Finn had woken up in many ways in the past, mostly from Polly yelling at him to get up or his brothers shouting outside his door that they had work to do, he had even been woken up with a revolver pushed up to his temple more than once. But that night when Ailbhe crept into his room, letting herself in with her key and silently slipping out of her clothes and into his bed was his favourite.
Ailbhe and Tommy drove back to Birmingham, something about Tommy needing to be back where he could think. He was a mess. Ailbhe knew it just by looking at him, the way he was sweating despite the chill in the air and how he had been smoking since he sat into the car in London. She didn't comment, didn't try and get him to slow down and talk it through. He needed to think so she stayed quiet and let him think. When Tommy dropped her off on Watery Lane, he didn't even say good night, just waited until she had slipped inside her house and shut the door behind her.
But Ailbhe didn't want to be at home, on her own in her room. So, she waited until Tommy's car had vanished from sight and she slipped back out into the dark again. She darted across the lane, knowing the puddles to avoid and where the street light blind spots were to keep her cloaked in darkness. She was at the betting shop's door within seconds and let herself in. She was careful not to make any noise despite the house being empty except for Finn.
He was asleep when she pushed open the bedroom door, the lights were out. He slept on his side, facing the door. All the lights in the house were off, leaving just the moonlight to cast a low light into the room, enough to see the sleeping face of her Finn.
"Finn" She whispered, trying to rouse him slightly so as not to give him a fright but he didn't wake. He always was a heavy sleeper.
She put down her handbag and slipped out of her coat, folding it across the back of the chair at his desk. She pulled off her shoes and slipped out of the rest of her clothes too until she was standing there in just her underwear. She could feel the cold biting at her skin, knowing she would have frozen in her bed across the lane.
She lifted the blanket, sliding into the bed beside him and smiling when he started to wake up and realise that he wasn't alone anymore. The smell of her perfume and the soft touch of her skin made him realise who it was and he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. She had come back, back to him. He found himself praying she always would.
"Hey" he mumbled, feeling her small body wriggling in around him until her body was nestled in the curve of his body, her back against his chest and his arms wrapped around her middle.
"I thought you were staying at Ada's" he sighed, his voice low and husky from being asleep but she heard the gladness in his tone.
She stroked her fingers along his forearm that wrapped around her middle in a way that almost sent him straight back to sleep. It was so gentle he didn't want to think about how he didn't deseve to have someone be that soft with him after everything he had done. But he was too tired to think like that, so he just enjoyed it. His chin nestled onto her shoulder, tilting and pressing a kiss to her neck. She was so grateful it wasn't over, that they were back to being Finn and Ailbhe, back where they belonged.
"Tommy and I drove back tonight" she explained, hearing his breathing get more and more steady as he started to slip back into sleep.
"Good" he sighed, tightening his arm around her.
"I'm worried about him Finn..." she whispered, feeling like sleep was still quite far away for her even though she was exhausted.
"You're always worried about him Alv"
This was true. Ailbhe usually did worry about Tommy but she was almost always right about having cause to worry.
Finn knew this and while Ailbhe was a worrier, her suspicions almost always came true.
"I don't trust Michael" She whispered, feeling safer than she had in months, feeling safe in the dark and the quiet of Finn's room.
"Or Gina" she added, pausing for just a moment but only for a moment "Or Linda".
Finn could hear the worry in her voice and he could feel the tension in her body against him. He pulled back for a moment, nudging her onto her back so he leaned over her and could look her in the eye.
"Tommy knows what he's doing Alv, we'll be alright" he promised her, making sure she looked him in the eye as he spoke.
Her green eyes looked tired and her body felt tense and wound up beneath him. She nodded reluctantly at him, not sure she felt it was true.
"This Mosley... he's... he's not like anyone we've ever dealt with before Finn" She told him.
She had a bad feeling about it, a coldness that she couldn't shake the whole drive home and she had a feeling that Tommy felt the same. It was something in his eyes, his cold and expressionless eyes that told Ailbhe he didn't care about anyone or anything but himself.
