Caleb arrived with Tris' clothes and a container of her favorite ice cream.
"Okay, Duchess," Caleb greeted his sister, "who are those people, and what have you done with our parents? 'Take this luggage to your sister so she can sleep over at her boyfriend's' is right up there with 'I need you to kill a man' on the list of things I never thought Mom would say."
"She hasn't asked you to kill someone yet?" Tris asked, teasing her big brother.
"Never send an Erudite to do a Dauntless job," Eric said, and he and Tris high fived.
"Big talk for a former nose," Caleb said smartly.
"You were Erudite?" Tris asked.
"You didn't know that?" Caleb asked. "What do you two talk abou… Never mind; I don't want to know."
"Did Mom show you the video of Ava's new trick?" Tris asked Caleb, eager to change the subject before it went any further.
"No," Caleb said. "I just got home from work and she sent me to valet your luggage over here. What is my niece doing now?"
Eric proudly showed the video to Caleb while Tris scooped ice cream into bowls for the three of them.
"Ava really loves you," Caleb said as Tris handed him his bowl.
"She's the only mother Ava has known," Eric said, watching Tris' reaction to his words. "They've been together since day one."
"Except for that miserable three weeks you kept us apart," Tris added.
"Have you seen that video?" Eric asked Caleb.
"What video?" Caleb asked around a mouthful.
"The reunion," Eric said, reaching across Tris to hand his phone to Caleb.
Tris leaned into Eric, who wrapped one of his strong arms around her shoulders and nuzzled his face in her neck.
"Our reunion was incredible too," he whispered in her ear. "That was the day you agreed to go out with me."
"Mmm," Tris agreed, shivering as Eric kissed her neck, his lips cold from the ice cream.
"Damn," Caleb said in a thick voice when the video ended. "Ava was what, four months old? And she hadn't seen you in three weeks? That's incredible."
"Mom and I think it's connected to the trauma of her abandonment," Tris said.
"When I first brought her home, Natalie had to bring me one of Tris' pillowcases," Eric said. "I couldn't get Ava to settle down. She just looked around for Tris and cried. She was so little but so furious. It's funny now, but at the time I felt so helpless. Thank God for your mother."
"She's well-adjusted and happy now," Tris said. "Eric is doing a great job with her."
"Having you back in her life helps a lot," Eric said, kissing Tris' temple.
"Okay, you're both awesome and cute and whatever; don't make me barf," Caleb said, making a sick face at his sister and her boyfriend.
"I still want to know how you got Mom and Dad on board with this sleepover," Caleb said.
"I think they're just adjusting to us growing up," Tris said. "You left for college and had a great first year. Dad is looking forward to getting elected and moving to Washington or having Mom with him in Springfield more often."
"Plus, they see Tris' maturity with Ava," Eric added. "And we were really open with them for the last couple months. They knew we wanted to be together, and they appreciated the way we kept our distance until graduation."
"As confirmed by a lie detector test," Caleb said. "I still can't believe they did that to you."
"Max and I talked about that," Eric said. "He sat me down on Friday and apologized for the invasion of privacy. If Tris hadn't been the top graduate in Dauntless, or if they hadn't wanted to keep me on staff so badly, they probably would have taken our word for it and just not renewed me for next year. He assured me that only he, Harrison, and the technician who helped with the machine saw the test. Max has video in case accusations come up, but it's not being shown to the other staff or anyone else. In fact, I haven't seen it. Max offered, but I told him that it was Tris on the video, not me, so he had to talk to her about that. Plus, I'm afraid it would just piss me off."
"I still don't like it," Caleb said. "You should have had a choice in the matter. If they had asked you to take a polygraph, sure. Tell the truth and clear your names. But by making it part of your final test, you weren't given a choice. They wore you out physically, then locked you in an underground room where you had no idea where you were, and told you that the only way to pass was to take the test. On top of that, they kept you much longer than anyone expected, and you had no way to contact us. We were worried sick!"
"Caleb," Tris soothed, putting a hand on her brother's arm. "In Dauntless we learn to follow orders. We expect it to be tough, but we know our leaders will keep us safe. If I had refused to take that test, I might have lost the top rank I didn't even know I was getting, but Max or Harrison would have led me to the elevator, sent me home, and let me graduate. I was never afraid for my safety or of being denied the diploma I had earned. But I also knew that refusing the test would open an investigation into Eric's conduct. We had nothing to hide, so I didn't see the point of dragging things out or damaging Eric's career. I wanted to put it behind us so we could move forward together. Yes, it was frustrating and embarrassing. Yes, it went on too long and caused unnecessary anxiety for all of you. But it's over."
"I see your point," Caleb said reluctantly as he stood up from the couch. "I'm going to get going. It's getting late and I don't want to be the third wheel at your little sleepover."
