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You were a nurse at one of the hospitals in small heath. You lived only two streets away from the infamous Shelbys meaning you were constantly rushed off your feet, usually dealing with men who had lost fights and needed stitching up.
It was late, you were tucked into bed when you heard a knock at your door. You knew what this meant, some blinder needed stitches but couldn't go to the hospital.
You sighed before putting on your dressing gown and retrieving your medical supplies. The knocks got louder and faster so you called to say you were coming before rushing to open the door.
You were used to dealing with Peaky blinders but never a Shelby so when you opened the door to be met face to face with a bleeding Arthur Shelby and his younger brothers Thomas and John you froze momentarily.
"Uh- come in," was all you said. John and Thomas practically carried Arthur into your living room. "He's been shot!" John said panicked. "Put him on the kitchen table." You said leading the way.
The boys placed Arthur on the table and he cried out in pain, throwing curse words as he did so. You saw that his shirt was socked in blood so you ripped it open.
Plain as day was the bullet wound in his shoulder. "Hold him," you said quickly. Thomas and John did as you said and held their brother down.
You grabbed a bottle of vodka from our cupboard and opened it quickly before pouring it into the wound. Arthur screamed in pain. "I'll fucking kill ya!" He bellowed out.
You reached into your bag of medical supplies and sighed. "What?" Thomas snapped at you. "I have the bare minimum here, I don't have any tools or anything that will help me retrieve the bullet." You said trying to stay calm.
"He needs to go to the hospital." You said. "No!" Arthur shouted through the pain. "But you really-" you were cut off by John. "You fucking heard him, no hospital!" You sighed and pulled up the sleeves of your dressing gown.
"Then I'll have to use my hand," you took a deep breath and told the brothers to hold Arthur down because this was truly going to hurt.
You plunged your fingers into the wound, Arthur bucked and yelled for you to stop but his brothers kept him still. "I've got it!" You yelled as you went to pull it out but Arthur bucked and seized uncontrollably as you tried to extract the bullet, causing you to lose your grip.
"Stay still!" You yelled at Arthur, he was stunned for a second which allowed you to pull the bullet out. Arthur yelled in pain and you realised you had been holding your breath while trying to extract the bullet.
"I'm going to stitch you up now," you said grabbing your needle and thread. You poured the alcohol onto the wound once more before you began to stitch Arthur up.
"Thank you," John said once you were finished. "We'll send someone around tomorrow with money for your services," Thomas said putting a cigarette in his mouth.
"No need," you said, "bring him back in a few weeks and I'll take the stitches out but you'll need to clean the wound and no more guns for a while," Arthur chuckled at that.
The men eventually left your house, leaving you to clean up the bloody mess in your kitchen before retiring to bed yourself.
You woke up the next day, thankfully it was your day off as you had little sleep the previous night thanks to the shelbys. You heard a knock at the door, you answered it and just like the previous night you were met with Arthur Shelby.
"Mr Shelby you really shouldn't be out of bed," you said sounding worried. "I'm alright, had worse than this," he brushed you off. "I wanted to give you this," He handed you a brown paper bag with a wad of cash in it.
"I told your brother last night-" Arthur shook his head. "Consider it payment for all of our men that you've fixed up in the past," you nodded, you knew you had to take he money.
"And I wanted to give you these as a thank you-" he awkwardly handed you a small bouquet of flowers that he had been holding behind his back.
"Me Shelby you really shouldn't have!" You said surprised. "Call me Arthur and if you don't want them then-" you cut him off. "No I want them, their lovely." You said with a smile that caused Arthur to turn slightly red.
"Yeah well- thank you," He said before turning around and walking away. "Arthur," you called making him turn to look at you. "I'm serious, you need to take it easy." Arthur nodded. "And thank you for the flowers," you said making him smile as he continued to walk away.
