#hes spoken abt death and dying so much lately | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tommyspeakycap · 5 years

Note

Also from the prev ask abt Polly telling Charlie about his late aunt. Maybe Charlie never told tommy he knows about sister Shelby. He just becomes more understanding when tommy goes overboard. He’s more sympathetic with the family. I imagine that once he has a baby girl he names her after sister Shelby which bring the family to tears ok I’m done sorry lol

(this got SO long. be aware of NO capitalisation and major character death. also i’m saying tommy and grace have four kids, two boys and two girls just cause i feel like it lol)

it’s been five, nearly six years since charlie shelby learned all about the youngest of his father’s siblings. he hasn’t ever spoken of her to his dad, not once. he’s relayed the stories to his younger siblings and he always has all three enthralled by them. sometime, the four would trapse round to aunt polly’s to hear the stories and before they knew it, their aunt ada was round telling them too, then michael and esme and eventually grace too. no one ever questioned these meetings, just let them be. grace told tommy it was just his family talking about old memories and tommy didn’t want to press on that.

his son had become a little more loose after that day. he tried to be more fun with his dad and tommy certainly appreciated it. grace hadn’t seen him have so much fun since their kids were young children and you were still alive. he still had his bad days. your birthday, anniversary of your death were universally painful around the family, and christmas was agony, but the children managed to lift spirits with the playfulness they learned that you used to have. tommy had been struck with the fact that his charlie was so much like you. he looked a lot like you; like the shelby matriarch, their mother. he also had more of your personality than he had ever noticed even before he learned about you. it was beautiful and so very refreshing.

but it’s been nearly six years now and the kids are growing fast. charlie is 20, tommy’s youngest is 14 and he believes he’s had it good these last years. he’s missed you, but his family have held him together. you’re always with him, too. in his heart. the only thing now was that that heart wasn’t doing too good these days. for a man who had smoked the way he had for as long as he had, it truly was a miracle the dainosis hadn’t come sooner. the family had been hurt and distraught but definitely not surprised that his lungs were all but fully blackened by tar and that he wouldn’t be around much longer.

he too was sad to be leaving behind the family he was so close to. again, it had been a good nearly six years. he’s been happier than ever almost, granted he would have been happier if you had been there. but after charlie learned about you -and tommy didn’t know about this still as he’d never spoken a word - family life had been easier. his children wanted to play with him again, even if they were growing up. they wanted to climb on him and pillow fight with him and wanted him to tickle them again. he didn’t know where the sudden change had come from, but he didn’t suspect a meeting between his four where they decided that now they had learned the ways that you had brought out the fun in their dad, they too would give it a try and it worked perfectly. he was sad to be dying of course, he would likely not see very much of the rest of his children’s lives and he would leave behind a still beautiful and loving wife, leave behind his aunt who hasn’t seemed to age in years - unlike himself, still handsome most would say, but since being diagnosed with lung cancer six months ago was beginning to look frail and older- three brothers, a sister and all their families.

but today, today he was extatic.

today, 20 year old charlie walked out into the waiting room of the hospital and announced that his fiancé had given birthday to a screaming baby girl who was nearly eight pounds and apparently had tommy shelby’s crystal blue eyes. he announced it to a collection of uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings and in laws. finn and his wife, esme, ada, john, linda, arthur, polly, her new husband, michael, his wife (who was seven months gone herself) and pretty much every other family member they could cram in while all the children were back at the tommy’s huge house being watched by maids awaiting the new arrival to the shelby clan. however, one man was not seated in that waiting room.

thomas shelby.

grace was in the room with her son and his fiancé per her request. she had four children herself and the poor girl in front of her had no mother, she had died a couple of years ago so grace was providing some much needed support.

and tommy? tommy was in the room next door. he had already clambered out of bed once on shaky legs that had made him collapse and made nurses rush to his side and usher him back into bed. he wanted to see his son and his new baby granddaughter, but they wouldn’t let him leave his hospital bed. he had been told everything was on its way out. especially his liver. his lungs were rotting and his liver was barely functional, the cancer had spread to his heart, his bones, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, everywhere. he would be dying very soon and he felt it to be much sooner than their predictions.

charlie shelby pulled aside his uncles, aunt and great aunt. he mutters in hushed whispers as he takes them in to see the baby and when polly asks her name, the family’s eyes fill with tears, none quite spilling them like the twin left on the earth without his other half, finn just lets his shoulders shake. charlie asks if his dad will approve and he feels a hand clap his shoulder, seeing his eldest uncle giving him a teary smile and a comforting nod. “he’ll love it.”

