A/N: Welcome back again, everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long; it was taxing to write. I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses a 'method' approach when they write, putting yourself in the character's shoes and reacting the way you believe they would, which can be very difficult. Anyway, enjoy. R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd and claim nothing but happiness from these pieces.

The scandal was all over town by morning. Everyone in attendance had seen her enter the ballroom, a little tipsy and certainly not dressed for the occasion. They saw the wanton way she fell into the Judge's arms and begged him to be with her privately. Of course, they all saw how calm and collected he was, settling her down on a couch while the others just laughed at her. They saw his take-charge action as he took her away into another room to settle the situation while the party went on. But nobody knew what really happened in that room, though some of the ladies had attempted to listen discreetly by the door before being spirited away by their husbands.

This much was true, Lucy Barker's name had been truly and utterly disgraced. While half of London society believed she was a shameless hussy, the rest of them believed she had simply gone insane.

When she returned to her home in the early hours of the morning she locked herself into her bedroom and stripped naked, washing all the parts of her that wicked man had touched with the cold water left in her washbasin. All the while, she cried long and hard for her husband and her reputation. If he ever returned from his dreadful imprisonment, he would find her a broken woman. Someone no long admissible into proper society.

Gasps and sobs wracked her frail body as she discovered the bite marks and bruises Turpin had put on her. Some of them, she knew, would never heal properly. But she scrubbed at them fiercely, as if she could erase them from her skin and prevent her dearest husband from ever having to see the scars they would leave. Never had she craved his gentle touch more than in this moment. She wanted to fall into his arms and cry while he petted her hair, whispering soft words of love to her.

Her mind was clouded with grief. She clamped her hands around her stomach and rocked back and forth, crying out as loudly as her choked throat allowed. She knew there would be hand-shaped bruises on it by morning. Thinking of how he had grabbed at her, his hands forcefully moving over her body, made her stomach turn. She heaved dryly and gagged, bile pushing up into her throat.

"Lucy?" Came a soft voice from the hallway.

"Go away!" she yelled, her voice breaking on tears. The doorknob rattled as Nell tried to enter.

"What's the matter, are you sick? Do you need anything? Open the door."

"I said, go away! Just leave me alone!" she screamed. Down the hall, Johanna began to cry. Lucy listened as Nell's footsteps disappeared into the nursery to sooth the baby.

It was then that Lucy realized that not only her life had been destroyed. Her infant daughter, who would already grow up without her father to love her, had lost all hopes for her future. And it was all because Lucy was stupid enough to believe the judge was remorseful. That man could never feel remorse. He could never feel sympathy or love.

Then suddenly, she realized, neither could she. She could feel nothing. She folded in on herself, wrapping her arms around her naked knees and lying down at the foot of the bed she had shared with her absent husband. She knew then that she would never be the same; something within her was broken beyond repair, and she wanted nothing more than to stop existing.

Later that night, once Johanna had stopped fussing and Nell had fallen asleep, Lucy slipped into the kitchen and took a small dark glass bottle from a high cabinet. A little bottle they used to poison food and kill rats. A little bottle she'd use to help her along.

R&R, please and thank you. 3