Throughout the night, I was constantly cringing. The cold hands that had laid on my shoulders before the night enveloped me were disturbing, and not at all what I had planned on having by me. I hoped dearly that when I awoke, those hands would be gone. I dared not look to see if they were. I expected at first I should have been able to feel those hands, but I had been wrapped in a thick blanket and it would have been impossible to tell. All that I could have been sure of was that I was still sitting in that awful chair.

The chair in which a man had died.

I shuddered slightly. It was then I felt the hands. One lay a slight pressure upon the blanket, rubbing lightly as if to cause friction for heat. Strange, I thought. This man had kidnapped me, and scarred my mind beyond repair, yet he worried about such a trivial thing as warmth. I shifted my shoulders, trying to move away from his hand, but it only gripped on. I surrendered, allowing him to do as he would.

All of a sudden, I opened my eyes. My hands started to trembled inside the blanket cover, and slowly wandered up to my chest. I sighed with relief. The shirt I was wearing was still fastened as it had been the previous night. I was still fully clothed, just as I had been left. My mind started to race. If this man had neither hurt me physically, nor touched me in any way except through a blanket, then what was it that he expected of me? Of course, I did not wish for any harm to come for me, but I almost wished that he would have done something to let me know what his intentions were.

I heard him sigh lightly, and wrap his arms around me. Gently, he pulled me closer towards him. To my relief, it was all too gently, giving me the chance to sprint from my place. Despair flooded my heart and mind as I realised I was wrapped too tightly in the blanket, meaning I tripped as I jumped up. I came crashing to the ground, and immediately he was by my side. I thrashed a hand out at him, yelping, and crawling away from him to the nearest wall.

"Please, don't come near me."

"Johanna-"

"No, don't you dare." He stopped, hovering a few feet away from me, his hands held up as if to claim an innocence. In the back of my mind, something told me to take heed of this, but the majority of my instinct told me to make sure he didn't come any nearer.

"Johanna," he said again, softer this time. "Just stand up. We'll get you washed and properly dressed, then we can talk this through."

"Talk what through?" I asked shakily.

"I'll tell you that when we've gotten you sorted." I blushed at this.

"I am not something to be sorted." Mr Todd sighed irritated.

"You know very well I didn't mean that."

"Then what did you mean? You're not making any sense!"

"Calm yourself and I will be able to tell you exactly what I mean, won't I?" I felt behind me for a support on the wall, and started to climb to my feet slowly.

"I can't."

"Of course you can," he said gruffly. Instantaneously, it was as if he regretted the tone. He changed to a much gentler one. "I only want you to trust me until you've heard me out." A hand was held out towards me, and I stared at it.

"You can't fool me that easily."

"I'm not fooling you." I snorted with laughter, suddenly hysterical. I don't know why, but maybe a small part of my mind had snapped, disallowing me to control my giggling.

"Of course not. My captor would never dream of such a thing. A murderer would never lie. A kidnapper would never jest."

"This is not kidnapping."

"So you deny kidnapping, but you do not deny murder." He stopped in his tracks, his mouth slightly open as if to answer me. Then his face set again into a more brooding countenance.

"You and I both know what happened last night. By me telling you that I murdered the Judge should be enough to tell you I would not lie to you."

"Judge Turpin was not an honourable man, but I don't see what right you had to kill him."

"I have my reasons." I tilted my head slightly, still watching his hand which was still held out towards me.

"How do I know I won't find the same fate?"

"Did I kill Anthony last night?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then why would I kill you?"

"Why would you kill Judge Turpin?" That question stopped him in his tracks. The hand in front of me dropped back to his side, and Mr Todd turned from me.

"Like I said. I have my reasons for killing him, and I have my reasons for not killing you."

"Then tell me!" I became furious now; impatient with being told all of these silly nonsensical words like 'I have my reasons' and 'I'll tell you later'. I felt almost as if I were a child of six, not sixteen. Mr Todd did not turn to look at me when I shouted at him. My face turned red with rage, and I gritted my teeth.

"Calm yourself," he said simply, not even turning around.

"How dare you tell me to do such things when I can barely imagine you being who Anthony said you are. I do not see Mr Todd before me. I see a man- no, a demon- with no pity in his heart. Who are you? Tell me that, and I may finally be able to trust the man before me." He still did not move. There was an unnatural aura to the way he stood so still. It simply wasn't ordinary. I gritted my teeth harder, and without warning from even myself, I pounced upon him from behind. He was barely jolted by it, but was alarmed all the same. I began to beat at him with my fists.

"Tell me, Mr Todd!" I cried, my voiced frenzied. "Tell me who- what!- you are!" Two firm hands placed themselves on mine, successfully halting them.

"You'll hurt yourself," he muttered. I bared my teeth in a snarl.

"If I did, it'd be your fault!" He sighed, and made one last attempt to soothe me by words. When it didn't work, he gripped my hands firmly and swung me around from his back and into his arms. I was trapped again, clinging onto his neck so as not to fall to the ground. He looked at me, his eyes calm.

"At least now," he said, "it won't be either of ours fault." My eyes started to tear up again, and my lip quivered.

