#lizzie stark x tommy shelby

[evita-shelby]

Odette

The white swan, a symbol of faithfulness,purity and transformation

[dandelionfool]

shelby company limited.

[graveyard---dolly]

I love here

[heeahheeya]

I found Lizzie hiding behind the whole people in the Tommy x Grace wedding photo. People of Tommy's side smile, or seem to be happy. Only Lizzie has dark face without smile.

[borgialucrezia]

ngl i chuckled a little bit

[novashelby]

I'm Not Your Wife, I'm Your Daughter-Father!Tommy Shelby x Daughter!OC-Angst

Pairing: Father!Tommy Shelby x Daughter!OC-Evelyn (but honestly, Evie has a little bit of everyone. So, you are welcomed to be Evie...we are all Evie)

Warning: Death, swearing, violence, mentions of sex, very sad

Word Count: 2,761

Summary: Evelyn comforts Lizzie as Ruby gets sick in the hospital. When Tommy neglects his family, his daughter has some choice words for him

I am so proud of this. For the first time in a while, I feel really happy with something I wrote. So, please please please consider commenting and letting me know what you think. I know likes are easier, but I'd really appreciate some comments.

The childrens’ tuberculosis wing was a dark road. In fear of contraction, no one was allowed past a certain point. It reminded Evelyn of the road to hell, but she was older then. She knew better to speak the words in her head. So instead, she said nothing as Lizzie and her stared down the corridor that only seemed to get darker. A simple hand on the shoulder was good enough, whatever that was…good enough. They knew nothing was good. So, perhaps, it was just enough.

No longer able to bear looking down where they took her, Evelyn turned, letting out a large exhale. Out of everyone, she had to be the strong one, the present one, the mature one. There was no room to lose herself. Without looking at Lizzie, her hand searched behind her until she felt the ridges of her checkered coat. Her fingers hooked around the sleeve and tugged. But she was stubborn. If anything at all were to change from then until the end, Lizzie was determined to be there. 

“Go home,” she told Evelyn, not unkindly. More so lack of any emotion. But she’d be damned if she left. Evelyn looked at her step-mother, or mother, she was never really sure what any of them were. The woman was young-only eleven years older than she, but her eyes were sunken in and her cheeks lost all and any color. It would have been nice and too easy to blame it all on grief. Evelyn knew better. Her father sent everyone to an early grave. 

She shook her head. “No way home at this time.” 

Lizzie softened a bit, giving a short head nod. “Very well-”

“Can I get you anything?” she asked. There was nothing left to get. Lizzie needed no more coffee. The two women shared a look of understanding. Lizzie stepped forward and hugged Evelyn; her arms squeezed around her, head tangled in her hair. Stiff at first, Evelyn was taken aback. Her own arms slowly wrapped around, hands hovering for a moment over the woman’s back. While neither were ever affectionate as mother and daughter, Evelyn was bonded to Lizzie by one mutual understanding. One was birthed by a whore and one was a whore. “It’s not going to be okay,” Evelyn said, resting her hands against her back. “It’s going to be horrible.” She could tell the woman was crying from how her shoulders twitched and chest heaved.

“I know,” she said, furiously nodding. “I know, I-I know….” Lizzie did her best sniffing, and wiping the wetness from her face, but Evelyn grabbed her hands. It was okay to cry. Everyone did it. Especially when life handed you a reason with no explanation. “I’m, I’m fine-”

“Let’s sit.” Evelyn walked Lizzie to an empty waiting area that was just as gloomy as the corridor. They were quiet for a while, studying everything there was to study; paint chipped wall, door frame, the chairs, and a lopsided painting of the Dover cliffs. But when Evelyn turned her head, eerily sat next to her was a teddy bear. It was a faded brown with a worn out face. Dried tears left specks of crusty, hard fur. It and her stared at one another for far too long until she turned and found something else to get lost in. “He’ll come-”

“He loves you,” she commented, slowly looking at her. “Out of everything in the world, he loves you more than anything-”

“No.” Perhaps it was true, but Evelyn couldn’t afford Lizzie going down that direction. “No, he loves everything the same, Lizzie. If it was me in that room, he would have been just as conveniently occupied-”

“He’s affectionate with you-”

“My father’s affections are spread thin.” Evelyn looked at Lizzie, forcing a small, thin smile…lips pressed and face tight. She shook her head. “We all fight for what isn’t there. You, me, Charlie. If I was older and wiser, I would have told you none of it was worth it. Him, it, us…none of it.”

Lizzie for the first time allowed herself to laugh. It was awkwardly placed among the hospital grounds, but nonetheless, it was a laugh of sorts. “I would have been just as stupid-”

“Well, if you look at it this way,” Evelyn snorted. “Married John and you still would be without a husband.” As the words came out of her mouth, she regretted it, but Lizzie laughed trying to soak up any humor she could in distraction. Shortly after, they went back to sitting in silence, soaking up their thoughts. Perhaps trying to numb themselves in the midst of it. Evelyn felt so much she was numb. 

