began sweeping the dust off the chair as Linnet picked up an old rag and began dusting in general, both succeeding in looking busy enough so that when Pirelli knocked on the door, nothing was out of the ordinary. Linnet glanced up to see the slightest of movements from Sweeney indicating her to open the door. She placed the rag atop an old trunk and opened the door with a somewhat conniving smile placed firmly on her face. The idiot Italian sensed nothing however and glanced appreciatively down her frame earning a shiver of disgust from her.
"Signora," He tipped his hat to her with a sly smirk on his lips.
"Actually, not Singor."
"Ah," His smirk seemed to change from sly to a sickeningly oily grin, "Signorina. I wonder if you could give me a moment alone with your master?"
At this, Linnet seemed to bristle and Sweeney interrupted before she could lose her temper once more, "She is no servant Signor Pirelli, she is my assistant. I would thank you kindly not to imply that I nor anyone else would treat her with anything less than respect."
"Scusé, I did not mean to offend the fair lady but the request stays the same. If I could have just a moment Mister Todd." He asked and watched as Sweeney nodded to Linnet who nodded in reply and passed Pirelli on the way to the door making sure to shove shoulders in retaliation. She walked two or three steps to hide under the window they had seen Pirelli's approach from and crouched down to listen, making sure to fain walking down the rest of the steps first.
As she heard their conversation progress, she felt a growing anger that anyone would dare attempt to hurt Sweeney after everything he'd already been through. True enough, no one knew what he had been through but the principle remained the same. Blackmail was just wrong. She heard Pirelli ask for a fifty percent share in all of Sweeney's profits and, to her utter disgust and fear, the man also wanted equal opportunity to her bed! As soon as the idea passed through the lips of that vile man, Linnet heard a loud whistling and a resounding bang and a few more thumps. She rushed into the shop to find Pirelli lying unconscious on the floor, his head in a small pool of blood. The black teakettle lay on the floor and Sweeney stood above the man gasping in shock at what he had done.
He sat on the chair for a moment before glancing at Linnet. She caught a fleeting glimpse of Benjamin in his gaze before they hardened once more into Sweeney as he stood. He motioned to the trunk and together they moved the unresponsive cad. As Sweeney closed the trunk, Linnet picked up the discarded rag and mopped up the small puddle of blood. As she heard footsteps hurriedly making their way up the steps, she folded the rag over, covering the blood and used it to pick up the kettle, pouring the tea into a cup being held by Sweeney.
"Signor! You've got an appointment!" Toby said urgently as he burst through the door.
"Signor Pirelli's been called away. Better run after him." Sweeney replied, sipping at his tea and looking directly at Linnet. She slowly realized the intimacy of their current position, her between him and the boiler by the wall, and blushed slightly. She could have sworn she saw the beginnings of a smirk forming on his lips before Toby spoke.
"No sir." He said, "I should stay here, or it'll be a lashing. He's a great one for the lashings." Toby sat on the trunk, ignorant of what lay, all be it curled, beneath him. Sweeney however noticed that he had not been the most successful in getting all of that damned con man in the trunk and began to panic.
"So Mrs. Lovett gave you a pie did she?"
"She's a real lady!" Toby replied enthusiastically.
"That she is, but if I know a growing boy, there's still room for more pie eh?" Toby stood as Sweeney drew nearer, handing his cup to Linnet so that he could rest a hand on Toby's back, guiding him towards the door. "Then why don't you wait for your master downstairs?" Sweeney attempted to lighten his voice, seeming harmless enough to the boy, "Be another pie in it for you I'm sure."
"No." Toby replied, his voice wavering slightly under the pressure, he couldn't aggravate his master or risk being beaten, but he so much wanted to go back downstairs to be with the woman who treated him far better than Pirelli ever did, "I should stay here."
Linnet saw the twitch in Sweeney's face and knew he was close to a breaking point. She placed the cup down on the nearest flat surface and moved in between Sweeney and the boy, lightly butting him aside with her hip as she placed a warm hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled invitingly, "Tell you what lad, why don't you tell Mrs. Lovett that I said to give you a nice big tot of gin." That did the trick.
"Thank you ma'am!" He exclaimed before running out the door. Linnet sighed in relief and turned to see Sweeney move to the trunk, she noticed the hand twitching and knew Sweeney was about to finish the job he started. She turned her back once she saw him pull out his razor and clutched her throat as she heard the gagging noises made by Pirelli as he choked on his own blood for a mere twelve seconds before passing on to the after life. Whatever waited for the man there, Linnet hoped he would suffer.
She felt Sweeney put his hands on her shoulders in comfort and her hands seemed to move of their own accord to grasp his. She turned to face him and buried her face in his chest and it was that moment that Sweeney realized that it was not what he had done that had upset her, it was that she had overheard their conversation and knew what that man had wanted with her.
"I promise you Linnet. No man will ever hurt you the way he did. I will not allow another man to come near you with such thoughts. You're safe...with me." He added hesitantly.
"Thank you Sweeney." Was all she could say as he held her.
p.s. the song is "In the Arms of the Angel" by Sarah McLachlan, if you've never heard this song I suggest you find it on youtube because it's a beautiful song and she's a wonderful singer.
p.p.s. review please!