It was already dusk. The sun was emitting an orange glow in the west bringing an end to a peaceful Sunday.

Well, nearly peaceful anyway. For Benjamin, the day seemed to last for weeks rather than hours. But somehow, instead of feeling tired, he felt restless. He sat on his barber chair, leaning back, drumming his fingers on the arm rest and tapping his foot. He wanted something to do. He needed something to do.

The day had gone by too slowly; only four men had come in for a shave. The most recent was in two hours ago.

He supposed he could check on Lucy… again, but she was beginning to be annoyed by having a visitor every five minutes, especially when it was the same visitor over and over again. The again, she had been getting annoyed easily ever since the doctor had came. He gave her strict order to stay in bed until she had the baby. It didn't upset her that she had to lie down, it was more of the fact that she had to do so under someone's orders that irritated her.

Ben Sighed and heaved himself out of the chair. He made his way to the front door that would lead him downstairs into the outdoor area of Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop.

He was surprised to see it was empty instead of the usual rowdy crowd. When he neared the door, he saw a sign that said:

Shop Closed Tonight

Shall Reopen Tomorrow At

Noon

Ben stood shocked for a second. Nellie never closed the shop unless it was an emergency. What if she was ill? There was no one to check on her. She seemed fine this morning. He shook his head clear of the thoughts and pushed his way through the unlocked door. The candles in the shop weren't lit but he could see a flickering light coming from the parlor. He stumbled in the darkness around chairs and tables.

Before he actually entered the parlor, he knocked on the wooden doorway.

"Nellie?" He called softly.

"Come in." Her voice rang out.

Ben pushed the curtain aside. Nellie stood in front of her lit fireplace, fixing her hair, using the mirror above the mantel. She caught his eye in the reflection.

"Oh, 'ello Ben!" I thought ya was- uh, never mind. What brings ya down 'ere?"

She turned around, her dress swishing at her sides. Ben couldn't help but notice how nice she looked. She wore a dark red dress that had ruby colored beads decorating the top of the skirt. Her long, curly hair was pulled in a bun with a few strands, which she had been trying to fix, still hanging down. Her cheeks had more pink to them as though she had been blushing. Being a man, he also noticed how her dress neckline dipped lower than usual…

He stopped his train of thought there. He cold feel the heat pooling in his face and diverted his gaze back to her eyes quickly once he realized he had been staring.

Ben cleared his throat. "Er, you, um, look… lovely Nellie."

She beamed at him. "Thank you." She turned back around to face the mirror again. He could see her reflection and could tell that she was very concentrated on making her hair perfect. "Ya never answered me Ben. Not that I don't love ya bein' 'ere but, What brings ya down?"

"Oh, right, um," Why did I come down here? "I didn't have much to do. Lucy's stuck in bed and not many people come for a shave at night."

"Oh," was the only response he got from her. When she finally managed to pin the stray hair up, she turned around to sit on an armchair. "You're welcome to sit, Ben." She gestured to the couch. He didn't really feel like sitting since that's what he had done all day, but he sat anyway to please her.

"Are you going somewhere, Nellie?"

Nellie smiled again. "I am. I've been invited to Judge Turpin's house for a ball."

Ben hoped she wouldn't take the shock that stated to etch across his face the wrong way. Nellie being invited to a ball was odd. Suddenly he could feel his stomach churning. Something wasn't right about this.

"Really Nellie?" He could hear the skepticism dripping in his voice. He cleared his throat and tried a different approach. "Well, that's great but, Ben thought to find the right words. "Don't you think it's a little strange?"

The hurt she felt was clear. "What? Did you never think that someone like a judge could be interested in me?"

Mentally, he slapped himself. "Of course 'e could but, 'e's never invited you before. And, 'is invitation is coming just after 'e gives you flowers and that necklace. You said yourself you think 'e's trying to marry you. Doesn't that come off as sort of strange?" Thinking it over, Ben thought it actually sounded perfectly normal, but the feeling of dread built up in his stomach was hard to ignore.

"It doesn't seem in the least bit odd to me." She sniffed. "Now, if you

mind, I need to find the shoes to match with this dress." Without another word she stood up and started to head up to her bedroom.

"Nell, wait." Ben, being slightly faster than she was, caught her before she reached the stairs. He blocked her way and held on to her elbows. "Please, I just meant that I don't 'ave a particularly good feeling about you going."

Hands on her hips, she rolled her eyes. "Benjamin, you're not my father, you can't tell be telling me to stay away, are you?"

"No,no,no!" Ben said quickly. "Of course I can't make you stay here, I have no authority to. But that Turpin doesn't seem like a good guy. Like I said, I 'ave a bad feeling about you going and you know how good I am about those things."

She rolled her eyes again, "Ya guessed once that Lucy was 'aving a baby, but even then, 'er stomach was already growing." She avoided his gaze by looking at the side wall.

"But I was right still, wasn't I?" Silence followed, but he refused to give up. "Please Nell, don't go. Not tonight."

"I can take care of myself, Benjamin Barker."

He sighed. "I know you can, you've always been able to, but some things are harder to protect yourself from without help. What if it turned out to be one of those situations?"

Nellie started to tap her foot impatiently. She looked as if she was arguing with herself in her mind. Now it was her turn to sigh.

"I can't believe you're actually telling me not ta go."

"Not telling, just suggesting." Ben defended.

Finally, she looked him in the eye. "Fine, if makes YOU happy, I won't go. But you better have a damn good excuse to tell the carriage driver when he comes ta pick me up." She pushed him out of the way and stomped up the stairs, acting like the teenager she used to be.

If Ben was shocked before, he was really shocked now. It was the first time he had heard her use the word "damn". He stood at the bottom of the stairway, immobilized for a second, before he hurried after her. He took two steps at a time, but still only managed to get to the top in time to hear her door slam.

A/n: Can i just say I am so TERRIBLY sorry!!! I never meant for it to take this long to update! Hopfully the next chapter comes out sooner! Thank you for reading it even though it took forvever!