Chapter 38

"I don't think I'll ever sit again," Ada was saying.

"Well if you know how it feels I don't see why the rest of us need to look at your bare arse to tell you how it looks Ada," Rosie sighed.

"But doesn't it look bad? I looked at it in the mirror in my room this morning and it looks awful! Lily isn't it bad?"

"It's a bit red," Lily replied, her voice unsure.

"No but look where he got me with the brush, it's going to bruise and it's really tender!" his sister whined.

"My whole spanking was with the brush, Ada, mine was worse," Finn's voice entered the conversation.

"Why did you get spanked Ada?" Lily asked.

"Because she lied to Tommy and she went out last night when he'd told her to stay in," Rosie told her sister.

Ada ignored the question and addressed Finn, "Let's see yours then, if you think it was worse – Lily and Rosie can judge."

"I don't think so Ada," Rosie said.

"I don't know, I'd quite like a look," Tommy said from the side of his mouth that his cigarette wasn't wedged in as he pushed the door open and leant in the frame, surveying the scene.

Rosie was sitting up at the head of the bed, her weight against the pillows – her eyes determinedly focussed on the ceiling and an arm around Lily who was snuggled in against her. Finn was sitting cross legged on a pillow next to them whilst Ada was standing at the side of the bed, the slip she had had on the night before covered by a robe and both of them yanked up to her waist at the back. She dropped them and blushed when he raised an eyebrow at her.

"So, if I can't find you all at some point is this where I should look for you?" he asked, blowing a stream of smoke.

"Why are you looking for us?" Finn asked, sounding slightly nervous.

Tommy cocked an eyebrow, "Just making sure you're all still alive, making sure you didn't run off in the night to join the circus."

"Aye, as if anyone would get by your bedroom door without you knowing about it," Rosie said sarcastically, pulling her eyes off the ceiling to look in his direction.

He smirked, not giving her a verbal reply, then realised Ada and Finn were staring at him, wondering exactly why he was looking for them. He was about to let them stew, figuring it was a good way to make sure they knew who was in charge – then realised that was probably the opposite of what he was supposed to be doing.

"We're going out to the woods for the day – Rosie said Lily doesn't know how to swim. I thought maybe Finn and I could teach her in the lake," he said, glancing between his brother and sister.

Rosie's mouth opened slightly, and she glared at him, shaking her head, "Lily doesn't have a swimming costume and nowhere will be open on a Sunday to sell us one."

He rolled his eyes and waved his cigarette at her, "She'll be fine, she can go in in her nightdress and then get changed after."

"Tommy!" Rosie snapped, "When I said you and Finn could take her swimming I didn't mean today!"

"I want to go swimming," Lily piped up.

"See, she wants to go - she'll be fine – Finn proved yesterday that swimming without the proper attire is possible anyway, didn't you?"

Finn was just staring at him in confusion.

"Come on, up and get ready the lot of you – no arguing. If we move quickly enough, we'll be away before Polly comes calling to drag you all to church."

He turned and left the room before any of them could question him further, trusting Rosie would – as much as he knew she was displeased with him for springing the swimming on her – chivvy them along to get ready for the day out she had suggested would be a good idea.

He had just chucked the end of his cigarette in the kitchen fire when Ada appeared in the doorway, clearly having followed him down.

"Tommy," she said, obviously nervous.

He glanced at her, but she didn't say anything, so he let the silence hang for a minute then prompted, "Uhuh?"

"I – I don't want to go to the woods," she stuttered as he drilled his gaze into her.

"Tough, it's not optional. We're all going."

"Tommy I – I don't reckon I could manage the car ride without crying," she said, biting her lip, her hands going to her backside, "I'm still really sore."

"I hope you're sore for a good while yet Ada," he told her bluntly.

"I will be Tommy – and I promise I learned my lesson and I won't see Freddie again, but please can I stay home?"

"Ada if you stay home Polly will drag you to church and you know as well as I do that she'll have no sympathy for your soreness when it comes to spending an hour on those pews, so just get up the stairs, get ready and stop whining. I'm doing you a favour."

"Tommy! Tommy, please!"

"Ada – upstairs, get ready and get a move on with it before Pol arrives."

