Quicksand | A Peaky Blinders Fanfiction

Chapter 5

Ada

Ada finished wrapping the bandage around Elaine's wrist, securing it tightly. They were sitting around the creaking kitchen – slash living room table, each a cup of tea in front of them.

"Do I even want to know what you two have been up to?" she asked in a mixture of worry and annoyance. While Michael seemed determined to find the secrets of the universe in the contents of his cup, Elaine's gaze travelled through the room. Ada tried not to feel embarrassed about her little flat. If it was up to her, she would have stayed in her home with Freddie, but his current state still forced her to keep their son as far away from him as possible. After moving back in with the Shelbys was quickly discarded as a possibility, Ada rented out this little room. But now she saw it through the eyes of her visitors: the old kitchenette on one wall, a single bed opposite to it, now occupied by the bundle of blankets and hair that was Carl. She had really tried to create a nice environment, but her attempts were at war with the wild nature of a fast growing kid. Carl hadn't managed to knock over the flowers on the table and shelves yet, but her colourful cushions were all over the room, mixed with wooden toys and building blocks and Ada noticed just now that the wall right next to the door was decorated with little drawings. It was a mess.

"Ada, did you notice something weird around lately," asked Elaine cautiously.

"Like what?" Ada answered. Conversations with beginnings like that never ended well. Elaine clearly didn't want to talk about it but she had started it after all.

"I mean, have you seen people you don't know around you?"

Ada sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. "No," she stated, "only the guard dogs my dear brother left all around the house."

She saw the shoulders of her friend sag in relief, just as Michael's head snapped up abruptly. They were wearing opposing expressions.

"There are Blinders around?" he wanted to know. His eyes were wide. Ada hadn't had much chance to talk to Polly's son since he joined the family, but they had crossed paths a couple times. It was unfortunate that their first real conversation was so grim. At least he seemed to find the prospect of gangsters watching her at all times just as disturbing as herself.

"Yes, can you believe it? At this point I'm not even sure if Tommy is watching me or the money he's spending on me."

Michael ignored her last statement and turned to Elaine. "They might have seen us," he said. It was all rather suspicious. And Ada had enough not knowing what was going on.

"Why can't they?" she inquired, "What happened? What did you mean 'people I don't know'?"

She was met with shifty eyes and pointed silence.

"If Polly finds out her son got dragged into trouble, she's gonna-"

"Yes!" Elaine exclaimed, "I know." She was picking at the edges of her bandage and Ada suppressed the urge to swat her hand away. "We just don't know what to say yet."

"Well, for now", Ada suggested dryly, "you could tell me the truth."

Finally, the two of them had given up and just told her what had happened.

"So, you did some mysterious job for Tommy and tonight, you faced the consequences?" she asked Elaine with doubt. It was not much to go by. The other woman nodded.

"And you just stumbled into it when you were looking for her?" she asked Michael. He nodded as well.

"Yeah, I was supposed to fetch her, because we all met up at the Garrison."