Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

97.

It wasn't even fully bright out when there was knocking at the door of the old Shelby house on Watery Lane. Finn's room was at the front of the house so Ailbhe heard it loud and clear, jumping awake from the noise. She sat up, knowing that Finn was still sound asleep, his arm across her waist and her other hand laced through his. She could hear Arthur and Johnny Dogs outside, their loud voices rising through the thin walls of the house.

Ailbhe shook Finn once, then twice, then a third time and called his name. Finally, he started to rouse, moving and opening his eyes to squint at her.

"Alv...what?" He asked, confused and looking around before hearing the noise outside. They must have fallen back asleep.

"It's Arthur and Johnny, they're at the door"

She told him, pulling him up out of the bed to go to the door to them. She spoke in a whisper as if they could possibly hear her and she pushed back against the wall that the bed was against as if they could possibly see her. Even if the family knew Ailbhe and Finn were together, she certainly didn't want Arthur and Johnny finding her in his bed with her clothes strewn about the room.

Ailbhe couldn't go to the window because she was meant to be in her own bed across the lane but of course, she wasn't. Liam had been watching Barney in the yard all night and Niall was God knows where with God knows who, so she had stayed with Finn. She slept better with him and waking up beside him, for that few minutes of peace and quiet it felt like they were utterly normal. But of course, the chaos always spilled in.

"Alright, alright, fuck sake" Finn groaned, climbing out the bed and going to the window.

He was absolutely not a morning person and it didn't matter what day it was or who it was waking him, he never wanted to leave his bed.

He shoved open the window, sticking his head out and shouting down to this brother.

"What, Arthur?" He snapped, his eyes still half closed and adjusting to the light.

"Come on, get moving Finn Boy. We've got a big day today" Arthur shouted back at him, looking up at the window that Finn was leaning out of.

"Alright! Stop making so much fucking noise"

Finn called back, grumbling and looking back at Ailbhe who was sitting up in the bed now, reaching for her clothes much to Finn's disappointment. He liked being one of the only people who saw her like that, to see her completely off her guard and at ease. He liked being the only one she sat up talking at night with and told things she dared not say to anyone else, being the one she craved to be around.

"And Finn?" Arthur called him back.

Ailbhe could hear the energy in his voice and the laughing of Johnny Dogs drifting up through the open window. Arthur was already playing in the snow by the sounds of it. Johnny wasn't as inclined as Arthur but didn't need it to have this much energy this early.

"What?" Finn snapped back, his attitude in the morning never being the best.

"Tell Ailbhe to come too, I've already been to their house so I know she's in there with you, so get a move on!"

Arthur laughed, knowing that Ailbhe was hiding up there with him like she usually did. They thought they were so clever, but Arthur had gone to the Kennedy house first, finding it empty and quiet. There was only one place Ailbhe could be and any man would bet it would be wherever Finn was. If you found one, you generally had found the other.

Finn rolled his eyes, slamming the window shut and looking back at Ailbhe who had cursed loudly when Arthur outed her. She climbed off the bed, grabbing her spare clothes she kept in Finn's dresser and starting to get dressed. But she could see Finn smiling and almost laughing.

"What?" She asked him, the hint of a smile on her face now too.

He was pulling clothes on now too, his eyes drawn back to her constantly and a smile on his face. That smug smirk on his face as he buttoned his shirt, she threw a pillow at him but her smile on her face was telling enough.

"Shut up" She protested, seeing Finn's smirk but her own smile was bright and present.

"I didn't say anything" He argued happily, putting up his hands innocently as he had that smirk on his face.

Ailbhe knew that he had some inflated pride now knowing that his brother knew that Ailbhe had spent the night with him as she did most nights, as many as they could get away with. Their family always made jokes about them and while Finn always scowled and told them to shut up, he got a kick from it too. She was his, and everyone knew it. He was a man, so of course his ego being fluffed was important to him.

"You won't be smiling if Arthur tells Niall!" She threatened jokingly, pulling her hair back into a jewelled clip she had left on Finn's bedside.

She left things at Finn's now, small parts of her and her life inhabiting pieces of his. It made him feel soft and warm, something largely unfamiliar to Finn but familiar when it came to thinking about her. When he would see a bottle of her perfume on his dresser, a hair ribbon tied on the bedpost, a change of her clothes in the wardrobe, he got a sense of ease and permanency. Like she was in his head and in his life in equal amounts, each as addicting as the other.