Sometime around midnight, Ruby had been moved to a different room. One where the family can see her under precautions. Lucky for Evelyn, she had received the vaccine as a child unlike Ruby. They had come out just in 1921 and just a short year later, made their rounds. Lizzie had fallen asleep, slumped in the waiting room chair. She almost woke her up, but decided against it, wanting to slip into the little girl’s room herself for a short moment.

And it was a short moment because Evelyn couldn’t bear to look at such a small life withering away. She slid in the room. It was the first time she saw Ruby for a few days and even then, she’d been thinner looking. Her feet stopped under the threshold, feeling her heart sink down to her stomach. “Ruby,” she whispered, not knowing what she could expect back. The last time the two sisters chatted freely, it’d been about fairies. 

First, it was a sneeze and Evelyn helped her blow her nose. Then it was a cough and Evelyn went into her little room with some water. Finally, it was the fever and after the fever, the infection spread over her little body. Both were too busy. Evelyn would never tell a grieving mother, you were also too busy. Her father was too busy neglecting family for work and Lizzie was too busy caring for a man who neglected her. When the fever got too high, she called the doctor. Funny enough, they were home. Both of them in their own world. Own repeating cycle. Tommy had asked why didn’t you tell us? Who could between all the drinking and yelling? But that was then when they were naive of it all.

Evelyn pressed by the threshold and quietly sat down on the edge of the bed. The young girl slept still, head lifted. She’d never seen a child so drained of life; pale and almost tinted blue. Her breaths were spread out and wheezing. Sometimes they’d be like little gasps for air, trying to cling onto whatever was left. Affectionately, Evelyn rubbed the girl's legs to get some circulation moving and propped her up better. She was still fashioning the braids from a few days ago. “You look so pretty, Ruby,” she whispered, sliding to the floor to kneel at the bedside. “I wish I brought a blue bow…I’ll put one in your hair for you’ll always be wearing a blue bow.” 

Evelyn thought back to the time she took her shopping in Birmingham. Ruby had just turned five. Look, they have a pink one for your hair. She would have looked so cute with pink. Ruby had taken one look at the pink satin ribbon and turned, pointing to the blue one, I want the blue one. “I’ll always get you the blue one,” Evelyn said when the memory ended and she was left staring at the still girl. Tears leaned heavy on her eyes waiting to fall down her cheeks. It would be the first time Evelyn would have allowed herself to cry, but not for long. She placed a lingering kiss on the girl’s cheek before leaving. When she opened the door, Lizzie had just reached for the door knob. But they only shared a quick glance before Evelyn went back to the seating area.

The bear had seemed to been moved, so when she walked back in, it’d been staring at her like the devil. “Fuckin’ ‘ell,” she groaned, swiping it off the chair before sitting down. 

Sometime between then and whenever Tommy came, she fell asleep. He peeked in before sliding into the waiting area, kneeling by her sleeping side. Despite being twenty-four years old, Evelyn was still short and able to make a makeshift bed out of chairs, curling up. He was his girl. His baby still. After everything, Tommy still looked at her as he did when she was eight. His calloused, shaking hand rested against her cheek for a moment, his thumb making circles. “Love,” he whispered, placing kisses on her forehead. 

Evelyn jumped awake a bit, propping herself up with her elbow. In a tired voice, she said, “you should have been here-”

“I know-”

“No, dad.” Dad. Tommy felt that knife go through him. It had always been daddy, but never dad. “You should have been here!” The words came out like hisses through clenched teeth. She sat up, ignoring the cushion imprint on her cheek. Tommy couldn’t argue with that. He knew. Tommy looked down, swallowing, nodding.

“I had work-”

“Work,” she scoffed. “Ruby is in the hospital…she’s-.” Evelyn stopped talking, noticing the red puffiness around her father’s eyes. She knew then. “Why are you here with me? You should be with your wife-”

“You should go home-”

“You’re deflecting-”

“You should go home,” he repeated, tone a bit more serious. “I’ve called Isaiah to pick you. If you want to have a fight, we’ll have a row when I come home later. Alright?”

Evelyn shook her head. “No.” She was incredibly tired of his shit. “No, dad, nothing is alright.” She slid from the chair and draped her coat around her shoulders, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

Tommy looked over at her. “Remember when you were eight, and you told me something.” Evelyn paused at the door, rolling her eyes to herself before tiredly turning to her father. He was still kneeling at the chair. “You said…you said to me, do you remember? We were laying in the field and it was the first time I had taken you on the caravan-”

��What are you getting at? Huh?” she rushed him, fixing her bag on her shoulder. “I know, we went up north…it was the edge of the season and the mist…we got really wet laying in the grass. But I don’t understand what any of it has to do with you not being here!”

He got up, striding over to her, pointing, “you said…daddy, it’s me and you-”

“Because at that point, you were all I had,” she snipped back. “But guess what, I’m older now and my circle is bigger. I have other people, and in fact, out of everyone…it seems I have you less.”

