Jazz and Rais: (mentioned) Amar's parents. Jazz was one of Hana's initiation instructors.

Carly- one of Hana's co-workers, Natalie has identified her as possibly being Divergent

Micah- Carly's husband

Bekah, Kelly, Abilyn: Hana's friends and roommates

Jude: (Mentioned) Eli's ex-girlfriend

Chaz: Leeann's fiancé

Thank you for the reviews and continued interest in this story!

As for the guesses on who Carly's son is... I had 2 people get it right... after getting hints on PM.

And before I forget... Thank you again to Bahrfamily. Another wonderful job betaing this chapter!

38 Marley

"So, what is the purpose," I ask Eli as we stand together in one corner of Jazz and Rais's apartment, "in having a birthday party for a one year old? He's not going to remember it."

Eli smiles and shakes his head at me. "Well, Stiff, I guess the point is for the parent to be able to show off that they kept him alive for a year!"

"So the reasons are purely selfish?" I ask.

Eli shrugs. "Never thought of it that way, but I guess so." His forehead suddenly wrinkles.

"What?" I ask him curious about the look on his face.

"I just realized we missed your birthday."

I shrug. "I hadn't noticed."

Eli looks over at me, with a funny expression on his face. "You didn't notice that no one remembered your birthday and at least wished you a happy birthday?"

I laugh, a little too loudly apparently. Carly looks over at me and an odd look crosses her face.

"What's so funny?" Eli asks me.

"One of these days," I manage to keep my voice low, "we're going to leave Dauntless for an hour or two, and we're going to discuss all the differences between Abnegation and Dauntless, starting with the fact I don't even know when my birthday is."

Eli raises one eye brow questioningly at me.

"I don't even know what month I was born in," I confirm.

Carly walks over at this point. "What are you two talking about?"

Eli shakes his head. "Do you know she doesn't even know when her birthday is?"

Carly tips her head and looks at me; she seems to be evaluating me to see if I'm telling the truth. "She was Abnegation," she finally says. "If I remember right from Faction History, they don't celebrate birthdays."

"I know that, I was in the same class as you."

"Yes, but I received the higher grade, if I remember correctly." Carly says, smiling smugly.

"I just didn't realize they didn't even know when it was." Eli shrugs.

"Why…" Carly starts, then suddenly she calls out, "Gus! Stop that this instant!" She takes off in the direction of her son.

A man about Carly's age with a ring in each ear- I assume he's her husband, Micah- pulls Gus off the chair he is standing on as he reaches out to touch Amar's birthday cake.

Eli chuckles. "Looks like Carly is getting what she deserves. She was always into things she shouldn't have been. Testing things out, trying things out…"

I start chewing on my bottom lip. Testing things out… the phrase repeats itself in my head. Maybe her other aptitude is Erudite. She's trying to learn about things around her.

"What's that look for?" Eli leans in and asks me softly.

I let go of my lip and try to quickly think of a cover. "Just trying to picture Carly as a kid." It's the first thing I come up with.

"From what I've seen so far, watch Gus, and then picture him with pigtails. You should just about have it."

Tori had to leave the party early to go to work, but after the party, most of us head to the tattoo parlor. Bekah has a new tattoo in mind. Carefully - we try not to make it look intentional - I end up walking next to Eli. We talk about nothing important, just general chatter about our jobs, the fact that he's thinking about getting his nose pierced, unimportant things like that. In some ways, it's like the time we spend together, just the two of us, except this time everyone else is around and no realizes we're working on getting to know each other. To them, it's just normal Dauntless conversation.

Others in the group add comments or have their own conversations about their days. Kelly is near us and even shudders at his idea of getting his nose pierced. I smile, remembering needles were hard for her in the fear simulation.

Suddenly, a tall, curvy girl with copper colored curls and dark green eyes steps in front of me to get to Eli. Her short black dress stops inches shorter than I think is decent. The top plunges down, showing off her cleavage. She throws her arms around him and kisses him, quickly, on the lips. It's all I can do not to stare at her or push her out of the way and tell her to leave him alone.

