A slam in the house woke me up. Rolling over to my front and sticking my head under the pillow, I could feel I was in an unfamiliar bed and had a terrible hangover. What had I drunk last night? What was that crazy dream? 1910? What day is it? Shit, it's light outside. One more hour and I'll get up… All of a sudden I heard the bedroom door open.

"Mum, 5 more minutes" I mumbled incoherently.

I rolled over and tried to sit up but feeling my head spin and a wave of nausea hit, I lay back down and slowly opened my eyes. That's when I realised I wasn't in the Airbnb bed or even my room.

"Love, I'm not your mother" a low voice slurred. "That's my bed."

My brain might be struggling to process a lot in a drunken haze, but it was impossible to miss a grown-ass man stumbling around the room drunk, and worse of all undressing. Wait was that a Brummie accent? His bed? Is he joining me? What the hell did I do last night?

Cheeks flushing in embarrassment and feeling startled enough to sober up, I looked around the room trying to piece together last night's antics. The room was sparse, a double bed filled the space, there was an old open fire on the left-hand side of the bed, wooden bedside tables and some old-fashioned drawers. Very plain.

I spotted my bra on the floor next to a pile of clothes. Not my clothes, my cheeks were burning. Looking down under the bed covers, I found myself dressed in a nightgown. Something probably similar to what my grandma would wear. Phew, okay, sexy, wait is it vintage, looks more antique really… Bugger. It hit me like a ton of bricks, the dream, not a dream! I was stuck, in a whole other era. Bloody hell! I fell back into bed defeated, not for long.

The man had stripped down to his boxers and collapsed beside me. He was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow. He stunk of booze and tobacco and snored like a pig, there was not a chance I was falling back to sleep. I got up as quickly as my head would allow, found a long jacket in the pile of clothes to put on over my nightie and then made my way downstairs.

"How's the head?" I heard a woman ask before I'd even finish coming down the stairs.

I winced "Urgh, Not good. Spinning and confused" I said reaching the bottom of the kitchen stairs. "Er.."

"Polly" She interupted.

"Polly," I nodded "Erm what did we drink?"

"What did you drink more like, Whiskey love and a lot of it. I wondered if you were half fish until you blacked out." Polly chuckled.

"Oh dear god" I slurred slumping in a chair, head in my hands trying to hide my shame and embarrassment. Well done Em, great first impression. "Sorry, I don't normally…"

"It's alright love," Polly said kindly handing me a cup she'd been stirring. "Here drink this, it'll either help cure the hangover or help you throw up. Tomato juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and egg."

Wonderful!

"Thanks," I muttered gagging at the smell. "Best drink this and then pop to the outhouse. Do you have a spare toothbrush?"

"There's toothpaste and powder by the washbasin" Polly explained.

"Right." I said, pretending like this was totally normal. "Oh Polly, Can I steal some paper and a pen later, I need to make a list."

Gagging I forced Polly's cure down and decided to set about. By the time I'd finished making myself decent, figuring out what toothpaste powder was, how to lace up and struggle with a million buttons and battling with my non-conformist hair, I had started to feel somewhat human (thanks possibly to Polly's concoction). I made my way back to the kitchen and found Polly had set a pen and paper down on the kitchen table. Grabbing them, I sat down at the table and started to make a list. The list needed to contain everything I could remember about the upcoming years. If I was stuck here at least I have some advantage of knowing what's about to happen. Brain fog. Suddenly I was regretting all my previous choices in life, why did I not study history and specialise in the 1900s? 1900s that's the 20th Century right? Right any list I make, if misplaced and picked up by someone shouldn't be too coherent to understand. Maybe I can use film names or actors instead of real names? I you can remember anything at all! Right, just make a start…1910…

20.C.

1900s ?!…

1910 (17?)

1912 - titanic Titanic, Liverpool?

1914 - WW1 MONTH? - Franz F

19178 - WW1 11 NOV (rem. day)

1917 - Russia Rev. Rasputin?