Although they had come a long way since Tommy had let them all be arrested, there was still a sliver of something cold that lived inside of Ailbhe. Something that made her wonder if Tommy worried about them as much as they did for him, if Tommy would really stop anything like that from happening again, if maybe Tommy had gotten in too deep this time.
Finn could feel it, could see it in her and feel it in his hands on her. She was confused, she was stressed and anxious and her mind wasn't slowing down.
"I just can't see it Finn" She sighed, bringing a hand to her face and covering her eyes that she squeezed shut "It's like there's a link, an answer right in front of me and I just can't put the pieces together. Mosley, UVF, IRA, Billy Boys, Michael, Gina. I just can't see it"
She wasn't frightening him as she often did to her brothers. They saw the way her eyes darted and how her mind seemed to work faster than they could even imagine sometimes. It made them uncomfortable and even made them want her to stop it sometimes. But Finn wasn't scared of her. He just wanted to help her.
"Oi, Alv look at me" He took her chin in his thumb and forefinger, making her look at him.
"Fuck everyone else" he whispered to her, reminding her of what she had said to him that morning.
It made her give him a smile, even if it was a weak one. He knew what she needed, to settle and to root herself in the moment. There was nothing she could do then to stop it all, to free her mind from this torment or save Tommy. Finn was becoming accustomed to the idea that Tommy might not want saving. Not yet anyway.
He leaned in and kissed her then. Maybe he wanted to make her forget it all, maybe he just wanted to kiss her, maybe he had missed her but she didn't care, giving in and leaning up to meet his lips until they were wrapping around each other again, discarding clothes and undergarments. It was only then Ailbhe started feeling her mind empty, to focus only on what was happening to her right then and there and who she was with. The rest didn't really matter, not at that time of night. At that time, it was just them.
*
The next morning Ailbhe couldn't concentrate. Despite being back in Finn's bed and feeling so relaxed and happy she hadn't been able to sleep well. Her night had been plagued by dreams that she couldn't help but feel uneasy at. Finn had walked her to work, promising he would see her at midday for the meeting with Tommy and Michael. It was going to be the first time Michael saw Tommy since he had come home and Polly wanted more people there, more people to stop it getting out of hand if emotions ran high. But Ailbhe didn't want to be there and neither did Finn. He didn't trust himself to be in a room with Michael as he tried to explain himself and why he had pissed all their money away on his own stupid ideas about capitalism.
Jade noticed Ailbhe's distracted mind and how she had barely looked at her since she came in. If she had looked up from her work, she would have seen that Jade had a new item of jewellery worth noting. She had noticed the spring in Jade's step but she was always quite carefree. Then again, this was next level.
"Are you alright, Alv?" Jade asked, setting a cup of tea in front of her.
She worried about her friend. She always seemed to have so much on her plate, to have so many depending on her or needing her to be at her best.
For the first time all morning, she looked up. Jade was too good to her and she didn't thank her enough, she thought to herself as she took the cup of tea gratefully. Jade sat down in front of Ailbhe's desk, hoping to get more than just the two words out of her that she had earlier.
"Yeah, I'm sorry Jade I'm just nervous about this meeting with Michael later" she answered, knowing that tension and emotion could run very high and sometimes people said things in the heat of the moment that they shouldn't.
"Do you want some good news? To maybe take your mind off it?" She asked, having been bursting to tell someone since it had happened.
Ailbhe nodded, knowing Jade could cheer her up. But that was when she saw it. The ring on her finger that had never been there before.
"Oh my... Fuck! Jade" Ailbhe gasped, dropping her cup onto the table with a clatter.
Jade was beaming. There was no other word to describe it, she was positively glowing with happiness.
"Oh my God," Ailbhe sighed, reaching out and admiring the ring that was positively beautiful. It was nothing like Ailbhe had ever seen before therefore it was perfect for her.
"Bonnie proposed!" She exclaimed, utter joy in her eyes. Ailbhe was thrilled. She was so happy that Jade had gotten rid of the suitors for London and chosen to be with Bonnie who really loved her.
