Thank you all for the reviews and follows. I may be slower to update my active stories, life and work have gotten really busy. But, I won't abandon my stories, so please stick with me.
Tris POV
I jerk awake suddenly, covered in sweat. Eric startles beside me.
"Tris, what's wrong?" He asks.
"Is this real?" I ask. I begin to shake.
"Yes, this is real. Come here." Eric pulls me close to him and wraps his arms tightly around me. He entwines our legs together and I press against his chest, breathing in his masculine scent. I can't stop myself from shaking, "It's ok Tris, I'm here." He squeezes me tight and I do the same to him. I listen to his heartbeat.
"This is real." I say before I feel the tears start to fall.
"Tris what happened? Was it another nightmare? Did you remember something?" He asks.
"I don't know. It felt like a nightmare." I say in between sniffles.
"Tell me about it?" He asks.
"It was from inside Erudite." I quietly reply. He loosens his grip on me but I pull him closer. "No, don't leave."
"I won't. It's ok. Tell me what you remember." He replies, holding me tight and resting his chin on my head.
"I woke up in a cell. I didn't know where I was at first. I was in terrible pain, but I managed to walk over to a door that had a glass panel. You saw me, but I didn't recognize you. You were wearing Dauntless black but you had a blue armband. Peter was with you, but I didn't recognize him either. He was wearing all blue. You both came into my cell, you sat with me on the bed." I can feel Eric tensing, but I continue, "you told me your name, and you told Peter to go get Caleb. We talked, I told you I recognized your eyes and that I dreamt of you all the time. I wanted to know who you were to me because you had been consuming my thoughts. When Caleb came in the cell I recognized him. Did this happen?" I ask.
"Yes, it did. It was the only time you woke up with any type of coherence the entire time we were there with you." He replies. I quickly pull away from his embrace and he looks at me intensely. "Tris, is there more?"
"It can't be real." I say, feeling my body tremble.
"Tris, what else do you remember? Please? I want to hear it all." Eric gently replies.
"Caleb asked you two to give him some time alone with me. You both left the cell. He asked me if I knew how I got there, or if I knew who you two were, and I answered no to both. He then asked me if I knew who he was and I told him he was my brother. He seemed upset, and he started pacing and eventually looked out the window for several minutes. When he came back he..." I feel a sob in my throat, and I start crying harder at this unknown nightmare.
"When he came back what happened?" Eric asks, gently rubbing his hands on my back.
"He told me that I shouldn't remember anything, and that he didn't think they'd given me a full dose. Then he told me I was what was wrong with our society, and he didn't understand why I wouldn't just cooperate. I yelled for you. Then he told me goodbye, and he injected something in my neck." I reply, Eric immediately sits up in bed.
"Tris, are you sure?" He asks. I sit up and face him.
"That's everything I remembered. Is the last part a nightmare? Everythings so mixed up in my mind." I say, but the look on Eric's face scares me. "What Eric? What are you not telling me?"
"Tris, I heard you yell for me. By the time I unlocked your cell and got inside Caleb said he had to sedate you because you started getting violent and speaking incoherently. He told us that your waking and speaking to us right before that was a fluke." He says slowly.
"Did he give me something besides a sedative?" I ask. Eric just looks at me and shakes his head.
"Tris I don't know. He's been a part of this from almost the beginning. He's your brother. We need to get dressed, we need to find Caleb." He says evenly.
We both quickly get dressed and leave the apartment. We have no clue what time it is, but based on the number of people milling around we assume it's not too late. We soon run into Tori.
"Hey Tori, have you seen Caleb?" I ask.
"No, not since he left earlier for the surveillance you sent him on." She replies, gesturing at Eric.
"I never sent him on any surveillance." Eric replies. "How long ago did he leave?"
Tori looks down at her watch. "Maybe an hour or so. It's almost midnight now. He said he'd be out all night." She replies. "Eric, is something wrong?"
"Did he go alone?" Eric asks.
"You know, I'm not sure. Zeke and Shauna just headed back to their apartment. Uriah, Lynn and Marlene are in the control room working, Chris and Will are sleeping as far as I know. Peter may be with him, I saw him walking with him." She replies. "Was he not supposed to leave tonight?"
"No, it's just a miscommunication that's all. I'm going to see if Peter is around. Thanks Tori." Eric replies. He grabs my hand and we head towards the apartment group that our initiation class was assigned to.
"Eric, what's going on?" I ask nervously.