Tris stood too, and wrapped her arms around Caleb. "I love you, Bub-bub," she said, using a childhood nickname from when she was too young to pronounce his name.
"I love you too, Bumble Bea," Caleb said as he gingerly returned the hug.
Once Caleb was gone, Eric suggested a soak in the tub for Tris' sore muscles. He locked up the house and put away the ice cream dishes, then the two of them walked upstairs, Eric insisting on carrying the bag of Tris' things.
"I had my mom send a bathing suit," she said, blushing slightly. "I feel better this evening, but I was afraid I would need help getting in our out of the bath."
"That was smart," Eric said. "Why don't I go in the bathroom and start the tub, and you can come in when you're dressed."
Eric grabbed something from his dresser, then planted a kiss on the tip of Tris' nose before stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door. Tris heard the water running as she dug through her bag.
Natalie had packed Tris' favorite bathing suit. It was a two-piece, but not as revealing as a bikini. The bottoms were athletic in style, black with white polka dots. The top was shaped like a cropped camisole with a ruffle detail at the modest cleavage, and it was white with black polka dots. Tris liked it because it felt cute and flirty without being too revealing. She could swim in it or play on the beach without being uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, the cropped top did reveal her bruised ribs. While Natalie's comment about the bruises being "so black you can't see her tattoo" had been a wild exaggeration, Tris' midsection did look pretty rough.
"Eric?" Tris called through the bathroom door.
"You can come in," he called back to her.
Tris cracked open the door and peeked inside. The bathtub was nearly filled, and Eric was sitting on the edge of it in a pair of shorts and his t-shirt. The bathroom smelled like lavender, and it soothed her slightly.
"Be nice," she warned Eric. "My suit doesn't cover the bruises."
"Come in here, Beautiful," he said. "I won't bite."
Tris opened the bathroom door fully, and stepped inside. Eric was careful to keep his eyes on Tris' face, and he smiled as she stepped closer. When she was within arm's reach, Eric put his hands on Tris' hips and drew her closer still.
"I love you," he said, staring into her eyes.
"I love you, too," Tris said.
Eric could still hear nervousness in her voice. He smiled at her reassuringly, and leaned forward to kiss a bruise on Tris' torso. He kept his hands still on her hips and continued placing soft open-mouth kisses on each patch of bruising and on her belly button.
"I'd like to lick my way up that tattoo on your side," he said, his voice tinged with lust, "but I think I'd better stop."
Tris shivered, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Eric stood up and offered her a hand getting into the bath.
"The water smells good," Tris said in a dreamy voice as she relaxed in the warmth.
"Lavender Epsom salt," Eric explained. "It's good for muscle soreness."
"Mmm," Tris moaned.
"Do you, um, should I leave?" Eric asked.
"No," Tris said, her eyes popping open. "I mean, I'm fine if you have things to do or whatever, but I do like having you here."
"I like being here," Eric said as he brushed a damp strand of hair off Tris' face.
They sat quietly for a few minutes, the gentle splash of the bathwater the only sound in the house.
"The number you asked about earlier is eight," Eric said quietly. "I've slept with eight women."
Tris was as still as could be while she waited to see if he would say anything else. Eight women by the age of twenty-one seemed like a lot to her. She believed that sex and love should go together, and she had never been in love before Eric. She wondered how many of the eight he had been in love with.
"Are you upset?" he asked.
"To some people, eight is a lot," she said. "For others, it's a slow weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It gives me a lot of questions, though."
"Like what?" Eric prompted.
"Things you might think are dumb. Things that are none of my business. Things I'm not sure I actually want to know the answers to."
"You can ask me anything," Eric said gently. "I won't laugh or get mad."
"Do you, um, do you have other children?" Tris asked.
"No," Eric assured her. "There were no other pregnancies, either. No abortions, miscarriages, or other children."
Tris only nodded in response, but Eric could see the thoughts churning in her mind as she chewed on her lip and looked anywhere but at his face.
"Are you uncomfortable?" he asked. "Should I leave now?"
Tris shook her head. "Are you, like, clean? Have you been tested?"
"I've always been good about using protection," Eric said.
"But, Ava," Tris interrupted.
"Condoms aren't perfect," Eric said. "One in a thousand fail, and that's without user error."
"A thousand!" Tris exclaimed, sitting upright.
"No, no, no," Eric said, trying to halt Tris' panic. "It's not like you hit time one thousand and that one fails. More like out of every thousand, one will fail. It could be the first one, or the tenth, or the seven hundredth."
"Seven hundred," Tris mumbled.
"No, Duchess. I can see you freaking out in your head, so let me be blunt. I lost my virginity the summer before ninth grade. I was fourteen and stupid. My friend's cousin was visiting for the summer. She was sixteen and I thought she was cool. We were in my friend's treehouse. It was over way too quick, which was embarrassing. She laughed at me, so I avoided her for the rest of the summer.
