Chapter 104

"Katie's beside herself with glee," Charlie grunted with a raised eyebrow when he opened the door into number six's front room later that afternoon.

Tommy glanced up from the newspaper he wasn't reading, frowned and said, "Typical of her. Probably overdue a good reddening of her own."

Truthfully, half of him was glad George was seemingly in enough trouble that Katie had felt it was something to be gleeful over. It meant at least John was doing what needed done.

"You were always pleased enough yourself when John was getting it."

"That's cause Johnny boy didn't get it nearly enough."

Charlie ignored him, choosing instead to greet Rosie, who had come through from the kitchen, where she had made a start on the dinner, to lean on the doorway to the front room.

"Alright lass?"

"Well, I've had better days," Rosie replied wryly, "Can't say finding out Finn and George nearly got themselves chopped to pieces on the train tracks was something I've been hoping for," she nodded to Lily, who was cowering behind his Uncle Charlie, staring over at Tommy with wide eyes and her fingers lodged in her mouth, "Was she good for you?"

"As gold, just as always. Weren't you my little chicken?" Charlie responded, reaching down to ruffle her hair.

She blinked, tearing her eyes away from him to look up at his Uncle and nod dutifully.

Charlie grinned encouragingly at her then continued, glancing over at him, "So that's what they were up to, Katie just said something about being brought home by a policeman. They still in one piece?"

"Can't speak for George but Finn's upstairs and in one piece - albeit a shaky one," Rosie replied when he didn't.

He was too busy looking at Lily. He didn't know how he felt about the look on her face, the worry etched over it, the way she was looking at him as if she was wary of him, the way she was hanging back, not coming into the room properly, not bounding over to tell him about what she had been up to after he had left her alone at the yard.

"You alright, my little love?" he asked, hating, as usual, the rough rasp of his voice, wishing he could sound more soothing, adding, "Eh?" on in an attempt to soften his question, to make it seem less demanding.

She nodded uncertainly, staying behind Charlie's legs.

Tommy frowned, put the paper down on the arm of his chair and held out his hands, "C'mere to me, sweetheart."

She crossed slowly, seemingly more from an instinct to do as she was told rather than because she had any desire to be near him, her fingers still in her mouth. He grasped her once she was in reach and pulled her up and onto his lap.

"What's with those big worried eyes, eh?"

She shook her head, sucking her fingers harder.

"Give me those fingers," he said, reaching to take her wrist and pry them out, "You're seven now, eh? Getting too old for that."

She nodded, looking like she might be about to burst into tears - and he felt like a right bastard. Seven was still a baby. He didn't want her to grow up anyway. He just wanted her to talk to him, not to look at him like she was.

Rosie cleared her throat, somehow sending him a message not to criticise the bab in that moment through the action, not needing to address him with any words before she addressed his uncle, "You want to stay for dinner Charlie, there's plenty going?"

"Nah, thanks all the same, best be getting back - Curly'd never forgive me if he heard I ate your cooking and left him to fend for himself."

"Let me make you some plates up," she insisted, turning back to the kitchen, "It'll just need heated through before you eat."

She glanced at where he sat with Lily, then disappeared into her domain, motioning Charlie to come with her.

"Alright my girl, it's just us. You tell old Tommy what's going on in that little head of yours," Tommy pushed, trying to keep his voice gentle.

"Is Finn in trouble?" Lily whispered, her voice shaking a little.

He nodded. He wasn't going to lie to her, "Finn's in the worst trouble he's ever been in in his whole life, I'm afraid."

Tears spilled over her eyes.

"Hey, hey, none of that, you're not in trouble my little love, no need for you to be crying," he told her, wiping at her tears with his thumb.

"Don't want Finn to be in trouble either," she protested, sniffing.

"Well, Finn's made his choices and got himself in trouble," Tommy said.

It wasn't as if he liked it when Finn got himself in trouble at the best of times, but there was no way he was about to let the kid off the hook when he'd endangered his bloody life. And disobeyed his boundary rules too, whilst he was at it. No, he'd let the kid off before and that had backfired like this.

"Georgie's is in trouble too," Lily whispered.

"Aye, George got himself there as well," he nodded, almost slightly amused at the way Lily had adopted George's childhood name, presuming it was a habit of Katie's - and presuming his nephew probably didn't care for it.

She shifted in his lap, perturbed and upset and not remotely soothed by his words. He half wished he could tell her everything was going to be fine, wished he could tell her it was all alright. But he couldn't, so he simply held her on his lap, pulled her in against his chest and sat in silence, one hand rhythmically stroking through her hair, listening to Rosie and Charlie chatting easily in the kitchen.

He was somewhat soothed, in spite of Lily's upset, by the weight of the little bundle of her on his lap and the sounds of the older sister and his Uncle enjoying a good repertoire with one another. It was nearly enough to make him forget about the boy he had banished to the bedroom upstairs and the actions he would need to undertake in the near future concerning him. Nearly.

The door had shut behind Charlie before either of them spoke again, when Lily ventured a nervous sounding, "Tommy?"

