(no subject)
And now, a ficcy interlude concerning Sweeney Todd.
Title: Never Fine Again
Rating: Teen, I suppose. There's some kissing and groping going on here.
Pairing: Mrs. Lovett/Lucy Barker
Summary: Not long after Benjamin Barker was sent away, Mrs. Lovett goes upstairs to warn Lucy that the Judge is back again, but it all ends up so much more, whether beneficial or not.
Movie/story not mine, but the, uh, "song" is.
Spoilers: Well, if you haven't seen the movie... This also takes place before the story itself, just a few weeks after Benjamin Barker was sentenced and shipped off.
Notes: This isn't a songfic, but it includes lyrics, changed as well as not, from the movie, and an original "song".
The sky outside the little window was smoky gray, but whether from chimney smoke or clouds was, as always, hard to tell. Bouncing Johanna on her arm, Lucy paced the room from one side to the other, the floor creaking below her feet. Casting a glance at the window, Lucy quickly looked away and smiled at her daughter, the corners of her lips starting to quiver the longer she looked at Johanna's soft, round little face.
"Hush my heart, my dove, hush. I know I'm not dada, but sleep for me. Sleep, and I'm sure... sure he'll be back before you wake up..." Lucy's voice caught, and it was a struggle to finish. Suppressing the sobs, Lucy shook her head and kissed Johanna's forehead, her pink baby-soft skin smelling sweetly.
"Yes, I'm sure Benjamin will be home soon and have all sorts of things to tells us. Don't you think so, Johanna? I have never been beyond the bounds of London. Beheld no wonders but the one embraced. So tell us when you come home, dada dear, for there is no place like London..." Lucy's smile was tight, stretched thin over her face and heart alike, but at least Johanna was now staring intently at her, hands slowly relaxing.
"No, there's no place like London!" Lucy tried to check the emotions welling up into her throat as her thoughts wandered away from getting her daughter to sleep to other, more unpleasant thoughts.
***
Below, Mrs. Nellie Lovett glanced up at her ceiling, where the restless pacing of the woman above made the floorboards creak rhythmically. It seemed the child would not go to sleep without it's father.
"Oh Benjamin, love. See what has happened without you? There was a barber and his wife. A young barber and his wife. Life was kind to them. They have learned..." Mrs. Lovett looked up from her needlework and stared out the window, not sure what made her look, but felt her mouth twist at what she saw.
The man was well-attired and handsome enough, if you liked his sort of features and the flowers in his hands were fresh with not even a slumping petal yet. One could almost see the dew-drops glittering on petals and leaves. He looked severely out of place against the sooty, sagging buildings behind him and the more or less well-clad people hurrying up and down the street, leaving a wide, empty space around the man.
"Oh yes, my love, the law chased you out, chased you away, and what's left... Is nothing more than flies and shit. There's a hole in the world, like a great black pit. And the vermin of the world inhabit it," Mrs. Lovett stood up, putting away the needlework with a grimace at the man and his flowers. Not really minding the man's intentions now, if he'd just been quicker about it, seen... her... earlier, something, whatever, anything! Anything but the situation that had gotten her Benjamin run out of town for nothing but a silly blonde little goose, however sweet she was.
"Oh, yes, the vermin of the world inhabit it, and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit, and it goes by the name of London!" Spitting as she opened the door and wandered around the corner, Mrs. Lovett chanced a glare at the man before she went on, and luckily the fool was all too focused on the window above to see it.
***
Lucy hummed as Johanna's head bumped at her chest, wandering over to the window to look out it. In the days... weeks, since... the trial, she had begun to fear that window, fear it for... Hissing, Lucy jerked back, eyes filling with tears as she saw the exact thing that was the reason for her reluctance to walk up to the window.
Judge Turpin.
Johanna squirmed and whined in her arms, as she had obviously tightened the grip around her girl.
"I'm sorry, dove, I got distracted. On these streets, once so safe, I see shadows, everywhere. Shadows filling this hole we live in. And at the top of the hole sit a privileged few..." Lucy gently caressed Johanna's head, the pale hair soft and feathery, trying to ignore her shaking hand and voice.
"Making mock of the creatures of the lower zoo, turning beauty into ice and despair! I have never gone beyond the bounds of London, but even in the blackest pit, there must be those in whose heart mercy sit. For there is no place like London!"
The sharp knock on the door had Lucy jerking, but the movement, thankfully, didn't wake Johanna, so she could lay her daughter down before turning to the door.
Had the Judge gotten so bold so as to come to her door?
