Eric sat down at the kitchen table, staring at the Risk board game they had left out the night before and thought. It was very unusual for someone from Amity to enjoy playing a war game, never mind be good at it. Olivia wasn't quite as Amity as she should be and he wondered if it was solely because of him or if there was another factor in there.

The sound of footsteps entering the living room made him look up. Olivia always awoke first so he wasn't surprised to see her go to the coffee machine like every other morning and frown at the dark liquid in the pot.

Confused, she turned in his direction and jumped a little when she met his eyes. "Geez, I didn't see you." She said, her hand touching the middle of her chest in surprise. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Too much on my mind to sleep." He responded, cupping the mug he held between both hands. He had stayed up most of the night thinking about their game and the last week. There was something about Olivia that he couldn't put his finger on and the mystery had kept him awake trying to figure it out.

"Hmm. Well I hope you can stay awake at work. With a day missed, Paul is going to be pushing you to seed that field as quickly as possible." She replied, filling her own mug with coffee. She leaned against the counter, blew on the steaming drink softly and took a sip.

"I've had worse." He eyed her over his cup. He watched her as she set the mug down and began making breakfast.

With Eric off with Paul and Connor to school, Olivia and Linda went to work in the orchard.

It was an overcast day, the clouds dark with rain that threatened to fall and a cool wind blew past them. Olivia pulled her yellow cardigan tighter around herself and looked up at the dark sky. The rain was good for the crops, but there was a lot of work to be done and she hoped it would be a short rainfall.

But the rain was the least of her worries when later on she was passed a letter from the school by one of Joanna's envoys.

"What is it?" Linda had asked as Olivia opened it up to read.

Scanning it over, Olivia's mouth pursed in anger and she marched out of the orchard without a word, ignoring her mother's calls.

"What the hell is this?!" Eric heard Olivia before he saw her, storming up to him with a paper waving in her hand.

"What the hell is what?" He asked confused as to what her problem was now.

"I just got a letter from Connor's principle, saying that he's in trouble for fighting with a Dauntless boy!" She cried her anger clearly visible.

"Oh."

"Is that all you have to say?" Olivia glared at him. "Please tell me that you didn't teach him to fight."

"If that makes you feel better, then no, I didn't." He lied.

Olivia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Look, I'm trying to be nicer to you, but you are making it really hard when you pull shit like this."

"I did him a favor. That kid was going to beat Connor up day after day if he didn't stand up to him." Eric said getting angry as well.

"We're from Amity, we don't fight!" She shouted.

Eric straightened up and clenched his jaw, trying to keep his anger in check. "You are, but Connor might not."

"Stop trying to push him towards Dauntless, Eric!"

"I'm not pushing him anywhere, but if he's going to transfer there after his choosing day then it's better for him to be prepared." He replied, his fist gripping the bag of seeds he carried.

"Just because you're from Dauntless doesn't mean he belongs there too." She hissed back at him.

Eric's pent up anger was getting the better of him. "It doesn't matter that I'm from Dauntless!" He shouted at her. "Or that you're from Amity. He could have both parents from Amity and still belong somewhere else, whether it's Dauntless or Candor. You can't force him to stay somewhere he doesn't belong." He calmed down.

Olivia looked away and shrugged. "It happens all the time."

Sure it did, kids chose to stay home despite their test results for all kinds of reasons. With that in mind Eric froze, an idea hitting him. "You got Dauntless on your aptitude test didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, turning away from him. Eric grabbed her arm and made her face him.

"Don't lie to me. I've been seeing the signs and I've finally figured it out. No one who is truly Amity would like playing Risk, or tell me off as much as you have and…" He trailed off in thought. "You took the train that night. No one has the guts to take the train except Dauntless…" Eric groaned, "I should have known then… Why didn't you fight back?"

Olivia pulled her arm from his grasp. "You're kidding me right? There were three of you and I didn't have the training you did, so I hoped you would take pity on an Amity girl and leave me alone. Obviously it didn't work out as planned."

Eric rubbed his temple with his free hand. "Do you realize that if you had transferred to Dauntless then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place?" He asked, annoyed.

"Do you think I don't know that?! My son belongs in a faction that he should have been born in and I hate myself for it!" She cried, raising her arms in frustration.

Sympathy tugged at him. "Why did you stay in Amity?"

She sighed and hugged herself as the cool wind picked up. "My father was dying. I couldn't just leave my mom alone."

Eric crossed his arms over his expansive chest and said to himself, "You chose blood over faction."

"Yes." She replied in a whisper.

They stared at each other for a minute as little drops began to fall onto their heads, slowly at first and then quickly soaking them through, but neither seemed to mind.

