Tris only looked like she was watching the screens. In reality, her mind was all over the place, trying to think of the best way to tell Tobias what had happened between her and David without upsetting him. And he would be upset, that much she knew. She was also piecing together every interaction she'd had with him and Matthew, trying to gauge what felt genuine and what didn't. She hated how David used her weaknesses against her, that he was able to make her doubt even for the briefest moment that what she and Tobias had wasn't real. It was real, she was certain of it.

She focused enough to see her brother finally emerge from Jeanine's office, a wide, proud smile on his face. She rolled her eyes; it was irritating to see him having so much success when she should be the one doing great things. She was the one who was chosen, after all. She sighed and looked at the time, shaking those thoughts from her head; she wasn't the chosen one, everyone just thought she was. It was close enough for her to be done for the day, so she turned her screen off and stalked back to her room, not wanting to sit alone in the cafeteria again.

It was late when her stomach let out a loud growl, and she couldn't ignore her hunger any longer. She tied her hair up and pulled on a sweatshirt before trudging out to the cafeteria. "Great," she muttered, pulling on the locked door anyway. She peered inside the little window to see everything dark; the whole Bureau seemed to be slowly shutting down at this hour.

"Tris?" She turned to see Emma behind her, holding a box and smiling. "Hungry?"

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't earlier, but I didn't even think about the cafeteria closing."

"No need to worry. Come with me." Tris gave her a rueful grin and followed.

They ended up in Emma's tattoo room, where Tris helped her put away the supplies that were in the box. Emma made small talk about tattoos, and checked to make sure Tris's had healed properly before leading her down into the underground and taking a seat at the table closest to the bar. "Snack or full-on meal?" Emma asked, waving someone down.

"Umm, meal?"

Tris watched as the guy working behind the bar came out, leaning down so Emma could whisper in his ear. He looked at Tris and gave her a friendly smile before quickly coming back with two drinks. Tris sniffed hers; the unmistakable aroma of alcohol filled the glass. She looked up to see Emma tip her glass towards her and take a sip; she did the same.

"So, it seems like you had a rough day today." Tris raised an eyebrow, but Emma gave her a look that was stern yet motherly; it was an unspoken order to talk. It actually made Tris nostalgic for the few times she got in trouble as a kid.

"Sort of," she admitted. "I just… is the Bureau what you thought it would be?"

"Eh," Emma said, shrugging her shoulders. "It is what it is. I do know that it's better than living on the streets or wandering around with no place to go. But that's not the life you came from, is it?"

"No."

Emma nodded. "I think it's an adjustment, no matter what. Give it a little time."

Tris smiled to be polite, knowing that time was not an option. They sipped their drinks, smiling at each other and watching the people come and go. It wasn't as uncomfortable as Tris thought it might be, but it wasn't as easy as it was with Tobias, either. Tris was thankful for something to do when the food arrived. "Thank you," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich. Emma tipped her head and took a bite of her own.

"How'd I know you'd be here?" Tris turned to see Ruby approaching their table. She handed Emma a tube, like the one Tris used after she got her tattoo.

"You didn't know," Emma replied. "You just got lucky."

The two women laughed as Ruby sat down. Tris took another bite of her sandwich, observing the exchange of small jokes and general banter between them. It was unfamiliar to her, but they made it look so easy.

"You're awfully quiet over there," Ruby said, sliding her chair a little closer to Tris. "I know that look. It's the same look we all get at some point."

"Tris is having a day." Ruby looked at Emma, who gave her a wink.

"You want to talk about it?" Tris shrugged. "That's okay, you don't have to. Sometimes just being around other people is enough. But if you want to, me and Em have fantastic listening ears."

Tris watched the two of them slip back into their conversation about nothing in particular, realizing that she never really had a friend before the Bureau. Sure, she had seen Susan and Robert on a daily basis, but they were still just acquaintances at best. They never talked about anything other than volunteering or schoolwork. Tris didn't even know if they had a favorite color or food or anything; she never had a chance to find out since it was too selfish to ask or even think about that sort of thing. She wondered for a moment if she would ever make friends easily, or if this was the expected side effect of growing up in Abnegation.

"So, you got a tattoo?" Tris chimed in; she decided it couldn't hurt to put in a little effort.

Ruby rewarded her with a wide smile. "I sure did. Want to see it?" Tris nodded.

