- REAL FEARS -
The hospital lights were white and flickering as she pushed open the door and ran to the front desk.
"I'm here to see Thomas Shelby," she said, out of breath. "I got a call that he has just been admitted."
"Yes," the nurse sighed. She looked up at Rose, her face slack with boredom. "Only immediate family can see him, he is in critical condition."
"But they just called me! I'm a nurse- please let me see him!"
She felt like she was going to vomit or cry- maybe both.
"I don't know what they said on the phone, but Mr. Shelby is in critical condition. No visitors unless-"
"I'm his wife," she stuttered. Her heart was in her throat and she couldn't keep still, bouncing up and down on her heels. "Please, let me see him. Please."
The nurse looked up at her again slowly and almost rolled her eyes. Rose quickly pulled her hand off the desk and prayed the nurse hadn't seen her ring-less finger.
"Fine," she huffed, waving her hand. "He's in room 215-"
Rose didn't wait until she was finished before running up the staircase. She counted the door numbers under her breath as she sped down the harshly-lit hallway.
When she finally found his room, she paused and took a long, slow breath. She had been in hospitals like this and felt the thundering anxiety of the 'what-if' hundreds of times, but now there was so more on the line. He was on the line.
She pushed open the door and froze on the threshold. He was still as death, his face a mess of cuts and stitches. If she hadn't known what room he was in, or known the shape of him so well, she might not have even recognized the him under the swollen eyes and purple bruises.
A sob that might have been of relief or sorrow burst from her chest. She pulled the chair that was by the door to the head of the small bed and grabbed his hand from the blanket. He stirred, a low mumble coming from his cut lips, but she quieted him as she ran her thumb up and down his hand.
"Shh," she whispered. "It's okay, Tommy."
His eyes opened as much as the swelling would allow and he let out strangled sound that threatened to shatter her heart into a thousand pieces.
His lips were moving, but there was no sound. All she could do was watch as he blinked, his mouth moving to the letters of her name. Rose.
She wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks. He was safe and alive. She allowed herself another deep breath.
"What happened?"
The words were more like a sob as she leaned towards him as gently as possible.
"I don't know."
His voice was slow and the three words were enough to empty the breath from his lungs. His words were slurred, too, and his lips hung open like...like the inside of his mouth had been cut.
"Who attacked you?"
She knew he needed to rest and that she would get no answers from him now, but she couldn't help herself. Each second that he was in pain was another second that white hot anger boiled up in her chest.
"I don't know," he whispered. "Five men and it was dark and...and-"
She lifted her hand to the side of his face, gingerly stroking down his cheek.
"It's okay," she repeated, a stray tear running down her cheek as she looked at him. She had so many questions, like who had done it and who had brought him to the hospital. She wanted to ask him why they had done it and where she could find them, but she knew he needed to sleep- to rest.
"Go to sleep, you fool," she said with a laugh made of nerves and tears. "I'll be here when you wake up."
With her words, his shoulders seemed to relax and after a few moments, his hand went limp in hers.
***
"Mrs. Shelby?" a small voice cooed. "Mrs. Shelby are you alright?"
She startled awake, her eyes squinting in the light of the hospital room. She had fallen asleep in the wooden chair and as she sat up she flinched, her neck pinching in pain.
"Yes," she huffed, offering the nurse a half-awake smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Nothing, Ma'am. I'm just here to let you know that your husband is free to go. There doesn't seem to be any internal bleeding, just a small concussion and the superficial wounds. If you'd like to stay until tonight, you're more than welcome; this medicine is going to make him very drowsy."
Rose just nodded, her eyes flicking back and forth between the nurse and the gentle rise and fall of Tommy's chest.
"The medicine for you to take home will be brought in shortly by the doctor- just pain killers, don't worry. He should take them once in the morning and once around dinner time for maximum comfort until they run out. I'll leave you one to give him when he wakes up."
She placed a single white pill on the table next to the bed, along with a glass of water. There was another tight lipped smile before she nodded her head and left, leaving Rose once again in silence.
"Maximum comfort..."
She turned to the bed to see Tommy awake a moving to sit up. His face was squeezed in a grimace and she sighed, adjusting his pillows.
