Previously (Worry and Diamonds)… Tris ventured to Shauna and Zeke's house for a Christmas Eve party. She was shocked to see Tobias, the man she helped find a purse for, at the party. Tobias invited the group to a birthday party for a girl named Emily, and Tris realized with despair that that must be his daughter. Later, she asked him about his family, and he told her that Emily is his niece and Talia is his sister. Relieved, Tris let herself flirt across the table with Tobias as they enjoyed their meal. After opening presents, Zeke proposed to Shauna, and she said yes.

Chapter 4: Pressure and Love

After the party yesterday at Zeke and Shauna's, Tobias is eager to see his sister and niece. He carefully balances the stack of gifts in the backseat of his car. Ninety percent of them are for Emily, but he thinks that's just how it should be. He drives to his sister's house, taking turns with extra care, and arrives just in time to help with brunch. Christmas brunch has always been more of a tradition in their family, rather than Christmas dinner. Their mother's favorite meal was always brunch, so that's what they had. It was always supreme in comparison to the special meal their father had in mind: the absence of one at all.

He makes two trips into the house with too many gifts to make just one. As he walks in for the second time, he hears a tiny pair of feet running. They get louder and louder until he feels a collision with his legs.

"Uncle Tobias!" Emily squeals. Tobias nearly drops the gifts stacked up in his arms, but he somehow manages to keep them steady.

"Hey, Emily!" he says, his voice muffled from behind the pile. "Want to help me out a little?" She giggles as she begins taking smaller presents from him and stuffing them under the Christmas tree.

Finally, the two finish unloading, and Tobias sits down on the couch with Emily on his lap. "Where's your mom, kid?"

"At the store," she says. "She was yelling before she left 'cause she forgot to get eggs or something."

"Where's your dad?"

"Kitchen. Mom told him he had to make the pancakes." Tobias doesn't get a chance to respond before Emily is speaking again. "All those presents for me, uncle Tobias? What'd ya get me? You can tell me. I won't tell mom. What's in the big one? How come some of them are so small? Are they all for me?"

"Hey, hey!" he says frantically, clamping a hand over her mouth, causing her to let out a muffled laugh. "One question at a time!"

He drops his hand and she laughs hysterically at him. "Sorry, uncle. Want to see what Santa gave me in my sock?"

"In your stocking?" he asks. She ignores him as she jumps off of his lap and runs towards the bright red stocking with her name embroidered on it.

She begins pulling out little toys and candies, and explaining them all to him in great detail. He is relieved when he hears the front door open and then close. "I'm home!" Talia yells out.

"Come on," Tobias says, picking Emily up and throwing her over his shoulder. She begins laughing and pounding her fists on his back, but he ignores her and continues walking into the kitchen.

"Hey!" Talia greets Tobias as he steps in the room with her daughter slung over his back. She gives him a half hug, being careful not to be kicked in the face by a squirming Emily.

"How are you?" he asks her.

"Good, good! How are you? I haven't heard from you in a couple days."

Tobias shrugs. "Work has been busy." His older sister eyes him suspiciously, but doesn't comment further. "Need any help in here?"

"Yeah, could you help John with the potatoes?"

Tobias puts Emily down and goes to his brother-in-law at the stove. "How have you been?"

John sighs. "Work has been rough. People forget that Christmas lights and pine needles are a deadly combination."

"Yes, they do," Tobias agrees as he washes his hands.

"The station has been swamped. We lost a guy last week down at the Jefferson building fire."

Tobias stops and looks his brother-in-law in the eye. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

John shrugs, as though it's no big deal, but Tobias sees right past the façade. "It's the risk of the job."

Cooking goes fairly quietly after that. They make small talk, but it's difficult because John doesn't like to talk about his work, and Tobias can't. They settle on talking mostly about Emily and random house projects.