Ruby stood and started unbuckling her pants in front of everyone. Tris's eyes flicked to the right for a moment, taking a quick inventory of the people closest to them and whether they were paying attention or not. When she looked back, Ruby had her right hip exposed, revealing a heart with 'R+B' written inside of it.

Tris thought for a moment before looking up. "Ruby plus Benjamin?"

Ruby nodded excitedly, buckling back up and sitting down. "Thought I'd surprise him when he gets back."

"It healed fast," Emma commented.

"Yeah. I mixed in some of the healing salve from the medic kits. You should think about adding it into the ointment. Cuts healing time in half, easily. Oh, and I talked to Greta. She said her shipment of rings should be here any day now. Maybe before he gets back I can get them, too, and surprise him with both."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Emma said. She and Ruby exchanged a smile and a hug.

Tris only knew of one use for rings. "Rings for what?" she asked, taking a sip.

"I'm going to ask him to marry me." Tris nearly choked on her drink. She couldn't remember where she had heard it, but she thought the two of them had only recently started dating.

"You okay?" Ruby said with a laugh. "They do marry in Abnegation, right? It can't come as that much of a shock."

"No," Tris said, her voice a little strained; she cleared her throat. "It's not a shock, I, um… I thought you two just started seeing each other."

"So?" Ruby said. Tris looked between the two of them; her inexperience with how the world worked outside of Abnegation obvious.

"Tris, it's a little hard to explain, but time really has nothing to do with it. When it's right, you just know. I love him, despite how dumb he is sometimes," she said, chuckling, "And I know that he loves me. Why wait to do the inevitable?" Tris broke into a genuine smile for the first time all night. Emma was nodding her head in agreement, and the table next to them raised their glasses in a toast to Ruby's overheard words. Tris raised her glass, too, giving a cheer of congratulations to her new friend.

"Sometimes," Ruby said, "You just gotta follow your heart."

Tris's stomach was in knots as she waited. Amar had found her that morning in the cafeteria and told her that Four was on his way back a day earlier than scheduled; the team should be arriving no later than nine that evening. She wasn't sure how she was going to look Tobias in the eye and tell him what had happened between her and David. She was actually trying to find the best way to avoid bringing anything up at all since she knew that he would not take the news well. David had informed her that he was holding a meeting with staff and security the next morning so they could begin preparing her for the transfer.

She idly watched the screens in front of her, trying to familiarize herself with as much of Erudite as she could. It was a two-fold plan: she could claim to be doing research while still watching for Tobias's arrival. She was mostly ignored, except for Neil, who made sure she at least had some water. She was grateful for how kind he was to her.

She saw the commotion out of the corner of her eye before she heard it; heads were turning and people were suddenly moving. She pulled her headphones off and looked up to see a weary Tobias, eyes already locked onto her. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as she stood; it took everything she had to stay in place. Amar was suddenly between the two of them, taking tablets and other equipment as they were held out to him.

"Debrief!" Amar called out, turning to look directly at her. She sat quickly, trying to remain calm as she watched them pass by.

"Hey." She looked over to see Matthew motioning with his head for her to follow. She hesitated for only a moment, then cleared her screen and made her way down the halls to his office. There was nothing about Matthew that seemed off, nothing in her reflections of her time at the Bureau that told her she had to be wary of him: still, she kept the idea in the back of her mind.

"How was it?" she asked as soon as she had closed the door.

"Uneventful, thankfully. But our little theory might have a flaw in it." Tris drew her eyebrows together, frowning. "Sample sizes are off. They're purposely choosing who they believe to be the most 'undesirable' for all of their data."

"So what does that mean?"

"We might be looking into a bunch of nothing."

Tris groaned and flopped in a chair as Matthew explained that, based on the information he learned, he could no longer prove any of their theories correct or incorrect. There were too many new variables that could easily account for the data anomalies they had discovered. Still, she didn't trust the information they had found, and neither did Matthew. He set a case down and opened it up, revealing row upon row of vials, each filled with blood. Tris scrunched her nose.

"It's a shame I won't be able to get the results of these, run my own personal tests," he said, running a hand over them. "There's something that I'm missing, I'm sure of it."

"We'll figure it out," she said, not really believing her own words. Their plan was falling apart, and she was stuck in a situation she didn't want to be in.

