Eric has to sit as they review the security footage on the computers back in Erudite. He's already ignored medical advice and discharged himself from the infirmary, the bullet was out of his leg and he was strapped up that was all that matter as far as he was concerned. But standing wasn't overly comfortable so he'd ended up sat on the edge of a desk. "We haven't been able to identify the fifth member of the group… but she knew Dauntless that was for sure she is skilful never showing her face or any determining features to the camera."

There was something familiar about the brunette head of hair facing the camera but Eric couldn't figure it out. He needed to see her face, profile something over than the back of her head and vintage army jacket. "She was shot though surely the person who shot her could identify her?"

"They are all dead and the only guard who would have seen her face ran with them." The Initiate Peter ambitious and ruthless but still a coward it didn't surprise Eric to discover he'd been pressured into helping them and then run with them after. He should have been under simulation Max had been wrong to let him out, to let him stay and guard.

"So we have nothing on her?"

"We can guess she was likely born Dauntless or a Dauntless Initiate that failed and ended up Factionless. She's defiantly factionless her clothing tells us that." One of the Erudite in the room started hypothersing based on the things he could see and Eric just wanted to punch him. Fucking idiot they weren't facts she could have found the clothes or made them herself to disguise herself.

"Just leave." Jeanine stated from where she was stood dead centre in front of the screen her hand bandaged from where the stiff had thrown a knife through it. Everyone left only Eric stayed knowing the command didn't pertain to him. "Do you think she is Dauntless?" Jeanine asked him as she took the side door from the conference room into her office Eric sighed before following her.

"Undoubtedly the way she holds herself the surety she walks through Dauntless with. She was in the very least born there, properly an initiate too." Her office was exactly as he expected it, white with natural wooden furniture. There was one thing that surprised him and that was the picture of him on her desk. Reaching for it he picked the picture up and looked at the teenage boy standing in the picture in a blue suit he had no tattoo's or piercings and a full head of hair. This picture had only been taken six years ago but in reality it felt like a life time ago.

"Brunettes that failed initiation?" His mother asked him taking the photograph off him and placing it back in its place he noted it was next to one of his mother and father on their wedding day. And that just confirmed his original thought it wasn't their because she cared it was there for show.

"A fair few I would suspect I don't commit them to memory." Eric responded whilst picking up the model of the brain on his mother's desk before dropping into one of the seats and playing with it as he spoke. "Why are you so focused on her anyway it's the Divergents you want?"

"She was an uncalculated variable." Ah so it was just a matter of his mother's pride her plan didn't work, he carefully laid out highly logical plan. She needed a scape goat as to why it didn't work.

"You got what you wanted, you're in charge of the Government. What does it matter how you got there?"

"The box requires a Divergent to open it… find them, all of them. The labs are working on tech to identify Divergents once its ready you and max will take the remainder of Dauntless at search Amity."

"How long before the tech?"

"About a week should give you plenty of time to have your leg better… my understanding is the bullet hit nothing vital?" Of course she'd read his medical report, though she needed to be careful it almost sounded like she cared that he'd been hurt.

"Soft tissue."

"Good so you should be fit and back on active duty by then." Eric wanted to make some sarcastic comment about how it was so good to know his mother cared. He'd been shot, at point blank range in the leg and all she cared about was when he'd be back on active duty. That was the mother he knew and despised.

"I guess so."

Amity, Dres had woken up in Amity she'd passed out from the blood lose at some point on the train and woke up in Amity. The only blessing had been the 'Doctor' from Amity stood at the end of her bed was her brother. "Morning sleepy head." He'd smiled at her as she 'd started to wake up, "Don't strain yourself yet, we don't exactly have blood on hand in Amity you're lucky we are the same type but I couldn't give you much. The bullet's out though, good news is it didn't do in permanent damage we should have you up and walking by the end of the week. Light exercise though don't want you ripping Four's beautiful stitches."

"Hale." Dres smiled reaching for her big brothers hand she'd missed him, his soothing voice and happy go lucky charm. It hadn't been a surprise to her when her father came back from the choosing ceremony without him. Halston could take care of himself he was built like a tank but he also hated violence he was unbelievably squeamish too. He just didn't fit in at Dauntless which was a shame because he was gay and Dauntless was one of the very few factions where that was okay. Well one of only two, Amity was the other. He fitted in here though and she could see it as he came to crouch next to her he looked relaxed calm and happy.

"It's good to see you D." He ran his thumb over her cheek bone making her smile affectionately back at him. "When the mail came from Dauntless to tell me you were dead… why would you do that D?"

