A little authors note before you dig in:

I have to say a sincere and heartfelt thank you for the wonderful support and response I have gotten from you readers. While I appreciate the enthusiasm that you have all shown me through reviews and direct messages. Please refrain from begging for me to post chapters faster. I do my best to post weekly, or more often, while still trying to keep ahead of the story. I will do my best to keep this pace, but who knows what the new year will bring.

Cheers and be safe!

Chapter 12

TRIS POV -

Thursday after school.

We change into running clothes before leaving school to avoid the public bathroom at the park. The weather is overcast, but the rain should hold off until tonight. Tobias is waiting for me in the hall when I leave the girls locker room.

"You didn't have to wait for me." I say as I shoulder my backpack.

He shrugs and smiles, "I was only here a minute, now we can walk out together. Want me to take your duffle?"

I raise an eyebrow, but hand it over and say thanks. I wonder what has gotten into him today. He sat next to me in Anatomy instead of on the other side of the sink from Will. I don't mind it of course, I like it, but it is a conspicuous change. To distract myself from those thoughts, I ask him where we are going. He never did say this morning.

He just shakes his head and smirks. "It is a surprise. I bet you haven't been there yet, and it is one of my favorite spots in Chicago. I can't wait to see your face."

"My face?" I scoff, "You see my face every day, Tobias."

"No, Tris. I mean, I can't wait to see your face when you see it for the first time."

"See what?" I try one more time after getting settled in the front seat.

"You'll see it when you see it, sneaky." He chuckles and puts my bag in the backseat before getting in the driver side and starting the jeep.

I sit in the passenger seat and say "Fine." cross my arms in a pretend pout, but can't hold it for long. I was never any good at holding grudges. After a couple of minutes I am humming along with the radio and watching the city whiz by. It is too good of a day to even pretend to be mad. I just want to enjoy the afternoon alone with Tobias. It doesn't matter where we are going.

It takes about thirty minutes from school, and we are pulling into the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, "Here?" I ask as Tobias waits in line at the Ranger gate.

"Here." He answers with a smile and nod of his head. He does not elaborate further as we drive into the park. He stops at the small parking area with a sign for the Sag Valley Trailhead. I guess this is it. Tobias walks around to the back of the car and pulls out a small backpack, and suggests that I put my purse under the seat for security. Then offers me his hand.

I just stare at it for a moment, then look back up at him with questions in my eyes. He tilts his head a little to the side and shrugs his shoulders, "I thought it might be nice to just start off having a walk in the woods. With you."

"A walk in the woods? That almost sounds like a date, Tobias." I tease him a little bit, but happily take his hand.

He squeezes my fingers slightly and says, "We have to start somewhere don't we?"

"Yes, we do. I'm sorry, I didn't mean…." my voice trails off as I try to decide how to finish my sentence.

He stops me, "Tris, hang on a second." Tobias turns to face me and takes both my hands in his, "I think that things are awkward because of the way we met; because of our dad's involvement. If I had just met you in Spanish class on the first day of school, neither of us would be feeling hesitant about this right now."

I think about it for a moment and realize he is probably right, but I want to know something. "Why do you feel hesitant?"

"I don't think 'hesitant' is the right word. I just don't like the feeling that my dad is controlling every aspect of my life like it is a huge game of chess."

I don't know what that would feel like. My relationship with my father isn't like that, but I want to understand. I ask him quietly, "Are you here because of your father, Tobias?"

His eyes widen and he hurries to answer, "No, of course not! I am here because I want to spend time with you. I am just saying I wish that Marcus wasn't even an afterthought when it came to being with you." He squeezes my hands when he says 'you' to emphasize it, and it makes me feel better. I don't know where this insecurity comes from.

"Then don't think about him anymore." I say, "It is just you and me here now, and we don't have to be home for a few hours, so show me that place you have been so secretive about all day."

He sighs and looks up the trail. "Alright, it is about a thirty minute walk on this path. It is faster if you run, but you don't have trail shoes, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"If we will be coming here every week, I'll order some." I shrug and look down at my feet.

"You want to come here every week?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, maybe not here exactly, we could try out other trails or parks, but yeah. I want to spend this time with you, as long as you do too. It doesn't matter to me what we do."

"Tris. We have to stop being so polite. Stop tip-toe-ing around the subject, or I think we will both go crazy. Am I right?"

