The salty sea air tickled the inside of Kagome's nose and sent her dark pigtails flying. She stared out at the wide open ocean, a blue so deep it almost reflected the baby blue sky. "Kagome!" Nellie called out to her from their spot under a tall tree, its green leaves wavering in the light breeze.
Kagome stood up, the shells she had collected cradled in her small arms, and skipped over. The baker, apothecary and the barber were all settled on a picnic blanket, a light lunch Nellie had made spread out before them all. "Enjoyin' the sea, love?" she asked as the girl neared and sat crossed legged on.
"Oh, Yes, mum, very much so!" she replied, a huge grin stretched over her flushed face. She spilled the shells onto the blanket. "Look at all the shells I found in the sand!"
James picked up a sand dollar and looked at it curiously. "Quite a find," he smiled. "an' I'm guessin' you're to be sellin' these?" The girl looked at him, crest fallen. "W-Well, I-I was hoping to m-make a necklace out of them." she dropped her stare to the shells and pouted. "But if you wanna go and sell 'em..."
The apothecary let out a deep chuckle and patted her head. "Oh, love, I was only jokin'!" Nellie smiled softly at him and watched Kagome laugh with him. She turned her attention to the broody barber beside her.
"An' 'ow are you likin' the sea, Mr. T?" he only grunted lowly in reply and stared out at the sea, seeing nothing. She sighed and tried to make conversation. "Now tha' business is lookin' up, money comin' in regular-like, I was thinking of gettin' some nice taxidermy for the courtyard." she looked casually at Sweeney.
"Wonderful idea, love!" James exclaimed to left, smiling happily. "That'll give the place a real 'omey feel, it will." he wrapped his arm around his wife and kissed her cheek, savoring the low, throaty growl Sweeney made. "Bloody brilliant ya are." he complimented.
Nellie forced a slightly strained smiled and leaned into him. Secretly, she was disappointed it wasn't the dark barber she was leaning on.
Kagome stood and dusted the sand of her light blue bathing costume. "I'm gonna go find some more shells." she informed and ran off with James' nod of approval. "You know, Stewart," Sweeney said deeply, a small smirk on his pale face. "It was Nellie's idea for the new meat supply."
James glared daggers at him and tightened his hold on his wife. "I'm well aware, Todd; how on Earth could someone like you come up with such a..." he paused. "resourceful an' unfounded idea." he spat uncertainly.
Nellie swallowed nervously, fiddling the hem of her bathing suit. Sweeney's smirk widened and he stared deeply at the baker, trying his best to contort his features into a friendly smile. "The bloody wonder that you are, pet." She felt her face heat up and knew it had nothing to do with the shinning sun as she stared into the barber's deep, dark eyes. She felt herself lean ever so slightly toward him, his pitch-black stare pulling her in deeper...
She let out a gasp of surprise as she fell face first into a strawberry pie she had made that morning. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Kagome gasped as she ran towards them. Nellie felt a pair of large warm hands roughly take her by the shoulders and pull her into a sitting position. She stared at Sweeney's sulky expression through the gooey red juice that thickly coated her pale face.
"Oops," James spoke up lightly, a hand held up to his mouth in mock surprise. "W-wot the bloody-", "I'm so sorry, mum! I thought Mr. Stewart was going to catch it." Kagome apologized as she handed the baker a handful of napkins. Nellie, after wiping the sticky juices from her face, stared at the raggedy beach ball cradled in the girl's arm.
"Sorry, love, little bugger flew right past me." he chirped almost gleefully, turning his attention to a Blueberry scone he'd picked up.
She glared at him, frustrated at how she had been so rudely shoved into the pastry. "Yeah, that an' the warm bed you were gonna sleep in tonigh'." the baker hissed angrily. James stared at his wife, dumbfounded.
"B-B-But I", "No, y know wot? I'm gonna go for a swim." she said firmly, stood up, and strode out toward the beach, her face flushed with anger "Oh, I wanna come!" Kagome yelled happily and ran to catch up with her. After the two were out of earshot, James fixed Sweeney with the dirtiest look he could muster.
"You're the most despicable bastard I've ever met." he snarled. The barber looked at him tiredly.
"Feel better, Stewart?"
