Ada took Pearl to a cafe down the road, it was rather small and most of the inhabitants cleared out when they saw Ada walk through the doors. The pair sat by the window and she ordered a pot of tea for Pearl and herself.

"So... what was that?" Ada asked with an inquisitive look.

Pearl laughed at the directness of it because from what she'd gathered Ada didn't seem to be known for being particularly empathetic to the masses. Which, as it turned out, seemed to be a recurring trait within the Shelby family.

"God, Ada. I'm so embarrassed" Pearl sighed as her head dropped into her hands.

Although little did Pearl know, Ada actually felt pity for the girl before her. Ada knew her family was intense and erratic but she'd grown used to it, she could handle it. But somehow she knew that wasn't what was troubling Pearl. She knew, now, that Pearl's past was just as fucked up as her own and it would take more than a hot tempered Shelby to throw her off.

"Clearly you were overwhelmed. Was it the meeting? We all knew you were trying to help it's just with what happened-"

"No, I know. I wasn't expected to be welcomed with open arms when I walked in. To be honest you were all far more civil than I expected"

Ada practically choked on her tea, "No one's ever called the Shelby's civil!"

"I said more civil than I expected, don't get ahead of yourself" Pearl smirked.

Once Ada had settled down she wiped the tea droplets from around her mouth and gave Pearl another stern look.

"What?" Pearl mumbled.

"Really what is it? What got you so upset? You can tell me ya know, forget how I acted at the meeting because I don't hate you" Ada took a sip of her tea, "Or at least I don't think I do"

"Right, good to know" Pearl remarked.

She bit down on the nail of her thumb as she pondered her answer. Pearl continuously reworded it in her head because in all honesty she was ashamed.

"I had a bit of a chat with Polly-"

Ada groaned loudly, "Of course"

"She said something... it wasn't- I don't know"

Pearl sighed and looked down as she started to follow the patterns in the wooden table with her eyes. Cautiously, Ada reached across the table and gave Pearl's hand a squeeze.

"If Pol doesn't trust you she can be cruel, even more than Tom. Some kind of protective instinct I'm guessing. Whatever she said you need to take it with a pinch of salt"

"Well, she told me I'll never be one of you..."

"Oh, Pearl" Ada sighed.

"But that's not what bothered me... because I already know that. I do" Pearl smiled at Ada as she noticed a withering grimace upon her face, "She just said, rather flippantly really-"

"Bloody spit it out!" Ada snapped.

"She said that Tommy is in love with me"

The words tumbled past Pearl's lips and she sucked in a small breath as though she'd shocked herself with the statement. She watched as Ada pressed her lips into a hard line and gave a stiff nod.

"Shit"

"Shit" Pearl echoed.

Ada's mouth opened and closed a few times, occasionally her brow would furrow and then ease. Pearl offered her a cigarette whilst also taking one for herself. Ada took one hastily and allowed Pearl to light it for her, she took a deep inhale and allowed the nicotine to slow her thoughts.

"I mean, actually shit Pearl. I knew he fancied you, bloody hell, I think most men in Small Heath do but love?"

Pearl started to rhythmically bounce her leg, "You think what Polly's saying is true?"

Ada nodded knowingly, "Aunt Pol knows these kinds of things, it's like a weird gypsy intuition. If Pol said this then you're royally fucked"

Pearl took a drag from her cigarette and let it sit in her lungs for a little longer than she should, as though the act of withholding oxygen would solve the problem. On the exhale she scrunched her eyes shut and rubbed her fingertips against her temple.

"This can't- I can't" Pearl sucked in a breath through her teeth, frustrated that she was stammering like a drunk, "This would only ever cause heartache. I mean where I'm from, who I work for..."

Ada tilted her head, "So you love him?"

Pearl snapped her head to look at Ada, baffled, "What?"

"You said it would only cause heartache. For you or him?"

Pearl scoffed, this conversation was giving her whiplash. Ada couldn't just ask her something like that? This was something that had to be thought about, deeply. This wasn't like a book where the heroine would feel love shoot through her like a bolt of lightning.

This was real and getting messier than Pearl cared for.

"I would never let myself" Pearl stated decisively.

