Tommy sighed as he started to unbutton his vest. This talk with Andrew had taken longer than he had thought. He had told Ekaterinas brother what was currently going on in Small Heath and with his business, without mentioning the illegal stuff, of course. He had, more or less, implied that Campbell was after them because he wanted Ekaterina; what could still be, who knows. Andrew had just stared at him with his good eye, like Ekaterina had always done when he had first gotten to know her. Like he was looking straight into his soul. By now he understood that that was her habit when she did some intense thinking. And her brother seemed to have that, too.

It was obvious that he did not fully believe Tommy. But after some time he had muttered "well, this is concerning. I will call someone in London first thing tomorrow to talk about this, I assure you. Surely there are better uses for Inspector Campbell than having him creep around my sister, if he has finished what he came for in Birmingham." He had sighed then. "To be perfectly honest, Thomas, I'm glad Katya didn't marry him. There are some seriously disturbing rumors going around about that man. My father has really let her down in that regard, what saddens me greatly. And what brings us to the next topic: Ekaterina"

Andrew had pulled out a case at that, though it was not filled with cigarettes, but a couple cigars. "Do you smoke, Thomas?" He had asked and offered him the case. Tommy had taken one, because when else would he have the opportunity to smoke such high quality tabac? They lit their cigars and Tommy took a deep breath. "She loves you." Andrew had suddenly said and he had almost chocked. "What?" Andrew had grinned at that. "My sister." He had clarified. "She hides it well, but I see it in her eyes. Also, the way she had pleaded me to allow you to stay for a few days was telling as well." Tommy was surprised at that. Ekaterina had pleaded for him? "And I think that you also feel something for her, though I can't tell if it's love or not." Andrew breathed out a cloud of smoke. "I don't want to know exactly what kind of relationship you currently have. I can guess that it's more than an innocent crush on both sides and you are both adults. But I have to know if you intend to marry her." He looked at Tommy. "Because if not... I want her to come home again."

Tommy had scoffed at that. "Would you even let me marry her?" Andrew had cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Tommy had ashed the cigar in the provided ashtray. "I'm not nobility. I'm not even of, what you would probably call, 'honorable descendence'. I'm from a family of Romani gypsies." The blonde man had stared at the fire burning before them after his revelation. "I... once lost someone very dear to me." He had confessed. "All because the generation of our parents is so obsessed with social standing and 'honorable descendence'. And now that I'm in the position to spare my sister from that, I would gladly do that for her." Andrew had looked at him with serious eyes. "So yes. If you can provide for her and promise me to treat her with the love and respect she deserves, I would be glad to give her over to you at the altar, Thomas. That is, if you both want that." Tommy hadn't said anything to that and Andrew had thrown the butt of his cigar in the fire.

"I want you think about that while you're here." He had said while standing up. "You can stay as long as you want. But when you go, I want to hear your decision. Because, if you don't want her, I will not let her return with you." He had limped to the door and Tommy had wondered if the injury that had given him that was still hurting him. "I will retire for the night. You can tell James to lead you back to your room when you're ready. He is standing outside. Good night, Thomas." Then he had gone out. Tommy had followed shortly after and the butler had shown him the way to his bedroom, for which he was glad. He would have probably gotten lost in this damn castle.

Now he was changing his clothes for the night, sitting on the huge canopy bed. This room was extremely luxurious and the interior of this one alone probably cost as much as or even more than everything in his house in Watery Lane combined. And he asked himself how Ekaterina had managed to find enjoyment in life in Small Heath after this. She was really such a strange, captivating girl. What was he supposed to do with her? They were dating for months now. He liked to be with her. Their sex was amazing. And she fitted so well with his family. To be honest, it was not the first time he had thought about what would be the next step in their relationship. Marriage would be logical at this point. But he had thought she would never marry him anyway. She was too good for him. So why ruin what they had?