Was there nowhere to hide, to be safe anymore?
Another knock forced her to move, slowly, nails biting into the palm of one hand, but the other was free to shake as it willed. Tears hot in her eyes, but not falling, Lucy took a breath, quickly rubbed her face and opened the door.
"Ne-- Mrs. Lovett! Oh, I... I'm sorry about the time I took... I... Please come in," Lucy said with a smile that was mostly straight, and a laugh that quivered.
"No worry, love. You've got a child, don't you? A sweet little thing... miss her father, don't she?" Mrs. Lovett walked over to the sleeping little girl, one hand sketching a caress in the air above the cradle. Lucy couldn't get her voice to work, only nodded as she closed the door.
"That judge is here again. Awfully opportunistic, I would say! Even though he's a great catch..." Mrs. Lovett turned away from Johanna to face Lucy again, studying the pale face and bright pink cheeks and eyes, the quivering lips.
"Oh, love! Come, sit. It'll be fine, you see!" Mrs. Lovett shook her head, quickly crossing the floor to Lucy and gently tugged her over to a chair, crouching beside it.
"Poor thing. Poor, sweet little soul. It'll be fine..." Mrs. Lovett trailed off as Lucy sobbed, bending over and hiding her face in her hands.
"Hush my darling, hush my love. I will hide you, safe and sound. I will hide you, hide you, until you can, stand."
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett, how can I ever, ever smile again? How will it ever, ever..."
"Until it is..."
"Be..."
**Fine again.**
Gently bending forward, Mrs. Lovett pried Lucy's hands away from her face, rubbing the shaking, cold hands between her own. Lucy hiccuped, then jerked her hands away, grabbing at Mrs. Lovett's shoulders and tugging her forward, kissing the corner of her mouth with heavy, quivering lips, again and again like a scared rabbit's heart. One hand falling down to Lucy's ankle, Mrs. Lovett pushed it up under the skirt and followed the leg, squeezing the knee and bunching up the skirt of the dress.
"Oh, love. Hush." She leaned far enough to lay a feathery kiss just above the cleft between Lucy's breasts, then upwards again to press a kiss against Lucy's lips. Their mouths slid together gently for a rose-smelling, suspended movement before Lucy jerked to the side, her fingers like claws into Mrs. Lovett's shoulders, but she didn't push the woman away. A tear slid down one of Lucy's cheeks.
"His gentle smile, his hands so sure..."
"Did they caress you here, my love?"
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett--ah! No, Mrs, Lovett, don't erase his touch, his smell, his smile!"
"Hush, my darling, hush my love. I will hide you, hide you, until..."
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett, if you do, Mrs. Lovett, how will it ever, ever..."
"It is..."
"Be..."
**Fine again.**
Her hand on Lucy's knee now wandering further up, hidden by bunched-up folds of flounced cloth, curving against a milk-white, warm thigh. Mrs. Lovett smiled, kissing the front of the throat as Lucy shook her head. Nonetheless, one of Lucy's hands had let go of its shoulder and was now caressing from Mrs. Lovett's throat down to her breasts, cold, unstable fingers slipping beneath the cloth every now and then to reach a nipple and pinch most delightfully, and caress a handful of breast.
"Poor thing, hush. Hush, my love and tell me... Tell me more. Where did our Benjamin caress you, hold you, love you?" Mrs. Lovett dropped kiss after kiss all over the bare collarbone and whatever of the breasts that were exposed, while the hand under Lucy's dress rubbed against the only thing beside her mouth that seemed hot enough to belong to a human body.
"Nellie..." Lucy's sigh was barely the ghost of a whisper. Gently, quickly, firmly, not even the breathless sigh nor the kiss that followed, though quickly broken off, distracted Nellie from her task.
"My thoughts are burning, aching. My hands are trembling, shaking. How will I ever, ever, stand again? His hands they held me, so secure. His lips they breathed, breathed..."
"No, my sweetest, foolish love. To live you must forget, my love. To stand, to speak, to walk, my love, you must learn to breathe, my love..."
"All the air I ever needed!"
"On your own, my love! Otherwise, my love..."
"Oh, no, Mrs. Lovett! Stop, Mrs. Lovett! I think I just forgot his kiss, Mrs. Lovett! How will it ever, ever..."
"It will never, never..."
