Author's notes: I just went to see Marley and Me with my friends at the cinema and it was so sad - we were all crying (it was kind of embarassing). But enough about me, more about the chapter. This one is one of my favourites and is actually all my own creation - it's based around the song Johanna Reprise, but I couldn't really put that into dialogue so I just came up with this. It's also about the closest Sweeney and Sarah are going to get to being a couple - sorry Neighbourhood Squirrals.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sweeney Todd, its plot or its characters.

Chapter 7 – Goodbye Johanna

As the weeks passed, I slowly became used to what we were doing. When I woke up every morning, I'd rush up to see Mr Todd. Believe it or not, we were beginning to become almost what you'd call friends, and would spend the first few hours before customers talking. We'd talk about my life, his life (rarely) and how to kill the Judge.

"Why do you have to kill him?" was the question I asked over and over. My reply was: "Like you said, he deserves it."

It was true, I had said that once, and I really regretted it.

I'd help out with each customer, who were never in the chair more than five minutes before their throat was slit.

There was thing I was thankful to Sweeney for though. He would always ask a customer if they had any family, and if they answered yes, he wouldn't kill them.

One morning when I opened the door, Sweeney was pacing up and down.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm trying to think how to make it easier to get the customers into the bakehouse."

He was right; it was a very unpleasant job, having to drag a blood-covered body down the stairs and into the bakehouse. We always had to check the street was quiet too.

"Why don't you rig the chair up so it'll tip back?"

"How will that work?" he asked.

"Well, Nelly told me that there's a chute into the bakehouse from up here, for putting waste scraps down. Look, here's the trapdoor."

He nodded.

"You're a genius," he muttered.

Then he set to work. I closed the shop up for the day, and watched him. He was using levers and cogs and pedals and flaps – it was a mechanical marvel.

He finished at about nine o' clock at night. He'd built it so that when he stamped on the pedal, the chair would tip backwards and the trapdoor would open, sending the body down the chute. It was brilliant.

Our first customer the next day brought his wife and child along. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he would leave the shop alive.

I sat down next to them.

"Hello," I smiled, greeting the well dressed woman and her young daughter, who must've been around six.

"Hello," she said, smiling pleasantly. "You're very lucky to have such a husband. Best barber in London, people are saying. Especially since that Italian one disappeared. Who knows where he went…"

"Oh, he's not my husband," I corrected her, blushing.

"Oh, I apologize. Partner?"

"No. I just work for him."

"Oh…Well, I'm very sorry. But he seems like a wonderful man."

"Well he is if you get on the right side of him," I smiled.

She laughed. I decided to speak to the girl.

"Hello sweetheart. What's your name?"

"Hannah."

"Very pretty."

The woman was watching me and smiling.

"You have a way with children, Miss…"

"Perkins. And thank you, I've never had a younger sibling, so I don't know why."

She laughed again. She was a lovely woman.

"It seems Mr Todd is done with your husband," I said, seeing the man stand up.

"Oh, he's not my husband!" she cried, seeming shocked. "He's just a friend of my real husband's."

I felt myself go red as Sweeney glared at me.

When they were gone I said:

"You couldn't have killed him anyway, what with them there."

To my surprise, he wasn't angry.

"I know. It just made me think of Johanna."

I sighed. He was impossible to talk to when he was like that.

The rest of the customers that day were unmarried and alone, except for one. That put Mr Todd in a better mood.

"I'm tired," I yawned.

"Well, get some rest, we won't have many more customers."

"Thank you," I sighed, falling onto his bed.

It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

"Who's the girl?"

"Just, my wife, Sarah. Keep your voice down please sir, I don't wish to wake her."

The conversation I heard shocked me. Sweeney had called me his wife! Was I dreaming? I couldn't let them know I was awake, so I decided to listen on.

"Pretty little thing isn't she?"

"Yes sir, very pretty."

I felt myself blush at Sweeney's words, but realised that he was probably just playing along.

"Have any family of your own sir?" he asked. This was the life-or-death question.

"No, my wife and son died a few years ago. Terrible accident, the carriage they were in over-turned. I wish they were still here…" He sounded so sad; maybe it would have been better if he was put out of his misery.

"That is a shame sir…"

Then I heard a horrible noise and some gurgling, then the sound of the chair tipping. I heard footsteps coming towards me, and rolled to face them.

When I felt shadow over my face, I opened my eyes.

"Why did you say I was your wife?" I demanded.

He must've jumped a mile. It was quite comical.

"How long have you been awake for?"

"Long enough to hear you call me your wife!"

He sighed awkwardly.

"They always ask. I've just found it the easiest answer," he explained.

I sighed in relief.

"For a moment there I thought you knew something you weren't letting on to."

He chuckled, and wiped the blood of his razor. The sound of the door tinkling made us turn around. And I couldn't believe who I saw there.

"Get out!" I screamed, jumping up.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?" asked Mark, confused.

"Enjoying my life, now get out!"

I marched up to him and slapped him across the face.

"What was that for?"

"What do you think?" he shook his head. "It was for leaving me for some ugly, boil-nosed, grocery girl!"

"I'm sorry, but we split up…"

"Well don't come crawling back to me!" I yelled, lunging for him.

Sweeney grabbed me and pulled me back.

"Get out," he calmly told Mark.

He nodded and left, looking at me uncomfortably.

"And don't come back!" I called after him.

Mr Todd didn't release me until he had disappeared round the corner.

I sighed madly and threw myself on the bed. He shut the door, turning the sign to closed.

"I've never seen you so cross," he laughed, clearly amused, sitting next to me on the bed.

"The nerve of that man!" I huffed.

"You've never shouted at me like that before…"

I looked at him.

"Yes, and you've done some very stupid things. But believe me, I've wanted to."

"Never slapped me before either."

"I've learnt not to slap a man with razors."

He laughed. A proper laugh too, like when he and Nelly came up with the pie idea.

Then it stopped, as suddenly as it started. He walked towards the dresser and picked up the photo, sitting down in the chair with it. He ran his fingers across the glass, leaving small trails of blood from the last customer.

"Don't do that, you'll make it dirty," I sighed, pulling it out of his hands. I placed it back on the dresser and looked into his miserable face.

"Don't give up hope completely on Johanna; you still might see her one day."

"No," he muttered. "She'd just be beautiful and pale, like her mother."

"What's wrong with that?"

"She'd look too much like her…"

"Well, even though she's gone, she's still yours. You're still her father."

He nodded.

"I'm getting used to the truth. Maybe it's best that way."

I smiled.

"Maybe it is. Goodnight Mr Todd."

I stood up to leave, planting a kiss on his cheek as I left. He looked at me surprised.

"Goodnight Sarah."

But as I shut the door, I heard his soft words –

"Goodbye Johanna."

Author's notes: Yet another Sarah tantrum. I hope I managed to keep Sweeney in character, but I like the idea of him having a friend - he seems so lonely (sigh). Please review x