Disclaimer: I still own nothing but my own characters and plot.

Chapter 13

They found Elle in Abnegation of all places. A week after she slipped out into the early morning, the people Johanna had hoped would turn up finally did. George and Amar were met with a tight lipped and angry Eric. Johanna was worried and welcoming. Neither knew where Elle had gone for sure to but both had a pretty good idea that she headed back to the city.

Eric's demeanor and anger were grating on George's nerves and he was already keeping a thin hold on his anger. He had lost one sister already and the other that he hoped to be reunited with could very well be dead. No one had a clue and hadn't been able to locate her.

George had left to get supplies while Amar talked with the two. He suspected something had happened between Eric and Bree...or Elle as Eric kept calling her. When he wasn't snapping the name Brielle out like a curse. There was hurt in his tone and worry, so Amar didn't become as angry as he knows George would have had his husband remained.

They couldn't search for her like they wanted. That was the purpose of forming the teams and starting to work their way slowly into the city. There were too many possibilities of traps and unknown conditions to just barge into the city.

There was no way that George and Amar weren't going to go on their own. So they had geared up with supplies that would travel well and set out. Dauntless was where they assumed she would head but they found traces of someone passing through into the Abnegation sector recently.

At least she had found a way to arm herself and was alert to someone approaching her. After her calling out questions only George would know, did she let them approach the house she had taken shelter in and set up a base of operations.

She hadn't gotten much done besides getting some supplies together and scouting out this sector. She had ranged between crying and sick to her stomach for the entire week she had been gone. Of course her brother wanted to know everything that happened. She had told him all about the troubles that started, what she had been tasked with and how she couldn't go through with it after she had found out Eric had saved him.

She went through explaining how everything unraveled. She told the two men everything but what happened between her and Eric when she was being nursed back to health. They read between the lines and knew. What they didn't know was what caused it to end.

It took some convincing but they talked her into going back to Amity. There was a meeting being held and there were plans for what everyone was looking at doing would be discussed. Considering she didn't really know what she was doing anyways, she figured that it was a better solution than her wandering around sectors aimlessly. There was a part of her that was hoping she could see Eric and Brendan. Hoping she had been wrong and he would want her to stay...want her back.

Tomorrow would either see that hope realized or her the fool.

Amity normally had their gatherings when anything important needed to be discussed in the dome that held their communal eating and gathering space. With the influx of people from the city when they escaped the fighting but also the outlying communities, there was no way it was going to fit everyone.

Instead a stage of sorts had been constructed and those that would be organizing or leading it stood on this. It gave a good view of them to the gathering but it also allowed those on the stage to see out into the audience.

Eric wasn't about to admit that his eyes were roaming and in search of a specific person. She had left and made it clear they had meant nothing to her. He hadn't been able to feel anything but anger from the second she ran from their home like a damn coward. He couldn't even run after her. He didn't know if he would have anyways.

He had stood there and felt his world being ripped from him. It should have made him sad and hurt...something other than the cold anger he felt towards her.

Friends. The words still made a sneer come to his face. As if he could be friends with someone that had ripped his heart out and stomped on it.

Fuck friends. He didn't need them.

Whether he needed them or wanted them, he had them. Johanna had been there for him. She didn't pressure him to say what had happened but she had urged him to try and talk to Elle when she showed up again. She had been sure that Elle was just going through something and that she needed time.

He knew that she had been upset about something but she hadn't wanted to talk about it. When he asked she would blow it off and say she was just tired or feeling sick. He hadn't pressed because she was sleeping more and he had even heard her in the bathroom a few times being sick to her stomach. She had seemed moodier than normal too.

He picked up his efforts to get the plan they set in motion going because the thought all of that was her being anxious and restless. There were a few times he had to join in going into the city to make sure that when the bigger groups headed in, trucks could make it into the city.

