Almost to the end of this story. Thank you so much for interacting with me on this one ! Love yall!
"Thanks for prying yourself away from your men to hang out with me tonight" Christina said giving Tris and Marlene a pitiful look as she pours herself another glass of wine while sitting on the floor of the living room.
"Hey, we need to do this more often, besides, I need help picking out bridesmaids' dresses and floral arrangements" Marlene groans pulling out the giant wedding planner binder she had created.
Tris giggles, taking the book from Marlene's lap and flipping through it.
"Oh boy this has Natalie Prior written all over it" she chuckles, knowing how much of a meticulous planner her mother was and seeing how the tabs were written in Spanish.
Marlene grins. She loved her soon to be mother-in- law and so did her parents. They had all gone to dinner a few times the month that Natalie was in Chicago while Tris recuperated from her injuries after the bombing and now, they texted all the time, and Marlene usually hopped on when she and Caleb video chatted on Sundays when they weren't working. Marlene knew she wasn't going to find a better mother-in-law.
"She's actually been great; my mom is not into all of this. She and my dad had a small wedding, so she hasn't really been able to help me" Marlene adds thankful that Natalie was able to help, and she wasn't completely overwhelmed.
Christina's phone buzzes and she grimaces when she picks it up and swipes the notification away.
"Was that?" Marlene asks quietly, thinking it was Uriah.
"Nope" Christina replies popping the p. "I haven't heard from him in weeks"
Tris raises her eyebrows without saying anything.
"Okay Okay, remember when I did that ancestry test?"
"Oh my God, with everything going with the bombing and the arsonist, I forgot all about that" Tris gasps. "You didn't tell me you got your results back" Tris frowns.
"Yeah, I was overwhelmed too, and then Uriah and I broke up and I kind of forgot about it until they started sending me all these emails about messages I have"
"And you haven't opened any of them?" Marlene asks as Christina slowly shakes her head.
"Give me your phone," Tris demands holding out her hand.
"Tris, it was stupid in the first place, who cares if I'm 2% Eastern European," Christina grumbles.
"I care! Now give it!" Tris demands again.
Christina groans and unlocks her phone and pulls up the account she set up then hands it to Tris. Tris scrolls through the results.
"Okay, wow, this is cool. 27% Cameroon/Congo, 24% Nigerian, 14% Scottish, 6% Mali…."
"What is it?" Marlene asks when Tris goes quiet as she sees a notification pop up.
"Chris…your DNA matches… the messages…It's your sister…Rose," Tris gasps and looks up at Christina who looked like she was about to pass out.
"Hey, breathe Dawson," Marlene tells her getting up to sit next to her on the floor and holding her hand.
"Are you sure?" Christina whispers, finally finding her voice.
"Yeah, look, she sent her email and phone number" Tris smiles passing the phone back to Christina so she can see for herself.
Christina feels her hands start to shake as she looks at the message.
I took this test on a whim hoping to connect with my birth family since I was adopted when I was 5. I don't think I can describe to you how much joy I felt when I saw your name pop up as a match in my results. Please reach out to me, I hope that you want to meet me as much as I want to meet you.
Rose
Christina starts to cry, and Marlene rubs her back in comfort. She was overwhelmed, she had so much on her mind worrying about Uriah and now Dr. Fields wanting her to apply to med school again - she couldn't process it all.
"Hey, it's okay Chris," Tris says, moving to sit on the other side of her and give her a side hug.
"It's just so much going on and I don't know" Christina sobs.
"Listen, you don't have to do anything with this information, but you know you have it now. And your sister is alive, how amazing is that?" Marlene tells her to try to keep the mood light.
"That's right, one thing at a time" Tris reassures her.
Christina sobs again. This was supposed to be happy news but all she felt right now was overwhelmed.
Christina sighs as she stocks the cooler at the bar full of beer. It was a Wednesday night so Dauntless would be busy since there was a Bulls game on that night. Shift had been crazy the night before, but Christina still struggled with missing Uriah when things were quiet. Shauna had asked her if she was ready to start dating again since it had been six months since she and Uriah had broken up, but Christina knew she wasn't ready.