She let out a whine but headed off back up the stairs without arguing further – and he was glad because he did want to get off before he had to have an argument with Polly about them all skipping her beloved church.

Finn appeared down when Tommy was half way through a second cigarette, dressed but chewing his lip.

"Tommy, I don't have anything for swimming, it didn't fit anymore, and Aunt Polly got rid of it."

Tommy nodded, he supposed he hadn't taken the boy swimming since before he went to war, "It's fine, take some shorts, you survived yesterday when you were fully dressed."

Finn nodded but stared at him, confusion still etched on his face. Tommy sighed, chucked the cigarette in an ashtray and sat at the table, motioning Finn over to him. The boy obeyed, though he clearly wasn't sure he wanted to. Tommy reached out and pulled him onto his lap, remembering the way Finn had looked secretly pleased to find himself there at Ada's birthday.

"You going to help me teach Lily to swim?"

He had meant it to come out slightly more gently than it did – instead it came out of him, less as a question and more as an order. Finn nodded, so Tommy cleared his throat and made another attempt at speaking in a less arresting tone.

"Good – you remember me teaching you?"

"Uhuh."

"Good thing I did, eh?" he said, raising an eyebrow at the boy, who squirmed under it, "Finn, did Polly make you understand why I don't want you down by the cut?"

Finn bit his lip and nodded.

"Good. Now, I hope you realise that when I tell you you can't go places, it's to keep you safe. I'm not trying to spoil your fun, but I don't want you drowning or getting snatched away or getting yourself into a situation where you're too far from me for me to get you out of it in time before you get hurt, alright?"

"Tommy, I don't get hurt," Finn insisted, shifting on his lap.

"Aye alright y'wee scallywag," Tommy said, hugging Finn roughly to him, "How come you ended up in the cut yesterday then if you're so infallible?"

"I got pushed in."

"By someone you couldn't out push? That counts as getting hurt Finn," Tommy told the boy with a good natured eye roll and shake of his head, a smile playing about his mouth, "If you'd drowned in the cut, that would have bloody counted as getting hurt and I can assure you if you think being dead would stop me remembering to track you down in the next life and turn you over my knee for being where you shouldn't, you're very wrong."

"I wouldn't have drowned Tommy, Isaiah and the boys from here were there."

"Finn, it's beginning to sound like Aunt Polly didn't do as thorough a number on your backside as she seemed like she was going to if you're going to argue with me any more on this."

"No, she did a number on me," Finn assured him, shifting again.

"Alright," Tommy said, frowning, "But if you're going to brawl, do it out on the street."

"Wasn't brawlin' with the boys from here, Tommy," Finn said, rolling his eyes as if that were obvious, "We were fighting with the Paddys."

"What were you fighting with the Irish kids for?" Tommy asked, controlling his urge to roll his own eyes at the wars of children - he had taken them rather seriously himself once upon a time after all.

"Called me Pikey scum, called Isaiah-"

"Right! Right, I get the jist," Tommy said, cutting Finn off, "What did you lot call them?"

"Just called them Paddys," Finn shrugged, "But you or Arthur or John wouldn't have taken their cheek!"

Tommy fought a smirk at the indignance of his brother at being 'cheeked.'

"Did any of their lot end up in the water?"

"Uhuh."

"Right," Tommy replied – preventing himself from proclaiming it 'good', which was what he really wanted to do, "Well if you want to fight you're not doing it by the cut again, your limits are this street and maybe a few streets each way if you come in and ask me before you head to them, alright?"

"Okay," Finn nodded.

"And if you can't see me or Polly to ask, you're not allowed, right?"

Finn sighed but nodded again.

"Good – now go get your things – mind and bring down the blankets for the car ride," he said, putting Finn on his feet, "And tell Ada you and her can bring pillows to sit on in the car if you want."

"Well that's awfully generous," Rosie said, crossing paths with Finn as he exited the kitchen, her hand resting on his head momentarily in passing.

"I'm a generous man this morning."

"Is that right?"

"Uhuh."

"What's brought that on?"

"Oh, nothing in particular," he smirked, "Just woke up in a good mood."

"Well that makes a change."

"Oi!" he chided, playfully, "You get over here."

