HOME | DD

Description
Bathing time

Mrs. Lovett sighed deeply when she eyed the huge pile of laundry that was lying on the only clean table in the bake house. Most of the clothes were Sweeney Todd’s. It was unbelievable how many blood-stained shirts he managed to bring here every evening. It was a clever trick to pull on a clean shirt quickly every time he had killed a customer, but it was an awful job to clean all those clothes at the end of the day.
It had seemed a good idea to buy a lot of shirts, so the barber could continue his ‘work’ all day without running out of innocently looking white or brown clothes, but last week she even had to buy a larger washtub on the market, for all the laundry didn’t fit in the old one anymore.
It took Mrs. Lovett quite some time to fill the entire tub with water, for it had to be warmed first by putting buckets with cold water in it next to the oven.
Luckily she didn’t really have to hurry. It was evening: both shops were closed and Sweeney Todd would only need the clean shirts the next morning.
She put her hand in the water to make sure the temperature was right, thus postponing the moment she would start working. The water was so warm, so nice, so inviting… it was a shame that it would only be used to wash ten of Mr. Todd’s shirts and one of her dresses.
Now she thought about it, it was an absolute waste to use the water only once. If she would work a little harder later that evening, she could take a bath now, and later wash the clothes and bake the pies. She had deserved some rest after all, hadn’t she?
She looked around quickly to make sure there was no around, except for the dead bodies of Sweeney Todd’s customers.
After one last moment of hesitation she gave herself permission to take a bath, and wash the clothes after she had enjoyed the warm water herself for a while. Maybe Sweeney Todd’s shirts would be slightly covered with the flour that always was on her clothes and in her hair and thus would end up in the water, but he wore those shirts too short to notice anyway.
The bake house couldn’t be locked, and although she was ninety-nine percent sure no one would interrupt (Toby was sleeping on the couch, bottle of gin in his hand), you could never know: she could avoid a too embarrassing situation by not taking off all her clothes, just in case.
She dropped her dress casually on the floor. Despite the warmth from the oven it was rather cold in the bake house; she was glad she was at least still wearing the thin dress that usually was invisible beneath the one she just had taken off.
She shivered lightly, but when she stepped into the bath-tub and the water warmed her legs, the cold was forgotten. Slowly she sat down and closed her eyes in bliss when the hot water surrounded her body. She hummed a tune, wishing this moment would last for a very long time.
It was ages ago that she had felt so comfortable; in fact it was a long time ago she had had a proper bath. She should use the opportunity to clean herself thoroughly, but those few minutes she just wanted to relax and savor the feeling of being so warm. The water soothed her aching limbs and washed the dirt from her skin. All the thoughts of work disappeared; all she wanted to do was enjoying the warmth as long as it would last.
The tub was big enough for all those clothes, but it clearly wasn’t intended to take a bath in. But Mrs. Lovett was a small woman and she could make herself comfortable by picking up the dress that should be washed and prop it behind her head like a pillow.
She sighed contently while she splashed the water around her. She was in a perfect dreamlike state; the only thing that was missing, was the presence of Sweeney Todd. At least, when he was nice to her and didn’t behave like the demon barber. O yes. How smashing it would be if he just happened to be in the bake house now, watching her, wanting to feel her, breath her, taste her…
And suddenly, as if he had read her mind, she felt his lips gently brushing her shoulder.
“Mr. T.!” she cried, for she sensed it was him. “What are you ding here?!”
“I’ll tell you later,” he whispered huskily in her ear, before he kissed her shoulder tenderly.
She simply couldn’t believe her luck, and she was too unfocused to doubt what was happening. All she could do was surrender to him and wait to find out what his intentions were.
She moaned when he playfully bit her earlobe and she had to hold the tub tightly to prevent herself from screaming when his hands caressed her skin. It seemed like her body was warming the water now instead of the other way around, and her blood felt like it was boiling.
“Mrs. Lovett,” he said seductively. “There’s something I want to do. And I can’t do that when you’re sitting there in the tub.”
“Mr. T., really?” she asked, trying to sound mockingly but failed miserably; she really sounded like a woman who was willing do about anything to get the man’s attention. “Really,” he whispered in her hair, pretending he hadn’t heard the longing in her voice. “I felt so cold, and I decided I needed to do something about it.”
The moment Sweeney Todd turned her around so their faces were only inches away, his eyes were unreadable as always, but she didn’t care since he allowed her to stroke his hair with her wet hands, like she had craved to do for so long. He pulled her closer to him, and inwardly she would’ve screamed with joy if her senses wouldn’t be so mesmerized by his close presence.
“I want something, and I will get it.”
He cupped her cheek with one hand, and removed a wet strand of hair from her face with the other. He kissed her softly, and from that moment on she was completely lost in his touch.
She desperately clung to him when his tongue invaded her mouth. He pulled her up and pressed her against him. She groaned into his mouth when he lifted one of her legs and the other wrapped around his waist on it’s own accord.
Vaguely she noticed he wasn’t wearing anything except for his pants, which were soaked because her wed dress and body were so close to it. Even her wildest fantasies hadn’t been like this. Impatiently she tried to unbutton his trousers, for she needed him, now.
“Mrs. Lovett, not so hasty. All good things come to those who can wait, remember?”
She nodded sheepishly when he gently released himself from her embrace.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded in such a way, that goose bumps appeared on her skin.
