Returning home felt strange.

I could feel the magic everywhere around me, but part of me felt lost.

I know I charmed the house to hide it's magic when muggles were here, but I felt like I'd been completely left by magic, left defenceless.

I knew it had nothing to do with the house and actually how easy it was for the Inspector to get to me.

Looking around at the overturned chairs and then down to the restless child in my arms, I knew my first action of business was to put Thomas-J down for a nap. Wanting to keep him close, I gently set him down in his playpen, pulling a fluffy blanket around him and tucking one of his teddy's from Newt next to him.

It seemed like seconds and he was gone. I suppose the apparition and spending time with Alfie tired him out.

Turning to the disrupted kitchen, I flicked my wand and smiled when everything arranged itself as the teapot started filling itself under the tap.

Taking a seat at the table, I summoned some paper, a quill and an inkpot and started making some notes on the idea that Alfie suggested. Perhaps it was better if Tommy and I acted as a united front. That would bound to piss Grace off because she no longer had the chance to snatch him away.

If I turned the tables around and made her feel like she was my friend, then she would believe that I would give her information when Tommy pissed me off.

I liked that idea.

Plus, it kept her skanky hands off my husband.

The slamming of the door had me startled and before I knew it I was curled up on the floor in the corner, trembling.

"Romy," Tommy called from the hall, he was no doubt taking off his cap and coat. "That Irish Inspector tore through Small Heath," he carried on, his voice sounding muffled which meant he was smoking. "Fucking see the state of the street."

My body was rolling through the shock and my mind wandered back to the time before when the front door slammed and those officers came in here and hurt me.

I knew it wasn't Tommy that hurt me, but there was that deep feeling of fear installed inside me now.

Something could have happened to Thomas-J. And I would have regretted anything that would have happened to him.

"Romy?" Tommy's voice was soft and I could feel him as he hovered in front of me. I had to give it to him, he didn't reach out to touch me, but I could feel the feather light touch of his fingers as they grazed over my shoulders. "Sweetheart, what's wrong."

With twitching fingers and shaking hands, I slowly unwrapped my arms and lifted my head.

I had seen pure anger in people's eyes before but what I saw in Tommy's eyes was something I couldn't describe.

Some called Thomas Shelby the devil and in that moment, I believe he was.

"Fuck," he hissed, his fingers slowly coming out and touching my cheek. Not surprising at all, I sunk into his touch. The warmth of his fingertips made me feel like I was drowning and it took me two seconds to throw my arms around his neck and cling to him like a monkey. "Who did this?"

"That inspector," I whispered, not realising how dry my throat had gone.

"And the baby?"

"He's alright, Tom," I muttered, sighing in defeat as Tommy gently pushed me away from him and went to look down at our sleeping child. "I hid him in the panic room."

"When I get my hands on that fucking—"

"No! Promise me you won't touch him," I cried, grabbing hold of his arm as he went to leave the house. "Tommy, this is what he wants," I said, cutting him off before he could argue with me. "I've got a plan, I've been thinking."

"When did this happen?" Tommy suddenly asked, his eyes one the piles of notes scattered around the table.

"Not too long after you left for the fair," I muttered avoiding his eyes as his jaw clenched at the meaning behind my words.

"You didn't come and get me."

"I wasn't thinking right, Tommy. I was just beaten, they kicked me like I was a fucking football!" I snapped, my hands resting on my ribs as they twinged at my anger. "That's not the point, I spoke with Alfie and he thinks our plan to have you woo Grace is ridiculous. He thinks—"

"You spoke with Alfie?" I took a step back as Tommy leaned across the table, his eyes catching mine in a heated glare. "Do you mean to tell me you went to fucking London and saw Alfie fucking Solomons?" When I didn't answer he slammed his fist on the table. "You didn't come to me!"

"You weren't fucking here!" I argued back, burying my face in my hands as I sobbed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his hands brushing my shoulders as he brought me to his chest, his lips pressing against my hair. "I'm sorry, Romy. I should have been here."

