AN: Thank you for the reviews!! This is a stronger, more alpha version of Tris and she's proving very fun to edit as I go through the completed draft of this story. Sometimes I get stuck in analysis paralysis, but I'm definitely finding things I thought were okay when I wrote this a couple of years back that likely kept me from publishing it back then. Turning what was meant to be PWP into an actual plot has been fun, but it felt like this version of Tris needed it. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and see you again on Friday.
Her thoughts are heavy as she walks to work that morning. She never thought that Tobias would work so hard to prevent her from being with someone she actually cares about, especially someone who is more than willing to help them expose Jeanine.
She knows that Tobias also carries a heavy burden. Jeanine tasking him with persuading his father to introduce new technology for the aptitude tests was unexpected. Tris learned that Jeanine has no idea that Tobias's strained relationship with his father was due to the abuse he suffered for years, and when Tris tried to gently dissuade her birth mother from forcing their interaction she dismissed her. Her need to find a way to persuade Marcus to do what she wanted overruled what was important to her own birth daughter.
Tris feels that her feelings are often dismissed, and she's tired of it.
She spends her morning with Veronica once she realizes that Tobias has been assigned to work with Tori, and she wasn't yet ready to talk to Eric after that blow up fight this morning. The older woman is a wealth of knowledge about their faction, and while she's nowhere near as intense as Eric or Tori, she's extremely dedicated.
Leadership duties are generally shared, although each leader specializes in one area with a partner leader in the event a back up is needed. Veronica has been Max's backup since joining leadership, and while many would assume she'd be the next in line for leadership once Max has retired, she is fourteen years older than their head leader and has voiced repeatedly she has no intention of taking his place since she plans on being retired long before he would. Veronica may be tough as nails, but she has a warm almost grandmotherly quality that Tris has always been drawn to.
"Why doesn't Tori want head leadership?" Tris asks as they cycle through security footage while investigating a recent stabbing during a fight in their faction.
"The two of you are rather close, she's never told you?" She asks, her dark brown eyes narrowed at the younger girl.
"Nothing more than she just doesn't want it." Tris shrugs.
"Isn't that a good enough reason for you?" She retorts.
"Oh, it is, I just didn't know if there was an assumption that the next head leader has to be male."
Veronica smiles at Tris, her eyes crinkling at the corners, "Chile, you are already seeing how it works around here, huh? This is a man's world and we're just in it. Don't get me wrong, we got diversity, you got a Black man with Max, a Black woman with me, an Asian with Tori, and even you as a woman, but then you got the white boy parade with Harrison, Eric and now Four. You know Harrison was supposed to follow David when he retired, but I give David some credit for bringing a little color on board. Don't get me wrong, Max is smart and back then he deserved it."
"Back then?" Tris asks.
"You are an observant one, aren't you?" She smiles again, "Things have changed a lot since I've been here, Tris. That one you're always working with has definitely made the other leaders uneasy."
"Eric?" She asks and the other woman shakes her head.
"No, he may be a bit too brash, but he's a good one, and I've always pushed Max into grooming him to take his place. This faction needs young blood running it. Now the one I'm talking about you working with is Jeanine. I don't like her and I don't trust her either. I think she's got something on Max. Octavia was messed up with her, and I'm afraid you are gonna be too."
"What do you mean?" Tris presses.
"She's power hungry. I think she's got Max for something too." Veronica answers vaguely, "Don't mind me, I'm an old woman who is suspicious of everyone, just be careful who you trust."
"Are you saying there are leaders I shouldn't trust?" Tris asks and Veronica smiles and blinks her eyes hard, something she's picked up from other leaders that is a signal about the cameras. While there are none inside of the offices, there are now many new ones installed in the wing, including one outside of each leaders office. They may not be able to watch, but the control room can hear everything now, if they're savvy enough.
Tobias always was, and he must have warned Veronica.