He crooked his finger at her and she came, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head at him, though the head shaking stilled when, after a glance out the door to make sure they were alone, he kissed her gently.

She wriggled out of his grasp and put her hand over her mouth, protesting, "Tommy I haven't even brushed my teeth yet."

"I don't care," he told her, pulling her back to him for another.

She kissed him back this time – it wasn't a deep or passionate kiss as they had given the night before, it was lighter, given with a smile and a joy that almost felt more intimate than a kiss given in desire.

She busied herself pulling out bread and butter and cold meat, setting up at the table.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sandwiches for this day out of yours, what does it look like?" she retorted, rolling her eyes over her shoulder at him.

He pulled out a new cigarette, rolling it languidly over his lips before lighting, inhaling and exhaling, then asked, "How's your arse?"

"Better than I thought it would be," she replied, glancing over her shoulder at him, her face reddening slightly.

"If you want a pillow for the car ride you feel free too."

"I think I'll try and keep my dignity intact thanks," she replied.

He smirked at her snippy tone. They had agreed last night, Lily and Finn didn't need to know a thing, if Ada asked she'd be told they'd had words and it was none of her business what they were.

And they'd agreed that their kissing would be kept between them too, for now. Rosie wanted some time when it was just theirs to know about – without comments from any of his brothers and without anyone at her school finding out. He hadn't argued with her, figuring they'd both been chaste enough in the first few months of her living under his roof and that continuing as they had done until they were alone would be easy enough. But even as she stood buttering bread he had the urge to go wrap his arms around her and kiss her again. He always did have the urge to touch her or kiss her but before it had never been an option. Now it was an option, but one that could only be enacted at certain times. Knowing he could do what he wanted but being forced to wait… It was almost worse.

Or it was, until she opened her mouth, not looking at him as she continued with her sandwich making.

"I think you should let Ada stay home if she wants to."

He frowned at her back, "Well thankfully what happens with Ada isn't up to you."

"Tommy," she sighed.

"Don't you Tommy me."

She turned to face him, the knife glinting in her hand and her eyebrow raised. He raised his own back and exhaled a pointed stream of smoke.

"Tommy if you come down like a dictator you're just going to push her away. You told me you Shelby's were pro-democracy with your family votes."

"We are, as of right now the voting adults in this house come down to just me, and I vote she's coming."

"I'm sixteen, Tommy, I'm technically an adult."

"You're not an adult till you're eighteen."

"No – I can't adopt Lily till I'm eighteen, I could get married and have my own child right now without it being illegal. It's fucked up."

She turned back to the sandwiches and he went to her, putting his arms around her from behind and pulling her to him, realising he had touched a nerve.

She lay her hand on his then shook off the display of upset, saying more forcefully than he imagined she meant to, "Anyway, you let me and Ada vote about helping the inspector, so it seems we're both voting members of this family now and I reckon we're both voting she doesn't have to come if she doesn't want to."

"Rosie, Ada landed herself over my knee last night because she's considering herself a bit too much of an adult to my mind, thinking she's above doing what she's told or asking permission to go places," he said, as gently as he could, "If I leave her here today and she knows I'm gone, she'll be with Freddie before we're out the city."

She turned again to face him.

"Tommy, there's no way she's going to disobey you again after last night – but maybe just show her you trust her not to rather than forcing her to come, eh? You know going into the woods is not going to be Ada's thing – truth be told I'm not entirely convinced it's my thing either."

"I don't trust her though."

"Tommy, she won't make the choices you want her to if you don't give her the chance to make them. And, now, don't get angry," she said, biting her lip as she met his eye, "But if she does go see Freddie today to break it off with him, is it not maybe better she does that with last night fresh in her mind? She says she's still really sore."

He gave her a flinty look before saying, "Ada exaggerates."

"I know, but I'm still tender and you only used your hand on me," she muttered, not meeting his eye, "But Tommy, she needs to break it off with him, she can't just start ignoring him on the street."

"Oh, I assure you - she can."

"Tommy that's ridiculous - you know it is! Be reasonable – please?"

"Ada might go to Freddie intending to break up with him, but you don't know him like I do Rosie. He can manipulate people, he's got a silver tongue."

