Chapter 80

"Stop your squirming."

"You're pulling it tight!"

"It needs to be tight then it loosens off, if it's loose to start with it'll fall out before we get to town."

Katie grumbled and glared up - not that Rosie noticed, preoccupied as she was with brushing strands of Katie's hair up off her face and into the first of two braids.

"You should learn it's not a good idea to grumble at a woman with a hairbrush in her hand Katie girl," John laughed, biting into his toast.

"She can't whack me and do my hair at the same time."

"Want a bet?" Polly asked, coming into the cramped little kitchen and raising an eyebrow at Katie, "You hold the hair with one hand and whack with the other, it's quite easy. You want a demonstration?"

Katie shook her head, still glowering.

Rosie rolled her eyes heavenward at the movement, "Hold still or I'll give up with doing your hair!"

Katie looked like she might be regretting asking Rosie to do it in the first place – her forehead was so creased and wrinkly it could have practically passed for a pensioner's if it was looked at in isolation.

"Should just cut it all off, shouldn't we Katie?" John grinned, "Much simpler. Make you into the spit of your Dad and Uncles."

She wrinkled her nose at that, "I'm not a boy."

"Could have fooled me," Polly muttered darkly.

"Lily doesn't give her sister all this trouble when she gets her hair done, do you bab?" Tommy said, squeezing the child's waist as she sat on his lap, dipping her toast into her egg , her own hair already securely braided and, subsequently, much neater than her face and nightdress which were both covered with crumbs.

"Her hair's easier though," Katie moaned.

Polly snorted, "Speaking of trouble – I hope you two realise how lucky you are it was that soft Thomas who dealt with the pair of you," her eyes flashed between the two of them, "If it had been me there would be no sitting going on this morning – for breakfasts or hair dos!"

Lily squirmed on his lap and he tightened his hold on her, squeezing her in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"They've learned their lesson," he said, "Haven't you?"

He could feel Lily tense in his hold and even Katie looked subdued at the mention of the incident as they both nodded.

"Katie! Keep your head still!"

"He asked a question!" she replied, her subdued-ness instantly disappearing, indignance springing readily up in its place.

"Answer it with your mouth not your head!"

"What's the big occasion anyway? Since when do you want your hair done?" John asked, cutting Katie off from retorting.

"We're going into town," Rosie replied for his niece, "Got some shopping to do, then I've said I'll take these two for lunch. Might take them to the pictures if they behave themselves."

"She says she'll get us sweets," Katie told John.

"Stop that he-ing and she-ing Katie, it's disrespectful," Polly chided.

"What am I meant to say?"

"Use people's names!"

Katie huffed then, glowering up at Polly, "Alright, Rosie said she'll get us sweets."

"Better," Polly remarked.

"Didn't you?" Katie clarified, looking up at Rosie.

Rosie gave the braid she was working on a light tug, "I said I might. And I bloody well won't if you don't stop moving that head of yours."

Far from keeping it still, Katie tilted her head full back and grinned toothily up at the redhead by way of response, who shook her own head and smiled rather fondly back down at the toerag.

"Big day out for the womenfolk then," John said, helping himself to another piece of toast.

"I might go with them," Tommy said, keeping his voice casual, "Good to keep them on their toes, eh?"

Keep an eye on the kids, to make sure they weren't too traumatised by his 'soft' handling of them yesterday. Make sure they didn't bankrupt Rosie while they were out. See if he could see about these tickets for Finn's boxing match notion.

"Like anyone's ever off their toes around you," Rosie told him, that smart little tone that suggested she was pleased with herself for coming up with her reply creeping into her voice.

He gave her a dirty look and she smiled over the top of Katie's head at him in response - her face somehow both warm and loving and yet cheeky as hell at the same time. She'd be the death of him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You mind me coming?" Tommy asked her half an hour or so later, cigarette in place, framing the question casually as she buttered bread.

("Had best make some sandwiches to leave for everyone, the boys'll be looking for something." "You know we all managed to fend for ourselves before you arrived here, right?" "Not you boys, the kids – Finn, George, Isaiah, the twins. Though God knows if I leave them unguarded and don't make enough John'll surely snaffle them without a thought for anyone else!")

