London. With its endless streets lined tall with colossal buildings, standing strong like an industrial forest. Not exactly the slow and steady introduction for a man who had been hiding from everything for the past few months needed.

But as Tommy continued to try and plod on with his life, whatever that may be - he was reminded immediately on this early autumn day- as the rain pattered dismally on his car's windscreen and the sky remained a bothersome dull grey - of his first few meetings with the psychologist he was doing his utmost to try and forget.

It seemed not even the droplets that fled from the hefty clouds above could even cut him the slack of forgetting for just one day.

Tommy rounded a familiar street, a house he had not attended or not thought of in a while. It had been months since he had last connected with his older brother, even more so than the rest of his family. Aunt Pol and Ada particularly always tried to worm their way in, to get close to the man who was trying to repair every little weakness in his system - but he had blocked out everyone for so long. Tommy knew he could not hide forever... and so seeking out Arthur first, to try to find out what his plans for involvement with any of the family businesses were in future... if any.

An unsettling feeling concocted like a potion of anxiousness at the base of the Blinder's stomach. For he parked up behind the back of a brand new, smart navy blue car of which he had never seen before. Everything about it screamed wealth... and Tommy knew wealthy people often were powerful... and came with their threats to his family.

Leaving the car, greeted with the onslaught of the miserable rain which still vigorously showered on - he tread the short space between the curb and the stone steps and porch out front of Scarlett's home, which both she and Arthur now resided in.

For a short second there was nothing but the constant tepid pattering of the rain on the grey stone pavement behind him, and the distant whooshing of wheels through puddles.

The door then swung open, and stood before Tommy was the very changed figure of Scarlett. Last time he had seen her she had been fairly pregnant looking but now, with her petite size she seemed even more dwarfed by the large bump under her empire style grey and pink floral dress.

The pair stood gawping at each other for a brief few seconds, Scarlett's mind racing alike - mainly as she had mixed feelings about seeing Tommy again. Of course, relief came first ... they had all been worried about him - but as sudden as turbulent sea current, the reminder of Verity's truth's that night also swept in. What Tommy had done to poor Verity...

Suppressing any feelings of anger or disappointment, Scarlett knew she was in no place to make such a judgement. She had also deeply hurt her friend, and to this day she was still resenting herself for it.

"Tommy, come in." she said at last, stepping aside to allow him into the clean, open and white painted hallway.

As the Blinder stepped inside, shrugging his intimidating dark grey coat from his shoulders, he could hear male laughter from the sitting room next door. One was certainly Arthur's.

"You're looking well." Tommy commented as Scarlett took his coat, hanging it up by the tall stand beside her.

"Oh," she smiled meekly, hand resting on her bump. "Thank you. I'm due very soon, time has flown." The bubbly singer seemed devoid of her usual sparkle, and that was plain to see.

"I will warn you..." she whispered, catching Tommy's oceanic blue gaze, "we ... have a guest." She kept her voice low, making her way towards the sitting room door - opening it with all the caution of a meek housewife, a far cry from the bold and flirtatious songbird she had once been.

Tommy followed somewhat behind, feeling almost unusually anxious as to what he was going to see in that living room.

Open rounding the doorframe and into the space, the cosy living room revealed the two cream sofas facing one another - Arthur perched merrily on one, laughing like a careless child - and on the opposite sofa he saw the back of a very shiny, gelled dark hair head. It took him very little time to decipher the sly coyote sitting in his brother's cosy living room.

As if queued by his thought, Eli Valentine turned his head back to glance at the imposing figure of Tommy who walked into the room. Although the Blinder didn't exactly feel like his usual authoritative self, no one else would ever be able to tell. The moment he walked into a room there was an aura, a fixation and a draw. He was like that one flame of candlelight so desperately sought after in a dark and endless cave.

"Well, well! Tommy Shelby." Eli chuckled, standing from the sofa as he paced the few steps over to Tommy, offering his hand to shake. The gesture alone made Thomas swallow hard as he glanced at Eli's ring adorned hand and then back up into his face, the man's hickory brown eyes shielded as usual by a pair of sunglasses.

"Afternoon, Mr Valentine." Tommy replied, politely but with little vivacity to his voice - as had always been with the man. "If I had known you were here I wouldn't of intruded," he commented with a sprinkle of dry sarcasm, "looks like you two were having a right old laugh."

Arthur frowned a little to his brother's crass tones, but Eli as usual plastered on the false niceties that were so acidic one would be sure if he spat on floor it may burn a hole through the wood.

