A big thank you to divergentpanda46 and lunaschild2016 for their help and ideas for the wedding scene in this chapter. I promise no more peace serum after this one.
Another big thank you for divergentpanda46 for her proof reading skills.
Updates might be a bit erratic over the next few weeks, it can't be helped but you can all know there are over another twenty chapters to go, so the story isn't ending any time soon. Hope you enjoy!
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN (TRIS 14)
TRIS'S POV
I'm sitting in Tobias and Eric's office. Really, I'm spinning myself on the chair waiting for them to get back. Tobias is at the tattoo parlour trying to get some large drunk out and Eric is down in maintenance trying to convince them that the compound needs more regular checks to the toilets throughout The Pit.
It seems maintenance haven't been doing any regular checks and one of the old pipes blew up and soaked not only the toilets but all along the path. Some of the younger kids, including Mikey, thought it would be fun to slide along the wet path. Mum was not happy and therefore Eric got the job of talking to maintenance.
"You know you will fall off if you keep spinning like that," Eric tells me as he enters the office.
He slumps into his chair. "Four can deal with maintenance next time," he huffs.
Just then Tobias walks into the room with a ripped shirt and a bruise forming on his jaw.
"I will gladly swap you maintenance for the drunks in the tattoo parlour," he groans as he sits down.
"Another fun day in leadership," I say with a smile on my face, trying not to laugh.
"Laugh all you want Tris, but if your grandpa has anything to do with it, you will be doing this shit in another two years," Eric says.
"Nah. Not me, that is going to be Uriah's job," I state.
"Are you sure?" Eric asks.
"Yes, I'm going to be an ambassador for the faction. Maybe one day I will go into leadership but not yet. Plus, Uriah will make a better leader for Dauntless. He can charm them with his smile and then punch them if he doesn't get what he wants."
"And you couldn't do that?" Tobias asks.
"I think we all know what happened in Amity. I'm not ready to be a leader."
"Yes and you are so ready to be an ambassador," Eric sarcastically tells me.
"Whatever," I say. "You are both coming tonight?"
"To Max's birthday party?" Eric asks.
"Yes. This will be the first time you see how we celebrate birthdays in Dauntless," I say.
"I doubt it's that much different to Erudite, just more alcohol," Eric says.
"I've never been to a birthday party before," Tobias says.
"What!" I exclaim "Didn't you have birthday parties in Abnegation?"
"No. I don't even know when my birthday is," Tobias tells us.
"How is that possible?" I ask.
"Your birthday is tomorrow," Eric says.
"How do you know that?" I ask.
"I just looked it up on his records," Eric says, pointing to the screen.
I get up from the chair and walk over to the computer. It has all of Tobias records just sitting there. "So, you can look up anybody's record you want?" I ask.
"Yes," Eric hesitantly says. "Why?"
"I don't know," I shrug. "Seems pretty cool to me. So, we need to throw Four a birthday party!"
"I don't think so Tris," Tobias says.
"Why not?" I whine. "It would be fun. You can get lots of presents and eat lots of cake."
"I've never received a present before," Tobias explains.
"Abnegation really like to torture their kids," Eric states.
"You're not wrong," Tobias mumbles.
"You really don't want a party? We would only invite our friends," I say.
"No, but thank you. I just think it would be a little too much to handle."
"Fine," I huff.
"Come on Eric. You promised you would help me with that thing in The Pit," I tell Eric, pulling him by his arm.
"What thing?"
"You know that thing," I tell him, trying to point my head towards Tobias.
"Get Four to help you," Eric complains.
"I can't. He needs to go home and change his shirt."
Tobias looks at his shirt and does not look happy. "I swear I am going to ask Max for a clothing allowance. This is the third shirt this month."
"Fine, let's go," Eric says and we walk out of the office.
"What are we doing Tris?" Eric asks as we are walking.
"I need to buy Four a birthday present and I know exactly what to get him. I just need you to try it on for me."
"You brought me to dress up?" he asks looking amused.
"Pretty much."
"What are you going to get him?"
"A leather jacket. I saw one in Leather and Lace the other day and thought it would be perfect for him. I was going to drag him down here to buy it but this will be so much easier."
