I march back to my apartment, angry with Eric. I don't know why he told Tobias about my run-in with Dr. Marshall. The only thing that could come of that is to make me look weak and make Tobias feel guilty. I don't know if that's what Eric wanted, but one look at Tobias slumped in the booth shows that's exactly what he got. I'm sick and tired of everyone being all protective of me. I'm tired of being pitied. I'm not a little Abnegation stiff anymore. I can face challenges. I can take care of myself!

I change into lounge pants and a soft tee and dig around in my fridge for a beer. There's a knock on my apartment door, and I expect it to be Eric. Instead I find Tobias standing in the hall, head down and shoulders slumped. I invite him in and offer him a beer. He takes it and sits on my couch, his eyes still trained on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Tris," he says.

"Tobias, please stop apologizing." I snap, harsher than I meant to. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Still," he says, pausing to take a drink of his beer.

I sigh.

"I know it looks like Eric only told us the bad half of the story, Tris, but I swear that's only because you walked in right in the middle of it, and he didn't want to continue in front of the waitress. He actually started the story by mentioning that he was really proud of you. I'm sure if he had a chance to finish it he would have told us everything."

"He's upset with me," I explain, picking at the label on my beer bottle. "He doesn't like that I made a deal with Marshall to get the testing. He wants me to prosecute. But I just can't do it, Tobias. I can't go through another trial. And don't even get me started about facing the council. You know I can't tell my dad what happened, and Marcus will find a way to make me the bad guy. You know how much he 'respects' women," I say, bitterly sarcastic.

Tobias scoffs. "Especially Dauntless women. When I lived with him, I heard some of his rants about Veronica and the retired leader, Nellie.

I get it, Tris, I really do, and I won't push you to do anything you don't want, but I just want to say one thing. After Peter attacked you, I went along with your decision not to pursue him. But every single day I worried that he was going to hurt someone else. If he had killed someone, or just hurt someone, because we didn't stop him? I couldn't live with myself.

If Marshall attacks another woman, one who can't defend herself, will you be able to live with that?"

He's right, I know. But I don't know if I can do it. Besides, I made a deal with Dr. Marshall, and he followed through on his side of things. I thank Tobias for the advice, and agree to go back to the bar with him to find Eric.

Tiffany and Eric are still sitting in the corner booth when Tobias and I get back to the bar. I slide in next to my boyfriend.

"Sorry," I tell him. "Four told me you weren't done when I showed up. I jumped to conclusions and got angry for no reason."

"It's okay," says Eric, pulling me close to his side. "I'm sorry I told them about it. I wasn't trying to make anyone feel bad."

"I know you don't like the decision I made. The truth is that I'm not confident about it either. That jerk needs to be stopped, but I'm too weak. I can't go through this again. Plus, I made a deal and I need to follow through on that."

Eric nods and kisses me on the forehead.

"You're not weak," he says. "But if he tries anything again you will have to choose between going to court against him or going to court to watch me defend myself after I kill him."

"Deal," I say as I steal Eric's drink.

.

xxxx

.

A week later I'm sitting in my office when Eric comes in.

"Babe?" he says. "I'm going to need you to shut your door and stay in here for a little bit, okay? Dr. Marshall is stopping by soon."

I sigh. "Fine," I agree, "let me know when he's gone."

He gives me a nervous smile, and closes my door on his way out. A minute later there is another knock on the door. I slide open my right-hand desk drawer and rest my hand on the pistol I keep in there.

"Come in," I say tersely.

The door opens and Tobias steps in. I quickly slam the drawer shut.

"I need to hang out in here for a few minutes," he says.

"Did Eric send you to babysit me?" I ask.

"Huh?" asks Tobias, turning from the window in my door. "What did you say?"

"Never mind," I say. "What are you doing here?"

"Eric had me install some cameras in the conference room," he says in a distracted voice, still staring out my window.

If Eric had cameras installed right before Dr. Marshall shows up, he must be hoping to catch him at something. But I'm in here, and he told me to stay here. So who is he using as bait? Veronica? She's a beautiful woman, but Marshall seems more interested in women that are way too young for him. Suddenly all the pieces come together.

"Tiffany!" I exclaim, jumping up from my desk and rushing toward the door. "Tobias, you can't let her do this!"

"Do you think I like this?" he says, grabbing me by the shoulders. "She and Eric cooked up this scheme at the bar the other night, while I was up talking to you."

"Why didn't they tell me?" I ask, hurt at being left out of the loop.

