Chapter Fourteen
"Do you love the woman?"

In the three months that had passed, Arabella had spent a lot of time travelling up to London to meet with Tommy, who'd spent a long time in hospital since getting a fractured skull from an altercation with a priest named Father Hughes. Arabella was glad he'd escaped without any lasting injuries, though was very amused that the gangster boss now had to wear glasses to read properly as a result of the damage to his skull.

Arabella and Michael had been working extra hard because of Tommy's time in hospital, though Charlotte Murray had continued to make life incredibly difficult. Arabella decided to counter that by occasionally bringing Nick to the office, picking up on the fact Michael was very irritated with the American.

In fact, Arabella had spent most of her spare time with Nick, who'd now moved in with her. They often went on romantic dates, and occasionally he'd bring flowers to her at work, which Michael had described as "sickening."

Any time other time that Arabella had free was spent in the Garrison getting drunk with John, or with Mallory and Isaiah, who had finally gotten together – much to Mallory's mother's disapproval.

It had now been two weeks since Tommy was allowed back home, and Arabella was heading into the kitchens of his house where Michael, John, Arthur and Johnny Dogs were gathered waiting for a meeting.

"Right, you've got two choices, Michael," John began as Arabella slipped into the room, moving past Michael to get to the kitchen sink. "You fuck off to America with Arthur, join the Apaches, or you marry the girl."

Arabella dropped the glass in her hand, the sound making an almighty clash. The four men turned around to face her with questioning looks, John almost smirking at the thought that Arabella was panicking about Michael marrying Charlotte, until she instead turned her attention solely on his older brother. "You're moving to America?" She asked Arthur, moving away from the sink.

"We'll talk later, Bells," Arthur told her, noticing the disheartened look that glazed over her eyes. Arabella slowly nodded her head, unable to prevent the feeling of her stomach dropping at the news that the eldest Shelby was moving away. She defeatedly turned back to the sink, filling her glass up with water, when suddenly another thought dawned on her, and she whirled back around to face the others. "Wait, fuck! Michael, you're getting married?!"

John grinned to himself. "There it is."

"This isn't a joke," Michael spoke up, ignoring Arabella's exclamation as he shifted his attention back to John, eyes hardening in irritation with his cousin.

"Arthur, are you really going to live with the Apaches?" Johnny Dogs asked in almost disbelief, though Arthur was not interested.

"Told her father yet?"

"No," Michael responded simply. Arabella turned back around, leaning against the sink as she took a sip of water, trying to keep up with all the announcements.

"He'll fucking shoot you, man."

"Are you sure the kid's yours?"

Arabella practically spat out the water in her mouth, her airways feeling clogged as she began to choke in surprise. "Wait, hang on, you got her pregnant?!"

Michael briefly spared a glance at Arabella before sighing heavily, not bothering to answer her. "I wish I hadn't told you."

"Then think of marriage as a beautiful road flowers all the way down it," Arthur responded, gesturing with his hands.

Arabella set the glass down, unsure of why a feeling of hurt had suddenly settled within her, but she shook it away quickly, not wanting to linger on the thought.

Michael turned to face John, in disbelief at the lack of support he was getting. "Is he joking?"

"It's hard to tell these days," John responded, taking a drag from his cigar.

"Is it Charlotte?" Arabella spoke up, swallowing thickly as the boys all swivelled around to look at her. Michael met her eyes, but didn't respond for a few moments. "Is it?"

"Yeah," he eventually said, moving his stare away from her.

"Do you, er, do you love the woman?" Arthur asked him.

Michael leaned forwards, his eyebrows drawing together. "Fucking what?"

"Go and marry her, like the rest of us," Arthur responded, waving him off.

"She doesn't want her family to know," Michael said, exhaling heavily in exasperation. "She doesn't want to have the baby."

"We know a woman," John spoke up, nodding over at his brother.

"Shut up, John," Arthur hissed.

"Same woman who helped you out twice," John pointed out to him.

"They weren't my women," Arthur muttered.

"That's why you had them fixed, Arthur."

"Charlotte will want the best," Michael insisted to them.

"She is the best," John assured.

Arthur nodded his head in agreement. "The best."

"Used to be a nurse," John told him. "20 minutes, done."

"Don't have to go in, or wait outside," Arthur continued. "You go to the Garrison, drink whisky, have a laugh."

"Yeah, and leave your girlfriend all alone to fix the mess you've got her in," Arabella interjected with a slight sneer, pushing herself away from the kitchen counter. "You men are all the same, running away the moment things get tough."

"Remember, John?" Arthur questioned, continuing on as if Arabella hadn't even spoken, which irritated her even more. "Then this kid walks in, no shoes on, and says, "It's done." Second time we was in there same kid, this time he's wearing shiny new shoes. And he shouts, "It's done, Arthur."

"And what?" Michael asked him.

"She bought new shoes," Arthur answered with a shrug. "With the money I gave her. It was for a good cause."

"Arthur," Johnny Dogs spoke up. "If you're going to get on like this with the Apaches, they'd fucking scalp you, boy."

Arabella chuckled lightly, attempting to get past her annoyance with the boys at how they were discussing Charlotte and her baby. It wasn't even Arabella's problem, she shouldn't have even cared, and she wasn't entirely sure why she did.

"You alright?" John asked her.

Arabella nodded, slightly lost in her thoughts. "Just thinking."

"Yeah?" John asked, having an idea of exactly what she was thinking about. How Arabella and Michael hadn't acted on their blatant attraction to each other yet was beyond him, and had even made himself doubt whether they had feelings for each other. But Arabella's reaction to Michael's news had him more sure than ever.

"Stop," Arabella snapped, looking up at him with narrowed eyes as she noticed him getting lost in his own thoughts – and John Shelby being lost in thought was never a good thing.

"Stop what?" John asked, biting back a slight smirk as Arabella rolled her eyes, pinching the cigar from his hands.

"Analysing me," she responded, taking a much needed drag of the cigar. She closed her eyes momentarily, breathing out a puff of smoke, allowing it to cloud her thoughts.

"I'm not analysing you," John defended, still unable to quite hide his grin. He loved winding Arabella up, perhaps too much.

"Shut up, John."

Before he could respond, a loud bell began to ring continuously, grabbing everybody's attention.

"Tommy said when that bell rings we've to all go to the big room," Johnny Dogs informed as he began to cross the kitchen to the door. "Come on. Tommy has a plan."

Arabella and John shared a look as she passed him back the cigar, walking beside him through the door as they headed towards the big room. She had no idea what Tommy wanted to discuss with them, but if he had a plan, she hoped it was a damn good one.

A/N

Slightly shorter chapter, but Arabella being lowkey jealous and not realising...my favourite thing. Next chapter will spend some time with Arabella and Michael together, and I'm looking forward to it.

Also...the end of last episode of peaky...I was shook af.