Title: Finally, Finally

Authors Note: This story is based on the finale of the theater play of Sweeney Todd. It contains lyrics and movements that are original to the play and I do not pretend to actually be responsible for their creation. That’s all Stephen Sondheim. Also, this is not based on the image of Helena Bonham Carter or Angela Lansburry’s Mrs. Lovett. It is actually based in the great interpretation of Christine Baranski. If you guys haven’t seen it you should, specially the part this little fanfic is based on.

You can find it here by going into youtube and searching the following:

(video code) 9JQOBsMGyvs

(video name) Christine Baranski - Mrs Lovetts Death

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Finally! Finally her Sweeney would be able to extract his revenge now that the Beadle was out of the way. Twelve bleeding bells he had made her sing and it had taken all her strength to not simply whack him over the head with her rolling pin and help Sweeney in his revenge. No, no, she knew exactly how he wanted things to happen and she was not going to take away his opportunity of revenge, after all it was that which was so unique to her Sweeney. There was always the possibility that after his revenge he would take her to the sea where they would live happily in their little cottage, maybe with a child or two.

Tired as she was from having to clean bodies, tired as she was from having to lie day in and out to her little boy, Toby, as painful as it was to go down to the oven room and think that Toby wasn’t there anymore and that he could possibly have gone to the authorities, she had to go down the long stairs and get ready. She knew, she felt it deep in her tired bones that tonight would be the night in which they disposed of the Judge. Because of this she had to make herself busy, ready for the moment in which the corpse of the Judge would slide down the chute so that she could bake him into a pie.

Her curiosity of course got the best of her and she sound found herself, oil lamp in hand, walking down the sewer of the bake house hoping to find Toby so that he wouldn’t run to the police and at the same time hoping he wasn’t there so that Sweeney wouldn’t have to kill him. Thus she wasn’t there when the body of Lucy Backer slid down the chute and she was not there when the body of the judge followed.

When she finally gave up, which wasn’t long after the judge’s demise, she went back to the main bake house. She stopped death in her tracks as the face of the judge was presented in front of her. The light around them flickered a little, a result of her hand moving it as her body trembled in delight. Finally, finally Sweeney had killed that monster; finally she would be able to be by her love’s side. She stood staring at him, her head slowly being held high. Her attention was so focused on him that she never saw the second corpse, the corpse that would change her life.

“You finally got what you deserved lad.” She told the corpse as she placed the lamp on a nearby table. She shook her head then placed her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s that, what’s past is past and there is no point in dwellin’ in the past.” She moved to get her knife in order to start disposing of the body, so sure that the judge was actually dead. She was wrong and she would soon find out in the worst way. As she passed by him, back from her knifes and towards the light to bring it closer, she felt something grasp tightly at her skirt. Her first instinct was to scream, loudly. She was supposed to be the only one down on the backhouse, the only one with a corpse, and something was grabbing at her skirts. She dropped the knife, her hands going to her skirt to try and pull it out of his grasp. Why wasn’t he dead? Was the bastard the very own devil?

“Die! Die! God in heaven… die!” She screamed as she pulled and pushed at his corpse trying to free herself from his grasp.

With a sickening gurgling from his throat the Judge gave his last breath, his eyes rolling back into his head, and his grasp on her skirts loosening. Mrs. Lovett did not lose a second in moving away, her heart beating like never before, fear still making her bones tremble. “Die.” She whispered one last time as she backed herself into something, something that definitely did not belong there and whose presence confused her immensely.

Trying to control her trembling body, Mrs. Lovett turned to look at the source of her confusion and gasped. Her fear turned into dread as she saw the still delicate figure of Lucy Barker. “You?” she asked the corpse begging herself to not believe what her eyes were seeing. “Can it be?” She asked as she looked a little closer. Lucy’s face was mostly covered by shadows created from the lamp and the bake house, but she knew, Mrs. Lovett knew that it was her. A fast close inspection told her exactly how Lucy had finally died; killed by her own obsessed husband. “How all the demons of Hell come to torment me!” She exclaimed.

