AN: Thanks to you all for the reads, favorites, follows and reviews. We've come to the end of this story, it isn't the final chapter there will be an epilogue to follow soon. Thank you all for taking the ride with me!
Special thank you to my soul sister Lunaschild2016 for her proofreading and advice for this story and all others, and for all of our brainstorming sessions. You are the best! :)
This isn't the way it was supposed to happen. That's all Eric can think about as he follows his father down several long corridors as they make their way to the holding cells. The simulation should be long over by now, they should have Max and Jeanine under arrest, along with her followers and co-conspirators, and he and Tris should be able to sleep tonight knowing their life together was finally starting. This isn't the way any of this was supposed to happen.
Every noise, every corner they turn, every closed door gets checked. He watches the way his father works and he sees the Dauntless soldier he was always meant to be. He glances over his shoulder at Four and he sees the same alertness in his eyes. This is exactly what they've always trained for in Dauntless.
George opens a door and gestures for the two younger men to sweep the area. Eric enters the room and realizes they are in the hallway with the holding cells. He and Four separate and take each side of the hall. They sweep each cell and find them completely empty. George enters the hall and walks behind them, checking each cell.
"Where are the other cells?" Eric asks.
"There aren't any. This is where they were holding her son." George replies.
Eric paces back and forth, looking into every cell as if he expects something to change. "Where would they take her?" He asks.
"The labs." Four says. "If Jeanine is obsessed with your baby then it would make sense that she takes her to the labs to confirm the pregnancy."
"He's right." George replies.
"Take me there." Eric says and his father grabs his arm to stop him from pacing.
"Listen to me Eric." George begins and Eric looks up at his father. "You have to focus; you're no good to her if you can't."
"I'm focused. I need to find her. Please." Eric replies.
"Stay alert boys." George says quietly as he leads them towards the lab.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Tris watches her brother and finds his cold expression hasn't changed. He glances her way every so often but for the most part his focus is on the older redhead she now knows is her father's sister.
They've drawn her blood, they've taken a sample of her urine, they've swabbed her cheeks and they've even taken hair from her head and from her pubic area. She should feel violated but she instead feels a sense of relief now that the focus is on the results from whatever testing they are doing.
She tries to listen to their conversations but they're talking too quietly for her to pick up on anything they say. Her mind wanders to Eric and what he's doing. By now she's sure he's found out she's gone and she's afraid that whatever reaction he has could interfere in their plans to stop the war. Tris was actually surprised to see Jeanine since she knows it's less than twelve hours until the simulation is due to start.
"Beatrice, you continue to astound me. I didn't believe Jeanine when she told me she had not one but two pure divergents. I clearly underestimated you." Samantha remarks as she approaches the younger woman.
"Why are you so interested in me?" Tris asks.
"Because you shouldn't exist and now I need to learn more about you. It's fascinating to me that you and Eric could somehow be pure with the impure genes that went into your creation." She smiles. "Anywho, we will be preparing you for the extraction shortly."
Tris feels the familiar bubbles of panic rising. "I'm sorry, what extraction?"
"The embryo of course. We need to begin its incubation and get your body prepared for the next fertilization." She explains.
"What are you fucking talking about?" Tris asks angrily.
"Language Beatrice!" Samantha scolds. "I thought Jeanine had explained this to you already. Damn that woman. I told her not to start the simulation early but she just wouldn't listen. She obviously doesn't multitask well."
"She started the simulation already?" Tris asks nervously.
"She did. Complete chaos if you ask me, but she seems to think it's all under control. So, as I was saying we will be extracting this embryo from you and incubating it in our simulation womb. It's quite fascinating, you see the technology we have is brilliant because all we need is that fertilized egg and our womb does the rest. Just think Beatrice, you don't have to lose that perfect little body of yours. And, if you play nicely I may even let you continue to conceive the old fashioned way since you and that boyfriend of yours can't seem to keep your hands off of each other." She replies with a chuckle.
