Maddie realised as she began to stride away from the Shelby's and to the end of the road that navigating 1920's Birmingham, despite the city being familiar to her in her own time, was going to be a challenge.
The streets were cobbled and muddy. The air was heavy and dense, almost chalky from the soot and smoke from the factory chimneys Maddie could see sprouting up over the skyline. The city felt grey and dreary and there was a bitter chill in the air making her draw the long coat tightly around her, making sure all her skin was covered. Birmingham certainly was unrecognisable at first inspection and she looked in awe at the goings on of daily life around her whilst keeping her head down as to not draw undue attention.
She saw people in old fashioned clothes going about their day, sweeping their front steps and beating out their rugs, something Maddie would never have seen in the back home. She also saw one of those old cars she'd seen in old photographs chug past the crossroads ahead of her.
'Wow, this is trippy as fuck,' muttered Maddie to herself. But also kinda cool, she thought. How many people get to go back in time and see living history?
She reached the end of the street and glanced up at the road sign. 'Watery Lane,' she said, reading it aloud. Yes! Maddie thought, I know where I am…kind off. By now Maddie sensed the people on the street were looking at her curiously, no doubt recognising a strange face in a place where everyone knew each other. Shit, she needed to move faster, no doubt the Shelby's, Tommy specifically, would be trying to find her, she was sure of it. Which will be easy for him if all the residents of Small Heath had witnessed an unfamiliar woman wandering through their streets alone.
Better get move on, she decided. She started walking in the direction of Snow Hill train station, well her best guess of that direction anyway. She picked up a fast pace, keeping her head down as she marched forward, putting as much distance as she could between her and Watery Lane. The icy breeze creeped up under her coat and bit at the bare skin of her legs. Great... to add insult to injury she had been blasted through time from summer in her time to winter in this one. Bloody typical.
As Maddie started to create distance between her and the Shelby's, she chuckled to herself as the realisation of what she just did hit her. She had kissed Tommy Shelby.TheTommy Shelby. She had just kissed the most well-known and influential person in Birmingham's history. She remembered learning about the Shelby Company and its founders in school, like most kids did in Birmingham. Maddie was surprised at how well she remembered her local history when faced with the Shelbys in the flesh, being able to identify them just from memories of various photos of them she'd seen in books. She admitted she knew more about them than most, she had been forced to have dealings with the modern Shelby Company Ltd as part of her slaying, although not any of the Shelby family directly, prompting her to do more research on them in the process.
As for that cheeky kiss, who wouldn't have stolen a kiss from a real-life legend? Not to mention one of the sexiest men she'd ever seen. Maddie couldn't deny that she was chuffed with Tommy's reaction to the kiss, that look of shock on his face almost made her burst out laughing. As if she'd managed to get a reaction out of one history's most notorious gangsters with just a quick kiss! Gangster... Fuck Maddie, you stupid fool! Why would you kiss one of the most dangerous men in recent history? You're a slayer, a good guy! You can't go around kissing criminals, even the hot ones. She berated herself furiously in her head for her idiocy, but still she couldn't bring herself to regret what she did. She could feel his lips and hands on her as she pictured the kiss in her mind and part of her wished she could experience it again, her heart fluttering at the idea. Just one reason why she needed to get to the station and the hell out of Birmingham as fast as she could.
To distract herself from thinking about Tommy, Maddie focussed on drawing up a plan of action for getting herself back home. And that plan involved getting to the Watcher's Council. Maddie didn't have a watcher like her many predecessors, none of the recent slayers had, since the Watcher's Council was blown up by The First almost twenty years before her time. Maddie had been trained by the new collection of individuals who originally trained the army of slayers after Buffy shared her powers with all the potentials. However, that had happened well before she had become a slayer, and now there was only one slayer again, her. She knew from her study of the watcher's diaries that the Watcher's Council in this time had impressive power and many resources in the way of magic. If anyone would be able to get her back to her time it would be them; but that meant convincing them of who she was, which she knew would be a headache in and of itself. First though, she just needed to get to London.
Maddie continued through the Birmingham streets and found that she started to recognise certain areas and buildings that were still around in her time, helping her get her bearings and point her in the right direction. She walked past the Garrison pub, which looked like the old photos she'd seen of it in the future. Seeing all these old places in person was a surreal experience, the gloomy atmosphere made it feel like she was actually walking through a black and white photograph.
As she walked down the alley beside the Garrison, her senses were pricked onto high alert. The types of people around this area looked proper dodgy, Maddie thought. Plus, she was getting the distinct feeling she was being followed. Just as this thought crossed her mind, a scruffy and evidently drunk man stumbled up to her making her stop in her tracks as he grinned darkly at her. She immediately felt her stomach turn at the strong smell of alcohol emanating from him.
