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NOTHING LASTS FOREVER.
BIRMINGHAM CITY HOSPITAL
8:50pm.
THERE ARE PIECES of ourselves we can only find by going back to certain places. Sometimes the ghosts of our pasts do not wander, they stay still. And for Rose Shelby, that one place that brought back her tragedies was here. This very hospital in Birmingham. It stood like a cemetery, full of ghosts but so unearthly peaceful.
And like a forgotten tale, Rose had locked away the fateful day she had been rushed here. However some nights, those padlocks would undo themselves.
But now she could see it, so vividly— black star day.
Blood, it was crimson red. Just like a rose. They said she wasn't going to make it as they pushed her through these very claustrophobic hallways. Panic. Shouts. A swarm of doctors. Her tears had dried onto her pale lifeless skin. It felt like the end of a beginning.
Rose opens her eyes, breathing heavily. She was back in the present now.
A nurse walks past her swiftly, pushing a trolley of food for patients.
Time, it is a strange thing. One minute you're full of bliss, with your newborn twins— then the next minute you're in a bleak hospital that your dying brother has been transferred to. Rose had left her sons in the care of her mother and aunt to be here.
She was mentally and physically exhausted.
It was meant to be a happy time but she just couldn't feel anymore, and that in itself was a dangerous feeling.
"Mrs Shelby." A voice behind her calls, startling her a little.
Rose turns around as a doctor approaches her. The old man had a solemn look on his face.
"Sorry for the wait." He apologises, taking off his gloves.
"It's no problem." Rose practically whispers.
"May I guide you to your brother's room?" He was already walking.
Rose adjusts the emerald coat she's wearing, taking a deep breath. As they walked, Rose kept her head hung low. In the far distance she could hear a baby crying. A man coughing. She looks up as they passed a room where a nurse was covering up a patient that had just been pronounced dead.
She gulps.
"This room, Mrs Shelby." The doctors words echoed as he stopped.
She focuses her attention back on him. They were stood by a closed door. Rose felt too afraid to open it.
But she does anyway.
The room was neat, and so empty and so silent. Strangely silent. It was then Rose could fully understand why people ran away from silence their whole lives. Because right now, all her worst thoughts were as clear as a cloudless day.
Her hazel eyes wander to the hospital bed. She had to blink several times.
Harry.
But only, it didn't look like him.
Wounded. Broken. Weak. Lifeless.
That couldn't be Harry. Not the Harry that was always smiling. The Harry that stayed by her bed side all night when she was sick. Harry was strong. He opened jars in two seconds that Rose struggled with for twenty minutes. When they were younger and she'd fall over, he'd pick her up and clean the dirt out her cuts. That couldn't be Harry. Harry's laugh took up space, it was contagious.
It just couldn't be him.
Yet, it was.
"Oh, Harry." Rose's voice breaks. "What have they done to you?"
Harry was fast asleep. They had finished surgery on him mere hours ago and it was now up to fate.
Rose walks slowly to his bedside, before finally standing there and watching her brother.
All his life, all he had done was protect her. She felt pathetic that she couldn't do the same.
Sniffing, she pulls a chair next to him.
The doctor was gone by now and it was only them and the lamp that burned by his bedside. It was a summer's evening, and the warm orange rays helped light up the room. Weirdly, Harry looked quite peaceful. Resting like that.
"I'm so sorry, Harry." Rose moves his dirty blonde hair out his face, her heart felt so heavy. She promised herself she wouldn't cry and she was trying so hard not to.
"I had twins. We named them Charles and Elliot Shelby." Rose smiles weakly, her eyes glistening with tears. "Just like us, except they're both boys. I remember how you said you wished I was a boy when we were eight." She laughs quietly, remembering.
She felt a bit odd talking to someone who was deep asleep. But it felt nice to talk to him. It felt like old times, like nothing had changed.
"You called me Ronald for a whole a week, Ron for short. You made me play football with you." She laughs again. "It was so bloody stupid, but so much fun. Maybe that's why God gave me twin boys."