"Not an intrusion," Eli chuckled, that egotistical ring to his voice as he settled back down on the sofa, not even bothering to look at Tommy anymore.

"Did y' see me new motor out front, Shelby?" Valentine drawled, cocking his head back as he crossed his leg over his knee in a casual fashion

"Yes it's, very nice." Tommy forced himself to say, eyes straying for a moment as he glanced over to Scarlett who was stood by a bureau at the side of the sofas, a nervous look on her face.

"Been able to treat meself, since the club's been doing so well as of late." Eli then added, the smirk clear cut in his northern tones. "Shame about the Eden, London lost one of its best clubs. I can't exactly say it's been all bad for me."

The comment alone made Scarlett turn away to busy herself making some more drinks for the men, decanting some whisky into the fine glasses - so aware of the tension in the air behind her back.

"Arthur's workin' with me now, ain't that so, Arthur?" Eli said, gesturing his hand out to the older Shelby brother who displayed an excited smile.

"Too right I fuckin' am." He exclaimed jovially, genuinely pleased by the fact - like a Labrador he could only see Eli shaking the stick in front of his face but could not link the dots together past that.

A silent moment fell on the room, as Tommy stood grounded in the very same spot - a great sense of frustration pitted in his stomach. He had never been sure about Eli, never really liked the man at all but now he truly felt he was a manipulative bastard... perhaps even worse than Tommy himself.

Carrying the three whiskeys on a small tray, Scarlett handed Tommy his and then tended to Eli and Arthur, lips tightly pressed together and the aura of a frightened servant occupying her energy.

Taking a long sip of the alcoholic drink, Eli let out an exaggerated refreshed gasp - thunking the glass down onto the coffee table that rested between the two sofas.

"Hey, I've just realised what this reminds me of," the club owner started, looking around the room at all the faces with a shitty childish smirk. "Reminds me of the good old days of the Eden club, ey?" He chuckled, and even behind the chestnut brown tint of his sunglasses, Tommy could see that malicious gleam.

"Seems we're missing someone though, aren't we?" He then added for effect, his comment awkwardly followed up by complete silence. All minds averted to the power and grace that was Verity, but no one said a single thing. Eli only confirmed his salacious and shit-stirring ways by chuckling to himself, gulping back the whisky quickly signifying his business here winding up Tommy Shelby was done.

He swaggered as he stood, dressed smartly in a unique deep burgundy matching suit. The white shirt underneath crisp and hardly buttoned. Running his slight hand back through his gelled hair, Eli cracked one last darkened smirk to Tommy - who held his stare with the tenacity of a defiant stallion.

"I'll see you all later." The club owner muttered, humming to himself nonchalantly as his obscure yet powerful energy exited the room and found its way out of the family home. The mood in the sitting room immediately changed as Eli's expensive car could be heard revving off on the street outside.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you, eh? You told me you wanted a quiet life and now you're working with him?" Tommy fired at Arthur immediately, instigating a furious frown on his older brother's face.

"What's y' fuckin' problem Tommy?" Arthur growled, his defences up like a Rottweiler with teeth bared and hackles raised. "Eli has helped us a lot, and where the fuck were you, eh?" He snarled venomously, the tension in the room thickening like smothering tar.

"He's got Scarlett a little job for when the baby gets older, which means we can keep going." The older Shelby brother kept on, "something you didn't bloody do when you let that fuckin' whore you were sleeping with burn down the Eden!" At this point Arthur was up from his seat, looking as enraged as ever with teeth gnashed and muscles visibly tensed with animosity.

Tommy glanced down, a ball of contempt lodging in his throat, as Verity's name was tossed into the ring. Tommy knew that she hadn't been the culprit, the cause of the blaze - but the more he looked now, it seemed Eli would be the one to benefit most from this. Was it possible the obvious has been staring him in the face the whole time?

"Ever occurred to you that the fire was started by that slimy bastard?" Tommy offer sharply, "think Arthur, with whatever fucking brain you have left. He's the one who's benefitted most from this, he even said it himself-"

"Alright, enough!" Scarlett piped up, a voice that had been so far silent in all of this. Both men glanced over at the petite woman, visibly shaking with tension in her pretty dress, long dark hair fashioned in a half up half down style, framing her pretty but oh so frightened looking face.

