𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 — 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

"shut it, John, the girl is sleeping." Florence was in fact not asleep, she had been awake since before the others were.

"I'm not asleep Polly." Florence said, she sat up looking at the others.

"Sorry if we woke you up darling." Polly apologized, glaring at John, Arthur and Finn beside her, who had been the ones making the noice.

"It's fine. I wasn't sleeping anyways, I've been up for hours." she confessed, truth was, Florence didn't sleep much, hadn't been able to get a good nights sleep since she was ten years old, being fourteen now, meant four years of nights with maybe two or three hours of sleep, sometimes, most nights restless, absolutely no hours of sleep.

"Why have you been up for hours?" Finn asked.

"I don't really sleep, I can't." Florence spoke, looking from Polly to Finn, then back to Polly as the woman approached the girl.

"Why not, darling?" The woman spoke softly as she sat down beside her.

"I don't wanna talk about it, at least not now, if that's alright?" It came out more as a question as she looked to her right, finding Pollys confused face.

"Yeah of course, but you can always talk to any of us if you need to, I'll always be here to listen." Polly said, a smile found its way onto Florence, a genuine smile, something she hadn't experienced in years.

--

The next day, Florence had been shown around town, she had decided to try to get a job, she decided to try the pub where she first found Thomas.

Harry had refused and Florence just gave up and decided to hang around for a couple minutes, when a blonde walked in.

"I'm here about the job as a barmaid." The blonde spoke as she approached them.

"Are you mad?" Harry spoke, saying the same words he had to Florence over and over again.

"Am I what?"

"Do you know about this place?" He asked, yet again, almost the exact same words.

"I saw it in an advertisement." The blonde spoke walking closer.

"Jobs been filled." A lie.

"But it was in yesterday's paper." She pushed.

"so.. someone was faster?" Florence spoke.

"Believe me, love, I'm doing you a favor."

"I'm not asking for favors, I'm asking for employment." The blonde kept on going, Harry sighed as he stopped what he was doing at turned to her.

"You're too... nice."

"How would you know?"

"And too pretty. They'd have you up against a wall." He had said that to Florence too, that was the one thing that slightly made her want to change her mind.

"I have experience. And references." The blonde said, handing him a piece of paper.

--

Florence had been dragged by Arthur to have some fun, he wanted to show her more of Birmingham.

He had picked up two girls along the way, Florence didn't really mind.

As they were sitting in the theatre someone came up behind Arthur and dragged him from his seat, the same happened to Florence as someone put their hand on her mouth and dragged her from her seat, she grunted in pain as her back hit the seat.

They dragged them somewhere, Florence didn't get to see where as they knocked the both out cold and dragging them away.

Florence was sitting on a chair beside Arthur, he had gotten the worst of it, bleeding all over, Florence hadn't gotten hurt, other than being dragged from her seat.

"Arthur Shelby. Lead pack dog of the Peaky Blinders." A man spoke as he walked into the room, he walked up to Arthur.

"Look at me." The man spoke tilting Arthurs head.

Florence wasn't prepared for what he did next, he hit Arthur hard, Arthur titled his head back, grunting and coughing, a soft gasp left her lips.

"Bastard." Arthur simply said.

"Your uniform? Terrifying, I'm sure. Did he have a gun?" The man asked, Arthur looked over at Florence, with an apologetic look on his face, when he wanted to spend the day with his niece, this wasn't exactly what he had, had in mind.

"No gun." One of the other men replied. "Knife in his sock. Cosh in his belt." He continued.

"Now, Mr. Shelby..." Campbell spoke. "I want you to see this as me introducing myself to you. Understand? In all the world, the only thing that interest me is the truth. So... What do you know about the robbery?"

"What robbery?" Arthur asked. Robbery? Florence hadn't heard anything about a robbery.

Campbell didn't like his answer as he twisted Arthurs arm behind his own back, Arthur grunted in pain yet again, Florence let out another soft gasp.

