Chapter 2

TOBIAS

Finally mustering the will to formally address what's left of my faction, I make my way up to the front of the crowd and stand behind the make shift podium set up in the old warehouse where we decided to meet. It's an eerie scene- a crowd gathered in a dusty room with unpainted cement walls and a few large white lamps hanging from the ceiling, and about a hundred pairs of eyes staring at me intently as I walk.

Usually, one would never find any member of Abnegation staring at anything but the floor, but so much has changed since the attack. People are on edge and desperate for answers, and for many, typical Abnegation behaviour has proven difficult to emulate. However, there are those who stand fast by our old ways, and they bow respectfully as I take my place at the front with Tris by my side. She takes my hand just as I'm about to begin. I squeeze it tight.

I clear my throat softly. "I'd like to thank you all for coming out this evening," I begin. "I understand that having an assembly of this magnitude might not be the safest thing for us to do right now, but I wanted us all to meet so everyone could be kept informed. At the end of this meeting we can discuss choosing representatives who will be the ones to meet with me, and will then be responsible for communicating whatever is discussed with those under their care."

It has been a week since the attack and Jeanine has no idea just how many Abnegation are still alive. Although our leaders are dead, and I imagine them having been her primary target, we can't be sure she won't still try to take out what's left of the faction if she were to learn of our existence. So it's better we stay hidden and take precaution until we can establish her agenda.

"Before anything else is said, I'd like to thank you all for entrusting me with leadership of the faction," I continue. "I promise I will not take this responsibility lightly." I see a couple nods and small smiles in front of me. Tris, just like them, has every faith in me, and she squeezes my hand a little. It makes me feel that much stronger knowing she's right there, knowing she loves me enough to be here for me even though she's falling apart inside.

"I understand the factionless have already found housing for many of those who did not wish to stay in the Abnegation sector. They have assured me they will continue to share their resources as long as we need them to, and they are more than happy to accommodate anyone who is without somewhere safe to stay."

An older member at the front raises his hand and asks, "Is it safe to stay in Abnegation at all? Do you think the Dauntless will come back?" When I look in his direction, I spot Emily Taylor and her little sister behind him and I stare at them for a short second. I haven't seen them since before the attack and I haven't yet given them my condolences. I'm sure whatever problem Tris had with Emily is water under the bridge now and I make a mental side note to find her after the meeting has ended.

"I don't think it's safe at all," I eventually answer. "I think we should all stay hidden, and that means blending in with the factionless for the time being. I don't imagine everyone being willing to sacrifice our colour and our customs, so that choice must be an individual one, but keeping a low profile until this is all over would be the wiser thing to do."

Caleb immediately stands to his feet and pointedly asks, "Are you saying we should dissolve our faction?" I raise my eyebrows at him as he refers to Abnegation as our faction, as if he never left it. I feel my throat tighten.

"No," I answer him strongly. "Abnegation will continue to exist. I'm suggesting we lay low for now, but while we do, we will continue to be one faction."

"And what exactly is your plan as it pertains to resolving all of this? How long do we need to stay hidden for?" Caleb interrupts again.

"Tomorrow I'm scheduled to meet with the Dauntless members who were not in agreement with the attack, and when a plan of action is decided, that information will be communicated to everyone through the established channels."

There's slight murmuring amongst the crowd until someone says, "But the Dauntless are the ones who brought this upon us. Why would you be meeting with them?"

Caleb hangs his head this time and sinks into a corner, and I feel slightly victorious inside. Hopefully now he'll drop the self-righteous act considering he knows his chosen faction is to blame, and everyone else is about to know it too.

"Contrary to what Jeanine Matthews would have everyone believe, neither the Divergent nor Dauntless are to be blamed for the attack on Abnegation," I explain to the mass of confused eyes. "They were not in control of themselves. Jeanine somehow developed a simulation software that allowed her to control them and she used them to attack us. Some of them sided with the Erudite after the attack, but there are those who didn't appreciate being used by Jeanine for murder. They have become our allies and are willing to work with us to end this."

I hear a couple gasps in the crowd and almost everyone turns to look at Caleb who nods only slightly, confirming the Erudite are indeed to blame for the attack. He looks as though he wishes the ground would open up and swallow him. I know I do.

No one else interrupts me as I inform them of everything else I have learned so far. I don't mention my father. I'm not sure if I ever will. These innocent people don't deserve to bear the weight of my father's crimes, and even just knowing what he did is a heavy cross to carry. I've only told Tris because we promised not to keep any more secrets from each other. If it weren't for that, I might have carried it to my grave.

The meeting ends shortly after several representatives have been chosen to meet with me on a weekly basis. I suppose it will be something like the council meetings, but in a darker room with less people and heavier discussions.

