Tilly had been woken up by Penny jumping on her, "Get up! Get up! Get up! I want to go see Lia before we go to the Garrison."

"Go away!" Tilly pushed the girl off the bed, chuckling when she heard Penny wince. "Go and annoy Finn while I get ready."

"I can't he's gone somewhere I couldn't make out what he said before he closed the door after letting me in," Penny told her as she threw her some clothes which hit the brunette in the face. "Get up, get dressed."

Tilly slowly sat up to wake herself up. She had a bad feeling about today, she didn't know why or what had caused it but she felt sick.

"Dear Lord, make this day pass well. Let none get hurt and make them that do, not Shelby's. Watch John because he has so many depending on him. Watch Arthur because he's as likely to hurt himself as much as anyone else."

"Well that's comforting," Tilly whispered to Penny as they wandered downstairs to find the brunette's aunt. Tommy's footsteps stopped beside his sister, watching their aunt.

"And watch Thomas. I know how he is but he does what he does for us. I think. Amen." Tilly looked to Tommy knowing her aunt was right but withheld the urge to laugh.

Pol turned around to see the Shelby duo alongside her niece's best friend, "I used to do that every morning during the war. I hoped I'd done it for the last time."

"Today will be the last time, Pol," Tommy confirmed.

"Yeah sure," Tilly patted her brother's arm sarcastically.

"Family meeting at half ten, don't be late, Tilda," Tommy told her before all three went their separate ways.

"I swear he forgets I'm eighteen."

"No, he just knows you're shit at time keeping," Penny nudged the girls shoulder with a grin.

"Shut up, neither can you," Tilly pushed the girl back.

"I can time keep better than you," the blonde argued back.

The Shelby girl stayed silent knowing it was pointless trying to argue back so the two fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way to the Garrison.

Penny then reluctantly decided to break the said silence, "So, Jake rang me yesterday, his dad died. Had a heart attack, he said he was fine when Jake left to go to school and then he came back and he'd died in the chair where he left him."

Tilly's head moved to look at Penny, "Is he alright?"

"He said he's not that bothered because his dad was awful but he was still his dad but I'm not sure. Ring him and find out," Penny replied, knowing that Tilly was hurt that he didn't tell her and he had to find out from Penny but she also knew that Jake would have told her in his own time. "He asked about you too."

"What did you say?"

"That you were fine."

The duo had come to a halt outside of the Boyd's sweet shop. "Come on," Tilly dragged Penny inside. "Hi!" she grinned at Oliver who was sat behind the counter where his sister usually sat. "Where's Philly?"

"She went to school and I'm not well so I said I'd look after the shop for my mum," Oliver told her.

"Oh, well I hope you get better soon," Tilly smiled once again before she joined Penny and held the bag open for her. Penny had gotten her bag of rhubarb and custard sweets while Tilly had her lollipops and the two made their way to the Garrison, finding it pointless going to see Ophelia when they weren't going to stay at school anyway.

"Do you think that Jake will ever speak to me again?" Tilly asked the blonde sitting beside her at the cut.

Penny placed her rhubarb and custard sweet back in the brown bag before letting out a sigh,"Look , the move was just sprung on him and then you stopped speaking to us then you decided to speak to him again and drop another bomb on him that you love him, finally but still was out of the blue and then he had to go. Let him come to terms with everything and then yes he will speak to you again, I promise and if all else fails then don't be surprised if when he comes back I lock you both in a room and I don't let you out until either one of you is dead or you've sorted your shit out because I can't be in the middle again."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Penny sat in Tilly's room doing her homework for her while Tilly was downstairs in a family meeting, standing beside Finn and placing her arm around his shoulders. "Right, I've brought you all here today because this is the day we replace Billy Kimber," Tommy began, looking at everyone. "This is the day we become respectable. the day we join the official National Association of Race Course Bookmakers. But first we do the dirty work. We've all known this days been coming. I just haven't told anybody the date." He turned to the chalk board. "We're going to the Worcester races. The track opens at one. We'll get there at two."

