A/N: I really appreciate you guys waiting so long for an update. Things have gotten crazy but I still hope you enjoy this chapter and leave your feedback. Xx

~o0o~

No one moved for a moment, not even Tommy. He seemed to be considering what to say to her. But even after searching for the words, he couldn't explain it to her or anyone in that room exactly how he felt. "Arthur, get yourself cleaned up. The rest of you, off to bed. We'll discuss the guns in the morning."

Arthur heaved himself up from his chair and shot a glare at Tommy that was hardly intimidating coming from his set of shiners. Polly followed him up the stairs to help make him comfortable even though that was clearly a lost cause.

"Tommy…" John looked at his brother and then at Sophie, who had her arms crossed and her jaw set.

"I said to bed, both of you." Tommy gestured with his hand toward the stairs like they were being insolent little children. John caved quickly, mostly out of not wanting to deal with his brother when he got like this. But Sophie didn't move an inch.

"I'm not leaving until he answers my question." She said to John when he gave her a pleading look to hurry up and follow him. She didn't know where her boldness was coming from; she didn't exactly make it a habit of disrespecting her elders or anyone that took care of her. When Tommy didn't respond, John just shook his head and headed upstairs, sure that his adopted daughter would follow once Tommy spoke again.

"So…" Tommy turned to Sophie with his hands in his coat pockets, "Polly tells me you are going to start working for the Blinders tomorrow? Not only as our secretary, but an accountant as well. And only seventeen. Quite an accomplishment."

The sarcasm in his voice was so heavy it made Sophie's fists clench by her sides. She hadn't done a single thing to anger him beyond just existing. So many years ago she thought they had been close, but now she didn't recognize the man in front of her. "Aunt Polly trusts me. In fact, everyone trusts me but you. I'm trying to help!"

"Help? You think coming here is helping?" He walked over to the table and put his hands on the edge, bending over until his forehead nearly touched the wood, "You are what we call a liability. Arthur has you thinking the Blinders get to do whatever the hell they want around town. John has you believing you are coming into the family business. And Pol, she just thinks you are an educated little angel here to clean up our books. No one has told it to you straight. Not yet."

"You aren't bad people, Tommy. You aren't going to be able to scare me into getting on a train back to London, no matter how hard you try."

"But we are bad people, Sophie. I'm a very, very bad person." Tommy straightened and looked her in the eye, "The nightmare you saw me having? I have the same one most nights. I used to be a tunneler in France. Every second I feared for my life. My hands shook with every pile of dirt I moved. I thought about, in detail, what it would feel like to be blown up. And when you spend that much time becoming numb to death, you don't so much mind killing people. It doesn't bother you anymore because you don't fear dying yourself."

Sophie's eyes grew steadily wider as she listened to him explain this to her without so much as one emotional inflection in his voice. It was as plain as day to him, and she could barely fathom it.

"People die in Small Heath. In Birmingham. Because of us. It's not just about horses. It's about protecting what we have at all costs. Ada walks a fine line on compromising what we have on a daily basis, and she's my sister. I don't owe it to you to protect you. You aren't blood. And look at you…" Tommy's eyes moved up and down her body. He tried not to let them linger; he just wanted to prove a point.

"Is that why you hate me? The way I look?" Sophie's eyebrows knit in confusion and he laughed. Of course she would be naively self-conscious; how could he not have known? And there was no point in lying to her.

"You are beautiful, Sophie. And I can't protect you. There are plenty of men in this town who will want to take advantage of you, and even if they don't know who you are right away, they will find out. And they will use you. And we could all get hurt from that. Liability."

"Oh, so you just hate me because you think I'm going to go 'round spreading my legs like Ada does. You haven't even bothered to have a proper chat with me. To get to know me again. And you think you have the right to judge me?" Anger welled up inside of her. He had no right to shame her prematurely for things she hadn't done.

"A proper fucking chat" Tommy grinned. "How fucking precious. Sophie, I have no interest in getting to know you. I didn't know you when you were twelve, and I do not planning on knowing you now." He ran a hand through his short hair, tiring quickly of the conversation.

"We were friends. You, Freddie, Ada, and I. What happened?" Sophie only had good memories of that summer spent in Small Heath years ago. Had she forgotten something? She and Ada were always smiling and enjoying the sticky hot days and Tommy and Freddie were never far behind. Now Ada wouldn't speak to her and Tommy wanted her gone. It was enough to make Sophie rethink those dear memories.

"You are wrong. We weren't friends. I was twenty-four and the last thing I wanted was to follow you and Ada around, but Polly insisted. That's it." Lying came easily for Tommy. Things had been complicated that summer. He had felt things he shouldn't have, and so did Freddie. But circumstances changed so quickly and he never thought he would be standing in front of a ghost from his past. "I can make arrangements for you to have a comfortable life back in London. My own money, not John's so you don't have to worry about him. An allowance, or whatever you would like to keep you happy. Get married. Have children. Visit once a year."

