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ayomurphys · 1 year ago

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I have a third eye.

YAYYAYAYAYAYAYA lizzie and celia friendship we as a society have been waiting!!!! Tragic circumstances obviously but my lizziekins is safe… we are happy.

However I’m so excited to see what will happen now with Celia’s character with this huge change. There’s still goodness in u celia we believe in u <3

To Be Alone | Tommy Shelby x OC | Chapter 19

Masterlist

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Pairing: Tommy Shelby x OC

Summary: It takes a traumatic experience for Lizzie to have a change of heart on her opinion of Celia, and luckily, Tommy’s there to stop Celia from spiraling as she comes to grips with what she’s done. A phone call gets in the way of her finding out what happened that night he didn’t return home.

Warnings: smoking, language, weapons, assault, murder, minor character death

Word Count: 3228

A/N: this one’s a bit intense. I tried to keep the descriptions of the actual act brief and focus more on the fallout of it. Enjoy!

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

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"Are we all here now?" Tommy questioned as Arthur walked into the main room of the betting shop. He had called a family meeting to talk about the recent moves within the business.

Family meetings always stressed Celia out. Why? Well because at family meetings, there was always that chance that things would get out of hand. Even though she knew now that her parents were in a much better place being back in America and all, she still panicked when tensions between people rose to the point where they were flat out yelling in each other's faces. They were also tough for her because Lizzie was always in attendance. The two women were still not on nice terms with each other.

A chorus of 'yes's' gave Tommy the signal to keep talking. "Right, so Arthur, you will be going to meet with Alfie Solomons to discuss how things are going in Camden Town. Business should be alright, and the Black Country Boys are doing what they can, but Alfie has still requested to meet," he had just started off and already there was an objection.

"Why me, Tom?" Arthur questioned, more out of curiosity than anything.

"Because he and I are at a standstill, and I know you won't be pushed around," Tommy responded, making Arthur nod, his chest puffing out slightly from the confidence he had just gained. Celia didn't miss the furrowed brow expression that John gave to Tommy, and what made her chuckle was that Tommy also noticed it but said nothing to his younger brother. "We are going to have some of our lower level men be taken in and arrested by the cops so that they can get their numbers up, but also so that we will have people on the inside. It has been said that one of Sabini's men is currently behind bars. Having some of ours in there can elicit more information on the moves that he is going to make before he makes them," Tommy paused to listen for any objections before carrying on, "I have heard good things from May Carleton, that the horse is getting closer to being ready for the derby that is quickly approaching..."

Tommy continued talking but Celia wasn't listening after he mentioned May. She wasn't able to speak with him about how his night at her estate went down because in the week and a half since he had returned, they were like two ships in the night, barely having time for each other. This didn't help to quell Celia's thoughts, the words Lizzie told her that night filling her head almost constantly.

"Are there any questions on what I just said?" Celia turned back into his monologue just as he was ending it. No one spoke up, so he continued once more. "How are the earnings looking, Pol?" he asked his aunt then.

"They've been up," Polly answered with a smile and a nod.

"Good to hear. Esme, how have you been feeling?" he then asked the woman who was sitting next to her husband, her hands resting atop her baby bump that was starting to protrude now.

"Just fine, Tom," she smiled at him, just hearing this made Celia smile. At times she wondered if she was more excited for this baby than Esme was.

"Any other orders of business to be had?" Tommy asked once more, "Michael...Arthur...John...ladies?" he named off his brothers and cousin before looking at the women, all of them shaking their heads. "Right then, consider this meeting finished. I'll be in my office," Tommy stated, placing the cigarette he was smoking back in between his lips before he moved to where his office was located.

One by one the family members filed out of the betting shop, save for Polly and Celia, who decided that they would stick around to balance some of the books after today's bets. As they were working, they saw Lizzie walk out from the offices with the intent of leaving for the night. "Bye, Lizzie," Celia called after her, trying so hard to bury the hatchet, but Lizzie ignored her. Celia just sighed and continued with what she was doing.

"I have to show this transaction to Thomas. Something doesn't look right here," Polly stated then, standing from the chair she was sitting on before she grabbed the book and started to walk in the direction of Tommy's office.

Celia continued to work on the books, tapping the pencil she was using against her forehead as she tried hard to compute the numbers in front of her, her mind not wanting to cooperate with her. She was so focused that she almost didn't hear the screaming coming from a woman outside. Then she listened in and there was silence. Maybe it was nothing, she thought, going back to her work. But then she heard it again, and this woman sounded like she was in pain. This made Celia stand from her chair and go running into the street, hoping the woman would make a sound again and that she could find her. She didn't need that however, because when she looked to the left, she saw two figures engaged in a struggle, and they were moving in the direction of one of the many alleyways the city had. Damn Birmingham and its alleyways. The woman was now screaming for help, and as Celia approached the scuffle, she could see that the woman was actually Lizzie Stark, and a man was holding her against him, his arm wrapped around her throat.