Tommy cocked a brow. “No, no…you said, in some shape and form with your little girl words…daddy, it’s me and you, and no matter what you do, I will always be by your side.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You did,” he said, pointing. “You said that…it was misty and in September of 1918…In fact, I had adopted you just a month later. Shortly before that, I had came home from France-”

“I was eight,” she sighed. “You can’t hold something against me from when I was eight-”

His hand reached up and massaged her cheek. “I’ve held people for less-”

“Well, you fucking know what, dad.” She swatted his hand away. “That promise wears off when you start to neglect the only people who still love you. And quite frankly, loving you, it’s hard…it’s fucking tiring. Exhausting. You never know the meaning of accountability. You know what you do?” Tommy swallowed, his hand instinctively gripping her wrist. Perhaps deep down he was afraid she was going to leave. Go somewhere further than home. Somewhere he could no longer grab her. 

Tommy closed his eyes and sighed. “You don’t understand…no one hates me more than-”

“No one hates you, daddy,” she said. “We're just tired. Everything we have was not worth the cost of what it took. Everyone else is gone.” In one way or another, everyone else was gone. She slipped from his wrist and started to leave.

That is when he said, “I’m glad it wasn’t you-”

“That's an awful thing to say right now,” she whispered. “That was my sister-”

“I loved her…love…and my heart hurts so much right now,” he explained. “But if it was you, I’d be better off dead-”

“And that’s why I mean.” Evelyn had to choke down the tears. It was years of stress and trauma coming forth. Discreetly, she held onto the door frame. “You don’t understand…it’s too much! Daddy, it’s too much…I’m your fucking daughter! But after Grace died, I became everything! I became Charlie’s mother, your wife, your sister, your fucking mother! I became your nurse, your caretaker, your therapist, your fucking everything. It’s been ten fucking years, daddy, and I’m tired…I’m so fucking exhausted!” She walked over to, her hands gripping his arms. “I’ve lived through every stage of life for everyone, but myself…”

Tommy was hardly impressed. He knew what she was saying, but couldn’t accept it. Because he was selfish. “Have I not given you everything you’ve ever wanted? That is your problem, Evelyn, I raised you spoiled…and I will continue to fuckin’ spoil you because it’s too fuckin’ late. So what? I asked you when my wife died to help with your brother? Huh? Is that it?” He pinched her chin. “Do you not remember how you’d sneak out all the time? Get in trouble? Party and drink? I’d have to come pick you up from some random fucking house at three o’clock in the morning! So, don’t give me that bullshit, Evelyn…you lived your youth just fine. You know what I did with mine? Worked and then I went to fuckin’ war…So, I’m sorry, out of all your fun times, I asked you to hold a tad bit of responsibility. Go home-”

“Aunty Polly was always right about you,” she scoffed in disbelief. “You lack all sense of accountability. I had to sneak out because that was only time I was free-”

“And I never once punished you for it,” he interjected. “Never striked you, grounded you, hardly ever yelled at you…Out of everyone in my life, you are the only fucking person I’ve forgiven without consequence.”

Evelyn pushed away. “That’s because everything else has been a punishment. My friends from school are married…I was supposed to go to university, but you needed me home. All the men who wanted to marry have found other wives. Daddy, I am left behind because I’ve devoted my whole life to being your emotional lap dog, and what's sad is, you don’t even understand!” She paused to swallow, taking deep breaths. Tears had dripped down her cheeks, falling to the ground. “Daddy, you only have three people left…me, Uncle Arthur, and Aunty Ada…and some of us already have one foot out the door.” 

Tommy nodded, rolling his eyes slightly. He dug into his pocket for a cigarette. “Maybe my curse is my ambition.”

“And mine is that I love you too much,” she replied. “I love you so much that I’ve never left and I probably never will. So I will suffer until you die…I will watch you kill yourself little by little, drink and smoke, and sleep with women you can never afford to love. I will stand by and watch you wear people down until they die, and then have to put you back together because you realize your guilt. It’s a fuckin’ cycle.” Evelyn took a deep breath, fixing her coat before turning away. “Daddy, I love you, but I promised you that when you were making illegal bets on horse races. Not neglecting us for politicians.”

“What do you want me to say, Evelyn?” he asked. 

“Nothing. I want you to say nothing,” she said. “But I fucking swear to God, if you bring that blonde headed bitch back to our home and fuck her like you did the night Ruby went into the hospital, you’ll see a side of me you’ve never seen-”

“Daughters don’t get in their father’s-”

She looked at him once more. “I’ll fucking cut her head and stick it on the pillars of the bridge in London like 1600. And with her blood, I will write your fucking name….”

[samcoving]

[tommygrace]

It's funny how Tommy treats his two wives. He gently takes one to bed with kisses and apologizes for having his mind busy. He calls the other his property, she has to beg him in bed and he wants to be with her like when she was a prostitute. He said NO to Tatiana, and he said YES to Diana.

