A/N I actually finished this yesterday, but it was so late I wanted time to go over it again the next day to make sure it wasn't all gibberish. (I was rather tired when I wrote it) Sorry for the minor delay, but- here it is.
36
She didn't even realize she had started shaking. Nellie wasn't sure if it was from fear, or some kind of demented happiness. He was concerned. Sweeney Todd was concerned, for her. Alone in the hallway she allowed a hiccup of tears to turn into a smile. She hadn't told him Johanna now knew she was his daughter, hadn't thought of a way to bring it up. He was bound to find out when she was gone, which gave her a variety of things to worry about on her return. And worrying about a return meant actually going. Because, after all, James wouldn't want her dead, and she would be damned if she was going to let a bunch of brain-dead idiots kill her.
Nellie's hands curled into her skirts and she stopped her march for the door. Her rolling pin was in the parlor. When Sweeney had first appeared she had dropped it.
Toby and Johanna would want to know where she was going. Or would they?
The baker's tremors continued as she stared at the door which held her boy. He was sick of her, frightened, and completely cold. Could she take an indifferent reaction from him when going out into a situation with a ridiculously high risk of never coming back? She could ignore them, grab it and then leave, but now that she found herself thinking about it, she wanted to say goodbye to him. Even if he pushed her away she wanted to hold him close one last time.
Her quivering fingers steadied when she grasped the door knob. Feeling tears prick at her eyes from the thought of never seeing Sweeney or Toby again, Nellie pushed open the door.
Utter silence greeted her, making her feel uncomfortable as she shuffled into the room.
"Mrs. Lovett?" Johanna asked softly.
Nellie ignored the girl and scanned the ground for her rolling pin. Spotting the filthy object, she forced herself to move towards it with deliberate steps.
"Wot you doin'?" Toby asked suspiciously.
The baker felt an odd prickle as she lifted the tool turned weapon. "I'm goin' out." She said simply.
"Why?" The insistence, and perhaps fear, in the boy's voice drew her attention.
"I'm tryin' to put an end to this mess, luv."
"On your own?" Johanna interjected.
"I'm not knockin' the whole lot down, I'm tryin' ta end their bein' monsters."
"How?" Toby insisted, expression becoming more and more troubled.
"I've got a bit of potion from the apothecary, an' some natural resistance to their bite." She smiled at her son, glad to see something other than a scowl on his face.
"That's ridiculous." The girl muttered from her chair.
"S'more than tha'! Ya ain't goin' mum, it's suicide!" Toby leapt up from his chair and ran towards Mrs. Lovett, wrapping his arms around her the moment he got close enough. "M'not lettin' ya go!" If the monsters could break down a demon like Mr. Todd, who's to say what they could do to his mum?
"Hush luv," she cooed softly, wrapping her arms around him in turn. "I'll be back."
"Ya's better!" He cried into her chest. "Ya best be comin' back mum, 'cause if not, I'll be goin' for ya!"
"Now luv, you'll never do somethin' so foolish. Ye'll be stayin' 'ere with Johanna, Sweeney and James." She felt little inclination to mention the two unconscious men, and the gaggle of frighten maids she knew were hidden about the house.
Toby sniffed away several more tears into her skirts before continuing. "I don' care who's 'ere. I don' want you ta go missin' mum. Not again." His voice grew in volume as his little speech plodded forward. "An' I didn' mean nuffin' earlier! I'd go after ya 'gain, no matter what you done, wif or wifout Mr. Todd."
"You can't leave Mr. Todd. Think about everythin' 'e's done. For both of us." The last of Nellie's words came out little more than a whisper.
Toby didn't know what to say to that, as Mr. Todd had risked himself several times that day in order to save him. He wanted to do everything he could to stay loyal to Mrs. Lovett, but he didn't know what to make of his loyalty when she was asking him to stay behind while she put herself in danger.
"She's something else, isn't she?"
Sweeney did not want to talk to James, but in his immobile state, he was the only company he could get. Though perhaps there was an advantage to that.
"Why did you do it?"
"What?"
"Make a plague for her. Why did you do it?"
The apothecary was silent a moment before simply stating, "she's amazing." It didn't bother her Sweeney had connected the dots between his twisted scheme and Eleanor.
A portion of the barber's mind agreed, but that was not the answer he was looking for. "And what does that mean to you?"
"What?" He sounded confused.
"What events make you think that." Sweeney clarified, annoyance creeping into his voice.
"I thought I told you that is none of your business."
"Pardon me," he spat. "For feeling a certain desire to know why you're sending her out to possibly die from a plague you created for her."
Sweeney only heard James's sigh, having turned his head to glare at the ceiling.
"For being so damned annoying Todd, you make a good argument."
Deciding not to press his luck, the barber stayed silent.
"I believe I came into her life several months after you left it, or should I say Benjamin left it?"
"An' tie 'em up with somethin'." Mrs. Lovett indicated towards the men with her rolling pin. "When they come 'round again I don't want ya bashin' 'em over the head."
Toby forced a small smile for her, while Johanna continued her disbelieving stare.
"I'll be seein' ya both." She finished forcefully, a grim look of determination set on her face.
The closing of the parlor door seemed to shut Nellie off from the world, while opening the front revealed a whole new one.