"Yes. You are right."

He nods his head. "I will go first then." He takes a deep breath and we turn to head up the trail, walking side by side. He is still holding my hand and it makes it a little hard to keep pace with him. His strides are longer than mine and I would normally be swinging my arms to help me keep up. "I like you," He says, simply, quietly, "More than I know what to do with, actually. I find myself wanting to do things with you that have never crossed my mind before."

"Really? What things?" I swallow, and hope it wasn't an audible gulp like in the cartoons. I am not afraid of him, but he is older than me, and I am not sure what his expectations are.

He smiles and looks down at his feet as we walk. His ears tinge pink a little and he eventually answers me, "Like wanting to show you this place. Like wanting to hold your hand while we walk there, or down the hall at school. Like wanting to kiss you at your house before you open the door to get out of my car. They may seem like small things to you, but I have never wanted them before, so that makes them big to me."

My stomach is fluttering, thinking about how it would feel if he did kiss me. "Tobias, if we hold hands at school, everyone will think we are together."

"Aren't we? Didn't we both say that we wanted to see where this thing, this feeling between us might lead? How do we find out if we aren't together? I don't want to keep this secret."

"No, I don't want you to be a secret boyfriend." I agree with him, but before I can say anything further, we walk around a stand of trees and the woods just fall away to the most beautiful prairie and view of marshland lake. "OH! Tobias, this is amazing!" I turn and see him grinning so wide I can see his side teeth, they are white and straight just like his front teeth. We stop to just admire the view.

"This is what I wanted you to see, Tris, and your face was even better than I imagined. This winter, when it is grey and miserable, I will remember the look of joy and light on your face in this moment. Thank you for that."

"This is so beautiful! In the city, it is easy to forget what wide open spaces and room to breathe feels like." I murmur quietly.

I move to stand in front of him, so I can lean my back against his chest and take each of his hands in mine then cross them over my abdomen, so he has his arms over top of mine. I didn't even consciously think about what I was doing, but effectively I wrapped his arms around me. His breathing is shallower than I would expect, and I turn my head to look up at his face. He is looking down at me already and our eyes meet. They hold for a moment, before he breaks eye contact and glances at my lips. My lips tingle as if he had touched them, but he is looking at my eyes again. Slowly, as if it all happens in slow-motion, he slouches down a little bit and puts his cheek next to mine, resting his chin on my shoulder as he holds me in his arms. My whole body is warm, despite the nip in the air and the quickly dipping sun. It will be sunset soon, and we haven't run at all - not that I mind just standing here and admiring the view from within his embrace.

"Tobias?" I ask.

"Mmm hmmm?" The vibrations from his hmmed answer tickle my shoulder, where his lips are now. I turn my head to see his eyes are closed. "Do you always watch sunsets with your eyes closed?"

They pop open at that and he raises his head and begins to loosen his arms and then step away from me, "I didn't mean to, I… I am sorry, I got ahead of myself, I think."

I turn around to face him. I don't know what to do with my hands so I place them on his hips, and look up at his face. This way he can't back away from me any more. I look into his beautiful dark blue eyes, that are so worried right now, and I smile. My mind is racing, what should I say right now? I really want to kiss him, but I don't know how to initiate that and shouldn't he kiss me first? He is the boy, and older than me! How do I make him want to kiss me without making a fool of myself? I can't just stand on tip toe and pucker up, that is stupid. I glance at his lips and unknowingly chew gently on my bottom lip. I feel him tense under my hands and look back up at his eyes to ask what happened.

His hands on my shoulders, pull me forward, tug me up against his chest again, and he leans his forehead down to touch mine with it, and just holds me there. "You can't be as innocent as you say you are and do those things with your mouth."

"What are you talking about Tobias? I didn't do anything." Could that breathy voice be mine? What is he doing to me?

"I mean, when you tug on your lip with your teeth it makes me want to kiss you."

"Oh! Well, I…." just at that moment, before I was about to make what would undoubtedly be a stupid remark, he moves his hands from my shoulders to the sides of my face, with his fingers behind my ears and his thumbs so softly on my cheekbones, he leans in and kisses me gently. I can not think. I forget to breathe. All I am aware of is that Tobias Eaton is kissing me in the sunset, in the woods, in a park that makes me feel like we are the last two people on earth. And I like it.

