*Here's chapter 18! I hope you like it!*

Chapter 18

Uriah POV

Uriah laughed, and pulled Marlene by the waist to his body, kissing down her neck.

"Uriah!" Marlene squealed. "Stop it!"

"Shhh." He whispered, kissing her on her lips. "You have to be quiet, otherwise we can't do this. We'll have to stop sneaking around."

Marlene giggled and kissed Uriah deeply. He loved it when she kissed him like that.

When she pulled back, she was smiling breathlessly. "I love you, Uriah."

Uriah was shocked. Truly. He and Marlene had grown up together, they had always been friends, and somewhere along the line during initiation, feelings had grown. Marlene was important. She made him want to be a better man. Uriah couldn't help the grin that spread on his face.

"I love you too, Marlene." He kissed her again, and pulled her down another, more secluded hallway, where they proceeded to make out until they couldn't breathe.

Marlene was cuddled into Uriah's side, and he was petting her hair gently. It was so soft. He heard her let out a small moan and her head burrowed deeper into his chest. Moments like this couldn't get more perfect.

"Uri," Marlene asked softly after a while of comfortable silence. "How much longer are you going to pretend with Tris?"

He sighed. They didn't like talking about this topic. "Just until Four gets his head out of his ass. Hopefully that's real soon, Marlene. But Tris is still hurting…I don't know, she's trying to figure it all out."

"I know that you care about her and that she's like a sister to you, and you have to help her but…but I want to be able to go public with us again. We barely got the chance before, and as hot as sneaking around like this is…it feels really wrong, Uriah." She said.

Uriah kissed her hair. "I'll end it soon, Mar. I promise. Just give me some more time. Give Tris a little more time. Christina took Tris out today to hopefully bring her out of this weird funk, and that should help a lot. Four will pull his head out of his ass, and Tris will feel more powerful, and…everything will go back to normal."

"I just want to be able to celebrate initiation with you, Uri. It's only a day away. Tomorrow decides our fates, and I'm scared. What if I'm not good enough?"

"Don't you dare talk like that, Mar." Uriah spoke, shifting so that he could look Marlene in the eye. "You're perfect, and you're doing amazing, and there's no way you won't kill during Fear Landscapes tomorrow. You are Dauntless. Just like me. We'll be together. Real soon."

Marlene smiled a little. "How do you know, though, Uri?"

He smiled back and kissed Marlene sweetly. "Because I'm all knowing. Didn't I mention that?"

Her sweet, tinkling laughter filled the hallway and she hugged him close. "Don't ever leave me Uriah."

He shook his head, rubbing her back and kissing her hair. "Never, doll. You're never getting rid of me."

Together, they walked back to the dorms where everyone was already fast asleep. Uriah kissed Marlene softly one more time, and then they parted for their separate beds. The even breathing was calming for Uriah in a time filled with so much anxiety.

He was being for strong for himself, for Marlene, and for Tris. Initiation was tomorrow. If they didn't make it out quick enough, they would be factionless. Marlene was constantly on top of Uriah about Tris.

She hadn't exactly been ecstatic when she found out what was happening, but Marlene had conceded when Uriah explained how much Tris needed this right now. The icing on the cake was knowing Four would go crazy. Everyone loved Four, they did, but currently no one was happy with the decisions he'd made.

And Tris just needed some strong male support. Zeke was trying to hold Four together, and Tris was left to Uriah. She was grasping at straws, but today when she had been holding Uriah's hand, she seemed genuinely lighter, happier. Now the tricky part was getting Tris to see that she could be strong by herself. He only hoped whatever her and Christina did today would aid that.

Tomorrow after initiation and the after party the plan was to have everyone go over to Zeke's and play Candor or Dauntless. The real plan? To get some answers, or something out of Tris and Four. It had only been a week, but already everyone was fed up and tired of seeing Tris and Four miserable.

Uriah slowly drifted off to sleep, mentally preparing himself for one of the most draining days to come; to spend another day pretending to love someone that wasn't Marlene.

The next day, everyone showed up in the mess hall. Uriah sat down next to Tris and hugged her, grasping her hand as she picked at a muffin. He couldn't really get a good look at her, but her hair had been cut into a short and stylish bob, and the honey had been brought out in her hair. It was brighter, more stunning than it already was.

"You ready for the final test today?" He asked, beginning to eat some bacon.