As the crowd begins to disperse, Tris excuses herself for a second to speak to Susan. She's been worried about her friend a lot these past few days. Even in her grief, Susan has taken up the task of caring for the faction's orphaned children and Tris is afraid no one is taking care of her.

I spot Emily again as she heads toward the exit, but I decide to speak to her at another time since Caleb is completely unoccupied and still standing in the same corner he had retreated to. He is suddenly my priority. I want Tris by my side every step of the way but I don't need her brother questioning my every move. I decide to end this now before I have to publicly humiliate him.

While Tris is busy, I walk up to her brother and say, "We need to talk, Caleb."

Caleb is almost as tall as I am, so when he extends his neck as he folds his arms, he stands eye to eye with me.

"About how you somehow managed to coax my little sister into marrying you? Yeah, we do need to talk, Tobias." Caleb scowls my name in a weak attempt to seem threatening. It's amazing that even after all that's been said here today, that is what is on his mind.

"You don't know what you're talking about," I say with a disgusted scoff.

"How about you enlighten me then?"

"How about you mind your own business?"

"She's my little sister," he growls. "Beatrice is my business."

I laugh rudely, thankful no one is around to hear. "She's not your little anything." I tilt my head to the side and lick my lips as I remember the way Tris grinded herself against me until I was knee deep inside her, the way she groaned my name as she pleaded for more. Oh, no- Beatrice is most certainly not a child.

"Watch yourself, Eaton," Caleb snaps at me and I'm brought back to the present. I raise my eyebrows, wondering if Caleb somehow read my thoughts. Either way he has no reason to be upset about it. Tris and I have every right to do whatever it is we please to each other in the dark privacy of our bed. I have a marriage certificate that says so.

"You seem very protective of her for someone who upped and left her without notice, choosing to run off to the very faction responsible for destroying ours." As much as I don't like him, I try not to be cruel, since his parents were killed in the attack. But there is no way he gets to walk away from this conversation without understanding that he abandoned her, and whatever claim he has over Tris is void. I'm her family now.

"You think I knew what Erudite was up to when I left Abnegation?" Caleb says defensively. "I didn't. And as soon as I found out I tried to find a way to warn my family. That's the reason I left. But I never got here in time," he says, and his voice dips a little and is tainted with regret. "I don't need to explain myself to you."

I decide maybe there could be some benefit to Caleb having left for Erudite. He was there long enough; he must know something. "Well how about you explain how the Erudite managed to mind control an army of Dauntless soldiers?"

Caleb huffs at me again. "Why should I tell you anything?" His eyes open wide and he smirks a little. "You really think you can do this, don't you?"

"Do what?" I ask pointedly.

"Run this faction."

"I know I can," I answer as I take a step closer to him, not completely believing the words myself. "And you'll find that you might be the only person who believes otherwise. All because you don't like the fact that Tris is now my wife."

"Her name is Beatrice," Caleb rolls his eyes at me.

"I can call her whatever I like," I respond, my face hardened.

Caleb shakes his head in disbelief, as if there are grounds for his distaste for me. "I think it's a shame your father died," he says lowly. "He would have been the best person to help take us out of this mess." I resist the urge to grab Caleb by the throat, knowing it was my father who put us in this mess in the first place.

I breathe in and out trying to quell the anger that always simmers inside me when someone mentions how unfortunate it was to have lost my father. It wasn't enough for him to sell out his faction. No- He had to die a martyr and leave his inexperienced son as leader for people like Caleb to criticize.

My wife's brother stands proud in his ignorance. Honestly, I have no respect for him. I've found he complains of too much while offering up absolutely no solutions.

I've tried not to dislike Caleb without really getting to know him first, and it had proven to be difficult from the very beginning. Right off the bat I couldn't get past the fact that he blindsided Tris when he chose to abandon her. And every day he opens his mouth it gets harder. Truthfully, the only reason I haven't considered sending him right back where he came from is because I know Tris is hopeful this might be her second chance of having a real relationship with her brother.

"I think it's better you don't talk about things you know nothing about," I growl at Caleb. "You seem to do that often. And that goes for me and Tris as well. Our marriage, like my father, is none of your business. And if you're gonna try and crawl your way back into this faction then you're gonna have to accept me as your leader because everyone else has."

I'm standing so close to him I can feel his breath as he exhales. By the time Tris has finished talking to Susan and finds us both, the tension is so thick it's almost palpable.

"Is everything ok here?" she asks, startling me a little. I take her hand and kiss her on her forehead. I see out of the corner of my eye the way Caleb forces himself to look in the opposite direction when I do.

"Yes, Love," I say to Tris. "Caleb was just explaining to me how Jeanine got control of the Dauntless."

Caleb stands in shock for a while, his mouth gaping open. I've given him no choice but to tell me now.

"Well?" Tris insists. "What do you know, Caleb?"

