Chapter 38: The Leaders Meeting…

Tobias POV

I had to go to work and did some dauntless paperwork on some safety regulations set up in our initiation procedures. Nothing is changing so it was an easy but tedious day. I was with Tobias all day and he was in his play pin. Whenever he would cry, I would call in James, my assistant to take him. But then he would come back crying too. I finally called Logan and he looked at me and he was even more confused than James. I finally took him to Zeke's office and he was having the same problem with Anastasia. Eric and Mark came into Zeke's office with the attempt to help us calm down the kids, which only seemed to make them cry even more. Then finally Ava came in with D's past two assistants. They took the babies and started to sooth them. After about three minutes, they stopped crying and the girls put them back in my arms as well as Zeke's.

"Oh dear lord, how did the girls do this and work at the same time?" I say sitting down on the couch. The guys look exhausted, Mark and Eric are sitting on the floor and Zeke and I sit on the couch looking at our wonderful but loud kids.

"Dude, they did this every day…" Zeke say and I nod.

"You two are screwed…" Eric says and we all laugh. In that same moment Uriah and Will walk in, I look at the clock which reads 3:10 PM. Time does fly when you're being psychologically damaged by baby cries.

"Dude, we were watching you in the control room and we saved the footage to show your wives what idiots they married." Uriah says. We all look at him because most of the time he is the idiot. "Give me my niece." Uriah says to Zeke and picks up Anastasia. "Let's get you away from your psychotic father." He says and we all laugh.

I walk back to my office and I get Tobias in his stroller. We all walk to the pit to get some food. We sit at our normal table and I look around. I notice everything around me, from Zeke feeding Anastasia to Will feeding his dog some steak. My life is good, I love it. The rest of the day is pretty chill. I didn't have any other work so Zeke and I stayed in his office and played with the kids with chance near by. After dinner, Tobias fell asleep pretty easily, so I sat down on the couch. I started to play the Xbox, but it wasn't the same without Tris. I stood up and went to the formal living room with all the pictures of us. We take a lot of pictures, the one that caught my eye was the one where all of us were at our normal spot at the chasm that no one gets how to go there. We all look so happy. Tobias is smiling in this picture and was really cute. Tris and I were holding hands and I was kissing her on the cheek as she took the picture. Then I hear a knock on the door. I walk up to the door and I open it. I am greeted with a hug and it wasn't by familiar arms. The person pulls away and I finally see her face… Evelyn.

D POV

I wake up and instantly smell the scent of French toast. I walk down the stairs and I see that Marlene and Christina are making breakfast. Nadi, Lane and Tris are already awake and moving around the apartment. I sit down at the island and watch them.

"You know it's weird how you do that?" Marlene says as she pushes a plate of eggs and French toast my way. All of the girls sit down beside or across from me.

"What did I do?" I ask oblivious to the thing everyone was talking about.

"You just zoned out. Chris and I were talking to you about the fault in our stars and you just stared at the wine cellar in the corner." Marlene says, while the other girls nod attempting to swallow their food.

"A. I'm going to pretend you didn't call me that, and B, she's right. It's a talent." Christina said.

"Well, I think it's a curse. I have to try really hard to pay attention. It was really hard during school though. I would always zone out when the teacher talked about something that didn't interest me. It didn't help with my grades."

"Well, don't we have to get ready?" Lane asked and I nod. I go to the sink and I wash the dishes. The girls go upstairs and get ready. When I get up there, the girls are already dressed and just doing their make up in my bathroom when they all have one of their own. I go to my luggage and I pull out a black strapless sundress that falls to the floor along with my four inch heels. I put it on along with a strapless bra and I go to the bathroom. I go to the mirror and the girls are still gathered around either fixing their make up or doing their hair. I finish with my concealer and my powder then I move to eyes. I do my eyeliner and give a winged tip, then with my mascara; I put on blood red lipstick. I look back and I look perfect. I do my hair and leave it in a half up half down with a twist. I am finished and then I realize that all the girls are done and just in my room talking on the bed. I sit down and join them.

"So Lane, how's pregnant life treating you?" Tris asked.

"Oh my God, it is kicking my ass. At least I don't have morning sickness anymore."

"How far along are you now?" I ask

"About two months." Lane responds and I nod. "Well we better get going…"

"Yes, they are having the meeting on the roof." I say and we walk downstairs. "Where are you guys headed to?"

"Just gonna be pool junkies…" Nadi says and we all laugh. We walk to the elevator and we press the roof button.

