Light is the first thing I register. Not dim and Erudite-like, but white, blinding light. Next, is the steady beeping beside my left ear. I have to blink several times for my eyes to adjust to my surroundings, but my initial thought was correct. I'm in a hospital room. There is a chair across the room in the right corner and straight ahead is a large window showing me nothing but other buildings and a glimpse of the horizon. Lovely.

I look to my right and see a bundle of machines with wires hanging in tangles dropping down to the floor. There is a table next to me with a cup and a pitcher of what I hope to be water sitting on top. I try to reach out for it, but immediately stop as soon as a ripple of pain shoots through my arm. I moan a little and shut my eyes. Damn it, that hurt. I roll my head to the other side and my breath hitches as my eyes open again.

Tobias.

His eyes are closed and his chest is steadily moving up and down with every breath he takes. He is sitting in a chair right next to my bed and his body is slumped forward. His head is leaning up against the wall and his arms are crossed over the plain black T-shit covering his chest. There are dark rings under his eyes, his jaw bares stubble, and his hair is tussled and unkempt. For a long time all I can do is stare at him and hope that I'm not dreaming. But I want to see him. I want to see his blue eyes capture my soul. I want to see his smile. I want to taste his lips on mine. I want to feel his calloused hands in my own, our fingers intertwining.

"Hey," I croak. My throat and mouth are so dry that I'm not sure I actually was able to form the word, but the noise wakes him up. He blinks a couple times and rubs his eyes before looking down at his watch. He runs his hands through his hair and rubs his face before looking down at the ground. Then he looks up at me. His eyes widen and mouth opens as I try to form a smile with my own mouth.

"Tris?" he says. I smile and motion to the water on the table beside me. Tobias immediately leaps up and goes around the bed to pour me a cup. He gives the cup to my left hand obviously knowing that my right arm is incapable of moving. I greedily drink the cup before motioning for another. He pours more water in and I finish that one equally as fast.

"Let me go get the doctor," Tobias says as he begins to leave.

"No, wait. Could you just talk to me for a little bit?" I ask. His eyes soften and he nods. He pulls the chair he was sleeping in up to the side of my bed and leans forward.

"What do you remember?" he asks me. I take a deep breath and try to recount everything that had happened.

"You were in the city either going to give the memory serum to your mom or dad to try and create peace between the Allegiant and the factionless. I was here with Caleb who was going to go into the Weapons Lab and try to release the memory serum here. The alarms sounded and the Bureau guards were on us so I held Caleb at gunpoint to get by the guards and went into the Weapons Lab instead of him. The death serum didn't kill me, but David was inside. I went for the memory serum, but he shot me. And then I saw my mom and it just went black."

Tobias looks at me and I see his jaw clench. He reaches for my hand with both of his and presses his lips to the top of it.

"You were shot three times. Once in your right arm, once in your side, and once in your chest missing your heart by an inch," Tobias breathes. His eyes flicker toward my right side and then back to me. "Tris… I was so afraid that…"

"Shh… I'm fine, okay? I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here," I say. I squeeze his hands and he nods as he brings his head down to the edge of my bed. I see the top of his tattoo peek out of his shirt and sigh. He finally looks up at me and gives me a small smile.

"I'm gonna go get the doctor now, okay?" he says. I nod and he stands. He leans over and presses his lips to my forehead before walking out of the room. I close my eyes and relish the feeling of his lips on my skin. I then open my eyes and assess the damage to my own body. My right arm is heavily bandaged and incapable of movement, so using my left arm, I pull the sheets off of my torso. The right side of my stomach is wrapped up in white tape and cloth. I look down and notice that there are bandages around my chest as well. I'm grateful however that my legs were not injured because I don't think I could deal with being in a wheel chair.

"Ms. Prior! I'm glad to see that you've joined the living. Welcome back. My name is Dr. Connors," a tall man says as he walks through the door with Tobias trailing behind him. He has dark gray hair and has oval glasses perched on the end of his nose. A long white medical coat hangs off of his lanky frame and he smiles at me warmly.

"How long was I unconscious?" I ask. I had forgotten to ask Tobias earlier.

"It's been about four days now since you've been out of intensive care. Six days overall since you were shot," he explains. My eyes find Tobias who only looks at the ground. God, he must have been so worried. Almost a week without knowing if I was going to live or ever wake up. That must have been torture.

"I have to say, I am very impressed and pleased that you have been recovering at the rate that you have. Being part of Dauntless certainly has increased your physical and mental fitness thus making it easier on your body to rebuild itself. Now, do you have any questions for me?" he asks.

"When can I leave?" I ask immediately. Tobias smirks and Dr. Connors chuckles.

"I figured that would be your first question. You are stable as of now, but I would like to keep you here for at least three more days. Your body needs to heal and the best place it can do that is right here. Now, if you need me, there is a button to your left or you can always send whoever is in here visiting to get me. I'll check back in with you later."

Dr. Connors walks out of the room leaving Tobias and me alone. I lean my head back and groan as soon as the doctor is out of hearing range.

"I don't want to stay here three more days! All I want is to run out of here, strangle David, and curl up in a room with you where no one can find us," I say. Tobias grins and sits back down next to me.

"As tempting as that sounds, you do need to recover. Tris, you were really badly hurt. You need to heal. I promise as soon as you're healthy enough to leave, I'm breaking you out of here and holing up in a room with you for however long you can stand to be with me because I am not letting you out of my sight again," Tobias says. I grin and reach for his hand. He locks his fingers with mine and squeezes my hand.

