A/N: Thank you everyone, here's more drama and angst with my favourite Dauntless!

Fox groaned as she fell back onto her couch. The last week had been utter hell. Although Fox had dodged a bullet with Blaze, he'd messaged her as she'd slunk back to her apartment, trying to figure out how to hide the marks on her neck, to tell her he'd been called back out to the fence to cover for a fellow commander named Jess who'd been rushed to Erudite with suspected appendicitis, no such divine intervention had happened between her and Eric. She hadn't seen Blaze at all, but she saw Eric every fucking day. They still worked together, still had to attend the same meetings, collaborate on the upcoming initiation training, and Fox was heartsick, almost physically sick at the situation she found herself in.

The situation you put yourself in.

Eric had given her a few minutes head start from the vehicle bay before following her to her apartment, knocking, then hammering on the door until Fox finally opened it, letting the security chain hold it.

"Fox please," Eric began, but Fox was already shaking her head and, after she shut the door, he paced outside for a few minutes before finally leaving. He'd changed over to his phone instead, calling and messaging Fox without pause, and it rapidly grew too painful to read or hear what he was saying, so Fox turned her phone to silent and went to bed. Waking, startled, hours later Fox glanced at her phone to see if Max or Tris or anyone besides Eric had tried to get a hold of her and she gasped. Although he'd obviously given up and not phoned or sent any texts in the last hour, before that Eric had inundated her inbox with 29 calls and 47 texts. Cursing herself, Fox skimmed the messages, Eric's panic and fear had giving way to frustration and finally anger, with his last few all but yelling at her to stop fucking around, she loved him and he loved her, and to continue this 'fucking charade' with what's-his-face, Justin? was both stupid and unfair.

Fox's heart ached, she agreed...but she'd made a promise to Blaze, she'd accepted his marriage proposal and he hadn't done anything wrong, he didn't deserve to be hurt. You've already hurt him, you impaled his heart on a pike the second you impaled yourself on Eric's dick.

And so began Fox's last seven days of torture. She and Eric barely spoke in their meetings, earning quizzical looks from Max and they never met for lunch together anymore. Two days after returning home from the festival Max called both leaders into his office, but the lecture Fox was expecting never happened. When she walked his office Max was frowning at his tablet and glanced distractedly up at her.

"Quite the happenings out at the festival," he mused and Fox's blood ran cold. What did he know?

The door slammed behind Fox and she whirled to see Eric. His gaze was unreadable as he moved towards Fox and the two chairs she stood by. Fox swallowed hard as Eric leaned unnecessarily close to her, both gifting her with a hint of his cologne and breathing in her own scent with a faint sigh, his eyes holding hers the entire time, before collapsing into one of the chairs, crossing his arms and staring at Max.

Max glanced up, raising an eyebrow until Fox flushed and dropped into the last chair then set his tablet down and rested his hands on his desk.

"Jeanine is out for blood." He stated bluntly. Fox couldn't stop an unwillingly glance at Eric, he was frowning, his eyes flicking to hers for the barest instance before focusing back on Max.

"About?" He drawled.

Max sighed, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers on his abdomen. "So far two Erudite, one Candor and one Amity had been arrested and charged with sabotage regarding the summer festival."

Fox's jaw dropped but she quickly closed her mouth; suddenly interested, Eric leaned forward, glaring intently at Max.

"What type of sabotage?" Eric growled.

"They are suspected of procuring an unknown amount of serum and poisoning the festival's wine casks with it. And not just any serum, they stole the specialized peace/truth serum Erudite and Candor use to interrogate combative suspects, called Restraint Serum. It's concentrated, calms the person down like a peace serum but also makes them spill their guts; fuck only knows why Erudite deems it necessary to have a concentrated combination product, but whatever. Anyways, they poured it the wine casks, which is absolutely a disaster. Alcohol concentrates the effects, that's why it's either injected or baked into bread. Everyone at the festival who drank wine got hit with this shit, and some who were already eating large amounts of bread for the peace serum may be permanently affected."

Fox's chest locked down and she found it nearly impossible to breathe. Max focused on her.

"Fox? Are you alright?"

Fox coughed, forcing air back into her lungs and nodded. "What will happen to them?"

Max shrugged. "Amity will probably forbid their member from attending the group masturbation circle for a week, Erudite and Candor will probably execute. A fair number of leaders and higher-ups from both factions were affected, some awkward shit went down."

