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I'm not really sure where to go after this chapter because writers block is a bitch. Feel free to throw some suggestions my way :)

"Well, so much for not starting a faction war," I heard Jennifer sigh as I coughed, trying to catch my breath. I looked over Eric's shoulder as he crouched down next to me. Her facial expression lead me to believe that she wasn't surprised by Eric's actions.

My attention was brought back to Eric as he took my face in his hands. "You okay?" The worried look that was cast over his featured mirrored the one that he wore when I was in the infirmary.

"That depends on your definition of okay," my voice was hoarse, but I could feel the oxygen flowing through my lungs again.

His worried look remained, but he smiled slightly. I looked over at Jennifer as Eric helped me to my feet. She had a smiled on her face as she looked between the two of us. So much for trying to stay on the down low.

Once I was on my feet, Eric's attention strayed from me to Marcus. Marcus groaned, rubbing his jaw as he stood. Eric's look of worry was soon replace by anger and rage, a look that I was quite familiar with.

I shot Jennifer a look and she knew exactly what was going to happen. I grabbed Eric's arm as he stepped forward, Jennifer placed her hand on his shoulder. "Eric, don't," she cautioned. We might have gotten away with Eric not doing anything stupid, but that chance flew out the window when Marcus got in his face.

"This is none of your business! You have no right-," Marcus started. He was embarrassed, it was written all over his face. I wasn't sure what he was embarrassed about though; being knocked on his ass by Eric or being caught red handed portraying something other than his Abnegation leader façade.

Marcus was cut off as Eric's hand shot up and wrapped around Marcus' neck, shoving him against the wall, just as Marcus had done to me. You would think Marcus would be smart enough to not challenge someone that had a foot in hight on him and at least 50-100 pounds on him.

"Shut your mouth," Eric growled. "You made this my business when you decided to put your hands on her," Marcus' face began to turn a bright shade of red as Eric's hand kept it's lock on his throat. "How dare you think that you have any right to even look at her," Marcus grabbed Eric's wrist, trying to relive some of the pressure. "You touch her, speak to her, or go anywhere near her ever again we're gonna have a problem, understood?" he voice low, his tone dripping with conviction. It had been a while since I had seen Eric like this; cruel, cold, and scary as hell.

Marcus did his best attempt at a nod, earning his release from Eric. I watched as Marcus dropped to floor once again. Eric crouched down next to him as he gasped for air, "Now, I suggest you keep this conversation to yourself, wouldn't want to tarnish your imagine, now would you?"

Eric didn't wait for a response as he stood and walked back over to Jennifer and I. I couldn't help but smile at his actions. Yeah, they were actions that could get him in some serious shit, but he did it for me. He placed his arm around my shoulders and we began to walk back to the conference room. I intertwined my fingers with his hand that hung loosely off my shoulder, wrapping my free arm around his waist.

"Thanks for telling me about this, by the way," Jennifer say sarcastically as she continued to smiled in our direction.

"Sorry," I blushed, looking at the ground.

"I saw it coming though," she pointed out. "Eric never talked about anybody as much as he talked about you."

"More like complained," he responded, earning a jab in the side form me.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" I asked. If they hadn't have come to rescue my sorry ass I'd probably be dead right now.

"As soon as you left Marcus followed you out. I asked Jenn to come with me so it didn't look as bad as it could have," he informed me.

"No, I think he asked me to come with him so that he would have a witness," Jenn joked.

"That too," he chuckled.

Once we reached the conference room, Eric dropped his arm and so did I. "Don't worry," Jenn spoke. "I won't say anything."

"Thanks," I replied, relived. If any of this got out, we'd be fucked.

With that, we all made our way back into the meeting. It wasn't long before Marcus joined. He refused to look in our direction, sitting back next to Andrew with his tail between his legs.

The meeting didn't take much longer after Jeanine started it back up again. Once again, they induced me as a new Dauntless leader while Max and Leo were giving an update on our faction. When it was over, Max insisted that we go ahead back while he had some words with Jeanine. As curious as I was to find out what they were going to chat about, I wanted nothing more than to get home.

"So does anyone want to tell me what happened to Alex's neck?" Leo asked once we were all in the car. Eric, Jenn, and I all looked between the three of us. The bruise that was eventually going to form duo to my confrontation with Marcus must have already started to make an appearance.

"You don't have to worry, it's all taken care off," I smiled at him.

He gave me a skeptical look, shaking his head, a hint of a smirk on his face. "Good."

It was dark outside by the time we got back. Jason, Leo, and Jennifer all decided to head to the dining hall for dinner, leaving me with Eric.

"You go and head upstairs, I'll meet you up there in a few," I said. He raised an eyebrow in question. "I need to talk to Four." I saw him roll his eyes at the mention of my brother. "Eric, please, not right now."

He released the tension in his body and sighed. "Yeah, okay." He pulled me closer, kissing my forehead before turning and heading up to his apartment. "I'll leave the door unlocked," he said over his shoulder before disappearing around a corner.

After about 15 minutes of searching for Tobias, I came up empty handed. I finally made my way to his apartment, hoping he would be there. Thankfully after my knock he took no time to answer the door.

"Hey," he smiled. That smiled turned into a frown as his eyes grazed over my neck. My eyes started to water. I tried to fight them, but I just couldn't. "Did Eric do that? I swear to god-," I could see him fill with rage.

I shook my head as the first tear spilled. "It was Marcus," I choked.

He looked confused, but immediately pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me. He closed the door behind me and just held me as I sobbed. I thought I was past this. I thought I was stronger than this.

"What were you doing anywhere near him?" he asked as he comforted me.

"It was at the faction meeting," I mumbled as I gripped onto him tighter. "And I just stood there as he did it. I didn't fight back, I didn't do anything. I froze. He was gonna kill me, Tobias."

He walked me over to the couch, sitting me down. He knelt down in front of me, taking my hands in his. "It's okay, Alex."

"No, it's not. After all of this, after confronting my fears and being taught how to defend myself and to fight, I still ending up a coward that couldn't face her father," I pulled my hands from his and wiped my wet checks.

"You went there and you faced him, you faced one of your worst fears, you are not a coward," he countered. "So, you might not have been 100% ready for that, so what? That wasn't your fault."

I didn't respond to him, I just sat there and let his word process. "Why didn't you tell me you had to go and see him?"

"I didn't want you to get upset," I confessed.

"Yeah, I would have been upset, but not at you, at the situation that you'd be put in," he got up and sat next to me on the couch.

"I didn't want to take that chance," I leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"No matter how upset I get, I'm still you big brother and I will ALWAYS be here for you, not matter how pissed at you or the world I am, okay?"

"Okay."

XXX

Half an hour later, I found myself in front of Eric's door. I twisted the doorknob, letting myself in. He was on the couch looking through some files. He looked up when I stepped into the room. Without a word, I walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. He closed the files and placed them on the coffee table.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Not really," I leaned on him, using his shoulder and chest as pillow. He wrapped his arm around me, bringing me closer.

"Well when you're ready, I'm here," he reassured.

"I know," I looked up at him, giving him a small smile.

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