COMPLETED Nellie Lovett (The Virgin Widow of Fleet Street) #Wattys2016 Sweenett

Never Your Mrs. Todd

Chapter XXI

"Don't touch me!!!" Nellie pushed him hard, tears were in her eyes as she looked at him with so much sorrow.

"Get out!!!" she screamed in his face and pushed him again.

"Elle, please." he cannot take how devastated she looked. He wanted to just imprison her inside his arms, tell her that everything will be fine, that he is and will always be beside her, but a part of him knows that that just isn't what Elle needs from him. She hates him, she loathes him for reasons he is fully aware of, and now, he just told her she's pregnant with their child.

He couldn't expect her to jump in excitement and embrace him tightly could he? She got pregnant because of that one painful night he'd given her, that one sinful night they shared.

"I'll take my responsibility with you and our child, Elle." he said softly.

Her jaws dropped in disbelief, her eyes shifted from his face to the side table and to his surprise, she grabbed the roses in the vase and threw them to his face.

"Stop calling me that!!! Leave me alone!!!" she screamed again, her face turned as red as the roses that are now on the floor.
"Elle..." he tried to reach for her to calm her, getting angry is the worst thing she could feel with her condition.

"Don't touch me!!! How exactly can a devil such as yourself, Mr. Todd, take your responsibility with this child?!"

"I'll give you my name Eleonor. The child won't grow up a bastard." she felt like going insane, hysterically she laughed and cried at the same time as she stood up and paced in front of him.

"What makes you think I'll marry the man who attempted to murder me?! You..." her tears fell.
"Raped me..." now she's shaking. "What makes you think I'd want you to father my child, Mr. Todd?! What makes you..." Nellie breathed hard and raised her hand to her forehead when she felt sudden pain coming from her wound there, her eyes were closed.

"Nellie please. Just calm down." He held her arms and tried to make her sit down.

"Get your sinful hands off me! I will never be your Mrs. Todd! My child will never bear that filthy name!" she shouted again.

"Nellie, this isn't just about you and I, we have a child to think of now. I won't let you raise him as a bastard, I am still his father!" he tried hard to remain calm but authority was still evident in his barritone voice.

"And then what?!" She paused.
"You think you can do to me what you've done to Lucy?!"

"Eleonor!!!" he shouted, but she didn't lose her composure. She remained glaring at him.
"God knows what you've really done 15 years ago, Mr. Todd! God knows how much of a monster you really were back then!" she gritted her teeth.
Sweeney's jaws moved in anger. She expected anger in his eyes as she stared at them. Knowing how fearful this man is, she wouldn't be surprise if he also raise his hands on her...but there was something else in his eyes as she stared at them.
Pain... Sadness... Sorrow...

"You're tired, Elle..." he said softly trying to wash away his own tears by what she said. He can accept prejudice from other people, he can cope with shit from other people, he ignored all the judgemental eyes looking at him 15 years ago as the filthy judge transported him to life and pinned on him the crimes he did not do, he did not and still doesn't care what people would think, but Eleonor... No, never from Elle. Aside from Lucy, it was this grown up woman who've always believed in him... In Benjamin Barker. Now she no longer acknowledge his innocense...Benjamin Barker's innocense.
She's blinded by hatred for the man he is now, for the man who hurt her so many times. For the man responsible for the condition she is in right now. Sweeney Todd...of all people, is the father of the life living inside her womb.

"Please take a rest...at least for the baby..." he looked at her for one last time. His eyes were misty, he looked so broken and she can never deny that.

Nellie was left alone in the room, just staring at the door from where she last saw the back of a totally broken demon.

Weakly, she sat down on her bed and held her tummy. Her own words kept on ringing in her head. She didn't mean it, at least not towards the man he was. She didn't mean to say those words about Benjamin Barker.

Her tears rolled down her cheeks and felt a sharp pain inside her womb.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered looking at where her baby is in.
"I'm sorry..." she closed her eyes tightly and leaned on the headboard until the pain went away.

Sweeney Todd tried to not bother Elle in the next couple of days although he still checks on her through Toby. Just knowing that the baby is fine is enough for him, for now. He can't risk the life inside her womb with their arguments. He can understand Elle. She needs time, she needs space to think, and he's willing to give her those as long as he's still near her, as long as he is sure she and their unborn child is fine.

It was early, the sun was shining brightly, Sweeney went directly to Nellie's after his morning hygiene. He frowned when Toby didn't greet him that particular morning, usually he'd excitedly come to the door just hearing him getting inside the house. He noticed how neat the house is.
"Mr. Todd!" said an old woman's voice, it was Mrs. Park.
"Good morning Mrs. Park." he said awkwardly. The old woman smiled and tapped him on the shoulder.
"How may I help you, Sweeney? Guess, it's ok for me to call you by name, son?" Sweeney just smiled politely.
"I came to check on Nellie." he answered simply. Mrs. Park frowned and looked at him for a while before he heard her uttered tsk while shaking her head.

"What is happening with the two of you, Sweeney?" she clicked her tongue again.
"What do you mean, ma'am?" he asked.
"Dear, Nellie left... This dawn..." hearing the news, Sweeney felt his blood boiled and he ran upstairs.

Her room was empty, as well as Toby's. He immediately went back to Nellie's room, some of her dress were still there. She will be back, he convinced himself as he sat down on her bed. The roses were back to the vase but they have all wilted already.
Mrs. Park sat down beside him.

"Nellie sold this house to my niece, son. Didn't you know?"

He just looked at the old woman, her eyes were full of understanding. As if she already knew the answers to her own questions.

"Our Nellie... She's carrying a child, isn't she?" she looked at his misty eyes and nodded again, confirming the answer to her own question,
"She's carrying your child...?" it was more of a declaration than a question.

"Life has been unfair to both of you Benjamin..." Sweeney looked at the old woman, surprised.
"Of course I know... Not everything though. Nellie would never tell me anything like yourself. But I'm a mother, Ben and I'm her godmother too. I know her well enough. Your short stay here with us 15 years ago isn't easy to forget, although I've only realized recently that you're Benjamin Barker. Sweeney Todd concealed him with the cold aura and hard shell. But Benjamin is Benjamin..." The old woman's eyes were looking afar, as if she's looking at a monitor in front of her that showed the scenes from 15 years ago.

"W-Where is she now...?" his voice is broken.
"I'm sorry, son. Nellie would never tell me where she's heading and I also can't think of any place she can be at. I thought everything was doing just fine with the two of you... I didn't know she's still in escape."

Sweeney covered his face with his palms. His head ached severely. This is just a nightmare.

He can feel his heart being ripped. He can feel his own shoulders shaking for the first time. Elle left him...for good. The idea of never having the chance to see her again as well as their child is killing him. It was worse this second time, at least when Benjamin parted with Lucy and Johanna, it was because of someone else's cunning decision to destroy them, the situation now is totally different. Elle has decided this fate for them.

What else can he do if she has already made up her mind to take him out of her and their baby's life? What else can he do to heal her broken heart when everytime he goes near her, the life of their baby is being put to risk?

And his, heart... How can he stop it from beating again now that Elle has finally managed to revive it but left him in the end?

How can he possibly heal his heart when the woman who made it beat again is also the one crushing it to death as she ripped it with her own cold heart.