AN: Thank you for the reviews and follows. Trigger warning, slight mentions of attempted suicide this chapter. Only one chapter left, then the epilogue, so this story will finish up this week. I'm still thinking of starting a version of this in Eric's POV, so stay tuned for that. I hope you enjoy.

We have breakfast at the restaurant connected to the hotel before I get behind the wheel to begin today's travels. I've not said a word to either Eric or Tobias, but I found an axe and knife throwing range that is on the route we are taking to our next overnight stop, and I plan on stopping so we can blow off some steam. Eric sits up front with me, turned slightly in his seat so he can talk to Tobias, and he rests a hand on mine on the center console as the miles pass by. I can see a friendship blossoming, and even better I can see the bond that is typical between brothers starting to form.

Marcus was an awful human being, and between the two women who birthed his children neither Eric nor Tobias had any type of loving parental figure, but somehow they both matured into loving family men. It apparent in hearing Tobias talk about Christina that the two of them are deeply in love, and he adores the family they've built. It's also obvious in Eric's interactions with our son, and his wishes to expand our family as well.

I exit the highway under the guise of stopping for gas, but when I pull into the parking lot of the range the teenagers I remember from Dauntless seem to come out in both men.

"No fucking way." Tobias says as we're walking towards the range. He pays our admission, after protest from Eric, where he learns that Tobias was also a recipient of the hero fund, and once we have chosen our weapons of choice we take our places side by side in the range.

I get lost in the familiar sensation of the weight of a throwing knife in my hand. Just like I did back in Dauntless, I practice my form without the knife, and then pick it up and practice without ever letting it go. The cold steel feels like home, and I go through the motions imagining we're in a musty and dark room, training back in Dauntless.

It's times like these that I miss it.

I line up with the target, breathe in, perfect my motion and release. It hits, right outside of bulls eye.

"You can do better than that." Eric rumbles from behind me, in the same pissed off tone of voice that he seemed to reserve for our training class.

I glance over at his target and see several sticks, but none as close as mine, "Seems like you're the one who can do better, sir." I reply sassily.

Tobias laughs on the other side of Eric, and I see he's hit almost dead center with all of his throws, "Show off!" I yell and Eric chuckles.

"It's a little unfair, it's not like I've been allowed sharp objects for the past ten years." Eric argues.

"I guess staying in Dauntless gives me a slight advantage," Tobias grins, and scratches his eyebrow with the knife tip.

Eric grabs an axe and throws it at his target, hitting dead center on his first attempt.

"Whoa…" Tobias says and both of us look on in awe as Eric removes and repeats his motion, almost hitting the same exact spot with every throw.

Tobias tries to hit his own target, but the axe thunks off every time, "What the hell am I doing wrong?"

"He's got a good forty pounds of muscle on you." I remark, gesturing towards Eric.

"You are freakishly huge." Tobias looks at Eric, "What the hell did they feed you in prison?"

"Former initiates." He says with a smirk, "I had a good eighteen hours a day stuck in a cell sometimes, I worked out a lot."

"Fuck. Eighteen hours?" He asks and Eric nods, "I don't know how you did it."

"There were some dark times for sure." Eric says as he throws another axe at the target, sticking it again. He pulls his long hair down from the bun and then ties it up again, tighter, "Sometimes I wasn't allowed to leave the cell at all."

"Why?" Tobias asks and when Eric doesn't answer he looks at me for support. I just shake my head once, then trail my eyes over to Eric. He opened up to me about his prison experiences, but I'm not sure how he feels about Tobias broaching that subject with him yet.

"People didn't like me much." Eric says finally. His hand traces the scar on his neck, something I am very familiar with, but Tobias' eyes widen.

"That was from the train, right?" He asks carefully.

"Yeah. A parting gift from Jeanine, but it was a target during fights when I first got locked up."

Tobias' eyes meet mine and I shake my head again. I've never told Eric about Evelyn's admission, I couldn't because of doctor/patient confidentiality. I can see the gears turning in Tobias' head and Eric turns to face him.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"Tris…" Tobias says. He's trying to find out how to handle Eric's questions, and there's no way I can answer this in front of Eric.

Eric looks from me to Tobias and then back to me, "You two aren't telling me something."

