All The Kings Men {Peaky Blinders} (Completed)

Thirty Three

"We need to talk." It was the first thing that Lily had heard from Polly after the shooting at Artillery Square. Lily had taken to spending as much time as possible outside of the house, to stay away from her. She could not turn away from her current reading book. "Tommy wants to hold a family meeting."

Polly watched her foster-daughter, wondering if there would ever be a day when she would be real family. Lily book-marked her page, and slowly closed the book. She stood, and reached for the closest garments to her. Polly scoffed to herself. "If you have such an issue, Polly - then you're free to look away."

"I'm free to look away? Oh, thank god." She watched silently, before the two made their way to Tommy's current house.

Lily and Charlie disappeared into the back room to read that story about a starfish that Lily had written what felt like over a million years ago. The two sat closely to the fire as Lily read out loud the story. As she finished, outside from the house, a car arrived. She patted Charlie on the head, and slipped into the main room.

She sat close to Finn, watching as Polly and Tommy stood in front of the crowd that had gathered. It was the family (sans Michael), Johnny Dogs, Uncle Charlie and Lizzie. Arthur leaned forwards, talking first.

"What the fuck happened today, Tom? We all heard - shooting in Artillery Square." He was tapping out cocaine and lining it up on the table as he spoke. Lily watched the warn hands shake their way through a straight line.

"Yes, there was." Tommy watched him work, too. "Today I killed three men. Now our enemies are down to eight." Everyone stared at him, not sure if they should be shocked or impressed.

Arthur cleared his throat, after snorting half the line. "I suppose they, er, I suppose they took you by surprise, did they?" He looked up at his younger brother.

"No. I knew they were coming." Tommy's eyes lazily drew back over to Arthur, after they had trailed across everyone sat down.

"Just after Christmas, I received a letter from Luca Changretta," Polly spoke up. She looked at Lily. "Offering to spare my children if I gave up Tommy, and I gave Tommy up."

"Is that supposed to be an excuse as to why you didn't tell me?" She stared at Polly, unblinking. "Or Michael?"

"Now is not the time, Lily." Polly gave her a stern look. "So leave it."

Lily scoffed, it was, after all, her turn to be slightly disappointed in her family's actions. Tommy cleared his throat and brought the conversation back to the topic at hand. "Yes. Because that was the plan that Polly and I agreed on."

He talked slow, but steadily. "I knew that Luca would want to pull the trigger himself, so I used the set-up as bait to bring him here."

"You're a fucking idiot, Tom!" Arthur groaned, rubbing his nose again.

He blinked as he does when he's about to roll his eyes, but decides at the last second that it would be improper. It was an age old trick he had been preforming since childhood. "Look, I didn't get Luca but I got three, all right? That's it. That's what happened."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily caught sight of Charlie stumbling into the room, still holding the story. "Come here, you." Tommy picked him up, signalling for everyone to leave.

Nobody took the bate as Johnny Dogs lifted his glass. "Aye, but he's right, ah. I mean, I thought you'd gone soft."

"So you got three?"

"Yeah, I got three." Tommy nodded at Uncle Charlie.

"Well, I'll drink to you, Tom, you mad bastard." Johnny Dogs chuckled with a heavy laughter. It rested in his chest and didn't come out until he had a reason to unleash it.

Arthur and Linda were the first to get up, to make a move. Arthur leaned in close to Tommy and whispered something in his ear. Nobody else could hear him, just Tommy, just like he intended.

"Dad? You got three what?"

"I got three shillings for a two shilling horse, my boy." Tommy followed the couple out of the room, leaving everyone to make their own way out of the house.

Polly remained by the door as Lily stood last, and she stepped closer to her. "Luca Changretta held a gun to my face, yet you still did not feel like you could tell me the truth?"

Polly's eyes flickered, only for a slight second, before returning to their original stance. "I'm staying at Finn's tonight."

Lily began to leave through the hall, "I'll see you tomorrow, Polly - and say hello to Michael for me before he goes." Lily stepped out of the house, Finn still there on the side walk, smoking in silence.

"Let's get a drink." She stepped onto the street, and the two made their way to the Garrison.

They sat near the back with Isaiah, and his very pregnant girlfriend. Lily had already forgotten her name, and whether it was because of spite or the rum, she didn't really give a damn at this point. Her mind wandered aimlessly as Finn and Isaiah chatted loudly about the upcoming fight between Bonnie Gold and Goliath.

Her mind turned in two ways. One path led to Michael, going into the woods to live in safety with the Gypsies. Was it selfish to think of him leaving without her as wrong? Did she crave the worst that much? Her thoughts twisted and turned and juddered in to tree stumps, in to the sun setting behind elm trees, in to caravans and rabbits roasting over open fires. The smell of meat, and fire, and charred wood, and a multitude of herbs not found in local shops, wafted through her mind as easily as the wind drifted through the streets.

The other path led to water. The closest seashore to Birmingham. The waves were calm for this time of the year, and in the distance sat the same boat that had been resting in the background of her most current dreams. The sound of the waves collided softly in her brain with the feeling of falling forwards while she closed her eyes. And the smell of the salt water filled the room, leaving the real world behind. This was not the first time she had been to this beach. Nor was it the first time Ophelia had risen out of the waters, dry as land, dressed in a sheer and lace dark green and blue dress, a brown overcoat resting easily on her shoulders.

Ophelia smiled as the waves sloshed over a close by rock, her eyes dark but clear, a shade of blue no one in the Shelby or Grey family has ever possessed. She opened her arms wide, and Lily stepped in to her embrace. "Time is running out, Lily."

She looked up and stepped back. "What is coming, Ophelia?"

"It's just past the horizon. In time, past your current events, it will arrive." Ophelia smiled at her again, her hair matted and laced together with seaweed. "It was nice to see you again, Lily. Although, we will have to do something about that name eventually."

Lily chuckled and reeled back in to reality. It was as if she had never left. She finished her whiskey, before she and Finn returned to his flat to sleep off the day's weariness and the nights drinks.