She expected him to untie the laces from her dress, or to kiss her, or at least to hold her again, but none of that happened. All she heard were splashing noises. She had no idea what exactly was going on and only dared to open her eyes again after more than a minute. At first she thought he was gone, but then she saw him: to her bewilderment he was in the bathtub, just like she had been only minutes ago.
“Mr. Todd!” she cried. “What is… why… I...” she was so shocked by his sudden disinterest in her after the short moment of passion, that she couldn’t find any words to describe her confusion.
“Don’t be angry, Mrs. Lovett. You wanted something and I wanted something…we both have it now.”
“But Mr. Todd you… I … you said…”
“I said I wanted something. I never said what. Fact is, I was freezing since I didn’t have any shirt anymore: those one that table are all I have. I wanted to get warm here in the bake house and ask you those shirts were ready yet. But when I arrived here and saw you enjoying the warm water, I wanted to take a bath too. And since you clearly weren’t in a hurry, I realized I had to do something to get you out of the tub before the water would be as cold as everything here.”
Mrs. Lovett stared at the barber in disbelief, feeling used and betrayed. She knew that he had his ways of getting what he wanted, but to manipulate her like this... using her own love and adoration for him against her… to let her experience his love, and then leave her like this… She didn’t want to show him her anger and disappointment, her embarrassment; so she turned around and ran away from him, not caring for the watery mess each step she took created.
However, before she reached the heavy doors and could escape to her bedroom, he had caught up with her and prevented her form running away by wrapping his arm around her waist.
“Mrs. Lovett… don’t be so silly. Do you really think I’d trick you like this if I wouldn’t enjoy the process?”
“You’ve done so for quite some time,” she replied sadly.
He chuckled, causing her to look up at him in shock.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lovett, but I just wanted to know... how far you’d be willing to go.”
“Quite far, obviously,” she answered while thinking of the blood, the stench and most of all the corpses.
“I know, that very well,” he said, suddenly serious. “And I don’t think I‘ve shown enough gratitude for this, nor did I make clear I do notice your advances.”
“Mr. T.,” she said breathless, “I… I don’t know what to say, I thought that…”
“Hush love, I know. But please… don’t say anything, just…
He stepped closer to her and reached out to touch her face, while closing his eyes. Although Mrs. Lovett wanted to give in so badly, but she couldn’t … yet. First she had to find out whether this was real, or just another dream, another trick.
He leaned into her, but she managed to resist the temptation. Instead of kissing him, she ran back to the tub and before he could react she sat down in it again.
When he didn’t feel the baker, he opened his eyes and looked around in disbelief, just like she had done only moments ago. To her extreme satisfaction he looked rather hurt.
“That is what it feels like, Mr. T.,” she said teasingly. “To be distracted in such a seductive way…”
She almost hated herself for risking everything like this, but she just had to know if he was lying or not when he told her he had ‘enjoyed the process’ of distracting her.
According the way he glanced at her, trying not to show his interest, he was.
“Mr. T.,” she said when she couldn’t bear to see his disappointment any longer. “I’m willing to share the joys of my humble bathtub with you.”
She simply had to feel him again. After all, his touch was ten times better than all the warm water in the world. But he seemed to doubt her intentions; something needed to be done about that.
“I would never have done that if you wouldn’t have tricked me to begin with,” she said, hoping she could reassure him.
“So you say,” he said quietly, “that you would never had almost kissed me if I hadn’t…”
“If you wouldn’t have showed a certain interest in me, I would never have dared to return those feelings.”
“How do I know this isn’t another trick?”
“No need for me to trick you again, right? I’m in the tub now.”
He stared at her, considering his options. When he realized the possibilities of the situation, a smile crept on his face.
“Mrs. Lovett… are you that the dress you are wearing is quite… charming?”
She blushed when she remembered she was only wearing that tiny dress that didn’t cover her body properly, especially not since it was soaking.
“Are you aware of the fact you aren’t wearing a shirt and you will catch a cold soon if you don’t do something about that?”
“Well, since all my shirts are thoroughly wet, thanks to your splashing in that nice tub, it’s rather useless to pull on one.”
“And wouldn’t there be a small change you’d like to share my small but comfortable tub?”
“I can’t think of the reason for this strange request,” he said, while smiling slightly.
“Well, because of your rash actions, a lot of water is on the floor now instead of in the tub, so if you’d sit in it too, the remaining warm water would reach higher and thus it would be more comfortable.”
Slowly he approached the tub, pretending to check the amount of water what was left in it and to consider her words; but in reality he studied his landlady’s tempting body and didn’t really care if it was another trick or not – he wanted to be in that tub with her, no matter what.
“It’s rather small,” he said mockingly. “Are you sure we both fit in?”
“You’ll have to sit very close to me, but I think it’s possible.”
He smiled teasingly when she said this.
“What are you laughing at?”
“That was exactly what I wanted to hear.”
She moved to the other side of the tub, thus creating room for him; yet he didn’t fail to notice her reddening face.
“Mrs. Lovett… you’re blushing.”
“So are you, my love,” she said, when he pretended not to look at her chest.
“This isn’t a trick, right?” he asked while he stepped into the tub.
“No love,” she answered while she caressed his chest, smiling wickedly. “And this isn’t a joke, is it?”
“Certainly not,” he replied, smiling broadly for the first time, before he cupped her face and kissed her.
This time, neither of them let go.