Chapter Ten

Thomas was off and out the stable doors before Claire could string two words together. She blew air out of her mouth as she looked through the now empty doorway longingly.

"You've got to treat him like a horse, Claire," Curly said wisely. "He spooks easy." Claire hadn't heard anything more true in her life. Even at 19, getting Thomas to talk about his feelings in any capacity was like pulling teeth. She had worked on him bit by bit and he had slowly started to open up to her. But she could tell he was locked up tighter than ever. Any semblance of her Thomas seemed to be long gone. The thought made her sad.

After brushing down Albatross and giving him a sugar cube or two, she made her way back to the bar to try and do a quick clean up before Harry came in for the evening. As she was stacking glasses and wiping down tabletops, she decided she was going to be completely ignorant to Tommy's existence unless he opted to speak to her first. She needed to focus on getting her family settled and making sure Margaret didn't push herself too much towards the end of her pregnancy.

Yes, she settled. She would worry about herself and her family instead of hurting herself further by becoming infatuated with Mr. Thomas Shelby once again.

x x x

After Tommy left the stables, he decided to go in search for the O'Casey men to see if they were interested in becoming a member of the Peaky Blinders. Aiden and Keagan were both great for added muscle and the twins were smarter than they looked. Then there were the two youngest who were at great ages to be molded into whatever he needed. Tommy stopped for a moment.

He would catch himself still thinking in military concepts since he had to think of men as pawns instead of actual people with lives and families during the war. Life was one big game of chess in his mind even before the war, but he hadn't been able to think of people as objects so easily before. Claire could never love a man like that, he thought to himself trying to keep his mind from wandering to the impossible. The way she looked at him in the stables and using her old term of endearment for him had left his head a little foggy. He needed to remember there was no room in his life now for any woman, let alone the one that might be capable of making him vulnerable. Make him soft.

He knocked on the door to the house twice and put his hand in his pocket for his cigarettes while he waited. The door opened and he was staring at a pair of very well worn work boots. With his head bowed he lit the end of the smoke and said, "I'm here to talk business."

Wordlessly, Aiden let him in. He had been waiting for this and, to be honest, he was a bit nervous. He had an inkling what Tommy and the boys had been up to all these years from Polly's letters. He just wasn't sure if he wanted to be a part of it. He had left this place in trouble and he didn't want to start off in trouble as soon as he was able to come back. Then again, he had a lot of mouths to feed and another one on the way. Aiden had ambition very much like Tommy and didn't want to be standing with his mouth open his whole life.

Tommy placed his hat on the stand and suffered from a moment of nostalgia as he remembered how many times he had done that in the past. He walked into the kitchen hoping to shake the feeling. Aiden followed behind him. "Alright, Tom, I know why you're here so let go round up the boys."

Tommy nodded his head, pleased to see that he was at least taking it seriously. He wasn't sure whether Aiden would be thrilled about the idea and he knew that without Aiden's blessing none of the boys would join. The O'Casey's were very much of a "if not all then none" kind of family. Which was admirable and would be a great asset to the group, but he would very much like it if it was in his favor this time.

Once they were all gathered in the kitchen Tommy squared his shoulders like he was ready to debrief his soldiers. "I'm here on business fellows and I'm here to talk about you joining me and my family venture. I'm not sure if you know what we do really, but I know you all would be a great asset to the business."

For the next few hours Tommy gave his speech and answered questions. He thought he was making great headway and thought for sure this would end in them agreeing to join when the front door opened. Tommy say a swirl of green skirt pop around the corner of the wall as she hung up her coat and knew it was Claire back form the pub. He quickly silenced what he had been saying. He knew for a damn fact Claire wouldn't approve of any of this.

She started into the kitchen before she skidded to a stop at the sight of so many bodies in the small space. Her eyes met Tommy's and they widened. She knew exactly what this was about, he could tell, and she was anything but enthused. Her eyes flitted to Aiden and she opened her mouth to start saying something when Aiden cut her off. "Claire, please go upstairs."

She looked taken aback. Now Tommy knew he had Aiden in hook, line and sinker. He would be signing up six new members before this evening was over.

"Excuse me?" she asked stunned. Aiden kept the hard look on his face. "Not now, Claire. Please. Go upstairs."

Claire slowly turned back around and went down the hallway to the staircase. Tommy was impressed with Aiden's conviction. He hadn't been sure if this meeting would go as well if he was going to let her sway his decision. He had a soft spot for his only sister. He had always protected her from getting in trouble when she was a child.

Tommy focused back on the meeting at hand and continued.

x x x

Claire couldn't believe the tactics she was stooping to, but she had been left no choice. She was currently kneeling on the floor with her ear pressed against the vent that had the hallway next to the kitchen directly on the other side trying to hear her brother's and Thomas's conversation. It wasn't going so well as all she heard was mumbling and a few words here or there that she could make out. She couldn't believe Aiden had dismissed her the way he did. Some dust floated up from the vent and made her sneeze which she realized has echoed down into the hallway. She covered her mouth hoping nobody had heard and figured out what she was up to.

x x x

Tommy heard a muffled sneeze out in the hallway and peeked around the corner for a moment wondering if Claire had tried to hide to continue listening in. He looked around and didn't see anything until he looked up and realized there was a vent there. He narrowed his eyes. He turned back to the boys and finished up there meeting by telling them to come to The Garrison tonight if they decided to join the Blinder's. Then he headed towards the stairs to investigate.

He climbed the stairs quietly, not wanting to alert his little snoop before he could catch her in the act. As Tommy made it to the top of the stairs, he had another hit of pesky nostalgia. He turned towards Claire's old bedroom door and carefully eased it open.

His eyes almost instantly fell to the bed and he quickly looked away. Those memories were something he wished to continue to avoid. His gaze continued to travel until he saw what he expected which was Claire kneeling down on the floor with her ear pressed to the vent, her face turned the other way so she hadn't seen him enter. She sat back and cursed something unladylike under her breath.

"Problem?" Tommy asked. Claire jumped about a foot in the air. She stood up and smoothed her skirts nervously, not willing to meet his stare. Her gaze fell to the bed which then made her blush and she quickly looked away. The look on her face made his heart twitch in a reluctant response. "You are in no danger from me, Elsie." Tommy whispered using his old childhood nickname for her. It was an abbreviation of the letters LC which stood for 'Lovely Claire'. Her head snapped up to stare at him fully now. She was as surprised as him at the endearment being used. Tommy cleared his throat and turned away from her.

It was clear that he was going to have to stay as far away from Claire as possible. At least until he got his head back on straight.

...

I know this is kind of a filler chapter, but I need to make a timeline that makes sense for a slowly progressive relationship between Claire and Thomas. Please review!