Lily got woken up by knocking at the front door, and not thinking she huffed while chucking the covers off her body and stood up to go and open the window thinking it was Finn.
Jumping back getting a fright once she heard a groan and realising she had stepped on something.
Finn turned over to see who or what had just stepped on his arm.
"What the fuck?" groaning before he realised it was Lily and not one of his brothers so he wasn't going to tell her to fuck off.
"Shit sorry, i forgot you were there!" now helping Finn up off the ground and pushing him on her bed before he started to complain about being woken.
And quickly made her way over to the window to shout down to whoever was at the door.
"Hello?"
"Lily it's me, get ready and come down!"
Her eyes widened at the sound of Tommy's voice, and Finn and her had stayed in the house alone without her Father knowing, so she went to quickly shut the window as she didn't want them to know and tell her dad.
Her Father trusted Finn and knew they were no more than friends but he didn't like him staying over or Lily sleeping in his room so if she ever stayed over Lily made her Father believe she slept in Johns old room.
"Oh, and tell Finn to get up and come too"
Tommy said quickly before she could shut the window, laughing at the girl knowing that Finn had stayed over.
She rolled her eyes at him and told him to fuck off and told him that they'd be down in a minute, before shutting the window to go in to the bathroom to get ready.
While Finn was coming down the stairs looking rather zombie like, Lily had already made two slices of toast and gave one the Finn before opening the frount door with the piece of toast in her mouth as she needed both her hands to put her shoes on.
Tommy stood smoking a cigarette and Arthur, John and Luke were running around in the street playing with their guns pretending to shoot each other like little kids.
"Took you long enough, what you too doing up there eh?"
John said just as he had just pushed Luke on the floor making him do a forwards roll before hopping back up on his feet and jumping on Arthur's back and putting the older man in a head lock.
John made his way over to his younger brother and the girl he has seen more of a daughter than a sister for a few years now, seeing as they were now out of the house and stealing the rest of Finn's toast and shoving it in his mouth.
Arthur was now shouting over from across the street. "You two had fun last night then?"
making a 'pew' sound with his mouth afterwords as he was pretending to shoot Luke in the head who had done a very dramatic fake death.
Lily and Finn both rolled their eyes and Lily shouted back over to Arthur.
"Shut the fuck up, i will never do anything with that piece of shit."
All the boys just laughed at her included Finn, before walking to the Shelby's.
Arthur, John and Luke were still running around the street like a bunch of hooligans pretending to shoot each other not far ahead of Tommy, Lily and Finn.
"So we're did you two go yesterday?" Finn said looking over at Tommy and Lily, putting one hand in his pocket and an arm around Lily's shoulder.
Lily looked up at Tommy with a look as to ask him if she could tell him, because keeping this from him was killing her, and Lily and Finn told each other everything.
Tommy looked down at Lily as there was a bit of a hight difference, Lily being only about 5'4 and being much smaller than the rest of the boys.
Before looking over at Finn who was still waiting for an answer.
"Don't worry Finn, you'll find out soon."
Finn just rolled his eyes at his older brother, knowing you never get the answer you're looking for with Thomas Shelby.
Lily look at Finn for a split second with a look that said sorry, before grabbing her gun from the holster at the waist underneath her skirt and running over to the boys, as she was board of Tommy already and shouted at John while pointing her unloaded gun at his head.
"Don't move or I'll shoot!"
"Ah ha she's got you now John boy!"
Arthur shouted while jumping around like an idiot.
"Me and Little against you two!." Arthur Shouted at John and Luke as he had now decided teams, running over to Lily, picking her up and threw her over his shoulder, making sure to hold her skirt down and causing her to squeal in shock as he ran to the house.
Arthur had came up of the nickname 'Little' ever since Lily was little. Because physically she was, Lily has always been quite short and Arthur who is rather tall and who has towerd over girl her whole life he made the name thinking it was hilarious.
Tommy and Finn both laughed at the pair as they were walking not far behind the four, before going back to have their own conversation.
Arthur ran into the kitchen running away from John and Luke with Lily still dangling on his shoulder as she pretended to shoot John as he was coming up behind Arthur to try and shoot him, so Lily shouted at John trying to use her strength to lean her body up so she was no longer upside down.
"Come any closer, and i'll shoot your fucking head off!."
Then Luke came running in making a "Bang" sound pretending to shoot Arthur in the head not long before Lily quickly did the same to her bother making him do another one of his dramatic fake deaths, and falling on to the sofa behind him.
Luke was quite a few years younger than the three older Shelby boys and four years older than Finn as he was only eighteen, yet they were all still very close.
Luke and Lily's father was forty two being a couple years older than Arthur, they had still always been close ever since they were younger despite the age difference.
And luke wanted that same relationship with the Shelby boys as his Father did.
Everyone had stopped as they walked into the kitchen, finding Polly who had stood up from the table with her hands held on to Michael's arm.
Tommy smiled at the boy as they all walked in seeing that he had decided to come and see his Mother.