"We're just going to see who's home." He replies. He knocks on an unfamiliar door and there's no answer. He keeps banging until we hear stirring and yelling from the other side. A sleepy and disheveled Peter opens the door.
"What the hell man? Is something wrong?" He asks, gesturing for us to come in.
"Is Caleb here?" Eric asks.
"No, he left a little while ago for surveillance." He replies with a yawn.
"Did he take anyone with him?" Eric replies.
"No. I saw him leaving and walked with him to the train. I offered to go with him but he turned me down, said you had sent him out and he was meeting up with some of the other scouts assigned to watch Four. The idiot went out alone again?" Peter asks.
"Yeah I think so. We can deal with it when he's back. Peter, what do you mean by again? Has this happened before?" Eric asks.
"It's happened before. A few times when we were in Abnegation. This is the first time since then that I can remember. He knows better." He replies, shaking his head.
"Yeah he does. Whenever he comes back, let me know. Don't let him know he's in trouble though." Eric replies.
"You got it man. You guys need anything else?" He asks.
"Sorry for waking you up." I reply weakly.
"No problem. I'm going to kick you both out now so I can go back to sleep though." He yawns and Eric and I bid him goodnight. As soon as we're in the hallway I pull Eric to a stop.
"Was the dream real?" I ask.
"I don't know Tris." He replies. "It looks suspicious, but this is Caleb. He's been on the up and up this whole time. There's no way." He looks pained, and he's shaking his head, then his expression hardens. "Right now, we have to treat this like we would if it were anyone else. We have to assume the worst and hope for the best. We need to get him to Candor when he comes back." He replies.
"Why?" I ask, knowing what's coming.
"We need to question him under truth serum." He sighs.
"He's my brother. He helped rescue me." I say, feeling my voice break.
"When he gets back we'll get this entire mess sorted out. It has to be an explanation for everything." He replies.
"Be honest with me Eric." I reply.
"I am being honest. I can confirm that pretty much your entire dream was a memory, but I can't confirm the last part when it was just you and Caleb. Tris, if there's even a slight chance that last part happened, the only way we'll know is if he testifies under truth serum. I hate to do it, but it's necessary to clear it up."
"I know. There has to be a logical explanation." I reply. Eric nods and takes both of my hands in his.
"Worrying isn't going to change it. Let's go to the control room. We can pull footage to see if there's anything suspicious." He suggests, and he leads me there.
Eric scans his access card and enters the room. Lynn's head pops up and she removes her headphones.
"Don't you two sleep?" She asks with an amused look on her face.
"Not much since getting back here." Eric replies. "Lynn, we're looking for Caleb. He left the compound around 11:00, can you bring up the footage from about 10:00 on so we can take a look?"
"Sure, no problem. I am pretty sure Mar saw him leave earlier." She replies as she kicks the back of Marlene's chair. Marlene jumps and turns around, a scowl on her usual cheerful face.
"Jesus Lynn, I've told you to stop doing that." She groans.
"You saw Caleb earlier, right?" Lynn asks.
"Yeah, he was waiting for the train." She replies with a shrug.
"Alone?" I ask.
"Peter was with him up until he left. We have the footage." She turns to her computer to find the feed.
"Audio too?" Eric asks.
"Of course. What kind of operation do you think we're running here?" Uriah answers with a grin.
"Here," Marlene hands me her headphones, which Tris and I share, as Marlene starts the clip.
From the video
We watch as Caleb and Peter walk into the frame.
"I really don't mind, if nothing else I can cover you until you find them. It's really not safe for any of us to go out alone anymore." Peter says
"It's ok, really. You're exhausted. I've already got a close rendezvous point right off the train. I'll be fine, besides I'm armed. You worry too much. I may not be Dauntless but I can certainly defend myself." Caleb chuckles.
"You're as stubborn as your sister. It must be a divergent thing." Peter laughs. Caleb jerks his head in Peter's direction.
"I'm not divergent." Caleb replies angrily.
"Ok, damn, no need to get your panties twisted. Being compared to your sister isn't the worst thing that can happen." He replies.
Caleb relaxes a bit. "Speaking of my sister, how's her memory recovery going?"
"That'd be a question better answered by her or Eric. She was struggling a bit back in Abnegation. The nightmares started again." He replies.
"Interesting. So, her and Eric? Are they together?" Caleb asks.
"Damn man, do you not talk to her at all?" Peter replies, shaking his head.
"Well, it certainly looks like they are. I'm just wondering if it's serious." He replies.
"Gonna have the big brother talk with a guy who can split you in two barehanded huh?"