"And you've got an iron hand Thomas Shelby, which I can assure you would knock out any silver tongue if it came down a fight between them."

He smirked at that, and her mouth turned up a little too – probably in spite of herself.

"Tommy, let her go break it off – it gives an ending to the thing that she can move on from eventually, if it goes without any conversation she'll never stop thinking about him."

He sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. He wanted a nice day. He wanted to spend time with Finn. He didn't want Ada in a huff all day and maybe Rosie was right – maybe if he left her and she did go see Freddie with the events of last night fresh on her mind it was for the best.

"I'll think about it."

"Thank you," she said softly, then went back to her sandwich making until Lily appeared down and she lifted their toothpaste and brushes and led the child out the back.

He went and brought the car around, returning to find the four of them gathered in the kitchen, coats on all of them and Finn and Lily sitting at the table eating bread and jam – Ada leaning against the wall, looking rather glum but staying quiet when he entered, not arguing with him.

"Alright, everyone ready?" he said, stopping in the doorway, freshly lit cigarette in hand.

Lily shoved the last of her bread very hurriedly into her mouth and stood.

"Slow down Lily," Rosie said at once, giving him a pointed look, "And chew don't just swallow."

Lily looked to him with wide eyes as if to say she was doing her best to hurry, and he smiled down reassuringly at her, saying, "Take your time Lily, you can't swim if you make yourself ill first."

Once she had chewed and swallowed, Rosie bent to the girl, forcing her to take a drink before she wiped around her mouth with a cloth and brushed the crumbs off the front of her coat. It was a simple act, but her tenderness, usually determinedly hidden between a silent and sullen exterior to strangers and behind a saucy, sarcastic one to the few who did get to know her, always made his stomach knot.

Finn stood too at that point and Tommy told him to take Lily out and help her into the car, leaving him alone with Ada and Rosie.

"Right, you ready to go?" he asked Ada, eyebrow raised.

She nodded, unhappy but obedient.

"Good," he nodded, feeling Rosie's eyes on him, "Now, your partner in crime over there says I should trust you to stay home and choose to make the right decisions on your own, rather than forcing you to come with us."

She bit her lip, obviously not wanting to say the wrong thing, but he saw hope glimmer in her eyes.

"If I let you stay home are you going to go speak to Freddie Thorne?"

"Tommy…" she began, looking to him, then dropped her gaze and trailed off.

Well at least she wasn't going to lie straight to his face.

"Ada, Rosie says I should let you go break it off with him – seems to think it's unfair if I tell you to just start ignoring him on the street."

He went quiet for a moment, allowing time for it if Ada wanted to try and answer him – but she seemed to have gotten some sense at last and she kept her mouth shut.

"I'm very much of the opinion you can just start ignoring him on the street," he said, giving the two of them a withering look, "But if you feel it's important then you can go tell him you're not going to see him again – alright?"

"Really Tommy?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Really," he nodded, glancing to Rosie and seeing a soft smile on the corner of her mouth, "But you can go to him to break it off Ada, not to talk about anything else – only so you don't need to deal with him chasing you down the street when you ignore him. And once you've done that you get yourself back in this house, do you understand? You go to him, you come home – you spend the day here. If I think you've been anywhere else I'll give you a repeat of last night, we clear?"

"Yes!" she squealed, throwing her arms around him, "Thank you Tommy! I'll come straight back, I promise."

"Aye, you see you do Ada," he told her, though he put his arm around her and hugged her back before he felt her shift out of his arms.

She hugged Rosie too, thanking her and proclaiming her "the best" before she turned and ran up the stairs, saying she'd see them later.

Rosie raised an eyebrow at him, smirked, and then tried to walk by him towards the front door, but he snaked an arm quickly around her waist and pulled her to him.

She twisted in his arm and lay her hands on his shoulders, smiling up at him, "What?"

"That smile of yours will be the death of me," he told her, kissing it.

"Aye, and you'll be the death of me Thomas Shelby," she told him in between kissing him back, "Especially when you prove you can be a nice, reasonable man."

"I'm a very reasonable man at all times Miss Jackson."

"And you're a liar."

