A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie! This is another short chapter, I'm afraid, but that's just where the story is right now.
Chapter 48: Tobias – Uriah's Bachelor Party
(One month after Abigail's birth; Tris is 26 and Tobias is 28)
Maybe I should quit my job. I've been putting in less than three days a week in the month since Abigail was born, but it's still more time away from my family than I want. Even being in our office, right down the hall from home, seems like a stretch – particularly at times like this, when I'm stuck catching up on crucial paperwork on a Saturday morning.
It doesn't help that Tris and I will both be going out tonight, separately, for Christina's and Uriah's parties. I feel like I should be spending every bit of available time with my wife and daughter before then.
So, I don't exactly object when Tris brings Abigail in, smirking slyly as she says, "I think your daughter really wants some Daddy time." I smile as she plops the infant in my lap, setting my papers aside so I can hold her.
The scent hits me right as Tris high-tails it out the door.
"I have ways of getting revenge!" I yell after her, but her laugh is the only answer I receive.
"My goodness, you are one smelly baby," I tell my daughter, exaggerating my expression as I meet her eyes. She hasn't learned to laugh yet, but she does give me a small smile, as if to reward my efforts. It's enough to thoroughly win me over.
"Stinky, stinky, stinky," I continue as I push myself up from the chair, holding Abigail in front of me with outstretched arms.
"But I bet it's still better than Lionel's," I call loudly as I pass through our living room, knowing that Tris is probably hiding in our bedroom, still laughing at me. "Because you save ones that bad for Mommy, don't you?"
Making my way into the nursery, I stand Abigail on the changing table, holding her carefully upright while I look at her. "Are you done? Because I'm not falling for that again." The little smile returns, and I grin back as I continue. "Fill it all up at once, and Daddy changes it all at once. That's our deal, right?"
She's not making any noises from down there, and she isn't contorting her face from gas, so I conclude she probably really is done, and I lay her on the table. The actual diaper change is quick from there – I've gotten far more used to these than I would have imagined a month ago. But complaining about it is considerably more fun than I expected, too.
I'm not the least bit surprised when Tris slips into the room the moment I've fastened the new diaper in place. "On the bright side," she says, still smirking at me, "Anna will probably get stuck with the next one."
"That she will," I agree, since Anna will be babysitting tonight while Tris and I are both out.
"Are you nervous about leaving her?" I ask as Tris picks Abigail up, following me into the bathroom so I can wash my hands.
"A little." She bites her lip as she gazes at our daughter. "It'll be the first time we've both been away from her."
It's an understandable feeling. Objectively, we both know that Anna is more than qualified to watch Abigail, and we've set everything up to make this work, but it's still a struggle to think about walking out that door.
"Why'd they have to schedule both parties at once, anyway?" I grumble, drying my hands and reaching for the baby again.
Tris sighs. "It's what Christina and Uriah wanted." She doesn't add that this day is about them, not us, so we need to suck up our discomfort and be there for our friends. It's true, though. As Christina's maid of honor, Tris can't exactly skip the bachelorette party, even if she has no interest whatsoever in going to a spa. And Zeke would kill me if I missed Uriah's big night. We have to be there.
"Do you need to finish that paperwork?" Tris asks, her tone clearly hoping that I can spend time with them instead.
"Unfortunately, yes." My daughter reaches up with her tiny hand and grabs at my nose, and I grin at her. "But maybe I can wait until her nap."
The bachelor party starts with a modified version of Capture the Flag – the first time I've ever played it during daylight hours. Zeke takes us to a part of the city that's still abandoned and establishes two territories, one for each team, telling us that we have fifteen minutes to plan before either side can start attacking.
It quickly becomes obvious that the game has less appeal than it used to. It's difficult to have fun developing tactics and preparing to take out the enemy after having done those things in real life. And it doesn't help that my mind keeps drifting to Tris and Abigail. It's been less than an hour, but I can't help missing them. They're the center of my life.
Still, I do my best to relax and treat this as a fun day, helping Uriah thoroughly trounce his brother's team before we head back to the faction temporarily to clean up. Well, for the others to clean up…. I seem to be the only one with no paint on me.
Abigail is awake, so I spend fifteen minutes playing with her before Anna prods me to change into the nicer clothes that Zeke insisted we wear for the rest of the party. It's even more difficult to leave this time around, but I push myself forward, not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved when my daughter doesn't cry at my departure. Anna clearly has her well entertained.
My feelings are less ambiguous when Zeke leads us to Uriah's favorite club, winding us through the crowd to the private room he reserved in the back. I don't mind the club itself, but I strongly suspect that he's hired a stripper, and I still have no interest in seeing that.
As the evening winds along, though, I start to wonder if maybe my prediction was wrong. We have dinner with Uriah's huge throng of friends, and then we sit around as everyone toasts the groom, telling hilarious stories about the antics of the Pedrad brothers. It's actually quite fun.
It's not until ten o'clock that I'm proven right after all. There's an enormous cheer as two women abruptly appear in front of Uriah, having been smuggled quietly through the crowded room. Music starts, and the other men begin stomping raucously in time to it, but I don't. Instead, I start pushing my way through them to the door. I don't entirely know why I'm so stubborn about this issue, but it honestly turns my stomach to think about watching someone other than Tris.
It seems to take forever to navigate out of the room, past the dance floor and the press of people gathered around it, until I reach the relatively quiet tables on the other side of the bar. My eyes roam the space, looking for a place to sit, when they stop on a young woman who's sitting at a small table, alone. Her face is turned away, and I can't see her clothing well enough from this angle to recognize it, but there's no mistaking the dirty blond hair that cascades down her shoulders – or the magnetic attraction that draws me to her. Every part of me knows Tris when I see her.