"It's not your fault," I cried, pulling back and cupping his face. I gave him a sad smile, a broken smile as his eyes roamed over the bruises on my face. "He did this to get to you."

"It's working."

"We've got to do what Alfie said," I told him, letting my hands slide until they were playing with the short hairs at the back of his head.

"Yeah, what did Alfie say?"

"We work as a united front. Show them we're stronger together and can handle anything they throw at us." I paused, tilting my head so I could look at his face carefully. "Alfie said I should take away the pain but leave the marks. Wear the bruises like a badge of pride."

"He won't expect that," Tommy agreed, his thumb tracing my lip lightly as he bent and gave me a soft kiss.

"I'll go out tomorrow, show Small Heath my face and when they ask, I'll tell them it was the inspector that did this."

"This part of your plan?"

"Oh, Tommy. It's only the beginning."

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It was quiet in the house.

This time I wasn't too bothered by it and it was because Tommy was with me.

It had been about an hour since he returned and we'd gone through the plans about me befriending Grace and hopefully tricking her that way.

Thomas-J was still asleep and it allowed time for us to just be by ourselves for a little while.

We snuck out of the kitchen and went into the parlour, cuddling on the sofa as we waited for Thomas-J to wake.

Tommy's embrace was strong, his arms wrapped around me as I lay in his lap, my head resting on his shoulder. My injuries didn't hurt any more due to a quick spell, but as Alfie suggested, I kept the markings.

"Do you regret it?" I asked Tommy, wanting to believe he knew what I was talking about.

"Seeing you like this makes me regret taking them, but a bigger part of me doesn't," he replied, his hands running down my back as I shifted to look at him better. I could tell from his eyes that he meant it. He didn't know what these guns were going to bring us but he didn't regret them falling in his lap and him keeping them.

"I promise you that nothing is going to happen to Thomas-J," I told him, running my fingers over his face, my thumb tracing his bottom lip as I pondered my thoughts. "I've made a plan in case something happens to us."

"Aye?"

"I'm going to ask Phineas and Elinora to take him if it gets too dangerous." I could tell from the tensing of his body that he didn't agree with it. "Not forever, Tommy, and it's not set in stone. It's just in case your plan doesn't go to plan. I will need time to sort things out in case Campbell comes for us."

"What do you plan on doing to him?"

"I've found I'm quite good at memory charms. If it gets bad, like really bad, I'll have to take his memories of his time here or at least his memories that relate to us and the guns."

"Can't you do it now?"

"Not really," I muttered, running my hands over my face as I rose and walked to the fireplace, looking at the photos decorating our mantle. "I don't like using my magic for things like this unless I have to. There's this man from my Papa's school years, people thought he was a genius, thought he'd done all these amazing things, but he'd really stolen them from other witches and wizards and cast memory charms on them." It was one of the lessons we'd been taught about honesty as we grew up. "In the end he ended up casting a spell on my Papa but it backfired and he ended up with his memory gone, his own fault really, but it taught us about the dangers of magic." I turned to face him, giving a small shrug as if that could explain everything. "I never want to use my magic to harm someone, Tommy, not even a man like Campbell."

Tommy opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the door slamming open and the stomping of feet marching into the house.

"Family meeting!" Arthur called, his voice echoing down the hall which was instantly followed by Thomas-J's cries.

"Fuck off, Arthur," Tommy snapped at him as he shot out into the hall and down to our son. "Be quiet next time!" I could hear the anger in Tommy's voice as he shushed Thomas-J and knew he was probably glaring at his older brother.

"Right, you children go get settled upstairs, Finn keep them in the room," Polly ordered as I watched Ada and John follow Arthur down the hall to the kitchen. Polly followed shortly and I took a deep breath before making my entrance behind them.

I knew none of them knew what happened to me when Ada turned a cry slipping from her throat as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Who did this!" Arthur shouted, his loud voice making Thomas-J jump in Tommy's arms.

"It's okay, Arthur," I said softly, walking over and taking Thomas-J from Tommy. He curled up to me, his head resting on my shoulder as his hand curled in my hair.

