CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

               THE BABY BOUNCED IN Felicity's arms and laughter burbled up happily as the golden―haired girl held it with affection, sharing his giggles and beaming in return. Felicity had taken to spending most of her days ― whilst she was not working, that is ― alongside Ada and assisting the girl in looking after her new―born so that the young mother might get some rest. . . or at the very least, some time spent without a baby in her arms, clamouring for milk or attention.

"I can't believe how big he's getting," Felicity gushed, her mind briefly casting back to that fateful night and everything that had happened since then. "It seems like only yesterday. . ."

"I know," Ada smiled, cutting her off gently. "Every so often I have to pinch myself. . . just to remind myself that he's here, and that he's more than I could ever ask for."

The other girl nodded before turning her attention back to the giggling baby in her embrace. "You're just precious, aren't you?"

Ada sighed. "You're so much better with him than I ever am, Ti," she commented wistfully, bringing her thin cardigan further around her small frame and folding her arms across her chest, so that she could attempt to hug the warmth to herself.

Felicity smiled, but shook her head in disagreement. "You know that can't be true."

The brunette raised her eyebrows. "It is!" She protested weakly. "Whenever he's in my arms, he's screaming bloody murder and there ain't anything I can ever do to stop it."

"He'll settle quicker with me because he can't smell the milk."

Ada shrugged nonchalantly, probably too worn out to continue protesting against Felicity's words. "I suppose."

As the pair continued with idle small talk, the baby's laughter was soon heard to be fading into quiet sighs as he settled into Felicity's arms. "Let's put you down, eh?" She then whispered, crossing the room to the small cot and gently bouncing. His cries turned feeble and less plaintive and Felicity shook her head, hushing him gently until they too softened.

"There now," she cooed, rocking the frame and glancing up at Ada, who had taken to stand before the other side of the cot.

"D'you want tea?" The brunette asked after a moment, turning to the other with a tentative, awkward expression on her face as neither of them were quite sure what to do now, now that the infant was asleep and due to the fact that there was little they could do without awakening Karl, who was easily stirred from sleep.

Felicity nodded, but reached out to grab her friend's arm before she could go any further. "Let me," she said, figuring that it wouldn't hurt for her to allow Ada some more time off her feet and resting whilst her baby was doing the same.

Surprisingly, Ada didn't attempt to protest and so the blonde escaped the room to the small kitchen that adjoined it in order to gather whatever mugs she could find throughout the haphazard house. What with Karl taking up most of her time ― as well as having to deal with Freddie and his workplace riots ― Felicity presumed that the Shelby sister had hardly had any time to herself that she could use to make her house feel more as though it were a home. Whatever furniture there was had been scavenged by Polly throughout the first few weeks after the baby's birth, and then added to when the brunette had eventually decided to make up with Tommy and move out of the dingy apartment she had been forced to reside in.

Once finished, the two girls crashed into armchairs and curled up amongst blankets so that they could close their weary eyes for however long left they had until Karl awoke.

When the door crashed open later — and thus revealed two Shelby brothers who were seen to be looking ridiculously proud of themselves — it was Ada who startled first, whilst Felicity only blinked up at them through tired eyelashes, trying to stifle a yawn in the process.

"Morning, Ada!" Arthur boomed as he stepped over the threshold and into the house,

"And hello to you too, Ti," John chipped in, grinning.

His sister was quick to hush them angrily before Felicity could greet them in return. "Shut it, both of you!" Ada swiftly snapped, nodding her head sharply to the sleeping baby. "He's only just sleeping, you idiots ― I swear to God, I'll slit your throats if you so much as wake him for even a moment."

John widened his eyes in faux surprise. "Who taught our sister to be so violent?"

"You did," she retaliated immediately, settling back in her seat and glaring at them with accusation. "Why are you here?"

"Jus' wanted to say hello to our little sister," Arthur explained, although the expressions that the brothers wore on both of their faces made both of the girls dubious at this particular statement.

"Bullshit," Ada was quick to declare. "You want something."

John shrugged. "We came over to say hi before we went out, that's all," he countered, leaning against the fireplace's mantel lazily as Ada and Felicity shared a sceptical glance.

"Where's Tommy?" Felicity decided to ask instead in an attempt to push away from the conversation that was clearly getting nowhere.

Arthur pulled a face. "What makes you think we know?"

"Stop with the lying crap, Arthur."

"I'm not Tommy's bloody babysitter, Felicity! He can look after 'imself, God knows that."

The blonde raised her eyebrows. "Alright," she said, lifting her palms and spreading them outwards in mock surrender.