She was feeling the nerves and tension melting. Arthur was right. They did have a big day ahead of them and there was so much that could go wrong, they had to be perfect. So, it was natural for Ailbhe to feel nervous, but she knew Finn was trying to distract her, even if just for a moment.

As she stepped into her shoes, she watched him roll his eyes, he knew that Niall would have a lot to say about the fact Ailbhe wasn't sleeping in her own bed, even if they almost always knew it to be true. They weren't stupid and they knew Finn and Ailbhe were together as much as they could be, but they also wanted to use the idea, out of sight out of mind. As long as Ailbhe didn't end up pregnant or heartbroken, they wouldn't care.

"Come here" he beckoned her with an index finger, looking at her with a glint in his eye as he pulled on his jacket.

"No" She protested, a smile tugging at her lips and pulling on her coat. She knew that look and what came next, what came after Finn looking at her like that, they certainly didn't have time for.

"Come here!" He asked of her again, a proper smile on his face now as he held out his hand and got a hold of her, pulling her into him.

"Finn, we don't have time for this!" She laughed, as his hands slid around her waist and down her back, pulling her in against him.

She gave up her resistance, letting her hands rest on his chest and she looked up at him. While her green eyes were nervous and anxious when she first woke, he could see her relaxing.

"I say we do have time" He remarked, pressing a kiss to her lips. As always it was heat and desire, his hands on the sides of her neck and her hands on his chest, pressed against each other.

"Are you sure you want to go tonight?" He asked her, knowing her answer already.

"Yes, Finn... are you asking me not to?" She replied, her hands slipping up around his neck.

Finn knew that Tommy and Ailbhe's plan was timed and planned down to the letter. Everyone had to be where they needed to be, and according to the plan, Ailbhe had to be there. Finn had no intention of asking her to sit it out, he knew she wouldn't, not without a valid reason and it being dangerous wasn't a valid reason. Not even if the idea of her getting hurt or into trouble made his jaw tense and his insides churn.

"No" He replied quickly, quick enough for her to know he wasn't lying.

"Be careful though..." He asked of her, knowing that she would be careful, that she wasn't just risking her own life anymore but she was risking their lives.

"You too, Finn. Remember, you're mine until I say you can die!" she warned him, resting her forehead against his and whispering against his lips.

Somehow joking about their potentially imminent deaths was where they were now.

"By order of the Peaky Blinders" she whispered, jokingly and feeling him laugh against her lips as she pressed hers to his and feeling his hands tighten around her waist. It was calm and quiet, at least until the racket outside the window started up again as Arthur and Johnny dogs shouted for them.

Pulling away from her, Finn rolled his eyes. Arthur really knew how to pick his moments.

"Alright, let's go before he comes up here" She sighed, pushing her curls behind her shoulders and squaring those shoulders.

She followed Finn down the stairs, smiling when he winked at her over his shoulder as one last gesture of comfort before he opened the front door onto Watery Lane and stepped out into the morning air.

"Well, good morning love birds!" Johnny Dogs exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as Finn stepped out, Ailbhe right behind him pulling out the door behind her.

"Shut up Johnny" Finn shook his head, rolling his eyes and falling into step beside them.

Ailbhe ignored Arthur's raised eyebrows and smirk at her, knowing he didn't really care where Ailbhe spent her nights but he quite liked the idea that Finn was happy, that Ailbhe had someone. They suited each other, brought out the best in each other if they had a best.

"Not a word, Arthur" Ailbhe warned, her eyes warning him as well as her tone, but Arthur just shrugged innocently, raising his arms up in surrender.

"Wasn't gonna say anything, sister! Just wanted to say how well rested you look" He protested as they fell into step beside him and they headed towards Charlie's Yard.

Isiah was at the gates, nodding at them in greeting as they passed him, heading towards where Liam and Charlie were standing around a burning barrel, smoking and talking in hushed tones. Liam looked tired and a little rough, having not slept much and the bit he did sleep was on a stool leaning against a stable door where Barney was being kept.

"Barney awake yet?" Finn asked, knowing that the tablets were weaning out of his system and he had spent most of his freedom, in and out of consciousness.

"Woke up during the night a few times. Thought Charlie was a German spy but the second time he woke, he remembered everything"

Liam shrugged, throwing the end of his cigarette into the flames. It wasn't easy seeing Barney like that, almost as hard as seeing him in that psychiatric facility with his hands tied behind his back. But the second time he woke, when he asked about Liam and his life, he seemed to remember everything Liam had told him in his letters and what had happened since they left France. How his mind could unravel and then return to normal again, they wouldn't ever understand.

