"I've gotten so used to sleeping with you in my arms at night and waking up next to you for the past week, Ana," Eric continued. "You have no idea what it feels like for me to end the day and then get to start it all over again with you right there with me. That's how this is affecting me. You gave me you and then in one swift move all my time with you have been taken away, not just by Max or my job but by you."

"Eric, I'm so sorry," I closed my eyes as tears fell down and I shook my head. "I didn't mean for it..." I grabbed onto his vest once more and just tried to draw strength into me. "I should have told you. After spending those nights with you Eric, I do want to stay with you. I thought you only let me stay because you didn't want me down in the infirmary or in the dormitory, and like I said I already committed myself to staying with Blossom once initiation was over. We weren't sure if her brother was ever coming back and..." I stepped back. "I didn't think about us."

Eric pulled me back to him. "Look Ana, I'll take this as a small misunderstanding. We really didn't discuss what would happen after initiation about your living situation. I acknowledge that you made those plans earlier but that still don't excuse the fact that you didn't even think to tell me about them after. That decision was big. And you kept me from it. You didn't include me."

"That was wrong Eric. I get it now."

"We're both new to this so there are some things to work out, I guess." I nodded once more. Eric took my head and gently pulled me to rest on his chest.

"Do you need me to do something, Eric?"

"No. Its' fine Ana."

"No," I pulled back. "I need to fix this somehow. I need to make it up to you. I can take Scott off the team. If that's what..."

"No. You need that added protection," he ran his hand down my cheek. "I want you safe when we're apart." I nodded. "Tell Blossom to find another roommate or get another apartment on her own. It's selfish of me, I know. But I can't stand the thought of not being able to see you at all throughout the day. I want to at least get to hold you at night."

"Okay," I agreed as Eric leaned down and pressed his lips against mine softly.

We stayed out there for a while longer, just enjoying one another's company. When we had gotten tired from standing, Eric pulled us to sit down on the ground by the ledge, with me resting between his legs.

Today was rough. Eric was right. It was bad enough that Max wasn't going to allow him to see me while I was training. I didn't think how it would affect us to not see each other later on at the end of the day. I took for granted that we had spent the past week with one another and now I was taking all of that away. That wasn't a smart move for me to do. Not to mention spend my days with Scott.

It was close to dinner time when Eric finally sat us up. I didn't think the day had escaped us that much but the sun was starting to set in the distance. I dusted off any dirt on my pants and looked over the ledge where we had jumped in on my first day. Eric grabbed my hand and gave it a small squeeze. I looked up and we both shared a look that said that we were in this together and I knew it wasn't just about the jump. I nodded as he stepped up and pulled me with him.

"You're with me," he whispered as we both stood on the ledge, him facing his back to the hole and my body pressed against him. I wondered how we both were able to fit on this ledge but I had come to rely heavily on the man that was holding onto me right now.

"Always," I whispered leaning closer into him. My head and hands buried on his chest, gripping onto his shirt.

He pushed himself back, keeping our bodies close as we both fell off the building, through the hole and onto the net. I gasped the second we hit the net. Eric had cradled me in his arms as we bounced a couple times, taking most of the impact himself.

"I've never done that before," Eric said as I moved in his arms to look up at him. "Jump down with someone. The four years I've been here and not once did I do that with someone else."

"Well, I trust you Eric," I whispered. "If you wanted to do that again, I'd only do that with you."

He leaned down and gave me a soft kiss. We laid down on there for just another brief moment, me being wrapped up in his arms, running his hands slowly down my side, my head still resting on him, until someone cleared their throat. We both looked up to see none other than Dillon.

"Do you how long you two been laying down on there," asked Dillon.

Eric pulled one arm against the net and maneuvered us off, sliding me gently down first.

"How long," Eric asked with his leader tone in full effect as he stood in perfect posture, once he was on the ground.

"Almost an hour," Dillon chuckled.

"I didn't think it was that long," I turned away from Dillon, moving some hair, slightly embarrassed. Eric brushed my hair out of my face and gave me a small smile.

