"Hello, gorgeous," Tobias says as he walks through my office door, startling me. I didn't realize I was staring out my large wall of windows, gazing at nothing in particular until he interrupts my scattered thoughts. "Are you up for a fieldtrip?"

"A fieldtrip, huh?" I ask, intrigued. I haven't been farther than my office since Tyler got sick so a quick trip someplace might be nice but I hate to be too far away from any of the kids right now. "Where to?"

"No place special, I'm afraid," he says. "Just the training room to check how the initiates are faring so far." We may not have to spend day in and day out with the transfers like in the past but it's our responsibility as leaders of the faction to check the progress of each new initiation class. I look at my hefty stack of paperwork then back at my handsome husband and give him a sweet smile.

"I should really stay here and get my filing done since I've been away from my office all week," I say and his face falls. "But I can't pass up the opportunity to spend the afternoon with you." His frown transforms into a brilliant smile that takes my breath away. He leans across my desk and gives me a soft kiss. After I pull away, I lock the files in my bottom desk drawer then follow him out into the hallway. "Do you know what they're working on this afternoon?"

"Transfers are having their first scored hand-to-hand and the Dauntless-born will be doing short barrel target practice," he says.

"It seems a bit early for scored practice fights, doesn't it?" I ask.

"Brody, Ana, Uriah, and Christina thought it would give them a better idea of each initiate's beginning level if they fought before they had a lot of practice since everyone learns at a different pace," he says.

"Hhm. That's actually a very good idea," I say.

"They made that change to the schedule while you were at Abnegation, which we've never talked about, come to think of it," he says.

"We haven't, have we?" I say. "I'm sorry. With everything that happened with Tyler and the girls, I guess it just slipped my mind."

"Well, that's totally unacceptable," he sternly says. I give him my "what the hell" look and he smiles mischievously. "I'm kidding. It's not like you haven't had more important things on your mind."

"You better be kidding if you ever want inside me again," I say.

"There you go, using sex as a weapon," he snickers as he shakes his head. "What did Natalie tell you about that?" My face turns beet red when he reminds me of the belated sex talk my mom had with me shortly after Tobias and I first became intimate.

"You're in a good mood."

"I am," he says. "I woke up this morning next to the most beautiful woman in the world." He bumps his shoulder against mine and winks. "Don't tell my wife."

"Only if you don't tell my husband," I say, enjoying the playful banter.

"Then the kids were all feeling better," he says. "Work has been great and the compound has been relatively quiet. It's a gorgeous day out." He stops in the middle of the path and pulls me up against his hard body. His lips land on mine in a fiery kiss. When he pulls his mouth away, his eyes are dilated and his breathing is raspy and shallow. "Now it's even better."

"I can think of something that would make it even better," I say as I shyly look up at him through my lowered lashes.

"What's that?" he asks, his voice gravelly and full of desire.

I put my lips against his ear and say, "Do you know what I really want?" I see his Adam's apple move as he swallows hard. "I want a piggyback ride."

"God, you're such a tease," he growls. "Hop up." I giddily clap my hands together as he turns around. I hop up on his back and wrap my arms around his neck as he grabs ahold of both my legs.

"If you're a good boy maybe I'll wrap my legs around you again tonight," I whisper in his ear.

"I've got to get my mind onto something else before you get me totally hard," he quietly says as he turns down the hallway to the training room.

"I'm sorry, baby! Let me tell you about my meeting at Abnegation. It's a real mood killer," I apologetically say as I kiss his cheek and he chuckles. "We finally came to an agreement on the work release program. I still can't believe it's taken this long … stubborn jackasses." Not all council members are forward thinkers, and they'd rather not rock the boat. An idea that should have taken six months max to nail down has taken nearly two years. "All inmates will stay in their own faction but they will be assigned orange work clothes, indicating they are detainees. Each detail will consist of no more than 10 inmates and two armed Dauntless guards. If a larger team is needed for a project, two or more details will merge and additional guards will be assigned. Which reminds me, we have to sit down soon and decide who will be in charge of the guards. They'll need to be involved in the process of assigning daily tasks and hiring personnel since the law will go into effect on September 1st." He lets go of my leg, and I loosen my arms and drop to my feet. He turns and looks down at me, a look of deep respect on his face.

