A/N: All right, I couldn't make you wait until tomorrow... If you haven't read the last chapter yet, please read that before this one. I just posted it earlier this evening.

Chapter 9: Life Lessons

The woman watches him from the doorway of the bathroom, her expression only half sympathetic.

"I didn't think you had anything left in there," she comments as he heaves into the toilet bowl again, trying to ignore her presence. He feels dirty all over, contaminated by his actions in a way that might as well be tattooed onto his skin.

"You threw up a good four times last night," she adds. "It's why we had to move you into the bedroom."

He pulls back enough to slump against the wall, hugging his knees to him in a desperate attempt to comfort himself. It takes a moment for her words to sink in through his muddled brain.

"We?"

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, Uri, since you wouldn't let me anywhere near you."

For him, the sentence hangs in the air, but she seems perfectly at ease as she moves across the bathroom, retrieving a washcloth from a cabinet. "You know, you're lucky that bartender was looking out for you. If she hadn't called Zeke, you'd probably be on the street with hypothermia right now."

She gives a wry chuckle as she runs the washcloth under the faucet. "Or in some woman's bed, after doing something you'd regret forever."

"That's not what this is?" he croaks, unable to process what she's saying.

She stops with the washcloth halfway extended toward him, water dripping onto the floor. There's shock on her face, followed by an abrupt realization. "You have no idea where you are, do you? Or who I am?"

"No. Fucking. Clue."

She laughs. "Okay, well, if I'd known that, I would have handled this a little differently." She drops the washcloth onto his hand, where it's holding his knee against his chest, clearly deciding that he's never going to take it on his own. "I'm Marlene. Uriah's girlfriend."

The words don't quite sink in, and he continues to stare blankly as she adds, "We picked you up from the bar last night because Zeke couldn't get there, and we brought you here because it's where we were before he called. And because it was closer than Uri's apartment."

It's as if a switch flips in his brain, and the full meaning of what she's saying drops into him all at once. He didn't do anything. The relief is indescribable.

"Where…." He looks past her at the door as if expecting his friend to materialize. "Where's Uriah?"

"At work." She states it like it should be more than a little obvious. "Since it's a Wednesday." She glances at the clock on the wall, and his eyes move to it, too. It's almost eleven. "Don't worry – we found your work number in your phone and called in sick for you. And I don't have to get to my job until three o'clock today. So, I can help you get your hung-over ass back home."

For the first time since he woke up, he lets himself think about seeing Tris again. It's an enormously easier prospect now than it seemed ten minutes ago, but it's still utterly daunting.

"I'm not sure I'm welcome there." His voice is very quiet.

Marlene sighs, leaning against the sink as she evaluates him. "Lesson number one on living with someone…." She gives him a small smile. "When your partner freaks out over something minor and kicks you out, you go back the next day. Because once they've had a chance to calm down and think it through, they want to see you again."

She looks him in the eye. "I mean, think about it. You don't care what you fought over anymore, do you? You just want to see Tris again, right? What makes you think she feels any differently?"

The words send a startling amount of hope through him. "Does she know where I am?" he finds himself asking.

"Yeah, Uri texted her and Christina. I don't know if he told them how wasted you were."

The first part catches his attention. "Christina?"

Marlene rolls her eyes again. "Okay, lesson number two." She grins, but then her expression grows serious again. "When your fiancée has a flashback to something traumatic, and she won't let you help her with it, you call her best friend. Christina went over there as soon as she found out."

Tobias isn't sure if that thought is comforting or not. What he wants most is for Tris to be okay, and if Christina helped accomplish that goal, it might almost make up for the newspaper debacle. But he still wishes that none of this had happened. And that Tris had trusted him enough to let him be there for her.

"Is she all right?"

Marlene gives him a gentle smile. "I imagine so. Your phone has been getting texts all morning, though I haven't read them."

Tobias is on his feet so fast it makes him dizzy. Literally. Marlene reaches out quickly to steady him, sighing when he tenses away from her hand.

