To the Guest reviewer who asked if I was going to be adding more… oh, yes. We're a LONG way away from where Bahrfamily talked me into ending this story. My original plan was to end it after they get married, but she convinced me to take it out past Uriah's birth. (Years past Uriah's birth actually.) When I do finish it there's an epilogue that takes place at Uriah's Choosing Ceremony. Until you see that… I'm still writing.

And speaking of reviews…Thank you all for the reviews. I'm glad everyone liked the fact that it is Eli and how nervous he got with Hana. Like I mentioned to several of you when I PM'd you back after your wonderful reviews I figured that any woman who Four describes her by saying,"I liked her and was afraid of her at the same time." Would be the type to make a guy nervous to ask out.

As always thank-you to Bahrfamily for all the work you put into this story. Between reading, editing, and letting me bounce ideas off of her I keep her pretty busy some days! But I couldn't do it without her.

37 Secret Meetings

Eli and I start off getting to know each other slowly, very slowly. It's hard for us to find time and places to be together and to talk to each other without arousing suspicions. I still see Eli several times a day. I see him at meals. I even see him when he and Nick persist in walking me places.

And that's the problem. We can't meet before or after work, because Nick would know. We finally get a chance to discuss it when Nick ends up with a terrible cold.

"This would be so much easier if you and Nick had stopped walking me everywhere before we started seeing each other," I tease him, "although if you would decide to back off now, it would help."

Eli shakes his head at me. "Hana, I'd like nothing more than to have more time with you alone, but making sure you're safe from Jude is too important."

I look at him for a second. "Is there some place we can sit and talk?"

"We can try the net." He looks at me sideways. "Why?"

"I thought that, with Nick being gone, maybe we could spend some time together." I shrug. "But if Nick is expecting you back…"

Eli laughs. "Nick's dead to the world. The medicine he's on knocks him out. I could stay out all night, and he'd never realize it."

"Well, I think Abylin gets off patrol in 2 hours, so I need to be back to the room before then."

"What are we waiting for?"

We don't talk much on the way to the net. I don't know why Eli is so quiet, but I'm trying to figure out how to talk to him about how to get him and Nick to give me some space. It's a slightly easier to meet with Natalie when I need to than it is to meet with Eli, but I would really like to have a little space.

"Just for the record," Eli starts, his voice solemn, as we head to the platform by the net to sit down, "I'm not willing to let you start walking from work on the afternoon/evening shift or to work on the overnight shift by yourself, so you might as well save your breath."

I stop walking and look at him. I don't know if this is a good sign or not. He's already reading my mind.

Eli takes a couple more steps and turns around. The look he gives me is stern and unyielding. "Hana, I trusted her when I shouldn't have, and you got hurt. I'm not going to make that mistake again and end up with you getting hurt again."

I take a deep breath and let my head fall back so I'm looking at the ceiling. I let it out in a huff and then look back at him. "Don't you think if she was going to do something she would have done it by now?" I try to be logical. "She hasn't made any contact with me since she tried to apologize, except that one time she told me her story and asked me -"

"She did what?! Why didn't I know about this?" Eli's voice is somewhere between panic and anger.

I blink at him in surprise. It hadn't dawned on me that he wouldn't know about it, since Carly was the only witness to our conversation, so I wasn't expecting such a strong reaction from him. "She came and talked to me about a month and a half or two months after…" I stop, not sure what to call it. "I was having cake with Carly. She wanted to speak to me alone."

Eli's hands ball into fists. "You talked to her alone?" He swallows hard, repeatedly, like he's swallowing words that he wants to say but doesn't think he should.

"No, I told her that she could either say it right then in front of Carly, or another time with Nick there."

Eli nods and takes a couple of deep breathes. I can see him calm down. "Why not me?"

I smile at him. "I didn't want her anywhere near you. I was afraid she'd turn on the charm and…"

"Hana, even if you and I weren't… I'm done. I wouldn't get back with her. Ever. There is nothing she can do to change that, but since we are…" Eli's hand comes up. It hesitates in the air between us. For a brief moment, I think he's going to touch me. An excitement spreads through my chest in a moment of anticipation. But then he seems to remember his promise to let me set the pace, and he grabs his earlobe and pulls on it a couple of times before letting his hand drop again. "So you understand." When he finally speaks, his voice is rough. "I don't want her anywhere near you."

I nod. "But she hasn't been."

"I don't trust her."

"Do you trust me?"

Eli doesn't even hesitate. "Yes."

