❤A huge thanks to Bamberlee for editing!❤

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and congrats to those who figured out Pamela looks like Everly 😉


I arrive to chaos.

Not only is Rylan bouncing off the walls because of some energy drank he's consumed, everyone is in the conference room, waiting. Their gazes flick to me with heavy accusation, as though I had been personally holding up this meeting. Their faces grow increasingly annoyed as I'm forced to search for a charger, but luckily, I find one amongst the crap someone has thrown in the counter drawer. I plug my phone in, and I feel like I'm leaving a part of my soul there as I head back to the table.

"Where were you?" Jason shoves a fistful of papers at me, and he tilts his head. "You haven't been in your office all morning."

"I was with Everly. She had a doctor's appointment." I side eye him carefully, and he looks just as impatient as the rest. "You all realize this is the one time I haven't been in here that you need something. I've attended a hundred meetings where we discussed what color Post It notes we should order."

"True." Rylan interjects. "But we had to wait for you anyway. We've got a major problem." He sounds oddly cheerfully at that last part. He sits down a few seats away and leans back in his chair. Linda frowns when he puts his boots up on the table, and he immediately takes them down. "I know, I know. You just wiped this table off. Sorry, I forgot."

"What now?" I sink down into the first available chair, and everyone else follows suit. We're missing a few people, but it looks like almost everyone who should be here is either here or showing up. "Did you find Evelyn?"

"No," Rylan shakes his head. "We did not find Evelyn. And we're waiting for you, because Karl is missing. We can't get a hold of him."

I stare at him as Max takes the seat next to me, I forget all about Daniel being here.

He confirms what Rylan is saying, that our head soldier on Evelyn's trail has vanished.


Of course, we find Karl.

Half an hour later, Max's blood pressure returns to a more normal range, when Karl finally calls him back. Turns out he wasn't dying or captured by the factionless and being tortured for information, he had been sent out to the furthest point of Amity. To the border of Amity and Candor, where there was no reception. We'd been working for years to scope out the land and get a functioning signal out there, but it was useless. The area simply refused to hold a connection for anyone, including Karl.

"Why did you send him there?" I turn to look at Max, and he looks visibly relieved Karl is fine. "Shouldn't he be in Erudite?"

I hated to admit it, but my brain felt fried trying to figure out where Karl was supposed to be. We had men and women everywhere, in every faction. Abnegation was our lowest priority, since it held Marcus Prior who was still on our asses to tell him what was going on. Candor was fending for itself. I figured Jack Kang was enough of a presence that Evelyn wouldn't want to hang out there. Erudite and Amity were a higher priority, especially after Harrison's announcement that they were showing up looking for Landon. I felt like we were spread fairly thin, but we had little choice. Which made me wonder what I'd missed that Karl had been sent to the abyss.

"I thought maybe she was heading that way." Max mutters, and he graciously accepts coffee from Linda. "How was Everly's doctor's appointment? Did she see Arlene? Is she joining us?"

"No, she saw a specialist from Erudite. She's still there." I eye him reluctantly, not really willing to talk about this. But he had let Everly live with me, and he'd all but shoved us together anytime he could. So I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give him a few crumbs of information. "She's doing good, though. She feels okay and the technician said the baby looks fine. Everything is right on schedule."

Max smiles.

It's an odd smile; it's mixed with both happiness and relief, like he's been waiting for me to say this. He hadn't brought up her pregnancy, but it was obvious he knew about it.

"It's weird to hear you say the word baby." Max grins at Rylan, who's listening with rapt attention.

"It is. Are you going to admit it now? Or are you going to tell everyone she's not pregnant?" Rylan leans back, taking another paper from Jason. "Look, Jason. I love you, but I'm not joining your Green Committee. I already told you this."

"Fine." Jason sulks, snatching the paper back. "Can I at least use your photo?"

"Sure." Rylan shrugs, looking flattered. "Whatever gets people to show up and shovel trash."

"Is Everly okay to return to work? I notice you've held off on having her resume her temporary position with Karl." Max slips right back into being nosy as fuck, though it does pertain to work. He doesn't look surprised when I shake my head.

"I held off because she got shot. Daniel wanted her in bed for two weeks. She lasted two days, and it probably would have been less if she had gotten her way. I cleared her for mostly everything, but…" I pause, looking right at him. "I'm not about to send her to find Evelyn. If she were to get shot again, she might not be so lucky."

"A valid concern." Rylan agrees.

"I can't say I disagree." Max nods, "I look forward to seeing her at our next meeting. I'm sure she's thrilled to be back."

"She is." I stare at Jason's flyer, with Rylan's face on it, and I hope Everly is ready to return to all this. She might have been back in her office but sitting in here with everyone was a whole different ball game. "Actually, if we're done with this meeting, I'm going to go find her. I left her at her appointment."

I glance back at my phone, hoping it's charged enough to call my wife and invite her to lunch. I was hoping she wasn't wandering around looking for me, and if she was done, she'd no doubt tried to call.

"We're good here. My main concern was losing Karl." Max nods, looking pleased at how this had all turned out.

"Yeah, well maybe don't send him out that way again. He's no help to us if he's dead." I answer, and I stand up. "I'll see you later. I'll be back at two."

I say a quick goodbye to all of them. Jason, frantically messaging someone while Rylan watches. Linda, cheerfully telling Max she ordered him a new desk chair. Tori, watching the entire thing silently, but every so often marking things on a map.

I feel a wave of even calmness, because for now, everything seems to have settled right back into place.


I feel a wave of sharp, jagged rage when I slide into the booth next to Everly.

I had called her the minute I left the conference room. To my delight she was done with her appointment, and she did want to meet for lunch. However, she failed to mention she wasn't alone, and the guest of honor joining us was Daniel.

I glare nastily, yanking Everly close against my side, as though if I kept her pinned against me, she wouldn't get hurt by him again. She looks so happy to see him that it hurts my chest. She's smiling brightly, and there's a stab of something as I realize she's forgiven him. She's forgiven him for choosing Blythe over her, well and me, but mostly her.

I have to swallow down the pure rage that seeing him brings back up, which is easy for me. I can go back to the way things were. He can exist in Erudite and I can exist in Dauntless. Our paths don't have to cross, and if they do, like now, I will treat him like I would anyone else who sat down next me without being invited.

Like they were no one.

"Sorry you got lost in there. Max was having an absolute fit because no one could find Karl. Turns out he forgot he sent him out where there's no radio reception," I quickly apologize to Everly. She'd told me she'd gotten turned around after the appointment, and there was a twinge of guilt at this news. I had, too. But she'd eventually found her way out, and now she was here. I drop my head down, really only speaking to her, and she relaxes against me. "Then I got stuck listening to Max for the next half hour."

"It was fine. I found your Dad." Everly smiles at Daniel as though he personally rescued her from the dark lair of the doctor's office. Daniel smiles back at her, and he graciously takes a cup of coffee from our waitress. I eye him critically, noticing he doesn't look as uptight as he normally does. He still looks like any other smug asshole from Erudite. His outfit is sharp and well pressed, and as usual, he looks out of place here.

But he looks happy.

It's an unfamiliar look for him, and I idly wonder if it's because he gets to impart his knowledge upon each faction whether they want him to or not.

"She scared the daylights out of me. I wasn't expecting to run into her," Daniel is cheerful when he speaks, and he doesn't even flinch at the look on my face.

I scowl at him, wishing he'd never run into her. His presence here wasn't a good thing. Everly had been silent about her upset over his decision, but I knew it bothered her. I knew she felt the same heaviness over it that I did, perhaps even more. I reach for my own coffee, and I glance down at Everly. "You really got lost back there?"

"I just went the wrong way. I couldn't remember how to get out," Everly reaches for her drink, and I shift her closer to me. I have the urge to pick her up and carry her out of here, before we're in this too deep. But she seems content. She drinks her soda for a second, then leans into me. "I kept walking in circles until I crashed right into Daniel. But I'm glad you could meet us for lunch. It's nice to see your Dad again."

I nod.

It isn't.

His presence is a bold reminder that she and I were considered lesser in Blythe's eyes. Since Daniel wouldn't dare go against Blythe, that meant he viewed us the same way.

Just like he always had.

He'd probably only agreed to eat with her to save face.

"I figured you'd want to eat before we meet with Max at two. I meant to remind you earlier, but I didn't get a chance."

"What for?" Everly asks.

I shrug, having only agreed to the meeting because I had to. "I'm guessing it's about the open leadership position."

Daniel watches us intently. He's not subtle about it, and in fact, it almost looks like he's studying us for some strange research. I refrain from telling him to go sit at another table.

"Okay, good. We should talk about it," Everly looks up at me, and I smirk in response.

I know full well she doesn't want to take over Brittney's position, and I don't blame her one bit.

Across from us, Daniel drops his stare to the menu, picking it up and examining it like he's never been here before. I notice it's new, freshly printed, and at the top it says UNDER NEW BETTER OWNERSHIP AND NOW WITH MUCH BETTER SERVICE. I smirk at that, wondering if Lucy will eventually get fired under whoever decided they wanted to own Clyde's.

My eyes widen at the picture on the very bottom of the menu. Before I can say anything, Everly shifts beside me.

"Eric," Everly says my name quietly while Daniel pretends to be fascinated by the type of nachos we serve here. "You should say hello to your father."

She's very pretty.

I notice this now more than ever.

I like how green her eyes are, how pink her cheeks look, and how lovely her gaze is as she stares up at me.

I still throw her one nasty sneer, because she's betrayed me by siding with him and if I don't go along with what she wants, then I'll hurt her feelings.

Marrying her had suddenly become very complicated.

I finally raise my stare over to Daniel, and I look at him blankly.

"Hello."

My tone skirts being unfriendly. Everly doesn't like it, though. She elbows me, and I scowl at her, too.

"I said hello, what more do you want?" I snap, and she shakes her head slightly. I've been married to her long enough to know that she is beyond kind. Forgiveness came easily for her, even to those who didn't deserve it. Including him. She cared for Daniel on a level that probably rivaled how much she'd loved her own father. I could see it meant a lot that Daniel looked out for her, and he wanted to know her just as much as she wanted to know him.

Which made this all the worse.

"Eric," she says my name again, this time very carefully. "He's not the one who said those terrible things. You know that. Try to be a little more cordial," She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. In fact, they look hesitantly pleading, like won't I please just ease up on Daniel for a second.

I don't want to.

But everything in me gives, and I sigh heavily.

Only for her.

"Alright. Fine. Welcome back to Dauntless."

"Thanks." Daniel looks amused, having just witnessed me give in to Everly. I was well aware this was a common occurrence between us, but he wasn't. I'm sure he assumed I bulldozed my way through this entire relationship, when actually, it had been Everly who'd gotten things out of me that no one else had.

I stare at him, watching him flip the menu back over, and something strange hits me.

I hadn't heard a single word out of him since we'd left the hospital. Other than Arlene telling me he'd called her right after we left, but nothing else. No email asking if we could talk. No email pleading for me to come back.

Not even a quick text, under the guise of asking how Everly was.

"Now, why are you here? Did something happen to Blythe, or are you sneaking around behind her back again? Does she know you're here?" I ask sharply, still not entirely convinced that his presence here was a good thing. Or maybe he had truly been busy.

Neither reason feels good.