1917/8 ish 1919 1918 - Pandemic 3/4 years? 50Mil.

W. Vote? Post WW1?/pre-1920? 1928? - , Races?

1920s (27) - Films, JAZZ, Cars(Ford), Picasso, Dali, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chanel, Chaplin, Einstein, Gatsby , , Le Corbusier, Lenin - Stalin

CS lewis, Orwell, TS Eliot. Potter? National trust?

1921 - Ireland - UK EXIT

1923 - March 23 Grandad B.

.

.

1926 - QE2

1927 - June 12 Grandma B.

1928 - Penicillin. A Fleming. -1941 AF - 1946 UK Genpop

1929 - Winter Sept-Nov? - Crash!

DEPRESSION

Build up to ww2? Hilter-Austrian.

1930s (37) - Mosley, Fascist. Art Deco.

Abdication PRE WAR? Edward? Nazi ooo.

King George (Prince Albert)

1939 SEP - 1945 ? WW2 (46-52)

Auschwitz - Schindler.

A. Frank - Amsterdam.

Turin - Enigma, Bletchley. HH. 1942

Pear Harbour

Little buoy - 6 Aug 19445 - END Soon after - SEP-DEC?

James Bond - Fleming - Mincemeat.

Mussolini, A Hitler, H Himler, J Goebballs…?

.

.

1945 - UK - UN

NHS? 75 years or 70? 1953/1948 ish

COLD WAR

194? - India - UK

1950 (57)- Tolkien, Elvis, Johnny Cash, QE2, New look. End of rations.

1955 . - 1st rights 1957

.

.

1960 (67)- Beatles. JFK. Vietnam? MLK, Berlin Wall

.

.

.

26th May 1960 - MUM B.

.

.

.

1964 - rights

1968 MLK

1969 - O - N Armstrong

1970 (77) Watergate. Vietnam. UKPM MT 1979-1990 ?

.

.

. 1986 Chenobyl

I studied the list over and over, I had racked my brain and couldn't for the life of me add anything else. Surely I will remember more later on? Damn, It's not a very good list but a least a start.

All of a sudden the kitchen had turned into a hive of activity and full of people. Startled, I folded the list up as quickly as possible and shoved it inside a pocket before anyone noticed it.

"Where's Thomas? THOMAS! Family meeting, get your ass out of bed!" Polly shouted. "Emma, I've organised a family meeting so you can meet everyone and we can organise a few things all at once. We're just waiting on Tommy. Finn stop that…"Polly trailed off, failing to grab a little boy running through the kitchen.

"Right Pol, I'm here, Do you want to start?" Thomas stated flatly.

"Nice of you to join Thomas. Emma here," Polly started gesturing to myself. "She's going to be staying with us. Tommy, you're going to switch rooms with Ada and Ada and Emma you're sharing in Tommy's room. Emma this is Arthur."

"Morning Emma, nice to meet you. I'm Arthur, eldest brother." Arthur said cheerfully in a thick Brummie accent.

"Emma, I'm John" John said sticking his hand out for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you Arthur and John" I nodded shaking John's hand.

"Why are you staying here?" Tommy said directly, he did not look impressed. Maybe it's his face, annoyance about having to be in this family meeting hungover or the fact he's now got to swap rooms.

"Er…" I mumbled lost for words. What do I say to that? Oh I don't know Thomas, the universe dumped my ass here and I'm stuck here wanting to escape back to the future!

Fortunately, Polly cut in before I could find the right words."She's come to stay here. Emma's a good friend of mine's daughter. Her parents were in an accident, both died. So she can stay here as long as she likes and we'll treat her like family. Okay." Tommy just nodded.

"Hi Emma, nice to meet you. I'm Ada Shelby," Ada introduced herself pulling me into a hug "I've always wanted a sister, this house is filled with bloody boys!".

"Ada!" Polly scolded.

