Chapter Three: Freedom

Four days later Valerie is able to get up out of bed on her own and walk around. She couldn't be happier. It's amazing how many things she took for granted before, it was so nice not to have to rely on Sierra or Eric for little things.

Eric still hadn't talked to her much. He brought her breakfast, lunch, and dinner but that was about it. He really was not the talkative type. He made no attempts to have conversations with her or get to know her. He did his job well though. He always brought her food at the same times each day, he always made sure she had what she needed.

Sierra kept her company, knowing how Eric could be. Sierra would check on her often in the past few days and have conversations with her here and there about anything and everything. Valerie learned a lot about Sierra in those few days. She'd transferred from abnegation. Her parents were killed when she was a baby. Her boyfriend's name is Kyle and he is in Dauntless with her. He works as a tattoo artist. Sierra had a lot of tattoos that were out of sight. It was safe to say that she and Sierra were becoming friends. Sierra stopped by in the morning to let her know that she was good to go, but to take it easy still with physical activities. She left her a bottle of meds and told her that she would see her soon. She of course made Valerie swear up and down that she would call her if she needed anything, or anytime she wanted to talk.

She had just finished showering and made her way back to her room. She jumped when she saw Eric standing there. His eyes gleamed when she jumped. He seemed amused by her reaction. She ignored his presence and started sorting through her things trying to find her brush, waiting for him to speak.

"I figured since you aren't confined to your bed now, you might want to have lunch with the others." He tells her and she runs a brush through her long hair as she turns to look at him. He's wearing black pants and a black vest, with a dark blue shirt underneath it. His tattoos are poking out from under his shirt at his neck and biceps.

"Yeah, that sounds good." She responds and finds the shoes that she and Sierra picked out. Eric watches her put her shoes on and then when she stands up he takes a few steps toward her. She has no idea why, but her body reacts instantly. The butterflies are back, and her heart is pounding furiously.

"We can also go get you some more clothes. You need clothes for training, and you can get whatever else you'd like as well." He tells her, his intense gaze is fixed on her has he talks.

She nods at him and then he leads her into the kitchen. He grabs himself some coffee from a fresh pot on his kitchen counter. "Want some?" He asks her, his tone flat.

"No thanks, makes me dizzy." She tells him as she watches him pour the coffee into a travel mug. He doesn't respond to her.

"Hey Eric?" She says softly and his eyes fly to hers. He doesn't respond, just waits for her to continue. "Thank you."

He looks shocked. "For what?" He demands in an icy tone. She gives him a small smile.

"For letting me stay here, for taking care of me when I needed someone. For protecting me. Giving up your space…" he voice trails off as she watches his face. He looks completely dumbfounded.

And he is. Eric had never met someone like her. He couldn't help but give the girl credit where it was due. She was betrayed, beaten, and almost died. She lost her home, her family, had no one and she never once complained. Her body was broken when she got here, and her barley winced. Never complained about the pain. She stayed out of his way, never asked him for anything unless necessary and gave him respect constantly. And now she was thanking him for just doing his job. Even though it was clear to here that he didn't want her here.

He was actually speechless and that was rare for him. He watched her face as she waited for his response patiently. Normally he would have scoffed at someone who thanked him. Normally, he would say some sort of smart ass comment, he would roll his eyes, and walk away.

She was starting to grow nervous, and he could see it.

"Yeah, no problem," He grumbles at her.

So far she hadn't been too bad to be around. He hardly knew she was there. Sure, he had to deal with Sierra coming in and out three times a day. And he had to take time out of his day to get her meals, but that was the extent of it so far. He hoped that it would stay that way now that she wasn't stuck in bed anymore.

He goes to his door and nods at her for her to follow him. She does, and he walks slightly in front of her, but close enough that he could turn and catch her if she fell. She noticed that he walked at a slower pace than normal, he was going easy on her. Her heart warmed a little bit at the realization.

They entered a room with a bunch of tables, and there was what she figured was most of the members of Dauntless sitting down and eating. Eric takes her to a line and shows her where all of the food is. She selects her food and he leads her to a table. They sit down across from each other and eat in silence as she glances around the room.

There are many eyes on the two of them. Everyone is obviously curious about her. She gets a few smiles and waves, but everyone minds their own business for the most part.

