So I'm going to do something I normally don't do. I'm going to respond to a Guest comment.

To the Guest commenter who called me a child, you are partially correct; I should use commas instead of periods when using dialogue tags. Mea culpa. That said, I found your "child" comment to be snarky, rude, condescending and downright disrespectful. You are not a member of this community so for you to come here and be disrespectful like that is absolutely unacceptable. Act like you have some home training and show some respect when you are a visitor to a member site. Oh and since you want to be petty, let me point out that the summary indicates these scenes are unbetaed. That means they have not had the benefit of being proofread by someone other than the author for things such as grammar and spelling to catch errors that the author can miss while they are concentrating on characterization, plot and overall emotional tone. Reading comprehension 101, child.

To everyone else, thank you so much for your wonderful comments and reviews. I have an extraordinarily stressful day job and your comments make my day and inevitably bring a smile to my face. Extra thanks to Windchimed who caught the double paste in a previous scene and brought it to my attention. You are the best!

As I've mentioned, writing in canon intimidates me although I can think of a million places for the story to have gone after Insurgent. This is a little glimpse into what could have been...and yes, I know I ended it before the smut! :-) I'll expand this if I ever figure out where to include it.

xXx

The dark hallway leading to the Pit was already filled with the sound of music and people. Four paused before the bend in the hall would lead him into the Pit, trying to work himself up to facing it. The sounds should have comforted him, evidence that his faction was slowly getting back to normal. But tonight he was tired. He'd spend most of the morning at Candor, working on integrating their internal monitoring system into the city-wide mainframe he was building. Dealing with the Candor was draining for him, their lack of personal boundaries often strayed into areas he'd rather not share with just anyone. Then, once he returned to Dauntless, he, Tori and Harrison had spent hours pouring over old city maps, train maps and plans for the buildings that made up the Dauntless compound. They wanted to update Dauntless' living quarters so that they could better accommodate older and disabled members of the faction. Four's eyes were burning from strain, his head pounding from information overload.

Four looked at the faint light before him and sighed. The only way to make it back to the members' apartments was to cross the Pit. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose, slowly letting it out through his mouth. The calming trick had come from one of the healers while he and Tris were at Amity. It had taken him a while to try it but once he had, he'd been surprised how much taking just a moment to center himself had helped. He straightened his shoulders and let his face fall into the blank, inscrutable expression he wore when dealing with most of the faction. He continued down the hallway.

The mass of bodies, laughing, drinking, talking, the din of the music, the rushing sound of the water created a nearly physical wall of sound. For just a moment, all the movement and noise threatened to overwhelm him and his step faltered. But he kept moving forward.

He gave an acknowledging head nod to anyone who greeted him as he made his way through the crowd. There was an impromptu band set up in one corner of the Pit, people scattered around, dancing or just standing around talking and drinking. He was almost to the hallway that led to the members' apartments when Uriah stepped in front of him, his arm slung around Christina.

"Four!" Uriah said with his usual exuberance.

Four gave the younger man a small smile. Uriah was one of the few people he could relax around and just be himself. "Hey Uri." He turned to Christina. She had grown on him since her initiation and as Tris' other best friend, he found he could relax around her too. "Christina." She smiled at him as Uri held out a brown bottle. Four shook his head, knowing it was Dauntless' infamous homemade liquor. He was entirely too tired to drink. At this point, he was afraid one sip would knock him out. "What's going on?"

"Just hanging," Uri said. "I'm gonna take over at drums in a minute. You want to stick around?"

"Probably not. I was at Candor all morning so I just want to crash."

Christina grimaced sympathetically. "Sorry about that." She knew how tough it was for him to be around her former faction since his trial. Truth serum was one of the biggest reasons Christina herself had left so she knew how he felt.

Four's small smile expanded. "You guys seen Tris?" Christina and Uriah looked at each other and Four stiffened. "What?" he asked sharply. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine, Four." Christina reassured him. "It was just a hard day. Harrison had her sparring for a good portion of the morning so she'd be in top shape when we finally take initiates again. Then the Amity trucks were finally able to make it in this afternoon and since we missed last week's delivery due to the heavy rains, it was all hands on deck to unload." Christina grimaced. "She was practically dozing during dinner. She went home to bed."

Four shook his head. "I'd better get up there and check on her." His eyes narrowed on the bottle. "You guys be careful, okay?"

Uriah rolled his eyes. "We'll be good."

