SNITCH
WHEN DEBORAH ARRIVED at the Garrison, after the family meeting, she was greeted by Harry and Grace. She hadn't spent much time with the blonde women, but it felt as though Grace was avoiding her. Deciding not to dwell on it, Deborah warned Harry of the group of Peaky Blinder men that would be arriving soon.
"Deborah, a telegram arrived for you." Harry called, as he cleaned a few glasses. "It arrived last night, so I just left it in the office."
"Thanks Harry." Deborah said, while rushing into the small room and slamming the door shut behind her.
Searching around for a moment, she finally spotted the letter under one of the number books. Deborah tore it open and quickly read the words on the page. She froze once she was done and her face paled, it was not good news. At this point she knew it was time to tell Tommy what was going on, even if he would be annoyed and disappointed in her.
He knows.
- Nick S.
Deborah was pulled from the thoughts by the sound of Tommy yelling her name. The young women quickly threw the telegram in the bin and rushed out to the men who all stood by the bar. Tommy was waiting behind it, with his hands rested on his hips impatiently.
Once Deborah was by his side Tommy, began pulling pints for his men. "Right. Let's get pouring." Tommy announced.
"Never thought I'd see the day when Tommy Shelby pours someone else's pint." Deborah joked, standing beside the man.
"Haven't you heard? You've changed me, for the better." Tommy smirked, nudging her side.
Deborah's smile dropped as her mind flashed back to the note. "I need to talk to you." She told him.
"It can wait till I come back." Tommy replied, pulling another pint.
"Tommy, it's serious." Deborah argued, her tone demanding.
"We'll talk about it when I get back. All right?" He repeated, looking calm.
"When will you be back?" She asked impatiently.
"Oh, is this how it's going to be, eh?" Tommy teased, smirking once again. "You waiting at home for me, saying, "What time do you call this?" He chuckled.
Deborah knew she wasn't going to get through to him when he was acting like this. With her hands shaking and heart racing with fear, she decided she needed to get away from the loading chatting of the men.
"The barrel needs changing." She muttered, heading to the back room.
The sound of Arthur's teasing could be heard from behind the door, but Deborah's mind was racing so much she could barely hear him. She desperately wiped away the stray tears, when she heard the door open and close behind her.
"Hey, Deb, I was joking." Tommy whispered, turning her around to face him.
"Tommy, we need more mild!" John yelled, after banging on the door.
"Just help yourselves." Tommy called back, before turning back to Deborah.
"Tommy, there's something you need to know." Deborah sniffed, looking down at her hands. "It's about the time I was away for those few weeks, after the Kimber incident."
"What are you talking about?" Tommy questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. He sighed and grasped both of her shaking hands. "All right, look. Deb, I know you're hesitant about us, about being with me again. But I'm turning things around, myself included. And when I get back here tonight I will have one of the biggest legal racetrack syndicates in the country. And I'm going to close down some of that illegal stuff. Maybe open a club, hey?" He suggested, making her smile. "Like in London. I can finally bring you back to your home. We'll create new memories, happy memories, together."
Deborah's breath hitched at the mention of London. He didn't notice and instead grasped her chin between his thumb and index finger. "Tommy..." She tried to speak, but he cut her off.
"I am going to make a success of this. I am going to make a success of it. I am." He assured her.
"I know." Deborah whispered, placing a hand on his cheek and slowly reached down to run her thumb along her bottom lip. "I know."
"I once asked you to marry me." He reminded her, while grasping her hands once again. "This time around, we will get married and carry on our adventures, together. We are honest with each other. We know each other."
"I know Tommy." Deborah sighed. "That's why I need to tell you something."
Just as Deborah was about to tell Tommy everything, the door slammed open. Arthur and Jeremiah Jesus walked in, both looking equally stressed and panicked.
"Right, tell him what you just told me." Arthur ordered the preacher.