[amidst-wonderland]

i don’t know if this is gonna ruffle a few feathers but there’s an account on twitter that’s basically going through a fuck ton of peaky fics on ao3 and a handful of tumblr ones posting sections and being overly pedantic about historical accuracy. which fair enough if it annoys you but dont actively take people’s work, post it elsewhere, make it incredibly fucking obvious what fic it is and be super snide about someone else’s entertainment that doesn’t harm you in any way.

i don’t necessarily think it’s reductive as there’s genuinely some discussion to be had with more sensitive topics, however it just feels real scummy especially because you just know the fic writers aren’t aware so aren’t getting anything constructive out of it.

the only reason i came across it was because it’s been happening in some of my other fandoms - people posting and “critiquing” fics on twitter to point and laugh at writers - and it honestly feels violating and it didn’t even happen to me (at least i fuckin’ hope not).

it’s fuckin’ ao3. leave people alone and stop posting their work without their consent.

[eyemarchshelby]

TOMMY & LIZZIE

you're the loss of my life

[tommyxgrace-always]

Peaky Blinders Art

❤️The Iconic S1❤️

[evita-shelby]

Anything.

Part 3: Lizzie

A be careful what you wish for where Tommy’s three main love interests accidentally wish to be with him

Cw: murder, death, infant death, drug use, hallucinations

Gif by @nofckingfighting

“I’d give anything to be with him.” The woman said to her companion.

“Anything?” the Russian Duchess said with a curious look.

“Anything.”

Grace is shot that same hour.

Lizzie should feel bad, but Grace was never the type to make people like her for who she was.

Tommy had admitted to her the night before his wedding that he only married her out of duty.

That the Grace he had loved was the front she displayed in 1919, but he could not get out of it now.

And yet, when she told him he couldn’t come to her anymore, he and John took it out on Angel. Angel who loved her and understood that she needed to leave before her feelings for Tommy and John’s feelings for her killed them both.

So when the Russian duchess correctly inferred that Lizzie still loved Thomas Shelby ,who hides his disillusion with the golden haired woman on his arm like the best of actors, she admits the truth and seals their fate.

She is not even buried when he comes to her.

He is beautiful when he is sad, melancholy has looked so good on him, she thinks.

“Should’ve never married her, I fucking cursed her to die and I didn’t even love her.” He is rarely this open, but whenever he is it is with his family and Lizzie. Never grace, never the woman who thought he would simply get over the harm she did because she loved him.

Tommy is impossible not to love.

Once you get past the cold shell, he is warm, and sweet and loving.

If Grace’s death was the price to pay for their happiness, so be it.

But they are not happy.

His guilt drives him to make a saint of Grace. Makes his house, the house she and Ada and Lizzie had decorated, its shrine to a woman who died for him and he did not even have the decency to lover her back.

“You know what to do, Elizaveta.” The duchess says during the orgy she has invited her to.

It is there where Lizzie stains her hands red with blood as kills the informant tommy had placed inside the house.

That night, Tatiana scares Thomas into her arms and four months later, Elizabeth is signing her name as Elizabeth Shelby.

This time, Tommy marries because he wants to and not because the bride has gotten knocked up.

A year later, Victoria Grace Shelby is born.

And she is beautiful, and unlike Charles, she is his.

He knew, he knew, but did not say anything. Not even her husband did not make Grace desist from her plans to trap Thomas.

The coroner’s report Lizzie and Polly had pilfered when he told them he was marrying her proved that Clive MacMillan had been murdered, but that his widow had enough money to make them do a new report saying he had shot himself.

But the ghost is not gone.

He seeks Grace with opium and strong drinks.

He has a living woman who saw him as a man who is deserving of love despite his flaws, but he still chooses the woman who saw him as a possession she felt entitled to have because she had blue blood running in her veins.

One night they drink Absinthe to see if it was as exciting as their new friends said it was and both see her.

“You killed me!” she screams at them. “You killed me so you could be together!”

Tommy, sweet and stupid Tommy, thinks the apparition meant him.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he cries as Grace rages at them.

They don’t speak of it.

Best pretend that did not happen and move on.

And they do.

He takes almost everything he had of her and closes it off. He even has a witch woman cleanse the house and force Grace’s ghost to move on.

But the ghost can’t leave, and neither it’s silent companion who watches Lizzie out of the corner of her eye.

“You are cursed, Mrs. Shelby. You cursed them to wander in limbo for a man who cannot even keep it in his pants.” She sneered and spat at her feet. “Be careful with your children, demons like that feast on the sweetest and most innocent of souls.”

Lizzie is pregnant again, another girl, Ruby Elizabeth.

She is born as John lies dying in a different room in this hospital.

She is beautiful and cursed, just like her sister who is barely two years old.

The birth is difficult, there is a fever that won’t leave and her ghosts do not leave her for a moment.

“I killed them.” She confesses to Tommy, or at least she thinks it’s Tommy, in her delirium. The man in the dark suit holds Ruby like a father would. “I wished to be with you, and I killed Grace and the boy in the Russian’s house.”

“You did all that for Thomas Shelby, I wonder what you will do for your baby daughter?” it is not Thomas, Lizzie knows Luca’s voice. No other man here has that American accent like he did even when he was younger.

“Don’t hurt her!” she shouts at him and wished the demon woman would appear.

“Why would I, she’s already dead. They brought her here for you to say goodbye.” The man shows her the baby with the blue pallor of death. “You killed two people for a man, you didn’t deserve to be a mother anyways.

