Two months later:
"I hate February," Tris grumbled to a classmate as she sat down in her desk. "It's just so cold."
"Tell me about it," the girl said. "And we have so much homework. I need a snow day to get caught up."
The girls laughed and continued chatting as they waited for the professor to arrive.
Tris felt her phone buzz in her pocket and pulled it out. A strange number was displayed on the screen. Probably a sales call, she thought, rolling her eyes as she glanced at the clock and accepted the call.
"Hello," Tris said.
"Is this Beatrice Prior?" a male voice asked.
"This is," Tris said politely.
"Tris, this is Brian Knight from the police department. We met after the break-in at your parent's home?"
"Yes," Tris said, remembering the kind officer even as she began to panic. "Is everything okay? Did someone break in to my parents' house again?"
"Tris," Brian interrupted. "Eric and Ava have been in an accident."
Tris felt the world stop, and she nearly passed out before she remembered to breathe. Her classmate saw the look on her face and grabbed both of their backpacks as she led Tris out of the crowded room.
"They're going to be just fine," Brian assured Tris. "They're at the hospital getting looked at, but they're both fine. Ava seems to be completely unharmed, and they're looking at Eric right now. Can you get down here?"
"Yes," Tris said, almost automatically. "You're at Memorial?"
"Yes," Brian said. "We're at Memorial - in the emergency ward. Drive carefully, Tris. Eric and Ava are fine and Elizabeth and I are here with them."
"Yeah," Tris said distractedly as she hung up.
She looked at her classmate in shock. "I have to go," she said. "My fiance and daughter were in an accident. Brian said they're okay, but I have to go to the hospital."
"I'll tell Dr. Novatny," the girl offered.
"Thank you!" Tris called as she began to run out of the classroom building.
Tris ran all the way across campus and through the parking lot to her car. She tossed her backpack and purse into the passenger seat and, with shaking hands, inserted the key in the ignition.
"It's okay," she said out loud to herself. "Brian said they're okay."
Tris repeated that over and over as she drove to the hospital. She parked in the lot and sprinted to the emergency entrance.
"Eric and Ava Coulter?!" she asked the attendant at the desk.
The woman flipped through some papers and clicked at her computer before looking up at Tris.
"And you are?" the receptionist asked.
"Tris Prior," she replied. "Eric's fiancee."
"Mr. Coulter is still being examined," the receptionist explained. "If you'll just take a seat over there, someone will come and get you when he's ready."
"What about Ava?" Tris asked.
"Are you the child's mother?" the receptionist questioned.
"Y… Well, no," Tris explained. "She doesn't have a mother. She calls me mommy."
"But you haven't adopted the child?" the receptionist asked, eyeing Tris as if judging whether or not she was planning to kidnap the baby.
"I can't," Tris explained with growing desperation. "We're not married yet. I need to see my baby! I need to know she's okay!"
Tris' raised voice got the attention of everyone in the waiting room, and she blushed as they stared at her.
"Ma'am," the receptionist scolded. "I need you to calm down and take a seat in the waiting room. If you cannot control yourself, I will have security escort you out."
"My daughter was in a car accident," Tris growled at the woman, careful to keep her voice quiet.
"I understand," she replied, "and we're taking good care of her. Now go take a seat and someone will be with you shortly."
Tris' mouth hung open, and she stared at the woman for a moment. Utterly defeated, she turned to face the waiting room full of people. There were several doors in the space leading back to treatment areas. Tris didn't know where to go. Then she heard a familiar cry.
"Ma-ma!" Ava's pitiful sob came from the left side of the room.
Tris hurried in that direction and dropped into the chair nearest the hallway where Ava's voice was coming from.
"Ma-ma!" the baby cried again, and Tris began to sob. Her daughter - her baby girl - was just down that hall, and she was scared and possibly hurt. She wanted her mommy, and all Tris could do was sit there and cry along with Ava as she waited.
Tris' phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket to look at it. The caller ID showed the same number that called her at school, so she answered it.
"Brian?" she sobbed into the phone.
"Tris?" Brian asked, and she cold hear Ava wailing over the phone. "Where are you?"
"In the waiting room," Tris said. "They won't let me in."
"What!?" Brian roared, and Tris heard Ava's wailing increase. "I'm coming out there."
The phone line went dead, and just seconds later the large police officer burst into the waiting room.
"Oh Tris," Brian said, his anger softening at the sight of the sobbing young woman. "Come with me."
"I… can't…" Tris sobbed as she broke down completely. "They… won't… let… me…"
"Tris," Brian interrupted. "I'm a police officer. I'll take care of it. Come with me."
