Chapter3

"While the theory is interesting Harley, I very seriously doubt that it would work in practice." The lanky Dauntless smirked at the girl sitting across the table from him. He watched a look of annoyance and amusement cross her features and couldn't help admit how fucking drawn in he is by her. He had stopped by after a patrol and they had been sitting at the table for an hour now talking. He hadn't thought about wanting to bang her once. Well now he was fucking thinking it.

"Why Peter? Because you didn't think of it? Look, at the minimum you are suffering the loss of what, at least a patrol every week or two weeks? You are expending maximum effort but with minimum reward. You will exhaust your resources before you even scratch the surface of taking care of the issue. "She shrugged and lifted the bowl from the table and went to take it to the kitchen to clean up.

Brows furrowed, Peter picked up his own bowl and followed her into the kitchen. "So you think that we should put in the time to develop that, but how does that help us now?"

She scoffed and took his bowl to which he shook his head and elbowed her out of the way then started on the dishes himself. He quirked an eyebrow at her amused expression. "What? It's not like I have a fucking maid in Dauntless."

She laughed and hopped up onto the counter then hissed, to which he gave her a stern expression. "The only reason Will let you out of bed Harley was because you promised you would take it easy."

She laughed again. "Will let me out of bed because I threatened to break more than his nose and trachea if he didn't. And I am taking it easy. This is me taking it easy. I could be challenging you to spar but I am saving it for when you do something to piss me off. Which I give you maybe another ten minutes."

He smirked at her amused as hell. "You think it'll be that much? I am surprised you've lasted this long."

They laughed as he washed the bowls out and frowned. "Hey, are you doing ok after…"

She picked up some fruit on the counter and peeled an orange frowning. "Ok after? You will have to be more specific."

He dried the bowl he had then went and leaned on the counter beside her picking up his own orange frowning. "I mean you did go through some pretty shitty stuff a week ago and then you know…there is the whole you shot your brother in the heart." Mentally he was kicking himself for being such and insensitive dick. But he was more than a little bit worried that she might break down or something.

She smiled at him a punched his shoulder. "Ah, does big bad ass Hayes have a heart buried underneath all that scowling menace?"

He scoffed at her and threw a piece of his orange peel in her direction. "Look, all I want to make sure is that I am not minding my own business at Dauntless and you snap then end up going around taking people out."

She shrugged with a smile smile. "Well that was a danger even without all of that shit." She laughed and hopped down then winced clutching her side.

Peter reached out and steadied her looking at her concerned. "You should really go sit down Harley. Don't push yourself too hard, it will make initiation harder."

"Should of just cauterized the shit instead of having to deal with stupid stitches." She started grumbling.

Peter started to say something until he caught the sight of his CO leaning on the wall scowling at them. He got one look at his face and stepped away from Harley quickly. "Sorry sir. I was in the area and checking on Harley. Will needed to rest so I volunteered to stay on duty until Tris arrives."

His voice snapped to the formalness of a soldier but his mind was whirling. Eric didn't let emotions slip and he had let something slip as he saw his hands on Harley. He didn't fancy finding out firsthand what being put into the MedCenter by Eric Coulter feels like.

"Hayes, go do a perimeter sweep." His voice brooked no argument and Peter gave nod. Harley quirked an eyebrow at him and tilted her head as he turned. He handed her his orange and gave a wink then went to follow orders.

Before he had gotten out of the door Eric had taken two big strides and lifted Harley up onto the counter then was pulling her shirt up to look at her side.

"No go right ahead. I don't mind being mauled at all. Just know turnabout is fair play." She muttered sarcastically as she felt his calloused fingers gently run over her skin. She scowled at herself when she felt a fission of goosebumps break out over her and a small shiver ran down her spine.

"I will keep that in mind." He muttered as he bent to look at the largest of her cuts and ran a finger over it. "And like I said before, burning it would have been stupid." Her ribs and abdomen were already starting to look much better after the one dose of nano tech to heal it. He had brought some more and planned on doing a scan for any further injuries that they might not have caught.

He pushed her shirt down and straightened out to look at her as she had been scowling at him. "Good moves by the way. In the fight, but also improvising against those two in the alley. I didn't get to see it first hand but from the surveillance vid I was impressed." He smirked as he took the orange Peter had handed to her and leaned just as close. He saw a shiver pass over her and the scowl get deeper, that just made him feel pleased.

She sighed and looked away. "Yeah well, I am still pissed I didn't get him with a bullet too. Couldn't fucking reload." She grumbled.

He shrugged as he peeled the orange. "You didn't get him but he was taken care of later." Eric had very much enjoyed making the coward piss himself as he questioned him and then later when he put a bullet into his head. And the five other bullets he let go just because he was that pissed off.