"Why is this going to be easier?" he asks.
"Because Four isn't used to buying clothes. So, when he sees the price of things he can get a little flustered. This way it is a gift and he won't know how much it cost."
"How can you afford such an item?"
"From the shop. We have owned the shop a couple of years now and it's not like I've used any of the money. Well small amounts here and there but nothing really."
"That means you can buy me a jacket for being your clothes line for the afternoon."
"You are not worth a jacket. Maybe some lace panties," I laugh.
"What?"
"The shop is Leather and Lace. I'm not buying you a leather jacket, so it will have to be lace panties," I say still laughing at him.
"No thanks."
"You don't think lace would look good on you?"
"Tris, I am going to ignore that remark."
"Probably a good idea."
"What are you doing?" I ask Tarni as I walk into home and find her on a ladder in the lounge room.
"I'm putting streamers and balloons up for Dad's party tonight."
"I thought we decided not to do that because of the mural on the wall."
"As if that was going to stop me," Tarni scoffs. "Did you pick up Dad's present?"
"Yes. But I had to change things a bit."
"What did you do?" Tarni says in a scolding voice.
"Wow you sound like Dad when you say that," I laugh.
"I do not!"
"You do," Mum says as she comes into the room.
"So what is the present you kids got your father this year?"
I open the box and let Mum see. "Whose idea was this?"
"Mine and Tris," Tarni says proudly.
"That was a really beautiful thought. He is going to love them."
"We know," Tarni and I say at the same time and then laugh.
"Don't put too many balloons up Tarni, I want your dad to enjoy himself tonight," Mum says.
"Yes, Mum," Tarni says with an eye roll. I can see her putting up at least double the amount of balloons now.
"I'm going to have a shower," I tell them.
"You're not going to help me?" Tarni asks.
"No thanks," I say as I walk off.
Everyone has arrived for Dad's party. Tarni has done a great job with the decorations, Dad should absolutely hate them. I don't know why he hates it so much. The house looks great.
Lynn comes running over to me. "Here," Lynn says, handing me the vial of peace serum. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Oh yeah, they are not going to be expecting me to do anything tonight. It is the perfect time."
"Plus you got your Dad that really great gift, so there is more chance he will just laugh off what you are going to do," Lynn says.
"That too," I laugh with her.
"What trouble are you getting yourselves into?" Uriah asks as he gives me a hug.
"Now that would be no fun if I told you now," I tell him.
"You worked out a way to get them back over the whole Four thing, didn't you?" he says.
I just give him my biggest smile. "You have to tell me what you are doing! We never keep secrets," Uriah whines.
"Fine," I huff with a role of my eyes. He knows I'm only joking. I show him the vial that is now in my hand. He looks at me confused.
"Peace serum," I whisper.
Uriah's eyes almost bug out of his head.
"This is going to be so much fun. And here I thought I'd have to be trying to sneak drinks from grandpa all night. I think I am going to want to be sober for this."
"Why would you want to be drinking anyway? The stuff he drinks tastes disgusting," Lynn says with a scrunched up face.
"Because I'm not supposed to be doing it, of course," Uriah states.
"How did his present look, Tris?" Uriah asks.
"Perfect, he is going to love it," I tell him.
"Should we go and stake claim on the lounges, before anyone else takes them over?" Lynn asks.
"No, Mum said to steer clear of the lounges. Lots of old people here and everything. But don't worry I stole all the cushions off Four and Eric's lounges earlier and set us up in the corner," I say, pointing to the far corner in the lounge room, where we can all sit comfortably out of the grown-ups way.
We haven't been sitting for long when Eric comes over. "I wondered where half my lounge went," he says. "How the hell did you get into my apartment?"
"Now if I told you Eric, then I would have to kill you," I tell him.
"Just have them back by morning," he says and walks off.
"That went better than expected," Lynn chuckles.
"Not much he can do now. I just don't know how I am going to be able to get them back in," I say.
"How did you get them in the first place?" Uriah asks.
"Mikey," I say.
"Mikey?" Lynn and Uriah asks at the same time.
"Yeah, I got Mikey to distract Eric. While he was distracted I kept his door open and just kept coming and going until I had them all."
