I want to say thanks to everyone for their responses on the last few chapters of Something New. I have gotten so much feedback it's been amazing. So, here's a little deleted scene.
Originally planned this around the time that Tris restarts therapy. Her suicidal ideations would have a profound impact on Caleb's own state of mind.
Tris's anxiety always kicked in when she passed under the ornate arches at the Candor head quarters that lead to the elevator bank. If she were there for work, she would use the other elevators to go to the head offices. Her therapist was on the third floor down a hallway and on the interior of the building. Some day the lack of light made her mad, others sullen, and on the cold days where the sun wouldn't shine, sheltered.
Caleb surprised her, sitting in a chair just to the right of the coffee table. He was reading a floppy magazine, or journal. Tris couldn't tell which one only that it was a page of text without photos or diagrams. He looked up and smiled politely.
"What are you doing here?"
"I asked Melissa if we could do a family session today."
"You didn't ask me." It was an affront to the strides they had made. They had gotten to the point where he could at least express his disappointments to her in the privacy of their apartment. She wondered where she'd misstepped, how angry she'd made him that he needed help to tell her his disappointments.
"I asked because I need it, not because of you." He apologized and looked back to his magazine to avoid her.
"Oh." She plopped down in the chair next to him to wait, kicking her bag back and forth between her feet. "What about?"
He swallowed, bit his lips together. The uncomfortable silence twisting Tris' body so she was on the edge of the chair facing him. Tears rolled down his cheeks, her hand found his and squeezed. He jerked away, wiping his eyes hastily. The door to the session room opened, diverting words from Tris' mouth back into her throat. A Candor child was blowing his nose into a tissue while Melissa ushered him out.
"Tris, Caleb, why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable." She smiled, ignoring their distressed faces.
Tris hated when the couch felt warm when she sat down. It made the whole thing feel mechanical, a conveyor belt of emotions coming in and out. Caleb sank into the cushions as far away as possible, his arms drawn in over his heart and his back hunched.
"Well, Caleb asked to join us today. Do you want to start?" Melissa prompted.
"I just, it's been eating at me." He mumbled. "That if I'd gone into the room like I was supposed to, everything would have been better for you. And I'm really, really sorry."