"So if I stay away from places that I'm alone…"

Eli takes a deep breath. "Hana, you're going to be alone if you're walking by yourself at those times of night. She could show up, and then what are you going to do?"

I don't know how to answer that. I'm just not worried about it. If she was going to do something to me, she would have already done it. I think Nick's right that Jude is trying to figure out how to get Eli back. As long as she thinks that's a chance, she's not going to touch me. I just don't know how to convince Eli of that.

"I don't think she will. She found out the last time what happens if she hurts me," I finally answer, not having come up with any better argument.

"Not good enough." His eyes hold mine. "Hana, if she found out about us, all bets would be off. You're too special to me to take a chance on your safety."

I've always enjoyed pulling the Dauntless cameras at work and spying on everyone's day, but it is even more interesting, now that it gives me a chance to watch Eli without him knowing it. It makes me feel like I get to share a little piece of his day when I see him, even if it is briefly, on the screens.

Today he ends up working on Leeann's computer. I watch the two of them interact in those brief moments they flash on the screen. Suddenly, the answer to my problem of Eli and Nick sticking to me like glue is sitting right in front of me. I pull the clip for just a moment and watch Leeann pout her way into getting something out of Eli. I've been going about this the wrong way…

I release the footage and pull up a dialog box and send a quick message to Carly. She's been putting up with me complaining about Eli and Nick for months now, so I want to run my idea past her.

I just realized I've been going about this the wrong way. I hit enter and wait for her response.

Going about what the wrong way? she questions me.

Getting Eli and Nick to let me go places by myself.

How are you going to manage that?! she asks me.

My answer is one word. Leeann.

Leeann?

Have you ever seen either of them say no to her?

I hear Carly laugh. I look over at her and she gives me a thumbs-up. Now I just need to convince Leeann.

"I don't know..." Leeann responds, when I give her my pitch.

"Come on, Leeann, please help me." I plead. "You're my only hope."

"I know," Leeann sighs, "and I can see where you're coming from, but if she does come after you, and I'm the one who convinced them…"

"I won't let them blame you, I promise. I'll tell them I put you up to it." I sound hate sounding desperate, but I am.

Leeann shakes her head at me. "It's not that. They'd forgive me eventually." She tosses her hair. "They always do!" She laughs. "I'm not sure I'd forgive myself if you got hurt."

"What if you suggest a compromise?"

Leeann eyes me suspiciously. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, Rais and Abilyn work on Factionless Patrol, too. What if we ask one or both of them to let us know her schedule, and when she's scheduled to be at work, they let me walk by myself."

Leeann bites her lip for a moment. I can see her looking at the idea for problems. "Okay, you bring up to them the idea of not walking you around anymore at dinner, and when they refuse, I'll give that idea as a compromise."

I feel myself grin wide enough to be a Pedrad. "Thank you! You're the best!"

"You're late," Natalie informs me when I walk into the Crevice room.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," I apologize quickly. "Eli and Nick…"

Natalie holds up a hand and stops me. "I assumed as much. How much longer do you think this is going to last?"

I smile. "It should start getting better."

"How?"

"They are only going to walk me places when Jude's not at work. Rais and Abilyn have agreed to help keep track of her schedule, and when she's on patrol, they won't escort me to and from work."

Natalie nods. "That should help. How did you get them to agree to that?"

"Leeann." I smirk. "They never even saw it coming."

Natalie laughs. "How is she these days? I really miss her."

"She's good. She and Chaz will be getting married on Nuptials Day."

"That doesn't surprise me, but I am glad to hear it. I think he's the only man in the city who can put up with her." Natalie is quiet for a moment. "She's been through a lot. Chaz is good for her. So Angie's standing up with her?"

"No, Angie and Rob are getting married too," I inform her.

"I should have seen that coming."

"She asked me to stand up with her," I tell Natalie quietly. It still surprises me that Leeann sees me as a good enough friend for that.

Natalie smiles at me. "I should have seen that coming, too."

I give her a doubtful look.

Natalie shakes her head at me. "Being a former Abnegation, you don't see it, do you?"

"See what?" I ask, puzzled.

"Hana, I'd have you stand up for me if we were in the same faction. You're a good friend."

For a moment, I wonder if that means she and Andrew are getting married, but I can't imagine that they are, yet. Abnegation frowns upon marrying this soon. If I'm right about them, the earliest Abnegation would let them get married is next year. Checking her finger will do me no good, since Abnegation only wear a plain gray wedding ring. Engagement rings are too self-indulgent. I decide to hint around and see if I can finally get her to admit to Andrew. "So, are you trying to tell me something?" I try to sound curious instead of like I am fishing for something I already know.