"Well, that's what the camera read," continued Dillon as Eric's hand stopped playing with my hair. Eric looked at Dillon more serious. "Don't worry I deleted it before I came down here."

Eric nodded at him.

"Thanks Dillon," I mumbled causing Eric to look back at me. I really didn't want him to leave. We just got into a little disagreement. Yes we worked it out but we wouldn't be seeing each other for a while and I hated to just leave like this.

"No problem," Dillon commented. I turned to him and he held out his arm. "I'll walk you to the dining hall." I nodded.

"I guess I'll see you later, Eric." I was about to leave, until Eric's hand quickly reached for mine.

"We'll worry about goodbyes tomorrow," he told me, making me smile. "Dillon, if anyone needs me," he paused and then looked up at Dillon. "Tell them to go screw themselves."

Dillon raised an eyebrow at him but then turned to me and put on a smirk. "Aye, aye captain," he made a hand signal at Eric and then left.

"Aye, aye captain," I repeated.

"Aye is like saying yes, like you agree," Eric explained as I nodded still uncertain. "You can read about it from one of the books in my room," he offered which made me even more excited.

"Let's go," I pulled him along.

But before we headed down the hallway that usually led to where the apartments were he showed me another tunnel that led to the apartments. We ended up somewhere not near his apartment though. I turned to look at him confused.

"Get whatever you need," he told me.

Eric dropped me off at Peter's apartment and went to go and get something to eat at the dining hall for both of us. Blossom wasn't there and neither was Peter. I took out my spare key that I had and left it on the table with a note that I was alright. I put the last line of the song in the game that Blossom and I played in Amity so that she would know it was me.

I took a shower at Peter's and then grabbed only a few days' worth of clothes, which was actually all that I had. I could always wash, I thought. Not to mention I should be getting a credit increase soon so I could get more clothes. I wasn't one for lots of clothes back in Amity. A few skirts and blouses were fine by me.

I looked at the wall where I had hid the disc behind. It was still there. I would run it on Eric's computer another day I figured. Eric had arrived not too long after that and we walked to his apartment, surprisingly side by side. He had got me and shockingly himself, a chicken salad.

We sat down, next to one another, in his apartment at his table eating and talking about work. Tomorrow he was going to be submitting the papers to Erudite. Jeanine wanted them to be given to her in person. I rolled my eyes at that, which he caught. I shrugged and kissed his cheek.

"I wondered what it would have been like had I gone there," I told him. "Maybe I would be working under her or perhaps doing something else in Erudite."

"No doubt your two brothers would have made sure that you did something significant and become someone influential."

"My other brother Jordan said that he's looking into youth studies," Eric lifted an eyebrow at me. "I think he dumb down his job title for me."

Eric started to chuckle. "I don't see a reason why he would. You're smart enough. But he did dumb it down. I read your brother's file."

It was my turn to look at him weird. "You read my brother's file?"

"Well, I see differences in you and Jonathan. Differences I can only attribute to because he's been separated from you for what, six years?" I nodded. "But, when they were all here, there were slight differences in all of you, yet you all looked so happy together, like a normal family. I wanted to look them up. Try and know your family, I guess," he shrugged.

That sort of made me tickled, that Eric had taken an interest in my family, just to get to understand us. It warmed me, down in my chest, on that thing that's beating. I shook my head from the softness of Eric. He cleared his throat as well.

"Anyways, to explain what he does more fully, he's on his way to becoming a child behavioral psychiatrist. He studies, researches, evaluates behaviors in children and adolescents. It's the study of both the mental and emotional psyche of a youth."

I made a slight chuckle causing him to look back at me.

"Apollo used that word, psyche. It's something a lot of people in Erudite are concerned about, isn't it? Psyche," I repeated. "The person deep within," I turned back to my food and took the last bite and got ready to clean up my things. "What motivates and drives us. What are innermost thoughts are." Eric grabbed my hand as I stood.