"I had to get out of Dauntless or I really would have been dead."

"But you had people who loved you D, surely they would have protected you."

"I love you Hale, really I do but you have such a naïve view of the world."

"You didn't see Eric at your memorial what loosing you did to you." As the wife of a Dauntless leader she'd warranted a memorial service at the hub. One she attended herself from a far standing on the roof watching as Eric had sat stoically in the front row beside his mother. He didn't move during the whole ceremony instead he just sat their emotionless staring at the urn of 'her' asses. She knew everything Eric had gone through she'd watched him through so many of the moments and made Four tell her everything. It had been hard to hear often making her want to just walk back into Dauntless and crawl back into bed with him and hold him, comfort him but she knew she couldn't do that.

"You don't understand what was at stake Hale. You don't understand the decisions I had to save him from."

"I don't think I could ever understand D. You need to get some more sleep though… Four said he will come by later to visit you." Hale spoke as he gave her something to drink and Dres found herself drifting into unconsciousness despite previously not feeling sleepy. Bloody peace loving druggies Dres found herself cursing as she drifted back to sleep.

Four hadn't been there the next time she'd awoken in the middle of the night no one had. So she'd got out of the bed wincing at the shooting pains in her leg as she put weight on it but still managed to limp out of the hut she'd been in. The sky was cloudless tonight which left a bitter chill in the air but that didn't stop Dres as she pulled herself on to the roof of the hut. She managed without ripping her stitches which she was grateful for. Laying back she just looked up at the stars.

"You're going to freeze out here one night." Eric's voice came from behind her as she stood looking out at the city lights twinkling in the dark whilst behind her the only light source was the stars stretching for seemingly ever into the distance. She didn't turn to look at him just stayed looking out at the city as she felt his arms wrap around her waist his lips pressing a kiss to the side of her head before he rested his chin on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked running his thumb over stomach.

"It's nothing really I just have this bad feeling… everything is so perfect I just don't want it too end." Dres sighed sinking back into his body as Eric tightened his arms around her.

"Is this about going back on patrol tomorrow?" He asked turning his head so he could look at her profile, "It's okay to be nervous Princess but you'll have Four there with you and I won't be far away."

"You hate Four yet you trust him with my life?" Dres laughed at the irony how Eric could trust by his own admission his most prized possession, his soul, into the hands of the man he hated most in the world.

"I hate Four but you trust him… you do good work together." Dres smiled relaxing slightly it was true she and Four did do good work together, it was why they were the top ranking pair. They'd solved more disputes and put down more factionless trouble makers than any other pairing in Dauntless. Properly only because it was rare for the leaders to actually do any of the leg work. But she'd been hurt last time falling fifteen feet and suffering quite the concussion. Four had pulled her from the rubble but it didn't stop the nerves about going back out there. She'd hated the desk work though and Eric had bared the brunt of her bad mood resulting from her restlessness.

"I won't let anything happen to you." Eric placed another kiss on her temple before they just fell into a comfortable silence Dres wrapped in Eric's arms as they watched the city lights twinkle like the stars behind them.

"Eric?!" Max's voice came from behind him and Eric pushed away from the balcony railing turning to look at his fellow Dauntless leader. "Dr Coulter wants to see you in his office now!" Max stated before looking at Eric again, "What are you doing out here?" He asked wearily. Eric knew Max didn't have to ask he knew full well what today was. Stuffing the chain in the palm of his hand back in his pocket Eric turned and walked back into the building.

"Waiting for a job to do." He stated as he passed Max before heading down the corridors to Doctor Henry Coulter's office. He wondered if his father cared about pretences enough as his mother as to have a picture of his only son in his office. Eric doubted it, if there was anyone he'd seen less in his childhood than his mother it was the brilliant Doctor Henry Coulter.

"You are supposed to be in bed." Four stated as he sat down next to Dres on the roof watching the sun rise occurring through the tree's to the east.

"Well since apparently I've spent the last three days asleep forgive me for no longer been tired."

"Your body needed time to heal."

"My brother said you did the stitches nice work there." Dres smiled at him whilst lifting the skirt she'd been given to wear showing him his work still intact in her leg. "I was careful not to rip them as I climbed up her."

"Damn they even got you in a skirt."

"The minute they let me get to my bag I'll be back in my jeans I have a spare pair and a shirt in my bag… what did you do with my jacket?"

"It's with your bag under your bed if you'd bothered to look."

"So everything is fucked up."

"Yeah I guess it is."

"We can't stay here forever Four."