Tris nodded and stood up. Brian placed a hand on the small of her back and escorted her down the hall. They followed the sound of Ava's cries to an exam room where Officer Elizabeth, Brian's partner, was pacing back and forth, bouncing the sobbing toddler in her arms as she tried desperately to soothe her.
The second the distraught little girl caught sight of Tris, she screamed, and it was all Elizabeth could do to keep Ava from falling to the floor as the little one fought to get to her mommy.
Tris ran across the exam room and scooped Ava into her arms, holding her close to her chest. Mother and daughter clung to one another and sobbed, and Tris wearily dropped into a chair along the wall. After a moment, Tris relaxed her hold on Ava and proceeded to look her over. Just as Brian had promised, there wasn't a scratch on her.
"She's really okay?" Tris asked the officers as Ava put her thumb in her mouth and laid her head on Tris' shoulder.
"Completely unharmed," Elizabeth promised.
"Then why is she back here?" Tris asked.
"She's waiting for Eric," Brian explained. "We had to keep her until he was ready, and she wouldn't quit crying, so they left us back here rather than send us to the waiting room."
Tris took several deep, shaking breaths. "Where's Eric?" she asked, watching to two officers so she could assess their reaction to the question.
"He needed an MRI to rule out a concussion," Brian explained. "He passed; there's no concussion, but it took some time. He had to wait for the open-sided machine, remove his piercings, and stuff like that. They also had to stitch up a cut on his arm and clean up some glass and scratches. He'll be here any time."
"Should we go back to the waiting room since Ava calmed down?" Tris asked.
"I think we should stay here," Elizabeth said, exchanging a look with Brian.
"Why?" Tris asked, holding Ava tighter as fear crept up again.
"I can't… We can't… Um," Brian began, trying to find the right words. "Technically Ava is in our custody until Eric is released. I brought you back here for Ava, but she can't leave without him."
Tris slumped in defeat. She ran her fingers through Ava's golden curls and nodded at the police officers.
"Well," she said in a defeated tone. "Thank you for that at least. I'm glad it was you two. You guys have been great."
They sat quietly for a few minutes. Tris hummed off and on as she stroked Ava's hair and back. The baby dozed, worn out by all her crying. Brian and Elizabeth busied themselves with their tablets, exchanging quiet words about their work every now and then.
Suddenly a booming voice tore through the relative quiet. "Where is she?!" it demanded.
Brian leapt to his feet, but Tris just smiled at the baby sleeping in her arms. "Sounds like Daddy's back," she said.
Elizabeth and Brian smiled wryly, and Brian stepped out into the hall.
"Eric," the women heard him say through the curtain that served as the door to the exam room. "You need to calm down. Ava is fine. Tris is with her."
After a beat of silence, Tris heard Eric reply. "Okay," he said calmly. "Let's get this done so I can get out of here."
.
Eric and Ava both took long naps that afternoon, exhausted by the stress and adrenaline of the morning. They had been driving along on the way to daycare when someone ran a stop sign and t-boned Eric's truck on the driver's side. Thankfully, the truck was tall and the car that hit them was not, which kept Eric from being hurt worse than he was.
The truck had broken windows on the driver's side, a cracked windshield, and some body damage. Eric had a number of bruises and scratches, a sizeable cut on his left forearm that needed twelve stitches, and stiff muscles that he knew would last for days. The other vehicle was older, and was totaled by the front-end damage. The driver had whiplash and significant bruising and scraping from her airbag deploying. Ava was completely unharmed, saved by her properly installed car seat in the center of the truck's back bench seat.
Tris spent the afternoon nervously pacing and cleaning downstairs while Eric and Ava napped. She tried to do her homework, but couldn't concentrate. She peeked in at her sleeping baby and fiance several times, just to assure herself that they were alright.
The school day at Factions ended at 3:30. At 3:32, Tris' phone rang with a call from Tori.
"Hey Tori," Tris greeted tiredly.
"Is everyone alright?" Tori asked, skipping the greetings. "For real? Is Eric okay? Was Ava with him? Is she okay?"
"Tori," Tris interrupted. "They're fine, I promise. Eric was driving Ava to daycare when they were hit by an idiot who blew a stop sign. Eric has some cuts and scratches, and Ava is completely fine."
"Oh good," Tori said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I've been worried about you guys all day. Were you with them?"
"No," Tris said. "I had gone to school. The police called me and I met them at the hospital."
"And how are you feeling?" Tori asked sympathetically. "Are you okay?"
"Not, um, not really," Tris confessed. "That was scary, Tor. And they wouldn't let me go to Ava at the hospital until Eric came out. Fortunately one of the officers was an old friend of Eric's, and he took me to Ava anyway."