"Now, Kimber thinks we're going there to help him to fight the Lee brothers but thanks to the efforts of our John and his lovely new wife, Esme, the Lee's are now our kin. I interrupted those efforts this morning and I can assure you all, John is making great sacrifices for the cause of peace. So it'll be us and the Lees against Kimber's boys. We take them out but leave the bookies. I expect a swift victory which will send a signal all the way to London, that we believe in letting legitimate businesses run peacefully."

Tilly didn't know why she had to be at the family meeting it wasn't like she was allowed to the races anyway, Arthur wouldn't allow it but the boys would let Finn go.

"And what about Kimber himself?" John spoke up.

"I'll deal with Kimber," Tommy clarified. "Any other questions?"

The brunette teen turned back to her aunt with a small smile on her face since she knew Ada was out there with Karl and most likely Penny. "Yes," Polly spoke up and walked back towards the doors. "Does anybody objects if I bring a newcomer to the meeting?" When nobody spoke up she opened the door revealing Ada and Karl. "I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Shelby clan." Tilly smiled at her sister and nephew as they well Ada travelled further into the den.

"Welcome home, Ada," Tommy spoke.

"We named him Karl," Ada announced. "After Karl Marx."

Arthur scoffed as he walked closer to his sister, "Karl bloody Marx. Let me get a look at him."

"Here we go."

"Hey, look. He looks just like me," Arthur held the baby up.

"It's his arse that looks like you, Arthur," John chuckled.

"He's alright, he's a Shelby."

Everyone crowed around John to get a look at Karl while Tilly slipped off upstairs to find Penny in her room. "Are you coming to see Karl?" she asked the blonde.

"Yeah, go on then," she nodded, following the brunette down the stairs.

Tilly had a hold of Karl so Penny could get a better look at the baby while Ada and Tommy hugged and they waited for Ada so the boys could go do whatever it was they needed to do for the Shelby's to finally be legal.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Tilly and Penny had decided to go back to Pol's and watch Karl while Ada caught up on sleep. The baby started to fuss in his basket so Tilly leant forward to grab him and cuddle him while staring at him. "You're so cute," she cooed at the baby who was now calm and staring his aunt.

"You'd make a good mum one day, Tils," Ada smiled at the sight of her sister and son.

"Go back to sleep I can watch him," the girl tapped the sofa beside her for her sister sit and eventually fall back asleep on her shoulder.

Silence fell over number six watery lane, it was peaceful. Tilly's lulled Karl back to sleep, Ada was still asleep on her sister's shoulder while Penny was asleep in the chair, bag of sweets still in her hand.

The silence was then broke by Tommy rushing in and waking everyone up, "Ada! Wake up. You, the baby, Tilly and Penny get into the Bull Ring where there's lots of people."

"Why? What's going on?" Tilly asked as she handed her nephew over to her sister and woke Penny up making the latter drop her sweets and then spill everywhere. "Oh, I'll get you some more just get up."

"What's going on?" Polly asked, standing in the doorway as Tommy began to stress.

"We've been fucking betrayed," he replied, his hand on his forehead.

"Someone let slip, Kimber's men are on their way here."

"What, now?" Tilly asked, confused she hadn't told anyone about today and as far as she was aware she was the only other person he told while she grabbed Karl again.

"But you can handle them Tommy?" Polly asked, looking between her nieces and nephew.

"It's just us. All the Lees are on their way to Worcester." Tommy slammed his hands on the cabinet. "Fuck!"

"Who else knew today was the day you were moving on Kimber?"

Tommy turned to Tilly who held her hands up. "It wasn't me! I know better than that. So, who else did you tell?"

"You said you kept it a secret, who else did you tell?" Polly went on.

"Oh," Tilly whispered in realisation. "He told the barmaid."

"There's only one thing could blind a man as smart as you, Tommy. Love. I'll deal with Grace. If you set eyes on her again, you might kill her."

Tilly sighed at her brother's stupidity, the result of her brother not being able to keep his mouth shut as well as keeping it in his pants could go one of two ways. The first way, the Shelby's win and no one gets her or two, somebody from her family gets hurt or killed and Kimber leaves unscathed and she hoped for her sake it was the first option. Although as her, Ada and Penny all walked to the Garrison. "Ada are you sure we're going to be alright?" Tilly asked as they got closer to Kimber's men.

