Falling Free

-One-

A/N: Yes, this is a re upload. Yes, I deleted my account for like 7 months then made it again. Yes, I'm a mental moron. Yes, I hope you can all forgive me/not hate me :)

If it wasn't for her piercing blue eyes and prominent cheekbones, Niamh would have wondered far more often whether she was actually a Shelby or not. Three years younger than Ada and eight years older than Finn, she had always been somewhat shielded from the illegal side of the family business and even shielded from many of the struggles her elder siblings had suffered. She was by no means spoiled but she was... different somehow. While she had a temper to rival that of Polly's when she was pushed too far, the truth was that she tended to favour the placid nature of her mother to the angry one of her father.

Being closer to age in Ada, and being the only two sisters, they were naturally very close although their personalities couldn't have been any more different. Chalk and cheese is how Polly referred to them. Ada was wilful and disobedient while Niamh did whatever was expected of her simply to save any argument from happening; Ada far preferred to make her opinions heard whereas Niamh's preference was to sit and listen to everything around her and take it all in. She wasn't a push over though, merely just someone who sought to keep the peace unless it was absolutely necessary to destroy it.

Niamh was known in the family affectionately as the 'secret keeper' because no matter what was confided in her, it never left her lips; something that both served to Tommy's benefit much of the time when he would talk to her about his plans but proved to be a hindrance when she refused to divulge things about her brothers and sister to him. Little did the family know that the only creatures who ever got to hear the Shelby family's deepest darkest secrets were the four legged equines whose company she favoured above all else.

Running a hand down the coal coloured mane of the horse she was brushing, Niamh smiled to herself. There was a chill in the air and she could hear Uncle Charlie berating Curly for putting a can of petrol too close to the fire, and Curly murmuring a bumbling apology. This, right here, was her happy place. Here she could enjoy the stability of her home and her family while somehow still feeling that she was able to embrace her traveller roots with the animals she had been riding since before she could even walk. Like the rest of her family, Niamh enjoyed being on the open road but she enjoyed her simple life in Watery Lane even more. There was just something she loved about knowing that her home was constant brought her a calmness amongst the chaos that being a Shelby could sometimes bring; even if she was the Shelby who bore the least of said chaos.

"You're going to be late for the family meeting," Charlie's voice murmured quietly from the doorway and Niamh turned to smile at him warmly.

"Tommy can wait a while, it won't hurt him."

"Might hurt his ego though," Charlie smirked. "Thinks he's important enough now to command respect from even us as though we're his little soldiers who stand to attention upon his orders."

"You might be one of his soldiers, Uncle Charlie," Niamh grinned impishly, revealing a dimple on the right side of her cheek just beside her mouth. "But I'm his sister first and his soldier never. He knows I'll be at the meeting when I'm good and ready and that'll just have to be acceptable enough for him."

"Well how about to spare the rest of us having to deal with his irritation, you come with me now?"

"Polly can handle Tommy," Niamh smirked. "You tell Tommy I'll be there when I'm done with the horses, and if he can't wait then that's his own problem."

Charlie nodded, a smile gracing his face as he stubbed his cigarette to the ground beneath his feet.

They both knew that Niamh would be at the meeting on time.