"You are sick." Tris spits.
"Oh dear how on earth do you think I'm sick? Do you think we didn't know the two of you were screwing anywhere and anytime you please? It quite amuses me that Andrew and Natalie's perfect little Abnegation girl turned into such a little whore. How does it feel Beatrice, knowing that mommy and daddy are going to be so very disappointed to hear their precious angel was sleeping her way to the top of Dauntless?" Samantha replies with a sinister smile. "I'm surprised you didn't at least take Tobias Eaton for a spin. He's quite the handsome man and he seemed quite entranced with you. Did you maybe find a way to give him a taste without the cameras picking up on it?"
You "Oh my god, you are disgusting." Tris says while shaking her head. Samantha laughs.
"Please, you're not going to try to convince me you're a prude now Beatrice. You have had sex with Eric in public. Did you think we wouldn't notice that?"
Tris can feel the blush on her neck and cheeks and her embarrassment soon gives way to anger.
"You are a real sicko aren't you? Watching your own niece have sex with her boyfriend, that's pretty high up on the perversion chart wouldn't you say? Maybe you're into kinky shit like that though. Do tell me Samantha, which was your favorite part?" Tris replies.
"You're quite the amusing child, but it's time to quiet that smart little mouth of yours. I'm going to give you this little injection and you're going to go to sleep. You don't want to be awake during our procedure." Samantha grins as she prepares the syringe.
"Wait, no. I'm not ready for this. Can you give me some time, please? Don't do this, don't take my baby. Just let me keep it and I swear I'll let you do anything you want, please."
Samantha injects the serum into Tris' neck and she watches as the fire slowly fizzles out of her niece's eyes.
"Don't worry, you'll be pregnant again soon…" Samantha says. Tris doesn't hear anything more as she slips into unconsciousness.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Eric adjusts his weapon as he silently moves down the corridor. His father, Four and he had to split up when they realized the complicated layout of the labs made it nearly impossible to cover in a short amount of time. He's yet to see anyone and that worries him because even though he knows the simulation may still be going on he expected the labs to be pretty active as well.
A flash of blue catches his eye and he quickly makes his way towards where he saw it. He sees the person quickly dart across the hallway from one lab to the next and he takes off after them. Once he's inside the lab he draws his weapon.
"Where is she?" He growls at the woman.
"Please do not harm me. I don't know what you're asking. Please." She says while holding her hands in the air. "I'm unarmed. Take what you need."
"Where is Jeanine?"
"She's here, she's been working on the girl." The woman answers.
"What girl? Long light brown hair? Dauntless?" Eric asks rapidly and the woman nods.
"Yes, the pregnant girl. You are here for her?" She asks.
"I am. She's carrying my child. Can you take me to them?" Eric asks.
"Please don't hurt me. I have children too and a husband who I love. Please."
"Lady, I don't want to hurt you, I just want to find my girlfriend. If you take me to her I will let you live." Eric replies.
"Yes of course. I will take you to her just please don't hurt me. Follow me." She says and Eric keeps his gun on her as he grabs her arm and shoves her in front of him.
"Go." He commands and she nervously begins walking down the hall towards another larger lab.
"They were just in there I swear." The terrified woman says. "Oh god please don't kill me." She begs as tears trail down her cheeks.
"Shut up!" Eric hisses as he pushes her into the lab. He follows behind her and closes the door. "What were they planning on doing to her?"
"Taking the embryo." She replies between gasps of breath and sobs.
Eric's panic returns as he begins speaking again. "What's your name?"
"Greta." She replies through tears.
"I'm Eric. Greta, that woman who Jeanine is holding is who I plan on marrying. I'm going to spend my life with her and our children, like you with your family. I need you to focus for me, ok? Tell me where they would take her to do whatever procedure you just described. Do we go to the hospital to find them?" He asks.
"No." She shakes her head. "We have procedure rooms here." She says as she tries to calm her breathing. "I can take you."
