"Arthur, fucking get up!"

Sullivan rushed down the stairs as she buttoned up her dress collar. When her feet touched the wooden floor of the living room, her eyes fell on the table, where their glasses were still resting. She sighed and walked to the front door, unlocking and opening it quickly to reveal Thomas standing in front of her.

"Arthur, your brothers are here!" she screamed while Tommy laughed, pushing one of her blonde curls behind her ear. "Hello, Tom," she whispered as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

"Hello, Sully," he replied as the blonde lifted when she heard Arthur's footsteps upstairs.

"Finally," she sighed, turning on her heels, so she'd faced the staircase. "You look like a dead body, Arthur," she commented when the man passed next to her, cursing under his breath. "I don't even know how you're doing with him being your brother," she commented, staring at the tall man's back.

"I'll be there in a minute," Tommy indicated. Sully turned around once more, only to be caught by the man's large hands, her body pulled into his embrace.

"What's that for?" she whispered in his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist.

"We never know," he answered as she strengthed her grip on his back. "You sure you're not coming?"

"No, Tom," she replied with a light giggle, lifting her gaze to meet his. "I have to work, and honestly if I'm not running your business, who will?" Tom chuckled as he released her, her tiny body moving backward to grab her coat.

"Don't do anything stupid today, alright?" she asked as she put the clothing on, jumping in her shoes. "Don't forget it's London we're talking about."

"Are you sure you're not the true businesswoman here?" he joked. "I'll be careful." Sully nodded, grabbing her keys on the hook by the door.

"Don't mess with the wrong people," she added, then turned to look at him. "And come back alive." Tommy nodded, leaning forward to kiss her, and then he was gone. She blinked before waving to the moving car in front of her home, and then she went to the betting shop, locking her front door behind her.

The walk wasn't long, considering how close her house was from the shop, but however, it bored her when she walked in, her eyes scanning the place. Sully was sighing again when she heard a noise from a close room. It looked like a whimper, and it clearly wasn't something she was used to hearing around here.

Pushing the door open, she revealed Polly's tiny body, laying on the wooden table in front of here, where two empty bottles of whiskey and a lonely glass were resting.

"Fucking hell, Pol," Sully exclaimed as she rushed towards the table, checking on Polly, only to verify if she was still alive. "What happened to you, mate?"

Polly's bloodshot eyes lifted to meet her, her messy hair falling on her forehead. "The fuck do you want?"

"I'm working here now," Sully exclaimed as she watched her friend's head nodding slightly. "Polly, what did you do?"

Polly scoffed, her hands placing themselves on her eyes. "I drank," she only responded, closing her darkened eyes again.

"You definitely shouldn't work in that state," Sullivan affirmed, her cold hands resting on Polly's hot forehead. "I'll run a bath for you, Finn will handle the shop very well until you'll feel better."

"You have to work if we don't want to have a mad Thomas behind our backs," Polly stated. "I have too by the way," she then added, standing up slowly, her arms being held by a very careful Sullivan.

"I'll give him my puppy eyes and we'll be fine," the girl affirmed, wrapping one of her arm around Polly's waist. The woman grumbled but made it easy, not bothering to try to escape the blonde's grip. Sully pushed open the door which led to Polly's living room, gently leading the older woman to the bathroom.

"Alright, let me get some hot water with Finn," she spoke, caressing Polly's hair nicely. When she had ran down the stairs, she found Finn sat on the table, looking in front of him as if lost in his thoughts. "Hey son, will you help me get some hot water for Polly? She's kind of sick," she demanded quietly, kissing the boy's temple.

"Yeah," he only answered, doing what the blonde had previously asked him. While he was filling their tub with hot water for Pol, she prepared her a hot tea, not wanting the woman to sober up without something comforting. Once it was all done, she thanked Finn and rushed towards the bathroom.

