Peaky Blinders. One shot and imagines

Angel of the trenches - Part 1 - Tommy x Reader

She gripped at the rifle in her hands. The shells, the bullets whizzing over her head. At any moment the firing would stop, and the chaos fall eerily silent. At any moment the whistle would blow, and they would go over the top. Any moment, she would face the automatic machine guns of the Hun. Any moment she could fall to her death in the mud, like any of the other men that were waiting for the same call.

She shouldn't be there. She had pretended to brother, when she had got on the train. He had died in an accident mere days before he was due to leave, so she had cut her hair, bound her breasts, and taken his place. No one seeming to ask questions when she had climbed onboard with the men. No one seeming to notice that they had a woman in their midst, during training. And now, after all this time, she doubted that anyone would give a fuck if they did know. She had been with them every step of the way. She had slept in the mud, in the piss and shit. She had eaten food filled with maggots. Food that wasn't fit for even a pig. She had seen the same horrors, killed the same enemy. She was a soldier just like they were, man or not. And despite the fact that she would give anything to see the end of this, to go home, if this was the way that she was to die, then so be it. The young woman sure that even hell must be better than this.

"Corporal (Y/l/n)!" A voice called out. The woman standing to attention as the sergeant major came to stand in front of her.

"Yes Sarge................"

"I need to talk to you............."

"But the push, Sarg............."

"Will be here before ya know it. Now follow me..........." The woman dutifully following after him into one of the dugouts.

Sergeant Major Thomas Shelby of the Birmingham Rifles. The only man in the army that seemed to know what she really was. She had been able to keep up the pretence for so long, able to fool the men with whom she ate with, slept with and fought with every day. But he........he seemed to be able to see through everything. Seemed to be able to see into her soul. He had said that she shouldn't be there, that he would inform the officers of what she was. That she should be back at home in England; but she had begged him, she had pleaded. Telling him that she owed this to her brother. That she owed this to all the men that had already fallen. That she couldn't give up now, she had come too far. That she had already seen too much to ever be the same again; and anyway, she had never been good at waiting, or keeping house like other girls did. This, this awful, bloody fucking war, was what she knew. Killing the enemy was what she did. Tommy musing for a moment, her life in his hands; the sergeant finally telling her that he would let her stay, as long as she was always by his side.

"I don't want ya ta go..............." Tommy said, as he finally turned to look at her.

"What.........?"

"When the whistle blows, I want ya ta stay here..............."

"I.......I can't do that. I will be shot for cowardice if they find I haven't gone over the top. I don't want the mantle of coward hanging over my brother's name........."

"But ya not ya brother; ya (Y/n), a fuckin woman that shouldn't be running out into no man's land, hoping not to get shot, or ya limbs blown off by landmines............"

"But I am, Sarge. I have his papers. As far as the other men, as far as the officers are concerned, I am George (Y/l/n). And if I don't go over the top, it is George that will be shot. George that will be dubbed a coward. And I will not have that. I am going to go out there, and prove just how brave George, just how brave I am. And as much as you have my respect, as much as you have my thanks for not revealing my secret, I am not gonna let you stop me. Now, Sarge, if there is nothing else, I am going back out there to join my friends; and when that whistle blows, I will climb that ladder and do what I have to do..........." (Y/n) told him, before she turned to leave the dugout. The corporal turning back, as her arm was caught.

"Ya either the bravest woman I have ever met, or outta ya fuckin mind. Alright, ya can go. But ya stay with me, right..........?"

"Right, Sarge............." (Y/n) replied. Feeling a sudden surge of confidence and doing what she had wanted to do for so long; her lips meeting his in a kiss. The young woman finding herself smiling, as he kissed her back.

"Thank you, Tommy........" She added, before she pulled away. Placing the helmet back on her head, before heading out of the dugout. Tommy watching her go, a silent prayer filling his mind. A prayer to any god listening that she, that both of them would get through this alive, and that one day they would meet again.

                                                          >>-----------------------------------<<

Tommy sat at his desk looking at the old photo of him and a few of the others from the war; the cigarette between his fingers slowly burning away. He had been looking at this picture more and more often, recently. His eyes never leaving the image of the young corporal by his side. George (Y/l/n).......or should that be (Y/f/n) (Y/l/n). His angel of the trenches. The bravest woman that he had ever had the pleasure of knowing. The last time that he had seen her, they had gone over the top together; and she had done what he had told her to do, she had stuck to his side. Stuck to his side until the bullets, the mud and blood had started to fly. Until the air filled with the sounds of the screams of the dying. Until the mines had exploded around him. Tommy able to make it through.......make it through all of it. But (Y/n).........he had never been able to find out anything about her. He had never been able to find out whether she was alive or dead. Tommy always fearing the worst; always remembering the kiss that they had shared, before they had had to go over the top. Always wondering what might have happened if he hadn't lost her that day.

"Tommy........." A voice came. The head of the family firm looking up to see his aunt.

"Pol........" He replied, as he pushed the picture back into the desk draw, put out the dying cigarette, before lighting another.

"There's someone here that would like to see you. Say's they knew you in the war................" Polly replied, as she moved out of the way and let in the visitor. Tommy getting to his feet and staring in disbelief, as he saw the face of someone, he thought he would never see again.