"Is that right?" he asked her, kissing her and pushing her through the kitchen door in the direction of the front room, removing an arm from her waist to pull it over behind them before pulling her tightly to him again, their conversation continuing through their kissing.

"Uhuh."

"Well I can be reasonable with the right guidance I suppose."

"Luckily for you, I'm very reasonable."

"Well I hope you'll be reasonable about it when I say on your arse be your reasonableness – if she ends up in trouble over any decisions she makes today you can count on it that you'll end up over my knee too," he told her throatily, his hand groping at the arse in question.

"I'd like to offer my guidance here to say that's not reasonable."

"Tough."

"Also not reasonable."

"It's reasonable as far as I'm concerned," he told her with a grin, moving his hands from her waist to her face and kissing her firmly before breaking them apart, turning her towards the front door.

"Now come on – out and in the car before Polly arrives!" he ordered, accompanying his words with a light smack.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The swimming went better than expected – though he thought perhaps it would be better if he took Lily to the baths and left Rosie firmly in the house given the amount of times she looked like she was about to wade into the lake fully dressed and take Lily off of him.

Nevertheless, a few hours in, Tommy had the child able to hold her head above the water and kick her legs, her hands firmly curled around his or Finn's. Finn for his part, was a fairly good help – and quite encouraging of Lily's attempts, even when her kicks went awry and landed on him, as they did a few times.

"Alright, maybe that's enough for Lily now," Tommy decreed after they'd gone the width of the lake a few times successfully without stopping, "Don't want to tire you out bab – your sister will have me."

He picked her up and began to wade to the edge of the lake, Finn doggy paddling behind them whilst it was still deep enough for him to do so.

Rosie noticed their movement and came to the edge of the lake, a large towel in her hand.

"Come on Lily," she said, taking the child from him, "Let's get you out of these wet things and dried off before the chill sets in – that mad Tommy thinking March is a suitable time for outdoor swimming! What are we going to do with him? Arms up."

She sat down, pulling her sister between her knees and using them to hold the towel into place as she peeled the girl's wet things off, wrapping the front of the towel around her quickly, then picking her up and carrying her off to the fire, rubbing frantically as she did so.

Tommy exchanged a look with Finn, "Women, eh? Fuckin' fusspots, the lot of them! Even if you find one who wears trousers and can shoot a gun, they're all fusspots underneath. Should I be running you over to the fire in case you catch a chill in the next three seconds?"

Finn grinned and allowed Tommy to wrap an arm around him and pull him to his side as they headed to the fire at a more leisurely pace.

It was cold out of the water, to give the fusspot her due, but the fire he had built for her to sit by whilst they were swimming gave off a good heat and he and Finn were dry fairly quickly and barely needed the towels she had lain by the fire for them.

Rosie turned her back hurriedly when Finn stripped off his shorts to change by the fire. Contrarily, Tommy used the opportunity to get a good look at his brother's backside and came to the conclusion Polly had done a fairly good number on him after all, and he was glad Rosie had suggested they all went somewhere that day.

Lily was soon bundled up in two pairs of socks, a dress and a pinafore, with a blanket wrapped around her to hold all her body heat in as Rosie brushed out her still wet hair, squeezing at it with the towel and edging the child as near the fire as she dared, holding strands of hair up as though to encourage them to dry more quickly. He had never done the same for Ada when he had taken her swimming – though Ada had very quickly decided she didn't like swimming anyway, so he didn't feel too much guilt.

"You fancy a game of cards Finn?" Tommy asked, lighting a cigarette.

Finn nodded, "You want to play snap?"

"How about I teach you poker?"

"Really?" Finn asked, his eyes lighting up at the idea.

"No money, and don't tell Arthur or John."

"John says there's no point playing if there's no money involved."

"Or we can play snap?" Tommy suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I want to learn poker," Finn hurriedly assured him.

"Right – cards are in Rosie's bag with the sandwiches, get them out and I'll deal."

"Oh look Lily, the men are going to play poker – do you think we'll be invited to play?" Rosie asked her sister loudly, pointedly.

"I'm bending my morals to teach an eleven-year-old boy how to play, I'm not corrupting a six-year-old girl," he shot back, waving his cigarette over at her.

