Thank you so much to Bamberlee for editing this chapter!đź’›

Happy Friday & Have a lovely weekend!

PS. This chapter lines up mostly with Everly's version, but ends differently. For those of you waiting for Prince Four's wedding, you gotta wait one more week. My sincere apologies. I figured Eric's thoughts on Four getting married deserved their own chapter.

Thanks again for reviewing!


"Was she on top on top, or just like, sitting on top of you for a second?"

Rylan's question comes right as I struggle to push the small rectangle of ceiling tile open. I blink furiously as a pound of dust falls into my face, and a second later, I sneeze.

"Or like, were you standing, and she was on top of-"

"Rylan, shut up for one second." I wipe my eyes and with one final push, the door to this weird space opens up. I'm rewarded with vast darkness, and the wobbling of the ladder as Rylan forgets he's holding onto it in a faux attempt to keep Linda from yelling at us about safety measures.

"Shit, you did it." He's impressed. His head cranes up to look at the opening, and I step up higher on the ladder. "I didn't even know we had this. I thought the next floor up was…"

"It's a crawl space. It's not very high, and I'm not sure who built it like this. I'm not even sure how they built any of this." My voice changes to irritation, and it's justified. I'd been selected to climb up here, because for two weeks now, Linda had been complaining something was in the ceiling. I had stared at her with one very unimpressed look on my face, and that look darkened when Rylan cheerfully told her we'd look into it.

That I, Eric, would personally look into it, because I was very interested in the architecture here.

His hilarity was not appreciated.

Our compound was deep underground, and the theory was it was built in the areas that had been washed away by the underground river. I had tried to find logic in this. Maybe years ago, the river was hundreds of feet higher, or maybe someone in a time before us was overly ambitious. I'd never really considered how Dauntless was built, just that it was.

Turns out, it was built full of all kinds of neat little hiding spaces.

Including this one.

"Give me your flashlight." I reach down without looking, and a second later, my fingers grasp the cold metal. "And she was on top of me. In case you missed it, we were having sex and she agreed to let me name the baby."

"Sounds disgustingly romantic." Rylan's voice is casually unimpressed. "I can't picture you letting Everly be on top of you. A long time ago, Christina told me that Tris was very worried you'd hit Everly's head against the wall. Really, knock it to her. Maybe handcuff her to the bed. That's what they were talking about for a few weeks."

I scowl at him, but he can't see me. I could only assume the only sex Tris was having was with her terrible fiancé, and it must have been with the lights off and her eyes closed. I also wasn't someone who had willingly shared any of this, not even with Rylan. He'd figured out I'd had sex with Everly, back when I probably shouldn't have been, but that was it. I kept mostly quiet about it, seeing no need for anyone to know such intimate details of my life.

Him or anyone else.

"Christina and Tris shouldn't be concerned how Everly and I have sex." I point out, shining the light and trying to figure out what was up here. So far, it was a lot of boxes. Old, rotting cardboard boxes that appear to be poorly labeled. "Trust me, I've never sat at home wondering what position you and Christina have sex in."

"Every position." Rylan perks up. "And you should. As my best friend."

"I'm good." I snort, and I set the flashlight down to the side of me. I brace my hands on the opening, and I step up another rung on the ladder. It wavers slightly; this ceiling is higher than I expected, and the space is lower than I'd like. I still can't see anything that could be making noise, but it's pitch black up here except for right around the opening.

"Doesn't that seem sort of boring for you? Like she's on top of you, gazing into your eyes. That sounds more like…oh hey, Four. What's going on? You look…so much taller today. Did you get your hair cut?"

I laugh meanly into the darkness. Below me, Rylan leans against the ladder as Four mumbles something at him. He's probably informing him this isn't the place for such a discussion or that the control room is out of Kleenex. "Rylan, where did Linda say she heard the noise?"

He doesn't answer me. I hoist myself up so I can sit on the very edge of a large beam of wood, and I squint around me, ducking my head. There are several boxes right to the side of me, and I reach for the closest one. The lid pops off easily, and the smell of old musty paper fills the air. I gingerly pull a file out, and to my surprise, it's an old list that ranks initiates. The scoring is pretty close to what we use now, and this first initiate is pretty good. I shrug, wondering where on Earth he went.

"RYLAN."

"Sorry," he calls up, and I hear him step onto the ladder. "Four wanted to tell me how much he appreciates me as a human being. Linda said it sounded like a demon was scraping around above her desk. Jason called and said he's not coming to help. He said if you see any weird symbols to get out of there now. He also said something about a pentagram and a goat skull."

"There's nothing up here but old papers." I shine the flashlight around again, and I'm greeted with more dust. "And dirt."

"You'll have to crawl over to where Linda's desk is. About twenty feet to your left."

"That won't be happening." I answer him flatly, and I decide there's nothing up here. Dauntless might have lots of things that go bump in the night, but this office space wasn't one of them. "I'm coming back down. You can tell Linda she's at no risk of being possessed."

I glance down to see Rylan's face staring up at me, and he looks jealous that he's not sitting up in this hot, dirty storage space. "Hey, can I ask you something? Really ask you?"

"What?" I'm immediately suspicious, even more so when his face lights up.

"Are you really naming the baby? Because Rylan is a great name if you haven't decided yet." He grins, fully thinking this was an idea I'd go with, and I shake my head.

"Move, before I kick you in the face. And no, I'm not naming my child after you." I swing my legs back down and there is a moment when they touch nothing. Once they hit the ladder, I easily descend, jumping off to the worried face of Linda. She looks nervous, as though I might have come down with a ghost following along. "There's nothing up there. Just old boxes. They must have used it for storage. Maybe one fell over or something."

"Okay," Linda sighs, and she doesn't look convinced. "It's just that Jason was up here, and he was talking about the lower levels being haunted and I swear I heard something in the ceiling. I appreciate you looking."

"You're welcome." I wipe the dust off my hands, but I can feel it coating my skin. "I'll be back. I'm going home to shower."

"Thanks again. By the way, I think it's sweet that Everly would be on top of you. You know, I was talking with a few of my friends, we run a book club by the way if any of you are interested, and they were very curious about you and Everly. They were worried you might be a little too intense for her. But I have to say, you two seem very happy together. So hearing about you and her is heartwarming."

I stare at her, and both my eyebrows rise up before I can stop myself.

"So sweet." Rylan whispers, hiding behind Linda. "You should join the book club, too. Last week we read this story about this dystopian universe and…"

"Goodbye." I push past both of them, and I decide I'll use my lunch break to take a shower.

I head to the elevator, shaking my head, wondering how on Earth anyone thought I was sweet. I was far from sweet, most times far from nice.

I know what the problem is.

I was losing my edge. By marrying this tiny girl from Amity, wanting a family with her, and being so grossly in love with her that I showed up places she went just so I could be sure she stayed alive, I was perceived as a whole new person. One that people wondered how I slept with my wife, finding it adorable that she was on top of me.

I should have been horrified. Furious that anyone was even thinking about how I had sex with Everly and felt they could tell me about their thoughts, to my face. Determined to remake myself into the Eric who existed before Everly, I should have stormed out and found someone to punch just because I could.

But for once, other than wanting people out of my business, I saw no reason to make a single change in my life.

Plus, Four had already left for the day.


Daniel calls later in the afternoon.

I pick up while I towel off my hair, and I have to admit, the silence is nice. It's not that Everly was noisy or obnoxiously loud in this space, far from it. But for once, it's just me, in the middle of the day, with no one asking anything.

Until my father calls.

But I answer his call immediately, and his first question is one that I should have seen coming.

"Did you talk to Everly about where she wants to give birth?"

"No," I answer heavily, and I sigh into the phone while I fumble through my dresser for a pair of boxers. "We've been busy. I went to Amity with her. We wound up staying and having dinner with her mother. I didn't have time to bring it up."

There is silence on Daniel's end.

"You had dinner with Eden? Weren't you worried about ingesting the peace serum?" There is no malice on his end, only pure, honest curiosity. "She wasn't very happy when I saw her. Their infirmary is completely useless. I keep trying to make time to go back, but so is Candor's. Jack Kang prioritized the funds to go elsewhere."

"Probably to his restaurant." I mumble, and I grab a t-shirt. "Eden's dinner was chaotic to say the least. The whole family was there. I think I'm just used to eating here, with just Everly."

"I could see that. Did Eden…make the dinner?" Daniel is full of questions today, and I try to think of how much I want to tell him. Not out of defense of Eden, for really, she didn't need it. She was unapologetically who she was, and if everything kept going the way I thought it was, that would be someone shacking up with Harrison. "Did she order it? Does Amity have people who deliver food?"

"No, she made it." I search for a pair of pants, and I stand there, trying to decide if I really want to go back to work.

I had a ton of work to do, but nothing that was ultimately too pressing. I was purposely avoiding Max and his demands that we replace Brittany. He used any chance he could get to talk about filling her position, and while Kacie had told me Four would take it, there was nothing from him. No email. No visit from Four to Max's office. Not even a slight nod in anyone's direction. He had kept to the control room, clearly avoiding Everly and myself. This left Max desperately seeking a warm body to fill the spot, because everyone was officially sick of doing Brittany's work.

