THE LAST THING FLORENCE Shelby expected to see on Christmas Eve, was her next door neighbour, James, fall straight to the floor with a puddle of blood pooling underneath him, the boy taking the bullet for what was meant to be for her. The second that Florence saw the black hand on the card she had been mailed, she knew that she was in trouble, as for the rest of her family, and she also knew that she had made a big mistake with leaving her fathers house, because now, she was alone, with nothing but a pistol in her bedside table, on the other side of her flat, where she couldn't even get to. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion as she moved her eyeline up to the two men standing at her front door, each holding guns and wearing suits, like they were professionals — the girl didn't waste any time in turning around and falling to the ground to avoid the bullets flying in her direction, trying to push back the guilt she felt from James' death. The girl tried to think of what her father would do in this situation, and how he would get out of this mess alive, but absolutely nothing came to mind as she shook violently, crawling along her hallway to get out of sight.

"Where did she go?" One of the men yelled out, Florence instantly recognising the accent as Italian, and knowing that she was utterly screwed. She didn't know what her father had done now, but if she had the Italian Mob after her, then it couldn't be good, and the rest of her family would be in danger, too. When Florence reached her room, the girl stood up and slid in, quietly shutting the door behind her so they wouldn't hear her, before rushing over to her bedside table, opening the first draw and pulling out her gun; she had never shot anyone before, she always had her uncles and father to protect her against any danger towards her, but right now, she was alone, with none finger uncles or father to help, and that thought alone, terrified her. Loading the gun, Florence took a deep breath and shut her eyes, praying that she wouldn't have to shoot one of them, praying that they would just leave, but she knew that she was asking for a miracle.

When she began to hear the men walking down the hallway, knocking down anything in their way, the girls heart sped up, holding her breath the more closer they got, afraid that they would hear her breathing and kick down the door and kill her. Luckily for the Shelby girl, they started knocking down every other door first, before finally standing outside her bedroom door, knowing that she was in there and hiding from them both. "Come out, little Shelby." The other man said, after a few seconds of silence, the two hit men listening to the girls panicked breaths from the other side of the door.. Florence was completely stuck, since she was too high to jump out of her bedroom window, she didn't have a choice but to defend herself from inside; the girl slowly stood up, trying to make as little noise as possible, before backing up, holding her gun up to the door and aiming straight for where she thought one of the two men would be standing, her hands slightly shaking due to how much she feared about killing a man — she had always been around death, since she was a child, because of who her family were, but actually taking a life, was a completely different story. She had stood by whilst her family killed others, but she didn't want to take one herself, and that's what scared her the most.

Florence had received lessons on how to use a gun the second her father got back from the first War; the second things started to pick up with the Peaky Blinders, he took her car out, and gave her shooting lessons, knowing that the girl needed to know how to protect herself, and he would test her on her skills every now and then, making sure she still knew. Florence remembered this vividly, especially since her uncle, Finn, had been incredibly annoyed and upset at the time due to the fact that he didn't get to shoot guns, too — they all knew that the young Shelby girl would be the most likely to be in danger due to Tommy's enemies, however, so they never took much notice of the boys annoyance. Even till this day, Florence had a pretty good understanding on her way around a gun, and she knew how to shoot, she had just never needed to do so, since she had never been in a situation like this before, but as she faced the shut door, holding her gun up to where she believed one of the mens head would be, her streak of never taking a life about to end today..

Breathing in deep, and holding her breath, Florence raised the gun a little higher, before pulling the trigger, the gun shot echoing throughout her room and creating a small hole in the door where she had shot, body instantly falling to the ground behind it with a loud thud, followed by a loud voice. "Fuck!" The other Italian man yelled out, having watched his friend fall down to the ground with a gun shot wound in the centre of his forehead, the girl having shot right on target, remembering her lessons as her life depended on it. Before Florence even got the chance to move the gun slightly right to where the other man was standing, she heard another shot ring out, this time not hers, before she felt a huge stabbing pain in her side, the girl instantly crying out as she shot once more, before dropping to the floor with her hand pushed up against her left side, pulling her hand back and seeing her hand covered in fresh blood, the Italian man's bullet having hit her on her left hip. As her gun clattered to the floor, she heard the man behind to kick down her door, clearly angry that she had killed his friend, and in the moment, all she could think of was her father, wishing that he was here and hating how she had left the safety of his home..