I shouldn't be surprised that Christina's party came here after the spa, since it's her favorite place to go with Uriah. Nevertheless, it's an unexpected pleasure to be able to join my wife right now.
"Is this seat free?" I ask in my most casual tone as I pull out the chair next to her.
"Careful," she answers levelly, her gaze still focused on whatever she's watching across the room. "My husband is big and strong and tends to be jealous." She keeps her face straight as she adds, "So make sure he doesn't see you."
I chuckle as I slide into the chair. "Where's the rest of the party?"
Tris looks a bit sour as she points to one of the other private rooms. "Shauna arranged some entertainment."
"Ah." It's not hard to figure out what that means. Christina is clearly watching a stripper, too.
"And they're all loud when they're drunk," Tris adds. "You should have heard the things they were calling to him as I left."
The thought sends a small shiver of revulsion through me. "I'm glad I missed it."
Tris nods before taking a sip of the drink in front of her – which appears to be water, presumably since she's nursing. Her expression is difficult to decipher as she says, "I saw the two women Zeke brought in. They're certainly pretty." She gives a bitter laugh. "I imagine Uriah is having as much fun as Christina."
"Probably." My shoulder lifts. "It's definitely not my thing, but at least they're equally into it."
Tris nods again, staring at the table. There's something vulnerable about her right now.
"I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd stayed to watch them," she says softly, the words barely audible over the background noise. "Since I'm not recovered enough yet for…well, you know." She swallows. "And since I'm…fat and tired and certainly not exciting."
The statement utterly floors me, and for a long moment, I have no idea where this came from. But then it hits me. She just finished spending hours in a spa, surrounded by women who undoubtedly didn't give birth a month ago. And now she's in a club, watching the type of people I used to see in Dauntless all the time – made up, dressed up, and flashing skin as they try to look their very best. On top of that, she watched two strippers walk into the room where I was. Of course she's feeling insecure about the fifteen pounds she still has left from her pregnancy.
"You are not fat," I all but snarl, suddenly angry with our friends for their choice of today's activities. "You spent nine months growing our child. It takes longer than a month to lose that."
Hooking my fingers behind her elbow, I pull her across the space between us and into my lap, holding her close as I add, "And even if some of it stays, so what?" I kiss the back of her jaw, just by her ear. "You always look good, Tris."
She's silent for a few seconds, her fingers moving lightly in circles on my chest as she absorbs that. "It's just…." She sighs. "You look as good as the guy Shauna brought in, and I definitely don't look like…them."
I can't help the laugh that comes out of me. "Tris, that's a good thing." She narrows her eyes at me, but I just shrug. "Do you know how many women like that I turned down in Dauntless? They're not what I want. You are. Don't let a bad day make you doubt yourself."
That draws a partial smile out of her, and she nods slowly as she leans into me, resting her head against my neck. "It was a really rough day," she admits. "I was not a fan of the spa. And this place hasn't exactly been great, either." She sighs. "And I don't like being away from Abigail."
My grip tightens a little. "Me, either. I thought about you two all day."
She manages a soft chuckle. "Does that make us pathetic?"
"No." The corners of my mouth lift. "I think it just makes us new parents." Shifting her a bit so I can see her face, I ask, "Do you want to go home?"
She hesitates, obviously torn, but then she shakes her head. "No. This is our first night out since Abigail was born, and I hate how it went. I'd like to…redeem it somehow."
I nod, looking back toward the private rooms where virtually all of our friends are, and then around the rest of the club. "Tell you what," I murmur, "let's dance."
She raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Do you remember how?"
"Some." I shrug. "I remember what we learned for our wedding. And we may as well practice that for Uriah and Christina's wedding, since it's only a week away."
Smiling, I swing her legs to the side so she half-falls out of my lap before regaining her balance and standing. I rise to my full height next to her, extending my hand.
"Come on. I want to dance with my beautiful wife."
She shakes her head a bit, but she smiles, too, as she takes my hand. "Sometimes," she mutters, "I think you need glasses."
"My vision is perfect," I state firmly. "You just have terrible taste in women."
Her laugh is deeper this time – and more genuine. And then she stands on tiptoe, giving me a light kiss on the lips. "I love you, Tobias."
"I love you, too, Tris. I always have, and I always will."
As I lead her toward the dance floor, I lean down so she can hear me over the increasing noise. "Because I, you see, have excellent taste in women."
A few notes:
1. Thank you so much to the guest who left a nice, long, meaningful review for every single chapter of "Determinant" recently! It always means so much to me when people do that, and since I have no direct way of contacting you, I hope you see this. Also, in answer to your last review, I don't think that people read reviews on finished stories much, unless they're trying to decide if they want to read the story, so I doubt anyone saw the message you were directing to them. Thanks for trying, though - I appreciate the effort!
2. In answer to a guest's question, I write from a mixture of personal experiences, family members'/friends' experiences, classes I've taken, research, and just plain making things up. The characters in this story aren't based on specific real people.
3. For those looking for fanfiction recommendations, I stumbled across a story that I really liked recently. It's called "Worth A Thousand Words" and it's written by Ferris-Wheel-Fics. Also, please check out the other stories and authors that I have favorited if you get a chance - there are some great ones there.
Anyway, if you're still reading this, please take a moment to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks! :-)
