In which Thomas Shelby draws up an alliance between his family and that of his rival, not knowing that it's to have far more complications than he thought.
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bbc's peaky blinders, s1 - 6.
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"You can leave, nurse," Tommy told the older woman in a cold manner: he was not willing to have their conversation eavesdropped upon, and the nurse did not seem willing to try and argue with him, no matter how early he was and how it was not officially permitted for visitors to enter the confines of the hospital at that precise time.
Felicity rolled her eyes with the smallest of smiles as the nurse left the room without another word, but before she could chastise him on his lack of manners, he had crossed the space in a couple of long strides and was now kneeling besides her, taking her hand and inclosing it in his own large ones. And despite everything, despite all of the shit whirring about her brain as the old guilt settled in, the heat ignited her and sparked throughout her veins. She could almost forget everything.
Almost.
For now, though, she would push it to the back of her mind. She was alive, even though a bullet had whizzed towards her at a tremendous speed and threatened her life without any mercy. She was alive, he was alive, and that was all that mattered as of now.
"I'd thought I'd lost you," Tommy mumbled eventually, his usual assurance missing from his voice. "I could've sworn I lost you."
He still could. . .
No. No, no, no. She could not think like that: not now.
So instead of entertaining this horrid, fearful thoughts, she pressed her lips into what she hoped was not a sad smile, and instead one full of hope. "You hadn't, though, Tom. I'm here. Right here."
"I know."
Tommy stood up, let go of her hand reluctantly as he walked over towards the windows and thrust open the curtains, allowing all of the morning's grey light to enter the already―grey room.
"Poll went to a woman, y'know," he announced as he struggled with the latch, desperate to let some cool air into this stuffy ward. "Went to ask about. . . you. See if you'd, er. See if you would. . . pass. Or if you'd get better fully. She didn't get a straight answer, 'course. She was tricked, like all the rest of 'em."
Her heart ached as he stumbled over the words. "Tell me you didn't cut her up or something, Tom, Jesus," she returned with wide eyes.
"I should've."
"Like hell! She's tryin' to make a living as much as you are. . . and she's using just as immoral ways as you are, I'll bet."
Tommy turned around, pursing his lips together. "Didn't stop you from going ahead with the wedding though, eh?"
The wedding. Seeming like it had been aeons ago that she had hesitantly made her way down that aisle on her father's arm, when in reality, she supposed it had only been a short couple of days. Two, at least. . . that was what she had gathered from the nurse's brief update, but she was not quite sure, as she hadn't a clue as to how the hospital ran things. Or at least how they ran things when they had the wife of a Shelby brother in the depths of their ward.
Felicity laughed. "I suppose not."
Tommy smiled with an obvious sense of self―satisfaction as he pulled a cigarette packet from his pocket, stepping backwards so to not cough smoke upon the already-fragile girl before him. He struck the match and the cigarette burned bright, spluttering the odd spark into the air.
"They've told us we can have you discharged in a couple of days," he informed her, his tone going more gentle, and the object balanced between his lips. "Get you back home."
"Home?"
He nodded. "I need you safe, and this hospital isn't going to help with that. You're out the minute that nurse allows you out, and not a moment later. I'm not having you in here like a sitting duck, you hear me?"
"No one's about to come looking inside a hospital," Felicity countered, even though the idea of leaving this dingy and depressing room elated her to no degree.
"I don't care. I'm not taking the chance that they might."
So that was the plan he made for her, and whilst she didn't have a say in it ― not that there was much to have a say about other than a date and a time for her discharge. Tommy made all of the decisions, ordering the nurse to write every one down on the clipboard she had brought with her into the room once again, and refused to let Felicity worry about any of them: claiming there wasn't any use in her troubling herself with it, when she had enough to deal with already. Truth be told, though, he felt guilty. Guilty that it was her in that bed instead of her, even though John Woods had so blatantly been aiming for her. It was not as though she took his bullet. No, she took her own. . . just why, though, he hadn't the slightest idea. He had done everything required in their business deal, and in turn, the Woods responded by raining bullets into his daughter.
Scratch the guilt: Tommy Shelby was angry.
Fiercely angry. Burning hot rage had been firing throughout his being ever since he caught sight of the man standing in the church with a pistol aimed at Felicity's chest, but that rage had not been enough to quell the panic that had seized him a moment before the anger had. Instead of getting his revenge, he dropped to his knees as Felicity fell to hers, and it took everything in him to not roar and clutch her to his chest. No, instead he scooped her up and pushed past everyone so that he might get to the car: the car they were supposed to leave in to head back home.
Now that the panic had dispersed, anger took the reigns again. Anger and passion, that is. Because his love for Felicity Woods consumed him so much more than his anger towards John Woods did.
"I love you," he murmured an hour later, as she settled back into the pillow. Fatigue was already threatening to take over her, and what with her body too tired to do anything more, she let it.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE!
i went back and read the early chapters of this book and god i miss them with their obvious pathetic love for each other. how dare they get into a complicated relationship. disgusting behaviour. i say we sue the author of this book k
ALSO I KNOW I SAID I WOULDN'T UPDATE but i couldn't help it! i got bored of studying and i missed felicity so i wrote this whilst watching love island :) i'm really living the life over here.
i love you all a lot! hope you're enjoying the book <3