John has always been a role model to Tobias. When he and Talia first started dating, Tobias was just a freshman. John and Talia had been set up by their friends to go to prom, but actually ended up really liking each other. From then on, it wasn't just Talia, or just John. They were always together. At first, Tobias was wary of the new guy. Thanks to their father being a total piece of shit to Tobias, Talia, and their mother, Tobias has always been very protective of Talia, even though she is three years older. When John came along, Tobias immediately sat down with him. John never talked down to Tobias or made him feel like 'Talia's little brother,' because that's never what he was. The respect John treated Tobias with did not go unnoticed. Tobias quickly came to respect and appreciate John. He quickly realized John was a good guy with good intentions, and had nothing but respect for Talia. Nothing has changed since then. John has become an older brother figure to Tobias, and Tobias was thrilled when they got married.

"Daddy, when is food done?" John turns to see his daughter standing on her toes looking into a pot on the stove.

"Ten minutes. Why don't you help mom set the table?"

"Okay, daddy." Tobias watches as John retrieves plates from the cabinets and carefully hands them to her. She concentrates on the plates as she carefully brings them into the dining room.

"She's such a great kid," John says, a proud smile on his face.

"Yes, she is," Talia says, walking into the room. "Why don't you hand me some cups, and I'll help her out."

Fifteen minutes later, brunch is served. The meal starts in relative quiet as everybody is eating, but silence doesn't last long with a curious four year-old.

"Uncle Tobias, I have question." Emily says.

"Of course," Tobias says, giving her his full attention.

"When you gonna give me an aunty?" Tobias feels his jaw go slack, and John and Talia burst into laughter. Emily's face remains curious, and Tobias realizes that she is completely serious.

"Uh…" he coughs a bit to clear his throat of absolutely nothing. "I don't know."

"But you know everything," she says.

"Nobody knows everything, Em. I don't know when I'll… give you an aunt."

"You know," Talia says. "I'm curious about it, too, Tobias." Tobias glares at his sister; he sees the devious-sibling twinkle in her eye.

"That's up to the universe," Tobias says.

Emily lets out a heavy, exhausted sigh. The sigh of someone who has just worked a long day, plus overtime, only to find out somebody ate the sandwich they've been looking forward to. Emily throws her head back and looks up to the ceiling, and folds her hands on top of the table. "Universe, please give my uncle a girlfriend." Tobias knows his mouth is hanging open, but for some reason he is unable to close it. "Sometimes I think he lonely when Zeke is doin' other stuff. Please give my uncle a girlfriend." Emily finishes her little prayer to the universe and looks at her uncle. "I made the universe go faster!"

Tobias has no words, but leave it to his older sister to fill the silence. "Hopefully the universe will give uncle Tobias a girlfriend. I agree with you, Emily. I think he needs one, too."

"For your information, I met a girl," Tobias blurts out. He knows his face is red, but he refuses to back down now.

Three faces turn and look at him: two with raised eyebrows and one with a huge grin. "Really?!" Emily squeals. "Is she nice? Is she pretty? What color hair does she have? Is she short like mommy? Does she like dogs? What's her name? Will she be my aunty? Does she have babies? What's her favorite color? Do you think she'll like me?"

Tobias sighs heavily. "I don't know, Em. I just met her."

Emily's face falls about one degree. "But you love her, right? Can I meet her? Call her, uncle Tobias!"

Tobias glares at his sister before turning to Emily again. "I do like her. If I get to know her, I'll ask her if she wants to meet you. She is very nice and I think she'd like you a lot."

Emily's eyes become impossibly wider. "I can't wait until I have an aunty!"

Tobias thinks about Tris someday filling that role, but he quickly comes to the realization that he doesn't know her nearly well enough to picture her in that place. He knows he wants to know her, though. The image of her smile and blush is burned into the back of his eyelids, and he can't help smiling at the thought. "Maybe, Emily. We'll see."

Having nothing to do, and no one special to spend Christmas Day with, Tris decides to honor her family in a different way. She drives downtown to the soup kitchen, a place her mother spent a large amount of her time.