"Just heard there's two vans driving up the Stratford Road. An old corporal of mine said he recognised some of the men." Jeremiah revealed. "He said it's Kimber boys, and they're heading this way."
Tommy stayed silent and grabbed Deborah's hand, pulling her out of the back room and to the main part of the pub. They both threw on their jackets and coats, before rushing to the Shelby home.
"Ada, wake up." Tommy shook his sister awake, when him and Deborah were in the house. "You and the baby get into the Bull Ring, where there's lots of people."
Hearing the panic in Tommy's voice, Polly rushed into the room. "What's going on?"
"We've been fucking betrayed." Tommy announced, pacing the floor. "Someone let slip. Kimber's men are on their way here."
"Yeah, but you can handle them, Tommy?" Polly asked her nephew.
"It's just us. All the Lees are on their way to Worcester. We're outnumbered. Fuck!" The stressed man exclaimed.
"Who else knew today was the day you were moving on Kimber?" Polly questioned. "You said the only other person who knew was Deb."
"I sure as hell didn't say anything." Deborah spoke up from where she stood by the fireplace.
"Deb's right. Who else did you tell?" Polly urged, staring down her nephew.
Tommy's eyes suddenly widened and he turned to look at Deborah. "The only other person who knew was -"
"Grace." Deborah finished and her teeth clenched. "I fucking knew she up to something. All those questions she asked Arthur!"
"I'll deal with Grace." Polly told them. "If either of you set eyes on her again, you might kill her."
Once Polly had left to deal with the undercover barmaid and Ada had left with Karl, Tommy and Deborah hung back. The man suddenly reached and grabbed her arms, before wrapping them around his neck and wrapping his own around her waist.
"Don't die." Deborah whispered, as he leaned his forehead against her own.
"I won't, I promise." Tommy assured her. "When I get back, we'll talk."
She nodded and reached up to kiss him passionately. After a moment, they pulled away and Tommy ran out the door and down the street. Deborah decided to stay in the house and far away from Billy Kimber and whatever bloodshed would follow.
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It was nearly an hour later when the men came barrelling threw the front door of the Shelby household. Deborah scrambled to her feet at the sight of Arthur dragging Tommy in to the kitchen and slumping him down on a chair. She noticed the pool of blood gushing from a hole in his shoulder and immediately began yelling orders at all the men around her.
"What the bloody hell happened to you?" Deborah snapped, while herself and Jeremiah pulled all of the clothes off Tommy's upper half.
"I killed him...but he shot me first." Tommy told her breathlessly, as she finally took off his shirt.
Deborah sat herself down on the seat directly in front of him and reached for all the things she had demanded. She used the bottle of rum to sterilise her hands and then went looking for something to use to get the bullet out. Unfortunately for Tommy, the best thing the had was a spoon and fork.
"Arthur." Deborah looked up at the man. "Hold him still."
Once the man had a tight grip on his brother, Deborah leaned forward and got to work trying to find the bullet. Tommy's toe curling scream filled the room as the pain shot through his entire body. Deborah whispered her apologies, as she continued searching for the bullet.
"That's it, lad.Come on." Arthur encouraged his brother, while Deborah continued her searching.
She sighed in relief when she finally found it, but she noticed that it had shattered a part of his collar bone. "Got it." She announced, pulling it out.
Tommy's screams seized and he dropped is head to Deborah's lap from exhaustion. She ran a hand through his sweaty hair and down the top half of his bare back.
Arthur forced Tommy to sit back up again and handed him the rum. "Have a drink." He caught Deborah's eyes and she gestured to the drink. "Right, deep breath." Arthur warned him, before drenching Tommy's bullet wound with the alcohol. Tommy yelled in pain, but it was soon over. "That's it. It's done."
Deborah pressed a gentle and reassuring kiss to his shaking lips, before ordering one of the men to find a sling. "The bullet shattered your collarbone." She explained. "You'll have to wear a sling for a few weeks."
