Author's Note: Hello, readers! This is my first Divergent story, and I really hope you guys like it as much as I have writing it. I've been writing on a couple of Divergent stories for a couple of months, and while doing so, this idea popped into my head one day. My initial idea included Tris as the main character, because I'm a sucker for Eris as well as Fourtris, but I thought I would have a little bit more wiggle room with an original character.

I'll be using the movie likenesses and ages for the characters, because who doesn't love Jai Courtney and Theo James? ;) Laney is played by Camilla Luddington, who is featured in the story banner if you're not familiar with her. This story is set about three years before Tris transfers to Dauntless, so that would make Eric, Four, and Laney all around 21-ish. I'm not going to explain Laney's background here because it will be revealed in the story, but feel free to take guesses if you like. There's also not really any talk of Divergents. I thought about using that briefly, but figured it would make things more complicated, so I nixed it for the plot of this story. There may some references toward Eric's dealings with Erudite here and there, but they're not direct and, at this point in the timeline, aren't very clear to Dauntless members, anyway.

This story was supposed to be maybe five chapters max, but I'm already writing chapter six, so who knows how far it'll end up going. I don't see it going over ten chapters, but we'll see since I don't have a set outline per se. I'll keep you posted since I'm ahead of you guys in the story. The chapters are not very long at all, which is new for me because in my other story the chapters are mostly quite lengthy. I don't have a set posting day, but updates should be fairly regular since I have a couple more chapters already written.

This story is rated M for a reason, and I do tend to push that a bit, so keep that in mind. This story is not beta'd, so I apologize for any errors. Also, I am not a medical expert, obviously, so I apologize ahead of time if I got anything medically-related wrong, which I'm sure I did.

Ok, enough talking. I'll let you get to reading. I love feedback. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent, nor any of the characters. All characters belong to Veronica Roth, except for Laney Jameson, who belongs to me. This story contains mature and sexual content/situations in later chapters, so read at your own risk.


Prologue

It was nearing the end of the day as Laney Jameson stepped out from behind the curtains in main room of the infirmary for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Her body was just as exhausted as her mind. This was her third straight shift after picking up one for a co-worker who had called in sick. She had about forty-five minutes remaining before she would head up to her apartment and soak in a hot bath before passing out for the rest of the night.

Removing the ponytail holder from her messy hair and sticking it on her wrist momentarily, she gathered her long, dark brunette locks in her hands as she redid the ponytail tighter while making her way down the hall to the small office for all of the nurses. She sat down at the desk and began filling out the remainder of the necessary paperwork that had accumulated throughout the day. Most of the patients hadn't been seriously injured and had only come in for minor things, but the paperwork still had to be done regardless of how tired she felt.

Sitting at the small wooden desk, Laney rubbed her eyes to try to keep her tired body awake just a little while longer. It wouldn't be the first time she had fallen asleep on the job after overworking herself. Focusing back on the paper in front of her, she continued writing out the report of the last patient and what had been done to remedy their injury, which had been a broken finger. Glancing at her watch, she saw that she only had about thirty minutes remaining on her shift until she could call it a night.

It wasn't long before she had finished every patient report and was in the middle of filing them away in their proper places when she heard their scanner come to life from in the other room. The only time the thing was used was if there was a severe injury out in the field. From what she could hear, the situation didn't sound good.

All she heard was there was a lot of blood loss, it was of high priority, and that they were minutes from the Dauntless compound. Laney knew that all hands would be needed as soon as they arrived with the victim, whose name hadn't been said on the scanner. She was in charge of things as shift supervisor. There was no time to call a doctor down to the infirmary, and she was trained and qualified enough to be one when the situation called for it.

While two nurses on duty, Nora and Shea, rushed to prepare a bed and ready any needed supplies, Laney hurriedly washed her hands thoroughly. Trevor and Jenna, who had been about to get off as well, had already left the room to meet the incoming party outside the compound.

Minutes later, a stretcher was rushed into the infirmary by Trevor and Jenna. Running over to the stretcher, Laney noticed the man immediately as Dauntless leader, Eric Coulter. "What do we got?" Laney yelled out over the chaos.

Eric was groaning loudly and writhing in agony. There was a black shirt wrapped around his upper arm that was soaked with blood that had been used to stifle the bleeding until he made it back to the compound. It took all five of the nurses to lift his massive form from the gurney to the bed.

"Eric Coulter. Factionless attacked while he was out with a patrol team doing rounds. One of the Factionless shot him in his vest and knocked him off the truck when he was hanging onto the open door. The truck behind him ran over his arm before he could get out of the way completely. They couldn't see him because of how dark it was," Trevor replied.

Laney noticed the bullet stuck in the vest Eric still wore as she quickly assessed the situation. Eric was still groaning loudly in pain, squirming about trying to find any position that was better than the previous. "We need to sedate him to keep him still," Laney called out while removing Eric's vest and helmet and cutting through his jacket and t-shirt.

Laney watched as Jenna had prepared and administered the needle to Eric that would sedate him. It only took a minute or two for the medicine to start kicking in, allowing them to work more efficiently. Once Eric was out, Laney cut through the bloodied t-shirt wrapped around Eric's arm, so they could see exactly what the extent of his injuries were.

As Laney peeled the black fabric away from the still bleeding wound, she saw that the skin on Eric's arm had been torn open and his arm was definitely not the shape it should be. While she wasn't accustomed to this type of injury normally, the sight didn't seem bother her. As bad as the wound looked, she could tell that Eric would be fine, but would be in pain for a few weeks, even after administering a healing serum made by the Erudite.

Laney knew that Eric would have a rude awakening when he awoke and discovered the situation he was currently in. She knew that despite her shift having come to an end thirty minutes prior, she would have to break the news to the Dauntless leader as shift supervisor. What normally would be relief for most, she knew that Eric would most likely not take the news well. For the first time since Laney had begun working in the infirmary, she dreaded the waking of a patient.