"I am so proud of you, Tris," he says, completely serious now. "You had an idea, presented it to the council, stuck to your guns in the face of a lot of adversity, and now you are responsible for a new law that is going to help the entire city. I don't tell you enough just how brilliant you are." I blush at his praise. It's not that I don't like getting it but it's totally unnecessary.

"Thanks," I say. He looks up and down the hallway then lowers his mouth to mine. It isn't long before we are lost in the feeling of our lips moving together unhurriedly. The sound of the door opening makes us jump apart like we just got caught doing something wrong. Oliver and another boy are helping a third to the infirmary, well dragging is more like it. Al's lookalike gives me a small smile and discomfort sweeps through my body. We say nothing to the initiates, we just walk into the training room. We go to the firearms side where Uriah and Christina are pacing behind the Dauntless-born, evaluating how the initiates are doing. Because of the noise, they don't hear our arrival.

"Hi," I say to my best friend when I reach her side.

"Shit!" she says, her eyes wide. Her hand flies to cover her mouth, and then she laughs. "Sorry. You scared the crap out of me."

"Really? We hadn't noticed," Tobias drolly says, his Four mask planted firmly on his face but we all know he's teasing.

"What are you doing here?" Uriah asks. I feel eyes on me and notice that a few of the initiates have stopped firing at the targets and have focused their attention on us.

"Were you told to stop?" I firmly ask.

"No, Tris," they say.

"Then get back to work," I say. They all turn back around, taking the proper stance and start firing again, except one. He looks familiar but I can't quite place him. I'm about ready to say something when Uriah hollers at him.

"Hector, are you hard of hearing? Tris said to get back to work." Hector?

"Shauna and Lynn's little brother?" I ask as he turns around, understanding now why he looks so familiar. All three of them have the exact same brown eyes. "Wow, he's changed a lot." I remember him as a scrawny kid with acne and a bad haircut who was constantly following Lynn and Marlene around, getting into trouble. His brown hair is now shorn close to his head, not quite as severely as Lynn's was during our initiation but it makes them look eerily similar.

"We thought we'd check out the initiates and see how things are going," Tobias says. "I know it's early but who do you think the standouts are?"

"Taylor and Jensen," Uriah says.

"Don't forget Alice," Christina says looking at Uri then she looks at us. "She beat Dylan today in their first practice fight. It wasn't even close. She annihilated him."

"Was he afraid of hurting her because she's a girl?" I ask. We've had that problem in the past but the guys usually get over it quickly.

"Oh, he was afraid all right but not because she was a girl but because she's that much better than him, and she was really making him look bad," Uriah snickers. Dylan is standing as far away from Alice as possible but I notice that he keeps glaring her way. I also see a bruise circling his left eye.

"She must pack one hell of a punch," I say, motioning at his face.

"She gave him a nice shiner, didn't she?" Christina says, humor in her voice. She loves being an instructor. She steps closer to me and lowers her voice. "How many times have you called to check on Tyler today?" I glance at her out of the corner of my eye and grimace. "That many, huh?" Zander discharged Tyler Thursday morning, and I stayed home the rest of the day and all day yesterday but since Tyler, Tessa, and Teagan each woke up feeling a lot better this morning, I forced myself to leave them with Bridget but I've called once, sometimes twice an hour to check on them.

"When Four came into my office I was staring out the window thinking about calling to check on them again," I sigh. "I should have just stayed home today. I'm kind of useless. I haven't gotten a damn thing done, although coming here has given me something else to focus on."

"I'm glad they're feeling better," she says. "I'm surprised Liam didn't have strep, too, for as much time as they spend together."

