I don't own Divergent.

another chapter!

i hope everyone enjoys

warnings: vomiting, mention of death

Finally, after what seemed like decades, Tris was showing.

A lot.

Her baby bump was rounded, and almost impossible to easily hide. She was less than thrilled about that part, especially since we hadn't told anyone but our small group of friends.

And those friends were more than supportive.

Christina, Tris, and Shauna were planning the layout for the nursery, and Zeke and Uriah and Will had offered to help us paint and set the furniture up. Zeke had even bought this little purple stuffed lion, with a bracelet on its leg that read Love you munchkin - Uncle Zeke for us to put in the baby's crib.

But what they didn't know was that we were naming Zeke and Christina the godfather and godmother of the baby. We wanted him or her to be with someone we trusted in case.. something bad happened.

Tris laid back on the couch, caressing her bump. "How am I supposed to hide this anymore?"

"You could wear Four or Zeke's clothes. Maybe even Will or Uriah has a shirt you could use," Christina said. "They'll definitely be big on you, and then we can try to do something from there."

Zeke sat down. "Don't they make fat lady clothes?"

"Maternity clothes, babe," Shauna laughed. "Remind me to never leave you alone with the baby once it's here."

He rolled his eyes. "Close enough."

Christina shrugged. "Well, until we can get you to a clothing store, we need a jacket or something. Four? Do you have a sweater or something?"

I nodded and went into our bedroom to retrieve it.

After a minute of searching, I found a black sweater I wore once or twice during the colder months. It would definitely be too big on her, so it would work. I returned to the living room and handed it to Tris. She shimmied it on over her tank top and grinned.

"There you go!" Shauna grinned. "You just look cold now."

Tris laughed. "I can pretend I have a cold or something. It'll work for a couple more weeks until I'm ready to have everyone know."

She pulled the sweater back off since it was too warm of a day to be wearing one, and everyone here already knew. Zeke put an arm around her shoulders, immediately jumping straight to the question of if we were going to find out the gender, which we were.

Technically, we could've found out at the last ultrasound, but we were waiting. Apparently it would be more accurate once the baby was more developed.

"I think it's a girl," Zeke said, pressing his ear to the bump. "My Zeke-senses say so."

Will snorted. "Your what?"

"My Zeke-senses."

I grinned.

Zeke and I had gotten very drunk one time during our initiation. It had led to not only a horrible hangover, but also to the creation of Zeke-senses. I don't remember exactly how it came about, though I have a certain memory of Zeke in a superhero cape.

He smirked at me, and I couldn't help but do it back. No one missed the interaction. Christina was the first to mention it.

"Is that like an inside joke?" she asked. "Four? Zeke?"

"Alright," Zeke said, crossing his arms. "At the very beginning of our initiation, Four told me he'd never had alcohol, being a stiff and all, so we got very drunk. And Zeke-senses were created."

I grinned. "I remember you running around in a cape, and then Amar locked us in that closet until the alcohol wore off."

Everyone looked back and forth between me and Zeke, almost like they were trying to imagine both of us drunk and Zeke running around in a cape and then us getting locked in a closet. I was tempted to tell the rest of the story, but for both of our sake's, I wouldn't. That could stay between us.

"You really wouldn't trust me with a baby?" Zeke asked, frowning.

Tris cocked her head to the side. "What do you even know about babies, Zeke?"

"Uhm.. they cry a lot.. right?"

I was surprised that Zeke didn't know anything about babies.

That wasn't really his scene.

He was the type of person to go to parties, get hammered, and enjoy every second of the horrible hangover he had the next morning. Babies just weren't his thing, and honestly? They weren't mine either.

I knew about as much as he did about them—they cry and use up a ton of diapers.

I made a mental note to buy one of those baby book things.

"Lee?"

The young Asian girl, sitting in the corner of the room by Luella, tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear and stood. I followed her into the fear landscape room, securely shutting the door behind me.

"What is this?" she asked, voice shaking.

"Take a seat," I asked, keeping my tone gentle. "I'll explain it in a minute."

She carefully scooted into the seat, arms folded across her chest. I saw that she'd made some appearance changes, likely trying to look more Dauntless. Her nose was pierced, her hair cut to her shoulders, and a tattoo—three words written in Latin—was now marked onto the skin of her ribcage.

I grabbed a new vial of the serum. "What does the tattoo say?"

"Oh, uhm, it says I am brave," she said. "I thought it would be fitting since the whole Dauntless thing is bravery. How is the baby?"

I looked over at her, somewhat startled.

She gasped. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't know it was a secret. I just kind of recognized Six's behavior because my mom was pregnant last year. The cold, the glowing skin.. it added up."

"The baby is fine," I smiled. "And if you could keep it to yourself, that would be appreciated."

"What.." she eyed the syringe in my hand. "I have to get a shot? Uhm.. sorry, I'm scared of those things. God. I'm pathetic."

"It's alright, Lee. You won't even feel it."

"What does it do?"

"It's a serum," I explained. "You'll be put in a fear landscape to face your worst fears, and you have to find a way out."

She nodded and wiped her hands on her jeans and closed her eyes, and I took the signal to get it over with. When I pulled the needle away, she took a deep breath and I turned back towards the computer screen. Slowly, an image appeared in front of me.

As the time progressed, I began to realize she was solving all of these as a Divergent would.

I pulled her from the simulation, and deleted all of it. This was incredibly illegal, but I needed to protect her. I wouldn't let her die.