"I'm sure the food was fine, but I didn't really eat it. Everything else was too much. Too loud. Too many people. Everly's little brother chose to sit on my lap, throwing his food everywhere."

"How old is he?" Daniel asks, and there's a very funny sound to his voice. "Is he really little?"

"Somewhere between two and ten. I don't know." I decide I'm staying home. I'd stayed up late last night watching something Jason recommended, and I decide I'll finish it. I close the dresser drawer, and I head toward my bed. "Little. Short. Only likes green noodles. Wouldn't eat anything else unless you tricked him. Everly must have spent a lot of time with him because she knew what to do."

"That sounds exhausting." Daniel remarks, and I stare at my reflection in the TV screen. Of course it sounds exhausting. He hadn't been around when I was Zander's age, nor would he even know how to handle such a situation. Had I decided I was only eating a certain color, Pamela would have received the brunt of it. "Eric, I…"

"Why weren't you ever home?" My tone turns colder than I intended, and I blame the stress of watching Zander try to sneak back to Dauntless with us. "I saw Pamela when I was in Erudite. Why did you hire her? Why didn't you ever make it home for dinner? Or spend any time around me?"

The questions spill out after a few weeks of general pleasantness.

It's hard to miss the sudden snap of unease, but I feel like this question is necessary. He'd made strides to try and repair our relationship, but it still didn't negate the time he'd spent away from me. Maybe it was because he'd never wanted to be around me. Even now, his main interest seemed to be Everly.

"Eric, I'm sorry." Daniel blurts out immediately, and I can hear the start of panic in his voice. Things had been going really well, and I had taken us back a hundred steps with this question. "I had taken on a new position at the hospital when you were born. Blythe was eager to get back to work. It seemed like that was the best option for all of us. Pamela adored you, and you…you liked her the best out of anyone. I thought it was working out okay. Blythe and I argued about it a few times, but I couldn't cut back. Not the way things were."

The defeat is back in his voice.

Months of working to get to know me, slipping through his fingertips because I'd seen Pamela and everything about my life made sense. I wouldn't even allow myself to think about the reasoning, or to acknowledge it, but I felt it. The knowledge that it had been hard for me to let myself love Everly, all because it wasn't something I knew. While Pamela might have loved me, I had missed out on having an actual parent who cared about me past how I made our family look to the public.

But I could only blame him for so long.

I loved Everly like nothing else, and that was what was important.

"You know what," I flop down on the bed, and I stare at the blank screen. The show Jason had talked about was a series about a nuclear reactor exploding. I had found it fascinating. Everly had slept through it. "I'm sorry I brought it up. I know you've…wanted to make things better."

"There are a lot of things I would change if I could. I hope you understand that." Daniel returns to his normal tone, and I give him credit for bouncing back. Months ago, he would have crumpled in defeat under my anger, or tried to tell me how it hadn't been his idea. "I'm sure you're aware of this, but I didn't make some good decisions. Some were worse than others, and I have to deal with that to this day."

"I get that." I hear him type something, then he pauses. "It's just…"

"I still keep in contact with Pamela. She was lovely. You refused to let her leave when you went to school. You asked that she take you, not Blythe nor I."

"It doesn't sound like you would have even had time." I point out, and even I can feel the pettiness in my words. "She said she's doing well. I told her about Everly. I told her maybe we'd see her someday."

Daniel is silent.

I hear him clear his throat, and he fumbles for something to say.

"I'm sure she was very happy to see you. She's asked about you a few times. I always saw her with Blythe, and it never went as well as I'd have liked." Daniel's voice changes, sounding like he's thinking this over. "She's married now. She has two children, I believe. But Eric, I hope you realize what I'm telling you. That if I had the chance-"

"I do." I answer. "I believe you."

"Okay," Daniel sounds relieved. "Now, can you please convince Everly to think about having the baby in Erudite? From what I'm finding out, none of the factions are prepared for much. Dauntless is slightly more prepared than the rest, but only because your soldiers require more care than the others."

"I'll see what I can do. I'm sure I can convince her." I promise him, and I've already made up my mind I'll talk to her. There was no reason for her to want to have the baby elsewhere. If she had our son here, there was a risk that Arlene would be in there. If she had our son in Erudite, it would be like a nice vacation. Quiet. Out of the way. Arlene would be less likely to show up.

Plus, Daniel would be there, and even though I didn't want him delivering my child, there would be some sense of peace of mind that he was in the same building.

"Please let me know as soon as she agrees." Daniel starts typing again, and I nod my head. "I can try to schedule a few things for her. You could even come a few days before her due date, just to be sure. I'd hate for you two to get stuck somewhere or have something happen on the way."

He sounds like he's over planning, but I can't blame him. With my luck, anything could happen.

"Will do." I decide to start my show, figuring I can watch an episode before anyone notices I'm not back at work. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Alright. Have a good day, Eric."

"You too." I hang up quickly, and I click through a few titles until I find the one I want.

I find myself completely absorbed right back into the show, soothed by the thoughts of explosive radioactive material and a team frantically trying to cover the disaster up.


On Monday, Everly's dress is short enough that the entire faction will discover her affinity for all things pink.

I come to a halt in my own bedroom, staring at my wife, staring at herself in the large mirror on the wall. I can't say that I entirely mind the dress; it's short and pretty, and very much something she would wear. She looks absolutely lovely. Her hair hangs down, twisting and dark and shiny, and her feet are bare.

She looks like Everly, except now, it is very obvious she is pregnant.

Normally, this would bring me a fantastic rush of satisfaction. On every primal level, it would announce that I had claimed her as my own. I had long decided she was, and this only furthered that point. I'd won, out of every male here.

But her pregnancy had crept up out of nowhere, and I could tell she wasn't expecting the physical changes that seemed to occur overnight. The length of the dress rose up, pulled upward by the slight curve of her stomach, and the fabric at the top no longer covered much of anything. It wouldn't go unnoticed that her breasts were twice the size they once were, and her sweet, innocent little dress was anything but.

I watch her pull at the fabric, slender fingers trying to force it back to the way it was months ago, and she frowns when the changes don't stick. She eyes her reflection for a moment, and I watch her decide the dress is fine.

It's not.

"Is that what you're wearing to work?"

Everly turns around to look at me and the skirt twirls with her. I'm rewarded with the exact sight any of the new soldiers would love to catch an eyeful of. Bare limbs, long hair, a very pretty face, and one very revealing outfit.

"Um, well, I was going to, but it seems like it shrank a bit. It feels sort of short." Everly's face darkens. I know this dress is one she likes. I also like it, just not…for heading to work in.

"It is really short," I answer carefully, but there's no hiding the irritation. It's not at her. I'd never once told her to dress a certain way. We had no actual dress code here, other than not dressing like your former faction. Everly skirted that rule daily, but since I liked what she wore, I'd never told her to wear anything else.

It also wasn't my place.

Telling her to pick leggings over a skirt, or her uniform jacket over the soft, ruffly dresses she liked to wear was something Landon would have done. Her father. Four. My job here wasn't to control what she did or wore. Obviously, if she tried to wear this to visit the Abnegation faction we might have to talk, but I liked that she never felt pressed to wear things she didn't like.

But this was about to give the faction an eyeful.

I cross my arms over my chest while she struggles to pull the dress back down. Everly turns away from me, scowling into the mirror as she refuses to admit defeat. She looks frustrated and I assume she's figured out the rest of her clothes will follow suit.

While the changes are appealing to me, giving a softer, almost irresistibly alluring look to her, we hadn't told too many people we were having a baby. I had told the other Leaders, mostly because it involved Everly's safety, and if I had to guess, I'd assume Tris knew. But past that, we'd kept things quiet.

This dress would not.

"It's not that short," Everly tries to convince both of us, and she turns to the side. The dress rises up enough that the tops of her thighs are visible, and I catch my darkened stare in the mirror. She was going to wear it, and the entire faction would discover that not only was she pregnant, she was far too beautiful for them to be gaping at.

I figure I can sort of remedy this if I hurry. There's no way she'll last an entire day in that outfit, especially not with the air conditioner working overtime to keep the faction cool.

I head to her closet, grabbing the first sweater I can find. I return to hand it to her, and she looks at me like I'm insane.

"It's cold in your office," I point out, figuring perhaps logic would work. This was a long shot, but she'd been freezing since she arrived, and she wouldn't be warm if she was half dressed.

"It's not that cold," Everly answers, looking up at me. She sounds suspicious, and rightfully so. "And you were just complaining about how hot your office was the other day. You said you didn't think the air was working properly."

I stare at her, having forgotten that she had been in there when I thought it was hot. To be fair, I also might have had the flu at that time. "But you're always cold. Better safe than sorry, Amity." I stare at her face, her put out expression and sulky pout, then her bare shoulders. I sigh, because I know I'm going to lose this battle. "I'll see you for lunch."

I close the distance between us, her small frame immediately against mine, and I smile before I bend down to kiss her. My lips touch hers briefly, far too brief for my liking, but I can't stay here all day. I pull away from her scowling, realizing she was going to walk to work without me, and I had a feeling the sweater was staying here.

"Don't be late," I tell her, catching her bright smile. She waits until I'm out of the bedroom, and I hear her casually toss her sweater onto the dresser.


"Oh my gosh, she's an absolute doll."

My first meeting starts half an hour early.