"You really did have an aptitude for Erudite, didn't you," he asked with a smile. I nodded. "Well, I'm pretty sure I told you this but," he leaned up. "I find that attractive about you, too." He pressed his lips to mine and then started to clean up as well.

I made my way back to the room while Eric went to take a shower. I used a tank and just my underwear to go to sleep. But for some reason I didn't feel like going to sleep right away. I pulled out that book that Eric had recommended to me and started reading where I had left off. The book had me captivated and the characters I felt inclined to as if they were real. Eric was right about the terminology. I pulled out a dictionary, which was larger than the one that Jordan had given me.

Supercilious, I looked up the word and it read: behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others. I started to laugh a little, oblivious that Eric had walked into the room. Impertinent, I turned the pages finding it. Why did it have two meanings? First, not showing proper respect; rude. Second, not pertinent to a particular matter; irrelevant. I was so absorbed in the book and the words that weren't everyday language to me that I didn't even notice Eric was sitting on the couch as well with a book in his hands. I had gotten up to put the dictionary back and stumbled right across him, landing in his lap.

"You alright," he asked helping me back up trying not to laugh at me. My face was exactly in his lap, right by his...

"Yeah, I'm good," I dusted off myself. The only thing was that there was nothing to dust off but embarrassment.

I put the dictionary back and walked back over to the couch, cuddling up to his side and continuing to read the book.

"What are you reading," I looked up at him as I felt one of his hands rest on my hip right where Marlene had given me the second shot. I still had yet to tell him about that.

"Something you should read after that book," he nodded towards the book in my hands. "It's actually Greek literature."

"Really," I sat up looking at him anxiously.

"It's what I think you would have studied had you gone to Erudite, literature. To be more specific, Greek literature," he added. "You seem to have taken to it. I think that's how you knew your friend's name origin."

"Yeah, my brothers always told me about Greek mythology. I think my brother, Jordan had learned about it in one of his classes that he was taking at Erudite. I thought it so fascinating with all the different Gods, Goddesses, or mythical creatures and how their beliefs and stories were told," I answered.

Eric handed me the book and watched me intently. "Do you remember that word you used earlier, psyche?"

I nodded.

"It's from mythology. That book contains a story about it," he continued as I examined the book.

"Psyche is what exactly in the story," I asked.

"Psyche was actually, according to the Greeks, a human that had been turned into a Goddess. Eros, who was the son of the Goddess of love..."

"Aphrodite," I interrupted him as he smiled at me again.

"Yes. She was jealous of Psyche because the mortals began praising Psyche instead of Aphrodite. Aphrodite made some prophecy about Psyche which caused her parents and everyone else to believe that she was cursed."

"So no one wanted Psyche?"

Eric shook his head. "No they didn't. But Aphrodite didn't stop there. She sent Eros, her son to destroy Psyche."

"Destroy? Like kill Psyche?"

"Yes," he answered looking at me with care.

"What happened," I asked excitedly.

"He couldn't do it," Eric said.

I shook my head. "Why couldn't he? So he disobeyed his mother? What did he do to Psyche? What happened?"

Eric chuckled at my questions and pulled me in to a kiss.

"We'll save that for another time. Besides, remember I want you to read the book," he said as I went to grab it. "But not now," he grabbed both books from my hand and placed them on the shelf, where they belonged. "You have to rest now. There's training tomorrow."

I pouted my bottom lip at him and tried to make my eyes look big.

"As adorable as you look," he rubbed his thumb in a circular motion on my cheek. "We can't have you falling off to sleep during your first day of training so I am going to look away now," he walked towards the bed. "Before you get me any more distracted."

"Mm," I complained.

"Did you just whine," he looked back with a smirk.

"Maybe," I straightened out and then hurried to stand right in front of him. "Did it work?" Eric smiled and leaned down to kiss me softly.

"Another time," he whispered making me pout once more.

He picked me up quickly, causing me to laugh. Instead of throwing me down, he kissed me gently as I was laid down slowly. Eric stood back up to strip himself of his shirt which I quickly took. He smirked when I had taken off my tank and bra. Then when I slipped on his shirt, his smile disappeared.

