Canary - Thomas Shelby

chapter 6

Elena half-heartedly waved goodbye to Grace as they set off in separate directions after locking up the Garrison. Even though Elena only had a few blocks to her apartment, the walk home after closing left her feeling tense. It was not safe for a girl to walk alone at night here but Elena had little choice.

As Elena made it a block away she felt a sensation on the back of her neck as if she was being followed. Quickly turning around Elena looked to see just the empty street. Readjusting her bag, Elena picked up her pace for the final blocks.

Elena continued on when she suddenly felt hands grab her from behind and pull her down one of the many dark alleys. Elena kicked and screamed wanting to get away. She knew the second she went down there would be no hope for her.

"Quit 'yer fighting this will just hurt for a second" the drunk man slurred as he continued to push her against the wall as he started fiddling with her dress. This could not be happening, Elena thought as she continued to struggle and yell begging anyone to help her. Elena felt her dress rip exposing her bra and she knew that unless something changed she was going to be done for. 

"Come on you know you like this" The man whispered in her ear as he let one hand go from her to unzip his pants. Sensing an opportunity, Elena grabbed the small blade she kept in her bag quickly removing it from its guard. As the man leaned forward again, Elena thrust the knife into his stomach, quickly turning it and removing the blade to cause the most damage, just like she had been taught to as a young girl. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Elena stared down at her knife and the drunk man on the ground realizing what she had done. As close as she had been to danger growing up she had never directly killed someone until now.

"Shit, shit, shit" Elena said looking around to see if anyone had seen what happened. Even though she had done what she had to in self-defense if someone were to find her like this they could have her hanged. Elena threw the bloodied blade into her bag and attempted to straighten the dress before taking off away from the man. She needed to get away from the body as fast as possible.

Elena felt her breath get more labored as the adrenaline wore off; she was going into panic mode but she needed to get off the streets. Not knowing who else to go to, she ended up at the door of Thomas Shelby.

Elena pounded on the door praying he was in when it suddenly opened revealing a half-asleep Tommy. Elena watched as his eyes widened taking her in. She knew her hair was mangled, her dress torn and she was covered in blood.

"Tommy I need help," Elena said feeling dizzy all of a sudden. She felt his hands grab her preventing her from falling as she felt herself lose consciousness.

xx

Tommy:

Tommy stared down at the unconscious girl currently residing in his bed. Elena had shown up nearly an hour ago bloodied and bruised up before losing consciousness. After Tommy had gotten her into bed and felt a steady pulse he had gone feral calling for Polly convinced Elena must be bleeding out due to the amount of blood over her dress. Besides a few bruises, Polly had assessed the girl was okay. Meaning now they just had to wait until she gained consciousness again to figure out what the hell had happened.

Tommy refused to leave her side, scared that if he left she would suddenly not be okay.

"Come on El, open your eyes," Tommy said carefully brushing the hair out of her face. He hated to see her like this but he also needed to know what happened.

A few minutes passed as Tommy could hear Polly downstairs making tea when suddenly El's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"There she is" Tommy whispered a small smile coming to his face just grateful to see her awake.

"Tommy," Elena said attempting to sit up.

"It's okay, you're at my house. No need to sit up, you are safe" Tommy said guiding her back down not wanting her to move too fast and lose consciousness again. Tommy noted the way her whole body flinched as he helped her lay back down.

He slowly ran his hands through her hair hoping it would soothe her. "I need to know what happened El, please I'll take care of it no matter what"

"He grabbed me" El's voice broke "He was going to rape me. I... I stabbed him and then ran away. I promise I had no choice" Elena said quietly tears running down her face. It took everything in Tommy to remain calm but he knew if he got angry now it would make everything worse for Elena

"Did.. did he" Tommy stated needing to know how far it got.

"No, he only managed to tear my dress before I acted"

"Good girl"

"Tommy, I think he's dead. I killed him" Elena's breath got labored.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay. You did the right thing. Where did this happen?" Tommy asked, his heart breaking at how torn up Elena was over killing the disgusting man that did this to her. He continued to stroke Elena's hair sensing she needed the comfort.

"Fourth and Pine" Elena barely got out her voice breaking.

"Love, I need to go take care of this. I'm going to send Polly up to get you washed and changed and then I will be back, I promise" Tommy needed to take care of the body before the police could find it and ask questions. It would not be breaking news for a drunken man to be stabbed but better for the body to disappear so there was no evidence to examine.

The girl nodded at him with fearful eyes.

He gave her one last look before standing up and leaving. He hoped to god the man was dead before he found him because otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from torturing the vile man that had done these things to El.

xx

Tommy returned to his house hours later having taken care of the body. The man was lucky to be dead before Tommy arrived. Upon entering the door, Tommy found Polly sitting at the table sipping her tea.

"Is El okay?" he ask wondering if something had happened to her since he was gone.

"She's sleeping, just checked on her" Polly answered, he felt his whole body relax knowing Elena was okay.

"She's a fighter that one. Did you make him pay?"

"Already dead' Tommy said leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Good, you should be there when she wakes up again" Polly urged him.

"Yeah, I should" Tommy agreed knowing it would be hard for El to wake up alone after the events of the night.

"Tommy?" Polly asked stopping him before he could walk upstairs

"Don't fuck it up" his aunt continued. He knew she wasn't just talking about tonight.

"I'll try my best" Tommy promised. And he meant it. For some reason, Elena had come into his life and he was going to try his hardest to make sure she never left.