"You okay?" Zeke asks her as he notices her melancholy mood as she worked. He hadn't pushed her to talk about what was going on with Uriah, but he had Tori and his mother to let it out with. He could tell Christina was keeping it all in.
"I'm fine," she tells him giving him the practiced smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"You know even though Uriah and I are only three years apart, my father always made sure that I knew I had to look out for him as his older brother."
Christina really did smile at that. She knew Uriah was only 6 when Reggie Pedrad died, and Zeke had taken his responsibility as man of the house very seriously.
"I always wanted a younger sister to look after, especially when Uri got older and wanted to prove he was as tough as me"
Christina still doesn't say anything as she listens to him talk while they restock the beers in the cooler.
"What I'm trying to say is, since you've been at 51, working here at the bar and then you and Uri started dating, you've been the little sister I never had. I'm always going to look out for you even if you and Uri aren't together. You're family Chris, for real."
Christina feels a few tears fall and she almost knocks Zeke over giving him a hug. Zeke chuckles and hugs her back tight.
"Thanks, Zeke, you don't know how much that means to me," Christina tells him pulling away and wiping her tears. She had never shared her story with Zeke, but she felt like she never had to.
"So, family dinner is on Monday, and Ma, Tori, and I expect for you to be there. Dallas has been asking for Auntie Chris"
Christina sniffles again but smiles. She loved Dallas so much, he'd recently started asking for her and Uriah to read him bedtime stories after family dinner, she could imagine it was hard for him to grasp her and Uriah both disappearing at the same time.
"I think he can pull out of this Chris, but sometimes you gotta let people hit rock bottom"
Christina nods in understanding, no matter how much she wanted Uriah to work through his issues, she couldn't do it for him but realizing that Zeke and Hana had really taken her in, made the pain more bearable.
"Dawson" Max calls as he takes a seat at the Bar at Dauntless.
"Hey Chief, what can I get you?"
"How about one of those old fashions you make"
"Sure thing Chief"
"I got a call from a Dr. Emilia Fields at Northwestern today," Max says as Christina mixes his drink.
Christina slowly places the bottle of bourbon down on the bar and nervously looks at Max.
"What did she say?"
"She said she wanted you to re-enroll"
Christina nods and then continues to make his drink.
"I told her I had a pretty good idea what kind of doctor you would make. And you have blown us all away at 51 as a paramedic. It would be a shame to see you go but she'd be lucky to have you"
"That's really nice of you Chief," Christina says finishing making his drink and setting it on a napkin in front of him.
"I meant every word"
"The thing is I've already decided, I'm going to decline the offer," Christina tells him while placing a cherry in his drink. She's already gone home and talked to Tris about it.
"Why?" Max asks with his eyebrows furrowed.
"I went to med school for all the wrong reasons, it was every man for himself, it was cutthroat, and I was holding the knife with the rest of them. Except it ate me up inside. Then I came here, and everyone was like it's a family at 51. And I thought there's a catch. There's always a catch, except, there wasn't."
Max smiles and feels his heart swell at her admission as he lets her continue talking.
"I realized something. I like myself here. It is a family"
"And you are a part of it" Max confirms for her.
He picks up his glass and raises it to her before taking a sip.
Christina smiles from ear to ear before going to help a customer two seats down. Things had been hard with her break up from Uriah, but this made her feel like things could be okay again.
Uriah stops as he approaches the steps to his mother's house when he sees Christina coming out of the front door.
He hadn't seen Hana in at least two months, but she had said there was some important mail he needed to pick up. It was Thursday so he figured he would avoid everyone else since they usually eat together on Mondays when Zeke was off shift.
"Hey," he tells Christina awkwardly as she stops at the bottom of the steps in front of him.
"Hey" she parrots back biting her lip.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, looking past her to the front door.
"Ms. Hana and I started having dinner together a few times a week"
Christina had been so thankful for Hana Pedrad. Natalie had filled that motherly void for her in Atlanta and she knew she could always call Natalie whenever she needed anything, but it had been nice to have Hana now. At first, she wasn't sure it was a good idea since she and Uriah weren't together anymore, but she could tell Hana had been lonely too with Zeke and Tori running the bar and taking care of Dallas.
"Oh, how you been? I feel like I barely see you when you come through Med now" His heart pulled looking at her. He missed her, the apartment felt so empty without her. Everything felt empty without her and his family.