"Another time," I teased as he pulled back the sheet to crawl in after me.

I started to play with his boxer briefs. I did want to just play around for a bit but honestly I was kind of tired. We didn't get much sleep the night before, actually none at all. Plus, I really did have to wake up early tomorrow. Eric pulled me close against him pressing soft kiss after gentle kiss against my neck, my chin, my bottom lip, my cheek, my forehead, and then finally lifted my face up to his. Only one word could describe this and it was bliss.

"You're my Psyche," he whispered. We kissed once more and then Eric held me close, rubbing my back gently as I fell off to sleep.

I woke up not too long after Eric, who decided that the best way to wake me up was to suck my neck. I moaned instantly and when Eric's lips had stopped I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me. He softly ran his fingers on my neck. I knew what he just did.

"You made it pretty clear during my interview in the leader's conference room that I belonged to someone, you didn't need to do that," I told him as he buried his head back into my neck.

"That was a reminder for me," he pressed his lips again and started to trail them down, lifting up his shirt.

"Eric," I squealed.

His shirt had lifted a considerable amount up to where my chest was on display for him and he started to put his mouth to my chest. I gasped at the sensation and felt my whole body start to itch.

"Eric," a loud moan escaped me as I ran my fingers into his hair.

That just encouraged Eric further and quite honestly the action had left a bigger impact on me than I had expected. My whole body shuddered. Eric had massaged me there with his hands once in his office, kissed me there lightly when we were exploring but never had his mouth done this. I fell back a little, gripping Eric's head there as he seemed to keep up his work in this aggressive manner.

I was stimulated beyond all reason and it sent messages throughout the rest of my body, including down there. Something that told me this was illicit pleasure! I pushed him back a little and he looked up at me, with a hunger in his eyes. I... I couldn't explain it. I felt like I did out in the hallway the first time Eric had touched me in my personal area, but Eric mostly kept his contact to my chest. How the hell did he get me so aroused? Eric smirked and let his fingers trail just over my underwear.

"Hm, should I?"

"Please," I shivered.

"Another time," Eric said as he removed his hand and got up out of bed quickly.

"Oh God," I let out trying to catch my breath. Eric turned to me and still smirked. "You just had to do that didn't you?" I sat up with a playful look in my eye.

"I did actually," he walked back and pulled me up to him, kissing me deeply.

Not only was his mind intelligent but his mouth was a genius! I moaned into it as our lips moved against one another. Eric was the first to end the kiss and then ran his fingers along my bottom lip, which I sucked in a bit.

"That way you have something to look forward to later on tonight."

"I'll be thinking about it all day," I rested my forehead against his.

"I had hoped you would." Eric pulled back a bit more serious and ran his hand down my cheek. "You can get the apartment with Blossom."

"Eric?"

"You can get the apartment with her. But I don't want to spend the night without you. Either I sleep with you there or you are coming here." I nodded and I was pulled back into a hug. Part of me still couldn't believe that he said yes for me to get the apartment.

It took us some time to get ready. Every time I slipped something on, Eric tried to take it off and kiss my skin. Whenever I had tied up my hair, Eric would pull it loose while we were making out. I left the apartment close to the time being 5:30. There weren't that much people walking around and since initiation was done, all the more reason no one was up this early.

Eric led us to not a metal door but to a glass door. I never thought I see one in Dauntless. What even got me more excited was that the hallway here was actually black granite tile, which I almost slipped on. I can walk down hallways with small pebbles and debri scattered around but a nice smooth surface and I almost collapse. I shook my head.

There was a hand scanner here at the next door that we were met with in the hallway. Eric placed his hand on.

"Eric Decker, Dauntless Leader." The woman's voice spoke which scared me a bit.

"You'll get clearance by the end of this week for everything," Eric told me as the door clicked and we walked in. "The Ghost team, a couple other team captains, such as Dillon and soon Blossom, and the leaders are the only ones that have access to this floor," he said. "Actually, the three levels on this side are exclusively for leaders and team captains."

