Wouldn't she?

"After all, soulmates always end up together"

Alfie's POV

I slowly sat myself down, trying to ignore the aches and pains as Tommy fucking Shelby stood before me
My murderer
"What do you think of that view then, eh?" I asked
"It's Margate. What can you do?" Tommy said.

"I'll tell you something Tommy, right, I sit all day, every day, in that chair on that balcony, contemplating the fact right, that life is so much easier to deal with when you are dead" I said
It wouldn't be appropriate of me to sit here without annoying the bastard
After all he'd done to me. After all he'd took from me.

"Hello Alfie" he said again
"Hello Tommy, you look through the binoculars? I watch ships, no two are the same, yeah?" I said
But they were all fucking boring
"That is how god sees us both in his eyes" I explained
"God?"

"Yeah sort of, I mean you know... someone's responsible for all this fucking mess. Aren't they? Cause if there is no higher being then that would mean that I died... and my wife went through hell for the past four years for nothing, don't it?" I said

He was quiet for a moment, before he sat down abruptly
"Why did you send me a telegram?" He asked
"Why me? Huh?" He asked curiously
"I was somewhat incapacitated at the time Thomas. I was angry and off of my head" I explained

"And you didn't think to write to her?" He asked
"What is there to say? Hello? I'm dead" I said

I wasn't thinking clearly
Now. Now I was off the drugs I felt as though I was once again enlightened
Reborn
I had new hope. Hope that maybe I was not destined to die in Margate

Maybe I was destined to die at the hands of my wife when she found out I was alive.
"I woke up, lying on the sand Tommy, and the tide came in, woke me up it did" I said
"I remember looking around and thinking... fuck. If this is hell then it looks a lot like Margate" I explained

He didn't move. No amusement
I suppose there wasn't any to be shown
He had wanted me dead
And yet here I sat
"I stumbled around... apparently, I don't remember much after that, Ollie found me didn't he? Took me back, got me help" I said

"Ollie knew the whole time" he commented
"Yeah, yeah he did, silly lad, told me I'm selfish" I chuckled
Because he was right in a sense
I was. I was putting my own fears above my family's needs

Fear of seeing her. Of seeing her reaction

"Maybe this is just what hell looks like" Tommy said instead, looking out the window again
"No, not according to the holy book, yeah? It gives a very very vivid description" I teased
"You and I are both fucked mate" I said

"Arguably, you're more fucked than me" he said
"Yeah, that I am... she did not kill you then" I said, disappointed in the idea that she hadn't
"She tried to. Very hard" he said
I nodded
"Good, good well at least you've brought some good news, how close did she get?" I asked

"She tried to stab me, many times" he said calmly, before he held his hand out. Showing a scar on his palm
"Right" I muttered
"Do you read the papers?" He asked instead
"No" I said

Before I pulled my gun out of my lap slowly, cocking it
Maybe this was the easiest solution
Shoot the fucker dead and then what?
We can all go on our merry way.

"But you've heard?" He said
"I hear many things Tommy. I have a family remember, I have people everywhere, and what... fascism yeah? That what you've dragged my wife into is it? Wouldn't surprise me in the least Tommy, cause you don't know how to leave her alone do you?" I asked

"Not enough you shot her husband in the face?" I asked

"Three. Two. One. Bang" he said slowly
"No? Fine" he said
This... this was not Tommy Shelby
This was a different man
A man that no longer clicked the way I used to know

"Good Lord, your fucking condition has got worse mate. Mine on the other hand, I have been living the dream" I said as he took his hat off
"The dream one could hope for in death that is" I added
My dream would be having my wife here. Forgiving me. Meeting my son. Seeing my eldest again.