**Be fine again...**
Lucy's body tightened, and despite her earlier protests, she tugged Nellie's head up and this kiss clashed together like two angry, eager bulls, their horns locking... and fitting together. Their lips slid and danced together, Nellie's fingers pressing against cloth to push, just a bare bit, inside the burning heat, then out and up to flick against the most sensitive place Lucy possessed, and the choked-off scream jerked fitfully along Lucy's limbs, down Nellie's legs and then died a slow death on the floor.
Lucy's tears were hot and wet against Nellie's face, while her hand was moistened through the cloth. Then it was over. Lucy's breath came in hiccuping shivers, bursts of hot, moist air puffing against Nellie's forehead as she rested her face against Lucy's collarbone.
"Nellie... I don't think..." there was a gasping hiccup, and Lucy's hands gripped spasmodically at Nellie's arms, the sleeves wrinkling.
"Is Judge Turpin still outside?" This time her voice came out surprisingly steady, with only the ghost of a shiver beneath her sweet tones. Nellie shook her head and stood up, straightening the skirt of her dress with care before she slid over the floor to the window, staring down at the street.
"No, he isn't. I still think you should consider, Lucy..." Nellie checked herself as Lucy sobbed again behind her, but when she spoke, the voice of the widow (for all intents and purposes, at least) Barker was strong, refusal thick in her voice.
"Never! I don't... I can't... How could I let the man who sent my Benjamin away ever touch me? I don't think... I'm, I'll ever be able to, to..." Lucy trailed off, her eyes glittering with unshed tears as she looked from Nellie to the door and then down at the floor, hands shaking as they gripped her rearranged skirt.
"Oh, love. When you feel ready, come on down and I'll have a glass of wine ready for you." Nellie shook her head, walked back to where Lucy was sitting, and before she left bent down over Lucy's head and kissed the top of her golden crown of hair.
***
When the door closed behind her, Johanna's startled, just-woken-up cry was abruptly muffled. Leaning against the wall beside the door, Nellie lifted her hands and breathed in the scent of Lucy still lingering there, and if she concentrated really, really hard, she imagined she could smell Benjamin there, instead. It was, almost, as having touched him herself.
"There was a barber and his wife, and they were beautiful. A foolish barber and his wife. He was my reason and her life." Nellie shook her head as she slowly went down the stairs. If only... At least she had touched where Benjamin had. At least that...
"And he was beautiful. And she was beautiful. And I was... naïve."
***
Hope I didn't make a total idiot out of myself with that song. :D;
Title: Never Fine Again
Rating: Teen, I suppose. There's some kissing and groping going on here.
Pairing: Mrs. Lovett/Lucy Barker
Summary: Not long after Benjamin Barker was sent away, Mrs. Lovett goes upstairs to warn Lucy that the Judge is back again, but it all ends up so much more, whether beneficial or not.
Movie/story not mine, but the, uh, "song" is.
Spoilers: Well, if you haven't seen the movie... This also takes place before the story itself, just a few weeks after Benjamin Barker was sentenced and shipped off.
Notes: This isn't a songfic, but it includes lyrics, changed as well as not, from the movie, and an original "song".
The sky outside the little window was smoky gray, but whether from chimney smoke or clouds was, as always, hard to tell. Bouncing Johanna on her arm, Lucy paced the room from one side to the other, the floor creaking below her feet. Casting a glance at the window, Lucy quickly looked away and smiled at her daughter, the corners of her lips starting to quiver the longer she looked at Johanna's soft, round little face.
"Hush my heart, my dove, hush. I know I'm not dada, but sleep for me. Sleep, and I'm sure... sure he'll be back before you wake up..." Lucy's voice caught, and it was a struggle to finish. Suppressing the sobs, Lucy shook her head and kissed Johanna's forehead, her pink baby-soft skin smelling sweetly.
"Yes, I'm sure Benjamin will be home soon and have all sorts of things to tells us. Don't you think so, Johanna? I have never been beyond the bounds of London. Beheld no wonders but the one embraced. So tell us when you come home, dada dear, for there is no place like London..." Lucy's smile was tight, stretched thin over her face and heart alike, but at least Johanna was now staring intently at her, hands slowly relaxing.
"No, there's no place like London!" Lucy tried to check the emotions welling up into her throat as her thoughts wandered away from getting her daughter to sleep to other, more unpleasant thoughts.
***
Below, Mrs. Nellie Lovett glanced up at her ceiling, where the restless pacing of the woman above made the floorboards creak rhythmically. It seemed the child would not go to sleep without it's father.
"Oh Benjamin, love. See what has happened without you? There was a barber and his wife. A young barber and his wife. Life was kind to them. They have learned..." Mrs. Lovett looked up from her needlework and stared out the window, not sure what made her look, but felt her mouth twist at what she saw.