"Let her go!" Celia screamed, not slowing her stride as she reached down into her stocking where she now carried a small blade with her at all times. Tommy had actually given it to her after the night the person tried to rob her, telling her that it would come in handy in keeping her safe when he wasn't with her. She would have laughed if someone told her that the first time she'd be using it would be to save Lizzie Stark, the person she probably despised the most in this city.

"Get the fuck..." was all the man was able to say before his voice cut out from Celia wielding the knife and plunging it into the first area of his body she was able to, which so happened to be his neck. The man went limp and Celia shrieked at the fact that she had just acted in such a way, but her attention quickly went to Lizzie, who had fallen down with the man and was now sobbing on top of his body.

"Come on, Lizzie," Celia stated softly, extending her arms in order to help her up. The woman on the ground took hold of her outstretched hands and allowed for Celia to pull her up, finally now putting their past tribulations behind her. "Let's get you somewhere safe," Celia told her, wrapping her arm around the woman's body in a protective manner. Lizzie was slumped over as she limped with Celia back to the betting shop. Her hands being full, she used her shoulder to open the door and when it hit the wall behind it, Polly jumped up out of surprise. "Get Tommy please, Pol. Lizzie's been attacked. She's hurt," Celia barely got out, trying to catch her breath as she brought Lizzie over to one of the chairs around the table. Lizzie slumped down once she was sitting. Her clothes were torn, there were small bruises covering her face, and her nose was bleeding. She was shaking, partially from the coldness of the outside, and partially from what she had just gone through.

Soon enough, Tommy burst through the doors onto the betting floor, a frantic look in his eyes, Polly following close behind him. "What's happened? Where did you find her? Are you alright, Lizzie?" he showered questions on the women who looked like they'd just gone to war. Celia, although she wasn't injured, still looked pretty disheveled from having to help Lizzie back to the shop.

"I heard her screaming so I went outside and saw her being pulled to an alleyway by a man," Celia explained, Lizzie then chiming in breathlessly to tell him she was alright. Polly had already begun assessing her injuries, concluding that she only had surface level bruising and that nothing else major was wrong with her. There was a collective sigh of relief at that.

"Ok. I'll get some men to go out and get the bastard that did this," Tommy stated through gritted teeth, obviously angry that a woman who worked for him had been assaulted, practically right outside his betting shop nonetheless. Celia managed to grab his forearm before he could get too far, making him turn around to look at her. "What?" he questioned, the word coming out a little bit harsher than he intended, but his emotions were running high now. Revenge was the only thing on his mind.

"You're not going to need to be sending anyone out, Tommy," Celia spoke, her voice low as she tried to keep herself calm.

"Why not?" Tommy asked, eyeing her carefully with furrowed eyebrows. He was confused as to why she didn't want this man to be hunted down and killed for what he had just done.

"Because I'm pretty sure he's already dead," Celia dropped the bomb, the entire room becoming so quiet that she probably could hear a pin drop. Her heart was beating so loud in her ears right now, and she hated it. "I...I used the knife you gave me, Tommy," she sputtered out then, coming to the realization of what she had actually done. She felt like breaking down, she had just killed a man, but she knew that now wasn't the time for her to try and command the full attention in the room. Lizzie was still sitting feet away from her, completely bruised up and broken from just being in an attempted kidnapping and possible murder for all she knew.

Tommy's eyes widened slightly as he put together her words, knowing that he also had to stay calm now. That him acting animatedly would probably scare her more. "Ok. Well.." he trailed off, clearing his throat as he tried to think up a gameplan on the fly, "I'll have some men retrieve the uh...the body and then dispose of it," he said then, choosing his words carefully so he didn't add more panic on to Celia's plate. He could already see how she was dealing with this. Celia nodded along with his words, trying to dissociate herself from the whole thing.

The room fell quite then as Polly finished up with putting some type of gel on the cut Lizzie had on her jaw. Then Lizzie decided to speak up, "thank you, Celia. You saved my life out there," she said, sincerity in each of her words.

Celia sent her a smile then, still internally trying to calm down and stop the panic attack that was trying to take her over. "You're welcome, Lizzie. I'm just happy I got there in time," she spoke as sincerely as the other woman did.

"What was between us is water under the bridge now. I know your intentions," Lizzie spoke then, shocking Celia slightly. She guessed that it took a near-death experience for Lizzie to come to grips that she didn't mean anyone any harm and that her presence didn't warrant any harsh feelings. That she was actually good for Tommy - Lizzie herself had begun seeing it in the smaller things he was doing. She just didn't want to admit it.

"Thank you," it was now Celia's turn to thank her, "it already was for me," she added then, no malice in her words. Tommy looked between the women as they spoke to each other, confusion on his face. He decided that it was better to let it be than to delve into what they had previously disagreed about. He had an inkling of what it possibly could have been, and he was happy that the air had been cleared between them now.

"Would you like me to take you home, Lizzie?" Polly offered then, looking at the dark haired woman who was sitting on the chair.

"Yes, thank you, Polly," Lizzie nodded, a small smile on her features. The older woman helped her up then, a comforting arm around her as she walked her to the door.

