Chapter 2

"Good morning," Tommy calls softly as he enters the kitchen early the next morning. He had expected to be alone when he had decided to leave his bed that morning, not thinking any other family members would be awake at the early hour. He was shocked to find his youngest sister at the table, a piece of bread slathered in jam in one hand, crayon in the other. She looks up, eyes wide in surprise, giving her brother a small smile and a wave with the hand that held her crayon. "Where's Aunt Pol?" Flora, mouth still full of bread, points to the stairs, indicating that their Aunt was in bed still. Tommy raises his eyebrows, slowly moving to sit beside his sister. "What are you doing?" Flora nudges her picture towards him, Tommy picking up the piece of paper to inspect it closely.

"That's you, and that's Aunt Pol, and that's Arthur, and John, and Ada, and Finn, and me." Flora explains, now moving to push the plate of bread and jar of jam towards her older brother. "Do you want some too?" Tommy places the piece of paper back down in front of Flora, helping himself to a slice of bread and jam.

"Did you cut this yourself?" He asks, pushing the plate into the middle of the table where they could both reach it as Flora shakes her head.

"Aunt Pol does it for me." She explains, taking another piece for herself. "She does it before she goes to bed so that it's ready for me in the morning. And a glass of milk." Flora continues, picking up her crayon again. This had become a routine for the youngest Shelby, her Aunt quickly realising that no matter the begging from herself and Ada, Flora just was not able to stay in bed longer than she felt necessary, often waking her Aunt (and sister too in the process) as soon as the sun was up in the mornings. Polly had soon devised a plan that had allowed herself and Ada to sleep in, and Flora to be able to get herself some food, and entertain herself for a while until Finn was up. Despite this, Polly's body clock still woke her up at the same time every morning, the older woman listening out for the tell tale sound of tiny feet padding down the stairs and the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor as Flora settles herself in the kitchen. Although she could get up at the same time as her niece (and would have no problem doing so), she could tell that the youngest Shelby child enjoyed having a little bit of independence and alone time before the day began. "Do you want to draw with me?" Flora asks this time, holding out her box of crayons to her older brother. Tommy reaches across the table, grabbing the cloth laid there to wipe the sticky jam off of Flora's fingers, before accepting the box of crayons and choosing a colour.

"What shall I draw?" He asks, keeping his voice quiet as he had noted Flora had done, clearly aware that she needed to keep her voice down in order to make sure she didn't wake anyone else.

"Anything!" Comes her reply as she pushes herself on to her knees, eyes twinkling with excitement at the thought of her brother joining her in her early morning routine. "Let's draw..." she pauses for thought, tapping her index finger to her chin causing Tommy to smile. "Ooh! A pond! No, the sea! Oh, or a boat! A boat, in the sea! Fishies!"

"Fish?" Tommy clarifies with a laugh, Flora nodding enthusiastically. The pair sit in silence, Tommy drawing fish for Flora as she alternates between shovelling bread into her mouth and colouring in the fish. The young Shelby pushes away the empty plate as Tommy finishes off the last slice, once again wiping his sister's fingers and mouth clean.

"This fishy, her name is Cora, and she swims and swims and swims with her best friend Bob." Flora says, pointing to two of the fish, Tommy watching on in amusement as his sister points in turn to each fish on the page, telling him a story about each one. Tommy's head turns at the sound of a floorboard creaking behind him, turning in his chair to find Polly stood in the doorway, dressed for the day, watching the interaction between the pair. "Aunt Polly!" Flora exclaims, jumping down from her chair to throw herself into her Aunt's arms, Tommy's heart stopping at this sight of his baby sister jumping from such a height (compared to her tiny body) to hurtle across the room. Polly raises her eyebrows at Tommy's somewhat panicked expression as her youngest niece showers her face with kisses. "Me and Tommy have been drawing Fishies, and I coloured them, and we had bread and jam together, but I'd already drinked my milk so Tommy couldn't have that, can we get him some milk? I can get him a mug!" Tommy's eyes widen at the speed his little sister had been talking to their Aunt, the older woman completely unphased. The older Shelby had not heard so many words out of his sister, she had hardly spoken at all since the boys had returned, apart from their conversation that morning, her nerves at seeing her brothers for the first time in years, somewhat taking over. Flora wiggles in her Aunt's arms, silently begging to be let down to get her brother his own mug for milk.

"She's quite the little character, eh?" Polly asks as she moves to fill the kettle, her eyes glued to Flora on the other side of the room, carefully climbing on to a short stool to get a mug from the cupboard.

