A/N: It's finally here! Inspiration is a fickle friend but I finally found it to close out this story. I even found inspiration for a potential spin-off story. Let me know what you think! Thank you for all the love support with this one!
Myra visits the next morning while she waits for her parents to arrive from Texas. Her mother and father weren't very wealthy and were going to drive to Chicago since the next day plane tickets were so expensive. The McKinney's and Myra are full of emotion when Tobias pays for her parents' plane tickets. He felt good using his money to help someone else. They offered to repay him but Tobias wouldn't hear of it. Myra, Tobias, and Tris are still in a bit of sock with all the events. Tobias lets the two women talk alone when Myra starts blaming herself for not seeing Al for who he was. He knows Tris has the same regrets and can only hope they can be there to help each other through what they are feeling. The doctors keep Tris for several more days and Max urges her to stay home until after the baby is born. Despite her protests, she agrees wanting to do what is best for the baby but she haggles with Max to let her do case reviews to be of some use since she was on medical leave.
A month goes by and Al recovers from his injuries and gunshot wound in the hospital and is transported to a federal prison nearby while Harrison works on the legal aspect of the case with federal prosecutors. He pleads with the hospital guards to see Tris, Myra, and Molly but Tris refuses along with Myra. Tris knew she never wanted to look at Al again. There is a media flurry when word gets out about the story regarding Al kidnapping and holding Myra and Molly and Tobias captive. Molly ends up in a psychiatric facility after she recovers from her wounds, she never really became stable again even after Al was no longer there to influence her. Tris and Tobias both agree to see a therapist to work out the trauma of everything they experienced, and Myra finds someone to work with in Texas.
Tris fears that Al will get off on the charges he's up against due to his mental state due to cases that she has seen tried. Harrison assures her that with the new knowledge of his confession to Marcus Eaton's murder along with the kidnapping charges and several others, he will not be getting out anytime soon. There was no way a judge or a jury would not convict him based on the amount of evidence presented. Even though Tris was sure the baby belonged to Tobias, they agreed to have DNA testing done just to be sure with Tobias undergoing a DNA test to confirm if Al really was his half-brother. Tris didn't doubt that Tobias was the father of her unborn son, she still let out a sigh of relief when the doctor delivered the test results confirming the news.
A week later Tris and Tobias have Harrison, Tori, Zeke, and Shauna over for dinner. Tris was about a month away from her due date and she was feeling restless without working. Tobias thought a little dinner party with their friends would settle her down. Harrison had become one of the gang now along with Myra. She and Tris spoke every day. While she went back to Texas, with her parents, Tris felt when she would try to move to Chicago and claim the life that she missed out on when Al kidnapped her.
"Well I have some news," Harrison says straightforwardly across the table gaining everyone's attention after coming back from taking a phone call. "Al killed himself last night."
"Oh my God" Tris says covering her hand with her mouth in shock. Tobias grabs her hand and she squeezes it tight in return.
"How?" Zeke asks quietly.
"He hung himself in his cell with his bed sheet". Tori and Shauna are still quiet.
"Well this is also interesting, Tobias, you Al are not genetically related" Harrison reads off the report.
"What?" Tobias asks with confusion all over his face as he looks at Tris.
"I did some digging trying to find Al's mother and tracked her down. She lives in California now. I asked her about her son and she said she wasn't sure who his father was, but she assumed it was Marcus and that was good enough for her to leave him with"
"Are you kidding me, what kind of mother does that? No wonder Al turned out to be insane"
"I wonder why my father never had a DNA test of his own done?" Tobias asks curiously.
"Maybe he did? Maybe that's why your grandparents didn't know about him. It could have been what set him off in the beginning, wanting to be Marcus's son and knowing that you were only made him want everything you had even more" Zeke offers.
Tris gets up and excuses herself to go into the bedroom as sits on the edge of their bed. Tobias comes in to check on her and they sit next to each other in silence for a few minutes.
"I know this has to be weird for you, especially how we got together. I mean you were with him for a while" Tobias says not sure what to say.
She takes a deep breath and laces her fingers with his and places them in her lap.
"I came to terms with that, I'll never regret choosing you, Tobias, or protecting our family. If anything I'm struggling with how I feel. I'm relieved, is that wrong? I didn't want to go through a trial and have to tell a jury about the darkest moments of my life when he tried to make me choose between you and the baby. I didn't want that for Myra either. I'm worried that it makes me an awful person for being glad someone is dead"
"Tris, that doesn't make you an awful person, it makes you human. I can't say that I don't feel relief too, mainly because I don't have to look over my shoulder worrying about you and our baby that he could be out there somewhere if he was to ever get out of prison"
He pulls her close and kisses her forehead. He knew they would bear the scars of Al forever, it just wasn't something you got over, but maybe this would make it more bearable. He and Tris had nightmares for weeks after being rescued, they weren't every night now but he still had them and he knew Tris did too.