Sophie's pink lips parted in disbelief. "I'm not going to be bribed to leave the family I have here, whether they are blood or not. No amount of money could make me. I'm staying and I will be in the office tomorrow. You don't have to speak to me but I would appreciate if you didn't hate me until I give you a reason to."

Tommy was silent for a long moment and the only thing that could be heard in the kitchen was Sophie's nervous breathing. In a way he admired her for standing up for herself, but he also was more than annoyed. She was headstrong, just like Ada. He preferred to think carefully about his actions and always planned his next move down to the last detail. But his plan that he thought would surely work had failed, and now this little sprite of a woman was here to stay. He had no choice but to change tactics quickly and he leaned closer to her.

Sophie took a deep breath when Tommy moved so that he was not even an inch from her. She could feel his shallow breath tickle the tiny blonde hairs on her neck as his mouth moved closer to her ear. "There will be absolutely no mistakes from you Sophie. You will help with the books and the bets and you will make sure John's children stay out of trouble. You will not repeat anything you hear inside the office, you are not allowed to go out to the pub with any man other than a Blinder to protect you, and you will never come into my room again. Are we clear?"

"We are clear." She murmured. She didn't like some of those rules, but he was finally relenting. He stepped away from her and headed up to his room and she felt like she could breathe again.

~o0o~

Sophie woke before dawn the next morning, having barely gotten any sleep that night. Her conversation with Tommy played over and over again in her head and she was determined to prove him wrong on her first day. She had the children washed up and dressed before John had even finished shaving, and fixed them breakfast before Polly was up. There were only a few weeks until the end of summer, when the oldest children would go back to school and make things easier for her with this new job.

Polly saw the fire in Sophie's eyes the moment she walked into the kitchen. She wasn't sure what Tommy and her had discussed late last night, but whatever it was, she was still here.

"Is this alright for the office?" Sophie asked Polly. She looked more than a little self-conscious in her dress, which was made of a gorgeous cream silk with a black ribbon cinching the back. Polly reached out and touched her soft cheek and smiled.

"Its lovely, Sophie. I'm not lying when I say you are the best dressed girl in Small Heath." Polly held back her reservations about the dress. It was so posh and screamed London and Tommy certainly wouldn't like it. But there was no reason to further trouble her on her first day. She would take her shopping for some simpler things later.

Sophie grinned in relief and promised her Aunt she'd be in the office in just a moment, right after she gave Henry to Ada to watch over for the morning while the other children went to play in the lane.

"Ada?" Sophie reached the second floor landing where Ada's room was, but she heard no sign of the Shelby sister. She held onto Henry tighter. He was heavy at two-years, but wasn't walking well on his own yet.

Still no sound came from Ada's room, so Sophie ventured to the end of the hall, past Arthur's closed door where he was surely still recuperating from last night, and to the washroom. When she got closer to the cracked washroom door, she finally heard something. It didn't take more than a second for Sophie to realize Ada was retching into the toilet.

"Are you alright?" Sophie asked, knowing full well Ada could hear her. Ada froze and held back her sobs before she threw open the door.

"I'm fine."

"You are sick, Ada. I didn't know. I'll speak to Polly and maybe I can bring Henry into the office with me while you rest." Sophie suggested, feeling horrible as she studied the puffy redness of Ada's eyes and her pale face.

"No. It's fine. I can take him." She sniffled and held out her arms for Henry and Sophie reluctantly handed the boy off to her, "It's just a touch of something. I'll be better soon."

It was the first real conversation the two girls had had since Sophie came back to Small Heath, and it wasn't an argument. For that she was grateful and decided to leave well enough alone. She thanked Ada and headed back downstairs to step into the Shelby office for the first time.

~o0o~

"Tommy, I wasn't expecting you." Lizzie Stark said in surprise when she turned to see him taking off his coat in her open doorway. She had finished with a client ten minutes ago and was straightening up her room. After things had ended the last time he was there, she truthfully didn't want to see him.

"I know. Do you have some time?" Tommy asked her. His voice was gruff and he felt guilty for how he left things with her, but he needed her. It was half past two in the afternoon and he was beyond tense. Sophie had come into the office a graceful, smiling vision who instantly won over the other Blinders in a way Ada never could. She was nothing but overly polite yet still managed to catch on quickly as Polly showed her the ropes. She stuck out amidst all of the black and smoke in the den, always the flash of cream in Tommy's peripheral vision. Everything she promised she made good on: she could type and do sums more quickly than half of the boys, and more accurately. Yes, she was nervous, but she was trying and there wasn't a single thing he could fault her on other than her fancy dress.