Everly cranes her head to really look at me, and but I'm staring at Daniel. I patiently wait for his answer, since he rarely gave me one that was honest, but he's not at all bothered by my questioning.

"I'm here on business. But things are good, better than they've been in a long time. And I don't need Blythe's permission to come here," he offers up casually.

Too casually.

I don't buy it.

There is no way Blythe would agree to him coming here, even if it was on business. My gaze drops to his hands on the menu, and everything suddenly makes sense to me.

He didn't need her permission to come here, because something had happened.

Something big.

"Bullshit," I snap, and I wonder what he's trying to pull. "If things are so great, where's your wedding ring? Did Blythe have a few choice words to say before she revoked your marriage? Is she gonna hold it over your head until you give in and apologize?"

Everly's mouth drops open and her gaze flies to his hand. She had missed that the heavy band he had worn is now gone. He doesn't answer me for a minute, and his gaze moves from me to Everly, like he's debating saying anything. There's a chance he took it off to make us think things were fine, or that he made his own decisions now.

He looks hesitant, though only until he speaks.

"I left her."

Well then.

Everly and I both freeze. I freeze with my face in sheer disbelief, and she freezes as she reaches for her drink. A second later, she blinks at him in pure shock.

"You left her?" Everly asks, voicing exactly what I was thinking. I would never in a million years believe he would decide to end his marriage. He might not have gotten along with Blythe, but she was just as well-known as he was. Had they separated, it wouldn't go unnoticed by the members of Erudite.

"It wasn't an easy decision. After you left Erudite, I realized things with Blythe were out of my control. Our relationship was too far gone to fix. She would never accept your marriage, and she would never make it easy to continue coming to Dauntless. I didn't want to spend all my time defending my own actions." Daniel pauses to take his glasses off, rubbing at his eyes for a brief second. "When she suggested that I should have left you to fend for yourself, that was the end for me. I couldn't imagine not helping you, I couldn't imagine if something had happened to you or to…"

He trails off, unwilling to say the rest of that sentence. I feel a temporary rush of pride that he was able to realize Blythe would never allow him to see either of us again, especially knowing Everly was pregnant.

"I wanted to be able to come and visit you both. To see my grandchild when he or she is born. Not to spend my days answering to her."

"So you're just…you're done? How does that work?" Everly looks up at me, and I shrug. My stare isn't much friendlier, because I am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. Divorcing Blythe wouldn't be as easy as telling her things were over. More than their reputations, they both had assets. They were wealthier than most in Erudite, and it was unlikely Blythe would willingly walk away from that lifestyle.

"What did you do? Offer her everything?" I stare at him, wondering if he'd really thought this through. "She wouldn't make it that easy for you to leave, now would she?"

Daniel smiles patiently, and I can see he has thought it through. "I didn't give her everything. You know I have friends in Candor who specialize in this sort of thing, ones who could help me if the need ever arose. Blythe and I were able to come to something of an agreement, if you can call it that. The last thing she wanted was to go before a jury to divide things up."

I picture this news making its way to Jack. The last name Coulter wouldn't slip past him, and I wonder if he'll press to find out the details of this menial gossip. And while oddly relieved at this news, I think of Everly, and how I would feel if she ever decided she didn't want to stay married. There had been moments where she could have easily left, considering I hadn't told her we were getting married. "Right. I'm surprised she didn't try to tell you how scandalous it would be for someone in your position to just walk away from his wife after all these years. Try to manipulate you into staying."

Daniel looks right at me, and in that moment, I know that was exactly what she did. There had been some masterminding on his part, and to my surprise, he had stood his ground.

"It happens more often than you think. It took some convincing, but she eventually realized this wasn't up for discussion. It helped that I offered to keep quiet on a few things. She's not as innocent as she believes, and it wouldn't take much for them to open up an investigation."

I nod, and I know what he's getting at.

Daniel slides his glasses back on. "She could be indicted on charges of aiding Jeanine if the right people were alerted. Her participation in her sister's plans, even if minimal, would be enough to cast doubt on her as a threat to the factions. But she was willing to take significantly less and I was willing to pretend I didn't remember any of that bullshit. Unless she tries to make things difficult."

"What kind of charges?" Everly asks, and she tenses up. The action is unconscious, but it's there.

"She counseled them, didn't she? The people Jeanine used as test subjects?" I had long wondered this, and I knew Blythe wouldn't have hesitated to help her sister. The rehabilitation of them, had they lived, would have been an important part in the testing.

Daniel nods. "No one ever really looked in Blythe's direction, but if I were to mention it, they might." He pauses to take a sip of his coffee and he shrugs. "So, I left her the house and a few other things. There was nothing I really wanted. I bought another place, one closer to work."

"Good for you," I look right at him. I can't explain why, but the space in my chest has grown considerably. "I didn't think you'd ever divorce her."

Daniel looks at me for a long second, then Everly, and then he smiles. "I certainly never imagined my marriage ending quite this way, but there are far more important things to focus on right now."

There is a moment of silence that passes between us. The circumstances ending Daniel's marriage were heavy, but they had led us to this moment. Had any single one of them been different, he might not have been here with this news.

Everly is delighted.

"Good!" she announces brightly, and I can't help but snort.

"Don't sound so enthused, Amity. She could wander in here at any moment now, looking for you. Blaming you for the dissolution of her marriage," I point out, and she elbows me again.

"She wouldn't." Everly laughs, but a moment later, she grows serious. "What was she doing with the test subjects?"

My jaw clenches down as Daniel looks to the side of me. My involvement with Jeanine was a touchy subject. Part of my reason for helping her, aside from her guaranteeing my rise to power here, was out of spite for both Daniel and Blythe. I wasn't sure if Daniel knew it, but I had worked for Jeanine right up until the moment I realized she'd expect me to drag Everly in to be tested. It was then, the moment I saw Everly's name on a page that spelled out her death, that I decided to permanently lessen my involvement.

When I realized she'd come for Everly no matter what, it was easy to make my decision to stop.

"Just testing of sorts. Things that no one but Jeanine thought necessary. Blythe helped out after," Daniel answers, and he looks relieved when the waitress returns to our table. He orders his lunch, while Everly mulls this over, not entirely sure what happened during the testing.

"Blythe counseled them when Jeanine was through with them. Trying to... repair them enough to be tested again," I mutter.

I leave out the part where most had not survived the testing.

Everly nods, and her fingers hover over her menu. "Did you know any of them?"

I can't help but tense up again. Her question makes me flash back to my time with Jeanine, when I had gleefully found these people for her. Had I not married Everly, eventually, she would have been one of them. I would have sought her out until she was in front of me, long tangled hair and a black dress. Or maybe still a pink one. Either way, I would have dragged her to the truck, knowing every step of the way, she was walking toward her death.

"No," I snap, shoving that thought aside. "Not beyond their names."

Everly leans into me, and her head rests against my shoulder. She's not mad or upset, but she only has a small idea of what I did. I'd told her that Jeanine would have asked me for her, but I'd refused. In fact, I'd done everything I could to keep her safe. Had it come down to it, I'd have killed Jeanine in cold blood to keep Everly alive.

"What happened to them?" Everly asks, and the waitress looks at her. She orders soup and a salad, and hands the menu to Lucy. "Are they free now?"

Lucy's stare finds me. She's torn between wanting to listen in and know more and taking our order so her shift will go by faster. I dully order a hamburger, while Daniel nods at Everly.

"Everly, everyone is free from Blythe now."

The mood lightens considerably. His words hold more weight than he knows, but by saying them, he's just changed everything.

Everly lifts her head from my shoulder, and she looks absolutely delighted. The past few weeks fall away, all the worry and stress over saying goodbye to Daniel gone. I stare at him, his face lit up by how happy Everly is, and his smile bright.

I realize he did it.

He left Blythe so he could know Everly and I. He chose us. Himself, most of all, but also us. I had to think we were some deciding factor in him leaving Blythe, especially after what happened.

I lean back against the booth, watching him talk with Everly, laughing about something that happened in the cafeteria in Erudite, and I find myself smiling.

At him. At what he's done, for her and I. At the peace he's created for all of us, but especially himself.

He smiles right back.


We say goodbye to Daniel, but this time, it's completely different.

He walks us out, looking far happier than when we sat down, and I know Everly feels the same way. I do, too. There's a weight that's gone, one I hadn't been willing to acknowledge, but I knew it was there. It shouldn't have bothered me, nor should it hurt that he could have chosen to stay with Blythe, but this is something else.

I almost don't know what to do with it.

So I walk along, letting Everly walk closely next to him, and he promises her we'll meet up again soon. There's an ease to these words that has never been there before, and I know he means it. He'll keep his word, especially if it means seeing us.

"You three take care," Daniel looks at both Everly and me, and he adjusts the collar of his jacket. There's a subtle shift as he returns back to the doctor who's inspecting Arlene's infirmary. He hesitates before reaching over to pat my shoulder, the action careful, like I might swat him away for touching me. I stare at him in confusion, for I can't remember him ever doing anything of the sort. I can't even remember the last time he'd hugged me. I finally shift away from him, still not wanting his hand on my shoulder, but I tell him goodbye.

"We'll see you for dinner soon," I decide, and he smiles widely. He winks at Everly, like they both had won some secret war, and I resist saying something snarky. I let them have their moment, because they both deserve it.

Everly and I watch him head down the hallway, until he turns the corner. "I can't believe he really left her," Everly tells me.

"Neither can I, Amity."

I glance down at her, reaching to take hold of her hand, and I nod my head. I don't have much more to say, not because the idea is unsettling to me, but because it was so very unlike Daniel to have gone through with it. I immediately wonder if he's lonely. If he'll eventually get bored of living by himself, or if Blythe will try to pressure him to rectify the situation.

But I don't think so.

Not with how happy he'd looked, and not with how he'd willing eaten lunch with us and promised Everly he'd return.

My grip is tight on her hand, my feelings betraying my normally cool exterior, and I want to keep her close. We walk along a few steps, and I realize I hope he does return soon. There are a few things I want to tell him, and I didn't get the chance. A few things I need to say to him.

I hurry Everly along, trying to slow down the urge to welcome Daniel into my life.


Everly is lucky.

We're almost late to the meeting, though Max isn't particularly punctual. We do make it on time, but when we reach the doorway of his office, we hear Max before we see him.

His words are spoken in a highly stressed tone. Everly looks up at me in total confusion as he announces he doesn't have the last armory inventory, and Karl was supposed to have done it.

As if Karl hadn't been sent to every corner of every faction these past few weeks.

"I just did it," Karl counters, and he looks ready to clock Max. "You said you were busy with Arlene, and could I please help you out just this once. I spent an entire afternoon in there. With the new guy."

Karl stops, and his head tilts to the side. His posturing is very familiar; it's full of terrible frustration, mixed with a heavy dose of irritation. I wasn't expecting to find him here, but I can't say I mind our meeting being pushed back.

"The last count date is months ago," Max turns, and he faces Karl with squared shoulders, ignoring the dark glare on Karl's face.

Everly and I stand there, watching silently. She takes a step forward, but I yank her back before she gets too far. I'd been in Karl's shoes several times. It wasn't unlikely that Max had misplaced the report, and it wasn't unlikely that Karl wouldn't want to redo the report.

Because the one Max was talking about took forever.

"It's wrong. And I'm not doing it again," Karl tells him hotly, and I smirk.