Eleanor POV

I was on the roof with Caleb at my side as well as a Erudite ambassador by the name of Marley. She was skinny and was short. She was wearing a blue suit, her brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she had her black framed glasses on. I was wearing a blue dress with blue heels. My hair was wavy and pulled to one side. We were talking to the leaders of Amity, Johanna Reyes, Candor, Jack Kang, and Abnegation, represented by Marcus Eaton and Andrew Prior. We were all talking when the elevator doors opened. Three dauntless members walked out, Katheryn, and two other girls whom I don't know. Yesterday Caleb called the one with long blonde hair Beatrice. I don't know the one who was walking in the middle, the way she was walking she must think very highly of herself.

"Who is that? Is she dauntless?" I ask and they all laugh. "What?"

"That my dear girl is D Pendrad." Marcus said.

"She is the most feared person in dauntless and most likely in the entire city." Andrew added.

"But she's so young…" I say and Johanna looks at me.

"She is like the leader of dauntless. You don't look toward the dauntless leaders for diplomacy, you always go to her." Johanna says. I have never thought that Amity would speak so highly of a dauntless.

"What makes her think that she is so powerful? She has not yet paid her dues in this society." I say and I am confident when I say it.

"Honey…" Jack begins. "That woman has suffered more than any of us will ever live through. She's only twenty two."

"Oh Jack, you don't need to tell her that… I'm pretty sure that the Erudite did their homework." D says from behind me. "Well who let the candor smart mouths in here?" She asked and laughed. Jack smiled and hugged her tightly. They both let go and smiled at each other. "So, where's Mia?"

"Oh she's back at Candor. Can't leave that place to fall to chaos." Jack responded. She then moved to Johanna Reyes. She hugged her and I have never seen a dauntless and Amity do that with each other. She must be pretty important for her to hug Amity and mean it.

"Always a pleasure Johanna…" D says. "Marcus, Andrew. Nice to see you." She says and walks past them. Beatrice hugs Andrew and I don't know why. She finally comes to Marley, Caleb and I. "Well Well, Marley Stevenson." She says and extends her hand. "I have read quite a bit about you. I can expect great things from you one day?" She asks and Marley nods nervously. She moves a little to the right to speak to Caleb. "Well, Caleb I believe. I think I owe you a thank you." She says and pulls him into a hug, after a while he gives one back and Katheryn and Beatrice are giving him the death stare. D whispers something into his ear and then he looks like he was about to pee his pants. D finally reaches me and looks me in the eye. "Well, I suppose you're Eleanor." She asks and I nod.

"Yes. I am."

"Well, I have heard quite about you as well." She says and Katheryn grins. "Don't worry; I'll come to my own conclusions."

"Well, thank you for coming."

"Oh, well. Thank you for inviting us. Well, for the people who do not know, these two are Lane Clark and Tris…" D is stopped by a nudge from Beatrice. "Tris Prior." She finally says, that explains the hug. Wait, if her last name is Prior, then she's Caleb's sister.

"Wait, Prior?" I ask and Tris turns around. "You two are…"

"Eleanor, this is my sister. Beatrice." Caleb says and then Tris punches him in the arm and by the look on his face, it hurt. "Tris… My sister Tris." Caleb corrects as her grabs his arm and she wears a triumphant smile as she turns back to the table. The waiters come around offering us champagne. Everyone gets one except for Katheryn.

"Katheryn… not drinking?" I ask and she gives me the death stare.

"Eleanor, do you want a bruised arm as well?" She asks confidently.

"No, I'm just curious Lane."I say and send her a fake smile.

"I can't…" She says. "My husband and I are pregnant." Once she says it Caleb and I spit up our champagne.

"Pregnant?" I say wiping the drink from my face.

"Yes…"

"As in with child?" Caleb asks.

"How many different ways is this question going to be asked?" Lane asked

"We'll their Erudite so a lot." Jack says and they all laugh.

"Wait? You're married?" I ask and she nods.

"Yes Eleanor… Gosh, you would think that the Erudite could process information a tad bit better?" Tris says and they all laugh again.

"Well… Let's get this meeting started shall we?" D asks and I lead them back to the elevators. I go down and lead them to the conference room. We all sit down and get ourselves comfortable. I sit down across from dauntless, and beside Candor. Lane looks happy, but I don't know why…

"This meeting is all about getting acquainted with the new Erudite leader and show her the ropes. The day after tomorrow is the day we speak about new issues that must be mended or torn down. Then on Friday, we will finalize everything and then on Saturday is the Gala. Am I correct?" D says and everyone nods. "Well, I would just like to say how incredibly excited I am about Eleanor being a new leader. I think we should all go around the table and reacquaint ourselves with each others names. We will begin with Candor."

"Well…" Jack stands along with two other people dressed in Candor attire. "Jack Kang, Candor Leader and representive. The one on my right is Martia Williamsburg. Co- lead ambassador along with the man on my left Troy Porter." They sit down and we move on to Amity. Johanna stands along with two other people, wearing normal Amity attire.