He told Elle he was helping with the harvest but he was heading into the city instead. His own temper probably didn't help matters. Seeing the damage and destruction, as well as encountering a few traps that had been set; had frustrated and angered him.

Getting hurt during one of those excursions had really upset him. It brought home how much he was keeping from Elle. To hide his injury he had to refrain from being intimate with her.

Those last two weeks had been tense for both of them but they hadn't been bad. Not enough to drive her away, to run away like she had.

No. Eric was convinced that it had gotten too deep for her and she had used any out she could find to take off.

His attention is pulled to the person beside him and he smiles despite his anger and pain. Brendan is in Paisley's arms and babbling away. The young woman had been such a big help since Elle left. He hadn't been able to take spending another night in the cabin he shared with Elle, so took the offer Johanna extended of staying in the spare room of her home. It worked out that he could drop Brendan off with Paisley and her sister to be watched with the other kids they took care of while he resumed work to reclaim the city.

When it looked like everyone was gathered around, Johanna took to the center of the stage and gave the signal. Chimes and bells signaled for silence and it fell as everyone waited to find out what this gathering was about. There had been whispers but all were eager to get those confirmed.

Despite his searching, he still hadn't been able to spot Elle. He was cursing himself for a fool for even hoping. She was probably gone. George and Amar probably found her and took her out of the city.

The thought sent pain through him and for the first time since she ran away from him, he felt the waves of grief and sadness. He had no time for either, so like he once did while he lived in the subterranean home of Dauntless, he shoved it all behind a wall and closed it up.

Johanna turned back to turn over things to Eric and was met with the stony and emotionless young man that she thought was long gone and internally sighed. He gave a simple nod and stepped forward to take her place.

He might look different than he did before but the tone and body language was all Eric Coulter of Dauntless and he commanded the attention of all without even trying.

"You sure you don't want to move closer?" Amar was gently prodding Elle, trying to get her to move closer to the stage.

Elle shook her head and sunk back deeper into the shadows. She could see the stage just fine and what she saw was enough to make her want to keep as far away as possible.

Eric and Brendan alone were enough to break her heart. What decimated her was Paisley standing by his side on that stage with the baby boy in her arms. The looks from Eric over to the fiery haired young woman made her wish she could just disappear altogether.

When Johanna began to speak she was barely able to comprehend what was being said. When Eric took over all she could do was let his voice wash over her. Nothing he said registered, she was too caught up in emotions. When he finished she was surprised to find that she had moved forward.

It was unexplainable to her that she moved without even knowing. His voice pulled her to him. The crowd was breaking off and going to different areas that seemed to be organizing something but she was still moving forward. Until Eric stepped off the stage and suddenly she was hit with the fact that she was about to come face to face with him.

She was about to turn again when she heard Amar call out from behind her. "Eric."

His head snapped around and zeroed in on Elle, George and Amar. He spared Amar one glance before his eyes narrowed when he saw her standing there. He held her eyes captive but she couldn't determine what he was thinking. If it wasn't for the beard and wild curly hair, she would think they were back in Dauntless and that Eric stood before her.

He finally moved his eyes away from her as if she wasn't even there. Not worth his time.

"Amar, I didn't think you would be here for this. You mentioned heading out back to where you had been previously."

Amar looked from Eric to Elle, then shrugged. "We thought we should at least hear everything out. Bree would rather stay in the city if at all possible. The plan is a good one. The least we can do is at least try and see what we can make of it here."

Eric gave a small nod and looked to Elle again. She knew she should say something. Anything.

She didn't and knew her chance had passed when he turned away and to Paisley as she approached with Brendan. The baby boy saw Elle and started to hold out his arms and babble happily.

Elle felt tears burn her eyes and her feet started forward. That was all cut short when Eric stepped in front of her but left her facing his back.

He plucked Brendan from the startled girls arms and announced coldly. "If you'll excuse us, I have to see to my family."

He didn't look back as he walked away with Paisley hot on his heels. Elle watched with the last shred of hope she had going with them.