I decide I like the kid.

Really like him.

I pull Everly along with me, leaving Karl to continue shrieking at Max, and I wonder if this was what he truly wanted. I'd offered him everything he could ever hope for in Dauntless, and Max had jumped on that band wagon.

Unfortunately, it meant he was having Karl help with things that Max, himself, should have been doing.

Like the armory report.

"I already did your TPS reports! I'm not covering for you again!"

Karl's shriek echoes down the hallway, and I make a mental note to give him a day off asap.


I use the rest of my day wisely.

Since we aren't sitting down with Max, I use the time to officially show Everly how the patrol squads are assigned. Along with this, I show her how to call them out to a specific route, or how to recall them if necessary. She sits on my lap, which is rather distracting, but her attention is somehow focused where it needs to be. She picks up easily on how to prioritize an area, and her interest only wavers when she looks at the dozens of schedules for each faction, along with the assigned head soldier, the assigned commander, and the control room schedules.

"Okay," She pauses, and she looks at the papers in front of her. I'd given her one of Harrison's most favorite scenarios, and she was thinking it over. "Factionless riots would warrant four squads or more, right? I can send them without question?"

She glances back at me, and my hands are on her thighs. I adjust her position on my lap, spreading my legs wider.

Eventually, I nod my head.

"Especially now. Anything relating to the factionless would require immediate action. You wouldn't be questioned for sending them. Individual factionless, depending on their activity and whether it's suspicious or not, might only need two or three men. It's up to you. Whatever decision you think is right."

She nods, writing this down in neat, loopy handwriting. She hesitates for a second, then looks back. "What if I choose wrong?"

I shrug my shoulders. It was unlikely she'd make a mistake that couldn't be fixed. I stare at the way her hair falls down her back, and before I can think too deeply about any of it, I reach for my buzzing phone. The message is from an unknown number, and I don't click on it.

"You send more or call some back in. It happens. Tori once sent nine patrol squads out for what was called in as a factionless uprising. Turned out to be some kids from Candor throwing rocks at the fence."

Everly laughs, and her feet hit my shins.

"Harrison one time sent just a small patrol squad out, only three men, to an actual factionless uprising. He had been on shift for over forty-eight hours, and he thought he sent three patrol squads out. Lucky for him, we caught what was going on and sent backup. There's a reason there are more than a few Leaders. You aren't in this alone."

My arm moves around her waist, and I pull her back against me. We were moving through this quickly, and I wonder if her original training would have gone this fast if I'd let her sit on my lap. But unlike her original training, she's got a whole new set of nerves going on.

"There's nothing you can fuck up so badly that we can't fix it. If that's why you're hesitating, just know I won't let that happen," I murmur the words at her, though we are the only two in my office. I know why she'd be worried, but there had been plenty of errors made by veteran staff. "I'm not going to let you take on anything you can't handle, or that I can't help you with. You won't have to worry, if that helps you to make your decision."

I'd never let her flounder on her own. No matter how long she lived here, nor what position she held.

"Thank you," Everly sighs in relief. I push her hair off her neck, and I press my lips there for just a moment. I'd like to continue kissing her, but I have to get through this section, and I am determined to focus on our work.

"Now, can you tell me what section typically has the least amount of activity?"

I say the words against her skin. She smells really good, something sweet that I'd never thought I'd like.

"Abnegation and this section of the woods." Everly announces, and she sounds proud. I have to grin at this part of the woods, since I'd just shown her one random area that everyone seemed to bypass.

"Ah, so you were paying attention," I grin. "Good girl."

"It was all thanks to my instructor." Everly teases, and I kiss her cheek in mock approval.

"He sounds excellent." I snicker, and she looks back at me with a very sly grin. We stare at each other for a moment, and I try to decide if I think she looks any different to me. I keep waiting to see what everyone else claimed they saw.

She still looked like Everly to me.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" My fingers tighten on her, and the tables are turned as I try to pry an answer out of her. Everly blinks at my question, her expression surprised, but happy.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm…I feel fine. I'm not even tired." She grins, and she grins wider when I raise my eyebrow at her. "Okay, maybe not that tired. You know Tris…"

Everly stops, and I have to work very hard to keep my stare neutral.

"Tris…is tired? Why? Is Four keeping her up at night? Maybe…reading her a very sad, handwritten story about his day?" I play along, smirking when Everly wiggles around to really face me. Her position is awkward, but it doesn't bother her.

"Funny. I was going to say something else, not that. I don't think Four is reading her anything at night." She remarks dryly, and then her eyes widen. "You know, don't you?! You weren't going to tell me she was pregnant! How long have you known?"

I stare at her insulted expression and I shrug, trying to downplay that she'd figured me out. "I thought she'd want to be the one to tell you. Who am I to steal Tris Prior's joyous announcement?"

I also have to work very hard not to laugh when I say that last part. Everly can tell, too. She, herself, struggles between looking amused and pissed off, and she winds up laughing anyway.

But honestly, I had forgotten about Tris and Four.

Sure, I remembered when I saw Four. I knew his sweaty, secretive behavior was his way of covering up that Tris was pregnant, as if someone were going to call him out on it. Truth of the matter was, had it not been him, eventually, she'd probably have had a child. Which still wouldn't concern me. But I knew, and I wasn't dumb. I was sure he and Tris weren't sleeping in separate beds, and once he'd won her back, it was unlikely they'd restarted their relationship from square one. They'd have to have fucked at some point, and now, we'd all be forced to deal with the consequences.

My only concern was that someday, my son would go up against his child.

Mine would obviously win.

He would be bigger. Stronger. Faster, though Four did have an advantage at being a runaway. I wince at that thought out of nowhere, and I shake my head at the gross flash of guilt I feel. I knew he'd had a shit upbringing. Mine hadn't been much better, but it didn't feel entirely fair to throw that in his face.

Especially since he wasn't even in here.

"Are you okay?" Everly chews on her lip, and she leans in closer to examine my face, then looks to the left and to the right "You look like you're debating someone but there's no one in here but me."

"I am." I announce and reach up to touch her cheek. I let my fingers skim over her skin indulgently, often wondering how I wound up deserving her. "I mean, I won though. It was really no contest."

She lets out a huff of laughter, and I lean in until my nose touches hers.

"I only know because Rylan saw the paperwork. Don't ask me how he saw it, or why. I didn't say anything because I assumed she'd want to tell you in person."

"Are you happy for them?" Everly is lucky that her lips touch mine in that moment. They are soft and full, and I smirk against them.

"Oh Everly, you have no idea how happy I am for them. It's my greatest dream that Four would bring a child into this world."

I manage to get the words out without laughing, and I kiss her back, until the idea of Four and Tris is the last thing I'm thinking about.

In fact, I forget about him all together, because the rest of my afternoon slips away so quickly, that we leave before I know it.


While I make her dinner, Everly looks through my notes.

We'd walked home together, having finished almost everything I needed her to do. She easily absorbed the rest of the information, and she quickly threw together a few mock squads and patrols that would have worked just fine.

Now she sits at the table, reading through the notes I'd used while I cut up the vegetables. I watch her out of the corner of my eye, and I notice when her expression changes. She was looking at her own notes with an expression of pride. They made little sense to me, but she understood them. Then she'd moved onto mine, and her expression changed. Her eyes narrowed, and she turned around to look up at me.

"What are these?" Everly asks, watching me with great interest. I throw everything into a pot of boiling water, and she looks happy at what I'm making. But her expression falls as she holds up the coordinates I'd circled beside Evelyn's name. "What area is this?"

She points to the papers, and I squint at them. I can make them out, but she's not going to like my answer.

I shrug, adding a few more carrots into the pot.

"Amity."

The noodles are next. They slide into the water with some protest, eventually bending under the pressure. Everly waits patiently, but her lips have turned downward as she waits for more information.

"They're coordinates in Amity. We think she's near there."

"Eric," She gasps my name, sounding just as worked up as I predicted. I hadn't told her what part of Amity, but that wouldn't ease her stress, either. "My mom is there! My brothers and sisters! She could kill them!"

"Relax. The coordinates are for the outskirts of Amity, almost bordering on Candor. Nowhere near where your mother and her voodoo magic are." I smirk at her, noticing that she looks ready to leap up off the chair. But I'm not driving to Amity tonight, and neither is she. "She won't dare venture where they might recognize her. She's not quite that stupid. Besides, the area is now well-patrolled, including further into the most central parts of Amity."

"We have patrol squads in Amity?" She asks, and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, and you can't join them."

"I wasn't going to ask to join them. Have they found anything yet?" Everly asks, ignoring the last part of that statement. We both knew I wanted her to stay where I could see her, and the idea of her rushing to find her mother wasn't anything I was on board with.

"Not really." I cut up the chicken, glancing back at her. Her expression is still rather grim, and she's looking at me intently. "You okay, over there? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, I just don't want her hurting them," Everly answers, and she turns to set the papers back down. "If she knew who they were…"

"She won't," I answer her. I wipe the knife off with a paper towel, and I glance at Everly. "She's not dumb enough to ask anyone in Amity for help. Though I have little doubt that the Amity instinct in Johanna wouldn't be able to turn her down if she did."

"Funny, but I think she would be able to come up with a few reasons to not help her," Everly answers back quickly. She picks up the pages again, staring at the numbers for a few intense seconds, until she sets them back down.

And yawns.

I watch her very carefully.

Rylan, still on Tris Prior's baby watch for some unknown reason, had kept me up to date on everything I'd need to know. Turns out while Everly was mostly napping her way through this pregnancy, Tris was mostly vomiting her way through hers. He gleefully told me she threw up while walking to work, then at work, then on her way home from work. Four seemed hard pressed to find something she'd keep down, and they'd spent a lot of time in the infirmary.

So had Rylan.

He made up all kinds of reasons to go down there, any time Tris went.

I'm sure Arlene had caught on, but she treated each one of his made-up illnesses and sent him on his way.

He relayed everything to me, perhaps thinking I'd find it helpful. Unfortunately, for all his hard work at scamming Arlene out of some throat lozenges, Everly was fine. She wasn't throwing anything up, she barely looked pregnant though I swear a fear people had looked at her funny. She was mostly tired, definitely more than usual, and her quietness was because she missed Daniel.

But maybe she was starting to feel sick. Maybe I shouldn't be making her stir fry but should be dragging her down to see Arlene.

"Are you tired?" I stare at her, refusing to move until she nods her head. The relief is instant, but so is the disappointment. I had thought we could go to bed early tonight and continue where we left off in my office. But that wasn't happening if she was asleep by seven.

"Sort of," Everly reluctantly admits.

"Okay." I nod, returning to the dinner I was making. I understood. I had had an entire year of Everly to myself, and I intended to continue to enjoy my time with her until it wasn't just her and I anymore.

"Will you lie down with me after dinner?"

I look up in surprise, and she's smiling at me.

"Of course." I agree immediately, then I narrow my eyes. "But I'm not watching another one of those shitty movies."

Everly smiles innocently, and I return to finishing dinner. She looks content as ever to sit there, only closing her eyes for a second. She eventually stacks all the papers back together and shoves them aside. She turns to face me, watching as I stir everything together, and her stare meets mine.

It's been her and I all along. Her entire existence in Dauntless has just been her and I, and she's never asked for it any other way.

Neither have I.