"Ok, that's good Greta. Please take me to find Tris." Eric tries to keep his voice calm but he's failing.
He follows the frazzled woman through many hallways and rooms and it becomes obvious that wherever these procedure rooms are its somewhere that's hidden from everyday viewing. As they make their way through another empty corridor the sounds of high heels clicking on the floor echoes off the wall and a tall redhead comes into view.
"Greta, what's going on here?" She asks.
"Nothing at all Samantha." Greta replies nervously. Eric keeps his gun down low on her back but hidden from the other woman's view.
"Who might this be?" She regards Eric curiously.
"Just one of the guards." Eric replies evenly.
"Interesting, I've never seen you around before. And since when does Greta need a personal guard?" She asks as she narrows her eyes at Eric.
"Samantha please…." Greta pleads and the redhead pulls a gun and points it at Eric.
"Who the fuck are you?" She growls.
"He's just here for that girl." Greta cries and Samantha yanks her away from Eric's grip. He points his gun at the other woman.
"It's you…." Samantha murmurs and Eric's eyes narrow.
"Where is she?" Eric asks.
"You're Eric Coulter. Jeanine was right; you walked right in here all alone." She smiles.
Before Eric can react they are surrounded on both sides by guards, some of which Eric recognizes from Dauntless.
"Drop your weapon!" He hears Razor shout from behind him. "I always knew you were a fucking traitor. I guess that is some platinum pussy."
Eric is forced to his knees and his hands are cuffed behind his back as Razor roughly grabs his arm and hauls him back into a standing position.
"You know I'm going to have to have a taste of her now. You pissed your entire career away over that girl. I need to know what's so great about her." He says with a laugh and Eric head butts him. The sound of Razor's nose breaking and the blood pouring from it makes Eric laugh and another guard knocks Eric out with the butt of his rifle.
"Put him in Jeanine's personal lab." Samantha commands and she watches as they drag the dark haired young man away. "Greta, you should be more aware of your surroundings, but your misstep may be the best thing that could have possibly happened. Jeanine will be pleased to hear we have both of her test subjects in custody."
Samantha pulls her cell phone out and dial's Jeanine's number. The leader answers on the first ring.
"I have a present waiting for you in your personal lab." She says before disconnecting. "Greta, come with me. We will be working on Miss Prior, but first we have to gather some equipment."
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Four has lost all communications with Eric and George, and he is trying to not let the worry creep in as he makes his way quietly towards where he sees Tris being held. He's patiently watched as both Jeanine and the mystery redhead have exited the room leaving Tris under the guard of Caleb Prior and Peter Hayes. Both young men are engrossed in watching something on the computer in front of them.
Four tries one last time to reach George or Eric, and neither man answer the call. He takes a deep breath before creeping silently into the lab. Tris' eyes dart up to his and he presses his finger to his lips. In a split second he has grabbed Peter Hayes by his throat and pressed his gun to his temple.
"Hello boys." He says in a menacing voice.
"Tobias, there's no need for violence." Caleb says in a shaky voice. Four still isn't sure he can trust the other man, no matter how much he revealed before, however he knows that Peter is a much better shot so he took his chances when he decided to grab him.
"Four, they helped me, please don't hurt them. They reversed the serum she gave me just a few minutes ago, that's how I'm even awake right now." Tris says.
"Take the cuffs off of her." Four commands. Caleb nods and fumbles for the keys on his key ring.
"Four, man I'm on your side buddy. You don't have to shoot me. I'll help." Peter says nervously as Four presses the barrel more firmly against his temple.
"Interesting theory Hayes." Four scoffs.
Caleb unlocks Tris and she rushes to Four's side. "Are you ok?" He asks.
"I'm fine. Where is Eric?" She asks.
"He's in the building somewhere, we will find him." Four glances at Caleb. "Are you with us?"
"I am." Caleb replies. Four tosses him a gun and he yanks Peter's arm until they are face to face.