"I know… but for now you just need to get better and then we can discuss this."

"It's a year today." Dresden whispered looking down at the twigs and plant life growing out of the roof around her picking at bits. A year ago today she had run into a burning building in front of her husband and faked her death. Let the man she loved believe she was burnt to death in fiery explosion, when in reality she'd run through the building and set the explosion herself leaving the corpse of a nameless factionless woman in the room to burn in her place.

Four didn't know what to say to that so instead he just climbed back down and left Dres alone to her thoughts on the roof. She might not have been back in her bed like Halston had asked him to get her to do. But she wasn't at risk of doing further damage to her leg whilst she was just sitting up there watching the sky.

The days passed by quickly and with each day Dresden grew stronger until she was able to eat with them. She noticed as she sat beside Tris at lunch that Marcus was seated the other side of the mess hall. Wanting to ask Four how he was feeling but knowing now wasn't the time as the initiate came and sat down with his food. He was a dick she'd quickly worked that one out worse he was a selfish dick.

After lunch Dresden followed Four to the wood line, they had an hour after eating before afternoon chores started and whilst Dresden was still 'sick' and therefore on light work mainly caring for the horses in particular a white mare she'd taken a shining too. Four was working long hard days in the fields to earn their keep in Amity.

"You need to go Dresden back to factionless and stay there…" Four's sudden statement shocked Dres causing her to stop and turn back to face him.

"This is my fight, I am where I am supposed to be." She argued, she was Divergent just like him and Tris this was as much her fight as it was there's.

"Eric thinks you are dead staying with us means it's only a matter of time before he finds out the truth."

"Then I put my fate in his hands." Her temper had always been short and fiery and it was hanging by a thread as she spat the words at Four hurt by his insulations that she would run and cower from this fight because of Eric.

"He isn't the same Eric you remember Dresden! He might not save you. Losing you destroyed what little good there was in you, losing you meant he didn't have a reason to live to fight the darkness anymore so he let it consume him."

"The decision has been made Four, I am staying… I can't keep hiding forever I never should have run not without giving him a chance first." There is was laid out bare at Four's feet Dresden's biggest regret was not trusting Eric. Running without even giving him a chance not because of who he was then but because of his Erudite past. "I was supposed to love and trust him Four and I let him down. Everything he is today everything he became that's on me because I couldn't trust him enough with my secret when he shared all of his."

"He made his own choices Dresden and they left you with a hard one. No one could blame you for not trusting him with your secret when he was actively seeking Divergents in Dauntless for Erudite." Dres knew Four was right, that based on the evidence she'd made the logical choice not to trust Eric but to run instead. Yet love wasn't logical, trust wasn't logical either she should have told him she should have given him a chance. Nothing Four could say would change how she felt about that.

"I am staying with you and Tris Four, we need to end this not just for us but for Abnegation and everyone else like us."

"Stubborn as always." Four laughed reaching for Dres and pulling her into a hug, "We'll do it together, you Tris and I we'll end this together."

"How is she Tris? She went through a lot losing both her parents like that…" Curiosity and concern fuelled Dres' questions also the desire to change the subject as she turned and started to walk along the edge of the wood again.

Dres was stronger on her leg now her footing surer, still in pain but more a dull ache than crippling shooting pain. Her quick recovery and pain management no doubt fuelled by the pastes and concoctions her brother kept feeding her. Amity might be old school in its medicine but sometimes old school remedies where just as good if not better than the serum cooked up in the Erudite labs.

"She has nightmares… she pretends they don't happen and I pretend I don't know."

"Pretending everything is okay helps no one Four she needs to talk about it you need to get her to talk about it."

"I am sure she will come to me when she is ready." Dres knew this was a lie Four told himself as comfort, at least she hoped he knew it was a lie. Tris would never be ready to talk about what had happened on that day just a week ago.

"We don't have time for herself pity Four she is more and more on edge every day she is a time bomb you need to diffuse it."

"Because you are much better." Four didn't mean to lash out at Dres, but he couldn't help feeling defensive of Tris when the person attacking her was no better. Tris might have nightmares but at least she slept now off the drugs Four hadn't seen Dres sleep at all. She was awake when he went to bed and she up before him. She couldn't speak about guilt consuming Tris when it was obviously controlling her.

"I learnt to live with my guilt long ago."

A/N Hey guys so just to let you know this story follows a combination of the book and film timelines taking bits from both but it does use the aging from the films so Dres, Four and Eric are all 24 and Tris is 18 it just fits better for the story gives Dres and Eric a more realistic relationship timetable too.