"It's not okay," Polly muttered, her hands coming up and brushing over the bruise on my face. "Was it him? The inspector?"

"He came looking for Tommy. He wanted to send him a message."

"He's gonna fucking regret that," John snapped, his body shifting as if it was getting ready for a fight.

"We're not going after him," Tommy said clearly as he pulled out a cigarette and rubbed it on his bottom lip before sticking it in his mouth.

"Tommy, look what he did to your fucking wife!" John argued, his hand rising and gesturing towards me.

"It's okay, John," I assured him, taking his hand and giving him a pointed look. He huffed and snatched his arm from my grip and dropped into a chair at the table beside an already seated Arthur. "Tommy wanted to go after him, but that's what Campbell wants. You think he didn't plan for this? To aggravate the three of you just so he could have a reason to have you all locked up? No, we will not fall for his plan." I sat down at the table, turning Thomas-J to face his family.

"What do we do then?" Polly asked, taking a seat at the table too, her eyes skimming over the plans drawn up by us after Tommy accepted the plan.

"We do what we've been doing," Tommy said, leaning over me and moving his hand to one of the pieces of paper on the table. "Polly goes to church, Arthur and John work, Ada goes wherever the fuck she goes and Romy makes our presence known in Small Heath."

"And you, Thomas?" Polly asked.

"I'll focus on the races, Pol."

"So what are we gonna do about the copper?" Arthur asked. It wasn't hard for everyone to feel the anger burning inside him.

"We keep him on his toes, Arthur. His plan is to try and divide us, but we won't let that happen. We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. My Papa said a wise man once said this when they were faced with hard times."

"Wise words indeed," Polly muttered, and I could see troubled loks across Arthur, John and Tommy's faces.

"Does anyone have anything else to say?" Tommy asked, his hand resting on my shoulder as it looked like Arthur was going to argue. Polly gave Arthur a stern look and he quickly closed his mouth, slumping in his seat with defeat. "No, then I say we end this meeting and all head home for the night. The plan starts in the morning."

***********************************************************************************************

Waking in Tommy's arms was something I don't think I could ever get used to.

His warm embrace meant safety and comfort and love.

It was also something I would never take for granted, especially on nights when he suffered his nightmares. Those were nights we both tossed and turned. Nights I received kicks and punches from his flying limbs as he fought off the terrors of his past.

But we got rare moments in our short marriage of this warm embrace that felt complete and comforting.

"Shit," I snapped, pulling from his arms as I floundered for the small calendar on the bedside table.

"What is it?" Tommy muttered, rolling over as I clambered out of bed.

If I didn't know any better I would have assumed he would roll right over and go back to sleep. He certainly looked cosy under those blankets.

"It's Phineas' birthday tomorrow," I told him, grabbing some clothes from the wardrobe and chucking them on.

"So?"

"So! So?" I gave him a glare as I picked up my wand and pointed it at him threatenly. "Phineas may not be my brother by blood, Thomas, but he is still my brother and I haven't even got him a present."

"Just have him and his fiance round here for Sunday dinner," Tommy muttered, rolling his eyes as if it was obvious. "I'm sure he'd enjoy the time with TJ."

"I still need to get him a gift, Tommy," I muttered, sighing in defeat. I slumped on the bed, resting my elbows on my knees and dropping my head in my hands. What do you get a man that seemed happy with everything he already had.

"Well, you can always tell him you quit and are taking up a career in nursing."

I paused at Tommy's words before spinning round to look at him. What did he mean by that?

"But ... I thought you didn't want me nursing," I said, leaning on my knees to look at his face. While he was good at keeping a straight face, I could read him exceptionally well.

"I don't, not really, but who am I to stand in the way of your dreams?"

"My husband," I told him, taking his hand in mine as I looked him dead in the eye. "You have every right to disagree with my career. Some husbands wouldn't even allow their wives to work if they had a family to raise.'' I fought against the urge to cry and shuffled closer to him. "I thought you wanted me working with Newt and Phineas at the Ministry."

