She woke up as he left, but it was early and she had never much cared for mornings. She had always been a light sleeper if she slept at all, but she told herself the vodka had helped the night before. The vodka, not him. She was surprised he had stayed so long, after not getting what he wanted from her. He stood up, nearly silent, still fully clothed. She immediately missed his warmth but didn't think she let him know she was awake. But of course he did anyway. He stood in the doorway, watching her.

"Good news or bad news first?" He asked.

She brushed wayward strands out of her eyes. She felt like she had been hit by a train. "I already know the bad news, and it has to do with it being the crack of dawn."

"The good news," he carried on, ignoring her. Typical. "is that I have two surprises for you today." He lit a cigarette. Inhaled. "Unfortunately, one of those surprises is also the bad news. So it all comes full circle, really."

"Fuck off, Tommy," And she heard him snort, but he let her go back to sleep.

Several hours later, she dressed in the same dress she had worn the day before. The white lace was turning grey at the edges from the coal dust. She frowned. Ellanor met her downstairs with a knowing expression that Tessa wished she deserved.

"Mr. Shelby has gone out for the day, but he told me to tell you to go get yourself some new clothes. He also said your surprise is waiting for you."
Tessa grumbled. "He wants me to go shopping, does he? How am I meant to do that? The bastard took my horse and I haven't got a car, and- what surprise?"

Ellanor was beaming. Quite literally beaming, and Tessa winced. "Fuck. He didn't."

Ellanor nodded, her smile growing, if possible, even wider. "He certainly did."

"What good was it growing up surrounded by men with money just to meet more men with money now that I'm grown," Tessa grumbled to herself as she made her way down the entrance hall. "I could find a way to get a car with my own funds if I bloody well needed to, I have a trust fund the size of England, and even if I didn't, it isn't like I have a particular aversion to wo-," she opened the door, and slapped a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "To working. An aversion to working."

Ellanor stood behind her, peering around Tessa's shoulder to peek at her face, then at the car, then back again.

"Had to get it special ordered, that's why it took a bit, see. The paint they shipped all the way over from the States, he said, he said you'd know what the color means?"

It was a gleaming, shiny, copper Bentley, red and orange and gold metallic. She had never seen a car that color in her life. The same color as her hair. The same color as her horse. She laughed.

"He said it was a thank you for saving his life." Ellanor took her arm, conspiratorial. "But you know, I think he's rather taken with you."

"Twice," Tessa said. "I saved his life twice. Do you have the keys?"

Tommy shouldered his way into the private room in The Garrison. John and Arthur looked up as he entered, and Finn stood firm outside the entrance, as if anything but his name would stop people from crossing him. Johnny Dogs was nursing a black pint of beer, but his brothers had empty glasses of whiskey.

"Talk to me," Tommy said, as a form of pleasantries.

"Alright, well, here's what we know. Leonard Reilly, the CMO, was being blackmailed into supporting a new facist party in the government, led by our favorite Germans," Arthur said, gesturing vaguely at Tommy. His voice was scratchy like he had been awake all night. "Now, what we think happened is that someone got wind that Reilly there wanted to get himself out of his little one sided contract, and was looking to enlist the help of yours truly in order to do so."

"Which made them come after us," John said. "And then when that didn't work, they went right after him."

"Who do we know who would have information about where a German mafia would hold a political hostage?" Tommy asked, as if asking would make the answer appear.

"We talked to Moss. Some other coppers. Got some names of the men who are trying to start this whole facist thing." John fidgeted with the pick in his mouth. "We could pay them a visit."

"Do it," Tommy said. "What did Michael find?"

"He knows what they're using to blackmail the old fucker. Turns out he's got a daughter that's hardly been heard of. Germans got wind of her being back on the island, but we couldn't find her name so I doubts they did either," Johnny Dogs was saying. Tommy's blood was rushing in his ears. "So old man Reilly might not have wanted the Blinders for himself. Might've been to try and stop them from gettin' to her."

"They didn't know."

