Curly was nice.

He had always been with her, or with people in general. Since she had first met him, it had never mattered if he had a simple mind. His huge heart couldn't attract any annoyance or hatred.

She had asked Curly to come find her if he need anything before retreating back to where Tommy was stationed. He spent a long part of his first night shaking while she sat beside him, holding his hand tightly, her eyes ghosting his pained features. It was hard, and instead of thinking about how hard it should be when you were actually living the pain, she made everything she could to make it better.

Humming sometimes, she wiped away the sweat from his forehead with the cloth Curly had brought her, sometimes allowing herself to sigh softly. When he finally fell asleep, she ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair, wishing he would get better soon.

When he woke up again, she was sitting on a march between the boat bridge and the downstairs, speaking with Curly, who was proudly directing the boat. She was laughing, reading a book open on her laps, not courageous enough to open her brother's letter yet. She heard Tommy take a shaky breath from his bed, which made her lift quickly, instantly noticing that he was awake.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty," she joked, leaving her book on the march, rushing to Tommy's side.

"I hope you didn't yell at Curly," he spoke, his voice hoarse. Sullivan laughed, sitting on the chair by his side. "Will you tell me about your bloody business or what?" he then asked, which made her smile a little.

"Later maybe," she responded. "When you'll be able to sit," she promised, brushing her fingers on his still hot cheek. He slept all day under her careful gaze, and the next morning she found him sitting awkwardly on his bed, looking at her.

"Gosh, if I knew you would be so quick to go back to life I would've promised to speak about my business sooner," she laughed, sitting next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he admitted genuinely, looking to her face. "What about you?"

"Tired I guess," she replied with a smile.

"Always telling me to rest," he scoffed. "Maybe you should take your own advice, for fuck's sake."

Sullivan smiled, scanning his healing features. The large bruises were starting fade, leaving some blue or yellow marks here and there. Most of the cuts had already healed, leaving pinkish marks on his cheeks and on his upper lip. He was healing, and maybe he wasn't completely fine, but he was way better.

"Okay," she spoke softly, leaning down, resting her temple on his lap. "I'll tell you, okay?" Tommy nodded, adjusting himself against the boat wall. "Do you remember when I told you about the cigarettes we found with Grace?"

"In the Garrison?" a confused Thomas asked, "yeah."

Sullivan inhaled deeply, trying not to get too overwhelmed by the sensation that he would be mad at her in two minutes. "Campbell came," she announced, ripping off the Band-Aid seemed like the best idea at the moment. "Told me he knew about me," she completed, her eyes lifting as she tried to see Tommy's face.

"What do you mean, he knew?" he finally demanded, his fingers playing with a curl of blonde hair.

"He said he had access to secret files," Sullivan whispered, not daring to speak any louder. "Told me I should've changed my name when I moved here. Also, he said that Parkinson's death was strange," she added, straightening to see his face as she spoke. "I'm pretty sure he knows about what happened, or at least he guessed it."

"I'm gonna kill him," he promised, kissing her temple softly.

"This is not the end of the story, and I don't want you to kill him either," she disagreed, facing him. "When he had left, I wrote a letter. To my brother," she admitted. He didn't move, watching her carefully. She felt tears burning her eyes, and she bit her lower lip. "I shared what had just happened, and I told him to write me back if he was planning to come to England, maybe London. I gave him the shop address," she explained. "And I guess this is his answer, which I hadn't opened yet because I'm terrified, honestly."

Tommy looked down at her hands, which were fiddling with one another. He took a deep breath, moving his arm around her shoulders and bringing her close to him. "You should've told me," he affirmed, and the blonde only nodded.

"I know," she responded after a second, sniffling a little. "I just wanted to handle this by myself, not being a liability or something. But now," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I just want to forget that I ever did this, I don't know what to expect, fuck I can't even open this letter!"

Thomas held her tighter, kissing the top of her head again. "It's alright," he assured. "Let's do this together, alright? Take that letter and read it to me."

Sullivan escaped his embrace, walking towards the book she had left in the stairs. The boat moved a little under her, and she cleared her throat nervously when she get back to Tommy's side, opening the book to find the letter inside of it. She looked at it, letting the book next to her. Sully glanced up to Tommy's and his soft smile, encouraging her silently to get through this.