He lets out a composed breath, but I can still sense his pitiful irritation.

"During most of our initiation Jeanine had us working with the serums," Caleb begins. "She had the entire faction working on it actually. Eventually, someone developed a long range transmitter; it's just like the one used in the aptitude test, only it can be activated over long distances- miles even. And it's good for more than just one use. She had the Dauntless leaders inject their faction with it after their initiation was over."

"So they're all still armed and ready to be used by Jeanine whenever she feels like it?" Tris asks softly. She leans a little closer into me.

"Yes," Caleb answers.

"How the hell do we turn it off?" I demand.

"Well we can't remove all the individual transmitters, so we'd have to get inside Erudite and destroy the program controlling the simulation."

Tris and I turn to look at each other for a second. This will be far more complicated than we ever thought. Even with the factionless and half of Dauntless on our side, getting inside Erudite is a task on its own. Finding what we need to destroy will be even more difficult. As much as I hate to admit it, Caleb will be essential in whatever plan we come up with. He's the only one who has been inside Erudite and is familiar enough with their headquarters to help us find what we're looking for. So much for sending him back where he came from.

He and Tris talk for a few more minutes before we leave and head to our new house. It's not home but it is tranquil since it's just Tris and me, and it's not a terrible place at all. I find that as long as Tris is with me, it doesn't matter where I am and I feel ok enough to actually sleep. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of her.

Tris has been having nightmares ever since the attack. Some nights she lies awake in my arms, fighting sleep. I wish I could take her pain away. I wish I could fight off her nightmares with my bare hands but I can't. I feel helpless just holding her as they haunt her.

I watch Tris as she walks to our new bedroom. Unlike our Abnegation house, this house is flat and much smaller. It usually doesn't take more than ten seconds to move from the front door to the bedroom door, but Tris walks lifelessly and it takes her almost double that.

I follow her and take a seat beside her on the bed. My arms wrap around her instinctively and she rests her head on my shoulder. I don't speak; instead, I just run my hand along the length of her hair. I find she prefers that much more than me asking her if she's ok when she's obviously not.

We've learned so much about each other in the past few days. Tris tries so hard to be strong for me, especially days like today when I had to address the entire faction, because she knows that's what I need. And I have to be strong for her in the quietness, in the darkness, in our solitude where only I can see her pain. Tragedy has not destroyed us. It has only brought us closer.

"Caleb asked about us earlier," I mention to her.

"I figured," she answers. "You two looked like you were about to strangle each other so I was almost sure you were talking about me." I almost laugh at the idea of Caleb even touching me. "He asked me once too," Tris confesses softly. "I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't want to lie to him but I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth."

I nod. I don't want him to know either. I don't want anyone questioning our marriage and insulting my feelings for Tris. What we have now is real regardless of how it came to be.

"I wish he'd leave it alone. But maybe I'm being selfish," Tris says. "I mean, he's just looking out for me, right?"

I don't have siblings, so I can't relate to whatever Caleb is feeling. But just like him, I do love Tris, and I suppose if I try hard enough I could maybe bring myself to understand his hostility toward me. And maybe I'm being selfish, but I don't care. I don't want to share Tris with him.

"I suppose that's what he's trying to do," I answer dryly.

Tris sits up a little and faces me. "I really don't want to push him away, Tobias," she says. "I'm so glad he's alive. But I miss my parents so much that sometimes it still feels as if I have no family. Caleb and I are so different and sometimes, as much as I want to talk to him, I don't. I'm scared he'll only make things worse." Tears begin to form in her eyes when she asks, "Does that make me a horrible sister?"

I press a soft kiss to her lips. "No, it doesn't," I say. And maybe I just feel that way because of my own personal feelings toward Caleb. But I really don't think that's the case. Tris just lost the most important people in her life, leaving a hole that I'm not sure even I could fill, our city is upside down and riddled with violence, and all Caleb can seem to be is jealous that there's a man in his sister's life. He has no idea how to comfort her, how to make her stop crying at night. He has no idea how to love her. It's as if he doesn't know her at all.

"And your parents might be gone, but you're never alone, Tris," I add. And leaning into her face I say, "I will be your family now."

I kiss her softly for longer than I have in a while, and my thumbs skim back and forth as they wipe the tears that start flowing from her eyes. I only pull away to remove her shoes and dress, and then we lie next to each other in the bed. Tris presses herself so close to me it's as if we're one body, and I whisper only sweet promises in her ear. I promise her that I will never leave her. I promise her that I will always keep her safe. I promise her that I will always love her. And for the first night in seven, my love sleeps.


A/N: Thank you all so much for your continued support! I was glad to see so many people still following the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Anxious to hear your thoughts!
The biggest Thank You goes out to Bamberlee who continues this journey with me as the greatest Beta that has ever lived :D