Four actually grinned for a minute and clamped Uriah on the shoulder. "See you tomorrow." He made his way through the remainder of the crowd and breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the elevator. He was not a fan of taking the elevator but climbing the eleven flights of stairs to their apartment was beyond him at that moment. He stepped in, pushed the button and closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing. Luckily, he reached the floor quickly as most people seemed to either be already home or in the Pit.

He opened his apartment door, shutting it quietly. There was a light on in the kitchen and spilling out of the bedroom. He stood for a moment and based on the silence, he assumed Tris was indeed sleeping. He quietly made his way to the bedroom and stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her. Tris was dressed only in one of his t-shirts and was face down on the bed, snoring lightly. Four smiled. She'd protest if he told her he snored but the gentle buzz coming from her was proof enough. He grabbed a pair of thin cotton pants from the drawer and went into the bedroom to change.

She still hadn't moved when he came out. She was in the middle of the bed so he was going to have to wake her. He sat on the edge and gently brushed a lock of her honey colored hair away from her face. She'd been letting it grow out from the grief inspired cut so it now fell just past her shoulders. He secretly hoped she'd let it grow back to the length it was when he met her. Before they'd gotten together, he'd often dreamed of Tris straddling him, leaning over to kiss him, her thick hair creating a curtain of privacy that blocked out the rest of the world.

Tris stirred as his fingers caressed her cheek. "Mm, you're home," she murmured sleepily.

"Yeah," he said quietly, a small smile playing at his lips. "I heard you had a rough one."

She groaned, still not moving. "I thought you were a tough instructor," she complained. "But Harrison is brutal."

Four chuckled. "As you know, Amar trained me before he died. Harrison trained him."

Tris rolled her eyes. "Great." She stretched, knowing she needed to move to allow her lover into bed but she was so comfortable. "My back is killing me."

"I actually think I can help." Four disappeared into the bathroom and came out a moment later, a brown jar in his hand. He straddled Tris on the bed, lifting her – or rather his – t-shirt.

"What are you, oh." Tris sighed as she felt Tobias's large hands begin to rub something slightly cool on her back. It smelled slightly minty and her skin tingled as he rubbed. "What is that?" she groaned.

Four grinned. "It's a peppermint rub." His hands dug into the small of her back and Tris moaned again. "Amity makes it."

"Why didn't I know about this?" she asked, the pillow doing nothing to mask the pleasure in her voice.

Four chuckled. "Irene hoards it in the medical wing. She said it was the only way she could get Dauntless members to actually go to medical if they were conscious and not bleeding."

Tris made an inarticulate sound and Four found himself smiling broadly. He rubbed the peppermint gel into her skin, loving at how soft it was. He moved down to her legs, his thumbs digging into her thighs, then smoothing his way down her calves. He picked up her small foot in his hand, pressing his thumb into her instep. The moan she gave sounded exactly like the one she gave when he pushed inside her. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

Tris halfheartedly swiped at him with her other leg. He grabbed it and gave it the same treatment. He moved his hands up her leg, squeezing, stopping occasionally to dip his hand into the jar for more gel. He stopped to squeeze her buttocks and Tris giggled. Four moved back up her back, raising the t-shirt as he went. Tris raised up slightly allowing him to pull the t-shirt off.

Four dug into her shoulders, wondering how she could carry so much tension there. He brushed aside her hair so he could press his fingers into the back of her neck. The soft sounds of pleasure emanating from her was making it tough for him to concentrate on just trying to get her to relax. He loved the toned muscles of her back, covered by the soft, smooth skin. He frowned slightly as his fingers glided over the scar of her bullet wound. He hated remembering how he'd almost lost her.

He ran his hands up and down the full length of her back, noting each small nick and scar. They'd been through so much, he mused. He never knew, nor would she agree to tell him, if any of the scars on her back had been put there by him when he'd been under the influence of the Erudite sim. It was a thought that occasionally haunted him, woke him up at night, but it was one she would not allow to take root. Whenever he sunk into a brooding silence, she was there, her presence soothing and accepting. He wondered, occasionally, if she realized how often she'd saved him.

Her back muscles were now soft and pliant so he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss between her shoulder blades. He sat back. "How does that feel?" he asked, his voice deep with arousal.

Tris wiggled from under him and turned over. Her eyes had darkened to gray and were full of lust. "I think you forgot the front."

Four grabbed the discarded shirt and wiped his hands. "So I did," he murmured, "what a terrible oversight."