"Sorry Aunt Pol, house is filled with smelly boys" Ada stated with a smirk.

"Hi Ada, it's nice to meet you. Did you say, Ada Shelby?" I asked, Ada nodded "Shelby, right. Can I just double-check your names again, I'm awful with names. Arthur, John, Ada, Tommy…"

"Thomas" Thomas corrected.

"Thomas and Polly" Polly nodded.

FUCK!

"And this is Finn, Finn Shelby the youngest brother." Polly said grabbing Finn as he was running through the kitchen again oblivious to any family meeting going on.

"Finn, nice to meet you, I'm Emma." I smiled introducing myself to the youngest Shelby.

"Have you got a last name Emma?" Thomas asked.

"Cooper" Polly shot in "You remember the Coopers?" She asked. Thomas just nodded. "Ok, meeting adjourned. Emma, you'll get introduced to Charlie and Curly soon, Scudboat should be by later" And with that the family resumed back their day, apart from Thomas who was still on the stairs. I caught Thomas staring at me, turning away I could feel his gaze on me making me very uncomfortable. Ignoring him as best I could, I made my way to the kitchen table and sat down. I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible, it was bloody hard with realisations hitting left, right and centre.

The Shelby family? Shelby family! I'm still trying to wrap my head around being transported back in bloody time! Now I'm in the Bloody Shelby family's house! Surely Shelby's were fiction, TV fiction, not real life? My god, they do all look the same! Geez Louise! POLLY, ARTHUR, JOHN, ADA, FINN and TOMMY, Thomas! Bugger! Can he see through the lie? Did he know Polly was lying? Ah I met him yesterday, Thomas was the date guy at the pub. Is he still on the stairs?

I wasn't sure what was more shocking or worse, it being the year 1910 or being a guest of the Peaky Blinders. I decided there was no time like the present to create a new list, a peaky list. I turned around to see if I was indeed still being observed and to my relief found Thomas had disappeared.

I pulled out the list from my pocket turned it over and started writing as much as I could remember from the TV series.

PB

1 1919 - BKim Vs LEE. FrT&AdaS - KARL. Gr & Insp.C. S. legit? DWB. J&Es.

2 1921? - FrT. MikeG! MAY? Gr, IC. LONDON? .

3 1924? - Gr. RUSSIAN/EL .Curse. ANGEL! ShelFam CONVICTED x2X - CANCER? BOMB

1926? - ShelFam Fractured. JS . Camp…? Changretta. Al.C

1929? - CRASH MikeG. Billy boys? Lizzie. Mosley. PolG AraG. Billy x2X

1933? - Dr. Gina, Mosley, Boston. MikeG

Glancing over the list, Ada came downstairs into the kitchen.

"Emma, Tommy and I have swapped our rooms now. I can take your bags upstairs if you fancy. There's two drawers empty for you to use." Ada offered, as I hid the list behind my back as quickly as possible.

"Oh, erm, I don't have any bags." I started explaining. Where is my handbag? Had Polly hidden it last night?

"My, er, our house burnt down in a fire." Good lie, could be true.

"I thought you Coopers were travellers?" Ada asked.

"Oh right, yep. Yes. We are, well we were. I didn't realise Polly had told you that. Our home burnt down but it wasn't a house, I don't know why I said that." I answered trying yet failing to sound convicning.

"Don't worry, you don't need to hide that you're Gyspie from us. Our Mother was Romani and Father Irish. They settled here but both have gone now. Aunt Pol raised us ever since." Ada explained. "I can show you around the place if you want? So you know the area and get settled in."

"That would be great" I said looking forward to escaping the house for a while.

"Shall we go now? There's enough of the day left to give you a small tour. Polly!" Ada shouted. "Pol! Em and I are going out, I'm showing her the sights." Ada smiled at me. "Let's sneak out before…"

Polly appeared in the room. "Not on your own Ada. Take Tommy, it'll do his head some good. Can you call and get a loaf?" Polly Asked. "Tommy!" She shouted. This was evidently not a quiet house. "Tommy, you're chaperoning Ada and Emma! A walk will sort your head and you need to pop to the boatyard anyway. Charlie's said he's got a big job. Come on, get down here."

