"Come on mum, we'll be late!"

Nancy was pushing the pram through the streets of Small Heath, Vincent running along in front of her checking his pocket watch that Arthur had given him every five seconds, reminding her that they were going to be late.

She knew that the three of them were running late, but that was simply because Tobias was screaming for hours, refusing to eat or sleep, meaning Nancy hadn't had a spare moment to get herself or the boys dressed.

Nevertheless, the family had made it out the house only twenty minutes later than they were supposed to, which was an achievement, even if Vincent did have odd socks on.

There was a gathering at The Garrison that night for friends and family to celebrate an expansion of the Shelby Company Limited overseas. Arthur had told Nancy all about it, multiple times, but she'd been too exhausted to understand everything he was talking about after taking care of a newborn baby all day.

The three of them arrived at the pub shortly after leaving the house. Vincent pushed open the door with both his hands, holding it open so his mother could push the pram inside.

"You made it! Come here you, look at your socks you bloody idiot!"

John grabbed Vincent and picked him up, sitting the child on his hip and tickling his legs, pulling on his odd socks.

"Alright Nance? You look lovely," John smiled and gave her a hug, peering inside the pram and smiling down at his nephew.

"Thanks John, I could do with a drink if you wouldn't mind, long day."

"No problem, grab a seat I'll bring you a glass over."

Nancy smiled at him and took Tobias over to a space in the corner of the pub to sit down. The room was filled to the rafters with people, most of whom she didn't know. Nancy had never been an anxious person, but her heart always skipped a nervous beat when she saw any man of Henry's build and looks, giving her awful flashbacks and filling her with fear for a few long moments until she realised that it wasn't him, and it would never be him.

She sat by herself for a while, rocking the pram back and forth to try and get Tobias to fall asleep. She had no idea a baby could stay awake for so long, he was the complete opposite of how Vincent was as an infant.

So far, Nancy hadn't seen a single person apart from John that she recognised. Beginning to withdraw into herself, Nancy crossed one leg over the other and shuffled to the edge of her seat, closer to her baby.

"One glass of champagne for the lady."

John grinned and handed the glass to Nancy, sitting down beside her. Vincent was off playing with John's boys and Tobias had eventually calmed down which in turn, calmed down Nancy too.

"So," John started, sipping his drink, "How's life been with the little man? Arthur a good dad?"

"Oh he's the best, I couldn't ask for a better father for my boys," Nancy smiled as she spoke, thinking about how much Arthur had done for her.

"I knew he'd be a good dad, always been the most caring out of the five of us. Tommy's a miserable bastard, Ada's very much my way or no way, and Finn," he laughed and shook his head, "God help the woman Finn ends up with, that's all I'll say."

"We'll I have no complaints about any of you," she replied, "You've been nothing but welcoming to me, all of you."

"Hey," John said, throwing his arm across Nancy's shoulders, "You're family. It's what we do."

"Oi! Get your hands of my missus!"

John and Arthur laughed with one another as he pushed his way through the guests and over to them, his eyes bright with happiness.

"Sorry brother, can you blame me?" John joked, holding his hands above his head in surrender.

"Get out of here," Arthur grinned and slapped his brother round the face lightly, "Esme's looking for you by the way."

John soon disappeared to find Esme, leaving the Nancy, Arthur and baby Tobias together in the corner of the pub.

"You look beautiful Nance, why don't you wear red more often?"

Nancy blushed the same colour as her dress as Arthur looked into her eyes, his fingers gently pulling on the string of expensive pearls that hung around her neck, a gift from him.

"I wasn't going to wear this," she said quietly, "I was rushing, it was just the first thing I saw in the wardrobe."

"Well you look incredible, I'm so proud that you're mine."

Nancy smiled and placed a hand on his chest as they shared their first kiss of the evening. It was slow and tender, one that you wouldn't usually dare to have in public, but when she was with Arthur, Nancy never felt like there was really anybody else around.

"How is he?" Arthur said, looking over at his son.

"Fine, he'll be tired tonight though. Hopefully he'll sleep through the night."