Rose stares at Harry, shaking her head. "And now you might not even get to hold them..."
Her sentence finished as a lonely whisper. She didn't know what was worse; when someone's already dead or close to death.
"You always look out for me. You're the best brother in the world. If it wasn't for you, I'd have no love growing up. You made that horrible house an actual home, you're my best friend, I—"
Rose couldn't even finish her sentence, a wave of sobs came over her. She wanted to apologise for every time she let Harry down, every pointless sibling argument. For everything.
Harry beat her at every board game, he'd win every race, every bet. So maybe it was only fitting he'd beat her to heaven. And her broken heart was starting to accept that.
"Remember when we were nine and when we'd always walk past that big sweet shop to school?" Rose wipes her face. "I wanted those sweets, the one in that nice gold wrapping. You promised you'd use all your pocket money and buy it for me if I passed my Math's test."
She smiles sadly to herself.
"The truth is I faked my scores to you. I never passed that test. It wasn't even about the sweets. I just wanted you to be proud of me..."
The room was quiet now. The world around them had stopped it's clatter and traffic. Everything was quiet.
Just for them.
Then suddenly, Harry shuffles in his bed a little. His eyes fluttering open. Rose immediately looks up.
"I— I know." His voice croaks, he could barely move.
"I know you bloody faked it. But I had already bought the sweets ready for you whether you failed or not."
Rose was shocked, she couldn't even utter a word as she stared at her brother. But she felt so grateful to hear his voice and see him awake.
She laughs through her sobs, relieved, holding onto his hand.
"I love you." Her eyes were full of tears. "So fucking much."
"Jesus Rosie, you look a mess."
Rose laughs again, wiping her tears. That was the Harry she knew.
"I love you too, Ron." He jokes. "And I'm not going anywhere."
He holds his sisters hand reassuringly. "I'll be okay."
Even though his voice was weak, and so was his body, Rose believed him wholeheartedly. After all, Harry Kimber was not one to break a single promise.
Out of nowhere, the door opens.
"We thought we'd stop by." Polly walks in carefully, followed by Finn.
Then John, Arthur and before they know it, the whole Shelby family and other peaky blinders were in the room. They had gifts for Harry, cards and things they'd thought he'd like.
"What are you all doing here? Polly?" Rose stands up. She was pleasantly stunned to see them.
"We can't celebrate winning London without Harry. It just doesn't feel fucking right. We want to celebrate here, with you guys. With all of our family. Is that okay?" Arthur asks, he had a bottle of Harry's favourite alcohol in his hand.
Rose smiles at her family, she could feel tears coming back up. They had really all came here to be with Harry.
"That's okay." She answers.
"Tommy wanted us to come." Polly walks over to Harry, resting her hand on his shoulder. "We've missed you."
"I've missed you all too."
It was the first time Rose had seen Harry smile since she got here.
"Where is Tommy by the way?" Rose asks. It was always tradition for Tommy Shelby to be late to anything, especially if he planned it.
"I'm here." Tommy answers from the doorway before entering the room.
Tommy held a burning cigarette in his hand and his peaky cap casted a shadow over his deep blue eyes. He immediately takes it off when he sees Harry.
"You okay, soldier?" Tommy asks.
"I'll be fine. I'm always fine." Harry grins again, weakly.
"That's our Harry." Tommy pats his shoulder, handing him a cigarette.
Seeing Harry alive brought an ease to his troubled conscious. Yet Tommy knew it would never change the fact that everyone he touched would somehow be affected by his dark life. He had to protect his family, now more than ever. Because after this London victory, things would never be the same for the peaky blinders.
He turns to Rose. Tommy could tell she had been crying, he felt somewhat guilty for finding her even more beautiful in this state.
"Hello, you." Tommy says, admiring her.
"Hello, husband." Rose replies.
