𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 || 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐁𝐘

THREE

"I wanted to go
I wanted to say
All things come to pass
With time"

- "Young", Vacations

Sadbh hummed along to Grace's song as she washed glasses at the counter. She enjoyed working while Grace sang. It lifted the mood, the men seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps it reminded them of pre-war days. For many, the light had left their eyes long ago, and the songs brought some ray of sun back in. It wasn't much, but anything that made them smile was a comfort. It made Sadbh smile too, seeing those who she knew had suffered greatly somewhat happy was nice.

They got to the chorus when everyone trailed off. The doors had opened, revealing the Shelby boys. She had to admire Grace's bravery, as she finished up the song, staring down Tommy. Not many would have the balls to do that.

Sadbh busied herself grabbing a keg from the back, not wanting to deal with the words that she knew would come out of Thomas. She knew he was broken from the war, everyone could see that. While some men had turned to drink or drugs, been shell shocked, or used humor to hide their despair, Thomas had hardened. He was a shadow of the man he once was. She remembered how he used to play with Fiadh, before the war. They were a bit of a double act, they had extremely similar personalities and he was always so good with her. Now, Fiadh was slightly scared of him. It broke Sadbh's heart. All the men had come back broken, but Tommy's pain was different. It was as if all the good had left his life.

As she made her way back into the pub, the atmosphere had left. She sighed, it was back to how it had been. Happiness never seemed to last very long anymore.

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Sadbh was walking down the street when she noticed a bit of commotion outside an Italian cafe of some sort. She grimaced when she realised it was Danny Whizzbang. She felt so incredibly bad for the man. He had come back from France absolutely ruined. Anything and everything would cause an attack of sorts to come over him.

She made to go over, thinking maybe she could try and calm him down. The owner whipped out a knife and pointed towards Danny. "Shit." This wasn't good. "Hey calm down, I have him. No need for this." She called, but the air left her lungs as Danny lunged forwards.

He grabbed the knife and stabbed the man. Shocked, all she could do was watch. She paused for a moment, trying to process what was in front of her. By the time she snapped out of it, it was too late. Danny had gone. She knew it wouldn't be good news for the boys and decided she'd better pay a call into Polly.

She couldn't believe what she had seen. Of course, to half the population this was a normal sight, but most of the women hadn't seen much violence or death in their lifetimes. As she rushed to Pol's house, the image of the dead man wouldn't leave her head.

She opened the door, and was relieved to find that it was just Polly. She couldn't be dealing with the boys or their questions, not today. Pol looked up and knew something was wrong, "Love, what's the matter?"

"Oh Pol, it was awful. I was just coming back from the shop, and I saw Danny Whizzbang outside some Italian cafe. Well, you know how he gets, he was going mental. Like talking  to himself and stuff. I was going to go over, just to try and get him home or something. Sure I know Rosie and stuff, I thought I'd bring him back to her. But before I got over he stabbed the owner. The owner kind of provoked him like, calling him 'crazy man' or something. He waved the knife at Danny first. He only grabbed it when it was pointed at him. His mind's stuck in the trenches, we all know that. But anyways I think the man may be killed. And I said I'd better let you know. Just incase the Italians come knocking, you know."

Pol nodded "I'll tell Tommy. He can sort it out. But love, don't go near anything like that in future. It'll do more harm than good for you. Now, let's have a cup of tea."

The women chatted into the evening, before Sadbh had to leave for work. She was relieved to see the place was devoid of Shelby's when she entered. It was just herself and Harry. They weren't especially busy, so she was having an easy time, mostly making conversation with Harry and the men. No women really went in for a drink, so Sadbh was the focus of many a man's attention.

She noticed someone's attention was very much on her after a while. He was around twenty two maybe, and it couldn't be said that he wasn't attractive. She flashed a smile at him, as he came over for another drink. "Whiskey please."

The determining question for her, was what type of whiskey he preferred - "Scotch or Irish?" "Irish, of course." She grinned, "The best kind." He nodded "You definitely wouldn't be biased, of course." "Oh never, Mr-. Sorry what was your name again?" "Francis. Francis White." "Mr White." He smirked and headed off back to his table.

Work wasn't so bad, not when she had a view like that.

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She bumped into Polly a while later, and enquired about Danny Whizzbang. The girl was left reeling when she found out he had been shot. He didn't deserve that. Yes, he was a bit sick, but he couldn't help it. No one deserves to be killed for something they can't help.

Was it her fault? Maybe if she hadn't said anything to Pol the boys wouldn't have found out. Then he wouldn't have been killed. He was a good man. He didn't deserve it. His wife and children were all she could think about as she tried to sleep that night, tossing and turning to no avail. She had caused the death of a man. How could she ever look at herself the same way again?

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Bit of a shorter chapter, sort of a filler. Just wanted to add some background/ extras to the character to make her more ~complex~ (ew i hate myself for that lol)