I think of this when I hand her her dinner plate, and my fingers touch hers just a second longer than necessary.


She falls asleep in record time.

I'd returned from brushing my teeth, thinking maybe, just maybe, she'd be awake. We could watch something scary, she'd lean against my chest, and I'd get my way by the time the first demon appeared.

But I have no such luck.

I return to the bedroom to find her sound asleep, on my side of the bed.

I half debate making one of two very important phone calls, but in the end, I wind up climbing into bed next to her and going to sleep as well.


Eventually, I grow bored with Everly sleeping.

It gives me an antsy feeling, one that creeps up my spine, growing worse and worse with every passing minute.

I'd already gotten up. Taken a shower. Had breakfast, made coffee. Checked my email. Confirmed our meeting with Max. Confirmed that Harrison was still alive and just fine. Listened to Rylan rant about being told he couldn't be Four's best man nor could he give a speech. I shrugged at that one, wondering if he really thought Four even wanted him there or would be dumb enough to allow Rylan to talk at his wedding. I checked to see if Everly was still sleeping, which she was, and I even tried to see if she'd wake up if I called her phone. She didn't.

By eight am, I was bored out of my skull and unwilling to arrive late for this meeting with Max. He'd emailed me early this morning, apologizing for missing it yesterday. Karl had eaten up most of his afternoon, along with a report they both swore they'd worked on. It was fine by me. Everly and I had finished one more section in her training, and the entire thing was beginning to wind down.

I knew this meeting was to feel out where she was at. We had a few options for people who could take Brittney's place, but Max's first choice was Everly. It made logical sense, since she was nearly done with the program, but I knew she didn't want the job. She had no interest in the grinding, internal politics of Dauntless, nor was she suited to sit behind a desk and deal with everything that went wrong in Dauntless.

She wanted freedom.

She'd come here searching for a place to fit in, one that would give her the chance to explore. I can't imagine she'd chosen Dauntless thinking that she'd wind up two doors down, filing away papers and approving Quinten's monthly dinner schedule. If I knew Everly, and I smugly felt like I knew her very well, I knew she wanted to get out.

Unfortunately, that wasn't quite on my agenda.

Not just yet.

Once I had found Evelyn, and I had beheaded her in a spectacular fashion, I would tell Everly she could do whatever she wanted. There were a few positions open that I knew required travel. Some for an hour, some for entire days. She would be able to see her mother. Her family. She could visit Daniel as much as she liked. Hell, she could stay with him for weeks if that's what she wanted. I was hesitant to think she'd want to be gone that long, or that she'd be fine taking our child out of the faction so easily, but I had come here for the same reasons.

To get away from being stuck.

She just had to be patient.

I would give her what she wanted, the minute Evelyn's blood spilled onto the ground.

"Everly."

I say her name slowly, from the foot of the bed. She had long made this her own room. The darkness never swallowed her up, and she was the only one who had been granted permission to stay. Or maybe she'd never asked for it. She just sort of took it and let me think I was the one okaying it.

I had liked the sight of her in my bed that very first night and I liked it now.

"Wake up."

She blinks, the action slow and heavy, and her head turns to bury itself in the pillow. She's surrounded by my pillows and blankets, having made herself completely safe beneath them. I could imagine how it felt to finally have felt safe enough to sleep, despite the creeping exhaustion of her first few weeks here. I had felt the same way when she returned. The desire to stay right there, where I knew she was alive and well, outweighing actually getting up.

"You awake yet?"

I kneel at the end of the bed, and while I wouldn't care if she slept all day, Max would. I'd already warned her once about him. He wasn't shy about showing up to come find you, and she was no exception. I kneel one step closer to her, and I knock away the comforter. Everly barely moves. She doesn't seem to notice, not until I'm right over her. I kneel between her legs, taking in the sprawled-out image of her. She was bent at some funny angle, both curled up and taking over half the bed, until now. She turns over, and I realize she has nothing on. Not one of the fancy nightgowns she favored, not even my t-shirt.

I bite down on the side of my cheek.

I'd somehow missed this last night.

I hold onto her hip with one hand, and I work the other up. Over the expanse between her hips, over her stomach, up the side of her ribcage. From this angle, I decide she does look different. I swear there is just the slightest and gentlest curve where there was none, though that could be my imagination. I examine her carefully, taking in the faint mark where she'd been shot and Daniel's neat work, when she finally wakes up.

"Are you going to sleep all day?" I trail my fingers over her, pressing here and there. Over the very first spot she'd ever been injured, the dark bruise harsh against her skin. I push up higher and her eyes open slowly. She's still not awake, not entirely. They darken as I deliberately trace over her skin, but not where she wants them to.

"It's the middle of the night," Everly protests, and her voice is low and warm and heavy with sleep.

I shake my head no, and a smile crosses my lips. "It's not. It's time to get up, Amity. You have a meeting with Max at ten, and only because your name is associated with mine am I waking you up. This is one you can't sleep through."

I lean over her, until my lips touch her skin. There's a weighty moment of reverence as I stay there, my mouth working over the bones of her ribcage, slowly. Her hands reach for me, grasping blindly as her eyes slip shut, and she pushes herself up toward me.

"What are you doing?" She asks when I work my way back down her side. I had decided I would wake her up, I knew this would get her out of bed. I'd been very careful since learning she was pregnant. I wasn't dumb enough to think I'd hurt her, but I wasn't taking any chances. "Eric?"

She shifts beneath me, trying to redirect me where she wants me, and she groans at the feeling of my mouth on her neck. Her hands move to my back, scratching down the skin to get my attention, and I knock them away.

"I need to ask you something," She whispers, and I can feel the words as she says them.

"What do you want to ask me, Amity?"

This should be good.

It could be anything.

It was probably something I wasn't going to want to answer, like would I let her drive the trucks to the next location that Evelyn was at, or could we go jump off the roof just for fun.

"Is the baby a boy or a girl?" She asks with a high voice, right as I find her collarbone. One of her hands grasps the back of my head, holding me against her skin. She digs her fingers into my hair, pulling on the damp pieces as my teeth dig into her skin.

"Oh, now you want to know? What happened to waiting?" I smirk against her skin. There's a slight imprint where my teeth were, and Everly pushes herself closer.

"I was just wondering. I was thinking I should find out…"

"Are you sure you want me to tell you?" I ask her slowly, rising up so my cheek touches hers for a second. I move to the other side of her neck, this skin pink and warm, and she tilts her head.

"I think so."

Her words are not entirely coherent. They are dreamy and soft, sighed as my hand moves to cup her breasts. I squeeze less than gently, and I realize she is pregnant. Even sprawled out beneath me, they feel fuller and heavier and this is because of me. Because of our time together, the nights spent on top of her. Beneath her. Inside her.

"I dreamt that we had the baby and I couldn't see the face. And you wouldn't tell me the baby's name," Everly keeps talking, paying little attention as I settle on top of her. "You just kept calling the baby 'initiate'..."

I snort at the idea. I finally close the distance between us, kissing her with less restraint than I had planned.

"You weren't too pleased the last time I ruined a surprise for you, were you, Everly?" I point out. "You got awfully grumpy when I told you Dumbledore died."

I knock her legs further apart, and my hips push into hers, and she smiles.

"Well, that was just mean."

I laugh loudly at her expression. She's warm beneath me, and I rise up to glance down at her. I try to mentally calculate how long we have, then I decide fuck it, Max bailed on us yesterday, he can wait a few more minutes today. "I never said I was nice, now did I?" I recline back to smirk down at her, and she looks up at me.

"You really won't tell me?" She asks. "Not even a hint?"

"No," I lean forward, reaching to cup the back of her head. I pull her up to meet me, and I smile. "At least not right now. Maybe later." My hips return to hers, ignoring the ache that's currently spreading through me, as well as the alarm that's quietly beeping.

"I'll tell you in six months," I declare, and she misses the entire point that by then, she'll either have figured it out….

Or given birth.

"Okay," She groans, and I reach to the side of us. I silence the alarm, and I reach back to touch her. My fingers find the slant of her waist and I linger there for a moment. "I can wait."

"We'll see." I knock the rest of the covers away, until I'm all that's covering her. Her hips rise up to meet mine, and her hands reach for the back of my head. Our eyes lock as she smiles, and the green is warm with lazy, heady lust.

"I'm awake now," She informs me, and she stretches beneath me. All it takes is a single second for me to push myself inside her, and my lips touch hers.

"Good."

She groans, and her nails dig into my scalp. She forgets her question entirely, and so do I.


Max stares at her.

I can tell he doesn't know where to look, and he's trying to be polite. But much like everyone who knew she was pregnant, he was looking for proof. He looks at her face, then looks her up and down, back to her face, then her stomach. He gazes behind her, as though the wall will give him some insight as to when she'll look pregnant, then he smiles.

He looks disturbingly pleased.

"Thank you for coming," he starts off, taking a sip of his coffee, glancing at me. He'd summoned us in here early, having put this off for some time now when he realized Karl wouldn't cover for him any longer. "There are a few things I think we should go over. I know you two don't have a lot of free time, so let's use this advantageously."

He looks at me with a pointed stare, and I shrug.

He was telling me to shut up. To let him talk until he was done and stay quiet. The last time we'd been here, he'd informed me he wanted Everly to work other places. To be trained by others in this faction other than me, and he'd approved wherever she wanted to go. It had caused the first real argument between us, one that would remain a constant theme: she took an afternoon to do something risky, and I spent the entire time scowling and hoping she stayed alive.

Joke's on him, because I already know how this will turn out.

And I'm more than fine with it.

"Let's just cut to the chase then, shall we?" Max continues, grimacing when he takes another sip of his drink. "Brittney will not be rejoining us, and Everly should be finishing her training up shortly. Ideally, you both know it would be easy and logical for Everly to step in and take her place."

I clear my throat, having been sent the memo about Brittney. I couldn't bring myself to answer it, because it meant far more work for me. I had stayed silent while her duties were temporarily split up, and to my delight, Tori was stuck with most of them.

"She isn't coming back? At all?" Everly looks at him, and her cheeks still have the faintest blush to them. Half an hour ago, she'd been groaning my name while her nails clawed at my skin. I'd watched her come in a lovely fashion, and she'd all but dragged herself into the shower to get ready.

At her question, Max's eye twitches. "She's... uh… she's pursuing other interests." He pauses to drink his coffee again, then immediately sets it back down. I wonder if Four made it, because it's clearly not good. "We do need someone to take her place. I'm well aware you're almost done with Eric's training, but I'm also aware that this might be something you don't want to do… at least not right now."

I stay perfectly still. He's handling this surprisingly well, and I give him credit for being wise enough to see that Everly Coulter truly wasn't rushing to be stuck in this office. He doesn't look at me, only her, not at all upset.

"We have a few positions open when you are done. I know you've worked hard and you ranked high enough to pick where you'd like to go. We have an ambassador position that will be available soon, and we also have a few council positions that you can fill in on part time. If you choose not to take the full time leadership position, I'd like you to consider choosing something that will allow you to eventually work your way into it."

Everly looks completely thrown off. He slides a paper at her, one with far less day to day responsibility but still just as much importance. "Read through this when you have time. Whatever you decide, we'll be happy to have you. Eric says you have a few weeks left. We'll plan on meeting again then."

