"Where are we? It's freezing, start the engine again."

Irina was sat in the passenger seat of Alfie's car, her fur coat huddled around her like a thick blanket, rain still blowing in the wind that hadn't softened all day.

After slipping away from the funeral unnoticed, Irina took Alfie up on his offer of driving her back down to London. They left almost immediately, both of them feeling slightly guilty about abandoning such an event, but soon forgot about it once they were on the road.

Alfie had pulled over once they reached a town that most definitely wasn't London. Irina hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings on the journey and once the sun had set, she was even more clueless as to where she was.

She had been listening to Alfie talk the entire time, which she didn't mind. Irina wasn't one to overshare, or share at all, really. The fact that Alfie seemed to be the polar opposite put her at ease, not being irked by the feeling of heavy awkward silences as there seemed to be no such thing in Alfie's world, always having something interesting to say.

"You're hungry, come on."

Alfie held out his hand for Irina to take as he helped her down from the car. She reluctantly took it, glaring at him in the darkness.

"How do you know if I'm hungry or not?"

Alfie scoffed, letting go of her hand and setting off walking in the direction of glowing orange lights not too far away from the car.

"Your stomach's been growling for the last fifteen miles, louder than the bloody engine. Hurry up, it's cold."

Irina ran a couple of steps to catch up with him, carefully treading over uneven surfaces on the ground in her high heels.

They walked side by side over a small bridge and into a cosy village. It looked like Small Heath, only cleaner and warmer, inviting lights from pubs and houses, elderly couples walking arm in arm down the street with smiles on their faces. It felt peaceful, the sound of rushing water from the canals reminded her of what she heard every day at work, only without men shouting beneath her window.

"You haven't answered my question." Irina pressed, struggling to keep up with Alfie who took one step for every two that she did.

"Cambridge, darling. Looks nicer in the daytime, but still nicer than Small Heath in the dark," he made a left down a small side street and pushed open the door to a pub, holding it open for Irina, "After you."

She walked inside and instantly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as the warmth burned her skin from the cold outside. She shivered, her cheeks feeling like a thousand pins were pricking her face for a moment before her body adjusted to the temperature.

Following Alfie over to a table, she handed him her coat and he hung them both up on a stand in the corner, sitting down opposite her.

"Mr Solomons! What a lovely surprise to see you here! And who is this?"

A gentleman dressed in a white shirt with a black apron tied around his waist and a checkered towel over his shoulder approached the table with a huge grin on his face, slapping Alfie affectionately on the shoulder.

"We were passing though in need of some food, you'll cook us up something nice now, won't you?" The two men shared a laugh and shook hands, Irina watching as Alfie's smile grew wider and his eyes brighter at the sight of his friend.

"Irina, this is my good friend Oliver Fischer. Oliver, this is Irina Zakharov. She likes expensive things so why don't you bring over the best bottle of champagne you've got, and two glasses?"

"Right you are, Mr Solomons," Oliver nodded eagerly before turning to Irina, "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Zakharov."

"Likewise," she smiled at him before he disappeared, leaving Alfie and Irina alone.

"You don't have to tell people I like expensive things, it makes me look materialistic," Irina said, scowling slightly at Alfie who just chuckled.

"You are, though, aren't you? Would you have preferred me to ask for a bucket of stout?"

Irina stayed silent, her eyes narrowed at Alfie though the way he was looking at her with one raised eyebrow and a half smirk was making it difficult for her to keep a straight face.

"That's what I thought. Now, have you grown up yet? Do you like steak? Or are we still on the seafood like at The Eden Club?"

Irina's lips were pulled into a thin smile, "How do you remember what I had to eat at The Eden Club?"

Alfie shrugged, "I remember a lot of things, Irina."

The two of them ordered a steak each when Oliver returned, Irina following Alfie's recommendation.

"So," Alfie cleared his throat, "Have you fucked Thomas Shelby yet?"

Irina almost spat out the mouth full of champagne she had, her eyes wide at Alfie's question. He sat before her, his face emotionless much like hers was most of the time, only it unsettled her to see him like that.

"What in God's name are you talking about?"

Alfie rolled his eyes, "I saw you talking to him at the bar earlier, I think I even saw him smile. You know people say hell will freeze over before Tommy Shelby smiles, don't you? You must've done something to cause that."

Irina kissed her teeth, "Perhaps I'm just charming, Alfie. Have you ever considered that?"

Alfie narrowed his blue eyes at her, his hands clasped together as he leant on the table, "No. you're actually rather miserable, so that never crossed my mind."

"If I'm so miserable, why do I constantly find you around me?"

He smiled, his lips tight together and his eyes curved in an elated way, orange from the candle in the centre of the table reflecting in them as she looked at him.

"I happen to like miserable. It's why I'm friends with Tommy."

Irina smirked, sipping her champagne without saying a word in response. She was more than aware that Alfie Solomons was, and had been for a while, flirting with her. She was used to having men try their luck with her, however it was usually more of an annoyance than much else, but with Alfie, she didn't seem to mind.

Irina was very much a lone wolf. She was selfish in the best way, preferred her own company to sharing time with anybody else, and enjoyed being able to put herself and what she wanted first.

She didn't want to have friends and have to eat at restaurants she didn't want to go to or listen to problems they were having with men she didn't care about.

Irina wanted fo live in a world that was for her and her alone, but every time she'd found herself in the presence of Alfie Solomons, she hadn't minded sharing it.

"You frightened me when we first met, you know that?" Alfie said once he'd finished eating, wiping his mouth clean with a napkin.

"Why do you say that?" Irina replied, un-phased by his comment that unsurprisingly, she had heard more than once before.

Alfie sighed loudly and leant back in his chair, topping up both glasses with the remainder of the bottle of champagne that sat beside them in a bucket of ice.

"I think it was your eyes, the way you glared at me. Didn't speak much, drank a lot though. You looked like you wanted to kill me."

Irina laughed softly, "Maybe I did. What changed your mind?"

He paused, pursing his lips in thought before speaking.

"Women like you, yeah, are made for men like Thomas Shelby. Even then, I still feel like you'd eat him alive, but at least I'd be safe, right? I'm not some big shot like him, am I?"

Intrigued, Irina rested her arms on the table, her chin on her palm as she looked up at Alfie. Part of her felt saddened by the fact Alfie didn't value himself as highly as he did Thomas, not after everything he'd done for her out of pure kindness that was barely reciprocated.

Alfie leant forward to meet her gaze, "But now? Now I'm fucking frightened of you, way more than I was when you were sending me daggers across the table at The Eden Club."

Irina felt the atmosphere shift. Alfie's face softened under the glow of the candle, his heart seemingly on his sleeve out of nowhere. The way he looked at her in that moment was the true instance that Irina saw what true vulnerability looked like for the first time in her life.

"And why is that?" She whispered, her low voice matching the thickness in the air between them.

"Because now, Irina," he said, "I look at you and I want to kiss you. And to me, having you make me feel like that, it's far fucking scarier than anything else."