Yeah, no kidding, Fox thought starkly.

Max inhaled sharply. "I'll keep you two posted on what happens, if you feel any lingering effects, head down to the infirmary."

Fox nodded and leapt to her feet, the air in the office had become suffocating. She heard Max's office door slam behind her then Eric start to call her name. Fox lowered her head and began to run. Her thoughts were in a turmoil, she'd already guessed that the wine had been spiked, but with the Restraint serum? Fuck, she'd heard of that, it'd made even the most resistant of suspects sing like a canary when interrogated, how much had ended up in the Amity wine? No wonder all her inhibitions had gone flying out the proverbial window-

A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her against the wall. Fox's back hit painfully and she hissed. Eric leaned into her, his arms forming a cage around her as his hands pressed to the wall on either side of her head.

"You ready to talk now?" He growled.

Fox shook her head and ducked to dash away but Eric was faster, grabbing her elbow and pushing her roughly back. He leaned his full body into hers, making her heart skip and pulse race. Fox bit back a moan.

"You're not leaving until we talk." Eric promised darkly. His chest heaved far more then the short sprint down the corridor merited and his eye's blazed with emotion. Suddenly, a desperate sadness flooded into his steel grey gaze and his hand reached over to cup her cheek. His thumb skimmed along Fox's bottom lip and she fought not to melt against him.

"Baby please," he whispered, his voice anguished. Fox had never heard this depth of emotion in his voice before and her heart hammered painfully in her chest. It didn't make what she had to say any easier. She lifted her hands and gripped his wrist, gently pulling his palm away from her face. Eric hissed at the contact, goosebumps rising on his skin.

"Eric, no."

"What the fuck do you mean, no?"

Fox pushed his hand back towards his chest, putting everything she had into concentrating a serious, impassive look on her face. "We can't do this. I promised Blaze-"

"Fuck Blaze!" Eric snarled. Leaning forwards suddenly he crushed his lips to Fox's, stabbing his tongue into her mouth; one hand curled on her hip, pulling her closer while the other wound into her hair.

Fox moaned, the intensity and passion in Eric's kiss making her head swim and her heart race, it would be so easy to give in, would feel so fucking good to surrender to him. Dredging up her last bits of resistance she cupped Eric's face, feeling the deep groan in his chest at her touch and pushed his face away.

Passion and lust hazed Eric's eyes, but confusion and dawning panic bloomed as he realized what Fox was doing.

"Stop Eric." Fox stated firmly. "I've made my choice...if you love me, you'll accept it."

"Fuck that," Eric growled, not ready to give up. He leaned forwards again and Fox threw a desperate fist, smashing Eric across the mouth. He grunted in surprise and pain, his eyes widening in shock, one hand reaching up to cup his face, watching Fox incredulously as she turned and ran away.

That had been five days ago, she and Eric had not spoken since, they'd been in the same room together, sure, but they hadn't spoken; Eric watching her with hooded, wounded eyes and Fox doing her best to avoid gazing at him at all. Fox didn't know if he had given up or was instead giving her time to think things through; but she'd done nothing but agonize over her future since. She'd promised Blaze her hand and her heart, not realizing at the time that Eric had a firm hold on the latter. Surely her affections for Blaze would return, her love would grow for him as time passed. The dull ache in her chest would one day lessen and her constant thoughts of Eric's touch would fade. Her skin tingled remembering the feel of Eric's strong hands, the way he'd so gently stroked along her skin, murmuring against her throat. She'd not known he was even capable of such tenderness, could even feel the depth of emotion and love he'd shown her. For the umpteenth time in the last week Fox's chest locked down and she gasped for breath, bending double and clawing at her throat. She'd never experienced attacks like this before, didn't know if she could withstand them much longer without breaking in some way.

Collapsing sideways Fox closed her eyes, concentrating on pulling air into her lungs. It wasn't easy, but eventually the crushing weight lifted and she slowly sat back up, sweat trickling down her throat. Staggering only slightly she stood and walked into the bathroom to shower.

The steam helped loosen her chest further and Fox tilted her head up to gaze at her neck in the mirror. The marks had all but disappeared, but Fox could still feel Eric's lips making them against her skin, still hear his breath catch as his tongue flicked against her pulse point. Goddammit. How could she make the right decision and move on if her body and mind constantly dredging this up?