"Alright." Thomas appeared. "Charlie's first. I'm not chaperoning all day. Ada, where are you going?" Thomas asked.

"Showing Em the sights of course!" Ada exclaimed smirking at me.

Thomas rolled his eyes, let out a groan, grabbed a coat and hat and was out the door before we had a chance to follow. "Come on then, I'm not waiting around for you. Charlie's and then we'll pick Freddie up." Thomas shouted back to us. Ada let out an excited laugh grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house following Thomas's figure who was off down the street without a care of actually chaperoning us.

I smirked, Ada was obviously already head over heels for Freddie, It was written in the smile all over her face. How can Tommy not see that? She looks pretty young, still a kid really, 12,13,14? When do Ada and Freddie fall in love? Do they get together now pre-war whilst Tommy and Freddie are friends? aren't they best friends? How on earth I am going to keep everything a secret?

"Ada, how old are you?" I asked.

"I'm fourteen years old," She answered. "How old are you?"

"I'm Thirty-three." I answered without a second thought.

"Thirty-three?" Ada laughed. "Well then I'm Forty-five."

Shit, I was thirty-three in my time but not anymore. Wait surely that still makes me thirty-three?

Just looking younger? Polly had guessed 17 years old right? I'd put 17 on my list.

"Aha kidding!" I laughed. "How old do you think?"

"Eighteen? You look younger than Tommy but older than John" She asked.

"I'm seventeen, Eighteen in three months." I explained. Might as well keep the same date for my birthday. October 3rd.

"Have you got a boyfriend? When I'm your age, I'll want a boyfriend."Ada stated, I shook my head. "No boys that you've met whom you think you'll marry?" I shook my head again. "No one you've fancied, you must have kissed a boy?"

Might as well tell some kind of truth. "There was one boy, we lived together for a while." Ada eyes suddenly sparkled with interest. "We were young and grew apart." I explained. I wasn't quite sure how to adapt the story to fit into my new timeline so I decided that was all I'd say. She didn't need to know we met in our twenties after university and that I thought we'd be happily married at thirty with kids but after years of living together, he broke my heart and I'm now alone. Lying, cheating bastard.

"Did you kiss, were you in love?" Ada asked without waiting for an answer, I just smiled. "I've not kissed a boy but one day I hope to kiss a boy I love." She blushed and I couldn't help but smile wider. She has definitely already fallen for Freddie. "Tommy and John have got girlfriends. John is going to ask Martha to marry him when they're both sixteen next year. Martha's nice, I like her, I'm sure you'll meet her soon. You know, I don't know if Arthur's got a girlfriend, he's pretty busy as head of the family." Ada went on.

It was quite easy to let Ada do most of the talking as we walked, evading any awkward questions she asked by changing the topic or asking about the area we were in. At fourteen years old, Ada seemed to be excited about the world, keen to grow and enjoying finally having a girl to talk to. Unfortunately, I didn't think my tactic, of evade and change, would work on Tommy if he were to ask questions or ever speak. He seemed to always keep a few paces in front of us never engaging in our conversation. It was as if he was trying to ignore us and pretend he wasn't chaperoning at all. Was it so uncool for Tommy to be seen with a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old… Oh the Horror!

The walk to Charlie's boatyard hadn't taken too long. I was intrigued to know what the family business was involved with pre-1919. From what I could remember, the TV show hadn't really mentioned any pre-war business. I'm sure it had mentioned the family had been poor at some point and that Polly had led the business whilst the men had been at war. 4 years from now. When had their business started? Were they still poor? Were they feared yet? Was Arthur the boss man? Hadn't it also suggested Tommy was nice pre-war?