"Can I come in?" she politely asked as she knocked lightly against the wooden floor. Polly agreed, and as Sullivan pushed open the door, she saw the dark-haired woman in the hot water, her arms hanging on the edges of what they could call their bathtub.

"There you go," the blonde spoke as she gave the tea to Pol.

"There's whiskey in it!" the brunette exclaimed as she gave back the cup to a giggling Sullivan, swallowing a gulp of hot tea. The blonde only put it on the ground.

"Beat evil by doing evil, don't you?" she explained with a wink. Polly laughed, a weak sound which made Sully pause for a moment. "What happened, Polly?"

"I told you, about my daughter," the woman sighed, running her hand through her hair. "I just wanted to forget everything."

"I won't let you do this in front of me," Sullivan stated firmly, standing up from her spot. "But what I don't know can't kill me, right?" The blonde winked, leaving the bathroom and giving Polly some privacy. As she walked into the living room again, Finn caught her forearm, looking down at her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I want you to help me getting into business," he responded, sighing slightly at the end of his sentence. "Tommy won't let me go with them," he clarified.

"I can't take any decision concerning his business, you know," she admitted sadly, escaping his grip on her arm to cross them on her chest."Darling, I know you want to be a real part of this, but I can't do anything since I'm not running it."

"Yeah, but you're playing a part in his business," he disagreed, moving his hands in a pleading manner. "Maybe you could take advantage of the part you're having in his heart and put a word for me," he added, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"Okay, first of all, that's gross, and you shouldn't be speaking to me like that, for God's sake," she cursed, her hands raised in front of her in exasperation. "And maybe you could just ask them, you know, and we'll figure something out? Instead of being such an idiot," she affirmed, pushing his chest playfully. Finn sighed, shooking his head as he walked away.

Damn it, he was growing up so fast.

The day went on, people coming in and out of the shop noisily. Polly appeared a few hours after Sullivan and Finn had made her a bath, and she seemed to be better. At least now, her hair was brushed. And she didn't smell alcohol anymore either.

When they closed the shop together, Polly was surprised that Sullivan was willing to stay a little longer. Until the blonde pushed open Thomas's office doors, smiling brightly to the brunette behind her. "It's time to have fun," she announced while Polly scoffed. She was about to close the doors when Sullivan cut her off, "leave that open."

"What are we exactly doing here?" the brunette asked, sitting on a chair while Sullivan caressed some papers on her boyfriend's office, light eyes brightening.

"I told you, we're having fun," the blonde repeating, collapsing with the seat behind Tommy's office. "I like this place."

"What place?" Polly asked, raising an eyebrow with a scoff. "The shop or your man's place?"

"Actually, I like the shop, even if I'm still dying for the Garrison's reopening," Sullivan explained with a sigh, pushing some papers to the side of the desk. "I was speaking of this office. Makes me feel proud."

"Proud?" the woman asked while standing up to walk towards one of the seat in front of her friend.

"It's time for tales, Polly," Sullivan whispered, biting her lower lip.

"Then, we'll have whiskey around that." Polly stood up, bringing the said alcohol into the office alongside two glasses. Once she had poured the amber liquid into the two glasses, she raised her glass towards the blonde, smiling slightly. "Go on," she ordered, sipping her whiskey.

Sullivan cleared her throat, swallowing a gulp of whiskey before she was putting the glass on the polished wooden desk, crossing her hands on it. "I don't know what it's like to lose someone important, Pol," she began, and Polly's eyes suddenly got all watery. "And I'm sure this girl was a beautiful and wonderful person, even if I didn't have the pleasure to know her."

"Me neither," Polly spoke quietly, her voice breaking. Sullivan raised a curious eyebrow, not wanting to ask because she respected Polly's privacy, but she was also dying for details. "You won't tell anyone, right? Not even Thomas. Keep it secret if you want to hear more."

"I will," she promised. "I have been keeping secrets since I'm like, four, so don't worry about that."