Christian sits across from me, flicking his hair out of his eyes -something that could be remedied with an actual haircut, and flipping through a very large portfolio. He's not showing it to me, no. That wouldn't make any sense. He's brought it down here to talk to me about Everly's dress for Four's wedding, yet so far, he's mostly telling me how much he likes her and he wants to make her something to wear.

Which, I can understand whole heartedly.

However, his gushing only increases as he flips through his own creations, and he occasionally marks a few things down.

"How far along is she?"

"Four months. Almost five." I stare at him, and my head tilts in confusion. "How did you…"

"Her boobs. She looked completely different when she got here. I mean, she looked fine then. But I saw her walking this morning. She's got a whole lot more goin on now. I'm not sure how no one else has noticed. But everything looks different, Eric. She's glowy and pretty and her dress is way too fucking short."

He looks up at me, shoving his glasses up his face and his head tilts to mirror mine. "Shorrrtttt. I mean, she's hot so she can pull it off. Not many here would dare wear something that resembles a nightgown to work, but she's clearly not from here. She could inspire a whole new line." He pauses, then moves his hands rapidly, as if making a flashing sign or billboard. "Nightwear as daywear. A Dauntless exclusive."

I stare, and I wonder why right now, rather than listening to men tell me where Evelyn was or if we were making any actual progress, I was listening to Christian pitch a clothing line based off my wife's ability to never really be dressed.

"I'm sure it'll be a hit in Abnegation." I answer him dryly, and he snorts.

"I would only release it here. I don't work with…grey."

"Fantastic. Now why are you here? Because you want to make her a dress?" I'm still confused. He'd asked to meet with me, and when I said yes, he flat out demanded an appointment. So I made him one, only to find that he just wanted to dress Everly for Four's terrible wedding themed fiesta. "Just…make her one. I'm sure she'll wear it. Make her enough clothes to wear that Oscar from accounting won't see her underwear."

"I can't just…make something. Ugh. How uninspired. I want you to send her to me. Introduce us. Dinner, drinks. A night out where we get to know each other. I need to know who she is. What drives her. Her hopes. Her dreams. Her desires."

"She desires to eat dinner by six and she goes to bed at seven." I raise an eyebrow at him. "That is Everly. She also likes to wear dresses and, in a few weeks, maybe even days, the entire faction will discover all her underwear is pink. Oh, and she can't drink because she's pregnant. That should be enough info for you. Design away." I wave him off, hoping he'll take this information and run with it, because I have another meeting right after this one.

Christian's expression tells me he finds me temporarily insufferable.

"Seven? Really?"

"Yes, really." I lean back in my chair, and thankfully, Jason interrupts this meeting with a panicked look on his face. "Are you alright?"

"Harrison is missing. We can't find him anywhere." He blurts this out quickly, giving Christian a secondary glance. "Hey, sorry. I tried to wait, but everyone is concerned. They thought you might know where he is."

"I…" I pause, shaking my head. "I don't know where he would be. I would assume back at work. Or maybe he left for the day."

"I thought that, too. But there's no sign out for him. No trucks signed out in his name and his ID badge hasn't been swiped anywhere." Jason steps closer to my desk, and he sighs. "Max is worried and he never worries. Except for when we thought we lost Karl."

"You lost Karl?" Christian interrupts. "Tall, blonde guy? Looks like a younger Eric?"

I narrow my eyes when Jason nods.

"Yeah, that one. He works out more than Eric, too."

"What?" I bark, and Jason turns to face Christian, completely forgetting he came in here for a reason.

"We found him, obviously. He was just out of range and didn't have any cell phone reception. But Max was worried about him. Probably because he knows Eric's going to take time off when his baby arrives and even after that his interest in the faction will be half at best. Karl is his literal replacement."

"I'm right here." I dully remind him.

"I'd be worried, too. I've tailored a few jackets for him. He does seem like he works out a lot." Christian thinks this over, and I cross my arms over my chest. I slide my chair back, and I glare at both of them.

"Get out. I have actual work to do." I remind them of this, but neither move. "Work. Does anyone remember that? We have factionless that were just brought in, by the illustrious Karl. Anyone want to go talk to them? No?"

They both turn to look at me, and Jason wrinkles his nose. "No thanks, I'm going to find Harrison. You aren't worried that he's gone for good?"

"No, because he promised me he'd tell me…" I pause, and horror rushes through me as I realize something. "Motherfucker, he better not be gone for good! He has the answers I need." I leap up from my desk, and Christian leaps up, too. "Come on. His phone should have some sort of GPS or monitoring software on it. Anyone with a high security clearance should. Maybe Kacie can find him."

"I'm going back to…work. Thank you. This has all been very…informative." Christian answers, and he slips past us before I can say a word to him.

"I'll go with you." Jason offers, and he heads out in the same direction Christian went. "I can't imagine he'd split. He was helping me move some things the other day. You know what, I know where he lives. We could try there, too."

"You do?" I stop, and I realize I've never been to Harrison's apartment. I knew that logically, he would live on the same floor as me. Or pretty close to where I lived. Yet, I'd never once seen him walking to work. "Alright, let's check there first. If he's not there, we'll find Kacie."

I send out a quick text, canceling my next meeting, and their response is understanding.

Quinten agrees to meet me later, along with the menu for Four's wedding dinner.


We don't make it very far.

We are stopped by Max, well I am, and Jason keeps going. He widens his eyes as he sneaks past him, turning the corner and disappearing out of sight. I sigh in sheer annoyance, and Max grabs my arm and pulls me in the opposite direction I need to be going.

"I know you're going to find Harrison, but I need to show you something."

"Jason said he's missing. He thought maybe he'd left for good." I stare at Max while we walk, wondering how he would have missed one of his leaders packing up and moving out. "Has anyone heard from him? Is there a reason he would think that?"

"No, not that I'm aware of. But maybe he said something that gave Jason that impression." Max knocks on an office door, and when there is no response, he shoves it open. "Now I don't think he's gone. He's probably taking a personal day. But I need to show you this."

A second later, I step into Harrison's unlocked office, and everything falls into place.

"Shit."

I stare at the room, far larger than mine, and far colder. The room is set up like a grander scale of my own. He's got a large desk, a computer with a picture of himself as the screensaver, and books everywhere. Multiple bookshelves, crammed full of knowledge on the art of war. Maps pinned to the walls, each one displaying a separate faction. In the middle, there is a picture of Evelyn, and some weird, warped family tree branching downward. There are lines coming from beneath her, and one to the side. Two are men I don't recognize, and one is a picture of Four with a large red X through it.

Beneath that, hundreds of men and women, their names written in red, and how much of a threat he thought they were.

I step closer, my boots loud on the tile flooring, and I pause in front of the board. It's immaculately spaced out, and incredibly detailed. The only chaos comes from his handwriting. In some spots it's neat as can be, but in others, like where he'd scrawled the name 'Esperanza' in a tiny section in Amity, it grows nearly unreadable.

Eden's name is clear as day.

Her house, where I'm assuming it's located in Amity, has a gold tack next to it.

The rest are orange.

They loop round and round, with dates beneath them, this visible path sometimes crossing back, sometimes going far away. The orange tacks culminate near Amity, toward a small section of land that is mostly woods and rocky cliffs. It has the most current date written on it, which is today's.

"He's been tracking them."

My fingers touch his board, and I know he'll know. When he returns, if he does, he'll notice the nearly invisible fingerprints I've left. They press over every place we've been together, noticing it's quite the colorful path. The dilapidated buildings where I'd lost Everly the first time to Evelyn. They'd vanished somewhere, her carried away by Evelyn's second in command. Our trip to Candor, where we'd eaten in Jack's restaurant. The trial. Amity. The border of Candor and Abnegation. The woods, where he'd hinted he was involved with Everly's mother. The control room, where he'd told me he'd give me all the answers I needed.

"Where is he?" I turn to Max. "Did he go out to find them? Shouldn't we be with him?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think he's left today. He's not answering his phone, and Karl hasn't seen him either. But I wanted you to see what he's been working on. He retires in five months. I don't think we'll ever be able to replace him."

I turn to stare at him, my fingers hovering over the name he'd called Everly by the night we found her.

"You won't." I shake my head. "You can't…not even if someone trained with him for years. Is that…is that why he has the option to leave?"

I find myself oddly unwilling to have this happen. Older members of Dauntless didn't typically have the choice to select another faction and move there to live out their days. They had the option to jump, ending their lives in the same brave manner they arrived here, or the option to work until they couldn't.

"We're thinking about changing a few things. Maybe…offering a way to keep those around whose knowledge we could still utilize." Max walks over to me slowly. "Harrison was a special deal. He and I made an agreement a long time ago, maybe even before me. By the time I realized what it meant, everything was already set up. He has land in another faction. A family he said he'd like to return to. Revenue from a business here. He'll never run out of points where he goes."

"Clyde's." I answer slowly. "I was with him when he asked about commercial real estate." I find myself letting out a huff of laughter, and I realize he was far smarter than any of us. He'd worked the system. He'd served his time in Dauntless, honorable as ever, but he wouldn't be leaping to his death. He'd be starting his life over, with my mother-in-law.

Which meant he'd be my father-in-law.

I'd see him, every time we went there.