"Let yourself?" Ada spluttered, "We're talking about love! You're not deciding whether to place a large bet on a bad horse. You can't just pick and choose; it's unconditional, it's wanting to be with that one person - safe or not, it's about being able to picture the rest of your life them-"

"That's the thing isn't it, Tommy and I could never be together for the rest of our lives. It's bad enough that I care about all of you, I can't let it go any further than that. If I were to ever let myself fall in love - I'd be signing my own death certificate" Pearl stubbed out her cigarette, "It's a nice dream though"

Ada could do no more than blink blankly back at her. To have to be so calculated was something Ada could never imagine. She loved big and freely, something she'd learn to do in spite of her brothers.

"You're more depressing than Tom. A perfect match I'd say" Ada joked with a sip of her tea.

Pearl's eyebrows shot up in mock surprise, "Oh, well please tell me great love maestro, who is this man that you picture the rest of your life with?"

Pearl saw the exact moment the panic settled behind Ada's eyes and she ate every single one of her words. Of course, this only intrigued Pearl more and she leant forward and rested her forearms against the table.

"There is someone! Go on, who is it?"

Ada shook her head fervently, "I think we're done. Should I get the bill?"

"Absolutely not Ada Shelby! You've let me ramble on about my pathetic love life, I want to hear you ramble about yours"

Pearl was shocked that Ada of all people would become timid when talking about her own love. She had just gone on that entire speech but for some reason didn't seem to think it applied to her.

"We're not school girls, Pearl. You're being silly" Ada reprimanded, but Pearl could tell she was just deflecting.

Pearl thought for a moment; there was definitely someone. Perhaps someone Ada was ashamed of? That couldn't be it, with the power her family held Ada was free to see whoever she liked. Unless her family was the reason, but who in Small Heath...

"It's a commie isn't it?" Pearl gasped.

Ada's head quickly did a one-eighty of the cafe to check no one overheard and she quickly slapped Pearl on the wrist.

"Shut up!" her eyes were wide and frenzied.

"Bloody hell, it is! That's why you protected them in the meeting" Pearl shot a smug smile at Ada, proud of her detective skills.

"I swear to god Pearl, if you tell anyone - especially my brothers..."

Pearl waved her hand dismissively, "I wouldn't have gotten very far in life if I was a snitch now, would I?"

"No, I suppose not but crikey that mind of yours is sharp. No wonder Pol's worried about having you around"

Pearl chose to take that as a compliment, although she was sure it wasn't.

"I promise having me around will be to your benefit. So... who is it?" Pearl prodded.

Ada leant forward and lowered her voice, just on the off chance anyone was listening, "It's Freddie Thorne"

Pearl's hand flew to her mouth, "Freddie Thorne?"

Ada nodded with a coy smile, "I really love him, Pearl. But you know what my family's like..."

Pearl reached over and slipped her hand into Ada's, "Looks like we're both in the absolute shitter"

❀❀❀

The next day Pearl found herself in the betting den once again, she felt bad that she couldn't spend much time with Myrtle anymore. Her days were becoming so full that when she went home at night she would practically crash straight into bed. She would apologise in the morning to Myrtle but she'd dismiss Pearl by saying that she was too busy to hang around with her anyway. Myrtle was lying, of course, she didn't do anything with her days - as far as Pearl knew.

She also felt guilty that she'd hardly spent any time at The Garrison. It was never meant to be a real job, it was just a way to keep an eye on the Shelby's but Harry was always kind to her and she hoped he wasn't struggling without a barmaid on hand. Although, he too would never complain because the pub was under the Shelby management.

So once again she was in the betting den, waiting to be beckoned into Tommy's office.

The den was far busier than the last time she was here; there were men bumbling around every corner speaking about things Pearl barely understood - making it sound like a whole other language. She wished Ada was somewhere nearby because she felt so severely uncomfortable hovering around the edge of the room, knowing no one and trying to stay out of everyone's way.

Just as she had settled further into the wall Pearl felt a tap on her back and looked down to her left to see a child with a peaky cap too large for his head. He looked up at her and she was instantly struck by Tommy's crystal blue eyes - just a few sizes smaller.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

Pearl stuck her hand out for the kid to shake, "I'm Pearl. I'm guessing you're Finn?"

"Finn Shelby" the boy nodded proudly.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Finn"

"Are you the bitch that wants to ruin our family?"

