SINCE THE MOMENT FLORENCE Shelby was born, she had been a challenge for Thomas, the girl never did what the man told her to, at least, not without an attitude she got from her mother, and a bit from him. But either way, when the man told her to do something, she will always find a way to go against his wishes, to undermine him, and to annoy him in every single possible way - but even doing so, he loved the girl unconditionally, she was his world, along with his son, Charlie, but god, did he hate them at times. Florence has always been difficult with Tommy, since the moment she was born, to the moment he left the war, snd when he came back, up until this moment in time. He wished that she would be more like him, instead of her mother, but then he would be asking too much.. Either way, the only thing he could think of on his journey to meting Abarama and his son, was wether or not Florence had actually listened to his request at going home, but as he thought about it, he knew that she had probably gone against his word yet again.

Florence was like Ada in a lot of ways, but that didn't exactly surprise him, either, since that woman had been obsessed with babies since the moment Finn and Florence were born - he knew that during the war, the girl and Polly took his daughter in and treated her like their own child, and he knew he could never repay them for that, but he would always be entirely grateful to the both of them. He wasn't there when his little girl was growing up, and redid regret it, since she was now of age and there was no getting her childhood back, but he was a different person back then, he felt like he was a child when he had her, and in some ways, he was. He had lost the love of his life and left with a baby that he had no idea how to take care of, his whole life had turned upside down, and he didn't know what to do with it all - leaving Florence to go to war was the best decision he could have made for her, and now he had to suffer the consequences of doing so.

In other words, no matter what he did or said, Florence was his whole life, and he would do anything to keep her safe.

Needless to say, the last thing the man expected was for Bonnie Gold to develop something for his daughter after having set eyes on her for under a minute. But Bonnie Gold admired Florence Shelby - not because of her name, or her looks (even though she was gorgeous), but because of how she held herself, how she didn't like being told what to do, and how she would stick up for herself if needs be. He saw how she stood up to Thomas, and he admired that, even if he was the girls father, he knew that she didn't take too kindly to being told what to do. Either way, the fact that he was walking up to Thomas Shelby with the knowledge that his daughter had shown him interest, made him feel superior, and he couldn't help but feel smug as he walked alongside his father to try and buy this large yard from the Shelby family.

"I like your yard, Mr. Strong. How much would you take for it?" Aberama spoke up, shocking the man who claimed that it was not for sale. But that's not how they did things in their gang, if they liked something, they could buy it or take it, its as simple as that. "Not for sale? Okay." He said, with a smirk on his face as he began to walk onwards again, his son following closely behind him. It wasn't until they finally saw Thomas Shelby with his brother Arthur, did he speak up again, "I like this place, fire for melting silver, canal to get it away, how much?" He asked, completely ignoring everything Mr. Strong had said to him.

Tommy didn't like his attitude, he didn't like the fact that he felt like he could waltz in here and pretend like he owns the place, because Small Heath was his, and his only. "Nothing you see here is for sale, Mr. Gold." He simply said, not bothering to elaborate since the man would be stupid to go up against him in his own home.

"Oh, everything's for sale, everything." Aberama said, pouring out the last of his drink on the ground as Bonnie took a good look at Thomas and his brother. He could see Tommy in Florence, mostly her eyes and her nose, but everything else about her must be from her mothers side, because there is no way Thomas could have created something so beautiful on his own. "You tell Mr. Strong I'm going to buy his yard." Aberama said, not taking no for an answer, pushing Thomas's buttons.

"This yard has been in his family since they settled." Tommy said, trying not to loose his cool. This was where his daughter spent most of her time whilst he was out at war, with Finn, playing in the mud with the horses, there was no way he would be selling it.

"But I've decided to make it part of our deal." Aberama said, as he could see the gears turning in Thomas's head as he thought of a solution to their little problem.

Tommy called Charlie over, not taking his eyes off of Aberama as he had a plan set in action already that would shock the Gold man into submission. "I'm gonna spin a coin for your yard, Charlie. If it's heads, Abbie here takes all of this with my blessing. And if it's tails, I fuck your daughter, Mr. Gold." He said, knowing that the one place you can hit a man where it hurts, is to talk about their daughter.. "You have three daughters I hear, and Esmeralda is the oldest and also the prettiest, so I'll have her. So make her part of the deal and spin against the yard. Here, you toss the coin, Mr. Gold." He said, throwing the coin over to Aberama as he caught it with a smile on his face, not believing that Thomas was being serious, not when he had a daughter of his own.