"It's just like the knives, Tris. Eric knew you would try to take Tiffany's place if you knew about it. And that would ruin everything, because he probably wouldn't mess with you after you broke his nose. Now be quiet, Marshall just got here, and Kyle is bringing him down to the conference room."

Tobias stays by the door a minute longer. Once Dr. Marshall is in the conference room with Tiffany, Tobias moves to leave.

"Stay here," he hisses at me.

I sit down, leaning against the wall next to my office door. What if this doesn't work? What if Tiffany isn't his type? What if it does work? What if he touches her? I hope she didn't dress too provocatively, and that she doesn't flirt with him to try and draw him out. The video needs to clearly show that he's an aggressor and she's innocent. I don't want her getting hurt or going through this for nothing.

My mind is whirling and the seconds tick by slowly. This is taking too long. Something went wrong.

I hear a muffled cry from down the hall, then a scuffle. I run to my office door and peek out, but I'm too short to see much, and the angle is bad anyway. I can't tell what's going on. After a few minutes it gets quiet, and I wonder if I can leave.

Tiffany's face appears at my door, and I throw it open. "Are you okay?" I ask, breathless.

"Tobias told you? He wasn't supposed to."

"I figured it out," I explain. "I can't believe Eric put you through that. Did Marshall hurt you?"

"Eric nothing," says the redhead, her eyes flashing fire. "This was my idea. I convinced him that I would be perfectly safe with him and Tobias out in the hall, and I reminded him that it's for the greater good."

"Where are they now?"

"They arrested the creep and took him down to the security lockup."

"So it worked? And you're okay?" I ask, looking her over for any signs of harm.

"Tris, I'm fine," she insists. "But that guy is nuts! Kyle let him in the conference room and told him Eric was going to be late. I was in there pretending to do some filing in those big cabinets along the back wall. Immediately I could feel his creepy stare, but I kept ignoring him. Then he got up and walked toward me. He started talking about how Dauntless has such pretty girls, and how he heard we're more 'adventurous' than the girls in other factions. I told him he was making me uncomfortable, but he just laughed and told me not to act coy with him. Then he reached out and patted my butt while asking me if the carpet matches the drapes."

I shudder. "Then what happened?" I ask, tense.

Tiffany grins. "Then I rebroke his nose," she says triumphantly.

"For real?" I ask, proud of my friend.

"Yup," she says. "Then I called Tobias and Eric, and they stormed in from the hallway and arrested him. We did it, Tris, we got him."

My office door bursts open and Tobias rushes in, grabbing Tiffany in a fierce hug.

"Are you okay?" he asks breathlessly.

"I'm fine," she assures him.

"You were so awesome," he says proudly.

Eric walks in and approaches me cautiously. "Are you angry?" he asks.

"Yes and no," I reply, reaching out for him. He wraps his arms around me tenderly and sighs, relieved that I'm not pushing him away. "I don't like that you let Tiffany put herself in danger like that, or that you kept secrets from me. But I get it. And Dr. Marshall is locked up like he should be."

"Jack is on his way over from Candor," Eric informs us. "Four, we need to get that video footage ready. Tiffany, you need to fill out a report. Tris can help you. She had to do one for Peter."

Tiffany and I sit down at my desk and work together to fill out the report. Eric takes it to the security office on his way to meet Jack Kang and his assistant, Vanessa, at the entrance to the compound. Soon we are sitting in a room with Kang, Vanessa, and the other Dauntless leaders, who have no idea what's going on.

Eric plays the footage for us. We see Tiffany, in her conservative but attractive skirt and top, filing papers into the cabinets on the far wall. She looks up as Kyle opens the door.

"Eric is running late," Kyle informs Dr. Marshall. "It will be a few minutes. Tiffany, you can keep working on that until Eric comes in."

"Sure, Kyle," she replies.

"Thank you," says Marshall in a condescending tone, his eyes already glued on Tiffany.

Tiffany continues putting papers into their proper place in the cabinets, while Dr. Marshall openly stares at her. Just as Tiffany described in my office, he gets up and walks close to her, making his lewd observation about Dauntless women and our reputation for being 'adventurous.'

I see the fire in Tiffany's eyes as she steps away and tells him that he's making her uncomfortable, and the predatory gleam in his eyes as he reaches out to touch her backside. He makes his crude comment about the carpet matching the drapes, and I see Tobias tense as he watches the video.

In the video, Tiffany turns suddenly and throws a sharp right hook, catching Dr. Marshall in his still-bandaged nose. Everyone watching flinches at the sickening crunch. Then Tiffany calls for Four and Eric, and the two men storm in. Video Eric has a gun in his hand, which he quickly holsters after finding Dr. Marshall bleeding on the ground. Video Tobias looks ready to kill. He rushes to Tiffany and asks her if she's okay while Eric puts zip cuffs on the bleeding man.