Arthur leaned forward, inching his face closer to Nancy's as his eyes flickered from her gaze down to her lips.

"Maybe we can ask Pol to watch the boys tonight, how about that?"

Nancy said nothing, only to sink her teeth into her lip and nod, feeling her skin heat up at the touch of Arthur's fingers across her waist.

"Come with me, I want to show you the new bar we had put in."

Arthur stood up, picking up Tobias from his pram and carrying him over to the bar, Nancy following at his heels. He went round to the back of the bar, saying something to the bartender before the two of them shared a laugh.

Nancy stood round the front of the bar, leaning over the new brass worktop with a sweet smile on her lips as she watched Arthur cradle their son against his chest, looking down at him with nothing but love glowing in his eyes.

"How about a speech, Arthur?" John shouted to his brother as he walked over with Esme, Vincent and their boys in tow.

"You want me to do a speech, ey John?"

"Your pub Arthur, go on." Thomas chimed in as he walked out of the corner room with his wife and children.

Arthur handed Tobias to John who gladly took the baby into his arms, his face falling into a soft smile as soon as he looked down at the child, Esme stood in awe beside him.

Nancy turned her attention back to Arthur who had jumped onto the bar, standing tall above everyone else with a glass of champagne in his hand, looking like he ruled the world in his suit and bow tie.

"Alright everyone, shut up for a second."

The guests all turned their attention to Arthur, silence settling amongst them as they paused their conversation to listen to what he had to say.

He cleared his throat, taking a swig of champagne before beginning to speak.

"First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming today, it means a lot to have you all here, even if you did only come for the free booze."

Everyone chuckled, but Nancy stayed gazing up at him with a smile, feeling so in love with the way he held himself, speaking with such confidence in front of everybody.

"I could stand here for hours and talk about the expansion and what it means for all of us, or I could just tell Nancy that tonight isn't about the expansion at all, it's about her."

Nancy's heart dropped when Arthur looked down at her. She felt everybody's eyes burning into the back of her head as Arthur jumped down from the bar and stood in front of her, grinning ear to ear.

"Nancy, I love you. My family love you, my friends love you, everyone in this room thinks the absolute world of you. You make me the happiest man alive and I can't imagine what my life was like before you and our two boys."

She felt her insides strike a fire as she listened to Arthur's words, feeling a rush of adrenaline and most of all, love, as he stood before her looking at her the same way he always had done, making her feel like the only girl in the world.

"Just ask the question already, Dad!"

Nancy laughed as tears welled in her eyes when Vincent shouted from beside them, making everybody chuckle under their breath at his comment.

Arthur bit his lip, smiling softly at Nancy before getting down on one knee and pulling a box from his back pocket, opening it up and holding it in front of him.

"Nancy, I don't ever want to do life without you. You've become the best part of me, and is never want to lose that. Will you marry me?"

Nancy's hands flew to her mouth as she nodded profusely, not being able to speak from shock and feeling like her heart was beating a million times a second.

Arthur jumped to his feet and took her hand in his own, gently sliding the beautiful diamond ring onto her finger, his hands shaking as he did so, cheers of happiness from their friends and family filling the room.

Nancy threw her arms around him, burying her head into the crook of his neck as she soaked his shoulder through with tears, but feeling an indescribable form of happiness that she had never experienced in her life.

"You saved me," Arthur said, holding her face in his hands, a few stray tears creeping down his cheeks, "You saved me when I thought my world was about to stop spinning."

"Oh Arthur," Nancy whispered, sniffing as she tried to hold herself together, "My world only began spinning the day I met you. Now, we're perfectly in time."

-THE END-

an;;
SO this ending came very out of the blue I think for most of you so apologies about that lol but I'm so emotional about it omg :(( so CUTE

anyway thank you all SO much for reading, your support means the absolute world and I'm still shocked that anyone actually enjoys anything I write it just blows my mind so thank you so so so much!

if anyone has any requests or suggestions for who I should write about next, just drop a comment. Literally any character/fandom/universe whatever pls let me know bc I have NO IDEA who to do next!!!

-martials