"I am Johanna Reyes and these two are lead ambassadors for Amity, Samantha Green and Ruben Woods." Then the people of Abnegation stand, but then Marcus and Andrew have a woman stands to the side.

"From Abnegation, I am Marcus Eaton; this is Andrew Prior and Natalie Prior…" Marcus says and we all nod.

"I am Eleanor Matthews I am the leader of Erudite, this is Caleb Prior and Marley Stevenson. Caleb is one of our top researchers here in Erudite and Marley is the Lead ambassador." I say and we sit back down. Then Tris, Katheryn and D stand up.

"Well, my name is D Pendrad, Lead ambassador of Dauntless; this is Lane Clark and Tris Eaton…" When she says that the entire room pauses. We all look at Tris with confused looks, yet Tris and Lane look at D.

"Don't you mean Prior?" Andrew asks.

"Yes, sorry. I was looking at Marcus. Tris Prior." D says and we all nod. "Well, first order of business is to understand the purpose of each faction."

"What do you mean?" I ask curiously.

"Did no one explain to her on how this council works?" D asks and everyone looks at each other, just not at us. "Well dear, let me explain this to you rather quickly since you are Erudite you can comprehend this without me giving you the entire situation play by play."

"What on earth are you talking about?" I ask and look at Caleb and he looks as clueless as I am. I look at Marley and she looks frightened, which isn't out of the ordinary for her.

"Well, your mother attempted to wage war against Abnegation with the help of Eric Clark, but that's behind us. Your mother also attempted to threaten the safety of all Divergent in the city. Since that happened and she almost succeeded, so I came up with a solution. I have a gun to everyone's head, and I do mean everyone. Every single person, even the bloody factionless, now I can take away any threat with a push of a button. This council, made of representatives of every faction is to negotiate diplomatically on any issue and if one compromises, I settle the issue on how I see fit." She says. She can't be serious, it is irrational and dangerous to have a person with that much power. I look at all of the other leaders and they don't look back at me. "Any questions?" D asks.

"You can't be serious?" I say cautiously. "Is this a joke?"

"Oh no darling, it's very real." Tris says and smiles. Why does no one else see the error in this? I look over at Lane and she just smiles, is none of this a surprise to her? Why am I the only one that is freaking out?

"Do none of you understand how dangerous this is? We are leaving the fate of this city to a twenty year old girl." I yell and still no one looks at me. Caleb grabs my hand as I try to stand up.

"Twenty two. I know what you must be thinking, and you're wrong. I won't abuse this power." She says

"How should I know this?" I ask and she looks at me and smiles.

"In your office, there is a black button, and you know not yet what it does. That's why we are in this meeting. That black button will end my life. That is your insurance, my life is on the line." She says and smiles. "now, share your thoughts."

"Um…" I say. I am at a loss of words. This is crazy of them to do this. "Thank you for telling me. It gives me some insurance. What's next on the agenda?" I ask trying to change the subject. I don't want to think about how big of the bomb she just dropped on me, that everyone's life in this city, in every faction is at risk.

"Well, I didn't think you would take it that well, so I guess we can move onto the issues already. First thing is the initiation process for each faction. Abnegation, would you like to start us off?"

"Abnegation will keep the same tradition, one hundred and fifty hours of community service." Marcus said.

"Well, we are having the same thing for Amity as well."

"Candor will also stick to tradition, truth serum as the final test." Jack says

"Well Erudite will have the same as well." I say and D nods as Tris and Lane take notes.

"Well, Dauntless is sticking to tradition as well." D says. "Since the Erudite didn't have a freak out, I think we are done for the day."

"Okay…" I say and I walk out quite quickly. I walk to my office and just sit there. I guess this is my life now.

Tris POV

I saw my mother at the meeting, I dint know she was going to be here. I knew she was involved in the government somehow but I didn't know she went to these types of meetings. I have been to many of these but I refrained from speaking with my family. I made Lane and D wait with me so I could talk to them. They stayed in the meeting room as Marcus left. I ran across the table and hugged her.

"Mom…" I say

"Hello Beatrice." Natalie says. "I missed you."

"I missed you two mom." I say. "Well, we must have dinner at our place tonight."

"Okay." My father says.

"Well it's the dauntless penthouse." I say and hug them both again. "I'll see you at eight?"

"See you then." My mother says and I run off with D and Lane. We go to the pool and that is where Nadi, Marlene and Christina are sitting in their black bathing suits reading fashion magazines. We sit next to them and enjoy the outside. We don't get to see much of it at dauntless, but it doesn't bother me much. As I sit there, I just think of Tobias and Tobias. It is weird to call Tobias his name but our son's name is Tobias as well, maybe I'll just nickname him Toby.

Hello my wonderful readers. This chapter was a set up for what's to come very soon. Don't get bored just yet, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Initiation is coming up soon so be excited for that. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review, Follow/ Favorite! Be brave…