'Ello, luv! You new around here? You're very pretty…' the man slurred, followed by a sickly belch. Maddie scrunched her nose at the him. Great, she thought. She'd been in the past for less than an hour and a gross slug of a man was already perving on her.
'Move,' Maddie threatened. She hadn't let Tommy Shelby get the better of her, so she certainly wasn't going to let this drunk creep do so.
'Awww, that's not very nice luv…' the man drawled as he reached out a hand to grab her. With her ususal speed, she caught his hand with hers and squeezed with an iron-like grip. She felt the small bones of his hand crack and splinter and the man yelped in pain and clutched at his hand to his chest, drawing the gazes of others nearby.
'You fucking bitch!' the man screeched with tears in his eyes. Maddie pushed the bastard over as she started her march forward again, causing him to land face first in the mud whimpering. That'll teach him, she thought with a smirk.
She swiftly cut down a nearby alleyway and out of sight and emerged on the other side and promptly kept walking as fast as she could go without actually running. I need to get out of here right now, she thought, leaving a trail like that will no doubt attract the attention of the Peaky Blinders, and Tommy.
Maddie headed past the Birmingham City ground, barely recognisable as the same building she knew. Not much further to the station though, she realised thankfully.
When Maddie did finally reach the station, she let herself give a small sigh of relief. Now all she needed to do was buy a ticket and… Fuck! Money. She had no money! Well no old timey money that she would have needed to get a ticket there. The £20 note in her pocket would hardly do her any good. How could she have missed something so important and obvious? This trip through time was making her look like an amateur, and she bloody hated it.
Huffing in frustration, she looked around the entrance to the station, hoping to get some inspiration as for what to do next. She debated whether to ask a friendly looking stranger for money, but she realised she wouldn't know how much to ask for. She knew that money was worth a lot less in these times and she didn't want to look like an idiot by asking for too much or too little. Maddie soon felt herself becoming anxious; she was wasting too much time lingering here. The Blinder's would find her here before too long.
As Maddie frantically tried to come up with a new plan, she didn't notice the loud rugged hum of a car engine pull up at the entrance to the station behind her, followed by a heavy car door slamming shut. She did however notice the sudden, eery change in the crowd's behaviour. They all quickly looked nervous and terrified and started moving off and away quickly, ducking their heads as if to avoid something behind her.
'I see you managed to find your way here alright,' said a familiarly cold and emotionless voice from close behind Maddie. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! How had she let him sneak up on her like that? She was losing her touch for sure. She shut her eyes and made a pained face before taking a deep breath and turning around to face Tommy with and as calm and unsurprised expression as she could muster.
'Oh, hi,' she said, smiling innocently. Her heart betrayed her again and skipped a beat when she looked up at him. Tommy now looked even more dangerous and sexy with the addition of the long black overcoat and iconic peaked cap which cast a sinister shadow over his face so she couldn't see his eyes clearly, but it succeeded in making his lips look more enticing. 'So how did you find me?' she asked, although she already had an inkling to the answer.
'I had Finn follow you. You went past the Garrison I assume, seeing as I saw a pissed off bloke outside clutching his hand in pain,' Tommy said. One corner of his mouth was turned up in an almost smile. Maddie bristled to his smugness; she had indeed made it easy for him to find her.
'Well, I'm flattered you followed me all this way,' said Maddie, fluttering her eyelashes at him almost instinctively. Was she flirting with him? Seriously Maddie are you loosing your mind?! 'But I really should be leaving now,' she continued. Then she remembered her current problem and decided to try her luck. 'You couldn't give me any money for a ticket to London, could you?' she asked, crossing her fingers at her sides.
Tommy let out a short huffed laugh of disbelief. 'You don't have any money?' he asked.
Maddie felt her face flush with embarrassment, and she knew that Tommy had noticed as well due to the tell-tale quirk of his sexy lips returning in a smug smile. Bloody bastard was making a fool out of her, she wanted to smack him but knew better than to show up Tommy Shelby in the middle of a public place.
'Yes ha ha, very funny,' Maddie trilled. 'But I hardly prepared to be in 1924, the money I do have isn't exactly in use yet.'
Tommy cleared his throat before he replied, 'Well you'd have a hard time getting to London if you did have any money. There's only one train to London on a Sunday and it left three hours ago.'
Seriously? Maddie definitely didn't have luck on her side today. What was she going to do now?
'Oh, great. Just my luck,' said Maddie rolling her eyes, speaking her mind.
'There is another option. You could take me up on my offer,' said Tommy, seeing Maddie's evident anxiety. 'You can stay at my house for as long as you need. It'll be getting dark soon and you don't want to be around this part of the city at night.'
Maddie scoffed at this. 'I can take care of myself,' she stated coldly.
'I don't doubt it. But it looks like it will snow tonight and I don't think you're equipped to protect yourself against the cold in nothing but a coat,' Tommy remarked, yet again looking smug. The coat remark was definitely a dig at her lack of clothing. Why did she have to wear such skimpy outfits?
