CHAPTER TWENTY.

               BLACK STAR DAY. THE day of which Tommy had warned her would arrive far sooner than either of the pair wanted it to. The day that he had first alerted her to on that day when the pair sat in the field with the weak winter sun throwing pale lemon yellow beams upon their skin, warming their cheeks but only barely. And now that day had come and the golden―haired girl did not know what to expect, what to think, what to even hope for.

Taking out Billy Kimber would make it easier for Tommy to do the same to her father, she knew that, although there was a part of her that wished he was not so adamant on going after two of the most well―known and respected men of all of Birmingham. If it was to go wrong ― which she did not know whether or not it would, as the gangster had insisted on keeping her out of it all as he claimed she had already been pulled in deep enough ― then the odds of her losing the man she had grown to love would grow to be far higher than she would ever hope them to be.

She couldn't bear to even entertain the notion that this day had the smallest possibility of her looking at Thomas Shelby lying in the streets ― his ego, his intelligence, his ambition finally defeated. So instead she kept her thoughts amused by the man who sat opposite her, nursing a prolonged headache by, for once, tipping back a glass of lukewarm, tepid water rather than a crystal full of sparkling amber whiskey.

"How long until. . .?" Felicity asked, trailing off before she had the chance to finish her question. There was no need for her to, anyway, as the man knew the words that lingered on her tongue but refused to spill over her lips. Silent syllables that insisted on remaining between the pair of them, pulling out tensions that they hadn't noticed to even exist.

"Four hours."

"And you're sure everything will go to plan?"

Tommy rolled his eyes as he dangled the glass lazily from his grip. "Fewer questions," he sighed, although even he had enough of his own emotions to sense the ones that had grown upon the girl. "It'll all be fine ― believe me, Lis."

Not even the affectionate use of the nickname could thaw the fear that resided in Felicity's being, but she smiled weakly in an attempt to convince him that it did. "I just worry," she sighed in a defeatist's response, as she knew perfectly well that he believed he could do this all alone. And perhaps he could: perhaps Felicity was overthinking, or micromanaging, or building up all of her stress and allowing it to flood the space between them. Tommy wasn't a fool ― she knew that.

If only that was enough to stop her worrying, though. 

Men filed into the house before she had a chance to argue ― to protest that everything wasn't fine, that she knew there was a possibility everything could go wrong with the bat of a single eye lid ― and it was then that Tommy stood up from the table, dropped the glass upon its wooden top and pulled at his suit jacket so that it fitted more comfortably. 

"Come on," he nodded his head towards the double green doors, where Polly had stepped through with a grim expression upon her face before she wiped it clean, so that not an ounce of emotion was present on it. At the sight of her discontent, concern grew upon Felicity faster than she could have recognised it to, but she knew that asking unwelcome questions would get her nowhere with the older woman. Instead, Felicity followed Tommy to the front of the betting shop, where he awaited the others to settle. 

Arthur entered after John along with the group of newcomers, and as he clapped another on the back with a short, gruff "alright", Felicity noticed her no one's mannerisms had been altered, not even with the knowledge of what today was about to become.

"Right," Tommy cleared his throat as he regarded them all. "I've got you all here today because this is the day that we replace Billy Kimber. This is the day we become respectable."

The day that held the fate of three men.

Three powerful, yet unknowing men.

Felicity knew better than to dread an event she had no control over, but she couldn't help it, no matter how often she chided herself over it, or how often Tommy had attempted to reassure her that he knew just what he was doing. 

"The day we join the official National Association of Racecourse Bookmakers." 

Pride glittered through each syllable, clear as day as he took in the faces before him, with his gaze lingering just a moment longer on the girl who stood trying not to let her fear show to the outward world. But, for the first time in a long while, he didn't feel remorse, nor sadness ― just a sense of certainty, because he knew that so long as the day went according to its plan, he would be able to get her out of all the mess he had pulled her into along the way sooner rather than later. So he allowed the pride to grow into a pleased hint of a smile as he addressed each man and woman.

"But first," Tommy continued slowly. "We do the dirty work. Now, you've all known this day's been coming, I just haven't told anybody the date."