"Eli!" Her voice is bright and seductive at the same time. "I hear you and Jude finally parted ways."

Considering they broke up over six months ago, whoever she is, she's a little behind the times.

Eli reaches up to her arms and gently pulls them off of him. "Marley," his voice is formal, "how have you been?"

She pouts. A pretty pout that even I can tell is intended to make her lips look tempting. "Lonely." She bats her eyes at him a couple of times. "Look," she lowers her voice, "now that Jude is out of the picture, if you'd like some company, you know where to find me." She leans into him. Her intention to kiss him again is very clear.

I don't know how to act. I don't want to act hurt, because as far as everyone else is concerned, to me, he's just Leeann's cousin, so, I shouldn't be. I don't want to act jealous, because, even though I am, really, I have no reason to be. We're just trying to figure out where we stand with each other. How would I act if it was Nick? If she was kissing Nick, I would look away. So I do. My eyes happen to catch Nick. He's shaking his head.

"I'll keep that in mind," Eli's voice is steady. "We're headed to the tattoo parlor, so if you'll excuse us."

"Oh!" Marley's voice remains bright. "I haven't seen her work yet, but I hear the new girl is excellent." In spite of my earlier resolve not to stare at the two of them, I look over. She's taken her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. She has her face pressed against his bicep. "I'll come with you and check her out!" There's a flare of something in the pit of my stomach. It reminds me of the feeling I used to get when I would see him with Jude. This time I have a better idea of why I feel that way. We've been meeting when we can work it out for over a month now, and I still can't bring myself to hold his hand. The fact that she can touch him so casually hurts.

Marley maneuvers herself between Eli and me. I move over a little to give her extra room. I really don't want her to unintentionally touch me. I'm trying hard to keep my cool, but she's making it difficult.

My pace picks up as we get closer to the tattoo parlor. I'm not sure if I just don't want to be around her because I am jealous, or if I'm a little mad at Eli for letting her be that familiar with him. Soon I find myself walking next to Leeann and Chaz.

"If it's not one, it's the other," Leeann grumbles under her breath.

"Who is she?" I nod my head back towards the girl walking with Eli, I think he said her name was Marley.

"Marley?" Leeann confirms. "She and Eli dated before he started going out with Jude." She's quiet for a minute. "I guess I like her better than Jude, but…" Leeann shrugs. "I wish he could find someone nice to date, like Tori, or Bekah, or Abilyn, or…" I notice a sudden twinkle in Leeann's eyes, "you."

I wish I knew what involuntary look came to my face when she said that, because it was enough to make her laugh. "Don't worry; I know, I know, you don't date Dauntless-style." She is quiet for a moment. "But if you ever change your mind," she grins at me, "Nick and Eli are both available. I'll even help with either one of them."

I keep my smile off my face and shake my head at her. "I'll try to remember that," I respond drily.

It's nice to know Leeann wouldn't mind me dating her cousin, but right now it would be a better thing to know where I stood with him, and an even better thing to know that Marley wasn't hanging all over him.

"Net." That one whispered word from Eli is the only one we are able to privately share after Marley joins the group.

Part of me longs to shake my head no and avoid the conversation that is coming, but that is selfish. I've been Dauntless for almost a year and a half, and I still can't just do what I want when someone obviously wants something else. So, I nod, hoping I don't regret it.

Marley is Eli's excuse to leave. Watching him walk off with her, even though he's told me he wants to meet, isn't easy. She's still holding on to him, and he's still letting her. I stifle the sigh that builds inside of me. I wonder how long it will take him to lose her and head toward the net. We weren't able to set a time, but I know I don't want to be waiting there for him.

But I don't want to make him wait long for me, either.

Kelly left almost as soon as we got here. The tattoo needles bother her so she almost never stays long at the parlor. Leeann and Chaz leave shortly after that to meet Angie and Rob at the fights.