Before either of them could go any further with weak―hearted, feeble attempts at retaliation, the baby who had once been sleeping awoke and Ada immediately swooped down and scooped him up from the cot, holding him to her chest as she glared at the brothers ― who, in all fairness, had taken to looking sheepish from the first cry that left Karl's lips.

"Get out, both of you," Ada ordered, pursing her lips together. She crossed the room, took John's arm and tried to lead him away from the mantel as neither of the brothers had moved. "Go! I've got enough on my plate without you two here as well."

The younger of the two shook her grip off. "Jesus, Ada, we heard you."

"Didn't make you move any faster though, did it?"

"That's because you hardly gave us a minute to move!"

"You're a liar and you know it, John Shelby."

John rolled his eyes before turning to the auburn―haired man. "Let's get out of here," he grumbled. "You coming, Arth?" He jabbed his head to the door with a sense of growing impatience and childish annoyance that made his actions sharp. Before either man could make a move out of the house, though, the wooden door swung open once more, revealing the final Shelby sibling.

Tommy stepped through, brandishing a rare smile and an aura of self―satisfaction as his eyes met with the four faces before him.

"You alright, John Boy?" For he was quick to notice his brother's attitude, but only asking in a tone that told the others he hardly cared for the answer, perhaps thinking that John had got himself worked up over a mere scuffle in the streets and therefore was nothing out of the ordinary. . . which wasn't wrong, in all fairness.

"Yeah. . ." The younger brother rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, we were just off, Tom."

Tommy nodded briefly and clapped his brother on the back as the pair exited the home, before turning back to the two remaining girls. Felicity had gently lifted the baby from Ada's arms, reassured her that she could settle him once more and then went on to suggest that she go out for the day, or perhaps just rest upstairs. The brunette had pulled a face, but when she glanced between her raven―haired brother and the girl before her, she left without much reluctance.

"You'll let me know if anything happens, won't you?" She had asked ― to which Felicity wasn't sure whether she meant in regards to Karl, who had fallen once more into sleep's clutches in her arms, or to her and Tommy. Either way, she nodded before demanding again that Ada should go and take some time for herself, and that she would be fine here with the slumbering baby.

"Look, Tommy, look how precious he is," Felicity said softly as she took in the baby's peaceful features, with his thick, dark lashes framing his Shelby eyes. She couldn't get over the fact that somehow, such an infant had been born into a family that reeked chaos and had still come out as though he was an angel, a prominent contrast to his relations. Felicity supposed that was Ada's doing ― despite the fact that her anger could easily mirror that of her brothers', she was the epitome of all that was good in the family.

The man came up beside her. "Reminds me that there's somethin' good in the world," he murmured, resting a hand on the small of her back.

She smiled ever so slightly.

"You'd make a wonderful mother, y'know," Tommy said without hesitation, causing the girl to startle with surprise.

"What are you trying to say, Thomas Shelby?"

"I'm only saying that because it's true," he defended, meeting her eyes ― in which she was surprised to see held more affection, more serenity than could be seen in them ever. "I'd come home to you and our child who'd be screaming his goddamn head off if it weren't for you, and you'd give me some sort of bullshit lecture about whether or not I knew the time."

Felicity laughed, although the thought of such an occurrence happening made her heart swell and her breath caught in her throat. "You're telling me that you've been thinking of such things, hmm?" She chose to gently mock instead, to which he chuckled, but raised his eyebrows to as well.

"And you're telling me you haven't?"

She smacked him but her laughter countered this. "Stop deflecting this onto me, Tom! You're just pissed that the word's out and you do have a heart."

"You've known that for long enough, I'll bet."

And that was the truth. . . because deep down, from the very first moment she had spoken to the raven―haired, stubborn man, she had prayed that the stories were only that, and that he had more of a heart than the city claimed he had. And despite all of the times he had tried to counter this belief of hers, despite all of the times his heart had seemed to be vanished, he had proven time and time again the very opposite of Small Heath's words.

Thomas Shelby ― despite the stories, despite his barbaric tendencies ― had a heart.

Perhaps it only showed itself for his family and for Felicity Woods.

Did it matter, though? When he knew that he would drop anything and everything just to ensure that the golden―haired girl was safe? The girl that stood before him now, with a slumbering infant in her arms and laughter bubbling from her?

He figured that it didn't matter ― that it was okay that she saw through his façade of hostility that only came down around her.

Felicity grinned. "That won't stop me from telling the world," she teased. "It'll be in all the papers ― Thomas Shelby's Heart, Found Once Again."

Tommy rolled his eyes at her words but didn't answer. Instead, he gently took the infant from her arms and into his own, supporting the baby's head in the crook of his elbow as he held him close to his chest.

