Chapter 11
Tommy had headed out of the betting shop before closing that afternoon, Rosie being left to close up with John, his youngest children playing at their feet as they counted up the money, neither knowing where Tommy had disappeared to. Rosie had decided to stay up and read until Tommy returned home, intent on finding out where he had been for the majority of the day. She had been falling asleep on the sofa, book dangling from her fingers when she had heard the front door slowly being pushed open, Tommy quietly making his way into the house so as not to wake Finn and Rosie; Rosie smiles to herself, knowing this was what he was thinking, pushing herself up from the sofa to meet him in the hallway.
"Holy...Jesus Christ Tommy. What the fuck happened?" She cries, running over to Tommy as he stops still in the middle of the hallway, taking his face in her hands. "Tell me. Tell me what happened."
"You don't need to know." He replies, gently placing his hands around her wrists, tugging her hands off his face.
"I do need to know! Stop holding back!" She shouts at him as he turns away, heading up the stairs.
"I'm not holding back." He states in reply, not turning around to look at her.
"You are!" Rosie shouts as they reach the top of the stairs. She reaches her hand out, grabbing his arm to pull him to a stop. "Tommy just stop and listen to me. Please!"
"Keep your voice down." He hisses, now turning to Rosie. "Finn's asleep." Rosie rolls her eyes, hands clenched at her sides as she fights the urge to hit him. Instead she takes his hand in hers, pulling him to the other end of the house, towards his room, shutting the door behind her.
"What. Happened?" She grounds out, standing with her back against the door, arms crossed against her chest. Tommy sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sinks down on the edge of the bed. He slowly explains the events of the evening in the pub, where Grace had shot the men from the IRA, leading to the fight that resulted in his injuries.
"Oh my god Tommy I told you! I told you not to trust her. Fucking hell! When are you going to fucking listen to me?" Rosie exclaims, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.
"Not now Rosie. That's enough." He groans, dropping his head into his hands.
"No. That's not enough. I told you I had a bad feeling about her. You know I listen to my feelings. And I told you I don't trust her. But did you fucking take any notice of me? No! Of course not." She bites back, stepping closer to him.
"Rosie." Tommy grounds out, shaking his head.
"No." She chokes out with a laugh. "No. I bet you fucking walked her home afterwards too."
"I'm a good man Rosie, I'm not letting a woman wander the streets of small Heath alone at night." Tommy protests, rolling her eyes at the route Rosie had taken the argument.
"Oh! A good man! Right. Fucking Tommy Shelby. A good man. With blood on his hands!" She shouts, throwing her hands in the air again. "Because of her! Did you kiss her? Tell me the truth Tommy."
"No I didn't fucking kiss her!" He exclaims, rising now to meet Rosie in the middle of the room. "Do you really think that lowly of me?"
"I don't know what to think any more Tommy!" She replies, matching his volume. "You don't fucking tell me anything!" He shakes his head, resting his hands on her arms as they both take deep breaths to calm themselves. "I would never kiss another woman, Rose. You know that." He rests his forehead on hers, Rosie's body tensing briefly under his until he presses a kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger there. "I love you Rosie." Rosie lets out a shuddering breath at his confession, bringing her hands up to cup his cheeks.
"I love you too." She whispers after a minute of silence, pressing her lips to his in a gentle kiss, which soon deepens, their need to be together taking over as Tommy pulls her with him back onto the bed.
"Morning sleepyhead." Tommy says softly, brushing Rosie's hair behind her ear as she lets out a yawn, throwing a leg over his hip, tucking herself impossibly closer to him.
"I love you." She whispers, pressing kisses to his bare chest, feeling his chuckle rumble there.
"I love you too." He replies, equally as quietly, cupping her head to pull her up to him, pressing his lips to hers. "If this is what happens after we argue, I think we should fight more often." He teases, running his hands down her body.
"Don't even joke about that." Rosie states with a frown, leaning up to kiss him again, pulling herself into his arms again. "Will you let me clean you up?" She questions gently, softly running her fingers over the cuts on his face as he nods, pressing another kiss to her lips. Rosie slips out of bed, padding down the stairs to get a bowl of clean water, a rag and bottle of alcohol, carrying them back upstairs to Tommy who had sat up in bed, resting against the headrest. He gives Rosie a smile as she enters the room, clearing space on the beside table for her to place the items. Tommy pats his lap, pulling her into his arms, Rosie laughing as she complies, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug as she straddles his lap.
