// I love these two. This is just a little moment between Colby. How does she react when he decides to vanish in the middle of the night?
xxx
"I will be back, Mary." -Tommy's voice tore the silence that had comfortably settled in his bedroom-
"Tommy!! Where are you going this late?" -Mary asked, her green orbs set upon the cerulean ones of the Shelby. She woke up almost as soon as she felt the shift in the bed and was perplexed by the sight of Tommy getting dressed back in the outfit he was wearing before.-
Tommy didn't answer. He was focused, his face was cold and she recognized this focused look on his face. The same look he always had when he was making plans in his head. She realized that he was about to leave and she couldn't make him stay with her. Tommy had been restless ever since Michael was sent to America. She knew that he believed Michael was a traitor hellbent on killing him. It was just a bad feeling but Tommy rarely made mistakes. if anything, he was very cunning and observant and he always was one to three steps ahead of everyone. She grabbed her bathrobe and wrapped it around her frame. Tommy could tell she was upset because he didn't tell her beforehand that the night would be quite short and he wouldn't stay home. He didn't like the way she was looking at him, because it wasn't the face she had when she was upset. It was the face she had when she was worried about him.
She was a nurse. Of course, she would be upset upon seeing him leave. Mary had always patched the boys up when they returned from a mission. She had always been worried when they came back shot or stabbed and she had to work quickly to help them. Of course, she knew of the times she wasn't there and they had to deal with their injuries themselves. She would always make sure that they had everything figured out before clearing them or taking care of the injuries. She refused to lose people she cared about, especially those she considered family. Tommy was family.
"I have some business to tend to." -Was all he allowed himself to say. She blinked and crossed her arms above her ample chest.- "Mary, go back to sleep."
"You don't get to tell me to go back to sleep, Tom." -She snapped before she rolled her eyes- "Uh... Did it have to be tonight?" -He didn't answer, and mechanically put his shirt on. Mary sighed deeply and shook her head. " Look. I'm not asking you to stop whatever this is. I was expecting something different tonight. I wanted to surprise you tomorrow morning but it's okay. I get it, really. Just come back to me in one piece."
He stopped buttoning his shirt. It was unheard of by a woman. She wasn't nagging him about his job. She wasn't even trying to stop him from going. She was just upset he didn't tell her before. She was upset because she had planned something? She clearly was upset about the situation, given the tears that had pooled in her eyes. Tears he really wanted to wipe off of her face but he couldn't waste any minute. He had to quickly dress up. Staying home, and spending the night with her had already been something he wouldn't have allowed himself to. Mary knew that. The sigh she let out made him understand that she would not push things further. She would not stop him. from leaving. She even stood still. He didn't understand. Why was she putting up with him the way she did? Why was she alright with being left behind and letting him do what he wanted to do. Most wanted him out of this life. Heck! even he told Mary to stay away from this life but here she was, letting him know she was okay with him tending to his business. That made him pause.
"When I come back." -He finally told her. He didn't intend to finish his sentence but he let her know of his intention to raincheck whatever she wanted to do. Her eyes grew wide as she genuinely was surprised and he set his blue eyes on her- "I mean it." -To which she nodded and fumbled with her bathrobe. her cheeks turned red and he knew that she was embarrassed. A little bemused smirk crept on his lips as he looked at her while he grabbed his shoes and started to put them on.
"Fine. I will wait until you're back. It can't happen if you're not here." -She said, hesitating before she finally ran towards him and knelt so she could help him tie his other shoe. - "Let me. Allow me to help you get dressed, Tom." -She didn't give him a choice and he didn't want to argue with her so he let her do as she pleased.-
Mary was curious, far more surprising than most women Tommy had been with. She didn't want him to become a man he wasn't. She wasn't nagging him about his job. She wasn't lecturing him about righteousness and legitimate business. She wanted him to stay and he realized that for the first time, it wasn't because she wanted something from him -save for his presence- but she wanted to give him something. Moreover, here she was helping him get dressed faster. He blinked, confused because most women he'd been with would not have reacted like Mary. She stood up and quietly went to fetch him his coat, allowing Tommy Shelby to stand back up on his feet and walk towards her. She was about to turn around but he had easily caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her belly, pulling the woman against his hard frame. She was surprised by his reaction, for even in a rush, he found the time to give her a hug. Perhaps, it was his impulsivity that guided his footsteps towards her. Perhaps it was just a sharp desire to keep her close to his frame, that had taken over him.
