enchanted
chapter 28, late night talks.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

"Where the fuck have you been? You were supposed to be here over an hour ago?" John asked Rory when she walked into his office. "And what are you doing here? I thought you went back to school?"

"Got sidetracked sorry won't happen again but you can't have been that worried about me because you didn't send anyone for me or leave anyone to walk me," she replied avoiding eye contact with him to avoid telling him about Lilian while she took her jacket off. "Besides Freya appeared from nowhere so I was safe."

"I was at school then I got bored so here I am," Freya shrugged.

Before another word was said from either of them Polly walked in, carrying a newspaper, which she folded and tossed down on John's desk. He gave the newspaper a side-eye as he sipped his tea. "Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" he asked the woman stood infront of him.

"Danny Lee got drunk," Polly replied. "Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine, he decided to share it with his cousins."

Rory tried her hardest not to laugh while her dad sighed but she just couldn't help it and ended up laughing. "Go get me another tea and get yourself a drink," John instructed and looked up at her arm where the hand print bruise was. "Freya go with."

"She's not a baby. She can handle two drinks," Freya rolled her eyes as she slowly got up.

"Jesus Christ," he sighed when he heard Freya's comment. "Go."

"He's your brother-in-law," Polly pointed out. "Tell Esme to speak to him about it."

Rory and Freya came back with two cups of tea and Rory placed one in front of her dad, who kept a close eye on her bruise that was on her wrist that was shown when her sleeve rode up slightly while Pol spoke, "Look, before I start," Polly sighed, pulling up a chair. "I don't want you to do anything about this."

"About what?" John asked.

"Vincente Changretta's son," Polly replied closing the door. "The one Lizzie was stepping out with?"

"What, Angel?" John asked. "He's no bigger than twopence worth of change."

"Well, he heard you threatened him directly to shoot him in the knees," Polly replied. "And now he's going round Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill you."

"What? Please tell me she's lying dad, I can't lose anyone else" Rory said. "Sometimes with the shit you do, I believe you adopted me because there is no way in hell I inherited your brain thank god."

"This is Lizzie's fault to start with," Polly said. "Tommy's for leaving it up to you."

"Do all of the Shelby brother's lack a brain or is it just you and Tommy?" Rory asked, rolling her eyes and looking to Freya who held the same exasperated look that Rory held.

"What are you talking about?" John asked. "We run London. We run the north. We run the whole fucking country. What do we care about some fucking Nechells Green Eyeties?"

"Aren't the Changretta's the Italian mafia?" Rory questioned and Pol nodded.

"So, you've threatened the mafia and are expecting everything to still be okay? Why can't you leave things alone and grow a fucking brain or at least use the pea sized one you already have?!" Rory exclaimed slamming her hands down on his desk and leaving the room before she punched him.

"She's got a point, John. You're the only one in this family that she thinks the world of if she loses you because of this, she'll fall off the deep end and you're the only one who can bring her back," Pol told him.

"She's right," Freya spoke up. "I can't lose anyone else but Rory has already lost a mum and two uncles, she can't lose her dad as well."

"I'll take his fucking face, how about that?" Rory heard her dad shout before he walked out of the shop.

"Where are you going now?" she shouted.

"To take someone's fucking face," he shouted back, slamming the door.

"See if you can stop him," Pol told her and Rory rushed after him and made her way onto the empty street.

She walked back inside, "He's gone."

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

A family meeting was called and Rory stood by the door waiting for her dad, who walked into the room ignoring his daughter's glare. "Alright, Finn, thanks for coming," Arthur said to his youngest brother . "Fuck off, Ro. Frey go with her."

"Finn, Rory, Freya you can stay," Tommy countered, as he entered the kitchen. "Sit down, John. Sit down," Tommy blew out smoke. "John, you cut Angel Changretta. Even though Arthur told you to apologise. Polly told you to compromise. You chose not to listen to Mr Apologise or Mrs Compromise, and now I've got an Italian walking around my backyard saying he's going to kill my brother. So what do we do, John? Do we apologise or do we compromise?"

During a very long paused there a slap that echoed the room, the slap was Rory hitting John upside the head, "If they kill you I swear on my life I'm going to hate you for the rest of my life. I can't lose you, I refuse to."

"I'm not going anywhere," John told her rubbing the back of his head where she had slapped him.

"It was just something John said as a joke," Arthur said.

"A joke is something people laugh about not something that can get you killed, that's called a suicide mission oh wait, that's what you three have signed up for," Rory replied rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but he's your brother as well, Arthur," Tommy pointed out.

"Yeah," Arthur nodded. "I know I didn't want to start a war over something John said without meaning it."

"So should we apologise in Italian or in English?" Tommy asked. "Or should we ask them which fucking language they prefer. I'm not clear."

Polly put down her knife and placed a hand on Arthur's arm, "You said while this business was going on in London, you wanted peace at home."

"And the only way to guarantee peace is by making the prospect of war seem hopeless," Tommy said. "If you apologise once, you do it again and again and again. Like taking bricks out of the wall of your fucking house. Do you want to bring the house down, Arthur?" Arthur groaned and Tommy's lips parted slightly. "If you're soft on rebellion, it'll grow."

