MARY APPEARED AT THE DOOR, "Mr Shelby, Doctor Holford" Mary spoke. "Send him in" Tommy leaned on the wall as the man walked in. "You said it had to be in person. Here i am."

"You might want to sit down" Holford spoke. "Mr Shelby i know that you are still grieving for your daughter, but i have news that cannot wait." he pulled something from his bag. "When you were X-rayed and examined at the sanatorium, ten days ago, there was no TB found in your lung but i'm afraid they found something else. Something related to your daughters illness" he frowned, handing Thomas the file. "They tried to speak to you at the hospital, but you were not cooperating. After your daughters death you could not be found to be informed in person."

"Eventually, as your personal doctor, they called me."

"I didn't offer you tea. You look like death, you want tea?" Tommy asked. Holford shook his head. "No. At the sanatorium they conducted blood tests, the tests suggest that the shadow you can see at the base of your skull is not cancer. It is tuberculoma."

Tommy lifted the X-ray to the window.

"A tubercular growth caused by the same bacteria as TB" he said. "You may have picked it up from your daughter. Once this disease enters a household it can run wild. Mr Shelby as i say i am aware that you are still grieving but you just understand this is very serious. From the size of the tumour expansion must have been rapid."

"From the size of the tumour, the expansion must've been rapid, and I have no doubt you are already experiencing symptoms. have you recently suffered seizures?" he asked.

"Bouts of weakness? Dissociation? Hallucinations?"

Tommy sat, leaning back. "Why didn't you come and see me?" He asked Tommy.

"I have work to do. Am i a danger to others?"

"No, unlike TB, tuberculoma is not infectious. Mr Shelby it is not infectious. But in your case i am afraid it is inoperable. The growth is in your brain stem and any attempt to remove it would result in trauma and brain haemorrhage. Whilst you were refusing my calls, i shows your X-days to three of the best surgeons in the country. They all said they would not operate as it would be futile"

"Of course you will want a second opinion for yourself. Dr Helen Rutherford at St Thomas' she is a friend." Tommy cleared his throat. "This..how bad will it get?"

"As the tumour grows, the rate of physical and mental deterioration will increase. Eventually you will need people around you constantly who love you very much."

"How long?"

"I understand you have defeated many enemies, Mr Shelby. Now you have a new one. Inside you. You cannot defeat it, but you can keep it at bay for a while."

"I asked a question, how long before i need people around me?"

-

"Sorry i'm late, they closed Montague Street. There was a gas explosion or.." Ada announced, joining them in the Garrison. She looked at Tommy, "right, well it would be nice if just one thing could happen in Birmingham that wasn't our fault" she took a seat beside Lizzie. "I gathered you all here today, because there is news" Tommy said.

"And it is of interest to the whole family. First of all, i'd like to welcome Finn's new wife, Mary, to the family" he nodded toward the two. "Well i'm very glad that i dragged myself out of bed for this" Ada mocked.

"There is one more item of business, Johnny" He said, Johnny walked to the back room, returning with a boy. "Everyone, this here is Erasmus" he introduced.

"Nobody calls me that" The boy corrected.

"They call him Duke," Tommy held his shoulder. "Twenty years ago, at Appleby Horse Fair, I met a girl. We shared the shade of a hazel tree. Nine months later, this lad was born. This is my son. His mother died on the road, up until now i never tried to find him. But i'm trying to look at life in a different way. A child is a precious thing. So i'm bringing him-"

"Into the fucking family with a snap of his fingers" Lizzie hissed, clicking her fingers.

"No. Bringing him into the fold. He'll have to earn membership of the family. For the moment, welcome, son, you have a seat go on sit down here"

"There are some mistakes i've made that i can never redress" Tom began, "some i can. Some wounds i can try heal"

"New wounds you can open up" Lizzie said quietly.

"Anyway, that's the business of the day" he cleared his throat. "Is it too early for whiskey?" Ada asked.

Arthur handed Duke a glass of whiskey. "Here you go, a Shelby breakfast for you,"

"I don't drink and i'm not Shelby, right? I'm a Duke,"

"You're a fucking Shelby all right. Don't worry about that" Arthur said.

-

"Take a look at her," Tommy called out to Diana who approached the January. "Now imagine ten people living on site. Step on, have a look inside,"

Diana took her shoes off.

"I've had a response from the Guinness Trust about building charitable housing on two sites along the canal network between London, Birmingham and Liverpool" he said as she stepped onto the boat. "This lock here will be one of the sites. I have the permission i just need the finance. I know that you and your husband, Bryan Guinness are estranged. But i understand you still have influence in the Guinness family."

Diana scoffed.

"Your support might help them make their decision. Will you help me?"

She stepped back off, walking round to him and holding her hand out. "I've booked a suite in a hotel a mile from here, my chauffeur will take us there" she said as he helped her onto the boat.

"You look quite the thing, dressed like that, like a working man. They'll probably show you to the coal house to make your delivery."

"Yep. They probably will," he sighed.

