Only Time Will Tell - A Peaky Blinders Story

Chapter 35 - First signs of healing

"Alfie?" Cass whispers into the room, hoping to be heard from her side of the bed. "I'm here, love." Alfie whispers back. Cass rolls over to face him with a small smile, prompting him to roll off his back and onto his side to face her. "I love you." Cass then whispers, shuffling closer to him and burying her head in his chest. "I love you, too." Alfie replies slightly confused but grateful that Cass wants to be close to him. They haven't been this close for a while, and Alfie can't help but smile into her hair. They were finally starting to get back to normal.

Cass takes a deep breath, feeling even more relaxed as she inhales his scent. "It's been a long month." She says after lifting her head slightly, so her words aren't muffled. "It has." Alfie agrees, curious as to where this conversation is going. "I'm so glad you're here." Cass then says, her words slightly broken as she tries to hold back her tears. "I always will be, love." Alfie whispers, kissing her head and pulling her closer. "Good." Cass then says, relaxing into Alfie's arms once more. They feel Cyril shuffle up the bed to be closer to them. Cass chuckles tiredly and she reaches down to pet him.

It's not long before Alfie can feel Cass's breathing even out for the first time in a couple of weeks. She's finally sleeping in his arms rather than on the opposite side of the bed. She has barely looked at him since the loss of their son, let alone be this close to him. Alfie can't help but sigh in relief. He had been worrying that she was falling out of love with him, but now he realises that she was taking her time to process everything. He doesn't blame her since that time apart, but not apart, helped him as well.

The calm silence in the house is soon broken by the phone ringing. Alfie looks towards Cass with caution. He doesn't want to disrupt her, but the call might be important. He carefully climbs off the bed, making sure to place a pillow under Cass's head before making his way into his office.

"Hello?" He says as he picks up the receiver, only now noticing that it's the middle of the afternoon. Neither he nor Cass has been keeping track of the time throughout the day. The bedroom was constantly dark, so they had no idea. "Alfie, I want to talk to her." Tommy says down the phone, making Alfie roll his eyes. "Mate, I've been telling you every day that she doesn't want to talk to you. She's not ready." He replies in an annoyed tone. "But I miss her. I need her. I'm freaking out about Grace and the pregnancy. She's almost 7 months pregnant." Tommy says, almost pleading with his sort of brother-in-law. "And how do you think that's going to make her feel? It's bad enough she blames herself for what happened, how do you think she's going to react when watching her brother and his fiancé getting ready for their kid to be born?" Alfie snaps down the phone, sick of this conversation which he's been having almost every day for the past 2 weeks. Tommy claims that he waited so long to start calling because he thought they needed space, but Alfie knew the truth. He didn't want to call until he felt he needed Cass for support.

There's a moment of silence, which Alfie hopes is Tommy finally getting the picture. The Shelby man was yet to listen to the things Alfie had been telling him, maybe today was the day he did. "Look, mate, I get that you need your sister, but you haven't exactly been there for her over the past month. She needed you, all of you. You can't just have her at your beck and call when you don't show her the same sort of support. She's finally starting to show signs of feeling normal again, and I'm not going to mess her head up again just because you can't man up and fucking deal with this shit yourself." Alfie says sternly down the phone before slamming it back on the holder. Hopefully that was enough for Tommy to understand.

Both Cass and Alfie have been left to heal by themselves. None of the Shelby family even bothered to ask if they were ok, except for Polly – and that was only for the few days that Cass was in the hospital. Alfie understood that most of them weren't happy with where Cass's heart was, but he would have assumed that they cared about her enough to push that aside. Cass could have died with their son, shouldn't her brothers be grateful that she didn't? All of this had been on Alfie's mind and making him more and more angry towards Cass's family, and he's not sure if he could keep himself together the next time he saw them.

"Are you alright, Alfie?" Cass croaks from the doorway with Cyril in tow, pulling her lover from his bubble of anger. Alfie turn to face her, his eyes registering the tiredness and worry written on her face. "I'm fine, love." He says, his anger disappearing as he stares at the love of his life. "Do you want something to eat?" Cass then asks with a small smile. "I don't mind, love." Alfie says softly. "Well, you're either hungry or you're not, and since you've eaten the same as me the past few weeks, I'd like to hope that you're hungry." Cass retorts, her tone slightly playful which makes Alfie's heart skip a beat. She's finally becoming her normal self again. "I'm absolutely fuckin' starving." Alfie admits with a small laugh. "Come on, then." Cass then says, holding her hand out for him to take. Alfie gladly takes the offer, silently thanking whatever higher power that brought them together. They had come a long way since France, and Alfie only hoped that their relationship would take many steps even further.