"I just thought you'd appreciate his efforts."

"I do." I answer Max quickly, and I move away from the board. I glance at Harrison's desk, surveying everything he's got on it. It's not at all messy, in fact, it's just as organized as mine. There are more books, including a novel about dinosaurs come back to life on an island, with a sticker proclaiming it was now a motion picture. His paycheck, displaying that he was paid far more than any of us, an entire box of instant coffee, and a picture, shoved beneath the calendar.

"Eric…"

I reach for it, ignoring Max's heavy stare on me, and I nod slowly when I pull it out. I hold it up, squinting against the glare of the lighting, and my words die in my throat.

Max knew, too.

Maybe that was why he'd been so keen to have me train Everly.

Maybe it wasn't just because he didn't want a scandal on his hands, but because he felt he owed it to his longtime friend.

There, in this pristinely kept photo, is Harrison and the family I can only assume he left in Amity.

I recognize him immediately. His uniform is the same dark one I have on, his hair is darker than it is now, and his face is lit up. In his arms is an infant, one too small for me to figure out who it really is, but I don't have to guess. Beside him is Eden. She looks the same, her long hair falling out of a braid and her dress floating in the breeze while a small boy next to her chases a squirrel.

Harrison looks like I've never seen him before. He's looking at Eden, and she's looking at him with an expression that makes my stomach hurt. It was the same way I looked at Everly, like I couldn't quite believe she was before me, like I couldn't quite believe she hadn't left yet.

I turn the picture over, and I close my eyes when I see the names at the bottom.

Harrison, Eden, Forrest, and Everly.


"No, you just put them in alphabetically. Alphabetically. That means…the way the letters of the alphabet go."

I stare down at the girl before me, and I have a feeling she's going to quit.

For one, she can barely look at me. She keeps glancing up out of the corner of her eye, sort of wincing every time I step near her.

"Okay, but…his name is Aaron Anderson. I didn't know if you wanted it by first name, or last name. They both start with A."

I stare at her.

She can't be serious.

"Last name." I answer, clenching my jaw hard enough that something should have cracked by now. "Who hired you? What's your name again?"

"Um…Max hired me. My name is Stella. He told me you needed some help, that you were all overworked and I could work on some of the administrative tasks." Stella sounds just as young as she looks. She glances over at Linda, safely behind her desk, chatting away with her next door neighbor. I hear her mention the word potluck, and I decide I need to get out of here.

"Look, Stella, I don't know who thought I should be the one to train you, but I'm not about to. I don't have time. Linda can help you." I inform her, and Stella shakes her head.

"Linda said my job was to help you." She looks up at me again, and I could throw something. Everly often looked up at me the same way, from beneath her long hair or her eyelashes, smiling sweetly before she told me something I didn't want to hear. But coming from Stella, it's not quite as appealing. "At least for today. She said they brought some men in, but you weren't needed there and I should assist you."

I close my eyes.

I was needed there.

That was the kicker.

Karl had returned with three of Evelyn's men, and the rumor was that they were being trained to take over for her. I felt a chill deep in my bones when I heard this, because it meant she knew her reign was coming to an end. No true leader gave up easily, nor did they willingly think they would fail. This meant Evelyn was either smarter than we thought, or she was growing weary trying to keep her army happy.

I had sat up in my office chair and relished this fact.

She had to be.

She was constantly on the run, rummaging for food and water, trying to keep an army alive and believing in her. There had to be some unease amongst her own men. Even here, if worked for weeks on end, the soldiers started to resist. Evelyn must have been experiencing the same sort of fatigue amongst her devoted. Which meant she'd either come to her senses, or fully descended into madness.

I had been thrilled to go and find out which one, until Tori showed up with Stella. She'd pushed the girl into my office, and told me that she was overseeing the interrogations, and I was to help Stella begin her new job here. I'd stared at her in complete disbelief, but Tori shook her head.

"You're too closely involved with all of this. Max said no. These men are currently as close to Evelyn as we've gotten. If they offer up information you don't like, we don't need you murdering them before we get anything else out."

I'd sneered, unimpressed that she believed my self-control was so non-existent. The only person I planned on murdering was Evelyn herself. Her peons didn't interest me that way. I'd like to hear what they had to say, but even I knew we needed the information first.

Still, I couldn't get away. The girl had stood before me, then followed me around, silently, like a female version of Four, until I'd barked at her to organize the files on my desk. She did great, up until she had to put them away. Things went downhill from there.

"Just…file them. I'll be back." I huffily answer her, and I watch her nod. I decide she's relatively safe in my office. She seems too terrified to go through anything, and other than a few funny notes from Rylan, there was nothing incriminating she'd ever find in there. Stella nods again, slowly picking up the first of many folders, and putting it away. I figure I have an hour or so, so I slink to the breakroom, hoping to find silence, and perhaps a donut to calm down my rage from being banned from the interrogation room.

Instead, I find Max.


"Now then, what do we do about the open Leadership position?"

Max sits down next to me, and his voice is his normal, slow even tone. He's not in any real hurry to go anywhere, just to fill a position eating away at all of our time. "I heard that Everly was trying to get Four to step into the role, but nothing past that."

"I didn't think she had much success. But I heard he was taking it." I answer just as evenly, giving Max nothing to create some imaginary drama out of. "I also heard Evelyn's men are here. Why aren't we talking about that? You really are having me file shit away instead of helping?"

Max shakes his head. "We aren't talking about her right now, because they haven't told us anything about her. Right now, you and I are talking about Four. And yes, I don't need you flying into a fit of rage when they say Everly's name. You've already broken two laptops. Multiple coffee cups. Part of Four's face. You're to stay here for the time being."

I close my eyes.

"Eric, you understand why this is important, don't you?"

"I wasn't going to kill anyone." I snap at him and I open my eyes. I'm only staying down here out of respect for Karl. Showing up and interrupting him could throw off his whole interrogation. "I wanted to hear what they had to say. Besides, I don't have a spare uniform with me and I don't want to get blood on this one." I inform him, and he doesn't believe me any more than I believe myself.

"I want to hear your thoughts on Four. What you think we should do."

I shrug.

While Four wasn't my ideal work partner, I didn't care if he took the job. At this point, I almost preferred it. Everly had pointed out I wouldn't have to train him, and that would give me my life back. As the newest leader, he'd be thrown into everything. Every assignment that came up. Every mission. Every small infraction that required actual authority, he'd be called into instead of me. It was a stark invasion of his privacy and time, though he'd be well compensated. He could even have Stella if he asked nicely.

Still, it was likely he'd drag his heels on it.

"Maybe he needs a formal invitation." I suggest, and Max takes a long sip of his coffee. He looks like he's weighing this idea in his head, when he suddenly looks right at me.

"Are you gonna tell Everly what you found?"

"The picture?" I ask, and I pretend I haven't been thinking about this all morning. "I don't know. Probably not. Not until I can talk to Harrison myself."

I'd shoved the picture back on Harrison's desk, in the same place I'd found it. As badly as I wanted to find him and ask him about it, I felt like this was a major invasion of Harrison's privacy. The photo wasn't out in the open, but placed away, as though he'd occasionally picked it up to look at it. While he'd invited me into the world that was Harrison, seeing him with the family he had at one point, left me reeling.

I wondered why he hadn't stayed there. Why he hadn't fought for Eden. I knew having a wife in another faction was impossible. Ashley had been lusting over the idea herself for years. Not because she loved me or wanted to be with me out of the kindness of her own heart, but because she wanted the perks that came with being married to someone of my rank. She had held onto the idea that I'd have some way around it, or I could perhaps convince the leaders that this idea was something that would work.

I'd laughed in her face. But had it been Everly and myself, I'd have kidnapped Everly in the middle of the night and never looked back.

"It's his story, not mine." I take a sip of my own coffee, and I glance around. "No one brought anything in today? Bagels?"

"I'll have Linda grab you one." Max offers, and I realize he thinks I'm staying. "Are you planning on talking to Four any time soon? Perhaps seeing if you can feel out how he feels about the job?"

"I can't. I've got another meeting. I could try and pencil it in for next week. Maybe after I shampoo my carpets."

"Eric, we need another impartial party on board. Right now, I've got you, Jason, and Rylan going up against Tori and myself. Harrison is fairly impartial, though he rarely shows up to vote. When he leaves, Karl is slated to take his place, and we all know how he'll vote." Max and I stare at each other, and I'm guessing he isn't going to let this go. "It will make the odds sorely in your favor. I can't have Dauntless ruled just by you."

"I'm not trying to rule it. I can't help that I'm not a total idiot." I shrug. "And how do you know Four won't agree with everything I say?"

I try not to snicker at my own words, and Max can tell.

"Funny. I don't expect him to vote against you every time, but I'm expecting someone to come in with a fair and open mind."

"Well, if he doesn't want it, then perhaps we open it up to the faction. Maybe someone else will be interested." I throw this out there, but I know he won't like it. The idea of bringing someone else in, someone who wasn't involved in this Evelyn debacle, and someone who didn't have the experience we all currently did, wouldn't be pleasing to him.

It wasn't pleasing to me, either. But I'd learned I couldn't solve the faction's problems on my own, especially not today.

