Chapter Thirty-Five

Maddie couldn't have been happier to be back in London. To be a large distance from Tommy Shelby. Seeing Polly had been amazing, it was as if they had never been apart and Maddie was thankful that Daniel had arranged the whole trip, but she had no desire to return north. Ever. Tommy was like poison, contaminating everything he touched, and the last thing Maddie wanted was for Daniel to get caught up with Tommy. Especially with Daniel being on such limited time, Maddie didn't want to waste a second of it on Tommy.

So with that in mind she had been shoving the mide Shelby to the darkest crevice of her mind and focusing solely on the lovely life she had built with Daniel. That was until she had to go back to work, and Tommy's parting words seeped back into Maddie's mind. "Send my regards t' Alfie. Tell 'im I look forwards t' seein' im."

Last time Maddie had checked Alfie disliked Tommy even more than she did, so it made no sense that he would be going out of his way to see him. Yes, Alfie was a business man through and through but he had proven with his past actions that he had no interest in a business partnership with Thomas, and on top of that Maddie liked to believe that Alfie would have mentioned something.

"Just the man I wanted to see." Maddie announced when Alfie stomped into their office in the late afternoon. There was another large order to fill and ship, so Maddie hadn't seen him at all since arriving at the bakery, but she had bided her time knowing eventually he would seek her out to check up on her.

"What have I done to deserve such a welcome from such a beauiful woman?" Asked Alfie as he dropped heavily into his chair, before lighting himself a cigar. "I take it that your little holiday went well then?"

With cold eyes Maddie watched the large man across from her with an unwavering gaze. Alfie had always drilled it into her that their relationship was one of mutual respect, yet there he was stil chosing not to mention a thing about a certain visit with Thomas Shelby. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not a fuckin' thing. Was fuckin' quiet in here without your massive mouth runnin' at a hundred miles an hour."

Despite her inner annoyance at Alfie, Maddie couldn't help but smile at his words. It may have only been a few days but she had truly missed the formidable man, and she was happy to be back in his company. Shoving the warmth she felt aside, Maddie focused on Alfie's supposed visit to see Tommy making her anger return. "Well," She began. "I had an interestin' conversation with Tommy."

Slowly Alfie's hard eyes raised to meet Maddie's. "Is that so?"

"It is so." Answered Maddie, moving from her own desk over to Alfie's. "Somethin' about you travelling up to see him. Ring any bells?"

Bells were ring loud and clear behind Alfie's cool eyes, that much was clear to Maddie. The way he was fiddling with the thick cigar told her that he was currently trying to figure out why Tommy had told her the information, but Maddie had no time to hear excuses. They were supposed to be friends, have mutual respect, and any secret involving the Shelby's was not appreciated.

"He needs my help-"

"I don't give a fuck if he needs your fuckin' kidney!" Maddie interupted hotly, her fist slamming onto the hard wooden desk top. "You should have fuckin' told me, Alfie! I don't care what business you have with Thomas, I just want you to tell me about it not him!"

Keeping his own temper levelled, Alfie tapped ash from his cigar onto the floor, keeping his gaze fixed on the furious woman infront of him. He had always planned on telling Maddie, but she had gone away with Daniel so the opportunity had never arisen. "Listen to me, right. You yeah, you went off on holiday so I couldn't fuckin' tell you. It was never goin' to be some big fuckin' secret, right."

Maddie's temper began to melt as she absorbed Alfie's reasoning, her features softening and her fist unclunching. But before she could press him on what business he actually had with Tommy, Alfie said something that took her by complete surprise.

"I want you to come with me."

How had Alfie convinced her to go back north? How had she thought it remotely a good idea to be sat in the same room as both Alfie and Tommy? Maddie's mind drifted back to the last time the three of them had been together, when Tommy had made it perfectly clear he had no issue with blowing her up. Yet there she sat on a couch in Tommy's house like it was the most normal thing in the world. Alfie had offered no real explaination about why he had wanted her to take the journey with him. Maddie assumed it was to try and keep things as peaceful as possible between the Shelby's and Alfie, she was certain however that her presense would do anything but keep everyone level headed.

Upon her and Alfie's arrival Maddie had immediately sensed the tension that lingered heavily in the air. It seemed that although Tommy knew that she and Alfie were no more than just friends he still couldn't stand seeing them together.

"If you grip that seat any tighter, you're goin' to go straight through the fuckin' leather." Alfie said in a hushed voice once he had strode to Maddie's side. "We're all friends here, yeah. Isn't that right, Thomas?"

Icy eyes flicked between the two of them and Maddie knew that they were anything but 'friends'. If she had to place bets Maddie was certain the day wouldn't end without someone nearly getting killed. Why the hell was she there? Crossing her left leg over her right for the fifth time since arriving, a nervous habit she had gained when she was a young girl, Maddie pulled herself out of Tommy's cold glare and turned her attention up to Alfie. His face might have been neutral, but Maddie knew he was revelling in the hostility Tommy was projecting at them, and it was making Maddie question whether he had just brought her along to piss Tommy off. The last thing she wanted to be was a mans pawn, she had done that for too many years.

"You boys will never play nicely, so lets not fuckin' pretend you will."