Sully tore open the envelope, taking the paper that was resting inside carefully, as if it would be destroyed by her touch. She cleared her throat once again, her eyes reading the words, which consisted in an address, and her brother's signature. "The fuck is that?" she exclaimed, lifting to Tommy with a frown.

"I guess it's where he's staying at," he answered with a soft laugh. The blonde looked down, reading the words over and over again to save them in her head. "I'll come with you if you need support," he then announced. She lifted, a bright smile blossoming on her lips.

This was the main reason she had fell in love with him. Because behind his hard behavior, with her, he was always that soft and comprehensive man. Trying his best to give her the best he had inside of him, and always making her feel safe and protected. He was everything she had ever wanted.

"Of course you will," she agreed, kissing his lips softly.

-----

The fourth day, Sullivan opened her eyes on a brand new day, the boat moving under her aching back slowly. She could hear Curly's voice, closer than it should have been. She sat up, looking around her, only to realize she had slept on the bridge, probably had fallen in the arms of Morpheus when she was looking at the stars last night.

"You're up!" Curly exclaimed, his footsteps approaching her quickly. "Let me help you, Miss Sullivan," he offered.

The blonde outstretched her hand, grabbing Curly's to stand up. "Thank you, Curly," she said with a smile. "I slept on the floor," she then stated as if it wasn't obvious.

"I tried to wake you up, but you said you were just looking at the stars, and that I should keep an eye on the ocean," he explained. Sully scoffed, hitting her forehead playfully.

"Where are we, Curly?" she then asked, her smile still plastered on her lips.

The man looked around him, returning her smile in a softer way. "Almost there, Miss Sullivan," he answered before raising his hand in the air, "and it's seven in the morning, in case you were wondering."

"Thank you, pal," she said softly, patting the man's shoulder. "I'm gonna wake Tommy up, and I told you, for you, it's Sullivan, alright?" she spoke louder as she walked down the minuscule boat staircase, her hands brushing her hair before tucking them into a high ponytail.

Thomas was still sleeping, his face softened by sleep. She grinned fondly when he opened his eyes on her, moving a little to leave her some space to sit beside him. "Good morning, darling," she greeted quietly, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Where were you?" he asked, voice deeper from sleeping. Sullivan watched him stretch a little, the covers moving a little, revealing his strong shoulders.

"Well, seems like I slept outside, and yeah, it's real," she explained, mocking herself in her tone. "How're you feeling?"

Tommy sat up, smiling slightly as his thumb ghosted against her cheek. "Fine, stop worrying," he ordered as she sat closer to him. "And you?"

"I'm always good," she responded truthfully, though another part of the sentence was "when I'm around you". She wasn't very comfortable with saying this aloud, however. "You're healing great," she complimented then, brushing one scar on his face.

"Oh, thank you," Thomas sarcastically replied. "Where are we?"

"Almost there, so get ready," she advised, standing up. Sullivan walked to where she had last left her book (and the letter) in the corner of the room, opening it to grab the letter with her. When she turned around, she was caught in Tommy's arms around her, fingers interlacing in her back. "Did your hip heal already?"

Sullivan pursed her lips together, her fingers brushing his covered arms playfully. "I don't know, it's been a while since I last looked at it, but I guess it's turning yellow like my cheeks," she said with a shrug, lifting to look directly in his eyes.

"Maybe I should check," the dark-haired male proposed with a smirk, making Sullivan laugh.

"You definitely shouldn't, and I'm sure that's fine," she assured, smacking his arm gently. "Get dressed, we're almost there," she reminded before kissing his lips softly, escaping his embrace quickly. She exited the room, walking into the fresh air, and wasn't surprised to be welcomed by some kindof grey smoke, floating everywhere around them.

Sullivan could hear the industries workers shouting at one another from the dock. She smiled as the boat came to a stop, Curly calling Tommy, who was trying his hardest to walk up the stairs without falling. The blonde turned around, outstretching her hand to help him. Which he didn't take, instead helping himself until he reached for the bridge, stopping next to Sullivan.

Tommy spoke a moment with Curly about preparing the boat for later, and then they were gone, walking on the dock. Well, Tommy was walking and Sully was running behind him, trying to match his fast step. At a moment, she even thought she had lost him when he emerged, standing by himself, looking for her behind him.

"That's what you get when you're walking too fast without looking for me," she spoke, linking their arms. When they started to walk again, it was slower so Sullivan wouldn't have to run. "Where are we going again?"