My phone rings, and when I look down, I see Rylan's name flash across the screen. He hangs up before I can answer, then texts me that he saw Daniel walk in and was I aware he was here. He then asks if I can get a beer. I tell him I'll catch up with him later, that I promised Everly I'd meet her for lunch at Clyde's, but drinks are on me next time.

"I'll keep you posted if I hear anything." I promise Max.

"Eric, this can't wait. We need someone and we need someone now."

His answer is lost in the swarm of messages that arrive on my phone. Two from Daniel. One from Everly. Three from Jason, including a photo of what appears to be a dark hallway, and one from Quinten. I answer only Everly, telling her I'll meet her as soon as I can, and when I look up, Max is still waiting for an answer.

"Whatever it is can wait. This needs to be handled today."

I shake my head. "I said I'll keep you posted. Unless I have your permission to punch an answer out of Four, then we wait."

"Eric…" Max begins, but I glare at him.

"Fuck off." I shake my head, and I point at him. "You stuck me with Stella, rather than letting me sit in on the interrogations. You're keeping me in here, wanting me to go do your dirty work. You want Four so badly, go talk to him. I'm done talking about this."

And that's it. I take off before he tells me he wants me to stay or pretends he can reprimand me for snapping at him. I leave him in the breakroom, alone, with an entire pot of coffee. I head out to the main entryway, just past Linda's desk. She waves at me, on the phone with someone, politely mmmhmmming to them while crocheting something.

"Hey, have Stella shadow you for the day. I'm leaving." I call out, and Linda nods. She watches me leave, smiling as I push the button for the elevator.

"You want her to do anything in particular?" She calls out, back at me. I shake my head no, not caring if Stella sat in my office and read a book for the rest of the day. I didn't care, since I didn't plan on having an assistant and it was unlikely Stella would want to be mine.

"Okay," Linda answers, and the elevator doors open to reveal Four. He does his best to downplay his grimace as I step inside, but his best is not very good.

"Hello."

I greet him with little enthusiasm, and I punch the button for a floor a few lower than this one. He must have been heading somewhere from the control room, because he stays silent, lurking in the corner just like all my other demons.

He stays silent as the elevator makes a whirling sound, followed by one very suspicious clank. I look up, silently praying it didn't break down with him in here. While I could potentially use my time to convince him to take the job, the last thing I wanted was to spend hours trapped in an elevator with Four.

Luckily, a moment later, the doors open at my floor.

He steps out after me. I can hear him behind me, breathing far too loudly and heavily, as he trails along the exact same way I'm going. I finally stop in my tracks, turning around to face him, causing him to nearly collide into me.

"What are you doing?" I hiss at him, disliking the way he shrugs. His face has a hint of familiar arrogance to it. Just like Kacie, when she knew something I didn't.

"Did you look at what I left for you?" Four asks, and he stares right at me. "I gave it to Jason since you weren't there. I figured you wanted it."

"Great." I answer flatly, and his eyes narrow slightly.

"You asked me for information, I gave it to you. I don't even get a thanks."

"I've been busy," I answer coolly. "I'll get to it when I can."

Four smiles. It's weird and unfriendly, but definitely him. "It's hours of footage from Amity. I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, but I used your given time frame. I burned it all on a disk for your viewing convenience." He pauses, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Though I'm not sure how you'll watch it all. Unless that's all you plan on doing for the next few years."

"It is." I retort, and I try to figure out if I'm annoyed because he managed to do what I asked, or because now I have no clue what to do with it. In theory, I was going to skim the footage to try and see if I could find Harrison there. But after seeing the photo on his desk, I no longer need to. I knew that he'd been in Amity, and there was a ninety-nine point nine percent chance he was both Forrest and Everly's father.

I just had to figure out what to do with this information, and I felt like I was a step off today.

Not that I'd ever admit any of this to Four.

"Hey uh, tell Everly thanks for the talk. It was helpful."

He smiles again, this time insinuating they had a friendship that I couldn't get in between, and I hate him all over again.

Because he didn't talk to Everly.

She had better things to do than help Mr. Mopey.

"Fuck off, Four."

He's not at all insulted. He looks like he was expecting my reaction, and for some weird reason, it pleases him. I decide I'm not getting him a wedding present.

"Have a good day, Eric. See you around."

He pushes past me, disappearing into the cold darkness of a hallway I'm not going down.


Clyde's is exactly how I remember it.

Every square inch is taken up by soldiers, all loudly and enthusiastically enjoying their drinks. There's a comfort to the space, and a relief that even though it's changed ownership, the atmosphere hasn't changed. The lanterns still give off a low, golden glow, and the floor is still sticky. The booths are all full, crammed with men and women toasting each other, and now, the only changes are the bones of a few animals nailed to the wall. I recognize them as trophies from hunting, and the closer I get, the more I realize these animals are dangerous.

Or were.

It seems that Harrison might have been right in hunting his mythical creatures. His triumph is displayed here, for all of us to enjoy, a silent reminder that there were bigger monsters out there besides Evelyn.

I shove my way past those waiting around the bar, growing even more impatient that in their drunkenness, they don't realize I'm trying to walk by. The crowd is three or four men deep at each barstool, swarming around, waiting for Lucy to get a free moment. I feel a speck of sympathy for her, because she and the staff are scrambling to help everyone, but it's fleeting.

Someone shoves their friend backward, and he knocks right into me. I push him back, scowling as he tumbles to the floor, laughing at the trip he's just taken. He's drunk, probably drunker than he should be, and he tries to scramble to his feet. I faintly recognize him from one of the patrol squads I'd watched, but not enough to really know him.

I lose interest entirely when I spot Everly.

I see her and Daniel sitting in our usual booth, neatly out of the way of the action.

I head over to them, storming past the soldiers getting wasted, and I bet half will be calling out tomorrow. They're clearly here to celebrate, and their only goal is to get as sloshed as possible. A few shrink back as I pass their table, but I pay them no attention.

I slide into the booth next to Everly, and I immediately reach for her. After all the things I've learned today, the most prominent is that I currently can't pinpoint how I feel. It's left me annoyed, cranky that I had to wade through Dauntless' finest to get here, and uneasy that I was close to unraveling the mystery of her family. Nauseous that I had to speak to Four. Furious that Max refused to let me see the men Karl brought in. Worried that my wife was wearing a dress two sizes too small.

"Hi," Everly greets me, reaching her arms toward me as soon as I sit down. I hug her, burying my face in her hair and sighing deeply. I'm overwhelmed by both the smell of her shampoo, and the heady scent of beers being served by the second. I pull away, smiling down at her face, but it's a weak smile.

She notices immediately.

"What's wrong?" Everly asks, gripping onto my arm. She pulls me back down to her, but the angle is incredibly awkward. I'm sitting facing Daniel, whose watching with an interested stare, and Everly is twisting to look up at me. I feel a wave of claustrophobia as she tries to push closer to me, and I don't like it. I normally like her close, but Clyde's is a few degrees too warm thanks to the hundreds of men in here, and I have the urge to tear my jacket off. "Eric?"

She says my name again, but all I hear is Four saying it. I hate him thinking he ever had anything over me, including a conversation with my wife.

"Nothing," I shrug my shoulders at her, not wanting to get into this. Four was a touchy subject since she worked with him, and she seemed to find him tolerable despite his general disposition. Unfortunately, he's the only thing I can really tell her about. "I just ran into Four in the hallway and he told me to thank you for talking to him the other day. And seeing as how I don't remember my wife going off to talk to him, I told him to fuck off."

Her eyes widen.

"Eric, that's not…"

I cut her off, knowing she was going to tell me it's not nice.

Good.

Maybe this will help me return to the Eric where people didn't talk about my sex life. I can feel the transformation starting, sliding back into the old Eric who would have snapped someone's neck for such an occurrence.

"What on Earth would you need to discuss with Four?" I ask her, fully aware that I'm just pissed off that he kept smiling at me. My tone is heavy with malice, and I wonder why she ever forgave him. Why anyone forgave him. Why I even agreed to go to his stupid wedding in the first place.

Everly blinks at me.

She's far too pretty to dish out forgiveness to those who don't deserve it. It hurts my chest, far down inside, right beneath my ribs, to imagine her with his mother. To imagine her knowing I wasn't coming to get her. To picture her frightened at what was to happen next and being fed information meant to fit Evelyn's narrative.

Everly reaches for her drink, stalling by taking a sip before looking back at me.

"I went to the control room to get away from Arlene. He happened to be in there, and I sat and talked while he looked at a few patrol routes. There was no secret discussion that went on. I just didn't want to listen to Arlene lecture me about vitamins any longer."

Her words are all I need to hear.

He might have been smug, but if she'd truly gone to escape Arlene, then I should be commending Everly for her brilliance. I'd never once considered hiding in the control room, but maybe I would next time. "Did the twerp at least decide to accept the position? Or is Number Boy still content to sit in the control room for the rest of his days?"

"Are you asking because you really care?" Everly asks, and she widens her eyes to appear even more innocent.

I narrow mine in return.

"I'm asking because Max is on my ass to replace Brittney. He spent our entire meeting talking about 'we need someone, and we need them now.' I told him to fuck off, too."

Everly smiles again, and before she can say anything, Lucy comes by. She sets down a beer in front of me, and across from me, two more. I look up, wondering if Daniel was having a drink, but I slowly remember I told Rylan I was heading down here.