After they finish eating, Eric takes her to the same store they were in last time and she gets a few regular outfits and a few for training. Again Eric is happy that she doesn't make a fuss about it, just gets what she needs and then they are done.

After shopping Eric takes her to see Max, so that they can discuss the rest of their stay.

He smiles brightly at her as he enters his office where she is waiting, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. Eric stands behind her this time, and it makes her kind of nervous but she doesn't react.

"Valerie!" Max exclaims and then plops down in his chair. "You are looking much better. How have things been going?" She returns his smile.

"Good." She tells him. "I feel much better." His eyes land on Eric behind her.

"And Eric has been making your stay comfortable?" He asks her. Eric wonders briefly if she'll complain, since he never really talks to her more than when he has to. Of course, she doesn't.

"He's been great." She tells Max, and she doesn't miss the surprise on his face. She can hear Eric shifting behind her.

"Good to hear," Max responds and pulls out a sheet of paper. He looks it over for a minute and then glances at Valerie. "So, one of the things we will be expecting from you during your stay here is that you help out. We have a few positions over, I'd like you to take a look at this list and pick one." He slides the paper over to her and she looks it over quickly.

There are only a few choices. Cleaning, kitchen duty, and school teacher. She's ecstatic to see kitchen duty. It doesn't take her long to pick that.

"Kitchen duty." She answers fairly quickly and he nods his head.

"Very well," He takes the paper from her and writes her name next to the position. "You'll start tomorrow night. You are to do no heavy lifting though, and I'll make sure your supervisor knows that. You'll train with Eric after breakfast every day, work kitchen starting at 5 pm and then the rest of the evenings are your free time to do what you wish, as long as you stay near Eric, of course."

She nods at him and gives him a polite smile.

He dismisses her and Eric.

"We'll start your training tomorrow as well," he tells her. "You can just take today to prepare. I have some documents for you to go over back at the apartment."

"Alright." She answers him. She is surprised when he lets out a chuckle. "What?" She asks him and peeks at him out of the corner of her eye where he is walking beside her.

"I'm not used to things being so easy," he tells her with a little smirk on his face. "Most of my initiates back talk me and question me about everything." He tells her simply and keeps walking.

She shrugs. She just doesn't see a reason to argue with him. He leads her to a section of dauntless that she hasn't seen before. They enter through a large door under a pair of the black metal stairs. Eric un-locks the door and ushers her inside. There are a few men sitting in what appears to be a control room. There are cameras everywhere, showing virtually every section of the faction.

Eric stands behind one of the men in the chairs. Valerie is shocked when Eric starts barking orders at him, in a clipped icy tone. "Click on that screen right there. Did you check what I told you to?" The man in front of him turns to him and glares right back at him.

"Eric, I told you already, there is no footage of it. He did it off camera." Valerie sees the man's face for the first time. He has dark hair and dark blue eyes, he's a little smaller and shorter than Eric. He also has tattoos.

"I heard you the first time Four," Eric says, his tone even darker and more clipped. "But I asked you to double check."

"And I did. There is nothing."

The man turns back around and Eric is glaring at his back. There is another guy to the right of him and when Eric sees him staring he gives him a murderous glare as well. "What the fuck are you looking at?" He asks the guy whose eyes fall back to the screen in front of him.

Eric barks some more orders at them before walking off in a huff. "Let's go." He says to her before walking off again, and the others look at her then as if they didn't see her standing there before.

"Who is she?" Four asks as we are leaving the room.

"None of your damn business," Eric snaps as they leave the room.

Valerie is surprised to see Eric interact that way. He was quiet around her but never snapped at her the way he did with Four. On the way back to his apartment she learned it wasn't just with Four. Right before they got to his door, she was being lifted from behind by a strong set of arms.

She's startled at first, and Eric turns to her, just as surprised and looking irritated as hell. She turns to see someone she never thought that she would see again standing in front of her.

Her ex-boyfriend, the guy the broke her heart before anyone else did. The guy that she would always have feelings for, but could never have. Cory. He was standing in front of her. She hadn't seen him in years. He left Amity for Dauntless when he turned 18. They were still together when he made this decision and it obviously crushed her.

His dark hair shined in the light and he had a huge smile on his face. One that reached his bright blue eyes, he was definitely happy to see her. He was a charmer, every girl wanted him. And he was dangerous for her heart. She forced herself to return his smile before he was wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a big hug.