He doesn't say anything else. He wasn't good with words. Tommy knew it was best sometimes in these situations to just hug or something. So, he puts his arm around her and let's Rose rest her head on his shoulder.
"I saw this nurse walk past, she was a sight for sore eyes I'll tell you that! Might just get shot in the balls just to get treated by her." Arthur jokes, looking around for anyone equally as amused as him.
Polly rolls her eyes. "You're disgusting, you know that right?"
"Where's the champagne, eh? The nice one we stole from Epsom?" Arthur looks around.
"I've got it." John hands it over.
"Let's make a toast before we open this fine bottle and a little speech!" Arthur proclaims.
Everyone in the room instantly groans, knowing how awful his speeches can be.
"Not again." Michael mutters.
"Arthur, please, no speeches." Charlie Strong, his uncle, pleads.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let's let him do the fucking toast and speech." Tommy says, settling the noise in the room.
Everyone is quiet.
"Right. Thank you. I'll make it quick." Arthur starts, standing on a chair with a bottle in his hand.
"This is for our Harry. This is for the two new Shelby boys. Charlie and Elliot. This is for new beginnings and family. You guys are all I've got."
Arthur grins for a moment, looking at everyone with hope in his eyes.
"But it's also for the peaky fucking blinders!"
The whole room cheers and Arthur pops the champagne.
"Who's gonna stop us eh?!" He shouts once more and everyone cheers again.
"Oh God Arthur, get down before you hurt yourself!" Ada warns, laughing.
"Right, where's the glasses so we can drink this?" Arthur questions.
"Finn brought them. They're in that crate thing." Polly explains. "Finn? Bring them out."
Finn looks down at his feet awkwardly, scratching his head. "I, um, might have forgotten it at the betting shop."
"Oh for fuck sake! You had one job Finn, one bloody job." John face palms.
It doesn't take long for their arguing to turn into laughter as they all poke fun at Finn for forgetting, before arguing again as they take turns to drink straight from the bottle.
Tommy turns to Rose. They were both watching from the sidelines.
"I bet you're glad to be married into this shit show?" Tommy scoffs sarcastically, smoking.
"Oh, now more than ever." Rose teases, taking Tommy's cigarette and smoking too.
"Now you've had Charlie and Elliot, I want you back in the Shelby Company. You're too valuable to keep away." Tommy looks at his wife, who was a little surprised but flattered.
"Who said I ever left, eh?" She jokes.
Tommy didn't know why but more than ever right now he felt like kissing Rose. There was just something about her that captivated him. That broke those walls he had built around his tainted heart down.
So he did and once he did, he couldn't be stopped. He kissed her like the first time he ever did. Gentle but immersive. How a rose petal falls from a rose, slow and then all together.
They pull away from each other.
"What's my new job, Mr Shelby?" Rose whispers.
They were a centimetre away from each other now, Rose was fixing his tie.
Tommy looks down at his wife.
"Help me make the most of everything Rosie. That's your job." His voice was low as he still kept his gaze on her.
"I think I can do that." Rose grins, gazing at him too. It felt like they were about to kiss again.
"Get a room, you two!" John throws a piece of chocolate at them, ruining their moment.
Tommy and Rose both look at each other and laugh.
"Johnny Dogs, leave some whiskey for me. I'm not dead yet." Harry smiles.
Tommy takes a look around at his family, realising that maybe this would be the happiest they would ever be, the last time they'd all be like this— only time could tell. For this day will one day become a nostalgia to them. A memory floating somewhere. Perhaps the canal, perhaps a wishing well.
But right now, in this very second, this moment is present, it's real, and it belongs to the peaky blinders.
Tommy holds onto Rose's hand.
It's always going to be theirs.
•••
THE END.
•••
thank you my loves for reading! it's been quite the journey but I hope you enjoyed it! anyone want a book two? I need to know!
also if you loved this book, you'll also love my other book, His Duchess!
it's a tommy x oc, and it's set in season 3!! let me know if you decide to read!
L