DELILAH DELUCA HAD KNOWN HER FAIR SHARE OF PAINS THROUGHOUT HER WHOLE LIFE. She had been stabbed, she had been shot, she had been heartbroken, she had almost been robbed of her big brother — there was nothing she was scared of anymore. Still, she thought she was going through the worst pain ever known to mankind when she found herself laid down on a hospital bed, wrapped in a hospital gown that made her skin itch, her hand tightly holding her lover's while a nurse was counting her breaths — if it was still possible to do so. Sometimes, whenever she wasn't breathing heavily or screaming because of the pain, she would hear her mother asking about her from the other side of the door, with Polly muttering quiet responses.

It was like she was aware of every little detail but also completely blind to anything but the pain. She could hear Thomas muttering encouraging words right beside her while she gritted her teeth, feeling like her insides were flipped inside out until, finally, she tilted her head back, letting a tired moan out of her mouth. Thomas placed his calloused hand on her sweaty forehead, the doctor quickly taking the babies away from the hospital bed. The white sheets were now stained with blood.

Delilah felt like she couldn't breathe. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she tried to let as much oxygen into her tired lungs as possible, but still, it was never enough. Her emerald eyes fluttered and she lifted her head, forcing enough strength in her muscles to check on them, the two tiny things that had been growing up in her stomach for the past nine months. There was no cry and she started to panic, suddenly turning towards Thomas, worriedly furrowing her brows.

"They're not crying, Thomas," she whispered, her voice cut off by her breaths, "they are not."

"Lilah, they're fine," Thomas assured, running his thumb across her cheekbone and ignoring the sweat that now accumulated on his burning skin.

Just as Delilah opened her mouth to answer, she heard them. The nurse laughed as the babies started to cry, both at the same time, making the redhead weep slightly. She fell back on the white pillow she had been lying on for the past four hours, her eyes closing and her breath finally settling as she heard Thomas being asked to hold one of them. Her babies, their babies.

Delilah had been five months pregnant when they had been told that they were in fact expecting twins. It had come as a complete shock, seeing that neither the Shelby nor the DeLucas had been having twins in their family. The redhead had later learnt, from her mother, that her great aunt Marcella had birthed twins, whom she had never encountered because of the physical distance separating them.

The redhead opened her eyes, sensing someone approaching her, and immediately widened her arms as the nurse quietly stopped beside her.

"It's a girl," the nurse whispered, carefully placing the baby in her father's embrace. "A boy and a girl. What a surprise!"

Delilah held her son in her arms tightly, a giggle escaping her plump lips as she drifted her eyes towards Thomas, who was carefully holding their daughter in his calloused hands.

There was something truly magnificent seeing this merciless, blood-thirsty, unstoppable gangster holding so closely such a fragile creature, still struggling to take her first breaths and staring at her delicate features intently, deciphering each inch of her skin resembling his almost perfectly. When he slowly lifted his gaze in her direction, Delilah's eyes were sparkling with tears, her hands trembling as her son's cries turned quieter, his emerald eyes staring at his mother's face.

"I can't believe they're here now," the woman spoke, her voice shaky and exhausted as she brought one of her hands to her son's cheek, rubbing it gently. "We've waited so long to see them and now they're really here."

"I know," Thomas whispered, looking back down at their daughter. "He looks so much like you, it's incredible."

"She's just your spitting image," Delilah chuckled, eyeing the nurse who was standing in the corner of the room, admiring the new parents.

Before the redhead could add anything though, the door of her hospital bedroom flew open, her mother all but throwing herself inside while Polly simply walked in, quietly closing the door behind her, a smirk plastered on her face.

"I'm sorry to disturb you both this way," Polly spoke, coming to a stop as she stood beside her nephew and observed the baby between his arms, "but I simply couldn't hold Jessica back anymore."

"Oh stop it, please, you were as nervous as I was back there," Jessica argued, standing close to Delilah and bringing her finger to her grandson's face. "Your father is still waiting outside, he is quite impatient to meet his grandchildren. He just didn't want to step in as he thought of it as being intruding."

"I can't say that I disagree, personally," Delilah whispered as her mother disapprovingly looked at her. "What? I can't be dishonest on the day my children were born. What kind of life start would I give them?"

The three women didn't say anything as Thomas suddenly stood up from his chair, practically shoving his daughter into his aunt's arms and stepped out of the room, silently closing the door behind him. Polly approached Jessica to show her the little baby she was holding, only for the redheaded woman to open her mouth and place another finger on the second baby's cheek.