She snorted, "Glad to know you have a corruption line you won't cross Shelby."

A filthy thought about her corruption lines came immediately to his mind, but he held his tongue and elected to ignore her, focussing instead on the deck of cards Finn had fished out of the bag.

He didn't pay too much attention to Rosie and Lily whilst he was teaching Finn the rules of the game until Lily came over and asked, "Tommy, do you want a crown or a necklace?"

He looked at her questioningly, then noticed the daisy chain crown on her own head.

"Men don't wear necklaces Lily," Finn told her.

"Yes they do, King George has a necklace on in his picture in Arthur's office," Lily told him.

"Well Tommy's our king isn't he Lily?" Rosie said mischievously, meeting his eyes over the child's head, "So maybe he should have a necklace and a crown."

She looked quite pretty in her own daisy crown atop her unruly head.

Lily nodded solemnly at her sister's suggestion, then looked to Finn.

"What?" Finn asked, seeing her gaze, then, realising – "No Lily, I don't want a necklace or a crown!"

"Oh if I'm getting one, you're getting one," Tommy told him, flicking his eyebrows at the redhead to show that he was game, "If I'm the king, Rosie can be the queen, Lily can be the princess and you can be the prince. Crowns for everyone please Lily."

She wandered off whilst Finn let out a whine, and proclaimed, "I don't want to be a prince," which Tommy ignored and pushed on with their card game, until Lily returned and to lay his newly made adornments on him.

"Thank you, sweetheart," he said, kissing her forehead then bending his head for her to carry out his coronation, "They're very beautiful."

She smiled happily at him then wandered off, presumably to start working on Finn's.

"Very regal," Rosie commented.

"Likewise," he said, smirking at her through the flames, then shaking his head and reaching for a fresh cigarette when he stopped and cocked his head.

He could hear footsteps coming in their direction and he got to his feet, his hand going automatically to the gun he had tucked inside his jacket.

"You got your gun?" he asked Rosie.

She pulled a face and shook her head, "No, it's in your office where it always is in between practising."

"There's a spare in the bag, get it out and stay here."

He heard her spluttering, "Day out in the woods, brings a spare gun," but he ignored her and headed in the direction of the footsteps to investigate.

The chances were it was nothing – but Monaghan Boy's second race was coming up and he still hadn't heard from Billy Kimber. He expected to though.

One race he might have gotten away with – two was pushing it and he was fairly certain three was, as Charlie had put it, going to bring holy hell down on his head. But Kimber was just like Campbell, he sat atop his organisation and didn't do any of the dirty work himself. Tommy still got his hands dirty, still knew what it was to be in the fray. And a man like Kimber might sit on an elevated throne in hell, but he did so getting fat and lazy whilst watching devils who weren't devoted to him take his money and fail to enforce his orders. Kimber's throne was there to be toppled, and if it started today then so be it.

Tommy was a patient man, he had to be. But having patience and enjoying being patient were not the same thing. Waiting for things to kick off was something he could do – but it wasn't something he liked to do. If this was the start of it, he welcomed it – though he would have preferred Rosie and Lily not so be in the vicinity.

He slipped into the trees, his gun cocked, listening to the footsteps get louder and louder, his keen eyes picking out the approaching figure – with what looked to be fishing gear over his shoulder. Tommy relaxed slightly but didn't drop the gun to his side until the figure came more clearly into view.

"Tommy – is that yourself?" the figure asked when it saw him.

"Johnny," Tommy nodded, as if he wasn't at all surprised to see the gypsy.

"What ya doing here Tom?"

"Getting' out the smoke of the city."

"I've been setting snares for rabbits, thought I'd do me some fishing in the lake whilst I'm here."

"I heard you're on your own – the Boswells told you to get."

"Aye, that they did."

"What was her name?" Tommy smirked at the man, guessing fine well – though no one had told him – why Johnny Dogs had been told to leave.

He also guessed it was less that he had been told to leave and more that old Johnny had flown in the night in case he had impregnated whoever the girl in question was.

"Arabella Boswell, Tommy, and what a jewel she was," Johnny confirmed with a sigh.

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, you dirty old dog," Tommy grinned, shaking his head, and stowing his gun away, reaching for a cigarette in its place.