Watching the frustrated look on his face and hearing the slight strain in his voice told Tris that she had been right to trust Matthew, and that she was a fool for letting David get inside of her head. She opened her mouth a few times, unsure how to tell him what had happened between her and David, or how to apologize for doubting the intentions of everyone around her. Tris knew there was a small chance she might be able to gain some information by heading back into the city; it seemed like Erudite had just as many secrets as the Bureau. She reasoned with herself that if she could get Matthew to understand the benefit of going inside the city, then she could get Tobias to understand, too.

"I'm beat," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Catch up more tomorrow?"

"Oh, sure." She stood and gave Matthew a quick nod before heading out.

She had no idea how long Tobias would be in his meeting with Amar, and she wasn't sure she could sit still long enough to wait. She roamed the hallways, running various conversations through her head. She knew if she told him about David's ultimatum outright — that he was forcing her to go to Erudite — he would get angry and tell her not to do it. She wouldn't blame him for his reaction, but she needed to find another way to make him understand why she was going, and for him to be okay with it.

Her eyes were heavy as she turned down the hall to her room. She paused as soon as she looked up; Tobias was sitting on the floor leaning against her door. She made her way to him slowly, catching his eye when she got closer. He looked older somehow: worried, perhaps. His eyes brightened, though, when she gave him a soft smile. "Thought you were avoiding me," he said as he stood.

She slid her card to open her door. "No. Just giving you time to do what you needed to do."

She flipped the switch by the door, turning on the dim light over her sitting area. Tobias's arms snaked around her middle as soon as the door closed, and he planted a kiss on her temple. Tris sighed, closing her eyes, appreciating every point of contact.

"I missed you," he whispered. She turned, bringing both hands up to rest on his face. His own sigh was stuttered as he leaned forward, resting his head against hers. She looked at his closed eyes, the small upturn of his lips, the total contentment written over every inch of his face. She couldn't tell him, not now; he deserved this moment of serenity. She smiled when he let out a yawn.

"You look exhausted," she said, taking in his disheveled clothing and his hair sticking up in the back. "You should get some sleep. We can pick this up tomorrow."

"I don't want to leave," he murmured, pulling her into him. Falling asleep with her on the couch, even for only a few hours, had granted him the best sleep of his life. He was content to take her to bed and just hold her close. "I'd sleep better if I was with you."

Any other day, she would have agreed with him. But Tris knew she'd be tossing and turning like she had the past couple nights, her decision made even more difficult by his body wrapped around hers. She did all she could to ignore the part of her that was desperate to have him that close to her, and told him no. "You need a good night's sleep," she reasoned. "I doubt you had one all week." He exhaled heavily, nodding in agreement.

Tobias ran his hands up her back and into her hair, threading his fingers into it. She sighed again, and was cut off by his mouth. There was no single way to describe what he felt when he touched her or when they kissed. It was fire and electricity, but more than that, it made him feel like he was complete, like he was wanted. Like he was more than just a monstrous reflection of his father's mistakes or his own damaged genes. She pulled him closer, fueling his feelings and his desires as he pressed himself against her, his want hardly hidden; her hum of approval had him hopeful.

"Tobias," she whispered, still holding him against her. "It's late." Her lips begged to touch his, to keep them pressed against each other as long as they could. But her heart was racing for more than one reason; her purposeful silence had created a nervousness inside of her that she wasn't sure she could overcome at that moment, no matter how badly she wanted to. Tobias nodded, pulling away. It was for the best, she thought, as she looked at his bloodshot eyes.

"I'm meeting David first thing in the morning." She ducked her head, swallowing thickly. "So I'll see you at breakfast, okay?"

He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then nodded. "See you at breakfast." He gave her one last kiss on the forehead before leaving her alone.

She woke often, sweating from nightmares full of fear and dread. Reliving her fears — watching David drag Tobias away from her every time she closed her eyes — was unbearable. She finally gave up in the early hours of the morning, opting to sit on the floor of her shower. The hot water beat down on her, melding with her tears. Guilt wasn't a feeling she was familiar with, but she had never lied like this before, even if it was only by omission. Her stomach was in knots, keeping her locked in place, afraid to face the day. Afraid to face Tobias.

Tris stayed in her room all morning, finding Tobias in the cafeteria only a few minutes before they had to leave for the meeting. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, checking her over as she sat. "I was worried."