"Thank you," Everly looks over at me out of the corner of her eye, and she looks stunned. I knew she was worried about it, but I had no desire to watch her flounder in a job she didn't like. "But what about the position? Who would take it if I didn't?"

Max leans back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "We'll find someone. Worst case scenario, Eric takes on another leader-in-training and we wait until they're done."

I glare at him. I had not once said anything to him about taking on another leader-in-training. My goal was to give Karl a trial run at the job without having to spend all my time with him. But this was news to me, and I didn't like it.

"You have someone in mind?" I ask, hoping he doesn't.

"Not yet, but the right person will come along if Everly chooses something else."

"Can I ask you something?" Everly takes the paper, and she skims it quickly.

"Sure," Max responds, shuffling papers around on his desk. He's making more of a mess, but it's fine. I'm sure he'll make Karl organize it all later.

"What about Evelyn?" Everly asks, and I grunt in annoyance. I knew where this was going, and I was also not on board with this little idea, either. "Eric mentioned you guys thought you knew where she was. Are we close to finding her?"

Max looks at her, until his computer beeps. My phone vibrates at the same time, and I know it's the security update I've been waiting for.

"We're hoping to have her in our custody before you're done training. That would be ideal. But yes, there are squads out there right now doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing," I point out, and Max squints at the screen on his computer. Everly looks at him, and she leans forward.

"But you've made progress, right? Is there anything I could be doing?"

Max looks at me. His expression is unreadable, and rightfully so.

She was asking to resume helping find Evelyn.

Again.

"Are you asking to help apprehend her? You want to utilize this as a final part of your training? What do you have left to cover?"

Everly sits up straighter, attempting to make herself taller, but failing.

"I'd like to help any way I can," she responds firmly, and I sit up as though I've been stabbed.

"The rest of your training is far too time consuming to be pounding the pavement in an attempt to find Evelyn. It's much more productive for you to focus on other things." I answer quickly, and I look right at Max, silently hissing at him to stop this right now. If he okayed this, I'd officially lose all respect for him. The last thing either of us needed was her out there, a living, breathing, walking target. "She has a few minor sections to finish, and her combat training has been substituted with additional control room detailing and a battle mapping course."

Everly looks at me about to protest, and I shake my head. "It should only take a few more weeks. You'll be busy for almost all of that time."

"I'm sure there are other things I can do to help. I don't have to be out there looking for her," Everly insists, and I stare at her. "I can help Karl with the patrol squads or Kacie in the control room. Please. She's taken a lot from me, and I'd like to be there when they find her."

My response dies in my throat, because Max nods his head slowly.

"I think they'd greatly appreciate your help, Everly."

"No." I shake my head, and I stand up. "I won't allow this. She's in my program. My program does not have time for her to be out there, hunting down a war criminal. I think we all know this is a request that I won't agree to."

When I look over at Everly, she looks utterly crushed. I half wonder if she really had lost her mind. Maybe the memory loss serum had reactivated itself, because I most certainly could not believe she asking -again- to hunt down a woman whose main goal was to kill her. I didn't care how brave she was. There was a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and she was quickly crossing over.

"I'll let you two discuss this. There are some…concerns, yes." Max pauses, and he takes one final gulp of his ice-cold coffee. "But I see no reason she can't help from here. However you see fit."

I leave his office, once again so furious I can barely see straight.


She doesn't look surprised I'm mad.

Everly follows me to my office, and she's very quiet. Her protests ring in my ears as she says them, each one prettier and more pleading than the next. She has good reasons to want to help find Evelyn, and I have even better reasons to want to keep her alive. I finally turn to face Everly, taking in the slight stature, the long hair, and the eyes that were gazing up at me not long ago, and I lose it.

"Have you lost your mind?" I hiss the words at her, and I grasp her arm to pull her into my office. Everly comes along easily, knowing better than to wiggle away and blurt out a reason why I should send her outside. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why don't you just walk out there and—"

"I'm not going out there. I can help around here. I want to do something, Eric." Everly cuts me off quickly. Her expression is one I haven't seen before, like she knew this would set me off and it wasn't at all her intention. There's an internal struggle I'm missing, but I feel it seep from her skin as she heads right toward me. She hugs me so tightly I can barely breathe. I react slowly, but my hand finds her back, digging into the fabric of her shirt.

I understood everything about Dauntless.

Why people came here.

Why she had chosen to come here.

Why she would feel the need to head out and prove her worth.

But I wasn't asking for any of that. And neither was Max. He was agreeing to it because she wanted it, and he liked her. He liked her being happy, and he thought he was helping.

He wasn't. He wouldn't be helping when Everly turned up dead, having been gunned down by Evelyn's army.

"She'll hurt you, Everly. She won't think twice about killing you. She'd be more than happy to make sure you don't come back here alive. And then…" My words are frantic, and I pause to collect my thoughts, disliking how they were spilling out before I could stop myself. I'm at a loss as to how to convey them to her, because I know it seems like all I'm doing is keeping her here. "And then what would I do? This time she'll make sure you're shot somewhere that isn't so easily fixed."

Her grip tightens on me. She only lessens it the slightest to look up at me. Her face is serious, and it stays that way as she rises up on her toes. A second later, her lips touch mine, and she stays there, as my fingers pull her closer.

"I'm not going out there. I just want to offer my help here in any way I can. Even just sitting with Tris while she watches the video feeds, just something so I feel like I'm being useful."

She mumbles the words against my lips, and I understand every single one of them. They are heavy with her need to feel useful here, and I hate that she feels otherwise. My hands let go of her and I grasp the side of her head. I hold her in place while I kiss her, softly, gently, until she runs out of air. We break apart, and my heart races in a painful manner.

"You're more useful than you know."

I kiss her again, this time unable to help myself. I can't say anything more, because I can't even think. All I know is if she goes out there and doesn't come back, this will be the end of me.

"You can come with me. Show me what you would do if you were me," Everly suggests quietly, leaning away to look at me. She looks up at me knowingly, and I take a second before smirking at her words. She's trying to spin this so it's appealing to me, so I'll agree to her idea.

"If I were you, I'd stay home where I was safe," I retort, and she smiles because she knows I'm giving in. Just the tiniest bit. Just enough that she'll feel like she's helping. "But I'll show you whatever you want, within reason."

"Okay." Everly smiles widely as my lips touch hers, and I kiss her like this until my phone rings.

I don't have to be psychic to know it's Max.


"I thought you'd want her to go."

He looks torn; tired because his coffee sucked, and uneasy that I didn't like him going along with Everly's idea.

I sit at my desk, rubbing my temples with my fingers until I realize that, short of Everly giving birth and agreeing to never go outside, this headache will not go away anytime soon. Max watches me, reclining back in the visitor's chair and shrugging.

"She's very ambitious. She's done well here. I thought perhaps she'd want the chance to-"

"To what? Get shot again? This time in the head?" I close my eyes, and I think of the very first time he brought her to me. She wasn't anyone I'd ever want to train, especially knowing she was being ranked against others twice her size. She'd looked far younger and far smaller than the others who came here. Her dress was an unfortunate choice, too revealing of both her skin and who she really was. My favorite part of it all was that she'd scowled when I didn't jump at the chance of being her trainer. She had no clue who I was or why it was hilarious that she'd been brought to me. She only knew she had to stay here, and she'd do whatever it took.

If only she could apply that logic to her own life.

"I know she's bored. She thinks I'm not letting her do anything. But she has no experience with any of this."

"She was with the factionless." Max points out, and my anxiety lowers itself a single degree, then rises right back up. Her time with the factionless wasn't anything positive, not even the way Max is trying to spin it. "I'm not saying I think she should be out there with Karl or any of them. I don't think she needs to be there when we find Evelyn, either. I just wanted her to know we believe in her. She might need it. She looked a little stir crazy when I saw her the other day."

"I'm sure she's feeling a little…suffocated." I admit this willingly, and I reach for the pen on my desk. I cross out a few things I'd written down, then I click the pen a few times as Max takes in what I've said. "I told her I'd show her whatever she wanted. I draw the line at her going outside without adequate coverage. She's not just another soldier here."

"Agreed." Max nods. "However, all of those positions on the list require her traveling to other factions. You're good with that?"

I stretch my neck to one side, then the other. "Not especially. But I can deal with that. Ambassadors usually travel with a patrol squad. I know her last patrol squad didn't do much, but I think…" I pause, and I look right at him. "I think we're going to find Evelyn soon. Once she's dead, I'll feel better about Everly visiting other factions. I know she doesn't want to be stuck here, and I'm willing to make it work so she's not."

"You'll personally oversee these visits?" Max looks up and his expression is concerned. Rightfully so. I could easily assign myself to go with them, even overseeing them if I saw fit.

"No." My answer is flat, but honest. "I know what she's capable of. I will make sure she's as safe as can be, from here. I won't accompany her unless I'm invited."

"Sounds fair."

I look right at him, and he smiles. "I'm just looking out for her. Personally, I agree with you. I'd rather send anyone out there but her. But if she chooses to take a job that requires her to leave Dauntless, I'll support her."

"Me too." I agree, and I toss the pen on my desk.

It lands on a square with the word Four written on it, and I stare at it. I'd written his name down while Jason and Rylan had sat in here, talking about Evelyn. It didn't mean anything; I'd forever associate him with Evelyn, though I'd managed to lessen how much I blamed him for what was going on.

I wanted to.

Often.

But now, my mind conjures up a terrible, rotten idea, but I have the sinking feeling it's what needs to happen.

"I just have one more concern before I go. I need you to promise me something." Max announces. I look up to him staring intently, and I wonder what else he wants. I've agreed to let Everly travel if she chooses such a position, and I've said I'll stay here. He waits before he speaks, to make sure I'm paying attention.

"When we find Evelyn, you're not to be there."

I stare at him, dark and annoyed and utterly furious, but I understand why.

Because if I find Evelyn first, I will kill her.

I will rip her head off with my bare hands, so my face is the last thing she sees before she dies.

And by doing so, I will ignite the second part of her war.


Harrison calls, and for once, I have no clue where he is.

Nor do I have the desire to find out.

His call is brief and informative, and he flat out tells me not to be surprised if Evelyn has trained someone to take her place.

"She knows you're going to kill her." He announces, and I hear noise in the background. Noise I can't really place, but it's vaguely familiar. Something crashes down, and someone shrieks. "You're getting close, my friend. There's not much of this left."

"Is she okay?" I ask, and I look at my door, making sure no one is lingering in the hallway. I didn't need Rylan overhearing this, or Jason to show up and ask me who I was talking about. "Is…they haven't gone looking for Eden have they?"

Harrison is silent for a moment, and he lowers his voice. "She's fine, Eric. I think Karl got most of the ones who were nosing around here. The rest seem to have gotten the hint to stay out of our sight."

I nod wordlessly, and I thank him before hanging up.

I press my palms to my eyes to dull the roaring pain that's been there since Everly announced she wanted to join the hunt for Evelyn. Even though I was pretending otherwise, I could imagine they'd go after Everly's family. Because if they really wanted to get to me, and they couldn't get to me, destroying Everly Coulter would be the best way to accomplish this.

And since they'd lost her once, they'd go straight for her family.

I stare at my phone for a long time, but eventually, I pick it up and text Harrison.

I tell him to stay for a few more days.


Those few days pass slowly.

