YAY!! I can't tell you all how happy I am I finally got this chapter done! School has started for me and I already wish it was summer... though luckily inspiration hits for this when I'm in class, so I carry bits of it around with me everywhere... haha It's ridiculous. I'm really very sorry about how long this chapter took me to write; I still don't like it very much... But I figured I'd better post it and get on with the story or I'll lose motivation for it... Anyways, loves, hope the school year's started well for all of you! Okay, done rambling now. XD
Two weeks went monotonously by, bringing with them the final hazy days of summer. Evening slowly fell upon a misty day, casting an orange glow over London. And despite the sticky humidity in the air, dinnertime at Mrs. Lovett's pie shop was busier than ever. Everything was running perfectly as she and Toby pleasantly smiled, moving gracefully in and out of the rows of tables, exchanging endless small talk with the customers as they went. Although several people had commented that the flavor of the pie had changed a bit, the overall consensus was that it had been a change for the better.
Whispered rumors were now circulating amongst Mrs. Lovett's regular customers. Granted, they had been going around ever since they had noticed her swooning at Mr. Todd whenever she thought he wasn't looking, but now… No one had seen the barber in a rather large amount of time, and Mrs. Lovett remained as bubbly as ever; even more so… Yes, something definitely unusual had been going on between the barber and their baker, though no one knew exactly what.
"Aw, why thank ya dearie, it wos really sweet of you to notice the gillyflowers in the window," Mrs. Lovett gushed as she tipped off a woman's glass of water.
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett, they are absolutely lovely… they really bring a nice touch of gentility to the place!" the woman, named Emily, exclaimed. Mrs. Lovett warmly smiled, clutching the cold, sweaty jug of water closely to her midsection.
"Thanks, love. If ya need anythin' else jus' let me know." The two women smiled politely at each other as Eleanor continued her choreographed frenzy of refilling glasses and taking more requests for pies. An older man with an overwhelmingly large beard raised and brandished his mug at her as she obligingly refilled it. However, while she was in mid-pour, another person came up and lightly tapped her shoulder. She restrained herself from sighing exasperatedly. "Just a momen'…" She turned around to meet the gaze of another man with a noticeably stubbly face and neat, wavy brown hair.
"Excuse my inquiry, but does Mr. Todd still run his tonsorial parlor above your meat pie emporium, Mrs. Lovett, ma'am? As you can see, I'm in desperate need of a shave," the man said with a somewhat pitiable smile. She froze and temporarily stopped breathing at the mere mention of him, but quickly recomposed herself. Her brown eyes jumped down from the man's dark blue ones to the ground.
"No. Not anymo'. Dunno where 'e's gone to… but… 'e won't be comin' back," she said, breathing deeply and slowly. The man contorted his facial features into an expression of confusion.
"Oh, but I thought that you and 'im were-" Mrs. Lovett whipped her head up to meet his gaze again, thoroughly shocked and slightly appalled at what she had just heard. Her wide eyes and slightly open mouth told the man everything he needed to know. "Oh, erm… sorry, I just… sorry." The man again attempted his awkward smile before shuffling embarrassingly away from Mrs. Lovett. Nellie looked angrily and mystified at the man's retreating back. What the hell had all that been about? She took an extremely deep breath to rope in her ready-to-rampage anger before plastering a psuedo look of happiness on her face; resuming her weaving in and out of the tables.
She and Toby worked their way through closing time; Mrs. Lovett being so checked out of the real world and into the deep complexes of her mind she hadn't even noticed that time was going by. Finally, she found herself at a standstill in the living room. Her chocolate eyes deeply closed as she let the fatigue settle over her. She was so incredibly tired of what seemed to be every citizen of London ask her where Sweeney had gone. Why did they all assume she would automatically know where he had went? Because she had no idea where the hell he would go… He wouldn't leave London, would he? No. She couldn't think about this. She shook her head and clasped her hands over her eyes. She was so incredibly tired…
Finally her feet took her to the settee where she immediately collapsed, turning her face towards the orange glow of the fire she had started. Her eyes clenched shut as her hand went to clasp the small of he back. The dull pain that resided there had gradually grown worse over the past weeks, and tonight it was worse than ever. She swallowed before reopening her eyes. Slowly but surely, she fell into the trance that the dancing shadows the fire was casting on the ceiling caused. Though she still had Toby, never had she felt such an overwhelming sense of aloneness in the world. Not since Sweeney had been shipped off to Australia fifteen long years before… Nothing would ever be the same now that he had left again, would it?