"You'd make a half―decent father yourself, y'know," the girl commented softly, as she took in the sight before him. "So long as the child doesn't inherit your stubbornness, that is."

The man glanced up and raised his eyebrows. "Even if he didn't get mine, he'd no doubt get yours," he countered, huffing out a breath of bemusement as she shook her head.

"Who's to say whether it'd be a boy?"

Tommy shrugged, but kept his eyes on the baby as to make sure that he didn't wake. "I'd be overjoyed if it were, overjoyed if it weren't," he assured her. "So long as you're by my side."

⎯

              With his brothers by his side, Thomas Shelby walked the streets of Small Heath and barely regarded the people that scattered from his path as they did so. After Ada had returned to the room, he had excused himself and left the house without another word, leaving Felicity to wonder where he was off to but not bother him with any probing questions. Now, he crossed the dirty concrete, stepping over dusty puddles where the steel structures and towering brick walls were thrown back up at them, but he hardly took notice of them as he took off through the lanes with purpose ringing through each of his steps.

"Er, Tommy?" The eldest questioned as he kept up with his brother. "You never said where'd you be going when you just took off like you did."

"Calm down, Arthur," was his sibling's simple request as he offered no better answer. "I've got some business to see to on the other side of town, alright?"

"No, it's not alright!" Arthur retaliated immediately. "You fucked with Kimber and you're still tryin' to get at Felicity's dad ― Polly said that's suicide and for once, I side with her over it all."

Tommy spread his palms, still not slowing his pace as he dodged a ball that scattered across the road towards them and was followed by hurried 'sorry, Mr Shelby's, to which he ignored, only sending distracted nods in the direction of the children. "I'm only going to settle something for barely ten minutes," he explained. "I just need to get it done, get it out of the way ― and in order for that bastard to actually take notice, you two are going to have to stop acting like childish dicks."

The youngest shot both of his brothers a scowl. "It would've helped if you actually told us shit."

"Wouldn't help with shit, John," Tommy countered simply.

He didn't let either of them protest against this and instead picked up his pace as he stormed through the streets, ignoring his brothers as they grumbled to one another but kept close behind him.

John Woods had been silent in the month or so since the Peaky Blinders' surprising success against the Kimber boys, and that didn't come to a shock to any other than to his daughter. . . who had chosen to not mention it to Tommy for fear he would blindly rush head—first into a battle barely a second after the words had left her lips. She had known that her father's initial shock towards the death of Billy Kimber would result in him not risking doing anything provocative against the Shelby's whilst he figured out just what to do, and then just how he should go about doing it. John Woods kept himself to himself, just as he had always done, except this time, he had someone trying to hurry him. Thomas Shelby was done with waiting for another to make the first move.

Three hours later, the three Shelby brothers exited a pub that was not their own with three unreadable expressions upon each of their faces. Unbeknown to anyone who passed them, Tommy's features were stained with impatience, annoyance and a burdening desire to finish this horrid business even faster than they had first wanted — a desire that had grown tenfold in the last couple of hours. John and Arthur's were only tainted with anger, as neither one of these brothers liked to be undermined, especially by the man who already acted as though it was he who propelled each movement in Small Heath, Birmingham. What once had been only Tommy's overwhelming distaste towards John Woods had now spread to two of his siblings, and these two — despite how infuriating their brother could be — they wanted to rid Birmingham of the Woods clan just as much as he did.

"Don't tell Felicity about any of this," Tommy ordered them sharply, as they neared the entrance to the Garrison Pub and all the merriment that was currently occurring inside.

John wrinkled his nose up, puzzlement soaring him through him at this demand. "Why not?" He didn't see why the man was so adamant on something that, really, had everything to do with her.

"She doesn't need to worry about something that'll be over in only a matter of time."

So when the three entered the pub minutes later, neither brother spoke of the Woods patriarch who had sworn to end the Shelby clan. And so the golden—haired girl knew nothing — not when she poured pints for the three newcomers, nor when she stopped by in the snug to talk without being clamoured by others for a drink.

Thomas Shelby wouldn't pull her into it all again, not this time. Not when he had the chance to protect her and to ensure that the life they had promised each other barely twelve hours earlier would be the one they would fulfil. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE
kinda gross  chapter  but  i  actually
have a plan on how this  is  going  to
go   so   i  promise  it'll  get  better ―
i love you all! also omg i keep getting
an urge  to  write  another  tommy  fic
but i refuse to admit that tommy and
felicity aren't canon so  every  time  i
try to write another one i just get sad
because  i'm  so   damn   attached  to
felicity.   i'm   cool   like   that.    sorry.