When Lee came around, I walked her out of the room and we went down to a secret hallway with no cameras. No one was around, yet I kept my voice down. She crossed her arms defensively.

"What were your results?" I asked. "What faction did the test say?"

She broke into a sweat.

"Lee, I'm not going to turn you into Erudite. I promise. I want to help you."

"Erudite and Dauntless," she whispered.

"If you want to survive, you need to do things the Dauntless way. When you're facing off against that man in your fear landscape, you find a way to beat him. Alright?"

She nodded.

Tori dragged me from lunch, where I had been having a nice conversation with my friends and wife. The usually calm, cool, and collected Dauntless leader sounded worried—panicked, even. So I went with her.

"What's up?" I asked as soon as we turned the corner.

"You're an idiot!"

"Thank you?"

"Jeanine—oh my God, Four! She's having you investigated! You are on an Erudite watch list!"

"A watch list?"

"I—I have to suspend you, Four," she said. "You can't do initiation until this is over. I'm so sorry—"

My heart sank. "Why am I on a watch list, Tori?"

"She's suspicious of you," she said. "As an instructor, you're in control of what information the Erudite has. Jeanine thinks you're lying to her."

She ran a hand through her hair.

"Harboring Divergents is as illegal as being one. You'd either be factionless, imprisoned, or killed. This is horrible, I know, but I can't say no—"

"Tori, Tris is pregnant, and she won't be able to work for much longer—I can't—"

"You have to. Get yourself off that list."

As she walked away, I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something. God, I couldn't face Tris. But I needed to. I couldn't lie to her, or anyone else. Right now, I was completely unemployed and my life was at risk.

I eventually went back.

"What did she want?" Zeke asked.

I shrugged.

"You are a horrible liar," Christina said. "What did she want?"

I shook my head. "I'll tell you later, alright?"

An hour later, they were at our door.

After I had explained the entire situation, they just sat there. Uriah seemed to have lost interest in his cake. His cake, for God's sake. No one spoke for a long minute.

"Are you, though?" Will asked. "Protecting them?"

"No."

Christina caught my eye, and I knew that she could tell I was lying. I wasn't sure what exactly had given me away—my voice had been completely normal, my body language normal too. However, I was glad she didn't look like she'd tell anyone.

"Then why do they care?" Uriah asked.

"I haven't turned over any Divergents."

"We need to tell my parents," Tris said.

Tris and I hadn't been on the best terms for the past few days.

Tori, being the true leader she was, forced me to turn over one of the Divergent transfers I'd discovered. Her name had been Amory, and she'd been from Amity. To say it was the hardest thing I'd ever done would be an understatement.

I had failed her, and she would have to pay for my choices.

Jeanine had sent me a letter—one personally written by her, saying that she was thankful for the addition to her collection. After reading it, my lunch had come back up. Her collection. To her, Divergents were playthings. Things to experiment on. Objects.

Tris had every right to be pissed with me.

We hadn't really talked for days, and I'd been sleeping on the couch. It was really starting to feel like we were drifting apart. I didn't want that.

"About the baby?"

She snorted. "What else? That you gave up one of our students to protect yourself, Four?"

The name was like a punch in the chest. She rarely used anything other than my real name when we were alone.

"I was protecting us, Tris—"

"You were being selfish!"

"I was being selfish, alright?" I said, standing. "Because I'm a selfish person, Goddamnit! I would rather lose a student than you! Do you not get that, Tris?"

She threw an orange at me. "She was a girl, Tobias!"

"Was?"

"Her obituary was in the paper yesterday. You killed her."

She opened the door, only to reveal Christina and Zeke, both of which looked extraordinarily uncomfortable. Tris shoved past them, leaving the door wide open.

"Uhm.."

I let them in, and Zeke offered me a beer that I accepted almost instantly. My day was going downhill once again.

"She's still mad at you?" Zeke asked.

I nodded. "Pissed. I don't know what the hell to do. Everytime I try to talk to her, she pulls out the you're a murderer card."

"You didn't have a choice, dude."

"She thinks otherwise."

Christina huffed. "I'll go talk to her. And please don't get drunk, Four. It's not gonna make her any happier with you, I swear."

I took another drink out of spite.

She shook her head and left me alone with Zeke, who just smirked and pulled another beer out of his jacket. I knew getting drunk was a bad idea, but really? Tris hated me. She thought I was a murderer. Would this really make her angrier?

By the time Chris returned with Tris, Zeke was completely hammered and I was just a little delusional.

"I told you not to, Four."

I grinned. "No thanks."

The ground swayed beneath my feet, and I doubled over in laughter as I hit the ground—at least I think I hit the ground. Between the chatter and the light, I couldn't really tell what I'd hit.

I woke up to Tris' face, which I smiled at before I puked into the toilet.

We were on the bathroom floor, me being shirtless and her being in her pajamas. She gently rubbed my back as I vomited, which was probably my body's revenge for me getting drunk last night.

"It really wasn't your choice, was it?"

I covered my eyes, and she did the wonderful deed of turning out the lights. "No.. I promise, Tris.. I begged Tori—"

She kissed me, and I sighed happily at the coolness of her skin.

"Chris talked to me," she said. "She explained how upset you were, and when I saw you and Zeke drunk, I think I realized it was all true."

"Wha.. how?"

"You only drink when you need an escape, Tobias."

I couldn't say it wasn't true, mainly because it was the truth. Few problems that I had made me turn to alcohol.

"I won't forgive you, babe," she said. "But I'm not going to hold it against you anymore."

"Thank you.."

"I love you, Tobias."

"I love you too, Beatrice."