Hello, happy Wednesday everyone.

Again I have to express my thanks to all you wonderful readers out there, and welcome to new readers. I'm not gonna bore you with my ramblings, I have a ton of stuff to do this morning and I wanted to get this post out before my holiday shenanigans begin, but know that each and everyone of you fill my heart with joy at your reviews, favorites, and follows.

There were three guest reviews on Chapter Six so:

Guest who wrote: yay love them so excited for the next chapter. Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying my version of the Divergent character.

Guest who wrote: I'm loving this story more and more with every chapter. I'm super happy you are still enjoying this story and I hope that continues.

Guest who wrote: An amazing chapter that ends with office sex... can I just say that I love you? This story is fantastic and original, and I LOVE your take on Tris' character so different from any other fanfic but SO good. Seriously can't wait for the next chapter! I'm so happy you are enjoying this. I love this story dearly, it hold a special place in my heart, so I'm beyond thrilled that others love it, too. And all declarations of love are gratefully, and gracefully, received. :)

And so, on to Chapter Seven...


Chapter Seven.

Four pulled his old, beat-up Buick LeSabre up to the elaborate wrought-iron gates that were the guarded entrance to the Dauntless house. He sat there for a moment before rolling down his window and pressing the button on the post-mounted intercom system beside the drive.

"Hello," a tinny voice called.

"Is Tris home?" Four asked gruffly.

There was a brief pause, then the gates slowly opened and the voice replied, "Of course, Detective Eaton. If you would please drive to the front door, there will be someone to assist you."

Four nodded, not in the least surprised whoever was manning the security room knew exactly who he was. He drove down the long twisting drive and watched as the grand house came into view. This was the first real look he had of the building, as he had been unconscious when he had first been brought in, and it had been under the cover of darkness when he had left.

The house was a sprawling limestone mansion with a red tiled roof, that sat upon what appeared to be acres of lush green land. The grounds, of what he could see, were landscaped to perfection. Grand trees lined the drive to the main house, elms, oaks, and magnolias, and the closer he drove, Four noted the splattering of color from various flowering shrubs. Over the far end of the building, vibrant wisteria crawled up and over the walls. The front of the house was graced with two magnificent gray marble columns, with the solid wood door sitting in the middle, and three wide marble steps leading to it. He drove his car into the circular drive, stopping in front of the steps and as he switched the engine off, the door opened and Gavin stepped out.

"Gavin, isn't it?" Four asked, looking at him as he climbed out of his car.

"That's right, Detective Eaton. Will you be staying long?" he questioned politely.

Four looked sideways at him, "I'm not sure."

"If you'd like to leave your keys, your car will be parked in the garage," Gavin said, stepping forward slightly.

Four looked at his car and then back to Gavin, shrugged his shoulders and tossed his keys over as he entered the house.

"Is she home?" he inquired as Gavin closed the door and lifted a walkie-talkie from where it was clipped to his pants.

"Miss Tris is home, Detective Eaton," Gavin answered with a knowing smile, then he held the walkie-talkie to him as Four turned in a circle in the foyer and he heard Gavin ask for someone to come up and move his car to the garage.

"Are you okay, Detective Eaton?" Gavin asked when he noticed Four hadn't moved from the large foyer.

"This is one big house," Four answered shaking his head.

Gavin smiled at him and pointed down a corridor. "If you go that way, someone should be able to tell you where Miss Tris is."

Four slapped him comradely on his shoulder. "Thanks, Gavin," and he turned to set off down the corridor he had indicated.

"Detective Eaton," Gavin called, stopping him before he moved. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to leave your weapon with me. Dauntless policy."

Four debated this but eventually, he shrugged off his jacket and unfastened his shoulder harness. He held the harness, holster, and gun in his hand, his eyes on Gavin as he reluctantly handed them over, breaking a serious police regulation. Never let another handle your firearm.

Gavin nodded to Four as he received the items and Four turned, grabbing his jacket from the chair where he had discarded it and headed down the hallway before he changed his mind and demanded his gun back.

While walking, he passed people he didn't know and was eyed suspiciously. He assumed everyone knew everyone here, and he was a stranger walking freely around. He continued down the corridor, and he had a sudden strange sense of familiarity. As he passed a room, he looked in to see a huge TV and comfy couched; sort of a family room, he guessed. There were a few people lounging on the couches but none who he recognized, so he just continued. Of course, he could ask any one of them if they knew where Tris was, but he doubted they would tell him.

A little further down and over to his left, he found the dining room and popped his head in. There was a large group of people eating at various oak tables but, as his eyes scanned the area, he couldn't see Tris. He was about to leave when he heard his name being called.

