Beautiful War {Peaky Blinders}

11.

After running for a few short minutes without slowing, he eventually made it to the church. He waited for a minute to settle his nerves and pulled his off his hat, slipping it into his pocket before running his fingers through his hair.

Tommy then cleared his throat and stepped inside the church, his eyes instantly landed on her and he stood at the top of the aisle for a moment before walking slowly down to the row she sat in. Not once did she look back at him.

He stopped at her row and sat down in the empty space beside her, letting out a soft sigh. "Why did you wait around? After leaving so suddenly last time.. why did you wait around to see me this time?" Tommy questioned, eventually looking down at her.

Victoria looked back up at him, their eyes finally meeting. "I.. I wanted to hear your voice and I wanted to see you again... Since I left you I've been trying to get rid of my feelings for you, so me waiting around now to see you is such a bad idea." She whispered softly, the pain clear in her voice.

After all of the good moments, all the smiles, all of the laughter, how did they end up like this?

"You never were any good at making the right choices, nothing new there then." Tommy teased as he reached his hand up, softly brushing a piece of hair up behind her ear. "Is there any chance you could come back home?"

"I don't know..." She whispered, wiping her eyes as they began to fill eith tears. "My home has always been in London, you know that Thomas. But I just need a little bit of time away to process everything."

"Take all the time you need, but just know that if you ever need any of hs, any day or time, we will be there. There's nothing we wouldn't do for you, no doubt about it." He nodded, his tone had gotten noticeably softer as he spoke to her.

Tommy wrapped his arm around her shoulder, Victoria instantly leaning against him, laying her head on his shoulder. "I need to ask you a favour." She spoke, her voice bearly above a whisper. He leaned down and pressed a lighht kiss to the top of her head, "like I said... absolutely anything."

"Theres this man... he's been following me around town, I get a bad vibe from him and it scares the life out of me. The other day he approached me and asked me to accompany him to the ball in London tomorrow evening." Victoria explained as she lowered her head to avoid his gaze.

"I have heard about this Ball and I had heard that you were attending with another man... As soon as I realised you had left, I had sent some of the men on my pay roll up to London to keep an eye on you and to make sure no harm came your way." He replied, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

Victoria lightly shook her head and smiled. When walking around, she had noticed men that wore the Peaky Blinders uniform with the infamous flat caps following her around. It was typical Tommy behaviour.

"The man keeps asking me if and how I'm involved with the Shelby's or the Peaky Blinders... So when he asked me to the ball, I tried to decline his offer. But he said I had no choice and that I had to attend with him." She continued to explain as played with her fingers in her lap.

Tommy sat up slightly but kept his arm softly around her. "So how can I be of assistance?" When Victoria looked up at him, he could see an element of fear and sadness in her eyes. He knew that he would do whatever she asked, without any doubt or questions about it.

"It's a big ask, but please could you be there at the Ball too. I'm so scared and I need you Tommy." She whispered as she reached over to his hand, gripping softly.

"Please don't be scared. I'll tighten up the security around you when you go back up, there will always be my men within reach of you. But I'll be there at the Ball too, all of the Shelbys will be, and throughout that event there will always be atleast one of us close by." Tommy explained as he pulled her into a soft and reassuring hug. His words soothed her worry and she began to feel at ease in his arms.