"She is." Tommy agrees, perched on the edge of his seat, ready to pounce at the slightest wobble from his sister on the stool. "Is she always like this?"

Polly nods, leaning against the counter as she watches Tommy intently watching Flora. "Always. Sometimes even more so. She talks about a million miles an hour, moves just as quickly. We have to remind her to slow down sometimes, she just gets so excited." She replies with a smile on her face. "Your Uncle Charlie's been a big help," she comments. "He's good with her, great even. Knows exactly how to deal with her. Says your mum was exactly the same as Flo when she was her age."

"Huh," Tommy responds, nodding his head. "I can see that, mum always had energy, can't say I'm surprised that she managed to pass it on to Flora." He smiles down at Flora as she places a mug in front of him, Polly stepping up behind them to pour Tommy a mug of milk.

"I'll help!" Flora exclaims, scrabbling up on to the chair and placing her hand over Polly's to 'help' her pour the milk into the mug. "For you." She states once the mug was full, pushing it towards Tommy who accepts it, thanking her as he lifts the mug, Flora's eyes latched on his face.

"Lovely, thank you Flora." He says, realising she was waiting for his response. She smiles up at him, plopping back into her chair with a satisfied sigh and gathering her art materials together.

"I'll go wake Finn." Flora states, hopping down from the chair once again and taking off out of the room. Tommy watches her go, listening to her footsteps on the stairs, raising his eyebrows at Polly as he hears Finn's shout of protest.

"There's no stopping her." Polly says, shaking her head as the youngest siblings begin arguing, their shouts soon joined with Ada's shout for them to 'shut up'. "I should get her." Polly's admits, beginning to head towards the door.

"I'll go." Tommy offers, pushing himself up to follow his sibling's shouts up the stairs. "Come here you." He says, lifting his youngest sister off of his youngest brother, Flora squealing and squirming in his arms as he carries her back down the stairs to the kitchen where Polly meets him at the door, taking the squirming young girl into her arms, sitting her on the counter.

"Now. You know you're not supposed to wake your brother up," Polly chides, Flora scowling as she huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. "How about you help me with breakfast?" Flora glances over at Tommy who had sat back at the table, raising his eyebrows at his sister who pouts back at him, turning to reluctantly nod at her Aunt.

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"Where's Tommy?" Flora asks as Ada tucks her into bed that evening, her older sister sinking down on to the bed beside her, running her hand over Flora's head.

"He's out with John and Arthur," Ada explains, tucking the bed sheets around Flora, rising from the bed. Flora bolts up, reaching her hands out to Ada. "He's coming back!" Ada reassures her, quickly catching on to her sister's terror at their brothers leaving again. Flora pushes back the covers, arms still outstretched to Ada who sighs, taking her sister into her arms. "Tommy will be home soon." She says softly. "Let's lie down and wait for him, ok?" Ada places Flora gently back down on to the bed, sliding in beside her, keeping her tucked in her arms.

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When Tommy arrives home hours later, Ada was still laid in Flora's bed, neither sister having fallen asleep, Ada being kept awake by Flora's wiggles and sniffles of fear, trying to comfort the young girl who was fighting sleep until their older brother returns home. The second Ada hears the front door open, she jumps out of bed, Flora yelping in protest, quickly following Ada out of the room, pausing at the top of the stairs to watch her sister and brother talk.

"She's not slept at all." Ada whispers to Tommy, glancing back at Flora, Tommy following her eyes to look up at his sister who had sat down on the top step, her eyes fixed on him. "I think she thought you weren't coming back."

"I've got her," Tommy replies, laying his hand on Ada's shoulder. "Go to bed." Ada nods, heading back up the stairs, brushing her hand over Flora's head as she passes, the youngest Shelby quickly being swept up into Tommy's arms as he reaches her. He remains silent as they move into Flora's bedroom, Flora holding tightly to Tommy, silently refusing to be put down as he begins to rock her in his arms.

"Do you have to go away again?" Flora asks, sniffing back tears as Tommy stills, his hand resting on Flora's back.

"No." He replies gently, his hand moving to cup the back of her head. "I'm not going anywhere." He promises, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "Neither are John or Arthur. We're staying here. With you, and Ada and Finn." Flora's grip on Tommy tightens, burrowing her head into his shoulder.

"I don't want you to go." She whimpers, Tommy moving to lay down on the bed with Flora still in his arms.

"I'm staying right here." He reassures her, tucking the covers around her, keeping her tiny body pressed against his chest as she drifts off to sleep in his arms.

AN: Thank you for the reviews and follows! This was just a sweet Tommy and Flora chapter to get the story started, hope you all enjoyed!