"What about Four's?" Lynn asks.
"He gave me access to his apartment. I just took them while he was having a shower earlier."
"He gave you access? Why didn't you tell me?" Uriah asks.
"It's not like we've seen much of each other with all being grounded and having to work around the faction," I say.
"They are about to open the presents. Come on we need to be closer for when they start toasting," I tell everyone.
Dad has been opening presents for a while now. He only has one left and that's the one that we got him as a family. He opens the box and I hear him gasp. "This is beautiful, what an amazing gift."
In the box in a leather pouch are four throwing knives. On the first one it is inscribed "To the best dad ever. Love Caleb, Tris, Tarni and Mikey." The second knife is inscribed "To the most loving husband. With my heart and soul Natalie." On the third one, "Coolest uncle in Dauntless. Love Zeke and Uriah" and the fourth one, "Thank you. Love Hana."
"Whose idea was this?" Dad says with tears in his eyes.
"Tarni and Tris," Mum says.
Dad walks over and gives us both a bone crunching hug. "Thank you. I love you both so much."
"I think it's time for a toast," grandma Annora says. I quickly dash over to where the drinks are being poured and grab two glasses. Lynn helps me to put the serum in the glasses and then I walk over to where Mum and Dad are standing.
"Here," I say and hand them the glasses.
"Thank you, Tris," Mum says with a warm smile. I'm sure in a few minutes she is going to be smiling a whole lot more.
"Thanks," Dad says.
I walk as far from them as possible. There is no way I want to be near them once the peace serum takes effect.
As I'm walking someone grabs my arm. "Tris," Caleb says.
I turn around to see my brother looking sheepishly at me. "What is it Caleb?" I ask.
"I wanted to say thank you for putting my name on the knives."
"Why wouldn't I? He is your dad too," I say.
"I know, it's just, well, it was a really nice thing you and Tarni did."
"You're welcome Caleb," I tell him and then start to walk back to my friends.
Caleb is so strange.
"What did Caleb want?" Uriah asks.
"He wanted to thank me for putting his name on the knives," I tell him.
"He is always shocked when he is included, it's weird," Uriah says.
"That's what I was thinking," I say and laugh.
"Oh this is pretty," I hear my dad say.
I turn to see him rubbing the wall with the rainbow mural on it. I am trying really hard not to laugh.
"Looks like it's working," Lynn whispers in my ear.
"Do you like it, Dad?" Mikey asks enthusiastically.
"It's pretty, Mikey. Did you draw this?" dad asks.
"So that's where part of my lounge ended up," Tobias says as he walks over to us.
"You only just worked it out," Lynn says with a laugh.
Tobias gives her a look and Lynn stops the laugh straight away.
"Nat, hey Nat," Dad calls out to Mum. "Don't you think this is pretty?" he asks, pointing to the wall. "Do you think it tastes as good as it looks?"
Dad starts to lick the wall. "It doesn't taste like a rainbow."
"Dad," Mikey calls out. "You aren't supposed to lick it." Mikey tries to pull Dad away from the wall. My friends and I are laughing so much we have tears flowing.
Mum walks over and gives Dad a hug, she whispers something in his ear and pinches his butt.
"Oh, that is gross," Uriah says.
"You're not wrong," Zeke says as he comes over to us. "What is wrong with them?"
"Think about it, Zeke," I say.
He looks back at his aunt and uncle and then starts laughing. Absolutely cackling. "You're on peace serum," he shouts and points at them.
"Nooo," Dad says, "that would be ridiculous."
Everyone in the room is watching them, as Dad rubs the wall with his hand and Mum still has her hand on Dad's butt. Not something either would do, in front of guests.
People around the room start to whisper and laugh. Dad says something to Mum and she walks over and grabs one of the dining room chairs. Dad sits down in the chair and Mum calls out, "Can we have some music please."
Someone turns on some music and Mum starts to dance in front of Dad. I have to turn my head away, I just can't watch Mum making a fool of herself.
"You go, Aunty Natty," Zeke calls out. "Shauna, hey Shauna. Take notes, Aunty Nat is really good at this."
"You want me to take notes on how to give a lap dance?" Shauna asks.