"She can't, because she treats my mother, but I can." Tobias says. I nod my head once and he continues, "Jeanine didn't send them, Evelyn did." He says and Eric sways slightly, but remains standing.

"How do you know this?" Eric asks.

"She told me." Tobias replies.

Eric turns to me, "And you knew." He states evenly and I nod.

"Yes." I feel a tear trailing down my face and Eric wipes it away with his thumb.

"Don't cry. You couldn't tell me. It's okay." He says quietly and I nod my head. He presses his lips to my forehead before he turns to Tobias again, "I'd heard rumors that you turned her in."

"The rumors are true." He replies.

"Why?" Eric retorts.

"I thought at first my mother was fighting for the betterment of her people, the factionless, but I was wrong. Just like Jeanine, she wanted power, and she fought for greed. Her sending those men to kill you was her way of getting back at Marcus for cheating on their marriage." Tobias explains, "She was no better than Jeanine, and the only reason she wanted me in her life was to help her win the war."

"The same as Jeanine with me." Eric replies stoically.

"Yeah. It took that for me to understand Jeanine's hold on you. I'm sorry, man." Tobias says quietly to Eric.

Eric says nothing, pacing back and forth while holding an axe, and I can tell he's stewing. For a minute I'm terrified he's going to lash out.

"We won the parental lottery with those three, didn't we?" Eric finally asks, cutting through the tension and Tobias barks in laughter. I can finally let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding, and Eric hands me the axe.

"I've never done this before." I argue.

"You can't do any worse than him." He says before playfully tugging at my ponytail. I throw the axe at the target and it falls to the ground with a thunk.

"Eric, can I ask you something?" Tobias says a few seconds later.

"Yeah." Eric agrees.

"What went through your mind that day on the train?" He asks.

Eric scowls, but he answers "I foolishly thought if we made it to the train, we'd be okay. I did the sweep of the two connected cars, they were empty. We had purposely selected one of those cars that only had one connection. I should have armed Tris, that should have been my first move as soon as we boarded. I just wasn't thinking straight, and after we cleared the cars she needed a second. We let our guard down for just seconds it seemed, and they jumped on. I didn't have time to even think of reacting, so all I could do was think about her. I told her to run."

"You held them off long enough to save her." Tobias adds.

"Yeah. I wasn't ready to lose her either." He replies before throwing another axe and hitting the target. Tobias just watches him for several seconds, and I can see he wants to say more, but he picks up his own axe and throws it towards his target. We continue to throw for about another hour, and when Tobias excuses himself to take a phone call from his wife Eric drops down on the wooden bench next to me.

"I bet you regretted bringing us here for a minute there, didn't you?" He asks with a grin and I wrinkle my brow at him, "Weapons, serious conversations, two man children who couldn't ever put their bullshit aside and get along…" He trails off.

"I had a moment of regret, but the two of you behaved rather nicely," I grin back at him, "I'm proud of you."

"You keep saying that." He says as his eyes drop to the gravel beneath our feet.

"You keep doing things to make me proud, it's kind of your fault." I nudge his knee with mine and I see him smile briefly, "What's going through that head of yours, babe?" I ask.

"I'm glad you're here. I couldn't do this with him without you." He says.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be." I press a kiss to his shoulder before resting my head there.

"If Johanna hadn't assigned you to my case, would you have ever tried to see me again?" He asks.

"Had your case been assigned to anyone else, I'm not sure what would have happened with you. I've always wanted to see you. I've always wanted you out of there, but you needed to want it too." I answer honestly.

"You sure you never got a Candor result?" Eric asks and I can feel him chuckling against me.

"Nope, but as I've gotten older I've found that honesty is usually the best policy." I reply.

"Usually?" He asks.

"I sometimes keep details from Miles, because it would only hurt him. For instance, he knew I was coming here to support you, but not the seriousness of your charges." I explain.

"That makes sense. I have some things to learn about this whole parenting thing." He sighs.

I pull away from him so I can face him, "Hey, you're doing great with this whole parenting thing. There's no training manual, you just do the best you can. Our son is healthy, happy, well provided for and well adjusted. That's what matters. He has a family who loves him, and now he's excited to meet his new cousins. Life is good for Miles."

Later that day, once we've finally settled in to our second hotel stop of the trip, Eric and I are sharing a different type of intimacy.