"The second girl was a high school girlfriend. We had sex a couple times - the stereotypical back-seat-of-the-car or parents-are-out-of-town hookups. She moved after tenth grade, and we had nothing in common anyway, so we broke up.
"Girl three was a summer romance thing. We met on vacation. We texted and emailed a few times that fall, but we didn't really know each other.
"After her came some party hookups during my first year of college. I was eighteen or nineteen and I had a fake ID. Some of my friends were in a frat, and we partied too much.
"The seventh girl was a college girlfriend. We were only together for a few months.
"The last one was Melinda. We got together right before my parents died. She was there for me when I needed someone. She was a former addict, and she needed me, too. We started drifting apart when she started hanging out with her old friends again.
"Last spring we had too much fun one night and got careless. About a month later she found out she was pregnant. She didn't tell me until we were at a Fourth of July barbecue and she wasn't drinking. When I asked why she wasn't drinking, she caused a big scene and yelled at me in front of our friends. I didn't see her for a few weeks after that.
"Factions offered me the student teaching spot, and I started in August. Melinda came back, and I tried to support her. She kept pushing me away. One day she would talk about moving in together, and the next day she would talk about having an abortion. I never knew which Melinda I was going to get from day-to-day. She was unstable. Then in October, she announced that she was done with me, and she was gone. You know the rest."
Tris nodded mutely, absorbing everything Eric said.
"So eight different women," she said. Eric nodded. "And not a thousand different times."
"Probably not even a hundred," Eric said.
"But have you been tested?" Tris returned to the original question.
"Yes," he assured her. "I've been tested, and I'm clean."
The bath water was getting cool by this point, so Tris asked to get out. Eric got her a fluffy towel and helped her out of the tub. He wrapped her up and held her close to his body. She was quiet, and it worried him.
"Are you tired?" he asked, but Tris just shrugged.
He stood there waiting for Tris to make a move or say something, holding her as long as he could. Their relationship was brand new, and Eric worried that his sexual past was one piece of baggage too much.
The longer they stood there, the more he convinced himself that he wasn't good enough for Tris. She was so pure and innocent. She was beautiful and smart. She had a great family behind her, and a limitless future in front of her. In Eric's mind, she should be some successful, adoring man's one and only, not a high school trainer's ninth lover and the step-mom to his baby.
I need to get out of this wet bathing suit," Tris said, but she didn't move.
Eric nodded, then walked her into the master bedroom. "You get dressed," he said. "I'll get you some water, Tylenol, and an ice pack."
Tris nodded and began digging through her bag. Once she was changed, she took her swimming suit into the bathroom and hung it up. She brushed out her long hair and put it back in a loose braid for the night. She looked at all the photos that Eric had taped to the frame of his large family portrait. She waited and waited, but Eric didn't return.
Eric's absence worried Tris. She knew that he was feeling bad about his past. She wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't say that it didn't matter, because it did. She couldn't say that she didn't care who he had been with or what he had done, because she did. She worried about Eric's past because she felt inadequate in the face of his experience. She had no idea what kind of expectations he had or if she could live up to them. She didn't know what kind of attachment or affections he held onto in his memory. She didn't know what those other women had looked like, or how she was supposed to keep the attention of a man who had a variety of experiences and partners to compare her to.
Tris crept quietly down the stairs and into the living room. She saw Eric in the kitchen, standing by the sink. His hands gripped the countertop, and his back was tense, but his head hung.
She tiptoed across the room until she was standing behind him, then placed a small hand on his broad back. "I understand if you don't want to settle for me," Tris said softly. "I know I'm plain, and inexperienced, and not very exciting."
Hearing Tris' self-doubt, Eric turned to face her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You don't understand," he said urgently. "You deserve someone as pure and good as you are, not a damaged nobody like me. Your life is just beginning; I shouldn't be weighing you down with my baggage."
"What are we doing?" Tris sighed, shaking her head. "I love you, and you said you love me t-"
"I do love you," Eric interrupted, his voice insistent.
"Then why are we looking for reasons to push each other away?"
Eric absorbed Tris' question for one second, then crashed his lips into hers in a searing kiss. Tris' hands wrapped around Eric's shoulders and her fingers wound into his hair as she pressed her chest into his. Eric's hands found purchase on Tris' hips, and when she moaned, he slid his tongue into her mouth.
"I love you so much it terrifies me," Eric admitted as he pulled away. "I'm afraid some day you'll wake up and realize that you deserve better. You have the power to break me, and I don't know how I would survive."
"You won't have to find out," Tris promised. "I'm yours as long as you'll have me."
"Let's get you to bed," Eric said, kissing Tris again.
"Only if you'll share the bed," she said. "You'll have to start wearing down all this innocence."
Eric laughed. "Duchess, I very much look forward to corrupting you, and worshiping every inch of your body, too. But tonight is just sleep."