Calm before the storm

Happy Birthday Cat

A loud knocking woke Catherine from her peaceful sleep, groaning she got out of bed to open her bedroom door. "Happy birthday Catherine" her father shouted as he hugged her, laughing Catherine hugged him back "thank you pa" smiling Catherine began to make her bed "right get downstairs, we're having your birthday breakfast." "Okay, give me a few minutes to get dressed and then I'll be down" Oliver closed the door as he made his way back downstairs.
After her birthday breakfast Catherine made her way to the shelby household, walking through the betting den she greeted everyone with a huge smile followed by a chorus of birthday wishes Catherine made her way into the kitchen. "Morning ladies" she smiled when Ada dropped her bread to get up and hug her "Happy Birthday Catherine!" Polly rushes over and joins the hug, "Aw happy 16th birthday Catherine" Catherine smiles brightly as she pulls away from the hug "thank you." Ada pushes past Catherine to make her way upstairs "wait there, I'm getting your present" the young girl smiled after her best friend, turning she met polly's gaze "check my basket over there, might be something in it for you." Pulling a brown bag from the basket Catherine looked up at Polly, "go on then, open it" Catherine chuckled as she untied the thin rope around the bag, "oh Polly I love it" Catherine held the dark green coat up so that she could have a good look at it, "thank you so much Pol, I love it" wrapping her arms around the older lady, Polly smiled and rubbed her back "I'm glad you like it, Arthur helped me pick it." Ada came bouncing down the stairs with her hands behind her back, "are you ready?" Catherine laughed "yes Ada I'm ready" Ada handed Catherine a box as she sat at the table watching her friend in excitement. Opening the box Catherine was amazed by the green heeled shoes, "Ada, they're amazing! Oh my god" Catherine dropped the box on the table and tackled Ada on to the floor in a hug. Polly watched the girls in amusement as Arthur and John stood in the doorway watching them, "alright girls" Arthur's voice shocked both girls. The girls continued to laugh as they got off the floor, "hello boys" Catherine smiled "happy birthday Catherine, this is from me and Arthur" John handed Catherine a small box shaped object "aw thanks boys" Catherine chuckled as she opened the box, "My first make up items, I guess I really am a woman now" Arthur and John burst out laughing, Ada, Polly and Catherine soon joined in. "Right, my pa gave me some money for my birthday so I want to go shopping who's coming?" "I'll go" Catherine spun around to see a smiling Thomas in the doorway, "really? Didn't have you down as the shopping type Tommy" Tommy chuckled, "well it's your birthday, I may as well do something nice for you" Catherine smiled "okay, I'll just drop my presents off at home first! I'll be back in five minutes."

Walking down the lane with a shelby always made people talk but Catherine didn't mind, mostly because people recognised her as a shelby too. Thomas was silent for the whole walk to the dress shop and it worried Catherine, Thomas shelby was never quiet. "Are you gonna come in with me or wait out here?" Catherine smiled as Tommy looked down at her, "nah I'll come in, I can provide a second opinion for the dresses you pick" Catherine chuckled "I think I'll only get one dress, save the rest of the money for a different day. Tommy had begun counting the patterns on the wall paper as Catherine tried on her 10th dress "Why can a woman never just pick a dress and leave?" He groaned, the two older men behind the counter started laughing "oh believe me, you'll be here for another hour if you don't help her pick one" hearing this Tommy wasted no time in jumping up and looking through the dresses hanging up. "Catherine I found a dress, I think it's the one" Catherine poked her head out from behind the curtain "oh my god Thomas, where did you find that? Give it here, I wanna try it on" Tommy laughed as she pulled the dress from his grasp. Minutes later Catherine emerged from behind the curtain with the royal blue dress hanging over her arm, "time to pay" "finally, you took your time anyway" Catherine laughed "shouldn't bother you Thomas, it's not like you have anywhere else to be" Tommy watched her as she paid for her dress, he fiddled with the box in his coat pocket deciding that their walk home would be the perfect time to give her the present he had got her. He was brought out of his thoughts by an angelic voice "right well, I better go home and have some tea with pa" "let me walk you home" Catherine smiled, "Thomas shelby you know my father would kill you himself if he saw you walking me home" Thomas let out a hearty chuckle "let me walk you to the corner then" "alright, only the corner."
The two walked the whole way laughing and chatting about the shelby boys and the madness they got up too "I'll have to go visit Johnny dogs soon, I miss that cheeky fella" Catherine laughed "I'll come with you, haven't seen him in a while" Catherine stopped as they reached the corner before her house "Thanks for going shopping with me today Thomas, I had a laugh" "umm it was a good day" Thomas smiled at the girl looking up at him, "But I have something for you" Catherine's smile immediately widened "you do? I thought you had forgot" Tommy laughed "how could I forget about my favourite girls birthday" Catherine felt the deep red blush creep up her cheeks, Tommy pulled a box from his pocket and offered it to Catherine. A gold heart necklace was revealed when Catherine lifted the lid "oh Thomas, I love it! Thank you" she threw her arms around him, as she went to pull away Tommy placed his hands on her waist and looked into the beautiful grey eyes that had him captivated from day one. "Happy birthday Cat" and with that said, he pressed his lips against her forehead and walked away leaving the young girl stunned.

*A/N - I'm actually in love with this necklace 😂