Expectations and Suppositions

Chapter 3

XXX

Eric's apartment isn't exactly what I would expect from a Dauntless leader. The walls are painted a soft white, which makes everything feel light and airy. It's open plan, but with clear zones around the room. There is a hallway to the left of the kitchen area that I suspect heads to the bedroom and bathroom. The furniture is all natural wood tones, and natural leathers, and he's clearly taken the less is more approach to heart. Everything is clean lines, and looks like it was carefully selected for form and function. But the thing that stands out the most and is a clear giveaway of his Erudite upbringing… is the piano in the corner of the room near the window that overlooks the city skyline.

I catch myself staring too long at the piano when he notices what I am looking at.

"Do you still play?" I ask as I walk towards where he is pouring a drink for himself in the kitchen.

He doesn't answer, but asks a question in return. "Do you still dance?"

An icy chill runs down my spine. I shake my head no. "Not since you and Simon left."

I feel a pinprick of sadness from him before it's quickly pushed out of his mind. "So you didn't have any trouble finding me I take it."

I can tell he was testing me. I had followed him and Simon wherever they had wandered, never missing a beat or falling behind. He wanted to see how much six years had truly changed me.

"No, I didn't." I say as I glance around the room again.

"Good." He says. "Drink?"

"Water?"

He chuckles. "Really, that's all you want?"

I glance back over to him and catch that faint smile tugging at his lips again. I can't stop one from pulling on my own. "Fine, tea if it's not too much trouble."

"Kettle was already on." He says as he moves to the electric kettle sitting on the counter and pours the hot water into a mug. He quickly adds a tea bag from a tin and slice of lemon.

He remembered how I take my tea, and I'm surprised.

This must register on my face, because he quickly responds. "It's not like I didn't have years of practice making it for you little mouse."

I roll my eyes, but he's not wrong.

"And if you keep that up I'll show you what else I remember."

Thoughts of him and my brother tormenting me by tickling me flood his thoughts and send shivers up my arms. They had been merciless when I was little and they wanted to take revenge for something I had done.

It's a warm memory, but thinking about Simon stings none the less. I hadn't seen him in six years. I want to ask about Simon… if Eric has seen him, if he knows how he is doing. But I stop myself before I do.

He hands me the mug and motions for me to sit. I do so without rolling my eyes.

He follows me and takes a seat at the other end of the sofa. I take a sip of my tea and feel him looking at me as he takes a sip of his own drink, which I presume is whiskey based on the color and the flavors he thinks about as it hits his tongue.

He's still searching for something that gives away why I am here. Me being here was a challenge, and he's trying to figure it out on his own before he has to ask. He'll eventually ask, I'm just not sure I am prepared to answer.

"Why?"

I sigh. I look down at the mug in my hands.

His voice changes when he repeats the question. "River… why?" It's more commanding than his first attempt. This one conveys he expects an answer.

"It wasn't the same… after you both left." It's a half truth. Jeanine saw Simon's defection as the ultimate insult, and she had worked hard to try an ensure that it wouldn't happen again. So her indifference turned into… something else.

"So why not Amity?" He asks critically.

I shake my head in the negative. As much as I would have loved to run to Simon, Amity would not have afforded me the skills or protection I would need against Jeanine. There was only one faction that would.

"It's… complicated."

I look up at his face and feel his frustration growing. He was never the patient one, and my evasion of his questions is trying what little he has. His eyes flash like cold steel, and I shiver involuntarily.

"If you're going to survive here, you are going to have to learn who is in command." He sets his drink down on the table before he continues. "Now I asked you a question, do you want to try again?"

My eyes narrow at him and I set down my cup before matching is body language. "Quid pro quo."

His jaw tightens slightly. "Fine."

I take a breath. "I wouldn't have fit in with Amity."

"Why do you think that?"

I shake my head. "My turn." He rolls his eyes. "What did you want to say on the roof?"

I catch the momentary surprise on his face.

"I know you well enough to know you wanted to say something." I quickly add to cover my tracks.

He smiles. "I was going to tell you to hurry up little mouse."

Truth. He wanted me to jump. He had been happy to see me as the first jumper. He thought him goading me would get me to hurry up.

He picks up his drink and takes another sip. "So why do you think you wouldn't have fit in Amity?"

I scrunch my nose. "Too much peace serum." Half-truth. I didn't need to dull my senses, I needed to hone them, to be ready for Jeanine.

He grimaces himself. "I never understood your brother's choice to go there. Candor maybe, but Amity?"

I chuckle. "Kaylee." I say simply.

This gets Eric to give a half smile. He remembered Kaylee from school, and even then he knew Simon would have followed her anywhere. When she chose to stay in Amity, Simon went with her.

He shrugs and takes a sip. He's waiting for me.

"Do you miss him?"

His eyes soften slightly as he thinks about it. "I see him from time to time, now that I'm a leader."

I can't help but feel my heart jump up in my rib cage. "How is he?"

He quirks his head. His turn first. I roll my eyes. "Fine, hurry up." I say. He lets the eye roll slide.

"Why did you stop dancing?"