Felicity's breath caught in her throat and she glanced at the others to see whether or not anyone had a reaction, but not a soul did. They only watched as Tommy turned to the chalkboard.

"We're going to the Worcester Races," he came to declare. "The track opens at one, we get there at two. Now, Kimber thinks we're going there to help him fight the Lee brothers. But thanks to the efforts of our John―" he gestured to his brother and the woman who stood alongside him, his pride only continuing to show as he did so. "― and his lovely new wife, Esme,  the Lees are now are kin."

The pair shared an amused eyeroll with each other as he continued to lay out the groundworks for the day. It wasn't until Polly intervened, with her voice soft as she asked whether or not everyone was alright with a newcomer entering the meeting, that he finally quietened and let the aunt walk over to the double green doors and gently coax out whoever was waiting on the other side.

Ada stepped through, cradling a bundle of blankets and the newest Shelby clanmate, her smile shy as she entered and faced the men along with her brothers. 

"I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Shelby clan," Polly announced, allowing her niece to walk through and face the gazes of those who met her.

Felicity kept her eyes on Tommy as he stood there, no words passing his lips for the moments it took for Ada to fully step into the room. His features, however, held a smile that he didn't force away and when he eventually spoke, his words were far softer than she could have ever imagined them to be on such a day.

"Welcome home, Ada." 

His sister merely nodded but she too had a smile on her lips. "We named him Karl," she eventually told the group. "After Karl Marx."

Arthur took large steps towards the girl, shaking his head with amusement as he lifted the baby from her arms. "Karl bloody Marx," he commented. "Right, let me get a look at him."

"Hey, look!" The man continued, holding him up beside his face for the family to see. "He looks just like me."

"That's his arse that looks like you, Arthur," John retaliated as the others laughed.

Arthur, to the blonde girl's surprise, ignored the quip and instead held the baby closer to his chest, regarding it with fondness before looking back up at his sister with his expression unchanging. "He's alright," he confirmed. "He's a Shelby."

Tommy ignored his brother, ignored the conversation that had sparked between the others as he turned to his sister. "Well, Ada?"

His sister looked up.

"Am I forgiven?"

The girl seemed to hardly need a moment of thought as she nodded. "If what Aunt Polly says is true. . . then you are."

He nodded, and smiled as the brunette rushed to him. "It's true." 

And that was how, as the group piled out of the house, Felicity knew that the day was already going far better than she had anticipated it would. 

But the day was still young.

If only she remembered that, though.

⎯

              When the pair stood in the backroom of the Garrison, barely an hour later, caught up in one another's embrace and trying to drown out the other men's yells in the main gallery, it was then that everything went to shit. 

They'd arrived at the pub and Tommy had declared that there was a pint for each of the Peaky Blinder boys on the house, so that had caused enough chaos as it is. Grace was nowhere to be found and Felicity hadn't a clue on how to reach her, because she hadn't mentioned anything to Felicity the night before. Felicity took no notice, however, as she simply assumed that the woman was ill, or perhaps visiting family, as she had so often claimed to be before. 

"Three hours to go, Tom," she murmured. "Three hours 'til it's all over."

Arthur burst through the doors just as their lips met once again and the pair parted at the abrupt entry of the brother, who was closely shadowed by Jeramiah Jesus. "Right," the oldest Shelby said gruffly. "Tell him what you just told me."

The other man glanced between Felicity and Tommy before obliging. "I just heard there's two vans driving up the Stratford Road," he informed the latter. "An old corporal of mine said he recognised some of the men. . . he said it's the Kimber boys, and they're heading this way."

The three left, but not before Tommy could glance quickly back at the blonde with a grim expression as clear as day on his face. "Stay here," he ordered her. 

The girl wasn't going to do anything of the sort. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," he told her firmly. "You're going to stay here, or go to the bull ring with Ada and the baby. . . just go somewhere where there's lots of people, alright?"

"Tommy?" Felicity ran after him. Desperate for answers. Pleading with him for some sort of clue as to what was going on. 

He hardly looked at her as he rounded up the others, shouting at them to drop their drinks and get outside. It was only when they were all out of the room that he turned back to the shaking, questioning blonde girl. 

