Disclaimer: I do not own anything Peaky Blinder related, that belongs to the series creator Steven Knight.
Face Claim for Rosemary Parker: Celina Sinden.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Work This Out.
"John wipe the blood out of his eye," Ada instructed moving around the room and gathering the things that she needed in aid of helping her brother. The news that Arthur had been picked up by coppers from the cinema and whisked away only to return beaten had spread quickly and had brough the family together.
"Since we do you give orders?" Arthur scoffed wincing as he spoke, his face covered in blood, cuts, and bruises from the beating that he had taken during the interrogation that he'd been put through. His entire body ached and he didn't think that he had hurt this much since his time in France, he had no desire to feel such pain again nor deal with being poked or prodded.
"I'm a trained nurse," Ada stated defending herself as he passed Polly who was seated beside Arthur bandaging up one of his hands. A firm look on her face as she looked at Rosemary who was cleaning Arthur's knuckles on his other hand from where it looked like he had punched a wall.
"Don't make me laugh, it hurts me face," Arthur grumbled squinting at his sister, who was getting clean water to clean his wounds; the room almost silent apart from the banter as they waited for Thomas to arrive. He was the only one missing from the house and he said something about getting Arthur a strong drink for the pain that he was in from the Garrison.
"I bloody am," Ada stated outraged, it was just like her brothers to dismiss her achievements when she did something for herself. She shot them both a disdainful look knowing that they couldn't dismiss the fact that she was the only one here that had taken the classes when they had been offered.
"You went to one first aid class in the church hall and got thrown out for giggling," John reminded her amused, it wasn't like she had gone to nursing school like Rosemary's sister, Yvette, was currently doing. In fact, she hadn't even made it to the end of the class, she had lasted about twenty minutes before she had been kicked out.
"Not before I learned to stop someone from choking," Ada recalled getting some clean cloth to clean his wounds with, it wasn't a lot but there wasn't a lot in the office that could be used in this situation.
"I'm not bloody choking, am I?" Arthur snapped with a frown, he leant back in his chair and stared at Ada wondering just what the hell she was going to do to help him that couldn't already be done by Polly and Rosemary. His entire jaw ached from where he had been punched repeatedly in the face by the coppers that had taken him, he didn't know who this new guy thought he was but he wasn't getting away with it.
"You will be when I wrap this cloth round ya neck," Ada muttered under her breath, although her words were still loud enough for everyone to hear judging by the looks of amusement that she got as Thomas entered the room. He moved past John who was in the door way and ignored the look on Polly's face as he went to make sure that Arthur was alright.
"Let me see him, have this," Thomas stated once he got a good look at Arthur, he set the bottle in Arthur's hands before taking a wet cloth and wiping the blood from Arthur's eyes. His blue eyes taking in every inch of his older brother's face as he wiped away the blood and cleaned out Arthur's eyes so that he could see.
"He said Mr. Churchill sent him to Birmingham. National interest, he said. Something about a robbery. He said he wants us to help him," Arthur stated watching his brother's face with each bit of information that he revealed from what he had gained from his talk with this new copper. There was no sign of anything on Thomas' face that would give away any gleam that his brother knew what was going on; it was completely blank of any emotion at all.
"We don't help coppers," John interrupted with a deep frown from his place at the door, he shook his head unable to believe that this new copper thought that he could come here and beat up his brother then ask for their help. It wasn't how things were done and someone would have to teach this guy a lesson before he got anymore bright ideas about what he was doing in Birmingham.
"He knew all about our war records. He said were patriots like him. he wants us to be his eyes and ears. I said... I said we'd have a family meeting and take a vote," Arthur continued on like he hadn't heard John. He winced a little as Polly cleaned out his wounds while he spoke but remained completely focused on Thomas who stood just a few feet away from him. A frown forming on his face when he saw how reluctant Thomas was to agree to the offer from the copper that had beaten him up and sent him back with this message.
"Well why not? We have no truck with Fenians or communists," Arthur demanded angrily, surely it was better to aid the man and get him out of the city rather than have him looking into them. Thomas was completely silent at Arthur's words and Rosemary looked towards her husband knowing exactly why he was relucent to agree to such terms especially when he was the one that had the items that the copper was looking for.
"What's wrong with ya? What the fuck is wrong with him lately?" Arthur raged, he turned to look at Polly on his left who had her eyes trained upon his brother as if waiting for him to admit something that she could imagine had led to this. Thomas gave nothing away, he stepped back away from his brother and turned away for a moment knowing that it was his own mistake that had led to this and he dared not tell his family that.
"If I knew, I'd buy the cure from Compton's chemists," Polly retorted with a shake of her head, she could not believe that he would not confine in his family right now when it had led to an attack such as this. Surely Thomas knew that they were all in this together, secret keeping would only backfire and if he could not trust them then who could he trust.
Rosemary stared at her husband, she would not break his trust if he did not wish for them to know of his mistake; she trusted that he had a plan to get them out of this mess especially if this copper was starting to take notice of them. The last thing that the Shelby family needed was some busy body snooping through their private business when they knew nothing about the city nor how things worked around here.
Clicking her tongue as she closed the door behind her, Rosemary tried to sooth her nerves as she crossed the room to approach her husband; a frown on her face as she moved towards him knowing that she couldn't just ignore what had happened to Arthur. If this Campbell was going to arrange such an attack on Arthur in a public place, snatching him from the cinema and dragging him out like a common thug then who was next. The last thing that Rosemary wanted was for anyone to come after Kathleen because of all of this, she didn't know what she would do if anything happened to her daughter.
"I take it we have a plan," Rosemary said in a quiet voice, part of her worried that they would be overheard even in their own home away from prying eyes and unfriendly ears. There was no telling who they could trust especially with the secret that her husband was determined remain between them; she knew that he would not breath a word to anyone unless he had no further options. Thomas did not say a word, puffing on his cigarette as he stared into the fire place; his mind filled with thoughts on how he wanted to play this when this copper was messing with everything that he knew.
The fact that he could reach out and have Arthur beaten like that when the Peaky Blinders run this town was worrying, everything in him told him that this copper didn't care for the order of things around here. Even the coppers that were on their payroll were strangely quiet in regards to this copper, there was little that Thomas could learn from them that he wasn't hearing from those who fled Ireland to get away from this Campbell.
"I've got this in hand," Thomas said after a moment, he looked at Rosemary knowing that he wasn't going to allow him to reach out and crush everything that he had worked so hard on; he could lead the Peaky Blinders to new heights if he could just fix the mess that he had made. Rosemary sighed and shook her head, she moved closer to Thomas and rested a hand on his shoulder; giving it a light squeeze as he looked away from her.
"We can work this out together," Rosemary told him, she would always have his back and she hoped that he knew that even if she sometimes took a step back. There was nothing that she would not do for him and their daughter, nothing in this world would be too much.
"I have it in hand," Thomas insisted with a shake of his head, it was better in his mind that she wasn't involved in what he had planned especially when he still couldn't work this copper out.
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