"I will ask you again. What do you know about the robbery?" Campbell asked again.

"I swear to God, I don't know what you're talking about." Arthur spoke as he looked up at Campbell, then he raised his voice, clearly getting angry. "What fucking robbery?" Campbell, who still wasn't a fan of Arthurs answer,  twisting Arthurs finger, Florence heard a snapping sound making her jump slightly in her seat. Did he just break Arthurs finger? Arthur let out noises of pain.

"Alright let's try something else then." Campbell spoke, he looked over at Florence. "Who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Don't answer him!" Arthur yelled, which caused him a hard punch across the face, then another, and another.

"Stop! Florence! I'm Florence! That's my name!" She yelled watching hit after hit, landing across Arthurs face.

"Florence? Florence what? Did not think Arthur would be into whores this young." Campbell spoke, Florence almost threw up as soon as he said that, he just called her a whore, is that the first thing people  thought when they saw her?

"Florence Shelby. Now please just leave us alone.." She spoke softly.

"Shelby? That can't be right. I know all the Shelbys, I've never heard of a Florence. You're not a Shelby." Campbell spoke then looked back over at Arthur.

"We are not telling you anymore. You got that Florence? No matter what, you don't speak!" Arthur spoke, he didn't want Florence to get in trouble or end up as hurt as he was.

That earned him multiple punches to the face and stomach, kicks to his legs.

"I'm Thomas Shelby's daughter, now please stop!" Florence yelled as she cried, she didn't care about what Arthur said, he was getting hurt, she had to try.

"So she's your niece, huh?" Campbell asked Arthur, as his men stopped beating him. "Let's see if this will make you talk then."

With that he punched Florence once in the face to catch her of guard, before she knew it, the familiar sting of a knife or something sharp piercing her skin from her left shoulder, she screamed in pain as he continued, down to her right hip, a wound right across her body.

"Stop! Stop it!" Was the last things she heard over and over as Arthur pleaded, after the cut down her body, Campbell cut the side of her throat and then she passed out

Arthur looked at the passed out girl in horror, Campbell had just cut his niece with his own blade.

--

When Florence came to again, Polly was just getting down with looking after her wounds.

"Darling? You awake?" The woman asked, taking Florences hand.

"Yeah.." Florence tried to sit up, but decided not too when pain shot through he body and she grunted in pain, sure she'd felt the pain of being punched, kicked or burned with a cigarette but getting cut with a blade, was something she had never experienced before today.

"Finn! Florence is awake go get the others!" Polly yelled, not too loud.

Florence turned her head toward the direction of the multiple footsteps she heard.

"Hey you." Ada said, smiling at the girl. Thomas didn't speak, it was weird actually, he had his moment of shocked state when she first told him who she was and when introducing her to the others, but now it's like he stepped back into that cold person he was before she told him.

"I'm so sorry i shouldn't have dragged you out with me, if I hadn't then-" Arthur started to speak.

"Don't do that, Arthur. Don't blame yourself, in the end I made the decision to go with you remember?" Florence  interrupted him. "I'm okay. I think." John chuckled at her last comment.

--

Resting. That's all Florence did.

She was aloud to walk around the house, sure, but Polly had told her that she absolutely could not go outside of the house, while her wounds were healing, Florence being as unlucky as she was, the massive scar from her left shoulder to her right hip, was still there, still visible, Polly had said, it might stay for a while, maybe forever, only time would tell, the same with the little cut on her throat.

-

"I thought you said we were going to the fair." Arthur spoke, Florence was sitting in the back of the car between Finn and John, Tommy and Arthur up front.

"We have business first. Come on. Bring your wits." Thomas spoke as he stopped the car.

"What business?" Arthur asked, Florence looked around then back at Thomas as he got out of the car.

"That's the Lee family." John spoke, getting out of the car.

"Tommy!" Someone who Florence didn't know spoke as she got out of the car with everybody else.

"Johnny Dogs." Thomas spoke as this Johnny Dogs walked toward them.