"Yes, look at Aunty Nat go, she is awesome at this," Zeke says.
"You do realise that you are checking out your own aunt?" I ask Zeke. "The woman used to change your diapers, you idiot."
"Can someone try and stop her?" I ask.
"Thatta girl," Grandpa calls out. "Keep it going."
"Oh God," Lynn groans. "I can't believe your grandpa is getting into this."
I better go stop them before Mum is naked and they are trying to have sex in the middle of the lounge room.
"Mum," I say.
"Hi Tris," Mum says as she continues to grind on my dad.
"You know we have a lot of guests here," I say.
"I know, do you think they like my dancing?"
"I think they love your dancing. But you know what? We don't have enough cake for everyone. Do you think you could go down to the dining hall and see if they have some spare?"
"What do you mean we don't have enough cake?" Dad jumps off the seat.
Dad picks up the clothes that Mum has taken off and then grabs her hand and walks out the door.
"Where are they going?" grandpa asks.
"Max said they should go and get some cake for everyone," Xavier shouts out.
"But we have cake," grandma Annora tells everyone.
"Should we follow them?" Zeke asks.
"No!" Uriah and I say at the same time.
"Why not?" Shauna asks.
"Did you not see how they were acting? We are likely to find them in some dark hallway trying to make out or something."
"Have you still got the cameras Gus made for you?" Zeke asks me.
"Yeah, they are in my room," I tell him.
"Go get them. I want to record this," Zeke says. "Lynn go down to the control room and get Gus to save the recording. I can't wait to show this to Uncle Max later."
I get Zeke the camera's and he puts one on and he gives the other one to Shauna and they race out the door to find my parents. I go and sit on the cushions and Uriah and Tobias sit with me.
"You don't want to follow?" Tobias asks.
"No, Zeke will get it recorded and I'm sure we will be watching it at family dinners for the next few weeks."
"Uncle Max is going to blow a gasket when he works out who did it," Uriah says.
"Why did you do it?" Tobias asks.
"Because they kept it from me that you had transferred. I told them I was going to prank them."
I can't believe it. I am standing in The Pit watching my mum and dad renew their wedding vows. After they left the apartment my parents held the chefs in the dining hall at gunpoint until the handed over some Dauntless cake. Only to abandon the cake in a hallway while they made out. Gross.
Then they had the bright idea to renew their wedding vow in front to the whole faction, because they didn't do that the first time round.
Mum found the fairy lights from the first time they got married. So, they are now spread all around where the ceremony is going to take place. They are trying to convince me that Caleb and I have to stand with them because we were there the first time. Zeke has been roped in to be there because Nathaniel isn't here. Zeke didn't have the heart to protest.
Mum is trying to tell me to go and put a dress on. No way am I doing that. Better to have her keep arguing with me than making out with my dad. Aunty Hana has tears running down her face as she laughs at all of us. Caleb is sending me death stares because he thinks this is all my fault. Well, it is, but that's not the point.
"Okay, everyone," Xavier calls out. "It seems that our favourite Dauntless couple wish to renew their wedding vows."
A crowd has gathered and they all let up a cheer. I don't know when they did it but Mum and Dad are now standing in the same clothes they wore at their original wedding. Well, Mum has her dress on, which Tarni is fawning over. Dad is in an updated version of his clothes because he doesn't fit in the originals, or as he is telling everyone, he doesn't own them anymore. Ha, I can't wait till the serum wears off and they realise what they have been doing.
"She looks as beautiful now as she did then," the grandmas say at the same time.
I can't help but roll my eyes at them. I tune out to what is being said, not wanting to hear them gush at each other until my father falters in what he is saying. He looks around and you can see in his eyes that the serum has worn off.
"What the fuck!" Dad says loud enough for everyone to hear. There are gasps around the room.
"Max," Mum says through gritted teeth. Oh dear, the serum has worn off her as well. "Just keep going with this. We will deal with the person who did this after."
They both then look at me. "I told you," I say with a shrug.
The ceremony continues and once they have finished, they both flee the scene really quickly.
Much to Dad's disgust, I got away with the peace serum prank. Only for the fact that I had warned them that I was going to prank them. Although it wasn't that easy to get away with. Grandpa had to mediate the discussion because Dad was so livid with what I had done.
