35

When James left the room, Sweeney was tempted to scream all manner of nasty things after the man. Instead, it came to him he was, in fact, very tired. And thirsty, which irritated him, and briefly made him want to scream again. Instead of sleeping, the barber allowed all of his anger to build up and keep him awake. How dare the man accuse him of being so self-centered… how dare he continue to insult his wife in such a manner?

Glaring at the ceiling, he hardly noticed the approaching voices. Oh, he had gone off and run to Eleanor, had he? What was she going to do, coax him into drinking more medicine? He turned his head towards the door, a fixed glare on his face, just in time to see her walk through it.

A very annoyed expression was on her face, but the moment her eyes went to him she seemed to relax and smile.

"Thank God 'e didn't kill you!"

That wasn't what Sweeney was expecting, which caused his previous expression to fall to one of surpise. As Nellie moved towards him he craned to look around her, catching sight of the apothecary loitering at his own door.

James sighed. "I told you I didn't."

"'Ow can you expect me to believe you? After everythin', after what you jus' asked me to do."

Sweeney's eyes snapped away from the apothecary and landed on the baker's in shock as she placed a hand softly to his cheek.

"After everything," James stressed. "How could you think I would want you dead?"

Instead of glaring at the two other people in the room, as part of his mind was trying to get him to do, the barber found himself staring at Nellie's face. She was smiling, but he brushed that fact aside. She had smiled at him countless times before. He just never took the time to really notice then…

The baker let out an exaggerated sigh, smile fading. "Ya know very well why I'm assumin'."

"Are you still going to do it?"

"Do what?" Sweeney demanded, just realizing they were talking about something he didn't know. He mentally cursed Nellie's eyes for being so distracting.

"On the account of ya making me the last bloody 'ope, I'll be doin' it."

Why wasn't she answering him? "What?" Sweeney repeated, tone sharpening.

"Here, I'll get it." James headed across the room and began to dig through his things.

Mrs. Lovett attempted to follow him, but Sweeney grabber her arm. "What are you doing?" He wanted to sit up and look her in the eye levelly to demand an answer, but no matter how awake his mind was, his body was exhausted.

"She's saving us."

His eyes darted over to the apothecary, annoyed that he wasn't getting his answer from whom he was asking the question. "From what?"

"The beasties luv."

"Shouldn't he be fixing his own problems?"

"I said the same thing." The woman sighed.

"Then why isn't he? What are you doing?"

Surprised, though oddly enjoying the attention the barber was giving her, all Eleanor could do was stare at him. He was staring back at her, and didn't seem to find anything odd about his behavior. Which was odd in itself.

"I'm tryin' ta spread 'is cure luv."

"Cure? What's the point?"

"If it works, it'll stop the spread. If it doesn't, we'll be runnin' from the rest of the world fer the rest of our time."

"It'll spread that far?" An unfamiliar note of worry crept into his voice.

"I'm afraid so." James kept his gaze on the objects in his hands over looking towards the pair. He felt an uncomfortable feeling creep back into him just by being in the same room as them. Just like he didn't belong.

"Why is she doing it?" The barber growled, fixing the apothecary with a well built up glare.

"'E made me unappetizin' ta the monsters."

"What?" Sweeney turned his head back to Nellie, making him feel uneasily dizzy.

Apparently noticing his unease, she frowned and pulled her hand from his grasp. "Ya feelin' any worse, any bet'er?" She asked worriedly, placing a hand to his forehead.

"Once again, I'm fine." He swatted her hand away.

"You have at least one broken rib and split open most of your back, losing a lot of blood in the process." James protested.

"I'm alive, I'm fine." Sweeney snapped back.

Nellie bit her lip, still looking worried.

"I'm fine." The barber repeated, glad the familiar feeling of annoyance for the woman was back in place. Being so distracted by her was... distracting.

She slowly nodded her head, still looking worried. Her mouth opened slightly as if she was about to say something, and then she closed it quickly. Sweeney narrowed his eyes in suspicion, now detecting more than just worry for his health.

"Do you want to leave right now, Eleanor?" James prodded softly.

The barber gave a silent huff at the other man's insistence.

"The sooner the be'er I suppose." The woman sighed. "'Ere, give 'em ta me." She held out her hand to the apothecary.

The phials chimed softy as they collided during the exchange of hands, eyes fixed on them with a strange intensity. Before Nellie could pull away, James took hold of her hand.

"Standing water, groups of them. You can burn it, but I don't know how much good that will do."

Her lips curved into a slight smile as she pulled her hand away. "Yes James."

Sweeney watched her head for the door silently, mad at himself for feeling so strangely when James had taken her hand. The baker paused in the doorway, looking back at Sweeney and glad to find a small, yet worried frown on his face.


A/N An' I march 'em out to the front lines. The next few chapters are gunna be fun.. Though, and hopefully this wont happen, I may miss an update or two due to finals :( Toodles oodle noodles!