If I write the word Then in italics, it means it's a memory of the past from whoever's POV. If i write Now in italics, it's from the present.

TRIS'S POV

Now

I've been sitting in this bar for about an hour now. It is the only bar in Dauntless, and I've been downing so much Budweiser I can feel the stares of the couple a few seats away burning in the side of my face. I turn to them, plaster a purposely fake looking smile on my face and wave sarcastically.

I know I shouldn't be drinking again, but it's kind of how I've been dealing with my problems now. Drowning them in alchahol.

I was supposed to be meeting Uriah here but he cancelled. I came anyway.

When I look at all the people aournd me, lauging and having fun, it's almost as if the war never happened. It's been a little over a year, and things seem relatively normal. But I have enough scars to prove that even though our city has rebuilt itself, not everyone in it has been so lucky.

TOBIAS'S POV

Then

Tris has been in her coma for about three weeks now. The doctors are still working on her, performing a lot of surgeries. Apparently the bullet shattered one of the bones in her ribs and they are having trouble getting all the pieces out without damaging her vital organs. She has another bullet wound in her leg, but that one is a lot less serious.

1 week later...

The doctor has called me in, siad something about Tris regaining conciousness. I knew this would happen soon. For the past week when I have been able to visit her, I felt occasional squeezes, then eventually small flutters of her eyelids, but she never did more than that.

When I come into the room, I see Tris connected to a number of tubes, all pumping some strangely colored liquids into her system.

The nurse closes the door, leaving us all alone in the room.

I sit in the chair beside TRis's hospital bed, and she slowely reaches for my hand. I take it and squeeze, as if I could somehow transfer my energy into her and make her eyes open wider, awake and alive. But instead she weakly squeezes back, that and her shallow breathing being the only indication that this fragile looking girl is actually alive.

"Tobias," she starts. "I have to tell you something." She pauses and takes a deep breathe.

"When I first started to wake up, I wasn't sure what was going on. I was having these flashbacks. Really bad ones. Memories of Al jumping into the chasm, my parents getting shot, me shooting Will, Marlene off the building, Lynn, the Candor boy, every bad thing I've ever seen or have ever been responsible for was all coming back to me. Memories from the first attack up until the day in the Weapons Lab." She paused, and I could see the silent tears beggining to stream down her face. I gently brushed them away and let her continue.

"I began to realize, with everything that happened after the first attack, I never really had time to mourn my parents, my friends, never had time to fully process the whole situation, and how bad it actually was. Those next few weeks when I was aware and in my coma, I just couldnt handle it. I felt like my insides were being ripped out, and I couldn't wake up, no matter what, until yesterday when I fully woke up."

"And I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I can't have a relationship with the state that I'm in. I just feel so bad, so traumatized, I just need the time that I never got to sort out my life, my mind, figure out what to do. I love you, and I can't bear the idea of not being with you, but I need time."

I feel like I'm the one who got shot. The only thing I can think to say is, "So what are you asking me to do?"

She takes another deep breath, which looks like it hurts a lot. "I'm asking you to wait for me, if you can. If you don't, I understand. But I still love you." The tears are coming full on now, but she is still as quiet as a mouse.

I don't know what to say to her or what to do. Should I comfort her? She she's having a mental breakdown of course I should comfort her!

Without saying anything, I grip her hand tighter and scooch my chair so close that there is no space between us. I kiss her forehead and wrap my arms around her the best I can while she is lying on the hospital bed. My voice is muffled by her hair when I say "I'll wait. But if you make me wait too long then I won't know what to do with myself." I kiss her, slowely get up, and eit the room.

TOBIAS'S POV

Now

I walk into the bar and ask for a Samual Adams. The girls in the seats next to me are whispering about something I folow their stares to a girl sitting across the bar. It takes me a moment to realize that it's Tris. Her hair seems to be getting longer and a little darker, and she grew about 1 inch. I smile to myself, she really does never grow. I suddenly remember the anger and confusion I've been feeling for the past year, wondering how she could leave me, dump me while she was in the ICU hooked up to a mess of tubes and machines.

I get up, sudenly not in the mood to drink. I didn't even notice that Tris had left already.

Please leave reviews! Next chapter up soon! Soon we'll get to the exciting part. :)

~M