In which Thomas Shelby draws up an alliance between his family and that of his rival, not knowing that it's to have far more complications than he thought.
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bbc's peaky blinders, s1 - 6.
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SPINNING FASTER, FASTER, FASTER. . . Felicity could escape for just a short while. She could escape from the lies, from the façade, from the never―ending wave of guilt that had a tendency to crash down upon her now more frequently than ever before. She could blur out the rest of the world for even a tiny amount of time and everything would turn to bright lights and unfocused objects that would haunt her later on, at a time that wasn't now.
The night before her wedding and Felicity Woods was standing in the centre of the room, snow―white fabric cascading over her figure as her heart pounded, her breathing caught in her throat and her hands trembled with an undeniable fear. She had had ten minutes before Polly and Ada had promised her they would be there, so she had taken to standing in front of the mirror and before she could register what she was doing, the room was spinning and nothing was in focus, not even one tiny detail.
"Felicity?" The soft voice of Ada broke her out of her trance abruptly, and from reflection before her, she caught sight of the two brunette women making their way into the room.
She turned around immediately. "Ada, darling! Polly!" Her words spilled out, tumbling over one another with the chaos of an utterly terrified speaker, as she reached for the younger woman's hands and clutched onto them as though she could never let go.
Panic had seized her long ago, there was no denying that, but now it flooded her like a strong tide overwhelming a riverbank. Felicity was utterly petrified that, despite her father's promises that he would keep everything peaceful and passive between the two families so long as she went along with each and every one of his demands, tomorrow would go to complete and utter shit. . . and it would all be because of her. She would have been the catalyst, the cause, the reason for this day not being the perfect one that her and Tommy had begun to imagine just six or so months ago. Hell, even a year ago, when he had sprung the wedding announcement on her and she had acted as though it was the worst thing that could have ever possibly happened to her. Because she hadn't realised that she would soon melt like child, fall head over heels for the man she had sworn she would never get involved with, and then fucked it all up with her father's blackmail and her own inability to be strong.
So yes, she clutched onto Ada with the ferocity of a terrified young woman who was about to walk down the aisle and hope she would never have to watch a part of herself die: the part of herself that wasn't truly hers, but rather, the man that consumed every fibre of her being.
Polly immediately swooped around and her arm encircled the young blonde's shoulders, leading her over towards the bed. "Let's sit you down, eh?"
Horror filled the girl. "We can't crumple the dress, Poll!" She almost choked out, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't matter. . . and also knowing that she was causing a scene that was most definitely seen as unnecessary to anyone who hadn't the pleasure of being able to see inside Felicity Woods' pretty head. "It'll ruin it ― we can't have that. I can't ruin tomorrow. I can't."
She knew that she already had ruined tomorrow, what with her uncompromisable betrayal, but that wasn't the point.
"No, no, we won't crumple the dress," Polly reassured her, all matter―of―factly, as though she had everything under control.
"We'll take it off, see?" Ada chimed in. "I'll go and hang it in the spare room so that it's ready for tomorrow, and we can spend the rest of the night taking your mind off it."
Polly smiled comfortingly, nodded at the idea, and then got onto carefully unbuttoning the small top button at the nape of Felicity's neck. The fabric fell from her figure easily and landed in a heap on the floor ― one that Ada immediately scooped up and gently shook out, so that any creases wouldn't remain. The younger woman left the room briefly, leaving Felicity with Polly, who had handed the blonde a loose dress to pull on.
Soon, she was settled underneath the covers and whilst Ada had draped a blanket over her to prevent the spring night's chills from creeping upon her skin, the brunette now lay beside her, on top of the layers, too tired to do much else. They had drank away her time as a bachelorette multiple times throughout the past week and now, what with her emotions overwhelming her and the fact that no one in the Shelby family was aware of her betrayal, she was far too exhausted to do anything else. Ada and Polly hadn't complained, and Felicity suspected this was because Polly still had whatever―was―on―her―mind troubling her, so hadn't the energy to do much.
"I want to see Tommy," she eventually clarified to the room, sitting up straight in the bed and pushing the covers off. "Before tomorrow, that is. I want to see him."
She had to see him ― had to spend some time with the man where he was as clueless as a baby, because she knew that if tomorrow all went to shit and John Woods went back on his word, nothing would be as it was now.
"The other wives on the street say it's bad luck to see the groom the night before," Ada tried to reason with her. "Some sort of shit tradition, I used to say, until I snuck out to Freddie's the night before mine, and he ended up in a cell barely two months later."
Polly frowned ever so slightly at her niece. "That wasn't because of the night before," she chided her, nodding to the fact that Freddie Thorne's arrest had not been the fault of Ada nor Tommy.
"No, but―"
"It won't do the poor girl any harm to see him, Ada. Not when she's in this state. So long as she isn't with him after the stroke of midnight, the wives on the street won't have reason to screech."
And that was how Felicity had found herself in the arms of Thomas Shelby just ten minutes later, curled up against his side as she listened for the steady thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat and allowed it to calm her own wild heart.
"Polly said I'm to be back by midnight," she mumbled, and as a thought crossed her mind, she allowed a small smile to grow.
He nodded, checked his watch, and turned back to her, pleased that he had just over an hour with his beloved beside him before he had to give her up for the night. She kept him calm and whilst it would be painstaking and torturous to know that she was just feet away for the next twelve hours ― yet seemingly an age away, what with them being forbidden to see one another ―, he could enjoy this moment for what it was. Peaceful, calm, quiet, with a million and one hopes and wishes and dreams.
"It's as though I'm Cinderella, y'know?" Felicity murmured, and glanced up at him, her mood surprisingly lightened by this small realisation.
"Just like Cinderella," Tommy confirmed, kissing the top of her head gently.
And so she allowed her heart to stop its ferocious beating and instead swell with warmth and with love, because her dreaming soul had a brief moment where it believed it could right everything she had done wrong, and all would be okay.
Because love prevailed, didn't it? It had to.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE!
one more chapter left in part two! i'm very very very excited to share it with you because it means we can get onto part three and the rest of tommy and felicity's story. . . but also please don't hurt me for the next chapters. i promise i'm a nice author, i really am.
(also this chapter is very short because the next one is the very very very long one ― enjoy all the drama to come el oh el)
hope you're all enjoying this, i love you all so much!