"I earn my name," Johnny told him.

"Gypsies like you don't do well on their own Johnny Dogs, what's your plan?" Tommy asked, turning and making way back to the clearing to set Rosie and the rest of them at ease.

"No man does well on his own Tommy."

"And you less than most."

"I don't quite know, to tell ya the truth Tom, I'd been thinkin' t'was time for a change, but I haven't worked out yet what the change should be. I've got a spare horse for company, but he don't talk much."

"Change your fuckin' personality and settle," Tommy suggested.

"That would be the death of my soul Tom," the gypsy replied.

They pushed through the trees in silence, Johnny following him back to the lake before the man cleared his throat and said, delicately, "Tom, ya – eh – ya know ya have a daisy chain on yer head right?"

"I do," Tommy said with a nod, blowing smoke, "And if you ever had a daughter you stuck around for Johnny I dare say you'd understand why."

As always with Johnny, his disapproving tone was water off a duck's back and the Irish man simply cocked an eyebrow and demanded, "Since when did you have a daughter Tom?"

"I adopted one," Tommy replied shortly.

Johnny Dogs and other gypsies wouldn't care for paperwork, if he said she was his they'd take it that she was his, and they'd show her the respect they'd show any biological child of his.

They re-entered the clearing by the lake, Rosie standing with the gun in her hand in front of the fire.

"It's alright," Tommy called out to her, gesturing to the man beside him with his cigarette, "It's just ol' Johnny Dogs."

Rosie stayed where she was, but upon seeing him Finn had stood up and come to her side, though Lily stayed on the other side of the fire.

"Johnny, you remember Finn and this is Rosie," he told the man, indicating the two figures as they approached.

"Rosie this is Johnny Dogs – he's a wandering gypsy who is our kin somehow, never quite worked out how though," Tommy said, smirking at the man, "You can trust him, since you're one of us – everything he says to anyone outside the family is a lie; but he knows better than to lie to a Shelby."

Rosie looked Johnny up and down, not looking for a moment like she believed she could trust him, inside or outside of the family.

Johnny let out a low whistle, "That's some daughter you've picked up, Tom."

He frowned, "Does she look young enough to be my daughter – adopted or otherwise?"

"No, she looks marryin' age," Johnny said, still raking his eyes over her.

"She's not for you," Tommy told him, and Johnny pulled a face of disappointment but shrugged.

"You know I'm right here Thomas?"

"Lily, sweetheart, c'mere," Tommy said, ignoring Rosie's barbed comment, gripping his cigarette in his teeth and crouching down to hold his arms out to her as she sidled slowly round the fire, looking warily between him and her sister, her fingers making their path to her mouth.

He was reminded how shy Lily had been when she had first arrived, he hadn't seen that side of her in a while. Rosie was just as shy, he knew that, but she covered what might have seemed nervousness with a haughty attitude, as though she were considering whether to deign to acknowledge Johnny rather than seeming at all intimidated by him.

She reached him eventually and he stood up, balancing her on his hip, "Lily – this is Johnny Dogs. He's a friend. Johnny, this is Lily."

"This is your daughter?"

Lily looked confused, then wound her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face into him.

"Well, I take care of her," he told Johnny, kissing the side of the blonde head, "Along with Rosie."

He sat down on the tree stump they had been playing cards on and shifted Lily around in his lap.

"So, a Lily who makes daisy chains," Johnny said, sitting on the ground by them, "That's appropriate."

Lily looked to him but didn't say anything.

"In gypsy culture, all flowers mean something," Johnny told the child with a grin, "Daisies symbolise innocence and lilies symbolise purity – they go together well."

"A crown of innocence on your head Thomas," Rosie said suddenly, with a raised eyebrow and a snort.

"A thorny rose to be sure," Johnny grinned up at her.

"Like the poem," Lily nodded, looking at Rosie.

"Poem?" Tommy asked, an eyebrow raised.

"My poem," Lily clarified.

"William Blake's poem," Rosie said with a sigh, then, after he raised an eyebrow, she blushed and muttered, "The modest Rose puts forth a thorn, the humble sheet a threat'ning horn. While the Lily white shall in love delight, nor a thorn nor a thread stain her beauty bright."

