CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

              "MONDAY FIRST ― YOU HAD better save the fucking date, John Shelby!" Felicity burst through the doors of the youngest adult Shelby brother's home with a bang and a shout, not caring whether or not he had company. It wasn't as though any visitors would be

"Fuck off, Felicity!" Was the annoyed shout she heard in response from upstairs, causing a short laugh to escape from her lips as she tried again to achieve his attention.

The girl tutted loudly. "Considering this is your supposed future sister-in-law you're talking to. . ." she trailed off, knowing her volume was loud enough for the man to hear her words and the meaning behind them.

Sure enough, John soon emerged. . . although he did not look happy about it, with his trousers hastily pulled on and his normally-crisp white shirt unbuttoned and wrinkled as it was evident he had only just shrugged his arms through the sleeves. He met her at the bottom of the stairs with half-hearted vexation in his features ― as though he hadn't the heart to get irritated with the girl, much like always.

Felicity raised an eyebrow at the sight of his obvious dishevelment. "Where are the kids?"

"'Got a maid," he answered sheepishly, tugging on his sleeves before glancing up again to meet the girl's gaze. "What's happening on the first?"

"My fiancé's and my supposed wedding," Felicity exclaimed, rolling her eyes at the thought of it. She still hadn't the slightest idea how Tommy was going to pull off the entire debacle that consisted of outsmarting both John Woods and Billy Kimber, but she trusted him enough to do just that. This trust, however, would not prevent the worry from building up inside her chest and bringing with it an overwhelming sense of nausea that emerged from time to time, though.

John's eyes widened. "The first? That's soon, Ti."

"Yeah."

Too soon.

The man's eyes filled with the slightest hint of concern, as though he sensed that there was more to her than the apparent bravery that she was continuing to put on.

"Thirty  nine days and counting," she confirmed once more with a tentative attempt at a smile.

"Tommy's said he can sort it all out, though. Get back at your father or something before it all goes ahead." A poor attempt at reassuring her it would all be alright, but it was an attempt nonetheless.

Felicity nodded weakly. She had tried to push away the thought of her father as much as she possibly could in the past few weeks. . . instead choosing to focus on the other, more current events. "You had better start hoping your brother does have something up his sleeve," was all she said in reply. "Or y'know, you'll have to see me at family gatherings and all that crap."

"I'll try and hurry him, then."

"Please do."

John laughed but he was quick to usher her towards the door, clearly losing interest in the conversation. "I will," he confirmed. "Now please go, Felicity, oh my God."

Felicity rolled her eyes once again as she obliged. "Horny git."

"Get out!"

Stumbling out of the door, she turned back to the house to childishly poke her tongue out to the indignant Shelby brother, who had not managed to close the door fast enough in order to not see it. And so she left, laughing as his grumbles could be heard trailing behind.

⎯

              Much like always, Felicity later found her gaze meeting Thomas Shelby's as she locked up the pub for the night. Startling blue eyes met the fiery warmth of her hazel ones and small, elated smiles grew upon both of their lips as they found themselves to finally be alone without the watching eyes of his family or her friends. With the moonlight bouncing off the puddles beneath them, their features were illuminated as he took her hand in his and they began to make their way back to his home, with the upcoming hours being theirs for the taking. It was times like these she liked best, because it meant that the night would be theirs, and only theirs.

And yet it was these nights that they would often find themselves lying awake, tangled in the sheets as both pairs of irises stared up at the ceiling, with soft conversation bouncing from their lips. Content, for once, with the life that they found themselves going about each day as they knew that at the end of it, the other would be awaiting them and they would spend the remaining hours together.

His body against hers, forever with the sole intention of protecting her just as he had promised, even in sleep. Each curve of her body fit within his, as though the pair were made for each other and for no one else. Their breaths in gentle synchronisation, their chests rising and falling on the same beats, and each of their presence calmed the other.

"Are you sure you're alright about everything?" Tommy asked to the darkness. It was no lie that he was worried about her and in times like these, as they lay beside one another with their limbs twisted and previous kisses staining their skin, he fought to have the courage to ask the questions he would not ask in daylight for fear the pair would get answers neither of them wanted in the earlier hours.

"As good as I can be." Words slurred with sleep, but their meaning was not lost on the man curled beside their speaker.

Tommy sighed, his remorse for pulling her into this mess forever haunting him. Time and time again she had assured him that it was fine, that he needed to stop troubling himself with the regret. And yet it was just as frequently, when he saw the smile light upon her lips and laughter escape from her lungs, that he realised just how much more Felicity Woods deserved. An angel in the midst of all this darkness. . . and he blamed himself for it all.