"Mum?" came a small voice from the entryway into the living room. Mrs. Lovett turned her head to look at Toby. Though she was emotionally and physically exhausted, she managed to draw her lips into a warm and genuine smile.
"Mmm? Wot is it, love?" she asked him, her voice a bit breathy. Toby took in the sight of Mrs. Lovett's face and the shadows cast across it from the fire. She had been so… sad, so distant since Mr. Todd had left, and Toby hated seeing her that way. And it made absolutely no sense to him why she missed him so much; he was always so cruel to her…
"I've finished cleanin' the tables out on the patio, and… erm… Is there anythin' I can do fo' you, mum? Maybe make ya some tea?" Toby asked, sitting down on the loveseat across from Mrs. Lovett. She then closed her eyes and smiled.
"No thanks, love, but I really appreciate you offerin'. I's late, Toby, you need to get some sleep." Toby smiled warmly and nodded before lying down on the sofa and cuddling into it. Mrs. Lovett slowly arose, clutching her back as she went. She vacantly made her way to her bedroom and changed into her nightgown. And as she softly settled into her soft and pillowy bed, she couldn't remember it ever feeling so good.
She awoke full of energy and the urge to go down to St. Dunstan's and go shopping. She quickly stepped into her favorite plum, black and lace adorned gown, repinned her hair and applied a touch of makeup before bustling down the stairs. The shop was filled with the peaceful mid-morning air, completely silent as the people outside rushed by; their mouths moving but no audible noise coming from them. To Nellie it was as if time had frozen only in the shop, as if she could watch the world go by but never actively take part in it. She stood there, completely transfixed and frozen in that moment. She mentally shook herself out of it, irritated with herself for so drastically changing the mood of her lighthearted day.
"Toby!" she yelled, straightening out her dress and organizing the few random items scattered across the counter. "I'm going down to St. Dunstan's for a bit! I'll be back before supper!" She was satisfied with his sleepy groan of acknowledgement and stepped out of the shop and joined the current of people making their way to the same destination.
She weaved through the streets, taking in the sun's warm rays along with the jumbled yells of the crowd melding together. The exposed, pale skin of her chest quickly heated up under the sun, Mrs. Lovett savouring the sensation. She couldn't remember the last time there had been such a continuous bout of good weather like this. She smiled and waved as she spotted one of her best customers before finding herself at the dressmaker's shop. It had been ages since she'd been fitted for a new gown… She always forgot the fact that she had plenty of money now; it was never a lifestyle she had had to become accustomed to.
"'Ello, Mr. Fobbs," Nellie said as she entered the dress shop.
"Ah, Mrs. Lovett! It's been far too long! Come for a new dress, 'ave you?" Mr. Fobbs was a very short, very old balding man with very large glasses. But no one ever questioned his skills with fabric. Mrs. Lovett smiled as she absently looked over all the beautiful dresses on display. Aquamarine blue, jade green, canary yellow- when she spotted the most perfect dress she had ever seen. The neckline fell off the shoulders of the mannequin, the neckline, trimmed with black lace and beads was plunging down. The front of the bodice was deep black and red, and the skirt spilling down from it was the most beautiful shade of scarlett, the front opening to reveal black ruffles of lace beneath.
"This one. I would absolutely love this one," she whispered breathlessly. Mr. Fobbs smiled as he bustled over to her.
"Ah yes, that red would definitely suit you... Do you have your specifications with you?" he asked.
"Erm, no, sir… Last time I wos in you said you 'ad them on file…" Mrs. Lovett said, shifting awkwardly. Mr. Fobbs looked at her for a moment, obviously confused. She had forgotten his memory was slowly going… He quickly went behind the counter and halfhazardly began ransacking through the large stack of papers that obviously resided there. This went on for about five minutes before he resurfaced.
"Yes…" he cleared his throat as he pushed his glasses further up onto the bridge of his nose. "I seem to have misplaced your measurements… I'm so sorry…" he said. Mrs. Lovett smiled; it wasn't a big deal.
"'S alrigh', Mr. Fobbs. No harm done. So, erm… 'ow 'bout I change into the dress and you can make any final adjustments?" This sounded reasonable to him, so he busied himself with putting the scattered papers away as Mrs. Lovett slipped into one of the changing rooms.