"I thought you were in a hurry?" -She chuckled and leaned her head against his chest- "Tommy...Just so we're clear. I know how your business works. You've done that before you and I...You've done that before. What I just hope to know, is that when we spend the night together and you have to leave, just tell me not to expect you to stay. " -She tried to wiggle herself off of his grip but he flipped her over and grabbed her neck. She put both hands on his chest and gave him a bright smile.-
As a matter of fact, the nurse grew up thinking that she would get married to a good man. She was hoping for someone who would be good to her, who would be doting on her and trust her when needed. She was hoping for someone who would save her from the miserable life she was living at the orphanage. Perhaps a man who wouldn't mind her scars, one who wouldn't mind her curves, should she have some. She wanted to be accepted for who she was, a mixed-race woman who was more than just the scars on her back or the circumstances of her birth. She dreamed of the white knight of the fairy tales who would sweep her off of her feet and would carry her bride-style away from the orphanage. She had always dreamed of a knight in shining armor who never came. Instead, her first husband was a monster. He took advantage of her young mind and ruined her in the same breath. She feared the man he was to her. She feared his beatings, she feared his verbal abuse, and she feared the lack of love he had for her. She was miserable with that "knight in shining armor" because he wasn't real. He wasn't good. he wasn't loving. He treated her like a thing. He treated her like a doll he could fuck whenever he pleased. He lied to her, about who he was, and that he loved.
She realized that she and to be more careful and truly get to know the person she would give her heart to. Along came Tommy. He wasn't proper... He wasn't noble. He was violent, ambitious, intelligent, hard to read, and devoted to his family. He was real. He wasn't some fantasy or fake ideal. He was real, he was raw, he was complex. Tommy was a man who made her brain tingle. He caught her attention, not by his looks -Tommy was a handsome man. He had intense blue eyes, sharp features, and a strong and hard frame. and it was his voice. his voice that turned her on so much.-. No. it wasn't just his looks. What truly caught her attention was his voice. His intellect. He gave a speech after Grace's death when he opened the Grace Shelby Institute. Tommy commanded respect when he spoke. He knew how to rouse the crowd with words carefully picked. He knew a lot of things, from poetry to politics and she found herself drawn to him. Tommy was a man who had many layers and she felt closer to him because she shared a few similarities. She had layers, layers that only Tommy could unveil. Only he could see past her stern look or the half-smiles she gave. Only he could love her, the real her. yet she wasn't sure he wanted to, despite what others might say, she needed to make sure by herself that he was true to her. So far, it seemed to be doing well.
"I leave when I say it's time to leave, Mary. Not the other way round." -He rubbed their noses together and pressed a searing kiss into the young woman's lips. She didn't drop his coat but held onto the fabric harder than before. his kiss was demanding, his tongue licked her lips, seeking entrance she quickly granted him. She moaned in between her lips and pulled away from him.- "So, I will come back and I will make up to you."
He pulled away from her, reluctantly so, and grabbed his coat from her hands. Mary grinned and nodded as she watched him leave his bedroom. She had taken a liking to sleep in that room, slowly but surely making it hers. Of course, she didn't bring anything from her bedroom... yet. She was, however, getting him used to having someone sleep in the same bed as him and she got used to sleeping next to her current lover. She felt safe in that room, and safer when he was there. It gave her something she had not expected to have: stability. Yes, the elder Shelby had the habit to vanish either at night or come home very early in the morning. He wasn't actually what some could call a man or routine, but He always came back to his bedroom and to her, dutifully and that was enough to give her stability and a sense of protection. She wasn't asking for more but for him to come back to her alive. Safe. Sound and Tommy felt it. It stunted him for he didn't expect her to turn out to be so accepting of his daily activities and his dangerous lifestyle. He didn't expect her to actually think about him and to try and take care of him. He replied almost too spontaneously when he agreed to do what Mary had planned when he returned home but somehow, he was at peace with this answer. The older man actually wanted to see what she had planned for him. He wanted to come back home to his son and to her. That was something.
-TBC-
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