"Tommy, how the hell are you?"

"All the better for getting the city smoke out of my lungs." Florence looked around again, she watched as somebody walked by with a horse, a really beautiful white one, Florence had always loved horses, but Charles never allowed her to learn to ride one, or even say hi when walking past one.

"I thought you became a bit too grand for us." Florence kept her eyes on the horse, watching from afar.

"I've been busy." Thomas spoke, Florence didn't notice him starting to walk away with the Johnny guy, she was still watching the horse, she was completely in love, the most beautiful white horse she had ever seen.

"You can go." John's voice made her look away from the horse as she turned to him and Arthur.

"What?" She asked.

"You can go say hello to the horse, Florence. Go." John spoke, he watched his nieces face light up, it made him smile, but it also made his heart drop a little, surely no one could be this happy to be allowed to do the simplest thing as petting a horse.

The now very happy Florence, yelled a thank you as she ran after the man with the horse.

"Hey!" She said as she reached him.

"Well hello there, kid." The guy spoke as he stopped walking.

"Can I pet the horse?" She asked a wide smile on her face, her smile became even wider as he gave her permission, she walked closer to the horse, the horse looked at her.

"So this is the horse?" Thomas asked as he walked up to his daughter who was still petting the horse, completely in love.

"And that's the car." The guy said as he walked away.

"You like it?" Thomas asked his daughter.

"No.. I love it!" She spoke, she turned to Thomas, Thomas couldn't help but smile a little as he saw how in love she was with that horse.

"Hang on a minute." Arthur spoke, Florence said goodbye to the horse and made her way back to John and Arthur. "You're not swapping the family car for a bloody horse."

"Of course we're not swapping it. That would be mad." Johnny said as he walked back.

"We're going to play two-up." Thomas spoke.

"I knew it. Tommy, you bloody idiot." Florence couldn't stop herself from giggling.

"Shut up, Arthur, I won." Thomas spoke. "Good." Arthur said.

"I promised Johnny, I'd let him have a spin in the car if he lost." Some of the others started laughing.

"All right." Arthur spoke clearly relieved.

"Are you Lee boys laughing at my brother?" Thomas spoke as he walked toward the three laughing men. "Are you? Eh? I asked you a question." Johnny was yelling his name to make him stop.

"Come on, it's just a crack. Get your family out of here and go and enjoy yourselves at the fair before they start a war." Florence took a step back, if things were gonna go bad she did not wanna be there. Johnny said something that Florence couldn't understand.

"Yeah, but his mother was a Diddicoy whore." And at that Thomas took off his hat, he swung it at the guy who had said it cutting with the blade that was on it.

Florence stepped back again as Arthur and John joined the fight, Florence couldn't help but think about Charles, his abuse, especially when watching Thomas, another violent father.

When they were done fighting they turned around to go back to the car, stopping in their tracks as they saw Florence, tears running down her face, she was shaking, clearly terrified.

"Florence you okay?" John spoke as he reached out to her, she flinched away, and made her way to the car, on the way there she had been sitting in the middle, in between Finn and John, the time she made sure Finn was sat beside her, in between her and John, keeping as much distance as she could, she was terrified at the moment, if they could do that to someone they knew, what could they do to her?

--

When they arrived back, everything looked like shit.

"Now, what the bloody hell's been going on here?" Arthur asked, speaking Florence's thoughts.

"Jesus Christ."

"The coppers told everyone Arthur'd agreed to it when he was arrested. They said the Peaky Blinders had cleared out to the fair to let them do it." Polly spoke, Florence was standing in the doorway trying to keep distance between her and the others, deep down she knew they most likely would never hurt her as far as she knew, but part of her couldn't help but be scared.

"I never said nothing to that copper about smashing up bloody houses." Arthur said, clearly getting angry.

"All right. Which pubs did they do?" Thomas asked, Florence looked over at him for a second before looking back down at the ground.