She startled, wrapping a towel around herself as she heard the door open. Was it Eric? Fox stepped out of the bedroom and froze. Blaze lifted his head, smiling widely.

"Hey sweetheart," he called.

"Blaze? What are you doing here?"

Blaze grinned, dropping his rucksack. "They figured out a replacement for Jess, I got to leave, and now I'm here." Still grinning he advanced on her, pulling off his jacket and Fox felt a pang of distaste. WHAT? This is your fiancé! Blaze closed the distance between them and wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing a kiss to Fox's lips. Fox forced herself to relax as Blaze pulled at her towel, dropping it to the ground, his hand reaching up to cup her breast. Blaze gave a low growl but it didn't spark the same heat in Fox that it had before; her body wasn't responding the way it had before. Fox closed her eyes as Blaze walked them backwards to the bed, pushing her gently down and crawling above her, his lips trailing along her skin. Her heart raced as Blaze spread her legs and pushed inside her, but it wasn't in desire; Blaze's touch felt foreign, wrong. His moans in her ear as he began to thrust felt off, his hands felt like claws as the roamed her skin. Fuck, it felt like she was cheating right now, cheating on her real love and awareness washed over Fox, chilling her bones. She knew the right path, knew and finally acknowledged what she needed to do. Blaze tensed above her, groaning her name in release, his muscles trembling and Fox swallowed hard, reaching up to grip his biceps.

"Blaze-"

"Fuck doll, that was hot."

Not really. "Blaze."

"Hmmm," he was already falling asleep and Fox cupped his cheek. Tears were forming in her eyes, tears of sorrow and pity, of anger for not doing this sooner, for hurting Blaze. He lifted his head, breathing heavily and focused on her, sweet concern darkening his eyes. "Fox?"

"I'm so sorry Blaze," Fox broke down, not even feeling it as Blaze pulled free of her body, propping himself on his elbow.

"What happened?"

Fox took a deep shuddering breath, let it out slowly. She could feel tension and confusion beginning to radiate off him.

"I can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"I can't marry you Blaze, I...I love someone else."

His muscles tightened instantly. "Who?" When Fox didn't immediately answer he snapped, "WHO?!"

"Eric," she whispered.

"Eric?...Eric Coulter?!"

Fox nodded, closing her eyes. "We uh, there was serum put in the wine at the festival and we...we slept together."

Blaze pulled away with a growl of rage, climbing to his feet and stabbing his hands through his hair. "You slept together?"

Fox sat up, gazing pleadingly at him. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been for the serum-"

"Oh Bullshit Fox!" Blaze roared, "peace serum doesn't make you do anything you don't already want to do. You wanted to fuck Eric, so you did!"

Fox lowered her eyes and Blaze made a hard sound, Fox's posture confirming his words.

"You fucking slut, I hope you two are happy together!" Blaze yelled as he yanked on his pants. Storming to the door he grabbed his rucksack and threw a rather unnecessary "it's over, you fucking cunt!' over his shoulder. The books on Fox's shelves rattled as he slammed the door. Fox swallowed hard and lowered herself to the bed. Her eyes closed as tears flowed freely down her temples to the blanket below. She deserved Blaze's anger and harsh words, deserved everything he threw at her. She felt dirty and sticky and dragged herself upright to shower again.

Nothing had changed by the time she emerged this second time from the bathroom, her heart was still cleaved in two, but, stranger still, she could finally acknowledge a sense of relief. Being with Eric at the festival, feeling his powerful body rise above hers, his muscles bunching and relaxing under her hands, hearing his tender words murmured in her ear had made one thing perfectly clear. She had loved Blaze, but she'd never really been in love with him; he'd never excited her heart and heated her blood the way Eric did, had never made her quiver as she'd been caged by his awesome strength, had never nearly wept with the ecstasy his body could provide her. She'd been fighting her love and attraction to the tall imposing leader right from the start, had turned and thrown herself into a sham substitute for whatever twisted reason. It hadn't been fair to Blaze or her or to Eric for that matter to let this falsehood carry on. Even if she'd completely wrecked her chances with Eric this past week, and Fox's heart began to squeeze with a sickening mix of panic and dread thinking about that possibility, she had at least freed Blaze from this cage of her own making.