"Well, perhaps we could add a little something else into this deal, no?" Aberama insisted, still having not flipped the coin after Thomas told him that the coin flip is sacred to them. Tommy tilted his head at the mans words, not knowing what he could possibly want to add to this deal, "Perhaps, your daughter, Mr. Shelby? She's a fine looking young lady, and just turned eighteen. What a delight." Aberama threatened the man, knowing that two could play at that game, and he had an idea that it would affect the Shelby man a lot more than it affected him.. But Thomas didn't find any humour in Aberama's suggestion despite the smile on the mans face, he never joked around when it came to his daughter, and everyone who had a brain, knew that. Aberama could see that he had pushed a button, and it just made his smirk grow even more, "Better yet, why not bring my son into the deal? Heads, Bonnie here gets to fuck your daughter, how does that sound?" He asked, as Bonnie didn't exactly want to bring Florence into this - he actually wanted a chance with this girl, he didn't want her to find out that he had a bet with her father at who gets to fuck who.

Tommy didn't answer at first, he knew that it was crossing a line to bring up Aberama's daughters, but to bring up his.. That was a different story. Florence had been threatened more times than he could count when it came to making deals with his enemies or going to war with them, especially with Inspector Campbell, who loved to use his daughter as a pawn to get what he wanted. It was why Tommy wanted the girl far away from the war, and far away from anyone that could put her in harms way, which now, he realised Aberama and Bonnie could be in that category. "If I hear her name come out of your mouth again, you won't have a tongue to say anything again." Tommy said casually, like he was just asking him how his day was doing.

At his words, Aberama new for a fact that he had something against this man, and if he ever needed to get the upper hand, he knew where to hit him. "No wager today. But with this penny I will buy a flower to put on your grave. When the time comes." He said, changing his mood in an instant with a smile on his face, knowing that he had picked the wrong fight.

"And before that time.. Please don't again disrespect my friends or their valued property.. We missed Christmas, let's have it now." Tommy said, not again mentioning what had just happened with the coin flip, as he knew that if his daughters name was spoken again, he would loose it.

But, what he didn't know, was that a certain blonde was joining the Christmas dinner with the Shelby's, with her aunts arm linked through hers, a smirk on her face in knowing that she would be pissing off her father, and a pride in her walk, still dressed in black from the funeral, and a brand new coat that Ada had given her to cover the mud on the bottom of her dress from where she had dove down to the ground after the gun shot. Florence had thought about going home, she really had, but then she thought to herself, was Tommy her boss, or her father? She shouldn't have to do everything he tells her to do, especially not now that she was older, so, when she told Ada that she was coming along to the Christmas meal with a look on her face that said she wasn't taking no for an answer, the woman couldn't exactly decline.

Bonnie's eyes locked onto Florence the second she walked into his sight, the boy still mesmerised by her mere presence, the feeling coming back again that he just couldn't shake off. Everyone's voices around him became muffled as he watched Florence walk over arm in arm with Ada Shelby, looking a lot more pleased than she was at the funeral; the look on her face made him smirk, and he just couldn't look away. "Someone's got an admirer." Ada told her niece, noticing that the boy she saw earlier was looking at her, and he couldn't bring his eyes away from her.

Florence hadn't noticed Bonnie just yet, she was too interested in seeing her fathers face when he realised that she wasn't following his every word anymore; she could see the contemplation on his face at wether or not to go over to her, and in the end he had decided to follow after Polly, needing to talk to get about getting her back. But seeing the look on his face when she didn't listen to his order, was something Florence wanted to see more often..

Looking over at Bonnie, Florence instantly saw that he was looking at her, and she felt flutters in her stomach at the sight, the same feeling she got at the funeral. Everything about her father had gone out of the window the second she saw Bonnie sitting there with a smirk on his face directed at her, she no longer cared that Tommy was trying to boss her around constantly, and all she cared about, was the boy across from her. "He's Mr. Gold's son, right?" She asked her aunt, as she was guided to the table to a seat next to her aunt.

"Yes. Which means that your father would not approve." Ada informed her, as Florence accepted a glass whiskey from the Peaky Blinder boy besides her, knowing that this would annoy her dad even more than her just being here. No matter who's son Bonnie is, it didn't exactly matter to Florence, not when her father was Thomas Shelby - sure, Aberama may be a thief and an all out dick, her father was no better, and if she had a penny for every time someone had judged her because of who her father was, she would be richer than him by a mile.

"All the reason to go for it, Ada." Florence told Ada, as the woman felt like she was looking at a younger version of herself; all she wanted to do when she was younger, was go against Tommy, to annoy him at every chance she got, and Florence is doing the same thing now, although it wasn't exactly the best time to be doing so, not when they had the Italians on their tale, and with John already gone. They couldn't risk loosing another family member. "He's cute." Florence added, accepting her dinner plate and Ada's and placing them in front of them.

