• STRANGER • A Thomas Shelby Fanfic •

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"Polly," He says before embracing his aunt.

She hugs her nephew, holding him close. "I came as soon as I could,"

"Right," Thomas swallows, looking around, wondering what to do because fuck, he's never felt so dependent before. "Thanks."

"I'm so happy she's back," Polly looks over Tommy's shoulder to see a sleeping Cecilia.

"-But Polly, something wrong with her."

"We can fix that," She assures him before pulling away to examining his arm. "What happened to you?" She hisses before sighing, "She did this to you?" She nods towards Cecilia, who is asleep.

The maids prepared a bit of morphine and force fed it to her, putting her straight to sleep. Thomas couldn't watch, let alone stomach the sound of her screams. He swallows, trying to get rid of the sour emotions he's going through.

"Yeah," He didn't mean to chuckle but he did. "I never taught her how to use a gun, I mean, she never wanted to learn..."

"I wonder who taught her." Polly puts her finger on her chin.

"Whoever it was, it was the same person who taught her to try to kill us."

"I think she wanted to only hurt you, Tommy. Arthur told me she was only shooting at you." Polly murmurs. "This isn't about us as a family, this is about you." She concludes, hoping she's wrong.

"I don't fuckin' know." Tommy drags his hand over his face, pulling on his skin, "She's untouched though, no bruises, no scratches, no harm done to her."

"Thank God." Polly gets Tommy to sit down, she pulls out her tweezers and begins to pry his wound apart, looking for the bullet that is lodged into his arm. "It was mental then, they must've brainwashed her."

"Brainwash." Tommy chews on the word, "Who would-"

"I don't know," Her eyes narrow, "But, she's back, that's all that matters right now Tommy."

He looks down the hall, looking at her chest rise and fall. "Her eyes never looked so cold, it was like she didn't know who I was." He hisses when she pushes the tweezers into his flesh, Tommy takes a swig of the whiskey, gulping it down. "I was so excited, I didn't even fuckin' notice that she was shootin' at me."

Polly looks up to see Tommy's eyes water. He doesn't pull his gaze away from Cecilia's sleeping body. "I can stay if you want." She suggests.

He chews on his bottom lip, taking another shot at the whiskey, putting the bottle down. The thought of Polly getting through to Cecilia makes him envious: why can't she just remember me? Four years, four years the two have spent together. And now she doesn't remember a thing?

Without being able to even think, Tommy gets on his feet and heads towards their master bedroom. Polly tells him to stop, but he refused to listen, hurrying on to his sleeping beauty. She lays there, peacefully asleep, Thomas watches her, tilting his head to examine her. She's got a little mark on the side of her neck, one that makes him lean down and push her brown hair away from the spot. He examines the purplish bruise before concluding that it looks like she was touched there by someone's mouth. He pulls away, ashamed, annoyed, upset.

"Fuck!" He shouts, walking away.

"What is it?" Polly asks, leaning down. She looks at the mark before pulling back, she exhales deeply. "She was gone for a month, Lord knows what happened to her-"

"She was unfaithful to me. That's what fucking happened!"

"Tommy, stop." She hisses, unsure of what else to say. He's been through it all, but this breaks him. "Stop it! Enough." She bats her eyes at her nephew, feeling an array of emotions.