Nothing's Going To Harm You, Mum

Summary : Okay, I recently became obsessed with Tim Burton's version of Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I've been watching clips on YouTube and reading fanfics for three or four days now and I'm hooked, so I decided to write this, along with my story 'The Fall and Rise of Nellie Lovett'. This is what might have happened with Mrs. Lovett and Toby after the 'Not While I'm Around' scene, discussing why Toby called her Mum. I know a few of these have been done, but I wanted to do my own. Dedicated to my favourite writer, the-sadisticalovett-nutcase, without whom I wouldn't even have wanted to see Sweeney Todd. Thanks!

Disclaimer : The characters belong to Tim Burton and Stephen Sondheime. Now, on with the story...

"Not while I'm around." finished the eleven-year-old boy, clinging to his landlady, the woman whom he had come to see as a mother. In fact, during his reassuring song, Toby had let slip the three-letter word that he had wanted to speak to Nellie Lovett for so long. Mum.

They sat like that for a very long while, holding on to each other, neither speaking, just comforting each other with their presence.

"Toby?" whispered Mrs. Lovett suddenly.

"Yes, Mrs. Lovett?" replied the small boy, looking up at his protector.

"You called me Mum, why?"

"Because that's what I see you as. A mum. You know, because, if it weren't for you, I'd've still been in the workhouse, or with Signor Pirelli. You rescued me and you've been treating me so well, it's almost like having a mum. I never knew my mum, because she died when I was still young, like. My dad put me in the workhouse as soon as I could stand up, then ran off with the woman he was seeing while my mum was pregnant with me. I grew up there."

"I was much the same. My dad died when I was four years old, so my mother raised me alone until I was seven. She died of food poisoning, but a lot of people said it was deliberate. I think it was as well to be honest. Not that she didn't love me, she just couldn't cope with a child, but without a husband. So she died and I went straight into the workhouse. Thirteen years I was in there, until I married my Albert. Then he died and well, here I am, left to manage our bakery on my own for the next twenty years, until I got you. My little boy."

"So, is it alright if I call you Mum, then?"

"Yes, darling, you can call me Mum. I'd like you to."

They huddled closer together, both comforted and sympathetic at the revelations of their pasts and looking forward to their future together.

"Toby?"

"Yes, Mum."

"I love you, you know that, don't you?"

"Yes. And I love you too, Mum."

They began to sing together again.

"No one's going to hurt you, no one's going to dare,
Others can desert you, not to worry, whistle, I'll be there,
Demons will charm you with a smile, for a while, but in time,
Nothing can harm you, not while I'm around."

A/N : Short and sweet, and I had to end it with a song. Please review!