"Good, Okay I guess" she shrugs. She could see he was still in a bad place, his face that usually sported a neatly trimmed beard close to his face but sported a larger one that she thought looked on him. She could also tell he'd lost weight, there were bags under his eyes and his cheeks were sunken in.
Uriah stares at her for a minute, it feels like everything he wanted to say to her was caught in his throat.
"I guess I should go, I got a shift at Dauntless," she tells him shifting her purse strap higher on her shoulder.
"Chris, wait…I miss you" He blurts out. It was true, he missed her laugh, her smile. Seeing her was like a pop of color in his drab world now.
Christina fights the urge to run into his arms, but she has to remind herself to hold her ground. "I miss you too Uri, that's never been the problem."
"Chris I just can't do what you want me to do…I…"
Christina feels the anger rise inside her as she looks at him defeated with that emotionless look still in his eyes.
"Uriah, you know you have so much to live for, your entire family misses you, Dallas was literally crying last week because he hasn't seen you in months. I know you went through unspeakable horrors when you went to war, I will never discredit that or what you went through, but you just gave up. You quit, you quit on me, and you quit on us. All I was asking for was for you to talk to somebody, it didn't have to be me, but I just wanted you to get help. For you to help yourself. You are a fighter Uriah Pedrad and I know that because I'm one too, it was one of the things that made me fall in love with you. But you aren't living, Uriah, this isn't living, you're just existing and no matter how much Ms. Hana, Zeke, Tori, or I want you to pull through this we can't do it for you, you have to put the work in yourself to get better."
Uriah swallows as he listens to her rant seeing the tears in her eyes. She was right, he was a shell of himself, but the fear was debilitating.
"I'm sorry Chris," Uriah tells her not knowing what else to say.
"Yeah, me too" Christina scoffs. She didn't mean to come off so harshly but when she and Uriah first met, he was so strong, so confident. It frustrated her that he was just going to give up on everything in his life without fighting.
She walks past him and jumps in her car, leaving Uriah standing on the sidewalk looking after her as she drove down the block.
A week later, Uriah stands outside the door of the meeting room at the Veterans Affairs hospital looking at the sign on the easel that read "Combat Veterans Support Group"
"You know deciding to go to the first meeting is always the hardest" a voice comes from behind him.
He looks up to see a guy who looked to be around his age with dark hair and deep blue eyes. Looking further Uriah notices that he only had one leg. His right leg is a steel leg.
"Yeah, I guess so," Uriah tells him awkwardly shuffling his feet.
"Robert Stevens Army, 2nd Infantry Division, 14th Field Artillery Brigade".
Uriah smiles and extends his hand for a handshake.
"Uriah Pedrad, Medic, 3rd infantry division, 69th Regime"
"Ahhh the Panthers" Robert nods referring to the battalion nickname of Uriah's regiment "I had a friend I went to boot camp with there. Ricardo Clemmons"
Uriah feels his heart clench at the mention of Ricardo's name. He had been a good soldier who died in Uriah's arms after an IED blew up their transport.
"Clemmons was a good guy; I was there when he died"
Robert sees his discomfort and the pain in his eyes and gives his shoulder a squeeze.
"We're about to get started. I'd love it if you joined us. Don't feel obligated to share today, just listen and we got chocolate cake and donuts today."
Uriah nods and takes a deep breath. Christina was right, no one could do this for him. He had to do it himself. The hour meeting is heavy for Uriah, but he listens to the men open up about their experiences and is amazed that so many of them could even verbalize what happened to them. He doesn't share but he takes to heart the stories of each of the men that came and opened up.
"So do you think you might join us again?" Robert asks after the meeting when Uriah is still sitting there after the others left and it was just him and Robert remaining.
"Umm, I think so, it was a little overwhelming but comforting if that even makes sense"
Robert nods as he sits down in the chair next to Uriah.
"A lot of people feel that way during their first meeting, but this is meant to be a safe space where people can heal and open up about their combat experiences"
"What made you want to do this?" Uriah asks curiously.