"The Eden is gone, Eli is supporting us no matter what. If he wanted to ruin things he surely would of dropped us." Scarlett was speaking out, obviously knowingly protecting herself from the obvious truth that haunted her every single day. No one had ever got this close to discussing the topic ever since Verity left, and Scarlett was fretting to herself about the consequences for her family should the truth ever be out.

As much as she loathed Eli's slimy and selfish clutches - she had to be sweet, speak in his favour - otherwise he would have every right to shatter her life as she knew it as simply as a terrier could shake and snap at rabbit's spine.

"Of course." Tommy responded, but the withdrawn and lacklustre sounding ring to his tone spoke his true attitude that contradicted the placating words that left his mouth.

"I'll leave you to it." He added bluntly, leaving his brother looking incredibly irked on that sofa as Scarlett offered to see him out in the hallway, out of politeness.

It had been a rather unproductive and exceptionally short visit, but Tommy couldn't help but feel things may of been different had Eli not been there - etching his way into everything like a burrowing mole, digging tunnels in the fabric of the family ... tunnels that one day must surely collapse and cave in.

"Have you heard from Verity... since she left?" Scarlett piped up quietly, as she handed Tommy his coat. The mere mention of her name in the air around him made Tommy feel the need to inwardly fold into himself. His stomach knotted, as his brain reflected on the wrong doing he had caused her.

"No.... no I haven't." The blinder responded, clearing his throat to cover for the abnormally long pause. A shimmer of sadness drifted through Scarlett's big brown eyes, as if she had been secretly in the hope that Verity may of still been trying to reach out. Of course, she understood why her former best friend would want to cut ties - Scarlett ached immensely every time she thought of the hurt she caused Verity, amongst all of the hurt she had already been going through.

"Have you?" He asked, his thick coat shrugged onto his person like another layer of armour to his intimidating outfit of pure finery.

Scarlett shook her head, a silent gesture... that was all she could muster up.

Tommy sighed quietly at her silence, in all his time knowing Scarlett he'd never seen the woman so quiet, so hollow looking.

"I thought if anyone, she'd reach out to you." The Blinder explained, catching Scarlett's sheepish looking eyes so a moment, "you two were like bloody sisters."

Another pang coursed recklessly through Scarlett's chest, but she put on a brave yet mediated smile.

"The last time I saw her was the night she left... she came to tell me..." the singer paused, guiltily looking at Tommy - giving her game away that she knew the terrible thing the man had done.

The pair looked at one another - and Tommy felt new shame that Scarlett must of known. However the gentle shimmer of consideration in her kind eyes somehow reassured him she had not spread the information.

As always, Tommy had never been one to babble and bumble on - justifying, explaining himself or begging for someone's acceptance on a matter. So... with the slightly uneasy feeling of knowing Scarlett was also aware of his incredibly monstrous and selfish decision... Tommy turned and left towards the large front door.

Like a bolt of lightning striking, it occurred to him that he felt somewhat indebted to her. She could of chose to spread that yet didnt? Why? She was Verity's dearest friend, wasn't she? His mind raced for a moment over the millions of reasons but in the end, he settled for simplicity. The Blinder had had enough of complex and thought intruding questions over the last few months.

"If you need anything at all, just let us know." He said, a genuine offer but with ambiguous meanings. Scarlett held the offer dear, a silent accepting smile being her sweetened acknowledgement of his kindness. She knew it was in return for her keeping her mouth shut about what he did.

"Thank you, Tommy." She returned, and for a split second one might of even been convinced the old Scarlett was in the room - beaming, bright and beyond the comprehension of most women in this day and age.

But just as soon as her smile shone through, it dwindled again like a light - as Arthur called her back to the sitting room. The shift in energy and mood, the evident striking of it on her pained face... stuck with Tommy the entire way home.

As much as he was wishing to deny further complexity and queries in his life, he could no longer deny the obvious... there was much more to these going's on than what meets the eye.

-

Arrow House was soaked in an opulent and hazy looking glaze of afternoon sun as Tommy's car crunched and crackled up the driveway over the gravel stones. The trees that lined the vast rolling greenery about the estate now stood browning and reddening, crunchy old leaves tumbling through the wind like scraps of torn up paper. The house looked most inviting after what had been a confusing and disheartening day, it's lights glowing softly - albeit Charlie's tutors car still lingered outside signalling his son was yet to finish his lessons.

Autumn was truly here, the sad beginnings to a depressing and cold season he was all but willing to avoid if possible. Tommy rather wished he too might hibernate like the animals.. and his mind often humoured him that perhaps the aid of a whisky bottle might achieve that.