I watch Tori sketch out Bekah's idea for a tattoo for about ten minutes; then I decide I need to head out. "I'm going to go for a walk," I inform them. I look at Bekah. "I'll see you back at the apartment." I hope Nick doesn't decide to follow me in case Jude is around. He still does that from time to time.

Bekah nods.

"Are you getting the tattoo tonight?"

"No, she's not," Tori answers for her. Her brow furrows as she concentrates on what she is working on. "I have an appointment in another ten minutes. That's not enough time to get this one done."

Bekah shrugs. "What's your schedule like tomorrow?"

I walk off before they decide. If Tori has a client in ten minutes, then Bekah and Abilyn will probably start wondering where I am in about twenty minutes. I need to meet Eli. If it takes him too long to get there, we'll just have to try for another time.

Eli is pacing by the net, waiting for me when I get there. Once he sees me, he stops and stands awkwardly.

I stop a couple of paces away from him.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to say. There is a war building up inside of me. Two sides of me battle out which course to take.

One side wants to yell at him, to tell him that if he can let her latch on to him like that, then I obviously don't matter to him as much as he tells me I do. That part of me wants to shout all of that at him and inform him we are through and storm off.

The other side of me wants to hurt him a different way. It wants to let the pain of the last hour pour out. It wants to cry and show him how betrayed I feel right now. That part of me wants to make him feel guilty for what he just, unintentionally, put me through.

I stand there, trying to decide which option to take, when it occurs to me there is a third option. That is the option I decide to take, the option of silence. I wait to see what he is going to say and do.

Eli swallows hard. "Hana, I'm sorry. She caught me off guard. I didn't know what to do." He looks at me, his dark brown eyes finding mine and holding them in his hypnotic gaze. "There was part of me that wanted so badly to reach out and take your hand when she showed up." He puts his hand out for me to take now, but I've never held his hand before and in the middle of this conversation doesn't seem like the time to start. After a long moment, he slowly lowers his hand. "Hana, I realize that I hurt you. I didn't mean to. I haven't seen Marley in over a year. I had no idea she would show up like that. Please tell me you believe that."

I nod slowly.

"I wanted to get her away from me. I didn't want her that close to me, but anything I could think of to do to stop her involved you." He pauses for a moment. "I wasn't sure how you would feel about that, and I didn't want to make the situation worse by involving you."

"I was hurt, Eli. I don't know who she is, or what she means to you." I look away hoping he won't see the tears starting to gather in my eyes.

I hear the faint click of Eli's lip ring on his teeth as he plays with it. "I know. I'm sorry."

I close my eyes, willing the tears to stay in them.

"What do you want to know about her? I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

My eyes open back up, searching his to see if he is serious.

"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you," he repeats.

I start with the most basic question. "Who is she?"

"Marley." Eli motions me toward the net. Side by side, we climb the stairs to the platform next to the net. "She's a year older than me. I dated her when I was an initiate and a little while after that, too." He shrugs. "It was never anything serious. I don't know if Marley will ever get serious with one guy. She always seems to be happiest when she's seeing two or three guys at a time, and I was not an exception when she dated me." We sit down side by side, close, but not quite touching, on the edge of the platform.

I can't fathom the idea of dating more than one guy at a time. Of course, I can't even imagine the thought of dating anyone but Eli. "Did you love her?" My voice is small. We aren't to that point, we aren't even close to that point in our relationship, and I don't even know if we'll ever get there, but for some reason I need to know the answer to that question.

"No!" Eli laughs. "I never loved her. I've never been in love with anyone before."

I smile at that. For some reason, the fact that he's never loved anyone he's dated makes me feel better.

He waits for a minute before asking me, "Any other questions?"

"Not right now," I answer truthfully.

"Are we okay?" Eli's voice is tentative.

I look at him, and slowly nod. "We're okay."

Eli lets out a breath I didn't realize he was holding. His grin flashes into place for the first time since Marley showed up. "Good. I was a little worried there for a minute."

"So was I."

And if you don't remember Gus from the series he's in Four: A Divergent Collection. Specifically in The Traitor. He's Four's (and Zeke I assume) supervisor in the Control Room.