She smiled at him with a feral little smile "Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. So I am guessing by the snap of Hayes spine and his obedience you are his CO?"

She popped an orange slice into her mouth and quirked an eyebrow at him, waiting for his answer. "Something like that…more like one of the five top CO's. But yeah I supervise Hayes directly."

She grinned at him her dimples flashing "Excellent. Then maybe you can talk some sense into him and tell him that the drones are actually good ideas and not wastes of time. He needs to see the bigger picture instead of just to the tip of his dick."

Eric choked a bit on laughter and an orange slice then shook his head. "Okay then. There is an image I sure as fuck did not need." He muttered. "Is that what you guys were debating in there when I came in?"

She nodded still smiling "Yeah, he can't see the usefulness of developing the tech when the need for something right now is so heavy. I can get that. It's hard watching your men come back broken or in bags, but in the long run it saves them."

Eric inhaled and tossed his peel and the rest of his orange. Then, because he wanted an excuse to touch her, went to lift her down from the counter. "You need to rest. We aren't going to take it easy on you during initiation."

Her hands went to his shoulders when he grabbed her and they both ended up scowling at the feelings the contact between them sent through them both. She didn't step away and neither did he when he set her on the ground close to him.

"I would fucking hope not!" Harley said still with the scowl as she looked up into his eyes. She came to his chin but his size didn't intimidate her. His eyes did though, they felt like steel grey black holes that were sucking her in.

"Then follow orders and rest Harley." Eric was in a similar situation as he looked into her blue eyes and felt him pulling her closer to him.

"That is one thing I think I am going to struggle with, the authority bullshit. I rebel against authority. It's like a nervous tick or something with me." Why was he so fucking warm and oddly comforting? Because his demeanor sure as fuck isn't.

He smirked at her "You don't say? Couldn't tell that one bit. Well, then let's start now. Do you think you could follow that order?"

She grinned cheekily. "Maybe. I can try but who knows the voices might tell me something else."

He snorted and thought Harley Quinn too fucking right. Most of it was an act though, not all, but most. "I am sure you will think of something."

With a steel fucking will he made himself step back from her slightly and guide her to the living room area. He grabbed the bag he had dropped onto the table and with his hand at the small of her back guided her to the couch.

She huffed and plopped onto it and when he sat down near her she whipped her legs up into his lap on some weird whim. He froze and snapped his eyes up to hers. She quirked an eyebrow up to him in challenge. He snorted and rolled his eyes then pulled her legs up further and met her eyebrow with one of his own.

She smiled and settled back into the cushions with a sigh. She was actually tired now that she thought about it. The shower, the food and her injuries were taking a toll. His touch was comforting to her and she could feel herself relaxing for what seemed like the first time in years.

"So what is going on after everything with Silas?" She asked looking up at the ceiling.

Eric started rifling through the bag and pulled out the scanner and his tablet. "Angelica is acting like the much put upon widow of a tragic attack by factionless. No mention of you as being missing or at all has been made, but it is rumored you are privately grieving. Which we plan on using to our advantage to keep you out of public eye. So as much as you might want 'yard time' Harley. Marcus Eaton isn't fucking worth your life. So stay put."

She giggled at his mention of her plans to royally fuck that bastard up since she was in the area. "Yeah that was a bit too obvious. I blame my lack of a cognitive warm up for that slip."

She looked over at the blonde leader and searched for a name in her memory. She thought she knew him but she wasn't sure. If she was correct this was Eric, who Four hated for some reason but would never say.

Tris wasn't as vehement in her hate but she did dislike him and he seemed bent on frustrating and harassing as many people as he could. He was extremely attractive though. His dark blonde hair was cut short on the sides and the top part wasn't quite a buzz cut or flat top, somewhere in between though. She wondered if it was curly when it got longer. Something told her it was. He had a dermal piercing above his eyebrow and black gauges in his ears. The leadership tattoos he wore were on his neck, not many leaders did that. He had two forearm tattoos that her fingers itched to trace. He was Four's age but his face carried the burden of the rough times their city was in. Not that it was aged because it wasn't. She just could tell that it wasn't always like that, so serious and angry. Maybe once he had even laughed or smiled. In fact, she could almost imagine it.

"You mentioned a tracker." He mumbled as he fiddled with the tablet in his hand and the scanner on his lap.

The girl sank into the couch at the sound of his voice and closed her eyes as she hummed her answer. "Yeah, I think it is along the back of my head and in the hairline."

She turned her head to press into the couch and sighed when she felt his heavy hands gently come to rest on her legs. She hadn't bothered with the pants that were in the bag, but instead kept the big black shirt on that smelled so good after her shower.