"Yeah, me too. But I'm glad he doesn't. It hasn't been terrible for the girls but it hit Tyler like a ton of bricks but thankfully he's feeling more like himself now." Changing the subject I say, "Your initiates look good."

"I'm beginning to think each one of them had fired a weapon at least once before training started," she says. "None of them have needed much instruction."

"I wonder if it will be the same for the long guns," I ponder out loud.

"No," she says. "They struggle just as much with the shotguns as the transfers do. I think it's all the paintball they play."

"Good point," I say. Dependents aren't technically supposed to fire weapons of any kind before their Choosing Ceremony but everyone looks the other way when it comes to playing paintball, one of Dauntless' favorite pastimes. I guess we think of it more as a game than target practice. Tobias and I have even played a few games with them ourselves.

I pace behind the Dauntless-born, taking in their strengths and weaknesses, which I have come to easily recognize over the past two years. Even though they are all doing remarkably well, I give each of them minor corrections and some praise. When I get to Hector I notice a spider tattoo peeking out of the collar of his crewneck t-shirt. It's very realistic looking. I study his stance and how he handles the weapon. Then I check his target, and he's hitting the bullseye every time.

"Great job, Hector," I say then start to move on to the next initiate when he stops firing and looks at me.

"I don't need praise from a Stiff," he snarls, leaving me speechless. What the? No one has called me that in years, especially in such a disparaging tone.

"Excuse me?" Tobias hisses. I didn't realize he was so close. His nostrils flare, and I swear I see steam come out his ears.

"I just don't get it," he says, not backing down one bit. Slowly one by one each of the Dauntless-born stops firing and focuses on the tense standoff between Hector and my husband. After I gather my wits, I squeeze Tobias' arm and he looks down at me. Hopefully, the look on my face conveys the message I want it to … I'll take care of this myself.

"What don't you get?" I ask Hector, looking him squarely in the dark brown eyes.

"Why someone from Abnegation could be a leader of Dauntless," he says. "Once a Stiff, always a Stiff."

"First of all," I say as I step closer to him, "I may have been born in Abnegation but I have always been Dauntless. Three years ago, I jumped, first I might add, into the same net you jumped into, what, next to last three days ago, and I passed my initiation, ranking at the top, surviving cuts that made some Dauntless-born factionless for no other reason than I wanted it more and I worked my ass off. They underestimated me because they looked at me as smaller and weaker because I came from a faction they viewed as less than themselves. Never make that mistake. I'm far from weak. I'm one of the strongest women in this faction.

"So, you see, I'm more Dauntless than you'll ever be and if you ever disrespect me like that again you'll find out what it's like to be factionless. You got it!" My heart is hammering in my chest like a runaway freight train barreling down the tracks. I'd like nothing more than to turn and walk away but I hold his cold stare until he finally drops his eyes. I'll take the small victory. "I expect an apology," he starts to open his mouth but I surprise him by saying, "but I don't want it until you're offering a sincere one. You see, I think the separation between the factions isn't always a good one. It gives certain people a sense of superiority that, in my experience, leads to trouble. I see that arrogance in you so to push you in the right direction, starting tomorrow, you will live and train with the transfers." His eyes fly to mine and his mouth falls open. "I want you to see what it's like for the ones who have to leave everything they knew behind to make a fresh start in life. If I see you with the Dauntless-born, there will be consequences. Am I understood?"

"You can't do that," he says, his wild eyes rushing from Uriah to Christina to Tobias, who has an uncharacteristic smirk on his face. He never lets his emotions show at times like these.

"Actually, she can and she just did," he says, sounding proud. "You do have another option, though." Hector starts to smile and I hold my breath wondering if Tobias is going to undermine me. "You can leave right now." He points toward the wall. "There's the door right there." Hector's smile fades, and I take a deep breath, hating myself for doubting him. He always has my back. "I will not tolerate anyone speaking to a member of this faction's leadership the way that you just spoke to Tris so if her idea to make you into a proper Dauntless member is too much for you to handle then you can live with the factionless. It's up to you, Hector."

