𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐖𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 ━━ T. Shelby

𝗯𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 ✧

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR, DEATH AND PTSD

1918

THOMAS Shelby's breath got caught in his throat when he saw... them. Despite his soul being split between life and death, his heart remained in Small Heath, in the clutches of two people who looked at him like he wasn't the same man. He wasn't, he and the rest of the Birmingham Riffles were already dead, and seeing his daughter pull away from Eden's grasp and run between the crowds of people and her uncles who were wrapped up in the hugs from the family, he dropped his duffle bag as soon as she threw her arms around him, he finally caught his breath.

"Daddy!" she cried into the crook of his neck. She recognised him despite the sombre look in his eyes, "It's you, from the pictures and stories."

He didn't let go of the little girl, feeling the liveliness and joy radiating off of her, warming his undead heart. Her croaky voice brought tears to his eyes. Pulling away, her arms never moved from his neck, but her legs settled around his waist.

"'Ello," he uttered in awe.

Inara's smile grew wider by the second, taking in his hollow cheeks, raven hair and pale blue eyes that mirrored hers. Tommy couldn't believe it, no description from any letter did his daughter justice, she was something else, she was the very pull he needed to keep fighting in France. He didn't think he would be able to love someone more than Eden and here she was, half him, half her.

The beauty marks dotted around her innocent face were what got him, just like my Edie, my pretty girl.

He would protect her with his life and that vow he would never break.

"'Ello Tommy," Eden reached him after being almost knocked over by John and Arthur. Jeremiah made sure to thank her for the role she played in his son's life while he was away. The three men spent their time off to the side, greeting the rest of the family, doting over the new additions and pointing out the differences they could all see.

"Mummy it's Daddy," Inara squealed, laughing at the two, wondering why they were just staring at each other, shell-shocked and stunned beyond belief.

All the details they tried to take in before they parted all those years back, had changed ever so slightly, they were the same, and they were different. Eden appeared far more vigilant and attentive, partially due to the little girl in his arms, she had to change. Her hair; in its natural state, settled above her neck, whilst his was shaven around the sides, just like she'd last seen.

But it was the eyes, all in the eyes, they never lied.

She could see that he wasn't there, her Tommy was trapped, part of him died back in those trenches if not all. Trapped between life and death. Some made it back, others didn't, but those who survived didn't really, part of them still entangled by the mud and the patting of the shovels.

He could see that his Eden morphed into someone else, far less reactive and impulsive.

They both simultaneously pulled out their lucky charms, his horseshoe and her necklace, it brought a crooked smile to his face but failed to meet his empty eyes. There were times in the mud, the bullets and miles of death when he thought his luck would run out, his time was finished and life seconds from ending, where Eden would fade from his memory, but she was also stuck in his mind, pulling him out of the hole he dug himself. Each time he touched the horseshoe, he thought of his little girl, and she was enough, the motivation she gave him was enough, enough to survive. The necklace draped around her neck has pushed her to prevail, through the lonely nights, sleepless ones, the ones where she cried herself to sleep thinking of all she lost.