"You know him?" Eric is snarling beside her.

"Yeah." She tells him, barley able to breathe while she's being squeezed by Cory's strong arms.

"Val!" he says as he places her down, looking her up and down. "I've missed you."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. He's the one that left her.

"How have you been?" He asks her.

She shakes her head and is thankful when Eric steps between them.

"She's busy right now." He says in a clipped voice, leaving no room for argument. "You'll have to catch up later." He says and he's towing her away from Cory.

Valerie gives Cory a small apologetic smile. "Later" she mouths to him as Eric drags her away.

Eric expects her to be irritated but to his surprise she seems happy. He doesn't bother to question her but he does wonder who the guy is. He didn't like him from the moment that he saw him.

Valerie couldn't believe that she didn't even think that Cory would be here. It took her years to get over her heartbreak when he left her. She met Brandon shortly and got married, but Cory was her first love. The one that she would have killed for. She never got over him leaving her, and a part of her was scared that he was even around again. She was vulnerable now more than ever. She made a mental note to try and stay away from Cory.

She could tell that Eric wanted to question her but he didn't. Instead he lead her back to his apartment and started on paperwork that he had to get done while she looked over her training schedule.

9 am-10 am Stretching/ Cardio

11 am- Noon Self Defense

Noon-1 pm Lunch

1 pm-2 pm Strength training

2 pm – 4 pm Survival skills

So she'd have an hour to get cleaned up before work. It didn't seem too bad to her. Although it was a lot of physical training and she'd never liked working out much. She figured she'd just have to get over it and bite the bullet

She found that she really did want to impress Eric, and she was nervous about the next day, not know what to expect.

"Hey Valerie." She jumps when Eric calls to her from his position on his couch. "You like to cook?" He asks her, his attention still on the paperwork in front of her.

"Yeah, I love it." She answers him and stands at the side of the couch. "Why?"

"Would you mind making some dinner? I'm going to be working late. There's food in the fridge."

She smiles to herself, this was definitely progress with Eric. Her smile fades when he looks at her impatiently, waiting for her answer.

"Yes, of course. No problem at all." She answers and heads to the kitchen without looking at him to see his reaction.

She keeps it simple and breads some chicken, makes some veggies and mashed potatoes in a little under an hour. When she does she sets two plates on the counter bar and calls Eric to the kitchen.

His eyebrows raise as he takes in the food in front of him. "Looks good." He tells her simply, and she tries to hide the shock on her face. Did he actually just compliment her?

They both dig into their food and Eric makes an appreciative hum when he takes a bite. He doesn't speak until he is done, but she can tell he likes it by the way he piles it in his mouth.

He turns to her when he finishes, way faster than she does, and he gives her a small smile that nearly knocks her off of her chair.

"I for one am glad that you are going to be working in the kitchen, it will be a definite improvement." She smiles at him and lets out a small laugh.

"Thanks." She tells him and he nods once at her before leaving the room. She finishes her food and then washes the dishes.

As she cleans up she can hear Eric on the phone speaking with someone in his usual icy tone. She realizes that he never really speaks to her like that. He's short with her, and has a bit of irritation constantly dripping from his voice, but she had noticed today that the way he talks to other people was different than the way he talked to her. She wondered why that was but wasn't about to ask him.

When Eric gets off of the phone, he comes into the kitchen to grab a drink just as she is finishing up the dishes. He pauses when he enters, seemingly surprised that she did them without him asking. He doesn't thank her, but he doesn't have to, she is pleased with the look on his face.

"You should get to bed," he tells her. "We have to be up early, and you're body still needs more rest than usual." Valerie is taken back by his comment at first. He seemed to be showing concern for her that she had never seen before. She nods at him before heading to her room.

As she lays in bed that night she prays that she will not see Cory tomorrow and that training goes well. She has a hard time getting to sleep, thinking about all of the different possibilities that tomorrow could bring.

She goes to the kitchen for a glass of water and sees Eric sleeping on the couch. His laptop is in front of him and it beeps at him and wakes him up.

He glares at her when his eyes open and then he grabs it and slowly and sleepily walks into his room. "Goodnight Val." He says before he slams the door shut.

Valerie stares at his closed door wondering what that was all about.