"Fine," he says after a full minute of silence. "I'll take the deal."

"Good," Tobias snarls. Even though I don't think Hector deserves saving, I put my hand on Tobias' Amity tattoo after he takes a step towards the boy, his hands balled into tight fists at his side. I don't want him getting in trouble for hurting the insignificant initiate but instead he lowers his voice and very quietly says, "Know this, screw up once and you're out on your ass. I don't give a damn who you are. And speak to my wife that way again and I'll personally see to it that you never have children because I'll remove your testicles with a teaspoon. Got it?" Hector's eyes widen and he swallows.

"Y-Yes, s-sir," he stammers. Tobias scoffs.

"You don't seem to have a problem giving me the respect I deserve, and I came from Abnegation, too." It's obvious by the look on Hector's face that he wasn't privy to Tobias' secret because I think I could knock him over with a feather at the moment. "All of you get back to work," he shouts and within seconds the sound of gunfire echoes around the room, filling our ears. Part of me wants to run and hide from what just happened but I hold my head high and make my assessment of the remaining Dauntless-born.

"You two are doing a great job with them," I say to Uriah and Christina. They look at me like I'm on peace serum. "What?"

"I've never seen him act that way before in my life," Uriah says. "I could have kicked his ass for speaking to you that way."

"Has he been disrespectful to either of you?" Tobias asks.

"No, he hasn't," Christina says.

"I hate to say it but he just reminded me of Lynn when I first met her," I say. "We didn't exactly hit it off, and it took her a long time to stop calling me Stiff. Who knows, maybe she still does when I'm not around." Christina shakes her head but suddenly Uriah won't meet my eyes. "She does, doesn't she?"

"I honestly don't think she does it to be hateful or mean," he says. "I think Stiff is her nickname for you."

"A derogatory one I thought I got rid of when I joined Dauntless," I sigh. "I thought we worked through our differences years ago."

"I'm going to have a talk with her," Tobias growls.

"No, you're not," I say. His intense gaze burns into my eyes. "This is between Lynn and I. Promise you'll stay out of it."

"I can't do that," he says, shaking his head defiantly.

"Yes. You. Can," I emphatically say. "And you will, Four." He growls and runs a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking out at odd angles. I fight the urge to smooth it into place.

"You're right," he finally says with a sigh. "This is your fight, not mine."

"Thank you," I say then turn to Uriah and Christina. "We better check on Brody and Ana." I look toward the opposite end of the large room and see another transfer being carried out of the training room. "It looks like their initiates are dropping like flies."

"Are you okay?" Tobias quietly asks when we're halfway across the room. "I haven't wanted to kill someone so much since Hayes." Oh my God! That is who Hector just reminded me of … Peter. He obviously looks nothing like him but his attitude and arrogance are nearly identical.

"We need to keep an eye on him," I say. "I hope switching him to Brody and Ana's class helps." Something tells me it won't. I hope I didn't just make a huge mistake. He stops and pulls me through the punching bags into the shadows.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I say.

"You're not telling me something," he says, his eyes narrow examining my face. Damn! How does he always do that?

"It's just a thought I had about Hector," I say. "We'll talk about it later, baby. Okay?" He breathes deeply and exhales, his eyes boring into mine.

"All right," he says. He lowers his mouth towards mine, stops then mutters something unintelligible under his breath right before his lips lightly touch mine. They're gone just as quickly, leaving me longing for more. He puts his hand on my back and leads me to where Brody and Ana are standing by the big green chalkboard.

"Hello," I say. "How are things going?"

"About as expected," Brody says.

"There haven't been any surprises," Ana says. "Except for Oliver." My eyes don't have to search long before they find him. He's standing off by himself, watching the match between two short, thin girls.

"Let me guess, he lost?" I ask.

"How did you know?" Brody asks, dumbfounded. "Look at him! He should easily knock out any person in this room, me included. He took an uppercut to the chin by a guy a third his size and immediately went down. He didn't get back up. I have to be honest, I'm not sure he's right for Dauntless." I hear Tobias sigh, and I look up at him. Something tells me he had similar thoughts about Al.