“You human women are so desperate, if you give me Luca Changretta, I suppose I could save your daughter. It won’t be permanent thing, just so you know.” Tatiana says and in that same second, Luca drops to the floor clutching his throat as if he had been strangulated.

Time passes and whatever Lizzie had with Tommy remains the same. They love each other, but he is more closed off.

Hardly home, reeks of other women and most recently staring at Grace’s portrait in the room he’s put them.

Speaks to the ghost more than he speaks to her.

But Lizzie doesn’t care. She has Vicky and Ruby and even little Charlie and they are enough.

Things are fine, things are cold and strange after Polly’s death, but they ---especially him--- are on the mend y the time 1933 rolls around.

And then Ruby gets sick.

Ruby who is only alive because Lizzie made a pact with the devil to save her.

“I’ll do anything you ask me to, just save her. I will give you my life if you want it, just save my child!” the mother begs the demon women in the chapel of the institute.

“Anything?” Tatiana asks with a smirk red as blood.

“Anything.” Lizzie nods. No price is too high for her baby girl.

Tommy dies from a seizure wherever he was.

Esme had found him ,but she and her band of travellers would not touch him or his things saying he was cursed and their curse would pass to them.

Lizzie stands there with her three children as they watch Arthur and Finn light the vardo and Ada speaks the eulogy.

Lizzie thinks she’s lost her mind when she sees Tatiana caress Tommy’s cheek inside the flames just as she starts to feel faint.

“Anything?” Tatiana asks as they drink champagne mixed with top tier vodka at the first Shelby Foundation Gala.

“You should write a novel, your grace. Horror suits you.” Lizzie downs the rest of her pretty glass and leaves to find Angel.

A year later, Elizabeth Stark now Elizabeth Changretta sends her congratulations to Tommy and the unlucky lady he has replaced Grace with.

[dandelionfool]

Lizzie and husband

[graveyard---dolly]

Welcome to the Peaky Blinders fandom (EDITED)

[catebody]

lizzie shelby is the most underrated character in peaky blinders. everyone keep talking about grace, but truth is she was so noob and boring. lizze understood tommy because she was working herself she gave up everything to him and tried to help him. but he was to far gone in his tactics and ambitions.

[novashelby]

I'm Not Your Wife, I'm Your Daughter Part II-A Tommy Shelby x daughter!OC Angst FT. Jack Nelson

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Daughter!OC Feat. Jack Nelson

Warning: MDNI. 18+. Mention of murder, death, mention of child abuse, sex abuse, prostitution, emotional abuse, mental abuse.

Word Count: 3,518

Summary: After Evelyn attempts to leave the hospital to go home, one of her father's enemies decides to have a little chat with her. He proposes quite an awful deal in order to build his assets.

Please, if you read it and enjoy it, leave a comment and reblog. It would be so kind of you. I also respond to all comments. It is the best way to build community.

*I am sorry if I got Jack's character wrong. It is my first time writing him.

To her dismay, he was amused, taking slow steps back to her. Tilting his head in morbid curiosity, “and how would you do that? Chop her head off, I mean.” Evie coward in his presence. A short man, but he knew how to make an appearance. He loomed over her, hand resuming his position on her flushed, hot cheek. “Hm? There’s many methods of decapitating heads, but I don’t think my good girl is familiar with many of them-”

“You’re be fucking cynical-”

“Language,” he scolded, but tone even. Low and calm. He was the worst when calm. Though never striking her with his hand, he often had a way of punishing her with his words. The twenty-four year old woman felt small. Once again, pressed against the wooden door frame. The smell of death from the corridor seeping up her nose. His hand cupped her cheek, massaging it. “I’ve taught you better than that, love.”

Despite it all, she leaned into his affection, sighing at how easy it was for her to give into him. “I’m tired. I’m tired of it all, Daddy, and I don’t know how much longer I can be strong for everyone.”

He nodded, pressing his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. “I know…I know. I know you’re angry. And though I am defensive to all, I understand why you’re angry, but conventional life isn’t suited for an unconventional family, Evelyn. You need to understand that.” He paused, opening his eyes on an exhale. His hand moved gently from her cheek to under her chin, making her look at him. “I did my best with what I had. All I ever wanted was for us to be happy, and perhaps, in some ways I’ve failed you in that regard. But in the great big picture, look at what we have. Everyone wanted for everything, and I got it.”

“I didn’t want everything,” she said, fluttering her eyes open. It was all too much. Being there with Ruby’s dead body just down the corridor. He should have found Lizzie by that moment. Hold her, comfort her, wipe her tears. But there he stood, more upset and scared about losing Evelyn. It made her sick, a bit. That pressure and emotional burden of being her father’s favorite everything. “You should go find her…she needs you, daddy.”

His response was merely a hum. “Hm.” Evelyn couldn’t make it out. Was it an agreement? Or dismissal?