"You should be the one to call Myra and tell her," Tobias says. He gets up to give Tris some privacy to talk to Myra.
"Is she going to be okay?" Harrison asks worriedly now wishing he would have broken the news another way.
"Yeah, she's calling Myra. She will be okay. It's kind of hard to deal with feeling happy that someone is dead and what kind of person that makes you" Tobias responds clapping Harrison on the back.
"Hell, I'll be the first one to say I'm glad he's dead, take it or leave it" Zeke shrugs and Shauna smacks him on the back of the head.
"Don't be an ass about it" she scolds causing the room to erupt in laughter.
Tris comes back out about 20 minutes later feeling better after talking to Myra. Tris doesn't miss the looks between Tori and Harrison and the quiet conversations they had been having every time they were at the loft. She suspects that she might have something to do with Harrison requesting to be reassigned to the Chicago FBI office. She knew her best friend would fess up eventually.
Tris is overwhelmed with all of the TV and magazine interview requests that Tobias ends up having to change their cell numbers. Myra, Tris, and Tobias agree to do one interview together in hopes that once they speak to the public things will calm down and everyone will move on to the next story. Tris is nervous about revealing her affair with Tobias and how it will come across. Tobias makes it very clear to the journalist from CNN that he will not put their baby in danger and will end things quickly if he sees Tris getting upset. The producers nod in understand and Tris lays down the law, letting them know she is not afraid to pull hardball with her law degree and sue the hell out of them. Tris expects the questions from the reporter about the status of her relationship with Al when she and Tobias started seeing each other again. She admits her faults and her love for her fiancé with conviction and reinforces that no woman should feel trapped in a relationship out of fear.
The CNN interview brought all kinds of attention to every aspect of their lives. Both Tris and Tobias worried that Max and Amar wouldn't want the attention brought but both Dauntless Law Firm and Divergent Technologies saw an uptick in business from all the attention. Tris is shocked when she and Myra are contacted by several organizations with offers to speak at their conferences. There are book and tv movie deals that come as well. Myra isn't sure if she should take any of the offers but Tobias offers that the money could be a real set up for her future. Tris even is called on by CNN to have a spot as a commentator on legal segments when the producers are impressed with how she handled the interview. Tobias and Tris are doing well but they also know Myra has to rebuild her entire life. Tobias and Tris agree to take any of the money and place in a trust for Carter to access when he's older. Tris ends up working on special kidnapping cases for the FBI as a profiler when Harrison tells his superiors how instrumental Tris was in helping locate Tobias by looking at the evidence.
Carter Jackson Eaton makes his way into the world the day before his expected due date and he is surrounded with love and affection from all of his grandparents and aunts and uncles. He looks just like Tobias except for Tris's eyes. Shauna and Zeke's son Chavis Ezekial Pedrad was born six weeks later. It's clear that Chavis and Carter are going to get into all kinds of mischief together as soon as they learn to crawl. The FBI was so impressed with Zeke's work on the case with Harrison they offered him a job as Harrison's partner which solidified his acceptance into their circle of friends, not that that hadn't happened when he and Tori confessed they were crazy about each other. Tris and Tobias never made it to Hawaii for their babymoon with the doctors wanting to keep her close after the events of the kidnapping. Tobias rescheduled the trip for when a post-baby vacation before she goes back to the law office full time. Tris has some anxiety leaving Carter with Natalie and Andrew and she almost has Tobias book them to come with her to watch Carter during the day but Natalie and Tris's therapist assures that those feelings are natural and not necessarily related to feeling Al is still out there. It takes Tris almost the entire first day to settle down and she calls almost every two hours.
Tris and Tobias don't get married until a year after their son is born. Tobias chuckled at how serious Tris was about looking good in her wedding dress. Tobias doesn't care when they got married as long as Tris is happy and feels beautiful. Their wedding was small but perfect with all of their friends present. Tori, Shauna, and Myra are bridesmaids, while Zeke, Tri's brother Caleb and Harrison serve as groomsmen. Tobias is amazed as Tris walks down the aisle in her wedding dress. She had worked hard to get down to within 10 pounds of her pre-baby weight for the wedding with Tobias insisting that the extra swell of her breasts, hips, and thighs turned him on more than he thought possible. When the pastor announces that Tobias can kiss his bride Carter lets out the happiest laugh and wriggles out of Andrew's arms and crawls straight to his parents. He was still unsteady on his feet with walking.
"Well, I think someone approves" Tobias laughs as he picks up his son and Tris gives her laughing baby boy a kiss.
From the moment Tris and Tobias accidentally ran into each other, this was where they wanted to be. Together.