"Why would I mind?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged, "You didn't invite me."

She pulled a face, "Thomas Shelby being the shy sort who panics about not being specifically invited, who knew?"

"Well I did just go ahead and invite myself when you didn't," he told her, raising an eyebrow and smirking as he flicked his cigarette ash.

"You're always invited, Thomas," she said, then, biting her lip, a little worry flitting across her face, "I just don't want to interrupt you when you're working by making you feel pressured to come about with us. I can handle taking those two and running some errands, you know, especially now I've got nothing to do but wait for these results."

"You do the ledgers, you run the house, you're feeding half of Small Heath as far as I can see. It's hardly nothing."

"You know what I mean, it's not like I have a real job that contributes."

"Sweetheart," he sighed, trying to pick his words carefully, "You go on about women's work being undervalued – talking about how back breaking that wash house is and the hassle of moving half the house around so you can take the rugs out and beat them, planning the food, working out what you can store in the ice box, what you need to go for daily. I wouldn't know where to fucking begin with all that. You realise you're the one standing here saying you don't do anything that contributes."

She frowned and thought on his words for a moment before trying to brush them off, "You know what I mean – contributes financially."

"Look," he said, still speaking at a staccato rhythm as he tried to find the right way to phrase things, "I know what you do here isn't enough for you – I know you need to feel that you're doing something more. But I just want to make sure that want to do more isn't any kind of guilt you're harbouring or any – I dunno – any of that self-deprecating thing you do where you think what you're doing isn't enough. It's more than enough. And I think the only person undervaluing the work you do around here is you," then, patting her backside meaningfully, he added, "And you know how I feel about it when people speak badly about or undervalue my girl."

She was rather pink by the time he was finished speaking, her gaze very determinedly back on the task of making the sandwiches before she said, "Well, I like to think it helps a little."

"It helps a lot."

She smiled properly then, though it was directed down at the sandwiches still, and it was all he could do not to take her to him and kiss her senseless. Being called his good girl specifically aroused her sexually but praise of any sort seemed to put a heat in her, whether it showed in the pink of her cheeks, the wetness of her cunt or even the smile she was displaying now, like the sun was shooting out from her features.

Aware the door between the kitchen and the shop wasn't fully closed over, he settled for running a hand up her back and kissing her head.

"You nearly done?"

She surveyed the pile, "I suppose so, I can leave the bread and the cold cuts on the side anyway for if they run out. I'll say to Polly and John to make sure Alfie and Jack get fed, don't want them faffing with the bread knife – likely to cut a finger off."

He smiled to himself, touched at the way she was fretting for the twins' fingers (in his opinion it'd each them not to mess with knives if one of them did lose a finger,) then headed up the stairs to fetch Lily and Katie. Since they'd seemed unable to sit still for fifteen minutes whilst Rosie did the lunch, they'd been sent to play upstairs and out of the way of everyone once they'd finished their breakfasts and Lily had been dressed.

"Uncle Tommy's like your Daddy though," Katie was saying, though she sounded slightly confused.

"Sort of but not really."

"How come?"

"Well, I don't call him Daddy."

"Suppose not. I don't know if I'd want him as my Daddy to be fair," Katie replied – and he could practically see the frown on her face, "He's awful moany."

"You've got a Daddy."

"Yeah, I do," came the reply – sounding smugly pleased.

He figured Katie didn't quite catch the undertone of sadness in Lily's voice. He wondered how often she thought about the fact she didn't have anyone in her life that she called her father – or her mother, though the lack of mother on Katie's part meant that wasn't really being discussed. Whilst he knew Rosie had absolutely filled the gap on that end, and whilst he hoped he was filling it in some ways through action at the other, he wondered how often Lily thought about not having someone she called Dad in her life. Wondered what that meant to her, how much it impacted on her. It bothered her, that much he could gather from the way she'd said what she'd said.

He made a show of stepping more loudly as he came to the door and clearing his throat to let them know he was around before he went into the room, finding the two of them lying in front of the doll's house, all the furniture having been pulled out of it and laid out across the floor for some reason. Rosie would love that.

"Alright, you two terrors ready to go?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hand," he demanded of Lily, holding his out to her.

