i found you .. and you found me // Thomas Shelby

60 - successful

"It feels so good to be so young and have this fun and be successful... I'm so successful," -Ariana Grande-Butera

After the unexpected news of Giorgia expecting once more, Tommy had been hit with a wave of unfamiliar emotions. No, this wasn't his first child, but, he had more to lose now. He had the fucking New York mafia on his back, whilst his Italian wife was pregnant, whilst coming for blood. He had too much to lose, too much at stake, and he'd be lying if he hadn't been up all night with an unsettled stomach thinking about the what if's.

Bonnie Gold was preparing himself for the boxing match, and though a man with a plan, even Tommy was fearful. He was playing around in unchartered territory. He'd already lost one brother to these bastards, he refused to lose another. 

As he entered his office, he found no one other than his sister sat in his chair awaiting his arrival. "Talk to me about Colonel Ben Younger." 

Acknowledging his sister's presence but not giving her a second glance, Tommy shrugged his jacket off and asked, "what about him?"

"He has just made me a proposition." 

Trudging over to his whiskey cabinet, Tommy kindly announced, "you're in my chair."

 Glancing at her brother, who didn't look back, Tommy could feel his sister's gaze on the side of his face. The two were too alike, and though Tommy was always the one giving out the glares, he now found himself in a position that he did not like. "He said you knew about it," she told him. "And remember, I know when you're lying." 

She wasn't wrong, Tommy knew that. Out of all his half-wit brothers, his sister held the same level of intelligence as him, and though it drove him mad half the time, he was somewhat grateful to have a sister who held some sense. 

"Ben Younger was an officer in the Warwickshire Yeomanry in Flanders," Tommy told her. "The only Calvary man who could ride a fucking horse." 

Losing her temper, Ada snapped. "I was strip searched." 

Lifting his head to finally meet her gaze,  sighed. Removing his cigarette from his lips, Tommy listened to the painfil words. "Two soldiers watched."

"I'm sorry, Ada," Tommy apologised. "That... The arrest was so the neighbours would see and word would go around. Younger is alright," he told her, joining her at the desk as he sat down. "Younger came to me for help. He has been given Birmingham." 

Scoffing, Ada faced her brother. "Given Birmingham. By who?"

"By Churchill," Tommy sighed, "by the fucking King. By people who want to stop a revolution. No one is laughing anymore, Ada. The home office is making provisions. This is part of those provisions."

"And how is Tommy Shelby, OBE, going to stop a revolution?" 

 "Jessie Eden has accepted my invitation to dinner," Tommy shrugged, fiddling with the cigarette in his fingers.

At the sound of his sister's scoff that he'd known too well, Tommy looked at Ada. "Of course, I'm sorry. Tommy Shelby is gonna stop the revolution with his cock." 

Shaking his head at his sister's statement, Tommy continued. "It's not her the military are interested in, it's the people around her. The people like you used to be, like Freddie used to be. People who want an armed revolution. If I get Jessie Eden's trust, she gives me the names of the instigators, I give them up to the crown forces."

 "Tommy," Ada announced, "Tommy, sweetheart. Why would a man whose medals rust at the bottom of the Saltley canal want to help the British military?"