Still... Andrew had said she loved him. Was this true? And IF he wanted to marry her he would first need to handle his business with Kimber, so that he finally could take over his business. Only then would he be able to provide for Ekaterina in the way he felt comfortable with. A knock sounded and said small girl traipsed into his room after he had called to come in, clad in a pretty nightdress. He grinned. "What are you doing here? Didn't you sleep already?" She blushed and walked into his outstretched arms, positioning herself on his lap. "I can't sleep." she mumbled into the crook of his neck with burning red ears. "I miss you, Tommy. I can't sleep anymore when you're not next to me." She deeply breathed in his scent and he shuddered. "Well, then you just have to stay with me, eh?" Ekaterina nodded.

She climbed off his lap and to the other side of the bed, pulling the covers over her as Tommy lied down as well, and giggled. Tommy cocked an eyebrow. "What is it?" She shook her head. "It's just... sneaking into your room makes me feel like a child again, for some reason. It's fun." He huffed with a grin and leaned over her to give her a kiss. And he thought that he could imagine spending his life like this... with her. He caressed her cheek. "Would you help me?" He whispered and she cocked her head, looking up at him with a smile. "With what?" Tommy looked deeply into her eyes. "With everything. The whole fucking thing." She frowned at the crude word but he continued. "Fucking life...business." Ekaterina reached up, pulling his head to her chest. He could hear her heart pound. "I would do anything for you, Tommy. Help you with everything... if you let me." She whispered into his hair. He closed his eyes, softly mumbling "I found you." She hummed. "And I you."

.

.

The next morning he finally had the 'pleasure' of getting to know the dowager countess, Lisaweta Chetwynd-Talbot. Ekaterina had intently warned him about her mother... though she had looked adorable while doing so, in her frilly, rose colored dress and matching hairband. "I will apologize for my mother now." She had said before they had went down for breakfast. "Because... well... she is typical nobility. She looks down at everyone who is of lesser stand than her and doesn't work for us. But Andrew and I will try to protect you, so please don't take anything she says to heart." Tommy had smiled at that and given her a reassuring kiss. He couldn't really believe that the woman that had given life to people like Andrew and Ekaterina could really be so bad.

Boy had he been wrong.

Lisaweta had surely once possessed great beauty. Some traces of it were still there and he understood where her daughter and son had inherited their pretty exterior from. Now, though, she was nothing but a shadow of her former self. She was small and petite like her daughter, yet were Ekaterina was soft and delicate, she was strict and harsh. Lisaweta was dangerously thin and her face had this constant pinch, like she constantly looked down on and judged the people around her - what she probably was doing for real. First she had only talked in Russian, to what the siblings had always answered in English, though, asking her to "please speak English, Mama. We have a guest." after every sentence. Then she had asked Tommy a barrel of questions, but had never really let him speak. Instead she kind of answered her own questions where she thinly veiled how little she thought of him. All in all... it was hilarious. Tommy kind of liked her. Though that didn't mean he just swallowed her insults. He answered with a few smart quips that made Andrew cough to cover up his laugh and Ekaterina almost choke.

At the end of breakfast, when both women stood up to leave the room and Ekaterina turned to him Tommy gave her a wave. "I have to talk to your brother." He explained and she frowned. But then she nodded and followed her mother out of the room. Andrew signaled a maid to fill their cups with coffee again. "I made my call this morning." He started while taking a sip. "Inspector Campbell will not be a problem for you any longer, Thomas. I was assured he would be leaving Birmingham within the week." Tommy nodded. "That's good to hear... because I have decided to go back today." Andrew stared at him. "So you already came to a decision regarding my sister?"

Tommy took a sip of his coffee and nodded.

.

.

Ekaterina stared at the family portrait that hung in her mothers salon. She and Andrew had been so young then. She had been 8 years old and her brother 14. It felt like an eternity had passed since then. Even her mother was still beautiful in it. But her father was old. He had always been old. "You love this man?" Lisaweta suddenly spoke up in Russian from her place on the settee, referring to the English man that had been eating breakfast with them. Ekaterina turned around. "Yes... I think I do." Lisaweta sighed. "He is beneath your stand. Not even a nobel. You should marry up, not down." Ekaterinas gaze hardened, but before she could say anything her mother continued. "But I can understand you..." The woman looked wistfully out the window. "Sometimes... sometimes I wish I had done the same as you, back when I was young. If only I had the courage..."

