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Lucy wakes up exactly thirty minutes before five O' clock. The walk to the judge's house takes thirty minutes, because it is quite far. She does not wake up Ben for he will insist on accompanying her to the train station- which is not her destination. She just writes him a letter saying good bye.
She grabs her bags- they mostly contain of her dresses and nothing else- then quietly exits their house. She thinks of hiring a carriage- just to be sure that she will not be late- but thinks better of it. She will just walk extra fast than waste money. Besides, she thinks that the judge would not leave without her- she's his secretary.
She arrives at the meeting place and sees Judge Turpin climbing up the carriage- she's just in time. She approaches the Beadle who is looking at her. Once she is on his side he grabs her bags and puts it on the back of the carriage- compartment. She murmurs her thank you and she climbs in. after a while the beadle comes back and sits next to her.
She sits in between Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford. The judge tells the driver of the carriage that they can now go. The carriage starts moving and their journey begins.
Ben wakes up to an empty bed. He mentally kicks himself for not waking up early to accompany his wife at least until the train station. He stands up and notices a note at the top of the drawer beside their bed. He opens it and sees that it is from Lucy.
Ben,
I did not wake you up because I don't want to bother you.
Don't worry about me… I'll be safe.
I will miss you so much.
Ben, please don't go out with your friends and drink yourself to death.
I love you! Take Care!
Lucy,
He is smiling while reading the note that his wife left him. He places it back to the drawer and heads to the bathroom to take a bath. 'This week would be dull without Lucy' he shakes his head then sighs.
He finishes taking a bath and now he is doing his daily routines. He does not cook breakfast because he will eat at Mrs. Lovett's. He is just finishing what he is doing before he goes downstairs.
While polishing one of his razors he thinks of what happens last night between him and Nellie. He doesn't know what he is thinking when he kisses her. It is actually a shame that she's the one who's thinking about Lucy instead of him.
Whenever he sees the baker there is something inside him that wants to kiss her- he doesn't know why. He thinks that maybe because she is beautiful and at the same time tempting. Or it is just because of her low cut dresses, her luscious lips, her beautiful eyes, her long lashes… everything about her. He blames it on his manly desires. 'It's just lust and nothing more'
He thinks that it's dangerous for him to be alone with Mrs. Lovett. Because, he might do things that he might soon regret. The perfect example would be that time when they lost control and gave into each other's desires. Not that he's not happy about being a father- he is; but sometimes he wishes that it did not happen and that his wife was the one bearing his first child. But, it has been done and Mrs. Lovett is the one who is carrying his child.
He is happy for his blossoming relationship with the baker. They are now more open and comfortable with each other. He thinks of her as his little sister but the thought of impregnating his little sister disgusts him. Best friend- it rather suits her perfectly on what he thinks of her. He wishes that Nellie thinks the same way.
He cast one last look at his razors- after seeing that they are clean, he goes downstairs.
He enters the bakeshop and finds Mrs. Lovett coming out of her kitchen carrying a tray. She notices him and gives him a smile while she places the tray at one of the tables. She takes a seat and motions for him to do the same- he sits across her.
Last night he mentions to her that Lucy will be leaving today to go to her sister and she will stay there for a week. He asks her if they could eat together- from breakfast to dinner- because he does not fancy eating alone. She willingly agrees to this and even offers to cook for him all week. Saying that she knows that he is not fond of cooking- she is right. He is forced to cook because Lucy does not know how to cook- not that he is complaining.
She prepares toasts and scrambled eggs for breakfast. He tells her that she does not need to cook a lot of food because he does not eat that much.
"Ben…" she calls him while still chewing "I want an apple."
He laughs at her randomness "I'll buy you at the market later, after lunch."
She huffs "Fine."
They stay silent for a while- he is examining her while she is munching on her toast. He notices that she is starting to gain some weight from her pregnancy. Actually, it is really her breasts that he notices- they have gotten quite big. He averts his gaze away from her when he realizes that he is rudely staring at her cleavage. He hopes that she has not notice it.
Mrs. Lovett sees Ben staring at her breasts - he thinks that she has not seen him. She puts the toast that she is holding back to her plate and clears her throat. "So tell me Ben, did you like what you see?" she asks, raising one eyebrow.