Following Tommy through the boatyard, I was amazed at how it was almost identical to how it had been portrayed in the TV series. Weaving our way through the scrapyard we found Charlie and Curly loading up a boat. Spotting us first Charlie greated Tommy. "Tommy, Ada! Afternoon, I wasn't expecting to see today Tommy! Heard you had a rather interesting night last night. What happens at the bar doesn't stay at the bar for long." Charlie chuckled. "Is this the secret girl from the docks?" Charlie nodded at me.

"This is Emma, she's staying at ours. A daughter of one of Aunt Pol's friends." Tommy explained matter of factly.

"Nice to meet you Emma, welcome to our yard, I'm Charlie, Uncle Charlie, and this is Curly." Charlie said welcoming gesturing around to the space and then at Curly.

"Hi Charlie, Curly, I'm Emma. Not Thomas's girl, by the way. I've just arrived in Birmingham so Ada's showing me around and Tommy meant to be chaperoning. You're our first stop, the finest sight in the city so far." I said introducing myself causing Charlie to chuckle.

"Charlie, Pol says you've got a job." Tommy cut in, getting straight to the point "Curly why don't you show the girls the horses?"

"Yes Tommy, Can do Tommy. Come on Miss Emma follow me, follow me. The horses are this way, keep up, keep up." Curly said leading us away from the interesting business conversation about to be had. Shame. "Do you like horses Miss?" Curly asked me.

I nodded "Yes, I've grown up with them." I replied.

Ada and I followed Curly into a small stable block. The stables had four stalls which currently housed 3 horses. A shire horse and two thoroughbreds. The large heavy shire was obviously the boatyard's working horse. One that would pull unpowered butty boats. The two thoroughbred must surely be racing horses, it would be absurd to use these as working horses. So the Shelbys must already have the betting shop and own at least two racehorses. Ah, I was at the betting shop after opening the Tea Room's door! I bet that's their place!

"You'll like Ruby Robin Miss, she's very nice. Very nice horse, see" Curly said handing over a brush and gesturing to a beautiful bay thoroughbred in the final stall. Ada, clearly not as interested in horses, sat herself down on a straw bale and appeared to fully immerse herself into a daydream. Freddie Thorne, I bet.

Taking the brush from Curly, I began introducing myself slowly to Ruby. Holding my hand out for her, letting her get used to my smell and appearance I slowly started stoking her face until she seemed content to let me brush her. Curly seemed to approve of my approach. We lost track of time chatting, laughing, and fussing over the horses. For the first time in 24 hours, I had almost forgotten all my worries and felt at ease and relaxed in the stables. It wasn't till Tommy and Charlie walked in that realised I was disappointed to leave Curly, the horses and the boatyard. We said our goodbyes to Charlie and Curly and made our way to the start of my Small Heath tour.

"Right let's start by going through Victoria Park, then we can call and stop at Freddie's house and pick him up. Then head to the shops and window shop on Coventry Road, Polly wants a loaf of bread. Emma if you want, then we can go right to the end of the street and show you the Birmingham City Football Club and St Andrew's church. Turn around and we'll finish with the library and baths and walk past the posh houses on the way home." Ada explained. "And Tommy's miserable, hungovered arse can accompany us along the whole tour." She gave Tommy a pointed look and smirked. "He's normally not as miserable Emma, maybe his girlfriend dumped him." Ada laughed grabbing me by the hand, quickening her pace and starting the tour. Most likely Ada wanting to start to rush to Freddie's house.

As luck would have it we bumped into Freddie Thorne at our first stop, Victoria Park. Looking green around the gills, Freddie had explained that he had come outside for some fresh air before planning to head to Watery Lane to see if Tommy fancied hair of the dog. Tommy's mood seemed to improve almost instantly once his friend joined our company, then we had a most informative, enjoyable tour. Possibly as Freddie's hangover was worse than Tommy's. They put on a locals tour, one filled with gossip and memories with little snippets of useful factual information, a fantastic introduction to life in the 1910s.