"We've been fucking betrayed," Tommy told her, his words slurring together as panic drew each syllable into one another. "Someone let slip, Kimber's men are on their way here. It's just us ― we're outnumbered."

"What about the Lees?"

"They're on their way to Worcester."

Felicity gasped in an attempt to reintroduce air into her lungs, but her attempt was unsuccessful and instead her breath shook and rattled at the thought that the day's ordeals were about to get a whole proportion worse than she could have ever thought they would be. "But you can take them, can't you?" 

The man paused before answering. "Go and get Ada, get to the bull ring," he repeated his earlier order. "I can deal with Kimber as planned."

She shook her head roughly. "No, Tommy. If it wasn't suicide before, it is now," she argued. "You said yourself that you're outnumbered, and how there isn't a hope in Hell of you defeating Kimber like this."

"I never said anything of the sort."

"Your eyes give you away far too many times, Tom," Felicity sighed. "And even if they don't, I'm not a fool."

"Go and get Ada, Felicity, please." Tommy pleaded, trying not to let the desperation show but fearing that these attempts were in vain. "I said I can deal with Kimber and I will ― I just need you safe."

Felicity watched as he went, following his men out of the frosted glass doors, and she prayed that it wouldn't be the last time he would do such a thing. And yet, after a minute of staring listlessly after the stubborn―filled man, she turned on her heel. 

She had made a promise to herself, had she not? To do whatever she could in her power to keep the man she had grown to love safe. . . as safe as she could ensure him to be. 

So Felicity turned to the back door and escaped out of it, making her way along the streets of Small Heath ― ignoring the dust that kicked up in the air from boots and wheels and hooves, dashing past dirt―filled puddles and oil―stained men. And it wasn't long before she found herself at the door of the Shelby residence once again, curling her fingers around the door handle and letting herself inside. 

"Ada!" She called to the house. "Ada, where the fuck are you?"

The Shelby sister's response led her to the parlour, where she stood, rocking her baby with her eyes wide and anxious at the sound of the anxiety in Felicity Wood's voice. "What's going on?" 

"Your brother's in the shit," Felicity said shortly. "And I'm not about to let him die because he can't for the life of him keep his anger in check."

Ada smiled, but it was grim, and it didn't take long for her to bundle her baby in another blanket and grab the pram that had been stashed beneath the stairs.  

⎯

              "Move!" Felicity jostled through the crowd, her hip conjoined to Ada's as the brunette pushed the rattling pram before her as a way to part the sea of enraged, vengeful men.

"What are you doing?" Freddie shouted to them, his face scrunching up as the two women came to stand in the middle of the war―ground. "Ada?"

The Shelby sister's face responded with a fierce scowl as she glared at her husband. "Shut up, Freddie," she ordered with the same ferocity that could so often be found in the voices of her siblings, but hardly ever in her own.

Freddie stumbled on his words at this, patently not used to such anger resonating from the brunette ― and even more surprised that the anger seemed to be directed at him. "Ada. . ."

Felicity faced the Shelby clan and all of their alliances first, taking in each of the men's faces along with their shock and surprise, before she turned to Billy Kimber and all that stood beside him.

"I believe you boys call this 'no man's land'," she declared to the crowd. Something inside each men was struck the moment those words passed her lips ― something deep, a memory, perhaps ― but not a soul moved as they awaited her next declaration.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the moment Tommy stepped forward and she caught the moment that overwhelming concern built up in his senses. "Felicity!" He called, palms held out in front of him, as though he was surrendering. . . although she knew he would never do such a thing. Call it his ego or his pride, she didn't care, but she knew that he would only try and get her to stand down, to get away from the violence before he went ahead with his diabolical plan of taking out Billy Kimber.

The girl didn't move an inch. "Shut up and listen."

He threw his palms outwards at this. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I said shut up!"

Tommy gritted his teeth together and held her glare, which she shot back with the same ferocity as Ada had to Freddie. She expected him to shout, or order her to get out of the fucking way and stop being an idiot. She expected gunshots, or angry yells, or something.

None of that happened.