"Bloody 'soft on rebellion'," Arthur sighed, pushing himself up out of his chair.

"You did the right thing, John," Tommy said and Rory looked over at Tommy in disbelief.

"Now, we go on the offensive. We take two of the Changretta pubs and we take them tonight. That's it," he continued.

"Oh, right," Pol exclaimed. "For Christ's sake, why?"

"Eh?" Tommy yelled, turning on Pol as he walked away. "Why? Because we fucking can! Because we fucking can, and if we can, we do. If we lift our heel off their necks now, they'll come at us."

"Remember these are the bastards that wanted Danny Whizzbang." He took a glance at Rory when he mentioned Danny only to see her with her head down. "You're getting soft brother. Soft and weak. Save the bible for Sundays, eh? Finn, I need to get to Hockley, and then home. It's been a long day. You take the Wrexham, you take the Five Bells. You get 'em signed over to us in the morning and you make sure the coppers stay away. Don't use the fucking phones, alright? There's someone listening," Tommy told them before he left.

On his way past Finn put his arm on John's shoulder and then squeezed Rory's.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rory asked before walking away.

"Where are you going?" John asked.

"Away from you before I either kill you, scream at you or both," she replied slamming the door.

On their way back the Shelby duo saw Eve who barely met Rory's eyes when the blonde gave her a small smile and a wave. "Why are you two being weird?" Freya whispered to her niece who had a frown of her face at the interaction she just had.

"We're not being weird," she denied as the brunette and Finn walked past them.

"Robert?" Freya questioned with an eyebrow raised and her arm slung around the younger girl's shoulders and giving the girl a questioning look when she squeezed her arm.

"What?"

"What's wrong with your arm?"

"Walked into the stable," she replied.

"Dusty's stable?"

"No, Cinnamon's." She knew Freya didn't believe her, she wasn't stupid but Freya knew not to push it any further and Rory would tell her in her own time.

"Where are we going now?" Rory asked, diverting the subject away from Robert.

"The field? Lottie said she'd meet us there."

"Eve said she'd meet us there but I don't think that's going to happen anymore," Rory told her with a frown.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

"If you had a kids what would you name them?" Lottie asked, plucking the daisies from the grass to pass them to Rory so she could continue her daisy chain while they watched the sunset, none of them knew how long they'd been there.

"Daisy for a girl," Rory replied without hesitation. "And probably something to do with my dad for a boy. What about you two?"'

"Bonnie," Freya replied.

"Girl or boy?"

"Girl."

"What about for a boy?" Lottie asked. 

"If I had a boy I'd call him Jack. What about you Lots?"

"Victoria for a girl and Leo for a boy," she nodded.

"Victoria's nice where did you get that name from?" Rory asked.

"After my mum," she smiled.

Rory knew Lottie's parents had died, she always knew that her parents dying was the reason she lived with Polly. The blonde had found out from Freya that Lottie's mum died after her husband and she heard from her dad and uncles that Lottie's dad died at the war but the brunette never spoke about them until now.

"That's nice," Rory complemented with a smile.

"Thanks," Lottie smiled, looking back to the brunette that was approaching cautiously. "What about you, Eve? What would you name your future kids?"

Rory turned to the girl who was now sitting beside her and passing her daisies just like Lottie was doing before. "If I had a girl I'd name her Harriet and for a boy I'd have Harry," she told them with a smile.

"They're nice," Rory hummed, taking the daisies from the girl's hand.

"What about middle names?" Freya asked, looking between the girls. "I'd have Bonnie Elizabeth after Pol if I have a girl and if I have a boy and Jack Thomas."

"I'd have Daisy Ada Esme and I don't have a boy's name yet but if his first name isn't anything to do with my dad then his middle name with me," Rory spoke up, holding her arm out for Eve to thread the last daisy to fasten the chain around her wrist. "Lottie?"

"I'd have Victoria Marie and Leo Edward after my dad. What about you Eve?"

"Harriet Anne and Harry Louis," she smiled.

A body sat beside Rory which made her jump slightly until she saw the suit he was wearing. "What do you want?" she asked.

"To speak to you," Isaiah replied.

"I don't wan't to talk to you," she said sternly, turning to face the other way only to see that Eve, Freya and Lottie had disappeared. "Oh great."

"Now you haven't got a choice."

"That's not funny and I do have a choice, I can just..." she turned to see Dusty had gone. "Go nowhere because someone's stolen my horse."

She let out a sigh as she sat back down, "Go on then, I haven't got all day. I've only got a 9pm curfew."

"I'm sorry."

"Is that all?" she asked, attempting to stand up again.

"Will you just wait and hear me out?"

"Why? So you can hurt me again?"

"No so I can explain. Just sit," he sighed watching her eyebrow raise. "Please?"

"Fine," she mumbled.

"I lied," he began, avoiding her eyes. "It did mean something to me and Freya has shouted at me numerous times for hurting her baby sister."

