Nothing Left To Break

14

ANI FELT AS THOUGH THE UNIVERSE WAS AGAINST HER THIS YEAR. Although she had escaped a bad past and had actually made a life for herself, she couldn't go a week without something going wrong.

On her walk home she had tried her best not to cry, she hadn't cried in years, not since Rhodri (her ex fiancé) had first hit her. After that she decided that the world didn't deserve her tears. Or her smile for that matter.

Reminding herself of this, Ani quickly pulled herself together and shook her head slightly. As if that would help in any way.

Why was she so upset? Her brother treating her like an inconvenience once again? The pressure of going on a date with Birmingham's most feared gangster? Or maybe the fact that it wasn't pressure she was feeling, maybe it was...

Ani shook herself out of the thought as she heared Karl's cry. Although as she ran down the street to try and find him, she was startled at what she saw. Karl wasn't hurt. He wasn't afraid or on pain. He was happy.

The sight that Ani saw was that of Karl and his Uncle playing in Ani's garden. Thomas Shelby did not strike many people as caring. But he sure looked it in this moment. Holding his nephew in his arms and twirling him around, a smile playing on his lips and a small chuckle escaping him as Thomas puts him down.

Karl screamed with happiness as he saw Ani near him.

"Auntie Lani!"

He ran towards her with his arms outstretched. And an innocent look in his eyes.

Once they met Ani embraced him tightly and picked him up.

"Hiya Karl bach" (little karl)

A moment with that little boy could brighten up anyone's darkest day.

Putting Karl down and holding his hand, Ani begins the final steps towards her shared house. As she looked up at Thomas Shelby she couldn't help but get a wave of domestic bliss.
Was this the sort of life she wanted? With him?

Her mind was running away with itself. She couldn't let herself fall again. He hurt her. Just like everyone else. He would hurt her again.

But wouldn't it be nice if he didn't.

Wouldn't it be nice if she could just let herself be happy?

She could have sworn that Thomas was thinking the same thing. As he looked into her eyes and watched her every move, he knew that this is where he wanted to be.

No matter how messy life gets. He wanted her by his side. He needed her by his side.

He needed her.

"Oh stop staring into eachovers eyes like two teenagers fucking for the first time"

Ada storms out the front door. Half laughing to herself, the other half obviously a bit annoyed.
Other people could see that she was joking. But to her best friend and her brother they knew that they had better pull apart from eachover.

"Ada..." Ani warns, knowing that Mrs Wallace will have her ear to her door, waiting for another excuse to complain to the two women.

"Just come in" She grunts, opening the door wider.

That was a first. Ada, letting Thomas into her house, even holding a door for him. Of course it was followed by grunts and mumbled swear words.

Ani held Karl's hand and led him into the house behind Thomas, who, for a gangster looked rather nervous. Ada Shelby's anger was the most dangerous enemy he could have.

-----------

The only way to describe the feeling of the house was stale. Thomas sat on one chair, nursing a cup of tea in his hands. Whereas Ada sat on the sofa opposite her brother drinking gin. Not with and tonic. Just Gin.

Karl had been told to go to his room and play. Ani wished that she was an innocent child at this moment because this silence was terrifyingly numb.

Ani stood by the window, she was too nervous to sit. She would be shaking her leg and just irritate people. Instead she stood, occasionally she would tidy something in the room, be it Karl's toys which he had left on the floor, or a random sock which had happened to appeared after one of Ada's 'special guests'.

"You can throw that out, Ani" Ada states referring to the sock that Ani had been looking at and debating wether to pick it up or not unsure of its cleanliness.

"Do it yourself Ada, she's not a maid" Thomas snaps slightly. Defending Ani.

"Woah, my brother actually protecting someone other than himself. Now that is a surprise" Ada says sarcastically, slamming her glass down on the table. Making Ani flinch slightly.

Hoping no one noticed her brief sign of weakness, she carries on trying to distract herself.

"Are you not going to say anything?" Ada says, raising her voice slightly.

Thomas was obviously used to his sisters temper. He didn't speak or move. He just stared at her and occasionally took a sip of his tea. Ani thought to herself that this would not work. As just his presence in the room would irritate Ada.

"What would you like me to say, Ada?" Thomas asks. No indication of how he was feeling was shown in his voice.

"I want you to tell me what's going on with you and my best friend" she states, staring right back at Thomas.

Neither of them acknowledged that Ani was still in the room. It had turned to a sibling argument, which Ani was not a part of.

Thomas looked over his shoulder at Ani. He noticed how her lower lip had begun to bleed slightly. She must have been biting it out of nerves. Additionally, a couple of her nails had gotten significantly shorter. As soon as she noticed Thomas looking at her she gave him a quick smile and a nod. Nudging him to tell Ada the truth.

"Tommy? Are you going to answer me? Ani. Why don't you fill this bit of information in for me?" Ada inquires sarcastically growing more and more frustrated with her brother.

Ani nods yet again. She thought that it probably would have been difficult for Thomas to tell Ada what was going on between them if he didn't know himself. That must have been why he had looked over at her.

"We are seeing eachover, Ada" Ani says confidently. Finally walking over to a seat and sitting down. She had begun to feel dizzy.

Ada looked like she was about to shoot both of them right there and then. She didn't speak for a few moments, instead she cursed silently to herself and shut her eyes momentarily. As if that would make it go away.

"No fucking way"