A modest rose – it was fitting.

"I thought roses were meant to be a sign of love," Finn piped up.

"To a gadze," Johnny replied.

Finn flushed.

"Roses are on four of the cards," Johnny continued.

"Tarot cards, not playing cards," Tommy broke in.

Johnny nodded, "On the Fool, the rose symbolises purity. On the Magician card, it signifies unfolding wisdom. On the Strength card, the rose represents balance. And on the Death card, it's a symbol of purity, clarity, and transparency of intentions."

"Well that's a lot of symbolism to put on a flower," Rosie said dismissively, "But my name's Rosalie, not Rose.

"You're a Lee?"

"Like hell she is," Tommy snorted, "Rosalie – all one word."

"I heard the Lees are nearby," Johnny told him.

"The fayre will kick off soon, they'll be on their way," Tommy confirmed.

"My name's Lillian," Lily piped up.

"That's just a fancy way of saying Lily," Johnny told her with a grin.

"Not that anyone calls her that," Tommy said, jiggling his knee under her, "Do they sweetheart?"

She glanced to her sister then whispered to him, "Rosie does, when I'm in big trouble."

"Big trouble, eh?" he said, smiling at her.

If there was one thing he knew, it was that Lily had never been in big trouble with her sister.

"Big trouble," she confirmed, stretching her arms wide to demonstrate just how big.

"That much trouble eh, I wouldn't have thought you could get yourself into that much trouble Lily."

She blushed and cuddled into him, "Just once."

"Just once, eh?"

"Uhuh."

"Well you've intrigued us all now Lily, you need to tell us what mischief you got yourself into."

"I ran out of paper so I drew on the walls," she confided to him, "Rosie had to scrub it all off – and she called me Lillian and I didn't get any sweets or cake for a whole week!"

"A whole week, my goodness," Tommy said, amused, "And did you ever do it again?"

"No she did not," Rosie interjected in a decisive tone.

Lily squirmed in his lap.

"I don't know if I believe that," he said to Rosie, "I reckon I could tickle a confession to the contrary out of Lillian here."

"No Tommy! No tickling!" Lily squealed at once, trying to get up, but he held her tight.

"Well, you tell old Tommy, did you do it again?" he asked her.

She glanced to her sister, then leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Yes, I drew on the wall under my bed, but don't tell Rosie!"

"Alright," he grinned, "Our secret. But don't you be doing that at home or you'll have a sore backside Lily, and it'll be sore enough you'll never do it again."

"Did she – did you do it again?" Rosie asked, shocked.

"That's our secret, Rosie, couldn't possibly say," Tommy told her with a grin.

"If I find out you drew on a wall again Lillian Jackson so help you god, you'll have no cakes or sweets for a fortnight!" Rosie said, suddenly sounding very cross.

She didn't look amused at the sniggers of Tommy, Finn or Johnny.

"So help her god indeed," Johnny laughed, "If my mother said so help me god it wasn't a lack of cake I was trying to run away from."

"That's why she needed me," Tommy grinned, "The thorny rose is a pushover."

"I am not Thomas Shelby, I'm just reasonable!"

"Aye my love, that you are – that and a big soft pushover."

gadze = a Romani term for any non gypsy.

Thank you as always for your reviews and messages - so glad so many of us are on the same page about Grace and the shoddy writing as the series went on!

I am nowhere near done with this story (vaguely worryingly, given the word count already!) but in my original outline Tommy and Rosie weren't kissing until later, so I'm just taking some time at the moment to replot a few things and rewatch the season to make sure my new plans still tie in - so whilst I'm working on that the updates may slow down, but I promise I'll keep them coming as quickly as I can.

In my original outline we were not 170,000 words deep before they kissed, I very much underestimated my word count for certain things (Chapter 35, 36 and 37 are all one chapter in my plan, simply called 'The Communist Manifesto incident' and the incident in question ended up spanning 3 chapters and around 18,000 words as an example for how much I underestimated things!) and I love a slow burn but even I know there's a point at which it's not slow burn and just bloody annoying when two characters won't hurry up and get together lol.

Thank you again! xx