"It'll all be over soon, Lis." Reassurance was the only thing he knew to do that would improve it. . . any other attempts would be futile, as the pair were both in too deep.

"Thirty nine days," she confirmed sleepily in response.

His small nod bumped against the crown of her head. "We'll sort everything out before then, I promise."

A promise she had heard before, and a promise she still knew to be one he would do anything and everything to keep.

"I know, Tom," Felicity murmured.

"I mean it, Lis." Forever promising her that it would be okay because deep down, Thomas Shelby feared that she would not believe him, that she was always weary, never trusting. 

The girl smiled, tired sadness resonating throughout the expression as she knew just what he was doing. Although she was not sure why he was so insistent, she knew his intentions were of the best and she knew that the man was capable of feeling so much more than he let on. 

So she acknowledged his words with a sleepy sigh and closed her eyes once more, feeling the thud of his heartbeat against her back and allowing its heavy beats to calm her own so that she could fall into a contented slumber.

⎯

               The white lace that fell over Felicity Woods' bodice reminded her of spring, and the sunlight that so rarely came with the later days of winter, not that it would have resembled the day that lay before her now. With dark, doomed grey clouds above, the rain would threaten to dampen her spirits as well as her blonde curls when she, Polly and Grace exited the shop within the next hour.

"It's gorgeous," Grace was continuing to gush over the dress that hugged Felicity's body and pinched at her waist, too tight by an inch or so. "You're gorgeous, Felicity."

The other blonde merely smiled tightly in response as her gaze fell on herself in the mirror before her. Captivated by her reflection yet disgusted by just how much she happened to be enjoying herself. . . as though this was all real, as though it was truly happening and was not a mere cog in the works of Tommy's plan. 

Tommy had awoken before she had earlier that morning and had changed quietly with the hopes of not waking her as well. . . unaware that the girl had stirred the very moment that the bed shifted as his frame left it. She had continued to try to regain sleep, though ― had she not failed miserably, she would not have felt the soft kiss he left on her temple before he exited the room as quietly as he could to reign the Small Heath streets once again. 

Tommy had spent final few minutes in bed with his thoughts whirring ― which would have been exhausting for anyone else, but he found himself glad for them, as it gave him the answer to the problem that had vexed his mind for nearly a month now. So when he found his aunt in the kitchen downstairs, nursing a headache with a steaming mug of bitter tea, he left instructions for her to take Felicity out for the day. A vague, infuriating way for him to express his new realisations, but it was a way nonetheless. 

Now, Felicity stood before the mirror with two women on her right, and another on her left. The seamstress hadn't given much thought to allowing Felicity to try on this very dress when she saw the Shelby matriarch was at her shoulder, and so now she stood with a tape measure in one hand a needle pressed between her lips as she regarded the blonde sceptically. 

"I can't believe I'm standing here," Felicity murmured to the other two. 

Polly caught her words and sympathy filled her deep brown irises as she came closer to the mirror. "It's surreal, I'll say that much," she agreed, her tone more hushed than usual. 

Grace nodded in quiet agreement but even she could see the anxiety that had found its way into her friend's frame, and so she too came closer, but not before gently asking the seamstress if they could have a moment to themselves. 

Probably that the girl was getting emotional over the thought of her upcoming wedding day, the woman agreed and so she escaped to a back room obligingly, unknowingly allowing the three women the space to mull over just what Felicity Woods was doing. 

She sighed as her fingertips ran over the fabric, the lace catching on her nails. Coarse, not soft, not comforting. Undoubtedly pretty, but with the continuous hint of brittleness and fragility.

Winter sunlight was weak, feeble, a tentative attempt at warmth. 

And Felicity Woods, try as she might to hide it, felt herself growing weaker as the clock of thirty nine days ticked down. A ticking time bomb. A countdown to the day that she would either watch her father come to his downfall, or Thomas Shelby come to his. 

She knew that she didn't want to lose the man she loved, and thus as the three women left the shop barely half an hour later, chatting amongst themselves absent-mindedly, Felicity silently resolved to do everything in her power to prevent that from ever coming close to happening. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE
this chapter genuinely sucks ( the
dialogue does anyway ugh ) BUT
there's only  two  chapters  left  in
part one  omg  omg  omg  i'm   so
excited ― i'll try & update again
ASAP because i love you all lmao