She emerged looking absolutely unbelievable. It was as if that dress had been designed to perfectly match her looks, her personality and every facet of her being. The red brought out the slight rose tint in her cheeks and made her tousled curls look even more firey, while the black contrasted perfectly with her milky skin. There was only one fault to the dress: the fabric stretched a bit over her lower stomach. Mr. Fobbs had been whirling around her, taking her various measurements with a weathered and torn measuring tape while muttering under his breath. Mrs. Lovett involuntarily held her own breath, but it didn't do anything to reduce the cinching around her waist.
"Well," Mr. Fobbs said, standing back and observing the dress and how it fit her. "Everything looks lovely but for the waist, and that's simple enough to let out a tad… But yes, the rest seems to fit you perfectly. It's an extremely easy modification, Mrs. Lovett, dear, stop back in about a week an' it'll be ready." She nodded and smiled rather distantly. Though she never let it show, Mrs. Lovett was extremely self-concious about how her body looked. She was naturally petite and her work in the bakehouse generally kept her particularly fit, but… Perhaps she'd been eating a bit too much lately; far too much chocolate… But she reassured herself with the knowledge that it was barely noticable and could be easily remidied.
"Tha' sounds lovely, sir. Now, I'd best be on my way, but thank ya so much fo' your time, Mr. Fobbs. I'll see ya in a week," she said.
"Alrigh', just leave the dress on the counter as you leave," he stated distractedly. Another customer had just entered and was being rather demanding, so Mr. Fobbs waved Nellie towards the changing room as he began chatting with the other customer. She quickly changed out of the dress, carefully laid it out on the counter and went back out into the street.
Ominous dark grey clouds had started rolling over the city, bringing with them the definate promise of rain. Mrs. Lovett strolled slowly against the current of people rushing to get home, arms folded protectively over her midsection. It just didn't make any sense at all to her that she had gained weight… She thought extremely hard about everything she had done the past couple weeks, but realized she had been eating considerably less since Sweeney had left… A streak of lightning flew across the sky, closely followed by a distant but deep roll of thunder. Mrs. Lovett stopped dead in her tracks, her hands clutched to her stomach as her mouth slowly fell open.
Her eyes then fluttered shut as people jostled her elbows as they passed. Memories of that last, horrible night together when he came inside her… She stopped breathing at the realization that she was pregnant. All the signs were there… She had been throwing up sometimes in the morning, her back had been aching… and she couldn't remember the last time she had bled… Raindrops slowly started to fall as she looked up to the sky, trailing down her cheeks like tears. Intuitively she knew that right this very moment she was pregnant with Sweeney Todd's child. She started shaking slightly as the rain started coming down more steadily. Slowly, as if in a trance, she made her way towards the nearest alleyway to sit down. She needed to sit down…
She gradually sunk down to the ground, not noticing she was getting completely soaked. She drew her knees close to her torso and cradled her head in her hands. This was completely unbelievable. Never, ever in her wildest dreams had she imagined this could happen… Just being able to hold him in her arms had always seemed incredibly far-fetched, and now… She was carrying his son or daughter. She would finally be a mother… This was so overwhelming to her as tears began mixing with the rainwater upon her face. Her heart swelled as she realized nothing would ever be the same…
But her heart plummeted down to her stomach again when she realized Sweeney was gone. How had everything gotten so twisted? Oh God, what would people say when they realized she was pregnant? She would probably be thrown in bedlam! She looked back up at the small sliver of the sky she could see between the two buildings, biting down viciously on her lower lip. Shakily, she inhaled and exhaled. She needed to find him; she couldn't do this alone…
Finally, after about an hour she stood, completely drenched from head to toe. Her wet, dark brown curls were plastered to her face as she wandered in the general direction of Fleet Street, her hands still clutching her stomach. She wasn't sure anymore if she was laughing or crying… Everything was so messed up and wrong… If she ever did see Sweeney again, would he even come back to her? Finally she reached her pie shop and went inside, immediately sitting down in front of the fire that was there. She couldn't think about this anymore, it was all so surreal. Slowly but surely her eyes sank closed as she hummed herself to sleep as her's and Sweeney's child grew inside of her; the child that would change everything.
I'm SOO sorry for pulling the whole cliched "Mrs. Lovett getting pregnant" thing but I HAD to! haha Hope you all liked this; I'm still not completely happy with how it turned out... But I am excited to continue on with the story! Thank you all so much for reading this, and every review is appreciated more than you know! Much love! xoxox