Damn and fuck. He was winning, Maddie realised. His offer was looking particularly tempting now. She didn't fancy spending the night freezing her tits off and she was fast running out of options. She glanced around and noticed people peering at her and Tommy curiously, wondering who she must be to have Tommy Shelby stand and talk to her in the middle of a train station for so long. He was obviously used to the public acting this way around him as he didn't even seem to notice them. She however needed to make a decision, and fast and she looked up at Tommy again.
'Say I come back with you, what do you want in return?' questioned Maddie, dreading the answer.
A genuine smile, all be it small, painted Tommy's face briefly in response to this question. 'We can discuss business when we get back,' he said as he turned to the side, holding out his arm to gesture to the expensive looking old-fashioned car parked just outside the entrance.
Maddie hesitated.Business, he'd said. That didn't sound good. She knew Tommy was a brilliant and formidable businessman. He was also a master of manipulation and of getting what he wanted. She somehow felt that getting into his car and accepting his offer would be like falling into his trap. But she also knew that he was her best option of getting to London and one step closer to the Watcher's Council any time soon.
She made her decision. 'Alright Tommy', she nodded to him, finally giving in and walked with him to the car and got in.
Maddie was now in business with the Peaky Blinders.
For the first few minutes of the drive Maddie sat in the passenger seat admiring the lavish interior of Tommy's car whilst he drove silently. He'd lit up a cigarette as he got in the car, offering her one which she politely refused. The car quickly filled with smoke, which caused her to waft the air around her as she looked at all the expensive fixtures. She knew how rich and gaudily he lived, that was no secret. But seeing the evidence of this in person was another experience entirely. I mean there was gold on the trim for god's sake! Not bothered as to whether Tommy would tell her off, Maddie began fiddling with the attachments and feeling the different materials of the dashboard with avid fascination. They didn't make cars like this in her time, which was a real shame, she thought.
She felt the burn of Tommy's inquisitive gaze as she pawed at his car, leaving fingerprints on the shiny surfaces. She let the coat she was wearing fall open to uncover her bare legs, thankful to be in an environment where she didn't have to be covered up in an oversized coat. But she also did it knowing that her skirt was sitting very high up her thighs and would attract Tommy's gaze. He'd managed to win the round of getting her to go with him, so she at least wanted to have some fun winding him up on the journey.
'What are you doing?' Tommy finally asked, showing his irritation in response to Maddie's vandalization of his car.
'Sorry,' apologised Maddie, although she continued her poking, including pulling out a gold-plated ashtray from the door which she turned over in her hands. 'They don't exactly make cars like this is the future.'
'Hmm,' grunted Tommy followed by a pause. 'So, you were born in Birmingham?' he asked as he turned his attention back to the road.
Maddie finally stopped fidgeting and turned to look at Tommy. 'Yep. Sutton Coldfield, 1995,' she recounted chirpily. 'Birmingham, born and raised.'
Tommy nodded, taking the information in. 'And you're a… slayer?' he asked, saying the word slayer like he was still trying to understand it, which she guessed he probably was.
'Yeah that's me,' she responded more tentatively this time, she knew where this line of questioning was going.
'And what exactly is a slayer?' asked Tommy. Finally, voicing the question he was obviously building up to.
Maddie sighed, she wasn't that keen on the idea of explaining to him what a slayer was, what it meant, or how it felt. But she had a feeling Tommy was going to ask all these questions and more.
'I fight evil, basically. 'One girl in all the world, only she will have the strength and skill to fight the vampires…' blah blah blah,' she quoted, bored of recounting this phrase that she couldn't seem to forget no matter how hard she tried. The truth was Maddie disliked explaining the slayer gig to anyone. It was a lonely life and would probably be a short one. She had learnt to embrace the calling in adulthood, but it was still a subject that was weird to talk about.
'That sounds very lonely,' stated Tommy, as if reading Maddie's mind. She looked over at him and he looked back momentarily, giving her a look of recognition to what she was feeling. She realised that she shared something in common with Tommy that she didn't share with anyone else back home. Loneliness. She felt herself blush and was thankful he had turned back to look at the road and hadn't noticed.
As Tommy drove them out of Birmingham and into the countryside, he asked Maddie more questions about slayers. She spent the rest of the journey answering his questions and giving him as concise of a history as best she could. About the slayer line, their inherited power and duty to protect the world. About the temporary army of slayers and their demise. How she had been a slayer since she was seventeen, a late calling compared to other girls, and had managed to stay alive since then. How in the future, Birmingham had become a centre for mystical convergence which was why she still lived there as its protector. Maddie wondered during her monologue whether she should be telling him any of this. Slayers were underground and secret at this point in time and she'd only gone and told him pretty much everything about them. She began to panic internally, what if this fucks up history and destroys the world? She was starting to wish that she was at home with her friends and the familiarity of her local graveyard.
