What if Tommy and Grace knew each other before the war, how would their lives be different? This is my story on what would have changed in their lives.

Disclaimer: I don't own Peaky Blinders!

Tommy and Grace began dating only weeks after Grace spent the night of the mud fight at the Shelby house. At 18, Grace's uncle told her that he wanted to move to London, she had begged him to let her stay in Birmingham and after days of the begging he did finally relent and he left her the house, number 7 Watery Lane, opposite the Shelby house. Tommy moved in a month later at Grace's request. It was the December of 1914 that Tommy had proposed, the Great War was being fought and Tommy wanted to make sure that he and Grace would be together properly. She had said yes.

Grace had known this family for so long now but this was just so unusual even for them, she thought she knew Tommy, her fiancée, but it seemed as though she was back to square one and just the girl from across the road. How could Tommy volunteer to go to war with Grace being pregnant? It was a late night in their house in 1915 Birmingham and Tommy was worried about going to war, what would happen to Grace and the baby if he never came home? Who would look out for Polly, Grace, Ada and Finn while he, Arthur and John were away fighting?

"Promise me one thing Thomas, just one thing," Grace asked him in the softest voice she could muster through her silent weeping. Tommy had his eyes fixed on her as he whispered: "I will be home before the baby is too old, that much I hope to be able to promise you." The next thing Tommy knew was the two arms wrapping themselves tightly around his neck. Her tears were no longer silent and she was almost praying to make sure Tommy would be safe so far away.

The following morning saw Polly, Grace, Ada and Finn at the train station waving to the train as it pulled away with Arthur, John and Tommy all on board with many of the other boys from Small Heath. Leaving the station Grace began to cry silently, her lower lip trembling as her tears spilled from her eyes, Polly wrapped an arm around Grace and another around Ada, Finn was still slightly too young to fully understand why the three women were so upset.

6 MONTHS LATER

Grace held her newborn baby girl to her chest, they were at Grace's house as another letter had come from Tommy, and these were the only things that kept Grace going whilst Tommy was away. She was only just reading this one:

My Dearest Grace
It appears that this war is not going to end as soon as either of us hoped,
things are difficult out here, we have seen men die, killed some of them too,
Polly wrote that you had a daughter, I liked the name she said you picked.
Eleanor Elizabeth Shelby, are you sure you want her last name to be Shelby?
Give her all my love but I am afraid that I cannot stay writing for long,
the battle is still going on above me. All of us Shelby boys are still here, though.
Please tell Polly and Ada this much but remember one thing,
I love you Grace and tell our little girl that I love her too.

Yours with all my soul,
Tommy

Grace just wanted to cry as she read the letter and very soon the tears began to fall but then Grace felt a small hand reach up and wipe away the tears that had begun to fall over Grace's cheeks.

About ten minutes had passed with an undisturbed silence passing between the two when there was a gentle knock at the door.
"Grace, I have more food for you." Eleanor took that as her opportunity to start crying,
"Babies don't work off of a schedule, love, you need to come out and see the sun. Ellie, Eleanor sorry, needs to come outside soon Grace and so do you." Polly often found herself correcting what she called the baby, Grace was determined that her daughter would be called Eleanor as it was her full name,
"look, I know that it is getting late but please let me in, I can help you with Eleanor for a bit. Please, I just want to help you, Grace." Once Eleanor was asleep Grace stood by the window watching the rain fall, she missed the man she loved, people had started talking, saying that Eleanor was another man's child and she just said it was Tommy's to get the protection of the Shelby's.

As Grace looked on out the window the tears silently slid down her cheeks again, she had cried an awful lot since Tommy had left, but the latest letter broke her heart further as he had now confirmed that he wouldn't be home as soon as he had hoped, meaning he might have to break his promise and Thomas Shelby never broke his word. Polly came over to the window next to Grace, she had seen the young woman at her best and at her worst.

3 YEARS ON

6 weeks ago a telegram came telling them that the boys would be home from the war in a few weeks, they were trying to prepare everything for them, Grace was trying to make sure that everything would be perfect for when Tommy got back. Eleanor had developed a habit of wandering off as she was now able to walk and so would often try and get down the stairs on her own. Grace, however, didn't like this as the last time her daughter had tried to get down the stairs she fell and hit her head, so whilst sorting out the house she had to keep an eye on Eleanor so that she didn't wander off too far. The little girl seemed to know all too well that something good was happening as she was almost always laughing, which in turn made Ada, Finn, Polly and Grace all laugh as well. None of them could understand how such a sweet and happy little girl came for the pain of the last three years.

Tommy and the others were coming home that day, Eleanor was now 3 years old and seemed to be able to find every way to wind her mother up. Grace just hoped that Tommy would be able to help the little girl find order in her heart. Grace had been out on a walk with Eleanor when they saw the family across the road murdered for being communists Eleanor had seen it clearly but Grace hadn't seen it all so Eleanor was worse affected by it. Grace shook the memory from her mind as they saw the train pull up. Ada, Finn, and Polly were with her to greet their family home, all of them were buzzing with excitement as the train was heard in the distance. Grace had her daughter in her arms to stop the little girl wandering off, which she had a tendency to do lately. The train stopped quickly and the doors opened to let off the soldiers who were more than ready to be back in Birmingham.