Tommy took a step backwards so that he was now barely an inch forwards in comparison to his brothers, but he did not stop holding her gaze. And she didn't stop with his, although her heartbeat thumped so loudly that she half―expected someone to call out that they could hear its beat, hear the fear that resided in it.

"Now, most of you were in France ― so you all know what happens next," Ada turned to the crowd now, taking over from the other girl. "I have brothers and a husband here, but you've all got somebody waiting for you."

"Now, I'm wearing black in preparation," Ada continued, before turning back to her friend and nodding ever so slightly for her to finish.

Felicity's heart beat far too loud to bear it.

Echoing throughout her body, resonating through her being, overwhelming each and every one of her senses. Matching the fear, jostling with it, fighting for dominance as Felicity took in the face of the man who stood before her — where a strange expression had grown upon his features as he stared into no man's land.

"I want you to look at me," Felicity said.

Her vision tunnelled in on Tommy as she fought to meet his icy eyes.

And he obliged her request, just as she asked.

Hazel met cerulean.

Warmth met ice.

She pulled her gaze away before he could part his lips and ask her just why she was doing this — just why she was so willing to stand in the midst of a soon—to—be battleground.

"I want you all to look at me!" Felicity's voice shook but she swept her eyes across the men. "Who'll be wearing black for you?"

"Think about them. Think about them right now."

She stared into the void of features that made up Billy Kimber. . . who, to her immense surprise, had been silent for the entirety of her and Ada's entrance, just like all of the other men.

"And you can all fight if you want to," Felicity finished. "But I ain't moving anywhere."

Ada stepped closer. "And neither am I." She pulled the pram closer to her chest, her fingers closing around the metal handle as she stood side―by―side with the blonde, who shook as her heartbeat continued to thud.

"She's right, you know." Billy Kimber's voice was the first to be heard and she flicked her gaze to bitterly meet his as he spoke and threw his hands to the crowd. 

Felicity's breath caught as she too glanced between the ranks of men, all standing in preparation, ready to shoot at a second's notice.

Kimber continued. "Why should all you men die?"

Felicity swallowed hard, not allowing the relief to spread upon her as she sensed that there was something else coming, something more.

Sure enough, there was. Billy Kimber fiddled subtly with the gun that his fingers had curled around. "It should just be them who caused it!"

A single gunshot ran out through the air.

Felicity screamed, alongside so many others, as she caught sight of the body of which the bullet pierced. Tommy. He gasped ― not shouted, not yelled from the hurt of it all ― and stumbled backwards as the pain no doubt riddled him speechless.

Billy Kimber aimed the gun once moreand fired again but before anyone could make sense of what was happening, Danny Whizzbang leapt in front of the bullet with an outraged cry. His yell grows as the shot makes contact with its unplanned enemy and within a second of it meeting his skin, Danny fell to the ground. Heaped in a dusty puddle on the edge of no man's land, his suit slowly soaking as water immersed him.

The blonde huddled next to Ada as the two women stood there in shock, their eyes trained on the men that they loved: Felicity's on Tommy, who's breast pocket was beginning to stain crimson, and Ada's on Freddie, who had his gun pointed defiantly at Kimber.

"Ada, move away!" Freddie shouted.

The brunette only stared.

"Felicity!" John bellowed.

"Hold your guns up!" A voice ― Arthur's, she thought it to be? ― ordered the other men that surrounded the Shelby siblings.

"Don't shoot!" Freddie continued, his pistol still trained at the man who shot Danny Whizzbang as he tried to wave the two women to the side, begging them to move away.

Felicity kept her gaze on Tommy. Blood―soaked fingers clutched at a gun as he lifted his eyes away from Danny's lifeless body and up, so that they met Billy Kimber's.

The latter fell before Felicity could even blink, before she could even register just what he was about to do. Yet another gunshot echoed but this time, it came from the man who's fingertips were stained red. He moved forwards too fast, pulled his arm up and then out in front of him so that he stared down towards the barrel, unblinking as his finger curled around the trigger and pulled, hard.

Billy Kimber fell.

Tommy let out a hard, short gasp of breath.

He had succeeded.

Felicity's heart stopped its echoing thud.