He pulls back slightly, his lips are inches away from mine and I can see his face, "I have no willpower when it comes to you, Tris. I can't keep my mind on school, or homework. I thought of you all weekend when you were away. I despised Will and Al for wanting to be with you, and I had no right to be jealous over you. Until now. Tomorrow, I want to walk into school and let the whole world know we are together. And I want to kiss you again. Kiss my girlfriend again, what do you say?"

Instead of answering him with words, I stand up on my tip-toes and kiss him myself. I let my lips stay on his until I can't keep my balance anymore standing on my toes. I move my hands to his shoulders and he moves his hands from my shoulders to my waist. His hands are big, with long fingers, I bet they almost go all the way around my waist. My mind is wandering, why can't I focus on the kiss? My second kiss deserves my attention, doesn't it? He breaks contact and once again rests his forehead against mine. His hands are warm, and now that it is getting darker, my shoulders, where his hands were before, are cold. I shiver slightly and though my eyes are closed still, I can feel him frown.

"You're cold, Tris. Lets head back to the car."

I step back frown. I don't want to leave yet. I don't want to spoil this moment yet. Tobias swings the backpack around his shoulder to the front to open the zipper. He reaches in and pulls out a zip up hoodie sweatshirt, which he hands me with a small smile, "I thought you might end up cold, so I tossed this in with a couple bottles of water and a snack."

I take the sweatshirt and slide my arms into the sleeves, they are way too long for me and while I am deciding if I should pull up the sleeves or roll them, he surprises me by pulling the hood up over my head and jerking the strings so it tightens around my face and I can't see. He laughs and dodges away a few steps while I try to swipe the hood backwards so I can see again. He grins and taunts me, "Race you back to the car?!" then takes off running.

What on earth just happened? I wonder for a half a heartbeat then everything comes back into focus. Wait, no way is he going to beat me to the car! I take off after him at a sprint.

I am running full tilt when I enter the woods a moment later and I can see him ahead of me before the bend in the trail. I dig in and lengthen my stride, he has a head start but I don't think he has ever seen me sprint. He doesn't know what I am capable of.

I round the bend and run smack into his back, because he stopped. We both go sprawling from the impact, but he turns mid-air and grabs my arms so that I land on top of him instead of on the gravel. We slide to a stop on the trail and the impact knocks the wind out of both of us.

"Tobias!" I pant, "What, on earth, are you doing? You said, race, then, you just stopped?"

"Shhhhhh, Tris!" He whispers, "I know. I am sorry, but I saw a couple ahead and didn't want to interrupt them. I was about to turn and warn you when you flattened me! If coach Samson ever needs another football player to tackle, I am recommending you!"

I almost have my breath back and I am trying to get up, "Let me up Tobias, I'm sure I am squashing you." I can feel the low rumble of his chest, since I am laying on him and look up at his face, he is smiling and looking down at me with a new light in his eyes, I haven't seen before.

He just tightens his arms around me for a moment, holding me tighter than before. "No. First of all, you aren't 'squashing' me. I don't think that is a real word. Second, I kind of like having you in my arms, so I'm going to hold you here and savor it for another minute."

"Seriously, Tobias! What has gotten into you? Are there even people on this trail, or was this a setup to get me in your arms and on the ground?" I tease, but am also curious what his answer will be.

"There really are a couple ahead of us. I rounded the bend and saw him go down on one knee, I assume he is proposing and I wanted to let him have his moment. Bonus, we had a moment of our own."

"Mmm, now that you mention it, you are quite comfortable…" I lay my head down on his chest to see how it would feel and I can hear his heartbeat under my ear. His hands rub lightly up and down my back then stop and rest lightly on my lower back, with his thumbs on my hip bones. He is so warm, I could just sink right into him and stay a while, but it is getting darker by the minute and we really do need to get going. Once my heart rate has slowed to normal, I lift my head and look at his face again. "Tobias, we need to go home."

He tightens his arms around me for a quick squeeze, and says, "I know we do, Tris. I just wanted to make this last as long as possible."

We roll to the side and both get up, he holds his hand out to me again and we walk to the car with fingers interlaced. This time, I don't even have to think about the length of my strides, it feels as natural as anything else in the world.

I never did see anyone else on the trail ahead of us. There is no sign of the newly engaged couple.