Crying out in pain, Florence dragged herself towards her fallen gun, using the end of her bed to lean against as she weakly lifted up her gun to shoot the next man, watching as the door got closer to blowing off the hinges with each kick — she had witnessed her father getting shot before, but she had never experienced it herself, and she wishes that she will never have to go through it again, not with the excruciating pain in her left side, travelling into her stomach. Florence hated how much she wished her father was here, how much she truly depended on that man, and always had; she loved every single one of her uncles, but her father had always been the one she truly wanted by her side, even after everything that had happened throughout the years. Her left arm seemed to be giving way, the numbness travelling through her muscles as she slowly dropped it, shaking in pain as she kept the gun up high and whimpering as the pain was becoming too much to bare, her dress now soaked in blood as her eyes began to droop.

Florence jumped in shock, hearing one more gun shot ring out before complete silence was heard, the girl only able to hear her heavy and pained breathing as she tried to listen; it was when she heard even more footsteps after a thud was heard, did the girl begin to panic again, afraid that there was another Italian man out to kill her.. "Florence?" The girl heard, Florence instantly recognising it as Tommy's voice and sighing in relief, finally letting her gun clatter to the floor as she felt completely safe now that he was here in her apartment. The sound of the man's voice didn't sound like he usually did; it he sounded almost scared, scared that his daughter was hurt, or even worse, dead..

"Dad." Florence whimpered, trying to sound louder, but the pain in her stomach restricted her from doing so, the girl barely even being able to breathe without the pain completely taking over her system. A whimper escaped her lips again as she spoke up, her head falling back against the bed frame yet again as she tried to stay awake, hearing the man's voice from the other side as he began to worry if she was okay. Florence couldn't understand her fathers words as he started kicking the door down just like the Italian man had done before, only this time, the girl was pleading that he would get the door down, knowing that she needed the hospital, and fast.. The girls eyes rolled back into her head as Tommy was still shouting out her name, before finally, he managed to kick the door open, instantly seeing his daughter on the floor at the end of her bed, a gun next to her as her eyes were shut, blood beginning to pool around her body.

Tommy didn't know what to do when he saw his only daughter passed out on the floor with a pool of her own blood surrounding her — the second he saw the black hand on his Christmas card, he feared that something would happen to his family, but when he found out that an enemy was in his house, he knew that he had to check on Florence. It looked like he was too late, though, when he saw just how pale the whirl looked, his heart began to beat so fast that he was sure it was going to stop, his hands becoming clammy as he didn't know if Florence would make it or not. "Fuck." The man muttered, pushing his gun back into place before rushing up to the girl, moving her limp hand out of the way to assess the damage of her hip; when he saw that it was completely soaked in blood, the man unable to even see where she had been shot due to how much it was bleeding, "Florence, hey." He spoke up again, softly, tapping the side of her face and unknowingly spreading even more blood across her body.

When Florence weakly opened her eyes at the contact, she couldn't stop the relief showing on her face as she saw her father standing in front of her with the most worried look she had ever seen. She couldn't tell if she was imagining Tommy in front of her, due to how weak and tired she had become, but when he pressed onto her wound even harder than before to try and calm down the bleeding, she hissed out in pain, knowing that he was definitely here as she felt his hands. "It hurts." She whispered to her father, yet again wincing in pain as a few tears escaped her eyes, falling down her bloodied cheeks from where Tommy had grabbed her.

Tommy frowned as the girls vulnerability, knowing that she hardly ever showed it, just like himself — the way that she was confiding in him, showed him that his little girl was truly in pain and really did need his help. "I know, bear." He told her, his heart breaking when he wiped the girls tears away. The man also knew that he had to pick her up and get to hospital, as well as call an ambulance, so she was about to be even in more pain, "I'm gonna have to move you, bear. I'm sorry." The father tried to comfort the girl, his face turning into a look of pain when Florence cried out in agony, as Tommy picked the girl up bridal style — he apologised over and over again as she grabbed ahold of his coat, squeezing tight as she tried to keep her body still and unmoving. But the second the girls hold on his coat loosened, Tommy began to panic even more, now jogging out of her flat, ignoring all of the dead bodies as he ran down the stairwell, praying to God that his daughter stays alive..

