Florence hadn't even pondered making contact with Tommy since returning home after finding out what he did to Freddie. Tommy didn't dare to contact her either, he knew that he had hurt that girl once too many times to even contemplate asking for her forgiveness. The pair were distraught for their own reasons, Florence was heartbroken that Tommy could betray his own sister like that, and Tommy was devasted that Florence believed he would do that.

No one had seen Ada since that night, she shut herself away in the tiny basement flat with just her newborn son for company. Polly and Imelda had been taking baskets of food to the girl in the hope that she might at least have some sustenance, but in Ada's eyes her whole family had betrayed her.

Florence had been in regular contact with both her mother and Polly who would call on the Garrison's telephone to ask how Florence was coping, given that the baby could be arriving any day. John had agreed to be on standby when Florence's waters broke to drive both of the women to the house in Warwickshire.

"Mrs Harrington," One of the maid's voices startled Florence as she stood in the freshly decorated nursery, which felt far too big for a tiny baby, "Mr Harrington is downstairs in the drawing room."

"Elijah's back from work already?" Florence replied, surprised given that it had just reached midday.

"No ma'am, it's his brother," The maid explained nervously, "He's in a bad way."

"What do you mean he's in a bad way?" Florence asked as she walked out of the nursery, the maid following close behind.

"He looks hurt, ma'am," The maid replied as the women made their way downstairs, "He's bruised and bleeding, I wasn't sure about letting him into the house, you know what the older Mrs Harrington is like about mess and such."

"You did the right thing, Marie," Florence assured her, "And remember, I told you to just call me Florence."

"Alright," Marie smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Despite having been married to Elijah for almost five months Florence was still struggling to feel comfortable being treated as an upper class lady. A few of the staff were people she went to school with, and some were people who grew up on the same street as her. It felt like such an unprogressive attitude to society and Florence did her best to keep things as relaxed as possible without disrupting the traditions that her mother in law cared about so deeply.

"Could you get me some cloth and a bowl of warm water please, Marie?" Florence asked, "And if we have any disinfectant bring that too."

"Right away," Marie nodded before rushing towards the staff quarters.

Florence headed towards the drawing room, resting her hand on her bump as she walked, slower than usual given that the baby was resting on her pelvis. As she entered the room she saw her best friend and brother in law on one of the sofas, a bottle of whiskey in his hand and cuts and bruises littering his face. They weren't as bad as Marie had described them to be, given that Florence had grown up around Peaky Blinders she'd seen all sorts of painful wounds, but nevertheless they still looked painful.

"George, what the hell happened?" Florence muttered as she approached him, sitting beside him on the sofa.

"I was on my way into the city when I got pulled over by a couple of coppers," George explained, swigging whiskey straight from the bottle, "But they weren't police officers, Flo, they were sent by Kimber."

"Kimber?" Florence whispered, her heart beginning to race, "Why would his men do this to you?"

"They said it was a warning." George replied.

"A warning?" Florence frowned, "What could they possibly need to warn you about?"

"Not me, Elijah," George answered and Florence was still none the wiser, "Kimber had word that Elijah wants to pull our business from his tracks, this is just a reminder of what he's capable of."

"Why would Elijah withdraw from the tracks?" Florence muttered, "He knows what Kimber's capable of, we had a run in with him at the races."

"Elijah told me about that," George groaned as he rested his hand on his abdomen, "Is he here?"

"He's working at the brewery," Florence told him, "Should I call him?"

"Probably," George sighed, "They might come for him next."

"Alright, there's a phone in the hallway," Florence explained, fearing the worst, knowing how erratic Kimber could be as she feared for her husband's safety, "One of the maids is bringing some cloth to clean your wounds, so play nice."

"I'm always nice," George smirked as he took another sip of whiskey.

"Less of that," Florence huffed as she took the bottle from his hand, "It's too early and you don't need a sore head as well as sore ribs in the morning."

"Yes, boss," George saluted her before she left the room.

Florence promptly dialled the number of the control room to be put through to Elijah's office at the brewery, waiting to hear his familiar and reassuring voice.

"Harrington Breweries, Elijah Harrington speaking," Elijah answered calmly, immediately putting Florence at ease.

"Elijah," Florence sighed with relief, "Is now a bad time?"

"I'm just in a meeting, darling," Elijah answered, clearly playing the role of doting husband for whoever he was in the room with, "Is it urgent? Is it the baby?"

"It's George," Florence sighed, resting her hand against her head, "Kimber's boys have done him over."

"What? Why?" Elijah answered, panicked by the revelation as he gestured for the men in the meeting to leave the room.

"They said you plan to remove your business from the tracks," Florence explained.