"Uhuh?"

"Would you ever send Finn away?"

His brows met as he looked down at her, "Away where?"

"Away."

"No; where's that idea coming from?"

"Katie said George might get sent away."

He shifted, sitting up a bit straighter, "You listen to me my girl, none of you are going anywhere, not ever. You understand me? Doesn't matter what you do, how disobedient you are, what scrapes you find yourselves in. I'm going to tan Finn's hide and he's going to eat his meals standing up for a month but he'll be eating them in that kitchen, same as always."

She nodded and seemed to settle a little more, her head laying on his chest of its own accord, not because he had pulled it there. She must have been hearing the sound of his heart racing. He didn't want to worry her, she was evidently upset enough, but he suddenly wanted to get to the bottom of what Katie had said - and where Katie had got her own ideas from.

"Charlie would have said if what Katie had said had worried him," Rosie said from the doorway over his shoulder, appearing there as if she'd been reading his mind.

That, he supposed, was true. A little comfort.

"Lily, I think we need to have a talk," Rosie said, sighing and coming into the room properly, picking up his paper and putting it on the table, sitting herself on the arm of the chair in its place.

Instantly, whatever soothing he'd just done, was undone. Lily's eyes went big and cautious again.

Rosie reached out and took one of Lily's hands, squeezing gently, rubbing her thumb back and forth across the little palm.

"I know you get yourself upset about it when other people are in trouble - that is, when you're not preoccupied with being in trouble of your own," Rosie said, raising an eyebrow slightly and making Lily wriggle a bit.

"And there's no need to," Tommy added.

"No, there's not - generally," Rosie said, giving him a slightly strange look, "But I want you to understand this one in particular Lily. You know our rules, don't you? You don't go anywhere without letting us know where we can find you and you don't go outwith Watery Lane, yes?"

Lily nodded.

"Good girl," Rosie said, nodding and squeezing the hand a little in an encouraging manner before she continued, "Well, Finn has his own rules - he can roam a bit further than you can because he's bigger, but he's still got boundaries and he broke them. And you know what's happened to you the twice you've broken your boundaries, don't you?"

The baby nodded, most definitely squirming now.

"Uhuh," Rosie agreed, her voice suddenly quite stern, "You get your spanking, same as every other kid on Watery Lane. But we speak to you, don't we? We discuss it and you understand why your rules are in place, don't you?"

Lily blinked blankly up at her.

Rosie sighed, releasing the hand, waving hers through the air to emphasise her words, "Lily - when you wander off, we worry about you. You've been told that, it's the worry that makes me so angry - it's because I'm scared for you, " she paused and looked at the bab, who nodded her understanding - though Tommy wasn't sure if she really did or if the nodding was just blind obedience - before then the redhead went on, "We get worried and scared because when you go wandering you could get hurt and you'd be too far away for us to help you. Do you understand?"

Again Lily nodded.

Tommy cleared his throat and picked up, figuring this was supposed to be a team effort, "Like when you went to The Cut Lily, I was furious with you - because if you'd fallen in you could have died. We could have lost you. And if we ever lost you, our lives would never feel full ever again, you hear me?"

Lily blinked at him and nodded, biting her lip.

"Well, we feel the same about Finn," Rosie said, taking the ball back from him, "And when Finn went his wandering today, he went down the train track. He knows he's not allowed there - and Tommy and I expect a certain level of boundary pushing from you because that's normal."

"Uhuh. You push me and you'll get your smacks when you push too far and that's just part of growing up," Tommy clarified, not quite ready to sign off entirely that boundary pushing was normal, expected, as if it was not going to be met with a push right back into place.

"But there are certain things that you don't push on Lily, things that are absolutely non-negotiable. Leaving the lane will always get you in trouble, you know that, but leaving the lane to go to The Cut or the train tracks - that's another level of trouble Lily, as you well know."

The baby shoved her fingers in her mouth and nodded, sucking hard.

Rosie blinked, looking a touch worried, then smoothed her face as quickly as it had shifted to betray her in the first place, "It's another level of trouble because it's another level of danger. You could get killed - or very seriously injured. And if we have to make sure you're too wary of the trouble you'll find yourself in if we ever find you there to make sure you avoid it, then so be it. Because we want you safe, Lily. You understand? Your safety is always our priority, above everything else. That's why Finn is in the trouble he is. Because he put his safety in danger."

Lily nodded, her fingers still in her mouth.

"Give me those," Tommy said, as he had done when he'd first taken her on his lap, but with less agitation, less chiding, pulling gently at them, "I want your mouth clear so you can talk to us, sweetheart, eh? I want you to make us a promise. Make me a best girl promise, Lily, eh? I want you to promise me - us - that you will never go near that train track, alright?"

Lily looked between them and nodded.

"You say it - out loud - for me chavi, eh? Be a good girl and make me a proper promise."

"I promise."

"That's my best girl," Tommy said, squeezing her waist, "My bitti chikni."

"What's that?"