"I cannot believe he just walked out on you," Polly spoke, directing her dark pupils towards the woman lying on the bed.

"Cut him some slack, Polly," Delilah demanded, a smile blossoming on the redhead's face. "Imagine yourself becoming a father when all you've ever been was a gangster, only caring about yourself."

"He doesn't only care about himself, you trash talker," Polly affirmed strongly, passing Delilah's daughter to Jessica and crossing her arms over her chest. "He cares about you, about me, about his brothers, about your brother and about his sister and her son as well."

Delilah sighed, her eyes glimmering as she looked up at Polly. "Oh, don't be so offended, you very well know that is not what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say was that he has to go from having to fend for himself and his family, to his very own children and his future wife. It must be terrifying for a man like him to realize that he has to show the example now, to teach little creatures manners and how to behave in life when he does kill to survive. This is what I wanted to say."

"But that is why he has you, mia figlia," Jessica softly answered, her nose wrinkling slightly when she smiled down at the baby girl. "To show him the way."

"Let's be honest here, I am no better."

Jessica spared a concerned glance with Polly, as if Delilah admitting that she was actually the same kind of person her soon-to-be husband was himself was the silliest thing she had ever heard. However, when Polly simply raised an eyebrow at the woman, placing a cigarette between her lips and lighting it up without even budging, the DeLuca woman had to admit that she was probably right.

"Oh, Mother, you can look as offended as you want," the redheaded woman scoffed as she adjusted her position in her hospital bed, trying her best not to move her newborn too much so he wouldn't start crying all over again. "Just because Thomas comes from a little less noble background —and yes Polly, I mean it sarcastically — doesn't mean that I am better than him. God knows I had to kill, plot, manipulate and cheat to achieve what I achieved until now. Even these children come from a business plot if you remember correctly. Without it, you wouldn't even be dreaming of being a grandmother."

Jessica only shook her head and gently placed the newborn she had been holding in the tiny crib situated right next to Delilah's bed, soon taking her son from the redhead's arm and putting the baby down to rest. Polly blew smoke towards the ceiling, careful not to let it move in the twin's direction right before Jessica herself lit up a cigarette and moved to the other side of the bed, placing her hand atop her daughter's.

"It was not what I meant," Jessica whispered, glancing at Polly across the room. "I meant that you are here to teach him how to be emotionally available, how to love so deeply he will naturally find the way to care about his children even through his business. I know he loves you, and the rest of his family, and I know he will love these children probably even more than he has ever loved anyone in his life, just like your father did you. But he has to be shown the proper way to love, the one I taught you and the one you know how to love."

"Why would he have to change anything about himself?" Delilah asked, turning her head towards her mother and therefore missing the tiny smirk Polly was now wearing across her face. "Thomas Shelby is the man I have fallen in love with, and I've fallen for him long before he even started to kiss me on the lips or to place a hand on the small of my back when we're walking together. The man I've fallen head over heels for would have scared you to death, mamma."

"I don't think he would've, on the contrary," her mother offendedly replied, crossing her arms over her chest with her cigarette stuck between her rosy lips. "Don't you remember that I've met him, long before you even knew you were in love with him? And if you fell in love with such a monster, what are the reasons why he would have softened the way he obviously did? Because never once did I compare Thomas to a monster. You could never say that I did because that would be lying, and you know it."

Delilah closed her eyes for a second, letting her head fall back on the plush pillow behind her — despite the fact that it was slightly sweaty. "I never said that you did. I just don't want him to change his ways because these ways are the reason why I love him so deeply. God, we created life together when I have been the one telling you throughout my whole life that I never wanted to have children of my own. And now, thanks to him, I do. I know he is not perfect, and I am far from it myself, but I want him for the rest of my life, despite his flaws. In fact, I want to love every part of his flaws until he does love them himself. He is not perfect but he is perfect for me."

Polly cleared her throat, taking a step towards the bed and letting smoke escape her nose. "I know what you think about our family, Jessica. I know you didn't see us as good persons and I am at peace with that. But you have to know that despite the fact that we are gangsters, that we sometimes fight, even kill when we have to, we still have morale and we are still able to love, very deeply. And, to be completely honest with you right now, I've given your daughter a hard time when she first integrated our business. I didn't want her around because I didn't trust her, and because she was in fact coming from a different world than us."

