Longer chapter this time. I had a lot of fun writing this one, and am excited to continue on...

Mrs. Lovett awoke from the deepest slumber she had ever known, her eyes greeted by a rare, sunny day in London. She grimaced, irritated it wasn't raining to match her gloomy mood. Slowly the events that had taken place the previous evening washed over her, clouding her vision. She almost felt as if she were waking up with a massive hangover, but she knew she hadn't had any alcohol. Then, her throbbing, blistered back reminded her of the true extent of last night's injuries.

She rolled out of bed and wandered over to her mirror, staring into her bloodshot eyes. Her face then contorted with pain, the burn stinging more intensely now that she was on her feet. She cursed, realizing she would to have to go see the doctor today. She cursed again when she realized she had slept in and hadn't baked any pies for the dinner rush that evening.

She then went over to her wardrobe, slipping into a more loosely-fitting dress. The cool, black fabric lightly fell down around her figure, accentuating her curves very slightly. She admired her reflection in the mirror, making a mental note to wear this particular dress more often. Her hands then went up to toy with her mess of auburn hair, attempting to make it look presentable, but to no avail. Mrs. Lovett and her unruly curls were in an ongoing war to see who could finally dominate the other. She sighed, defeated and allowing her wild waves to win their battle that day.

She turned away from the mirror, and her eyes fell on Toby, still fast asleep. He looked so peaceful, so serene… The sight of him painted a smile onto her crimson lips. She treaded quietly over to him, kneeling at the side of the bed and nudging him softly.

"Toby," she gently whispered. "I's time to get up, love." The boy stirred, and as he turned towards her she beamed down at his sleepy face. "Oh… poor thing, so tired…" Her face gained a hint of concern for him as she stroked the hair above his ear.

"No mum, I'm fine," Toby said, his voice still shaking off the hint of slumber. His eyes drifted up to the window, and he registered how high the sun was in the sky. "Oh God! I've slept in, mum, why di'nt ya wake me? Now we won't be ready to open up for lunch!" Toby sprang up in bed, throwing the blanket off his torso. Mrs. Lovett playfully laughed at the boy's sudden intensity.

"Easy now, Toby!" she chortled again, ruffling his hair. "I wos thinkin' we'd just open for dinner tonigh'. People won' miss us for jus' one lunchtime, eh?" Toby smiled and nodded. "There's a good lad. Now, I'm gonna have to pop out for a tick, which means I'm gonna trust you to ge' the dining room all ready for the dinner rush. Can ya do tha' for me?"

"O' course, mum. You can trust me. Goin' to the market?" Toby inquired.

"I'm jus' gonna go see a doctor about me back. It hurts somethin' awful, and I'm 'oping he can give me somethin' for it. I'll be back in two shakes, alrigh'?"

"Sure, bu'… are ya sure ya wanna work tonigh', with your back the way it is?" His eyes reflected concern for Mrs. Lovett.

"Yes, I'm sure, love. Life goes on…" She swallowed apprehensively at these words. Her wall of ersatz content came crashing down on her, sending her mind into a hurricane of vivid recollections.

Images of Lucy's dead corpse and Mr. Todd's bloodthirsty eyes flashed in front of her eyes. She could feel Sweeney's fingertips brushing her breasts, feel his lips crashing down on hers… She shook her head, sending away memories of last night. She couldn't think about it all at once; it was too much…

"Well… you'd best get to work, love," Mrs. Lovett whispered, her voice quiet and serious.

"Yes mum," Toby said, his voice instantly acquiring the solemn tone of Mrs. Lovett's. He scampered out of the room and down the stairs, immediately starting his work. Mrs. Lovett sank down onto the bed, cradling her face in her hands. Both Lucy and the Judge were dead. She realized now it was terrible that she had been relying on their deaths to make everything in her own life alright… but she couldn't see how anything could be alright again. Too much had changed.

Then, as quickly as she had broken down, she stood back up, straightening her dress. She walked downstairs, assuring herself Toby was working. She then stepped outside, the warm sun caressing her face. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling. 'Life does go on…' she thought. Her feet guided her along the stream of bustling people, disappearing into the rest of the crowd.

Sweeney Todd sat in his chair, admiring the way his razor caught the sunlight. He watched the beams of light dance and flicker on the walls, reminding him of how Mrs. Lovett's lovely brown eyes shimmered when she spoke… He scowled at the razor, throwing it away from him. Even his beloved friends reminded him of that woman…

Why couldn't he get her out of his mind? And she hadn't brought him breakfast that morning, which would have been a bloody relief… he could've taken at least a little of this frustration out on her. Not once, since he had moved back in had she failed to bring him his morning meal. And of course, his stomach had chosen this particular morning to be hungry.

He half leapt to his feet, walking over to the window, abandoning thought to observe the people rushing below. There was an abundance of them out and about today, what with the weather being halfway decent for once. He hadn't had any customers today, however. No normal Londoner was willingly indoors with sunshine like this…

His shadowy eyes then spotted Mrs. Lovett's red mess of hair in the street below, the sun illuminating it and making her stand out from the crowd. Where was she going now? She alwaysinformed him of when and where she was going, and it drove him mad…

But he was discovering it was even worse when he had no idea. His eyes followed her like a hawk until she finally slipped away into the multitude of people. And he paced the day away, realizing at sunset that the usual noises at dinnertime from Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop were rising up his staircase.

His eyes narrowed as his eyebrows lowered, retrieving his razor from the floor. He threw open his shop door and observed the patio, thriving with customers; the sound of cutlery clinking against plates rising up to meet him. He hadn't imagined she would open the shop tonight… And yet there she was, smiling pleasantly as she moved from table to table, her bandaged back visible from the cutout in her dress; the purple bruises on her neck painfully obvious...