She looked quickly at the bake house door. She knew that she had to get rid of the beggar woman before Sweeney decided to share with her the news of his revenge. He would not be happy to find that his Lucy had been alive and that he had been the one to ultimately kill her. “Quick.” She told herself as she made the plan on how to get rid of the body. She would drag it towards the oven, burn it before Sweeney got there, and bury any evidence of her deceit for that’s how he would surely see it.

She pulled as best as she could and she managed to move the corpse a couple of inches before Sweeney barged into the bake house. “Why did you scream?” He asked her. Was it real worry that she could hear in his voice? Whatever it was she had no time to ponder on it for she still tried to pull the corpse away. “Does the Judge still live?” He asked her.

Of course, his first concern would be that of the Judge, why she had even given a second’s thought to him probably worrying about her. She loved him and that was her reason. “He was clutching, holding unto my skirt, but now…” she explained as she continued pulling, to no vain, she body of Lucy. “but now he’s finished.”

“Leave them to me, open the door.” He ordered her as he pulled her out of the way and then pushed her towards the closed oven.

“No No!” She begged him as she held unto Lucy’s hand.

“OPEN THE DOOR!” He ordered once more, his voice loud as he finally pushed her away.

“Don’t touch her!” Mrs. Lovett had no other option than to slowly make her way towards the oven and open the door as Sweeney had requested.

As she did Sweeney managed to move Lucy’s body closer to the oven. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked her. “It’s only a meddling old beggar…” When the door of the oven was opened, and along with the small light coming from the oil lamp, Lucy’s face was completely uncovered for everyone to see, including Sweeney. He let go of her, his mouth opened in horror as he stumbled backwards. “Oh no! Oh God!” He exclaimed as he drank Lucy’s face in. His hands went towards his hair, pulling it back in instant despair. There she was, his precious Lucy, killed by his own friend, by his faithful friend. “’Don’t I know you?’ she said.” He said, remembering the precious seconds he had spent in front of his wife, his living wife. Sweeney turned to look at Mrs. Lovett, as if waiting for an answer to his unvoiced questioned. His expression went from horror to realization as his eyes fixated on her blueen eyes. “You knew she lived.” He accused her. “From the first moment I walked into your shop, you knew my Lucy lived!”

Mrs. Lovett stared at him with wide eyes. What could she say or do that would make him forgive her. She could tell him the truth; she could tell him why she did it, why she felt that omitting information was vital, why she wanted to protect him. “I was only thinking of you!” she told him, her voice showing the despair she was starting to feel knowing that it would be hard to convince him.

He turned away from her, his eyes once more in the dead figure of his wife, his precious wife. “Lucy…” he said in a longing whisper.

“Lucy?” she asked him, her voice slightly reproachful since she wanted him to see how much Lucy had changed. “ A crazy hag picking bones and rotten spuds out of alley ash cans! Would you have wanted to know that was all that was left of her?” She asked him. She could have told him how she had begged for pay of her services but she decided that would only hurt him more and possibly make him angrier at her.

“You lied to me!” He declared.

“No, no, not lied at all.” She quickly corrected him, her voice turning slightly loving hoping that it would calm him just like it had when he had been worried about the Judge not getting there when promised. “No I never lied.”

“Lucy” Once more he repeated staring longingly at his wife.

She knew what she had to do; she had to get his attention back so that she could explain, so that he could see how much better she was than his precious Lucy. “Said she took the poison she did never said that she lied.” She continued explaining him, her words were falling out of her mouth quickly, barely allowing her to take a breath. “Poor thing she lived.”

“I’ve come home again…” He whispered

“But it left her weak in the head,” Mrs. Lovett ignored his words, “Should have been in hospital wound up in Bedlam instead, poor thing!”

“Oh my God” Sweeney said with the realization of what Mrs. Lovett was saying.

“Better you should think she was dead.” She continued, her hand constantly pointing at the form of Lucy. She saw him slowly leaning over and she knew that it was time to express her most inner secret. “Yes I lied ‘cos I love you!” When he didn’t turn to look at her she continued, her voice raw, full of pain, begging him to see her for who she was. “I’d be twice the wife she was, I love you!” she exclaimed to him, her foot hitting the floor hard.

