A/N: There's an M-rated version of this chapter also, which you can find through my author page. :)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tobias

"So, where are you taking me?" Tris's eyes are bright and wide, filled with curiosity and excitement.

I sit on the floor of the train car with my back to the wall, pulling her with me. "I already told you that I'm taking you on a date," I tell her, smirking. "And that's all you're getting out of me."

She tries to pout as she cuddles against my side, my arm around her shoulders, but the corner of her lip still twitches. "Not even a hint at what we'll be doing?"

"Nope," I grin, popping the 'p'. Her smile is contagious. I must have taken her on dates before, but she is so enthusiastic, it makes me wonder. "Tell me about our first date. You know… before."

Tris gives me a small smile. "Well… we only ever went on one date," she tells me. Only one? In all those months? "We were too busy fighting a war." I pull her into my lap straddling me as I nod, encouraging her to go on. "When you finally got the chance to take me out on a date, it was after we defeated Erudite, when Evelyn had taken over the city. We had to sneak out- there was a curfew in place, and we also couldn't be seen together because Evelyn hated me, and you had to convince her we were through." A knot forms in my stomach. I get this same nervous feeling, almost like a sense of impending doom, whenever Tris mentions the state of her previous relationship with my mother. As always, I push it aside.

"We went to that big sculpture in Erudite," she continues. "You know, the one with the curved metal plates, the abstract one, in Millennium Park?" I nod- I know the one. It's a strange sculpture, puzzling to look at, but intriguing. "We climbed it with some food and a blanket and fizzy drinks you stole from Erudite- which we both found to be absolutely disgusting- and finally, for once, we just got to be a couple of teenagers in love." Her her voice softens, and I can just barely hear her over the wind through the open train car, although her mouth is just inches from my ear. "We didn't get enough time to do that."

I tuck a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear. "I guess it's a good thing we're making up for it now."

Tris slowly leans closer to me, and when my gaze flicks from her lips up to her eyes, I can see that she is staring at my lips, too. They meet slowly, gently, almost tentatively. But when they meet, passion reignites, and the kiss deepens quickly. I slide her jacket off her shoulders, and Tris lets out a soft moan as I kiss her jaw, then her neck, before moving lower and kissing each of the birds on her collarbone.

I really wish we weren't on a train right now, because I don't want to stop what we're doing. Unfortunately, we have to. "I hate to cut this short," I say, leaning my forehead against hers, "but we need to jump.

Tris gets up, pulling her jacket back on, and looks out the window. "Here? This isn't a date to see your mother is it?" she says with a frown.

"I'm not that bad at this whole dating thing. Give me a little credit." I laugh, shaking my head. "Come on, Tris, let's go. You'll see when you get there," I add in response to her furrowed eyebrows. All that curiosity and need for answers… her Erudite is showing.

We both easily land on our feet. "I love doing that," she breathes. I raise an eyebrow. "Jumping on and off the trains, of course. But I love watching you do it even more."

We walk about four blocks from the train track- a nice short distance. The building is only about ten stories high, and its walls are made of glass and metal, like most of the buildings around here. There are some broken windows higher up, but the room we will be using is closer to the center of the building and entirely windowless. Outside, there are several rectangular indentations in the wall that had glass over them kind of like picture frames. Only one still holds anything- an old, warped poster, half ripped off, the ink colors run together from decades of exposure to the elements, so whatever it once showed is now unrecognizable.

As we approach the door, Tris reads the large neon sign, which I bet would look really cool when lit up, but I didn't want to attract attention so it remains dark today. "Cinema?" she asks. "What's a cinema?"

"It's a place you go to watch a film," I answer, grinning. "Have you ever seen a movie?" She shakes her head side to side, nearly bouncing up to the door in excitement. The glass on it is completely shattered, so all we have to do is step through. "I found a bunch of old film reels in a storage closet at Dauntless. I'd imagine that Erudite has a lot more of them, but there was a pretty good selection. I haven't seen the movie I brought tonight, so hopefully it's good, as it's your first movie experience." Truth be told, I've only seen two movies, myself, in my two years at Dauntless. I never bothered to get a television; Abnegation habits run deep. I've seen a couple with Zeke, though. Both were action movies. From what I've been able to find out, the one I picked is a comedy and a "classic", whatever that means.

All of seats were ripped out of this theater long ago, so Tris and I sit on a blanket on the floor. Only crumbs are left of our sandwiches, and we have moved on to Dauntless cake. It didn't take me too long to figure out how to set up the film in the projector, and Tris waited patiently until I was done. The movie is called The Princess Bride. The story, basically, starts out with a little boy sick in bed, and his grandfather comes to read him a book. The main plot is from the book itself.

As we are the only people here, we're free to talk through the movie as much as we like. Tris is wide-eyed at the screen the whole time. Near the beginning she glanced at me nervously when the farm boy the girl was in love with, Wesley, died, and I know she was thinking of her own choice to leave me at the Bureau. Thankfully, the story moves on quickly. We compare the fighting in the movie to Dauntless initiation, and we muse about whether sword fighting is a useful skill, eventually concluding that no, it probably would not be very practical in our world. It's definitely fun to watch, though.

"Now, it is down to you, and it is down to me." Vizzini and the Dread Pirate Roberts are beginning a 'battle of wits'.