Pearl's mouth dropped open at Finn's crass language, "Who said that?"

"Aunt Polly" the boy shrugged, "I wasn't s'pposed to be listening though"

"Well, no, Finn. I want to help your family"

The boy didn't seem overly interested in Pearl's response, "You got any cigarettes?"

Once again Pearl was rendered speechless by Finn's brashness - he was such a Shelby.

"You're a right little cheeky shit aren't you?" Pearl teased.

Finn just giggled and started to fiddle with his fingers. He continued to look up at Pearl with those bright blue eyes and she eventually caved.

"Fine..." Pearl bent her knees so she was eye to eye with Finn. She took her cigarettes from her coat pocket and rested one behind his ear, then pulled down his cap so it covered it, "You take that, but promise me you will not tell your brothers or your auntie - especially your auntie - that you got it from me"

Pearl stuck out her pinky finger and Finn wrapped his little pinky finger around hers, "Promise"

"Okay, now bugger off before anyone sees you with that" she straightened her knees and pushed him by his cap in the direction of the door.

The boy ran out gleefully with his new treasure and Pearl guessed it would take him at least until he was at the other end of the street to realise he had nothing to light the cigarette with.

Just as she settled back into the wall she saw Tommy step out from his office and beckon her inside with a wave of his hand. She slipped past a group of men who were all talking loudly and energetically and had to duck slightly as one of their hands swung past her head, barely missing it. Once she'd entered Tommy's office she took a seat and looked over to where he was facing the window; one hand in his pocket, the other smoking a cigarette.

"Why were you talking to Finn?" Tommy asked without turning around.

Pearl scoffed, as if that was of utmost priority right now.

"He's such a charming young gentleman, how could I not?"

Tommy turned around with a quizzical look.

"I'm kidding" Pearl added flatly. Tommy sat down at his desk opposite Pearl, "He's a good kid though"

"We'll see how long that lasts" Tommy responded under his breath.

"He's not involved in any of-" she motioned to the betting den with a frown.

"No of course not, he's eleven"

"Older than I was" Pearl said flippantly with a shrug.

Despite not thinking what she said was anything of note, it caused something in Tommy's chest to tighten and his jaw clenched slightly. He cleared his throat with a cough and sat up in a manner that told Pearl he was ready to start conducting business.

"Inspector Campbell has taken up my requests and once they're granted we can put our plan into motion" Tommy stated.

"Which is what, exactly?"

"If we try to lead Campbell to the guns we can't trust that he'd find them. That's why you're going to tell him where the guns are"

Pearl's face scrunched in confusion, silently saying to Tommy 'I'm going to what?'

"It's what makes the most sense" Tommy answered her wordless question.

Pearl took that with more offence than Tommy intended, "Me giving you up makes the most sense? Thanks a lot"

"That's not what I meant" Tommy sighed.

Pearl settled into her chair and crossed her arms over chest, "Oh yeah? How did you mean it?"

"You're the most believable because you're the only person smart enough to have worked out where they are by yourself" Pearl relaxed a bit at this, slightly abashed by the compliment, "You'll tell him you've turned on us and he'll go and get the guns. Then you can tell Grenfeld about your plan to intercept them on the road"

"Yeah, I suppose that does make sense"

Tommy smirked slightly at her defeat.

Pearl thought for a minute and then furrowed her brow, "But what you said about me being able to find them, that's not true. I don't know if you've noticed but I haven't got a bloody clue where they are"

Tommy looked at her as though the answer to that was the most obvious thing, "That's because you've stopped trying"

"What?"

"Pearl, you have all of the pieces, if you wanted to put it together, you could've. For the past month you've spent your time pissing about at The Garrison, a job you don't need anymore, or you've been going out for tea with Ada, or you've been with Mrs Clarkson. You've hardly been trying to find the guns, all you've done is get rid of anyone else who wants them"

Pearl felt called out by the accurate description of her free time. Albeit it didn't go unnoticed that Tommy would've had to be watching to know all of this. However, she supposed now he was watching her out of distrust.

"Why haven't you been looking, Pearl?" he asked with the most sincerity in the world.

She intertwined her fingers and now looked at him as though it was the most obvious answer, "Do you really have to ask?"

"No" Tommy replied just under his breath as he stumped out his cigarette.