The man was well-attired and handsome enough, if you liked his sort of features and the flowers in his hands were fresh with not even a slumping petal yet. One could almost see the dew-drops glittering on petals and leaves. He looked severely out of place against the sooty, sagging buildings behind him and the more or less well-clad people hurrying up and down the street, leaving a wide, empty space around the man.
"Oh yes, my love, the law chased you out, chased you away, and what's left... Is nothing more than flies and shit. There's a hole in the world, like a great black pit. And the vermin of the world inhabit it," Mrs. Lovett stood up, putting away the needlework with a grimace at the man and his flowers. Not really minding the man's intentions now, if he'd just been quicker about it, seen... her... earlier, something, whatever, anything! Anything but the situation that had gotten her Benjamin run out of town for nothing but a silly blonde little goose, however sweet she was.
"Oh, yes, the vermin of the world inhabit it, and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit, and it goes by the name of London!" Spitting as she opened the door and wandered around the corner, Mrs. Lovett chanced a glare at the man before she went on, and luckily the fool was all too focused on the window above to see it.
***
Lucy hummed as Johanna's head bumped at her chest, wandering over to the window to look out it. In the days... weeks, since... the trial, she had begun to fear that window, fear it for... Hissing, Lucy jerked back, eyes filling with tears as she saw the exact thing that was the reason for her reluctance to walk up to the window.
Judge Turpin.
Johanna squirmed and whined in her arms, as she had obviously tightened the grip around her girl.
"I'm sorry, dove, I got distracted. On these streets, once so safe, I see shadows, everywhere. Shadows filling this hole we live in. And at the top of the hole sit a privileged few..." Lucy gently caressed Johanna's head, the pale hair soft and feathery, trying to ignore her shaking hand and voice.
"Making mock of the creatures of the lower zoo, turning beauty into ice and despair! I have never gone beyond the bounds of London, but even in the blackest pit, there must be those in whose heart mercy sit. For there is no place like London!"
The sharp knock on the door had Lucy jerking, but the movement, thankfully, didn't wake Johanna, so she could lay her daughter down before turning to the door.
Had the Judge gotten so bold so as to come to her door?
Was there nowhere to hide, to be safe anymore?
Another knock forced her to move, slowly, nails biting into the palm of one hand, but the other was free to shake as it willed. Tears hot in her eyes, but not falling, Lucy took a breath, quickly rubbed her face and opened the door.
"Ne-- Mrs. Lovett! Oh, I... I'm sorry about the time I took... I... Please come in," Lucy said with a smile that was mostly straight, and a laugh that quivered.
"No worry, love. You've got a child, don't you? A sweet little thing... miss her father, don't she?" Mrs. Lovett walked over to the sleeping little girl, one hand sketching a caress in the air above the cradle. Lucy couldn't get her voice to work, only nodded as she closed the door.
"That judge is here again. Awfully opportunistic, I would say! Even though he's a great catch..." Mrs. Lovett turned away from Johanna to face Lucy again, studying the pale face and bright pink cheeks and eyes, the quivering lips.
"Oh, love! Come, sit. It'll be fine, you see!" Mrs. Lovett shook her head, quickly crossing the floor to Lucy and gently tugged her over to a chair, crouching beside it.
"Poor thing. Poor, sweet little soul. It'll be fine..." Mrs. Lovett trailed off as Lucy sobbed, bending over and hiding her face in her hands.
"Hush my darling, hush my love. I will hide you, safe and sound. I will hide you, hide you, until you can, stand."
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett, how can I ever, ever smile again? How will it ever, ever..."
"Until it is..."
"Be..."
**Fine again.**
Gently bending forward, Mrs. Lovett pried Lucy's hands away from her face, rubbing the shaking, cold hands between her own. Lucy hiccuped, then jerked her hands away, grabbing at Mrs. Lovett's shoulders and tugging her forward, kissing the corner of her mouth with heavy, quivering lips, again and again like a scared rabbit's heart. One hand falling down to Lucy's ankle, Mrs. Lovett pushed it up under the skirt and followed the leg, squeezing the knee and bunching up the skirt of the dress.
"Oh, love. Hush." She leaned far enough to lay a feathery kiss just above the cleft between Lucy's breasts, then upwards again to press a kiss against Lucy's lips. Their mouths slid together gently for a rose-smelling, suspended movement before Lucy jerked to the side, her fingers like claws into Mrs. Lovett's shoulders, but she didn't push the woman away. A tear slid down one of Lucy's cheeks.
