A/N GAH! I have not updated in SO LONG! I am so sorry to everyone who has waited, but I'm incredibly happy that you're back and reading! Now what the hell was I doing? Well... in three weeks and four days- I watched the entire X-Files series (minus two episodes in season one but including both films!). I would have been done sooner but remarkably other things came up in my life. Though seeing as I have no plans to watch another series (I'm still twitching over all the alien conspiracies) I plan on going back to a regular schedule, or really just updating more frequently.

Thank you all so much for sticking around! ('cause if you didn't you wouldn't be reading this) Hugs and kisses for all! (Don't worry, I don't think lunacy in contagious)


42

"Anthony, please, just…" Just tell me where you've been. But the question made Johanna feel selfish, so she changed it to one of more pressing concerns. "Can you tell me what happened?"

The sailor was shaking slightly as he dug through the cabinets in search of a pot or a basin to hold water. A large tub of water was already in the kitchen, and though it had probably been originally intended for dishes it had been abandoned for one reason or another. Anthony froze at Johanna's question, hands wrapped tightly around a large porcelain bowl.

He kept his back to her, and his voice barely reached Johanna's ears. "I… After everything… I wanted to get help from Mr. Todd." Anthony slowly turned around, looking sheepish. "I was so worried about you Johanna, but when I got to the shop everything was burned. I dug through everything trying to find if they were inside when it happened…" He started to frown, eyes going down to the bowl in his hands. "The stairs… from the way everything else was destroyed it was strange that they were still standing. I had no idea why she was up there to begin with, I called to her, but I don't think she heard me."

Johanna felt a great deal of confusion, why would Mrs. Lovett return to her shop if it was burned down?

"I mean… Mr. Todd's shop was just as destroyed as hers."

The girl recalled her conversation with Toby, but she had no idea what could have been so important to Todd that Mrs. Lovett would willingly risk her own life for it. Especially if the shop was burned, how would she have known it would have survived? Even with that scenario in mind, Johanna still found it difficult to think of Mrs. Lovett as that devoted to the man. Then again, she was an accomplice to his murders.

"She noticed me when she was coming back down- it must have been a miracle that they held on the way up. She was barely down when they collapsed." As if suddenly remembering he was supposed to helping Mrs. Lovett recover, Anthony hurried to fill the bowl with water. "I pulled the beams off of her but after she told me to come here she passed out."

Johanna felt part of herself grow cold in dread.

As if noticing her change of thought Anthony remembered the other request. "He- he asked for needle and thread too."

She barely nodded her head before she ran from the room to fetch her sewing kit.


Pulling himself up from the floor Toby hurriedly scrubbed at the tears on his face. Not knowing how long he had been crying his eyes out only made him feel more guilty. Not caring to check on the 'prisoners' Toby hurried out into the hall, determined to at least see Mrs. Lovett. His mum needed someone, and he doubted either man she had with her would do.

The increased volume of curses led the boy to the door of the lab but instead of marching inside and taking his mum's hand, he froze. The view given to him was one that he had never expected to see. The last he had seen of Mr. Todd the man had been unconscious and bleeding, much like his mum. Now the demon was standing over Mrs. Lovett, the strangest expression of concern plastered on his face. Toby felt the blood slowly drain from his face as the barber's pale finger traced a tender path down the baker's cheek. What gave that man the right after everything he had done?

Everything he had done…

It made the boy increasingly sick when he realized Mr. Todd's last few acts had been in protection of Mrs. Lovett. How he had been trying to find ways to escape and find her, how he wanted to chase after her. Those torturous facts only served to remind Toby of how he had hindered the barber's progress. Before his mind could even start working on how Mayhew knew at least how to stitch his mum up, he was pushed from his place at the door by Anthony. The sailor barely seemed to notice Toby, and instead looked frightened at the prospect of having to interrupt the cursing apothecary with his delivery.

Turning away from the door Toby decided to move before he got in anyone else's way.


Johanna got the strangest sense of nostalgia upon entering her room. As if the space had suddenly turned into a monument to remember the very much active and alive Mrs. Lovett. Shaking off the feeling the blonde hurried to where she kept her sewing kit. Having no idea of what Mayhew would need, she grabbed the box with both hands and headed back towards her door.

Her body froze before she could fully leave the room, and Johanna slowly turned her head to look back on the empty space. It was as if ghosts suddenly inhabited her room. A shiver crept through her body before she bolted for the stairs, determined not to let those dark thoughts brew any longer.

Mrs. Lovett was not going to die.


Breaking another chair only served to vent part of Toby's turbulent emotions. Though the furniture's destruction was not for removing his feelings, it did help make the boy feel better. Picking up a leg from the chair he smashed off the last bit of frame that still stubbornly clung to it. Giving the weapon a few experimental swipes through the air, Toby gave a content nod of his head.

Though an intact chair was more useful against the monsters, a smaller piece was much more maneuverable. Now if he only had gin and a few matches… He roughly pushed the thought aside, as it only served to remind him of Mr. Todd.

Slinking back out into the hallway, Toby paused to listen- wondering if anyone heard the crash of breaking wood. When no footsteps appeared to be coming his way he sprinted down the hall towards the door. He felt he had to run, for if he walked he would surely loose his nerve, and he couldn't allow that to happen. Toby wanted to do the one thing he seemed to good for- reduce the London monster population.

He blocked out all thoughts of Mrs. Lovett as he stepped outside of the Judge's home.