No sooner had the smirk graced her lips and the recording ended. Jeanine's eerie blue hologram self began repeating the speech across the city and her real self could finally take a break.

Beatrice jumped up from her place on the grass where she'd been waiting and ran into the Erudite building, fighting through the crowds swarming to watch the message on the plentiful screens. She knew where she'd be and this time she could take the lift all the way.

The door was ajar when she arrived and she pushed the fear that sparked out of her mind and went in without knocking. The living room was empty, as was the kitchen but the cold breeze that tickled her neck told her where Jeanine was. Increasing her speed with anticipation, she approached the sliding door that was slightly open to her right.

Jeanine was sat on the floor at the edge of the balcony, her coat draped over her shoulders and her knees pulled into her chest to keep warm. She was looking at the people below, all looking back at her through her hologram.

Beatrice slowly slid open the door a bit more so there was room to step out and went through, it was loud out here.
"People of Chicago, this is Jeanine Matthews."
"Jeanine?" She didn't hear her.
She tried again, almost stood on top of her now.
"Jeanine!"
"-a tragedy but we are not finished."
It was no use. Beatrice crouched down to the floor beside her and tentatively slid a hand over her shoulders, feeling her tense in shock at first but soon relaxing as she saw who it was. "Hi" She smiled.
"Hi"

The speech continued and they couldn't really talk above the noise although Beatrice was desperate to say more. She supposed that she really wanted to thank her. For everything. For living in a cell for a few days, for agreeing to take this issue to court, for fighting the people that wanted to hurt her and for wanting her in the first place. Jeanine was living a perfect life before she stumbled into it, she was the smartest person in the city and extremely successful, and she had just given up the possibility of sole control of the council for her, however severe the circumstances, that was still a big deal. The fates had thrown them together but if anyone could resist their meddling, it was Jeanine Matthews. Yet she hadn't, and that in itself meant a lot to Beatrice.

She would find the words to tell her later, now they could celebrate their hard-won peace. She moved her legs from under her so that she could sit more comfortably and they stayed in the embrace for a moment. Jeanine's mind seemed to drift off after a while, her eyes lost focus and her grip on her legs loosened slightly. Beatrice knew she was apprehensive, the rally of practical reasons to keep their relationship private was surely only masking a bigger reason, she wasn't scared? Of the two, Jeanine had surprisingly been the most affectionate so far, she'd been flirtatious even, but that was all behind closed doors. Maybe now she had been forced to reveal that they were soulmates to the whole city, it was starting to affect her.

Hologram Jeanine interrupted her thoughts, "I myself would like to study one particular divergent closely, very closely indeed." Beatrice's eyebrows shot to her hairline and she directed a disbelieving look to the woman under her arm. Had that really just been broadcast to the entire city? She hadn't run out of surprises yet then. Jeanine's cheeks were cherry-red but she was laughing, more freely than she'd seen her before. She said something but Beatrice's lip-reading skills weren't very good so all she could make out was "sorry... couldn't help... true... you?" That was enough to give her a general gist and she nodded, despite not totally understanding the question. Jeanine's smile broadened and Beatrice took that to mean she'd given the correct answer. She tugged her closer with her arm and leant down to rest her head on her shoulder. With their heads so close they could now hear each other better.
"You shouldn't have said that. I don't know why I encourage you." Her tone was lighthearted but her words were true.

Jeanine untangled her arm and stroked Tris' hair as she replied, this new-found intimacy seeming totally natural to both of them. "Oh, but I do." The background noise suddenly faded and gave way to the sound of Beatrice's blood rushing past her ears. Her heart rate rose above safe levels in the next few seconds as Jeanine decided to demonstrate exactly what she was hinting at and used her new grip on her head to direct their lips together, and it sent Beatrice dizzy. They were both cold so the warmth of the contact made her gasp, Jeanine took the opportunity her slightly open mouth offered and placed another gentle kiss on her lower lip, then one on her nose and they both giggled and fell back into an embrace.

"Touche." Beatrice breathed directly onto her soulmate's neck after regaining her breath.

They weren't quite in the clear but Jeanine's influence wasn't to be underestimated, the factions would survive. As for them, they had a lifetime to navigate their relationship, they could rest for now.