enchanted
chapter 15, garrison re-opening.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

Rory knocked on Eve's door a few times with Isaiah standing next to her. "If she doesn't hurry up I'm leaving you," Isaiah complained with a huff.

"No you're not. You're not allowed to leave me alone," Rory argued earning a shove from the boy.

"Are you two done fighting on my doorstep?" Eve asked as she opened the door with an amused smile.

"Did you ask your mum?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," Eve nodded. "She said I can come with you as long as I stay with you."

"Right now can we go?" Isaiah asked with a sigh.

"Hold you bloody horses," the brunette rolled her eyes. "I still need to ask Louis if I can go. Lou?" Eve yelled.

"What?"

"Can I go out?"

"With who?"

"Rory," she shouted back.

They heard Louis sigh, "Fine but be careful."

"Thanks!" she yelled with a smile as she got her coat and put it on.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

Today was the grand reopening of the Garrison since it got blew up and Tommy paid for the renovations and the pub began its big rebuild. When it was finally completed, the grand reopening was a display. Inside the Garrison as the girls walked in they saw golden decor and plush cushions in the booths instead of the old wooden chairs and tables. Arthur was handing out drinks from behind the bar.

Rory had begged and begged John to let Evelyn come with her to the reopening and with some annoying and some negotiating John agreed so that's how he found himself not only supervising his own child but her friend as well, who almost wasn't allowed to come because her mother, Margret, wasn't too keen on her eleven year old daughter being in a pub even if it was with the Shelby's but John had promised her, Eve could sleepover at their house and he'd personally bring her back in the morning so the woman agreed.

Rory stood next to Lizzie while Evelyn stood in between Rory and Curly getting a drink. Without even asking them what they wanted Arthur pushed two glasses of orange juice in front of them and told them to go get a table and they followed his orders. They had found John, Esme and Finn so they sat with them, Evelyn sat next to Finn and Rory sat next to Esme. Tommy came over when he saw Finn drinking whiskey and took it off him making the girls, Esme and John laugh at the boy's expense. "Keep him off the whiskey, John," Tommy ordered his brother.

Rory jumped out of her seat and rushed over to Ada and Karl leaving everyone at the table confused. "Where the fuck has she rushed off to?" John asked the others at the table who shrugged.

"Ada's here," Freya pointed to her sister.

"Ada!" Rory squealed and hugged her side with Ada's hand coming down and wrapping around her neck.

"Missed me?"

"Yeah, loads," she replied then looked over to where Ada was looking at Polly. "I'll leave you to sort her out and then will you come meet my friend please?" she asked and Ada nodded.

Esme took Karl and Rory back to the table and sat down. When they sat down Karl reached his arms out for Rory so she pulled him on to her lap he cuddled into her acting shy around Evelyn.

"You're not shy, say hi to Eve," Rory laughed and the boy shook his head pushing his head further into Rory.

"I'm going to get another drink, I'll be back in a sec do not move, either of you in fact any of you. All of you stay put," John ordered and walked over to the bar.

"Where would we go where he can't see us?" Rory asked Esme

The woman shook her head, "I haven't got a clue."

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

With Katie, Alice, George, James and Henry being at home with the babysitter, Louise, it meant that John and Esme could get a bit more drunk that would be able to if they were watching them. Rory had told Eve to go home with Finn, Isaiah, Freya, Lottie, John and Esme and that she would be back after saying bye to Ada and the girl nodded and walked back with them.

"Do you need anyone to walk you home?" Ada asked her niece pulling away from the hug.

"No, I'll be fine I can handle myself," she replied.

"You sure?" Ada asked again.

Rory nodded, "I'm sure."

"Right well, I'll see you when I'm back in Birmingham okay?" Ada replied kissing the top of her head. Rory then kissed Karl goodbye and made her way home.

(trigger warning: potentially triggering (assault/ attempted sexual assault and mention of the word rape.) there's no graphic descriptions but it won't last long and the next chapter won't describe anything and just be Rory coming to terms with it if you don't want to read it then skip to half way down the next chapter)

As she was so focused on making her way home, she didn't notice two men had followed her. Two men that weren't peaky blinders. Before she turned a corner, one of the men grabbed her and pulled her into an alley with her mouth covered so she couldn't scream.

Back at John's, Finn and Isaiah were sat downstairs waiting for the girl. "It doesn't take this long to say bye to someone and then walk home, somethings wrong," Isaiah stated standing up to pace the room.

"She can handle herself she'll be fine," Finn told him.

"She's only twelve though, Finn," Freya spoke up, lifting her head off Lottie's shoulder.

"She can handle herself," Finn repeated in a slightly unconvinced tone.

"You know that's just a front and something is wrong," Lottie stated, her tone worried about the girl she thought of as her younger sister. "If you don't go find out where she is, me and Freya will go and then you'll get into even more trouble for leaving her and then letting us go without a blinder."