"You have good instincts Tris. Trust them." She replies, "So tell me, little lady, what's going on with that young man of yours? I've been working with him a lot lately, and he's smart as a whip, but he's not right for you."
Tris almost chokes on the water she was sipping and Veronica laughs out loud, "I thought someone would have warned you by now that I call them like I see them."
"Oh yeah I've heard that, but you caught me off guard." She replies.
"I like you, Tris. I've told you that before, and I think you're gonna go places in this faction. Now, you don't gotta talk to me about anything you don't want to, but chile I feel like you need someone to talk to that ain't one of your little friends." She replies with the sass Tris has grown to love about the older woman.
"Four and I have been together for a long time." Tris replies while watching the security footage.
"That don't mean you can catch the eye of someone else. A big, brash, and broody man with a hot body, not that your little boy toy ain't hot too but girl Eric is fire."
"Veronica!" Tris exclaims and they both laugh.
"Here's my unsolicited advice, don't let nostalgia rule your life. You and Eric might be on the down low right now but people like me can see it. Y'all ain't just scratching each other's backs if you follow me, y'all is on to something and sometimes you gotta let that lil' puppy love go. That Four is a nice enough young man, but he ain't long for you. He don't talk about you like a man who loves you, he talk about you like a man who likes to be in control. Baby girl, you are a butterfly, you ain't meant to be in no cage."
"Thank you Veronica. You have no idea how much I needed that today." Tris replies.
"Anytime. Now, stop putting off your work by watching boring ass video with me. I'll see you later." She smiles and Tris returns it before leaving her office and heading to her own.
She squints at her computer screen, sighing before rubbing the bridge of her nose in an effort to ward away the headache she can feel coming her way.
"You need glasses." Eric says with a smirk from her doorway.
"I know." She sighs, "Come in."
He closes her office door behind himself before dropping into a chair across her desk, smiling when he thinks of what happened the last time he was sitting in this very chair. He watches as she works, and the way her facial expression changes depending on what she's looking at.
"It's creepy that you're just watching me." She says without making eye contact.
"I'm just waiting for you to finish."
"If you're waiting on me to finish going over the hundreds of open invoices from Erudite you may be waiting for the rest of your life. I shadowed Veronica for awhile this morning, so I'm behind. Speak, I can multitask." She replies.
"Let's go get lunch, and after that I will help you get them done so you're not here all night." He says and she quirks an eyebrow at him. He simply pulls his earlobe, an agreed signal for when he wants to talk to her away from the cameras.
She wants to say no so she can continue to get through the large amount of electronic paperwork she's been tasked with, but she also knows just how unfair that would be to him. They've not spoken since the blow-up argument with Tobias, and it's not due to a lack of effort on Eric's part. Tris needed some time away from both men, and she spent her entire morning working with Veronica in an effort to avoid both of them.
She nods her head in affirmation at Eric and follows him out of her office, walking the familiar path to the leadership apartment wing. When he lets her inside of his apartment, she takes a deep breath before walking inside, and he closes the door behind them.
"What happened after I left?" He asks immediately. She follows him into the kitchen where he begins taking things out of his refrigerator to reheat for their lunch.
"He continued to warn me about you, he tried to justify his actions, the usual." She waves her hand.
"You've been avoiding both of us for the entire morning, are you sure you're okay?" He asks.
She looks at him, deciding to be upfront about Tobias' accusations, "He told me I shouldn't trust you because there's a woman that you're sleeping with in Erudite, one who has had you working for Jeanine behind the scenes this entire time."
Eric's expression turns hard, "That is bullshit-"
"I know." Tris replies.
"You don't believe him?" He asks.
"No. I trust you."
Eric moves so he's standing in front of her, "I don't want you just burying this, Tris. If there's anything we need to talk about to work through this I want to do it."
"Even if I had any doubts about us, which I do not, but say for the sake of this conversation that I did. I don't believe him. I've known Tobias my entire life, I know when he's being dishonest with me. He is a terrible liar, he has Candor as one of his aptitudes and he's never been able to lie properly. I knew he was lying as soon as the accusation left his mouth, and my feelings were further confirmed when he tried to give me answers to the questions I asked afterward." She replies.