"Oswald has fucked your wife, so, my suggestion is about balance and proportion. It would be only fair," Diana sat, taking the cigarette from his fingers.

"Can i assume i have your support?" he asked. "This isn't about charitable housing, this is about changing the world, Thomas. It's about a different kind of trust, absolute trust. We have important work ahead of us. It's much harder to lie with your body than with your words,"

"This i have learnt" he agreed.

"Mostly, i do whatever i want to do," she told him. "Sometimes i do things for the cause, in this case it's both. Come." Diana stood again.

-

Tommy collapsed beside Diana on the purple bed sheets, breathing heavily. "In the interests of absolute clarity, that is simply the English aristocracy's way of shaking hands" she said. "So..welcome"

He stared at the ceiling, sitting up and holding his head.

-

Lizzie looked at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair. "We need to leave early to catch the first train to Liverpool. Yes?"

"Yep" he agreed.

"So we eat early, finish early."

Tommy pulled his shirt over his shoulders. "You changed the combination of the safe. Why?" she asked. "Have you got new secrets?"

"With this new business at hand, there are some things i cannot share." he said, opening a bottle of pills.

"What things?" Lizzie frowned. "What are this tablets?"

"Doctor gave em me," he said plainly, doing up the buttons of his shirt. "Painkillers?" she asked. He hummed. "What pain?"

"Any pain that comes, Lizzie"

She threw her head back, standing and grabbing his red tie from the mirror and standing behind him, placing it over his shoulders. "When you're ready, i want you to tell me everything that's going on" she said, placing her hands on his chest. "It's like the clock stopped ticking and i'm waiting for the bomb to explode. We're in that quiet minute. Tommy?"

He turned to her and she held his face.

"That's where we live now, Lizzie. When i know everything, i will tell you everything."

Lizzie swallowed hard as he turned back to the mirror.

-

"No, Gina's running wild, you see" Jack spoke. "Harrods, dope, amphetamines, lords and ladies, you know the whole English aristocracy thing" He looked at the butler who tried pouring him a glass. "Fuck wine, whiskey" he demanded.

"Shelby you having whiskey?" he asked. "I'll stay on wine" Tommy said. "Fuck wine, more whiskey i'm celebrating, celebration, you know? Getting off this fucking island."

"You see, the thing with England, the currency here it's not money. Nah, you got bored of money a long time ago. Cause you know anyone can have money. You can fucking..you can fucking find money in the mud, you can forge money. Mr Shelby you can steal money, am i right?"

Lizzie let out a breath, staring at the table.

"The currency here it's blood. And Mr Shelby knows that better than all of them. Blood here is like wine, like vintage wine in that bottle. It's the label. It's the terroir, the grape that makes the wine. Who fucking cares about the glass around it? And you my friend, you're an American. You fucking smash the glass, you spill the blood and you spend their currency to get what you want. Am i right?"

Tommy glared at him.

"When you come to America, i will show you things."

"You're going to America?" Lizzie asked. "To Canada, Lizzie, to collect payment for the shipment. I need to do it myself."

"And who will be going with you?"

"Micheal will be there to watch his back." Jack said. Lizzie leaned in. "Another journey, Tommy?"

"Five million dollars, Mrs Shelby. Worth a little cruise don't you think?" he tormented.

"You know whiskey does talk, Mr Nelson, and sometimes whiskey is very eloquent. But five million dollars, Mr Nelson..now that is a legacy. And when i come back, i will know everything."

"I see myself so clearly in you, Thomas Shelby. You are a man with a bright and glittering future."

The door opened, Frances appeared. "Mr Shelby there's a car coming up the drive, a Rolls Royce. Were you expecting more guests?" she asked.

He shook his head slightly. "No"

Tommy put out his cigarette and excused himself.

The door opened and Diana and Oswald walked in. "We were on our way to my constituency in Smethwick and i heard our American friend was in Birmingham and he was coming here. So we came to say one last farewell" he stood in front of Tommy. "Champagne, we have much to celebrate."

Diana and Oswald entered the room and sat down.

"It's not that i thought Mr Shelby wouldn't give you an excellent send off. I just felt, since telegrams and wires and letters can so easily be intercepted, we might confirm all that we've achieved during your visit over champagne."

"It is remarkable how quickly our relationships have developed" Diana smiled. Delilah tilted her head. "So many triangles in this room," she continued. "Everyone except Mr Nelson is the point of a triangle."

Lizzie scoffed. "How am i part of a triangle?"

"Mr Nelson, you have all that you came for?" Oswald asked.

"I have confirmation that the future of Europe is in the hands of men like yourselves."

"And that urgent conversations between Washington, Rome and of course Berlin can now begin. A two week visit may have changed the course of history." Oswald said.

Jack nodded. "We all got what we wanted."

"Yes," Diana said, looking at Tommy. "And i got what i wanted from the moment i set eyes on it." Tommy stared down at the table as Lizzie looked at him coldly.

"Elizabeth, you are a very lucky woman. To have each day what i have only sampled once."