Chapter 9

She was moving better. When Eric left just after breakfast she took a chance and moved to the living room on her own. It was a small victory for her and he saw on her face as soon as he came in that she was happy about it. He couldn't explain why he reacted as badly as he had, but it had pissed him off.

He told her it was because she could have hurt herself. How could he trust to leave her own her own if she did something that could see her hurt again? He had watched the happiness leave her expression and it go guarded again before she told him he was no longer her superior and that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

He had stormed out of the house after snarking out that she could see to her own lunch if she was so capable. He got as far as halfway to the hot springs before he cursed himself and raced back. Knowing she would do just fucking that and it was his fault for overreacting.

She was capable of taking care of herself and that was the problem. He wasn't ready for her to be able to do that. He had this fear in the back of his mind that as soon as she was able to, she would leave. She would set out on her own.

Sometimes in their talks at night, holding each other in bed, she talked about going back to the city to see if there was anything she could do. Elle had mentioned seeing if she could get into the compound. There were things in Tori and Bud's apartment, even the tattoo parlor that she would like to have. To have a piece of them. Elle thought a lot about the others and what they lost. Tris and her parents as well as Caleb. Christina and Will, though she thought that her sister and mom made it out of Candor. Edward and Mayra had apparently abandoned the factionless and their madness but didn't know what happened to their family. Zeke, Uri, Marlene and Hana made it out...Lynn had gotten separated from the group and even Johanna hadn't known if she joined them when they headed out.

There was the fear that if she got better she was going to head back into the city out of need to fulfill debts she once again created in her own mind that only she could pay back. He couldn't allow that to happen. She had already almost been lost once before because of a debt. Not again.

Elle was doing exactly what he thought she would be. She was leaning on the table, using it as a crutch as she wobbled and hobbled her way towards the kitchen. She had just let go of the table and taken a step when Eric slammed into the cabin. The surprise of that along with her already being unsteady from the effort she had expended to get this far, caused her to go down.

With a curse, Eric sprinted across the distance and scooped her up before she made contact with the hard stone floor, scowling heavily the entire time.

"God dammit, Brielle." He barked out as he carried her back to the couch. She had started to hit his chest in protest and throwing her own curses out at him.

"I am just doing what you told me to do, dick. You have no right to manhandle me. I didn't ask for your help! If I am such a burden take me to god damn Amity and I will be out of your hair."

"Would you fucking stop, Elle. You are going to hurt yourself." Eric hissed as she continued her assault on him even he was settling her back in the seat and trying to get the throw blanket around her bare legs.

She went to start yelling again and he moved so that one hand had both of hers trapped while the other went to cover her mouth and shut her up. "I'm sorry, Elle." He said loudly enough that it cut through her muffled yelling and surprised her again.

Her brow wrinkled in disbelief wondering if she heard correctly and Eric had just apologized at all much less to her.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "I overreacted out of worry. I really was worried you were and are pushing it. We don't have the resources here to make sure you are healing properly, Elle." He was using a bit of the truth but also thinking fast to try and buy him and them as much time as possible. He took his hand away when he saw he had her attention and she was calmed down. "We know what was wrong generally but were hoping it isn't a more serious injury internally. You had to fill out and process enough injury reports, you know the normal procedure and recovery time. That was with all the resources and equipment of Dauntless and Erudite."

"I wasn't trying to push it, Eric. It is good to do a little bit more each day."

He nodded and felt relief he had avoided a disaster of his own making but hoped he could get her to his way of thinking without making her become all stubborn. "It is but that is with close monitoring with trained professionals. Neither of us have tons of experience with internal injuries. It isn't being weak to err on the side of caution. I am glad you were able to get as far as you did, really I am. I know I would be relieved to do that much on my own if it were me in your position. I would also be itching to do more just like I know you are. If you were in my position now though, what would you be telling me."

Elle looked away for a second and her nose scrunched up. She didn't want to admit he was right. It was like against everything she had previously established in how she dealt with him. He moved his hand to grab her chin and turned her to face him again. An eyebrow raised waiting for her to answer the question.

'Like you don't already know the answer!' She snarled in her mind to him. 'Why is it so hard to just let go of how it had to be?'

"I would feel the same way." She finally answered after chiding herself that she could try to change if he was willing too. By his apology he was already trying.

Eric smiled at her and let out a relieved breath. "So we take this slowly. In stages."

She was nodding in agreement while Eric was realizing that he wasn't just talking about her recovery anymore.

He gave her a nod back with a smile and raised up, then on some impulse, leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead. "Good." He breathed out against her skin.

Eric moved away and to the bags he had dropped near the counter when he had stormed out. He missed Elle shivering and watching his back with wide and confused eyes before a small smile crept across her face.

He was already telling her about Brendan and the news he got from Johanna. They would be making a delivery in two days via cart and horses of things Brendan would need to stay there. Johanna would also have clothes for Elle so she could stop wearing his shirts all the time since it was all they had besides what she had been in when she first got there, but that got tossed right away. There was one set of clothes in one of the supply drops but no more clothes had been available at that time.

Fighting had apparently all died out and the city was quiet. No one had ventured in though and the last group had said it seemed like the two fighting groups had finally killed each other off.

Eric surprised her for lunch with fish that Johanna gave him specifically because she knew Brielle like salmon. What could have been a very bad day and night turned into a pleasant one, with both of them reading after dinner before bed.

There was still a tension in the two that was building more as the night wore on and bedtime approached. A storm that was building and set to break sometime soon.