"Why wouldn't they let you be with your daughter?" Tori asked, and Tris heard anger in her voice.
"She's… she's not mine, Tori," Tris explained as emotion began to overwhelm her again. "Not legally anyway. I don't have any kind of custody rights. I just… I sat in the waiting room and listened to her cry for me until Brian found out and came and got me. It was awful."
"Oh Honey," Tori soothed. "I'm so sorry."
Tris choked back sobs as she bore her heart to her friend. "The state won't let me adopt her because we're not married. Eric has a will, and he filled out some paperwork that gives me rights if he's unconscious or something, but at the hospital it didn't matter. I didn't have the papers with me anyway, and he was alert and everything, so I don't think it would have mattered. She's been my baby since the day she was born, Tori. I had her before Eric did. I'm the first person she had, and the only mom she's ever known. She's just, she's mine, but she's not. And there was nothing I could do. And there's nothing I can do until we get married!"
"And that's two years away," Tori concluded sadly.
Tris and Eric had set their wedding date for late May, two and a half years after their engagement. Tris wanted to be twenty-one when they got married, not nineteen, and she wanted to finish college. But more than that, she wanted the dream wedding that she and Natalie had talked about since Tris was old enough to know what a wedding was. She wanted the church ceremony and the ballroom reception. She wanted the white dress, champagne toasts, and to dance with her father and Eric. She wanted Ava to be big enough to be the flower girl and be part of the ceremony.
But planning all of that would take time, especially with Natalie and Andrew moving to Washington DC. They had to schedule all the shopping, tasting, and booking around Natalie's visits home and Tris' school schedule. Since she was already living with Eric and Ava, Tris had been content to wait to get married. They set a date, and Tris and Natalie booked the church for the ceremony and the hotel ballroom for the reception before the Priors left for Washington.
"Two years feels like forever," Tris moaned. "I thought I could do this, but I don't know. Look how much has happened to us in the past year! Now I have to get through two more years before I have legal rights to my own daughter! It's maddening!"
"I know," Tori soothed. "I wish there was something you could do. That little girl belongs with you - belongs to you. But unless you get married, we just have to hope that nothing happens to either of them in the meantime."
"I know," Tris said resignedly.
Tori continued. "You probably should have lied at the hospital, Tris. You weren't going to leave without Eric, so you should have just said that Ava is yours. And you should probably start carrying those papers from Eric in your purse. That way you have them with you. Maybe the hospital staff would have let you in if they knew that Eric wanted you with Ava."
"Maybe, I guess," Tris said. "I just hate being reminded of how fragile our little family is. Other than Ava, Eric has only one living relative - an uncle he hasn't seen in years. My family is all far away. We have each other, and we're happy like that, but legally it just doesn't count. I hate that she can be kept from me. How is that what's best for her?"
"I know," Tori said. "I'm so sorry."
Tris sniffled as she tried to control her emotions. "I probably should have napped too," she joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Obviously I'm a bit shaken up."
"You have every right to be upset," Tori said. "Your family was in an accident. That's scary. I'm glad everyone is okay, though."
"Me too," Tris said.
Tori gently changed the subject, telling Tris about little happenings at Factions. She eventually even got the younger woman to laugh, and they planned a double date for the following weekend. Tori had Tris smiling again by the time their conversation ended.
Eric and Bud had hit it off and become good friends. When they originally met at the photoshoot, they clicked with one another. When Bud brought photos to the Priors' home, they had exchanged phone numbers.
Bud had been with them at Andrew's election party, where they introduced him to Tori. When Tori did a tattoo cover-up for the photographer, they ended up hanging out together late into the night. After his tattoo was finished, Bud took Tori for dessert, then they went back to her place to watch a movie. They had a lot in common and really got along well.
Bud had come with Tori to Ava's first birthday party, and he and Eric went out to shoot pool about a week later. Bud was a former alcoholic, and also didn't drink. Eric appreciated his wisdom on the subject, and having a friend with whom he could socialize without alcohol. He ended up telling Bud all about his drinking history - how it led to Ava's conception, how he embarrassed himself texting Tris, and how he nearly lost her when he came home drunk. Bud, in turn, told Eric about his past and the toll that his drinking had taken on his health and his first marriage. The two men bonded, and as Bud and Tori's relationship was also developing, the two couples had become close.
Tris thought about their growing friendship with Bud and Tori and the many other things they had to be thankful for. She tried to keep herself calm - after all, Eric and Ava were fine, and they were safely at home together. But the near-miss shook Tris deeply and eroded her confidence, making her re-think a lot of things in her life.