"Mrs Jade Gold" she whispered, realising there weren't two people in the world who she wanted to be happy more than them.
Ailbhe hopped up from her seat and went to Jade's side, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing as the girls squealed in happiness.
"When is the wedding?" she asked, knowing that Jade had been planning her wedding since she was a little girl and that she always promised no expense would be spared.
Jade's smile never changed; it grew if anything when she answered.
"That's the thing Alv, it was last night"
Ailbhe felt lost for words for a moment.
"What?" She asked, trying to process it.
"We didn't want to wait anymore... Dad said yes and Mr Gold said yes so we got married last night"
She explained, feeling guilty that her best friend couldn't have been there but they just couldn't wait any longer.
Jade had always wanted a massive, white wedding with her family and friends, with toasts and champagne, with music and dancing. But when it came down to it, when Bonnie came to see her yesterday evening and said he didn't want to spend another night not married to her she had found herself agreeing straight away.
"We were waiting to tell everyone until after Bonnie's fight on Saturday but I couldn't wait to tell you Alv" she gushed, her hands waving excitedly and her eyes practically filling with tears of sheer happiness.
"Oh, Jade I'm so happy for you," Ailbhe told her, grabbing her in for another hug and grinning madly.
Ailbhe couldn't help but almost laugh.
Jade Jesus. She was the girl who had sworn she would get out of Small Heath and get swept off her feet by some big shot London man with buckets of money and a mansion in the country. And there she was, married to the gypsy boy who couldn't read or write, who didn't even have a bank account not to mind money to put into it and she was happier than anyone Ailbhe had ever seen.
"Where did you go last night? For your big wedding night?" Ailbhe asked, curiosity getting the better of her and knowing that Jade shared everything with her, as they always had.
She held onto Ailbhe's hands as they sat down in front of her desk, forgetting all about the drama with Michael, with Mosley and the work they both had to do.
"Finn gave us the flat in Artillery Square, he said it was a wedding present since he didn't use it anymore!" She explained, still holding onto Ailbhe's hands.
"I made Finn promise not to tell you, I wanted to tell you myself about the wedding!" She babbled on, explaining why Finn hadn't said a word to her about her best friend's elopement.
Ailbhe felt a wave of love for Finn again wash over her. Of course, he had given them the flat.
"Alv... It was amazing" Jade sighed, a look of utter bliss and contentment on her face. Ailbhe had never seen Jade that happy, truly happy.
Jade was a bubbly character, someone who found joy in lots of things but this was one of the first times Ailbhe had seen her utterly and incandescently happy.
"Mr and Mrs Gold" Ailbhe grinned, squeezing Jade's hands in hers.
The names seemed perfect. Bonnie and Jade Gold, getting their happy ever after.
"Aberama Gold is your father-in-law... wow" Ailbhe remarked, finding the idea almost laughable.
"He'll be my kids' grandfather Alv" Jade laughed, having already been asked about kids by Aberama.
He said his wife had three healthy, perfect daughters before finally having his miracle, his son Bonnie. And he prayed that Jade would be lucky enough to be blessed like he was.
"Kids... wow Jade" Ailbhe sighed, imagining Jade as a mother, as a mother to Bonnie's children.
They would be beautiful; anyone could tell you that. Children with caramel skin and dark eyes with flecks of honey, with their mother's beauty and intelligence, with their father's strength and determination. They would be forces to be reckoned with.
Jade squeezed her friend's hands and looked up at her. Her eyes looked so excited, biting down on her lip nervously she smiled so much Ailbhe was sure she would get a spasm but it was perfect.
Ailbhe was glad that amidst it all, there were two people who had found happiness, regardless of everything else. Amidst all the smoke and shit of Small Heath, the darkness coming from up North and from London, there was happiness to be had at least there was hope for it anyway.
(Hi, thank for everything! Can't believe the story is at 10k it seems just crazy to me! Not sure where this idea of a storyline with Bonnie and Jade sprung from but I kinda love them! Love reading your thoughts and comments! Love, Mer x)