about an hour later while the once ever powerful man with the world at his feet was wallowing in his defeat, the door cracks open and a light breaks against the darkness of the room at night. carrying a chubby baby girl was tommy’s oldest baby himself. he offers a grimace. “i snuck her out to see you,” he shrugs, leaning forward to place the baby in his dads arms. he was careful, avoiding tangling the iv’s pumping him full of painkillers. charlie lights a few candles that create a cosy, warm glow around the room and sits on the chair beside his dads bed as the older man holds the sweet gargling baby girl. “you decided on a name yet, eh?” he doesn’t look up from the baby, “what’s your name beautiful girl?” he coos, the arm that wasn’t holding her placing a feather light boop on her tiny nose. she then reaches out her tiny blanket and grips tightly onto his finger as his son clears his throat and clearly says. “we’ve chosen (y/n), dad.” tommy turns his head away from the baby and immediately tears flow over his cheeks, his body nearly wracking with sobs.

it’s then that little shelby open up her eyes and suddenly he’s been propelled back all those fucking years and he’s twenty years old holding his little sister for the first time. it’s not charlie shelby, but charlie strong who stands beside him and tells him that (y/n) would be your name per your dying mother’s request. he’s thrown back to that day, he’ll never forget it.

his son’s confidence seemed to wavered when tommy looks away again and back down into the baby girls eyes as she gargles and coo’s. “dad i’m sor-“

“no,” he cuts in, voice almost at a whisper. “it’s perfect, charlie.” charlie smiles hugely. “she would’ve loved all this. she was such a softie.” he chuckles slightly, “that’s what all those family meetings must’ve been about eh? (y/n)” he asks and charlie nods. “i didn’t want to ask you about her, everyone said not to.” it’s tommy’s turn to nod now, a breath of laughter escaping from his nose. “probably for the best.” in one way he believes that and in another he wishes someone had brought you up. wishes he could’ve spoken about you a little more.

but all of this knowledge always comes with imminent death.

“(y/n).” he says again. “sounds so weird coming off my lips again and if she’s anything like her namesake then soon enough you’ll be sick of yelling it.”

his arms and getting weak and so he lays the baby in his lap, her head almost at his knees. she stares up at him with curiosity, but a pure love just like you had all those years ago. “she’s beautiful, charles. bloody beautiful.”

charlie nodded. “that she is, dad, that she is.”

they fall into a silence and tommy eventually scoops her back into his arms, lifting her to his face to press a kiss to her little head. “i love you so, sweetheart. you’ll have the best mum and dad alright? and your granny is going to spoil you rotten, eh?” charlie furrows his eyebrows, just grace was going to spoil her?

“right then,�� tommy says. charlie thinks he knows what’s happening. his father’s face has paled and his eyes are starting to dull, becoming hooded. “you take this beautiful girl back to her mother.” he holds the baby out at her father, who’s raised from the chair and has taken several steps back. “no.” he says firmly. “no you keep her.” tears are brewing in the young mans eyes and both know exactly what’s going to happen the second that baby’s out of his hands. “no-“ charlie chokes, “please dad, no.”

tommy remains calm as he can with tears in his eyes. “take your daughter, charlie. take her to her mother.” he insists, and charlie wipes roughly at his eyes. “and take care of your mother for me, alright? will you do that?” charlie choke another sob, his daughter stirring in his arms, clearly not liking the departure from calm arms to worried arms. “dad please-“

“will you do that for me!” charlie nods vigorously and tommy leans back against his bed, cancer stealing the breath from his lungs. “right then. thank you. you changed my life charlie-boy. i love you, all of you.” charlie leans out the door and roars for a nurse, the boy rushing towards his dad to try and fuss over him with one hand while holding his screaming daughter with his other.

grace runs in with tears flowing down her cheeks, the world is moving in slow motion. the nurses do what they can, ushering the family out of the room, taking the baby from the distraught new father’s arms.

tommy is as good as gone, his eyes leaving his wife and son, they look blankly as he takes his last breathes amidst the commotion. and a string of words hits their ears, it both adds and takes from the agony of the patriarchs death.

“(y/n),” he breathed, looking straight forward and reaching out a weak arm, “i’ve missed you.”

and then he’s gone. tommy shelby is dead and pain strikes through the shelby family. but polly says he’s with you. he’s happy. they rest easy knowing tommy’s back with his (y/n) watching over everything the shelby clan do with another cigarette in his mouth, finally free of all that which burdened him on earth.

#tommy shelby x sister reader #tommy shelby x sister!reader #john shelby x sister!reader #john shelby x sister reader #finn shelby x sister reader #finn shelby x sister!reader #arthur shelby x sister!reader #arthur shelby x sister reader #charlie shelby #shelby sister #shelby sister reader #shelby sister blurb #peaky blinders #peaky blinders blurb #ask #anon

233 notes · View notes