"Hayes, give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your fucking skull open right this second." Four growls.
"I helped wake Tris up just now, and I can help you get out of here. I have codes and overrides. Please man." He pleads.
"There are three of us who will be armed and will shoot you if you so much as even blink the wrong way. We need to find Jeanine, Max and whoever that fucking redhead is. Make it happen." Four commands as he pushes Peter aside.
"She's our father's sister." Tris replies and Four looks at her with disbelief. "I would love to have a nice little talk with her."
Four nods once at Tris. "I'll lead, Hayes behind me, Tris and Caleb in the back. Let's go."
"They were going to get equipment so they are likely in the medical supply room." Caleb says from behind them.
"I'll get you there." Peter says. He leads them down several hallways and then gestures towards a room across from where they stand. There is a keypad along with a handprint scanner by the door. Peter keys in a code and places his hand on the scanner to unlock it and he opens the door.
"Peter, what are you doing here?" Samantha asks and then gasps when she sees Four, Tris and Caleb enter the room with their guns drawn.
"Where is Jeanine?" Tris asks.
"Oh little girl, as if I would tell you. Why don't you put your gun away and do what's necessary to take care of that little problem you have?" Samantha replies.
"Little problem? My baby is a little problem to you? From what I understand, my baby is very important to you." Tris replies.
Four closes the space between him and Samantha and presses his gun to her side. She tenses slightly and then smiles at her niece and nephew.
"I'm sure we can work something out if you'll just call your guard dog off Tris. This one is almost as bad as your boyfriend." She replies.
"What do you know about Eric?" Tris asks.
"I know he was hell bent on finding you, but unfortunately for him he found me first."
Tris rushes towards the older woman and puts her gun against her forehead. "Where is he?" She breathes out angrily.
"Hey, calm down Beatrice, this anger and rage isn't good for the baby." Samantha replies nervously.
"Tell me where he is." Tris growls out each word.
"All I know is he's with Jeanine. You do realize they were working together, don't you?" Samantha replies.
"Your attempts to poison me against Eric are pathetic, and if you want to live you might want to start answering the questions I ask. Where. Is. Eric?" She spits.
"I'm not afraid of you little girl." Samantha sneers. She reaches towards the pocket of her lab coat and in a split second reaction Tris fires her weapon.
"Fuck!" Four yells as they watch Samantha's body falls limply to the ground. A cell phone falls out of the pocket she was reaching towards. Caleb and Peter look at the scene in front of them in complete shock and Four stares at Tris.
They both have blood splatter on them, and while Four may be shocked he's handling things better than Tris. He grabs towels to wipe off his clothes and arms, and then he begins gently cleaning the blood from Tris.
"It was just a phone…" She murmurs.
"You didn't know that." Four replies as he wipes the blood off of her face.
"I killed her…"
Four takes her chin in his hand and tilts her face towards him. He looks into her eyes before speaking.
"You did what a Dauntless is trained to do. You protected yourself and those of us with you. Be proud of your actions Tris, this is war." Four says as he wipes the few tears that are trailing down her cheeks. He doesn't take his hands or eyes off of Tris before addressing her brother. "Caleb, do you know where they would have taken Eric to meet with Jeanine?"
"Probably her office or her lab." He replies in a vacant voice.
"Caleb, Peter, get it together. Tris did what was necessary. Come on, let's find Jeanine. Are her lab and office close together?" Four asks.
"No, they are on different floors completely." Peter replies.
"What's the security like?" Four asks.
"Impenetrable." Caleb replies. "The best we could probably do is get close enough to at least see if they're inside either place and if we find them we can formulate a plan."
Four notices Tris' eyes flitting down to where the body lies on the floor and he grabs her chin forcefully again.
"You look at me, keep looking into my eyes and nowhere else Tris. Are you ready to find Eric?" Four asks. The glazed over look of her eyes is frightening him slightly, but he refuses to show it. "Tris, are you ready?"