A grin stretched across Alfie's bearded face as he tapped his cane on the floor rhythmically. "Oh mate. She has not forgotten how you wanted to fuckin' blow her up. Or perhaps it is the dead bar maid that still has her sour towards you?"

Taking a dig at Tommy's dead wife was a bold move, one that Maddie didn't think was a good idea at all. She and Alfie were out number by a large degree, more than likely at least four to one, so if he kept pushing Tommy it would likely not end well for the two of them. Apparently Alfie didn't agree with her though, because he kept pushing.

"You think she's up in heaven with her first husband?" Pausing for a moment, Alfie scratched at his beard with his free hand feigning deep thought. "Correct me if I'm wrong, yeah, he killed himself? And that right, that's a fuckin' sin? So maybe your lovely wife is not with her first husband."

A higher force must have been looking down on Maddie and granted her a shred of pity, because before Tommy could even think to rise to Alfie's bait the door had clicked open as Michael walked in and was shortly followed by John. Seeing the boy who had first brought her into the Shelby family made Maddie's heart jump; it had been so long since she had seen John and being brought back into the Shelby family's lives made it obvious just how much Maddie had missed them all. The soft smile that John quickly flashed her way let Maddi know he felt exactly the same.

The last to enter the office was Arthur, who Maddie noted looked a lot calmer than the last time she had seen him, the moment his eyes landed on Alfie though he turned to walk straight back out of the door.

"Arthur!" Alfie exclaimed, his arms raising. "Arthur?"

Not listening to a word Alfie was saying, Arthur disappeared through the door briefly, until Tommy called him back.

"Shalom. Arthur, shalom." Alfie continued once the eldest Shelby had re-entered the office and shut the door behind him.

"Alfie."

"Shalom. Come here. Come. Let's sit down. I owe you something, don't I? I do. Come on." Steering Arthur towards the couch that Maddie was sat on, Alfie gave the brunette a slight nudge so he also could sit down. "Sit down. Come on, sit down here. She don't bite."

Shooting a half hearted scowl at Alfie, Maddie shifted along the couch to make room for the two men and in doing so found herself watching Tommy, the conversation happening beside her forgotten. He looked bored, his head tilted slightly and the pale blue eyes Maddie had once loved to gaze into set firmly on Alfie. The Tommy in front of her was very different to the one she had been faced with at Polly's house; there he had been firey and short tempered, but currently he seemed to be actively trying to keep the peace.

"I hear that you have allowed Jesus to come into your life." Alfie's voice spoke, bring Maddie out of her staring and back to the inpending fight.

"Oh, you 'eard then?"

"Yeah, that's beautiful, that's wonderful. That is lovely, isn't it? That is lovely." Quickly Alfie glanced over to Tommy, before returning his attention to Arthur. "And I was wonderin', how does that work for you on a day to day considering your line of work, mate?"

Much to Maddie's surprise Arthur remained even tempered, calm even, and simply offered out an acceptance of Alfie's apology. The Arthur Maddie knew would have cut open a mans face for daring to speak to him in such away, so it seemed that the woman he was supposedly in love with was a good influence on him.

"Cause I hear you're a right fuckin' nuisance with it."

Any thought that Maddie had been having about Arthur not reacting to Alfie's baiting went swiftly out the window when the eldest Shelby grabbed hold of a crystal ashtray on the table to the side of the couch. Wanting no part of the on coming mania, Maddie rose from her position on the couch and moved to stand across the room from Alfie and Arthur, finding herself at Tommy's side.

Lowering her voice so only Tommy could hear, Maddie pleaded with him. "Don't let him react, Thomas. Please, just send him out the room."

Silence answered Maddie's begging. Tommy hadn't even moved his icy stare away from his brother and Alfie. Suddenly Maddie had the overwhelming urge to snatch the ash tray from Arthur's hand and smash it across Tommy's head. When it had been on his terms, when Maddie had wanted anything but to see Tommy, he had wanted nothing more than to drag conversation out of her. But now it was her striking up talk he wouldn't even look at her. "Any help you want from him is goin' to go up in fuckin' smoke if Arthur does what he's thinkin' about with that ash tray."

"Arthur is a reformed man, Madeline. An' I'm not his keeper." Tommy finally answered, but didn't look Maddie's way.

The ash tray connecting with the table top snapped Maddie away from Tommy, leaving her gaping in shock. Not for a second had she believed that Arthur wouldn't smash the heavy tray across the side of Alfie's head, but he hadn't. He had put it down and not so much as raised a fist in her bosses direction. Jesus had clearly found Arthur.

"If we're gunna do business with this fucker, I demand to know why." Grumbed Arthur.

"Right." Tommy murmered, letting out a sigh as he moved behind his desk to lean on it. "While I was in hospital, I formulated a plan, an' this is how it's gunna work."

A/N/ Sorry for such a wait on an update. Life had been super busy and I've been trying to update all my current stories as quickly as I can. I will be updating again on Thurs/Fri I promise, and I hope this was worth the wait. I know not alot happened but I needed to link it into Season 3 before going any further. Let me know what you thought though.

kmhappybunny240: I promise nothing lol. I'm not going to give anything away but massive things are to come ;)

Lola Vegas: Thank you for the positive feedback :)

Guest: I updated four days after your request so I'm taking that as a win haha. I hope you enjoyed it though :)