CHRISTMAS USED TO BE Florence Shelby's favourite holiday of the year, being her favourite day, and December being her favourite month out of them all — every Christmas, the Shelby's used to all gather around, all laughing and joining around at the table as they waited for dinner, opening presents under the tree and playing all types of games all day. But then Florence's mother died, and the men headed off to the War, and nothing was ever the same way again for any of them, not even twelve years later, when all of her family were spread apart in different locations of England, none of them coming together in celebration of the holiday, and Florence had never felt so lonely in her whole life. After finally being released from prison alongside Polly, Florence didn't think it would be appropriate to carry on living with the woman, not with the state that she was in; so she did what she never thought she would have to do in her life, she used his money, to buy herself a flat. She still lived near Small Heath, the girl unable to bring herself to move away from her home, not when her brother lived so close; even with the man she had grown to hate, she couldn't leave Charles with Tommy, not to suffer the same fate she had suffered when Greta died. Even with it being her flat, it felt like her fathers, because that's what had allowed her to live here, his money; no amount of decorations could replace the feeling, or even fill the emptiness inside of her.

So, as Florence sat on her floor, the day before Christmas Eve, wrapping up the presents she brought for Charles, she had half a bottle of wine she was sipping on, the girl drinking her sorrows away as she was going to be alone on Christmas Eve, the one day she never thought she'd be alone for. The girl fully intended to drink more than one bottle, knowing that she would have to face her father tomorrow for a few minutes as she had to give her presents to Charles and sit with him for a while so he wasn't completely alone on Christmas Day — Lizzie had been in contact with Florence a few times throughout the year about what her father had been up to, and finding out that he couldn't even bring himself to allow Charles to visit his cousins, hurt Florence greatly, realising that Charles was already suffering the wrath of their father.
It had been months since she had last seen either Tommy or Charles, and Florence felt awful for not visiting her little brother; but how could she face the man who was the reason she got locked up, and so close to death that she had started to re-evaluate her whole life, avoiding him was the only way she could truly cope, and she thinks that Tommy knew that, too, which is why he had tried his hardest to keep his distance from his distraught daughter.

The girl was currently drinking some more wine from the bottle, and when she heard a knock at the door — Florence rolled her eyes when she heard it, wondering if it was her neighbour, James, again trying to flirt with her again. She stood up, bringing the wine bottle with her as she chugged some more down and began to open up the door, seeing the exact boy she had guessed it would be, standing on the other side, with a small, nervous smile on his face. James wasn't bad looking, but Florence wasn't interested in anything right now, not when she was fighting the demons inside of her after being in jail and coming so close to hanging; no one deserved to be put through that, even annoying boys who won't take a hint. The boy was clearly older than her by a bit, since he rented out the flat next to hers; the only reason she had hers was because of her fathers money, so unless he had a rich family, he had a decent job to be able to afford to live here. "Hi, James." Florence said, trying not to hide her annoyance at the fact that he was at her door again. He wasn't bad looking, he was far from it, and older than her, but she wasn't interested in him, and she didn't think it would be fair to start something when she was still struggling to live her life without the nightmares plaguing her nights.

"Florence." James greeted, a huge smile on his face at the sight of the girl, and whilst Florence had always tried to be kind-hearted, considering who her family were and what they did, but the fact that this boy wouldn't take the hint and go away, was starting to get on her last nerve. "You didn't answer the door earlier, I gathered you were out.." He carried on, completely oblivious to how creepy he was currently being.

"I was out." Florence replied, not moving from her spot so James couldn't just walk into her flat, "Look, it's not a good time.." She began to tell him, only for James to peek around the girl and into her flat, seeing multiple presents and wrapping paper all over the floor where she had just been sitting with her wine.

"You're wrapping presents? I'm great at that, I could.." James suggested, when Florence saw a figure suddenly appear behind the young boy, someone that the girl definitely did not want to see today, of all of the days. She was having a hard time as it was, being with no family on Christmas Eve and Day, seeing his face had just brought down her mood massively — James didn't seem to notice Tommy at first, but the second he felt someone's presence behind him, he swung around with shock clear on his face. "Fuckin' hell." He muttered, instantly backing away from Tommy and instantly recognising the man next to him.

"She's not interested." Tommy said, not taking his eyes off of his daughter, the girl instantly crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at her fathers appearance and actions. She didn't know why he was here, and quite frankly, she didn't care; she just wanted him gone — even if she was going to stop by his place tomorrow, she was only going to talk to the sitter, not him, but here he was, ruining her plans.. The Shelby girl couldn't keep back the scoff as she watched James hurry away without another word or glance in her direction, acting like the complete wuss he was. Florence turned back to her father, whom still hadn't moved from his position by the door, and still keeping his eyes locked onto his daughter, not knowing how she could look a year older every single time he saw her, and shocked at how much she looked like her mother. Pushing the door shut, the girl felt her fathers foot stopping it from fully closing, still keeping his hands in his pockets as he carried on watching her, "It's Christmas Eve." Tommy stated, as if it was the most oblivious thing he could say.