Pearl nodded and neither of the two dared to speak for the next few seconds - partly because they didn't know what else to say and partly because this was the closest to how it used to feel before everything went to shit.

When the warmth in Pearl's stomach started to settle in she realised sitting in comfortable silence with Tommy was exactly what she shouldn't be doing.

"So how long do you think it'll be until all of your demands are met"

She saw the way that Tommy, too, was broken from the trance and was unable to look Pearl in the eye, "It's hard to say, it has to go through Churchill first. I'd guess maybe a few weeks? A month at most"

Just a month. A month and then she could go. Just a month...

"I told the family I'd fill them in after our meeting" Tommy added.

Pearl took that as her cue to leave and she started to get up from the seat, "Right, okay. Well I'll just go-"

"No, you're coming too" Tommy cut in, "You're apart of this, you should be there"

"Oh" Pearl turned away from him so that he couldn't see the small smile that broke onto her face.

Pearl followed him out of the office and into the family kitchen where all of the Shelby's barr Polly and Finn were sat. Tommy shut the green doors behind them to muffle the noise from the betting den. Pearl took a seat next to Ada and Tommy leant up against the fireplace and lit up another cigarette.

Within the minute Finn came crashing through the door with Polly hot on his tail. He paused briefly when he saw everyone in the kitchen which left just enough time for Polly to catch up and smack him upside the head, gaining a chuckle from John and Arthur.

"I never want to see you with one of these again!" Polly shouted, waving a cigarette as Finn ran up the stairs. She then turned on the rest of her family, "Where did he get this?"

They all shared the same blank look, except Tommy who conspicuously side-eyed Pearl with a smirk.

Polly lit the cigarette she'd pinched from Finn and put it to her lips, "If I go grey prematurely from stress, I'll kill all of you"

"It wouldn't be that prematurely, Aunt Pol" John butted in.

Polly turned to him with sharp eyes, "Right, that's enough from you. I'll-"

"Can we please get started with business" Tommy interrupted.

Polly sat down with a sigh and let Tommy continue.

"So, once Campbell has met all of our requests we've sorted out how we're gonna get rid of him, with the help of Pearl" Tommy motioned to Pearl and Polly swivelled in her chair to look at her. She hadn't really noticed that Pearl had been sitting there this whole time and wasn't particularly pleased when she realised she was, "Pearl is going to give up the guns to the Inspector"

Both John and Arthur kicked off incoherently as they spoke over each other. Ada just sat back, baffled and Pearl overheard Polly mention something about the plan being "A bit too believable"

"Shut up!" Tommy hushed his family with his voice booming through the kitchen.

"Tom, what good's it gonna do giving up the guns? Campbell'll just nick us for it. We'll hang!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Nothing's going to happen to any of you" Pearl said calmly, "I'm going to tell Campbell where the guns are and once he's got them, Silver Fang will intercept them on the road and take them. Then he'll have to follow me back to London where we can deal with him. He won't be around to bother any of you anymore and if anyone gets hanged for it, it'd be me"

The room fell silent and Pearl received a mixture of looks from the family, the most concerning being Tommy's.

"No, no one ever said anything about hanging" Tommy practically spluttered.

"It's true though isn't it? I'll become suspect number one and if they do ever get found I'd be the one going down for it. Besides, Campbell's been after me for years - he'd love to have something he could finally get me on" Pearl gave the group a melancholy smile.

"You would do that? For a family that isn't yours?" Polly asked.

"I wouldn't say I'd do it gladly but if it had to be anyone I'd rather it was me"

Polly's hard exterior softened ever so slightly and she gave Pearl a nod. It was a silent understanding between the two women.

"We don't need to worry about that because it's not what we planned" Tommy interrupted with a stern look at the two women, "No one's going down for this"

Arthur walked around the table and placed his hands firmly on Pearl's shoulders, "Well look who's stepped up for the family once again" Pearl tilted her head to look up and saw him smiling down at her, "Sorry we ever doubted you, love"

Everyone looked at Pearl with gratitude for what she was going to do. Except Tommy, who hadn't realised until just now that he'd be setting her up as bait. 

❀❀❀

a/n

oooh things are happening and schemes are scheming :o

I hope you like where this is going so far because from this point on things are gonna get much more intense !!

had to republish bc there was a speeling mistake :D