"Four?"

He turned and smiled at the slight doctor who had taken care of him four days earlier.

"Hey, Doc," he called out to her.

"Please, call me Tori, no one calls me Doc or Doctor," she said with a small smile. "It's just Tori."

"Okay, Tori," he said, stepping more into the room.

"Do you want some dinner?" she asked, indicating to the row of food along the side of the room displayed in a buffet setting.

"Maybe later," he said with a grin, remembering the delicious meal he had eaten the other night. "I'm looking for…"

"Hey, you must be Four, right?" another voice called.

Four turned to see a girl around Tris's height, her black hair cut short, practically bouncing on her heels as she came to a stop beside Tori, her tray laden down with food. She turned to look at Tori with her eyebrows raised in question.

Tori looked at her, rolled her eyes and nodded.

The other girl whistled low in her throat. "No shit!" She looked back to Four. "No wonder the bitch wanted to keep you away from the rest of us."

Four smirked at her, and Tori turned back to him. "Four, this is Christina. Christina, this is Detective Eaton."

"Nice to meet you, Christina," Four said with a slight smile.

Christina grinned at him and turned to walk to a table, Four had no choice but to follow as she continued to talk to him. "This is just so typical. You do realize Tris is using her status in this house to keep you away from the rest of us."

Four laughed. "Actually, it was me who was staying away. I think it's pretty safe to say she wanted me around more."

"And we don't blame her," Christina flirted, unable to stop herself from eyeing him up and down as she sat down at a large table that had others already seated there. "If it had been me, I would have you chained up in my room."

A guy at the table laughed. "If it had been you, Christina, you would never have gotten away with bringing him here in the first place," he laughed. "Hi, I'm Will."

"Right," Four said with a nod as he recognized the man. "Four," returned in way of introduction.

"Yeah, I remember," Will said with a smirk.

"I think everyone knows who you are, Four," Tori informed him, sitting down next to Christina. "You're quite the enigma around here."

"And your name is pretty strange," another voice added.

"Oh, please," Four quipped with a laugh, choosing to ignore the comment about his name. "I'm in a house full of lethal assassins and I'm the enigma?"

There was silence around the table as they all looked at him in shock. Then Christina started to giggle, and Will snorted, and soon the people around the table were all laughing.

"I guess an outsider would think that," Will remarked with a grin.

"We're not all lethal assassins, you know," Tori muttered grumpily.

"Oh, babe, you just kill us in a different way," a dark hair guy who had commented on his name said. Tori gave him a quick slap to his upper arm before he turned to Four. "I'm Zeke."

Four nodded and looked to the others.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tori said looking embarrassed. "Let me introduce you."

"That's Will," she indicated to the man he had met before. "He's what we call an agent." Four bowed his head in understanding; agent could work as another word for assassin or operative.

"Zeke is also an agent," and Four nodded again to the dark hair man sitting beside Tori.

"Marlene," and she indicated to a statuesque figure a little further down the table, "helps out around the house."

"Hi Four," the blonde said. "What she means is I'm the gopher."

"Gopher?" Four asked intrigued.

"Yeah," Marlene replied with a smile. "You know, go for this and go for that."

Four laughed as the others at the table did.

"You've met Christina," Tori nodded with a grin to the dark beauty across the table. "She's also an agent."

"No shit," Four exclaimed, his face showing shock. "Well, it's no wonder you guys have an excellent track record."

"Why do you say that?" Zeke queried, gazing suspiciously at the taller man.

"You have the most unsuspecting women doing the hard work," he answered with a smile.

"Hey," another guy said, "we work just as hard as they do."

Four recognized him as the other guy from the alley. Al.

"Sure you do, sweetheart," Christina grinned toward Al. She then turned to Four. "I like you. You can stay."

"I hate to break it to you, Chris," Will countered, "but it's not your decision."

"Talking about that," Four interrupted. "Do you know where Tris is?"

"Forget about her, she's too skinny and lacking in the boob department," Christina said waving her fork in mid-air. "Come and keep my bed warm."

"Christina," Tori exclaimed her eyes wide.

"Thanks for the offer," Four laughed, "but I think I'll stick with just one hellcat, if you don't mind."

"Good luck with that," Al called dejectedly.

"So, Tris?" Four probed, ignoring Al who obviously had issues.

"I think she's outside," a new voice called, and Four turned to see an older man by the door staring at them.

Again, Four was struck with an odd sense of familiarity as he looked at the older man.

