Chapter 2

AN: Thank you for the reviews! Not much Bonnie and Edith in this chapter (there will be more in the next!) this one gives a bit more background to Edith and focuses more on her relationships with her brothers. Enjoy!

"What were you doing with that Gold boy last night, eh?" Arthur questions Edith as she walks into his office.

"Morning Arthur! Lovely weather today, nice to see you too!" Edith sings dropping herself into a chair opposite her brother. "We were just talking." She huffs at his glare. "Having a drink, just like I do with Finn, Isiah and Michael all the time."

"Finn's ya brother, Michael's ya cousin." Arthur states, pointing his cigarette at her. "It's different. Very different Edith."

"And Isiah?" She asks with a smirk and a quirk of her eyebrows. Arthur grumbles under his breath as Edith smiles and leans back in her chair. "That's what I thought. Can I have one?" Edith points at the glass of whiskey Arthur was pouring for himself.

"No!" He exclaims "it's barely 11 o'clock in the morning!"

"You've got one!" She explodes, sitting upright in her chair

"I'm an adult!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Don't shout at me Missy!"

"That's not fair! You're shouting too!"

"Oi!" Comes a yell from the room next door followed by a loud banging on the joining wall. "Will you two shut the fuck up?" Tommy shouts making the two siblings freeze.

"Sorry Tom!" Edith calls back sheepishly, falling back into her chair. "Sorry Arthur. I was just joking. I shouldn't have shouted at you."

"Damn right." Arthur grunts, taking a swig from his glass of whiskey. Edith rolls her eyes, letting her head fall onto the back of her chair.

"You're impossible." She sighs

"You too." He huffs, sitting in silence for a few seconds before glancing up and meeting Edith's eye. They hold each other's gaze for a few seconds more before Edith could no longer hold her giggles in, covering her mouth with her fingers to attempt to hold them in. Arthur lets out a snort before both of them burst into laughter.

"Why are we laughing?" Edith fights out between giggles, Arthur shakes his head in response. "I've missed this Arthur, we haven't spent a lot of time together recently."

"I know. I'm sorry." Arthur says, rubbing at his eyes. "Let's try and not scream at each other next time, eh?" Edith nods and pulls her chair closer to the desk.

"So what did you need me for?" She asks, resting her head in her hands on the desk. "I'm guessing it wasn't really about last night?"

"I needed you to check over these numbers for me." He says, pushing a book over to her. "Legal business of course."

"Of course." She huffs, rolling her eyes again as she reaches out and pulls the book into her lap. "But Michael's the company accountant. Why not ask him?"

"I'm asking you." Edith nods slowly, running her finger down the page, muttering under her breath. Time with her brothers was limited since the company had grown, she was old enough now to understand why they did what they did, why they were so cautious to protect her, watch over her; which was why she decided not to push Arthur's reasoning any further, realising that his thoughts behind calling her in may have been purely to spend a little more time with his baby sister.

"You wanna go out for lunch?" She asks suddenly. Arthur's head snaps up from the paperwork he was working on.

"Huh?"

"Lunch." She repeats. "Ya know, food...could be hot...could be cold...a drink..."

"I know what lunch is." Arthur responds with a pointed look, immediately silencing his sister. He motions to the book in her lap, "You done already?"

"No." She replies, shrugging. "Won't take me too long though. We can go out afterwards?"

"Uhh," Arthur stammers, brows furrowed. "Yeah. Ok. Sure."

"Ok." Edith says with a smile. "Great!"

"Miss Edith Shelby." Edith freezes, her hand pausing on the horse's back, tightly holding the brush. 'Be calm Edith.' She thinks to herself, taking a deep breath before turning to greet the person behind her.

"Mr Bonnie Gold." She calls back, flashing him a smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Heard your Uncle kept horses, figured I'd stop by to meet them." He replies, slowly walking towards her, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"You like horses?" She asks, him nodding in reply, motioning to her saying, "And it appears you do too. May I help?" He points to the bucket of brushes at her feet, bending to pick one as she nods in response. "What's his name?"

"Her." She corrects quickly, Bonnie shooting her an apologetic look. "Juniper."

"Beautiful name."

"Beautiful horse." He nods in agreement, the two teens falling into a comfortable silence.

"How often do you come down here?" He asks after a while.

"Nearly every day." Edith replies, resuming her slow strokes with brush. "Finished school last year so I need something to fill my time."

"Along with working for your brothers?"

"Hmm. I don't do much with them." She admits, moving to the other side of the horse, partly so that she could see his face more clearly as they talk. "I'm, uh, only allowed to help with the legal stuff.."

"I see." Bonnie replies, pausing his movements to watch her for a minute. "So...if I was to come by same time tomorrow...you'd be here?" Edith immediately blushes deeply, turning her back to the young man, pretending to sort through the bucket.

"I suppose so." She says softly as she straightens again.

"Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Bonnie states with a smile, throwing his brush back into the bucket and giving the horse a pat on the back.

"I guess so." She replies, returning his smile and following him to the door of the pen.

"It's a date." He says with a wink, walking backwards through the stable, maintaining eye contact until he reaches the door, where he turns and heads back the way he came. Edith lets out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, falling back against the pen door.