She says nothing and Four looks over her shoulder at Caleb and Peter. "Get in the hallway and cover us. I will have her right out." He commands and the two younger men do as their told and guard outside the door.
"Tris, I need you to focus on me. Hey, look at me." He says as he shakes her slightly. Her clouded over eyes and blank expression don't change and it's like she's looking through him. "Fuck it; he can kick my ass later." He mumbles before dropping his lips to hers. Within seconds she's pushed him away and slapped his face.
"What the fuck is your problem?" She yells at him.
"Thank fucking god. Let's go find Eric." He replies as he grabs her arm and drags her out of the room. He looks at Caleb. "Where are we going first?"
"Her lab is on this floor, let's start there." He replies.
"Hayes." Four barks and Peter turns to look at him. "Take this. If you fuck with me, I'll kill you." He shoves a rifle into his hand and Peter gulps first but then nods in respect. "Go, now."
Caleb and Peter lead them down a hallway and they hear the thud of heavy footsteps coming towards them. Tris and Four turn around, pressing their backs against the backs of Caleb and Peter, and all four draw their weapons as the sounds of footsteps grow closer.
"Hold your fire." Four quickly commands as George and Amar come in to view.
"You're ok. Thank god." George says as he gathers Tris in his arms. He looks up at Four before speaking again. "They have him in her lab. Amar and I haven't been able to get in there. We have to hurry."
"The sim has been stopped again and the Dauntless in Abnegation are working hard to eliminate the Erudite presence there. The problem is this triggers Jeanine's contingency plan." Amar says as he brushes past the group and indicates for them to follow.
"Which is?" Tris asks.
"Death serum." Peter says quietly and Amar jerks his head towards him.
"You know?" Amar asks.
"Yeah. She's going to deploy an airborne death serum in here, Abnegation and in Dauntless. We have to fucking go." Peter replies.
"How long do we have?" Tris asks.
"Less than an hour, if that." Peter replies. "We need to find him and get him out of here."
"Let's go, now!" Tris commands and Amar leads the group towards Jeanine's lab.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Jeanine leans against a table in the lab and watches Eric as he sleeps. She can see the bruise forming on his temple from where her guards subdued him, but other than that he appears to be peacefully dreaming.
She had such high expectations for the young man in front of her. She'd be lying if she said she didn't care about him, she'd had an almost motherly pull towards him since he was a boy. She expected him to always be loyal to her, she had worked hard to groom him for leadership and did her best to make him a respectable young man but all of her work was for null the minute he met Beatrice Prior. How on earth a wholesome girl raised by one of the most respected Abnegation leaders would not only leave her home faction for Dauntless, but also manage to fall in love with the most reclusive and focused leader that faction had ever seen was mind boggling to Jeanine.
"Watching me sleep is creepy as fuck." Eric says groggily, breaking Jeanine from her reverie. He pulls against the handcuffs that are restraining his wrists. "Why am I cuffed to this fucking chair?"
"I expected so much more from you Eric. Why did you betray me?" She asks.
"There was nothing to betray, your vision and values are warped. I never wanted anything to do with this shit." He answers.
"You see Eric that further proves my point that you divergent are what are wrong with our city. Your daughter will be instrumental in curing the divergence issue. If nothing else you know you've done something good in creating that."
"My daughter? You know? How?" Eric stutters.
"I know everything Eric, and you'd be amazed at what one can learn just from DNA and genetic testing. Your little girlfriend is carrying what will be your biological daughter. The first of her kind, a divergent born of two pures." Jeanine muses. "But never you worry, we plan on extracting that embryo from Beatrice and within a few weeks you'll be able to conceive again. We're hoping to have several more children conceived and incubating soon. Since you and Beatrice get along so famously, it shouldn't be an issue." She smirks.