He... he was not clicking in the head the way he used to

"Alfie-"
"How is my wife?" I asked casually
"Thought you had people Alfie" he said, losing patience
"Yeah I do, but you're seeing her nearly every day now, not a word for 3 years, and now... now she gets trains to Birmingham, she rides boats on the canals, she is seen riding horses and drinking in your pub" I said

"So, how is she?" I asked
"She's... well, she is as fucked as me and you I reckon" he said, lighting a cigarette
"How?" I asked

"She is under threat from the Billy boys, a gang from Scotland... who is set on killing me and my family once our mutual business draws to a close, an associate of mine... our mutual interest that is, is intent on fucking her, despite her many protests, she talks of shadows and voices and my wife is fairly certain she talks to people who are not there again. And I've recently come to learn she now deals with Irene Cortez, the wife of the man she nearly hung for murdering" he explained

"So yeah, she's alright" he said
"Irene?" I asked
"Yeah Alfie, a lot has changed since you died" he said
"You are aware she was pregnant?" He asked

"Yeah" I said shortly
"You are aware of the outcome" he said slowly
"Yes" I said harder
"And you did not come back" he stated
"No"

Because I was a coward
And I was afraid she would hate me even more
I dug my head in the sand
And now it is drowning me. Sinking me
"I am going to shoot Oswald Mosely" he said

"Right well, I hope you do a better job on him than the one you done on me, yeah?" I said
"I mean, what were you thinking? Was your mind somewhere else Tommy? Was it on my wife? Hm? Thinking of her and how better off she'd be?" I asked

"Maybe it was" he said
"Yeah, yeah alright, you will shoot me dead and then admit it was in the name of my wife?" I asked
"You can't say her name" he said
"Oh I say her name, over and over in my head. My Mariana, like a mantra Thomas" I said, closing my eyes
"I hear she still goes by Solomons" I said

"Yes, she does" he said
"Does that hurt you?" I asked, looking at him
"No, I am married myself now Alfie, I'm sure you knew that too" he said
"Yes, to the prostitute, the one you knocked up" I said

"The one I married, not left" he said
"You're very funny Thomas, always liked that about you, you got a point yeah? I have been dead, whilst she... grieves. Both me and my..."
"Your daughter"
"Tommy" I warned
"I am going to kill Oswal-"

"Oh look! A ship" I interrupted him, picking up my binoculars, ceasing the tension
"Why do you want to shoot him?" I asked slowly
"I need to organise a riot Alfie"
"Why do you want to shoot him?" I asked
"I hear you still have some standing in the Jewish community"
"Yes, so does Mariana" I said,

"Not in the way you do" he said
"Since my resurrection, to the chosen few, I am considered a god, right? In the holy land, someone has made an image of me out of rock imbedded in the sand so I am told, and I am planning to make a pilgrimage to stand in my own shadow" I explained

"You don't plan to return to your family?" He asked condescendingly
"I plan to yes. When the right way to return presents itself" I said
"Are you going to shoot him because this man is evil?" I asked

"My own objectives do not matter, but I shall tell you Alfie, that above the money I'm sure you will want, this man is the associate, who is trying to fuck your wife, relentlessly" he said
"And he has not succeeded" I stated. He was trying to rile me
"No, he still has his fingers so" he commented back

I chuckled
"I need men who can fight Alfie, Mosely uses men from Glasgow, the same men who are threatening me and Mariana, the same men who left a grenade in your son's bed not too long ago. If the men causing trouble are Jewish then... it will be explicable" he explained

A grenade?
She hadn't told Ollie any of this
Nor Aila
"Since when did you need explanations?" I asked
"They are your explanations" he said
"So that I will help you" I said
"I heard you went into politics, once you murdered me, how is that?" I asked

"Gangs, wars, truces, nothing I didn't already know"
I began to snore. As boring as he was, I wanted him to get to the point
Why was he here? Why hadn't he told Mariana?
He must have kept it from her, or she would be here?

Wouldn't she?

I know you've all been waiting for this, I have too! For a very long few chapters, but now it's here! And it will continue into the next chapter. Alfie is officially back!

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