red↳ thomas shelby

- XI. -

[B i r m i n g h a m , 1 9 1 9]

After Freddie Thorne was arrested, Ada returned to their small apartment and refused to come out. Polly and Zara visited her every day with food and water for her and the baby, but Ada refused to take them. Everyone's concern for the Shelby girl was growing larger each day.

"Open up, love. I brought you more things for you and the baby." Polly said, knocking on Ada's door, basket of food in hand. Zara sighed as she looked down where the previous baskets were, rotting outside the door, untouched.

Zara heard the baby crying from inside the apartment. "Ada think of the little one. Babies don't have principles." Zara tried. Polly and Zara looked at each other, then leaned down and proceeded to clean up the now rotten food, and left the new basket at Ada's door.

The two women began walking back to the Shelby residence in an awkward silence, unsure of where they stood with each other at the moment. "He didn't do it Pol." Zara broke the silence. "He was with us all night, with me all night."

Polly didn't respond. The Gray woman only sped up her pace as the house on Watery Lane came into view. Tommy was sitting anxiously inside, waiting for the women to return and update him on Ada's condition.

Polly stormed into the dining room, throwing the rotten basket on the table before rushing past Tommy into the kitchen. Zara strolled in behind her, at a normal pace, and settled into Tommy's side, leaning her head against his shoulder in exhaustion. Tommy leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head, and snaked an arm around her waist pulling her closer.

"Did you speak to her?"

"She didn't speak back." Polly snapped, bustling around the kitchen.

"Well, did you tell her?" Tommy huffed in frustration.

"I'll only tell her what I know to be true."

Zara rolled her eyes at Polly's response. She had tried explaining to Polly that there was no way Tommy was the one who got Freddie arrested, but the Gray woman was extremely stubborn and refused to acknowledge the possibility of a rat amongst them.

"It's the last time I'm gonna say this. It wasn't me who shopped Freddie Thorne." Tommy said firmly.

Polly stepped back into the dining room and faced her nephew, sadly. "Tommy, I'd ask you to swear on the Bible, but you can't swear on that, can you? Nothing you hold sacred."

Tommy narrowed his eyes in frustration at Polly, and sighed as she left the room. Zara rubbed his back in comfort, leaning into him further. "She'll come around, love. She has to."

Tommy closed his eyes, enjoying Zara's touch and kind words. For the first time since he returned from France, he felt like himself, and not a shell of the man he used to be. His heart felt full, overflowing with the love he held for Zara.

"Thank you."

♔♔♔♔

Zara and Tommy called a family meeting. Probably the most important family meeting the Shelby and King clans would have for a while. Zara collected her family, and after Tommy informed her that his family still refused to speak to him, collected his family as well, except for Ada of course.

In a scene paralleling their first meeting as business partners, the unlikely allies all sat around Zara's dining room table, unsure of why they were there. James and Theo King were confused by the tension between the members of the Shelby family, and Theo was especially amused.

"Jesus Christ, who died, eh?" he tried to make a joke, but nervously cleared his throat at the deadly glare from Polly.

"Why are we here?" she deadpanned, staring Tommy and Zara down. Tommy looked at Zara to start.