"I knew someone just like him once," I say.

"You did seem … startled when he was helped out of the net," Ana says. Is now the time for this story? I look toward him again only to find him watching me.

"He reminds me of someone I used to know," is all I say as I tear my eyes from his. Tobias must sense my unease because he steps in front of me, taking me out of Oliver's line of sight. "Before we talk more about the transfers, there's something we need to discuss with you. One of the Dauntless-born is proving to be very difficult. He's disrespectful and thinks he knows it all. He needs a lesson in humility. I've assigned him to you two. He'll live and train with the transfers and report to you tomorrow morning. His name is Hector."

"Okay," Brody says.

"Is there anything else we should know about him?" Ana asks.

"Keep a close watch on him," I say. "He has a bad attitude."

"He reminds you of Hayes, doesn't he?" Tobias asks and I give him a dirty look. I told him we'd discuss this later. "Sorry but now that I know what you were thinking, I can't help but agree. He was acting like Peter." He moves his gaze from me to our friends. "Tris is right, keep Hector on a short leash, and I do mean short. He's not to socialize with the Dauntless-born and if he breaks the rules, there will be consequences. He knows this."

"Such as?" Brody says.

"I'm sure you can think of something appropriate," I say. "Now back to the practice fights." Brody and Ana give us a quick overview of what we missed then we watch the final two matches of the day, one of which happens to include Rose. She's paired with a girl whose body type is nearly identical, although she's a few inches shorter. I watch as she effortlessly dances around the ring, landing punch after punch while evading her opponent's fists. She's really good for it being her first fight.

"What's your take on Rose?" Tobias asks Brody and Ana.

"She's a natural," Ana says. "She's taken to the fights just as effortlessly as she has to the firearms. You show her the correct way to do something and she doesn't need shown again."

"And her attitude?" I ask, remembering her inappropriate questions the day we met her. She was definitely all Candor then.

"She does ask a lot of questions but I don't think she's out of line," Brody says. "She takes the information she receives to improve whatever it is she's doing. Honestly, I wish they were all like her." We stand and watch as Rose lands a near picture-perfect combination and knocks her opponent to the mat. The girl tries to get back on her feet but stumbles and lands hard on her right elbow and knee. Rose rushes to her side and offers her a hand, which the girl gladly accepts.

"It looks like you two have everything under control here," I say. "I'm really proud of you." Brody subtly blushes at the compliment and Ana brightly beams.

"Thanks, Tris," she says. "Hey, how's Tyler by the way? I take it he's feeling better or you wouldn't be here."

"He's feeling a lot better. Thanks for asking," I say. "And the girls are completely back to normal and wondering why they have to take medicine since Tyler's the one who's sick." Brody and Ana chuckle as I roll my eyes.

"I love your girls," Brody says with a huge smile on his face. "Do you two officially want to meet the transfers since you didn't get to on Wednesday?" We both nod. "Listen up!" The remaining transfers immediately quiet down and look toward us. "I'm sure you noticed that we have visitors with us this afternoon watching some of your fights. This is Four and Tris, two leaders of Dauntless."

"Tris and I don't make it a habit of interrupting or disrupting training but we wanted to introduce ourselves since we didn't get a chance to on Choosing Day but we won't keep you," Tobias says.

"Since your fights are over, you are free to go for the day," Ana says, garnering smiles from each of the initiates. "Just remember to be here at 8 a.m. sharp tomorrow." I watch as they file out of the training room, and I find myself smiling, too. Tobias steps up beside me, and I feel his eyes on me.

"It's nice to see you smiling, love," he says. "You've been so stressed lately."

"I guess their giddiness is contagious," I say.

"They're a good bunch," Brody says. "We haven't had any trouble with them at all. Now how do you seem to know so much about Oliver, and why did everyone look like they saw a ghost after we helped him out of the net?" It's amazing how quickly my good mood deflates.

