At Your Service [Tommy Shelby]

Getting close to a Shelby is never a good idea

"Yes I am.." Vivian stammers, not expecting a man at the door. "ADA!" He shouts into the hallway. Somewhere upstairs she can hear Ada shouting that she's coming, followed by quick footsteps off the stairs. "Vivian! hi darling" She gives Vivian a hug and takes her coat. "How've you been Vivian?"
"Fine, fine." she lied. "Just been busy.. working.." What else would she be doing, she thinks to herself. "Right. Of course." Ada answers. The three of them walk out to the drawing room as Ada tells her to make herself at home. Vivian absolutely adores the look of the room. It is obvious they have money, yet there is something free about it, not the usual stiffness that expensive houses usually have.

"You want a some tea, Vivian? I just made some." The man asks her. She nods her head shyly, still not sure what the relationship between him and Ada is. Ada already made herself comfortable while Vivian is still looking around a bit. The man walks back in and hands her her tea. "Thanks? ..." She stops as to ask his name. "Oh right!" Ada nearly jumps up, "Vivian, this is James." He extends his hand and she shakes it. "Nice to meet you James." He shyly nods his head. Vivian decides to just ask, "Are you two together?"

A loud laugh comes from Ada as James turns red, "Gosh, no darling, James swings for the other team, if you know what I mean." "Ada!" James spits out indignantly. Again Ada laughs, and Vivian can't help but laugh either. "What!? It's true, isn't it?"

James holds his hand to his head to hide his embarrassment, "Gosh.. Ada here keeps pulling me out of the closet." Luckily James is laughing about the ordeal as well. "Yeah.. only because you keep going back in." He scoffs, "For a good reason!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She dismissively gestures her hands. "I only tell people I trust. And Vivian here doesn't mind, does she?" Vivian nearly chokes on her tea by the abrupt question, "No, no of course not!" "See!" Ada says gloating. "It's good to have allies!"

It perhaps was a bit of an unusual interaction, but it sure helped to break the ice. Vivian actually loves their dynamic, almost everything they say is just a tease to the other and Vivian feels comfortable enough to join in once in a while. James asked them how they got to know each other and Ada explained to him that she actually works for her brother. "Thomas?" they both nod. "oh you know him?" Vivian asks curiously. Why does everything surrounding Tommy intrigue her? Ada instead answers, "Yeah Tommy convinced him to do a job for him."
"What? He paid really well." Vivian raises an eyebrow, she wishes she could say the same. "Hmm. that is how he gets them, James." He rolls his eyes, he seems to not be sharing the same view about Thomas as Ada does.

It was however a nice atmosphere they shared and she is actually having a great time there. At some point Ada started talking about her political beliefs and James joined in. And Vivian love to listen to it, even though she feels a bit dumb. She didn't really pay attention to it, perhaps the bubble of a maid is smaller than she thought. Through these conversations she discovered that Thomas is starting in politics as well. She doesn't know what to think about that, but Ada told her it made a lot of sense, seeing that politics and crime are two sides of the same coin nowadays. However she noticed every time his name is mentions she gets carried away with her thoughts and her worries. She's still hurt by what he had said, and now that she keeps hearing bad things about him she is second doubting her beliefs on that he is not that bad.

At some point Vivian wanted to ease her racing mind, and asked: "Is he ever nice, your brother?" Ada laughed, "Well you tell me, you see him more often than me." A slight blush grazes Vivian's cheeks, "I- I don't know, he doesn't talk much.. I mean- I'm just working for him.." Ada notices her change in demeanor, but decides not to push her on it. She is very aware of the effect her brother has on most women and all she hopes is that Vivian did not succumb to it as well. Even James is listening with full attention, perhaps he has succumbed to it as well she wonders. Meanwhile Ada has grabbed a newspaper and scans the pages while she speaks, "He's a man of few words, that's for sure." She flips a page, and after a short silence she continues, "He can be nice.. He used to be, all the time, used to laugh a lot actually." she shows a nostalgic smile, thinking back of the times Tommy used to tuck her in, join her tea parties, the silly voices he used to do. James frowned, "What changed?"

Vivian already knows the answer, because that's always the answer. Ada looks up from her newspaper, looking James straight in the eye just over the edge of the page, "That bloody war." Vivian puts up a cigarette as she offers Ada and James one. "It took a while before I saw a genuine smile again." Vivian raises her eyebrows, "What? he got it back then?" Ada takes a long drag, "well, some of it, because of Grace. He was mad about her." James asks, "She died, didn't she?" She just nods her head. Vivian is more curious than ever, every time she wanted to know more about it everyone kept saying to not mention her again. "Can I ask what happened?" Vivian asks hesitantly. James leans in closer as to not miss a single detail.

Ada sighs, she never was a big fan of Grace, but thinking back of it hurts her too. Especially thinking how devastated Tommy was. She saw him cry, when she was alone with him. It's a gutting feeling, seeing someone who shows little to no emotion cry that way. "She got shot. It was a bullet meant for Thomas, but she was the receiver... I don't think Tommy ever forgave himself." Instinctively Vivian puts a hand on her heart, she can feel a lump in her throat. She hates to hear he has been through such awful things. Of course she knew about the war, al though she doesn't know the details, but this is awful as well. Ada clears her throat, "Getting close to a bloody Shelby is never a good idea, I can know." followed by a frustrated tug of her cigarette.

~

He had finally come back from that fucking business trip. And all that was on his mind has been Vivian. That phone call with Polly made an even bigger mess in his head and after a long consideration he decided to try and explain it to her, or at least make it up to her. He had gone to her room and knocked, but there was no reaction. At the same time a door on the other side opened and out came Cathy. She quickly threw a hand through her hair and stammered, "M- Mister Shelby, goodmorning." Thomas tolerates Cathy, but he always gets annoyed by her obvious liking for him. "Goodmorning, Cathy." She must wonder why he was there knocking on a door, "Say, do you know where Vivian is?" Almost like she was dissapointed he heard her say, "oh.. uhm- I believe today is her free day, sir." "Right." his luck... "Why?" She asks. Tommy only looks at her for a second, perhaps to make it clear that she is in no position to ask him that and then walks away. Leaving a jealous Cathy behind.

He had asked around some more, even asked Johnny. He could roam around freely in the house now, because there was no Lizzie to bump into. She was out with Polly, or so he had heard. He doesn't like that, he knows women talk. And it will be no time that either Polly hears about their arguments, or Lizzie hears about his drunken call.

After some time he decided to give up for the day. With some more work he would definitely  be able to find out, yet it would probably not make the situation any more ideal. He would run into her tonight or tomorrow. For now he has some more matters to attend to. And one of the first ones on that list was talking to Ada. So he headed out.