"Well, I was down and out when I lost my leg, couldn't let go of all the things that I couldn't do anymore. I wouldn't get out of bed, wouldn't talk about the accident, or deal with the death of my battle buddy. My wife sat me down and called up some guys from my unit to talk some sense into me. Our daughter was only three at the time and I was missing so much and not looking at what I had in front of me"
"Sounds familiar" Uriah murmurs.
"What's your wife's name?" Robert inquires.
"Christina, and we weren't married, but I thought she was the one. She walked away cause I shut down. I miss her every damn day but it's like I haven't been able to get out of my own head"
Uriah wipes a tear away thinking about the blow-up he had with Zeke and his mother just last week. Seeing his mother cry and his last conversation with Christina had shaken him a bit. He wasn't doing bad at work, but he wasn't excelling; if he didn't straighten up, he would have no chance of being offered the chief resident position.
Robert lets a few moments pass and then turns to look at Uriah.
"So, the question is do you want help and to put the work in?"
Christina sits on a bar stool with her phone looking over the message from her sister. She'd read it 1,000 times now but still hadn't responded. She was supposed to be doing inventory at Dauntless, but she was distracted. Zeke and Tori had taken Dallas on a short getaway while they were off shift and she offered to hold down the bar. She hears the door open, and she doesn't look up.
"We don't open until 4" she yells frustrated that it was only 1 pm and folks were always trying to come in early.
"I know but I was hoping I could get you to make me an old fashioned" Uriah says as he makes his way slowly toward her.
Christina jerks her head up at the sound of his voice and her heart starts to race but she doesn't say anything. It had been three months since she ran into him at Hana's house. She looked at him and saw he looked fuller as if he'd gained back all the weight he'd lost since the bombing; he didn't have the dark circles under his eyes, and he'd shaved his beard down low the way he used to wear it. He looked good, really good, and healthy.
"Zeke told me you would be here this afternoon," he says quietly as he takes a few more steps closer to her.
"You talked to Zeke?" Christina squeaks and then clears her throat, willing herself to calm down.
"Yeah, I saw him this morning before he and Tori left for their trip with Dallas"
"Oh, that's good," Christina says nervously as Uriah moves closer to her. He wanted to hold her in his arms, kiss her but he had to remind himself to take it slow.
"I wanted to say thank you," he tells her, taking another small step closer.
"For what?" she asks furrowing her eyebrows at him.
"For giving a damn, and for pushing me to get help" Uriah nervously rubs the back of his neck. He'd rehearsed what he would say to Christina in the mirror a hundred times over the past week and now he'd forgotten everything he wanted to say.
Christina pulls her lips over her teeth and feels tears well up in her eyes. She felt like she was holding her breath and she couldn't find her voice.
"I started going to therapy and group sessions at the VA, it's been a lot but good for me. I finally started working through some things I saw when I was in Afghanistan."
Christina swallows as she listens to him, her heart pounding. He was putting the pieces of his life back together.
"I even have a therapy dog now; her name is Tuesday"
"Tuesday?" Christina parrots giving him a soft smile.
"Yeah, it was a Tuesday, I wasn't being creative, she's the sweetest thing, a dalmatian" Uriah chuckles rubbing his hand across his beard.
"You look good, I mean healthy, you look healthy, and you sound like you've made some real progress. I'm really proud of you," She stumbles over her words and shifts off of the bar stool she was sitting on feeling like she couldn't sit still anymore.
"I feel good. I feel like I'm on track. I have more work to do but I'm not scared to face it anymore"
"That's all I wanted for you Uriah, to be healthy and happy even if we didn't work out," Christina tells him barely above a whisper and her voice full of emotion.
"My therapist has me doing this exercise every time I feel myself having an episode. He wants me to picture a place where I feel safe and calm. Do you know what I picture?"
Christina shakes her head and tears fall down her face.
"You, I couldn't pick one specific place, but wherever I was as long as I pictured you with me, I could focus again. You're my safe place Christina"
Uriah closes the gap between them and cups her face with his hand, wiping the tears from her cheek with his thumb.
"I love you and I'm getting better but I need you, Chris. I need you like I need air in my lungs"
"Uriah...I…" Christina starts her heart beating wildly.