"Yes," Ada replied before snapping at Kimber's men. "Move!"

"Oh christ," Tilly groaned when Arthur caught sight of her, sending him a little wave.

"Oh god, you didn't tell me my dad would be here," Penny tapped Tilly's arm as she caught sight of an angry Henry Allen.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know we'd be here!" she whisper-shouted while her sister went on.

"You could have at least told me today was going to happen though!"

"I got sworn to secrecy or I would have you know I would."

The two girls bickered back and forth in an attempt to avoid the confused, concerned and angry looks from Penny's dad and the Shelby's. The two shut up when they heard Ada say that none of them were moving. "For fuck sake," they both groaned, regretting their decision to tag along.

Tilly looked back to see Billy Kimber raise his gun in an attempt to shoot Tommy so she stood in front of him, bracing for the bullet with her eyes closed when she saw him pull the trigger but the bullet never touched her or Tommy.

"No," Penny watched the man pull the trigger but she wasn't going to let Tilly die, not for Tommy and certainly not because of Tommy. The girl lost her footing while trying to get to the Shelby sibling's before the bullet hit either of them.

Instead, Penny got the bullet.

Everything went silent for Tilly at least, there was a ringing in her ears as she looked down at her best friend who had a bullet to her head. When did she stand in front of them? How did that even happen? The teen froze, she could see everything going on but she couldn't move. She saw Danny Whizzbang get shot and she saw Tommy shoot Billy but yet she couldn't move. Arthur was the one to bring her back to reality, placing his hands on her cheeks to gain her attention. "Tilda," he forced her to look at him.

"Penny," she whispered, pulling Arthur's hands from her cheeks. "He killed her and it's my fault." The girl fell to the ground with a choked sob, cradling her best friend's head. "It's all my fault."

"Til," Henry whispered. "Come on."

"No," she shook her head. "She's dead and it's my fault. Why aren't you shouting at me?"

"It's not your fault," the man shook his head. "But we can't leave her here, not like this."

Arthur helped Tilly get up while Henry picked Penny's lifeless body up, the brunette couldn't even look at the man without feeling sick. If she hadn't have stood infront of the bullet meant for her brother, Penny would still be alive.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

While the rest of her family were celebrating the death of Billy Kimber, Tilly was sat in her living room mourning the death of her best friend while contemplating whether or not she should let Jake know now or tomorrow. The girl picked up the phone and before she knew it Jake's voice reached her ear. "Hello?"

The girl closed her eyes and let out a sigh, "I know you've just lost your dad and I'm sorry and I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just going to say it-"

"Til, slow down, I can't hear you," Jake sat up from his laying position on the sofa, waving his mum's confused look while he tried to make sense of what the Shelby girl was saying.

"Penny took a bullet for me and it killed her. She's dead, Jake and it's my fault," she sobbed once again.

"What? How is it your fault?"

"I stood in front of Tommy so he didn't get shot by Kimber and I must have closed my eyes and next thing I knew I was fine, Tommy was fine but Penny was laid in front of me, dead."

"You couldn't have stopped her, even if you tried, T. It's not your fault," Jake tried to calm her down.

"Can you come home please?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking at his mum who was still confused, even more so now that he had agreed to something.

The door opened and Tilly sniffed, "I'm going to go, sorry about your dad and I'm sorry." She didn't even wait for the boy to say bye before she put the phone down, letting out a sigh before looking up at her sister.

"It's my fault not yours." Ada stated, pulling her sister into a hug. "I dragged you two there and I'm sorry if I'd have known what was going to happen I wouldn't have let you come along."

The younger of the two sisters laid her head on her sister's shoulder as she cried, the guilt making her feel sick as her sister's attempts to calm her down fell on deaf ears. The only time the girl's crying could be stopped was when the girl laid her head on Ada's lap as the woman raked her fingers through the girl's hair in an attempt to get her to sleep which had worked out in her favour and eventually Ada fell asleep once her sister was sound asleep.

Matilda Shelby would never be able to get the sight of her best friend's pale and lifeless body staring at her as she sobbed while Penny's blood tricked onto her hand. The guilt would eat away at her for as long she lived, knowing that if she hadn't have done what she had done to save her brother she'd still have her best friend.