In the alley, Rory whimpered and silently cried as one of the men pinned her down to get her to stop moving around while the other one held a gun to her head and threatened her, telling her if she screamed he'd shoot her in the head and she didn't want to die so she kept her mouth shut while one of them took her cardigan off, ripping it slightly due to the force he took it off.

"Stop, please," she begged the man. "I haven't done anything."

"This is to get back at Tommy and everyone knows you're the favourite, the one he would do anything to protect but he hasn't protected you very well letting you walk home alone at night not knowing who's lurking in the shadows," a thick London accent spoke in her ear while the other one laughed at Rory crying even more.

Finn was now pacing around with Isaiah knowing something was wrong since she'd been gone nearly an hour so he ran upstairs and woke Evelyn up, "Me and Isaiah are going to find Rory, you're staying here with Freya and Lottie, they're downstairs, lock the door when we leave and let us back in when we knock yeah?" Evelyn groggy nodded but made her way downstairs following after Finn who stopped at the bottom of the steps not seeing Isaiah and Evelyn bumped into him. "Ow! What are you doing? Why have you just stopped?" she asked and peered over his shoulder and didn't see Isaiah. "Well go find him then."

Isaiah on the other hand was running to the Garrison to retrace Rory's steps.

Rory was still struggling to rid the man twice and size and twice her weight. He had her pinned against the floor using his own body weight whilst he attempted to get her clothes off her. If there was one thing she'd learnt from being a Shelby it was how to fight back, she was currently excluded from school once again for fighting. However, she just couldn't do it so she laid there and let him take over as she cried silently.

Isaiah's loud footsteps got louder and louder and Rory prayed whoever it was, was a peaky blinder or her dad.

The man held his hand over her mouth again. "Don't make a noise or he'll shoot you," he warned her and she closed her eyes crying silently.

He stopped at the alley after hearing heavy breathing, gun in his hand he squinted to see someone of the floor, someone else hovering over her and someone else with a gun to whoever was on the floor's head.

As he looked closer without making himself know he saw the figure on the floor was Rory and someone in him snapped and he shoot the person with the gun making Rory scream under the man's hand. The man then grabbed the gun and shot at Isaiah but missed and was shot in the shoulder and pushed to the floor by a shaky Rory. Isaiah ran over to Rory and helped her up.

"Get off me!" she shouted pushing him away.

"Rory it's me, it's Isaiah," he shouted back and pulled her into his chest stroking her head while she sobbed.

"I need to tell Tommy," she said through sobs.

"You can tell him tomorrow," he told her.

"No, he needs to know now," she sniffled standing up. "Please can you come with me?" she begged.

"Yeah, come on," he replied walking to the Garrison.

After seeing a shaken Rory and a concerned Isaiah, Tommy walked over to them, "Why aren't you at home?" he asked her and she sniffled.

"Can we go into the snug or something I don't want everyone else to know."

Tommy stared at her blankly and walked into the snug anyway, "What's up?"

"Two men followed me and took me into an alley and tried to-" she sniffed.

"Who? What men? Our men?" he asked forcefully.

"No, no not ours they had London accents and said it was to get back at you because I'm the one you protect the most," she informed him, tears rolling down her face and Tommy sat down, feeling sick.

Finn burst into the Garrison asking anyone and everyone where Rory and Isaiah was but got no reply.

"Did they-" he asked not finishing his sentence.

"One grabbed me, I'm getting a bruise on my arm from how hard he grabbed me and ripped my cardigan and tried to take my dress off but couldn't get it because I was moving too much so he pinned me down while the other held a gun to my head telling me to be quiet then Isaiah came and shot them," she replied crying again.

"Where was Finn?" he asked.

Rory shrugged, "He wasn't with Isaiah, he might have stayed back at home or come here."

"He wasn't here," he replied standing up, pulling his niece into a tight hug, angry with himself for not seeing this happening at all even though everyone knows Rory is his weak spot.

"Come on, I'll take you home," he said holding her hand. "Can you burn my dress when I get washed and changed please?"

"Yeah."

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

Tommy knocked on John's door waking the adults and the girl's up, Evelyn opened the door and John and Esme walked down the stairs confused as to why Tommy had brought Rory home and why she was all dirty and where her cardigan was. "What's going on?" John asked, holding his arms open for Rory to walk into but she didn't let him touch her.

"I'm dealing with it, John" Tommy replied with a blank look on his face.

"I didn't ask whether you were dealing with it, I asked what the fuck is going on and why the fuck is my daughter dirty, missing her cardigan and crying," he asked again, more forcefully.

Tommy looked between Rory and John and watched as Rory nodded slightly telling him it was okay for him to tell John what happened so that's what he did, "Sabini's men attacked her." Esme put her hand over her mouth and looked at Rory, who looked as though she was going to cry again.