"I'm sorry for what I said last night." She whispers into his neck, as Tommy runs his hands down her back under his shirt that she had shrugged on before leaving the room.
"I think we both said things we didn't mean. Let's forget about it, eh?" Tommy replies, pressing kisses to her neck as her body relaxes against his, running her hand through his hair. "Let me have a look at you." She says gently, pulling back to run her fingers over his face again, lifting a rag to clean them. "You're lucky. I don't think any of them need stitches." Tommy hums in reply, lifting his hand to rest on her cheek, brushing his thumb over her cheekbone, his fingers winding into her hair.
"Thank you."
"That's ok." Rosie replies quietly, slipping off Tommy's lap and gathering everything up into her arms. "Let's try not to make a habit of this, eh?" She teases lightly, brushing her fingers gently over the cuts on his face, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips. "I'm going to change, then I'll open up the shop. You going to lay in bed all day, or are you going to join me?"
"I'll meet you downstairs." Tommy replies as Rosie heads for the door, taking his time to get ready and head down to the shop.
Later that afternoon, Rosie headed down to the Garrison, pulling the books from the back room to take back to the shop to go through with John, when Tommy steps through the front door. He glances over at Grace behind the bar before his eyes fall on Rosie who was stood staring at him in the doorway to the office. He nods at Rosie, silently motioning towards to the room behind the bar, which she heads towards, ducking under his arm as he holds the door open for her.
"I just heard Harry talking to Grace, he says there's police on their way from Digbeth." Rosie comments, dropping the books onto a barrel as she turns to look up at Tommy. "Is everything ok?"
"I need to lay low for a while." He explains, taking Rosie's hand in his to pull her to him.
"Why-" Rosie's question gets cut off by the door being pulled open, Finn appearing in the doorway.
"Tommy, the police are in the lane!" Finn exclaims, bursting into the room, Rosie glancing back at Tommy who was stood beside her, wide eyed.
"Come with me." Rosie steps forward, taking charge as she pulls on Tommy's hand, leading him towards the back door.
"Wha-"
"Tommy, for once in your life, shut up and let me help you." She snaps, dragging him through the back door, and out running through the lanes of Small Heath.
They finally come to a stop outside the back door of an abandoned, boarded up shop, Rosie quickly fishing a key out of her bag to unlock the door. Tommy ushers her in first, glancing around before slipping into the building behind her, locking the door behind them.
"What's going on Tommy? Please. Just tell me." Rosie begs as she moves around the room, pulling out candles to light around the large main room. Tommy ignores her question, walking slowly around the shop, taking in the empty shelves and counters, thick layers of dust covering every inch of the place.
"This place stinks." He grunts as he lifts a cigarette to his lips, holding one out to Rosie who accepts it gratefully, leaning forwards to allow him to light it for her.
"'Course it does." She mutters in reply, moving to lean against the counter.
"Like dead rats or something." Tommy comments, leaning against the counter beside her.
"Yeah, well, it's been locked up for nearly two years. I told you I should sell it." Rosie replies, waving her hand around in the air; when Rosie's Aunt had passed away two years ago, she had left the shop in Rosie's name. Rosie, at the time, had had no interest in running the haberdashery shop her Aunt had built from the ground up, and had gone to Tommy after the war had ended, to ask him for help selling it. Tommy, however had persuaded her to keep the shop shut up for a while, to consider her options; he knew that the young woman had dreams to open her own shop one day, but was caught up in the Shelby business following the war, and even if she decided one day that she still wanted to sell the shop, he would buy it off her and put it to some sort of use for the company. The shop had been left boarded up since then, Rosie or Tommy coming by every so often to check it hadn't been broken into, and Tommy knew, that one day soon, Rosie would tire of the betting shop life, and be ready to create her own path, reopening the shop for business.
"We might need it some day." He replies, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"For what?"
"To open that shop you've always dreamt off. Making dresses, skirts, pretty things." Rosie smiles at Tommy's reply, shifting to stand in front of him, winding her arms around his neck as he pulls her body into his by the arm still thrown around her waist.
"You remembered."
"Of course I did." Tommy states, giving her waist a quick squeeze. Rosie sighs, reaching up to pull Tommy's cap off his head, running her fingers through his hair. "What's going on, Tommy?"
"It really does smell bad in here, Ro. We should get it cleaned." He replies, ignoring her question as he glances around the room again, nose scrunched up in disgust.
"That doesn't matter right now, Tom. The police are after you, what's going on?" Rosie presses, cupping his cheek and turning his head, forcing him to look her in the eye.