"Just means you're mine," Tommy told her, "Means you'd never break your promises to me."

"I won't, ever, I promise," she said, her voice quick and earnest.

"Alright, why don't we get you cleaned up a little before dinner?" Rosie said, sitting back, seeming to decide she didn't want to push the issue any further, "Run upstairs, put on the dress you had on yesterday and bring those riding clothes down for me so I can get the worst of the muck off of them before it sets in, alright?"

Lily nodded and he released his hold on her to let her slide down off his lap and head through.

Rosie watched her go, then leant over and dusted some of that imaginary yard and horse muck that she seemed to think she could see on Lily off of him, before she took her sister's place on his knee, cupping his face with her hand and kissing him with a firmness that he hadn't quite been expecting.

"What was that for, eh?" he asked when they broke apart, though her hand stayed on his face, as if she wasn't quite ready to be parted properly from him.

"I know what bitti chikni means," she told him, her smile soft and loving, her guard down almost completely.

"You do, do you?"

She nodded, "I've been learning a few bits and pieces from the Lee women."

"That right?" he smiled back, his own hand drifting to her pink cheek, his thumb running along her cheekbone.

"Mhmm," she nodded, her lips returning to pressing themselves against his.

It was strange in a way, for a girl who was such an anomaly - or who had been such an anomaly - such a loner, who kept herself to herself, who had slowly taken over his mind, so one day he had suddenly realised how much time he spent trying to work out the little redhead from the tobacco shop - to have entered his life and managed to ingratiate herself with so many people she came into contact with because he had dragged her into his life. She had been so anti-social, her walls so high - and he knew, to people outwith their little family, that she still was that way. But she had allowed him in - and, more than he'd ever dared expect, she'd allowed others in too seemingly by proxy.

Yet it was not a mere tolerance, on her part of theirs.

His uncle adored her, he could see a spark in Charlie when he spoke to Rosie, could see the two of them got on well. Reckoned his uncle preferred her to him, if he were to tell the truth. That was important to him. Charlie had been more of a father than his actual father had been. Charlie had been his mother's best support. He wasn't sure he'd realised how important Charlie's opinions were to him until he'd realised how much he liked the relationship his uncle and Rosie had.

His brothers, he knew, loved her - not that they said anything as bluntly as that and not that she'd ever say it in return, none of them were like that - but he knew they were both glad for her presence, knew they both slunk off to bend her ear and ask for advice on their own, went to her for things they wanted a woman's opinion on that they didn't want Polly's barked judgement being passed over.

He knew, for all his aunt was currently not speaking to either of them, that Pol liked having another woman around. She and Rosie had a respect for one another that wasn't like the relationship Pol and Ada had.

And Ada - God, Ada and Rosie had been a friendship he could never have predicted, but it had happened. Though ironically, for all it was a relationship that never would have happened had it not been for him bringing Rosie and Lily to number six with no warning, he imagined that particular relationship was one that might have done even better without him in the way of it.

And here she was, even fitting herself in amongst the Lee women. And if they were teaching her their words, their language - it wasn't simply that they viewed her as an envoy, sent on the Shelby's behalf. They were accepting her.

"You do love her like she was yours, don't you Tom?" she said after they came apart this time.

"You know I do."

Bitti chikni meant little daughter. But he had said it without thought, then remembered, when Lily asked what it had meant, how she'd been the night before they'd gone back to school - when she'd asked him why he couldn't be her Daddy properly. He had been concerned it might cause an upset in her to hear that he thought of her as his daughter, when she couldn't call him her father - even if she, as she seemingly did, thought of him as such.

"You make me unbelievably furious at times, Thomas Shelby," Rosie told him, "But there's not a single day where I don't feel unbelievably lucky that you started doing deliveries to that tobacco shop."

"You make me furious too, you little wench," he assured her, smiling as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "But there's not a bloody day that I don't feel lucky you ever agreed to be mine."

"I am yours, amn't I?"

"As I am yours."

"And we have Lily. And Finn."

He nodded. Finn and Rosie's relationship had been a funny one to track - the youngest Shelby had hero worshipped Rosie Jackson from long before her embedding into life at number six. Then they had sort of rubbed along next to one another for a while, her never quite telling him what to do, always taking the backseat and staying out of it when he and Finn were at odds. But ever since she'd left the school, that had started to change slightly. And today, from what he'd heard, it sounded like it had changed entirely. She had scolded him, threatened him and signalled authority over him in doing so - but she had guarded him too, staying with him when Tommy had arrived home, she hadn't handed him over and let the two of them have at it like she would have done before.

"Want to hear something else I learned?" Rosie asked, her amber eyes looking up at him, liquid pools of whisky he'd happily drown in.

"What's that?"

"Me mangav tut."

It was him who kissed her then, deeply and tenderly, before breaking off to tell her, "I love you too."

A/N

Just wanted to reiterate as I've said before that my Romani phrases that I bring into this story are very much learned via the internet, which is absolutely not foolproof but bitti chikni according to google does mean little daughter and me mangav tut means I love you.