Tris shrugged, her eyes focused elsewhere. When Uriah found where her eyes were trained, he sighed. "Don't even worry about Four today. He doesn't have any control over—"

"I miss him." She whispered.

He hadn't heard right. It wasn't possible. "What?"

Tris shook her head. "I miss him. But I'm not sure it's fixable anymore. I'm not sure he wants me anymore."

Uriah was doing silent fist pumps in his head. This was perfect. "Of course you can get him back. You just need to go talk to him."

"But I can't do that. I still need a lot from him Uriah. Apologies, explanations…We didn't just break, Uri, we shattered."

"Listen to me, all you need to do is—"

"Uriah, please just drop it." Tris said firmly finally looking at him. He was stunned.

Christina had done a number on Tris. Her hair had been cut short, and highlighted to bring out the honey. On her left side, where her new sweeping bangs lay, there was a bright streaks of red and purple in her bangs, it was bad ass. Her face had somehow turned less…baby-ish overnight. Christina must have taught Tris how to apply makeup, because her cheeks had a little blush, and her eyes seemed bigger, brighter, outlined by natural looking eye shadow, black eyeliner, and what looked like dark purple mascara. Her lashes were longer, thicker, beautiful. There was a little bit of pink lipstick that made her lips fuller. It made you want to pay attention to them. But put it all together, and Tris looked strong, powerful, beautiful, sexy—like someone you didn't want to mess with. It was like she had finally turned Dauntless overnight.

Tris quirked one of her newly shaped eyebrows. "What are you staring at? Is it too much? I told Christina it was too much—"

"No, no!" Uriah corrected her. "It's perfect. You look awesome Tris. Four is going to be drooling. He won't know what do with himself, and then he'll come crawling back."

Tris shrugged and bit her lip nervously. Uriah noticed she did that a lot when she got nervous. "You think everyone will be drooling?"

"Come on guys, it's time for the moment of truth!" Christina said, getting up. "Tris, come on, stand. Four's right over there. Show him what he's missing."

Tris nodded, and stood. Holy crap.

Christina was amazing. Tris looked damn near flawless. Sexy and dangerous. In control. She was dressed in a tight black top with red accents, cut just low enough to make her chest look awesome, and her tattoo of her birds were showing, and that highlighted her collarbone. There was a peeking of skin between her top and her skirt—which was skin tight leather. Long enough to still be classy and for the most part practical, but short enough to entice. And her boots. The boots were tall and black, practically up to her knees, with a heel to die for. Her legs looked amazing.

"Uriah," Christina smirked, "You're staring."

"You know who I have eyes for, Christina." He responded, slightly annoyed. Out of his peripheral, he saw Marlene in a mix of shock and jealousy. Uriah turned and sent a quick wink to Marlene to reassure her. Hopefully his answer was vague enough to be taken for Tris or Marlene.

Tris hissed. "Guys, let's go. Everyone is staring."

"Good." Christina said defiantly. "I would certainly hope they would. You deserve it after all this time. Even Peter can't keep his eyes off of you."

Tris turned her glare to Christina and every one of their friends. Quite frankly, with the new look, it was terrifying. "Fear Landscapes. Now. I don't want to be late."

Everyone stood quickly, and Uriah grabbed a muffin and some bacon off his plate as they made their way down the hall. When Uriah glanced back to see why Tris was so upset, he saw that while most men were staring at Tris, Zeke and Four hadn't even glanced up. Uriah sent a signal with his eyes to his older brother to let him know that Four needed to get his head out of his ass fast. Then he followed the rest of his friends to the Fear Landscape room, draping his arm casually over Tris' shoulder as they walked.

As her hair swung while they walked he saw black ink on her neck. He casually flicked the hair away to get a short glance at her new tattoo. It was some sort of symbol. IV. He would have to ask one of the Erudites later about what it meant. He was never good at school, Uriah always just tried to scrape by.

They made it to the Fear Landscape room, and everyone stopped for a moment before going in.

Today was the day of truth. For everyone.

*Okay, so what'd you guys think? As a side note, I'm always open to suggestions about what you want to see in the story! I'm planning a POSSIBLE Cando/Dauntless game right now, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it! Next chapter will be awesome, things are going to get really real again FAST. It'll be from Tris' POV again! Fear Landscape, and what happens at initiation? Anyone who guesses right(besides melC92, because you already know what's going to happen so don't you DARE tell anyone ;) ) gets a shout out tomorrow when chapter 19 goes up!

All my love always, Rosaline*