Here is chapter 3. Thank you to Demolition. Lover .14, MrsNellieLovettTodd, and CadyD for reviewing. ENJOY!
The two mysterious figures gazed around the room at all of the children. The woman would often whisper in the man's ear and point around the room, in return the man would blankly n od and glance in the other direction, until the two empty eyes met. The man stared at Katie for a while, making her feel like a bug under a microscope. After a longtime, the man elbowed the woman next to him and pointed at the girl. The woman nodded and headed out the door, dragging the man behind. Katie knew what this meant, she's seen it happen so many times before. She was going to get adopted.
Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett stepped into the loud room quietly. Barely anyone noticed and even fewer cared enough to see who it was. Sweeney was glimpsing around the room as Mrs. Lovett was quietly babbling to him about some of the children. He couldn't care less about what she was talking about. He didn't even think it was a good idea to adopt a child, but Nellie thought the complete opposite. She figured that if she adopted a child with Sweeney, he might open up to her a bit. He couldn't keep squabbling in the past. It was unhealthy. Yet again, how healthy can one be when their work is slitting people's throats and their passtimes consist of pacing and brooding.
Sweeney stared at the joyful children bouncing around the room. They were too joyful for his liking. He was looking for a kid that saw the truth in life, and knew that not everything was sunshine and rainbows and puppies. That's when he saw her. She couldn't have been older than fifteen. She was pale, thin, and seemed to like dark colors. Sweeney liked her already. He felt a special connection as her dark, cold eyes stared back. He knew she was the one.
Sweeney elbowed Mrs. Lovett and pointed at the strange girl. She nodded cheerfully, hooked her arm in his, walked out the door and across the hall to the office.
The door creaked open as the two walked in. The old woman sitting at the desk looked up at the strange couple.
"May I help you?" her wrinkled lips asked.
"Yes, uh. We would like to adopt a girl." Mrs. Lovett said, knowing Sweeney wasn't going to speak up.
"Mhmm" the lady muttered, not amused. "Come with me." She stood up and led them out of the room. Retracing Sweeney and Nellie's footsteps, she led them back into the playroom. "Show me which kid."
Nellie opened her mouth to speak, but Sweeney placed a hand on her arm and pointed at the dark girl sitting in the corner of the room.
"Her," he barely said. The receptionist lady nodded and walked towards the girl. The girl stood up from where she sat and walked with the desk lady towards the couple.
"Meet Kathryn Carter," she said putting both of her hands on Katie's shoulders for a brief moment. She then bent down behind Katie and whispered in her ear. "Katie, meet your new parents."
Katie looked at her new parents. They were a strange looking couple. She liked it.
"Hi," she said a bit shyly. "I'm Kathryn, but please, call me Katie."
Katie hadn't conversed with other people for a good eight years. It felt unusual and abnormal.
"'Ello Katie. My name is Mrs. Nellie Lovett. I'm your new Mum." Nellie told her with a warm smile. The strong cockney accent surprised Katie at first, but what surprised her even more was her smile. No one smiled at her like that since Matthew was adopted. It made her feel a little happy inside.
"Hello," the man said harshly. She could tell that he had also lost something or someone important to him. "My name is Mr. Sweeney Todd. I guess I'm your new Dad."
This confused Katie a bit. "Wait, you two have different surnames. You aren't married?"
"No, love," Mum answered. "We're both widows."
She nodded in understanding and muttered, "My condolences."
"Thank ya, deary, but you don't need to pay your respects. It was such a long time ago that they died." Mrs. Lovett replied, placing a warm, loving hand on her shoulder.
"Well, if we're done with the intro, I'd like you two," the receptionist interrupted pointing to Sweeney and Nellie. "To come with me. You have to fill out papers. Katie, you go into your dorm and pack up your things. It shouldn't take long."
Katie walked down the hallway as her new parents walked back into the office.
She entered her bedroom and set her bag on top of her bed. She neatly packed her other dress, her make up, and her toothbrush. She picked up her bag and started walking out, but reluctantly stopped at the doorframe. She turned around and stared at her now bare room. She's lived there for a good part of her life, and she was finally leaving. It made her feel good. It made her feel happy. It made her feel as free as a bird.
She pivoted on her left foot and walked out of the door and down the hallway.
Sweeney and Nellie walked into the office with the desk lady trailing behind them. She shut the door and shuffled back to her desk. She motioned for the couple to sit in the two leather chairs overlooking the desk. They all sat simultaneously as the desk lady rummaged through her desk and pulled out a tiny stack of papers, a bottle of ink, and a quill. She placed them with a thud before the two.
"Now I'm going to need you two to fill this out," she said. "Do you think you can handle it?"
They both nodded as Mrs. Lovett picked up the quill, dipped it in the ink, and began to scrawl words over the parchment. When she was done filling out her half, Sweeney took over. Hi handwriting looked like scribbles compared to Mrs. Lovett's neat calligraphy. He moved down his half fairly quickly, but paused when is said, DOM. This confused Sweeney, so he looked over to Mrs. Lovett who was watching him contently.
"Do you have any bloody idea what this means?" he muttered to her, pointing at it. She read it over a couple of times in her head, searching for possibilities, but nothing came to mind. A blank expression drew upon her face as she shook her head no.
"Excuse me, mis-" Sweeney began.
"Mrs. Johnson." the desk lady interrupted.
"Mrs. Johnson, could you tell me what DOM means?" he continued.
"Date of Marriage." Mrs. Johnson replied.
This surprised Sweeney a little. Surely you didn't have to be married to adopt at child, right?
"We aren't married, though," Nellie said.
"Well," Mrs. Johnson said with a heavy sigh. "That means you'll have to fill out this." She pulled open one of her drawers and set a slightly thicker packet of parchment paper on the tabletop. Nellie and Sweeney looked at each other slowly with disbelief on their faces. After they exchanged glances, Mrs. Johnnson placed another beaker of ink and quill in front of Mrs. Lovett. "Better get started," she told her.
Mrs. Lovett picked up the quill and started to work on the contract when Katie burst in the room holding her bag. She scanned the room for another chair to sit in and found one in the opposite corner of the room. With swift movements, she found her way to the chair, and sat down.
Minutes later, all of the paper work was done, and Nellie motioned to Katie for her to follow them. She got up from her chair and quickly followed them, as the new family filed out the door.
Once they arrived at the pie shop, Mrs. Lovett took out her key and stuck it in the keyhole. With a quick twist of her hand, the door was open. They all stepped into the shop and Katie's eyes immediately grew larger in adoration. It was not too bright, but not too dull. It was not clean, but not that dirty. It was not too fancy, but not too shabby. It was nothing short of perfect.
Sweeney and Nellie stepped back to watch their daughter's reaction and their hands grazed. Sweeney quickly pulled his back into his other hand, blushing a bit, as Nellie's eyes averted to the floor, but she looked up just in time to see Katie's face light up in excitement.
"Welcome home," she said in a sweet tone, and in the corner of her eye she could've sworn she saw a small smile form on Sweeney's face.
Awwww... Sweeney smiled :3 Sweenett moment right there. Please R&R! It would be greatly appreciated. I do accept anonymous reviews.