She was suddenly exhausted, and, after pulling on a camisole and boy-shorts, staggered to the bed. She needed to sleep, needed to reflect on her situation with fresh eyes. A bone deep ache made her wince as she stretched out on the covers, and closed her eyes.

Her grip was failing, her hands alarmingly weak and Fox panted in nearing incapacitating panic. She was hanging from the walkway above the chasm, where she'd seen Eric hang a number of insubordinate initiates, where she planned to hang a few herself if needed. But she'd been hanging here far longer than Eric had ever made an initiate last, and her muscles were screaming with fatigue. She chanced a glance downwards and shivered as she again saw the rushing water beneath her, the furious torrent of spray that would swallow her whole if she fell and spit out a twisted, broken body. Her heart pounded, her fingers and arms had long since gone numb; she'd screamed herself hoarse yelling for help and no one had come. Fox knew exactly where she was and what was happening; she was caught in a nightmare, held prisoner by her mind. She'd encountered this during her first fear simulation and it had remained a constant fear for her all through initiation. Now she dreamt this horror whenever she was abnormally stressed about something, hanging helplessly before falling to her death. She would wake screaming before she hit the water every time, scaring the shit out of Blaze if he'd been sleeping over, and lay there for hours afterwards, heart pounding, body coated in sweat.

It wasn't difficult to interpret this nightmare, Fox feared losing control, feared being helpless with no one near to save her, she feared dying alone, in agony. If a figure did appear on the walkway, they were always featureless, watching impassively until Fox lost her grip and fell. A figure appeared now, but they weren't featureless; Fox's heart stopped as Eric stepped onto the walkway, gazing down at her without emotion. He leaned his back against the railing, crossed his powerful arms across his massive chest.

"Eric, help me!"

Eric watched her impassively for a moment before shaking his head slowly, a sneer pulling at his full lips.

"No way baby, you did this to yourself." Stepping forward he stomped directly onto her hand, throwing his head back and laughing as Fox screamed and let go, her body growing weightless as she fell.

Fox jolted awake with a scream, her eyesight full of the rushing water she'd been about to plunge into. Her heart raced painfully in her chest, she'd been tense and twitching through her nightmare; her muscles were tight and cramping. She lay, panting, on her bed, gasping for breath, her hand pressed to her chest, trying to hold in her heart, it felt like it was about to burst from her chest. Fox grimaced as her muscles contracted agonizingly, her teeth gritted even as she panted, rolling to her side she curled into a ball, willing herself to go to sleep again. She ached to go to Eric, to seek out the comfort of his body and voice, but she couldn't. She'd pushed him away, it needed to be his choice whether to returned to her or not.

Tears flowed freely from Fox's eyes, she'd royally fucked up this time. She was alone in the middle of the night, in the unforgiving dark just when she needed someone the most, and it hit her suddenly like a hammer blow. The only person she wanted was Eric, the only person who would make her happy, for the rest of her life, was Eric. She wanted him, and only him. A fierce pain shot through her chest and she bit back an anguished moan.

Her phone beeped on her nightstand and Fox reached miserably for it, probably a neighbour telling her to quit screaming already. It beeped again, then a third time. Fox blinked rapidly, tears clouding her vision and focused with effort on the phone screen.

I heard you screaming.

Open your door.

I'm here, baby.

It was Eric.

Fox stumbled to her feet, her heart pounding with an entirely different cadence than before. Eric was here, at her door, ready to give her another chance. She wouldn't fuck it up this time, nobody would ever be able to question Fox's love for Eric, ever.

Fox threw open her front door, tears of relief trickling down her cheeks. Eric stood in her doorway, black sweatpants low on his hips, his chest bare. He raised his head as she opened the door and a gentle smile curled his lips. In one stride he closed the distance between them and crushed Fox to his chest, slamming the door closed behind them. Eric touched his forehead to hers in a gentle head butt, his eyes gazing into hers.

"Hey baby," he crooned.

"Hey."

Their lips touched, gently at first then harder as their desire grew; Eric cupped Fox's face with his palms, trailing his tongue tenderly along her bottom lip. A deep groan rumbled in his chest, his arms dropping to tighten around Fox as she parted her lips, her tongue sweeping along his. Pulling back, breathing heavily, he gently bumped Fox's nose with his.

"I love you Fox," he whispered.

"I love you Eric."