Eric and Tobias leave the frame, practically dragging the bleeding and handcuffed Erudite leader. Tiffany, alone in the room, takes a deep breath and shakes out her arms, flexing and releasing the hand with which she punched her attacker. As she walks out of the frame, Eric reaches up and shuts off the video.

He slides a copy of Tiffany's report across the table to the Candor leader, who begins reading it.

"I have some questions," says Max.

Eric gives him a glare that clearly says, "not now," but our boss is unfazed.

"Why was she here doing filing? That's Kyle's job." Max asks.

"Tiffany is a friend of ours," says Eric. "I knew she was off work today, so I asked her if she could come in and get the filing caught up. It's hard for Kyle to work in the conference room and hear the phone at the front desk."

I'm impressed with his ability to tell Max this story. Clearly he put a lot of thought into it. Even the Candor leader doesn't catch the partial lie.

"And what was Dr. Marshall doing here?" asks Max. "I didn't know you had a meeting scheduled with him."

"It was kind of last minute," says Eric. "I wanted to talk to him about the testing we did last week, and we both happened to be available today."

"You knew she was in there, and you knew he was coming, and you left them alone together?" asks Max, clearly agitated.

"Why wouldn't he leave a member alone with Dr. Marshall?" asks Kang, his gaze snapping up from the report in his hands.

I speak up. "Dr. Marshall has a record of unwanted advances against Dauntless women. We have an unofficial policy that he is not to be left alone with a Dauntless female."

"A history of sexual harassment? Why haven't I heard about this?" asks Jack, clearly alarmed.

"He hasn't been that aggressive before," I lie, "just uncomfortable."

Kang buys my lie, but Vanessa eyes me shrewdly. She clearly doesn't believe me, but she doesn't ask any follow-up questions.

Kang, Max, and Eric leave to question Dr. Marshall and prepare him to be moved to Candor. Vanessa stays behind to interview Tiffany. She allows Tobias to stay in the room during the interview. Veronica, Harrison, and I take our leave.

I walk back into my office and Veronica follows. She closes the door behind us and asks in a low voice, "it was a setup, wasn't it?"

I nod. "I didn't know about it until it was going on. Apparently it was Tiffany's idea. She and Eric planned it, and Four was brought in to install the cameras at the last minute."

"Yeah, I can't see him being in favor of a plan that puts his girlfriend in that position," Veronica replies. "But I think it's good. No one got hurt, and that creep got busted. Win-win."

I agree, and Veronica leaves my office.

I try to drown myself in paperwork for the afternoon so I won't have to think about what's going on with Dr. Marshall. After interviewing Tiffany, Vanessa joined the men in the security lockup and then Max and Eric went with Kang and his assistant to escort Dr. Marshall to Candor. It's a long afternoon waiting to see Eric again and hear about the aftermath of the arrest.

At six I give up and stop by the cafeteria for a meal to go. I take it back to my apartment and nibble on my tacos while I wait for Eric.

He knocks before letting himself in around seven PM. I jump off the couch, but he waves me back to my seat and joins me there. He's smiling broadly, which I hope is a sign that things went well.

Eric reaches out to the tray on my coffee table and snatches one of my tacos. Taking a bite, he says around a mouthful, "We did it. The bastard pled guilty."

I'm stunned. An ego like Marshall's doesn't give in easily.

"We took him to Candor, showed him the video and the incident report, and threatened a public trial under truth serum. He folded immediately and agreed to plead guilty to avoid a trial. I have a feeling that Tiffany wouldn't be the only one to testify against him. He seemed pretty scared of what would come out of a trial.

He's being stripped of his leadership role, and he'll serve a few months in Candor jail before they release him to Erudite with a tracking monitor. He can never set foot in Dauntless again or have contact with Dauntless members doing business at Erudite, plus Erudite can impose their own conditions when he gets out of jail."

"Really?" I'm incredulous. "That's it? No trial? No council? Nothing?"

"By pleading guilty he automatically loses his title," confirms Eric. "The council will just have to validate it."

"I can't believe it's over," I muse. "Who will lead Erudite now?"

"I don't know yet," says Eric, "but there will probably be another truth serum confirmation hearing. We need to get a good leader in there who didn't work with Jeanine and won't turn out like Marshall."

I agree and snuggle in to my boyfriend's side, content that this is behind us.