"I'm not making a move on you, you know," she mutters in frustration. "Any more than I was last night. I mean, it's great that you're so loyal to Tris even when you're too drunk to stand, but it was seriously a pain to get you back here. You wouldn't let anyone except Uri near you, and you barely tolerated him."

It's perhaps a little childish that Tobias feels proud of that fact. Maybe his first instinct this morning was right after all – he would never cheat on Tris.

"Come on," Marlene says as she guides him out of the bathroom despite his stiffness. "Your phone is in the living room."

He gets gradually steadier as they walk, though it's a relief to sag onto the couch. His eyes are glued to the phone the moment Marlene hands it to him.

There are four texts from Tris.

8:02 a.m. – I'm sorry.

8:35 a.m. – It was a total overreaction, and I know it. I just panicked.

9:14 a.m. – I'm staying home today. Please come back.

10:06 a.m. – I'm so sorry.

His hands are shaking badly, making it difficult to type, but he finds a way. "Just woke up. Not going to work. On my way." He pauses for a fraction of a second before adding, "I love you, Tris."

He hesitates outside their door, wondering suddenly if he should knock or use his key. The question is answered when Tris opens it.

For a long moment, their eyes lock, and then she's pressing herself into his embrace as his arms wrap around her. They both hold on tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Tobias." Her whisper is muffled against his chest.

"It doesn't matter, Tris. None of it does. I don't even remember what we were arguing over, and I don't care. I just want to be with you."

He can feel her nodding against him and can feel her tears soaking into his shirt. He pulls her closer.

"I never meant to scare you." His voice breaks on the words. "I just…I didn't even think. I should have been more careful."

"No," she insists. "You weren't yelling any more than I was. This wasn't your fault." He can feel her swallow. "Something just clicked wrong, and all I could think about was Peter and…some of the things he did." The pain in her voice tears pieces out of him.

She draws back, looking past him as she apparently realizes that their door is still open and that they're standing in the middle of the doorway. She closes it, relocking it before taking his hand and leading him to their couch. He sits, pulling her into his lap because he can't stand any distance between them right now.

"There are things I haven't told you," she whispers. He knows how hard it is for her to admit that. "Details about what Peter did…. I don't like to talk about it, for obvious reasons, and I've always assumed that you wouldn't want to hear it. But after last night…I think maybe you need to know."

His arms tighten around her, and he presses his face into her hair.

"There are things you haven't told me, too, right?" she asks softly. "About your parents." It's all he can do to nod. She does the same. "We…we have to change that, Tobias. We're going to be married. We need to understand each other's triggers and figure out how to help each other. And we can't keep fighting over nothing."

Tobias doesn't respond at first. He knows that she's right, and part of him is beyond relieved that she's still talking about marrying him. But at the same time, it's already unbearable to think about what Tris endured, and that's without knowing the details. Plus, he certainly doesn't want to share his own miserable childhood.

Still, when he draws back far enough to meet her gaze, he realizes that there's no way he can say no. This is what she needs to feel safe, and it's what they both need to avoid another incident like yesterday's. He's never talked to anyone about just what his father did or how it affected him, and there's no way to pretend that it's healthy to bottle all that up.

His eyes hold Tris' as he gently brushes her hair behind her ear. "Okay," he agrees. It's probably the longest word he's ever spoken, but it's worth it to see the way her expression changes. She almost always looks at him with love, but this time, there's far more there. There's trust and acceptance and a depth of relief that echoes all the way through him.

It reassures him that however difficult it will be to deal with their pasts, they can do it together. And in that moment, he has no doubt that they'll emerge even stronger for it.

A/N: Sorry - I know that was mean, but there's a reason for it all... Anyway, I hope you liked how it turned out. The next chapter will be a while longer, but it's looking like there will be 12 chapters total. In the meantime, I'm not entirely sure I dare ask for reviews...