"Just…tell me who you are." His eyes were buried deep in mine, and for a while there was silence in which I was fastened into his gaze. When he spoke, his tone was low.

"My name is…Benjamin Barker."

"You lied to Anthony?"

"I lied to everyone."

"Why?" He chuckled darkly.

"For the same reason I killed the Judge."

"Judge Turpin."

"Yes." I shook my head mournfully.

"I detested him so, but what reason can you give for killing the man I once called father?" He winced slightly.

"Because he took that title from another man."

"Then why did he not claim it back?" I was dropped again to my feet, and the man whose name was still a mystery to me grabbed my shoulders firmly, shaking them slightly.

"I could not! The man you once called father was a pious vulture of the law who removed me from his plate to steal your mother! Why did I not claim you back? I was across the world in Australia, under false persecution! What better excuse can you hope for, Johanna? You have heard what I call my reasons, and they should be plenty enough for you, for you can not escape them!"

My quivering lip froze, and my eyes stayed unblinking. Our faces were inches apart, and I could feel his ragged breath upon my skin. His dark eyes showed no light that was natural with such fury, and which was disappearing quickly from my own. Slowly, I began shaking my head.

"No."

"Johanna, you-"

"No. No, it's impossible. No, my…my father is dead. Judge Turpin said so."

"Would he have wanted you to know."

"My father is dead," I said louder, more determined. "With my mother, too. Both of them died when I was a baby, and they're gone. Together in heaven. They're not down here."

"Your mother is gone, Johanna, but I am still here."

"But you're not my father! I don't care if you're Benjamin Barker or Mr Todd, but whoever you are, you are not my father!"

"Johanna, your birth certificate tells different. You were born Johanna Barker and you will die Johanna Barker. You can not be so childish about this all."

"Childish!" I said, my voice high and shrill. "I'm not at all being childish!"

"Johanna, if you will only listen. I know it is difficult to say the least, but I am your father."

"You are no father of mine! I have never met you until last night, and even then I have seen not one ounce of fatherly affection."

"How can you say so?"

"I have been pinned in a blood soaked chair while my love is sent away from me by a man who claims to be my father, and I threatened with a razor by him not long before. I have been frightened out of my wits, waiting for molestation of some sort."

"How dare you think such? And what is this about no fatherly affection? Last night I had not a wink of sleep because I spent the night soothing you as you whimpered in your dreams. I wrapped you in that blanket when you shivered. I hushed you as you cried, and waited patiently until you slept. If you can not find any affection in that, then so be it. But there is no denying that simply because you were too distressed to notice it, does not mean that it was not there!"

He was panting, the breath now heated against my face. I still did not blink, afraid that if I did, I would never open my eyes again.

"It doesn't make sense," I said finally, my voice cracking. The fury in his eyes quickly vanished, revealing a childlike guilt.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to say that so…"

"Viciously."

"Call it what you must, but I don't regret saying it." I noticed that I was still leaning against the wall, my legs shaking.

"What is to happen to me?" I asked warily. Mr Todd- or whoever I must call him- looked at me strangely, and then shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Th-then there is hope for me to le-"

"No!" His abrupt answer made me jump slightly. At least, it was not much, but it resulted in me falling to the ground again.

"But, if you don't-"

"I know where I'm keeping you at least." My pale cheeks began to blush in fury again.

"I am not a bird, sir."

"I never said you were."

"Yet you wish to place me somewhere as a bird. Either way it seems I am to be more of a pet than any child you think you have."

"That I know I have," he said dully. "And you must know I would never intend such a thing to happen."

"So tell me that I may leave when I chose." He pressed his lips together, his eyes showing light of a mind at quick thought. Then, again, he shook his head.

"I couldn't allow it."

"Then I must," I said firmly, and as quickly as the thought had come to my mind, I was running for the door. It came closer towards me, but my opponent was both stronger and faster than I was.

"What did I just say?" he asked fiercely as he blocked my way through the door. There was only a pause in my efforts, though, as I began pushing him out of the way.

"If you can put up no better argument for me than 'because I said so' then I shan't stay any longer!"

He wrapped me in his arms again, trapping me. This time, I refused to be put down so easily. My temper increased more than it had done in the past few hours, and I fought as if I were an animal. I was glad I could not see myself; it would have been frightening. Mr Todd even swayed under the effort of trying to calm me.

"Mrs Lovett!" he shouted, turning his head to the door. I did not know nor care who Mrs Lovett was, and simply carried on thrashing and squirming. After a few mere seconds, though, a pair of hurried footsteps came up the stairs outside the barber shop.

"What is it, luv?"

"Take her legs." My eyes widened.

"No! Get off me!"

"Luv, do yeh really think that's the best thing to-"

"Just do it, Mrs Lovett."

I kicked out my legs when the strange woman tried to grab them.

"Leave me alone! Get off!" Sadly, this woman seemed strong compared to her slender form, and finally managed to take hold of my legs, lifting them so I was at the mercy of the two.

"Where did yeh want to put 'er, Mr T?"

"We'll take her down to one of your rooms." Their grip was so firm on me that I was glad my screams of disgust were hiding my whimpers of terror and ache. I didn't care where the room might be. All I knew was that I didn't want to go there, and there was no chance of escaping it.