Chapter 8:

A/N: You all are simply too kind! I am sorry for the delay between chapters. I PROMISE I am not abandoning this fic. Life just sometimes sucks you in, ya know? I've certainly been dealing with quite a bit. Anyway, thank you all for your compliments, your fun predictions, and everything in between. Enjoy xo.

~o0o~

"She's your favorite."

"She's not my favorite." Tommy shook his head and smiled up at the sky. It was late on a mid-summer evening and he and Sophie had snuck down by the Cut with a tattered blanket and some cigarettes for him. That was where the two of them did their best scheming together. They were starting to spend less time with Sophie and Freddie and more time alone, and as Sophie laid besides him and looked up at the stars, the only other thing she could see clearly was the burning end of his cigarette. The dirty Birmingham air overtook the stars.

"Why wouldn't she be your favorite? She's my favorite." Sophie responded. They were talking about Ada. She had asked him who his favorite sibling was. They determined it certainly wasn't Finn, since at two all he did was 'shit and scream' according to Tommy.

"She's your best friend."

"She's Freddie's best friend now." Sophie couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice. As the summer wore on, Ada wanted to be with Freddie more and more and if it weren't for Tommy, she would have felt so alone.

"Hey now. I've never met two people closer than you and my sister."

"So, who is your favorite if it isn't Ada?"

"Well, I think it might be you. You are practically a Shelby anyway. But don't tell anyone I said that."

The irony of that conversation from years ago wasn't lost on Tommy when he found himself staring at his little sister and Sophie. Only now his sister wasn't the bright-eyed sprite with the perpetually messy hair of her youth, nor was Sophie all knees, elbows, and freckles multiplied by the sun. Being trapped in the sitting room with the pair of them staring him down forced him to notice just how grown up they both were.

It had been a few days since Tommy had pulled Sophie into his room and embarrassed himself with jealousy. He was thankful she hadn't mentioned a word about it, but her silence to him at work showed him she hadn't forgotten. She stood firmly on John's side after he had come home from confronting Lizzie. John hadn't wanted to believe it, but Lizzie told him the truth. It had nearly caused him to go to blows with Tommy, but Arthur held him back. It seemed to Tommy that Sophie wasn't planning on uttering a word to him until John did. Her loyalty was unwavering, and he felt its presence now when Sophie touched Ada gently on the arm, letting her know that she could speak any time she wanted to. But Tommy didn't have time to wait.

"What is it, girls?" he looked back and forth at each of them, eyes widened, expecting an answer. Cheltenham weekend was fast approaching and he had things to do and appointments to keep. "Polly said it was important, so go on."

"Polly said I needed to tell you I'm pregnant." Ada finally blurted out and Sophie reached out to squeeze her best friends' hand.

"Fuck. Ada, go find something better to do than play games, and Sophie, get back into the office." Tommy checked his pocket watch and then ran an anxious hand through his hair when they didn't move. He couldn't believe this was serious.

"She's not lying, Tommy. I knew you wouldn't care, but you should." It was moments like this that made Sophie desperate to know what happened to the old Tommy. The Tommy that made such a profound impact on her adolescence. He would have cared and done anything for his sister then.

Tommy shifted his weight and struggled between laughing and yelling. He settled on biting cynicism. "Alright then, I guess I shouldn't be surprised with how you whore yourself out, Ada. Different lad every week then, eh? Do you even know who the father is?"

"You seem to have quite a problem with whores, Tommy." Sophie interjected. She couldn't help herself. She saw firsthand how much his callous comments about Lizzie hurt John and now saying them to his own sister seemed unfathomable.

"There hasn't been a different man every week Tommy. It's been the same man." There was fire in Ada's eyes. If she had her way, Tommy would have never known. She just would have run off with Freddie and lived her life away from Small Heath and the Peaky Blinders and all of the shit she didn't want to deal with. But it had been weeks and Freddie still hadn't returned and she would be showing soon. There could be no more hiding it.

"Then we should arrange to have a wedding." Tommy reached into his jacket pocket to grab his cigarettes, signaling to both of them that the conversation had reached an end, "Tell this boy to come 'round and introduce himself."

Tommy pursed his lips and gave a sharp tilt of his head to Sophie, wordlessly telling her to get back to work. She took a hurried step forward.

"Don't you want to know who the father is?" Ada asked. Sophie hovered in the space between her best friend and Tommy, knowing full well what the next moment would bring, but not wanting to leave.

"Someone not good enough for you, I'd say." He took a long drag from his cigarette. It wasn't hard to miss that the edge had disappeared from his voice.

"Freddie Thorne has been and always will be good enough for me."

It didn't take more than half a second for the realization to dawn on Tommy. He kept his face straight; he couldn't let Ada get to him and see how upset this made him. "Is he in town? I thought all of the Communists were run out by the new police chief?"

"He'll be back."

"Right. Well, when he is, you tell him to come and see me so I can do all of us a favor. I'd much rather your child grow up fatherless than with a Communist coward as a dad." Tommy didn't wait for a reply. He heard his sister throw something and a second later heard whatever it was shatter against the wall as he walked away. The rhythm of the footsteps behind him told him that Sophie was right on his heels, but he continued through the kitchen, pushing through the double doors to the office.

