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celia nervously clipped the cross necklace behind her neck and adjusted her bangs in the mirror. she smiled at herself, as if to give herself a small dose of courage and extra kindness.
celia collected her bag and made her way out the front door and into the dark streets of birmingham. keeping her head down, the girl made her way toward watery lane. the door to the betting shop seemed hidden amongst the dark brick wall, you might miss it if you didn't know where to look.
the girl knocked harshly on the dark door, knowing they weren't even open yet celia hoped someone would be setting up. "we're not open yet!" a familiar voice barked in annoyance from inside.
"i'm here to see polly gray!" celia's normally quiet voice shouted back. after a moment the door to the betting shop was roughly yanked open. standing in front of celia was very familiar face.
"ho-ly shit," the man in front of her breathed out. celia's face broke out into a large grin as she stepped forward and gave the man a hug.
"hi arthur, how've you been?" she asked as she hugged him. his arms wrapped tightly around the girl, picking her up slightly before setting her back down.
"i never thought the day would come where you would step back into this fucking shop," arthur said. celia couldn't contain the smile on her face. "i didn't know that day would come either," she replied.
arthur stepped away from the door frame and let the fitz girl into the shop, closing and locking the door behind her. celia glanced around the shop, taking in all the changes over the past years.
"is polly here?" celia asked as she walked around the empty betting tables. arthur watched her for a moment. "she's somewhere 'round here. what you want from her?" he inquired.
"i'm- i'm going to be watching johns kin." the girl looked up at arthur, a small nervous smile on her face. his eyebrows raised as high as they could go.
"does he even know yous is even back in town?" he asked as he stepped toward the fitz girl. celia looked away from him and shook her head. "no, not yet."
arthur made a noise of dissatisfaction and shook his head at her. "you've been gone long enough for him to have four bloody kids and a wife, fitz!" he said, anger lingering in his voice.
celia looked down and pushed her hand against the wooden betting table, running her fingers along with the groves and marks worn into it. "i know, i know, arthur. believe me i know." she whispered loud enough for him to hear.
"what the hell even happened to yous? i expected the two of ya to be together forever! it messed him up going into the war without yous together." arthur said, the love for his younger brother pushing him to rant.
the fitz girl pulled her hands to her face, pushing the ends of her palms into her eyes as if she had a headache. "i don't know- i don't know what happened! everything was great and then it wasn't. i wasn't even the one that ended things! that wasn't me, arthur!"
the oldest shelby looked at the fitz girl in mild shock. the look on his face made it seem that it was the first time he heard that information. "whaddya mean it wasn't you that ended things?" he asked in confusion.
it was celia's turn to look at the shelby in shock. "john ended things. it was his idea. and of course he told you that i ended it, the blithering idiot." she seethed. arthur crossed his arms and shook his head again, mumbling something incoherent.
the doors on the other side of the shop suddenly opened and in stepped polly gray. "celia. glad to see you showed." she said as she walked farther into the room.
"who's going to tell john?" arthur asked as he met polly in the middle of the shop.
"whose going to tell john what?" the man himself asked. at the sound of his voice, celia's head snapped up. her heart began to beat at what felt like a mile a minute. instinctively, her hand went up and gripped the small cross hanging from her neck.
as john shelby stepped into the betting shop, his eyes were drawn to the girl in the corner of the room. their eyes met for a moment before he tore them away. "celia." he said bluntly.
"john." she said softly. the man in question would not meet her eyes, instead they went to polly and arthur.
"what the fuck is she doing here? when did you get back to birmingham? the fuck is goin on?" john asked in utter confusion.
"i'm sure she can handle answering any questions you have on her own. she's a big girl now," polly said as she lit a cigarette. john stared at his aunt for a moment, his eyes periodically slid over to celia.
"i've gotten her to agree to watching your kin since you can't seem to do it yourself." polly said bluntly.
"what?" john asked in shock. polly just met his eyes for a moment, saying something without words. "come on, arthur." polly said before she and arthur left the room.
after a deadly moment of silence, john turned to celia. "when did you get back?" he asked, removing the toothpick from his mouth.
"a couple weeks ago, percy decided the big city life wasn't for him." the girl replied, her fingers still tightly wrapped around the cross.
"and you just let him drag you back here?" john inquired, pulling out a cigarette.
"you know how i am about percy, i want him to figure out what's best for him." celia said quietly. john stared at her, with critical eyes he examined her face and her figure, tying to see all thats changed.
blowing out a puff of smoke, john finally spoke after another silent moment. "always too fuckin nice," he shook his head. "now why the fuck are you watching' my kids that i had with another woman?"
"for the sake of the children. something very clearly changed in you right before you went off to that bloody war. it doesn't mean those children get to suffer. pol told me how you've been acting, leaving a fucking loaded gun lying around for finn to get his hands onto. what if once of your children got ahold of that and shot one another?" celia spoke loudly, assertiveness leaking into her voice.
"you don't know what you're fuckin' talking about lia! you don't know anything, okay? you have no reason to be coming back into my life like this. i broke up with you for a reason." john yelled, pain clear in his voice. he looked away from the girl and she saw his fists curl.
taking a step back, celia swallowed and let go of her necklace. "i still have no fucking clue why you decided to break up. will i ever get the answer? i doubt it with how you're acting, john. you're a changed man. i'm not trying to come back into your life, i'm doing a favor for pol. now if you'll excuse me, i need to speak to her." celia said harshly before walking past john and into the shelby home.