"Oh, yeah. Meeting just ran late."

She brushed the question aside like it was nothing, but she could feel her stomach tighten. She looked anywhere but at him, only noticing Matthew was there when she locked eyes with him. He was skeptical; he knew of no meetings aside from the one with David coming up shortly.

"I have to get to class." She stood, turning from Tobias and quickly made her way through the halls. She looked back every few minutes to make sure she wasn't followed, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw she was in the clear. The lies were coming easier; practice for Erudite, she tried to justify. But this wasn't lying to keep a cover or to unravel a mystery — it was lying to Tobias, and it was happening with alarming frequency. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to do anything to distract herself from how horrible she felt.

She followed David through the halls, standing with the other members of his council. Tris looked around and saw Tobias and Amar talking in low voices to each other, a handful of the scientists and other personnel she had seen running around the compound, and Matthew trying to look nonchalant in the back. She ducked her head and pretended to busy herself with something until David cleared his throat, silencing all conversations.

"Thank you all for meeting this morning, some of you on such short notice. I have news that is of the utmost importance and concern, and it affects every department here. The experiment in Chicago has taken a drastic turn for the worse, I am sorry to report." Tris lifted her head at David's words, unaware of anything drastic having occurred. "Observations and analysis have shown that the leader of Erudite has been meeting regularly with the leaders of Dauntless. During one of these meetings, a vial was exchanged. Since that moment, it has been our priority to discover exactly what was in that vial, and we believe we received an answer late last night."

David touched a large screen behind him and stood aside as video began to play. At first it showed everything she had already seen, including her brother being present for the serum transfer in Dauntless. What came after was video alternating between Erudite and Dauntless, showing testing being done on members. They were injected with an amber-colored serum, which seemed to do nothing at first. But when the test subjects were instructed to do whatever they were told — jump, lie down, hold a gun to their head — they obeyed without hesitation. Tris's eyes went wide when a greasy-looking man covered in facial piercings ordered a person in Dauntless to shoot themselves; he laughed when the person pulled the trigger, though the gun wasn't loaded.

"It's definitely some sort of susceptibility serum, coupled with a program that allows the subject to be controlled. It has come to our attention through intercepted correspondence that they plan to use this serum, once perfected, on all of the Dauntless."

"For what purpose?" one of the scientists called out.

"As best as we can tell, to create an army."

Murmurs broke out across the room, and David raised his hands to quiet everyone down. "Now, we're all very much aware of what can happen next with the experiment, and we are going to do everything we can to help prevent that, which is why I have called you all here today." Tris kept her eyes down, not ready to face the inevitable stares and questions that were to come. She wiped her hands on her pants, and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her nerves.

"If we could place a spy in Erudite's midst, we would be able to gather accurate information in a more timely manner, have the ability to control problems before they arise, and most importantly, stop future plans from progressing. It's been done before with moderate success, but never with someone who has an actual aptitude for Erudite." The talking grew a little louder, and Tris knew Tobias was looking right at her; she could feel the heat of his stare. "I asked for volunteers, and a candidate was selected based on those that offered their services. With the approval of the council, I am pleased to say that we have accepted Beatrice Prior's offer, and have already begun preparations for her immediate insertion into Erudite."

The scientists began asking David a slew of questions, none of which she could fully understand. They felt like words she could barely recognize as nerves and adrenaline were warring inside of her. She lifted her eyes to see a room in chaos in her peripheral vision as they talked amongst themselves, passing tablets back and forth in small groups. It was all secondary and insignificant, though, compared to the deep blue eyes that were locked onto hers, and the pain and the betrayal she could feel radiating from every inch of him. She bit her lip, blinking away the heat she could feel building behind her eyes.

She finally felt her lowest when he shook his head and turned, leaving despite Amar's protests. She opened her mouth to call to him, but nothing came out. Matthew didn't even attempt to stop Tobias as he passed by, knowing it would be useless to try. Instead, he watched Tris stand there, shrinking into herself while the others congratulated her as if it were some grand reward to be going back inside the city when the danger for people like her was at an all time high. It struck him as odd that David would send her into the city with such urgency. Matthew shifted his focus away from Tris just in time to see the satisfied grin crossing David's face; it caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. If David had ulterior motives for sending Tris into Erudite, Tobias's feelings were going to be the least of her worries.