"Tommy…."

"Sophie, I have work to do and so do you."

She followed him into his office and he begrudgingly shut the door behind them. The dull roar of the betting den quieted and he sat down, looking up at her with his icy eyes, "I am not paying you to be my sister's guard dog."

"I care about her, and I wish you would too."

"I do care about her. One day she'll realize that when she grows up and finds someone who can actually take care of her. She'll thank me." Tommy shuffled through some papers on his desk, trying to distract himself.

"They are in love. They were in love when I first met you and Ada. That hasn't changed. And it isn't going to." Sophie slid into the leather chair across from him, making it clear she wasn't going anywhere. "Why do you hate him? Do you hate everyone you were close with that summer? Ada? Me?"

Tommy barely listened to Sophie. He saw the distress clouding her face and the passion for what she was saying clear in her bright eyes. There was so much he needed to tell her and he knew things would be so much less complicated if he was just honest with her. But he was scared. In a way, it was nice when she had been angry at him and didn't speak to him. He could ignore his feelings for her that seemed to double every day. But now, sitting right across from him with her insistent questions, he felt trapped and nervous.

"I don't think you remember that summer like I do, Sophie." Tommy lied. Lying had always kept him alive since he had come home from the war. No one could trick an enemy into being a friend with just words like Tommy could. Lying was more comfortable to him than telling the truth ever would be, "You were so young. And so was Ada. Freddie and I followed you both around because Polly would have beat me senseless if I didn't and Freddie had nowhere to go but tag along with me. Ada has convinced herself that he cares about her but this is more than that. I know Freddie. He's doing this to get to me."

Sophie's face fell. Before the night out at the Garrison, she had naively thought she and Tommy were becoming close again. He had entrusted her with the Princess of Small Heath, and had given her the job working for him. She didn't recognize the man sitting in front of her now. She knew Freddie well enough to know he wouldn't use Ada as a pawn in some vendetta against Tommy.

"I'll be taking the rest of the afternoon off." Sophie stated calmly and didn't shut the office door behind her.

~o0o~

"Everyone, be on your best behavior. I know Martha isn't going to be very happy," John said nervously, looking through the dirty window and seeing two figures in black approaching the house. His older brothers stood by the kitchen table, drinking mild, while his Aunt held his little brother. His little sister sat cross-legged by the door, curious.

"Hello everyone," Martha said softly when she entered the house and took off her black hat. She kept her black coat on and the young girl nervously peeking around from behind her wore all black as well. "This is Sophie, my sisters' only child. This is her first time in Birmingham."

"I'm sorry about your mother, she was a sweet woman," Polly offered, rocking little Finn on her hip. Sophie smiled. Her eyes were puffy.

"Where is your father?" Arthur asked, more out of curiosity than anything. He was immediately met with several angry glares.

"Oh, he left. He didn't even come to the funeral." Sophie spoke up. Tommy noticed there was an awareness in her that most people his age didn't possess. His father had left years ago and he hadn't even come to grips with it yet.

"Sophie will be staying with us from now on. We are the only family she had right now." John walked over to Sophie and patted her on the shoulder. He and Martha hadn't even been married a year and she was due to have their first child together in a few weeks, and here they were taking in her niece. He was only nine years older than Sophie and still feeling like a child himself.

"And she will always be welcome. We are glad to have you Sophie. You and Ada will share a room, and we'll have proper introductions at supper" Polly smiled, nodding at her own niece that she had taken in in the same way Martha was now taking in Sophie. Ada gave a shy wave to the girl her age, instantly sizing her up as a potential friend.

"Come on, I'll show you…" Ada stood up from the floor and Sophie followed her up the stairs with her meager bag of belongings, as if having a mother suddenly die of cholera and having to move in with your Aunt's family whom you've never met was the most normal thing in the world. It had to be if you had nowhere else to go.

Tommy laid in bed, his body relaxed and his mind diving into memories spurred on by too much whiskey at the Garrison again. He had seen Grace and they had talked about the races that upcoming weekend and how she had bought a red dress to wear. But he found it much more appealing to remember the day he met Sophie over anything else. He would never forget the way she looked, wearing a simple black dress, having come from so far away and looking like no girl he had ever met. He knew every girl in Small Heath and most of them bored him. The girls in Birmingham could be pretty, but they all looked the same. Sophie looked like a doll. A painting in a museum. Breakable and beautiful and unique. Her long hair looked like it had never been cut in her eleven years on Earth and her nose was marked with a smattering of freckles, as if someone shook a paintbrush in just the right way near her skin. But it was the way she spoke that intrigued him the most. He was drawn to her then, wanted to get to know her.

He sighed thinking about how he did get to know her that summer, and that everything he said to her in his office today was a lie. There was no denying Ada and Freddie loved each other then and he felt a fool that he didn't see it these past few years. He wondered if it was obvious to anyone else how he felt for Sophie. No matter how much he tried to push her away, he spent every night like this: remembering. It was better than remembering the war. It helped him. She helped him.

And he knew if he didn't stop this, he would ruin everything.

A/N: Sorry it isn't more but I am doing what I can! Much love!