I bide my time by actually working, only taking a break to join Rylan on a mission to find out if Four is having a boy or a girl. He came into my office announcing he'd been thinking about it, and he thought that important to me. It is. I want to make sure my child has every advantage over his, and I can start by finding out what he's having.

"I can't find it. Someone has put Tris' medical records away this time." Rylan sulks as he rifles through Arlene's things, and I shake my head.

"Probably for good reason. I'm not sure she'd want them out for anyone to read." I point out, and I decide I don't care. Whatever Four has will pale in comparison to the baby Everly and I are having.

"Hey, did you get an update from Max? He told me they're expecting one soon, but I haven't gotten anything."

"No." I answer distractedly. "Nothing. I'm not sure we'll hear anything today. He said it might be later on, depending on what Karl found."

"You know what they say, no news is good news." Rylan swings his feet up onto Arlene's desk, and he throws a handful of popcorn in the air. He'd brought it down here with us, eating it despite the swarm of members in here who were probably contagious.

I drag my stare up from the paperwork I'm reading, and I shrug. "No one says that. No news is hardly good news when it comes to Evelyn. Luckily, Harrison will be back tonight and I'm sure he'll have plenty of news."

"We'll see about that. I heard he was there for personal reasons." Rylan tries to catch the popcorn with his mouth, and most of it winds up on the floor. "I heard he's got a girlfriend there."

"Really?" I try to sound incredibly disinterested, and I am. I'm skimming Daniel's report he left for Arlene, and I have to say, I disagree with most of it. He must have accidentally confused us with a faction that had an unlimited budget for medical supplies. "I heard he went because we asked him to go there."

"You're not telling me something." Rylan insists, and he throws more popcorn up. "You're not-"

"You better clean that up before Arlene comes in here. She's going to kill you." I point out, watching him shake his head. "And if she finds out you've been down here to stalk Tris…"

"I'm afraid of no one. Not even her." He declares, but he does remove his feet from the desk. "Now tell me what he's doing. Because he's been acting really weird lately."

"He's always weird." I set the papers back on the desk and wonder if Daniel would be back. I had meant to call and invite him to dinner. There was a part of me who wanted to see how he was, but mostly I wanted to see if he'd gone back to Blythe. "Evelyn's army has been creeping into Amity. He stayed to make sure they didn't go after Everly's family."

"Oh shit." Rylan spills half his popcorn on the desk, and he sits up. "Does Evelyn know she has family there? Or did Fourteen tell her that? Are we really going to his wedding? Because my suit is ready but I will willingly return it."

"I'm sure someone mentioned it." I stare at the mess on Arlene's desk, and I shake my head. "It wouldn't be hard to figure out. All she had to do was ask around. Besides, how many Everly's are from Amity? And yes, we're going to the wedding."

"You never know. There could be another Everly there. Does she have a lot of family?" Rylan asks, and I shrug. "Everyone in Amity has like, eight kids. Oh fuck, this means you have nieces and nephews there. You're probably someone's hero. I bet they draw pictures of you and everything."

I roll my eyes at him. "I've never met them. And even if I did, I doubt they'll be drawing any pictures of me."

"We should go and meet them." Rylan suggests. "We could stop by. For research."

"Research? What kind of research are you doing?" I laugh. It echoes in the office, and even Rylan grins. "You sure you want to willingly go to Amity? To see Everly's family? Come on, now. This is something you should have done a year ago, not now. You could just ask her about them. I'm sure she'll tell you."

"I know. But back then, I didn't have time. Now, I have time." He announces, and his eyes widen. "Shit, we gotta get out of here before Arlene comes back. Last time I was here, she yelled at me and told me not to come back unless I was really sick. I've been in here nine times since last Monday. Tris throws up all the time."

"Come on." I stand up, and I watch him scramble for his popcorn. He manages to spill more of it, then he hops away from the desk like it's on fire. "Let's get lunch. I told Everly I'd meet her at Clyde's. You can ask her if she knows what Tris is having."

"Pass. I'm over it now." He leans over and with one sweep, clears most of the popcorn off Arlene's desk. Along with her work.

We leave quickly; we both look left and right, then head out as fast as we can. We nearly make it out of the infirmary without seeing anyone, and only then do we run into Four and Tris.

Just like Rylan has been noting, Tris is a lovely shade of green, and she blearily looks up while Four pretends he doesn't see us. We pass by them as she gags, and I walk a little faster.

"I told you." Rylan announces, and we make it out before she can throw up on us. "Hey, did I ever tell you I found out what's Four middle name is? I thought you might want to know so you don't pick it on accident for your child."

He laughs at this thought, and I shake my head.

I already had a name planned, if it wound up being Four's middle name, I'd definitely be coming up with something else.


My week only improves from seeing Tris suffer from morning sickness.

On Wednesday, Everly and I eat dinner outside, atop the roof.

I compromise on her unrelenting desire to be outside, and I find myself reclined back on a rickety lawn chair, while she balances both herself and our dinner plates on my lap. We'd grabbed something from the cafeteria on our walk here. The baked chicken looked strangely edible, and so did the green beans, which made me suspicious. But I put aside my fear of being poisoned by Quinten, because Everly looks happy.

She reclines back against me, carefully eating a bite of macaroni and cheese, and she seems incredibly content. The air is warm and breezy, and the sun is just starting to set. I'd returned home later than planned, to find Everly looking a bit hesitant. The paper Max had given her was on the table, tossed there after we'd returned home, but hard to miss. I'm sure she'd been trying to figure out what job to take. Each one came with pros and cons, but almost all required her to step outside of Dauntless at some point. I knew all she wanted was for me to say I was fine with any of them, because once I verbalized it, she'd know it was true.

For me, the cons to all of them were that she'd be expected to travel between the factions as a visual representative from Dauntless.

There were plenty of pros to all of them. She'd be taking the position she wanted, and not one I'd picked out. The internal struggle of how I'd make sure she was safe while she traveled was real, and eventually, all consuming. To clear my head, I'd taken her hand, pulled her out of the apartment, and told her we'd eat somewhere else tonight. Not the mess hall. Not our apartment. Not Clyde's.

She'd looked pretty pleased when we got to the roof top, and she'd happily sat down on my lap. Everly had been quiet since we got up here, and the silence around us was oddly comforting. After months of trying to find Evelyn, it felt like the faction had reached a new high for how loud it could be. The sound echoed and bounced off every spare corner, sneaking up when you wouldn't expect it.

Now, I could appreciate why she wanted to be outside. The straggling heat was gone, and the only sounds were the occasional groan of a train passing by on an endless loop, or the tiny shouts from the guards down below. It felt like we were somewhere else entirely, and I congratulate myself for making this decision.

"Eric."

I open my eyes when Everly says my name, and it sounds woefully cautious.

"Every single one of those positions Max offered me…" she pauses, shifting to look at me. "They all require travel to the other factions. A lot of travel. The one says sometimes weekly, depending on what's going on."

Her eyes find mine, dark and lovely and half hidden by her hair.

"I know." I answer, and I shrug. "I saw the list. I know what each job asks."

"And you're good with that?" Everly moves again and shakes her head so her hair isn't in her face. She looks prettier than ever today, but less like the Everly who had first arrived, and more like the Everly she was meant to be. "I know you don't want me to leave Dauntless because you think I'll get hurt but…"

She stops again, gathering up the determination to tell me she was going to take one of them, and the minute she did, she'd be assigned to head out somewhere. We both knew it and there was no sense pretending otherwise.

"I'm fine with it." I tell her, and these words are as true as I can make them. "I hope you know I'm not trying to keep you here. I'm just trying to keep you alive." I pause, and her eyes lock on mine. "For my own selfish reasons."

It takes her a second, but she smiles.

Her expression brightens as the stress of this decision lessens.

"Who would go with me? You? A patrol squad? Karl?"

I nod, and I reach out to pull on an escaped strand of her hair. It was mostly up in this bun, but a lot had escaped. "More than likely, it wouldn't be me. Karl might go along. Or he'll assign you a group who's only goal is to make sure you don't get injured. You'll have to listen to them, of course."

She tilts her head at me, and her lips turn up. "I didn't not listen to them. I just…I acted like you trained me. To shoot the people attacking me. I thought you liked it when I shot people?"

I let out a bark of laughter, and behind her, the sun sinks lower. She's lit up from the colorful light, and I wonder what I'd have done if I hadn't trained her. Would I have met her at some point in Dauntless? Would she have survived Four's class? Perhaps she'd have tripped right into me, in a dark hallway or on her way to work. Would I have looked at her the same way now, proud of her for everything she'd done and still in disbelief that she belonged with me?

Probably. I knew deep down I'd have picked her out one dark night and never looked back.

"What on Earth did I do to you? One year in Dauntless and all you want to do is shoot the bad guys?" I tease her, only half joking. "You pick the job you like, Everly. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself and the worry that you'll die at any given moment. You don't need my permission to choose what makes you happy."

Everly looks at me like she can't quite decide what to say, but there's more than a hint of a smile on her lips. I hope this is the resolution she's been wanting. What I'm saying is true. I am good with whatever she picks and she doesn't need my permission.

I chose a lot of things for her, but not this.

"Okay." Everly nods, and our dinner is forgotten. She leans into me, kissing me carefully, and then she stops suddenly. "Will you go with me if I ask? Can you go with me? Maybe we could go for work and stay somewhere for a few days? Or see Daniel? Could we do that?"

"Yes."

I'm sure my gaze is dark now, but not with anger. The idea of spending days away from here with her is beyond appealing, and even more so when she leans in to kiss me again. My hands grasp the sides of her head, and my nose touches hers for just a moment, and I kiss her as the train whistle goes off.

It hums low and strong, and I feel the sound echo through every cell in my body.

Everly Coulter had probably already decided her future here, and I would now go along with it.


A day later, I return home to Everly fixing my shirts.

The sight is not at all what I expected to see when I walked in the door. She hadn't heard me come in, nor did she even look up when the door shut. I stare at her, walking slowly toward the couch, not certain what I was looking at.

She's surrounded by the dress shirts I'd been meaning to send out to be fixed. It was no major deal; I'd usually leave them out for Carol to take down to Christian. In a few days he'd return them to me with all the buttons reattached. I found that while he made perfectly fine clothes, I seemed to be far rougher on them than most.

Everly must have found them while I was gone. She's focused on one of the darker ones, and she examines it critically. Her head tilts to the side, her long hair falling down and her gaze very focused as she stares at her work.

I watch her, completely dumbfounded.

This wasn't something I expected from her.

We both knew I hadn't married Everly because of her domestic skills. I didn't expect her to clean my apartment or do my laundry. I certainly never hoped she'd make dinner for me. I liked that she needed me for some of these things, because I liked that I could take care of her. I felt smug that I was the one who made her dinner every night, and that our home was the result of my hard work here.

But there's something different about seeing her fixing my shirts. She doesn't look quite like the young girl from Amity who came here, but more like someone who cared enough about me that they'd been sitting on the couch, mending clothes because they wanted to.

It hurt.

Deep in my chest, there is an oddly sharp stab of something I've never felt before. It prompted the feeling that I wanted to grab her off the couch and carry her to the bedroom, until she was warm beneath me.

That thought comes to a halt when she sets the shirt down and looks up to me standing there. Her gaze meets mine, and my mind goes blank.

"What are you doing?" I ask stupidly, even though I know. I suppose I actually meant why was she doing it.