The girl stared at her mother. She knew that her parents hadn't married out of love. Well, maybe her father had been in love, once, but her mother certainly hadn't. Lisaweta had been forced to marry the late Earl by her father. And maybe... maybe Lisaweta had had someone like Tommy, too, before she had been forced into an engagement she never wanted and forced to leave her family and beloved country to go live in England, where she didn't knew or loved anything or anyone. Was that why she had always been so bitter and cold? Yet she had never done anything to protect her daughter from the same fate. Not even tried to. She could still vividly remember how she had literally begged her mother, on her knees, to help her make her father reconsider the engagement to Campbell. But her mother had only stared down at her with a cold gaze. "You are a nobel lady." She had said. "And a lady accepts her duty with dignity."

Back then Ekaterina had thought it simply cruel. Now, though, she thought if maybe this were the exact same words her own mother had told her, back when she had been a girl about to be forced into an unwanted marriage. And for the first time Ekaterina could sympathize with her mother. Because she had never known anything else and been too afraid to walk away from it. A knock suddenly sounded and Tommy came in. "That's were you are." He walked over to her. "I've been searching for you. Pack your things, we're driving back in half an hour." She pulled up her brows. "Already?" She had actually hoped they would at least stay a full day so that she could go visit Salazar and her father's grave.

Tommy looked into her eyes. "Yes. I have business to do and our 'problem' is seemingly about to go away." He gave Lisaweta a glance and then then took Ekaterinas hands. "Look, you can stay if you want. But I would like you to come back with me." Tommy looked into her eyes. "We can come here another time." The girl sighed and looked at their hands. Then she nodded. "Another time." Tommy smiled and turned around to her mother. "Dowager Countess." He nodded his head at her. "It has been a pleasure meeting you." The woman scoffed. "Please, Mister Shelby. Don't hurry to come here again." Tommy grinned. "Oh don't worry. We will see each other a lot from now on. You will come to like me, sooner or later."

Half an hour later they stood at the driveway of the Alton Towers, saying goodbye to Andrew. The chauffeur that would bring them back to Birmingham was already sitting in the car. The siblings embraced. "You have to visit again soon, my little Katyusha." The man murmured into her hair. The girl nodded. "Yes. Very soon." They let go of each other and the men shook hands. "Goodbye, Thomas. Until next time." The blonde man said with a squeeze of his hand. Thomas answered with a squeeze of his own. "Until next time, Andrew."

.

.

When they arrived at the house in Watery Lane Polly was already waiting for them. "Oh, thank god you're here." She breathed as they entered the kitchen. Tommy frowned and Ekaterina looked at the woman, concern in her gaze. "Did something happen?" She asked and Polly flicked away some ash from her cigarette. "Arthur... he tried to hang himself yesterday." The girls eyes widened, though Tommy, for his part, didn't look all too shocked. "What is it this time?" The blonde blinked up at him. So this was not the first time? Polly sighed. "Idiot gave 500 pounds to your father. Apparently for some kind of 'investment'. I think you can guess what Arthur Sr. actually did with the money." Tommy laid his head back in his neck and sighed. He would never understand how his oldest brother could also be the most naive. Would he ever learn to never trust anything their father said?

"Is he hurt? Should I look at him?" Ekaterina asked. She was honestly concerned about the oldest Shelby. The girl knew that he was struggling after the war. All the men did. But she would have never guessed that he was that bad off. Tommy shook his head. "No. I will go. I have to go to the printer anyway." The blonde cocked her head. "What for?" Tommy grinned and leaned down to give her a kiss. "To get something that will definitely cheer him up." Then he went out. She sighed and went to the table, sitting down opposite Polly. "Have there been calls or anything for me when we were gone? Anyone sick or injured?" The older woman shook her head, pulling out another cigarette. She looked at the girls hands while she lit it. "So you're not married yet?" She suddenly asked and Ekaterina almost sputtered. "Wha- no! Why would you think that?"

Polly breathed out some smoke. "I may still be at odds with my nephew, but I'm not blind, girl. He adores you. So when I heard you had both left the city and together because of that bloody copper... Well, I almost expected you would make a quick stop at a chapel so that Tommy could finally officially claim you as his." The blonde put a hand on her chest, her heart pounding. She knew that Polly was probably just fooling her, but still... she didn't hate the thought of marrying Tommy. At the contrary. It made her excited. Polly grinned, wishing they would hurry up and just make everything official. In the eyes of everyone in Small Heath they belonged to each other anyway. "That lavish dress you're wearing could have also fooled me into thinking you just came back from a wedding." She continued.