"But that doesn't make you happy." Tommy sat up, his back resting on the headboard as he took my left hand in his, his fingers twisting my wedding band around my finger. "I promised to make you happy, Romy, and making you give up on your dreams isn't achieving that."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, trying to keep my excitement at bay. "I won't do it if you don't agree. You know that, don't you, Tommy?"

"I want you to do this, I promise."

"You're not just saying this to please me are you," I muttered, seeing the slight hint of mischief in his eyes.

"I may have ulterior motives behind your nursing, but I do want you to be happy, Romy."

"And what, pray tell, is your motive behind me being a nurse?" I questioned suspiciously, wanting to see what my husband would come out with.

"I got you a job at the Small Heath clinic, it gets you the opportunity to see those in Small Heath."

I could see where he was going now.

"It gets a Shelby out there helping everyone in Small Heath. It makes our presence known."

"It gets our people trusting us and not the coppers." He nodded, agreeing with what I had said.

"I must admit that it's a good plan, Thomas," I agreed, leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips. "When do I start?"

***********************************************************************************************

Saturday mornings were women's mornings.

You would generally find the shops busy with women of all ages.

It had surprised me the first couple of weeks we arrived in Birmingham, but Polly explained that it was a way for the women of Small Heath to socialise without anyone - mainly the men - wasting a second thought about it.

Ada said the gathering of women on a Saturday morning was likened to that of the men gathering in the pub on Saturday evenings.

"Good morning, Mrs Shelby," Eleanor, the shop owner, said as I walked into the store. "Oh my, Mrs Shelby, what happened?" I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was thinking I had fallen into the category of beaten wife.

"Oh, Inspector Campbell let his men hit me after breaking into our home yesterday," I told her, knowing I had the eyes of the women on me as they did their shopping.

"Your house got hit too, Mrs Shelby?" a soft voice asked and my eyes landed on a young woman about my age.

"It did, Mrs ..." I trailed off having never seen this woman before.

"Mrs Hawkins, Alice Hawkins," she introduced, giving me a soft smile. "Me and my husband moved here just after the war."

"I assume your house was ransacked yesterday too?" I asked, knowing at this point all eyes were on us.

"Yes, it was," she replied, her eyes flitting to the ground as some of the older women were giving her pointed looks.

"Did anyone from the Peaky Blinders come to offer help?" I asked, knowing Polly had sent them out to help the people of Small Heath.

"My husband wanted to keep his head down, his uncle is a policeman and warned us about them." She flicked her eyes at one of the women next to her, who was warning her with her eyes to stop talking. "Told us to stay away."

"I appreciate your honesty, Alice, but my husband and his workers don't ever intend to hurt anyone in Small Heath that follows their rules." I had to make that clear. I didn't want to give the people of Small Heath false hope by promising they wouldn't be harmed, because that would be a lie. "You're new to Small Heath, I remember what that was like. I had no one but my husband's family when I arrived here in the middle of the war and I didn't even know them. I had no friends and I think I could have done with someone to talk to." I pulled out a scrap piece of paper and pencil from my bag, quickly jotting down my address. "If you need someone to talk to, please give me a visit," I told her, handing over the paper. I looked around at all the other women in the shop, knowing they were listening. "That goes to all of you. If you ever need help, our door is always open."

"We appreciate that, Mrs Shelby," Eleanor said, becoming the spokesperson for the women of Small Heath.

***********************************************************************************************

Part of the whole getting Grace to think we were friends meant I had to talk to her and pretend we'd gotten off on the wrong foot.

Polly said it would be best to do it while I still had the bruise so she could just see me as a woman that was struggling in the world.

I thought it best if I spoke to him without Thomas-J, but just before Tommy and the boys turned up for a drink. The timing had to be perfect.

"Alright, Romy," Harry greeted, a smile on his face as I held up the basket full of treats I'd made.

"Hello, Uncle Harry," I replied, set the basket on the counter and took out a batch of cookies and some muffins. "It's Phineas' birthday tomorrow so we've been doing a bit of baking ready for the party."