"Bakery," he responded vaguely.

"To see..." she tried to encourage, watching around them.

"Alfie Solomons," he completed, glancing down at her. "I think he can help us," Tommy added. Sullivan nodded, trusting him on this one.

If she surely didn't expect to end up in a bakery, Sullivan didn't expect to be stopped by a giant even before they had the chance to step inside. The man asked if they were armed, which Tommy responded by taking away his hat, raising an eyebrow at the giant man.

"Put him down, Ollie!" a man ordered from the other end of the corridor. He approached them and Sullivan guessed he was the Alfie Solomons Tommy had talked about earlier. "He's only little. Just the two of you?"

"Seems so," Thomas answered. "Just me and Sullivan here."

Alfie seemed to think about it for a second before he stepped towards them again, a small smile on his thin lips. "You want to take a look at my bakery? We bake all sorts here mate, yeah. Did you know we bake over 10,000 loaves a week? Can you believe it? We bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread. We bake all sorts. Would you like to try some? Bread? Yeah?"

Something in this speech reminded her of another, back in Wisconsin. As Tommy agreed to visit the thing, the blonde following behind them, Sullivan saw her father's friend in her head, speaking about a similar thing. Brown and white. Except that he wasn't really making bread or anything, rather rum. And this was exactly that Solomons guy was making too.

"What would you like, brown or white?" Alfie asked, turning to face Tommy.

"Try the brown," Thomas answered, sliding his hand in his pocket.

Alfie turned to the blonde next to the male. "And for you, milady?"

Sully smiled kindly, sharing a glance with Tommy. "I'm fine, thank you though, Mr.Solomons," she answered while pushing a blonde curl behind her ear.

"Not a big drinker, eh?" Alfie said with a wink, serving Tommy. He gave him his drank, the dark liquid bouncing a little when it passed from Alfie's hand to Tommy's. Sullivan bit the inside of her mouth not to laugh at the Solomons' reply.

"Not bad," Tommy commented after he had sipped on the liquid. Alfie snorted, grabbing ack the glass with raised eyebrows.

""Not bad," eh? "Not bad." It's fucking awful, that stuff," Alfie exclaimed, glaring at the glass in Tommy's hands. "The fucking brown stuff is for the workers. The white stuff, now that IS for the bosses. Come look."

Sullivan watched them leave, entering into what seemed to be Alfie's office, closing the door behind them. She stayed up on the same spot until someone appeared in front of her, holding two glasses of transparent rum.

"You know, you can take a seat somewhere," the tall guy for earlier spoke, sliding a glass in front of her. "I'm Ollie," he then introduced.

"Sullivan," she replied with a smile, "and I'm good, don't worry."

"You seem pretty comfortable for someone that believed would step into a bakery," Ollie noticed, bringing his glass to his lips, "but instead stepped into a distillery."

"Nothing new to me, truth be told," she said with a chuckle. "My father had a friend who was doing something like that," she explained, looking around her.

"You're not from here, are you?" Ollie then asked.

Sullivan grabbed the glass he had offered her from the table, bringing it to her lips too, sipping on it lightly. Actually, the white stuff was really good. "I'm from the land of milk and honey mate," she said with a laugh.

"America then," Ollie exclaimed, raising his glass in the air. "I'll drink to that," he announced with a chuckle. "I think we have a cousin somewhere in America. Why did you move here?"

The blonde swallowed the gulp of rum she had previously drank, lifting her eyes to meet Ollie's. "I just wanted to live somewhere else," she answered with a small smile.

"Birmingham is not exactly what I would wish for myself," Ollie scoffed. "We heard a lot of things about there. Why did you come here anyway?"

Sullivan looked towards Alfie's office, seeing the men moving inside, probably standing up to exit. "Honestly, I don't know," she replied, turning towards Ollie.

"You seem nervous," the man commented. "He won't shot him, if that makes you feel any better."

Sullivan raised an eyebrow at the male. "Because he's threatening to shot him?"

"Probably," Ollie answered with a shrug. "Though it's not in Alfie's fashion to shot someone, won't fucking clean up after."

Sullivan exhaled loudly, finishing her drink quickly. "Alright, that makes me feel a lot better," she thanked, rolling her eyes. Ollie chuckled.

