Chapter 13

Camden

Dec. 24, 1919

Aine POV

"Alfie?"

"Aine."

"Alfie, what do you know about this, Thomas Shelby?"

"Wha' you want ta know about him for?"

"I think Aoife might like him."

"No!"

"No what Alfie?"

"No, she can't like him."

"Why not? Besides it's not like you can control the way she feels. So what's the man like?"

Aine heard Alfie's grunt of unhappiness, before he stopped what he'd been working on and looked at her with an annoyed expression on his face. She knew he wasn't annoyed with her but the fact that they were going to have a conversation involving the Shelby.

"Wha' do you want ta know Aine? He's a lit'l man wit a lot o' anger. He's an intelligent and a cutthroat bastard. Gypsy, and he doesn't have a problem wit turning against his allies if it means his plans will succeed."

"What else do you know?"

"Wha' like facts?...Got a lot o' siblings. Close ta his family, looks after 'em. Likes horses. Was in the war. Got big aspirations that one. He might manage ta make a good go of it."

"Hmm, he's an associate of yours so you've been working with him...yet you don't trust him."

"Why would I?"

"Cause you're working with him."

"Aine, my love. I can work wit the man and not trust him, I use him ta get what I want. Same as he uses me, ta get what he wants. The both of us could betray the other at any moment in time wit out battin' an eye."

"Hmm, all right...what about romantic entanglements?"

Alfie scoffed and gave her a look like she might be crazy.

"Now why on earth would I even want ta know about the man's romantic entanglements? Hmm."

"Because, you are also an intelligent man Alfie Solomons. Which is why I know you've made it a point to know absolutely everything you can about the man.

His laugh was rich and hardy, his real one anyway which is what she was hearing before he winked at her. An acknowledgement to how well she knew him. She continued to watch him as he walked over to her to wrap his arms around her.

"Well now my love, this will be the last we'll speak of the man. As I have no desire ta continue ta do so, especially when I was having such a wonderful time enjoying your company..."

Alfie took a deep breath before letting it out in one long huff. "Thomas Shelby's only romantic entanglement since his return from war has been ta visit a Miss Lizzie Stark, of whom he pays for her service. Even so, his last reported visit ta said woman was back in September. Now there you have your answer. I think I deserve a kiss for havin' ta talk about the man."

Aine smiled and batted her lashes at him on purpose, dropping her voice low, "Well now, I think you might have a chance to negotiate a higher payment. After all your answer was very thorough."

"Mm. Well now, I'm always up for a bit a negotiaten. Ta go along with my kiss, I think I'd like ta have permission ta board the Adelisa tomorrow?"

"Is that right. And why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Mm. Don't play coy with me Aine. I'd like to spend Christmas in the sky. With ya."

"Well we are planning a lovely Christmas dinner along with some light entertainment...hmm...I suppose I might accept a kiss and Christmas, but I want you to bring the bread."

"Hmm. Bread huh...Deal! Now about that kiss."

Aine could feel the smile growing on her lips as she looked up into the blue green depths of Alfie's eyes. She could stare into this man's eyes forever, and of course she'd love to have him join the family for Christmas. She appreciated that he was willing to celebrate with her even though he celebrated Hanukkah.

She skimmed her nose gently over his, "When I said bread, you know I meant actual bread right? Rolls or something, nothing that goes bang."

"Mm, I know what you meant luv."

"I miss you everytime we're apart you know that, right?"

"When you're ready Aine. I'll wait as long as it takes. No rush. Makes the time we spend together all the sweeter, eh?"

Her fingertips grazed his cheekbones and smoothed his beard. She'd always been surprised at how it could be course and lush at the same time. Her tongue darted out and ran across his plush lips and he pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss, with a mumbled, "Dammit woman."

Small Heath

#6 Watery Lane

Tommy POV

"Aoife and Reilly get off all right then?"

"Yeah."

"Good. That's good. Saw that you brought Michael home with you. Did you talk to him about staying here until things wash over?"

"I did."

"There's to be no business tomorrow though, right Tommy?"

"No business tomorrow Aunt Pol. Family day."