Natalie laughs. "No, you know Abnegation still sees me as too young."

"But if they didn't?" I try again.

Natalie only shakes her head at me, a slightly amused look on her face. I wish I could read her better.

Suddenly she gets serious. She hands me about a dozen drives. They are all marked "E", Erudite. "Things are getting worrisome there," she says in response to my unasked question. "Norton is starting to keep detailed records on simulations, for both the aptitude test and the Dauntless fear simulations." Natalie's gaze locks on mine. "I have to check into somethings." She hands me a list. "Sorry, but they are going to mess with your schedule some in order for me to be able to do this. A few people will take vacation days. One or two will end up being sick." She shrugs. "Volunteer for every shift that is on this list. Don't volunteer if it isn't on this list. The list, I need you to cover for. If someone really gets sick, I can't afford for them not to let you work because you've already worked too many hours that week."

I nod. "Got it."

"We're having Amar's birthday party a week late," Jazz sighs after she sits down at the table.

"Why?" Leeann asks her.

Jazz takes a deep breath. "Rais got put on Amity Patrol. He'll be gone on Amar's birthday." She looks and sounds worried. I'm sure everyone else just thinks she's upset about Rais missing Amar's first birthday, but I remember what she told me about Amity Patrol, that Rais just isn't himself for a while after it.

"That's almost a month away, right?" Abilyn asks.

Jazz nods.

"I thought they didn't announce Amity Patrol more than a week ahead of time." Abilyn wrinkles her brow.

"That's normally the way it works. On rare occasions we have more warning than that. Amity Patrol is…" She shrugs. "Amity Patrol. There never seems to be an exact way to figure it out."

We're all quiet for a moment. "So who all is invited to the party?" Eli throws out, to distract Jazz.

"Well, Sultana and Kamil, all of you, Carly and her family..."

"You know Carly?" I had no idea.

Jazz smiles. "We were in the same initiation class."

"I didn't know that." I look at my watch. "Speaking of Carly, I'm covering half her shift this evening. I need to get going."

Eli looks around and notices Jude sitting at the next table. "I'll walk you."

"You don't have to."

Eli shakes his head. "She's not on patrol. I'll be back," he tells everyone else and stands up. "Let's go."

I grab my tray. "Fine." I try to sound frustrated.

Nobody questions us, and fortunately, Nick doesn't offer to come with us. After we leave the cafeteria, I look over at Eli and smile. "You do realize I really have to head to work, right?"

"I know, but if I'm right, you actually have about half an hour." Eli winks at me.

I try to look disgusted, but I know I fail because I can feel the smile growing on my lips.

"So, what do you want to do with that half hour?"

I pretend to think. "Well, I was just going to go to work early and hang out there..."

"If that's what you want to do…" Eli pretends to go along with it.

"I guess our other option is to walk very slowly and talk," I offer.

"I think I like that option better." Eli grins at me. "So, how did your first shift go?"

"Hana?" Leeann's voice is soft as she wakes me up.

I blink a couple of times at her. Natalie's had a lot going on lately. In the last five days, I've worked double shifts on four of them, so it's hard for me to wake up. "What's up?"

"I hate to wake you, but Nick and Eli have offered to take us zip-lining. Do you want to come, or do you need to sleep?"

I sit up. "Give me a couple minutes to wake up. I don't want to miss out on zip-lining. I'll be there."

"Okay." Leeann stands up and walks out of the room. She pauses at the door and turns on the light. "Sorry!" She walks out.

It takes me a moment to find my bearings. This isn't the best idea I've ever had, but we haven't been zip-lining since initiation, where, once again, Jeanine's fear simulation took the place of the class doing it officially. Eli and Nick decided that since they had done it for Leeann's class, they should keep doing it for the other classes. I don't want to miss either zip-lining or a chance to see Eli, so I force myself out of bed and start getting ready to go.

On the train ride, I get my second wind, but exhaustion hits me again by the time we get to the top of the Hancock building. Eli and Nick start working on getting everything ready to go. Nick takes one look at me and says, "Hana, come sit near us. You look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet. If you fall asleep, Eli will make sure you get off the roof safely."

I nod and sit down, leaning on a wall near the two of them. I'm just too tired to do anything else. I watch them set things up… I watch Eli set things up. My lids start to lower, and I hope that keeps anyone from realizing I'm only watching Eli and not Nick.

