A Collection Of Michael Gray Imagines

Family Reunion

With Anna, had she lived!

Anna and Michael, Michael and Anna. That's all it had ever been and now that they had returned home, together, much to Tommy's surprise as much as Polly's, Polly was determined to keep them close. Anna was allowed to go out with Ada as she had almost nothing to do with the Peaky Blinders apart from her last name but Michael was insisting on getting closer to his cousins and their business.

"Anna," Michael called.

Polly was currently smothering her with all of the things she hadn't been able to over the years that they had been gone. It wasn't difficult for Polly to do this and she'd only ever dreamt of this happening and knew after so long what she would do given the chance to see her kids again.

"Michael?" Anna called back, smiling at her mum who was only more than happy to have them both in the same room.

Michael walked through from the betting through to the Shelby family home, he stopped when he saw his mum sitting across the table from his sister, "Uh, can I have a word?"

"Go ahead, love," Polly rests her hand on Anna's, "I'm sure this is a lot and you need to catch up on current events with your brother."

Anna slowly pulls her hand from underneath Polly's and lifts herself from her seat before moving to behind the doors to talk with Michael on the den's side.

Michael stands close, not wanting anyone else to hear their conversation, "So what do you think, about our Mum? And the rest of them."

Anna hesitates, fingers frozen mid-air to help illustrate her words, "Uh, well, I'm not too sure, I suppose."

Michael frowns, it hadn't been what he'd expected, "I was hoping to hang a round for a few days, John was going to convince Tommy to let me go help with buying a horse."

Anna nods keeping her lips firmly closed, "You do that. I'll stay with... Polly, I suppose."

She wasn't hiding her discomfort around the whole situation very well. She wasn't sure if she wanted to continue this charade around her newfound mother, it all seemed a bit iffy to her, why had, out of the blue, Thomas turned up at their childhood home to break such news to them? It seemed selfish on the Shelby's part to drop this news on their adopted mother, she had been hitting Tommy, begging him to leave before he let anything else slip in front of her kids.

Michael sensed her tone, "I can stay, if it would make you feel better."

Sighing, Anna responds, "No, it'd be unfair. Plus you might as well make the most out of it before Mum makes her way over here herself," before muttering the second part to herself, "Polly seems to be overjoyed that we're back; it's too much for me."

Michael smiles, and walks off to Polly. Anna hears him mention something about going home with her for some tea or something. She wasn't paying too much attention before she walked off to see if she could talk to her only female cousin, hoping that she'd be able to shed some light on the situation that Anna had found herself in.

"Anna," Polly called, "Michael and I are going home. We're having tea, are you coming?"

She shakes her head, "I was going to have a talk with Ada, if that's okay with you? I can ask John to drive me home later on."

Polly smiles warmly, "'Course, love. Enjoy yourself -- and don't be back too late, I'd like to have dinner with the both of you tonight."

Anna smiles stiffly, "I'll be there."

Polly walks off, content that she finally has her two kids back, no matter how long it had taken, Michael follows behind, cautious of how his sister was going to act over the next few days or however long they ended up staying. He saw his sister's looks and her hesitations to leave to come here.

Anna ignored Michael's wary glance in her direction before he disappeared from sight. She let out a heavy sigh, a little less on edge now that she doesn't have to keep up Polly's expectations of her, of course she wanted to know who her real mother was when the news had been brought to her attention but she didn't want it to be this way. The woman who'd been looking after her for years was her Mum, so what was she going to do about this new Mum that she'd somehow obtained? Surely neither wanted the other in the picture but how could she ignore either of them in any circumstance?

Turning to face Ada who sat patiently on one side of the room as Karl bound around the betting den, and made her way over to hopefully get some answers.

Ada finished her conversation with Arthur when she noticed Anna walking over to her, timidly. Anna was fiddling with her fingers and playing with her short hair. She'd decided to cut it below her ears a few days ago and hadn't been enjoying the lack of length to it.

Ada smiles, "Anna, what can I do for you?"

Karl walks up to Anna as she takes a seat across the table that Ada was seated at. He was curious about the new lady who had joined their family overnight. So was Ada.

"I," she began, not sure where to start, "I'm hoping you can give me some answers or at least something to go off of."

Ada nods, allowing Anna to speak her mind, "This is all so... strange."

Arthur lifts his head up at that comment, "Well, it's not a lifestyle that suits everyone."

Anna forces out a small laugh, "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, Arthur," she focuses her attention on Ada, "I just want to know what she's like before Michael jumps head first."

Ada frowns and Anna's heartbeat quickens, she didn't want to anger anyone.

Anna goes to open her mouth but Ada holds up her hand, "Don't say anything. I get what you're trying to say. It's strange, a strange man called Thomas Shelby reveals that your real mother wants to meet you and then the first thing that you get to see is her in a state early morning in late-night clothes. It probably wasn't the finest first impression, I understand."

Anna breathes out a sigh of relief, thankful that she hadn't aggravated anyone. Arthur chimes in, "She's really not whatever bad thing you think she is. She just had a rough day. She's the only reason we've been alive as long as we have.

"She was devastated when the two of you were taken from her. Wasn't even her fault and no one could do anything about it 'cause we were all too young. Our Dad was never here anyway. Probably didn't care enough to notice she had kids of her own and couldn't look after all of us all the time. She cried for months. It was something she knew she'd never forgive herself about."

Ada nods, "It was a terrible time and yet she still found time to care and love for us more than our father did," Ada scoffs at her own statement, "she was the guardian we didn't know we needed. She figured out I was pregnant. Out of wedlock. She didn't disown me, nor did anyone else in this family... 'cause we're Shelby's."

That had been something that was often thrown about in this household, she'd noticed, 'we're Shelby's'.

It certainly had some meaning to it.

Keeping a small smile on her face, Anna replied, "I think that's what I needed. Can someone take me back to Polly's?"

Arthur nodded and got someone to take Anna to Polly's.

Upon arriving, Anna walked up the steps of Polly's impressive townhouse. She was greeted by a smiling Polly at the door, "Anna, darling! You're home."

Polly embraced her and Anna accepted the hug. Peering over her shoulder, she saw Michael smiling at her, in that moment, Anna knew that she was going to be okay.

She was home, no matter how long it had taken, she was home and she was safe and she had a real mother who cared for her.

- - -

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