Knowing that her dad was the most stubborn person known to man, Florence knew that there was no point in arguing with him about coming in, so she simply left him at the door and headed back to the living room where she was previously sat before, "And?" She asked, lowering herself back to the ground again, and picking her wine back up.

At first, Tommy stood at the door and watched, not entering the flat as of yet; he had been inside of the place before, very briefly, but she never actually wanted him here and he had barely gone in — but today was Christmas Eve, and it was usually a day she would be with him, and Charles. But here she was, alone and drinking by herself on the holiday season. He hated how distant he had been from his only daughter, and he hated that she now hated him because of what happened to her and the others in jail; the girl had changed drastically since being in jail, and he hated how he had taken so long to get his whole family out of that situation.. "So, Charles was expecting you." He stated, having never spent this holiday without her. The rest of his family, he had left alone, knowing that he had fully messed up there, but Florence was his little girl, and he knew that she couldn't stay mad at him forever.

Florence peeked up through her lashes as her father finally walked further into the room, shutting the door behind him and making the girl feel like she was trapped in here with him, feeling the noose tightly around her neck again, hating that the mere sight of hun brought her back to that moment — she wanted to forgive him, she really did, but she just didn't even know how to start. Tommy had been trying, but it wasn't enough for Florence to just forget about what he did and how he had treated her after Grace had died, and then tried to play it off by offering up his house. "What makes you think I'd want to spend the holiday with you?" The girl asked casually, taking another sip of wine and setting it down, before grabbing another one of Charles' toys and beginning to wrap it, "Besides, I was planning to drop off Charles' toys tomorrow and see him, then." She carried on, as Tommy stood still like a statue by the door. Florence couldn't believe that her father would think so lowly of her and that she would completely abandon her brother, especially on a holidays just because she practically hated him..

Tommy sighed, watching as she began wrapping again like he wasn't even in the same room as her, going back to ignoring him, and he didn't even blame her for doing so — he had ruined everything. "Lizzie doesn't think that Charles should be alone on Christmas." The man said, finally taking a seat on the arm chair besides the girl. He didn't pull out a cigarette, though, not knowing if Florence would get irritated by it, and he didn't want to annoy her any further than he already had.

Florence scoffed at his words, "Then why don't you take him to finally meet his cousins?" The girl asked him, having heard from Arthur that boy even Tommy himself had met his own nephew, more or less Charles. Florence had even been shot down all of the times she had offered to take her brother to meet Billy finally, which just annoyed the girl to no end; just because Tommy didn't want to see his own brothers, it didn't mean that Charles should have to suffer, too. When Tommy didn't say anything back, instead, sitting in complete silence, the girl laughed softly, "Of course you won't. You imply me as selfish, but have you looked in the mirror lately? I don't think even you like who's looking back at you." She carried on, just throwing an insult at him — she didn't see this man often, but whenever she did, she made sure to let him know how she felt about him, still. "I'm swinging by tomorrow, if you don't like it.. Well, I don't really care." Florence told the man, as he still stayed quiet at her words.

Tommy didn't come here just to take no for an answer, he wanted to try to get back into his daughters life, and Christmas was a good way to start; and he knew that Charles needed his sister back, especially since he no longer had a mother; Florence, of all people, should understand how that feels. "He said 'Flore'." He told his daughter, the two of them knowing that Charles didn't know of many words, but a part of his sisters name was now something he knew how to say. Florence looked up at her father at his words, the guilt instantly gnawing at her insides at the fact that Charles had been thinking about her, and she hadn't thought to visit him as much as she should have. "I'm not asking for me. The boy needs his big sister." He partially lied, knowing himself that he wanted Florence home for Christmas, if not, more.

When she looked up at Tommy, the girl instantly knew that Charles needed her for the Christmas holiday, the boy was clearly upset and lonely without his mother, and Florence knew exactly how that felt, and she didn't want the poor boy to go through something like that, too. She knew that the man wasn't even going to leave her flats too, knowing that he had come to get her to his house for Christmas, and he wasn't going to leave without her saying yes.. She sighed, "Fine, I'll come for Charles, not you." Florence corrected, as Tommy merely nodded gratefully.

"I'll get one of the maids to finish that for you.." Tommy began, until Florence interrupted him.

