devil's backbone 🗝 tommy shelby

chapter 37

n// idk how i feel abt this chapter but just go with it ok anyways we are so back. run it up bffs!

Sybil Shelby had experienced her fair share of fear — true fear — in her lifetime.

From that man in the alley those few years ago, to Archibald Hayes, to the Inspector, to even the bloody barmaid, Sybil had gone through more than she figured most people would in their lifetimes. But nothing, no evil she had faced and conquered, could have compared to what she felt when she received the news alerting her of her husband's state.

It was hard to put into words; shock was like that, she supposed, but it felt as if she had ice running through her veins. Her whole world stopped as she answered the phone, and the air had been sucked from her lungs as soon as she'd heard the news. There was no room for a stunned silence or a processing period, her panic was immediate.

This wasn't fear she was feeling, it was terror. Complete and utter terror.

Her husband, her darling, her love, her soulmate, her everything, her Tom, had been attacked. Beaten to the point of near death, left in the streets just a few blocks down from their home. She didn't know who did it, or why, but she didn't really care about that at the moment. All she cared about was her husband, and his wellbeing. What happened in London and why it happened wasn't her business at the moment; for once, she would leave that to the men.

(For now, of course.)

Sybil thought the terror would ease once she had seen him. That she would be able to breathe again once she knew that he was stable, and could see the physical evidence that he was alive, and that he'd made it. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Seeing her husband, the strongest man she'd ever known, the toughest person in all of Birmingham, the leader of the Peaky Blinders, among other titles, confined to a hospital bed... it broke something within her.

She cried and cried into the white hospital sheets as her husband rested, trying her hardest to channel some sort of strength at the moment, but it proved to be harder than she initially thought.  The fear of the unknown was all consuming, and the truth of the whole situation was rearing its ugly face right at her. That there were people out there, people more dangerous than Tommy, that could hurt him like this. That could get one over on him. That could potentially kill him.

The very thought of it had her spiralling even further.

As much as it pained her to admit, her husband was the biggest fish in a small pond. He was not invincible as she once thought of him. He was mortal. He had weaknesses. He was not immune to danger, and he had a long list of enemies — one that seemed to grow by the day.

But she was a gangster's wife.

It came with the territory.

She allowed herself to be vulnerable when she was alone with Tommy. She cried and cried until she had no tears left, and she prayed until the words didn't sound right coming out of her mouth. But when anyone else dared to enter her husband's room, she became stoic.  The epitome of English resilience. Her red rimmed eyes and splotchy cheeks were a dead giveaway, but she didn't care. She had to remain composed in the presence of others while her husband was incapacitated.

She was a Shelby, after all. She had a reputation to uphold.

She knew she was the hospital's worst nightmare, but she didn't care.  She was by his side day and night, overseeing his care and making sure that he only got the best.  She didn't eat, she barely slept, and she knew that she was the last person anyone wanted to speak to.  But she would remain that way until her beloved woke up, and until she knew he was alright.