"The Guns, the Chain, the Marquis. All the ones that pay you to protect them. Only one they didn't touch was the Garrison. Make sure people think we were in on it. He's smart, this copper. So, go on. Drink your beers, get out." Polly spoke, the men behind Arthur and John doing as told. "You'd better show people you are still the cocks of the walk."

"Hand out some cash to the landlords of the pubs. Pay some veterans to fix the places up." Thomas said as the man made their way out.

"So, what about you, Tommy?" Arthur asked putting on his coat.

"I have to go to Charlie's to stable the horse. She looked footsore in the box." Thomas replied. "You wanna come with, Florence?" Florence looked up to see the others looking at her.

"No." At much as she wanted to go see the horse, she just couldn't. She wanted to stay and speak with Polly. No, she needed it.

"Let them see your faces." Polly said as Arthur walked out. Polly closing the doors behind him.

"So we know what they were looking for." Polly said as she sat down in a chair.

"Florence. Out." Thomas spoke, Florence said nothing and walked out.

Florence decided to just take a walk, no idea where, just away from Thomas.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice two guys headed straight for her. They obviously hadn't noticed her either, as Florence bumped into one of them, he fell backwards and grabbed something to try and not fall, that something was Florence's shirt, he landed right on his ass, Florence fell to her hands and knees in front of him, face to face, gosh they were so close.

"Sorry!" She muttered over and over as she got up, giving him a hand to help.

"Don't apologize, I should've looked where I was going." The guy said smiling down at her.

"I should've looked where I was going too." Florence spoke smiling back.

"I'm William." The guy said sticking his hand out for her to shake which she gladly did.

"Nice to meet you, William, I'm Florence." She spoke while shaking his hand.

"This is my brother, Reggie." William spoke and pointed at the guy beside him.

"Nice to meet you, Reggie." Florence spoke, smiling at him too, which he returned, they then shook hands like William and Florence had done before.

"Well I better get going." Florence said but was stopped by William.

"Where are you going? If it's okay that I ask." William asked.

"Oh um, no where really, I was just gonna go for a walk, I have nothing better to do." She laughed, William smiled as an idea came into his head.

"Wanna go somewhere with us? We were gonna go drink, but if you don't want to we can do something else." He offered, Florence smiled again, she was finally making friends.

"Yeah, sure, and uh I'm not a big drinker but I'd like to try." And with that they walked off, toward where William and Reggie lived, they just kind of talked about random things, they were gonna steal some alcohol from William and Reggies parents.

When they got to the house, William tripped and almost fell, Florence and Reggie couldn't help but silently laugh, trying their best not to be loud. William cussed at them at least a thousand times for laughing, but it didn't stop them, they kept bringing it up everytime he tried to change the subject.

It was dark outside now and Reggie had fallen asleep, he was very drunk, William offered to walk Florence home, which she appreciated.

As they were walking they noticed a fire in the middle of the road, they walked over there and saw people throwing pictures in the fire and drinking and having fun in general, William got two drinks, for him and one for Florence as they stood there enjoying the fire and their drinks with everyone else.

Florence looked around at the people and caught the eyes of Thomas, who was looking at her with a look of anger, or was it confusion, Florence couldn't tell. Thomas waved her over and Florence turned to William.

"I gotta go, I'll see you some other time, hopefully." She said, he turned from watching the fire to looking at her as she spoke.

"Okay, I'll search all of Birmingham to make sure I see you again if I have to, so you will see me some other time." He said, they both laughed at that, Florence reached over and gave him a hug, which he returned, she then walked over to Thomas who was waiting for her, as they walked Florence looked back to see William already looking at her.

She waved at him with a smile, he did the exact same thing.

Florence turned back around, an even wider smile on her face.

"You're blushing:"

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

We met William!!
And a new character ;)

I can't make up my mind about if this chapter is too short of it it's an alright length, so can you guys please let me know your opinions,  I could really use you guys' opinions for future chapter lengths.

Also what are your opinions on this chapter in general, I actually quite like it.