Not only was I enjoying the tour but found it fascinating to watch Freddie's interactions with Ada. They had a great connection but he clearly hadn't fallen in love with her yet, even if she was smitten.

We had passed The Garrison on our way home when all of a sudden I realised I hadn't been shown the Doctor's house, the one with the telephone line. I had been wondering throughout the day what would be the best use of my time if I am indeed stuck here for a while. How could I best improve or help the era? My best conclusion given the upcoming events of WW1 and possibly living with a dangerous family, train to become a doctor. Since I am a woman in 1910, training most likely would have to be for a nurse. Ideally, a nurse specialising in PTSD and trauma cases but that was probably too woke to consider in this era.

"Have we passed the Doctor's house?" I asked the group.

"Oh, we passed the Doctor's house on the last street. His house is on the far corner towards The Garrison." Ada explained.

"Oh right, I'm just going to pop back and call in on him. I'll see you back at the house." I told the group.

"Tommy will join you, escort you there, here's no place for a lady to walk alone." Freddie said offering up his friend with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, I'll be fine! Don't worry, I'll see you at the house in a minute." I said goodbye setting off in the given direction. Tommy jogged to catch up with me and silently walked alongside me. "Which house is it?" Tommy led me to the correct house, knocked and waited outside as I went in.

"Is it possible to speak with the Doctor please?" I asked the lady who had opened the door and invited me in after a quick glance at Tommy.

"I'm sorry my dear," She started. "My husband is in a meeting in the drawing room with a patient at the moment. Would you care to wait?"

"Yes please Ma'am." I said trying to sound proper, like I could fit in here in the 1900s. I was aware what I was going to do might not be how a typical lady would behave but I was also highly aware that by associating with the Shelby family, no one would ever consider me as a lady.

"Very well Miss, you can wait here" the Doctor's wife has said offering me a seat. I thanked her as she left and waited for 5 minutes until the Doctor and his previous patient appeared. Fastest Doctor's service I've waiting for in years! 5 minutes. NHS take notes!

I explained to the Doctor and his wife of my intentions, that I intend to train as a nurse and wondered if I could shadow and learn under him. Initially, the Doctor objected insisting that it wouldn't be possible however he quickly changed his mind once his wife had mentioned Thomas Shelby was waiting for me outside. We agreed I was to shadow him for 6 months and if I was a successful scholar he would put my name forward to the voluntary hospital in Birmingham which had their own school offering three-year training. Evidently, the Peaky Blinders had already started to be feared in Small Heath.

"Thomas, thanks for waiting. I'm so sorry that took longer with the Doctor than expected." I apologised to Tommy whilst leaving the Doctor's house.

"All sorted, are you ok?" Tommy asked waiting for my reply before setting off home.

"Yes, all sorted, thanks." I replied and we set off to Watery Lane together. "Thomas, I'm sorry I stole your bed and then your bedroom. I feel like we've got off on the wrong…"

"Emma, you can call me Tommy, I know I snapped at you earlier when you called me Tommy, sorry. Ah, you were in my bed this morning! I wasn't sure if I had imagined that. I've had a hell of a hangover today. It wasn't a great night last night, then I got far too drunk with Freddie as a result. I've been in a bad mood most of the day but it's not really your fault." Tommy said and smiled apologetically at me.

"Is that an apology? Is it also an apology for when you asked if I was a whore last night?" I asked jokingly.

"Oh god, I vaguely remember that. That was you too!" He said laughing.

"Let's start again," I suggested and stopped suddenly on the pavement. "Hello good Sir, my name is Emma. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I said in my best posh accent whilst holding out my hand.

"Emma, the pleasure is all mine, please call me Tommy." He said with a smile, one hand taking off his hat and the other taking my hand and placing a kiss on the back of it. Linking arms with me, we headed back to Watery Lane together.