"He feel alright?" Finn asked, lighting a cigarette between his lips and taking a drag before passing it to Ailbhe. He craned his neck to look for the man in question.

"You can ask him yourself" Charlie nodded towards the doorway where Barney was standing, a little hunched over as if nervous.

"Morning Barney" Ailbhe greeted him, smiling and doing her best to get him to look her in the eyes.

He looked up at the sound of a woman's voice, seeing Ailbhe and starting to see the girl who he knew years ago and who still was there, underneath the make up and expensive clothes. She was still in there. He could see it in her kind disposition and those intense eyes she had. As a little girl who was often underfed, her eyes had seemed almost too big for her head, making her look like an almost type of woodland fairy creature from a book. Now, they suited her, fitting her face and making her almost enthralling to look at.

"Ailbhe" He nodded, eyes wide and starting to piece it together. She looked very different to what he remembered but they all did. He even had gotten a fright when he saw himself in the reflection off the cut, he had aged a lot in the years he had been locked up.

"You look good, Barney!" she said sincerely, he looked a hell of a lot better now than he did when they first broke him out.

He was alert now, his skin had gotten back some colour from being out in the open air and when he stepped out into the morning, he straightened up and stood to his full height.

"So, do you, Alv! You've grown up a lot" He nodded, smiling nervously and wringing his hat in his hands. But there was still that lady's man that her brothers had sworn Barney Thomason was.

"Alright, take it easy Barney boy, Ailbhe's already got a man" Arthur laughed, clapping a hand on his old comrade's back and winking at Ailbhe who rolled her eyes, passing the cigarette back to Finn.

"Lucky man" Barney joked under his breath, nudging Finn in the side being ignorant to the fact that it was Finn who Arthur was referring to.

Ailbhe smiled, seeing Liam smiling too as he recognised his old comrade more and more the longer, he stayed off the tablets. Whatever they were giving him in that place, combined with the lack of fresh air and sunlight, lack of dignity and human contact, it all was making him worse. Maybe after this, Barney would just be Barney again.

"Yeah I am" Finn retorted, raising an eyebrow at Barney who realised Ailbhe and Finn were in fact together. But it was all in quite good spirits.

"Alright lads" Liam scolded them, rolling his eyes and not liking where the conversation was turning about his sister.

They didn't have enough time to get into it since Tommy rounded the corner at an alarming pace, cigarette in hand and hat low over his eyes. Isiah was close behind him, a large sniper rifle in his hands that he passed into Barney's hands that seemed much too nervous for something so dangerous but Ailbhe had faith.

"Ready?" Tommy asked, wide eyes and a nod the only reassurance he gave to Barney who nodded, seeming certain.

They watched as Barney took his position, kneeling in front of some stacked crates and facing the target Liam had put out for him, a cloth marked with a bullseye that they were praying Barney would hit in the vicinity of. Johnny Dogs looked incredibly doubtful, seeing how Barney's hands shook and trembled as he picked up the bullets. But when he had loaded the gun, looking up at Tommy and winking, Ailbhe knew that he wouldn't miss.

Ailbhe watched as Barney looked between them nervously, looking back and forth at the faces both familiar and unfamiliar. He stretched his neck, whispering something quietly to Liam and Tommy who started smirking. Their eyes looked up, smirking at their sister who stood across from them, arms folded and her pretty face in an almost frown.

"She's seen worse, Barney, I wouldn't worry" Liam promised him, a hint of a smile at the thought that Barney wouldn't want Ailbhe, who might be a delicate lady to be around when he started shooting.

"She's done worse too" Tommy added, raising an eyebrow at Ailbhe who rolled her eyes.

She didn't need reminding of the things she'd done especially since her brothers loved telling the story of how Ailbhe had lodged a letter opener in an Italian's neck or any other time she had proved herself to be anything but a delicate lady.

Barney fired once, lodging the bullet straight into the middle circle that they imagined Mosley's head would be. It was perfect. And Ailbhe suddenly started to feel a lot better about the plan.

Johnny Dogs' mouth dropped open in shock but Liam looked not in the slightest shocked as he winked at Barney, knowing his old friend was well up to the task.

"See?" Tommy exclaimed, nodding at his old comrade and clapping a hand down on his shoulder "You didn't need all those tablets, you just needed another fucking war, eh?"

Ailbhe couldn't help but almost laugh at how true it was, for all of them. For all her brothers talked of the horrors of France and the war, they had come back to England and got stuck into another. Although this war, they had no intention of losing.