"Can you tell me what's been happening since everything went down?" I ask. Tobias nods and he runs his free hand through his hair.

"Caleb got you after David shot you and rushed you here. The memory serum was released and David didn't know what the hell was happening. Caleb brought you to the hospital. When we got back, Cara told us everything that went down. I've been at the hospital ever since then, but Christina has been coming by and giving me updates on everything. As much as I hate to tell you this… David isn't being charged with anything. He's a government official and as far as they're concerned you were just a rebel who he shot trying to protect the government. I did try to strangle him once, but he's being heavily protected now."

I take a moment to accept this information. I close my eyes and regain control of my emotions before looking back at Tobias.

"I can't stay here, Tobias. I can't live here. I can't live in a place like this where I'm just some rebel and the man who nearly killed me isn't being prosecuted. I don't care if we're just a damn experiment; I want to go back to the city," I say. I see a twinkle in Tobias' eyes like he was hoping I would say that. He simply smiles and nods.

"If that's what you want, I'm all for it."

"I love you," I say. Tobias locks eyes with mine and smiles. He leans over and lightly kisses me on the lips.

"I love you too," he whispers. He drops his forehead down to mine and I pull his chin forward with my left hand so that our mouths meet again. I feel like a weight is lifted off of my chest and the familiar feeling of a fire in my stomach ignites and eventually fills my entire body. God, I missed him. I try to deepen the kiss, but Tobias just chuckles against my lips and pulls away.

"As much as I would love to, I don't think that would be a wise decision in your situation," he says giving me a knowing look. I frown and glare at him.

"Fine. But you will get in this uncomfortably small hospital bed with me and hold me," I demand. He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

"Now what makes you think I would do that?" he asks, arching his eyebrow.

"The fact that if you don't maybe I'll just have to invite Matthew in here and ask him instead," I declare with a smirk. Tobias' eyes narrow at me and a low growl emits from his throat. I laugh and throw the sheets back so he can come sit next to me. I scoot as far to the right as I can and pat the bed beside me.

"I'd kill him, bring him back to life, and kill him again," he says and sits down next to me. He maneuvers his body under the sheets and pulls my body to him. His right arm props my head up and he traces patterns on my right shoulder. I link my fingers with his as I pull his arm across my stomach. Tobias kisses my temple and I let my head fall on his shoulder. I breathe him in and am instantly relaxed. The scent that is purely Tobias has such an effect on me that I can't quite entirely understand.

"I missed you," I mumble against his shoulder. He kisses my hair and lays his cheek on the top of my head.

"I missed you too."

"I'm never leaving you again."

A minute or two passes before I look up at Tobias. He is looking out the window towards the horizon.

"Tobias?" I ask. I see his jaw clench and feel his chest rise and fall as he takes a breath.

"Caleb told me what you said, you know. He told me what you told him to tell me; that you didn't want to leave me. I just… if you didn't want to, then why? Why did you go? Why didn't you let Caleb go?" Tobias says. His voice is soft, but with an underlying thread of anger that I notice. I feel his body stiffen and his grip tighten around me as if he was trying to go back and stop me. I rub circles in his forearm and sigh.

"I couldn't watch my brother die. I think I knew deep down that if he went in he would die. I figured that if I had been able to get through all the other serums, why not this one? And as much as I thought I hated Caleb, he's still my brother and I still love him. I couldn't live with myself if he had died in there. I would've questioned myself for the rest of my life. I'm sorry I can't control the Abnegation in me. But from this point on, I promise you I'm not ever leaving you again."

"We both have a lot of broken promises."

"Damn it, Tobias, look at me," I say sternly and sit up. I place my hand on his chin and pull it so he's looking right at me. "I'm not leaving. I know we've lied to each other and kept secrets and have betrayed each other in one form or another, but I'm in love with you. Completely and irrationally in love with you. Sitting here in this stupid hospital bed not being able to move sucks and I'm so sorry for making you worry the way you probably did. I'm not sorry for going instead of Caleb, but I am sorry for the pain I caused you. You just have to know that this is the last time anything like this is going to happen again. From here on out it's not going to be you or me, it's going to be us."

My heart is beating rapidly and my breaths are coming heavily. I search his face for some sort of reaction, but he has on his stone cold poker face. I stare intently into his eyes pleading for him to believe me. After hours it seems like, he nods.

"Okay."

"Okay? That's all you have to say after-"

I'm cut off by his mouth against mine. His hands hold my face tightly and I relax into the kiss. His hand sneaks around and buries itself in my hair while pulling my head closer to him. I stroke his jawline and begin to taste salt water. Is he crying? I pull away and open my eyes only to realize that in fact I am the one who's crying. Tobias wipes away my tears with his thumbs and kisses me softly once again.

"Tris, I love you so much it hurts sometimes. It was hell not knowing whether you were going to make it through or not, but part of me knew that you would pull through like you always do. I know that I can't control what you do and that you are always going to want to do the right thing, but you're right. From here on out it's us until the end. You're the only girl I've ever loved let alone been with, and that's the way it's going to stay. There's no one I care about more in this world and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

I feel my heart about to burst with the words that he says to me and smile wider than I ever have before. I pull his lips to mine several times before nuzzling my head back underneath his chin. I feel his breaths become slow and steady and soon realize that he's asleep. I kiss his neck and close my eyes before drifting off to sleep as well.