"What do you mean by attacked her?" he asked but with a shakier voice not wanted what he was thinking to be true.

Tommy didn't reply so John looked down at Rory and said. "You have to tell me what happened otherwise I can't fix it," he told her putting his hands on her shoulders which she pushed off. "Don't touch me please."

"Rory, sweetheart, tell us what happened none of us will touch you we just need to know what happened" Esme said kneeling down in front of her.

Rory took a deep breath in and then spoke. "Two men followed me and took me into an alley and tried to-" and closed her eyes.

"Take your time," Esme told her with an encouraging smile.

"One grabbed me, it left a bruise on my arm from how hard he grabbed me and ripped my cardigan and tried to take my dress off but couldn't get it because I was moving too much so he pinned me down while the other held a gun to my head telling me to be quiet then Isaiah came and shot them," she finished with tears rolling down her cheeks.

John stood up rage taking over, "Where was Finn? Why didn't he stay with you and walk you home?"

"Because I told him I'd be fine and for him, Isaiah and Eve to help you two home because you could hardly stand up let alone walk," she replied in a whisper.

"Where was Freya and Lottie?"

"They were also here," Rory shrugged.

He then turned to Tommy, "Fucking fix it or else I'll kill you because no doubt this is all because of you. My daughter nearly got raped because of you. She's twelve and you were supposed to have blinders supervising her at all times except from when she's in the house," he shouted.

"John, calm-" Esme tried to tell him but was shot down.

"Don't," he shook his head. "Don't tell me to calm down."

"Where are you going?" she shouted as he was storming out of the house.

"To find Finn," he shouted back and Tommy followed him.

"Can I get changed? I need to get out of this dress. Can I burn it?" she asked and Esme nodded.

"Yeah come on."

"Eve, go back to bed. She'll be in soon okay?" Esme told the girl who nodded.

"Is she going to be okay?"

Esme smiled, "Not at first but she will be, don't worry about her. Go back to sleep and I'll have her and John walk you home and get Tommy to have a blinder follow you as well I don't want this to happen to you okay?"

"Thank you," Evelyn smiled her and went to sleep in Rory's room.

Eve sat with Freya on Rory's bed while Lottie sat on Katie's with Katie. "Why didn't we go sooner?" Freya asked out loud.

"It still would have happened if we went sooner or when we did," Lottie spoke.

"But if we went then it might have happened to me and not her. It might have happened to someone else and not her, she's too young for this life, Lots and so are we. My brothers have tried so hard to keep us out of it but we just seem to be right in the middle of everything that goes bad," Freya sighed while Eve squeezed her hand. "This is never going to leave her is it? Our last name is going to haunt her forever and she just won't be able to get away."

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

As she sat in the bath, knees held up to her chest with her chin resting on them, Rory felt ill, she still felt his hand over mouth and his other hand dragging itself round to attempt to get her dress off. Words couldn't describe how much she hated herself. She hated herself because she froze, because she didn't even attempt to fight back just laid there and let him do it. She felt disgusting.

Esme washed her hair being gentle as if she was a baby, not wanting to hurt nor startle her.

"Mum?" Rory whispered.

Esme hummed, "Yeah?"

"Can I sleep in your bed with you, I don't want to be alone," she whispered again and Esme, nodded before realising she couldn't see her nodding, "Yeah sure."

Once she was dry and dressed again, Esme threw her dress into the back-garden from the window claiming to burn it in the morning, they were cuddled in bed while Esme didn't go to sleep until she knew Rory was asleep. Just as she fell asleep, the door closed and footsteps walked up the stairs and the bedroom door opened revealing John.

"Is she asleep?" he asked Esme who nodded.

"Just nodded off so be quiet please." John didn't reply instead he laid in bed next to sleeping daughter.

"She's too innocent and pure for this world and she doesn't deserve any of the fucked up shit that comes with having the Shelby name, " he said out-loud.

Esme nodded, "None of you do."

"Me, Arthur, Tommy and Pol can handle it, Rory, Finn and the rest of the kids can't no matter how much she pretends," he told her looking at Rory.

John left the room again and went to Rory and Katie's room. "Are you lot okay?"

"If we had have gone sooner, it might have happened to me and I'm sorry I didn't get Finn to stay with her and I'm sorry I didn't go when I knew something wasn't right," Freya muttered quietly and sadly, not daring to look at John because she was scared she had disappointed him by not protecting Rory enough.

"It's not your fault, Frey," John told his sister. "If anything it's mine for leaving her and not making sure she had someone with her to walk back."

"Stop blaming yourselves and just be there for her because I don't know how bad this is going to affect her but I do know that she'll need you lot," Esme's voice filled the silence that had fallen between the four of them. "You're no use to her if you keep blaming yourselves."