Hardly paying attention, I turned around and around in the training room. Everything in here seemed brand new, the targets, the technology, and the weapons in here. There were exercise machines in here that weren't down in the public training room. And this seemed so much bigger.

"Only the Ghost team trains here," I asked.

"Yes," Taylor said stepping forward.

"Forgive me for bringing Ana here late. We had her report to my office first. I was seeing to her punishment for attacking you folks outside the leader's conference room, yesterday," Eric stated with full authority. "It took," he glanced my way with that villainous twinkle in his eye. "Longer than I expected."

"No problem, Eric," Taylor gave him a slight bow.

I would wonder how everyone was so afraid of him but I had to admit when I first came here, Eric left me frightened after a couple encounters we had.

"Well," Eric lifted an eyebrow at me and then nodded impatiently at Taylor.

"Forgive me for being late, Taylor."

Eric cleared his throat. Did he really expect me to... I turned to look at Eric who just stared at me expressionless. He did want me to apologize for the incident in the hallway.

"Forgive me for my behavior yesterday. It was uncalled for." I glared at Eric but then turned sweetly towards Taylor who only looked all the more happy that I had apologized.

"Alright, let's get started then. You're late," Taylor said as everyone else appeared.

Adam and Brandon were there besides Taylor. Great, I thought. The three I had gotten into a small altercation with.

"Remember, Ana, you are to report to me after training is done," I turned to look at Eric. I wanted to kiss him but knew I couldn't, so I just simply nodded.

"Thank you Eric," I barely said audible.

Eric looked me over once more, a small smile on his lips and then quickly left. I took off my jacket and asked them what we were starting on first. Brandon started to chuckle as Adam stared at me.

"Who's your boyfriend," he asked. I rolled my eyes and walked over towards a part of the room where there were floor to ceiling mirrors.

It was hard to look at myself this morning when I got ready, especially with Eric's persistent kisses. But as I glanced at my reflection, I couldn't help but think that this was just as bad as when we were outside the compound. I had on a work out tank that showed cleavage. The only thing was that you could see a couple light marks on that cleavage. Also there were a couple light marks on my neck, shoulder, and a huge one on the opposite side of my neck, under my jaw. No shirt could hide that. Eric made this mark higher than possible. And I realized it felt so good when he was doing it that I completely forgot it would leave a mark.

"That idiot," I shook my head.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what you were calling him last night," Adam continued.

I turned back. "Anyways, what are we doing?"

"Stretches first," said Taylor.

I nodded and followed their lead. Halfway through the workout I wondered how this was just considered stretching. My thighs and my forearms were a bit sore.

"You can handle, right," Taylor taunted as I tried to massage the muscle in my arm. The other two just chuckled. Well, they did say that they weren't going to go easy on me.

I was informed that the rest of the physical training would start once Blaze, Clark, and Sam came. Brandon took one of my arms and pulled it over to one side. Then he did the same with the other arm. I noticed that Taylor and Adam had done the same for one another. Something cracked and I bit back a gasp.

"You're going to pull right here," Brandon told me and showed me his arm.

I thought I was doing it right but when I did it with his second arm, he glanced back at me.

"That's all you got? To think you were ranked second!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled harder until I heard the same crack in his shoulder.

"What's the purpose of that anyway," I asked.

"It helps the blood flow," Adam said walking over throwing me a bottle of water, which I drank. Then I quickly spat it out. This tasted weird. They chuckled again. "That's fear serum. Tastes awful, doesn't it?"

"Jerk," I muttered throwing the bottle at him and ready to charge. Brandon stepped in the front. "What happened to respect? I know you all didn't want me here but there's no need to make this whole situation any more unpleasant than it has to be."

"She's right. Leave her alone," said Blaze as he arrived with the rest of the team, including Scott, Kenny, Ace and Apollo. "What is she doing here this early, anyways?"