"We can make it look-"
"Tommy. The police. What's going on." She snaps, cutting him off in frustration of having to repeat herself.
"I lost my bargaining power." He finally answers, resting his hands on her hips, his thumbs rubbing small circles there.
"Ok?"
"They found the guns."
"Jesus." Rosie mutters, dropping her head forward, her dark hair covering her face as she shakes her head. She didn't know much about what Tommy was dealing with, nor where he had hidden the guns, but what she could deduce, was that if they had been found, Tommy was in big trouble.
"Yeah."
"Ok. So what now? What do we do?" She asks, lifting her head to look up at Tommy who shakes his head, looking over her shoulder as he replies.
"We, do nothing." He emphasises, finally meeting her eyes. "I'll sort this."
"By yourself?" She questions, scoffing as Tommy nods.
"I have the boys."
"You have me too."
"No." Tommy mutters, shaking his head adamantly again. "Not you, Rose. You need to be here to look after Ada."
"Why can't I help?"
"I said no, Ro."
"But why not?" She exclaims, throwing her hands into the air, taking a step away from him. "Tommy!"
"Because I love you, Rosie!" He shouts, taking her wrists between his hands, gently pulling her body back to his. "I love you. And I don't want you getting hurt." He states, softer this time, watching as her face drops at his words, a soft smile gracing her lips.
"When do you think all this will die down?" She asks quietly, reaching her hand up to straighten the lapel of his jacket, purely for something to do with her hands.
"Late." He grunts, looking down at her as she pulls a piece of lint from the fabric.
"So not until the morning then?"
"Yes." Rosie nods, her fingers still fiddling with his jacket, remaining silent for a while before glancing back up at Tommy.
"There's still a bed upstairs." She says softly, nodding her head towards the stairs as Tommy nods slowly.
"There is?"
"Yes."
"Interesting."
"And my old gramophone." She adds, running her hands down his arms until their hands meet, intertwining their fingers gently.
"Really?"
"Yes." She repeats, giving his hands a squeeze. "We could...dance?"
"Could we?" Tommy questions softly as Rosie leads him towards the stairs.
"We could..." She replies, dropping Tommy's hands momentarily to start the gramophone up. She pauses, watching as Tommy removes his jacket, laying it over the back of a chair as the musics begins to play.
"Rosie, can I have this dance?" He asks as he approaches her, hand outstretched, which she immediately takes in hers, letting him pull her body flush to his.
"We never do this." Rosie comments quietly as they move slowly around the room, wrapped in each other's arms.
"What?" Tommy mumbles, his lips pressed against the top of Rosie's head, which was resting on his chest.
"Dance together."
"We never have the opportunity to."
"We should." She states softly, looking up at him, her eyes wide as she smiles. "Find opportunities to."
"When?"
"Whenever. There's always opportunities to dance, Tommy." She replies, her smile growing as Tommy's lips quirk upwards, dropping his head to let their lips meet in a lingering kiss.
"Are you ok?" Rosie asks later as they lay side by side in bed, running her fingers gently over the tattoo on his chest.
"I don't hear the shovels against the wall." Tommy comments softly, Rosie's fingers stilling immediately, resting her hand over his chest, feeling his heart beat beneath her palm. "I don't hear them when I'm with you."
"What shovels?"
Tommy ignores her question, instead reaching his hand up to wind his fingers through her hair, brushing it lightly back from her face. "Will you help me?"
"Help you with what?" She asks, lifting herself on to her elbow, leaning down towards Tommy to press a kiss to his lips, letting her lips linger there for a second before pulling back, dropping back down onto the bed beside him.
"With everything. The whole fucking thing. With life, business." He explains, letting his hand trail down her bare arm until it reaches her waist, looping it around her body to pull her closer. "I'm not talking about marriage. Not yet. But I found you. And you found me. We'll help each other." He drops his head to Rosie's sealing their lips in a breathtaking kiss, smiling softly as Rosie pulls away, letting her fingers brush lightly over the side of his face.
"Of course I will. You know I will. You don't have to ask." She says gently, lifting her hand to rest on the back of Tommy's neck, letting it rest there as they lay in silence.
AN: we are approaching the end of season one (I've got one more chapter on the go to finish off the season) What do you want to see afterwards, because there's 3 year gap between season one and two...? I think I'm probably leaning more towards a series of one shot type filler chapters to bridge the gap between the seasons, but I'm not 100% yet...I'd like to hear what you would all like to read before I make up my mind. Let me know in a PM or a review...would be much appreciated! Thank you!!