It took the two businessmen to come to an arrangement, and when they had finally figured out, Sullivan and Ollie were having a debate about a book. Thomas cleared his throat, gaining the pair's attention. Sullivan smiled, letting down the empty glass she was holding while speaking, joining her boyfriend's side.

"It was really nice to meet you, Miss Shelby," Alfie politely spoke.

"Well, actually it's Miller," the blonde corrected. "It was my pleasure, Mr.Solomons."

"Yeah, you should think twice before marrying him," Alfie said playfully. "This ball buster may just go on your nerves."

"Maybe I go on his," she replied with a chuckle. Then, she leaned forward as if she was telling a secret. "Noted though." Alfie laughed, waving at her as Thomas slid his hand in hers. The blonde waved goodbye at Ollie, flashing a smile in his direction before they were both exiting the distillery.

"Alright," Thomas spoke, bringing her closer to him, "there's something else we need to do before we're moving to your brother's," he explained.

"Where are we going now?" the blonde demanded, avoiding a little girl running right in her direction.

This time, Tommy didn't answer, which made her feel a bit worried. They walked through London, and when it was a beautiful city, Sully would've preferred knowing where they were heading.

Thomas came to a stop in the middle of the street, facing the other side of the street. Sullivan frowned, hitting his forearm gently for him to pay attention to her. "Okay, usually I don't question your plans, Tom," she spoke, looking up to him. "But now, we're in the middle of a bloody street in London, who're we supposed to meet in the middle of a street?"

Tommy cleared his throat, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Actually, she doesn't know we're even here, it's not an agreed meeting or anything."

Sullivan frowned, trying to think about what woman he could know down here in London, and it clicked in her mind. "We're here for Ada, aren't we?"

Tommy looked away, spotting the brunette woman walking towards them. Though Sullivan was sure she hadn't seen them, considering she believed they were still far, far away from her. The blonde felt excited to meet her friend again, however, she kind of knew she wouldn't be delighted to see them. Within her heart, Sullivan didn't want to be here, to force herself into Ada's life without them.

"Ada!" Thomas called, startling her a little.

Ada turned their way, her lips pursed together in an angered way. "How the fuck did you find me? What, are you reading Polly's letters?" Ada glanced at the blonde beside Tommy, her features softening. "Hey, Sully," she greeted quietly.

"Hello, Ada," Sullivan replied with a slight smile.

"Polly showed me the letter," Thomas responded to Ada's accusation, lowering his voice a little. "Look, you think you're safe because you moved flat, but you're not. Polly thinks the same."

"When will you understand?" Ada exclaimed, shooking her head in disgust. "I just want you all out of my life." Sullivan tried to ignore the ache in her chest at the brunette's words, instead trying to convince her for her own good.

"Ada," she called, stepping towards the brunette. "I understand, all right? We all do, believe me, but Tommy's right. I got attacked too," Sullivan explained, waving at her face.

"See?" Ada asked, accusingly pointing at Tommy. "This is exactly why she should run away like me," she completed, glancing back at her friend.

"What? No, I -"

"And it will happen again," Tommy cut her off, sensing the hurt in his girl's voice.

"Yeah, well, next time I'll be ready," Ada stated, searching through her handbag. "In fact, I want them to try again 'cause I'll shoot their balls off!"

The brunette exited a gun from her bag, holding it between her and Tommy. As soon as he took sight of the weapon, Thomas pushed his body to cover Ada from view, mimicked by Sullivan. "Put the fucking gun away!" the dark-haired man exclaimed.

Ada did as told, lifting to look at her brother. "Get away from me, I'm late for work," she ordered, pushing Tommy slightly.

"Fine," he agreed, his hand digging through his pocket before he got out keys. "Just take this. Take it," He asked again as Ada hesitated to grab the keys. "Where you're living now is right on the edge of Sabini's territory and all the coppers round there work for him. I've got a lot of money coming in that I can't put through the banks. My accountant says the best thing is to buy property for cash and put it in the name of a family member."

"A house? A whole house?" Ada asked, blinking in surprise.

"Four stories, eight bedrooms, kitchen, scullery Rooms for a maid, if your political conscience will allow," Tommy outlined. "At least go and have a look, eh?"

Ada pursed her lips once more before nodding, hugging her blonde friend for a second. "Take care, 'kay?" she asked before leaving.

Sullivan grabbed Tommy's hand, sadly smiling at him. "Let's handle your brother thing," he announced.