"My brothers are going to kill me." She groans, pressing her head into the horse's neck.

"Edith!" Comes a call from the entrance. Edith snaps her head up, hand coming to rest on her chest as she focuses in on who had shouted her name.

"Jesus Christ Finn!" She shouts, pushing away from the door. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Eh don't be a wuss!" He calls back, waiting by the entrance door for her to get close enough before he starts to walk away. "Come on. Tommy's called a family meeting. By the way, was that that Gold boy I just saw?"

"I'm just saying, I think they're no good!"

"And I'm just saying, I think you need to get to know someone before you make that kind of judgement!" Edith quips back at her older brother, barely managing to keep her temper in check and remain seated in her chair. Michael's hand on her arm was the only thing stopping her from taking a swing at John who had scoffed at her comment, turning away from her.

"Edith." Michael whispers her name as a warning under his breath, moving his hand from her arm to her hand. "Breathe."

"He's being an ass Michael." She mutters back.

"And you're being a tad sensitive." This reply earns him a scowl from his cousin who tries to remove her hand from his grasp. "Let him talk and then you can state your case. You know how this works."

"But that's not fair."

"Life's not fair Edie." Ada offers from the other side of her. "Now shush. Or you'll get kicked out. Again." Edith huffs, finally freeing her hand from Michael's, leaning back in her chair with her arms tightly crossed over her chest.

"Can I at least have a cigarette?" She questions quietly earning a sharp "No!" from either side of her.

"Anything you'd like to add Edith?" Tommy finally asks his younger sister, who slowly shakes her head.

"I've been told to keep quiet."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Ada mutters from beside her as Michael glares at her from the other side.

"Edith." He grounds out, staring at her until she meets his eye. She shrugs again and pushes up from her chair.

"You clearly all think I'm still a child. Or incapable of sensibility. Or stupid."

"Edith." Arthur joins in the battle, rising up from his chair to meet his sisters glare. "Sit down."

"Yeah Edith, sit down." John repeats earning eye rolls from most of his family

"Don't get involved John." Ada chastises, cutting her eyes to her brother. "It's not worth it."

"Yeah John. Don't get involved." Edith mocks, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at her brother, taunting him to respond. John and Edith had a love-hate relationship with each other, had since they were young. Neither would admit that it leaned more towards the love side, both too stubborn to admit that really, they needed the other to balance themselves out. As Edith had gotten older and more assertive in her desire to be part of the company too, eventually becoming more involved in the legal side of the family business, John had struggled to understand that his sister was no longer the baby they still often viewed her as, and that sometimes, it was best not to push her buttons and to leave her be. As she had grown up, Edith had developed her oldest brother's temper, something which she took great lengths to try to control. It often fell to Michael or Finn to bring her down from her temper tantrums and deal with the fall out afterwards. She may have seemed like a strong, stubborn young girl on the outside, but Edith Shelby had a softer, more gentle and vulnerable side that often only came out for her cousin or closest brother in age, much to the pain of her Aunt Pol and Thomas, who diligently tried to help the young girl.

"I'm fine Tom. Sorry for snapping at John. It won't happen again." Tommy scoffs at his sister's statement, watching her from the corner of his eye as she shuffled along beside him on the walk home. He had barely managed to diffuse the situation between his siblings during the meeting, finishing things up just in time to walk Edith home before it got dark.

"Now we both know that's not true Edith." He responds around his cigarette. "Try again." She huffs before responding, grumbling under her breath as she does.

"I'm sorry for..."

"Be genuine." Tommy cuts in receiving an eye roll this time

"Tommy, I'm very sorry for being an.."

"Edith. Try again. Last chance."

"Jesus Tommy! I'm sorry, ok? I'm trying here but he's just so damn annoying sometimes!"

"There we go." Tommy mutters quietly, giving a small smile, pleased he had managed to get his sister to fold and release her anger somewhat.

"He just doesn't listen! And when he does he's got that damn smirk on his face! And then he just rolls his eyes and ignores me!"

"You do exactly the same thing Edith." Tommy chastises with a click of his fingers.

"Yeah but that's different." She huffs "He's rude." Tommy nods, aware of the irony but deciding not to push it, letting Edith carry on with her rant as they draw closer to Watery Lane. "I'm trying Tommy." She implores, stopping in her tracks. "But it goes both ways. And I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle recently. He's either off doing business or fucking Esme. He's not the same John."

"He is." Tommy responds, beginning to lead Edith down the street again. "You're just older too and noticing different things. He's still our John boy, he's just trying to figure out how to make everything work between the house in the country, Esme, the kids, the company. Us. And he'll get there. We all will. Just give it time, ok? And for god sake Edith, stop losing your temper at us, eh?"

"Sorry Tommy. I really am trying." She says quietly as they reach the door to her and Finn's house. "You coming in?"

"Nah. I gotta get going. I'll see you tomorrow though." He presses a kiss to her forehead, giving time for Edith's arms to snake around his torso in a tight hug. Surprised at the unexpected show of affection from his sister, Tommy takes a second to respond before wrapping his own arms around her. "You'll be ok Edie." He whispers into her hair, pressing another kiss there as she pulls away and heads into the house.