Mum, while not happy, did think it was a very clever prank and thought that she and Dad had got off a lot lighter than she had expected. When I asked her what she thought I would have done she refused to tell me, stating that by telling me that she was only encouraging me. A few new pranking ideas would have been great to have up my sleeve.
Now I am standing in Tobias' kitchen making him a birthday dinner. I still wish I could have thrown him a party but he had a hard enough time dealing with our friends wishing him a happy birthday. Blame Eric for letting that slip at breakfast this morning. I have heard a rumour that Zeke is going to throw him a party this weekend. But I refuse to be the one to tell Tobias about that, he doesn't even know that I am doing this for him.
"Tris," Tobias calls out after opening his door.
"I'm in the kitchen," I call back.
"Something smells delicious in here. What are you doing?"
"I wanted to make you dinner, for your birthday."
"You didn't have to do that," he tells me, giving me a hug.
"I'd do it everyday if it means I get hugs from you," I tease.
"I do hug you everyday," he teases back.
"Have I got time to have a shower before it's ready?"
"Even if you didn't, I think I would rather you did. You smell like beer."
"There was a bar fight. Eric and I had to go down and sort things out."
"Don't they have bouncers for that?"
"They do, but it seems it was the bouncer that was the target. He had slept with some guys wife. All hell broke loose. We are going to have to put a patrol team within Dauntless. There are too many members who are causing trouble lately."
"Do you think they might just be testing you and Eric?" I ask.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, look at the two of you. You are both transfers, you are both two of the best fighters we have seen in an initiation class since probably my mum and dad went through initiation. You both have kept up your training and sometimes I think the two of you just double your muscle mass on a daily basis. You have four fears, which honestly, scares the crap out of most members. It just seems that the faction would want to test you both, see if you are as good as they have been told."
"What do you think we should do about it?"
"You're both doing it. Word around the faction is that the members love the both of you. They are proud to call you Dauntless. I'd say it should start to die down soon."
"I hope so. We have enough to worry about without our own faction testing us."
"Go and have your shower."
I finish up with dinner while Tobias is in the shower. I am so nervous about giving him his birthday presents. It will be the first presents that he has ever received. I hope he likes them.
"What have you made for dinner?" Tobias asks as he comes into the kitchen, smelling a lot better.
"Mum told me that in Abnegation you cook very simple meals. So, I got her to talk to someone she knows in Abnegation and they gave her a recipe for a chicken stew. But then we added some herbs and spices so that it would have the flavouring that you would have missed out on in Abnegation. So, a little bit of your old home but with a bit of a twist from your new home."
"That is so thoughtful, thank you."
"I just hope you like it," I say. It would be really horrible if the food wasn't any good. "If you don't then it will be okay, because I got us a cake for afterwards."
"A whole cake," he asks.
"No, it's like a mini version," I tell him. "Funny story really. I went down to the kitchens to see if they could do me a smaller version and Kevin, the cook, he was like asking me all these strange questions. Like, how many people is it for? Do you want leftovers for the next day? Is Uriah one of those people?"
"What did he want to know if Uriah was going to be eating it?"
"Well it seems there are two different sizes of cake in Dauntless. The size for "normal" people and then there is a size if Uriah is eating some."
"Wow, so did you ask for the bigger size?"
"No, you won't need that much cake. Anyway, you can eat cake any day. You don't need to have more than you can eat."
"True."
"Now go and sit down and I'll bring it over."
I serve the food and take it over to the table. I don't ever remember being this nervous. I hope this tastes nice.
I sit and watch Tobias take the first bite.
"Oh, wow. I wish it had tasted this good back in Abnegation," he says and I can't help but smile. Thank goodness.
I take a bite and it does taste good. I will have to thank Mum for helping me work out what would work in the dish later.
"Did you do the cooking when you lived in Abnegation?" I ask. I don't know if I should ask the question, I know he doesn't like talking about living there.
