𝙿𝙴𝙽𝙼𝙰𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿 - 𝚃. 𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙱𝚈

20

Juliet is alerted by the door of the Garrison opening and raises her gun, expecting Campbell to come storming in guns blazing after she had threatened Grace. The familiar peaked cap and ocean blue eyes come into view, their eyes widen when they spot the gun pointed at them.

Juliet sighs, slamming the gun down on the bar as Tommy walks over to her.

"You alright?" Tommy asks and Juliet nods.

"I'm alright,"

Tommy nods, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head as Harry walks in.

"You're not accustomed to not getting what you want, are you, Tommy?" The Fenton man asks. "You wanted my pub, and you took it"

"You got a fair price," Tommy says and Harry shakes his head.

"What I got was an ultimatum. Like you give to everybody. Do it, or else," Harry continues talking as Tommy watches in silence. "And yet, it's funny, everybody around here, they want you to win this battle. I think what it is, you're bad men, but you're our bad men"

Tommy remains silent which Harry takes as his invitation to keep talking. Juliet places her hand on Tommy's arm, hoping that it provided some comfort to the man.

"Will you go looking for her?"

"She's in the past. The past is not my concern. The future is no longer my concern either," Tommy says.

"What is your concern, Tommy?" Harry asks.

"The one minute," Tommy says. "The soldier's minute. In a battle, that's all you get. One minute of everything at once. Anything before is nothing. Everything after, nothing. Nothing in comparison to that one minute"

"Didn't you get enough minutes over there?"

"Seems not, doesn't it?"

"Tommy, they're here!" Finn shouts as he bursts through the door.

Tommy moves towards the door and Juliet follows.

"Where are you going?" Tommy asks.

"With you," Juliet says.

"No, I need you in here where it's safe,"

"Have I not proven to you time and time again I am more than capable of looking after myself?" Juliet asks. "We'll help each other. Always. Remember?"

Tommy nods and the pair walk out of the Garrison.

There was no fear. There couldn't be when you were stood alongside the man who feared only himself. Or if there was fear, you had to pretend there was none. Either way, that stone mask had to fall across your face because if that armour of nonchalance fell, it made you weak and weakness is something the enemy will exploit over and over again.

Juliet stares at the oncoming men as she and Tommy walk forward, the rest of the Peaky Blinders joining behind them.

"Get your weapons out, boys, and load 'em up," Kimber says as he and his men stride forward. "Take your time. Hold 'em up in the air so's they can see what we've got"

The two groups, one clearly outnumbering the other stop, leaving about fifteen paces between them as they stare at each other.

"All guns and no balls, right, Billy boy?" John jeers, his confidence in the moment was admirable.

"So what do we do now?" Arthur asks. "Just give the order,"

"It doesn't have to be like this, Kimber," Tommy says and Kimber scoffs.

"It's too late for all that. You've bit off more than you can chew, you little toe-rag, and now I'm going to take over this shithole"

"Well, if we have to use guns," Juliet says.

"Let's use proper guns!" Tommy shouts and Freddie Thorne walks out, one of the machine guns that had been stolen clutched in his grip.

"Sergeant Thorne reporting for duty, sir,"

"You were saying something about being out-gunned?" Tommy says.

Juliet pulls her gun from her pocket and points it as everyone else does the same.

"Move!"

Juliet's jaw goes slack as Ada, dressed like a widow, pushes through Kimber's men with her son in a black pram.

"What are you doing?" Freddie shouts as the baby wails.

"I believe you boys call this no man's land"

"Ada!"

"Shut up and listen,"

"Have you lost your mind?" Freddie asks his wife.

"I said shut up!" Ada snaps. "Now, most of you were in France. So you all know what happens next. I've got brothers and a husband here, but you've all got somebody waiting for you. Now, I'm wearing black in preparation. I want you to look at me. I want you all to look at me! Who'll be wearing black for you? Think about them. Think about them right now, and fight if you want to, but that baby ain't moving anywhere. And neither am I"

"Your sister is fucking insane," Juliet says and Tommy nods.

"She's right, you know," Kimber says. "Why should all you men die? It should just be them whose caused it!"

Kimber raises his gun and fires, the bullet hitting Tommy as a man Juliet had never met screams and runs forward, another bullet hitting his chest as everyone shouts for Tommy.

As Tommy raises his gun to shoot Kimber, another gunshot rings out. Kimber has a look of shock upon his face as his body falls to the floor, a large gaping wound in his forehead. A bullet had been fired and struck true to its target. Tommy looks to his left to see Juliet, a gun held firmly in her grip pointed to where Kimber had just been stood.

"Enough! Your boss is dead," Juliet says, her voice flowing like water but it was the temperature of ice. "It's over. Go home to your families and count your blessings that you get to live another day"

Once the men leave, the gun falls from Juliet's grip as she stares at the blood slicked on the pavement.

Never before had she noticed how time is so much like water; that it can pass slowly, a drop at a time, even freeze, or rush by in a blink. The clock says it is measured and constant, tick tock, part of an orderly world; the clock lies. The past two minutes had passed like thousands of camera frames per second shown one at a time. In this slow time-bubble, the factory was louder, the coldness was colder and colours were brighter. All the while her insides felt as if there was nothing there, nothing to need feeding, nothing to have need of anything at all.

"Jules,"

She can vaguely hear John's voice in the background but it was muffled. Her ears were ringing with the shot that had left her gun, the shot that had taken another life. The second life she had taken since stepping foot in Small Heath.

Juliet feels her knees buckle and faintly registers the arms wrapping around her and supporting her up as her eyes remain on the blood and brain splatter she had caused.

Sickness so often comes in waves rather than simply one thing at a time, but in that one moment, the nausea was like a steam train barreling forward at full speed.

Juliet leans away from John who had a firm grip on her and heaves, the contents of her stomach, as minimal as they were, leaving her body and splattering on the street.

"Jules," John says. "Hey, you shouldn't think too much about it, eh? He was a bad person"

"I wish I didn't care about anything but I do care. I care about everything too much," Juliet whispers. "And because of that, I've got blood on my hands which will never come off"

John doesn't say a word, clearly stumped on what to say to comfort her. He pulls her into his chest so her eyes are no longer on the remains of the man she had killed before he leads her inside.