"Beatrice, Merry Christmas!" Cookie greets her as she walks in. Tris has no idea what the old woman's name really is, because everybody calls her Cookie. Cookie has watched Tris grow up, and loves her like a daughter. Tris beams at Cookie, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. Cookie reminds her of her mother so much. They were good friends since before Tris' parents were even married, so being with Cookie brings up an immeasurable amount of memories.

"Hi, Cookie. Merry Christmas!" Tris says as she is folded into Cookie's open arms. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in so long."

Cookie puts each of her hands on either side of Tris' face. "You don't worry about this old place, dear. I'm just happy you're here now."

Tris smiles the most genuine smile she's given in a long time. "Where do you want me?"

Tris spends the entire day helping cook and serve a full Christmas dinner to whoever comes into the dining hall. Cookie started up this place nearly sixty years ago. It was an old restaurant that was going out of business. Cookie bought it and turned it into the soup kitchen. They serve the hungry people of Chicago for absolutely no cost. Christmas day is one of the busiest days, with their stock of food nearly cleaning out. They operate completely on donations from local citizens and grocers, so it's not hard for the pile to deplete quickly.

When the day is done and everything has been scrubbed clean, ready for breakfast tomorrow, Tris and Cookie sit down with mugs of hot chocolate.

"How are you holding up, dear?" Cookie asks.

Tris forces a smile. "It's been a tough year, but I'm okay."

"Your mother would be very proud of you, you know." Cookie rests her wrinkled hand on Tris'. The tiny gesture brings tears to Tris' eyes. "She started coming here during her freshman year of college. She was so timid her first times here. She was scared to mess something up or do something wrong," Cookie says with a gentle laugh. "Always so careful, Natalie was. I remember the first time she brought your father with her. He was even shyer than she was! We had a good time laughing at him. Did you know that I am the one who taught your father how to make mashed potatoes?"

Tris lets out a laugh through her tears. "I think I've heard that story, yes."

Cookie laughs. "He had no idea what he was doing! Poor boy didn't know that the potatoes have to be boiled before you can go on smashing them. He tried to use a whisk to do it. Can you believe it?" Tris laughed and nodded. Her father was worse in the kitchen than anybody she knew. "And I remember when your mother showed up with a big ol' belly. Your brother was in this kitchen before he was born! And so were you!" Tris smiled as she watched memories come back to Cookie. "Before you could walk, you were in this kitchen, strapped to your mother or your father's back."

They spent hours talking and laughing, their mugs long empty. Finally, when it was no longer Christmas day, Cookie and Tris decided to part ways.

"You come back here soon, dear," Cookie says as they put on their coats.

"I will," Tris promises.

A smile crosses Cookies face. "And bring a handsome boy with you next time."

Tris eyes go wide and red crosses her cheeks. "I…"

Cookie laughs loudly. "I'm kidding, dear! Kidding, kidding." Tris' expression slowly goes back to normal. "Your parents loved you more than anything in the world, dear. I know they are looking down at you with pride."

"Thank you, Cookie," Tris says. "For everything."

Cookie smiles and wraps Tris up in a tight hug. "Thank you, too. This day was successful because of your help."

During the drive home, Tris lets herself think of her family. Really think. She thinks of all the memories, the ups and downs. She lets herself see her mother's hair and green eyes, the ones she shared with her brother. She sees the eyes of her father, the same ones she sees in the mirror every day. She can see the face that rarely smiled, yet was always loving and very proud. She knows she'll never see them again, but someday she'll be with them, and that's enough for now.

Author's Note: Sorry I've been so busy. I have finals this week, wish me luck… I have to let you guys know of two awesome stories first, though.

When Two Paths Collide by FourTrisBound – I beta for her, and it's a great story. Love her. Go check out her story.

Defective by TogetherWeCanFly – it's a Divergent parody and it's honestly the funniest parody I've ever read. It has me cracking up like a 400 year-old sidewalk. Go check it out.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I agree with many requests that FourTris should happen slowly.
Leave me a review with your thoughts and opinions; all of your advice has been gold so far. Love you all!
-GerdyGertha