"I hate that creep," Tris whispers. "He's like an Erudite. What a know-it all. So sure of himself." Vizzini goes on and on about his 'logic' being no match for the pirate's… until he falls down dead from the poison, and Roberts reveals his strategy of having slowly developed an immunity to the deadly powder. "I thought he seemed like a Dauntless, but he's Erudite smart, isn't he?"

"Guess he must be Divergent," I snort.

As the Pirate reveals his true identity, while rolling down a huge hill screaming 'as you wish'- which has always been Wesley's code for 'I love you'- Tris scoots closer to me, setting her plate, just a few cake crumbs remaining on it, to the side. My arm wraps around her waist, and my fingers find a strip of bare skin where her shirt has ridden up. I rub circles on her side with my thumb.

Tris continues to make comments about the movie here and there, and while it has been a fun movie so far, I'm not watching it anymore. "Why are you staring at me?" she whispers nervously.

I say the first thing that comes to my mind- the most honest answer I can give her. "You're too beautiful to look away from."

I lean in and press my lips to hers. The kiss starts out sweet but soon deepens, and I find myself tangling my hands in her hair as her fingers trace my spine. I have an indescribably strong need to close the distance between us; it feels like no matter how close we are, it will never be close enough. Judging by the way Tris pulls me against her, she's feeling that same need. One of my hands slides slowly down her back as the other tugs at her hair, making her tilt her head back, exposing her neck. Just as on the train, my lips kiss and suck at her jaw, her neck… then as I move down to the birds on her collarbone, I let go of her hair and squeeze her hips with both hands.

I need to be closer to her, though there is no air between us, just some thin layers of fabric. My heart flutters as she kisses that sensitive spot behind my ear, pushing her body even closer to mine, which I didn't even think was possible. She pulls back and we look directly into each other's eyes as my hands slowly run up her sides, raising the hem of her shirt as they ascend. I'm searching her eyes for her permission; something in them urges me to keep going. So I do.

I swear my heart is going to beat right out of my chest with just the knowledge that I'm pulling her shirt up, maybe even going to take it off of her altogether, though I haven't looked down at her yet. She nods, and I pull it off and toss it aside, my eyes still fixed on hers. When I'm finally about to look down and admire her, she lets go of me and crosses her arms over her chest.

I frown. "You're beautiful, Tris. I don't want you to hide from me," I sigh. "It's just me here."

I remove one hand from her side and run it along her lower lip, forcing it free from where it is trapped between her teeth. Tris looks down shyly, trapping her lip under her teeth yet again, and slowly lowers her arms.

My hand that still rests on her body slowly slides to her stomach, just below her breasts, and I look at her again for permission. Slowly we lean back on the blanket, me hovering over her, as our lips collide once again. Our tongues fight for dominance. She is lying beneath me, our legs tangled together, and I support my upper body on one elbow as I reach behind her and, after fumbling for a moment, unhook her bra; this time she throws the garment aside. My breath hitches and my heart pounds, and my pants feel tight, as I gently slide one hand over her chest, staring at her bare torso in wonder. "Beautiful," I murmur, and she closes her eyes and smiles contentedly.

My breath hitches and I pause for just a moment mid-kiss as Tris's hands explore more of me. As her hand slips lower, I swear my heart is going to pound right of my chest. Still, I force myself to pull back from the kiss.

My forehead rests against hers, my eyes closed. "Tris… I thought… you said you didn't want…" I pant, and I think that is as close as I will come right now to forming a full sentence.

Tris kisses me softly. "I don't. Not yet. But we can do other things…" I let a shaky breath in and out. I'm so nervous… she may have only been with me… but it was in this alternate universe or whatever so I wasn't there. I'm inexperienced. She takes advantage of my open mouth and fits her lips to mine, darting her tongue in, exploring my mouth and I respond readily. My fingers grip her thigh as we kiss more and more passionately.

We don't notice the movie at all any more as our hands roam new territory, and I feel things I never knew possible, the most amazing feelings I've ever experienced. She is so beautiful… so sexy… so perfect, I could swear she was made just for me.

We collapse on the blanket. The movie credits roll, playing a horribly cheesy song, as our breaths begin to slow and quiet. Suddenly Tris shoots upright in alarm, whipping her head side to side, eyes wide and searching. "Did you hear that?" she whispers. "I- I thought I heard something… someone…" She shakes her head as if to clear it.

I shake my head. "It was probably just the film," I suggest. Tris nods her head uneasily, but settles back onto the blanket, using my arm as a pillow. I look into her eyes and stroke her hair, and I know, in this moment, without a shadow of a doubt that I am falling hard for her. She's the only one for me. I can't tell her yet- I don't want her to question my sincerity, to think that I am just saying that or just think that because of what we just did, but I know it's true.

Tris runs her nails gently up and down my stomach, where my t-shirt has ridden up, and I close my eyes in contentment. "We should probably clean all this up and head back," she says with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

I nod. Going back to Dauntless makes me feel anxious; Peter has attacked her before, and now she's first ranked. I really don't trust him not to try it again, and he probably wouldn't be alone this time. Each initiate's fastest time was posted next to their name today with the stage two rankings. Tris's was just two minutes and eight seconds; Peter, as third rank, came in at eight minutes, thirty-two seconds. She has already told me that the first time around, tonight is when they attacked her by the Chasm. There is no way he won't target her.

"Stay with me tonight," I murmur. "I need to know that you're safe." Tris smiles and nods as she sits up and begins to pack up the food packages and such, and I head up to the projection room to pack away the film reel, with butterflies in my stomach, thinking about how amazing it will feel to sleep with Tris in my arms.