She pressed further. “I’ll miss her-”

“Yeah,” he said, offhandedly, still soaking up his daughter’s presence. “Yeah, me too.” Tommy wrapped his arms around her, feeling a bit of him fall apart when she hesitated. Flashbacks of her running in his arms warmed his heart. The only nostalgia he could hold onto. After a moment, he whispered in thought, “after it’s all done, we’ll leave.”

Evelyn nodded, pulling away, rubbing her eyes in sleep. It was nearly three in the morning at that point. Her father and her shared a very distorted idea of what healthy sleep was, among other things. “Well, you need to find Lizzie first and-”

“No,” he said, stopping her. “When we bury….” Tommy had to stop himself and think about what he was about to say, not truly believing his words. He’d hope that no one mistook his actions because he loved his youngest as he did his second. Just not nowhere near his first. He looked over at Evelyn. It was the only right thing to do. Leave. “When we bury Ruby, you and I will leave-”

“Daddy,” she groaned, closing her eyes in frustration. Had he not listened to anything she said? I’m not your fucking wife! She took a belly deep sigh, holding it as she rubbed her temples. On the exhale, she looked at him. “And leave where? You still have a wife…a son-”

“The ties are broken,” he said. “After this, there’s nothing left holding any of us together, but you and I…we can still be held together.” He reached for her delicate hand, studying the chipped manicure. “We’ll go on the caravan-”

She pulled her hand away, scoffing. “Daddy, I don’t want to go on the caravan! Don’t you understand? Any of it? I’m twenty-four years old-”

“But you love the caravan,” he argued, still seeing the little girl under it all.

“When I was eight, daddy, and everything was new,” she explained. “And when Finn was there and John and Aunty. When we’d play in the fields and looked at the stars, that’s when I liked the caravan.” Evelyn shook her head. “Daddy, what are you and I going to do in the caravan, huh? I’m twenty-four years old. I can’t possibly live with my father in a caravan!”

“But it’d be good-”

“For you?” she asked, knitting her brows. “For me? Where will I sleep? For you? I can’t give you everything you need. It isn’t normal.” Part of him knew she was right, but the other half argued. She could give him everything he needed emotionally. They already were so close all the time, that he hadn’t thought anything wrong with sleeping on the wooden floor next to the one hay filled bed. Partially because he wanted to convince himself it was alright. 

He gave a nod of understanding. “Right, well,” he sighed, massaging his forehead. “Why don’t you go home and when it’s all done, we’ll talk everything over.” She nodded and he opened his arms. “C’mere, love.” Evelyn looked at his widened arms and offered a small smile before walking over, sinking into his body. Tommy held her so tight, hands rubbing her back affectionately. “I don’t believe in God, really, but if I did….” He pulled away, cupping her face with both hands, smiling softly. “I would ask him what I ever did to deserve such a wonderful little girl.” He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the nose. “Out of everything in my life, you were the only good decision.”

She smiled and nodded, pulling away as she straightened her bag. “I’ll meet Isaiah out front. “ When she turned, Lizzie was standing there. Her whole being was pale as a ghost. It seemed as though she cried a lifetime and couldn’t spare another second to it. Evelyn was better at words than most Shelbys. “I’m going home, I’ll prepare home for the wake.” For you don’t have to, was her reasoning, but really, she couldn’t stand still. She walked towards the door, pausing under the threshold, placing her arm on Lizzie’s shoulder. “It’s awful. It’s really awful.” The older woman couldn’t say anything. When Evelyn left, Lizzie looked at Tommy with a hollow expression. Many thoughts came rushing in. Everyone said it. Tommy Shelby would never be able to love you as long as she was there. Perhaps Grace was better at setting boundaries than she. 

Lizzie walked in and took a seat, cigarette between her fingers. “Where were you?”

Tommy joined her side, taking the cigarette from her and puffing it himself. He looked over at her. “I don’t have an excuse-”

“I had to give her your kiss goodbye,” she said, drained, no emotion left. “Telling her that her father loves her just before I walk in here and I-”

“Let’s bring this home, eh?” he asked, pulling her in for his once a year affection. “Let’s grieve.”

Evie went for the main entrance where she could see the black car. Isaiah had been waiting. She didn’t know for how long, but it was definitely long enough he turned the car off. She smiled, reaching for the handle when an arm slipped between her and the door. Before she looked at the man, she studied his pressed blue suit, decorated with gold cufflinks. Her eyes traveled up his arm to his face, swallowing. She wasn’t one to involve herself with her father’s business, preferring to be distant enough, clueless enough, and safe enough. A handsome gentleman looked down at her, slight grin. She was familiar with his face, but hardly cared enough to learn a name. Probably ignorant of her seeing as though it was Gina’s uncle, famous Irish-American gangster Jack Nelson. Like Tommy Shelby, people knew him. 