I'm right.

A second later, he and Jason appear. They push their way through the crowd, gleefully shoving a few to the side, and casually greeting a few others. They look thrilled at the chaos around them, even more so when they see who I'm sitting with. Their faces light up, especially Jason's.

"No way!" Jason exclaims, high-fiving Daniel, who all too politely stands up to greet them. Jason then slides into the booth, taking one of the beers along with him. "Daniel, lovely to see you. And what's up, Everly? You look nice today. I see carrying Eric's spawn hasn't sucked the soul out of you yet."

Jason winks at her, taking a large swig of his beer and motioning for Rylan to sit beside him. I glare at him, wondering where on Earth he was before he came here. He looks back at Rylan, waiting for him to sit down, but he's talking to Daniel. Rylan's face has turned serious, at least until Daniel claps him on the shoulder and gestures for him to sit down.

"I'm fine, really. But thank you, Rylan. Everything's gone rather smoothly."

Rylan nods, and his eyes find mine. He looks worried, and he probably was. He'd always liked Daniel, and they'd gotten along well. His concern over my father is heartwarming, but unnecessary. Daniel seemed to be just fine, and judging from his oddly casual outfit, he was making all kinds of changes in his life. Including dabbling in leisure wear.

I shake my head, wondering if this was how Christian felt on an hourly basis.

"Scoot over." Rylan shoves Jason to the side, rolling his eyes as he climbs into the booth. "Fuck, it's hot in here."

Jason nods, turning back to Everly and me. "It is. It's all the people. Shit, is everyone off work or what?"

Everly uses the opportunity to let go of me. She catches my eye, then smiles.

Brightly.

"I do think Four's going to take the leadership position. We didn't exactly talk about it, but I think he knows it would be good for him."

Her answer is full of confidence. I find her adorably pleased with herself, and I hope Four goes along with her plan or she's going to be crushed.

"I don't care if he takes the position. I just care that we don't end up with some half-assed replacement for Brittney. They brought another three men in today, and I couldn't get away long enough to attend the interrogations. I'm not going to get stuck training someone to file paperwork when I could be doing something else."

"Are you saying Four would be self-sufficient enough that you wouldn't have to spend hours training him? And you could go back to torturing the members of Dauntless?" Everly teases. She takes another sip of her drink, and I watch the waitress hover at the end of the table. Jason and Rylan are in a heated debate over whether they should order onion rings or garlic bread, and neither of them are willing to give in. "Think how easy it would be. Think of all the time you would have to do other things."

I pretend to consider it. I imagine Four, trapped in an office, working his fingers to the bone while I took a much-needed vacation. I smirk at Everly, reaching for the beer in front of me.

"Be careful what you wish for, Amity. I can't spend all my free time in bed with you."

Everly's cheeks immediately turn pink. She focuses on her drink, trying not to laugh.

"Speaking of which, are you really going to let Eric name the baby?" Jason interrupts, handing his menu to Rylan. I can't figure out which one won, but Jason doesn't look too heartbroken. "I certainly wouldn't let him name our child."

"I don't think you have to worry about that since you and I aren't having a child," I remind him. I glance over at Everly, and she's still blushing. "Did you pick what you want to eat?"

"I think I'm getting a salad. And to answer your question, Jason, I haven't decided if I'm letting Eric name our baby or not. It depends on what he's picked out," Everly answers him brightly. She sounds like she's made up her mind, but so have I.

And I'm not telling any of them.

"It's a surprise," I inform them all, reaching over the back of the booth to put my arm around Everly's shoulder. I pull her against me, feeling far better when she settles into place. "Everly, you promised me that I could name our child. I can't imagine you'd want to take that back."

I almost say the words without snickering. The high point of this entire conversation hinged not on why she had agreed, but when.

"You haven't even told me the names you're thinking of." Everly is rational with her thinking, but I'm not giving in. I had a feeling she would try to name our baby something along the lines of her Amity siblings, and I wasn't having a child named Acorn running around.

Daniel finishes memorizing the menu, and he sets it down. "What names are you considering? Anything you'd care to share?"

"I just told you. It's a surprise. You'll all have to wait," I answer, ignoring Everly's piercing stare. I'm sure she's dying to know, but since she likes surprises so much, she can wait. But I smile at her, thinking of her agreement and how lovely she'd looked when she agreed that I could name our baby. "Did you tell Daniel how I got you to agree to let me name the baby?"

"I don't think he wants to know that information," Everly retorts, and she turns to greet Lucy. She's been hovering near the end of the table, doing her best to eavesdrop on our conversation while waiting to take our order. I watch her intently while Everly orders a salad, and I wonder if Lucy likes working for Harrison.

"I am a little curious. I never thought Eric would be so interested in baby names," Daniel looks at me, pleasantly surprised at this news. I smile smugly, even when Everly shakes her head.

"Maybe I'll just let him. Because he's so sweet," she grins, and even Daniel can't help but laugh.

"Of course," he answers Everly, and hands his menu to Lucy. "I can't think of any other reason you'd leave such a grand decision to Eric."

I snort, pleased that he's figured out Everly wasn't entirely on board with this scenario. I turn back to him, noticing his casual demeanor and I wonder if Blythe had tried to claw her way back to him. I could imagine she wasn't enjoying living without the perks he came along with. While wealthy on her own, she had quite enjoyed the lifestyle Daniel had provided her.

"Have you heard from her?"

Jason, Rylan, and I look at Daniel, and he knows we won't let him off without answering. He finally nods his head slowly, and his fingers toy with the glass in front of him.

"Twice now. Both times were an attempt at a somewhat amicable reunion. She feels we'd be stronger together than apart and there's too much history to give up. But she's also not happy that this didn't turn out her way. She sees it as total failure, and she's never failed at anything."

I can understand this.

Still, I have no sympathy for her.

"Are you going to…you're not considering it, are you?" Rylan looks up at Daniel and his face is tense. "Because you seem good. Really good. Like you don't need her."

Daniel smiles. His gaze flicks over to Everly for a brief moment, then me, and he shakes his head no. "I am good. Both personally, and with my decision to divorce Blythe. The paperwork was finalized this morning. I uh, I'm going out for dinner tonight to celebrate."

"With who?" I sound suspicious, and I am. I don't know many of his friends in Erudite, but I get the feeling this isn't a guys' night out. "Greg?"

I scrounge up the one name of someone I know he's worked with. I wait for Everly to say something, maybe offer for us to go join him, and for once, I wouldn't entirely protest. We could show up early, see his new place and eat a nice dinner with him and his friends. But Everly is distracted, staring to the side of me with an odd look on her face.

"I'm uh, going with Camille."

I immediately stiffen.

Camille.

Camille wasn't…the worst person I could think of. Sure, she'd talked to me like she had some authority over me when I was in Erudite when Everly got shot. But she'd looked after Everly personally, and she was clearly very close to Daniel. I'd watched the minute shifts in her posture every time Blythe came around. I'd watched Camille look at him, her eyes flashing with a hint of affection that I'd never seen come from Blythe.

I also had the sneaking suspicion Camille knew far more about Everly and myself than Blythe did.

That was where things became tricky.

I have this oddly defensive feeling that came out of nowhere, that Daniel belonged to Everly and myself. It was stupid and illogical. He didn't live here, and he couldn't. His life's work was in Erudite and would remain in Erudite. But him being involved with her, on any level other than as his assistant, felt like it took him away from us.

It is an incredibly immature and selfish feeling, and I have no idea where it comes from.

"I'm sure you'll have a lovely time with…Camille." I say her name with far more petulance than I mean to, and Jason snickers.

"She's very nice Eric. She adores Everly. And she likes you, too."

"Yeah, well… she yelled at me in the hospital." I answer irritably, and even Rylan looks like he's trying not to laugh. I had told him in the truck I thought Daniel was having an affair with her, but this might be worse. This was sounding like he was slowly starting an actual relationship, which I did not approve of.

He'd been single for fifteen seconds.

"If you marry Camille, can I be in your wedding?" Rylan asks, and he winks at me like he knows I'd like to throat punch him and I can't. "Because no one here has invited me to be in their wedding and I find that awfully rude."

"No one here has had a wedding." I slickly point out. "But if Daniel and…Camille choose to get married, which would be interesting considering he just got divorced…" I pause, and Daniel smiles like he's never met me before. "Then you can be the flower girl."

"Wait, that was Jason's job." Rylan laughs. "Actually, I'll be the best man. You can be no one since you don't approve of Camille."

"Camille yelled at me." I remind him, and Everly turns her attention back to me. She smiles up at me, like she's missed everything I've been saying, and I shake my head. "Maybe Four will let you be in his wedding."

"That's doubtful." Rylan sulks. "From what I've heard, he has other friends."

He looks hurt, as if he hasn't been torturing Four for weeks on end.

"Who?" I ask, incredibly dubious that the Fantastic Four had a single friend here other than Tris. "Did he hire someone to pretend to like him."

Jason snickers into his beer, and he only stops when both the garlic bread and the tower of onion rings are brought to the table. "Probably. Here, have some."

He shoves the plate over toward me, and I reluctantly reach for it. I turn to see if Everly wants anything, but her gaze has slipped past me again. I turn my head to see what she's looking at, because she looks both surprised and relieved, and also sort of guilty, like when Quinten let her have ice cream hours before anyone else.