"Yes I do, actually." the apothecary replied soberly. Sweeney rolled his eyes and stared at Nellie, who was just reaching the waters with the girl. "You should just give up, you know."
James clenched his jaw and stared straight ahead. "I will not refuse the fact that my wife is faithful-", "You mean hope." the barber grinned wickedly. James growled, but kept his stare straight. "Just because you lost your pretty li'l Lucy to the Judge, doesn't you can go after the one you missed out on." he hissed.
A fist reached over and gripped the apothecary by the front of his tanned bathing costume. Sweeney brought their faces within a inch of each other. Eyes aflame and teeth bared, he snarled, "Don't you DARE speak of her to me! You are worth the air you breath, let alone worthy to even utter her name!"
James stared at the other man defiantly, determined not to let the fear that coursed through his veins shine through his eyes. He shoved him back and jerked away from him. "Bloody crazy old loon." he muttered.
Kagome's beach ball came zooming toward him out of the corner of his eye and smacked him hard in the face with a sharp SMACK! Head spinning and face hot, James stared through tears at Sweeney, who was grinning madly to himself. There was a short pause of surprise before the apothecary retaliated by chucking a jagged sea shell at the barber. The two continued to fire shells at each other and, when the shells had run out, resorted to throwing fistfuls of sand at each other.
They all returned home quickly at the end of the day, all in less than good spirits: The conversation between the barber and apothecary had left both men in murderous moods, Nellie was still in a foul mood due to the incident with the pie and how both men were acting like children, and Kagome's ball and shells had been 'stolen', leaving her disappointed because they had decided to leave and she knew they wouldn't return to the for some time to collect more.
The next morning, Nellie climbed the many steps upstairs to the barber's. Not bothering to knock, she let herself in, the bell above giving a tired tink, tink, tink.
"Brough' ya some breakfast, Mr. T," she chirped. Ignoring her, Sweeney continued to stare out the window, a frown etched on his pale face. Nellie sighed inwardly; he had been noticing her lately, complimenting her appearance and even helping out in the shop every now and then. Looks like we're back to broodin', pacin', an' coldness, the baker groaned frustratingly inside. "Mr. T," she tried to get him to talk. "Can I ask you a question?"
There was a short pause and she thought he wasn't going to answer her. "What?"
Swallowing nervously, Nellie took a deep breath. "Wot did your Lucy look like?" she watched his body tense up and thought he was going to whip out his razor, which is the last thing she needed right now; she had just gotten James over his paranoia of the barber attacking her just the other day.
Tha' man really does worry too much.
Well, can you blame him? He already knows the man is a deranged murder.
'E ain't deranged! He's jus' tryin' to avenge his wife! James doesn't understand tha'!
And you do?
I'm just trying to help him.
Yeah, well, your husband is just trying to help you. He loves you, in case you've forgotten.
I 'ave NOT forgotten about 'im!
Have you?
"She had yellow hair." Sweeney deep, haunted voice startled Nellie back from her thoughts. "Can't really remember, can you?" she asked, hoping to make a point. When he didn't answer and walked over to stand beside him. "You gotta put this all behind you now. She's gone." she looked up at him sadly. "Life is for the alive, my dear. You need to start a new life."
He looked thoughtful, seeming to concentrate on the baker's words. "A life...without Lucy..." Sweeney muttered uncertainly. Nellie swallowed and looked out the window at the smoggy sky of London. "A life... with someone else..."
His brow furrowed and he turned around to look at her, really look at her. All those days he had told her she was pretty only for the pleasure of making James jealous. Now, with her dark Auburn curls framing her heart shaped face, plump ruby red lips parted in a silent sigh and deep chocolate brown eyes shinning with affection, Sweeney Todd realized the true beauty of his landlady.
The thoughtful, almost dazed look on his face gave Nellie the courage to lean in and cup his face with her petite hand, the chill of his skin seeping through her fingerless gloves.
Just when Sweeney leaned toward her and their foreheads nearly touched, the door swung open and banged against the wall.
A/N: OOOOOOH, CLIFFHANGER! Hope you all like it. As you know we are nearing the end quickly so you all should review and vote for who you want Nellie to end up with in the end. :D