He moves smoothly and gracefully. You can tell he's done this multiple times, but there's nothing automatic about his movements. He's precise. He realizes everyone's safety depends on his job, and he takes it seriously.

"Eli," Jude's voice surprises me.

I open my eyes to see if I'm dreaming or not. Either I'm dreaming with my eyes open, or I somehow missed the fact that Jude was part of the group coming.

"Jude." Eli's voice is expressionless.

"I wanted to thank you for letting us come and make sure you knew Zane."

I make sure to look at the guy standing next to her. I'm pretty sure it's Eli's "twin" from the Chasm.

"Zane." Eli's voice is neutral. It certainly doesn't sound like a man meeting his rival.

"Well…" Jude's voice trails off. "That's all."

My eyelids close again, but I can feel someone's eyes on me. I wonder if it's Jude, trying to decide why I'm sitting by the guys, or if Eli is trying to see if I saw Jude.

"Hana?" Eli's voice is soft. "Hana, wake up," There's a pause. "Sweetheart?" His voice is so low that I'm pretty sure I dreamed the last word.

My heart stops for a moment anyway.

"Hana!" his voice comes again, more insistent.

I blink myself awake.

He smiles at me. It's not his usual grin. There is something special about his smile. "I wish you hadn't come."

My heart jumps to my throat. Jude was here. Is he… does he wish I wasn't here so he could spend time with her? "Why?"

"You're too tired to do this. I don't want you getting hurt. Maybe you should go down the elevator." I see the concern in his eyes, and inwardly sigh with relief. He's worried about me. This has nothing to do with Jude.

I stand up and look around. We're the last two people on the roof. "I'll be fine. It will wake me up."

"Are you sure?" Eli plays with his lip ring.

"I'm sure."

"Then let's get you strapped in. The last person went almost five minutes ago. I didn't want to wake you up, but they aren't going to wait around at the end much longer."

I smile and walk to the staging area.

"Which way do you want to go this time?"

Jude's here; granted, she appears to have a new boyfriend, but why chance it? "Face down, facing back," I decide. I can watch him longer that way. That, and I haven't tried it that way yet.

"What happened to facing up?" he asks. I can see why he asked. I did it that way during my initiation and again during this year's initiation.

"Jude's here," I say softly.

Eli nods. "Better safe than sorry."

I nod back.

He holds out his hand to help me in. "I promise," he says, his voice soft, "if you let me help you in so I know you won't fall, I won't count it as anything else."

I smile back and take his outstretched hand. When our fingers touch, I can feel it, everywhere. Our eyes lock on each other, and for a long moment, we just stand there. Suddenly my eyes drop. I've been looking at him for too long.

Eli doesn't say anything about my reaction. He helps me into the harness and fastens me in. He checks everything three times. "Ready?" His voice is soft.

"Ready."

"Be careful." He swings me out.

I watch him as long as I can. He grows smaller more quickly than I would like. I notice nothing about the ride until he is too far away to see clearly. Then I notice the way my hair is pushed into my face going this direction. I hear the wire sing. I see the people below me slowly grow from specs to real people. When I start swinging back and forth at the stop, I notice everyone scrambling into position.

I wait until they are all there before I undo the buckles and drop into their arms.

"What took you so long?" Leeann asks me.

"Eli had trouble waking me up. Guess I should have stayed at home."

"You're still tired?" she asks, disbelief coloring her voice.

I laugh. "Not after that ride!"

"Eli's coming!" Angie yells.

I join the circle between Leeann and Nick. Jude is across the circle from me. She eyes me for a second, then smiles at me. For her, it looks sincere. I find myself smiling back, but when we all reach out to grab someone across from us, I notice both of us try to make sure we don't accidently end up holding onto the other one.

Eli falls into our arms. When he's on his feet, I can see him searching for someone. I'm assuming it's me. His eyes skim over me, but I see a quick look of relief. He finishes checking the circle. "Looks like we all made it. Let's head back."

We start walking back to the place where we can catch the trains.

"Leeann," Eli says, from his place on her other side, "next time the Stiff is so tired, let her sleep instead of dragging her along."

I want to protest, but I realize he's right. I probably was too tired to come. Hopefully these longs shifts for Natalie are almost over. I want my life back.

So I realized that although I've mentioned Carly's son, I haven't had you guess what his name is yet. So… before we meet him in the next chapter can you figure out who Carly's son is? He is a named character in one of the four Divergent books. Think you know who he is? Leave me a review and see if you can figure out who he grows up to be.