But I see nothing.

Only a sea of black, teetering on the verge of alcohol poisoning.

I figure I'll ask her later, and I return to eating lunch with my wife, my friends, and my forever single father.


"Did they tell you anything?"

Four sits close to me, too close for my liking, and I stare at him, hoping he'll take the telepathic hint to move the fuck over.

He doesn't.

He makes no attempt to leave, only leaning in further to see what I'm doing.

"Eric?"

"Yes." I answer flatly, and I try to move my chair away from him. I'd come into this conference room to sit down with the map Harrison had. He'd been working on something after listening to the interrogation of the men Karl brought in and he wanted my thoughts on it. He had brought it into my office and told me to review it, and he left before I could ask him about the picture.

Harrison was a smart man. I had a feeling he knew I was going to ask him, and he was trying to make the snap decision about how to handle this before he left. Everything was culminating together, and it wouldn't be much longer that he could put it off. I had questions, many questions, and he had the answers.

I just had to be patient.

"Well?" Four grows impatient, and I wonder who let him in here. This wasn't a common area for members to wander into, and my only hope was that his presence here was to tell me he'd taken the fucking job so I could stop hearing about it. "Eric, what did they..."

"She's coming for us. They told us to be on high alert. They could be bullshitting us, but all three had the same story. She'll either attack or ask for you. They said she's been tired of the back and forth. She wants revenge for what happened to her, as well as for taking Everly back. She's clearly out of her mind if she thinks she's owed anything."

Four stares at me.

I wait for something to flash across his face.

Horror, defiance, annoyance.

Instead, there is only acceptance, like he knew this was coming.

"I figured. She couldn't run forever. She must still believe if she can get you to side with her, then things will be different." He says the words heavily, and I find myself uncomfortable. He has this look to him, like he's disappointed all over again. "When do they think…"

"Sometime this week." I cut him off, and I know where this is going.

"Wonderful. I'm getting married this week." He looks at me, and the flash of horror that was missing before is now all over his face. "She's going to show up then, isn't she?"

"I don't know. I wasn't there when they talked to them." I look at him, and I exhale sharply. "I'll assign coverage so all exits and possible exits are watched. We'll set up some different surveillance around the perimeter of the compound. In the event of her showing up, they'll hold off on everything except pulling in any leaders needed. Since you haven't taken the position, you'll be fine."

He nods.

"It's the best I can do. Obviously, if she shows up on your wedding day, then she shows up on your wedding day. Hopefully, you'll be married by then, and we can gun her down before she gets too far."

There it is. The flinch to his posture I was waiting for.

It's not surprising. I was talking about willingly murdering his mother, and no matter how shitty she was, she was still his mother. I try to imagine how I'd feel if someone said the same thing about Blythe, but I could only hope Blythe developed some early onset psychosis and spent the rest of her days locked up.

"I understand. It's just…" he starts to say something, and I cut him off.

"I'm sorry, but this is nonnegotiable. After everything that's happened, I can't overlook any of this."

"I'm not asking you to." Four answers, and he leans back. I idly wonder if he'd choose to sit by me during the Leadership meetings. Usually the people who disliked me in whatever the moment was, came to sit next to me. It was an unconscious way of refusing to back down, as if their physical presence might make me change my mind.

It never had, and it wouldn't today.

I glance back over at Four, now staring at the table in front of him. Long ago, Rylan had carved the word assface onto it, back when we were stuck listening to a man from Erudite talk about security software upgrades. We'd sat in here for an hour listening to him drone on, and a week later, we got our upgrades. Which were the fancy little dancing pictures that could be sent in addition to text in our messages. That was our upgrade. Erudite had spent eight months making emojis rather than doing anything useful.

Luckily, under Cara, their attention seemed to be back on to productive things.

I watch Four carefully, and he looks rather unhappy at what I've told him. I should tell him not to take it personally. If Evelyn truly cared about him, she'd have stopped this bullshit long ago. She wouldn't have used him to further her own war, under the guise of an emotional connection they'd never had.

This had to feel rotten in every way, and it was unlikely it would get better before it was over.

"Are you taking the job?" I ask bluntly.

Four looks up, and his eyes meet mine.

They are incredibly nondescript.

"I'm thinking it over. Max said he wanted to talk to me about a few things and I'm assuming that's one of them." He answers slowly, like he's thinking of the words as he says them. "It's…it's a lot to think about. If I take it, I officially join the manhunt for my own family."

"Were you on the other side of this manhunt?" I raise my eyebrow at him, wondering if he was back to playing us all. "Did you switch sides in the middle of the night?"

"No," Four shakes his head. "I didn't. Evelyn deserves to pay for what she did. I don't disagree with you on any of it. I'm trying to figure out how to make it all less…personal, I guess."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that." I tell him.

I push the chair back hard enough that it groans, and for a brief moment, in an alternate universe, I understand what he's saying. It was like my situation with Jeanine. Once I realized what she was doing and how it would turn out, I distanced myself. I threw myself into taking her down, unwilling to let my friends and wife suffer. But no matter how many times I disconnected the family relationship from it, at the end of the day, it was trickier than killing Jeanine and calling it quits. There were effects from what she'd done, what I'd done, and relationships had shifted.

Mine had shifted for the better, but I didn't know if they would for Four.

"I'm sure you'll make the right decision. You and I both know there are a lot of things that could go wrong if Evelyn manages to do some damage. You realize how easy it would be to undo the system? Pit everyone against each other?" I watch Four suck in a sharp breath, and I know he's thought about all of this. "There are rumors she's going to make a ploy to get Johanna on her side. Appeal to the goodness of helping out fellow mankind. If Evelyn somehow manages to do this, we'll be screwed. They can withhold food to the factions and blame us for refusing to listen to Evelyn. Others will question their allegiance to us. I don't think we'd recover from that overnight."

Four looks up at me, and I know he's aware of the manipulation Evelyn dealt out.

"I'm not saying she's entirely wrong. There are some things that should change. We've made changes here, ourselves. But I can't let her destroy every faction just to get what she believes is justice."

"I agree." Four answers tightly.

I reach for the map Harrison had given me, and then I stop. I shove it toward him, and he looks confused. "Why don't you look over this? It's where your…it's where Evelyn's camp was last spotted. Harrison worked on it last night. If anything seems familiar or unusual, let me know. We're trying to figure out the best plan of attack. We've decided we're going to be a little more active than reactive this time."

Four looks up at me, surprised at being given such material. It wouldn't be displayed for the faction to see, only our soldiers selected to head out where Harrison decided. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sick of looking at it."

I look back at him once more, watching him reach for the map with a frown on his face. I head out of the room, shutting the door behind me and standing there for a brief moment. I couldn't quite place how I felt about talking with him. There was a large part of me that wanted to joyfully point out he would more than likely self-destruct when he finally saw Evelyn.

There was a larger part of me that thought he just wanted this to be over.

Still, I had gone fifteen minutes without insulting him, and that just might be saying something.


I return home to Everly attempting to burn my apartment down.

It's actually far from the truth, but my mind goes there first. I hadn't married her for her culinary skills or her arsonry, but I was slowly learning there was more to her than I'd ever imagined. The shirts had been first. The simple act of kindness, of wanting to take care of me had pushed me over the edge with both a heavy lusty feeling, and the strange awareness of her visible love. She might have thought I was nuts; I'd attacked her on the couch, surrounded by my clothes and sharp needles, all while searching out the softest thing I had in my life: her.

Today, after a day of strange, lopsided discussions, I return home to her baking cookies.

The apartment smells good, overly sweet and sugary, something I'm not accustomed to. If one thought Blythe spent her days baking anything dessert-like, they were out of their minds. Daniel rarely ate dessert, and neither did I.

But I liked it.

Much like I like the sight in front of me.

I walk slowly, realizing she's entirely lost in her own world, and I find myself jealous of that ability. How easily her day fell away, how quickly she could shrug off the minor annoyances that added up. More often than not, I carried them with me, letting them tag along until I could find the proper outlet.

But not Everly.

Despite having been in her office the rest of the day, probably completing a follow up on her visit to Amity, she'd left all that elsewhere. I take in the sight of her, barefoot and in the same dress she'd had on this morning, her long hair fully escaped out of the bun she'd had it in earlier. She's surrounded by a good sort of chaos; my kitchen looks more lived in than it ever has, and my counters are covered in cookie trays.

She turns slightly, and I catch her frown.

I'd found I didn't like it when she wasn't happy. I'd done my best to make sure if she was going to stay with me, she'd have everything she could ever want or need. I made sure people knew who she was. How hard she had worked to stay here. How she'd fought, every single step of the way, for the life she wanted.

The only thing that stood in the way of this pure happiness was Evelyn, and I was trying to fix that. I had this strange feeling we'd be seeing her soon, and then, it would all be over. Sure, there would potentially be another villain in our lives. Someone minor and trivial, nothing on this scale of grandeur. But I would tackle them just as well.

I step closer to Everly, still lost in her world of cookies, and I reach for her as she lines them up on the tray. I grasp her by her waist, and I pull her back against my chest. Her frown is immediately gone, and I feel her smile when I rest my chin on the top of her head. She makes no move to get away, only leaning back against me.