"I'll make sure that I get a new knife for you, Celia," Polly grinned in her direction then, and Celia remembered that she, too, kept one in her garters for these very problems. Celia tried to respond, but her mind wouldn't let her. Luckily, Polly's statement wasn't really one that warranted a response.

Just as they were going to say their goodbyes, Celia felt something shift inside of her. She knew then that the floodgates were about to open. "Excuse me for a moment," she barely got out before she was practically running past Tommy into his office and over to the table set against the wall, where she knew he kept his bottles of liquor. She poured herself a full glass and drank it down, cursing to herself when it didn't immediately stop her shaking hands. Of course it wouldn't kick in right away. She then poured another glass and was in the middle of tipping it back when she heard Tommy's footsteps approaching her. She willed herself to put the decanter back onto the glass tray as he entered his office, his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes fell onto her.

"Are you ok, love?" he questioned, slowly moving closer to her in hopes that he wouldn't startle her because at the moment she looked very on edge.

"I just...I just killed a man, Tommy," she breathed out, setting the glass next to the decanter before she looked at her shaking hands.

Tommy took her shaky response as his ok to move even closer to her so that he was able to wrap her into his arms. "It's ok, love. You saved someone."

"But I killed him. I stabbed him...in the side of his neck. He choked...fell to the floor and went limp. I went to help Lizzie but he didn't make another sound and just...laid there," she stammered out, still shaking in his arms as she tried to recall what had just happened. That man was probably still laying there right now. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to picture it.

"You did the right thing," Tommy told her, pressing his lips to the side of her head. He held her tightly then, not speaking until she decided to, hoping that the quietness in the room would help to calm her down.

"There's still goodness in me, right, Tommy?" she asked then, her voice coming out in a broken whisper.

"Yes, Celia. There is so much goodness in you. You just saved a woman who was fearing for her life...a woman that you didn't necessarily like, might I add," he trailed off as she moved in his arms so that her head was now pressed against his chest.

"I still have goodness in me," Celia said, moreso to herself than Tommy, but Tommy nodded along with her.

"You're just coming off of the adrenaline, love," he assured her, his hands rubbing comforting circles on her back. "You're gonna be ok."

"I just killed a man, Tommy," she breathed again, her tears soaking through the material of his shirt.

"I know," he said quietly. "I remember the first time I killed a man..." he trailed off after a few moments of silence. Celia kept her head in his chest, but she was listening now. "During the war. He was part of the company that was making a charge on ours. I shot him. Watched as he fell...the life left his eyes, and something in me changed. Like a piece of me had died with him," he paused, clearing his throat as Celia finally lifted her head to look at him, her eyes immediately meeting his. "It doesn't get easier. I still acknowledge the bodies that pile up, that have been piling up since that first man, but I've become numb to it now - numb to the act of it." Celia felt like an idiot now, blubbering about this to a man who has probably killed more people than he could remember, but hearing how he reacted to it at first made her feel better. "You still have goodness in you, Celia. Please don't let yourself think that you don't," he told her then, his hands now pressed against her cheeks as he searched her eyes.

"Thank you, Tommy," she breathed, closing her eyes as he pressed his lips to her forehead. She then let him lead her out of the office and to his house, which was on the other side of the betting shop's doors. They sat on the couch in front of the fire, Celia placed her head on Tommy's shoulder while he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. For a moment, she contemplated asking him for one, but she didn't want to risk possibly falling into the habit of always needing one just because her nerves were frazzled this one time. "You said that things are at a standstill with business in Camden Town?" she attempted to make conversation after they had been sitting silently for a few minutes. She had felt like she was calm enough to finally hold a conversation with him now.

"Let's not talk about business tonight, love," Tommy waved her question off, his eyes focused on the fire as he spoke. Celia sighed and accepted the silence that fell between them once more as she tried to think of something else to say.

"How about that night you spent at May Carleton's? You haven't told me about that," she tried with a new topic, waiting intently to hear what his answer would be.

Just as he was about to speak, the phone in the office began ringing. Tommy sighed as he stood from the couch, stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray before he moved to the doors that separated the home from the betting shop. "I need to get this call. It's probably Alfie," he told her, not giving her a chance to disagree before he opened the doors and disappeared into the betting shop. Celia sighed at the feeling of being alone once more. She was just about to have her worries quelled with him telling her how that night went. Now she didn't know when she would be able to bring that topic up again.

So Celia sat on the couch and stared at the fire until ten p.m. turned into midnight, when she finally decided that Tommy probably wasn't going to be done with the call any time soon. She could still hear him practically yelling orders into the phone as she stood from the couch and climbed the steps to Tommy's bedroom. There, she stripped from her clothing and grabbed a shirt from Tommy's wardrobe, slipping it over her shoulders and buttoning it up before she turned off the light and slipped under the covers, going to sleep for the night.

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Tagged: @mootiemoose @theshelbyclan @alreadybroken-ts @cloudofdisney @stevie75 @honey-im-hotdog @kagome1414 @epicwaterlemon @magicalxdaydream @the-anxious-youth

#tommy shelby #series

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