Once Tommy had calmed down, he revealed to her the news of Danny's death. She was saddened by the news, he was a good, kind man and he had a loving family. They all headed to the Garrison, where they were greeted with Danny's body rested on the table in the private room.
"Now we can bury him properly in the grave we dug for him." John spoke up, when everyone had gathered.
"Yeah.I t's high on a hill. He'll like that." Tommy said, before raising his bottle of rum. "To Danny Whizz-Bang. May we all die twice." The men all repeated their respects. "Come on. The day is ours, let's celebrate." They all left the room.
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After hours of celebrations, drinking and dancing, Tommy and Deborah found themselves back in her house. They stumbled up the stairs, neither of them even drunk, just both in desperate need of sleep. Once they reached her room, Deborah flung herself on to the bed and crawled to her side of the bed.
"Come to bed." Deborah mumbled, looking up at Tommy, who still stood by the door.
Tommy complied and began carefully stripping himself of his coat and trousers. He carefully lay down beside Deborah, who rolled on to her stomach to gaze up at him. Smiling to himself, Tommy reached up and ran his hand through her dark locks.
"What's on your mind?" She whispered, after a few minutes of studying him.
"How did I not see it?" Tommy replied, his voice low. With his other hand he grabbed a cigarette from the bedside table and lit it.
"Who Grace really was?" Deborah questioned, leaning up slightly to take puff from his cigarette he offered her.
"No." Tommy replied. "Well, yes, I can't believe I never realised it. But also the fact I never saw how I let the best thing to ever happen to me go."
"You weren't yourself when you came home." Deborah said gently, leaning her chin on his chest. "It was frightening how you just suddenly forgot about me, about us."
"I never forgot about you." Tommy sighed. "I just didn't want to burden you with the nightmares and anger I held from the war."
"I would have helped you." She told him.
"I know. I was just so caught up in the anger and fea,r that I forgot how important you really were to me."
Deborah nodded and reached up to kiss him gently. "I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" Tommy hummed, still running a hand through her hair.
"One of my brothers, Nick, contacted me about a year ago." Deborah finally revealed. "He wanted to see me and explain things."
"Which one was Nick?" Tommy spoke up. "Was he the one that was helping your father run the business?"
"No." Deborah assured him. "Anyway, I went to visit him in London, after the Kimber incident." She continued. "He told me that my father died a few years after I left and that he no longer was involved in the family business."
"Was that it?" Tommy asked. "All he wanted was a quick chat over a cup of tea?"
Deborah sighed at the sharpness in his tone. "No. He wasn't to be the brother that he always should have been."
"And you'll let him?" Tommy questioned her.
"I love being apart of the Shelby family, apart of your family." Deborah told him, kissing his chest. "But I want to build a relationship with my own, or just Nick at least."
Tommy nodded slowly, coming to terms with the idea. "And that means?"
"More frequent visits to London?" Deborah suggested, a small smile on her lips. "Maybe you could join me?"
Tommy's mind flickered to the business arrangements he wanted to pursue in the city. "I want to meet this brother of yours."
Deborah squealed with delight and leaned up to connect their lips. Tommy chuckled and savoured the taste of his lover's lips, before slowly pulling away.
"Let's sleep." He whispered, pulling her closer to snuggle in to his side. "I'm bloody wrecked."
"I love you Tommy Shelby." Deborah whispered, kissing his cheek.
"I love you too Deborah Rose." Tommy replied.
Deborah relaxed further into his body, moving her head to his chest and letting his heart beat fill her ears. She felt so comfortable, so relaxed. Tommy rested his chin on the top of her head, and for a moment it felt like they had rewound time.
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Ahhhhh that's season one finished! I'm so happy with how it turned out and everyone's support has been amazing.
I cannot wait to start season two and show parts of Deborah's life before meeting the Shelby's and her new life with Tommy and her brother in it.
Act Two will be coming soon! X