“Your father doesn’t give many opportunities for one to seek you alone, Miss. Shelby.” Evelyn flinched away, eying her one escape route. A lone stairwell that led back up to the main hospital area. Where her father was, probably with a gun by his side. She could also scream in hopes Isaiah would hear her. But he was a step ahead, cupping her chin and making her look at him. That smile was like a personal signature to him. “There’s no need. I thought perhaps we could take a ride, you and I-”

“Who are you?” she asked, connecting eyes, and he was nothing short of amused, introducing himself like a gentleman, hiding any evil motive. “Well, Mr. Nelson, I’m simply my father’s daughter and quite frankly, want no business with his friends. Now, if you may excuse me, I’d like to go home. It’s been an awful-”

“I’ve heard,” he interrupted, slipping his hand down to her arm. There was something sickly sweet about the way he was empathetically massaging her arm. “It’s so awful, isn’t it? Young and all.” Evelyn couldn’t remember the last time a man other than her father touched her. Though an unassuming gesture, she felt flushed by the touch. Almost like a little school girl. Jack could read her bashful expression; how her cheeks turned some shade of pink, how she averted her attention, how she acted like a small girl. He thought for a Shelby, she’d have a bit more edge. But over the years, her edge smoothened.

“Thank you, Mr. Nelson-”

“You’re very polite,” he complimented. “If you don’t mind, Miss. Shelby, can we go to my car? I’d like to have a chat with little risk of interruption-ah,” he hummed, noticing the fear in her eyes. “There is a side exit just under the stairwell…and there is no need to fear, if I wanted to kidnap you or kill you, it would have been done. Now, let’s not be silly.” She couldn’t tell you what possessed her. Was it his cool exterior? His calm voice? The gentle manner in which he touched her? But she gave one last look to the car waiting out front before following Jack Nelson to the side exit. 

He wasn’t driving his car. It was an older gentleman who only said a few words when opening the door for them. As the gentleman he was, he motioned for Evelyn to go in first. Hesitantly, she looked at him before sliding across the leather seats. He joined her side. He allowed the driver to start the car and go on their way. “Just towards my home. Is that alright?” He turned to Evelyn. “It’s a little bit of a ride, but perhaps you and I will get to know each other quite well during this time. Bond a bit seeing as though we both wear Boston routes.”

“Do you live here?” she asked, trying to feel out the situation. Her hand kept a steady grip on the door handle.

“Not usually,” he said, eying her hand before reaching over her and prying it off. “No need for that. I’d hate for you to jump out of a moving car and hurt yourself. What if you get a scratch on that pretty face, hm?” He chuckled, pulling her in towards the middle. “In fact, let’s sit closer-”

“Mr. Nelson-”

“Shhh,” he hushed her. 

She sighed, uncomfortably close to him. He propped one of her legs over his while one of his arms was snaked along her waist. His other hand rested on his knee. He sat relaxed, legs spread. He got so comfortable, he loosened his collar on his shirt. She swallowed the lump down and stiffly asked, “what is it exactly you want? My sister just died and I really just want to go home-”

“Mourning is an awful process, isn’t it, Miss. Shelby?” he asked, looking at her. “But it’s a process that will take a lifetime. While this chat will only take a sliver of your time.”

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of annoyance. “If there is something you want, Mr. Nelson, I can’t give it to you. My father has kept me sheltered from his business. I have no access to money. I have no access to assets. I have no access to people. I’m as useless as-”

“Your grandfather was an anthropologist-archeologist,” he commented. Evelyn stiffened, looking at him with a look of worry. Evelyn was so disattached to her biological family that she couldn’t remember some of their faces. She met her grandparents only a short few times when she was five and her mother was acting normal. “Quite famous, actually. Did you know he found some rather important artifacts in what was once known as Mesopotamia? Now Iraq…it’s a bit far from here-”

“I know my geography,” she said, jaw a bit tight.

He nodded. “Well, I regret to inform you, but your grandfather has passed on and well, for a very good price, your mother has so kindly sold me some interesting pieces-ah, ah, ah…you don’t like that. Me calling her your mother?” He noticed how Evelyn went pale and her breath hitched. “It’s alright,” he whispered, rubbing her arm. “Anyway, I have to say, those pieces look rather nice in my parlor. I’ve been complimented on them.” 

“What…do…you…want, Mr. Nelson?”

He chuckled, “well,  you think a woman whose whored herself for nearly thirty fucking years would have learnt to be a better business woman.” It was like a switch in Evelyn’s brain. She quickly pushed at him and lunged for the door, kicking her feet as his body. But her small, weak frame was pathetic. Jack was quick to grab her. His kindness shedded slightly as he pushed her back against the seat, holding her there with a hand around her neck. “Now, now, how impolite? To think we were getting along so fucking well!” She didn’t dare protest, his hand pressed against her life. “Now, she sold those very nice furnishings under the condition that she can see you just one last time.” Evelyn’s heart sunk to her stomach, and just as she was a child, she felt her body betray her. She got sweaty, her heart pounded. She was going to lose herself and her daddy wasn’t there to save her.

“I didn’t think you were an artifact dealer, Mr. Nelson,” she said, shaking. She wiggled under him, looking at him with pleading eyes. 