"I'm coming straight home, alright?" Elijah told her, suddenly sounding on edge, "Don't let anyone into the house until I'm back, stay with my brother, do you still have that revolver from the night at the Garrison?"

"It's at home in Small Heath," Florence sighed in fear, "You don't think they'll come here, do you?"

"I doubt it, but when it comes to you and the baby I won't take any chances," Elijah told her, "I will be home as soon as I can, alright?"

"I'll see you soon," Florence whispered, "Stay safe."

"You too." Elijah answered before ending the call.

Florence rushed back to the drawing room to see Marie sitting beside George on the sofa, looking a bit too comfortable in her presence for someone who was newly married, "Marie, would you tell the rest of the staff not to let anyone in the house, please?"

"Is something wrong?" She asked, placing the bowl of warm water on the side table.

"We don't know yet," Florence replied, glancing at George, "We're waiting out."

"Okay," Marie nodded, "I'll tell the others."

"Thank you, Marie," Florence smiled as the maid ran out of the room.

"Is he coming?" George asked.

"Yeah," Florence nodded as she sat beside him, "I doubt they'd try anything here, I think he'll just want to ask you what happened."

"You forget that you're his wife and you're pregnant with his child, he'll be wanting to keep you safe," George assured her as she picked up the bowl of water and dipped some of the cloth into it before beginning to dab at the dried blood on George's face.

"He doesn't have to worry, the house is under Peaky Blinder protection," Florence sighed as she gently cleaned George's skin of blood.

"There are Peaky boys around your house?" George remarked.

"Do you honestly think those boys would let me move out of Small Heath without promising me protection?" Florence smiled fondly, reminded of all the promises Tommy had made to protect her.

About half an hour passed before there was any sign of Elijah. George and Florence had remained in the drawing room, although Florence knew that Billy Kimber could be quite the live wire, she also felt that she was as safe as she could be, with Peaky boys watching over the house and George by her side, she felt as safe as she could.

"Flo!" Elijah called out as he rushed into the house, "Florence, is everything alright?"

"We're in the drawing room," Florence exclaimed as George stood up from the sofa.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Elijah muttered as he laid eyes on his brother.

"Can I just say, if there had been less of them, I would've come out on top," George slurred, leaning against the wall.

"You've been drinking?" Elijah sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm completely in control of my senses," George mumbled as Florence realised that George managed to reacquire the whiskey bottle.

"Go down to the kitchen and ask the chefs to get you some food, we need to sober you up before you go back to Diana." Elijah explained firmly, keeping his eyes on Florence.

"Yes captain," George saluted his brother before leaving the room.

"Are you alright?" Elijah asked Florence as he approached her, kneeling in front of her as she sat on the sofa, "Nothing's happened since you called, has it?"

"Nothing's happened," Florence smiled, taking his hands in hers, "We're alright."

"And the baby, everything feels normal with the baby?" He continued to panic.

"Still kicking away," Florence grinned, taking Elijah's hand and placing it on her stomach, allowing him to feel the baby's feet against his hand.

"I was so worried that something might have happened to you," Elijah whispered, keeping his eyes on Florence's face, "If you'd have been hurt, I'm not quite sure what I would've done."

"Elijah," Florence soothed, resting her hands on his cheeks, "Everything is going to be fine."

Those past few months Florence had felt a pull to Elijah that she wasn't sure she could describe. He cared about her, he cherished her, he was willing to marry her just to protect her from public scrutiny, he was prepared to father a child he knew wasn't biologically his. He had given her everything that she had never felt from any man she had known, he made her feel secure.

"No one has ever cared about me the way you do," Florence whispered as she rested her forehead against his, "I don't know what I did to deserve this."

Without another word Florence tentatively kissed him, holding onto his jaw as her heart thumped against her chest, as she sensed the nerves that Elijah reciprocated. It was as though they were teenagers again, swaddled in the innocence of their first kiss, as though their minds weren't tainted by remnants of war. The world around them slowed down as their hearts sped up, with their breaths becoming heavier and tangled.

"Flo, it's just us, we don't have to pretend," Elijah whispered as he pulled away, keeping his forehead pressed against Florence's.

"This feels pretty real to me," Florence muttered with a nervous smile.

"You have no clue how long I've waited for you to say that," Elijah smiled as he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Do you mean that?" Florence asked, her doubts that were triggered by the way Tommy had kept her as a secret working their way into her mind, she hadn't been sure she could ever trust someone again.

"Yes, I do," Elijah answered, "I've just been waiting for you, it's never been an act for me."