"If it's serious, I'd like to know. Not sure how forthcoming Beatrice will be." Caleb replies.
"Eric's a good guy. As for how serious they are you really should talk to them, but by my own observation he'd do anything for her. He make look and act like an asshole, but he'd move mountains for your sister. I can't say there's anyone else better for her. Why are you so worried about it?"
"Loving someone can be considered a weakness." Caleb replies. "Weaknesses can be exploited."
"Well, you love your sister, are you saying she's your weakness?" Peter counters.
"I'm logical enough to not allow emotions to dictate how I react to situations and circumstances."
"Fucking Erudite and logic. You're practically Dauntless now, think like one." Peter scoffs.
"Logic can serve you well when you're under pressure." Caleb counters.
"Ok, I'll agree with you there. But, you're on your own if you want to have a conversation with Eric about any weaknesses you think he has. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go well. Peter replies as the train approaches in the background. "Be safe man, see you in the morning." Peter waves as Caleb runs towards the train.
End of video
"That's really the best we have." Uriah says once we've finished the clip. "The rest is just him moving from the apartment he's sharing with Peter through the Pit and then the two of them at the train like you just saw. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, fine. He went out alone tonight off schedule. It's a miscommunication, that's all. If you see him before I do, please send him our way. Don't let him think he's in trouble though." Eric replies.
"Will do boss. You guys really should try to sleep. You both look like you need it." Marlene replies.
"Yeah, we'll head to our apartment soon." Eric replies.
"Our apartment?" Lynn snickers. "Ok, maybe I'm behind the times, but what the hell is happening between you two?"
"We're together." I reply. Lynn, Uri and Marlene all share the same look of surprise.
"Seriously?" Lynn asks, wide eyed.
"Seriously." Eric replies. "What's with the look?" He asks.
"Sorry, it's just surprising. I mean, it's you." She gestures to Eric. "Not something I've seen before. It's good though. Might as well have something happy when the world is fucked up outside."
"I agree." Marlene replies.
"I'd give you the hurt her and I'll kick your ass speech, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't even get a punch in. So, how about you just treat her right and we'll continue to be whatever it is that we are...friends maybe?" Uriah says with a toothy grin.
"Fair enough." Eric replies, grabbing my hand. "Let's go home."
"Please make sure to send Caleb to us whenever he gets back. Spread the word too." I implore.
"We will. Get some rest." Marlene replies, gesturing for us to get out.
Eric opens the door and leads us out, stopping briefly.
"Caleb was digging about us. Do you think he wants to ensure that I'm not a weakness because he's concerned about our welfare, or do you think he wants to make sure I am a weakness that he can exploit?" I ask bluntly.
"Neither of have the answer to that right now, and you know that." He replies, frustration evident in his voice. "Do you want to go home or go get a drink?" He asks, as if reading my overactive mind.
"A drink would be good. My mind is going nuts." I reply. He leads us down to the bar, where we quickly spot Tori sitting at a table with several people I don't recognize. She sees us and waves us over.
"Hey, you remember my brother George right?" She asks, beaming at Eric. We see the man sitting next to her, he has the same dark hair and almond shaped eyes. George stands up and embraces Eric.
"I owe you so much." He says to Eric.
"Nonsense." Eric replies, stepping back from the embrace. "I only did what was right."
Another man stands and takes his place next to George, slipping an arm around him. "Eric." He says, smiling.
"Amar, my friend, it's good to see you." Eric says, extending his hand and shaking with Amar.
"You've never been one to be modest. We owe you our lives. Thank you." Amar replies. "Who is this gem?" He gestures to me.
"This is my girlfriend, Tris Prior. Tris, this is my trainer Amar and his partner George." Eric replies.
"Husband now." George beams, before hugging me. Amar is next to hug me.
"Congratulations on your marriage." Eric smiles.
"Thank you kind sir. And girlfriend? How'd you manage to get this beautiful girl?" Amar asks.
"He saved my life too." I respond with a smile. "He's also a pretty special man." Eric squeezes my hand before dropping it to instead put his arm around me. He kisses my temple.
"He truly is." George replies.
"That he is." Tori agrees, smiling at Eric.
"Ok, this is awkward." Eric replies, looking uncomfortable.
"Still can't take a compliment I see." Amar laughs. "It's ok though. He's like an onion, this one. Tris, I hope you're able to peel the layers away without too many tears." He smiles at me.
"Already working on it. It's a good thing I love a challenge. I've also heard there is a grand prize to whoever can thaw the coldest man in the compound." I reply.