"You'll be in pain for a while, Tommy. The medicine is just there to ease it."
"I've had my ribs broken and my body kicked to bits, love," he wheezed, his words still a slur. "I don't know anything about 'maximum comfort'."
She let out a strained laugh and pulled his blankets further up his chest.
"Here," she muttered, putting the small pill into his mouth and gently coaxing him to swallow it with a gulp of water. It took a moment and each movement seemed sharp with pain. When he finally did swallow, his head fell back onto his pillow.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.
"Did the nurse call you Mrs. Shelby?"
She froze. Her silence seemed to be answer enough, though, as his eyes finally opened and he looked up at her. There was a bloodshot ring around the blue of them and she almost gasped. It was a wonder her was even able to talk, let alone sit up. She pushed it aside as she remembered what had just happened.
She felt a deep blush rising on her cheeks. It was foolish, and she knew it- there was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but the playful glint in his eyes, still handsome even under the bruises and cuts and despite the pain she knew he was in, made her heartbeat jump in her chest.
"I- well, if I hadn't told them I was, they would not have let me see you," she stuttered. He let out a raspy laugh, which immediately turned into a hiss of pain, as she floundered. "I had no idea how hurt you were, and I...are you laughing?"
He was chuckling, his chest moving the blanket up and down as he tried a pained smiled. He nodded as best as he could and she shoved him gingerly.
"It was immediate family only and goodness knows none of them are coming to visit!"
"No, Rosie, it's perfect," he said, his voice a low rasp. "You're perfect."
She smiled, catching his crystal eyes as she leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
"Come on, soldier," she signed, leaning on her elbows on the bed. "Let's go home."
He nodded. "Call John and have him bring the car. We can go back to the house and-"
"No, I don't think so, Mr. Shelby," she said, shaking her head. "We have had enough of London for now."
He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off.
"No. You're hurt, Tommy. You could have died! And I-"
She stopped, the words that had been tumbling through her mind as she slept almost rushing out of her. She took a deep breath and tried again.
"And I wasn't even there to save you."
"Rose, it doesn't matter-"
"But it does, don't you see that? Tommy you could have died! I could have lost you! Whether I am Ms. King or Mrs. Shelby, I don't want to lose you and I don't ever want you to get hurt!"
"It's-"
"An occupational hazard? Don't you dare try that one with me, Tommy."
She leaned in closer to him. The scent of his cologne still lingered on his warm skin and her throat tightened as the comfort of it filled her head.
"I love you, Thomas Shelby. I know who you are and I know what you do, but that doesn't mean I love getting calls from hospitals and arriving to see you bloodied and beaten. Imagine if it was me lying in this bed!"
She saw the anger flash across his face, not at her but at the vision she had just cast into his mind. When he looked back up at her, his brows relaxed and she knew that he understood.
"Rose, I know who did this to me."
"What? I thought you said you had no idea?"
"Last night was a blur, Rosie. I remember when you arrived later, but the attack is a haze. All I really remember is the pain and the shouting. I remember I was on my way home when five men came out of nowhere. And then I remember a name. The man who cut me up, he made me say it over and over."
She could see the pain on his face. Not just physical pain, but there was shame, too. Ridiculous shame that he was not able to fend of five men with weapons all alone. Shame that he had not seen it coming.
"What name?" she ventured.
The Peaky Blinders had many enemies, that she was sure off. But this was an act of war. Anyone brave enough to do this to Tommy Shelby was going to have to prepare themselves for the fire that was about to come their way.
"It- it was..."
Each word was an effort and she could see him fending off the beckoning sleep. Whatever medicine he had been given was working and his swollen eyes were blinking slower and slower with each second.
"Who was it, Tommy?"
"It was Sabini," he whispered, his eyes finally closing and his hand falling limp at his side.
"Sabini."
.....
Hiya! Sorry this took so long and is a bit of a filler chapter- I'm having trouble getting motivated right now. I've also been writing a Finan fic from TLK so that's been time consuming enough lol
As always, any comments, votes, and feedback always means so much to me!
All the love,
Brynn xx