What seemed like an endless night of disruption and detachment, Verity awoke in the dressing room of the club – glad for the peace and quiet of the establishment she'd walked into the night before. After hours, the club seemed to offer her a safe haven as of late, a place to be alone which rather contradicted the building's reputation of being crammed to the rafters night after night.

She had gone to make herself a coffee early in the morning, pulling out a petal pink dress from the plentiful rack in the dressing room that was casual enough to pass off as every day wear. Espresso in hand, Verity then made her way into Arthur's currently desolate office, where she started her morning's work of trying to sort herself a new home.

What a nightmare that would turn out to be.

-

Arthur's desk which was never tidy at the best of times, was now in a state of complete chaos. Page after page of newspaper adverts, scrawled notes with numbers scattered around and now a coffee cup that had been refilled far too many times.

The singer had lost track of the hours as she had tried to find a single place that would want to talk to her. The estate agents didn't seem to want to know – one reason was the fact she explained she already had a house and mentioned her means of employment, and they didn't seem to care much to that. Verity could only assume they thought there was something fishy going on. The other reasons as the fact no estate agent wanted to touch the woman for the simple yet so infuriating fact that she did not have a husband. God, they acted like it would be inappropriate to sort house viewings for a single woman in affluent areas of London where Verity's price bracket allowed her to be.

Unsurprisingly, she gave up around lunchtime. With her fatigued mind, she had let her head fall down onto the desk with the aim of getting a few minutes of shut eye – yet her exhaustion betrayed her and she fell into a deep sleep

Only to be awoken by the sound of knocking on the door. Despite the fact it was only knocks, Verity could almost hear the sarcasm.

Sharp as a shot, she bolted upright and brushed her rather unkempt hair out of her face, feeling her skin scorching hot as she set eyes on Tommy Shelby standing in the doorway.

"Not interrupting anything am I?" His voice dripped with a form of sarcasm that was so dry it could be been located in a desert climate. If the reason she had passed out asleep hadn't of been so trying, she may of cracked a smile.

"Only my descent into madness." She remarked, but her voice lacked it's usual witty lustre. A part of her was admittedly pleased to see him, but not even that could outshine her frustration. A subtle frown spread across Tommy's face as he paced further into the office, standing in the corner. Like a subconscious movement, his hand went for the case of cigarettes on the inside of his gun-grey coat pocket.

"What are you doing?" He asked, observing the mass of paper all over the desk. On closer inspection, his eyes noticed the many listings of houses.

Sighing deeply, Verity did not really feel like recounting everything to Tommy. It was enough living in the present of this mess, without having to go back to the root of it.

"My sister found out I worked here and kicked me out." She abbreviated, "so I'm trying to look for somewhere new. I don't want to be under Scarlett's nose for the rest of my life. She's got a life of her own to live." Verity explained, shuffling the paper's about passively as if it was going to improve the situation.

Tommy scoffed a little at Verity's comment, not in a way that would release a smile however.

"Sounds more like you don't want to be around to hear them shagging."

He didn't need to explain further, it was clear Tommy somehow knew about what Arthur's plan to win Scarlett back. The comment did rouse a small smirk from Verity, albeit the delivery was crass, but Tommy was right.

The moment of light heartedness left as Verity scanned the various papers all about the desk, a feeling of hopelessness filling her, hazel eyes twinkling with sadness.

"Do you know how difficult this is?" She looked up at Tommy, frustration written on her pretty face. "None of these estate agents will speak to me. I'm going to be stuck here for good, I'm sure of it."

Out of bitterness, she crumpled up the newspapers and threw them in the small wire basket bin besides Arthur's desk, even her throwing gesture was filled with animosity for her situation.

Looking on, Tommy felt a sense of guilt and a form of ownership of Verity's situation in a way. As much as he would like to deny himself feelings of caring about her welfare, he couldn't not let her stay homeless and live in her dressing room here at the club like some tramp.

"I could probably get you somewhere but filling out all the papers on someone else's behalf may take some time." He suddenly piped up, cigarette hanging with perfect balance between his lips. His icy eyes eventually locked into Verity's gaze. "You can't stay here though until we get you somewhere."

Verity's heart broke in half, she felt the hot rush of tears to her eyes, confusion and anger alike boiled under her skin.