"Thanks," Four said to the man who had yet to introduce himself. "And how do I get outside?"

"Come on," he laughed. "I'll show you."

Four turned back to Tori, and she smiled at him so he guessed the new guy couldn't be that bad.

"Thanks, Tori," he said to her, and then he looked at the others. "It was nice to meet you all."

"Will we be seeing more of you?" Christina asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Not in the way you want to," Four replied with a laugh, and he turned to follow the older man out of the dining room. He vaguely heard Christina say, "Ain't that the truth? Lucky bitch always gets the hot ones."

"I'm not interrupting your dinner, am I?" Four asked politely as they walked further down the corridor.

"No, it's fine," the man answered. "I'm Amar, by the way."

"Four," Four said with a smile.

"Yeah, we've met, but you were unconscious," Amar provided.

When Four looked at him in question, Amar added, "I'm part of what we call the clean-up team. I dispose of the bodies."

"Now there's a job you can write to your parents about," Four chuckled.

Amar gave a snort of laughter and led Four out of a set of wide, double glass doors.

"Wow," Four exclaimed as he took in the enormity of the green expanse in front of him and he stepped out on to a wide marbled terrace. The stone under his feet seemed to glitter in the early evening light, and the balustrade that surrounded the terrace looked almost pure white. His eyes were drawn to the low sun glistening off a body of water that he could see in the distance. "I'll say it again. This is some place."

They strolled over to a set of double marble stairs and descended down one side onto the paved area below

"That it is," Amar agreed. "The people who live here tend to forget that sometimes, but it never ceases to amaze me."

"So, what's the real story with all the people here?" Four asked, his eyes focusing on a lone figure he could just make out far in the distance, sitting on what looked like a giant boulder.

"Everyone in this place has their own story, their own tragedy," Amar said gently. "That's part of what brings them here in the first place. Don't ask, they will tell you if and when they are ready."

"And what's her tragedy?" Four asked, knowing full well it was Tris sitting alone in the distance.

"Tris's tragedy is an atrocity to us all," Amar replied cryptically, "and the only person who can tell you about it is her."

Four nodded at Amar's statement.

"I hear you've been offered a position here?" Amar probed.

"Sort of," Four answered, "though nothing has been defined." He looked to the older man; he was probably around the same age of his dad. "Do you think I should take the offer?"

"That's not for me to say, Four," Amar countered evenly.

"What will happen if I say no?" He asked one of the main questions that had plagued him since he had been offered the job.

Amar shrugged his shoulders. "No one has declined before," he answered with a dry smile.

Amar watched the younger man as he gazed upon Tris's form in the distance, and Amar chuckled a little.

"She is something, isn't she?" Amar remarked.

"And the rest."

There was a pause between the two men.

"If I don't stay, will I still get to see her?" Four asked.

"I couldn't say. Tris is her own person, and she lives by her own rules," Amar smiled. "But, Four, don't make her the reason to stay. That's not the way to start a relationship. Don't put that much pressure on her, or yourself."

Four nodded and started to walk the distance that separated him from the one thing that he wanted.

"Four," Amar called and Four turned back to him. "You hurt her, or you break her in any way, and you'll have the entire Dauntless out for your blood."

Four looked at the man and again had the fleeting sense of recognition.

"I won't hurt her, Amar," he stated honestly. "And she'll probably be the one who breaks me."

Four walked the winding path toward Tris, and when he got closer, he could see her hair moving in the slight breeze, and his fingers ached to be buried within the silken strands. Her gaze was focused on the lake in front of her, and she was, indeed, sitting upon on a giant boulder, her knees pulled up to her with her chin resting on them. She looked lost and alone, and Four swallowed hard at the sadness that seemed to emanate from her.

"What took you so long?" Tris asked when he got closer, not moving her gaze away from the nature before her.

"Oh, you know, traffic out of the city is horrendous," he explained with a smile, "and I had to bypass Christina."

"She try to jump you?" she asked, turning her head to him with a knowing smile.

"Nah, but she probably would have if she didn't have her hands full with her dinner," he replied with his smirk.

"Don't worry, she does that with every hot body that walks through the door," Tris told him as he walked round to stand in front of her.

He watched her as she raked her eyes over him, and he got the distinct feeling she was undressing him right there, and he groaned when she unconsciously licked her lips.

"I can handle her, don't worry," she said, her eyes on his. "I can protect what's mine."

He raised his eye brows questioningly at her. "Yours?"

