Will you still love me?

03

Eleanor had helped a sleepy Toby get into bed, and then she hurried off to try and help with the cleaning, she made her way back down, and she spotted Todd already scrubbing away at the blood, eager to try and get it cleaned up. He wasn't worried about all of the blood,  just all of the blood that made it look more suspicious. The blood, for the most part, could very easily be explained by Eleanor grinding meat and whatnot, so he wasn't too worried about it, Eleanor got started on ensuring that there was no leftover evidence that the judge or Beadle had even been there.  The pair took their time to try and ensure that everything was dealt with, that no one would be able to pin this crime on them, they had searched through the furnace and everything, trying to ensure that anything human was gone. They were both sweaty, dirty and so tired, they had done up everywhere, even in his shop, everything that could link them to a crime was gone, all other than the boy. Todd looked at Eleanor, "you need to make sure that Toby's going to keep his mouth shut, if he rats us out, we'll both be screwed," Todd tiredly grumbled and he moved to slump himself into his chair, looking over to her. 

Eleanor just nodded softly at the words, "I know, I trust the boy though, and you should too. I doubt that he'll rat us out, he's a good boy you know." She stated to him with a tired sigh, this whole day was just a mess, yes it was so nice that those two were now dead and gone, but it didn't seem to have fixed anything. They had an even bigger mess now to try and get through. "I'll talk to him, you should get some rest," she softly said as she rested a hand on his shoulder, she had so many questions, why hadn't he killed her right then and there? She wanted to ask, but she needed to get to bed, and it wasn't the time. Softly, she had leaned over and kissed his cheek, she let her lips linger, and she could feel his head lean into them. "Get some rest, and don't do anything stupid." She softly said to him before pulling away from him.

"Go Nellie, I'll be fine," Todd said to her, his tone was softer and sweeter than usual. Now that the two men were dead (Lucy as well), he didn't know what to do, he no longer had Johanna, he had nothing tying him to Benjamin. It scared him more than he admitted that it did, but with her,  things felt oddly right.

Perhaps when Todd was lost everything important to Benjamin, he lost the last parts of him as well, he just didn't feel like the same person anymore, he couldn't explain it.. He simply felt different was all. 

Eleanor just gave him a faint nod as made her way over to the door, he knew that she liked him, it really wasn't hard to see. Any fool with half a brain could see that, and he simply didn't know how he felt towards her, perhaps he felt like he needed to like her in order to get over his past? Perhaps he truly did like her? He didn't know and he wasn't ready to stress over it, he had much too much on his mind at the moment, and this was the last thing that he needed to think about. So, he let her leave, not looking to her as he heard the soft sound of the door closing, followed by the creaking of the steps as she walked away. He had never expected to get any romantic feelings for the baker, but she had such subtle darkness to her that he just found he liked, it was such a big contrast to what Lucy had been like. Lucy had been so soft and innocent, if she had known he killed people, she would have reacted as any sane person would have, shocked, horrified. Yet not Eleanor, where Lucy was soft and innocent, she was the opposite, so dark and twisted, the way she reacted to him committing murders was never something he imagined. She was probably one of the few people to suggest cannibalism and encourage him to murder people, plus the way she would go around joking about it. He was a dark person too, but even he found her a bit off-putting at times. 

He moved to get up and grabbed an aging photo of Lucy, sighing softly as he looked down at it. He knew for a while now that he was slowly starting to lose feelings for what had been his wife, and yet now, he felt nothing for her. He was still mad at Eleanor, he thought that maybe if he still had Lucy in his life, he would have kept his feelings for her, even if it wasn't very true. He couldn't help but blame Eleanor for his loss of feelings for Lucy. It was like a war in his own mind once again, had she really done that to protect him or to have him? Would he have kept those feelings for Lucy if she had been still here with him? Would he even be happy with the Baker? He had so many of those questions swirling around in his mind, and he set the old photo down, the picture now facing the wood. 

He sighed softly as he made his way back over to the chair and slumped himself down once again, looking back to the door, perhaps he was waiting for her to enter cheerfully as she always did, her voice quickly getting rid of all the silence around him. 

Eleanor, on the other hand, had made her way down the stairs, there was so much on her mind as well, she worried about him still being mad at her for what she had done, and she knew that she had done the right thing. She knew how heartbreaking it would have been for him to have to see her in that state, she was simply trying to protect him, she made her way to Tobys room and checked on him, smiling softly as she saw that he was fast asleep still, and she made her way to her own room, she didn't even bother to change  or anything, she flopped her tired self onto the bed and she was out like  a light.