"What do you mean!?" She gasped, the biggest angry scowl filling her expression. "You expect me to live on the streets-!? Badger Scarlett like a child-!?"

"Come and stay at the manor." He interrupted, voice cool and not arising to the heat and intensity of her outburst. The tension dissipated considerably upon his words, and Verity's to deviously rigid form relaxed slowly.

She was at a loss of what to say – mainly as a mixture of emotions flew about her head like birds, flapping and squawking aimlessly in the sky. She felt embarrassed by her outburst, confused and timid but also cautious. How could she know this wouldn't be like the last time ?

Tommy was no mental well being expert by any stretch but he could read the hesitation in her face and knew exactly the reasons for it.

"No funny business. You have my word." He added, a seriousness on his face as he paused a few moments to judge her expression which eased off slightly.

"I... I don't know what to say." Verity gabbled, feeling incredibly useless as of late – like her composed and psychologist-minded self had packed her bags and left her conscience for good.  She stood before the leader of the Peaky Blinders feeling like a desperate girl once again in need of someone to help her out – she hated it, she hated having to be the one clutching at straws the entire time.

"Don't say anything then." Tommy replied, his tone short as it usually was. "Just get the things you need from here and then we'll collect your cases from Scarlett's house." He instructed her calmly like an employer rather than friend or someone to lean on. Scarlett found herself taking these orders without batting an eyelid, it was almost as if she knew deep down that she had to take this or risk walking a tightrope between walking the streets and intruding on Scarlett and her life.

"I'll be outside in the car." He cleared his throat, voice low and tones devoid of any real compassion or emotion at this time. But in a way, Verity was grateful for that approach. It means she could keep herself level headed instead of tumbling into a spiral – realising just how vulnerable she was.

No, she pushed it to the back of her mind as she grabbed her bag from the night before and a few bits from the dressing room – trying to collate her things and her thoughts was going to be difficult, having to process the fact she'd be going back to a house that months ago, she hoped to never have to return to.

-

Curb side, Tommy's more than modest car rumbled loudly as he waited behind the wheel for Verity to finish getting her things from Scarlett's place.

The day was trying to offer the smallest form of sunshine to cut through the miserable grey weather, fingers of sunlight pushing through the blanket of gun grey clouds above.

The front door once again opened as Verity appeared with her things, Scarlett loitering in the doorway, fiddling with the locket necklace around her dainty neck.

"You promise you're not leaving because you feel uncomfortable? Or that I did something wrong?" Scarlett panicked once again as Verity placed the bags into the back of Tommy's car.

Returning to the pavement, Verity clutched Scarlett's hands tightly and gave them an affirmative squeeze of reassurance.

"I'm leaving because I want you to have the space you deserve." She told her best friend, kissing Scarlett on the cheek chastely. "Thank you so so much for having me here and being the most reliable person I have ever known."

It was clear to see the Italian-American was getting teary eyed, her chocolate eyes shimmering slightly with a haze of wet tears.

She averted the attention from herself, leaning against the door frame as she shouted to Tommy.

"You get her the best damn house she deserves, Shelby." She remarked playfully, folding her arms across her chest – still wrapped in her silk dressing gown which would suggest she hadn't really bothered with getting dressed that day. Verity wouldn't go as far as saying she was surprised at all by this.

"I'll try." He called back, leaning across the seats. "Where's that brother of mine?"

It was clear to see Scarlett becoming a lkttle sheepish and embarrassed.

"Still in bed."

As ever, Tommy had to take his opportunity when he saw it.

"Oh I see, recovering is he?"

Embarrassed, Scarlett stepped back towards the doorframe and Verity shook her head slightly at their exchange. Saying goodbye to Scarlett felt like she was never going to see her again, yet she knew that to be far from the truth.

As Verity climbed back into the car beside Tommy, she sighed gently and discussed with herself internally why this was making her feel so distant. Maybe it was the geography of it – the fact she was going to be living so far from any sort of ties she had.

Or maybe it was the remnants of uneasiness welling at the bottom of her stomach l, fragments of memories of disgust, distrust and resentment that she took with her from her last visit to Tommy's lavish house.

She took a deep breath, watching the London streets go by like film playing on a reel.

How she hoped this time would be different.

-

A/N: Sorry, I lied when I said this was going to be a long chapter. Originally it was going to be but, Ideas change lmao.

Hope you enjoyed none the less folks x