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"What did you do to 'im?!"
"I just gave him something-"
"James, what did you give him?" Mrs. Lovett's voice was going higher in pitch with each angry statement.
"I just wanted him to stay out for a while, so he wouldn't hurt himself further." He continue patiently.
The baker glared at him and he felt chills in his spine. "'E'd better wake up."
"Eleanor, it was just something to knock him out so I could bind up his ribs."
The woman leaned against a clear section of his work space, crossing her arms and reminding him of a teenager. She didn't look at him, and instead turned her attention to wall. "Wot are we gunna do?" She finally asked.
He stayed quiet, not understanding what situation she wanted an answer for.
"'Ow much food to we 'ave? Water?"
James finally understood, but remained silent so she could carry out her thoughts. Eleanor was an amazing woman, able to push aside nearly anything to look at the real problems. What was really going on, and what affected all of them.
"Are we gunna 'ave ta move? Can we?"
"Of course we can make it to another place."
"Can Sweeney?"
The way she casually adapted to the use of the man's first name irritated him, but he pushed the feeling away. "The man seems able to manage." His voice was steely despite his attempt sot mask his emotions.
Her brief silence made him wonder if she hadn't caught his tone of voice. He rather hoped she hadn't.
"Are ya jealous?"
His squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "I think I am."
"Did ya think anythin' we 'ad was goin' ta come back?"
"I rather hoped it would, Eleanor. Our... parting from one another was less than perfect, but we didn't sever things very surely."
She snorted. "Now ya make it sweet."
"I was angry, and so were you."
"Don't try an' patch us back together."
"Why? Why Eleanor? How do you expect me to react? You were practically my fiancé! And then you threw me out and locked up your shop. How do you expect me to react to seeing you with him?"
"I am not with 'im. An' ya know very well why I sent you away."
Even through her sternness and everything she tried to direct towards him, James heard the longing in her voice even during the barber's brief mention. His grey eyes flickered towards the barber's still form and he scowled.
"You throw me out and don't talk to me for years, but when a supposed dead man shows up at your door and starts to murder people you decide to cover it up for him?" Feeling restless, James moved towards Eleanor. "The two things, small by comparison, I had done frightened you! And yet this, man doesn't?" She looked up as he neared her, though she didn't move of change her facial expression when he put his arms to either side of her, pining her between him and the wall. "I thought you loved me."
She looked worried, almost scared, and their were tears at the corner of her eyes. "I did too."
James stared at her, hurt and longing on his face, unknowingly mirroring the look the baker normally gave Sweeney every day. He slowly leaned closer to her.
At first it was the exhaustion, simply dragging him back to that blissful state of unaware. But like before, he fought against it, only this time he couldn't win. He felt like panicking as unconsciousness seemed to force itself on him. Sweeney wanted to open his eyes, speak, move, anything but lie still and sleep. What had that apothecary given him? He needed rest, yet the forcefulness of the drug made him uneasy. Plus there was strong suspicion in the back of his mind about the man and everything he had to do with Mrs. Lovett.
Surely, in all her endless conversation, something about him must have come up?
He stopped himself from thinking 'she wouldn't hide anything from me'. She had lied about Lucy, and even without the aid of whatever drug was in his system Sweeney was sure he would have been unable to define his emotions on the matter. His emotions had been strange that entire day, and looking back on the past with a new perspective was not something a man like him could do. Things weren't supposed to come along and change his life. That couldn't happen, he was an unchangeable force, nearly a machine over a human being. But Mrs. Lovett had done it.
Nellie had gotten under his skin so deep that, on occasion, she forced him to think about things differently. To think about new possibilities. Sweeney Todd did not want to think about those types of things.
The barber fought a moment longer against drugs, exhaustion and weakness before letting himself drift off fully.
He didn't even want to touch on the fact Nellie was coming to mind more than Lucy.
Since he knocked out the judge, Johanna had refrained from starting anymore conversation with Toby. The child frightened her slightly, and she wondered what he would think if he knew he reminded her of the barber. He most definitely wouldn't take to it kindly.
Tobias tried to relax his muscles and stop thinking. His mind was full of so many possibilities and what ifs all going at high speed that he felt his head was going to explode. He needed a break from his thoughts, wanted a break. The boy turned his attention hesitantly to the blonde girl, who was sitting rather nervously in her chair. A part of him realized she was probably nervous because of him, making him feel guilty.
"Do ya.. do ya want to talk at me about anythin'?" He asked quietly.
"Like what?"
"I don' know. Tha' boy ya like?"
She blushed slightly, realizing that 'a boy I know' had translated easy enough for the lad. "Anthony?"
Toby nodded.
A/N Heh... Don't ch'y'all just love James? And Toby's adorable awkwardness?