She gave him hers with no argument and said, "Remember when we used to go get Rosie from work Tommy, we'd walk this way then too?"

He squeezed her hand gently and nodded down at her, "I remember my little love," then, shifting his attention to the kid who was far too far in front for comfort, "Katie, you on my other side."

She turned and wrinkled her nose at him, "I don't want to hold your hand."

"Tough, we're almost in town – I'm not having you running off and getting lost."

"Rosie didn't make us hold her hand when she took us to town before."

"Well I'm not Rosie, I am making you, now get back here."

She sighed but slowed down her walk – not coming back to him but letting them catch up to her. He rolled his eyes, tutted at her and grasped her hand in his free one.

"So," he asked the redhead, "What's the grand plan?"

"I have no idea what to get him to be honest," she replied, "Was going to check the toy shop and the Rackham's toy department and hope something jumped out. I don't think he'd thank me too much for clothes."

"He'll thank you for anything he's lucky enough to get," Tommy replied gruffly.

"Well it would please me to get him something he'd actually want," she retorted, rolling her eyes at his tone.

"Told you," Katie hung behind him and said significantly to Lily.

"Told her what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're moany."

"Am I indeed?"

"Yes. But Rosie can handle you."

"That right?"

"Yeah, Aunt Polly said so."

"Say that to you did she?"

She looked a little guilty then and said, slowly, "No-ooo."

"You listening to adult conversations?"

"Wasn't listening, exactly, just heard it."

He rolled his eyes and noticed Rosie biting her lip and trying to keep a straight face, her own amusement stirring up some in him.

"If you kids would stop hearing things that aren't meant for your ears, it'd be one less thing for me to be moaning about," he told his niece, biting the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing.

In the end Rosie and Lily got Finn a cricket set – which Tommy grimaced at and acquiesced to 'as long as it's only ever out the front' – some toy cars and, upon getting them, Rosie pronounced that a book on the real cars they were models of would be apt to accompany them.

"Finn doesn't read," Katie pointed out as they stood in the bookshop, watching Rosie flick through her chosen book, matching the make and models of the cars up to ensure they were all in there.

It was true Finn had never shown any interest in any of the books Tommy had.

"Well he might read this – it's about what he likes," Rosie replied, "Now come on to the children's bit, we'll pick out a book for you both too."

"Don't want a book."

"Tough, you're getting one."

"Why?"

"Cause it's important, it'll help with your vocabulary."

"With my what?"

"With your command of the English language and the variety of words you know," Rosie replied, rolling her eyes, "Come on."

Tommy wasn't entirely sure why they were buying Katie and Lily books; Lily's own birthday was only a few weeks away and he knew Rosie was squirreling away books for her for it already – they were living in his room. He'd started flicking through Black Beauty after she'd told him it was about a horse – truth be told, he was practically finished it. Might have cracked the spine before the bab even got her present.

"I'm just a bit concerned that Lily's still so non-verbal," Rosie told him in a low voice when he voiced his question to her whilst the girls were absorbed in the task of trying to pick a book each, "She talks a lot more than she did, and she certainly talks more when she's playing – but compared to Katie, she's very quiet."

"Anyone would be quiet compared to her."

"Still, she doesn't particularly like reading or writing, she only likes drawing, but reading'll give her words to help her communicate if she's struggling with it. And she admires Katie, so if she thinks Katie is reading then maybe she'll try a bit harder herself."

"Maybe we should find you some other shop to work in until those results of yours come through – give you less time to spend coming up with these nonsense worries of yours, eh?"

"It's not nonsense!"

"It's absolute nonsense. She's happy. Leave her be."

"I know she's happy," Rosie replied, rolling her eyes, "But what I'm saying is unless she finds something easy or she enjoys it she doesn't work at it and she's just going to have to work at the reading and that's that."

"Tommy," Lily said, coming over to them and holding a book up to him, "Will you read this with me?"

He took it out of her hands and turned it over, nodding at her, "Suppose so. What do you think?" he asked Rosie, showing her the title, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, hoping it wasn't one she'd already bought for the child.

"Sounds good," she smiled, "Maybe you could read it to me too?"

"You're better at reading."

"That's only cause I've had longer to practise."