She scooted herself forward on the rock, her arms stretched out in front of her and her fingers flexing in the universal 'come here' gesture, and he willingly moved as close to the boulder as he could get, between her legs. Tris wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him close. Her cheek lay next to his, his 5 o'clock shadow prickly against her soft skin. "Mine," she whispered, almost inaudibly.

Four pulled away from her, and brought his hand up to her cheek and she leaned into his touch, her eyes closing.

"Tris," he said tenderly, and she opened her eyes to look at him, the greenish tint in her hazel eyes shining dominantly, drawing him into the depths where he wanted to reside forever. "Yours," he agreed.

Tris smiled at his words. "Yours?" she queried, and Four instinctively knew what she was asking him.

"Yes, you are," he said, and then kissed her deeply.

When he pulled away from her, Tris gave him her signature cheeky smile and asked, "So, have you decided?"

Four couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him at the expression on her face, halfway between wanton sex goddess and mischievous pixie.

"Yes."

"And," Tris probed, her hands twisting into his shirt, and her delicate fingers slipping between the buttons to feel the skin of his chest. "Are you gonna stay?"

Four moved back a little so he could take in her features again. He didn't think he would ever get tired of just looking at her, and he found if oddly settling that he could visualize himself doing it for a millennia.

"Four," she whined when he didn't answer her and he could almost envision a mini-version of her with bouncy curls and that dreaded pout saying his actual name but with an added bonus of stamping her foot, and he laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked when he didn't answer her but laughed instead.

"Nothing," he answered, convinced he had seen his future daughter in her eyes. "Yes," he said finally.

"Yes, what?" Tris asked, confused. This conversation had taken a turn and wasn't making any sense.

He inched forward so his lips skimmed over hers. "Yes, I'm staying," he whispered, his eyes boring into hers, and he felt her lips stretch to her glorious smile.

"Really?" she whispered back.

"Really," he answered and caught her lips again.

Tris pulled herself up in his arms, stretching herself fully against his hard body and plunging her tongue into his willing mouth, stoking his tongue in that delicious way only she seemed capable of, and Four couldn't stop the groan from escaping him.

Tris pulled back first this time, her eyes closed as if still feeling the touch of his lips.

When she opened her eyes again, she asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to join Dauntless?"

Four locked his eyes on hers, his mind whirling with thoughts of why he shouldn't join Dauntless. He lifted his hand and his fingers brushed against the soft wisps of her hair, tucking them gently behind her ear.

"When I joined the C.P.D, it was so I could protect those who are unable to protect themselves, to find the bad guys and make them pay, but, we are restrained in our processes," he explained softly. "The Dauntless have their own rules and they get their bad guys. I want to do that. I want to be able to deal out retribution, to be a part of something that embraces principles I consider important. To be the hero. Why do you ask?"

"Because I need to know you made this decision with this," she placed her hand over his heart, "and not with this," and she moved her hand to his groin, cupping gently what was there.

"Well, it was touch and go there for a while," he smirked to her.

"I know," she grinned sexily back before pulling him back into her arms, hugging him to her and enjoying the mass of him enveloping her.

"You give the best hugs," she said against his shoulder. "Like a big, cuddly bear."

"A teddy bear?" he grumbled, his breath dancing across the skin of her neck. "That's not very manly."

Tris twisted her head so she could place a kiss just below his jawline. "Okay, a big, ferocious, mean bear."

"That's better," he grinned.

"Great," she smiled back, and then surprised him by pushing on his chest, making him moved back. When she could, she slid from the boulder to stand in front of him. "Dauntless training starts tomorrow," she told him, and she turned to head back to the house, pulling on his hand so he had to follow.

He followed her gladly. "Tris, I'm a cop. I don't need training."

"Everyone needs training, Four," she remarked, their fingers intertwining naturally. "Especially cops."

Four thought about that and decided to let it slide. All assassin groups had their own way of training, he thought. "Who's gonna train me?"

"The training team," she answered simply with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Which consists of?" he probed as they reached the main house.

"Three, maybe four agents. Four, just wait until tomorrow. You need to go and see Uncle Mason," she said.

Four smirked at her "And declare my intentions?"

"What?" she snapped quickly, her head twisting quickly to look at him.

"Nothing," he laughed at the shocked expression on her face. They might have acknowledged that they belonged to each other, but he could see it was too soon for declarations of everlasting love.

Tris looked suspiciously at him, then she escorted Four to her uncle's office, knowing he was in and that he would know Four had arrived with his answer.

Happy Holidays to all. I hope you all celebrate the best you can and your days are filled with love, friendship, and family this holiday season. All reviews are considered Christmas gifts... you know what to do.