A/N This is my second fanfic ever so please be nice. I don't really like it but it's the beginning of something that I want to carry on with so here it is.

Disclaimer: I own nothing despite the changes to the original, Veronica owns everything.

Tris' POV

I wake with a start.

I'm dripping with sweat and my hair is stuck to my neck; my shoulders; any bare skin above my ribs. Its times like this where I want to cut my hair again, so that when I wake up from the nightmares it isn't stuck to me.

I get out of bed and slink out of my pyjamas and step into the shower. I quickly wash my body, my hair, washing away the last little bit of my nightmares away so that the cold, chilling laugh no longer rings in my ears.

My head is still under the faucet when I hear him open the bathroom door. I used to jump from a deep rooted fear whenever I was naked and he could see, now I'm used to it, he is surprisingly comfortable peeing in front of me; something I can't imagine ever doing in front of anyone and feeling as comfortable as he is. He doesn't pee like I expected him to. Instead he sits on the bathroom counter and watches me as I watch him in the mirror. It isn't admiration or lust or leering that causes him to watch me, but the fear that I may break, that I may crumble, that I may dissolve away with the water and float down the drain.

'I'm okay.' I say

'I know you are.' He replies.

I shut the water off with a sigh step out of the cubicle wrap a towel under my armpits and sigh.

'Liar.' I say as I stand in front of him. He towers over me and I should feel intimidated because the muscle that bulks him up causes him to be twice my width but all I feel leeching from him into me is protection. He doesn't say anything and I didn't expect him to, he just take my face in his hands and kisses my forehead.

I know he thinks I'm going to break but he should have faith in me, I am okay, I believe that I am okay but I don't want to argue with him. I almost deprived him of me once; it's not going to happen again.

Tobias' POV

She realises that I've entered the bathroom straight away and I notice that she still doesn't start whenever I come in and she's showering. Good, I was beginning to think that the increase of nightmares would put her right back where she used to be and that I would have to be extra careful around her. I didn't come to pee like I usually would and I didn't come to stare at her naked body. I came to make sure that she was still whole.

This nightmare tonight seemed the worst. She thrashed more, sweated more and even screamed herself awake though I'm not sure she realised that she did.

I sit on the bathroom counter and wait. She stays under the faucet letting the water run down her hair down her back down the drain.

She's beautiful, I notice. I knew before that she was pretty and radiant on occasions but here I see she's more than that. I'm not leering; the slight curve of her body is something that you can't not see. The radiance of her skin in the moonlight is something that you can't ignore. I'm not leering, I'm noticing. I'm noticing things that I've never been able to see before. Maybe it's the light or the fact that I'm half asleep or maybe it's that she seems comfortable with me seeing her that I can only now really see her.

'I'm okay.' She says. Even her voice sounds different. Her sincerity makes me question why I think she may break but there is a niggling sensation at the back of my mind telling me not to believe her she's not okay she's not okay she's not okay she's not okay.

'I know.' she doesn't believe me because she shuts the shower off and gets out, wrapping a towel tightly around her body.

'Liar.' She says. I sigh internally and look at the birds on her collarbone.

One for each member of the family I left behind

I remember her telling me and thinking that she was lucky with the family she had, you could even say I was jealous, what with my dead mother and abusive father, how could I not long for her family. Now I can't bring myself to think it.

She's so fragile one touch could shatter her into a million pieces but I cup her face with my hands nonetheless and press my lips to her forehead. she's not okay she's not okay she's not okay.

I hush the whispers with one thought: she almost left me once, she doesn't have the heart to do it again.

A/N Okay I hope that wasn't too bad. I guess it was readable if you're still here to read this. the next few chapters are ready to go so I should be uploading those in the next couple of days.