Florence instantly shook her head at his words, "No, if I'm having to spend Christmas with you, we're going to do it properly." The girl said, motioning down to the presents on the floor in front of her, "Come and help me." She said, knowing that her father would rather do anything else right now — Florence remembered from when she was younger, the sight of his awful present wrapping, and it's what had made Christmas better for her as a whole. A lot of the time, Polly or her mother used to wrap her presents, but when her father had wrapped them, she knew.. When the man didn't move, Florence looked up to see him raising an eyebrow at her, "I'm serous, come on." She added, motioning for him to come over, "The best part of my Christmas used to be finding your presents, guessing which one was yours by your signature wrapping." The girl finished, a small, genuine smile reaching her face at the nice memory; Florence hadn't smiled properly since Grace's death, and she didn't think she would be able to, not for a while, at least — remembering whom was in this room, though, she instantly dropped her face.

The man knew that this may be the only way to get his daughter back, no matter how much he didn't want to do what she was asking; but he remembered wrapping her presents when she was younger, having trouble doing so and absolutely hating it each time, but seeing the smile on the little girls face had always been worth it in the end. And it made him realise that he had been neglecting his son hugely compared to how he brought up his own daughter, and he instantly felt like shit due to it; the girl always managed to open his eyes to the things he couldn't see. But that didn't help his case, as the girl was one of the people who he couldn't control, along with Ada — he had always had trouble making sure the two girls stayed out of trouble, Ada ended up living in London, and now, his daughter had her own apartment just outside of Small Heath, close to home, but not exact home. The place held a lot of pain for each of the Shelby's, some more than others, but Small Heath would always hold a place in each of their hearts, and could never let it go, Tommy included. But right now, his family was scattered, and Florence was one of the farthest away, breaking his heart.
But as the two sat on her living room floor, he realised that things needed to change, and fast.

——

Florence didn't think that she would ever agree to whatever her father wanted after how he had treated her over the past year, and when Tommy had requested to have the girl round for Christmas, she fully intended to refuse his offer and move on, but then the man had mentioned her brother, she couldn't exactly turn down his request. So, after watching her father finish wrapping Charles' presents, the girl packed a small bag of clothes worth of three days and followed behind her dad, locking the door behind him and climbing into his new car. The car journey had been awkwardly silent, Tommy not exactly knowing what to say now that his daughter was actually coming back home with him for the holiday, and the girl not having anything to say to the man, either. The two of them were completely different than what they used to be, any relationship they once had being completely destroyed, needing a tonne of work to get back to how they used to be, If they ever could go back to normal, the only way Florence would actually tolerate her father from now on, is if he finally realised why he was in the wrong and what he could do to fix it, instead of offering the girl money.
It didn't take them that long to reach Tommy's house, and the second they finally reached the mansion, the girl sighed, hating this house due to it being where so many things had gone wrong; where she had been arrested.. She hated that this house no longer gave her the comfort of a home, and she blamed her father for it all..

"Charlie will be in his room." Tommy said, the second Florence climbed out of the car and began to walk away — she didn't stop, and he didn't expect her, too, either, knowing that the girl was here for her brother, and not him. He didn't mind, though, since she was here, and not completely alone over Christmas.

Florence had been told that her father was having guests for dinner tomorrow evening, but she didn't care, she would stay upstairs with Charles, even it Tommy had asked her to join in. The maids were all lovely women, but Florence just couldn't get used ti having them around and doing everything for her, and she never could even when she used to live here, and yet, she didn't want to get used to it. So, when a maid called Frances had asked if Florence needed anything, or any help, she instantly refused her help, not wanting to accept anything whilst she was staying here — she stayed humble throughout the years of het fathers constant success, she never enjoyed living in a big house, or having any maids of chefs at her call; it never satisfied her like him, and she knew that her mother would never have agreed with the lifestyle. Being the early afternoon, Florence hated the fact that she had another two whole days of staying in this hell hole, and she had a plan to completely avoid him the whole time she would be here, wether he liked it, or not.

Heading up to Charles' room, Florence had a bright smile on her face at the sight of the little boy sitting on the floor, playing with some toys and enjoying his own company. "Charlie." Florence spoke up softly, not wanting ti startle the boy by making him jump. But, when when the boy first heard his sisters voice, he couldn't have been more happy.

"Flore!" Charlie screeched, instantly flying up and running towards his sister, flinging himself into her arms and holding her right, not wanting to let go. He had been missing his sister like mad, and seeing her here, was already making his Christmas ten times better.

And as Florence held her little brother, all of the troubled thoughts in her mind, vanished, and the girl began to wonder, if maybe this stay wouldn't be so bad, after all..