"Enough!" Tommy then bellowed, his arm dropping to his side as he stared at the men who had halted in their actions at the sight of their fallen leader. Guns still trained on one man — the raven—haired gangster who stood in silence now, regarding each one of them with a blank, yet dangerous expression in his cold irises.

"Kimber and I fought this battle one on one," he continued, still breathing hard as he took in each man. "It's over. Go home to your families."

The crowd glanced between themselves, unsure of what to do, until they eventually dispersed. Two men hooked their arms under Billy Kimber's frame and hauled him along with him, barely seeming to notice the blood that inked across their hands. Another two caught hold of Danny Whizzbang at the initial nod from Tommy.

"Scudboat, Curly," he had said in a low monotone. "Pick him up." His hand flicking towards his fallen comrade's  frame ever so slightly.

So they did.

Felicity kept her gaze trained on each and every man, from Charlie all the way along to Freddie. Each still had their gun hanging from their fingertips, grim expressions upon their faces as the shock that it was all over began to dawn on them. John gripped his toothpick between his teeth, Arthur kept his eyes on the ground where Danny had laid only moments before as the others gathered him up from the pool of crimson, and Freddie's eyes hadn't left Ada's frame and the baby that lay in the pram before her.

When the others had turned away and Ada had joined the side of her husband alongside her infant, it was only then that Tommy turned to where the golden―haired girl stood. 

"Felicity?" 

Familiar word. Familiar tone. Familiar man. Despite everything that had just occurred, it was almost as though nothing had changed ― the pair were still together, were they not? And although his crisp white shirt was now stained ruby red and his fingertips held the blood of his own as well as of another, they still ached for the girl before him. . . just as hers ached for him. 

"Tommy," Felicity breathed.

Time stopped standing still and she rushed to him: ran to embrace him, to feel some sense of normality to convince her that everything was alright, everything had gone to plan. She felt the heavy thud of his own heart meet hers as her arms flung themselves around his neck, not caring for the blood that soaked the cream collar of her shirt. He took a step back to support them before wrapping his own arms around the girl and thanking God for keeping the angel of Small Heath safe that day.

But he swore that from that day onwards, he wouldn't have to pray for such protection. 

Not when it came to the girl he loved.

He held her in his embrace as the the pair felt their heartbeats fall in sync with one another's once more. Warmth. Security. He didn't want to admit it, didn't want to accept that this was the girl he would put everything on the line for and step in front of a bullet for, but it was. There wasn't a single other soul in the world that could give him this sense of relief as he realised that she was safe. . . realised that despite everything that had happened this day, she was alright. 

They parted ever so briefly so that Felicity could take in the extent of his wounds: the blood that had turned muddy on his shirt but stained her own so that it was crimson. Her heart dropped at just how much there was ― more than she had prayed there would be. 

But he didn't seem to care for his wounds, as he pulled her in and their lips caught, the kiss sparking through their veins as the initial relief and adrenaline coursed through and merged into passion and, eventually, solace. 

His hands found hers. Fingers intertwined, with heartbeats thudding in unison, the two left the battleground.

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it's over." Over and over, those words left her lips as though on a loop as the pair walked back down Garrison Lane, back towards the Shelby clan's home. Dirty grey clouds forming above them, following them home, as though a physical reminder that all was not okay. Danny Whizzbang was still dead, was he not? And John Woods was still as large as he had ever been. 

"I told you it'd all be sorted, didn't I?" Tommy told her with a tired smile. 

"It isn't all sorted, though," Felicity said weakly, as the initial relief of his win had begun to wear away and was now in the middle of being replaced with slow dread. "Not my father, Tom. Billy Kimber's gone but not him."

Her lips were sealed with a kiss before she had the chance to continue, and she sighed in defeat as his actions spoke ― as they often did ― louder than his words. 

"Leave it be, Lis," he hushed her softly, pulling her even further into his chest as they neared his home and all those that were no doubt awaiting them inside of it. "We'll deal with him when the sun rises. We can rest for now."

AUTHOR'S NOTE
okay   so   there's   that   lmao ―   i
hoped  you  enjoyed   part   one  of
golden liar! this took so so so long
to write  but  omg i'm so happy it's
up  now! i love  you  all for  reading
this far and supporting me ahh <3