"I love you already! She's a feisty one. Hang on to her Eric." Amar replies.
"Planning on it." Eric nods.
"Join us for a drink, we insist." George adds, gesturing us to sit with them. I glance at Tori and she nods with a smile. We sit down and Amar waves a waiter over.
"Dustin, these are our friends Eric and Tris. Please put their drinks on our tab." George says, Eric holds his hand up to protest, but George shakes his head at him. "I insist, the least we can do is buy you some drinks."
"Sure thing, what would you like beautiful?" Dustin asks me with a smile and a wink. Eric quickly puts his arm around me and kisses my neck softly before glaring at Dustin, who now looks a lot less flirtatious.
"Jack and coke please." I reply.
"Um, how about you sir?" Dustin asks Eric nervously.
"I'll have what my girlfriend is having." He replies evenly. I can see Dustin's adam's apple bob as he swallows nervously.
"Sure, coming right up." He replies before practically running away from the table.
"I believe you just made that boy piss his pants Eric." Amar regards with an amused look on his face. "Possesive much?"
"He shouldn't be looking at Tris that way." He grumbles.
"In case you haven't noticed there are many who look at Tris that way." George says, gesturing around the room. Sure enough, I catch a few eyes as I glance around.
"Who knew a messy bun and tank top with jeans could be so appealing." I reply while shaking my head.
Tori laughs. "You need to invest in a better mirror if you can't see just how appealing you are."
"I agree." Eric replies while placing a kiss on my bare shoulder.
The waiter returns with our drinks, and hurries away with a promise to check on us soon. I turn my attention to George and Amar.
"How was it living in Amity?" I ask.
"Surprisingly beautiful and as peaceful as you'd imagine. We both thrived on the chaos and volume here, especially with Amar being a trainer and me working in the tattoo parlor. Moving to Amity was hard at first, because I had to go alone without so much as a goodbye with my sister or my love." He squeezes Tori's hand across the table. "But when Amar joined me several months later, I was overjoyed." He smiles.
"I can't say I was particularly happy to have to fake my death, especially when it meant leaving my initiates and close friends without a word, but when Eric approached me and told me how dangerous it was to be someone like me I believed him immediately. I had no idea how much hell they put you through afterward thinking you killed me." Amar adds, looking at Eric.
"It was a necessary part of the job. I had to grow a rather thick skin in order to keep people safe." Eric replies with a nonchalant shrug.
We continue our easy conversation with the trio, enjoying the company and the distraction from the thoughts of Caleb. After nursing two drinks each, our fatigue begins to catch up and we bid our goodbyes.
"It was lovely to meet you Tris. I hope to see more of you soon, once we kick some factionless ass." George says with a smile.
"Make sure you take care of each other." Amar adds.
"We will, and it was great to finally meet you both." I reply before we bid our final farewells.
Eric leads us towards our apartment. We walk in silence, once we get to the door he speaks. "Six one seven five." I quirk my eyebrow at him. "Its the code. You live here, you should have it."
"Thank you." I reply as I punch it in and open the door. We walk inside and I immediately sit on the couch.
"Tris, we need sleep. Neither of us can keep going like this." Eric says, crouching in front of me, taking both of my hands.
"There's a logical explanation for his behavior, right?" I ask. Eric looks down at our hands and back up to my eyes.
"Tris, I don't have answers. Only Caleb does. Everything he's done from the start of this plan till now doesn't lead me to believe he's a traitor. He's been a huge part of the team." He replies. "Besides, he loves you."
"So did Four." I reply softly.
Eric moves so he's sitting next to me. He pulls me close and wraps his arms around me. "We're going to get answers. I won't let anyone hurt you. Never again." He replies, before falling completely silent.
"What are you thinking?" I ask.
"I just wish this could be normal. Just us. No fucking war." He sighs.
"Eric, there's something that's been bothering me." As soon as these words are out of my mouth, his expression hardens. I gently run my fingers down his jawline and cup his face in an effort to calm him. "What I remembered earlier, you were kind to me, when I was at Erudite. But, when I woke up in Abnegation, you were so angry with me. Why?"
He sighs and looks away from me. He begins massaging in between his eyes with his thumb and index finger, which I've noticed he does when frustrated.
"I don't want to interfere with your memories. I want you to remember things on your own, not what I tell you." He replies.
"What if I never remember? Eric, I just want answers. I know I was angry and confused when I first saw you in Abnegation, but you seemed just as angry at me. Please tell me why."