"Good. Noticed you and Aoife coming back from the office earlier, did she manage to make her calls all right?"

"Seems so."

"Something on your mind, Tommy."

"No."

"Right. Well when you want to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you. Let me know. We've got John and Michael up in the attic room, the boys are in Johns old room and the girls are in with Finn. Just till the boys are better then we'll switch them out. Of course Ada and I will be sharing quarters for the time being."

"Right."

"Have you got a plan to deal with this yet?"

"I'm working on it."

"How long do you think it will take to resolve?"

"I don't fucking know Pol, I'm working on it."

"Well when you're done working on it, you let me know."

Tramline to London

Aoife POV

"So where did you disappear to? I couldn't find you when I got back from checking the cargo."

"I was around. Making some phone calls. Speaking of which, how would you feel about taking the younger Shelby's as passengers on this next jaunt?"

"Younger Shelby's... you mean the kids?"

"Them, plus Ada and Michael."

"Why would they need to leave Birmingham for three months?"

"They need time to clear up the mess they have with the Lee's."

"Lee's?"

"The ones who blew up the pub."

"I suppose Tommy asked you for this."

"No. Actually I doubt he even knows about this. I was talking to Polly, she worries about them becoming collateral damage. It was an option I brought up. I'm supposed to talk to everyone and make sure it could potentially happen. If we're all good then Polly will bring the option up to Tommy and John. It would be there decision at that point."

"...I'm not sure about him, Aoife. I get mixed feelings about him. But after seeing what could have happened to you this morning. It's not about how I feel about the man. If taking them onboard would keep them safe from that happening to them. Then of course I'm in. Might be fun to have some young ones onboard for a while."

Aoife nodded at her brother, he'd always had a soft heart when it came to kids, hell he wasn't the only one. And that wasn't a bad thing. She also understood his reservations about Tommy.

He was definitely a hard man to pin down. She was sure that she was one of a select few, that would ever really be allowed to know him. She wasn't even sure how the hell she'd managed to gain entrance to the Thomas Shelby show, when she hadn't even been looking to buy a ticket. She was certainly going to enjoy getting to know the man better though. Maybe then she'd be able to piece together why she seemed to be drawn to him.

"We pulled straws to see who'd be making what for tomorrows dinner. Eirnin pulled the short straw, so he's supposed to be making the turkey, just so you know, and he doesn't try and finagle out of it."

"I can't believe it'll already be Christmas tomorrow. That would be just like him, thanks Rei...So what did I pull then?"

"You ended up with dessert, so I'll be expecting a pie all to myself, for giving you a heads up."

"And that would be just like you! All right, one pie all for yourself."

"Yes!...You do like him don't you?"

"Are we talking about Tommy again?"

"Who else."

Aoife laughed, "Oh Reilly. All right we'll talk about the Shelby man. He's different."

"Yeah, I gather that. What I want to know is why?"

"Not sure...there's just. God I don't know Reilly. Honestly I don't. Yes, The first time I met him I thought he was an attractive man, but I wasn't going to get involved. It'd just make a mess. Then somehow I end up spending the day with him and getting to know his family. Something shifted. There's just this indefinable, ugh...like, like a magnetism. This invisible force that just keeps fucking pulling us towards each other."

"Hm. All right, I don't need to know anymore. Jesus, I don't need to hear about my sisters sex life. Ugh. No more talking about the Shelby."

"Who said anything about sex? Get your mind out of the gutter! And so you're aware I don't want to hear anything about whatever sex life you have either. Bad enough I can barely escape Aine talking about what she gets up to with Alfie."

"Oh God, shit, shut up! I don't need to have those pictures in my fucking head either!"

Both she and Reilly started cracking up. God, when in doubt talk about not wanting to talk about sex with your siblings.

I know this Chapter was super short, but I prefer ending a 'day' by closing out a chapter. Have no fear I am currently in the midst of writing Chapter 14 and it's well on it's way. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done and posted within the next couple of days.

Also I know the last few chapters have been pretty Aoife/Tommy, and I've been missing Alfie so he'll be fairly prominent in the next one.