Ekaterina looked down at herself. She was still wearing the same dress from this morning, which she had chosen because she knew how much her mother valued proper attire... well, what she deemed 'proper'. It was a dress she had left behind back then and although it was one of the simpler ones, in a place like Small Heath it almost seemed like a ball gown. The girl had wanted to change before driving back, but Tommy had insisted there was neither the time nor need for it. The blonde sighed. "We have been in Staffordshire... my home." Polly didn't say anything so she continued. "It was the safest place for Tommy I could think of. I saw my brother again... and my mother. I even wanted to go to my father's grave but, well... there wasn't enough time." The woman stared at her. "Do you regret it?" Green eyes looked at her questioningly. "What exactly? That I ran away or that I went back?" Polly shrugged her shoulders. "Both."

For a while Ekaterina just stared at her; a habit she had when she was arranging her thoughts, as the older woman knew. "I don't... regret that I ran away." She started hesitantly. "I know I would have never been able to make my parents reconsider. God knows where I would be now if I had stayed. Because even though my brother, thankfully, came back; I would have either taken my life or been married to Campbell. Both fates I was able to escape. And, well... it all led me here, in the end." She smiled. "I became friends with Ada, what brought me to this family and, finally, Tommy." The girl giggled. "Though, to be honest, if you had told me a year ago I would eventually fall in love with him and that he'd become the center of my world I would have told you that you're absolutely crazy."

Her face got serious again. "Do I regret that I went back? Yes and no. I'm glad that I saw my brother, of course. And it was nice to see my mother again. But I think it was still a bit too early and if it wasn't for Tommy, I probably still wouldn't have gone. I... still need some time to get over everything that has happened." Polly stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. "So you went back for Tommy's sake?" The girl nodded. "Campbell wouldn't dare to show his face to my brother after everything and going against nobility is not easy without the crowns approval. There was no place safer for him and... I would do anything to ensure Tommy's safety. Nothing is more important to me now. So if that means having to confront things I'd rather not... it's really not a choice for me."

Polly took her hand. "You love him?" She asked and Ekaterina squeezed her hand. "More than anything in this world. More than I had ever thought possible, if I'm honest. I... want to spend my life with him, if he'd let me." She looked at the matriarch. "And I know for a fact that everything he does is for all of our sakes, even if his ways are, sometimes, questionable at best. And that he will, somehow, get Freddie out; sooner or later. Though it will be for Adas sake more than his. So... won't you finally forgive him?" Polly stared at her. "Why are you so sure?" Again, the girl squeezed her hand. "It's Tommy. He always has a plan. And I'm sure he will explain everything to you soon." The blondes words were spoken with such sincerity, that even her doubts started to dissipate. So Polly nodded.

And when Tommy came back this evening to talk to her about his plans and asked if she knew anything about the whereabouts of his late mother's wedding ring... well, she wasn't surprised.


AN: so, how are you coping with Helen McCrorys death? I must say that I'm still somewhat shocked, but it's slowly starting to settle in that we really will not see her again in the next season... that there will be, probably, no more Aunt Polly. To be honest, it was kind of strange that she wasn't in any of the leaked set photos, but I always thought "she will show up at some point, she has to". And then her death was suddenly announced. Kinda threw me off a little, as I'm still grieving a sudden, personal death in my own family.

On January 1st my cousin had suddenly and very unexpectedly died and part of why I'm even writing this story is to cope with that. Peaky Blinders was his most favorite show ever, so after his funeral I re-watched it and kinda suddenly had the urge to write about it. It even does kinda help, as weird as that maybe sounds. And if a "In the darkness with you" fan is reading this: it's also while I'm currently pausing on that story. Though I plan to pick it up again soon. Hopefully in the beginning of May.

This chapter was kind of cheesy and I hope it wasn't too annoying or something. But we are approaching the end. I think 2-3 chapters more and we have finished season one. I hope you still enjoy my story!

Xoxo Lulu