When Tommy had first seen Sophie again, he wrote his feelings off as just fleeting physical attraction. She was pretty, but he could easily forget that if he focused on other things and convinced himself that she wouldn't last in Small Heath. She was also clearly off-limits and he didn't have time for women in any way but what Lizzie could provide. Yet the more he was around her, the more he couldn't deny that his feelings weren't going away. She was over a decade younger than him and far too pure for the likes of him. If he made one misstep and let his urges get the better of him, John would never forgive him and he would never forgive himself. But sometimes, his hand just wasn't enough.

"I don't. I have another appointment in half an hour." Lizzie lied. She knew it wasn't right but she had never seen him like this. She was always his girl, even if he paid her. She was the one he made promises to and stayed in bed with and talked to about a life different from this one. Now there was another woman on his mind and she was desperate to find out who it was. Nobody seemed to know. Tommy was never seen with women other than his sister or aunt.

"I won't be long. And I'll pay you twice the usual." His voice was cold. He now sounded like all of the other men that came to her for her services. It was a transaction and she was numb to it with them, but not with Tommy.

"I really can't…" Her voice shook and she tried not to look at him but he closed the door and took off his belt and she couldn't lie anymore. The afternoon was now his and he knew it. She slipped off the thin, silky robe covering her shoulders and moved to sit on the bed and not a second later he kissed her.

~o0o~

"Slow down there, Soph…" John laughed as Sophie finished off her first pint in the Garrison that evening. He and Henry, one of John's best mates from the war who was a Blinder now and worked in the office, and Nipper and Curly decided to grab some pints after work and take Sophie out to show her the pub and welcome her into the business. Harry the barman was more than entertained to see the pretty young Sophie drinking some mild with the boys in their private booth and kept the whiskey flowing for the Shelbys.

"But it was my first day of real work…" Sophie looked at John and giggled. Their relationship was quickly becoming less adoptive father and daughter and more akin to brother and sister as he was sure he would never feel comfortable watching his twin girls get tipsy.

"You don't drink often, do ya Sophie?" Nipper asked her. He was younger than John with cow-licked brown hair and a boyish smile.

"Absolutely not at school. And we weren't allowed out much otherwise." She replied. She was feeling happier than she had in a long while. The one pint had her relaxed and giddy after this first long day where everyone seemed proud of her and happy to have her there. She belonged. What did Tommy know?

"Well, we'll have to ease you into it then." Curly winked.

"But we'll have you on whiskey in no time, sweetheart…" Henry laughed and John shoved his friend. John could see the way he looked at Sophie and he wasn't quite ready for that.

Tommy walked into the Garrison after spending the rest of the afternoon into the evening with Lizzie. He swore to himself it would be the last time. He needed to get himself straight because he had other things to think about-like those damned guns and this mysterious copper. He ordered some dark rum and as Harry quickly poured him a glass, he caught sight of his brother and some of the other Blinders drinking in the small back room. In the middle of them sat Sophie, laughing at something and smiling so brightly everything else in the Garrison seemed dim in comparison. It filled Tommy's mind with a memory of watching Ada and Sophie wade into the Cut, pulling up their dresses past their knees so that there wouldn't be evidence for Polly to see. And he and Freddie sat on the bank of the river and smoked and waited for the right time to rush into the water and push the girls in. Sophie smiled just as brightly that day. Tommy finished the rest of his rum in one swallow and decided to head to his flat.

~o0o~

The rest of the week passed by quickly for Sophie, even if she was exhausted by Saturday. Running after the children and working sometimes into the night was stressful, but at least she finally started to feel at home. She spent most of her time with Polly and was quickly adjusting to the fast pace in the office. Tommy didn't speak to her much, but he hadn't been mean either, and Arthur was finally feeling better enough to work again. Him and John's teasing made her day brighter and she was proud to call them family.

And that family included John's children whom she decided to take to the park next to St. Andrews that sunny Saturday morning. She had brought along a picnic lunch for them and planned on spending the afternoon there as George and Emma and Mary played. She also brought some of Henry's toys so that he could play on the blanket with her as she kept an eye out. As the three older children ran off to play stickball, Sophie spread out her blanket and sat Henry down. She looked up at the cloudless sky and felt the warmth of the sun on her face and smiled. Arthur, Tommy, and John had gone to the fair and Ada and Polly went shopping in town, so she had a few glorious hours to spend with the children that she was growing so close to.

"SOPHIE! SOPHIE!"

She wasn't sure that she had heard her name at first. It sounded so distant and Henry didn't seem to notice, but when she turned, she saw Finn and his friend Isaiah running across the park toward her.

The youngest Shelby boy was panting, hands on his knees, when he finally skidded to a stop before her. "You gotta come Sophie. Polly sent me to get you. There are some coppers in the streets settin' fire to the pubs and smashin' the windows in houses! You gotta hurry!"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I'd love to hear your thoughts!