It is truly embarrassing for a man to be caught staring at a woman's chest. He pretends not to know what she is talking about- though he is blushing. "I- what- what are you talking about?"
"Oh come on, Ben. I saw you looking at my…" she looks down at her breasts then back at him- wiggling her eyebrows up and down, with a smirk on her face.
He blushes even more and immediately defends himself "I was looking at your necklace and it was beautiful- it suits you."
Now, she is the one who's blushing. "Thank you, Ben. It was really nice of- hey! I wasn't wearing any necklace." She touches her neck and confirms that it is bare from accessories.
He scratches the back of his head then shrugs- he continues to eat his food.
She shakes her head and picks her toast up "You're a terrible liar Ben."
He snorts "Yes, I know. I am so bad at lying that you actually believed that you're wearing a necklace."
Breakfast passes by with both of them laughing and teasing each other. Ben ends up washing the dishes- she cooks and he washes the plates- while Nellie resumes to baking pies.
Ben closes his shop for a while for the lunch break. He has a lot of customers today and he feels very tired- he doesn't feel like eating; he just wants to rest. He goes down to Mrs. Lovett to tell her that he's not going to eat.
As he enters the shop he expects Mrs. Lovett to be in the kitchen, already cooking, but she's not there. She is still serving pies to her hungry customers. He takes a seat at the corner of the shop- invisible to the baker. He watches her as she fuss around- taking orders and serving them.
He notices how she always works so hard- seeing her now she looks like she's going to collapse, but she never stops working. He thinks that if he's tired – and he does not do much but shave his customers- then, how much more must Mrs. Lovett feels, if she's always walking around, serving and baking.
What he likes most about her is that, she never fails to smile. Her smile is contagious and it seems to brighten the mood of each and every one of her customers- they always leave the shop happy, except for those who are really in a bad mood. It is always planted on her face, that it feels unnatural seeing her sad- though he had only seen her really upset, once. She is always cheery; she is a very carefree person.
He notices that people are gradually leaving the shop and decides to make himself visible to the baker. He stands at the corner for a while as he watches her bids her goodbye to the last customer. As the door slams shut, the baker starts clearing the tables.
He approaches her- he is now standing behind her- she is bent over, wiping the dirt off the table. He lays a hand on her shoulder and softly calls her. "Nellie."
She gives out a startled jump and spans around, her hands on her chest- her heart beating fast. "Mr. B, you gave me a heart attack, you did."
He just laughs at her, then he takes a seat at the table that she just finished cleaning. "I'm just here to tell you that you don't need to cook food for me. I'm not really hungry and I just want to rest."
Mrs. Lovett gasp, she just remembers that she should be cooking food for the two of them. Now she feels embarrassed, forgetting about her dear Benjamin, Luckily he does not want to eat.
"I'm sorry, I forgot. I got very busy in the shop that I forgot to cook." She says embarrassedly, her cheeks a tinge of pink.
He grabs her hands that are on top of the table and caresses her knuckles with his thumb. "No need to worry about me, you should be the one eating." he drops her hands and points a finger to her belly "Our baby must be hungry."
She smiles affectionately at him then nods in agreement. She starts to walk, heading to her kitchen but he stops her. He stands up and he pushes her to the seat that he occupies before. "Stay there. I'll cook for you."
Before she could protest he already disappears, heading to the kitchen.
She still needs to finish cleaning the tables but Ben says that she stays where she is. She is happy because Benjamin is in her kitchen, cooking food for her. She knows that he is not fond of cooking but now, he's doing it for her. She is really excited to taste the food that he will serve.
She can hear the sound of pots and pans banging against each other and various surfaces. She wonders for a minute if Ben is alright, but she trusts that Ben knows what he's doing. Or maybe she should check on him, no? She is about to stand up and heads towards the kitchen but decides against it, 'He'll be fine.'
Twenty minutes later, Ben comes out of the kitchen holding a tray. He looks like he just had a fight with a bloke down town. His hair is all over the place, sweat forms on his forehead; two buttons of his shirt are open while the sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. He is a sight.
He is grinning at her as he comes towards her. He places the tray at the table and pushes it in front of her; he takes a seat across her. Seeing the food that he prepares for her, she bursts out laughing. She clutches her stomach as she continues to laugh, tears springing from her eyes.