"Harley, I am going to scan you for injuries first, then do the tracker, ok?" He asked the already drifting girl as he lightly ran his thumb in circles on the smooth and golden skin of her leg.

"Mmmm..sure…just stay."

He shook his head and powered on the scanner then took a more in depth scan. She would need to have a few injections for some bone hairline fractures and the serum he brought would help out with the bit of internal scarring. Otherwise she was in pretty good condition.

He sighed in relief and focused on one scan he didn't want to do but knew needed to be done. He centered the scanner over her abdomen and let out a shaky breath as the result came up. There was some trauma from what might be punches but no signs of anything sexual or experimentation wise.

"Thank fuck." He muttered and dropped the scanner to rub a hand over his face and eyes. Eric let his head fall back onto the back of the couch and sighed tiredly.

The past two months had been hell between trying to track down the highly illegal faction prize fights ring, factionless incursions. Then trying to get intel about Erudite projects it had already been stressful. Then two months ago Harley went missing for the first time in over a year and was found after she had appeared once again in school.

They hadn't even bothered to heal her all that much. Max had authorized her to be moved to an apartment with Tris and Four near the compound. He couldn't get the ok for her to be moved to Dauntless no matter how close she was to transferring. Then she was gone after Four had been pulled away for a patrol in the area. Now that Eric looks at everything, the two days of attacks had been a setup to get every guard looking elsewhere.

They were so close now. Soon she would be in Dauntless regardless of what happened between them. Eric would take that. Her being safe in Dauntless or at least where he could be of some fucking use even if it meant she was never his again.

Maybe, he thought, he might accept that or he might not. Because the site of Peter holding her and the softness in his eyes as he looked at her set every blood cell in his body to boil. If Peter 'I am the biggest dick in the world' Hayes went all soft around her, Eric was going to have a hell of a fucking time keeping the good ones away too.

He sighed and closed his eyes briefly. Promising himself it was for just a moment.

Harley shivered from cold and scowled in her sleep. There was warmth down around her legs but the blanket wouldn't fucking budge. She moaned and thought well, if it wouldn't come to her. With a sigh and a smile she crawled to the source of warmth and smiled when it closed around her wrapping her in a wonderful shell. The fact that the shell was breathing and was made of muscle and sinew didn't register. Her body and mind were tired and they needed to rest after almost two weeks of being on high alert.

"Wake them up." The petite blonde whispered looking horrified on the tangled bodies of Eric Coulter and her little sister Harley.

Peter looked over at her like she was insane "Look, I like Harley and all. But there is no way in fuck I am waking Eric Coulter up. Especially seeing him like that. That alone will get me killed."

Tris scowled over at Peter."Four will kill you if you don't." She growled.

Peter scoffed shaking his head wondering at the comparison. Four would show mercy, Eric would sure as shit not do the same. "I'll take Four killing me over what Eric would do. You wake them up, she is your 'sister' after all."

Neither one moved and decided that it was better if they let themselves wake up. So that's what they did. No one in the safe house breathed above a whisper or went near the living room. Will and Tris had rescued the scanner and looked at the scan Eric had managed to take. Will did the tracking scan and they went upstairs to analyze the data. Peter went back on to patrol and Zeke set up shop for the next two days.

Zaria got the room she would share with Harley setup and laid out the clothes she had brought for them as well. Four had sent some books and a few movie vids, that Harley liked, for them to watch while they were here. As she laid in one of the beds that was set up in the room she thought back to the two curled up on the couch together.

Harley looked so at rest and peaceful. She had never looked like that before. She could be sarcastic, loving, brutal, kind, a bit flirty. But the look on her face as she pressed herself against Eric was truly almost angelic and sensual.

Harley didn't do sensual. She didn't do dates or boy talk, not about herself anyways. Zaria had known her for almost 6 years and there was only a hint at one point that she was seeing someone. But then everything had gone to hell in handbasket and it was like that was stripped from her.

Eric she had never seen or thought he could be like that. He almost looked handsome if she hadn't seen firsthand how fucking scary he could be. Zeke had said that Eric pushed himself hard. Harder than any man in Dauntless because Dauntless and the faction was his life. Eric wasn't a good man really but he did good things for his home and the protection of the people in his city.

Tris and everyone had decided that it was just two people that had been through hell the past few months getting the rest they needed. Nothing more, and no one would mention different. They all valued their lives and skin too damn much. Harley could be just as fucking scary as Eric, if not more because she didn't lose her temper when she was at her scariest. With that she settled in for the night and passed out, wondering what tomorrow would bring.