Rory's lips turning into a small smile knowing how much she meant to Freya and although Freya was her aunt she still saw her as her little sister.

"I do like you Rory. More than I let on and I-"

"I can't do this, Isaiah not now. Why do you pick now of all times to tell me you like me?" she asked with a sigh.

"You told me you liked me first!"

"Then I got a boyfriend just like you got a girlfriend so we can't do this. Not now and not like this. You can tell Freya you tried and I walked away and all her to stop meddling," Rory snapped as she walked away from the boy, looking at her watch to see it was past 9pm. "Shit."

By the time she got home it was 9.40, it would have been sooner if someone hadn't have taken Dusty. She slammed the door shut and threw her shoes on the shoe rack as well as flinging her coat on the coat rack. "I know I'm late, how long am I grounded for?" she looked up at her dad who stood in front of her with his arms crossed.

"Four days," he told her, the rule being for every ten minutes late she was it was a day grounding, the later she was the more days that would be added. "Bed, now."

"Whatever," she mumbled, storming up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door making the baby cry.

"Lose the attitude Aurora!" he yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"What did you do?" Katie asked her, turning on her side to look at her.

"It's forty minutes past my curfew."

"Go sort your sister out. You woke her, you fix it," John told her sternly watching as she got up and shoved past him to get to her sister.

"What have you done now?" Esme asked as the girl cradled Flo and laid beside her mum.

"I'm late back," she replied, rubbing Flo's back to calm her.

"So you're grounded for four days?" Esme asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"Lose the attitude. I'm not the one who grounded you and I'm not the one you've been arguing with so are you going to tell me why you're in a mood?"

"Isaiah told me he liked me," she muttered.

"That's good isn't it?"

"It would be if I hadn't have said I had a boyfriend," she mumbled quietly watching her mum sigh.

"Oh Rory why did you do that?"

"Because he lied and he hurt me so I'm going to make him grovel and if he wants me then he'll prove it."

"You sound like Freya," the woman laughed, ruffling her hair.

"Yeah well I am my aunt's niece," she shrugged passing the baby to Esme so she could put her back in her cot.

"Go down and apologise to your dad for your attitude," she held up her hand when Rory opened her mouth to protest. "You go and apologise to your dad and then you go to sleep, okay?"

"Fine," she huffed.

"Goodnight," Esme smiled at the girl teasingly causing the girl to stick her middle finger up at her with a dirty look. "Love you!"

"Fuck off," she smiled in return, closing the door only to open seconds later. "Love you too."

The girl tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as she could, careful to miss the creaky step. "What you looking at?" she questioned the man sitting at the kitchen table, a glass of whiskey beside him and what looked like a picture.

He let out a sigh and ran his hand down his face, pointing to the chair opposite him and sliding the photo across to her, "It belongs to you. Your name's on the back."

She saw the familiar photo that she thought she had hidden but one of her siblings must have found it. "Where did you find this?" she asked, looking up to see the man with two glasses in front of him one with whiskey already it while he poured the other one and slid it across the table to her. "You're letting me drink?"

"Like you haven't been already. I saw the bottle under your bed, the one in your drawer, Katie was finding a comb and the one in the wardrobe," he watched the girl look at the table rather than him. "So are you going to tell me why you've been drinking so much or am I going to lock the cupboard and tell Arthur to start counting the bottles at the Garrison?"

"I'm sorry."

"Is it because of Lilian?"

"No," she denied, still not looking at him.

"Don't lie to me, Roro," he sighed, watching how she looked at the photo.

"She's back," she admitted. "She's been back for a while and I'm sorry I lid to you. I'm really sorry, dad."

"Drink your drink and we'll talk in the morning. I'm not mad at you, I knew she'd come back at some point," he shrugged then downed his drink, Rory mirroring his actions.

"Promise me you'll stop getting involved with mafia's because I don't want to lose you." A tear rolled down her cheek which she wiped away quickly.

"I promise you I am not going anywhere and neither is Esme and if you want you can get to know Lilian," he told her while holding out his pinky. "I promise you I won't be mad."

Rory entwined her pinky with her dad's before he pulled her into a hug, placing a kiss on her forehead. "She drank a lot too, you know. Got that from me, only we were sneakier than you," John told her while she stared at the photo of herself as a baby in her mum's arms. 

"Do I remind you of her?"

"Everyday," he nodded.

"What do you think would have happened if she chose to stay that night. Do you think uncle Tom would have still got you to marry mum?"

John inhaled deeply, thinking about his answer for a few seconds, "That's one of those questions that can't be answered, leave it up to your imagination. She loves you though, Ro. So does Esme and so do I. Even if she never came back or if she doesn't stay now you'll always have a mum and Lilian will always love you. If you want to see her again, you can but make sure either Freya, Lottie or Eve is with you and make sure either Finn or Isaiah know where you are."

Rory looked over at her dad, eyebrow raised, "If I ask you this when you're sober will you have the same answer?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Come on, now. Sleep. Louise will be round in the morning."

"Night," she began walking towards the stairs. "Love you."

"Night, love you too," he smiled, listening out for her bedroom door to close before going to bed himself.