Caught Somewhere in Time

Alive

Sweeney stared at her, too dumbfounded to speak. She was dead, Albert told him she was. It simply wasn't possible. Was this one of the Watcher's tricks? Or was her death another lie? Was he losing his mind and she was just a hallucination of his sex-starved brain? His mind was too fuzzy to make sense of it, to try and find a logical explanation for the sight before him. The only thing he could do was stare.

Perhaps it was the fact that he had got used to the idea of never seeing her again but he thought she looked beautiful, far too beautiful to be a ghost. She was so very much the same as he remembered but so very different at the same time. The flowing dress she was wearing was powder pink and quite conservative around the chest area, careful not to expose too much skin to somewhat preserve her modesty, a far cry from the obscenely low cut dresses in darker tones she favoured in his original timeline and yet her corset was tied as tightly as usual to accentuate her hourglass figure. Her skin was as pale and smooth as ever, but devoid of the soft lines of age and sorrow, lines that to him only accentuated her beauty, the beauty of a survivor just like him. Her curls were still wild and bouncy but partially tamed into a chignon and they were no longer dark copper but slightly lighter in colour, chocolate brown with some chestnut highlights. Her eyes were still big and expressive but unwary, almost innocent-looking, staring back at him in amusement. And then she smiled, with that rare smile of hers that now seemed to come so easily. A smile that used to make the world stop, so radiant that it managed to conceal her wickedness to the untrained eye. She was as beautiful as she was evil.

He heard someone clearing their throat and stopped his study of Eleanor to focus on the woman accompanying her. Taller and leaner, but with a pair of eyes the same shade of brown and greying curls that would look just as crazy if she didn't have them up in a tight bun. There was no doubt in his mind that this was Eleanor's mother and judging by the deep frown etched on her face, she wasn't happy with the way he was looking at her daughter.

"I believe Mr. Lovett is expecting us" the older woman said with disdain, as if he were nothing but a servant. Her retrieved pronunciation surprised him, fully expecting the woman to speak in a variation of her daughter's cockney accent but then again, Eleanor could have very well lied about her lower class upbringing and put on her trademark accent to better appeal to the common folks that made up the most of her clientele like the master of deception she was. He threw one quick glance at her and saw her lightly shrug and look down, as if she couldn't contradict her mother. Such demure and childish gesture reminded him that in this timeline, she wasn't an independent adult fully responsible for her actions and yet, as he looked at her, carrying herself with such naïveté he quickly recognised as a façade by the glint in her eyes, his blood boiled. This was the woman who'd ruined his life, purposely walking back into it as she followed her mother to the parlour where they met Lucy and Albert.

"Nellie, darling!" Albert exclaimed when he saw her, his own eyes studying her figure just like he had barely a minute ago, except for the fact that the larger man could barely hide his lust. Sweeney saw him grab Eleanor's hands and kiss them fervently, leaving them wet with his saliva. He had to look away or he'd gag. His gaze shifted to Lucy, looking dreamily at the pair as if they were present day Romeo and Juliet and then to Mrs. Price, whose previous frown replaced by a pleased smile. Eleanor herself was smiling at Mr. Lovett but Sweeney had the feeling it was a fake smile, like those she deployed when she served human meat pies to the unsuspecting customers. Or at least that was what he willed himself to believe.

"My beloved, let me introduce you to my tenants" Albert said after a while, suddenly remembering they were in the room "Your future tenants" he winked and turned to Lucy. Sweeney moved to his wife's side, wrapping his arm protectively around her. "Mr. and Mrs. Barker, this is my fiancé, Miss Eleanor Price."