𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 ♛ thomas shelby

xɪx | ɴᴏ ʀᴇsᴛ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ

It was a tragedy their time was cut short after only two years, instead of a lifetime.

When the casket was lowered down and cowered with moist clumps of soil, and the short sermon over with, Ada let out a sigh of relief. "I can't wait to get back to London."

Cat pushed her gloved hands into the pockets of her coat, trying to regain some sense of warmth in them, though she couldn't help but to be caught off guard by Ada's statement.

"You're leaving immediately? But I thought-I was hoping I could see you and Karl for a few more days." Cat wondered, pursing her lips once one of John's children started crying again — though she could hardly call it crying, it was worse than a pig heading for slaughter.

"You can always come south. I can't stay here for another minute, the stench of capitalism is choking me." Ada huffed, disgusted, balancing Karl on her hip.

She was just about to deny it — though it was very plainly the opposite — when Thomas walked over to them.

"Ada. I want to talk."

There was an immediate change in Ada's posture, the widow's shoulders tensing and the frown on her face deepening slightly.

"Here give him to me." Cat reached forward, taking Karl into her arms to give the siblings some privacy, and to distance herself from the conversation that would inevitably turn ugly in the matter of moments.

"How is the boy taking it?" Tommy asked, genuine concern lacing his voice.

"He's fine." Ada paused, keeping her eyes facing up front and not her brother. "When he asks I resort to saying 'heaven.'"

"We thought now Freddy's gone, you might come back to Birmingham." His words draw an incredulous smile on Ada's face.

Cat lowered the boy in her arms onto the grass, watching with mirth as he stumbled, enchanted by the new surroundings.

"Do you know how funny it is that you've got chauffeurs in uniform now?" Ada looked over to where suited men stood by several black cars, waiting to take them back to Birmingham.

"Just for the occasion..."

Scoffing, she pressed on. "Do you know how unfair it is you've got four Bugattis when half the country's starving."

Tommy gestured at the communists who were now folding one of the banners they carried during the funeral.

"So they've made you ashamed of us...' He chuckled mirthlessly, taking a deep breath of smoke before exhaling it.

"Sometimes when I think how I used to be, it makes me embarrassed." A pang of hurt bolted through Cat's heart at Ada's words, and she couldn't help but to turn towards them.

"You liked it then." The drinking, the boys, the life of freedom and indulgence, excessive spending and above all, friendship.

"I've changed."

The words hang between them. Tommy doesn't show it but deep down he is profoundly hurt by the word.

It was then Aunt Polly showed up, just in time to peel Karl away from stealing flowers from some woman's grave.

"I caught him trying to pinch flowers off a grave." Passing him to his mother, she looked between the three adults locked in a silent standoff.

"Is she coming home?" Though the question was directed at Tommy, it was Ada who answered her, taking Karl off her hands.

"I'm going home." Ada stated, her Shelby temper slowly seeping onto the surface.

"Two years ago it was you who begged me to come home. Do I have to do the same now?" Cat raised her brow expectantly, trying desperately to understand what still tied her to London, and not the place she called home for the first twenty years of her life.