"Florence." Ada sighed, causing the girl to roll her eyes and look up in annoyance, "I'm all for this side of you, for finally standing up to your dad, but this is the wrong time to do it." She spoke in a hushed tone so no one else at the table could hear what she was saying. She glanced over at Tommy talking with Polly across the yard, and she saw that he kept glancing back at her and Florence, obviously keeping an eye on her to make sure that she didn't get into trouble and that she wouldn't get hurt. It seemed to be all Tommy was doing lately, was watching Florence, since she had been to jail, he had been looking out for her from a distance, knowing that she didn't exactly want him in her life anymore - he could deal with that, but what he couldn't deal with, was the girl getting hurt because of her stubbornness and her hatred for him.

"When's the right time then, Ada?" Florence asked, knowing that Ada was just being Tommy's little messenger right now, as before everything happened, she was all for getting under her fathers skin, now it seemed to be the other way around.

Taking a sip of her drink, Ada sighed yet again at her nieces words, "When the vendetta is over, and we haven't got to look over our shoulders at every single turning." Ada explained, as Florence raised a brow at her, knowing that it sounded like what they had to do every single day, even before the vendetta started.

"And who's the reason behind the vendetta?" Florence asked her aunt, fully turning to face her as Tommy kept an eye on them, trying to read their lips, but having difficulty with Polly talking his ear off.

"Florence.." Ada began to say, only for the girl to interrupt her.

"Are you not tired of this?" Florence whispered, glancing over at Tommy who had looked over at the exact same time, the two exchanging blank stares before looking away. "This life? Don't you want something different for Karl?" She asked, knowing for a fact that she hated living life having to look behind her shoulder every second of every day in fear that one of her fathers enemies would catch up with her. It was no way to live.

"Of course I do." Ada said, wanting nothing more than for her son to have a good life.

"Then what's stopping you?" Florence asked, knowing what the answer is - Tommy is stopping them all from moving on with their lives, they're all stuck in the same cycle, and it was all his fault.

At her words, Ada looked away from the girl, knowing just how right she was - Small Heath was full of memories that she didn't want to remember, things that she didn't want to live with. Ada didn't know when her niece had gotten so grown up, she remembers the small girl running around Small Heath without any shoes on, Finn by her side as the two of them would be constantly causing mischief, creating hell for everyone living in Birmingham. And then Tommy came back from the war with her other brothers, and the little girl changed; over time, she had begun to forget that she even had a dad, even though everyone used to tell her that he would be back in no time, she believed it to be false, until he actually did return, and her whole life was turned upside down. She didn't know how to handle the emotions that came with having a father, and neither did Tommy; he didn't know what he was doing with such a small child, and Florence didn't know what to do with such a damaged man.

When Bonnie stood up alongside his dad, Florence didn't have any shame in watching him go, yet again, admiring his confidence as he walked - the boy could sense this, looking back slightly at the girl as he sent her a wink like he had earlier on in the day, and at the sight, Florence's cheeks began to shine a peachy colour, a small smile reaching her face. And then Bonnie turned back around, and carried on walking away with his father, both of them disappointed that they didn't get to speak to each other yet, but at the same time, Bonnie wanted to have the girl dreaming of him.

Lifting up her whiskey to her lips, she hadn't noticed her father's presence besides her until he took a seat next to her and took the glass out of her hand to drink himself. "I thought I told you to go home." Tommy said lowly, glancing around the large table at everyone smiling and having fun, whilst he was sat here worrying about wether or not his daughter is going to disobey him again and get herself killed.

"My home has been sold." Florence replied casually, as Ada turned around to give them some privacy.

When Tommy felt someone tap his shoulder, he glanced up and saw the Blinder boy that had gone to get some experience wine for Florence, since, deep down, he knew that she would have shown up today, and he knew that she wasn't great with whiskey.. He sent a grateful nod at the young Blinder and set the wine down in front of his daughter, who glanced down at it but didn't make a move to pick it up. "Small Heath isn't your home? I thought you preferred it here than at Arrow House?" He asked, knowing that Florence hated it there even more than she hated it in Small Heath.

"Small Heath hasn't been my home for a long time, and you know that." Florence admitted, finally grabbing the bottle of wine and yanking the top off, taking a small sip and raising a brow in surprise at how good the wine was.

"Small Heath will always be your home." Tommy said, knowing that it was the same for each of his family members. It broke his heart to think that his daughter didn't feel at home here, yet he didn't know how to fix that..

Florence replied by taking another sip of the wine he got her, and the rest of the meal was spent like that. In complete silence between the two, just like it always was.