Polly sighed, her dark eyes raising to the ceiling until she closed them like it would make it easier. "I have two kids, I told you," she began, stammering as she looked down at her interlaced hands, "but they took them away when they were around 5. Since I never heard of them, ever. Micheal and Anna, both gone." She stopped for a second, breathing deeply.

"I've been dreaming of her lately," she spoke again, sniffling a little. "A lot, and I didn't know why I was that much. I went to a medium, the night you found me in here, crying myself out. Shit, she's dead alone, somewhere in Australia," the woman sobbed, lifting her eyes towards her friend.

"Polly, it's not your fault," Sullivan assured.

Polly grunted, wiping away the tears that were rolling down her face. "Of course it is, I should've done better with them, she wouldn't have died if she was here with us, in our family," she said, speaking faster and faster as she went further. Sullivan interrupted her, grabbing the woman's hand on the table, holding it tightly.

"I'm telling you, Pol," her calm voice spoke, trying to make itself reassuring. "Parents are making bad choices sometimes. It's not just you, it's every parents. Maybe her forsters ones did bad choices towards her. You are their mother, but it was out of your control. You don't know what happened to your daughter, and maybe this medium slut told you a lie!"

Polly shook her head, sniffling as she wiped a tear from her eyes. "Thing is, I should've been there for them. Sure, social workers or whatever made a mistake when they decided not to tell me where they sent my children, but if I'd been a better mother, no one would've been sent away."

"I told you," Sully repeated, "you made a mistake. Err is human, bud, it wasn't in your hands. Sure you could've done better when they were here, but you can't blame yourself for something that wasn't even in your hands. I told you, there are worse parents who knew what was happening to their children and didn't try anything. If you knew what was going on, whatever was going on, you would've done something. Polly, you're a good mother."

"I don't know, I certainly would've tried something if I was aware," Polly affirmed, holding the blonde's hand tightly. "But now she's bloody dead, and I can't do anything about it. I'm certainly not the worst parent, but I still think I should've done better."

"You did everything you had to," she assured. "They shouldn't have kept you in the dark about where they had put your kids, that sucks and I'm pretty sure it's illegal. I know you would've done something if you had known where your kids had been taken. Polly, this is not the way it should've happened. You're a good mother, you cared, and all these years you never forgot them."

"How could a parent forget about their child?" Polly asked, raising her arms in the air.

"Mine did," Sullivan affirmed, pursing her lips. "Listen, Pol, I didn't know what it was like to have a real family until I met you all. Now, I don't know many things about grief, but I surely would die if I had to lose one of you Shelbys. This, all of this, is more than I ever had in America. I'm so proud of what I have here."

"What happened to you?" Polly muttered, squeezing the blonde's hand in hers.

"That doesn't matter," Sullivan replied, the hand that wasn't in Polly's grabbing the almost empty glass of whiskey by her side, "all that matters right now, is you. Polly, you're dealing with hard stuff, and I understand it perfectly. But if you'll have to drown your sadness in alcohol for the next few days or weeks, I'll do it with you. You're my family now, I won't let you hurt yourself alone."

"You don't even know her," Polly affirmed, however, a smile was blossoming on her face.

"And you didn't know me when you welcomed me in this family, for that matter," the blonde responded, smiling back to the brunette. "Polly, I love you, and I care about you. You're not alone, in anything. You're allowed to show weakness sometimes, I won't judge you. Plus, you're giving me a reason to drink here," Sullivan added, letting go of Pol's hand to raise her drink in the air, standing up as if she was about to make a toast.

"I don't know if I love you or if I hate you for this," Polly spoke, giggling as she stood up along her friend.

"Let's just say we're drinking buddies," Sullivan proposed, shrugging.

Polly nodded in agreement, raising her glass for her daughter, thinking that maybe she had found something else in the blonde girl in front of her. A real friend, to begin with.

-----

okay, so I changed the timeline a little to give the girls this moment, but don't worry, London shit is coming
also, thank you for the 15k guys! I'm so glad you're reading my story! Thank you again!
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