She looks at Ben and immediately stops laughing. His is wringing his hands together as he stares at her, hurt evident on his eyes. She feels really guilty for being insensitive as she laughs at his efforts. She does not intend to hurt him. She just finds it funny how he spends too much time in the kitchen cooking toasts and scrambled eggs.
"I'm- I- I'm sorry, Ben. It wasn't nice of me to laugh at you." She says apologetically. She is very embarrassed at her rudeness, and she is hoping that he'll accept her apology.
"Just eat." he says as he stands up and goes back to his shop.
Mrs. Lovett watches him as he exits the shop. She is really disappointed at herself for making Ben mad at her. Instead of thanking him she shows her gratitude by laughing at him 'Good job, Nellie.' She will go to his shop later to apologize; she wishes that he will be able to forgive her. But for now, she needs to eat- for her baby.
She picks up the toast and just stares at it. She can't eat knowing that she is not in good terms with Ben. But she knows that he will not like it if he finds out that she had not eaten the meal that he prepares for her. He might think that she does not like his cooking- when in fact she does, though she has not tastes the food yet.
She eats the food hurriedly, stuffing them simultaneously in her mouth. She chokes as the foods blocks her air way. She runs to the kitchen, heading towards the sink, as she reaches the sink she quickly opens the faucet and drinks water from it. The food smoothly goes down her throat enabling her to breath. She stays there in the kitchen leaning over the sink, panting.
When her breathing returns to normal, she swaggers to her shop and continues to clean some of the tables that are left unclean. As she thoroughly wipes the tables, she thinks of a way to apologize to Ben. She decides that later at dinner, she will bring his food upstairs, as a sign of peace offering.
Dinner comes and Mrs. Lovett is anxious about going upstairs and facing Ben. She does not know what mood will he be in, 'bad mood for sure.'
She already fixes the food that she will bring upstairs- she cooked stew for him. She is lucky that the dinner rush is not that busy, because she is able to take as much time as she needs for cooking. She prepares herself to go upstairs- her heart is beating fast, she is nervous. 'You can do it, Nell.' Gaining some confidence, she puts a smile on her face then carries the tray and exits the shop, with hopes of making amends with the barber.
She reaches the landing of the stairs, balancing the tray with one hand; she cautiously knocks on the door. She hears him says come in and she does. She slowly opens the door peering inside, looking for any sign of Ben.
She sees him standing in the middle of the room, eyeing her as she stands there at the door way. She does not know what to say, he is just looking at her- saying nothing. She fidgets under his gaze- she does not like it when someone is staring at her, it makes her uncomfortable.
She clears her throat and begins to walk towards him; she stops a foot away from him- holding the tray with both her hands. She bows her head and extends her hand- handing out the food to him.
"I'm sorry, Ben."
He just stands there, unmoving. He does not take the tray of food from her like she expects he would.
She looks up to him- his face not showing any emotion. She is not used to him being like this and she can't stand the way he ignores her. Desperate to be forgiven she puts the tray on the floor, beside her. She looks at him, biting her bottom lip. She fidgets with her dress and without warning she engulfs him in a fierce hug.
"I'm sorry, Ben. Please, forgive me." She squeezes him tighter.
Ben cannot resist his best friend. He's a little hurt that she made fun of him but, their friendship is more important to him. 'Forgive and forget' it's not that really of a big deal, so he guesses that he should forgive her. Besides, he's also quite hungry.
He smiles and returns the hug "Alright, you're forgiven." He murmurs to her.
He lets go of her and she does the same.
"Now, what did you bring for me? I'm starving." he asks as he rubs his stomach and peers through the tray.
Mrs. Lovett brightly smiles at him. She picks up the tray once more then turns around- walking towards the door. She stops before she reaches the exit and looks at him over her shoulder.
"I was giving this to you a while ago but I don't think that you want it. So I've decided to just give this to the poor beggar outside." she says, teasing him. She has an evil glint in her eyes and a smirk to match it.
Ben pouts at her and whines "Come on, Nell. I'm hungry." He sticks out his bottom lip even more, for effects.
She just sticks her tongue out to him and exits the shop leaving him to chase after her.
Hey guys! :))) well, thank you for reminding me about Nellie's pregnancy :P
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