Arthur had been the last one to see who everyone was looking at, as he had his back faced to Polly and Michael, so Lily had to smack his arse so he would turn around and put her down.
Arthur finally turned around being confused as what was happening and lobbed Lily onto the sofa behind him and right on top of Luke, making her squeal once again, and Luke to groan in pain.
"Get your fat ass off me." he said while shoving his sister off him and on to the floor with a thud.
"Ow!" Lily shouted to her brother while rubbing the back her head, she had just waked it off the wooden floor, before shutting up and putting her hands in surrender as Arthur was giving her a look as to tell her to shut the fuck up.
"Who's this then Pol?" Arthur said leaning on the chair that was in front of him, not even thinking twice about how he had juts threw Lily.
"Everybody, this is your cousin. Polly's son, Michael." Tommy said answering Arthur's question.
Arthur, John, Finn and Luke all looked shocked looking over at Michael as John and Arthur were there when the Boy and his sister had been taken. And Finn and Luke had heard stories, but they never thought about seeing the boy in person again.
Michael made his way over to shake all the boy's hands "nice to meet you"
while making his way over to Arthur last
"I'm Arthur, you've already met me. I used to throw ya out the window so John could catch ya." pointing over to his brother before John started speaking,
making Lily snigger at the thought of Arthur chucking a baby Michael out the window.
"Yeah i used to put ya in the shoe box and kick ya down Watery Lane."
Causing Michael to smile and Finn and Lily laugh at the image of it, as Lily didn't know The Shelby's at the time and nether of them were born at the time.
"I bet you're glad to be back." Tommy said lauphing at his brothers, remembering the memories.
"I don't remember any of that, i only remember when they took me away."
Michael now had his hands in his pockets as Polly made her way over to her son and putting her hands on his cheeks.
Tommy put his hand on Michael's shoulder giving it slight shake.
"Welcome to the Shelby Family. You remember Lily, she came with me to talk to ya."
Tommy said as he pointed over to Lily who had already stood up from the floor, she had been pushed onto, standing next to Finn and looked up at Michael, giving him a sweet smile while trying to read the boy at the same time and not make it look obvious.
Lily had been told by Polly many time that she was just like her.
Lily could read everyone like a book, even Tommy and he and no emotion half of the time. She didn't think anything of it at first, thinking it was normal. But Polly had the same power and had told the girl that it was a gift and she should used it well.
"Nice to see ya again." Michael nodding his head at Lily while smiling back at her.
"And this here is her brother Luke, there not blood. But they're family." Tommy said smiling, ruffling Lily's hair making her smile and pointing over to Luke.
Michael once again smiling at Lily before nodding his head over to Luke and smiling making Luke do the same.
Lily hadn't know Michael for long but there was something about him she found kinda annoying, she couldn't put her finger on it but there was something definitely about the boy she didn't like.
But she thought they could mabey be
friends, as long as he wasn't a pain in the ass.
Tommy had started walking out telling them all to follow him as Arthur turned to Michael pointing at him and saying that he had a nice suit making Polly laugh while fixing her son's bow tie, happy to now have him back with her.
*
Tommy and the Three older boys went off to go do god knows what, so Lily and Finn made their way to sit at the Canal as they did when they didn't have anything to do.
"So that's what you did yesterday?." Finn laughing with his cigarette in his mouth, lighting it and passing it to Lily who gladly excepted.
"I wanted to tell ya, but Tommy said not to just in case Michael didn't decide to come and see Polly." Now passing the cigarette back to Finn.
Finn just laughed at the girl and shook his head.
"It's fine. Even if i didn't find out today, i know you would have cracked and told me eventually."
Finn knew full well that the girl couldn't keep any secrets from him, even if she wanted to.
It was the same for him. Except he would NEVER! tell her that he liked her not ever, even though everyone knew and he wasn't sure if she knew or not but he would never actually admit it.
He just needed to make her his girl then she would know without him ever having to tell her. Problem solved.
"I wanna go to London with Arthur."
Lily spoke remembering how the man was going to London that night.
"Why, what the fucks wrong with me?"
Finn said while dramatically putting his hand on his chest acting as tho he was hurt by the girls words.
"Nothings wrong with ya, i just wanna get away from here for a bit, especially my dad he's being doing my nuttin." She said shaking her head and giggling at the boy.
She didn't know why Arthur was going to London, but she didn't care she just wanted to get out of Small Heath and away from her father for a bit, even if it was only for a couple of days.
Finn stopped smiling for her second, turing to look over at Lily
"Coco, what's going on with your dad?. He's being acting weird."
'Coco' the name that always made Lily smile, Finn had came up with it ever since they were little as she went through a stage were the only thing she would eat was Coco Pops, wether it was for breakfast, lunch or dinner she always had a bowl of Coco pops.
Lily turned to face the boy looking him in the eyes for a second. she hadn't heard that name in a while and it made her smile, Before she looked down at her fidgeting hands realising what the boy had asked.
She had a habit of fidgeting, bitting her nails or her lips when she was nervous but she didn't know why she would be nervous now.
