Thank you to:

M. Cullen Hightopp - I can imagine Joey doing that as well...I may have to include it!

freakyfriday13 - I don't know if updation is word, but it's still pretty awesome! And yes, it is still Joey, but she believes she is Johanna Barker. And thank you!

xBadxRomancesx - That's ok, I hope it hasn't been too stressful!

xXEmoVampirateXx - The Judge is a horrible perve! And thank you very much!

The three songs sung in this chapter are (in order):

Mona Lisa - All American Rejects

Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars and

Alice - Avril Lavigne

Chapter Seventeen

I stared up at Sweeney with wide eyes, unable to speak. He glared down at me with a murderous gaze.

"What are you doing?" He growled.

I couldn't speak. I opened my mouth to, but the words got stuck in my throat.

"Well?" He demanded, pressing the razor closer to my throat. Letting out a squeak of fear, I did the one thing I knew would distract him.

I burst into tears.

I let out a loud wail as I began crying, tears running down my cheeks at an uncontrollable rate. My whole body began shaking as I cried, loud sobs that echoed through the room.

Sweeney stepped away from me, obviously disgusted. His expression only made me cry harder.

To my surprise, I wasn't just distracting him from killing me. I was properly crying.

I was tired. I just wanted my Dad and Granddad to not be dead and be at home with my family and not have to care about Sweeney and Mrs Lovett and be normal and stress out about homework!

I wanted a normal life.

Still sobbing, I slid onto the floor, curling my legs up so I could hug them and burying my face into my knees.

"Stop it." Sweeney said. I couldn't. I kept crying.

"I said stop it."

My sobs slowly began subsiding, but the tears didn't stop completely.

"Here."

I raised my head hesitantly to see Sweeney holding out a plain wipe, thrusting it into my face. I stared at him quizically.

"Wipe your face." He muttered. I reached out with a shaking hand and took the wipe.

"T-thank you." I said, my voice hoarse and my throat sore.

As I held the wipe to my face to wipe the tears off it, I caught the scent. It was very subtle, and it was probably just my imagination, but it reminded me of Mum.

Another bout of tears began running down my face.

"What now?" Sweeney demanded angrily, seeing the tears.

"I miss my Mum." I whispered.

He didn't respond, but I noticed his glare disappeared as he turned away. I wiped the tears off my face and slowly stood up.

"I-I'm s-sorry...I'll..."

"Why do you miss her?" Sweeney asked suddenly. I frowned.

"What?"

"Your Mother...why do you miss her?" He asked quietly, not looking at me.

"Because she's my Mum...I love her."

Sweeney nodded silently. I reached out to place my hand on his arm, but he moved away, standing by the window. I hesitated before followign him.

I didn't say anything as I placed my arms on the windowsill, resting my head in my hands, and gazed out.

"You can sit beside me when the world comes down, if it doesn't matter than just turn around. We don't need our bags, and we can just leave town. You can sit beside me when the world comes down."

"What?" Sweeney asked, looking down at me. I smiled.

"It's a song. It's called Mona Lisa, by my favourite band, All American Rejects."

Sweeney frowned as he looked away, his eyes staring out of the window.

"Sometimes it feels as the world is coming down for me." He admitted quietly.

"I think everyone feels like that once in a while." I said. Without another word, I left the shop.

I didn't say anything about our talk the next day to anyone. I think I must've looked tired, as Ben and Nellie kept asking me if something was wrong while we ate breakfast.

"There's nothing wrong." I insisted in annoyance.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

At that point, Mrs Lovett bustled into the room, meaning they couldn't continue pestering me.

"Nellie, Amy, you couldn't be lovely and help me out today, could you?" She asked. "It's just that I have so much to do today."

"Of course, Mrs Lovett." I answered quickly. Nellie sighed before nodding relucantantly.

"Sure, whatever."

"Brilliant!"

After a quick lesson on how to make pies (most of which Nellie didn't listen to), Mrs Lovett left us to it while she went out to the market.

"Are you sure you're alright, Amz?" Nellie asked as she rolled out the pastry. I nodded

"Yep, I'm fine."

Nellie shot a suspicious look at me, but didn't press on. As we worked, she began humming under her breath. I grinned.

"You're amazing, just the way you are!" I sung. Nellie laughed.

"You recognized it!"

After a while, Nellie and I gave up on making pies and moved to seperate ends of the shop, facing each other with pained expressions and our arms outstretched.

"When I see your face!" I sung.

"When I see your face!" She echoed.

"There's not a thing I would change!" We sung together just as the door opened.

"Oh, sorry girls!" Mrs Lovett said. "Was that you two singing just now?"

We blushed as I reluctantly nodded. Mrs Lovett smiled.

"It was beautiful! We could use you two singing to attract customers! It was what Toby used...to...do..." Mrs Lovett's voice trailed off as the side door opened, making Nellie and I turn around.

Sweeney Todd stood in the doorway.

"Oh, hello, Mr T! We didn't disturb you, did we?" Mrs Lovett asked.

"No." He muttered.

Nellie rolled her eyes and moved to sit down. Without looking Sweeney in the eye, I also sat down, keeping my head down.

"So how can I help you, love?"

Sweeney didn't answer at first, and I could feel his eyes on me. I reluctantly looked up and met them.

"We need to help Joey." He suddenly announced. My eyes widened.

"Really?"

He offered me a small grin, which I happily returned.

"Finally!" Nellie cried, but hugged me in delight. I hugged her back, a large grin on my face.

"Thank you." I said, looking from Mrs Lovett to Sweeney.

"That's alright, love." Mrs Lovett said, smiling at me. Jumping up, I grabbed Nellie's hand.

"Come on, let's tell Ben!" I said happily, pulling into the back room. Ben was lounging on the sofa, reading. Grinning, I jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"We're gonna find Mum!" I cried before he could question me.

"What?"

"Mum! We're gonna help her!" Nellie said, also joining in our hug.

Ben, unable to speak, let a joyful laugh and hugged us both with his strong arms.

"This is great!" He said.

"It's better than great!" I told him. "It's amazing, fabulous, brilliant! We're gonna find Mum and go home!"

Squealing with joy, Ben, Nellie and I hugged again.

Standing in the doorway, Mrs Lovett watched us with a fond smile. Sweeney stood behind her, his small grin still in place.

"Come on, Amz, give us a song!" Ben urged, jumping up and gently shoving me towards the piano. I grinned up at him and moved towards it, sitting myself on the bench.

My hands gently rested on the piano, and I smiled as I began playing a loud, energetic song.

"Trippin out, spinning around. I'm underground, I fell down. Yeah I fell down," I sung. "I'm freaking out, where am I now. Upside down and I can't stop it now. Can't stop me now, oh oh..."

Nellie grinned and stood behind me, joining in with the chorus. Ben also grinned, joining in.

"We, we'llget by. We, we'll survive. When the world's crashing down, when we fall and hit the ground, we will turn ourselves around. Don't you try to stop us. We, we won't cry!"

This was it.

We were going to get by. Our world was crashing down, but we didn't care. We would find Mum, go home and everything would be fine.

We were going to survive.