"I know why you left, and I'm sorry I couldn't get out of my head then. I want to be the man you deserve"
Christina throws her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his. Uriah wraps his arms around her holding her tight against him. It felt like fire was in her bones as she pressed herself against him. In the 9 months they had been apart she'd longed for him. She pulls back and pulls her sweater over her head and then she grabs the shirt Uriah had on and they pull it off together.
Uriah stops and looks into her eyes wondering if they should take a step back but Christina hops into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. He carries her a few steps and sets her atop the bar.
When Christina goes to slide down her leggings Uriah pulls back, out of breath from their kisses.
"Baby are you sure?" he asks sincerely, not wanting to take advantage of her. Christina looks into his eyes, and she sees nothing but love and sincerity, not the dark emotionless eyes that had taken over when she'd moved out. She felt the connection that had been missing between them.
"Please, I need you" Christina breathes out pulling him close to her again.
The two frantically remove the rest of their clothing and smile at each other the entire time. Uriah wants to worship her body and kiss all the places he loved and missed but Christina wasn't having any of it. He reaches between her legs rubbing her clit with slow circles with his thumb and she leaned back on the bar with her elbows. Christina was putty in his hands as she watched, she could feel herself flush as his eyes devoured her while making sure she was ready for him. He pulls her down to wrap herself around him again so he can sheath himself inside her.
"Oh God" Christina moans as the feeling of him filling her and she reached for one hand to grip the bar.
"I missed you" Uriah grunts as he thrust slowly leaning Christina against the bar for better leverage.
"Baby, I missed you so much," Christina says as she clutches him, digging her heels into his butt.
They move like that, slowly and Uriah pulls back to look into Christina's eyes. Christina marveled at how strong Uriah was, holding them up in this position as they slowly made love. She felt her body tremble as he never broke their eye contact, she felt like their souls were connected and it was the feeling that she missed.
"I love you; I never want to be apart from you again" Uriah grunts as he sets her on a barstool.
"I love you too, with all my heart," Christina gasps. Uriah pulls back just enough to look deep into her eyes again. Christina trembles as she looks at him and she gasps when her orgasm rips through her.
"Uriah!" she calls as she bucks against him. He never breaks eye contact, shuddering as he lets go too. Christina pulls him down for a kiss and they stay there like that for a moment soaking everything in.
"And here I was hoping I would feel accomplished if you agreed to have dinner with me" Uriah chuckles when he finally pulls away to get dressed.
Christina throws her head back in a laugh playfully shoving him.
"Well, I expect dinner," she tells him with a cheeky tone.
He grins while he buttons his pants and pulls her close leaning down to give her a kiss. His heart was full, and he wasn't going to waste this second chance he had with her or his family.
Tris rolls over and snuggles up to Tobias. The alarm to get up for shift hadn't gone off yet and she was going to enjoy the last few moments of quiet before they had to get up and get the day started. The past nine months with him had been magical, more magical than she could have ever imagined.
"You want to grab breakfast before shift?" Tobias asks in a sleepy voice as he reaches for his phone to turn off the alarm.
"Yeah, I need to grab some things from my place though, so I better get up and get moving" Tris sits up and wraps the blanket from the bed around her naked body.
Tobias thinks about it for a moment and decides to be brave and bring up what had been on his mind. He sits up leaning on one elbow watching Tris as she stretches and leans over to check her phone.
"Move in with me" he blurts out.
Tris twists around so she can see him but still with a smile on her face.
"What?" Tris asks with a curious look.
"Why do we have two places? We've spent every night together when we aren't on shift. Why are we wasting money paying rent at two places?"
"So, you want us to move in together to save money?" she says scrunching her nose up and twisting her head deep in thought. Christina had moved back in with Uriah a few weeks ago and Tris was beyond elated for her best friend, but she couldn't pretend that the thought hadn't crossed her mind.
"No, I mean, yes but Tris, I love you, I'm in this, I love going to bed with you and waking up to you every morning, I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want it to stop. I know we haven't really been official that long and we've been kind of moving fast but I just…" Tobias sighs, stumbling over his words and rambling trying to find the right thing to say.
Tris smiles big and leans over to give him a slow kiss and then leans back a little to look at him. He looked like a little boy, the hopeful look on his face.
"My home is where you are" she whispers.
Tobias pulls her down and she giggles as he wraps his arms around her squeezing tight and pressing kisses all over her face.