"What kind of sick shit are you running Jeanine? You're just going to breed us? What the fuck? We're people, you can't just force us to copulate and then keep taking our children from their mother. What kind of monster are you?" Eric asks.
"See that's where you're wrong Eric, I can do whatever I want. This is my city." She sneers. She opens her mouth to speak again but a loud alarm cuts her off.
"Alert – thirty minutes – alert." An automated voice calls out and then the alarm silences. Eric notices the surprised look on Jeanine's face.
"Well that was certainly unexpected." She replies in an offhanded manner before a noise outside the windows of her lab catches her attention.
Eric turns towards the windows and sees his father and Amar.
"Dad!" He yells.
"George, it's quite fancy meeting you here." Jeanine says with a smile.
"Open the door Jeanine." George commands.
"Oh that's amusing. I'm certainly not opening this door. Why don't you open it for me?" She taunts.
"You have to come out sometime. You only have half an hour Jeanine." Amar prods.
Jeanine looks at the two men and then back to Eric. She already knows why the alarm is going off, and the fact that the contingency plan has kicked off tells her that every other aspect of her plans have failed.
"I can't believe this. I had failsafe on top of failsafe on top of plans that were airtight. How are we here?" Jeanine asks out loud to no one in particular.
"Jeanine, you can stop this. Just turn yourself in. Jack will show leniency if you just stop this right now. Think about it, it's not too late for you to make changes. You don't need to kill innocent people to get your point across. Just come out Jeanine, let's end this." Amar says calmly.
"No. Jack will execute me." Jeanine replies.
"What's going on? Dad? Amar? What's happening right now?" Eric asks.
"Son, we're going to get the two of you out of there. You have nothing to worry about." George replies gently. "Jeanine, let's just open this door up and get you two out to safety."
Jeanine looks through the window at George but he notices her eyes travel past him and her expression turns hard.
"I see there's no one I can trust." She almost growls when she sees Caleb and Peter, followed closely by Four and Tris.
"Eric!" Tris shouts as she runs to the window. "Oh my god, are you ok? Your head."
"Baby, I'm fine. It's just a bump. Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" Eric asks.
"I'm fine. We're fine." Tris turns towards George. "We have to get him out of here. Can we break the window?"
Jeanine's shrill laughter gets everyone's attention. "Did you really think I wouldn't safeguard my own lab? The glass is impenetrable. It's bulletproof, shatterproof, and unable to be broken. Same with the door, there's no possible way for you to get in here without me."
"Alert – twenty minutes – alert."
Four and Tris use the butt of their rifles and begin banging unsuccessfully against the windows, both realizing that the reinforcements that Jeanine mentioned are true.
Four exchanges a look with Amar. "There's no way in there at all?" He whispers.
Amar looks at the younger man and sighs. "We could try the ventilation system." He suggests.
"How do we get in there?" Four asks and Amar shakes his head.
"It's complicated, and I already know you're claustrophobic. We'd need someone who knows the system and can keep a clear head in small spaces." He explains.
"I can do it." Caleb offers. "I know the system and I don't mind enclosed spaces. Where should I start?"
"Caleb…." Tris says. "No…."
"Beatrice, look at me, I'll be fine. I want to do this. You need him; your daughter needs her father." He smiles.
"Daughter?" She says softly and he nods his head.
"Yes, the genetic testing revealed the gender. I have to go. I love you Beatrice, and I love my niece." He hugs his sister tightly before turning away. He pauses at the window. "Eric, you take care of them."
Eric nods at Caleb and watches as he and Amar quickly exit the room. To everyone's surprise, Peter follows behind, offering his help.
"Dad, get her out of here." Eric commands.
"No, I'm not leaving until we get you out." Tris replies.
"Young love, how precious." Jeanine says as she slowly paces in front of the window.
"Jeanine, you don't want to do this. You are better than this. Just open the door and come out. We will do everything we can to help you. I've known you for years Jeanine, this isn't who you are. You care about my son. You were more of a mother to him than Shannon ever was. You don't want to hurt him." George says in a soothing voice.