"I was sewing these buttons back on. I know you like these, and I figured I could do it while I had some free time. This way you won't have to send them out," Everly answers, and she holds the shirt up again. She stares at it the same way Christian did his work, her eyes skating over the dark fabric and narrowing in approval. "I hope you don't mind."

I stare at her.

I didn't even know she knew how to fix shirts.

"My mom taught me how to sew," Everly explains, and she's caught the look of sheer confusion on my face. "We always had so many kids around that the hand-me-downs never lasted very long. So she taught me to mend them as well as how to make patterns and all of that."

She pauses, and her face changes to pure regret at the words. I'd never once been handed down anything to wear. Blythe would have chopped off her own arm before she let me out of the house looking anything less than how she liked, and the idea that any of us would wear something used was unfathomable. Everly seems to realize this. She looks away from me, back at the pile of shirts. "I can stop. I'll leave them for…"

"How many kids does your mother have again? All together?" I stare at the pile she's been working on. She'd gotten through most of them, all while I was at work, which meant she was quick. This was something she'd done many times before, and was undeniably skilled at. "You all shared clothes?"

"Seven, plus me," she answers quietly. Quietly enough that I know Eden wasn't out there buying brand new pink dresses for the family on a regular basis. "And the clothes just get passed down. I mean, we got new clothes or made new clothes, but I helped my mother by making sure they lasted as long as possible."

I nod, unsure of what to do with all this information. I think of Rylan laughing that I now had nieces and nephews in Amity, and he was right. I had seven of them. Technically my in-laws, all of whom Everly had helped make clothing for or looked after. I don't blame her for wanting to leave, but it wasn't the sewing that pushed her over the edge.

Still, I'm caught off guard, something that doesn't happen often.

"I didn't know you could sew. You never mentioned it." I stare at her, wondering what else I don't know. Maybe she really could cook and I'd been tricked this whole time.

"It never really came up." She reaches for the dark, plaid shirt that's left and she smiles. "I would have told you if you had asked me."

"I'm gonna go change. I'll be back," I glance back at the table again, and then at her. She's dressed in an oversized t-shirt and shorts and her feet are bare. Her eyes meet mine as I step away from the couch, and I realize Blythe had never once fixed anything of Daniel's. Had he even brought it up, she'd have snarled at him to go purchase something else or snapped at the housekeeper for not noticing. I was more likely to find her having a drink after dinner than sewing.

I stare at the back of Everly's head as she bends down, returning to my shirt. She quickly fixes the button on the collar, and she smiles as she makes sure it's even. There's a sense of pride when she's done, and she smooths the fabric down carefully.

The action is kind.

Very unexpected, but incredibly kind.

I head into the bedroom, and I wonder what else I didn't know. I pull my work shirt off over my head, and I stand there, staring at the bed.

My bed.

Our bed.

I stare at the dark comforter, at the pillows stacked behind where Everly slept, and her nightstand. I slowly and stupidly feel how real this all is now. Even months ago, it still felt fun. Like I was still tricking her into staying here with me. Like despite being married, she could sneak away if she really tried, and we were both just playing along with this.

But seeing her there on my couch, happily fixing my shirts to help me out, made me feel a lot of things.

Mostly a strange lust over the sight of her. I'd never longed for a wife to fix my shirts or sit on my couch and wait for me to come home, but I couldn't deny there was a sense of undeniable attraction to the scene before me.

I forget about my plan to change my clothes, and I return to the living room. I find her sitting there, still working away on the last shirt.

"I thought you went to change."

She looks up in surprise, and I knock the shirt free from her hands. I toss it to the side of the couch, and her eyes widen as I reach for her shorts. They land somewhere I can't see, and she laughs when I take my own pants off, and a second later, I hover over her. My mouth finds hers, and her fingers slide into my hair.

It's only a short while later that she comes beneath me, her skin warm and soft and her feet on the back of my calves. My forehead rests against hers, and I kiss her lazily, not really wanting to get up. I try to figure out what part of this I liked the most, and eventually land on everything.

I reluctantly pull away from her, and I decide we'll order in dinner, so neither of us has to get dressed again.


Are you almost done helping Four pick out his pajamas?

I finish my text cheerfully, and I hit send with a very satisfied smirk on my face. I must look incredibly pleased, because Jason elbows me, and tries to read what I'm sending while we head downstairs.

"Why is Everly picking out Four's pajamas?" Jason asks loudly, and everyone walking near us snickers.

"Good fucking question." I answer cheerfully, and I mockingly smile at the brave ones who turn to look at me. "She went with him to help him pick out a suit for his wedding. Because, as we know, he has no sense of style."

"Tell me about it." Rylan joins us, and his boots are completely unlaced. "I've had to sit across from him in two meetings now, looking at his ugly jacket."

"Isn't it...the same jacket everyone here has?"

"No," Rylan patiently answers, and he shoves someone who he tripped into, out of his way. "We have jackets that are for leaders. He has a jacket that he apparently bought when he first got here, and never replaced."

"Well, maybe it's…sentimental." Jason tries to think of a reason why Four's jacket would suck, but he comes up short. "Actually, who knows? I saw him this morning and he looked pretty miserable."

"Poor Stiff. He should be thrilled. We're all attending his precious wedding. Isn't that what he wanted?" I point this out while we walk even further into the compound, and I hesitate only because finding Christian was about to require far more energy than I had. Everly and I had gone to bed late last night, mostly because she spent much of her time trying to trick me into telling her if the baby was a boy or a girl.

"Yeah, I'm sure Four hoped that the day he got married, we'd all be there." Rylan laughs, and he flings the door open. "Come on. The sewing warlock of Dauntless awaits us."

We follow him in, to find Christian waiting.

He smiles widely, and I know this is going to take longer than I planned.


I'm right.

Two hundred hours later, I stand there, in the suit jacket Christian had made. He stalks around me like a wild animal, examining every inch of his work. I appreciate his thoroughness, but I'd also like to eat dinner.

I force myself to focus, and my attention is piqued when Jason talks about the latest charges against Jeremy. One of the men Karl had brought in had mentioned his name, and it wasn't anything good.

"And then, I got to be there when we found out Jeremy was not only smuggling weapons, but other things. Like point cards with points assigned to fake names that they could use at the markets. Max wasn't so sure that was a crime, but I told him it was embezzlement." Jason leans against the wall with Rylan, watching Christian adjust the jacket I had tried on. I stand perfectly still, hoping he'll hurry up. "If we find him, he should pay for his crimes."

"Are you sure you don't mean embellishment? Because he was lying about it?" Rylan looks at him, and his eyes narrow. I stare at him, still to this day wondering how on Earth he was from Erudite.

"No," Christian stands up, and he squints one eye at me. "While also a crime, he means embezzlement. He just said he was smuggling currency out of here." He pauses, tilting his head at an uncomfortable angle. "You seem taller, Eric. I'll have to redo the pants."

"Sure." I answer quickly, not even wanting to get him started. "Will they be done in time?"

"As long as you don't want me to bedazzle them, we'll be fine."

"No thanks. Regular pants are fine." I inform him, and I look at Jason. He looks like he's trying not to laugh, and I shake my head. "You're next. You better hope Meghan wears something appropriate. I hear the Priors are coming. Wouldn't want to give either of them a heart attack."

"Oh good. I've been wondering how Natalie is. I bet she misses me." Rylan snickers, and even Jason laughs.

"She's fine. I saw her dress." He pauses, and smiles. "It might not be entirely appropriate, but I like it."

"Hey Christian." I say his name slowly, and Rylan stops laughing at his own joke. "What's Four wearing? Did he come down here yet?"

"Noooo," Christian sighs in extreme irritation, and his head tilts the other direction. He steps back away from me, looking incredibly insulted. "I heard he bought something upstairs. He didn't even request to have any alterations done."

"The horror." Rylan says lowly, and he looks around in mock concern. "And Tris?"

Christian presses his lips together, and very carefully flips his hair out of his eyes. "Gentlemen, can you keep a secret? And I mean it. This stays here."

Jason and Rylan both answer yes, but I merely shrug. They all look at me expectantly, and I find myself hard pressed to care about any of this. "A secret about Tris? Sure. What the hell? I'm feeling generous."

"She purchased an off the rack, ill-fitting monstrosity. She didn't even try it on." Christian recants the tale with wide eyes, and he dramatically sighs. "The worst part of it is, she bought it final sale. I only know this because I have a few friends who work retail. They told me she was in and out. No more than six minutes of browsing and one minute of purchasing the garment."

"Okay, we know it's ugly, but is it embellished?" Rylan grins, nodding his head. "You know what, I really like that word. I'm working it into my daily vocabulary." He repeats it again, and I decide he's getting a word of the day calendar for his next birthday.

"Please don't." Jason mumbles.

"Well, her dress will suck. No surprise or secret there." I step down, taking the jacket off and staring at everyone staring at me. "I'll have Everly come down here to see you. You can make sure her dress is nothing…off the rack."

"Or embellished." Rylan steps beside me, and his eyes are bright with delight at his own cleverness. "I have to admit, I'm surprised he's really going through with it?"

"Getting married?" I stare at him as my phone rings, and he shakes his head.

"No, having us all come to it."

I smile, and I have to say I agree.

He didn't really have a choice.

While Rylan and I had been invited, Jason and Meghan had decided to crash the wedding. It felt fitting, and the three of us had agreed to make it a night he'd never forget.

And if things turned out the way I thought they would, he wouldn't.


"According to this book, the baby is now the size of a pear," Everly announces, and I shift my position on the bed. We'd been lying here for the past few hours. I was sitting upright, fully engrossed in a documentary about a slickly charming serial killer, and Everly had been lying with her head in my lap. She'd been very ready for bed when I suggested it and had no qualms about turning in early.

I'd thought she'd go right to sleep, but instead she was reading some book, while occasionally offering some brilliant commentary on the show. Her attention was currently focused on one of the books Daniel had given her, one of the lighter and more cheerful ones.

"Tasty," I answer offhandedly, really only hearing the word pear. I was impressed that this man found himself smart enough to lead his own trial, and I watched as he put on a performance for the jury. I glance down at Everly, her dark hair spilling over my lap, and I smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Really good, actually."

She flips to the next page, and I touch her hair. My fingers run through it lazily, stroking over her temple in a circular motion. Every so often her eyes slip shut, and I know it feels good. She'd looked a little tired when I got home, but that was to be expected. I had the smug, sly feeling that others would soon know she was pregnant. Maybe even now, if you looked closely enough.

"I'm not quite as tired," Everly tries to tell me, but she's discarded the book beside her, and her eyes are slowly staying closed more than they're open. "Tris still feels really crappy. She told me she threw up the other day because Kacie brought in some sort of weird dinner."

I snort, thinking of Rylan tailing her to the infirmary. "I'm glad you aren't sick like that."

"Me too."

I drag my fingers across her scalp, and my eyes flick back to the screen. The man is loudly professing his innocence, despite having been the actual murderer. "Did you read through the papers Max gave you?"

Everly yawns. We'd talked about them briefly, but I assumed she really looked through the paperwork today. He wouldn't want to wait much longer for her decision, though I could easily tell him to cool it. "I did. I sent him an email to see if he can meet with me on Friday."

"Did you decide which position you're taking?" My fingers twist through her hair, and her eyes stay closed.

