AN: Sorry this update took so long. We have had several nights of severe weather, including two close calls with tornados. Thanks for all the reviews. Keep them coming. I love hearing from you guys!

Chapter 22

I pace back and forth on the roof top, listening to the gravel crunch beneath my feet. I check my watch again, eleven twenty seven. She should be here by now. I start to imagine all the things that could have happened to her. I envision Peter or eric and the awful things they would do to her. I start to head towards the door of the roof on my way to look for her when the door opens and she walks out. I breathe a sigh of relief. She is unharmed, whole and beautiful, just the way I left her.

She walks up and I grab her hand. I don't say anything. I just breathe deeply letting the terrifying thoughts from a moment ago leave me with every breath. The train passes by us and I grab the handle of the car pulling myself in, dragging her light frame with me. She falls against me, her face pressing against my chest. I slide my arms down her small frame, taking in how fragile, yet how strong it feels. She is an enigma. Her weakness emitting an unseen strength, her strength emitting an unseen weakness. It is beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Once we have cleared the Dauntless compound she shouts over the wind, "What is it you need to tell me?"

"Not yet." I answer. It's not that I don't want to tell, its just that I have never been that good at explaining anything but combat techniques, really. I know it will be easier to show her than try to explain it.

I slink to floor, taking her with me. I sit with my back against the wall. She is sitting facing me, her legs trailing to my side. The wind is causing her loose strands of hair to dance across her face and I reach out to press them back behind her ear. I run my hands over her face, hooking my fingers behind her ears, pulling her lips to mine.

They are soft and supple, and warm. I feel as if we are generating our own electric current as I press my lips to hers. I continue to kiss her, wanting to feel all of her against my lips. I kiss her lips, then her cheek, then down her jaw. The train screeches, but I can still hear the faint sigh she makes as I kiss down her neck. I feel a warmth starting to grow in my stomach, a need to have her closer to me even though there is only a fraction of space between us.

The train car shifts and she loses her balance. Her hand lands on my hip as she tries to steady herself. The heat that had start in my core spreads through me, one have never felt before. My need turns into a hunger. As if reading my mind, she moves so that she is sitting on top of me. In this moment, I can't breathe. Be brave. I have said those words to her so many times. But right now, in this moment, with her inches from me, her hands on me, I am the one that needs to be brave. I sit up straighter and her hands slip over my shoulders to my neck. I slide my hands down her back, one hand resting there, but my other hand moves to unzip her jacket. I hesitate for a moment, but she doesn't stop me so I continue, the heat and hunger I feel controlling me.

She is shaking as she presses her hands to her legs. Is she afraid or excited? I should stop. This is too much. But then again, she hasn't stopped me. I slide the jacket from her and pull back looking down at her. Her eyes are apprehensive, but there is also a want in them. A hunger that matches my own dancing in the wild spark that burns inside them. I slide my fingers over the tattoo on her collar bone. Birds. I have been meaning to ask her if they are because of her fear.

"Birds," I say trying to distract myself from the hunger to press further, "Are they crows? I keep forgetting to ask."

"Ravens. One for each member of my family." She says, smiling shyly. "You like them?"

Her smile is enough to override the distraction and my hunger to feel her skin against mine takes hold once more. I don't answer I just pull her closer pressing my lips to each bird in turn, hoping that one day I will be included in those birds. I reach up and press a hand to her cheek, knowing that the turning of the car and the sigh of the brakes against the rails, means we are getting close to our destination.

"I hate to say this, but we have get up now," I say, truly hating the Erudite and anyone else that could have interrupted us in this moment.

Tris nods and opens her eyes. I can tell she doesn't want to get up either and it makes me smile. She wants me, as much as I want her. She stands with me and I wrap my arm around her to protect her from the wind whipping around the open train car. I lift my arm and point out the cluster of buildings that make up the Erudite compound

"Apparently the city ordinances don't mean anything to them, because their lights will be on all night." I say looking at out the lights in the distance.

"No one else has noticed?" She says, frowning.

"I'm sure they have, but they haven't done anything to stop it. It may be because they don't want to cause a problem over something so small." I shrug. "But it made me wonder what the Erudite are doing that requires night light."

I turn towards her, leaning against the wall.

"Two things you should know about me. The first is that I am deeply suspicious of people in general," I say. "It is my nature to expect the worst of them. And the second is that I am unexpectedly good with computers."

She nods. Looking at me curiously, like she is trying to picture me sitting in the control room in her mind. I look back down at her, watching her eyes as they study me. Her eyes. Sometimes I think they see straight into my sole.

"A few weeks ago, before training started, I was at work and I found a way into the Dauntless secure files. Apparently we are not as skilled as the Erudite are at security, and what I discovered was what looked like war plans." I say, watching her reaction closely to see if she is following what I am telling her. "Thinly veiled commands, supply lists, maps. Things like that. And those files were sent by Erudite."

She looks shocked and then her expression changes like she is thinking about something. What does she know? Did her brother say something or her mother that day?

"War?" she says, brushing her hair away from her face. "War on Abnegation?"

I take her hand, lacing her fingers with mine, and say, "The faction that controls the government. Yes."

I watch as my words sink into her, curiosity being replaced with fear at my confirmation of her thoughts. I lean closer to her brushing another stray hair from her face as the wind from the moving train whips around us. I want to tell her not to worry. Promise her I will keep her safe no matter the cost. But, it is a promise I know I have no way of keeping, especially if we are on the verge of war. I turn my thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"All those reports are supposed to stir up dissension against Abnegation," I say, my eyes focused on the city beyond the train car. "Evidently the Erudite now want to speed up the process. I have no idea what to do about it…or what could even be done."

"But," she says, "why would Erudite team up with Dauntless?"

She looks as though she is trying to figure it all out in her mind and then the realization spreads over her. She stares up wide eyed up at me. Before I have a chance to speak, she echoes my thoughts with her words.

"They're going to use us," she says, her voice quiet. I want to comfort her, but right now I need her to help me make sense of it all. I need the Erudite part of her to complete the puzzle I have tried to solve for months now.

"I wonder," I say, "how they plan to get us to fight.."

The wind picks up as the train curves back around taking us back in the direction of the Dauntless compound. Her hair billows across her face, veiling my view of her. She doesn't try to move it, lost in her thoughts. I don't attempt to either, for fear I will break her concentration.

"I don't know," she finally says, biting her lip and crossing her arms across her chest.

I reach forward, pulling her against my chest, no longer able to watch the tension and worry so clear in her stance. She stays tense against me and I rub her back trying to fight off the fear. I press my lips to her hair and she moves her hands up around my neck. I look down at her and she stares back up at me.

"What are we going to do, Tobias?" She whispers

I close my eyes, pressing her forehead to mine, "I don't know."