Elijah had cared for Florence from the day he'd met her, he doubted whether she'd ever look at him in such a way. But for them to be brought together by such a complex situation, when he had no intention of using it as a catalyst for romance, it healed a part of his heart that he put in those letters he wrote to her in the trenches of France.

"Come and sit with me," Florence smiled before kissing him again, pulling away and patting the seat beside her.

"How'll we make time for this when there's a baby to look after?" Elijah muttered, taking a seat beside Florence and wrapping his arms around her so that she could rest her head on his chest.

"Our baby will be a little angel," Florence assured him, intertwining her hand with his, "And from the moment it arrives it'll know what it is like to be loved."

"As long as Kimber and his men stay away," Elijah sighed, letting the worries darken his mind momentarily.

"What could have led them to think that you'd withdraw your business?" Florence asked, comforted by the feeling of Elijah's steady heartbeat.

"All I could come up with on the way back here was a conversation that I had with Tommy-"

"Shelby?" Florence muttered.

"Yes, he spoke to me about it at the wedding," Elijah explained, "He asked me to do it to support his plans to take over Kimber's tracks."

"And what did you say?" Florence asked, glancing up at him as Elijah ran his hand through her hair.

"I told him that it would be a no, I have no intention of risking your safety to help Tommy Shelby in matters of business," He assured her, words which provided instant comfort for Florence, "Perhaps he believed that I could be persuaded."

"So that means it could only have got to Kimber from Tommy or someone else that he told," Florence sighed.

"Don't worry yourself about it, alright?" Elijah smiled, kissing the top of her head, "I'll call Roberts and explain that it was all a misunderstanding."

"Tommy wouldn't be stupid enough to put us at risk like that, Eli," Florence assured him, "He's got men watching the house, just in case."

"Tommy Shelby has men watching the house?" Elijah whispered.

"They must be doing a good job if you've not noticed them," Florence smirked, "You're telling me you've not noticed that there is always a man reading a newspaper on that bench on the green across the road?"

"Aren't we lucky?" Elijah sighed, kissing the side of her head.

"Why don't I call the Garrison?" Florence suggested, "If Tommy's there maybe he'll shed some light on this."

"Alright," Elijah whispered, "Call me if you need anything."

"Of course," Florence smiled as she left the drawing room, feeling completely content with the way that Elijah had taken over her heart.

She returned to the phone dialling for the Garrison, knowing that the Shelbys didn't have a phone at home, this was her best option. She waited for someone to answer, the phone ringing in her ear as she rested her hand on the back of her hip until she heard the voice she wanted to hear the least, "The Garrison, Small Heath, can I help?"

"Grace, are any of the Shelby brothers there?" Florence answered, lacking the energy for small talk.

"What's this about?" Grace replied as though she maintained some sort of upper hand.

"Nothing that concerns you, could you put one of the boys on the line if they're there please," Florence sighed, just wanting to return to Elijah's side.

"Just a moment." Grace said and the line went silent, until a few moments later she heard an all too familiar voice.

"Florence, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Tommy asked and she could tell he was a few whiskeys deep.

"Who did you tell about your conversation with Elijah at the wedding?" Florence answered, with little energy for his quips.

"I might've mentioned it in the pub a few days after the wedding, he's not been running his mouth to you has he?" Tommy replied.

"No, but Kimber sent us a warning," Florence told him firmly, "So, somewhere in that ship of yours is a leak."

"A warning, what kind of warning?" Tommy asked, immediately fearing the worst.

"Kimber's men beat the shit out of George and told him that there'd be even more trouble if Elijah went ahead with pulling the business from the tracks, but clearly whoever fed this information to Kimber respects you enough not to tell him the real reason that Elijah might have done that," Florence explained, knowing that if Kimber knew the true extent of Tommy's plan then Small Heath would be a war zone by that point.

"I'll sort it." Tommy replied.

"You'll sort it?" Florence nodded, knowing that meant he was going to deal with it in his own way, "You should start keeping your enemies closer Thomas, before the ship sinks."

"I am sorry." Tommy muttered.

"For what?" Florence sighed.

"Everything."

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" Florence replied, resting her head in her hand.

"I wish I could explain it all to you, Flo," Tommy muttered.

"But you can't, can you?" Florence whispered, "You'll never be able to explain any of this away."

"Florence-"

"I think it's probably best that we only see each other if we truly have to, Tommy," Florence replied, ignoring the anxiety that lingered in the pit of her stomach.

"If that's what you want, then I understand." Tommy answered, even though it wasn't what he wanted her to say.

"Goodbye, Thomas."

authors note: just a lil filler chapter before shit hits the fan...and i thought it was time to treat the elijah truthers tehe <3