He eased his grip. “Me either, but the money is attractive. There are plenty of people willing to pay me quite a nice price for them. Now, she’s at home-ah, ah, ah. No need to panic. Shhhhhh.” He moved his hand from her throat, rubbing her cheek. “You don’t like mommy, do you, Evie?” She broke loose on the inside, and spilled on the outside as she choked on her tears. She shook as all the childhood trauma she thought she solved slowly seeped back up. “Hmmm, it’s so sad-”

“Mr. Nelson, please,” she begged, closing her eyes. Her chin twitched like a child’s. “Don’t make me-”

Jack pulled out a wrinkled black and white, yellow tinted photo. There were so very few pictures of Evelyn as a child. Tommy had a single photo. There, in Jack’s hands, was her mother’s photo of her that she kept in her handbag. “It’s so sad how someone could be so evil to a little child…Look how fucking cute you were? Wonder why you’re so adored…favorited.” She stared at the photo, observing how little Evie was smiling. Her curls were so thick then. “How she treated you-”

“I don’t think about it-”

“The abuse,” he continued. “I’d hate her, too, if I was you-”

“I feel nothing,” she said, trying to convince more than just him.

“How she’d work as you slept in the same bed.” How did he know all of this? She closed her eyes, trying to block him out, but he wouldn’t stop. “Left you with whores, for days unfed and uncleaned. Hair littered with lice…I couldn’t imagine the pain you felt, crying for a mother who never showed you an ounce of love.”

She took a deep breath, her chest tightening, wheezing. “Just stop…just please stop-”

“And that one time when you thought she bought a pretty dress for a party, but really, it wasn’t for you, was it? That pretty dress. It was green with white lace trimming.” He continued to retell her story, but Evelyn slowly started to sink into a hole of darkness, her mind swirling with memories of her childhood. Her mother was to make nice money that night. It was chicken money. Enough food for a few days. Evelyn remembered walking into a room, her mother’s hands on her back and an unfamiliar man sitting on her bed. Distinctively, she remembered the look on the man’s face…it morphed into something so evil, Evelyn swore she saw the Devil. Her mother left her alone in that room, locking the door from the outside. 

“I never worn a green dress since,” she whispered, lip trembling.

“But he saved you,” he said. “There was knock-”

“On the door, but he didn’t wait for her to answer. He walked in,” she said, continuing the story of how Tommy Shelby saved her from the Devil. Her nails dug into her skin, trying to keep herself calm. “He heard me and the man talking…I was so innocent. And he, he…he pushed my mother-”

“Into the stove,” Jack interrupted. “Your mother still has that scar on her forearm where the hot kettle burnt her-”

“He rushed into the room…my dress was slipping from my shoulders. But the world stopped when he came in. He studied the man for so long before grabbing me and covering me with his wool coat. We went home and he told Aunty Polly to watch me…that he had business to do. I remember hearing the first click of a gun…I remember seeing a gun for the first time-”

“Do you know what he did to that man?” he asked. 

“What do you want with me, Mr. Nelson. I’ve asked you and you’ve only caused me to-”

“I told you,” he corrected her. “I said, that she wants to see you-”

“And I don’t want to.”

“Right,” he nodded, handing her his red handkerchief. “Or, if you’d like, I can end her, but debts don’t pay themselves, Miss. Shelby.” Evelyn shot him a look of confusion. “Oh, like you haven’t thought about her end-”

“I’m not like that-”

“Well, then a family reunion would be very nice, wouldn’t it?” When she questioned what use he’d have of them meeting, he said, “none at all, but I do have good use of putting you in my debt. If I end her, whether or not you agree to it, I’ll put you on my books. And there is only one way to remove yourself.” He positioned her once again half on his lap, helping her clean her face, mumbling how she was a pretty girl. “Just a shame your father has such an unhealthy way of parenting. Poor girl, you probably hardly ever had a night out to yourself in the last few years.” When he was done, he put the handkerchief in his pocket. “I have a nephew…Irish blooded like yourself.” Evie slowly widened her eyes. “Before you object, I’ll have you know, he’s handsome and,” he paused, grinning. “Large cocks run in the family-”

Evie stopped him right there. “So, you are going to kill her then hold me to a debt I never asked to be a part of? And that debt is to…what? Fuck your nephew? Mr. Nelson, I’m not going-”

“Come on, Evelyn,” he whined mockingly. “You’re beautiful. You’re unmarried, no kids….Who will you have to share your father’s assets with when the brain tumor takes over, huh? When he’s gone-”

“B-brain t-tumor,” Evelyn stuttered, a thump in her chest. What tumor?

“You know you’re your father’s favorite,” he continued, ignoring her disheveled, frazzled state. She clung to him, nails digging into his blue suit sleeve. “Your sister is dead…Miss. Stark has filed for a divorce. What do you think you inherited compared to, what’s his name? Charlie? You know that you got that house, that land, those five cars…all that money. Never mind the business and the horses. Wouldn’t it be nice to share it with someone? C’mon, sweetheart, a Boston-Irish girl like you deserves to reconnect with her roots-”

“Take me the fuck home!” She snapped. 

“Then make a deal-”

“I’ll see her then take me home.”

That’s when he grinned. “How do you know that she isn’t already dead and the deal hasn’t already been made? Hm?” Evelyn narrowed her eyes and raised her hand to slap him, when he caught it. Looking at his driver, he said, “take her home.”