"Do we know if he's Al's brother?" I ask Tobias.

"I had Will check Al's file, and he didn't have any siblings," Tobias says. Brody and Ana's confusion seems to deepen right before my eyes.

"Can we grab a cup of coffee?" I ask. "I'll explain everything." The four of us walk to the cafeteria and after grabbing a cup of coffee, we take a seat at our empty table. I wrap my hands around the hot mug and look at Tobias for encouragement. He rests his hand on my knee and squeezes gently. I give him a soft kiss before I begin.

"You guys know that Christina, Will, and I met during our initiation three years ago but what you don't know is that we had a friend … Al. He was from Candor, too. The four of us got really close during the first half of initiation but things started to fall apart for all of us during the fear simulations."

"Tris is unnaturally quick during fear simulations," Tobias explains.

"It put a strain on my friendships," I say. "They became jealous because I was doing so well and making friends outside our circle."

"That's terrible," Ana says, a scowl on her face. "Real friends should stand beside you no matter what."

"There's something you need to remember about Tris' initiation that differed from yours," Tobias says. "There were 20 people fighting for 10 slots. It was every man…"

"And woman," I interrupt.

"Every man and woman for themselves," he finishes, smiling at me affectionately.

"Anyway, I was attacked one evening by three masked men. They threatened to throw me in the chasm and went as far as to dangle me over the railing. I could have died that night but," I give Tobias a loving, appreciative look, "Four saved me." I look back at my friends who are wearing identical masks of terror after I give my husband a quick kiss. "One of the men was Al."

"He was failing," Tobias says. "He wasn't going to make it through initiation, and he knew it. He didn't want to live factionless so he let his fear make him do things he wouldn't normally do."

"He asked for my forgiveness but I just couldn't do it," I say, "which I made perfectly clear. He jumped into the chasm later that day and killed himself." Ana's small hand flies up and covers a gasp. "It took me a very long time to stop blaming myself for his death even though I knew I didn't make him take the coward's way out."

"Oliver reminds you of this Al person?" Brody asks.

"Oliver could be Al," I slowly say. "Their resemblance is uncanny. He looks like him, acts like him, sounds like him, smells like him, and now his training is following the same course. I don't believe in coincidences and something about him bothers me."

"I'm sorry, Tris," Ana says. "Who were the two with Al that night?"

"Drew," they recognize his name immediately, "and Peter Hayes," I say. Ana recognizes the name but Brody is still lost. She leans over and whispers something in his ear and he nods.

"Hector reminds you of Peter?" Tobias asks, saying again what he figured out earlier.

"Yes," I say. "I only realized this after I made him your guys' problem." I look at Brody and Ana apologetically. "Peter was a sadistic sonofabitch who made my life miserable before and, unfortunately, after his death. Hector has the same type of personality, although I doubt Shauna and Lynn would appreciate me saying that."

"Why would they care?" Brody asks.

"He's their younger brother," Tobias says, looking at his watch. "I hate to cut this short, guys, but we need to get home to the kids, and Tris and I have a stop to make first." We do? I wonder what he's up to. "Do you have any other questions for us?"

"None that I can think of," Ana says.

"We'll give you regular updates on Hector's progress," Brody says. "Hopefully, we can turn his attitude around."

"I hope it can be done because I would hate to explain to two good friends why I made their little brother factionless," Tobias sighs. "I'll only offer one more chance after this and that's being very generous."

"Okay," they say in unison. We rise from the table, put our dirty mugs in one of the wash bins on top of the strategically placed trash and recycling center then say our goodbyes.

"Where are we stopping on the way home?" I ask as we exit the cafeteria.

"I thought we'd stop by the pizza parlor and take cheese pizza and breadsticks home so we don't have to cook tonight. Then we can watch a double feature with the kids and later you might want to do that thing with your legs you mentioned earlier," he says with a sexy wink. "What do you say, love?" He takes my hand in his and kisses our laced fingers.

"I say that's the best idea you've had all day."