"What?" Arthur asked, loudly.

"The men at the hospital. They didn't know it was her. Fuck, they would have taken her." He pushed his palms into his eyes until lights popped behind them. He opened them again, shook his head.

"The fuck is he going on about?" Arthur demanded. The other men shrugged. "Tommy. Tommy!" Arthur's eyes were flashing. "Taken who?"

"Tessa," he said.

"Who the fuck is Tessa?" Arthur growled. Who the fuck is Tommy Shelby?

"Tessa Reilly. Leonard Reilly's daughter. At the hospital, with the red hair."

Arthur's mouth was hanging open under his mustache, trying to catch up. John looked completely baffled. Johnny Dogs looked a bit blank, but Tommy could see that the cogs in his head were turning behind his eyes. Tommy pulled out a cigarette. Lit it. Exhaled.

"As it turns out, we, on quite literal threat of death, consented to offer Mr. Reilly his desired protection in exchange for a reasonable sum, as well as extend it to his daughter, due to extenuating circumstances. Which means that now, more than ever, we have a hostage to locate. It also means, boys, that there's someone you need to meet."

Tessa had a new dress but for once it wasn't helping. Her knee was bouncing and she could not command herself to stop. She shouldn't have done the cocaine she found in Tommy's drawer. Well, she shouldn't have done so much of the cocaine. Her father was missing. The Germans had taken him. The same men who had shot Tommy not two weeks ago. She was about to meet his family. At this particular moment, it was the last bit, more than anything else, that was making it impossible for her to keep still.

"He told me it was just to be the women for today, but I suppose plans change," Ellanor had said after putting down the phone. "So it looks like you'll get to meet the whole… gang."

Poor choice of words, Tessa thought, but it wasn't like she was being offered much of a choice herself.

"He said he would be here within the hour to pick you up." So Tessa was waiting in the living room, bounce bounce bouncing her leg. She lit a cigarette, one of Tommy's, she couldn't believe she was staying in his fucking house-

The front door opened. He looked absolutely calm, in his suit, with his hat, calm and good, and she wanted to kick him in the shins.

"I'll drive," she said, and he raised his eyebrows as she stormed past but did not attempt to argue.

Behind the wheel, she felt a bit better. The car really was beautiful. The breeze tousled her hair and cooled her cheeks, even if it did smell of coal and smoke. Tommy was silent, which bothered her, but she admitted to herself that if he was the talkative type, it would have bothered her much worse. After several minutes of him saying nothing but directions, he finally spoke.

"So, do you like it?"

She liked his accent. She liked the way he looked in that hat. She liked the car. "I do. I do like it." She ran her hands over the wheel.

"Not as much as your horse," he said. She smiled a little, reluctantly.

"Close second."

"Still, hopefully it's worthy payment for all your help."

"My help? You mean saving your life?"

"That is what I was referring to." He ashed his cigarette outside the open window of the car.

"Which I did twice, by the way."

She looked over at him to try to catch his smirk, but it wasn't there. He smelled like whiskey, even with the windows down. Something was wrong. How odd that she should be able to tell that, now.

"Polly and Ada may be a bit harsh," he said, after a few moments. "Arthur will stare but likely not take you very seriously. John knows better, you'll understand why once you meet his wife. Michael is young and trying to prove himself. Too hard, sometimes." Tessa nodded. She had already forgotten half the names. "We're here."

She pulled off in front of a dingy black townhome in a row of other dingy black townhomes on a dingy black street, surrounded by factories and flames and grit. This was where he came from. She climbed down out of her new car, which looked ridiculously out of place, and Tommy strode to the door like he owned the whole city, which, she realized now, he probably pretty much did. If she listened closely she could hear the click of his holster when he moved. He knocked hard on the door, the sound drowned out by the booming of a nearby furnace.

"It's me," He said, something she thought he was probably used to saying, used to people responding to. Admiration or fear? Did it matter?

The door swung open immediately. He walked inside and didn't look over his shoulder to see if she was following.