The house was rife with heat, a welcome invitation as Mr Shelby stepped inside the grandeur of his home. All hearth's were stoked and ablaze, a sweet contrast to the weather that day which had been nothing but rain, blistering wind and nipping cold.

Removing his coat and handing to a ready and waiting Francis, Tommy stalked off as usual to his office - a defined path, like a ritual each day. It was a wonder there weren't tread marks on the wood floor considering how well trepsed the path was.

"Mr Shelby." The voice of Charlie's tutor, Mrs Richmond, called up from the hallway. The noise invoked an internal sigh from the Blinder, who instead put on his most polite face and greeted the tutor with a smile.

"Afternoon, Mrs Richmond." He greeted with a friendly enough tone which masqueraded any frustration. "I hope Charlie's been behaving."

And so the tutor started on, explaining to the middle Shelby brother that his son had been quite the opposite of badly behaved - and she commended him on how well he had advanced, how focused he was on his work. Which was a huge change to how he had been some months ago.

When Verity first left, Tommy thought.

The tutor smiled in delight as she concluded her proud conveyance of the young boy, swinging her leather bag momentarily with a vivacious gesture of elation at the young man's progress.

Tommy smiled, trying to match her level pleased attitude with little success. As her bag swished with her energised movements, Tommy noticed an envelope fall from the bag, and to the floor where it went unnoticed by the tutor.

"I must be on my way Mr Shelby, but I wanted to share Charlie's achievements. He is a very talented young man, he will go far." She hummed, her eyeline so focused on her exit through the front doors she completed bypassed the letter on the floor.

How Tommy's eyes stared out the brown envelope on the floor, the curiosity eating away at him like a disease. Crouching down, his fingers pried the paper from the floor - and he inspected the address with scrutinising eyes.

'Mrs Edna Montgomery
FAO Wisteria'

Dumbfounded, he kept on reading the address, his mind not able to leave that obscure detail out. Wisteria? As in the plant? Was it the name of a child? A pet? He was confused - and it was what ultimately let him to ripping into the brown paper...

Where he was incredibly shocked to find the rough-around-the-edges scrawling handwriting of his son.

Like snake jaws gripping tightly around a mouse, Tommy's fingers pressed hard into the paper as he clutched the letter - reading each line of the letter his son had wrote.

Even with the name 'Wisteria' constantly used ... the content of the letter was beginning to become clear and point clues to who the receiver may be.

With a clenched jaw, Tommy retreated into the study where his son was packing away his violin after the last lesson of the day.

"Sit down." He barked, in a tone Charlie knew all to well that he should fear. The little boy scarpered to his chair, his eyes frightfully detecting the letter in his father's hands.

"Explain this, Charlie. Now." Tommy ordered, setting the letter down on the table top as the boy could only gawp in shock his father had found out about the secret communication.

"Do you want to tell daddy who 'Wisteria' is?" He asked, tone deceptively light and easy for a second when all his piercing blue eyes did was convey utter anger.

From his seat, Charlie's lip began to wobble and the boy felt a quivering sensation of fear in his muscles - he didn't want to compromise Verity.

"I... I can't tell you daddy." He began to cry, trembling a little at the uncomfortable situation of defying his father's commands.

"I promised I wouldn't tell." He wailed, his tears only further confirming the truth's Tommy could not deny.

"It's Verity isn't it?" Tommy snapped, but his question gained little answer as the boy carried on sobbing and sobbing - his cries only getting louder as he saw his father snatch the letter once more and storm from the room.

Upon hearing the saddened cries of Charlie, Francis had rushed out to see what was the matter. She called after her master, querying the problem but was only ignored as Tommy tore through his office like a very force of nature.

Reaching his desk, he dialled in numbers burned into his brain but lesser called these days. It took a matter of moments to be connected up, when he was greeted with a familiar and welcome voice.

"How would you like some work to do, eh?" Tommy started, no introductions needed - staring down at the letter before him on his desk as the voice confirmed their interest had been peaked.

"Good," Tommy then added, his blue eyes narrowing like slices of bright sky through blankets of grey clouds. "It's some investigating... I need someone found... they've been hiding for far too long." He relayed, the smallest hint of a smile on his face at the confirmation of interest laid on the other end of the phone.

Finally... the walls Verity had put up, the miles she had put between them. It would soon mean nothing.

For he had a chance... one of his last, he knew that, to try and rectify the bitter wrongs he had acted out on that sweet soul.

A sweet soul he had come to realise he struggled to live without.

-