Tommy just listened and nodded to her retelling of slayer history while he focussed on the road. Not giving any other significant reaction to her story.
'Where are we going?' Maddie asked when a silence had fallen between them after she had finished.
'Warwickshire. It's not much further,' Tommy replied.
Maddie settled back in her seat and became content to watch the scenery go by as the sun started to set over the horizon. She felt Tommy glance over at her intermittently, eyeing up her bare legs that she had crossed. She smirked secretly to herself, enjoying having Tommy's attention. The rebellious side of her was having a great time being the infamous gangster's current focus and it was giving her one hell of a confidence boost.
After a few more minutes of driving they pulled off the main road onto a single track road between some trees. When the car emerged, they were on a long driveway leading to a huge mansion. Arrow House. Of course, Maddie thought, remembering that this property was still owned by the Shelby family in her time and was would be home to Tommy's son. It was intimidating to look at, not at all surprising that it would be Tommy's home.
Tommy pulled the car up outside the front door without saying a word. They got out of the car and Maddie followed him through the front door into the foyer of the huge house. She gasped when she entered, she had never seen inside somewhere like this before. Everything she could see looked like it cost more than her own flat and she made a mental note to be careful not to break anything.
As soon as they entered a woman in a maid's uniform greeted Tommy and took his coat and hat from him as Maddie admired his face in profile as he handed his things to her.
'Is this the guest we were to be expecting Mr Shelby?' asked the maid, indicating to Maddie with a rather sour look on her face.
'Yes, Frances. If you could show her to her room and find her some clothes to wear as well,' Tommy said, turning to Maddie, a glint of another smug smile in his blue eyes and she gave him a sarcastic smile in return.
Frances gave a curt nod, she looked confused by the clothes request and by the looks that the two of them had just exchanged. 'Your family are waiting for you in the drawing room sir,' she said.
Maddie looked up inquisitively at Tommy. 'Your family?' she questioned. He'd asked them to come back here. Maddie felt nervous about having to speak to his family again, especially since she'd held one of them at gunpoint just a couple of hours ago.
'I'll speak to them. Go and get changed and I'll have Frances come and call for you shortly,' he replied, and looked at Frances expectantly.
Frances regarded Maddie for a moment and then held her hand out to take Maddie's coat as well. Well this should be interesting, she thought and realised that this was why Tommy was lingering to watch this unfold. Sighing and took off the coat, revealing her very odd almost non-existant outfit which didn't leave much to the imagination. Frances almost dropped the things she was holding when she noticed as Maddie held the coat out to her. Maddie tried not to laugh at her reaction, and she noticed that Tommy's small non-smile was playing at the edges of his lips again too.
Frances managed to compose herself quickly and said, 'Follow me please miss.'
Tommy nodded to Maddie as she went to follow Francie towards the staircase and he started to walk in the opposite direction, she assumed towards the drawing room.
Maddie followed Frances up the staircase and she admired the large paintings that lined the wall as they ascended. There were grand portraits of Tommy that Maddie thought were very impressive and captured him well. Then she passed a portrait of a beautiful blonde woman and Maddie's heart sank. Grace. Shit how could she have forgotten about Grace? The cogs in Maddie's mind turned again as she tried to recall what she knew about Tommy's first wife. Eventually she pulled the information out of her memory and realised that Grace must be dead, but it couldn't have been for more that a couple of months yet. She imagined how hurt Tommy must have been when she died, how much pain he must still be in, and she felt she could share his pain of losing someone so close. She had lost friends and family over the course of her life already and she knew the pain well. She also felt a pang of guilt for kissing him earlier and for flirting with him but she shook the feeling off.
Frances lead Maddie down the upstairs corridor to a modest sized room. There was a four-poster bed and all the furnishings were as posh as the rest of the house.
'Your room miss, I'll be back shortly with some clothes more suiting of a young woman,' Frances stated, with a definite tone of distaste. But before Maddie could respond back in-kind Frances had scuttled out and shut the door behind her.
'Well Maddie, you've gone and done it now. You're in the house of the most dangerous gang to ever exist and you're planning on staying the night,' she said to herself, shaking her head in disbelief. She went over to the bed and sat down, feeling the bounciness of the mattress beneath her. Then she took off her boots and socks and relished in the feeling of her feet and toes being free of their confinement. She put her feet on the floor and felt the soft carpet between her toes.
Frances soon returned with a pile of clothes and left again without saying a word. Old timey people were so hung up about stuff, Maddie thought rolling her eyes. She inspected the clothes and saw that Frances had brought a full outfit right down to the underwear. She wondered whether these clothes had belonged to Grace but decided it best not to dwell on it. She sighed, picked up the pants and stockings and began to get changed.