Delilah nodded her head, the memories flowing through her mind as Polly recalled a few anecdotes where their bickering had taken such a place it would be unbearable for any of the boys to even be around any of them. They would be talking about each other in such unkind words it was hard for any of the members of either family to trust the other, just because of the women's behaviour.

"But, in fact, I was wrong," Polly then admitted, turning towards Delilah with a fond smile on her lips. "I love her, she does such wonderful things every time. We all trust her with our own lives and we know she does exactly the same. I would kill for her with a delighted smile on my face if it would save her life, and she would do the same for any of us. And maybe it doesn't reassure you the way I hoped it would, which could be absolutely understandable, but what I want you to know is that we all come from the same ground, us Shelbys. And we still are able to love your daughter properly. Ask any of my boys, apart from Thomas who is kind of the obvious, and they will tell you exactly what I just told you."

"I know I sound horrible when I say this, and pardon me for saying it, Mother," Delilah demanded, her eyes pleading with her mother to only listen to her, "but if Polly hadn't been there through the times I've been in Birmingham, I probably would have killed myself more times than I can count. She actually showed me what it was to be a woman, to be in charge, and to love each member of your gang with real passion."

Jessica's eyes filled with tears as she stared at her daughter, lowering her eyes slowly towards her joined hands. "I know you would have. And I know you've chosen him for enough reasons and, to be completely fair, I like him. I'm just so scared of letting you go, forever this time. I have to accept that you won't come home this time, and it scares me to death. Delilah, I love you so fucking much, mia figlia, I have to admit I would have never imagined you leaving us."

Outstretching her hand towards her mother, Delilah squeezed it in her hand, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You know I love you, mamma. You will always be my home. I just have to build mine now, to make you proud."

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ 

It had taken four days for Delilah to be able to come back home. Thomas had been everything but relaxed as he had only been pathing around, biting his nails until he would bleed and staring at the ceiling when he was supposed to fall asleep, finding it impossible to peacefully close his eyes when his future wife was alone in a hospital bed, with their children sleeping soundly beside her.

And so, when he had been called to come and pick the woman up for the hospital, as she had finally recovered enough to walk and to be by herself without nurses surrounding her at all times, he had jumped in his Bugatti and had driven as fast as humanly possible to find her again. Of course, she had slept the whole time until they had arrived home, as they had been blessed with heavily sleeping children, and had almost fallen asleep walking to the front door.

As a wedding surprise, Thomas had decided to give his future wife the home she had always dreamed of: a literal manor, one he had been renovating for weeks behind her back. Unfortunately, as she had given birth and he had been unable to focus on anything else than her well-being, he had seen himself forced to stop the renovations and try his best to rest until she would be safely back.

"I feel so exhausted," the redheaded woman complained quietly as she slid under the blanket covering their bed, resting her head on the plush pillow on the right side of the bed. "This stay at the hospital drained me of all my strength."

"I couldn't wait to see you back home so I could take care of you properly," Thomas responded, rolling on his side to hold her in his arms. "I was feeling trapped in here by myself, worrying about you."

Delilah turned her face slightly to stare at him, kissing the tip of his nose. "Were you worried about me, Mr Shelby?"

Thomas chuckled, placing his hand against her warm cheek and dragging the pad of his thumb across her lower lips. He truly had been blessed with the most beautiful woman that had ever existed, a true Goddess walking among simple human beings. He leaned forward and delicately laid his lips against hers, the softest he had ever had the pleasure to kiss. He would never cease to love her — why would he ever have to? She was about to marry him, after everything they had been through, and had gifted him with two beautiful children, literal images of one another. They would never have to walk this Earth without each other. He would never have to live through life without her hand holding his.

"What has gotten into you, Tom?" the redhead giggled, moving away from his lips as she laid her head down on his chest, listening to his heartbeat — he was at peace. "You're never this romantic usually."

"Perhaps it is very ungangstery like to admit it to you, love," Thomas spoke, his hoarse voice sounding raspy when she listened to it through his chest. "But I actually am very impatient to marry you, right now. So I don't have to be separated from you ever again."

"Oh, you," Delilah laughed, her hand roaming against his ribs and making goosebumps erupt from his skin, "I do love you, Thomas. You won't have to live without me ever again. Unless you put another child inside of me, but we still have plenty of time for that."

Just as Delilah stopped talking, they both jumped from the bed as loud cries were heard through their bedroom, making the redhead giggle. "We will have plenty of sleep to catch up to, I'm afraid."