He knows how much I loved to dance. Simon and he used to joke I didn't walk, but I would glide.

"Jeanine." Again, half-truth. Jeanine had put a stop to my dancing and had me in other… extra-curricular activities.

His anger flames quickly. He had never liked Jeanine. While his own parents were always busy, they weren't cruel like he had seen Jeanine be towards Simon and I. Hearing she had stopped my dancing didn't dissuade his opinion. He knew how much I loved it.

"How is Simon?" I ask wistfully.

"He's well. He became the vet for Amity. He pitches in as doctor if an Erudite one can't get to Amity fast enough. Kaylee mainly works on the farming machines doing repairs and keeping them in working order. But you would know that… if you bothered to try and keep in touch."

A flash of anger. Understandable. I hadn't tried to contact Simon or Eric in the last six years. They had been my closest companions and the minute they left… they heard nothing. You were allowed to visit without your guardian starting at sixteen on visiting days. I hadn't shown up once over the past two years.

I feel defensive, and I want him to know it wasn't me. That I was barely able to survive the past six years. "It would have been worse if I had tried." I say before I take a gulp of my tea.

He catches my meaning quickly. "What did she do to you?"

Tiny pin pricks begin dancing on my skull. It's a familiar itch, and one that makes me feel the need to move. I get up from the sofa and move to look out the window. I can feel him follow me, standing close enough to make me feel slightly caged, but far enough away to still give me room to breath. He doesn't know which one is better to try and get me to answer.

"A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life." I had become something else to survive.

"She did what she does best." I respond quietly. It's vague, but it's also enough for Eric to understand. Jeanine sought perfection in everything she did. It didn't matter what she had done to me, she had likely put her full attention into it. I likely became her biggest obsession, one that wasn't likely to stop by leaving Erudite.

"What can I do?"

It's not what I expected to hear, and I turn to judge whether he is being sincere. His mind doesn't feel like deception, and I remember the amusement he had when I selected Dauntless and sent Jeanine's world into disarray.

I shake my head. I would eventually have to do this on my own, and arguing about it would not get us anywhere right now. I pivot from this topic slightly with another question.

"Why do we have new rules for initiation?"

"Jeanine." He sneers her name. It was making more sense to him now. He was piecing together what she was going to try and do. "I have a feeling she wants you to fail."

"I'm sure she does."

"So what are you going to do about it?" He ask nonchalantly.

I smirk. "Disappoint her. Again."

His approval of my intention pulls his mouth into a wicked grin. Like a lion ready to bite into its prey. "Good." He drains the drink in his hand and looks at his watch, mulling over how long I have been here and how I was likely to miss any food in the cafeteria.

"Dinner?" He says as he moves back towards the kitchen.

It catches me off guard. "Sure."

XXX

Dinner had been a mostly quiet affair. Eric had moved around the kitchen easily, pulling what he needed from the shelves and cabinets. He had whipped up pasta fairly quickly, and we had eaten mostly in silence. When we were done, I had moved to clear the plates from the table. As I reached for Eric's his hand delicately grabbed my wrist, causing me to pause.

"If I play, would you dance?"

Honest. He's genuinely curious to what I might say. "Not tonight." I respond truthfully.

"When?"

I think it over. The thought of dancing makes my toes and legs itch in longing. It would be good to move that way again. But I don't need it distracting me right now.

"After I rank first." I say with practiced confidence.

He releases my wrist and throws me a soft smile. Not a grin, or a smirk, but something that says he knows I will rank first. If only to make Jeanine even more mad.

"Good."

XXX

I leave Eric's apartment well before curfew, but noticeably on the late side. I return the way I came, and by the time I hit the first stairwell I feel the nerves on my back prickle, like I am being watched. There is no one in the corridor with me, but the small blinking red lights seem more noticeable now. Like someone is tracking me.

I'm almost back to the Pit when I feel who is watching. He slides up behind me, carefully grabbing my arm and steering me down a different corridor, towards the training rooms.

"We missed you at dinner." Four says as we enter one of the training rooms and lets go of my arm. "Tris was worried."

I shrug. "I had dinner with an old friend."

"Eric is not your friend River."

This frustrates me. I can feel Four thinks he is doing the right thing. He was planning to try and warn me about what an evil, sadistic, and ruthless person Eric has become. How he isn't who I remember from Erudite. He wasn't wrong, I knew Eric had become those things from what I heard in the whispers… but that doesn't mean he isn't who I remember.

Or maybe I just knew someone everyone else didn't.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

My response frustrates Four, but I don't care. I am not being scored on my interpersonal relationships with anyone here, so let him be frustrated.

He can tell I don't want to listen. And he scratches the back of his head in frustration and some defeat. "Just… be careful. You don't know what he's capable of."

I don't respond to Four as I walk past him and back towards the dorm.

"And you don't know what I'm capable of."

XXX

AN: I hope you enjoyed this update. I wanted to show a slightly different side to Eric and I had a vision of a kind of monk like living space minimalistic, zen, and quiet. Something that would fit the two worlds of his past and present, and somewhere River would find some momentary peace. Also, anyone want to take any guesses as to who else from Firefly may show up soon? ;)