Ain’t she sweet
Tommy Shelby x reader
Master list
✨I had this idea for a while going around my mind, and even though I’m still in jail time, it was the perfect time to finally write this down. Actually this idea was meant to happen in The Photoshoot, but you know me… if I don’t use something in a story, I will make it fit into another one ☺️😉
Dear Val @notyour-valentine congratulations on your 1K celebration followers!!!!! I’m so happy you reached that goal and I’m still keeping some of your stories on my to-read list. 💖
🌙🌘I chose this incredible theme A forever memory
“How was school, Charlie?” You tried to make small talk with Tommy’s son, he had been very quiet, looking out the window. His attitude was screaming he rather walk back home than be with you inside the car.
After a loud sigh he answered; “Good.” You could even bet he was rolling his eyes at you so you decided to stop bothering him.
The trip back home was long and quiet, he got upset because you went to pick him up instead of his aunt Pol like she usually did. Tommy had asked you as a favor because his aunt wasn’t available that day, neither was Ada, so Charlie didn’t really have much choice there.
His cold attitude towards you wasn’t something new, ever since he found out his mother was killed because he accidentally heard his uncles Arthur and John talking about it. He refused to talk to anyone for days, and when he finally did, Charlie asked lots of questions no one could really answer, even Polly couldn’t reach to the boy. And then, he deliberately started to ignore you, he constantly interrupted while you were talking to Tommy, stormed into his room or office without knocking first -and almost caught the two of you making out twice-, he even told Polly once he wished it was you the one that got shot instead of his mum. You didn’t even know Tommy back then.
Tommy practically gave up on him, too busy with the family business and well the general danger surrounding him, he eventually got tired of explaining Charlie it wasn’t your fault his mother was killed. You even gave up to the little hope of the kid changing his mind about you, since in his mind, you were the enemy.
You tried several times to get close to him, and every single time, Charlie rejected any way of affection that came from you, any present was left unopened, when you tried to congratulate him, he turned his back at you… and the list could keep going.
But you wanted to keep trying for Tommy, and deep down, you adored Charlie, he was an incredible kid, you understood growing up without his mother wasn’t something easy, you actually wanted Tommy to be closer to his son, wanted them to have a relationship based on love and trust yet, you understood Tommy’s reasons to be strict, he even struggled himself for his late wife’s death. And he also suffered for being in the middle, between your love and his son’s.
You saw Frances opening the door as the car reached Arrow’s House entrance.
“I’m going out to play with my cars.” Charlie announced, probably to Frances and rushed past you.
Ruffling his hair, you gently suggested: “How about we have lunch first, then homework and later we can play outside?”
You never noticed Tommy coming out from his office just as Charlie yelled at you:
“You don’t get to tell me what to do! You’re not my mum!” He ran off upstairs, not even stopped to say hello to his dad.
A heavy silence filled the room as you felt the pain caused by his words like a hot, sharp knife, slicing through your heart.
“Charles Shelby, come back in this moment!” Tommy barked as the boy reached the last step to then disappear in the hall of the second floor. He tried to go after his son, but you stopped him.
“Leave it, please.” When you saw Tommy’s angry expression you pleaded again. “I don’t want you to start a war.” Frances discretely had left you alone. “Besides, he is right… I am not his mother.” You added in a low voice, your head down as you walked to the kitchen.
Tommy stayed there in the middle, between his fiancé in the kitchen and his son upstairs. Torn between comforting one or grounding the other.
Something shattering in the kitchen made him choose the first one.
The glass pan you used that morning to bake a cake was on the floor broken and mixed with the smashed cake. Frances saw it slipping from your hands.
Hands shaking, you were frozen in spot. Unable to keep holding the tears as you heard Charlie’s words over and over in your mind. No matter how hard you tried, he would never accept you. Picking up a piece of cake, Tommy rushed next to you as you were about to cut your hand.
“I got it love.” He moved you with a gently voice. But he felt your body shaking. “It’s alright, hey, listen to me.”
As he pulled you into his embrace, you started to shake your head against his chest.
“No, it’s not.” He heard the way your voice broke down and shot Frances a quick glance to leave the two of you alone.
He wasn’t usually very fond of showing his emotions or affective, but he also was aware how much Charlie’s contempt affected you. That’s why he decided to keep his arms around you, hands running up and down your back while he felt your sobs subsiding.
Tommy took his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the tears from your face.
“He’s going to have to get used to you once we get married.”
Taking a deep breath, your fingers touched nervously the engagement ring he gave you about a month ago, right before Charlie found out about what happened with Grace.
“Tommy… I think it’s best if we put our engagement on hold.” You decided to distract yourself smoothing the neck of his shirt, you couldn’t look him in the eyes, not with all the battles you were fighting at the moment.