We're both sitting on the bed in towels after our shower, yet this time we're across from each other. I have my feet in his lap, and he is carefully painting my toenails. His long hair is pulled back in a complicated French braid that he had allowed me to test my skills on, and during that process he decided I needed a new pedicure.

So here we are.

He's taking his task seriously, his brow is furrowed and he's slowly moving the tiny paintbrush across my nails, careful to not hit my skin.

"I don't know how you do this all the time. This is tedious." He grumbles as he grabs my pinky toe.

"I can take over," I offer and he scoffs.

"It's personal now." He replies and I shake my head and grin at him, "Besides, it's practice if we ever have a daughter."

"You're still thinking about fostering or adopting?" I ask and he nods.

"Would that be okay with you, down the line at some point?" He asks.

"I'd like that, very much. Miles has always wanted siblings."

"You once said that was a difference of opinion with you and Jack." He says quietly.

"It was. Jack wanted to have children, and I didn't. It's not because I didn't want more children, it's just that something was disconnected between him and me. I later realized that the feelings I had for him were those of friendship."

"He's really good with Miles. I saw that myself during our family visits, and earlier tonight on FaceTime he seemed so content to be there with Jack and Corena." He replies.

"I actually called Jack earlier just to make sure it wasn't too much to have Miles there, and he insisted it wasn't. He said Corena has been planning activities to include him, I just don't know how we got so lucky to have someone like him in our life."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, you're incredible Tris." He says as he fans my nails dry, "You've cultivated these lasting relationships. You've given our son a family that he desperately needed. You've loved me, even when I made it incredibly hard for you to do so. You made sure our son loved me too, even when I made that impossible too."

"Eric…"

"Tris, you've done so much for me without knowing if it would ever work out." He argues.

"I had faith in you. I knew that one day you would be ready to leave prison. I believed that one day you'd be ready to let all of that self-hate and anger go. I believed that you would love our son the way he loves you."

"And if I didn't?"

"Then I would love him enough for both of us, and continue to raise him to believe that the burdens that we carry as adults were never his fault." I reply.

"I know we didn't plan on having him, or even being together, but I couldn't have picked a better person to raise children with Tris. I love you so much."

"I love you too, and even though neither of us ever planned this type of future for us, I'm so happy to be here with you."

"Sitting in damp towels in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere?" He asks with a smirk.

"The towels are totally optional." I reply as I open my towel and let it fall to the bed beside me.

"You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen." He whispers. He discards his own towel and crawls up the bed closer to me. He traces his finger across one of the many scars on my body, "Where did this come from?"

I look down at the scar on my lower left torso, "That was a bullet graze wound from the war. I have one here on my shoulder too." I turn to show him my shoulder, and he presses a kiss to the puckered scar.

"This one was more than a graze," He says and I nod, "Who treated it?"

"After everything went down in Abnegation, Tobias and I hid out in Candor. Tori actually removed the bullet from my shoulder, and we treated it there in Candor. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but I lived." I shrug.

"This one?" He asks about the strange circular pattern on my upper arm.

"That was from the disc thing they shot into us in Candor." I reply.

"This?" He presses his lips to several scars on my left arm.

"The restraints that were used in Erudite." I reply quietly.

He lays his head on my lap and I trace my fingers across the scar on his neck.

"You know about that one, the train, and it got opened up a couple more times in prison." He replies as he looks up at me. I trace my fingers across the slight scars from his dermal piercings, "Those had to come out when I got locked up, same with my gauges. Since my ears weren't too stretched, those healed up."

I trace my hands across the various scars on his chest, "Prison fights, and you'd be amazed as to what they can use to make weapons." He shakes his head.

I've noticed the faint scars on his wrists, and even had asked Hector about them months ago. Hector had said that anything was possible in prison, but mental health crisis's and suicide attempts were usually kept quiet in prison in order for them to cover their own asses.

I decide it's time to ask Eric. I tug at his arm until he moves his hand up. He tries to grasp my hand, but instead I turn his arm so the scars are visible, "And these?"

"You already know." He says without making eye contact.

"When?" I ask.

"In Chicago, after all the shit with Peter. I tried once, didn't succeed. They put me in solitary, then eventually shipped me out." He replies.

"You never got any type of mental health counseling, did you?" I ask and he shakes his head, "Why did you refuse Jason, the guy from Jo's team that was sent out for your first parole?"