"His gentle smile, his hands so sure..."
"Did they caress you here, my love?"
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett--ah! No, Mrs, Lovett, don't erase his touch, his smell, his smile!"
"Hush, my darling, hush my love. I will hide you, hide you, until..."
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett, if you do, Mrs. Lovett, how will it ever, ever..."
"It is..."
"Be..."
**Fine again.**
Her hand on Lucy's knee now wandering further up, hidden by bunched-up folds of flounced cloth, curving against a milk-white, warm thigh. Mrs. Lovett smiled, kissing the front of the throat as Lucy shook her head. Nonetheless, one of Lucy's hands had let go of its shoulder and was now caressing from Mrs. Lovett's throat down to her breasts, cold, unstable fingers slipping beneath the cloth every now and then to reach a nipple and pinch most delightfully, and caress a handful of breast.
"Poor thing, hush. Hush, my love and tell me... Tell me more. Where did our Benjamin caress you, hold you, love you?" Mrs. Lovett dropped kiss after kiss all over the bare collarbone and whatever of the breasts that were exposed, while the hand under Lucy's dress rubbed against the only thing beside her mouth that seemed hot enough to belong to a human body.
"Nellie..." Lucy's sigh was barely the ghost of a whisper. Gently, quickly, firmly, not even the breathless sigh nor the kiss that followed, though quickly broken off, distracted Nellie from her task.
"My thoughts are burning, aching. My hands are trembling, shaking. How will I ever, ever, stand again? His hands they held me, so secure. His lips they breathed, breathed..."
"No, my sweetest, foolish love. To live you must forget, my love. To stand, to speak, to walk, my love, you must learn to breathe, my love..."
"All the air I ever needed!"
"On your own, my love! Otherwise, my love..."
"Oh, no, Mrs. Lovett! Stop, Mrs. Lovett! I think I just forgot his kiss, Mrs. Lovett! How will it ever, ever..."
"It will never, never..."
**Be fine again...**
Lucy's body tightened, and despite her earlier protests, she tugged Nellie's head up and this kiss clashed together like two angry, eager bulls, their horns locking... and fitting together. Their lips slid and danced together, Nellie's fingers pressing against cloth to push, just a bare bit, inside the burning heat, then out and up to flick against the most sensitive place Lucy possessed, and the choked-off scream jerked fitfully along Lucy's limbs, down Nellie's legs and then died a slow death on the floor.
Lucy's tears were hot and wet against Nellie's face, while her hand was moistened through the cloth. Then it was over. Lucy's breath came in hiccuping shivers, bursts of hot, moist air puffing against Nellie's forehead as she rested her face against Lucy's collarbone.
"Nellie... I don't think..." there was a gasping hiccup, and Lucy's hands gripped spasmodically at Nellie's arms, the sleeves wrinkling.
"Is Judge Turpin still outside?" This time her voice came out surprisingly steady, with only the ghost of a shiver beneath her sweet tones. Nellie shook her head and stood up, straightening the skirt of her dress with care before she slid over the floor to the window, staring down at the street.
"No, he isn't. I still think you should consider, Lucy..." Nellie checked herself as Lucy sobbed again behind her, but when she spoke, the voice of the widow (for all intents and purposes, at least) Barker was strong, refusal thick in her voice.
"Never! I don't... I can't... How could I let the man who sent my Benjamin away ever touch me? I don't think... I'm, I'll ever be able to, to..." Lucy trailed off, her eyes glittering with unshed tears as she looked from Nellie to the door and then down at the floor, hands shaking as they gripped her rearranged skirt.
"Oh, love. When you feel ready, come on down and I'll have a glass of wine ready for you." Nellie shook her head, walked back to where Lucy was sitting, and before she left bent down over Lucy's head and kissed the top of her golden crown of hair.
***
When the door closed behind her, Johanna's startled, just-woken-up cry was abruptly muffled. Leaning against the wall beside the door, Nellie lifted her hands and breathed in the scent of Lucy still lingering there, and if she concentrated really, really hard, she imagined she could smell Benjamin there, instead. It was, almost, as having touched him herself.
"There was a barber and his wife, and they were beautiful. A foolish barber and his wife. He was my reason and her life." Nellie shook her head as she slowly went down the stairs. If only... At least she had touched where Benjamin had. At least that...
"And he was beautiful. And she was beautiful. And I was... naïve."
***
Hope I didn't make a total idiot out of myself with that song. :D;