"All about the practising, Lily, eh?" he said, picking her up onto his hip, "Do you like practising?"

She shook her head, "'S'boring, s'better when Rosie just tells me the story."

"Well you need to practise, or when you have your own children you won't be able to read to them," Rosie shot over.

"But you learn to read when you're a grown up."

"No, it doesn't just magically happen Lily, you learn to read by practising."

The child sighed and laid her head on his shoulder, not seeming enamoured with the response at all.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What are you getting Finn?" Rosie asked him as they left the book shop, Katie swinging a bag with Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories in it and looking quite pleased with herself, despite having declared that she didn't want a book.

"Well I need to swing by the boxing ring, he's asked for tickets for him and Isaiah for the Harry Mallin fight. Dunno if there'll be any left."

"Good God Tommy, boxing's too violent – you can't be getting him tickets for that!"

He grinned at her, resisting the urge to drop one of the girls' hands and ruffle her hair, "Stop fretting, I won't be letting them go alone. If there's tickets we'll all go, if not they won't be going."

"Whether you he goes alone or not isn't the issue, it's the – the blood and the violence."

"I've watched you pin a man down and draw blood from him and look at you now, clutching your pearls and wanting to protect Finn's delicate sensibilities," he snorted.

"It's different – he's a little boy!"

"He's about to turn twelve."

"So?"

"It's not so little Rosie – he's on the path to needing to become a man. Besides, bit of organised sport is hardly throwing him in to the dogs with no warning, is it?"

"Who did you make bleed?" Katie demanded of the redhead.

Rosie blinked down, then pursed her lips like some maiden aunt and retorted, "Never you mind Katie."

Tommy laughed and squeezed Lily's hand, "Strange one sometimes, that sister of yours, eh my little love?"

She nodded up at him, smiling blissfully, clutching her own bag from the bookshop in her free hand. He got the very distinct feeling she hadn't been listening to a word that had been said. She might not be keen on being a reader, but she was certainly a dreamer.

The boxing ring did have tickets left and Tommy bought some for him, Arthur, John, Finn, Jeremiah (he didn't know if the man would come, but he figured he'd offer), Isaiah – and Rosie. He didn't rightfully know if she'd come either, but he figured maybe taking her along with them would put her mind at ease with what they were exposing Finn to – he knew she had had reservations about him going along to the races with them, and he didn't reckon Finn returning with a bit of Rez Lee's ear had much helped convince her that she was worrying about nothing.

With tickets secured, they went for lunch – where Katie proved her appetite was shaping up to be exactly like her fathers – then on to the pictures.

"You sure you want to come to this with us?" Rosie asked doubtfully.

He nodded and strode by the queue of people, Lily and Katie still holding a hand on either side of him.

"Tommy – Tommy – what are you doing?" Rosie hissed, scurrying after him.

"Shelby's don't queue for the bloody pictures," he told her, raising an eyebrow and leading the girls to the stand for lemonade and popcorn.

"The four of us are going in to see the Chaplin picture," he told the boy behind the desk, feeling like he recognised him, "We'll need drinks and snacks."

"Hi Peter," Rosie said softly.

"Alright," the boy nodded, his eyes flashing to her and then back to the task of getting their drinks.

"How are you?"

"Alright – you?"

"Good thanks."

"Haven't seen you much since the night at The Garrison."

Tommy placed the face then – Peter, whom she'd taking the caning for, the action that had set everything else into motion. Peter who'd tried to stand up for her, tell him to be kind to her at The Garrison the night she had turned up in that bloody dress.

"Been busy."

"You got a new job?"

"Sort of – doing some book keeping and looking after some kids. Makes ends meet," she shrugged, not looking at him, "When did you start here?"

"Few weeks ago, my Dad can't get me in at his office until the results come through and he said I wasn't to be sitting about all summer so…" the boy trailed off and shrugged, tipping popcorn into bags for them.

"Do you like it?"

"S'not bad. And I get free lemonade and popcorn – though you get sick of it after a while."

"I don't think I'd ever get sick of it," Katie said loudly to Lily, her eyes interestedly focussed on him.

He gave her a small, nervous smile, "You'd be surprised."