He watched her for an unknown amount of time, waiting for her to show any sign of fatigue. She was obviously stronger than he thought. He then observed her whispering something to Toby before disappearing into the pie shop. His feet flew down his stairs, following her. He was fast, and sure enough, when he reached the staircase leading down to the bakehouse Mrs. Lovett's figure was descending them to retrieve her latest batch of pies.

He continued to follow her, stalking behind her like an ominous shadow. He saw her shoulder blades suddenly clench in her back before she reached the door; she obviously sensed his presence… But she didn't turn around. She merely stopped, becoming perfectly still but for her shoulders, rising and falling with her every breath. He closed the little distance between them, pressing himself to her back as his hands firmly gripped her shoulders. He moved his mouth closer to her ear, inhaling her spicy and almost cinnamon infused aroma.

"Mrs. Lovett… wherever do you think you're going?" he growled, his low and sinister voice tickling the inside of her ear. She instinctively turned her head toward his, keeping her eyes down at the floor.

"Well Mr. T…" she whispered, almost seductively. "I wos going to get more pies before you so rudely interrupted me." Her voice suddenly becoming firm, almost harsh.

"I was just…" he paused, trying his hardest not to explode into a fit of rage right there in front of her. "I insist that you go upstairs and lie down. You've been working far too long today," Sweeney said calmly, not daring to look into her powerful eyes. He backed away from Mrs. Lovett, staring down at the grey stone beneath him. He could hear her violently turn towards him.

"Oh, an' I'm sure you really, truly care about me! I mean, from the way you nearly killed me multiple times last night, forgive me! I's obvious you really care about my well being." Her voice was angry and sarcastic, her eyes wide awaiting his reaction. He hadn't so much as flinched… His head slowly rose, his eyes finally meeting her own. And as he gazed into her chocolate brown eyes, searching him for answers, he felt an extremely strange emotion fill his chest. He couldn't name it…

But he couldn't stop from admitting how captivating she was when she was angry. He swooped forward, reclaiming her shoulders beneath his firm grip. She merely scowled at him, glaring.

"Nellie…"

'Oh… he never, ever calls me by my first name...' she thought. Her eyes softened slightly, more receptive to what he was about to say.

"I will be honest… I did want to kill you last night. But… when I slightly cut your neck…" His thumb lightly traced over the small line of dry blood his razor had drawn. "I… I don't like to see you hurt."

Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn't expected his confrontation so soon, and she certainly hadn't expected it to take the turn it just had. She looked into his eyes, seeing something she had never seen there before. Compassion…

Her lips parted slightly as she shakily inhaled, readying herself to speak.

"So… you do care about me, then? N-not jus' wot I do for you?" she asked, her heart raw and speaking for itself. He finally broke their gaze, looking down.

Did he actually care about her? The gears in his head jammed as he stared at the floor. He had never thought about whether or not he actually cared about the woman that had made his revenge possible. Without her, he'd still be in agony over the fact the Judge's blood wasn't spurting out from beneath his razor. He'd probably be calling some disgusting alleyway home… He looked back up at her when she sharply exhaled.

"Tha's wot I thought," she whispered, one tear sliding down her cheek. She didn't even seem to notice she was crying. She merely shook her head at him before going into the bakehouse, leaving him to stand in the stairwell.

"Bloody hell, woman…" he muttered angrily, slamming a fist against the cold metal of the bakehouse door. "What are you doing to me…?" He realized he hadn't thought about Turpin since the night before. Which was just as well, the cold hearted bastard didn't deserve anyone's thoughts… And Lucy was Benjamin Barker's wife. Not Sweeney Todd's. They were both dead and gone, finally reunited in the heavens… Johanna. She must be safe with the sailor, Anthony, he hadn't heard from him since the night before.

But Mrs. Lovett was slowly painting his black and white world with vivid color, he realized; slowly overtaking his thoughts… He wasn't sure just yet that that was what he wanted.

'You do care about me, then?' Her smooth voice echoed in his mind.

Yes. He did care about her. But she was obviously under the impression that he thought nothing more of her than his neighbor and assistant. Which is, indeed, what he had thought of her… but when that had changed he couldn't say. She thought he didn't care? He thought… and created an idea he hoped would show her that he didn't want any harm to come to her.

He walked up the stairs, ready to walk to the market and set his plan in motion, until he realized no place would be open at this hour. He then noticed all the people still outside on the patio. He immediately stormed outside.

"Go home. Mrs. Lovett has retired for the evening," he said, forceful and businesslike. His intimidating presence influenced people to finally get up and leave, nodding as they passed by him. Yes, it was too late now to go down to St. Dunstan's. He walked back into the shop, spying a plate of food on the counter. He sat down and began to eat, filling up his empty stomach.

The door to the shop opened and he whipped around in his chair, expecting to see Mrs. Lovett's presence standing before him. But it was merely Toby. Toby's eyes narrowed at Mr. Todd before he grabbed a bottle of gin and retired to the living room. Mr. Todd lowered the fork that had begun its journey to his mouth. As he sat there, he realized how truly alone he was in this black hole in the world. And only one person had tried to show him that wasn't how it had to be.

Hope everyone enjoyed that chapter! I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. PLEASE review! Seriously, you guys have no idea how happy they make me. Tell me your every thought! I'd also love to hear thoughts on where you'd like to see this story go; nothing's set in stone yet. Lots of hugs! (ha, almost typed "jugs", that's a funny word!)