"Please don't tell my mom." She pleaded at last, little streams running down her cheeks.

"I won't." He promised. There was nothing either of them could do about it now anyway. She had chosen Amity and therefore had to live like them, which she had with success until he came around.

Not wanting her to get into trouble with all their arguing, he decided to try to get along even if she didn't. Then at least it wouldn't be his fault if she got kicked out.

"Truce?" He said, offering her his hand. He watched her eye it anxiously and he frowned. "We can't be friends if you can't stand to be near me."

Olivia looked up at him in mild surprise. "You noticed?"

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Of course I did, and I don't blame you. The last time I really touched you, I hurt you, but I promise it won't happen again."

"How do you know it's not just because I don't like you?" She asked, three feet away from him and her arms still wrapped around herself.

The corner of Eric's mouth lifted at her attempt to look nonchalant, and even though her body language told him what he had said was true, he said, "Fine. If that's all it is, then you'll have no problem holding my hand all the way to the barn."

She glanced at his outreached hand again. He had to credit her stubbornness, because she quickly placed hers in his and squeezed, like she was taking off a bandage quickly to lessen the pain.

Her fingers were cool against his warm ones and they set off together towards the building at the edge of the field where Paul was watching them from behind a window.

As soon as they were under the protection of the roof Olivia let go and leaned against the tractor that sat inside. Eric relaxed in the spot next to her, close enough that her shoulder rubbed against his upper arm, and crossed his ankles.

Clearly not wanting to be so close, she would shuffle over to create space between them, but he would quickly follow, and after the third time she glowered at him and gave up, finally resting against the vehicle behind them, and they watched the rain in companionable silence.

An hour passed and the rain showed no signs of giving up. Olivia had tried to concentrate on the conversation she would have with Connor once he got home to take her mind off the man standing too close, but as the air grew colder, Eric's warmth was welcoming and she leaned into him as casually as she could.

"Maybe we should give up and go home." Eric suggested, looking down at her. Her teeth's chattering was the only response she managed to give him.

"Here." Paul said and draped a blanket around her shoulders. Olivia clung to the folds, thankful for the excuse to back away from Eric and noticed the tinge of blue on his lips.

Alarmed, she said, "We better get home, before we both freeze to death." and wrapped half of the blanket around Eric. She waved good-bye to Paul and they went back out into the pouring rain.

The walk home was slow, because they were pressed together tightly for each other's heat and when they finally reached the house, their clothes dripping in the doorway, both Linda and Connor were already home.

Linda rushed over and pushed them towards the bathroom. "We better get you taken care of. Connor, grab a couple of blankets please."

Connor ran out of the room and they shivered their way to the small bathroom where Linda instructed them to undress.

"To… gether?!" Olivia managed to say indignantly.

Linda stopped and placed both hands on either hip and stared her down. "Do you want hypothermia?" Olivia shook her head no. "Then stop whining and do what I tell you." She took the blankets Connor had passed her and blocked the space between them with one.

Feeling awkward, Olivia began to take her clothes off in a hurry. She then grabbed the spare blanket that sat on the side of the tub and wrapped it around herself, allowing Linda to devote the other to Eric when he was done.

"Off to bed the both of you now." Linda declared and ushered them to Olivia's room and pulled back the purple polka dot print cover.

Eric quickly jumped in, wrapped like a mummy in the first blanket and waited for Olivia to stop hesitating and get in too.

"Is this necessary?" She asked her mother.

"You both need body heat to warm yourselves up slowly and snuggling up in bed is a great way to do that."

Rolling her eyes, she got in and Linda tucked them both in with the second blanket. Ten minutes after she left to give them some privacy, Olivia scooted closer to Eric.

"Nice of you to join me." He said, sleepily. "What happened to not liking me?"

"Shut up. I'm too cold to care about that right now." She said through her chattering.

"Hmm… Well now that I have you alone and nowhere to go, I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"Why are you so against Connor going to Dauntless if you should be in Dauntless too? Are you that scared that if he goes he will turn into me and make the same mistakes?"

Olivia remained silent for a minute, looking up at the ceiling before answering. "I'm terrified of being alone. If Connor goes to Dauntless and my mother dies then that's what will happen. It's another reason why I chose to stay in Amity. I couldn't handle the thought of going somewhere completely new all by myself... Plus becoming like you is also a major reason."

She could feel Eric's gaze on her face, but she refused to look at him.

"Is that why you seem so hell bent on going out with that Jacob guy?" He asked, ignoring her last statement.

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?" She said firmly.

"Fine, but I still think you're making a mistake." He mumbled, his eyes half closed.

"Go to sleep, Eric." She said and soon his rhythmic breathing rocked her into oblivion.