"You have no questions for me?" He asks.
"Eric, if there's something you need to tell me about a relationship you're carrying on in Erudite, now is your time." She replies sarcastically and he smiles at her.
"In an effort to be fully transparent in our relationship, I will admit to having slept with Jeanine's former assistant Sarah on several occasions' right after I joined leadership here. She did try to convince me to join Jeanine's cause as well, which likely is why I had the same reaction when I found out about your ties to Jeanine. That's the last time I've had anything to do with her. I occasionally see her when I am in the faction for a meeting, and we have absolutely nothing to do with each other now. Our sexual encounters were just sex, and there was never anything more. It ended years ago." He replies.
"Thank you for your Candor." Tris replies and Eric actually laughs out loud.
"You're the worst." He replies as she wraps her arms around him.
"I am not. I do appreciate you being transparent, but I don't want you to think you have to explain every former encounter to me." She replies.
"I know that I don't have to, but for us to work I need you to always be able to talk to me. If you have questions, I'll answer."
"Candor was one of your results, wasn't it?" She asks.
"My official, unaltered results were Dauntless." He replies and she quirks an eyebrow at him, "However, Amar is who administered my aptitude test, and he said the only people he knew who could manipulate the aptitude test the way I did were those who were positive for all five factions."
"He told me the same thing when he administered mine. The fact that he can tell when someone manipulates it is amazing to me." She remarks.
"Amar is one of the smartest people I know, outside of you." Eric replies, "He's also one of the best."
"Do you think he would work with us, Eric? I know he and George are in a quiet and happy place, but do you think they would help with bringing Jeanine down?" She asks.
"I think it's worth a shot. Whatever we do, whoever we bring into this, I need you to be comfortable with it. This is your plan, and you ultimately have the most to lose."
"We all have a lot to lose, your career, my brother and Tobias are both leaders-"
"She's your mother. She may not have raised you, but I know you love her Tris." He says softly.
"I shouldn't, because she's a terrible person." She sighs, "It's all about control with her. She's been texting me all day to find out if I've fixed things with Tobias, because she's more concerned about keeping him on her side than her own daughter's happiness."
"I don't know how okay I am going to be working with Four with this latest stunt, Tris. He purposely lied to you about me in order to hurt you, and this shit with him going to Jeanine and crying a river about a breakup, it's a lot for me to just keep my cool." Eric says.
"I don't know what's gotten into him, Eric. He's always been a bit paranoid, but this obsession he has with keeping you and I apart is unhealthy and borderline possessive. I know how much he loves my brother, and he desperately wants the two of them to be together, he even tried to tell me that Caleb is the one who told him about you and this purported woman you're working with in Erudite." She replies while shaking her head.
"His erratic behavior is worrying me, Tris. Is he going to be able to be stable enough to see this plan through?" Eric asks.
"We don't exactly have a plan yet, Eric. We literally just have had the three of us in place trying to find ways to slow her down. I joined leadership in order to do just that – slow her down, throw her off of her plans, and maybe establish myself as someone who could be trusted in order to request an audience with Jack Kang. You've been here longer than me, how long do you think I'll need to be in leadership before he takes me seriously?" She stops speaking when she sees the look on Eric's face.
"Tris, you can't accuse a leader of crimes without proof. There are laws in place to prevent false accusations against leadership, a retaliation law as such, it's one of those old laws that needs serious revision but too may seasoned members of leadership keep vetoing any changes to it."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying if you make an accusation against Jeanine without any basis or proof, you are exposing yourself for potential arrest." He says carefully.
He can see her face fall, and the tears he's only seen once before shine in her eyes, "What am I going to do?"