"I had been taught my whole life just to man up. Jeanine was nothing like a typical Erudite. She didn't celebrate every part of the mind like a true Erudite would, especially when it came to me. Maybe she suspected at a young age that I was divergent, or maybe she thought I was just soft, either way if I tried to talk about how I was feeling, I was just dismissed. I don't know Tris. Most of my life I just suppressed everything, and some dude coming in who didn't know me personally and wanted to dissect my life based on what someone else had told him about me just pissed me off." He says.

"You weren't ready." I add and he nods.

"I wasn't ready when you showed up, either. I think that was apparent, but we figured it out." He turns onto his side, and presses a kiss to my inner thigh, "I like naked therapy. Can we keep this up?"

"I think so." I smile softly at him.

When he moves and wraps his lips around one of my nipples, I run my nails across his scalp the way I know that he likes. He takes his time, alternating between massaging my breasts or kissing and sucking on them.

"Tris… can we try something?" He asks.

"What do you want to try?" I ask.

"Consent. I give you consent to do anything you want, can we try?" He asks. He's moving off of my body and lays on his back.

"If anything bothers you, I need you to tell me." I reply.

"I trust you."

I turn to face him, laying propped up on my side. I run my short nails up and down his muscular chest and abs. I press my lips softly to his chest, flicking his nipple with my tongue and I move and kiss my way up to his neck.

"You smell amazing." I whisper as I kiss the scar on his neck.

I move so I am straddling him, and I can feel his erection pressing into my inner thigh. I continue kissing his neck, and then his ear, and finally his lips. When he parts his lips I slip my tongue to his and we kiss slowly.

I move down his body, kissing every inch of his skin on my path down. When I get to his erection, I blow cool air onto it, and trace the veins with my tongue. I look up at him through my lashes and find him watching me, his pupils blown wide with desire.

There's no fear.

We keep eye contact as I take him into my mouth, and I can feel him threading his hands in my hair. I relax, allowing him to guide my head up and down over his large shaft, and I watch as he pants in pleasure.

When I pull away from him, he whimpers but when I move to straddle him again he sighs. I line him up with my entrance and sink slowly onto him, keeping eye contact with him the entire time.

"You feel so good." He murmurs. He moves his hands to my sides and helps to guide me up and down.

He's lost in the moment, and I can tell there's nothing on his mind except the way we feel wrapped around each other right now. He flips our position, and when he sinks inside of me again there's absolutely no hesitation.

I'll never get tired of feeling this connection with him.

We make love long into the night, exploring each other's bodies without fear, and when I wake up the next morning it's to an empty bed with a single daffodil and a note on Eric's pillow.

Went to the gym with Four. You looked entirely too cute to wake up. I'll be up to shower with you before breakfast.

I love you.

Eric

It's early enough for me to catch Miles before school, so I throw on Eric's t-shirt from last night and FaceTime our son.

"Hi mom!" Miles says, "Where's dad?"

"He's working out with your uncle. Are you almost ready for school?" I ask and he nods.

"Yeah. Grampy made some French toast. You've got to learn to make this mom, it's awesome. Oh and last night Corena made chicken parm, but it's nowhere near as good as yours. I didn't want to hurt her feelings though."

"That was very kind of you." I grin at him.

"Where are you, Dad and Uncle Tobias headed to next?"

"Saint Louis, Missouri. We'll stay overnight there, and then the next morning we'll be on our way to Chicago." I reply.

"I can't wait for you guys to come home." He smiles, "Grampy says we have to go to school now. Love you momma."

"Love you too, buddy. We'll talk to you after school."

The drive to Saint Louis is a little hectic, with traffic and rainy weather causing some delays. Tobias and I split driving duty since it was more tedious, but we finally make it there several hours after we had initially expected.

After a late dinner Tobias and I are sitting side by side in two oversized lounge chairs by the pool. Eric is curled up in my chair wrapped around me, his head tucked under my chin, relaxed and fast asleep when Tobias softly speaks to me.

"This trip has been amazing."

I glance over at him, being careful not to disturb Eric, "It has been." I agree.

"He's not who I expected." Tobias gestures towards my sleeping boyfriend, "He's changed. You've somehow calmed him."

"That's him," I argue, "He's worked hard to heal."