“That’s nonsense Y/N.” His body tensed immediately and then he lifted your chin with his finger. “You can’t let a child control your life like that.”
“I’m not going to be in the middle between you and your son, I grew up without my father and-”
“Don’t do this to me, fuck this Y/N. Why are you taking the easy way out?”
“This is far from easy for me Tommy, I’m trying to avoid that one day he makes you choose between me and him.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
You took a step back, trying to put some distance between the two of you.
“That’s what happened with my father and he didn’t choose me… I can’t go through that again.”
You didn’t want to wait anymore to listen what he had to say, so you walked out of Arrow House.
Tommy’s hands were closed in a tight fist, the vein in his temple visible. Each footstep he took, echoed on the floor as he returned to his office.
“Frances! Get someone to clean this up and tell my son he’s grounded!” He closed the door with a loud bang only to open it again seconds later. “Indefinitely.” He added with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
***
As Tommy skipped lunch, and he pretty much was about to skip dinner as well, Frances decided to prepare him some tea. She had known Y/N since Mr. Shelby started dating her and she could recognize all the good things she had brought into his life.
“What am I doing wrong, Frances?” He asked the maid while his eyes were fixed on the papers in front of him.
Smoothing her apron, Frances looked at him, lines of worry across his forehead, tensed shoulders, rubbing his index finger against the thumb, the lost look in his eyes, she could read him like the palm of her hand.
“If I’m too strict, he’s going to run away, if I’m too soft he’s going to end up like Finn, there’s no in between.”
“Talk to him, Mr. Shelby, Charlie is a smart child he will understand.”
Leaning back on his chair, Tommy took the remains of the almost consumed cigarette to take a long puff.
“Will he?” With a groan he moved his arm to reach the cup of tea. “I’m scared one day he will look at me and ask why did his mum die instead of me.”
Frances felt her heart crushing inside her chest.
“He loves you Mr. Shelby and not long ago he was happy around Y/N. Give him some time, I found him crying earlier.”
How did his happiness could cause such sadness to his own kid?
“Soon we’ll be celebrating your nuptials and all of this will be forgotten.” She had so many things to do, and she knew that once Mr. Shelby stayed quiet, his mind started to overthink everything so she decided to excuse herself and left her boss alone.
Leaving his tea unfinished, Tommy walked upstairs to Charlie’s room, the lighted lamp and his breathing gave away his son wasn’t sleeping, he was just pretending to be asleep.
Sitting by the end of the bed, Tommy tucked his son in, just like when he was a little boy.
“When your mum was taken away from us, I swore I would never get married again.” His voice was soft, almost soothing. “And it’s actually a funneh story the way I met Y/N, the only time I’ve been late to a meeting in my life, was because of her.”
Tommy chuckled at the memory and leaned his palm over his thigh to rest his body forwards. He knew Charlie was awake because he saw him by the corner of his eye blinking, but he kept talking as if he was asleep.
“I was in a hurry, distracted, talking to myself like I always do. She was walking backwards you know, just coming out from the store carrying boxes of cupcakes and I swear I didn’t see her right away as I was taking my right on the corner… the cupcakes ended up flying everywhere and landed on the floor. I thought she would be so mad, but instead she looked at me with the biggest and kindest smile and after asking if I was alright, she offered me the only intact cupcake that wasn’t ruined.” She smelled like vanilla and frosting, too sweet and delicate he remembered. “And in that very moment I knew she had something that no one else had.” Licking his lips, he could still taste her there. “She was the sweetest little thing a grumpy man like me needed.”
He was now softer thanks to her, she constantly stormed inside his office or the betting shop with fresh baked cookies or cake to share and bright everyone’s day. “And I don’t tell her much this, but she makes me want to be better man, and she’s constantly pushing me to be a better father to you.”
A glimpse of sadness clouded his blue eyes. “You can’t even imagine how much your words have hurt her, because if there’s someone asking me about you, worried every time you get sick, staying up late to check on you or if you need anything, that’s Y/N.”
Tommy swallowed hard, thinking how grateful he actually felt for you.
“You’re right, she’s not your mother, she will never be, but apart from your aunts… Y/N is the closest to a mother you will ever have.”
The bed creaked when Tommy got up to walk out of his son’s room, wearing his heart on his sleeve, craving for you in that moment.
———
The following day, he knew you wouldn’t be home to have lunch that day like you usually did. You actually made him change that from his schedule, to spend more time with Charlie every day and he couldn’t lie to himself, he had loved making that little adjustment to be with you and his son instead of eating alone in his office.
“Mr. Shelby! I tried to reach you in your office all morning.” Frances appeared with a worried expression. Tommy saw by the corner of his eye Charlie in the middle of the stairs.
“What is it Frances?”
“It’s Y/N, she was run over by a delivery truck outside her business this morning.”