"You know they're never going to let me live. I am not going under that god awful truth serum. You should just go George; you don't need to be here." She replies.
"Alert – fifteen minutes – alert."
Tris points her gun at the door and fires at the lock. The bullet ricochets and Four has to yank on her to move her away from its path.
"Tris, what the fucking hell? Don't shoot at it. The entire thing is bulletproof, and you're going to get yourself killed if you do that again." Four shouts.
She starts banging her fists against the windows and sobbing. "Please just let him out. Please. I need him."
Eric looks at Tris through the window. "We never talked about names."
"We have plenty of time to do that. We're getting you out of here." She says in between tears.
"Caleb will get to me, but until he does we can talk about it. Please baby?" Eric says in as calm of a voice as he can muster.
"We're having a little girl." She says softly.
"We are. She needs a name." Eric replies.
"Alert – ten minutes – alert."
"Jeanine, open the fucking door!" George roars.
Jeanine just stares off without acknowledging anyone. Eric pulls against the handcuffs holding him onto the chair.
"We have to go." George says to Four.
"No. I will not leave him!" Tris shouts. "Let him out Jeanine! If you want to die so be it but he's done nothing wrong. Please let him out. Please Jeanine, I'll do whatever you want. I'll give you as many babies as you need, please just let him out. I love him, I need him. Please Jeanine. Whatever you want, I mean it, and I will do anything. Please just let him out." Tris sobs.
"Four, get her out of here." Eric commands. The panic is evident now and he makes no more efforts to hide. "Tris, listen to me, I love you so much baby. You are the best thing to have ever happened to me. I'm ok baby because I had you in my life. I need you to go; I need you to take care of yourself and of our little girl. I've always liked the name Riley Paige. I think I read it in a book somewhere, I can't even remember, but baby that's what I want to name our daughter. We made her together Tris, she's from our love and she's going to be beautiful like you."
"No Eric, no I can't do this, please let him out!" Tris begs.
"Tris, I need you to go." He turns his attention to Four. "You promised me Four. It's time. Take care of her; don't let my daughter grow up without a father figure in her life. You made me a promise and I know you love her too; you fucking take care of them. Don't let her want for anything Four. You love my little girl like she's yours. You protect my family with your life. Fucking promise me."
"I promise you Eric. Your little girl will be loved always." Four says through his own tears.
"Dad, I need you to go. All of you have to be there for Riley, and for Tris. They will need all the family they can get."
"Alert – five minutes – alert."
"You have to go, right now! Get out of here!" Eric shouts.
Four puts his arms around Tris and she punches and kicks against him. "No! Eric, I love you so much. Please don't leave. Please let him out! Jeanine please! Eric, I love you. I can't do this!"
"I love you baby, always." Eric says through his own tears. "Dad, I love you, take care of my family."
"I love you too son." George replies. "I will always take care of them."
Eric watches as Four picks his hysterical girlfriend up and he listens to her agonizing screams as Four forcefully carries her away from the room. The sounds of her wailing get further and further away as a mist starts blowing into the room.
His lungs start to burn with each breath he draws in and he can feel himself getting lightheaded while everything around him looks blurry. He thinks about that day in the Hub when he first met the hazel eyes of the woman he would never be able to live without. He remembers the fire in her eyes when she challenged him during the knife throwing training. He can see her outstretched arms when she was flying down the zip line that first time. He remembers how her lips felt against his the first time they kissed. He'll never forget the first time they said they loved each other or the look in her eyes that first time when they joined together as one. He may not have been able to give her the ring he bought for her, and he will never get to meet his daughter but the love that he and Tris shared will forever live on in their little girl.
He closes his eyes and ignores the burn in his lungs as he draws in one more ragged breath.
He found the love of his life and for the first time he lived. When he saw her on choosing day it was like breathing for the first time.
He exhales one last time. He is finally free.