"I was apprehensive coming out here to you two. I felt like you and I had made progress after talking in Dauntless, but I had no idea what shape he would be in. I've thought about him a lot over the years, especially as time went on and he remained in prison. I didn't know what kind of mental toll that would take on him."

Eric stirs slightly, but I run my nails across his scalp and through his damp curls and soon he's softly snoring again, "It wasn't easy, but it's not my story to tell. What I can say is he's come a very long way, and I'm so proud of him."

"I'm happy that you're happy, Tris. I mean it. I'm glad that we're here, and that I have a brother in my life, and that you and I have a chance to start over. I missed our friendship." He says.

"Me too." I agree.

"You two seem really good." He remarks.

"We are," I reply softly as I run my short nails through Eric's hair and over his scalp, "In our efforts to keep Eric a part of Miles' life, it kept him on my mind, and in my heart. It was easy for everyone to blame him for his mother's war, but I was there in Erudite with him. He was never the monster people believed he was. He almost died to save me that day on the train."

"I wish he and I could have been on the same team back then." Tobias sighs.

"He said the exact same thing about you." I reply softly and I can see Tobias' eyebrows raise in response.

"Damn." He shakes his head. Tobias' phone rings and it is Christina FaceTiming her husband. He looks over at me, "Want to say hi to her? No pressure."

I nod, and he walks away to answer the call. Within seconds, he's back and has handed the phone to me. She looks amazing, and claims I do as well, and we tentatively speak for the first time in ten years. Much like Tobias and Eric's initial conversation after connecting again, it was mostly safe and surface topics, especially with Eric sleeping soundly against me, but we did exchange numbers and agreed to start texting each other as well.

When we finally made it back to Chicago the next day, I could easily see the progress that had been made between the brothers, and even between Tobias and me as well. Things felt really good when we parted ways, with the two of them sharing a hug and then Tobias hugging me as well. I held onto him for a few seconds longer, thanking him profusely for his help in getting Eric and me home.

For the first time in the entire time I've known Tobias, he actually feels like family.

We promise to start spending more time together, and this time I know we actually mean it. When Eric and I go upstairs he finally takes in our apartment, I can tell he's actually impressed. We're twenty stories up, including the lobby floor, with a huge wraparound balcony that has entrances from both our main living area and our master bedroom. The apartment is a split floor plan, with the owner suite and a small office on the left side, the open kitchen, dining and living areas in the center, and down another hall on the right side are two more bedrooms with a hall bath. Miles currently uses one of the bedrooms as his own, and the other is his playroom.

Eric goes over all of the electronics, I can tell he's amazed by how far technology has come. When he makes his way to the built in shelving in the dining area, he stops in his tracks.

"You have my books." He says in awe.

"I do."

"How...?" He asks as he runs his hand along the spine of each book.

I approach him and carefully wrap my arms around him from behind. He entwines one of our hands, while the other still explores the bookshelf.

"Jack." I say simply and Eric turns to face me, his face twisted in confusion, "He had a subpoena to have all of the contents of Dauntless leaderships apartments packed and sent to Candor as evidence during the trials. He had kept everything preserved in their evidence storage, and when I first went to him regarding my legal rights when I was pregnant with Miles he allowed me to have your personal items. I had shared with him that you were the father of my unborn child, and by that birthright they belonged to Miles."

"He was much more decent than I ever deserved." Eric replies.

"We have your books here, and some of your clothes are in my closet. I didn't keep much as far as the uniforms and stuff was concerned, but some of the things that looked worn and comfortable seemed appropriate. I still have some of your T-shirts that I've slept in for years." I say with a blush.

"My leather jacket?" He asks. I nod.

"Miles has it in his closet. He's been waiting to grow into it."

We are interrupted by the sound of our door touchpad being accessed, and our excited little boy runs into the apartment with Jack on his heels.

Miles jumps directly into his father's arms, and Jack and I both look on happily as we see the moment they were both waiting for - finally being home together. Jack and Eric share a brief hug and whispered words of gratitude before Miles drags his dad back to his playroom and bedroom.

"Thank you for everything." I say to Jack. My emotions are running high and he smiles warmly at me before speaking.

"You never have to thank me. I'm incredibly happy that he's finally home where he belongs."

"Me too."

Later that evening, when Eric and Miles are sprawled out on the floor, working on a new lego set, it finally hits me.

We are finally whole.