“What have I done?” Why wasn’t he paying attention to her? Why wasn’t he understanding what she so desperately wanted to communicate? Why was it all about Lucy?

“Could that thing have cared for you like me?” She asked him, desperation plain in her eyes and the tear that fell down her cheek as she hit her chest lightly.

The change was instant and Mrs. Lovett couldn’t help but freeze in her place. She didn’t move back, she didn’t jump, and she didn’t shake. It was very strange to have his complete attention, probably for the first time. He stood high and tall, his whole body tense, his hands on his side strong and masculine. “Mrs. Lovett, you’re a bloody wonder, eminently practical and yet as always… as you’ve said repeatedly ‘There’s little point in dwelling in the past’.” He told her, his voice dangerous and dead, but not even that made her take a step back as he walked towards her. “Now come here my love, not a thing to fear my love, what’s dead is dead.”

“Do you mean it?” She asked, incredulously of what she was hearing out of his mouth, her words luring and intertwining with his. Was she being forgiven from not offering information and lying to him? Was she being forgiven because he finally saw the love that she had for him? Her words came out even faster than before, her last try at redeeming herself and her actions. “Everything I did I swear I thought was only for the best, believe me!” she begged him once more still holding her ground. “Can we still be married?” She asked him, her mind already enveloping her in a dream of seashores, cottages, and love.

A smile spread on his lips; a wicked smile complemented with his blazing eyes. With arms spread he slowly moved closer and closer, Mrs. Lovett never moving. In fact, her arms were slowly stretching towards him, her fingers tingling at the promise of a touch to his skin. “The history of the world my pet…”

“Oh Mr. Todd, Oh Mr. Todd, leave it to me.” She begged him. She begged him to forget Lucy, to trust in her, to love her.

“Is learn forgiveness and try to forget.” He declared to which she nodded slightly.

Her hands finally made contact with his cheeks. She quickly pull back at the electric touch she felt but her love and desire to be near him was even stronger so she quickly touched his shoulders and his cheeks once more. “By the sea Mr. Todd, we’ll be comfy-cozy.” She promised him. “By the sea Mr. Todd, where there’s no one nosey.” Her hands once more touched his shoulder and slowly slid to his back, bringing him closer to her, her palms pressed against his back. Soon they were pressed together, her face pressed against his neck as she slowly swayed to the rhythm of his steps, which made her walk backwards.

“And life is for the alive my dear.” He told her, reminding her that she and him were living and making her believe that he didn’t care about his dead Lucy anymore. She held tightly to him, clinging to his body, her eyes closed as she envisioned their future life, a happy grin spread across her face as she felt his body moving against hers. Finally he was hers; finally she would have her life by the sea. “So let’s keep living it.” There was nothing more that Mrs. Lovett wanted to do, for quite some time. Ever since he was Benjamin Barker. Together they continued with their promise of a future, their bodies growing warmer as they pressed together, as they swayed and moved through the room in complete oblivion and happiness. “Just keep living it! Really living it…”

Mrs. Lovett’s words were cut as she felt something hit her ankle. It was hot, very hot, and it burned the tender skin of her ankle upon contact. She felt Sweeney’s body moving away from hers, pushing hers away and towards the source of the heat which she had mistakenly thought as their desire to live together. The heat around her increased almost tenfold with every millimeter her body grew closer to the flames which she could not see. Before she knew it, before she could even consider that her Sweeney was doing this to her, she fell into the oven. Her piercing scream of surprise tore through the bake house, bouncing of the walls, and resounding all the way up to her pie shop. The screams that followed were of terror, pain, and denial that she would end her days being burned like many of their victims. She fought against the closed doors of the oven feeling the strength of Sweeney has he pushed the doors closed against her fight. The pain was all consuming, her skirt, her hair, her skin, until she could no longer move, until she could no longer breathe.

Seeing that the oven was not moving anymore and that Mrs. Lovett’s screams could not be heard, Sweeney moved away from the oven, his steps unsure, as he parted his frame from the oven and once more turned towards Lucy. Soon he was sitting of the floor, his Lucy held gently in his arms, rocking back and forth; any thought of Mrs. Lovett gone completely from his mind.