"Tris, I'm going to be as general as I can with this explanation. Please don't try to dig deeper, ok?" He asks, finally meeting my eyes again.
"I will try."
"You know Jeanine pumped you full of serums and put you through an almost constant cycle of sims, until your body was physically unable to take it. You also know you suffered from terrible nightmares once we rescued you, even though you don't remember the nightmares themselves, we've told you how bad they affected you, right?" He asks and I nod affirmation. "You and I were fine in Erudite, I'm talking about that day you just remembered. You didn't know exactly who I was, but you knew you had been dreaming of me. I'll get to that later, anyway you and I were good. You trusted me. When we got you to Abnegation you had been heavily drugged, and you slept almost constantly. You had horrible nightmares and terrors, and at first I was the only one who could calm you, until one night I was in your nightmare and you snapped. Your subconscious mind was telling you I was pretty much the devil incarnate, and I knew that, but I was angry that you were terrified of me. When I walked into the house and saw you really awake for the first time, I was happy. But when you lunged at me, I was afraid I'd lost you forever, that all of the progress that was made in gaining your trust was for naught. I'm not proud of how I reacted Tris."
"I can understand why you'd be frustrated. I would have been too." I reply, idly tracing the maze on his forearm with my fingers. "You went through so much to stop this war already, and to rescue me. I can't imagine everything you've had to deal with, and now it's starting all over again."
"I told you before that I'd found out about my family's murder the day we rescued you. That day we went completely off plan. I had no idea that Jeanine was angry with me for not personally delivering you to her. She had you, regardless of how you got to her, and she seemed to continue to trust me and treat me like a part of her team. We had a solid plan in place to not only rescue you, but to completely destroy Erudite. The day we rescued you was the first day she'd allowed me into the lab with you while she was experimenting on you. I didn't think anything of it, she'd had Peter and I guarding you the whole time anyway, so the trust was established as far as I was concerned. I was wrong. Basically, her sims were developed to expose the weakness of whomever was under the sim. When I kept showing up in yours, she questioned my loyalty. The day she called me into her lab, she confronted me about you, and she also informed me of my parents death. I shot her Tris. Sure, she had a weapon out in plain view, but I didn't even give her time to react. I ruined the entire plan, and instead of an organized destruction of Erudite, it was Peter, Caleb and me getting you out of there any way we could."
"I caused your family's death." I back away from him.
"Jeanine caused my family's murder. Jeanine. Only her." He replies. "My reaction caused us to leave Erudite intact. My reaction is why there are still labs and scientists in place to continue her plans. I need to fix this, Tris." He replies.
"You have to stop blaming yourself." I say, he places a finger over my lips to quiet me.
"Right, just like you need to stop blaming yourself." He replies.
"We're at an impass here." I reply.
"Yes, we are." He sighs. He leans down and gently presses his lips to mine. He moves his hands to my face, then trails one hand up to release the clip holding my hair in place as he deepens the kiss. He runs his hands through my messy hair, tugging lightly to force me to expose my neck. He begins placing open mouth kisses there, trailing down to my collarbone. He kisses each of my ravens before bringing his lips back to mine. He then backs away and just looks at me.
"That wasn't a distraction, just so you know. I just really needed to do that." He says before leaning his head on mine.
"We're going to finish this war. Together." I whisper.
"Everything outside of our door is a fucking mess." He whispers against my cheek. "Nothing else is all right, but we are."
I move to his lap and wrap my arms tightly around him, he quickly snakes his arms around my back and pulls me as close to him as he can. We sit together like this until a sharp banging on the door startles us. Eric gets up and looks through the peephole before opening the door.
"Hey, did I wake you?" Peter asks as Eric gestures for him to come in.
"No, we haven't really been able to sleep. What's going on?" He replies.
"Edward's here. Tori took him to Zeke and Shauna's apartment and told me to come find you two." Peter replies.
Eric glances back at me, but I'm already on my way to the door. "Lets go." I say.
"He wasn't due back until the day after tomorrow, he's taking a chance of running into Four." Peter remarks.
"Did he say why he's here?" Eric asks.
"He only said he needed all of us together. I've got Remy and Austin heading to the control room to relieve Lynn, Uri and Marlene. Tori was getting Chris and Will." He replies.
We arrive at Zeke and Shauna's and find everyone waiting.
"We're all here." I start, "What's going on?"
"Wait, where's Caleb?" Will asks.
"He's with Evelyn and Four." Edward replies. "I don't know how else to tell you this so I'm just going to say it, Caleb is working with them."