Finn taken notice to all these over the years. He couldn't read others like a book as his best friend could, but he could with Lily.
For some reason he always knew what she was thinking or how she was feeling. And he had noticed her fidgeting so he placed a hand on hers for comfort.
Finn might of not thought of it as a big gesture but to Lily, it meant the world.
Lily had also noticed her Father acting weird around her, being rather more aggressive. But he had never been physical with his daughter and Lily didn't think he ever would be.
At first Lily had thought it was going to be like what had happened with her Mother all over again, so she kept a very close eye on her Father checking in on him.
But when she did, her Father would only reply with a quick and angry 'yes' and going back whatever he was going.
So She always just tried to behave and not make him mad by asking him questions.
She knew it wasn't like with her Mother. Her Mother acted far more differently than her father does but she didn't know what she had done to make the man so mad at her all the time.
she sucked in a breath while unknowingly playing with Finn's fingers that were on her's, still looking away from the boy.
"I don't know." She paused for a long second trying to think of the words to explain the way her Father was acting.
She didn't want to lie to Finn, she knew she couldn't. And she knew whatever she told him she could trust him and if she wanted him to, he would keep it a secret.
"I guess. He's been acting more angry, i guess. I don't really know how to explain it." She said pausing once more, gazing at Finn for a split second before looking back down at her still fidgeting with his, while he kept his eyes directly on the girl with a concerned yet hint of pity and confusion on the boys face as he listened closely.
"I just. It makes me feel like i've done something wrong. And that he hates me and i don't know what it is I've done." She stopped again for a moment thinking about her Mother and the words that were about to come out of her mouth, and she had debated wether or not to say it, but it was Finn she knew she could tell him.
"It's like with Mum"
This made Finn head shot up from his gaze that was on Lily's hands, and how she was gently fidgeting with his.
But once those words came out the girls mouth he began overthinking many things.
Did Daniel act like this towards Lydia?
Has he always acted like this and no one has noticed?
Is Daniel going to do the same thing Lydia had done years ago?
Will Lily and Luke loose another parent?
Will Tommy and Arthur Loose a best friend?
And will Lily or Luke find their father the same way Lily had found her mother?
He quickly stopped once Lily began to talk again and listened carefully having his full attention like she had the whole time.
"I used to think she hated me. Or that i did something to her because she was acting so differently. I still sometimes do. But then when i found her. I realised that she was struggling. And i thought to myself that maybe she didn't help me, and that she just hated herself, her life. Or whatever she hated, i don't know. And no one helped her, Because no one knew. I didn't even know and i noticed her acting differently and i didn't even bother to talk to her about it."
At this point she was now in tears after trying to hold them in for so long.
She hated crying in front of people ever since the day of her Mother's death.
It made the girl feel weak and being the daughter of Daniel Banks there was no time for a weak daughter.
She had never told anyone about what she thought of her mother before, not even her Brother or John and Esme or even Polly.
But She had thought it most of her life, but she had never opened but about it to anyone.
But this was Finn, her best friend since she was five and the boy she would maybe love one day. She was still lying to herself about that.
But she knew she could trust him.
"Lils" Finn took his free hand and gently put his thumb underneath the girls chin to making her look up at him.
"Your Mother didn't hate ya, i can promise you that. Did you ever think about the way she looked at ya?."
Finn had now taken his hand away from her chin and held both of her hands in his lap.
"It was the way every mother should look at their daughter. It was a look of love, and care and she was proud of ya, and she is. She always will be no matter where she is."
Finn paused for a second looking into the girls eyes who was looking back at him and taking his thumb to wipe the tears that had fallen on her cheek, which were shining from the light of the moon as it had gotten darker without the two even noticing.
"And your dad, i don't know what to say about him. I don't know what going on. But you're his daughter, and he loves ya. But. If anything happens, ya promise you'll tell me?."
h said pausing before saying his last sentence not wanting to think that anything would happen but he knew that Lily thought the same thing. And he held out his pinky to the girl just like they used to do when they were kids.
Lily smiled at the gesture remembering the last time the two had done a pinky promise was when they had first met, promising each other to always be together no matter what happened.
She held her hand out in front of her and linked her pinky with his.
"I promise." She said only above a whisper, smiling at the boy as he did the same looking down at the girl smiling at her, he wanted to kiss her so baldy but had to force himself not to, before letting go of her pink, standing up and joking out his hand for the girl to take, and pull her up off the ground.
That night the two teens had moved from the canal to steal a bottle of whisky from the Garrison, knowing Arthur wouldn't do much about it and going the the yard to sit in the pile of hay and just talk, about anything and everything.
The two friends lay on their backs, Finn's arm around Lily's shoulder, Lily laying with her head on Finn chest.
They they both accidentally dozed off mid conversation, and not being woken until the next morning by Uncle Charlie who had gone into the hay barn to get some more for the horses and got a shock and dropped the bucket in his hand, thinking it was some random people and not the two teens he knew very well.