Rosie pulled out her battered old purse as Peter pushed their loot across the counter for Katie and Lily to grab at, but the boy had shaken his head and shooed it away before he could.

"No charge for you Rosie."

"Don't want to get you in trouble Peter," she said, biting her lip.

"Oh come on," the boy smiled, "It's the one perk I get of working here is being able to give free snacks to people I like."

She smiled back, "You sure?"

"I'm sure. On you go. Film's good. It's in the big screen up the stairs."

"Thanks Peter."

Tommy turned abruptly and led them off, feeling vaguely annoyed. The boy definitely fancied himself a bit in love with her. He wondered, if he hadn't come along, whether she'd have ended up with the softly spoken lad. He didn't like to think so, he couldn't imagine that boy taking her over his knee and making her promise to be a good girl with any degree of conviction. Then again, in all the days he had spent watching her at work, receiving one word answers from her and noticing how adept she was at handling boisterous, drunken men, he didn't reckon he'd have thought she'd be longing for someone to take her over their knee and make her promise to be a good girl.

His annoyance left him as the film played out, especially in light of what he'd heard that morning from Lily. Chaplin's usual tramp character took home an abandoned child, adopted it and the two were happy together – running a nice little business where the kid would smash a window and Chaplin's tramp would make money from replacing them. Which he might have found more funny, had he not so recently had to pay to get his own window fixed. The gut wrenching happened nearer the end – when the kid fell ill and the doctor discovered that the tramp wasn't his real father and there was an attempt made to take the boy away to an orphanage. The kid cried and screamed whilst Chaplin fought to keep him. He shifted in his seat, looking at Rosie, wishing they'd sat in a different set up – rather than them being on either end and the kids in the middle – so he could squeeze her hand as they watched what he was pretty sure was her worst nightmare be played out onscreen. And it could be as simple as that – if Lily got ill and needed a doctor sometime before Rosie turned eighteen and could legally adopt her and if the doctor got too pushy, too involved and then passed things on to the parish council.

In the film Chaplin won against the men from the orphan asylum, only for the kid to be stolen away whilst Chaplin slept, returned to the police for a financial reward. Tommy felt his heart crack slightly as Chaplin woke up and proceeded to search for the kid – he could practically feel every emotion the character went through alongside him, knowing exactly how he would feel if he woke up one morning and Finn or Lily had disappeared without a trace and he knew he was unlikely to get them back. It came right in the end, as it always did, with the child, the tramp and the child's mother all reuniting to form one big happy family, but that only happened because it was the pictures. As far as he was concerned, the kid's mother was an arsehole who had made her choice and shouldn't have had the option to get her child back after abandoning him. He wasn't one for forgiveness at the best of times, but especially not where children were concerned. If anything happened in real life – to Lily – there was no guarantee of a nicely tied up happy ending. In fact, there wasn't no guarantee of it so much as there was absolutely no chance in hell of it. Because those endings didn't happen in real life.

He didn't notice that the lights had come up and the pianist had stopped off for a break until he felt Lily tugging at his hand.

"Tommy, come on, we want to get to the sweet shop before it closes!" she said, her face panicked at the idea.

He stood up and swept her up into his arms, squeezing her to him and kissing her head, feeling Rosie's hand lay itself on his back as he did so. Rosie would know. She'd understand how he was feeling. He shifted Lily onto his hip and snaked an arm around her, pulling her tightly to his other side, kissing her head too.

She smiled up rather bleakly at him, "I wonder what it would be like to see something at the pictures or the theatre that has no relevance to our lives, eh?"

"That will never have a relevance to our lives," he growled, kissing her again.

"You're squishing me," Katie's voice carried up, and he looked down to where she had gotten lodged in between him and Rosie.

Rosie sighed, pasted on a more convincingly happy smile and laid a hand on Katie's head – the braids on which were indeed loosening, with bits escaping and stocking out at all angles, saying, "Sorry love. Right, on to the sweet shop then and then home, eh? See if everyone's survived without us?"

Katie nodded and began to race off down the aisle – hurrying after her and shouting on her to, "Get back here this instant," becoming almost a welcome distraction from his emotions.