The three Shelby brothers were quickly spotted by the rest of the family and the brothers must've seen them as soon the three boys were running towards their family, Tommy possibly faster than the other two but that was only to be expected. As John and Arthur got to the group, Tommy was already holding his daughter in his arms. The two other brothers saw the little girl look up at Tommy with questioning eyes but she seemed to know who he was.
"Hey Ellie," Tommy whispered to the little girl in his arms, Polly had to suppress a laugh as Grace tried to avoid scowling Tommy, the other brothers took this moment as a chance to greet their family, they both hugged Polly and Ada and went to hug Finn but he ran behind Polly. Tommy, still holding his daughter, pulled Grace close to him and then kissed her, this left the rest of the family smiling at them before Polly spoke up to the whole family,
"Why don't we get going so we can chat about everything," she carefully looked around her before quickly adding,
"In private." The family swiftly left the train station to go back home where they could actually talk about what had been going on. As the family arrived back at the house Tommy was still holding onto his daughter. They slowly walked inside the house and all ended up in the kitchen when Polly asked the brothers what had happened out there in France, they slowly began to explain,

"We were Clay Kickers, Pol. We would dig the tunnels under the other trenches, place a bomb, detonate it and hope that we were still alive. We couldn't write often we were always down in the tunnels, we did try to write but we couldn't speak about the war in the letters." Arthur said quite solemnly. Polly looked at the three men who were sat at the table, then to the two women at the table, Eleanor was mumbling away to herself and she was holding on to Tommy's coat with quite a lot of strength in her grasp. Polly then began to explain what her, Ada, Grace, and Finn had been doing while they were away.

Polly looked at the three men who were sat at the table, then to the two women at the table, Eleanor was mumbling away to herself and she was holding on to Tommy's coat with quite a lot of strength in her grasp. Polly then began to explain what her, Ada, Grace, and Finn had been doing while they were away.

"We weren't allowed to work in the factories as I was the carer of Finn and Ada was also his career and Grace had Eleanor to look after, things changed very quickly once you boys had left, people didn't like us that much because we weren't helping with the war effort, people gave us looks of disgust but after Eleanor was born, saying that she was another man's child but Grace said she was Tommy's so we would protect her, Grace shut herself away after that, I would take her and Eleanor food packages to make sure that they were okay but most of the time Grace didn't talk back to me. We were all trying to cope with the men of Birmingham way, us women were trying to carry on as though everything was the same, everyone took a different reaction to you all being away."

Later that night Tommy was trying to get his daughter to go to sleep but she seemed interested in knowing more about him and what he did so he was talking to her about what he did in the war,

"I would dig tunnels under the ground until I reached the other trenches or a different group of tunnelers, they were normally the bad people who we would get to, it meant that we had to hurt people. You and your mum were like my guardian angels, you both were the people that stopped me doing anything stupid. When I left I made a promise to your mum telling her that I would be home to watch you grow up and I figure that I did keep that promise, what about you, eh? Do you think I did?"

Grace was stood in her daughter's doorway listening to Tommy talk to their little girl before she fell asleep. As Tommy turned around he saw Grace stood there watching him with a smile on her face, one that he had longed to see for nearly four years. He took her hands in his before leading her to their room where they spent two hours making love before Eleanor awoke crying,

"I'll go, you stay here," Tommy whispered to Grace before going into his daughter's room, he saw the little girl stood crying with her arms open for him to pick her up which he swiftly did, taking her into his arms he quickly began to soothe the child from her nightmare, he began to talk to her very softly,

"I have nightmares too. I hear the shovels against the walls of the bedroom and pray, well hope rather than pray, that the sun will come up before the shovels reach me. When I'm with your mum, I don't hear the shovels." He looked at the child that had begun to fall asleep in his arms before he lay her back down in her bed,
"goodnight Angel."

The next morning Eleanor had found her way into Tommy and Grace's room and was sat on Tommy's chest whilst he was awake mumbling happily to herself, Grace woke up as she heard Tommy talking to Eleanor as she messed with her ladybird toy- Bug. The three slowly got dressed and ready for going to see the rest of their family. Grace seemed to like Tommy calling their daughter Ellie but hated anyone else calling her that. They arrived at the main Shelby Brothers Limited office and Tommy left Ellie playing in the kitchen under the watchful eye of John as the women all went out for the weekend but Grace had left Eleanor in the care of Tommy, John and Arthur which Aunt Polly was calling a huge mistake. John had two children so volunteered to keep an eye on Eleanor whilst his brothers did some work.

This is my first fanfiction in a long time so constructive criticism only please nothing that is just plain rude but please give me advice as to how to improve if you can see areas. I know the 3-year gap isn't ideal but I will try to make sure other chapters don't have them. The next chapter will have 1919 as the year (series 1) so Ellie will be four, I will have changed some ideas from the show to my preference, like the order of events and there will still be a barmaid who is a spy but it won't be Grace.

Remember reviews are always welcome so please review. :D