"I want to start with the ambassadorship, then work my way into leadership. I figure eventually someone will die and I can take their place. Harrison's old, right? He can't live forever."

I'm not surprised, nor am I able to stifle the laughter at her last comment. Harrison wasn't as old as she was thinking, but it was clear he'd spent more time in the sun than most of us. She had no clue, but she probably would take his place. It was likely that he'd be leaving soon. If I understood his hints, and I was pretty fluent in Harrison now, this was his last big case. Once Evelyn was dead, he would be out of here.

There were a few more dots I had yet to connect, mostly because I wasn't sure how I felt about them. Or how I'd tell Everly. I had the feeling Harrison had quite the tale to tell, but it wasn't my story to share.

Not yet, at least.

"I'm going to tell Max that Four should be the one to take the leadership position. I think he'd be a good fit for it." Everly announces, tilting her head slightly to gauge my reaction. I'm sure she's expecting me to either laugh in her face or fly off the bed in a fit of rage, but I'm distracted.

My fingers twirl the long, dark strands around, right as the man is found guilty.

"You really think Four wants the position? He's been asked before," I answer her carefully, remembering the moment quite well. "He's turned it down a few times. He'll probably just turn it down again."

She nods her head against my leg, and there's a determination even in her sleepiness. "I'm going to talk to him. I think maybe he'll view it differently now."

"Why now?" I ask sharply, mostly concerned that she knew something I didn't. Maybe he'd confessed something vital while she helped him try not to look like a clown on his wedding day. "What's so different now that number boy might decide to step up into a big boy position? You think he's grown tired of training the initiates?"

"I think he'll understand that things are different now," Everly opens up one eye to look at me, and I roll mine back at her. "I'm sure he's changed since they first asked him to take the job. He knows a lot about what's going on. More than me."

She's not entirely wrong.

He has years of experience on her that I couldn't recreate in a short amount of time. A knowledge of Dauntless that would take Everly years to accumulate. I suppose a few people here might find him intimidating. I knew Everly would be surprised, but the idea of him taking the position isn't entirely terrible. There was a chance he could be a valuable asset if he could pull his head out of his ass. He'd proven to strongly regret his time with Evelyn, and I was convinced his loyalty lie with Dauntless.

Mostly.

Max and I both had a speck of hesitation that once he saw his mother, things might shift. I knew that seeing her in handcuffs wouldn't feel good, and there would be guilt. Guilt that he'd abandoned her the same way she'd abandoned him. Guilt that he couldn't save her. Guilt that she would be sentenced to die and he was expected to be fine with it.

But if he accepted the job, he'd be pledging his life to the faction. There would be no doubt in his motives, or any reason for him to walk away. His life would change drastically, and not just because he'd work next to me every day.

It was just that getting number boy to take the job would be nearly impossible.

"And who's going to convince Four of this? You?"

Everly nods again, and this time, she looks up at me and opens both eyes. I can see she's determined to make this plan happen, and I can only wish her the best. "You really think you're going to convince him to take the job, Amity?"

She smiles widely. "I don't foresee it being a problem at all. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

I laugh loudly. I forgot how cute she was when she thought she was right, and I have to say, I can't wait to see how this plays out. I knew Four, and there wasn't a chance in hell he'd agree to taking Brittney's spot. "You let me know how that goes."

Everly smiles again, and she turns back to her original position. Her eyes close, and I resume watching the documentary as the room falls silent. It takes her only a minute to fall asleep, and I reach for my phone.

I text Rylan this news, and his response is the same as mine.

He sends me two hundred laughing faces, and he continues to send them long after I've gone to bed.


To no one's surprise, Everly asking Four to take a position as a Leader goes poorly.

Really horribly, in fact.

Rylan and I sit in the control room, two seats away from Kacie, and we watch on the computer screen as she talks to him. To be fair to Everly, she was probably a little over ambitious with her attempts to coerce him into taking on a new role.

She found him in the mess hall at an ungodly hour, and once there, she pounced on him.

His expression was easy to read, even through the security feed.

He shook his head no and glared at her like she'd asked him to come over and hang out with me.

"He looks thrilled." Rylan laughs, and he clicks a few buttons. Kacie scowls at him because he has no clue what he's doing, and the camera changes to Karl, walking along with Charlotte. We both sit there and watch him kiss her goodbye, and I realize he's walked her to work.

"Gross. All of you are so openly affectionate and gross with your significant others." Rylan recoils, but then he leans in. "Hey, do you ever look at him and think it's like looking at yourself? Like watching yourself make out with…someone else who's far taller than Everly?"

"No." I laugh, and I click back to the screen we were on. It lights up to Everly's sad expression, and I find myself mock frowning along with her. "Speaking of Everly, she doesn't look too happy. I guess Four doesn't want to work with us."

"What a shame." Rylan stands up, and he motions for me to follow him. "We gotta go. If we don't get back now, Max will try to assign us to helping Jason outside. He said we could come down to spy on Four for ten minutes and that was it."

"Alright." I agree quickly, and we both manage to duck out before Kacie can ask what we're doing.

"You know what I think?" Rylan asks, and he swipes his card to unlock the door. "I think he doesn't want to work with us. He knows the only open office is the one next to you."

"I'm hurt that you'd think that." I narrow my eyes at him, and he smirks in response.

We head back to the office, and there is some definite truth to his words.


Four glares at me a few hours later.

I walk down the hallway to find Tori, wanting to show her a few emails from Jack. He had requested a few soldiers come to his faction, and I wanted to see if she was interested. Karl had been working overtime, and I knew he needed a break before he burned himself out. His ambition was impressive, but even I could see him wearing down.

Plus, I thought Tori might like a chance to get out of here. Candor was very low activity, and it wouldn't take her long.

But she wasn't in her office, and there was a sticky note on the door that said she'd be downstairs in the Pit if anyone needed her. I decided I'd go find her there, and I made it halfway to the elevators before I run into Four.

He throws me one dark, withering stare, and it holds every emotion I'd expect from him. There's annoyance mixed with disdain, some irritation that I was smirking at him, and rage that we'd ignored his long standing NO in regard to the position.

I smile widely as I push the elevator call button, and he heads in the opposite direction.

I watch him retreat, but not before he glances back once more.

Just to glare at me again.


Unlike Four, Everly avoids my stare altogether.

She looks everywhere but me and spends most of her night silently contemplating how to get our faction's angsti-est member to side with her. She even went to bed before me, slipping beneath the dark sheets so I wouldn't ask her how her talk went.

I give her a second to get comfortable, before I smile at her.

Widely.

"I take it your chat didn't go well?"

She's silent as I climb into bed fully ready to hear this story, and she scowls in my direction. Judging from the look on her face, she doesn't want to admit I was right. But she has no choice, because we both knew how their talk had gone.

"He didn't give me an answer just yet. He's still considering it."

"Oh, is he?" I raise both eyebrows at her, pretending to be shocked at this revelation. "And just how long does he need? A day? A week? A month?"

"He had to leave before we could really get into the details," Everly answers quickly, covering up the fact that Four had flat out refused her idea. She sinks a bit further into the sheets and still doesn't look at me. "But I think he just needs a day to think it over.

"Right," I scoff, and I can't help but laugh. I'd seen him in person, and it was clear he wasn't thinking anything over.

She ignores me. She focuses on her nightgown, smoothing out some imaginary wrinkles. "I think he'll take it. He doesn't really have a good reason not to."

I snort at her answer, lying down on my side. Four had plenty of reasons not to take the job. He was probably fine with the one he had. He'd be forced to deal with not only me, but my two closest friends. He'd have Max in his business, and in fact, his whole life would slowly be exposed for the faction to see.

"It's so cute when you're in complete denial," I tell Everly, watching her glare at me out of the corner of her eye. "You'd think he and his high moral standards would leap at the chance to oversee a faction."

I reach over, ignoring the darkening expression on her face, and I press my palm flat across her stomach. She stays perfectly still during my silent perusal of where our child is, but she eventually glances at me.

"He said he'll think about it."

"I'm sure he will," I smirk at her reminder, and my fingers curl into her skin. I like this moment more than I can admit, and I idly wonder when Tris is due. She looked further along than Everly, but I was learning that didn't mean much. "I mean, it's a pretty tough decision when the control room is just so exciting."

My words are spoken in sheer mockery, but I'm slightly invested in this now. I half hope he takes the position, just so I can sit across from him in all the meetings.

"Eric." Everly says my name warningly, and I drop the smile from my face. I'm quick to forget she considers him a friend. I can't for the life of me figure out how or why, but I don't really care to.

"He takes it or he doesn't. I don't really fucking care," I lean in closer to her, and she looks up at me. "I figured he'd want something better for himself before Tris has his baby, but I guess not."

That part is true.

Were he to take the job, he'd have far more freedom. He'd also be paid far more than the control room salary, and I assumed he'd at least like that perk.

"If it's not Four, who do you think it'll be?" Everly asks, and she drops her stare to my hand on her stomach. "Is there anyone else you have in mind?"

I shake my head no. I'm close enough to her that my chest is pressed up against her arm, and my legs are touching hers. "No one." I finally move my hand from her stomach, having felt nothing in particular. I reach for her face, turning her stare toward me, before my fingers slide into her hair. "What is he having?"

"What? What do you mean?" Everly looks at me with a funny expression, and I smile.

"Are he and Tris having a boy or a girl?"

Everly smiles, and she reaches for me. Her fingers slide through my hair, pulling me closer until I'm encompassed by her.

"He's having a boy," She answers, and my exhale is unusually sharp. "Christina told me."

I stay still, silently processing the rush of thoughts I'm having about this. The technician had written male on our photo. I was completely fine with this on every level. It would be far easier to train a smaller version of myself to fight than one who looked like Everly.

I hadn't forgotten that my child would also go up against Four's at some point. Were they both to choose to stay in Dauntless, they'd be in the same class. They would be ranked against each other, and there would be a silent unspoken rivalry from day one.

Or not.

In the worst scenario I could imagine, they'd become friends. That thought makes my stomach turn over, that my son could potentially be poisoned by the odd ideas that Four would have instilled in his kid.

"Why? Does it matter?" Everly asks, and she sounds worried.

She should be.

This wasn't good.

Either way wasn't good, but if they had the potential to be friends, I would lose it.

"Yes," I answer her sharply, and my forehead touches hers. "Our baby is never to meet his, ever."

"Eric," Everly laughs, but it's clear she didn't mean to. "That's impossible. Tris and I are friends, and she's not that much further along than I am. Our kids might be in the same classes together."

"No."

I slide over, pinning her beneath me. The image is so clear in my mind that it's making me nauseous, and I push the nightmare out of my mind. "They won't. They'll never be friends, so just get that out of your mind right now, Amity. Not so long as I'm alive."

I kiss her before she can protest any more. I kiss her slowly, my fingers sliding up into her hair and my knees on either side of hers. I kiss her as I reach for the waistband of my boxer briefs, pulling them down without breaking contact. I kiss her until she's distracted, and this argument is one I've won.

"Never," I warn her, and I break away to toss them to the side. I reach for her nightgown, and she sits up so I can yank it over her head. She sits there before me, her skin pale and lovely, and I make sure she's looking right at me.

"His son comes nowhere near our baby."

She smiles at me, her eyes knowing and kind, and I decide right then and there that my and Everly's son will never meet Four's.

Ever.