——

Tommy couldn't breathe until the doctors had told him that his daughter was going to be okay, and that she would make a full recovery in no time, the bullet having not hit any major arteries; he didn't know what he would've done if he had lost his only daughter, he wouldn't have known how to go on without her. It all felt like it happened in such a short amount of time, rushing out of the building with Florence in his arms, having never felt a panic like it in his life, to sitting in the waiting room to find out what was going on with her, like everything had gone by in a blur. Ada had come in an instant, as had Finn, but the others.. They were elsewhere. An attack at John's house had occurred early in the morning on Christmas Day, hours after Florence's attack, but John didn't make it, and Michael was in critical condition — the whole Shelby family were in shambles, no one knowing how to take the news of the death and the injuries, and everyone was heartbroken. Not only was that all going down, but they had enemies on their tail, ones that they didn't have any idea about, and it terrified them all.

Ada never left Florence's bedside, holding the girls hand for all hours of the day as she waited for the girl to wake up; she had been incredibly lucky that the bullet had gone through, a clean hit, and had not left any serious damage, unlike John and Michael, Florence was like their miracle. After visiting John's body, Arthur and Tommy had spent a lot of time at Florence's side, not being able to do anything but watch as nurse after nurse came in to check on the girls wound, Florence still attached to a drip, the girl still not having awoken. 'It's normal', the nurses and doctors all told the Shelby's, whom were in a constant panic about the girls state. "You told me that she was round yours for Christmas." Ada finally spoke up, after hours of silence between herself and her two brothers, the men sitting on one side whilst Ada sat on the other.

Tommy looked down at his almost lifeless daughter, hating how pale she looked in the moment, and how vulnerable she seemed; even with the multiple blinders standing outside of the door, he still feared for her safety. "She was." He answered his sister, not looking up at her as he could just tell that she would have a certain look on her face, one that obviously disagreed with whatever he had to say, "But she left while I was gone.." The man carried on, as Ada lifted her head up quickly to glare at her older brother.

"What do you mean, 'while you were gone'?" Ada snapped, obviously not happy about the fact that he wasn't with the girl. She had spoken with her niece about Christmas, and about how much she wanted a Christmas with family just like they did every year before the business blew up and everyone moved away, and when she spoke with Tommy about spending the Christmas holiday with her, she expected him to actually stay with the girl and give her the holiday she had been wanting for years — although, it didn't surprise her that he didn't stick to his word, since the man never did when it came to his family.

"I had a meeting." Tommy answered, holding his straight face. Obviously, he felt guilty for leaving the house, even if it was for just a few hours, when he came back to find out that Florence had taken a driver and gone back home, he was incredibly angry, but he didn't exactly want to force the girl back over when she clearly didn't want to be there; it was only when he realised that his enemies were onto him, he didn't waste any time in going to get her in fear that something would happen to her if he didn't..

Ada scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief at her brothers words, "You had a meeting." She repeated, rolling her eyes at the man's words, not believing how he could be so casual about leaving his children on Christmas Eve. "You had one job, Tommy. One! Is that so bloody hard?" The woman began to go off on one, standing up and beginning to pace the room — she was loosing patience with the man, how he always put their family in danger, and never took the blame for anything he did.

Arthur was fed up of the fighting going on, since John was now dead, he just wanted some peace and quiet to wait for Florence to wake up; the man was about to speak up and tell his younger siblings off for being disrespectful, when they heard a groan from the bed, each sibling looking down at Florence and seeing that the girl had started to shift in her sleep, clearly having trouble trying to open up her eyes from being asleep for so long. The oldest brother didn't waste any time in crouching down to her level, hopefully looking at the girl to make sure that she was okay, "Hey, lil' bug." He whispered gently, using the nickname he used for her when she was a little girl, as it seemed like the right time to do so; since he hadn't called her that name in years.

Tommy stayed back as he watched his brother interact with his daughter, watching as Ada rushed up to the teenager, also, everyone forgetting about the argument that was about to break out now that Florence was awake.

But Tommy knew one thing, and that was that this wasn't over..