"Not I Tris, we. This isn't your burden alone. I don't care how much credit you want to give to Caleb and Four, they've let you do all of the heavy lifting this entire time. You've got me now, and I think we can gather the evidence we need to bring her down. Let's talk to Amar, through him we can gauge if George would be interested. If we get George, we get Tori. Tris, we can do this."
"Veronica surprised me this morning by showing her hand a bit. She doesn't like Jeanine and I don't think she trusts Max either." Tris offers.
"She's had the same type of conversation with me too. We might be able to bring her in, but we'll have to be careful in how we approach her."
"Eric, this is two more leaders, are you sure Roni or Tori will want anything to do with this?" She asks.
"We'll find out." He replies, "Tris, please eat, knowing you I imagine you've not eaten since yesterday at lunch."
"You'd be correct." She replies before taking a sip of her soup.
Lunch is good, but Tris keeps watching Eric across the table, thinking how domestic this all feels.
"What's up?" He asks when she's been staring too long.
"This is nice, just us, having lunch in your apartment. It's very domestic." She smiles, "Eric, we said a lot this morning before the fight with Tobias, but I feel like a lot is unfinished. Can we continue that?"
"Anything you want, you know this." He replies.
"I know there's a lot of pressure on us right now, with this situation with Erudite, wondering where Tobias's head is in all of this, now having to continue that façade of a relationship to keep things on the up and up with Jeanine. I don't want to lose this in all of that."
"You're not. We're not losing this. We're not going to let anything come between us." He says.
"When Tobias told me that you were sleeping with someone else, I'll admit I was shocked, but the weirdest part of all of it was I never even entertained the possibility of anything he was telling me to be true. I didn't run off to go call Caleb to confirm any of it, I didn't come and angrily accuse you of cheating, I just processed it. I went to Veronica just to get away from everything and everyone for a moment, but even then I wasn't sitting there worrying myself over what he told me. I just worried about you, and how you were going to handle what he had tried to do to us."
"Neither of us know what we're doing when it comes to an actual committed relationship, and this damn sure isn't how I want it to happen but whatever we have to do to get through this we do it. We're going to be together at the end of it all." He shrugs.
"We haven't had sex since we defined our relationship. Is that weird?" She asks and he laughs.
"Sex is a big part of who we've been, but I like what we're building here."
"I do too." She grins at him.
"But, if you're asking me for a quickie before we go back to the office, these dishes can definitely wait." He replies with a sexy grin and she dissolves in a fit of giggles as he picks her up and carries her back to his bed.
"You've really never had sex in your own bed?" She asks.
"I've jerked off in the bed, does that count?" He asks as he watches her undress.
"That's all my beds ever seen too." She giggles and he throws his T-shirt at her.
"I do not want to think about that assholes bed while I'm getting ready to have sex with my girlfriend."
"I was talking about me using my toys while I thought about you." She says as she slides her bra down her arms and drops it to his floor.
"Jesus Christ Tris, I'm going to last all of twenty seconds thinking about that." He growls.
"Make it awesome." She says as he slides inside of her.
"Goddamn it baby, you feel so fucking good." He says as he drops his lips to hers. Their tongues tangle together and she pushes her hips to his.
"You feel so good inside of me Eric, you're so much more than I ever imagined." She breathes out.
She can hear her phone ringing repeatedly, but she doesn't care because all she can do is think of the man who's on top of her now, bringing her so much pleasure and whispering how much he loves her as she falls apart around him.
"I'm sorry babe," he breathes out as he collapses on top of her, "I just couldn't hold back."
"You never have to apologize to me for giving me an orgasm." She giggles before kissing the top of his head, "We do need to get back to work, my phone was ringing off the hook and I do have a ton of invoices to work on."
He looks up at her, his grey eyes hazy and his face softened, "I love you."
They're interrupted by her phone again, and he growls as he moves away to go grab it for her. She appreciates the view of his strong back and naked butt, and she's even happier with watching him walk back to her.
"It's Jeanine." He says and her smile falters as she reaches for the phone.