Tommy didn’t wait to hear the rest, he rushed back to his car to go to the hospital.
Trying to adjust yourself, you groaned from the pain.
“Do you want something?” Tommy’s voice asked you taking your hand.
“How many elephants were?”
Tommy chuckled at your humor. “One milk truck in reverse was all you needed to get knocked out.”
“Mmm, it felt like a stampede.” You finally opened your eyes to meet his. Tommy was all over you, kissing your face, moving away your hair.
“Doctor says you can leave today, but you will need someone looking after you.”
“Did you had to pull out your gun to make him say that?”
“It wasn’t necessary, says you’re strong as an oak.” He winked at you. “I’m taking you home, Y/N… and I don’t want to hear a single complain about it.”
You closed your eyes for a moment, too tired to keep them open. “Wasn’t going to.”
“So, you’re really in a lot of pain.” You saw the corner of his lips moving upwards.
“I didn’t see the truck.” You admitted.
Tommy made a funny face. “Maybe you need glasses.”
Too tired to argue his sarcasm, you slapped his arm. “The truck driver was moving in reverse.”
After sleeping all the way to his house, he carried you upstairs in his arms as if you weighted nothing, straight into his bedroom, under the gossipy eyes of the maids.
You thanked Tommy for arraigning the pillows for you and the soup he announced Frances was making.
“I’ll be in my office doing some phone calls, but if you need anything you know where the bell is.” Tommy leaned down to kiss you softly on your forehead, but before he could break apart, you pulled him to your lips, tasting the smell of tobacco in him. “Don’t start something you won’t be able to carry out, Y/N.”
“Give me a couple of days and you’ll see.”
You felt like you needed at least ten painkillers to make you feel better, but you already had too many, looking around, there was just a dim light coming through the curtains so it was probably night by now and Tommy still hadn’t returned. Tilting your head to the side, you found the door open barely by a few inches and a spying eye looking through.
“You can come in Charlie.” As the little boy opened the door you realized he had been crying. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t want you to get hurt Y/N.” He stormed in and started crying inconsolable on your side.
“Take a deep breath Charlie… of course you didn’t, it’s not your fault.”
But he had a confession to make. “It is, I wished you went away or disappeared.”
“Well… I’m glad your wish failed, you have nothing to worry about.” Your fingers moved away the fringe from his face, he was starting to look so much like Tommy now.
“Dad said I made you cry... sorry.” He looked down.
“Don’t worry, we all say things we don’t want to say.”
“But I was so scared of something bad happening to you.”
Patting the empty spot on the bed, you smiled at him. “Just a little push, that’s all, you don’t have to worry now.”
As Charlie cuddled close to your body, you helped him climb under the covers.
“I like you Y/N, I just miss my Mum.”
You had to blink a couple of times to make sure you listened him correctly. “I’m sure she’s watching over you, Charlie. You know, your Dad works really hard to keep you safe, you’re his priority always.” You could feel him relaxing against you. “And I’m not here to take your Mum’s place, I’m here to make you and your Dad happy.”
You chuckled as Charlie yawned. Stroking his head, you felt his arm over your stomach, as if he was hugging you.
“When I feel better how about we bake something? A chocolate cake? Your favorite.”
“Can’t… I’m grounded until I’m twelve.”
Smiling, you couldn’t tell him his Dad would never do that.
“Maybe… I can help you reduce it to nine?”
“Deal.” He had completed melted in your arms, his eyelids closed now. “Y/N?”
“Yes?”
“Is it true you and Dad are getting married?”
He must have heard someone in the house talking about it.
“Would you like that?” You saw the boy nodding eagerly to your question. “In that case, I can talk to your father about that too tomorrow. Have sweet dreams Charlie.”
Perhaps it was the heavy pain medication you were in, or the fact that Charlie went back to being the sweet kid he was in the beginning to you, but that night was a good one, despite the little incident with the truck. You could even see the moon shining up in the sky through the curtains.
Unbuttoning his vest, Tommy walked into the room the two of you shared when you stayed for the night, he was taken aback by the sight in front of him; Charlie sleeping in his bed, not only stealing his side of the bed, but his woman as well.
The image filled his heart, this was all he was hoping for, to have you in his life, his heart, his house, his bed. He wanted everything. The whole scene was something he would keep like a forever memory.
But also in Charlie’s life. He knew he had chosen the right woman to raise his son with, he just hoped Charlie could eventually see it too.
And judging by the heartwarming scene in front of him, it looked just like that.
Well, ain’t she sweet. He thought to himself with the hint of a smile decorating his lips as he climbed in the tight space free.
***
A/N: since I’m in jail time, I won’t be able to reply to your comments 💕 but you know I treasure each of them. If you decide to share and spread the word, I will be forever grateful ♥️ thank you for reading!!!
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