"At first we lived off donations from other families. But Marcus soon got sick of the way the food tasted. He liked his food cooked a certain way. Every time we would eat something that was donated he would write down what foods he liked. There weren't many of them and so, he went to the woman who had cooked them and convinced them to give me a cooking lesson. I soon learnt that the foods Marcus liked best were either fried or had a lot of pepper in them, but not much salt.
"I became the cook in his house and after I had worked out the way that he liked his food it was easier to give him new dishes that I made myself. It seemed it was about the only thing I ever did right. Or it was the only thing he thought I had done right. Everything else I did he seemed to find fault with."
"It sounds like he was going to find an excuse to beat you no matter what. He just couldn't do it when you were cooking his meals because he needed to eat. He must be the most selfish man in Abnegation."
"I think you might be right about that. Is there more of this?"
"Yes, I'll get it for you."
"I think I can get my own, Tris. You have done so much for me already."
Tobias gets up and gets some more food. I could do a happy dance right now, I am so excited he liked the food.
Once our plates are empty I take them back to the kitchen and get the cake.
"Can you turn the lights off Tobias?"
"Um, okay," he replies, sounding a little confused.
I light the candles on his cake and bring it into the dining room.
"What's the candles for?" he asks.
"You blow them out and make a wish," I tell him.
"Really?" he asks with a smile. I think he is really enjoying this, he is like a little kid having his first birthday. "What if my dream has already come true?"
"Then make another one, of course," I say with a smile.
Once he blows the candles out I turn the lights back on.
"You had my name put on it," Tobias says, sounding very excited.
"I put your name on there, I didn't want people to know your real name and I thought you should have a cake with your name on it."
"You are really making this a special day for me. How am I ever going to thank you?"
"You don't thank me Tobias. You enjoy the day, it's your day. Now, let's eat."
We cut the cake and both take a slice, leaving him some to put in the fridge and save for later.
"Why does it seem the cake tastes better today?" he asks.
"It's because it is your cake. Made especially for you," I explain.
Once the cake is finished I tell him, "Now it's time for presents."
"You got me a present?" he asks, his eyes bulging.
"I did. Actually I got you a couple."
"Tris," he says.
"Tobias, please. It's your birthday. Your first birthday. Everyone always gets spoiled on their first birthday."
I hand him the first present and he opens it. Inside is a picture of him and I together. I had Uriah take the picture. He knew what I wanted it for but he made sure to be taking photos of all our friends.
"This is the photo Uriah took. Did you plan this?"
"I did. I wanted the photo for me and then when I realised it was your birthday I had a copy made for you. The frame was made by Mikey."
"Mikey is really creative. Where did he get the shells from?"
"We have them in the shop, they were from before the war. He loved playing with them so we gave them to him. He started making picture frames out of them. Now we sell them in the shop and give him the money for them," I tell him.
Tobias opens his next present. "Combat boots? I've already got a pair."
"Those are the ones they gave you as an initiate. Wait till you try these on. It is like night and day, completely different. Plus you should have more than one pair."
I watch as he tries on his new boots. The smile on his face is enough to tell me that he won't be wearing his old boots ever again. It wouldn't surprise me if he drags Eric down to the shoe store tomorrow and makes him buy some and he will probably buy another pair for himself.
"These are amazing. I can't believe how different they feel to the others."
"I know. Why do you think only the transfers accept the clothing allotment? Dauntless borns know how crap the shoes are and make sure their parents buy them new ones before initiation starts."
"One more to go," I say.
"Tris, you have really spoilt me."
"I know, but you deserve it."
I see the blush come across his cheeks.
He quickly opens his last present and he holds the leather jacket up. He looks stunned.
"Wow, this is, wow."
"You like it?"
"Yeah," he says just above a whisper. "I don't deserve all this. You must have spent... wow."
"I'm happy that you like your presents," I say. "Now put the jacket on, I want to see what you look like in it."
He puts the jacket on and if I thought he was good looking beforehand, well he looks really hot in the leather jacket. Now it is my turn to say, "Wow!"
"You like me in it?"
I just nod my head.
"Thank you, Tris," he says and then he leans down and kisses me. Just a quick kiss, it feels like it is over all too soon. Then he puts his fingers on either side of my cheeks and pulls me into a deeper kiss. His lips are soft and I can still taste the chocolate cake we just ate on them.