He carried Lily the entire way to the shop, lifting Katie up onto his other hip so she could see the sweets on the shelves behind the counter when they got there. His niece was quick to pick out her own selection of sweets but Lily agonised for a long time before eventually settling for a lollipop and a bar of chocolate, which got put carefully in her bag alongside her book rather than being dove into as soon as they'd been passed over the counter as Katie's humbugs had been.

The reason for Lily's overthinking became clear later.

"Where have you been?" Tommy questioned Finn as soon as he was over the door – he hadn't seen him on the street as they'd arrived home.

"Out the backs," Finn replied.

"No you haven't – I looked."

He had, once they'd put their things away Rosie had started dinner and he had stuck his head out the back to see if he could see his youngest brother, which he definitely hadn't.

"Was out the backs – on the other side, was out their backs!"

"You lying to me?" Tommy pressed – something in him convinced Finn was being less than truthful, though he had no way of proving it.

"No!"

"If I find out you heard I was away for a few hours and decided to take advantage of it then lie to me about it Finn, I'll roast you."

"I was just out the backs!" Finn protested, then, realising Lily had slid off of Tommy's lap and come to a stop in front of him, demanded, "What do you want?"

"You speak nicely to her or I'll roast you regardless!"

Lily didn't say anything but held out the things from the sweet shop.

"Wha's that?" Finn asked, unsure of what was going on.

"Is to say sorry. For telling," Lily muttered, kicking at the rug and not looking up, "Didn't mean to."

Finn looked at the outstretched offering for a while, then plucked them from her hands and said, "Ah well, shoulda told you not to tell Katie. Doesn't matter just keep your mouth shut in future, eh?"

There was an irony to that statement being issued later in the same day Rosie had spent her time telling him how Lily needed to read more for her communication skills.

Lily nodded and came back to the sofa, climbing onto Tommy's lap and looking up at him, waiting for him to continue on with the reading of the book.

He took his eyes off his brother and flipped the book back open, picking up where he had left off when he'd heard the door being pushed open.

He was a few sentences into the reading when he felt a warm weight settle against his legs, heard the bar of chocolate being cracked and then saw Finn's hand sneak around the pages to offer the chocolate to Lily.

Tommy sighed and made a great show of moving the book aside, revealing Finn's face and waiting for Lily to take the offering, before saying, "Now if I may continue?"

"Finn missed the beginning," Lily pointed out.

"Start again then shall I?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded.

"Fuck's sake. Things I do for you lot. Right, well, here we go then," he said rolling his eyes, clearing his throat and turning back a few pages, "Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife..."

The Chaplin film they see at the cinema is called The Kid, it's available to watch in full on YouTube if anyone is interested. The scenes where the kid is being taken away by the men from the orphanage are genuinely heart breaking - although a lot of the older films are over acted by today's standards the emotion stays the same in that instance. Edna Purviance, who Polly name checks in Season 3 to say Tatiana looks like, plays The Kid's mother.

I just want to flag up here - someone left me a lovely message to tell me how sick and disgusting I am and how they're reporting me on the last chapter *rolls eyes* Fairly used to the flames by this point, but this is the first time I've been reported - that I've been told of anyway. At this point, I haven't heard anything from this site regarding it. I did put out a post on Tumblr, which I got some lovely messages back off of (thanks to those of you who sent them, they were very much appreciated!) but no one seems to know what the process is if you get reported on here. The comment was left on Monday so at the time of posting this it's been the best part of a week and nothing has happened but I don't know how long the reports process would usually take to be reported/reviewed/acted upon. My point is basically - if my entire profile suddenly gets wiped, that's why and it's not that I've disappeared off into oblivion without completing this. If that happens though, I am on Tumblr which is findinghisredrighthand dot tumblr dot com and I am also cross posting this to Ao3, however I am only up to chapter 45 over there so there's a bit to catch up on with posting before that's brought up to date with the stage we're at here, but it seems the simplest alternative of where to post if I get blocked from posting on here. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen obviously, but I wanted to make sure I'd put the info out about where else to find me if it does so that no one was left completely frustrated.

That aside - thank you to those of you who do read along, who would be frustrated if my story and I disappeared without a trace and who leave thoughtful, nice, constructive comments. I appreciate you all very very much.