32
It was a familiar feeling, and one that did not particularly bother Nellie. But the butterflies and hammering heart were absent; if they had ever been present. She pulled back from James's kiss and looked down.
She took a breath to steady herself. "J-" The baker paused, collecting herself. "Mayhew."
The apothecary had pulled back from her, and she was determined not to look at him.
"Don't."
The man practically stumbled away from her, heading towards his side of the room. "That's how everything is going to end? 'Mayhew. Don't.'?"
"I jus' can't. An'… I don't want to go back ta that."
"You… you love him, don't you?"
She looked up, surprised to see the question on his face, and nothing else. Not angry, or sad, just looking for an answer. All Nellie managed was a nod. He turned away form her so suddenly she was unsure if he had really moved. The silence that filled the room scared her, just as much as the unknown of what James could be thinking at that moment.
"I…I'm going ta go check up on Johanna an' Toby…"
"I need to make a salve for his wounds anyway."
The unnatural calm in Mayhew's voice made Mrs. Lovett dash out the door with only a parting glance to Sweeney's form.
"And then he came! Oh, he said he wanted to help me escape and-" Johanna's breathless retelling stopped short when the parlor door suddenly opened. She and Toby stared at Mrs. Lovett, who had pressed her back against he door the moment she was inside. She was taking slow breaths to calm herself, making the young pair suspicious of what had caused her distress.
"Ma'm?" Johanna asked tentatively.
Her eyes snapped to the girl and she stared a moment before seeming to realize how strange she appeared. She coughed lightly and stepped away from the door. "Sorry luv."
"Is Mr. Todd going to be alright?"
"I 'ope so. E's asleep now."
Toby turned away from the baker, and instead focused his attention to the unconscious men on the floor.
"No trouble from them, then?" Mrs. Lovett asked, taking notice of them when Toby looked away.
"The judge.. woke up." The girl spoke hesitantly. "But, uh… Toby knocked him back out."
"'Ow?"
"He hit him with the chair." Her voice dropped to nearly a whisper.
"Is 'e even still alive?!" Mrs. Lovett asked, striding over to the man's body to check for a pulse. Mr. Todd would be more than angry if his revenge was taken from him. The baker highly doubted anything would be able to compensate for the murder of the judge. She kneeled down slowly and placed her fingers to his neck.
"Well?"
Mrs. Lovett looked up in surprise at hearing Toby's voice. Her heart sank slightly when she realize he wasn't looking at her. "Thankfully, luv, yes." The baker stood back up.
"Thankfully?" Johanna gawped.
"Mr. T-"
"'E wants 'im dead." Toby overrode Mrs. Lovett. "We was in the bake house… Looked right like a demon, an' all 'e said was 'judge'."
Granted, Sweeney tended to get carried away when the judge was involved, but Mrs. Lovett doubted the man could strictly look like a demon. Then again, she recalled the brief look of sick joy on his face when he smashed the beadle's head to the wall. The judge would have probably received much worse, with a much more delighted look to go with it.
"Why does he want him dead?" Toby had informed Johanna that Mr. Todd hated the judge, but what would drive a man to want to see someone dead? And what could have caused it, for that man to put himself in danger to achieve the other's death? He had been in a right state when he appeared in the parlor, but he had leapt up at the sight of the judge, suddenly full of energy. It seemed rather unnatural, now that Johanna thought back on it.
The children fixed their eyes on Mrs. Lovett, who was fidgeting and doing her best to ignore them.