"What on Earth are you making, Amity? Should I have a rescue squad on standby for when the kitchen catches fire?"

My words are mumbled into her hair. She smells good, like both flowers and sugar, and my fingers tighten on her hips.

"Funny. I'm making chocolate chip cookies," Everly answers brightly, and she leans back further. Her neck and shoulders are bare. They are far more appealing to me than the cookies, even more so when her head tilts.

"How many are you making? Enough for all of Dauntless?"

The words are lost, pressed into the skin of her neck. My mouth kisses her there first, working my way down, grinning when she reaches around. Her fingers find my hair, digging in as she squirms.

"A few dozen," Everly swallows, and I find her irresistible. I wasn't sure in what world I was awarded her as a wife. I'd certainly won no contest for her, and I'd done little to deserve her. If anyone else could see her now, they'd understand why I had been so determined to keep her here with me. The smooth skin, the short dress, the bare feet.

She was like no one who should exist here, but she did.

"Did you make anything else?" I ask, knowing she didn't. She sulks when I pull back from her, but my action is only to move her hair off her neck. I return right back to what I was doing before, kissing down the juncture of her neck and onto her shoulder.

She laughs, shaking her head. "Nope. But we could always have dessert for dinner."

She tilts her head further, unconsciously urging me on. "I don't mind that. I had planned on making you dinner, but I didn't expect to find you in the kitchen."

It's true. I had come home with the intent to make her dinner. Or maybe we'd go out. Anything to take my mind off the whirling mess that was today. My father, going out to celebrate his divorce with someone else, Evelyn, informing us she'd be by soon, and Four, looking like he needed more than a strong drink to untangle this mess.

So I couldn't help but appreciate the sight of Everly making cookies instead of dinner. I appreciated that my wife would choose to make dessert instead, because this wasn't something I ever imagined. Had anyone asked me two years ago, if the girl standing in front of me would one day be in my kitchen, without shoes, in a dress that resembled a nightgown, waiting for me to return home, I would have laughed in their face. I had no need for such a person in my life, nor was that who I imagined ever coming home to.

Now, anything else seemed cruel.

"Come with me," I instruct lowly, and I pull her hand so she'll follow me.

I didn't think she ever wouldn't.

My intent was to take her to the bedroom, but we don't make it that far.

We barely make it to the kitchen table before the sight of her becomes too much for me to deal with. It's her exposed skin, the gauzy, nearly see through dress, and her long hair that does me in. I reach for her, pulling her back toward the dining room chair, and I pull her on top of me. Her eyes widen in delight, for I'd been very careful with her, probably too careful. It was more than her slight frame and her large eyes, it was that I was afraid I would hurt her or the baby.

But not today.

Not with the way she's looking at me as I manage to kick off my boots and pants. My boxers follow, just enough that she gets the hint at what's happening, and she smiles as she sinks down onto me. I forget about the cookies, the fact that my apartment will no doubt wind up engulfed in flames, that Four would eventually work a few offices down from me.

I am surrounded by nothing but her, warm, wet, and tighter than I remember. She watches me, her dress shoved up over her thighs as my hands skim over her sides. I work to push the fabric away, wanting to see her even with the dress on. She wiggles free from some of it, and I'm rewarded with the sight of her nearly naked on my lap. My hands greedily reach for her, sliding up over her ribs, until I can palm her breasts. She whimpers when my fingers squeeze, and her skin immediately turns pink beneath my touch.

Everyone was right.

She does look different.

No longer like this tiny girl from a farm, but more like my wife.

It's more than just the curve of her stomach or the fullness of the breasts my palms are covering. I manage to undo the clasp on her bra, also flimsy and pink and far too pretty to be hidden beneath her dress. I toss it where my pants landed, and my hands immediately return to her. My touch is possessive and gluttonous but she likes it. Her own legs spread wider, and she somehow maintains her balance on my lap.

"Everly."

I grunt her name, barely able to get the word out. My intent coming home wasn't to wind up half naked, buried inside her on the dining room chair. But she felt different. This was a whole new level of good, because it felt forbidden. Like I should stop, stand up, and carry her to bed. Make sure she's fine and not too warm and take her dress off properly.

But I don't want to do anything of the sort.

I want her, just like this.

Groaning my name, making these inaudible sounds in her throat that make my thighs tense up. She'd never been afraid of me, never once balked at the things I wanted from her, including this. It was the first way I'd been able to connect with her, letting her know just exactly how much I liked her.

It feels like it's been forever since I've had her like this, frantic and desperate, and unable to remember if I locked my apartment door.

I focus back on her, ignoring the pulsing urge to give up and just come right then and there, and I try to commit this image to memory. Her dress around her waist, her hair falling everywhere, spilling over her shoulders, down her side, hiding the fact that her eyes are closed. She's consumed by the very same feeling I am, at how it feels to simply let go, and I wonder why I made the stupid decision not to do this sooner.

"I missed you, Amity," I tell her, the words low and quiet.

She opens her eyes.

Her stare finds mine, and they burn even brighter when I grasp onto her hips, slamming her down onto me. She completely ignores that I've missed her, and instead claws at me, digging her nails into my skin as her lips part open. She's wild in the way she leans back, and her hips match the sloppy pace I've set.

"Harder," she urges me on, also ignoring the clink of something falling on our dining room table. "Don't be so careful. I just want you like this," Everly informs me, and I'm thrown off when she reaches down and grasps the fabric of her dress. She yanks the sundress over her head, then tosses it out of sight.

For the millionth time with her, I'm surprised. My eyes widen, taking in the sight before me. Everly leans back, clearly enjoying herself in this position, and her nails dig into my thighs. "If you stop, I'll kill you. I mean it."

I cock my eyebrow at her. My hips thrust on their own, unwilling to stop but wanting to slow this moment down enough that I won't forget it. My fingers touch her thighs, spread apart over my own, and she whimpers when I don't stroke her where she wants me to.

"Not there, higher," Everly demands, growing impatient. I wonder how long I've been missing out on this Everly, the one who was frantic and desperate and about to lose her damned mind unless she got what she wanted.

I touch her, my fingers gliding right over the slickest part of her, until I find her clit. She responds appropriately, groaning a very enticing "Fuck, fuck fuuuuck!" at me.

I start to lose it.

The sight of her becomes blurred, her dark hair tickling my leg and her nails digging in deeper. Combined with the feeling of being buried deep inside her, it all becomes too much. It becomes hard to do anything but grit my teeth together, and every single inch of me tenses up.

"Everly, for fuck's sake hurry up because I'm not going to…"

She ignores me.

She leans back further, and I had no clue this was even an option. I should have considered fucking her in the dining room more often.

"You feel so good," Everly groans. She works to both pull me closer and spread her legs further. There's nothing but the sound of her against me, and the weight of her atop me. This is quickly spiraling out of my control in the most delicious way possible. I reach up for her, hips slamming up to meet hers, and my hand grasps a fistful of hair.

"One minute, Everly, for the love of God, you have…" It's hard to talk. My breathing is erratic, coming in sharp pants, and I feel like I'm drowning. Like my lungs are about to explode and I can't break the surface. "…one more minute."

She doesn't need another minute.

She blurts out my name, a very familiar whimper as she comes, and I can feel her tense up around me. She hovers over me for the moment, her whole body hot and flushed, and lovely. Eventually, she collapses against my chest, and it's then that my own orgasm follows. The sensation is like being burned alive; everything grows white hot, nearly painful in its intensity. The feeling is slow to subside, but when it does, I realize I still have one hand in her hair, pressing her against me.

Neither of us move.

Her breathing returns to normal, and she only moves when there's a tiny ding from the kitchen.

"Everly," I let go of her hair, and I use both hands to tilt her head up to look at me. She smiles, not entirely focused on anything, and it's tired. I brush her hair out of her eyes, and I kiss her forehead.

"I think your cookies are done."

She laughs, her voice echoing in the dining room, and neither of us make any attempt to move.


Harrison shows up at nine.

He just misses Everly slipping out of the apartment, and I wonder if this is planned. Either way, he shows up not too long after she and her cookies head out to find Tris, and I greet him hesitantly.

I had stared at his map for a long time.

I assumed Four had, too.

There was nothing I could tell from looking at it, other than Harrison was very organized with his work, and we should be so lucky he was on our side.

"Did you look at it?"

He walks right past me, dressed in a t-shirt and boxers, and flops down on my couch. He makes himself right at home; he kicks his feet up on the table and settles back against the cushions.

"Welcome. Come on in." I inform him dryly, and he ignores me. "And yes, I did. I didn't see anything I thought would be helpful. I'm leaving it up to you to decide what we do next. I had Four look at it, too. He's worried she's going to show up on his wedding day."

"Probably." Harrison answers as casually as he's dressed. "Are you going to his wedding?"

"I am." I sit down next to him, and I can't help but think this might possibly go down in history as one of the worst weddings ever. Probably the most traumatic, if his mother did show up. "I'm sure it'll be quite the event."

"If you had watched that show I asked you to, you'd know one guy got murdered at his wedding. Nothing could be worse than that."

I look over at him, and he's grinning. But it only lasts a second. He sits up straight and looks right at me.

"Alright enough pleasantries. You and I need to talk."